A week from today...

...I will have new posts on this blog. Relevant posts hopefully. With pictures, maybe video too.


Stay tuned.

Keepsakes

So, I was cleaning my apartment yesterday when I stumbled upon this.

It's the final character sheet for my old PC Lt. Hornsby from John Higgins' Engines & Empires Game. It's been over three years since that campaign ended and I am still holding on to this thing.

It's amazing what it is about role-playing games that turns a normal person into a hoarder. The chances that I will ever get to play Reg again is slim to none, but I still hold on to this character sheet, along with many others from numerous games that I have played in, ran or wrote but never got a chance to run. And then there's the old mud-dice, cardboard tokens and half-scribbled notes from games past. I think part of it is the nostalgia. Not only of the adventure itself, but of those times when friends gathered together to game. At the same time I discovered this sheet, I also found a slew of character sheets my brother used from the old Shadowrun 2e/3e games I used to run and the times we would gather in the living room with our friends and play. I remember each session not only for the game, but for the stuff we went through just to get things going. My fondest gaming memory is not about slinging dice, but me and three of my friends piling into my Dodge Neon and hitting every McDonald's within ten minutes of my apartment in order to get around the 'limit five per customer' stipulation on 49 cent cheeseburger day. Dinner was more of an adventure that night.

I guess that in the end, it's not too crazy to hold on to keepsakes from gaming. At least in my case, it's because it's more than just about that time my fighter got his first +1 sword.

Though to be honest, that was a good day too.

GaryCon V Recap Post- Part III: The Weekend

Ladies and gentlemen, sorry about the delay. This is Michael here, and I kinda agreed a while back to write up my last two days of GaryCon to get the lead-in to Dave's last two days. Sadly, I've been having a host of issues, so I've kept things delayed... a few months. I really need to finish this up. SO! Where were we?

Saturday started pretty well honestly. It was the one day Dave and I were going to be sharing two games, and the first game was Mutant Future. Or to be more accurate, using the Mutant Future setting to play out an episode of THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN! Ah, nostalgia and kids' shows. And the GM honestly rocked. ( +Tim Snider of The Savage Afterworld- Dave) I won't go too heavy into details, god knows Dave might want to, but this was a GREAT game, with the GM playing up the motif with the opening credits played on his laptop, as well as a commercial break. Lots of fun, imaginative playing of the setting, and honestly we really abused some of the opportunities we got. Great game and great start. I think we kinda beat it a bit early, got handed free settings books for if we wanted to do Thundarr ourselves, and went off to eat some before our next game. (Long story short, I managed to quadruplicate Ookla to defeat the enemy. -Dave)

Again, that was intended to be our first game, and I was looking forward to my second as well. See, the followup was a game of Dungeon! I really love that game, and I do need to get a copy of it myself. (I got one! -Dave) Wizards of the Coast did a reprint of the game so if you like board games, pick it up. Again, it was hosted by the creator of the game, who's name escapes me, Dave will probably correct it in. (David Megarry -Dave) And he told again the story of the game, showing the first edition and the tables it was originally played on. Very cool stuff. Sadly, I got to feeling unwell by the time the history was told, and had to excuse myself. So I got to miss out on the actual game itself. Went back to my room and rested most of Saturday away, using my laptop to keep in contact with people online and post some in forums. Even sick, I did some role-playing. Shush.

And that takes me to Sunday, and the last game on my list. The one I'd been looking forward to all con. Call of Cthulhu. Honestly, I'd never played it and I'd wanted to for SO LONG. I love the Lovecraftian setting and I really had been looking forward to it. By the time I got there, there were about five other players waiting, and more showing up as we settled in to talk and chat. Friends and people I'd met from prior cons, I was really looking forward to the game!

And the GM never showed up. Nobody knew what happened to him, where he was. Talked to the con staff, they had no idea what was going on. Table was bleeding players as people went to try and see if there were openings in second pick games when yet again the awesome con staff came through. There was someone with some experience in Call who was willing to GM for us. Great man, I REALLY wish I could remember his name (I am HORRIBLE with names) (Don't ask me, I was playing Traveler at the time- Dave) who more or less ran us through a condensed form of one of his basic sessions. Dave came along during the game, his own game plans kinda shot, and he sat to watch a good deal of the fun as we tried to investigate through a mysterious death and tragic murder. (No, my game went pretty well actually -Dave) All of it looked to lead up to an occult conspiracy and a plan to summon an elder god, and two of our impromptu group got captured by cultists and held in a prison under their base. The rest of us came in, not knowing they were trapped, and confronted the leader of the cult...

And I will admit part of this was my just being kinda tired and feeling ready to head home, but... When the cult leader asked us if there was anything he could say to get us on his side? I sold everyone out, kinda. I'd been hired, NOT paid, and had been working this nonsense without any hope of recompense. I think it rather tickled the GM that I was more than happy to be paid off, and my detective left the rest of them behind to cash his check and get on the first ship he could find to France, get as FAR away from all that nonsense as he could. Honestly? Great end to my last day.

Dave and I had already packed up the car so, we left. Got lunch at a nice out of the way place with... Crap. Dave, tell the rest of the story, my brain is pudding for names.

Afterwards we hung out with +Christopher Stogdill, +Carolyn Stogdill, +Paul Raasch and +Scott Schwartz at Hogs & Kisses in Lake Geneva for lunch before heading home. Overall, it was a great time.

In related news, GaryCon VI has officially been announced for March 27-30, 2014. For more information go to garycon.com

The GaryCon V Recap Post- Part II: Friday

[This is a continuation of the belated recap of GaryCon V that took place in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin last month. This recap also features my brother Michael as a guest blogger.

Also, I need to get this done so I can move on and blog about other things.]

Friday

One of the things I told myself I was going to do Thursday was to get everything together for the Shootout. That didn't happen, so for the second year in a row I was scrambling to get building models assembled and paper minis cut out. The glue sticks I purchased for the models didn't work at all, so I had to run back to Wal-Mart to buy tape. As for the minis, it turns out that I didn't have them with me when I left upstate New York. And my attempts to print out copies from the hotel's printer failed spectacularly as they didn't have any PDF viewers on their office computer. I decided to make do with the fantasy minis I used the day before and continued on. My only interruption being when Michael came back from his 9am game earlier than expected. I'll let him explain.

19 Days Till GaryCon! Good News and Bad News.

The bad news is, registration for events at GaryCon V ends tonight. So if you had waited until now to go to GaryCon and game, you'll have to wait until you are actually at the Geneva Ridge Resort to try to get into any games.

The good news is that GaryCon does allow people to purchase badges on site during the convention. Last year the cost for a badge was $10 a day and $40 for the entire run of the convention. And a lot of games that are being run are usually very hospitable towards walk-ups. In fact, I have had instances of having supposedly full games have openings at the last minute. I can tell you right now that though my D&D game is "filled" with six players, I did create eight pregens and can take on two more. The same goes for my HackMaster and Aces & Eights games. Heck, my Aces & Eights game is tailor made for walk-ups. And I am sure that a lot of other GMs will be open to walk-ups as well.

So don't take the deadline passing to hard if you are still interested in attending GaryCon V. There's likely to be something there for you to play if you really want to.

EDIT: Turns out that the badges are $15/day for Thursday or Friday, $25 for Saturday and Sunday or $40 for the entire four days of the convention. Looks like if you can only attend three out of the four days of the con, you're best off getting a four day badge.

24 Days Till GaryCon! Writing a One-Shot

Out of the three games I'm running at GaryCon, only one is self-written. Writing a one-shot adventure isn't really that hard. It's just a matter of keeping a few things in mind.

Have a clear goal presented
Sandbox games work great for your home game. But for a one-shot game, having a plot of "You good. Monster bad. Save princess." is okay. Just make sure that you spell it out for the players as soon as possible so things get on track. At a con, you usually don't have to worry about people trying to derail your game.

Lose the random encounters
Again, another home game device that adds little to the convention game. Random encounters just slow the game down when you're doing a one-shot. Don't put an encounter in that isn't directly applicable to the plot, and your players won't feel that they're wasting their time.

Don't rely on any special abilities or skills to resolve things
Players can be funny in what they choose. As a result it's hard to predict whether or not they'll choose an ability or skill needed to complete the task you set out for them. If the players roll up their own characters, they may be out of luck come the finale. If you're using pregens, then you risk making the final encounter dependent on one individual. Keep your resolution dependent on the actions of the group and not an individual. That way you make it easier for everyone to have fun.

36 Days Till GaryCon! What Is A Shootout?

Aces & Eights is one of those games I own but almost never play. I suppose my interest in it is due to the fact that the engine for A&8s was used as the base for HackMaster once the license for the AD&D 1e engine expired. I played in a beta of HackMaster "5th" at GaryCon I, and that piqued my interest in its Wild West predecessor. I especially like the move from a turn-based combat system to a count-based one that had a more dynamic feel to it.

I purchased the softcover version of Aces & Eights at Games Plus a few years back. And right away I found myself in the position of owning a game that no one else played, and therefore had no one else to teach me how to play. Fortunately the game comes with two sets of rules; Basic and Advanced. And it's with the Basic rules that the shootout comes into play.

The Basic Rules of Aces & Eights consists of the simplest things one needs to play the game: an Attack Modifier, a Speed modifier and Hit Points. Those are the only stats one needs for combat outside of weapon range and damage. The Advanced game has more in-depth stats fora typical RPG. But with the Basic Rules comes the opportunity for a "bigger" game as far as number of players goes. And that is where the Shootout comes in.

A Shootout is simply a big ol' gunfight like you would see in an old Western. Since the Basic Rules are all that is needed, character creation takes less than 20 seconds. From there you place your gunfighter on the board and go from there. My game on Friday, "Last Varmint Standing" is an everyone for themselves battle. Your characters move between buildings in the town and attempt to take out everyone else that is playing. And since character creation is so easy, a person that gets taken out and roll up a new character and re-enter the game in no time. The last player standing is declared the winner.

One of the buildings used in the shootout last year

Last year's game (which I will get into Friday) was a lot of fun and had a larger turnout than I expected. And it was really easy to get people who never played before into the game without slowing things down. I'm hoping for a similar turnout this year, and maybe a few more people joining in for a while. In the end, it will be guaranteed to an unpredictable but fun game.

37 Days Till GaryCon! Vlog Time!

I decided to do a vlog today instead of a written blog post. Marvel at my awesome beard and soothing voice as I tell you about a fun card game I'll be bringing to GaryCon.

46 Days Till GaryCon! Event Registration is Live!

Outside of some technical difficulties, the event registration for GaryCon V has now begun and will be running until February 23rd. You also have until January 31st to register for the convention with a Copper Badge that gives you 15 SP to register for events.

In good news, I got all the events that I wanted to sign up for. So I will definitely be doing stuff at the convention whether it's playing or running a game. My itinerary looks like this:

Thursday:
8am-2pm (GM) HackMaster- Monsters in the Barn
This is the event I wrote for GaryCon II that was published in HackJournal #39 last year. It's an introductory session for those that have never played Hackmaster before.

3pm-5pm (Player) TSR with Gary Gygax
One of the seminars I wanted to attend. I played in an OD&D game with Mr. Mentzer last year and the stories he told were the best part of the game.

6pm-10pm (GM) Basic D&D- Steaks
This is an AD&D adventure from A1 that I have converted for the BECMI rules. Not heavy on combat, but should still be fun.

Friday:
10am-2pm (GM) Aces & Eights-Last Varmint Standing
This was another fun game I ran last year. Just a big shootout amongst all the players in a last man standing situation. Walk-ups are greatly welcomed here as things will go up and down at a moments notice. No experience necessary.

7pm-10:30pm (Player) Advanced D&D- Quondam Fount
I  had fun at Frank Mentzer's table last year, why not do it again?

Saturday:
8am-Noon (Player) Mutant Future- Thundarr the Barbarian: Warlord of the Sacred Library
Ariel! Ookla! RIDE! (This is going to be so awesome)

2pm-4pm (Player) Dungeon!
Never played this game before. My brother highly recommended it. Gonna give it a shot.

6pm-10pm (Player) HackMaster- The Temple of Unrelenting Despair
My friend Paul is running this game. I always make it a point to support my friends at GaryCon.

Sunday:
10am-2pm- Mongoose Traveller- A Rock And A Hard Place
An old-school game that I never heard of until a few years ago. One must always be open to new things.

So, has anyone else registered yet? What did you sign up for? The clock is ticking, so be sure to get signed up as soon as possible. And I will see you at GaryCon V.

47 Days Till GaryCon! Closing the Con.

One of my goals for this year is to "close" GaryCon (i.e. stay until it officially ends). I regret not doing so last year since I ended up having way too much down time between the time I got to my brother's apartment and my flight the next day. I'm not planning on staying at the hotel Sunday night, so I'll need to check out before my (hopeful) game at 10am. If the game ends at 2pm like it's supposed to, that still leaves four hours before things end at 6pm. Assuming I spend 30-60 minutes getting something to eat, that leaves me with three hours needing something to do until GaryCon V closes.

Part of me says to wander around and see if anything opens. Another part says to grab my books and see if anyone is interested in a pickup game. I know my brother will try to bring one of his board games to GaryCon V, so that's an option. And I already mentioned bringing Give Me The Brain to play the night before the convention. Would anyone be interested in a round or two Sunday afternoon? Who else is planning on "closing the con?"

52 Days Till GaryCon! Planning Ahead.

With less than a week until registration begins, it's important to get an idea of what you need to play before you sit down in front of your computer on the 27th. Having only a limited amount of gold and silver points to spend, and an even more limited amount of time, I like to write up a timetable and plan my games accordingly.

So far, I have myself scheduled for 2-3 events a day. That's including the games I'm running. And I am allowing myself plenty of down time in between. I'll be playing AD&D, Mutant Future, Dungeon, HackMaster and Mongoose Traveller. Three out of those five games are games I never played before, which is part of the reason to go to a con to begin with. I just wish I knew what time registration starts so I don't miss out on any events.

53 Days Till GaryCon! Priorities.

This was from a Skype conversation with my brother this afternoon.

[12:12:17 PM] Michael Lawson: Remind me, if Monsters doesn't get many signups for it, I'm gonna sign in. I know the thing yes but at least it helps to have someone more there jic.

[12:17:00 PM] Michael Lawson: but, and this is terrible, I hope I don't have to because the Dead Game society is running a DC universe game in that morning. xO

[12:18:00 PM] David Lawson: Play your game. My game is the first RPG of the entire con. At the very worst I might need a co-GM for chargen. Just show up for Last Varmint Standing.

[12:18:18 PM] Michael Lawson: kk. And... ****. Can't sign in till the 27th anyway.

[12:18:21 PM] Michael Lawson: XO

[12:18:26 PM] Michael Lawson: I wanna buy seats now!

[12:18:47 PM] David Lawson: Me too. I'm playing Thundarr on Saturday.

[12:19:04 PM] Michael Lawson: I'm going to the noon seminar on Gary Gygax and TSR.

[12:19:11 PM] Michael Lawson: Because DAMN that's something I wanna hear.

[12:19:21 PM] Michael Lawson: I'm a huge nerd.

Heh. We all are Michael, we all are.

[12:47:38 PM] Michael Lawson: Blaaaah. That first day has too many good events.

[12:47:41 PM] Michael Lawson: I must look away.

Have strength baby bro.

54 Days Till GaryCon! I Wanna Play... Give Me A Moment Will You?

Okay, so now that my games have been accepted and the event catalog is now up, I need to figure out just what I am going to play at GaryCon. I had decided to take it slower this year since I got burned out last year with all I was trying to do. One thing I did was front load all my events, two on Thursday and one of Friday morning. This would give me Friday afternoon/evening and all day Saturday and Sunday to do whatever. Sunday is a big deal for me as I actually want to play in a Sunday event and close the con.

I am also looking forward to playing some 'new' games as it were. Ones that have either heard of but never played in my youth, or ones that I never heard of until recently. For example, I am definitely jumping on Tim Snider's Thundarr the Barbarian themed Mutant Future game on Saturday. That just sounds way too cool to pass up. I also want to get in on some board game events like my brother did last year. It's a lot easier to break out of your shell sometimes when you're in a more competitive than collaborative environment.

The main thing is I want to have enough game time to have fun and enough down time to relax and truly take it all in. This is basically going to be my vacation for the year. And if it's going to be that, it needs to be filled with friends, food, drink and gaming in the proper amounts. I'm getting to old to be full bore on one thing.