Convention review: Lollagazebo

[eruditus]

You are the first to see this.  It is the start of my new convention experienceseries.  I have posted this to RPGnet but it will be a few days until it appears.  It's meant to be a sample of MY experiences.  This is definately a place for folk to comment on how their experiences were different.  Enjoy and let me know what else you think I should cover.

We just returned from Lollagazebo last night.  Thought you'd all like to hear my thoughts and experiences.

What I played and ran (If you have played a game of mine or played with me I would love to hear your comments - good or bad)

I got there not long before 7pm with a relatively easy trip from Philadelphia to Edison NJ (about 2 hours with stops).  There were a goodly number of folk there with a lot of people mentioning that there was horrible traffic (especially on route #1 - DUH!?).

Registration opened promptly at 7pm.  I preregistered and recieved my package with little wait - what games I was playing in, prize vouchers and a spiffy free T-shirt for running 12 hours of games.  My SO was not registered yet and similarly got through a short line in no time.  I do not recall seeing a terribly long line through much of the convention (let me know if anyone noticed this).  Hopefully the entries were either staggered well enough or service fast enough because they did not have a lot of room for a line.

The badges are not bad.  They use these funky clips which seem ill suited for the rigors of gamers but mine never separated and fell off.  One thing they did which I thought was neat - they had tags with an adhesive strip that gets attatched to the bottom of the badge which says you were a game winner.  Since it was dated, conveivably you could carry them over, game to game.  Wouldn't it be cool if GM badges were the same way?  hmmmm (thinks about that for his own con and moves on).  The registration booklet seemed complete (and fairly beefy) if not a little flimsy.  Not a big deal for a piece of material that you will ultimately throw away.  Most of the paper-management - slots and game organization - was done well enough.  The game reference numbers were a bit complicated but I am certain some of the computer folk appreciated it :)

After wandering for a bit and getting settled in our room I went to the boardgame room (right next to registration and the giant Settlers of Catan board - easily 5' in diameter) and found a friend playing the new cooperative, independant boardgame - Vanished Planet (http://www.vanishedplanetgames.com/main/index.php?page=Game).  The game was solid and I liked that it had prescribed difficulty levels.  It was described well and both of us playing the demo bought the game (signed copies, no less).

The I ran my obligatory 'Are You a Werewolf' game .  Much fun was had by all.  In two hours I had about 12 players and ran about 6 sessions (including one with Kristin (http://www.looneylabs.com) of Looney Labs, the manufacturers of this party favorite and general Lollagazebo guests of honor).  The group was good and their decision making was generally well thought out - although the werewolves had their share of wins.  Since people had being going in and out of the event, I was going to give the prize to whomever was alive at the end of the last game (I had a few extra bits I could give away, including the game we were playing with).  The two werewolves were still alive by the endgame (four players) so I then I announced that since I had two prize vouchers for AYAW (no one would be playing the second session form midnight to 2am) that I would give BOTH prizes to the surviving werewolf if he/she was willing to kill off the other.  Yet she did not and both werewolves shared in the feast of peasant and split the two prizes.  Isn't that sweet?

I went to bed after that and awoke the next morning to run my Burning Wheel: Bound in Darkness game after breakfast.  I had a goodly number of players (four), most of which were folk I knew.  Its a pretty open adventure that can go several different ways with or without violence.  They handled the game without violence with a decent margin of success.  No brilliant roleplaying but everyone seemed to have fun and the one person at the table that did not own Burning Wheel (www.burningwheel.org) bought it afterward.  All in all a success.

At 2pm I helped Luke Crane in his Burning Wheel Melee Demo.  It was three women and my friend, Stein, against me.  Eeek!  Dwarvin knife fighter, elvin ranger, human axeman with a glaive and an elf sword singer against an orcish Black Destroyer - complete with chattel slave :)  It was fun, I had them a little worried and I got in a good shot that will make the dwarf think twice about tangling with an orc again, but the axeman cleaved me in two and the rest sought to be certain the job got done.  A second battle with more folk pitted a Great Wolf and another elf against a black hunter orc, and a troll.  First exchange had the troll tossing his massive shield at the wolf, crushing his skull and leaving us all blinking in disbelief as the wolf collapsed to the ground.  "Uh, lets say the troll wins and we start again," chimed in Luke.  The second fight went on much longer and included the wolf taking in a mouth full of orc head (mine).  I think the "heroes" were victorious.

At 8pm I had a choice between Sorcerer (http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/) and Everway (with Todd Fueler's Buffy game in the background - I have to mention that I have never played with him but Todd has a loyal following and folk love his games), run by The Millers (Kat and Mike).  The Sorcerer game was pretty full and I love Kat's games so I opted for Everway.  Players were okay.  Game was interesting.  I should have been napping in my room to prepare for my midnight game but otherwise I had a blast playing a peasant among gods.

Following was an interesting game run by Liz Teichman.  Liz always runs good games.  This one was a Zombies in space game with all the trappings of All Flesh Must be Eaten but none of the rules.  It was established early on that this would be a puchy and rauchous endevour.  Not the gritty survival horror any of us imagined.  We made rough characters, starting the the idea that we would all be family.  My friend Bill and I made redneck twins with low intelligences.  Then there was our semi-brainy sister, our trailer-trash mother and her newest boyfriend - Tex.  The other two really didn't quite get into it as much as we did.  The we were told that we get special abilities balanced out by disads that the GM and other players chose.  Thats whe we decided Tex would have tourette's syndrome (note: this in no way is meant to make fun of or otherwise dimisnish the seriousness of this condition - but damn was the player funny).  We were crying/laughing through most of this. Unfortunately at about 2:30 I crashed hard and decided it was time to leave the party and head to my chair (see hotel comments).

The next morning, sore and tired, I went to my second Bound in Darkness session but no one showed.  One guy was interested (others started playing a Witchcraft game) and I ran him through a melee demo.

At 2pm, my SO and I, beat and a little on the grumbly side just sort of wandered. I took over running Chrononauts for some folk in the place of Halina (she had to take off earlier than she anticipated).  Ray, a fellower demoer started the group off and I chimed in when necessary.  We played two games with two newbies.  Chrononaughts is a solid Looney Labs game.  Fun was had by all.

At 4pm I went up and sat in on Luke's Poisonous Ambition game (set in his very own Burning Wheel setting).  Here you play orcs in a power struggle over the fate of the rest of the clan. It is great fun with a great deal of replayability.  And few GMs have the energy and animation Luke posseses.  Kudos to Luke for a great game in every way.  There were a great group of players who played the game closer to the chest than folk before them (it often takes on larp-like qualities despite being a table-top game).  Heavy roleplaying and a massive battle at the end brought the userpers to their knees and the horror that is the Named wins the day (which does not happen often).  A bitter victory for the Named as now his clan has been wiped out and he finds himself a leader of nothing but chattel.  This should be a MUST play for all.  I have played it three times and its a new experience each time, with over nine pregens and a horde of fun.

So that ended the festivities.  We all packed up and crawled home happy to get in our own beds :)

The Hotel

New hotel this year - the Raritan Sheraton in Edison, NJ.  What can I say about his hotel?

So we found out that they had pet rooms.  We were thrilled.  Not really knowing what to expect we brought our Siberian Huskie along to the convention!  She is a really docile dog and it was fantastic to have her around.  She just sat, watched, was pet and, when bored, she just lied at my feet.  I loved that I didn't have to leave her home alone (even with loving dog walkers visiting).  I spoke with several of the convention folk and let them know that it was hotel policy that we had to be with her at all times.  I emphasised that if anyone was concerned or complained about the dog I had no problem removing her and that I didn't want to force her onto others.  Everyone was great.  One person was shy about Kendra (the dog) and kept her distance while another (an RPGA player) said he was "deathly" allergic and had to stay clear.  Once the D&D game happening in the same room as I and the dog moved because of the allergic guy.  We let him know that we would be happy to move but they instead picked up and went somewhere else.  It was a very positive experience, we thought.

The rooms of the hotel were of average size.  The beds were fairly comfortable.  The convention rate was not too bad (about $79 a night).  The atmosphere was pleasant and clean.  The pool and hottub were very nice is not a bit small.  We were able to find refuge here for a few hours on Sunday.  The restaurant was on the low side of mediocre and just as expensive as any other hotel restaurant.  The shape was odd and the waitstaff was barely adequate.

Then there was the service.  The convention blocks, we were told, were all king sized beds.  There were going to be two couples in the room.  We're friendly, but we're not THAT friendly.  So we requested a foldaway bed ($100).  This was arranged months before and confirmed Friday afternoon before we even left.  When we got there, no cot.  We asked when we checked in and were told one would be sent up.  By 9pm, no cot.  I called at 10pm and was told that they would see what they could do.  At 10:30 I was called and they said that the housekeeping staff was gone for the night and we would not be getting a bed.  I asked for a comforter to compensate and they refused.  We asked on three seperate occasions across the course of Saturday for a bed and another comforter.  Nothing.  We all happily coped.  Until Sunday morning came and sure enough $200 was tacked onto our bill for a cot for two nights.  As calm and as professional as she could my friend went down and got a refund and a bit of a discount.  Although they obliged they did so without so much as a "sorry for the inconvenience."

The staff in general, we though, was extremely unresponsive.  The person standing at the front desk (bell hop or consierge? I wasn't certain) was asked "where can we find a garbage can?"  He repeated "garbage can."  We went around like this four or so times.  Eventually I just went outside the hotel and looked for one to throw out the small bag of trash in my hand.

The convention, in my opinion, did sufferer from the same issues that many do, more so than the old location: things are too spread out.  I like cons where everything is in the same areas.  not necessarily the same room, but the Dealer's Room was on the first floor near the elevators, the boardgame/card game room was near registration and the restaurant ant the roleplaying was on the second floor.  And there was always a lot of space.  All could probably have worked out in the same set of rooms on the second floor or, like UberCon, the dealer's room could have been on the outside walls of the boardgame room.

The Dealer's room

Many of the Dealer's appreciated not being in their own rooms like in the Embassy Suites.  I thought this was a neat idea, in general, but the money didn't work out as most purchases are made via impulse and demonstrations - something less likely in the old setup.  However, the Dealer's Room was in a room away from the populace, for the most part.  Yeah, "everyone" had to go by the Dealer's Room on the way up the elevators but it would have been easy to miss and many folk were heading up the elevators with purpose, not really willing or able to say "gee, let's stop buy the dealer's room."  it was generally not very busy and the people I spoke with only barely broke even (although the prices were very reasonable).

The room was small and had some decent dealers:  There were Looney Labs, who had a nice setup with several demo tables that were often full.  NerdNYC (www.nerdnyc.org) shared space with the Burning Wheel.  The nerds we great, with some unique t-shirts that sing to our hearts and souls.  The Burning Wheel ran demos to any hapless soul and folk had lots of fun.  Then there was a weapon-shop - I don't know their names but they are at nearly every convention I go to in the area.  9th Level games (www.9thlevel.com) had a table selling their own games a a few other spoofy favorites like HOL(Human Occupied Landfill or Hey! Owe! Leggo!) The guys were really cool.  Luke even got in a combined sale of a Nerd t-shirt and a copy of Ninja Burger and Dan from 9LG wore a nerd "Flaming d20" t-shirt all Sunday.  Sam from Vanished Planet was peddling his wares and there was a pretty well stocked gaming store with a good sized setup.  A Dice merchant extraordinaire, a group of boardgamers selling lots of Rio Grande goodness and more and the folk from Blood and Cardstock (www.blood-and-cardstock.com/index.shtml) were doing mad demos of all thier great games.  Lastly a spiffy t-shirt retailer sported a wall of pretty images and scowling fan art as you see in many cons.  (If anyone knows the names and web sites of all these great folk pleas let me know and we can try to add them to the mix.  I was writing this from memory.)

Well, I think that about covers it.  I had no real dealings with the minis and the CCGs.  If anyone has anything to add or elucidate please do.  This post although long and rambling was designed to spark both interest in the conventionscene and conversation about their own experiences.

Good gaming

[Dregg]

Wow that was a very in-depth report... I wish I could be that thourogh when doing reports (which reminds me Eden and Atlas need to hear back from me).
Well I was "That Guy" on sunday morning =)
Thank you so much for Running, and thanks to Liz for the Idea of getting the game going. I had a Army Of Darkness demo I had to do and no one showed.
This has been my First Hotel Con in about 6 years, the last one was Dundracon back in 98, so I was hungry for a true gaming con. I had a blast! The Burning Wheel people and NYC Nerds were the best, and I was able to sway then to come out to I-CON next year (well not really Sway, but they are interested) and the Wild Gazebo people are Dreamy! They are what I wish my group "Leauge of Extraordinary Gamers" on Long Island would become, but alas all we do is I-CON for now. I played in a Unknown Armies Game ran by Todd (last Name escapes me) and it was Brilliant, the man is a God of a GM and that needs to be said.
I really wanted to play Nobilis, I have heard of the game too much and wanted to dive in, but alas I did not.

It was a great time and I am so there next april for Gazebo of Games

[eruditus]

Well I was "That Guy" on sunday morning =)
Thank you so much for Running, and thanks to Liz for the Idea of getting the game going. I had a Army Of Darkness demo I had to do and no one showed.

Hey there Dregg.  Silly me, I never got your name :)

Some people thought the convention was a little under populated for its space.  A goodly number of games didn't go off, as per the usual.  What frustrates some of us is the inability for many people to see beyond their own particular interests and play in something they hadn't expected.  That is the only way you find decent GMs (and even learn to avoid bad ones).

Thanks for playing and we are looking forward to seeing you sometime at I-Con.

[Dregg]

Well I was "That Guy" on sunday morning =)
Thank you so much for Running, and thanks to Liz for the Idea of getting the game going. I had a Army Of Darkness demo I had to do and no one showed.

Hey there Dregg.  Silly me, I never got your name :)

Some people thought the convention was a little under populated for its space.  A goodly number of games didn't go off, as per the usual.  What frustrates some of us is the inability for many people to see beyond their own particular interests and play in something they hadn't expected.  That is the only way you find decent GMs (and even learn to avoid bad ones).

Thanks for playing and we are looking forward to seeing you sometime at I-Con.

Yes it was very player lite, which will not bode well in my report back to the masters, but what the hell... by Gazebo of games I will be there pimp'n my RPG "Bad Muthas" anywhoo.
Tis true, some of the best GM's are the ones running Homebrews and Indie Press... hell anyone can run D&D... It's all about the Flava text ;)

Thank you for running the game for me, I really wanted to play and you made it happen! I look forward to seing you at I-CON, I am the Demo Coordinator and The Indie track this year will be mighty!

Edit:: wording change

[Christopher Weeks]

I was there too.

I got to play Michael Miller's Sorcerer game.  It was my first time playing.  I had fun.  I think he was playing a bit fast and loose with the rules, but it kept things moving and he was both sick and tired.  I still want to play in a "real" Sorcerer game (by which, I mean at least a campaignlette).

I got to paly in Luke's Poisonous Ambition game (as He Who Sits Astride the Great Black Beast -- IIRC).  It was likewise tons of fun.  I found the system to be largely baffling, but I bought Burning Wheel (and My Life With Master) from the BW booth and will read through it, but the game I played -- due to Luke's incredible skill and enthusiasm as the GM was really fun.  (Is it right that only about half of us were outsiders to the BW circle of friends?)

Oddly enough, I had a similar experience with the desk help and finding a trashcan.  I ened up just trying to hand my trash to the clerk and leaving it on the desk in front of her when she wouldn't take it from my hand.  Another woman that was commonly behind the desk was nice and seemed more on top of things.

I haven't been very impressed with any of the three local-sized cons in NJ that I've gone to in the four years since moving here from the midwest.  

The system of (optionally) registering for events sucks.  It should be required or dispensed with.  The con book was a complete waste and I shudder to think how much they must have cost.  I brought all the important things (four pages) with me as printouts from the con web pages.  Schedules should utilize two-hour time blocks and just start them early and run them late.  The insistence on leaving hours between slots and trying to schedule around lunch and dinner is silly.  Those who want breaks can see to themselves.  More formalized instructions for where to be when and how to manage pick-up games appropriately would be good.  The con seemed to have way too many events planned which caused player dispersion and last-minute reshuffling confusion.  I think that some of this was due to the registration (un)system that I mentioned above.  Finally, while the hotel rooms were inexpensive (though I didn't stay) the con itself seems pretty high.

I enjoyed myself, but it could be better.  OTOH, maybe this con is margetted more for other kinds of people.

Chris

[Dregg]

The system of (optionally) registering for events sucks.  It should be required or dispensed with.  The con book was a complete waste and I shudder to think how much they must have cost.  I brought all the important things (four pages) with me as printouts from the con web pages.  Schedules should utilize two-hour time blocks and just start them early and run them late.  The insistence on leaving hours between slots and trying to schedule around lunch and dinner is silly.  Those who want breaks can see to themselves.  More formalized instructions for where to be when and how to manage pick-up games appropriately would be good.  The con seemed to have way too many events planned which caused player dispersion and last-minute reshuffling confusion.  I think that some of this was due to the registration (un)system that I mentioned above.  Finally, while the hotel rooms were inexpensive (though I didn't stay) the con itself seems pretty high.

I enjoyed myself, but it could be better.  OTOH, maybe this con is margetted more for other kinds of people.

Chris

In my years of going to California Con's I have personaly never found a registration system that actually works. I heard Uber-Con had some cool stuff with registration, but alas I was not there.
I got to meet alot of cool people and got to mingle with other MIB's as well.
I think the WildGazebo people rocked on toast and deserve a big hand on thier efforts...
It's all about advertising tho
I hope to see Gazebo of Games in April have more of a turn out

[taepoong]

(Is it right that only about half of us were outsiders to the BW circle of friends?)

Actually, to my and Luke's delight, I was the only BW veteran at the table! I played the Named. (I am not counting eruditus who stepped in late to play the troll.) Again, it was a pleasure to game with you Chris.

The con itself was much, much better than last year's - which was miserable. This year, there seemed to be a lot more people and a good deal more organization. However, there still were problems.

-No one ever checked to see if I was registered or not for a game, which made game-registration useless. It also made me think I could've attended without having spent a dime.

-It was very, very hard to find proper receptacles for trash in almost every space - even the hotel lobby!

-The boardgame room didn't have a copy of Samurai Swords or Settlers of Catan card game! ;o)

There were a lot of empty tables at this Con, but less than last year. I am thinking this Con will steadily grow into its own one day, but for now, it's still finding its feet.

[Christopher Weeks]

Actually, to my and Luke's delight, I was the only BW veteran at the table! I played the Named. (I am not counting eruditus who stepped in late to play the troll.) Again, it was a pleasure to game with you Chris.

Oh, cool.  I thought that the two to my immediate right -- the wolf and the black hunter (or whatever their correct names were) were in your collective circle of friends or gamegroup or had some kind of relationship...but I'm not sure why.  And I guess I could be right and they still be BW virgins.

I hope that you're right about the con growing into a Good Thing.  The other two NJ cons that I've attended -- MonCon and ShoreCon, were bigger and maybe better organized but the folks running the show were kind of surly and completely uninterested in suggestions (at their Q&A/suggestion session, no less!).

As a note about badges and paying, my wife came on Saturday (we had the kids there too) and never registered.  Now, my son and I did, so they got $60 from us, and she only played one game (Puerto Rico) and did the dealers room, but no one ever cared or checked or anything.  Also, I lost my badge for the seventh and final time Sunday morning right before the BW game started and not having it didn't get in my way in the least.  I wonder how many people are skating through unpaid.

Chris

[Dregg]

As a note about badges and paying, my wife came on Saturday (we had the kids there too) and never registered.  Now, my son and I did, so they got $60 from us, and she only played one game (Puerto Rico) and did the dealers room, but no one ever cared or checked or anything.  Also, I lost my badge for the seventh and final time Sunday morning right before the BW game started and not having it didn't get in my way in the least.  I wonder how many people are skating through unpaid.

Chris

Most Con's I used to attend were very "Nazi" about badges. I have seen GM's detained for not having a badge on them. Also I agree, they need to be more Badge aware, If we are to spend the cash to go in, there needs to be a way to make sure that only paying customers are allowed.
There was some annoying guy who went from room to room on Saturday and Sunday, mayhaps he should have been the Badge guy...
::Sigh::
Still a great show tho

[zephyrrs]

Since you skipped the LARPs, I figured I should post since I was a LARP GM. :-)

Unfortunately, I had family issue conflicts with the con and was only able to attend for part of Saturday night and all day on Sunday. (For those of you who don't know me, I was the gal who brought Max, my 4 year old, his telescope and his binoculars in order to share in the sightseeing of the lunar eclipse.) Because of my time constraints, I only had the time to GM for this con, as opposed to Intercon Gazebo and A Gazebo of Games where I was more involved.

I was happy that this con had more games in the less-than-2-hour category thereby allowing me to jump into a few things between events whereas I wasn't able to do that at the last event I attended.

Although I agree that more needs to be done to integrate the exhibitor room, I really enjoyed my time spent there because of the demos and involvement of the exhibitors in supporting the event. (I even picked up a player for my game from socializing on the expo floor.) I also spent waaaaaay to much money stacking up for Christmas and Chanukah. On the other hand, my gamer holiday shopping is complete so the timing of this con could not be better insofar as expo shopping for me. In addition, I did by myself a few things as well. Gads, I did love those nerdnyc shirts! I am also quite pleased with my autographed Fluxx Cards -- I enjoyed Fluxx before, but now that I've met the Looneys, I have to admit I've become a fan.

Unfortunately, for me, the first run of my LARP tanked because no one showed. Which means it didn't run at all.  *sigh*  At first I thought this was because the LARP room was NOT well identified. However, in retrospect I also have to admit that I didn't promote at all in advance as I have done with other games. And, I didn't get around to rewriting my description of the game until the program book deadline was past.  So, while I could blame bad signage, I should blame myself equally.

My second run was delayed do to bad scheduling. The game using the same space ran over an hour late resulting in at least one of my players leaving the con before we started. OTOH, I did get to run a LARP late on Sunday afternoon -- a rarity for any convention. I had 4 players, two of which had never LARPed and only RPGed and everyone had a grand struggle, enjoyed themselves immensely and played their characters with excellence. As with all the runs of the previous version, nothing turned out as we (the GM team) expected and therefore we were challenged as well.

Plus, the new LARPers are now interested in pursuing other RPG/LARP cross-overs and provided some wonderful and useful critiques.

Overall, time well spent!

Randi S/ZephyrRS (verbose, as usual)

PS - I LOVE that the con shirts have the "Eric and The Gazebo" story. For those of you that haven't read it before, it can be found via http://www.wildgazebo.com/links.html