Ack! I'm behind on telling stories of the past few games I've run or played in since the con. So, here's the Reader's Digest version.
June 15th game - played with a few of the McK group in a repeat of the game in which we were summoned creatures. I found it difficult to focus too much on the game because I had just survived the first week of camp and I was trying to work up the courage to confront a problem player. I ended up trying to avoid the combats and find a way to get the rod broken so we'd stop being called. Not sure if I succeeded. Finally got my courage up just as the player left, but didn't get to talk with him. Let's just say that the following week was awful as I agonized over my decision and forced the confrontation. I've only had to ask a player to leave my group once before, back in the early 1980's when I was in college. I'm still sad because I had hoped for a better response, a response of "let's still be friends, just let's not game together". Oh well.
June 22nd game - ran Boot Hill for the Grown-Up group. We had three visiting players. My approach to Boot Hill is to let the characters be the heroes in a spaghetti western style of game. Once characters were rolled, and a few plastic cowboys from the Dollar Store were laid out, it went seriously Gonzo. The group each chose a bad stereotype from any horrible western, and named themselves the Rainbow Coalition. The stated premise of the game was that the group had been hired by the town leaders of Brimstone to come bring Law & Order to the boomtown. Upon arrival, they are told of two murders by (presumably) the same gun. Their response? Go to the saloon and look for trouble. They ended up burning down the saloon, killing a gang leader as well as three cowboys, and stealing the prostitutes. They never got around to getting badges or getting introduced to the town. And the amount of silliness, geek jokes, and horrible puns caused all of us to laugh so hard and so long that we were all sore for two days. I think it was one of my best games ever.
June 29th - I think we're heading back to the Pathfinder Sky Pirates/Fisherman Anti-heroes game. While I'm not looking forward to the textbook sized set of rules, I am curious to see where our motley band of misfits end up next. It should be interesting.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
NTRPG Con 2012 - Saturday
The Saturday morning session was listed in the convention booklet as "Expect the Unexpected". Four different games had this title and they were in the big room used for the sessions and panels. The games were Metamorphosis Alpha with Jim Ward, Boot Hill with Frank Mentzer, Cavemaster with Jeff Dee, and Star Frontiers with Steve Winter. When I was registering for the games way back in April, I had a tough decision to make because I really wanted to play MA because I had seen the conversions listed in my DMG from way back. I also wanted to see how Boot Hill was supposed to be played. I had picked up a copy through Craigslist and had been running it based upon my short attention span reading of the rules. And I wanted to play Star Frontiers because I had bought the set when it came out way back in 1982 or 1983. So, I metagamed the decision. Jim Ward had missed the previous year's con because of health issues, and these guys weren't getting any younger.....so I picked MA.
Well, it turns out to have been a false choice because the con organizers had planned a pretty cool little gaming switch. Basically, we all met at our appropriate game's table, rolled up characters for that game, and got started. After an hour & a half, Doug (the con director, for lack of a better title) announced that we were all undergoing a "Quantum Leap" type of experience. We were supposed to pick up our dice and pencils, and move to the next table over. We left our character sheets for someone else to play and we picked up a new character.
So, I started in MA as "Sarge" because I was the oldest player at the table. I gave orders to everyone except LT, our lieutenant. He was played by the youngest player in our group. He had to give me orders and I would interpret his orders to the others. Jim is a funny GM, but he also plays by the original style of "anything you say, your character says" and "what you say you're doing first, is what you're doing now". Initially, it was funny. But that wears off pretty fast. We were part of the security team called in to check out odd readings on two levels of the 17 level spacecraft. Our LT wasn't paying attention to the levels listed so he ordered us to go to the top level and work our way down. Reaching the top level, we discover the place is overrun with 8' long single eyed sluglike creatures. They radiated hostility and shot us with radiation rays from their single eye. Our return fire was pretty ineffective. One of our group was so damaged by radiation that he began to mutate. Jim said he "couldn't kill us because of the rules" so he threw the guy in a healing pod. The guy had a crystal baby emerge from his side. It was telepathic, superintelligent, and very dangerous. We managed to escape the slugs and go back to base. We put the baby in a cell and it immediately started hacking the computer terminal in there. Then we jumped.
My first jump was to Boot Hill. And for some reason, Frank felt it necessary to give us a lecture on the history of the Arizona & New Mexico territories from 1865 to 1890, tell us of Washington politics during the same period, and fill us in on the complete backstory. Time lost: just over an hour. We got all of 30 minutes of play when we "jumped" again. I think we were part of a bodyguard group for some government caravan or something. Not sure.
The next jump put me in the Star Frontiers game. However, because some folks were very upset with the concept of the jumping because they wanted only the one game, they left. Thus, some games were short by two or three players. I had to quickly roll up a SF character and I picked a Dralasite, a large amoeba-like creature known for its scientific reasoning ability. We were on an ice planet hunting down the source of gravitational waves which were causing a serious destabilization of a space station orbiting the planet. We were looking for a missing away team and dealing with hostile aliens. We did discover the area in which the waves were being generated just as we jumped again.
Looking around, we were now Neolithic cavemen. I was a female healer named Healing Milk. The Cavemaster system is really interesting and simple to learn. We were literally in the middle of a battle with pteranodons/pteradactyls. Once we drove those off, we learned we were chasing a group known to be cannibals which had stolen some of our women and children. The group pushed themselves pretty hard and managed to finally catch up to the enemy. We made our plans to attack them just before dawn. As we all charged the sleeping camp, we jumped again...back to our original game.
Sitting back down to my original character, I see some of my equipment had been used or destroyed. And I had a batch of odd things I didn't know what they were. We were told that we were currently in the office of the ship's captain and were being chewed out for the damage we had done to the ship. Apparently, the baby had destroyed an entire level and was draining power from the ship. Our LT read a note on our map (from a previous group) which just said "big guy", and ordered us all to go visit him. The "big guy" was a large crystal creature. It shot two of our characters with some sort of egg laying device. They died quickly as something ate them from the inside out. As we ran from the creature, we encountered the slugs. Ducking into a warehouse, we found several hundred robots. The LT ordered them to head out and attack the crystal creature and the slugs. They all tried to move, avoid us, and get to the door....which caused them all to become a wall trapping us in the warehouse. The slugs and creature reached us at the same time. In short, we all died.
So, the lessons learned here are: Jim Ward games are interesting but I don't think I'll play in another one. Same for Frank. I will try to get a copy of Cavemaster. I want to play that game some more. And I'm glad I got to play Star Frontiers again. It's going to be a game I look for next year at the con.
The afternoon was supposed to be filled with an artist panel, but I was too tired and hungry. After grabbing some lunch, I watched the raffle and auction. Dewayne got a nice batch of gaming swag from the raffle. I got all 5 volumes of the Best of Dragon Magazine in the auction. Despite buying several tickets, I did not get anything in the raffle....which is disappointing. The auction had nice stuff as well but the prices were just way too high for this school teacher to afford. I was supposed to be in Tim Kask's OD&D game in the evening but I just wasn't in the mood for old guy shenanigans so I skipped out. A group of us sat around and kibitzed in the hotel lobby. Eventually we started a pick up game B/X D&D game but it broke up at 10 because we're old and tired. I can't wait until next year!
Well, it turns out to have been a false choice because the con organizers had planned a pretty cool little gaming switch. Basically, we all met at our appropriate game's table, rolled up characters for that game, and got started. After an hour & a half, Doug (the con director, for lack of a better title) announced that we were all undergoing a "Quantum Leap" type of experience. We were supposed to pick up our dice and pencils, and move to the next table over. We left our character sheets for someone else to play and we picked up a new character.
So, I started in MA as "Sarge" because I was the oldest player at the table. I gave orders to everyone except LT, our lieutenant. He was played by the youngest player in our group. He had to give me orders and I would interpret his orders to the others. Jim is a funny GM, but he also plays by the original style of "anything you say, your character says" and "what you say you're doing first, is what you're doing now". Initially, it was funny. But that wears off pretty fast. We were part of the security team called in to check out odd readings on two levels of the 17 level spacecraft. Our LT wasn't paying attention to the levels listed so he ordered us to go to the top level and work our way down. Reaching the top level, we discover the place is overrun with 8' long single eyed sluglike creatures. They radiated hostility and shot us with radiation rays from their single eye. Our return fire was pretty ineffective. One of our group was so damaged by radiation that he began to mutate. Jim said he "couldn't kill us because of the rules" so he threw the guy in a healing pod. The guy had a crystal baby emerge from his side. It was telepathic, superintelligent, and very dangerous. We managed to escape the slugs and go back to base. We put the baby in a cell and it immediately started hacking the computer terminal in there. Then we jumped.
My first jump was to Boot Hill. And for some reason, Frank felt it necessary to give us a lecture on the history of the Arizona & New Mexico territories from 1865 to 1890, tell us of Washington politics during the same period, and fill us in on the complete backstory. Time lost: just over an hour. We got all of 30 minutes of play when we "jumped" again. I think we were part of a bodyguard group for some government caravan or something. Not sure.
The next jump put me in the Star Frontiers game. However, because some folks were very upset with the concept of the jumping because they wanted only the one game, they left. Thus, some games were short by two or three players. I had to quickly roll up a SF character and I picked a Dralasite, a large amoeba-like creature known for its scientific reasoning ability. We were on an ice planet hunting down the source of gravitational waves which were causing a serious destabilization of a space station orbiting the planet. We were looking for a missing away team and dealing with hostile aliens. We did discover the area in which the waves were being generated just as we jumped again.
Looking around, we were now Neolithic cavemen. I was a female healer named Healing Milk. The Cavemaster system is really interesting and simple to learn. We were literally in the middle of a battle with pteranodons/pteradactyls. Once we drove those off, we learned we were chasing a group known to be cannibals which had stolen some of our women and children. The group pushed themselves pretty hard and managed to finally catch up to the enemy. We made our plans to attack them just before dawn. As we all charged the sleeping camp, we jumped again...back to our original game.
Sitting back down to my original character, I see some of my equipment had been used or destroyed. And I had a batch of odd things I didn't know what they were. We were told that we were currently in the office of the ship's captain and were being chewed out for the damage we had done to the ship. Apparently, the baby had destroyed an entire level and was draining power from the ship. Our LT read a note on our map (from a previous group) which just said "big guy", and ordered us all to go visit him. The "big guy" was a large crystal creature. It shot two of our characters with some sort of egg laying device. They died quickly as something ate them from the inside out. As we ran from the creature, we encountered the slugs. Ducking into a warehouse, we found several hundred robots. The LT ordered them to head out and attack the crystal creature and the slugs. They all tried to move, avoid us, and get to the door....which caused them all to become a wall trapping us in the warehouse. The slugs and creature reached us at the same time. In short, we all died.
So, the lessons learned here are: Jim Ward games are interesting but I don't think I'll play in another one. Same for Frank. I will try to get a copy of Cavemaster. I want to play that game some more. And I'm glad I got to play Star Frontiers again. It's going to be a game I look for next year at the con.
The afternoon was supposed to be filled with an artist panel, but I was too tired and hungry. After grabbing some lunch, I watched the raffle and auction. Dewayne got a nice batch of gaming swag from the raffle. I got all 5 volumes of the Best of Dragon Magazine in the auction. Despite buying several tickets, I did not get anything in the raffle....which is disappointing. The auction had nice stuff as well but the prices were just way too high for this school teacher to afford. I was supposed to be in Tim Kask's OD&D game in the evening but I just wasn't in the mood for old guy shenanigans so I skipped out. A group of us sat around and kibitzed in the hotel lobby. Eventually we started a pick up game B/X D&D game but it broke up at 10 because we're old and tired. I can't wait until next year!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
NTRPG Con 2012 - Friday Afternoon & Evening
After taking my leave of Steve Winter's Gamma World game, I scoured the vendor tables looking for a copy of Gamma World. I thought I had seen one....and I had. I watched Zeb Cook buy it. Bummer. Oh well, there's always Ebay.
One thing I didn't mention about the GW game; Dewayne sat next to me and kibitzed the entire time. He also talked the waiter into bringing a pot of coffee to us. It was refilled three or four times. I must have drunk 8 cups of coffee during that game. I was buzzing....which meant no nap. I had hoped to nap for some of the 2 hours before the interview/session with Michael Curtis & Tim Kask on Gonzo Gaming. Nope...not happening. I wasn't even hungry. So, I wandered around and visited with folks. Got a few more signatures which meant I could leave more stuff back in the room instead of carrying around the heavy backpack.
So, the session was interesting. Not what I had expected, but interesting. Tim basically told stories about how to be flexible at the table and how to let the players drive the story. He doesn't allow anyone to have a rulebook at the table and he models that by not having one as well. The point is to have fun, not argue over rules. Michael gave some great advice on how to turn the game around. His main example was a 10' x 10' room with a chest and an orc. The trope is the orc is guarding the chest, which may be trapped, and the party has to kill the orc, defeat the trap, and get out with the gold. But, what if the orc is guarded by the chest? The scenario is that the orc was on patrol, slipped and fell against the chest which armed the trap. If he moves, he dies. Now the party appears and the situation is now all RP instead of all combat. In fact, Michael prefers to go RP as much as possible. As he put it, "Rolling dice can kill you. Why would I want to roll dice?" I want to game with him now. I wish I had signed up for his DCC game.
At 6pm, I met up with a few friends, acquaintances, and a guy I had not met before to play in Dennis Sustare's Swords & Wizardry game. The title was Pictures at an Exhibition. We were tourists (mostly) who had stopped for an day and night in a quaint little village port and we had taken advantage of the cruise line's tour of the art museum in the city. There was an exhibition of 10 paintings by an unknown artist of extraordinary talent. As we perused the artwork, one player moved close to one piece and we were all sucked into it. In the piece, there was a tree with odd brightly colored glass balls decorating it. A dozen or so brightly wrapped boxes were under the tree. Two birds could be heard singing in the tree. And some gnome was originally kneeling in front of the tree looking at the boxes. It fled when we appeared. We had to solve a mini-game to free the birds from some curse. Once we completed the task, we were each awarded a box as a thank you gift. Then we found ourselves back in the art gallery and the picture was gone. We looked at 5 of the 10 pictures in 4+ hours. One had a very simple riddle to solve. One had a very tough set of riddles to solve. One we completely failed to solve correctly and the patient died.
It was an enjoyable game. One of the players made the evening difficult for the rest of us by not paying attention to anything the rest of us were doing and going off on his own. Anyway, it put a serious damper on what would have been a great game. I'm not sure I would play in another of Dennis's games. He presents thoughtful scenarios with a lot of RP opportunity. If I can play without our discordant player, I would join in. However, if he is present, I'll bow out.
The evening wrapped up with cigars (for the others, I don't smoke) and drinks on the hotel's patio. It was nice to sit and visit with various gamers and get their opinions of the games they've played. I'm definitely going to try Runequest and Empire of the Petal Throne next year.
One thing I didn't mention about the GW game; Dewayne sat next to me and kibitzed the entire time. He also talked the waiter into bringing a pot of coffee to us. It was refilled three or four times. I must have drunk 8 cups of coffee during that game. I was buzzing....which meant no nap. I had hoped to nap for some of the 2 hours before the interview/session with Michael Curtis & Tim Kask on Gonzo Gaming. Nope...not happening. I wasn't even hungry. So, I wandered around and visited with folks. Got a few more signatures which meant I could leave more stuff back in the room instead of carrying around the heavy backpack.
So, the session was interesting. Not what I had expected, but interesting. Tim basically told stories about how to be flexible at the table and how to let the players drive the story. He doesn't allow anyone to have a rulebook at the table and he models that by not having one as well. The point is to have fun, not argue over rules. Michael gave some great advice on how to turn the game around. His main example was a 10' x 10' room with a chest and an orc. The trope is the orc is guarding the chest, which may be trapped, and the party has to kill the orc, defeat the trap, and get out with the gold. But, what if the orc is guarded by the chest? The scenario is that the orc was on patrol, slipped and fell against the chest which armed the trap. If he moves, he dies. Now the party appears and the situation is now all RP instead of all combat. In fact, Michael prefers to go RP as much as possible. As he put it, "Rolling dice can kill you. Why would I want to roll dice?" I want to game with him now. I wish I had signed up for his DCC game.
At 6pm, I met up with a few friends, acquaintances, and a guy I had not met before to play in Dennis Sustare's Swords & Wizardry game. The title was Pictures at an Exhibition. We were tourists (mostly) who had stopped for an day and night in a quaint little village port and we had taken advantage of the cruise line's tour of the art museum in the city. There was an exhibition of 10 paintings by an unknown artist of extraordinary talent. As we perused the artwork, one player moved close to one piece and we were all sucked into it. In the piece, there was a tree with odd brightly colored glass balls decorating it. A dozen or so brightly wrapped boxes were under the tree. Two birds could be heard singing in the tree. And some gnome was originally kneeling in front of the tree looking at the boxes. It fled when we appeared. We had to solve a mini-game to free the birds from some curse. Once we completed the task, we were each awarded a box as a thank you gift. Then we found ourselves back in the art gallery and the picture was gone. We looked at 5 of the 10 pictures in 4+ hours. One had a very simple riddle to solve. One had a very tough set of riddles to solve. One we completely failed to solve correctly and the patient died.
It was an enjoyable game. One of the players made the evening difficult for the rest of us by not paying attention to anything the rest of us were doing and going off on his own. Anyway, it put a serious damper on what would have been a great game. I'm not sure I would play in another of Dennis's games. He presents thoughtful scenarios with a lot of RP opportunity. If I can play without our discordant player, I would join in. However, if he is present, I'll bow out.
The evening wrapped up with cigars (for the others, I don't smoke) and drinks on the hotel's patio. It was nice to sit and visit with various gamers and get their opinions of the games they've played. I'm definitely going to try Runequest and Empire of the Petal Throne next year.
Monday, June 18, 2012
NTRPG Con 2012 - Friday AM Session
I woke up at 6:30 on Friday morning, afraid that I would oversleep and miss my first game. A relatively quick shower (water took forever to heat up) and dressing in the dark because my roomie was still asleep, and I was out the door. Headed down to get a quick breakfast.....and the restaurant was filling up with only one waitress working all the tables as well as bussing them. It took 10 minutes to get my breakfast ordered and over 20 minutes for it to arrive. It wasn't completely correct, but it was good.
My first game was Gamma World run by Steve Winter. Honestly, I never paid that much attention to who did what back in the TSR days and I probably still get identification wrong more often than right, so I entered the game not feeling particularly in awe of the DM. However, after quickly going through the basics of GW character creation and getting a very helpful suggestions from Steve, I was ready. My character was a mutated human with three mutant powers (Heightened Dexterity, Improved Constitution, Mental Defense Shield) and one defect (Secondary Brain). We had in our group a mutant Corgi, a couple of mutated humans, and something else but I can't remember what right now. We worked for Professor Monkey who ran a large laboratory facility which moved about on tracks. Professor Monkey had heard of an agricultural center in the area and wanted us to check it out with the goal of placing the facility under his control. So, we loaded up with whatever items we could think of (literally...Steve said just ask and he'd okay it or not) and then we headed in the direction of a very large tower. On the way, we found a line painted on the ground and a sign pointing to the right stating "Danger! Do Not Cross Line! Entrance 8 km." One of our group decided to fly over it. He hit the force field, a loud explosion was heard, and his charred body landed on our side of the painted line. A few moments later, his clone replacement showed up. We thoughtfully followed the directions on the sign.
Rounding a hill, we found a set of large stones near two posts and a lintel. On the lintel was a sign reading "Advanced Agricultural Experimental Station. Authorized Personnel Only." On the stones were these reptilian creatures that looked like a cross between a gecko and an alligator. (Aside: one of our group was a mutated human who constantly produced a hostility field around her. Anyone withing 30 feet instantly had all reaction rolls shift 3 places toward animosity. I never quite caught the young lady's name who played the character, but she did a fantastic job.) So, our "tank" got her gun out and started prepping it. I stepped forward and greeted the lizards. Steve played them like sunbathing Californians. We gathered information (people go in, no one comes out: tower lights up at night: beware the blue guy) and we entered in. As we were walking toward this large tower, we spotted a large blue creature with one eye, small wings, and two large clawed front feet. It saw us, took flight, and swooped around us giving us the once-over. I stepped forward and greeted it. "What the hell are you doing? Is your mutant power 'stupidity'? Are you going to greet everyone we meet?", she said out of character. I just grinned and I saw Steve turn thoughtful. "HI THERE!" the creature boomed out as it landed. I talked with it about the people going in and if any one leaves. Nope no one....."your shirt looks delicious"....Yep, you read that right. For every couple of questions, the creature wanted to try eating one item of clothing. It got silly and it was hilarious.
This has to be put separately: STEVE WINTER IS ONE OF THE BEST DM'S I'VE EVER HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF PLAYING WITH. He was great!
Anyway, we headed toward the tower and soon picked up the smell of food and burning hemp. The tower was surrounded by a large village of hippies of all types. Moving amongst the hippies were two types of creatures. One was humanoid pigs and the other were very large armadillo like creatures. Our female was constantly told "hey, you're killing our vibe! What's your problem?" and soon we were ushered up to the front of the line to get white ration cards and a plateful of food. Obviously the food was drugged because the creatures would push the hippies around and they didn't care. A quick check of our resources turned up something very useful: one of our humans could take over another creature's body on a successful roll. So, he took over an armadillo and escorted us inside the tower, past a dozen pig guards. Inside, we paid the elevator fee and went up to the next floor. Here, horse humanoids ran all the farm equipment which cultivated grain. We learned there was a Fruit level, a Dairy level, a Meats level, and the Agrarian's Level.
Well, this could take a while, so I'm going to cut out some of the details. Basically, we learned that we could take the elevator only if we had the right color ID card. The stairs are punishment for anyone because the tower is 2 km tall and the stairwell is full of radiation and poisonous gases. The mutated flatworms handle transfer of the proper forms of muck for each level, and are incredibly stupid. So, taking over a flatworm, our player convinced the Meat Level bull people to give him an ID card to get up to the Agrarian by bluffing them into thinking he had seen some new plans for the levels. In the Agrarian level, we found just about every kind of bot all linked together running the place. So, being PC's, we destroyed it. Shooting out a window, one of the PCs could fly and he went to report to Professor Monkey. Talking another creature which could fly into helping us, it took us to the basement to talk with the fusion core. (All Hail the Fusion Core!) It had turned sentient and let us in to talk with us about the outside world, despite the objections of many warbots.
In short, we got the place relatively easily with lots of funny shenanigans. It was great! I am now hunting down a copy of the old Gamma World game so I can run it.
My first game was Gamma World run by Steve Winter. Honestly, I never paid that much attention to who did what back in the TSR days and I probably still get identification wrong more often than right, so I entered the game not feeling particularly in awe of the DM. However, after quickly going through the basics of GW character creation and getting a very helpful suggestions from Steve, I was ready. My character was a mutated human with three mutant powers (Heightened Dexterity, Improved Constitution, Mental Defense Shield) and one defect (Secondary Brain). We had in our group a mutant Corgi, a couple of mutated humans, and something else but I can't remember what right now. We worked for Professor Monkey who ran a large laboratory facility which moved about on tracks. Professor Monkey had heard of an agricultural center in the area and wanted us to check it out with the goal of placing the facility under his control. So, we loaded up with whatever items we could think of (literally...Steve said just ask and he'd okay it or not) and then we headed in the direction of a very large tower. On the way, we found a line painted on the ground and a sign pointing to the right stating "Danger! Do Not Cross Line! Entrance 8 km." One of our group decided to fly over it. He hit the force field, a loud explosion was heard, and his charred body landed on our side of the painted line. A few moments later, his clone replacement showed up. We thoughtfully followed the directions on the sign.
Rounding a hill, we found a set of large stones near two posts and a lintel. On the lintel was a sign reading "Advanced Agricultural Experimental Station. Authorized Personnel Only." On the stones were these reptilian creatures that looked like a cross between a gecko and an alligator. (Aside: one of our group was a mutated human who constantly produced a hostility field around her. Anyone withing 30 feet instantly had all reaction rolls shift 3 places toward animosity. I never quite caught the young lady's name who played the character, but she did a fantastic job.) So, our "tank" got her gun out and started prepping it. I stepped forward and greeted the lizards. Steve played them like sunbathing Californians. We gathered information (people go in, no one comes out: tower lights up at night: beware the blue guy) and we entered in. As we were walking toward this large tower, we spotted a large blue creature with one eye, small wings, and two large clawed front feet. It saw us, took flight, and swooped around us giving us the once-over. I stepped forward and greeted it. "What the hell are you doing? Is your mutant power 'stupidity'? Are you going to greet everyone we meet?", she said out of character. I just grinned and I saw Steve turn thoughtful. "HI THERE!" the creature boomed out as it landed. I talked with it about the people going in and if any one leaves. Nope no one....."your shirt looks delicious"....Yep, you read that right. For every couple of questions, the creature wanted to try eating one item of clothing. It got silly and it was hilarious.
This has to be put separately: STEVE WINTER IS ONE OF THE BEST DM'S I'VE EVER HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF PLAYING WITH. He was great!
Anyway, we headed toward the tower and soon picked up the smell of food and burning hemp. The tower was surrounded by a large village of hippies of all types. Moving amongst the hippies were two types of creatures. One was humanoid pigs and the other were very large armadillo like creatures. Our female was constantly told "hey, you're killing our vibe! What's your problem?" and soon we were ushered up to the front of the line to get white ration cards and a plateful of food. Obviously the food was drugged because the creatures would push the hippies around and they didn't care. A quick check of our resources turned up something very useful: one of our humans could take over another creature's body on a successful roll. So, he took over an armadillo and escorted us inside the tower, past a dozen pig guards. Inside, we paid the elevator fee and went up to the next floor. Here, horse humanoids ran all the farm equipment which cultivated grain. We learned there was a Fruit level, a Dairy level, a Meats level, and the Agrarian's Level.
Well, this could take a while, so I'm going to cut out some of the details. Basically, we learned that we could take the elevator only if we had the right color ID card. The stairs are punishment for anyone because the tower is 2 km tall and the stairwell is full of radiation and poisonous gases. The mutated flatworms handle transfer of the proper forms of muck for each level, and are incredibly stupid. So, taking over a flatworm, our player convinced the Meat Level bull people to give him an ID card to get up to the Agrarian by bluffing them into thinking he had seen some new plans for the levels. In the Agrarian level, we found just about every kind of bot all linked together running the place. So, being PC's, we destroyed it. Shooting out a window, one of the PCs could fly and he went to report to Professor Monkey. Talking another creature which could fly into helping us, it took us to the basement to talk with the fusion core. (All Hail the Fusion Core!) It had turned sentient and let us in to talk with us about the outside world, despite the objections of many warbots.
In short, we got the place relatively easily with lots of funny shenanigans. It was great! I am now hunting down a copy of the old Gamma World game so I can run it.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
NTRPG Con - Thurs Night
I realized that I can write something almost every night this week. I may try to do that.
Thursday, June 4th.....the North Texas Role Playing Games Con officially starts at 6pm. I wanted to get there by noon to have lunch with a special guest or two and hang out with old friends. But Susan needed me to drive her to the doctor and drive her home, then she wanted a lunch with just the two of us (which was really nice). I finally got over to the con at almost 4pm. Checked in and dumped my stuff in my room. The Bedford Holiday Inn's hallways looked like that scene from Poltergeist in which the hallway narrowed and elongated. The ceiling was maybe 7 feet. The room was nice but the toilet was weak. Not good when two older guys are sharing a room.
I checked in and got my registration packet. I had forgotten that I had bought 10 raffle tickets. Filling out all the tickets and dropping them in the appropriate hopper, I noticed that there was a silent auction set up. Nothing worth bidding on when I did a cursory view. Wish I had looked closer. Apparently the items rotated out and new ones were brought in a couple of times a day. I was disappointed that no one had put our registered games in our packet. Next year, I'll be sure to print it out. I did know that my first game was set by tradition: Mythus Tower with Matt Finch.
Looking at the con layout, I realized that no one at the hotel knew how to handle a con. One set of gaming rooms and the registration table was at one end of the hotel. The other gaming rooms (including Mythrus Tower) and the Guest Sessions and Panels were at the complete opposite end of the hotel. Great, lots of walking back and forth. Did I mention that I had a large backpack filled with gaming stuff I wanted to get signed? Yeah, it weighed a ton.
Dewayne and I met up with Charlie and headed to the bar. We had at least an hour before the game. In the bar, Matt comes in. I get him to sign a couple of things. As we're standing there, Michael Curtis comes in. He did the Stonehell Dungeon as well as The Dungeon Alphabet (excellent resources!). I tell him how privileged I felt to get to meet him as well as how I stole his idea of kobold workers and made them a union. He loved it. He signed my books, even referencing the kobolds. Pretty cool. As we stood there and talked, I got to meet two guys from previous years and who are on the Knights & Knaves Alehouse forums. This was an auspicious start to the con.
Dewayne ordered us a couple of pizzas from Papa John's and we headed over to the game. Matt dug around for our character sheets but couldn't find mine. I think I had died last year but I couldn't remember. So, Dewayne & I rolled up characters. I made a halfling fighter named Dalf (I like that name) and Dewayne was Salf the Dwarf. We were brothers, twin brothers. We entered the Tower with the group and started heading down into the deeper parts. Charlie wanted to steal a door. As we were working on getting a door loose in game, several of the guests started showing up to visit. Tim Kask told us that doors were one of his favorite items to take when he explored dungeons. That's all the encouragement we needed. In game, the noise of removing the door summoned two carrion crawlers. The ensuing battle was quite interesting because Charlie rolled a 1 when trying to drop a door on a crawler and instead ended up being pinned under it by the crawler. Our party of 10 soon dropped to 3 after a few paralyzation attacks. We did manage to kill the crawlers and no one died (I think). We also learned that halfling urine breaks the paralyzing power of the crawlers, if a saving throw is made.
We took a break and we all decided we were too tired to carry on. So, a couple of late comers took our spot and we retired back to town. Not bad. I plan to get more rest before the next con though.
Next post, Friday's games: Gamma World and another Swords & Wizardry game run by Dennis Sustare (creator of the Druid class in D&D).
Thursday, June 4th.....the North Texas Role Playing Games Con officially starts at 6pm. I wanted to get there by noon to have lunch with a special guest or two and hang out with old friends. But Susan needed me to drive her to the doctor and drive her home, then she wanted a lunch with just the two of us (which was really nice). I finally got over to the con at almost 4pm. Checked in and dumped my stuff in my room. The Bedford Holiday Inn's hallways looked like that scene from Poltergeist in which the hallway narrowed and elongated. The ceiling was maybe 7 feet. The room was nice but the toilet was weak. Not good when two older guys are sharing a room.
I checked in and got my registration packet. I had forgotten that I had bought 10 raffle tickets. Filling out all the tickets and dropping them in the appropriate hopper, I noticed that there was a silent auction set up. Nothing worth bidding on when I did a cursory view. Wish I had looked closer. Apparently the items rotated out and new ones were brought in a couple of times a day. I was disappointed that no one had put our registered games in our packet. Next year, I'll be sure to print it out. I did know that my first game was set by tradition: Mythus Tower with Matt Finch.
Looking at the con layout, I realized that no one at the hotel knew how to handle a con. One set of gaming rooms and the registration table was at one end of the hotel. The other gaming rooms (including Mythrus Tower) and the Guest Sessions and Panels were at the complete opposite end of the hotel. Great, lots of walking back and forth. Did I mention that I had a large backpack filled with gaming stuff I wanted to get signed? Yeah, it weighed a ton.
Dewayne and I met up with Charlie and headed to the bar. We had at least an hour before the game. In the bar, Matt comes in. I get him to sign a couple of things. As we're standing there, Michael Curtis comes in. He did the Stonehell Dungeon as well as The Dungeon Alphabet (excellent resources!). I tell him how privileged I felt to get to meet him as well as how I stole his idea of kobold workers and made them a union. He loved it. He signed my books, even referencing the kobolds. Pretty cool. As we stood there and talked, I got to meet two guys from previous years and who are on the Knights & Knaves Alehouse forums. This was an auspicious start to the con.
Dewayne ordered us a couple of pizzas from Papa John's and we headed over to the game. Matt dug around for our character sheets but couldn't find mine. I think I had died last year but I couldn't remember. So, Dewayne & I rolled up characters. I made a halfling fighter named Dalf (I like that name) and Dewayne was Salf the Dwarf. We were brothers, twin brothers. We entered the Tower with the group and started heading down into the deeper parts. Charlie wanted to steal a door. As we were working on getting a door loose in game, several of the guests started showing up to visit. Tim Kask told us that doors were one of his favorite items to take when he explored dungeons. That's all the encouragement we needed. In game, the noise of removing the door summoned two carrion crawlers. The ensuing battle was quite interesting because Charlie rolled a 1 when trying to drop a door on a crawler and instead ended up being pinned under it by the crawler. Our party of 10 soon dropped to 3 after a few paralyzation attacks. We did manage to kill the crawlers and no one died (I think). We also learned that halfling urine breaks the paralyzing power of the crawlers, if a saving throw is made.
We took a break and we all decided we were too tired to carry on. So, a couple of late comers took our spot and we retired back to town. Not bad. I plan to get more rest before the next con though.
Next post, Friday's games: Gamma World and another Swords & Wizardry game run by Dennis Sustare (creator of the Druid class in D&D).
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Insanity of Life
Well, I had planned on following up the last post with a day-by-day presentation of the games, sessions, and people I had the opportunity to meet and play with. However, Life has grabbed me by the short hairs and is yanking me around. Summer camp is a lot busier than I had thought it would be. Also, the due date for my first grandchild has been moved up a week because she's bigger than expected and my little daughter may not be able to have her normally. In addition to all this, my guilt driver/app is running on HIGH because I've been wanting to get rid of a lot of crap in our garage as well as culling a lot of my gaming stuff. We as a family have way too much clutter.
So, in reference to dumping some gaming stuff, here's what I've decided. I'm dumping as much of my 3e/3.5 stuff as I can. Most of it is reference material which I'm just not interested in looking at anymore. Some of the books might have some interesting ideas for other GMs to use in their games, but I've read through them enough to get the gist of what I want and they're just taking up space. Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to list them all here yet. I will....eventually. If there's something some one wants, ask. I might have it. I'd take a picture, but for some reason the camera on my phone quit working two weeks ago and I've not bothered getting it fixed.
I will come back and post the day-by-day stuff later.
So, in reference to dumping some gaming stuff, here's what I've decided. I'm dumping as much of my 3e/3.5 stuff as I can. Most of it is reference material which I'm just not interested in looking at anymore. Some of the books might have some interesting ideas for other GMs to use in their games, but I've read through them enough to get the gist of what I want and they're just taking up space. Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to list them all here yet. I will....eventually. If there's something some one wants, ask. I might have it. I'd take a picture, but for some reason the camera on my phone quit working two weeks ago and I've not bothered getting it fixed.
I will come back and post the day-by-day stuff later.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
NTRPG Con Overview
Wow...I'm still so tired even after a nap. That was a great time. I think everyone who reads this is or has been to this con, so I'll spare most of the details. Basically, it's an excuse to play games for 3 or 4 days straight, hang out with other people as insane about gaming as you are, drink large amounts of coffee and beer (and sometimes wine), buy stuff to complete a collection or scratch a gaming itch, and visit with some of the folks who are or who did make some iconic gaming systems. And as is usually the case, I bring a batch of stuff to get signed which I manage to do, but I then learn that three or four other folks are there and all my stuff that I could have them sign is at home. Arggghhh....Next year.
So, I've already started making a list of books to get signed for next year.....and hoping that they all will be back to get it signed. So far, any of them who've come once has made it a point of coming again.
The games I got to play:
Thursday night is a tradition - Matt Finch running Mythmere Tower using Swords & Wizardry Core rules. Friday consisted of Gamma World run by Steve Winter (one of the best DM's I've ever seen) in the morning and Swords & Wizardry module written and run by Dr. Dennis Sustarre (the creator of the Druid class in D&D as well as a couple of the spells).
Saturday morning was an interesting game. We were in a large room with 4 tables running 4 different games: Metamorphosis Alpha (run by its creator Jim Ward), Boot Hill (run by Frank Mentzer, editor/writer of the last set of Dungeons & Dragons books before TSR was bought by WotC and the game was stopped), Cavemaster (run by its creator, Jeff Dee), and Star Frontiers (run by Steve Winter). Basically, we were going to play in all 4 games in a Quantum Leap like way. The plan was that at specified times, everything would stop. Our characters would feel a strange vertigo and falling sensation and then "come to" in the bodies of other characters. We were supposed to get up from our table and leave our character sheets there, move to the next table and sit down at a character sheet there. Then play would resume after a short intro to the basics of the game. This could have been a really fun and cool session....however, not all the DM's got the memo on the "short intro" and the "resume play right where you left off" parts. So, Frank Mentzer had to give us an hour long history lesson about the territories in the western US from 1860 to 1882 and a history lesson on inventions between 1850 and 1900 so we didn't mess up historical accuracy. Basically, we got about 20 minutes of play when we should have had 1.5 hours. I realized I had not been playing Boot Hill correctly but I don't care. I like my way better. And I realized that I want to run a Star Frontiers game sometime. Saturday night I bailed on playing OD&D run by Tim Kask (first editor of the Dragon magazine as well as editor of many of the early rulebooks and modules). Instead, I had fun visiting with old friends and new, and eventually getting in a little Basic D&D game before I started having trouble focusing on the dice.
I now realize I have way too much gaming stuff. I'm going to catalog and cull in the next few weeks. This should also help me figure out what to bring next year to get signed.
Game On!
So, I've already started making a list of books to get signed for next year.....and hoping that they all will be back to get it signed. So far, any of them who've come once has made it a point of coming again.
The games I got to play:
Thursday night is a tradition - Matt Finch running Mythmere Tower using Swords & Wizardry Core rules. Friday consisted of Gamma World run by Steve Winter (one of the best DM's I've ever seen) in the morning and Swords & Wizardry module written and run by Dr. Dennis Sustarre (the creator of the Druid class in D&D as well as a couple of the spells).
Saturday morning was an interesting game. We were in a large room with 4 tables running 4 different games: Metamorphosis Alpha (run by its creator Jim Ward), Boot Hill (run by Frank Mentzer, editor/writer of the last set of Dungeons & Dragons books before TSR was bought by WotC and the game was stopped), Cavemaster (run by its creator, Jeff Dee), and Star Frontiers (run by Steve Winter). Basically, we were going to play in all 4 games in a Quantum Leap like way. The plan was that at specified times, everything would stop. Our characters would feel a strange vertigo and falling sensation and then "come to" in the bodies of other characters. We were supposed to get up from our table and leave our character sheets there, move to the next table and sit down at a character sheet there. Then play would resume after a short intro to the basics of the game. This could have been a really fun and cool session....however, not all the DM's got the memo on the "short intro" and the "resume play right where you left off" parts. So, Frank Mentzer had to give us an hour long history lesson about the territories in the western US from 1860 to 1882 and a history lesson on inventions between 1850 and 1900 so we didn't mess up historical accuracy. Basically, we got about 20 minutes of play when we should have had 1.5 hours. I realized I had not been playing Boot Hill correctly but I don't care. I like my way better. And I realized that I want to run a Star Frontiers game sometime. Saturday night I bailed on playing OD&D run by Tim Kask (first editor of the Dragon magazine as well as editor of many of the early rulebooks and modules). Instead, I had fun visiting with old friends and new, and eventually getting in a little Basic D&D game before I started having trouble focusing on the dice.
I now realize I have way too much gaming stuff. I'm going to catalog and cull in the next few weeks. This should also help me figure out what to bring next year to get signed.
Game On!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
North Texas RPG Con!
Well, if you're in the Dallas area, they're setting up for the con in about an hour. Then, the group will head to dinner at Fuddruckers near the hotel (Holiday Inn, Bedford). I had hoped to be a part of this but the wife is going in for a major check up (getting old is so much fun....) and I'm needed to drive her home. So, I'll head up there Thurs afternoon as soon as I can get away from home and stay there until late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. I'm so looking forward to playing games I know and learning new ones. I'm going to be picking up how to play Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. I'm signed up to play in Mythrus Tower using Swords & Wizardry rules as well as playing in Tim Kask's Original D&D game. I'm hoping to hop in on Sandy Peterson's Call of Cthulhu game or maybe Jeff Dee's Villians & Vigilantes. Not sure. I do have stuff to get signed, like my original box Call of Cthulhu by Sandy Peterson, Supplement IV by James Ward and Tim Kask (already have Rob Kuntz's signature), a copy of the Red box rules and Blue Box rules by Frank Mentzer, Stonehell Dungeon and Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis, and two modules by Paul Jaquays (now Jennell Jaquays). Got my dice packed up, my books, and clothes. Thinking of packing a few beers, maybe not. Some snacks...need to get those. I can't wait! Finally, some down time away from the chaos and stress of home.
I'll try to blog some of it if something cool happens. Otherwise, I'll give a report after I get back and rest up.
I'll try to blog some of it if something cool happens. Otherwise, I'll give a report after I get back and rest up.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The People at the Gaming Table
I've read a lot of blogs, forum posts, and website diatribes about gaming styles and gaming personalities. I generally laughed at the funny quotes or nodded when a certain type of player was mentioned. But something that doesn't often get mentioned in these discussions is the personality of the player when everyone's sitting around before or after the game. What about the personality of the player outside of the game?
See, this is tough to discuss because it will end up hurting some feelings but I think that this is something we need to discuss. I would like to think we could discuss it in a mature and open manner without stepping on toes...but I'm not sure I can do that. In many ways, we're all a little thin-skinned when it comes to people talking about us and our foibles. Especially if this discussion is viewed as happening "behind our back".
So, what started this? Well the game last Friday did. First off, the email list has about 8 guys on it. I sent out a request almost two weeks ahead of time asking for folks to check their calendars as well as give feedback on what to play. I get three responses in a day or two....and nothing for nearly a week. I throw out an option to playtest 5th ed. I get diatribes about how awful 5e sounds, and two more who respond in the negative about attendance. When game time rolls around, I have 3 live bodies and one chat. As we're just talking and shooting the breeze, one player makes a bigoted remark.....not just borderline slur, outright bigoted remark. I'm stunned and point out how disrespectful the comment was. His response was "but it's true". After what feels like 10 minutes of verbal exchange in which I demonstrate how wrong he is and how weak his arguments are, I notice that I'm the only one fighting this battle. I look to the other folks present and I get no support. Now, they don't throw me under the bus...just leave me hanging. And that just took all the wind from my sails. I didn't want to play anymore...not with them. I'm very disappointed. And I'm not sure what to do next. I would like to believe that I wasn't the problem there. I would like to believe that I stood up for what is right when I pointed out a slur and how horrible it was. I would like to think that I'm a good person and though I don't proselytize I would like to think I'm a good example of a Christian. Maybe I'm mistaken. I'm going to have to spend some more time thinking this one over. I don't think I want to play with this group for a little while until I get this figured out.
See, this is tough to discuss because it will end up hurting some feelings but I think that this is something we need to discuss. I would like to think we could discuss it in a mature and open manner without stepping on toes...but I'm not sure I can do that. In many ways, we're all a little thin-skinned when it comes to people talking about us and our foibles. Especially if this discussion is viewed as happening "behind our back".
So, what started this? Well the game last Friday did. First off, the email list has about 8 guys on it. I sent out a request almost two weeks ahead of time asking for folks to check their calendars as well as give feedback on what to play. I get three responses in a day or two....and nothing for nearly a week. I throw out an option to playtest 5th ed. I get diatribes about how awful 5e sounds, and two more who respond in the negative about attendance. When game time rolls around, I have 3 live bodies and one chat. As we're just talking and shooting the breeze, one player makes a bigoted remark.....not just borderline slur, outright bigoted remark. I'm stunned and point out how disrespectful the comment was. His response was "but it's true". After what feels like 10 minutes of verbal exchange in which I demonstrate how wrong he is and how weak his arguments are, I notice that I'm the only one fighting this battle. I look to the other folks present and I get no support. Now, they don't throw me under the bus...just leave me hanging. And that just took all the wind from my sails. I didn't want to play anymore...not with them. I'm very disappointed. And I'm not sure what to do next. I would like to believe that I wasn't the problem there. I would like to believe that I stood up for what is right when I pointed out a slur and how horrible it was. I would like to think that I'm a good person and though I don't proselytize I would like to think I'm a good example of a Christian. Maybe I'm mistaken. I'm going to have to spend some more time thinking this one over. I don't think I want to play with this group for a little while until I get this figured out.
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