Running Elfs at a con ...

[james_west]

I've got a convention coming up in two weeks, and I've got two sessions of Elfs in the schedule. One in which I'm planning on running a perversion of Keep on the Borderlands, and one in which I'm planning an implementation of All Elfs Must Be Eaten, from a few threads back.

Anybody got any advice on running Elfs?
At a Con ?

       - James

[Ron Edwards]

Hi James,

My experience is really to love your NPCs - that is, in the sense of loving to see their neurotic little hangups revealed. In one Elfs session, I was laughing so hard at the thought of my inhibited Dawrk Eevil Cleric lady getting her leg humped by an elf that I had to stop the action.

The practical side of this is that you're never at a loss. Once the players get the idea that they can go places and do things, and that this new place will be funny TOO, it takes off.

Another thing is that, for some reason, railroading takes on a complicit quality in Elfs. When the wizard with 2" long eyebrows steps out of the shadows to help out (and tell them exactly where to go and what to do), it's like the players are in on the joke and don't mind at all.

Many thanks for running the game in public!! That ought to deserve some kind of recognition. Also, in a short while, character sheets will be ready on the site. Yes! I have seen them, even.

Best,
Ron

[Ben Morgan]

Sheep on the Borderlands!!

Once upon a time, about two years ago, I was going to try and run a silly little D&D campaign with about the same tone and reverence for the fantasy genre as Bored of the Rings. The idea was to start with Keep on the Borderlands and see where it degenerated from there. I called it Munchkinfest. Long story short, after buying both 2nd and (eventually) 3rd Edition PH, DMG, and MM, I still haven't gotten around to running it.

Now we have Elfs. Nuff said.

[james_west]

Comin' down to the wire - you guys got a character sheet I can use ?

   - Thanks,

     James

[Ron Edwards]

Hi James,

Yes, there's a character sheet, and it's SUPPOSED to be up at the site ... let me get after the person who's in charge of that.

The sheet's illustrious designer, Ben Morgan (of the amazing kreskinity), might be approached for a copy too. - Ben, if you're reading this, maybe you could email it to James?

Again, it would all be easier if the thing were simply on the site, but a perfect world it is not.

Best,
Ron

[Ben Morgan]

Taken care of. The sheet will also shortly be available at my site, in the Character Sheets section.

[james_west]

I ran it - got five players, and it has to be the best game I've ever run for a group of strangers. Went brilliantly.

When I'm not asleep, I'll try to get around to describing how it went, but the bottom line is the rules went breathtakingly well, and the whole experience was a lesson in "with the right rules, you can get enthusiastic narrativism out of -any- set of players."


         - James

[james_west]

My second game using the rules (but a different setting) also went just flat great, but I'm once again too asleep to give any details except to say that, once again, many of the players were the sort that many might call broken, but they did great using this set of rules. This reinforces my belief that, most of the time, it ain't the players that are broken.

Incidentally, SOAP was also a great hit, and had the oddity that in a convention that was 95% male, I had 5/6 players female.

           - James

[Ron Edwards]

James ... you and Ben Morgan may now join Clinton and Jared as the ELFS BRIGADE (or whatever, the point is that you get to wear silly hats).

I mean, this is fantastic. We have GOT to get some kind of "indie game con log" going here at the Forge.

Best,
Ron

[Ben Morgan]

I get to wear a silly hat? Alright!
You guys rule!

[Jared A. Sorensen]

I ran octaNe at Con-Quest this past weekend.
I also ran Elfs.

The Elfs game was good but man...I felt like taking a shower afterward. Yeeeech!

[james_west]

For my second game, I did zombie game, but using the mechanic from Elfs to simulate the loss of volition and increase of zombie-like characteristics.

People started with a 4 in volition (the spunk equivalent) and got to distribute 2 between dumb luck and hunger (which was added when doing something violent or food-directed).

Once per hour, they subtracted 1 from volition and distributed 2 to dumb luck and hunger.

The game worked marvelously well; the Elfs mechanic is easily adaptable.

[Ron Edwards]

At last, All Elfs Must Be Eaten! Fantastic.

Best,
Ron