Forge Midwest 2007] How was it?

[Andy Kitkowski]

I totally want to see a (read: many) full report. Quick play blurbs, pics if you have them, the whole works.  It's been a year since I've seen the likes of Matt, Matt, Ralph, Ron, Mike and the gang, and would love to live the experience vicariously through your con reports. :-)

(also, I'll do the same for the upcoming Camp Nerdly in two weeks).

-Andy

[GamerChick]

Photos (as yet uncaptioned and unedited) can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jaegamer/MidwestForge2007

I need help with the captions, as I couldn't read most of the nametags, and forget names...

Jae Walker (not in any photos)

[syntruth]

Hello,

I'm a relative lurker here at The Forge in the years past.  I actually haven't visited in awhile. Had I done so, I think I would have attended this gathering. As it happens, I stumbled acrossed it...

My wife and I were in Chicago for the Celtic Woman concert at the Rosemont Theatre, and were staying at the DoubleTree. During our check-in on Saturday, I noticed quite a few guys that would have easily fit in with my circle of friends.  The geeky t-shirts that caught my eye, for example.  Didn't think too much of it at the time.  Later, we ate at the hotel restaurant wanting to get dinner before the concert. Again, I saw quite a few of what I felt were kindred spirits and I remarked to my wife, "There is a high geek ratio at this hotel right now...I wonder if there is some kind of convention going on across the street." We asked our waitress and all she knew was of an exercise equipment convention and a jewelry convention that was happening. Disappointed, we ordered and ate our food.

During dinner, I overheard the group eating dinner across from us mention 'HeroQuest' and if I was a dog, my ears would have went up and I'd have given that tilt of the head "Ahuh?" look. Guiltily, I listened in a bit and confirmed these guys were indeed gamers (the xkcd t-shirt was enough for me to know that I was not too far off, though I did end up having to explain what 'sudo' was to the wife).  I just -knew- there had to be a gathering somewhere, but sadly I am way too shy to actually approach and ask.

After dinner, waiting for the wife to use the restroom, I heard the distinct roll of dice.  I turn and lo and behold, there it was...  I peeked, but was unsure of how private the gathering was, only that it was a Forge event from the sign outside the door.  After she emerged, I pointed it out to the wife (who games, but mostly MMO's, though she kicks my ass at Settlers of Catan) and we walked off to get to the concert on time.  I had to explain to her what the Forge was as well, but it was enough that I think I might have peeked her interest in seeking out other gatherings.  I have the HeroQuest board-game in my closet...I pulled that out last night and I think it's going to get some play time.

So, there is a non-attendees story of this gathering.  I wish I had known about it...I could have gamed -and- got to the concert. I'll have to start visiting the Forge more often again, I think. 

[Matt Snyder]

Wow! That's quite a coincidence. We'd have loved to meet you. Maybe next time. The Forge Midwest gathering was great fun this year.

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Syntruth next time introduce yourself. Whoops.
sudo Syntruth next time introduce yourself.

[Nev the Deranged]

Photos (as yet uncaptioned and unedited) can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jaegamer/MidwestForge2007

Looks like you got you some captions. Most of which should say "Dave's big stupid hat is blocking all my pictures, dammit!" =P

Good times. Maybe I'll even get in on a game of Cat at IGE/GC. But only if I can play a half-cat/half-dog hybrid dual class ninja/pirate with a squirrel familiar. =^.^=

[Mike Holmes]

Syntruth, you should have said hi! I was the guy running the Hero Quest game. That said, it's not what you think it is. The old MB board game was fine. But this is what we played: http://www.glorantha.com/

Here's the rest of my account:

I only attended on Saturday, as I have a number of other friends in Chicago who aren't into RPGs so much, and spent Sunday playing 1870 and other boardgames with them.

Saturday started with me coming it a tad late and checking out what was playing. I finally ended up joining into a game of Lacuna being run by Clyde Rhoer. I was vaguely familiar with the concept of the game, and was really looking forward to trying it out. Clyde did not disappoint, chosing as the target the Virginia Tech shooter. The game became a metaphysical trail of despair and hope, with my character eventually getting forcefully ejected from the mission for trying to block it's success - he was a friend of the shooter's and a coward who didn't (despite his bravado - "I'm the one with the gun, MOTHERFUCKER!") want to have to face up to the situation. Excellent scenario, well run. We gave Clyde some feedback on his running style that I fear he may have taken as a very critical, when, in fact, it was meant to be about options (at least on my part).

Next Clyde bullied me into running the Hero Quest (because... you know... it's so hard to get me to run HQ...). I got to play with Char, one of my weekly IRC players FTF for the first time, which was great. As was playing with Doyce Testerman. I've been using his wiki at random.average-bear forever to contain the details for the aforementioned IRC game, and he's been a player in that game as well. I ran the same scenario I ran last year at Forge Midwest... but I'm not sure if I acheieved at Total Party Kill (TPK) this time. Does having them all eternally lost in the Hero Planes and becoming legend count as dead? You decide! Excellent play by all.

After that ended, both Dav Harnisch and Troy Constisick trailed in (odd for an organizer to arrive so late). After updating them on the action, and showing them all of the playtest games being run at that time, Dav sat Troy and I down, and proceeded to invent a clever game about being infected with something that gives you mental powers, and simultaneously seems to be a terminal illness. The things your character most wants to have about him to die in a dignified manner provided charges for using these abilities, once discovered. Very tense, very paraniod, very desperate. An excellent design, especially considering that he thought it up on the spot. Pretty fun stuff.

Lastly I got into a game of The Shadow of Yesterday run by Doyce. The highlight of that game had to be Doyce's portrayal of my Ammeni Merchant Prince's translator, a goblin named Glorb. Just hilarious, Doyce had the goblin speak in third person all the time (because he was property). The plot turned into a twisted tale of court intrigue in Maldor, with each PC slimier than the next, and twice as interesting. I ended up having my character trade in his Key of the Overlord to free Glorb, changing in the EXP for even more fun stuff. TSOY so rocks. As we commented, there's this odd phenomenon amongst some players where they feel guilty for "fixing" their character and getting rewarded for it at the same time. The Key system rewards players for making their characters even more fun for themselves. Uh, that's a feature, not a bug!


All-in-all, the rollicking good time that I expected it to be. Small turn out, but that didn't matter. Hope to see more of everybody next year!

Mike

[jrs]

Here's my tally:

1. Dogs in the Vineyard -- Run by James (aka Blankshield) with Char, Jono, Jae (aka GamerChick), Amanda, and me.  I really liked Sister Prudence's initiation conflict which I had stated as hoping to turn someone away from sin.  She ultimately conviced a new doglet to continue with his studies after he played hooky and considered himself not cut out to become a dog.  Her new trait written under the "I'm a Dog" was "And so are you."   Unfortunately she died in an ambush before seeing her first town.

2. Blood and Bronze -- James' new strategy-based boasting game of Greek city states with Ron, Eric (aka Harlequin), Seth (aka GreatWolf), Jae, Ralph (aka Valamir), and me.  I loved the tactile quality of the game pieces, and, yeah, I'm thinking about splurging for the swank version
with the brass bowl when it comes out.

3. Fantastical Kingdom -- playtest of Aaron's (aka Kesher) game with Dave (aka Nev), Tim (timfire), Alexander (Isklander), and me.  Really interesting domino mechanic that we pushed to its limit during play.  We ended up going into brainstorming mode; Aaron was really good about our collective feedback on his game.

4. The Oath of the Stars -- playtest of Eric's game with Aaron, Tim, Paul Czege, James, and me.  Space ship dogfighting meets Authorian courtly romance with a heavy reliance on Riddle of Steel mechanics.  I love the setting, but the game is a little too cruchy for my tastes.  We only had time to save a mysterious alien from solar death and conduct one joust before folks turned in for the night.

5. In a Land Called -- playtest of Tim's game with Jono, Aaron, Terry, Tod and me.  The process for developing the game setting and player characters is really strong.  We came up with a promising steam punk type of setting that I would really like to play in.  It fell apart when we started trying to actually work on scenes.  Tim had already admitted upfront that this was the weak part of the game. 

6. Shock -- a primer on setting up the game with Ron, Eric, Jono, Juli, Tod, Dave, and me.  This was more of a demo to go over how to start the game.

Hopefully I got all the names right and I didn't leave anyone out.

I was sad to miss out on Blue Moon with Seth and the Saturday night It was a Mutual Decision game.  Next time. 

Julie

[syntruth]

Syntruth, you should have said hi! I was the guy running the Hero Quest game. That said, it's not what you think it is. The old MB board game was fine. But this is what we played: http://www.glorantha.com/

Yup, I figured it was the RPG...which I have yet to play, personally.  Doing home-grown system (based on bastardization of  The Shadows of Yesterday) and converting to a Fudge-based game instead...

Maybe next time I can successfully roll and beat out my Shyness fault.

.Syn.

[GreatWolf]

I was sad to miss out on Blue Moon with Seth and the Saturday night It was a Mutual Decision game.  Next time. 

Me too!  More Blue Moon would have been good.

Let's see.  Here's what I played:

Primitive--The rules for not talking to each other complicate a tutorial game just a little, but I had a lot of fun.  I could see a great deal of potential for a group playing this game together, becoming more adept at communicating with each other.  As it was, it was fun to hoot and holler.  Apologies to the rest of the room for all the noise.

Blue Moon--My opponent was Ron.  It was a good game, even though I lost.  I blame being out of practice for a month or so, because both times I bobbled the end game, which ended up costing me the game.  Oh well.  I'll get him next time!

Jungle Speed--I'm pretty much the Jungle Speed champion in my extended circle.  One reason that I came to Forge Midwest was to find out if I really am that good.  I think that I can say, with all humility, "Yes I Am!"

Blood and Bronze--This felt like a Eurogame wrapped around some roleplaying elements.  That's not a criticism, by the way; that's just the impression that I got.  Due to some poor bidding decisions early on, I was totally smacked down.  That was okay, because it freed me up to run my Dirty Secrets playtest.

Dirty Secrets playtest--That thread is here.

It Was A Mutual Decision--Ron threatened to post Actual Play about this, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he writes.

[Ron Edwards]

Time crunch leads me to ask that anyone in that Mutual Decision game, please post in Actual Play. I enjoyed it greatly.

Best, Ron