Back in the Saddle and Behind the Screen.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was able to get an actual face-to-face gaming group started last summer. No small feat in the middle of COVID-19. But the four of us managed to pull it off. We managed to avoid getting sick by following the basic rule of "if you don't feel well, don't show up." And that worked, so yay on us.

I'm running HackMaster, which should come as no surprise to anyone that has read any of my previous posts. It's the longest campaign I have ran since I ran Shadowrun in the 90s. At least this time the party is more consistent.

The campaign in a nutshell. There are two nations: The one to the north is dealing with orcs coming from the north, and the one from the south is dealing with hobgoblins coming from the south. These nations help each other, but it's not an easy alliance. The hobgoblins from the south have made contact with the orcs to the north, and are now sending supplies and troops in an effort to mount an orc/hobgoblin offensive at the border between the two nations in order to force both armies to fight on two front. That was a run-on sentence. Our heroes just happen to be at the border between the two nations and have just discovered what is going on.

Now they have to find a way to stop it.

To be continued...

Did I say, next week? I meant in under six years.

So... that was long gap between posts.

Real life has a way of putting things aside. Gaming and blogging about gaming just happened to be one of the many things that I wasn't able to do for a while.

Things have started to improve personally. I'm back living in Illinois and close to family again. I receieved my PE (Professional Engineer) license a few years back and am working at a job that I find rewarding. And despite COVID shutting down nearly everything, I have managed to get an actual face-to-face group to play HackMaster on a mostly weekly basis.

Since I am gaming again (Well, GMing anyway), I should get back to blogging about gaming again. So starting tomorrow I'm going to get in a few quick posts to catch everyone up on my campaign. After that will be a semi-regular posting about the campaign and whatever thoughts I have on GMing and writing adventure ideas.

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.

20 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon IV: Day Three.

Previously on Weekend Wizardry...

Since the video above is from both days two and three, I figured I would use it yet again to fill in some of the blanks.

So Day Three... For a Saturday it was kind of just there as far as gaming went. On one hand, I had a bit of a letdown at the beginning of the day. On the other hand, I did gain a few new experiences that went very well for me.

To start with, I had a level 5 HackMaster game I was running that required pregens. Pregens that I did not have at the time. So I needed to roll up six fifth level PCs in the course of a few hours. I also needed space to lay out my books while I did this, which the desk in my room did not allow. So I went to the bar at around 7am to get started. Only to get kicked out because the staff had to clean up. So I moved to the restaurant where open gaming was held. Only to get kicked out of there because the media was doing an interview with Luke Gygax in there. I finally found a table to sit at in the lobby and came up with a group of PCs.

Around noon the game began, and it was slated to be pretty big. The event was full, or close to it when the convention started. My brother and friend Paul being two of the people signed up. As the game started, it turned out Paul and Michael were the only players to show up. Blown off again. And this time I wouldn't get any new players to fill in until much later. As the video shows, Paul and Michael were playing three PCs a piece to keep things from being a slaughter. By the time our time had run out, Jerimy Grafenstein of Kenzer & Company had found four people looking for a game and managed to get them hooked up with us. The game ended up being a success. In another nice turn, I managed to run combat without using minis and mats. Not a big deal for old school gaming, but they are a big help when playing HackMaster.

Later that evening, I played in my first Pathfinder game. Having stopped playing D&D after 2nd Edition, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was also the old newbie in a group of Pathfinder vets. The good news was that everyone from the Pathfinder Society, players and GM, were incredibly helpful. I also got the Pathfinder novel Prince of Wolves as a bit of swag from the game. And apparently, if I read the book, one of my future PCs will get a +2 holy rapier from the Pathfinder Society. I haven't read the book, but I did buy the Pathfinder Core Rules when I got home.

I guess overall, Day Three was a day that started bad, but got better as it progressed. Next week, we wrap up the memories of GaryCons past and look towards creating new memories of games yet to come.

26 Days Till GaryCon!

[EDIT: I thought this got posted last night.]

With only one week left for people to pre-register for events, it looks like my non-D&D games will be partially full come GaryCon.

On one hand, I am a bit upset about this. In particular for my HackMaster game as I had two people sign up for it, then drop it on the first day. I still think that was kind of rude. But my experience running games last year was that if people really want to play in a game, they'll show up for it if they signed up or not. I have had multiple instances of having my games blown off completely only to have those voids filled by walk-ups. But that's not always guaranteed, especially on a Thursday morning.

It is a bit discouraging to think that you put effort into getting a game set up only to have a poor turnout. Mainly because it seems like a waste of your time. There's that voice in the back of your mind saying, "you could have signed up for that Marvel game if you knew no one would show up." I guess the only good thing I can say is that I have never had zero turnout at a game. At worst, I've had at least two people show. So, you gut it out and try to make the most of it. Then again, I've been blown off by friends at my home games. I really shouldn't be too upset being blown off by strangers at a con.

29 Days Till GaryCon! Dragonstrike.

It's weird having there be less than thirty days until something, but still being more than a month away from it. Damn February.

[9:20:59 PM] David Lawson: Got a question for you.
[9:21:17 PM] Michael Lawson: Yes?
[9:21:31 PM] David Lawson: What else should we bring to GaryCon, game-wise.
[9:22:12 PM] Michael Lawson: We haven't used the board games, so I'm gonna leave them at home. Definately Gimme the Brain... You have any ideas?
[9:22:57 PM] David Lawson: I'm bringing Give Me The Brain. Planning on running a few rounds of it the day before the con and on Sunday.
[9:23:27 PM] David Lawson: I was hoping you could bring DragonStrike or Dragonlance.
[9:23:40 PM] Michael Lawson: I'll bring Dragonstrike then.
[9:23:50 PM] Michael Lawson: Easier to play.
[9:24:17 PM] David Lawson: Who wears the black turtleneck?
[9:27:07 PM] Michael Lawson: Never knew his name, won't be me. :P
[9:28:59 PM] David Lawson: John Boyle.
[9:33:07 PM] David Lawson: At least that's what IMDB says.
[9:35:25 PM] Michael Lawson: Huh

Feeling brave tonight?

Dragon Strike was one of TSR's later attempts to create a gateway game to D&D. It was a cross between a board game and an RPG. Like a board game it had boards (duh), dice and figures that the players moved around. Like a role-playing game, the boards were maps of dungeons, the figures came with profiles featuring various stats and spells from D&D. The "Dragon Master" was the GM of the game running various pre-written scenarios included in the game. But the 'hook' of the game was the VHS cassette that came with it that served as part instruction manual and part television show. The cassette was 'hosted' by the disembodied head of actor John Boyle, who served to run a group of unseen players through the game (we do see their characters) while explaining the rules to the viewers.

How brave? Brave enough to do battle with hideous monsters? Hmm?

Boyle's character appropriately hams it up in every scene that he is in. He reminds me of my high school friend Jake that used to insert huge amounts of minutiae in his descriptions of events in an attempt to make them more real. Though for some reason, everything smelled like ozone.

The cassette is pretty much the main thing anyone remembers about the game. But the game itself is worth playing at least once. It's really just a basic D&D game with pregens, pre-printed maps and plastic miniatures. I don't know how well it works as a 'gateway' game to actual role-playing games, since we got our copy years into playing AD&D. But if you're looking for a nice one-shot game to play with friends, you wouldn't be disappointed in Dragon Strike.

34 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon IV: Part II

So Thursday started off with something new. Me sitting at a desk in my underwear desperately trying to get about nine paper building assembled in time for the shootout. I managed to convince Michael to help me ans soon we had our buildings done and I got some pants on. Things were looking up.

After a quick bite we went downstairs to find our table and get set up. I was a bit disappointed to see that we were at a small table shoved in the back room of the convention center. It wasn't until well into the game that we were actually given three tables and had that entire room to ourselves. Players began to line up, the majority from the Kenzer boards. Though I never took an actual count, I would say that we had at least a dozen players going. And despite having around twelve people gathered around the table, for some reason everyone seemed to be drawn towards the bathhouse for their starting position. It even got named the "Bathhouse of Blood" for all the kills that occurred around it. One of the highlights of the game when +Barbara Blackburn joined in, said "Take that you man-varmint!" and shot another character in the butt.

The game went for about three and a half hours before everyone had their fill and there was one player left standing. Since I didn't have much in the way of prizes to hand out, I had to settle for giving the winner the cheap paper model of the bathhouse as a reward.

After that I went to the Kenzer booth where I managed to get +Jolly Blackburn, +Barbara Blackburn, and +Steven Johansson to sign my special upside-down bound Hacklopedia of Beasts. Michael and I had ourselves some dinner and around eight o'clock we were back downstairs for some more gaming. This time I was playing HackMaster instead of GMing it. Our GM was +George Fields, the Ironman of HackMaster GMs. George runs more HackMaster games than the freaking Kenzer D-Team!

One thing that I like about making the switch from game master to player is that not only do I get a chance to get out from behind the screen, I also feel that by playing under other GMs makes me a better GM. It's nice to take a look at how other people interpret the rules and handle players. Even if you don't agree with how another GM makes a call, it does give you insight into aspects of the game you may have overlooked.

George's game wrapped close to midnight, and I was spent. Michael went on to do some more gaming that evening. Within two years he went from the timid guy unsure about even going to the convention, to socializing with strangers at a moments notice. I, on the other hand, went to bed for a much needed rest. After all, there were still three days of gaming to go.

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.

56 Days Till GaryCon! Event Catalog is Go!

Right as promised, the GaryCon Event Catalog has been released. I am also happy to say that the rest of my events have been accepted. So it looks like I am set to rock and roll in eight weeks.

By the way, if you are thinking of attending, The Geneva Ridge Resort is all booked up and arrangements with another hotel has resulted in all of their doubles being booked as well. So if you are thinking of going you probably want to hit the GaryCon forums and see if anyone has any space they can share.

65 Days Till Garyon! PCs vs Parties.

One of the key differences between a good game and a bad game is how well the party interacts with one another. This isn't so much a matter of role-play or maintaining a 'balanced' party as it is having a group that's on the same page.

Now, I'm a big fan of individual character development. But in the context of a game, that individual is also part of a team, as so explained by Robert DeNiro in this scene from The Untouchables.

Think of your GM as Al Capone right there. Because if you try to put your own interests above that of the other players, you might find yourself on the wrong end of a TPK in no time flat.

So where's the balance. I've talked about this in the past, so I'll try to add a few more notes on what to do tp keep things together.

First, I think it's a good idea to find out what kind of game your GM has in mind before you start playing. If you are used to chaotic evil pillaging and plundering and the GM has a more cerebral game in mind, you may not fit in with the game let alone the group. Figure out what your niche in the game should be before you start.

Next I would recommend creating your party as a group. Too often we have cases of players either having too much of one thing or not enough of another. Or someone being forced to play outside their comfort zone to fill a needed role. Trying to bring a bunch of individual characters together for a common goal works in fiction, but that's because there is only one person controlling everything. Figure out what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are beforehand and you can avoid problems in the future.

Finally, don't grief the rest of the group. Having individual goals is fine. Playing an evil character is fine. But screwing around with the people that are supposed to have your back just because you can will just cause problems. Keep in mind your GM is also part of the game and doesn't want his or her adventure torpedoed due to your stupidity. If your character has a hidden agenda that runs counter to the rest of the party, that's fine. But intentionally screwing over everyone else that came to play isn't.

67 Days Till GaryCon! A Third of the Way There.

Short blog today on account of my neck still bugging me after my accident on Thursday.

I'm running a bit behind on getting my pregens for my D&D game finished. I'm thinking of creating a half-sheet since the game is a one shot and there isn't a need to include every last detail for the player. Stats, gear and spells (or thief skills) should be sufficient.

The preliminary Event Catalog for GaryCon V is up. I'm still waiting to see if any of my games have been accepted. The deadline for submitting new events is January 17th.

69 Days Till GaryCon! Memories of GaryCon III: Part I

I got rear-ended on the way to work yesterday, so I'm trying to get this blog written before the side-effects of the muscle relaxers kick in and it's nap-time for me.

GaryCon III was another one of those bittersweet cons. Much like GaryCon I, I got laid off before the convention. This time it was three weeks before the con that I got the bad news. Despite my predicament, I had already made the commitment to go both emotionally and financially. So on a Thursday morning, I got in my car and drove from South Bend to the Chicago suburbs to meet up with my brother and prepare to make the drive to Lake Geneva.

I already agreed to split the hotel room with you. Now you want me to drive you there?

Now this is where things take a turn for the nerve-wracking. Once in Chicago, I convinced my brother to drive the last leg of the trip to Lake Geneva. I figured that since I had already driven for almost 3 hours to get out there, it was the least he could do. The thing about Michael that you need to understand is this, he hates driving. Driving is something he does when there is absolutely no way that he can conceivable walk somewhere. And his tension gets worse if it's someplace he has never driven before. So, with the aid of my GPS, we took a very quiet, hour-long drive to Wisconsin.

Outside of the silence, the drive was uneventful and we got checked in right away. We also got in about an hour after everyone else had left for the Next Door Pub. So once again we got in Michael's car and headed out. This time around, we picked up a passenger who unfortunately would not shut up. Once again, Michael is trying to depend on the GPS to tell him where to turn. So with this guy in the backseat, he nearly missed all his turns because he couldn't hear the GPS. We got in on the tail end of the buffet that was set up and managed to get our fill before heading back to the hotel.

Once we were back, the person we gave a ride to introduced us to Small World. Afterwards we ran a few pick up games of Give Me The Brain before finally turning in for the night.

Next Week. Games played, games ran and games blown-off.

72 Days Till GaryCon! So it's 2013.

I stopped making New Year's Resolutions a while back when I realized that anything that was important to do was worth not putting off until January 1st. But the start of a new year does provide some impetus to start up new things and make changes that we really need to make.

Now, most of my 'resolutions' revolve around non-gaming stuff. I need to lose 50 pounds. I need to study for the PE Exam. I need to save money. I need a girlfriend. You get the idea. But since this is a gaming blog, I should probably get a few gaming resolutions set as well.

So here goes.

I will find myself a regular gaming group.

I will introduce someone to tabletop gaming that hasn't done it before.

I will stay at GaryCon until it closes.

I will make sure to hang out with people at GaryCon.

I will try to attend another con this year.

I will try a new game I haven't played before.

I will try an old game I haven't played before.

I will get a decent bookshelf to carry all my gaming stuff (the one I bought at Target is falling apart under the weight of all my books.)

I will find a Friendly Local Game Store.

And finally, I will try to keep up with the rest of the online gaming community even after this 100 day challenge ends. Lord knows I have enough people on my Google+ account I should be connecting with.

75 Days Till GaryCon! I Want to Play... Are You A Werewolf?

This game is never listed in the event catalog, yet it's an annual tradition at GaryCon. Usually around midnight the call goes out for players to meet up in the restaurant. And then the game is on.

To the best of my knowledge, the game goes something like this. Out of the entire group of players, one is the 'werewolf' of the game. The game shifts between day and night phases. At night, the werewolf gets to 'kill' one of the other players. During the day, the players try to decide who is the werewolf and pick one of the players to be lynched. If the lynched player is the werewolf, the game ends. If the lynched player is a villager, the game continues. The object of the game is simple. If you're a villager, kill the werewolf. If you're the werewolf, kill the villagers and stay alive.

I first heard about this game at GaryCon III when my brother decided to get in on it late on a Friday Night. I was tired and passed on it. Friends and family have played it every year and had a blast, and I have passed because it was late and I was tired.

This time, it's going to be different.