first GenCon post

[joshua neff]

Yes, I'm getting here first, but with just a quick note.

Basically, GenCon rocked the house & the neighbors' houses as well. It rocked the whole damn neighborhood. And the best part is, I played more games the first day than I did the entire con last year. I played:

Elfs--It was the "Fire & Ice" scenario from the book & it was a hoot-&-a-half.

Dust Devils--Fantastic. I'm not much of a fan of the western genre in general, but the mechanics of Dust Devils are amazing, especially the Devil trait. So, I bought the game, & I hope to run it soon.

My Life with Master--Paul Czege's secret project (well, not secret anymore), a game about minions of a crazy mad scientist. The system needs some work, but it was a hoot to play. Somewhat like Wuthering Heights, in that it's all about gothic-to-the-max passions. This particular session, with Danielle (a.k.a. "Paul's Girlfriend") & Mike Holmes, with Paul running, was full of emotion, drama, & grotesqueries.

The Riddle of Steel--It was just a quick demo, but the nifty mechanics & Jake's enthusiasm for the game completely sold me on it. I want this game in a bad, bad way. (Sadly, my limited cash resources didn't allow me to buy the game at the con. But soon...soon...)

Synthesis--The system Mike Holmes & J B Bell are developing. It's very, very interesting. It deserves a separate post of its own, really. At some point I'll write one.

Superior!--Okay, it's not a role-playing game. But it was fun.

InSpectres--Twice. The first time was run by Jurgen & involved Ron Edwards as a true sorcerer using Sumerian rituals. I'm not saying any more about it, except that it had us all in stitches. Oh, & Jeff "Villains & Vigilantes" Dee was one of the Players. (Sorry to use that one game as reference, Jeff.)

[Mike Holmes]

Sure Josh, leave us all toting boxes out to our cars, claiming to have to meet with your SO, just so that you can get in the first post. Typical. ;-)

Well, I am still decompressing from what was, of all the Cons that I've ever attended, the best. Not just that I got to put out a game for the first time, but the play was outstanding. The demos were, I believe, proof of the potential of each and every one of the systems played. All sorts of random people sat down and played (and played, and played) games of all sorts and I don't think I saw any that went away without at least a smile and a good word, if not a copy of the game.

What I played:

Sorcerer and Space - I played two sessions, one actually prior to the con with Josh, Ron, Jurgen and Josh's SO. That one set up my revisions for the demo that I ran as the first at the booth, with Scott Knipe, Paul's friend Tom, and, um, I am so bad with names (post back here, whoever you are for playtest credits; I know it was a Forge poster). Anyhow, the scenario was fun for me to run, and solidified a few ideas in my mind. I think that I'll post on that separately.

Universalis - I played this one with Jason "I'm too sexy for my towel" Blair, and one of the Chicago contingent (again with the names). Anyhow, the game ended up being about a plot by members of the Hellfire club in a less technologically advanced 19th century London to cast some spell to raise the dead and crack the sky in a world the gods meddled in the affairs of mortals through their avatars who formed a sort of esthetically different superheroes. In the end, it turned out that Jack the Ripper was an avatar of Janus, and as such could change from man to woman, thus explaining how he gained the confidence of all the women that he had killed in an effort to provide sacrifices to the helffire club's ritual. Oh, and did I mention that he/she was the daughter of the chief councilor of the club? Overall, what would have been a great start to a strange campaign (so many Universalis runs are; I hope that now that people have the game that they will play them out).

InSpectres - I ran Ron's premade demo which included three characters (PF Tom, and two customers played), and the plot: A hotel owner's pool has been covered in purple slime, and their son has fallen in and has become Something Else. As always, that's all it took, and our heroes, based in an abandoned Taco Bell, after rercruiting their third member headed out to the field to clean up this problem. They ended up doing so mostly with the use of an an odd detector that went "Ping" a lot, and Butane torch that cause the purple goo (which had bunched itself up into a jello mold confiuration to attack) to explode all over the side of the hotel. After that it was just a matter of chasing the bits around (and paying for repainting thereafter), and little Timmy returned to normal. The best part, they caught most of it on video for later review!

Kayfabe - Matt Gwinn ran his demo for me and a potential customer (who I am sure bought; everyone bought Kayfabe). It was just a demo match, and we were doing well until the last couple of minutes, when my "opponent" kinda slowed down the match, and I tried for a huge finish with my character's "Bottletop Neckbreaker" move, gambling big on the ending. I rolled 16d6, and not a one came up with a 6 (I am classic that way). Apparently the maneuver look completely fake, my hands slipping around his sweatty head. So, what would have been a huge payoff in terms of Heat for our wrestlers, ended up being only a moderate showing. Ah, well, such are the tribulations of the wrestling circuit. Very fun game, and the wrestling is only a third of the action (you also have the scenduling, and the lockerroom politics).

Dust Devils - I played the same scenario twice, one with Forge folks, and once with customers. In the first, I was the gambler, and I was thrown in jail by Zeke (bountyhunter played by Paul) after I stuck the Sherrif in the back (see, I had let a guy out of his cell so that he would lead me to the gunfighter's loot, but it all went to hell). In the second, I played the gunfighter, and was shot by Zeke (customer) as the gambler distracted my character (actually trying to stop the fight). I reared up from the floor to try to shoot Zeke, but took out Delmer the bartender instead by accident, just befor Zeke finished me off.  Apparently Zeke has my number.

TROS - in a scenario inspired by the Origins game we all played, Jake ran me and two customers through a tight fight. In the end, I threw over my former master, and joined with the man who killed him replaceing his flunky in the upcomming wedding (he ended up chained to a galley). Fun fight as always. The following evening, Jake ran Gordon, Ralph, and myself through an intensely interesting discovery of the people of Fahal. My character, a priest from Numeria, was on the hunt for artifacts in this ancient land. Ralph was a marauding Savaxen warlord who's men had all been slain except for two. Gordon was a Cossak rider who had been kicked out of his homeland by the same tribe that had killed Ralph's men, and who pursued us into Fahal (shich caused their demise). We played for a long time, ending at four in the morning. The coolest scene for me was Jake's description of a blood ritual being performed in a sacred chamber (a ritual disturbed by Ralph's character who slew all 24 cuiltists in an orgy of gore). My character got to examine the chamber afterwards and determine the location of just the sort of artifacts he was looking for. In other words this would have been the start of a great campaign. I hate when the con ends and everyone has to return to their place of origin. :-(  Adagga will return to find those artifacts someday!

Synthesis - as Josh mentioned, we ran a test of Synthesis. The more I play it, the more I learn about it. I await Josh's post on this subject to discuss it, and I will thereafter be hellbent on improving it. Not that I think it's bad now, but I am really excited about the potential on this one.

My Life with Master - the changes necessary to complete this game are few, IMO. And Paul's already working on it, unless I'm mistaken. The session was a blast; Neff actually made me nauseous at one point. The system drives a very specific game, one that I really liked.

I missed out on Octane, my one regret (I was even tempted to play LF). And I think I am missing one or two games I played. As I said, still decompressing. I am feeling a little depressed about this being the last Milwaukee GenCon, but I got to say goodby to it in a special way (thanks to the Starchildren guys), and I am looking forward to doing it all again at Indianapolis. What was it somebody said? "Indie's at Indy?" I'm already waiting for it.

Big thanks to Ron and Jason for organizing such an effective venue for play.

Mike

[hardcoremoose]

Yo,

GenCon was fantastic, but unlike the rest of these schmoes, my con basically consisted of Charnel Gods.  I didn't get to play TROS, or octaNe, or Dust Devils, or Trollbabe (although I bought all of those).  I did squeeze in to an Jurgen's InSpectres game and had a blast, and Mike put me through my paces in his Sorcerer & Space demo/playtest (featuring the coolest demon I've ever created - an interstellar amoeba - who by the end of the session had a good chunk of the supporting cast entombed in its undulating mass...awesome stuff).

As for Charnel Gods...it was great.  The least successful session was actually the game I ran after hours for Gordon, Ralph and Travis, and even that came off okay.  The demos went well...I had players looking at each other and saying "this is the coolest thing I've ever played", and that always brings a smile to my face.  

The highlight, though, had to be running CG for a group of teenage girls.  They showed up at the booth wanting to play Sorcerer and somehow got shunted into my CG demo.  As odd as that was, they totally bought into the melodrama of the whole thing.  "It's just like a soap opera" one proclaimed, and indeed it was.  Jason Blair has pictures of that run somewhere, I think.

Overall, the experience was fantastic.  We played a lot, talked a lot, and proved that good games, properly supported through actual play, will sell themselves.

Take care,
Scott

[Trav]

As if everyone already couldn't tell Gen Con rocked.

I got to play in a lot of Sorcerer. The sorcerer and space game that Mike ran was fantastic, and it was a great way to start the con.

I also got a chance to fall in love with The Riddle of Steel. The only way to describe the game is WOW.

The Inspectres game with Moose, Josh, Jeff Dees, and Jurgen was absolutely fantastic, and listening to Ron and Jeff talk game design after the game was very inspiring.

It was just great meeting everyone.

trav

[Mike Holmes]

Travis, that's who I forgot! The man who participated in the first ever Sorcerer & Space demonic aerial combat. Sweet!

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

Scott, you are too kind. It was a riot GMing you guys, I hadly had to work. I watched a couple of your Charnel Gods demos, including the game with Ralph and gang, and I miss not having played. I'll be ordering a full copy ASAP.

Mike

P.S. Speaking of which, are they available now?

[hardcoremoose]

Mike,

Charnel Gods isn't available yet.  I'm not sure when they'll be ready - Mr. Snyder is the guy to ask about that - but I'm thinking maybe in two weeks.  Maybe.

BTW, those typos you pointed out have been fixed.  Thanks. ;)

I'll be all over Sorcerer in Space when it's ready, and anyone with even a passing interest in sci-fi Sorcerer should be as well.

- Scott

[Ron Edwards]

Games I played!

Sorcerer & Space: Mike Holmes, Josh, Julie, Jurgen, and me (more about this in the nearby thread soon)

Sorcerer: Peter Adkison, Jason Blair, Jake Norwood (more about this in the Sorc forum soon)

A Starchildren demo (with lots of help from Rich Ranallo; the rules just fled right out of my head between the writing and the playing of the demo)

An Elfs demo

Four demos of Little Fears

Several demos/combat demonstrations for The Riddle of Steel

At least five demos of Sorcerer (all the "In Utero" scenario, more about that in the forum later)

Trollbabe: Julie, Josh, and Rich (last name unknown)

Plus probably a bunch of other stuff I'm totally forgetting about.

The big regrets for me were not playing Le Mon Mouri, Charnel Gods, Nicotine Girls, or Universalis.

Best,
Ron

[Paul Czege]

Trollbabe: Julie, Josh, and Rich (last name unknown)

Danielle played too. Did Jared? Or did he just peer through his fingers at the horrid cross-gendered roleplay?

Paul

[Ron Edwards]

Oh, I'm all mixed up. The Trollbabe players were Danielle, Jared, and Rich. Josh was in Elfs. Blah.

Best,
Ron

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Trollbabe was very interesting. I liked it quite a bit. I really wish I was able to snag a copy. When's that sucker going to be on sale, Herr Edwards?

I ran an octaNe game for Jurgen and Rich Forest (it was awesome to meet Rich, he's a mammal, he's totally cool and by that I mean sweet, and he flips out and kills people! Jurgen...well, Jurgen is just the fuckin' MAN). Ummm...see, now do I wait for them to talk about it or do I start it off? It was fun...Jurgen's Monster Smasher and Rich's Ingenious Tinkerer got together in a jiff and went off to explore the ruins of Atlantis. There were giant wasp attacks, explosions, run-ins with a mysterious bluesman, fish tacos, a bar brawl with some bikers, a luchador named "El Mar," Pepe the boatboy, an evil octopoid and lost Atlantean technologies.

Todd Luikart ran octaNe Saturday night and Jurgen reprised his role as Mr. Spiner, the Monster Smasher. That damn game was so fun...Wasabi Jones, Brasco Hi-Fi, Poo-poo Kim Chi and Mojostophacles squared off against Poison Elvi, giant Gila Monsters, and deranged classical musicians...and emerged victorious. I'll let Todd & Co. talk about that game.

I also ran a game of InSpectres that went very well. Damn, that game is easy to run. Long story short: the team dealt with a re-animated giant ground sloth running amok in Muncie. Fun.

Much rocking was done.

[Matt Snyder]

Todd Luikart ran octaNe Saturday night and Jurgen reprised his role as Mr. Spiner, the Monster Smasher. That damn game was so fun...Wasabi Jones, Brasco Hi-Fi, Poo-poo Kim Chi and Mojostophacles squared off against Poison Elvi, giant Gila Monsters, and deranged classical musicians...and emerged victorious. I'll let Todd & Co. talk about that game.


quote]

You there. No, no, down here. In the belly. It's Mojostopheles! MOJOSTOPHELES! How is a mutant mastermind to take over the world when people keep referring to him as a Voodoo Greek Philosopher?!?

Idiots.

=-=-=-=-=-=-

(Matt would like to apologize for the behavior of the devious Mojostopheles and mention that, indeed, this session of octaNe rocked. Literally. Pretty much the most fun I had at the most entertaining Con ever.

Oh yeah, Jared rules. He is not wack, my brothers. Todd's a _great_ GM. Jason Blair is a monkey reincarnated. And Mike Mearls is SO high! Oh, and Jurgen. Yeah, Jurgen IS the man.

Finally, if you haven't already, get you hands on octaNe. Oh, wait, I have to finish the preview PDF first. Ok, so get it SOON.)

[Paul Czege]

That damn game was so fun...Wasabi Jones, Brasco Hi-Fi, Poo-poo Kim Chi and Mojostophacles squared off against Poison Elvi, giant Gila Monsters, and deranged classical musicians...and emerged victorious.

That...is a hell of a lot of spontaneous creativity. Poison Elvi...Mojostophacles...!!! No pre-planning, pre-prep for the game at all?

Paul

[Jared A. Sorensen]

That damn game was so fun...Wasabi Jones, Brasco Hi-Fi, Poo-poo Kim Chi and Mojostophacles squared off against Poison Elvi, giant Gila Monsters, and deranged classical musicians...and emerged victorious.

That...is a hell of a lot of spontaneous creativity. Poison Elvi...Mojostophacles...!!! No pre-planning, pre-prep for the game at all?

I believe Todd started with one major fight scene and a basic plot (find the King's guitar). Everything else either started from our characters or the players themselves.

The game was really just three scenes:

Each character was introduced in a brief vignette...most of them having to do with the character's Style. Mearls' monster truck-driving midget New Texacan (!) started out in a coliseum duel in his truck ("Little Big Badass" I believe) against a giant gila monster. Wasabi Jones (in his pimpmobile) was stuck in LA traffic and chatted with an alien gecko dude (Assland! Assland!), Mr. Spiner started on Monster Island, having just kicked some Gojira's ass. Wasabi picked him up and they drove to New Texaco (the third passenger was a drag queen  named Adele). Poo-poo the bathrobe-wearing monkey's scene was a flashback -- he saved a young lady from a mean dude and travelled from 'Frisco to New Texaco in search of his lost tail. Lastly, the co-joined mutant and his blind blues guitar-slingin' host body was sent from No'Land to find the guitar for Baron Samedi himself (great scene! The Baron appeared in a blues joint and everyone in the club keeled over, dead). One cool thing Todd did was to establish some "behind the scenes" scenes involving some real bad biker dudes as they traveled from juke joint to juke joint, laying waste to the patrons inside.

We dispensed with the pleasantries and leaped right into action against a squad of Elvis Impersonators who were after the guitar ("I'm Roy, this is Del..."). Young Elvis, Dead Elvis, a horde of Elvis mooks and a bungee-jumping Uzi Elvis (!) were all dealt with in short order thanx to Mojo's mojo and Brasco's monster truck.

The third and last big scene was a confrontation in Salt Lake City against Mozart Beethoven and the Final Chord, a cult of classical musicians who were going to use the guitar strings to finish their Harpsicord of Doom and destroy rock n' roll forever. The final scene was killer as the forces of country-western, blues and funk converged to fight the evil cult. Throw in Jurgen's Monster Smasher tossing mooks left and right and a dance-off between Poo-poo and Mozart and, well...it was awesome.

The story ended with credits and "photo snapshots" of the cast...my favorite was the one of the newly married Gecko and his bride, Adele (imagine a tuxedo'd lizard giving a toothy grin and a thumbs-up sign while being carried across the threshold by a six-foot tall trannie...).

PSYCHOTRONIC!

- J

Edit: I was pleased as punch to play the game and find out it ran EXACTLY as I imagined it. The Plot Points worked, the "limited-to-three-things" description worked and Hazards worked. My only regret was that the Rule of Rock n' Roll wasn't adhered to (although the players were all rockin' hard even without the tunes).

[Michael Hopcroft]

You guys had a lot more fun overall at your booth than I did at my booth. You got to play all those cool games while I spent four bloody days woith Jay Jay and Mr. Pickles glaring at me from the omnipresent TV screens. (If chimpanzees are an endangered species, then I'm all for it.)

I did get to GM one game of HeartQuest, the scheduled Slayers event. I can tell you more about it in another post if anyone;s interested, but basically it went really well.