And now my final day at Let’s Play Green Bay!

The last day of Let’s Play Green Bay was semi-lightly attended.  All of the show presenters were there, so it felt like I had the run of the show. Good times!

The day started with a game of Adventure Maximus! by Eden Studios.  This game is still in beta, so I am not sure how much I can discuss mechanics/ect, but from what I tried, I LOVED IT!  This is the game I wanted from Dragon Storm.  Also, I did get the seal of approval from the target audience of 8-12 year old kids as my brothers (age 10, 11, and 11) loved the game.  Few minor concerns, but I think this will get worked out.  Its telling when a product isn’t even in kickstarter and my brothers want to give money TODAY!  Make sure your company has an option to buy two games as a kickstarter level!  I know I will do it!

From this point, I wanted to play a game of Call of Cthulhu, but due to some happenings, I wasn’t able to.  However, I did go play a game of DnD encounters.  My brothers easily jumped on, and we played DnD Next.  All and all a great time, but my brother who loves wizards was angry that his LEVEL 1 WIZARD could not stand toe-to-toe with a Elven FIGHTER.  As a 3.5 veteran, I have to say mission accomplished on getting it back to old school!  Me likey!

Not wanting to leave too early, my brothers and I played another game of Tsuro of the seas.  Good times and I will get this game as soon as possible.  I like this one more the the original as  it has a nice combination of Euro and American influences.  MSRP $40, $10 more then the previous game but worth it as the new game can be used to play the old!

The final game of the con was Snake Oil by Out of the Box.  The game is Apples to Apples for a younger generation.  My brother who has problems reading loved this game and got the chance to work on his reading skills.  Great for that alone!  I know what he’s getting for Christmas!  MSRP $20.

And with that I left the con to go home and play more games there!  I left the con around 3 and didn’t stop gaming till 1 AM.  All and All a great con!

 

Final Thoughts-Basics-Great con!  20 Bucks for a weekend with almost NO payed events.  Some tournaments with prizes cost money, but I didn’t do those.  Class acts by all the game companies around, decent con food and a semi-cheap price.  I was able to speak and have full conversations with game designers after I played their games, which is always awesome!  I will be back next year!

Ok now the good, bad, and ugly

Good-Open con with a cheep price and friendly people.  That makes me happy!  Class acts by Wizkids, Mayfair games, and Fantasy Flight!  Heck new games were announced at the con!  And its not GenCon or Origins!  Also, I love Gnome Games.  They make me happy as they love games as much I do!  I talked with game designers as we played their games.  I spent time with my family.  It was a great weekend.

Bad-I want more RPG times!  I would have liked more types of RPGs instead of just Pathfinder.  I tried as many other kinds as possible.  Also, for pathfinder I would have went more con specials and “We Be Goblins!”  But those are my choices.  And, while I love Gnome Games, the show didn’t have many venders except Gnome Games.  This means no haggling or show specials.  I like that at cons.  Some spots had show exclusive extras like “Kill the Overlord!” and I bought those, but I didn’t have much reason to buy at the con.  Don’t get my wrong, I did because I love the games, but I would have like a bit more reasons too.  Also, weather and other commitments kept some companies away and that made me sad!  They were class acts like Fantasy Flight who STILL SPONSORED PARKING AT THE SHOW EVEN THOUGH THEY DID NOT ATTEND!  Awesome stuff!

Ugly-I hate bracelets at cons.  I prefer badges.  Why?  Well I go to the bathroom several times a day and shower at least once a day.  All that gets water on my hands and wrists.  Also, in the booklet, I would like end times for events.  That would make me happy!

Even with the bracelets, I’ll be back.  See you next year!

It’s another day in Green Bay and another day playing games!

 

Day started with Kill the Overlord.  The basics of the game is hot potato with a card that kills a character.  You respawn each round.  There are two ways to win and both require you to be the overlord.  If you heave enough money or you kill all the other characters.  Quick game that is good family fun.  I ended up buying the game as the producers of the game were giving away kickstarter rewards if you bought it at the con.  MSRP $20

 

Next I played Tsuro of the Seas.  It plays just like Tsuro, (see tabletop), with one major exception.  In this game you roll dice to see if dragons move.  The dragons can instantly kill your character, but they also now erase paths allowing you to possibly be saved by the bell!  Great game, family friendly and quick!  You can play with and without the dragons for the base Tsuro game.  MSRP $40

 

At this point, I was able to convince my brothers to play Brass and Steel by Pemean Games.  This is a steampunk game set in 1905 with a bit of magic thrown in for extra fun.  The basic mechanic of the game is add a skill to a ability and roll lower then the number.  My brothers turned an intricate mission into a smash and grab.  Fun times and it really got my 11 year old brother into steampunk.  I’d play again and will by the book from Drive through RPG because if you prove you bought the physical book PDF is free!  Also, BOOK IS $25!  YOU CAN NOT BEAT THAT!  STEAMPUNK FUN ON THE CHEAP!

During this game, the 501st cosplayers ran a promotion where you got to shoot stormtroopers for money with procedures going to charity.  Class acts all around, those guys.

After the RPG, I played Flapjacks and Sasquatches.  Its a card game were the basics are draw one/play one with limited interruptions.  To score points you roll dice to cut down trees.  First to 21 win.  Quick, easy, and family friendly.   Unfortunately, the game at the con is the base game without the bacon expansion for $15.  With the expantion (reprints on the way), $25.

The last game of the day was was Hit the Trail.  Its card/dice game with the object of removing cards from your hand for points.  If you get to 100 points you win.  Quick, easy, and family fun with MATH!  I bought this game because it was a total of $12.  You can NOT beat that!

 

Well lets go home and play some games!  See you at the con for the final day!

This weekend Throat Punch Games is at Let’s Play Green Bay!  Green Bay Wisconsin’s premier gaming convention!  Let’s Do a run down of what I did on Day one of the Con!

 

I was one of the first people through the door.  Mayfair games just released a few copies of the new expansion to Settlers of Catan: Explorers and Pirates.  Every day at the con, Let’s Play is allowed to sell 4 copies, and we got one!

From there, my group went around the con and checked out the booths.  Sadly, some of the companies were not there due the the Wisconsin weather or complicated engagements.  One of these was Fantasy Flight.  They originally said they would be at the convention, but they had to move their offices and this was the weekend they were able to do so.  While sad, FF proves they are once again a class act by not only paying for parking for the WHOLE SHOW, they send a crap load of demo games for people to play in the board game area!  Nice one FF.

After walking through the con, I sidled up to Passport Games and Tokaido.  The theme of this game is a group of people walking across feudal Japan.  In therms of play,  this game is a semi-hard Eurogame.  The main mechanic is your player may move to any spot ahead of any other player, but not with the player and have an encounter there.  Their is little randomness in the game with the only randomness coming from what food and items you by or people and rest you meet.  I won, but what I really liked was how my thoughts about the game changed over time.  When I started, I was not very impressed as I thought the game was a glorified game of leapfrog, but later when my money ran out, I had to make hard choices and that made things fun.  MSRP $40 , and ya know, I think I might do it.

Next, my family split up, and I played some games for a younger audience.  I played a few balance games from Haba games.  It was fun.  One game was Super Rhino!  Now, I might not be in the target audience since I’m almost 30, but I think using my shot glass from Passport Games with the Rhino game might be an awesome combination!  MSRP $12

After that I went to Eden Studies and talked about All Fresh Must Be Eaten.  I’ve wanted to play this game for a long time, and I got to talk with one of the principle writers for the game.  That was pretty great!  He is demoing a game that will be kickstarted in a few months.  I plan to get my family to play his game, and I’ll talk about it tomorrow.

From there I went to Prolific Games and played Hirelings: The Ascent.  Now this is the exact opposite of Tokaido as this game is completely random and crazy.  The main idea is run from the dragon as fast as possible.  It plays a bit like shoots and ladders.  If you want a hard eurogame, do not play this.  If you want a fun game at the end of a day of DnD when the pizza is cold and the beer has come out, this is your game.  MSRP $35 bucks.  I with I got on the kickstarter as I this game was pretty sweet.

 

Ok, con tomorrow.  Lets see what fun happens tomorrow!

Its time for a review of my time at MittenCon!

MittenCon is a annual gaming convention at the Okemos Convention Center in Okemos, MI.  I’ve been to this place a few times as DaveCon also takes place here.

Organization:There really isn’t one…. but that’s on purpose.  The gaming is ~99% table top and the gaming is free form.  People bring their games, set them in piles on tables on the walls and then start gaming.   Not a bad way to do things, but unless you know what going on, you might get lost.  Con organization for dates and such is done via Board Game Geek.

Location:  The Okemos Convention Center is a great place.  Lots a cheap rooms for the gamers and a pretty friendly staff.  Not a ton of food near by, but there are favorites like McDonald’s and Applebee’s.

Games:What you bring is what you get.  Pretty fun.

Price:10 bucks for Saturday.  That’s when I went.

Vendors:  None.  Kind of a bummer.  Always great to see vendors at cons.  Also helps split the load cost-wise for the organizers.

My role in things:  I went to bring a splash of RPG’s to MittenCon. I ran pathfinder society “We be goblins!” and Arcanis intro game.   The pathfinder game was lightly attended, but Arcanis was a full boat.  Since I was running for a gaming store, lets home some more people show up!

Final Verdict: A fun con.  It needs store support, but I’d go again if it didn’t have it.

Now the Ring Side Report on Space Hulk-Death Angel!  TL;DR-Fun game, BUT you must be the right kind of player!

Art-It’s hard to screw up a space marine.  Art is kind of repetitive.  It gets the job done, but nothing amazing. 6/10

Players-1-6.  Game scales well, because the game for 1 player is the same for 4.  Kind of a cheap way to get around the problem. 6/10

Game-play: Roll a die, pray for the right number.  Flip a card and hope its not the worst thing ever.  Biggest decision you make is a choice  of what action to give your team, but you may not give the same action twice in a row. 7/10

Theme:  The theme is you are invading a space ship.  Monsters everywhere!  You will die…A LOT 8/10

Easy of learning:  Pretty quick and the rules are well written.  FF is pretty good at this and it keeps going here 9/10

Competitiveness:  Your only problem here is the fact that you have a time factor on your action choices.  If you work against each other you will die!  You MUST work together! 0/10

Summary-Fun game, not the best I’ve player, but fun none the less.  However, if you get frustrated, NOT THE GAME FOR YOU!

Lets go through my second day at the con….

SPEC5-2 Started my day by running SPEC5-2. To all who run this at home, this is NOT a run and gun mod! I honestly never put this much prep in to a single LFR Mod. And I think it payed off. This is a pretty fun mod with a really cool puzzle. My players had a great time and so did I.

Pathfinder of schedule craziness. My wife and I were scheduled for the Pathfinder convention, but when I went to ask about the next slot, the organizer offered to let us run a certification mod for someone. In the Pathfinder society, DM’s receive ranks based on the number of games they have run. I’m a 1 star close to my second because I’ve run ~25 games. This was for someone’s 5th star. That means they ran over 150 games. Very impressive. We played a great game from my crazy gunslinger and the multireligious priest. I had a great time for a lot of reasons:
1)This DM was great, but I felt hopeful for myself. I didn’t feel that I was completely outclassed as a DM. I’ve got a few small things to learn, but she had to ask about a few of the weird rules also.
2)This women was going to be the first female 5star out there. Those kind of equality things make me happy! I asked her to sign my copy of mazes and monsters.
3)I also met the PFSRD head hancho. Great guy and told me about some opportunities coming up in the pathfinder community.

DnDnext-can’t say a lot here. But group really made this mod. So far I’m kind of conflicted on the game. Great stuff and some iffy stuff. I’ll play in the next season of DnD encounters.

Also, is it bad when venders over 100 miles from home recognize me? Is that bad?

Really having a great time at this con. Always love working for baldman games.

V and I also signed up for a second day of gaming out in Fort Wayne.  Today was DEMO DAY!  I plan to walk through the games we played, then give a little rant about demos in general as well as book construction, lucky readers!

9 AM Dragon Storm I’ve heard of this game before, so I decided to try it.  What drew me in was the game is a “card” game for an RPG.  Thinking that sounded pretty awesome, I persuded V to join up with me on this game.  Game started nice enough with one of the heads of the game walking us through the game.  Then we meet up with a pretty nice few guys and played.  In this demo we were sent to fantasy AsiaLand to stop the capital of fantasy NotChinaLand invade the surrounding provinces, thus preventing a civil war.  Our group derailed this by having the surrounding provinces invade the capital through a very bloody coup.  I’ve got a few problems with this game, so lets walk through the game in general since my problems are with the game.  None of my problems were with the game we played.

DRAGON STORM

Game Basics Game is a 2d6+numbers system.  Easy to grab and master.  Every character starts with a number of not build points and to add cards to your character either cost money or not build points.  Cards give you new attacks, abilities, magic, items, etc.  Not that bad an idea.

Characters Everyone is one of a few basic groups that have group specific powers.  Most powers/magic are up for grabs for anybody however.

World  This work is a pretty simple snow-job world.  Some evil wizards convinced everybody that shape-shifters are the bad guys so every body hates shape-shifters.  You are a shape-shifter, go fight the powers that be.  Ok, not that bad a story.  On par with some of what I’ve seen and better than most.

Cards Now we get into complaint territory.  I have now problems with the basic game or its mechanics.  Dice rolled, stuff happens, people role-play, fun had!  What I think is strange is the cards.  the cards are gimmicky.  Everything your character has is a card.  You don’t have the card, you don’t have the crap.  What that means if you find something, but you or your DM doesn’t have the card you can’t get its stats.  Ok, minor problem, but why not just have a book.  I originally through the game had a shuffling mechanics that made your guys get some randomness, but the dice do that.  When I asked about this, the idea of cards was used because the designers thought that people wouldn’t want to carry around tons of books.  Ok, I carry about 300lbs of DnD 4e books to a con, so I can see this.  But, this breaks down when you see every player of this game show up with several card long boxes of cards.  This really reminds me of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.  They use cards and dice.  HOWEVER, the designers of this game also saw that people may not want to use all the clutter and cardboard that Fantasy Flight (FF) puts in any product, so they now print books of everything also.  Mischief Managed*slaps hands together*!  Dragon Storm you may be an older game, but look at FF.  They know how to get their crap together and make people buy all their stuff.  I do whenever they print anything!

Card rarity  This is the second edition of the game.  First ed. was random packs of cards.  That’s always off putting to me.  Second ed. does the living card game thing where you buy 9 cards that you know and you get to choose what 9 card packs you want.  That make me happy!  The old cards are still around and I think usable in the game, but now they are a little less powerful so you will get the newer ones.

Card art and theme  Ok here is where we get into some dangerous territory that may piss people off (aside from calling major parts of the game gimmicky).  The art is beautiful.  Susan van Camp is good at what she does.  However, this game defiantly has a furrier aspect to the game.  NOT THAT THEIR IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT!  However, that is not my thing and that’s kind of off putting.  Our DM had a home made DM screen in front of us and one of the pictures was his character either stretching or have in orgasm.  Ok, fine, but it defiantly put my wife off.  For some reason, she does not enjoy staring at semi-porny pictures surrounded by strange men/boys.  Also, all the women were as skimpy as ever and this I do not understand.  Chainmail bikinis are not a thing, nor would any non crazy person run into combat in a bra and panties ( sorry Scottish, your strategy is still crazy!)  Again, art is good, but theme is a concern in the art.  Your thing?  Great buy the hell out of this game.  Not my thing.

Final Verdict I’m mixed here.  I somewhat like the game, but the theme and and gimmickiness puts me off.  Its not a stupid game, far from it.  However, the game does do some strange things. Also, our demo was kind of strange and ill talk to you about that down below (more rants, I know you can’t wait!).  All and all, I think I will pass this one by.  The company local, so that makes me happy.  I almost might like this game better as an online RPG where you do get random card packs and you play on a virtual table with friends.  I know that sounds strange, but it might encourage people to trade crap easier.  What do you guys thing about that?

2PM The One Ring Demo  As our final event at the con, V and I played The One Ring, a semi-new RPG from Cubical 7.  My Mom and Dad got this for V last year for Christmas, so we thought we would try it and see what its like so when she runs it, she will have a better idea of what to do.  Our game had a dwarf (me), a woodswoman (V), and an elf (played by our new friend).  we were going to guide a guy through Murkwood Forest.  Start, end, stuff happens, good demo.  We had to save him from spiders, fight an evil well, and burn lots of stuff.  My dwarf was apparently great at starting fires and I felt that if he thought that was his skill, then he was a pyro.  Thus, fire ensued.  Run down time.

Physical Product This game is two books in a nice box and come with its own dice.  All great and nice art.  Tolken all the way.  However, the books are softcover with glossy pages.  Ok, but the glue on the game is kind of flimsy and our DM’s copy was starting to fall apart.  Now when I see 2nd ed DnD books falling apart, that fine because if I look that good after thirty years, Ill be happy.  However, our DM told us he hasn’t played this game before and has just read through the books a few times.  Thats a problem.

Game basics Game basics are d12 + xd6.  Ok, strange, but cool.  I have my d12’s and now I get to use them.  Even more fun, the numbers are all kinds of strange.  the x in xd6 come from a stat you have points in.  More points, higher x.  Easy enough.  You roll and try to hit a target number.  However, the number you get change your results besides how you add.  A 11 is Gandalf’s ruin or an auto success.  The 12 is Sauron’s symbol and makes the d12’s number a ZERO!  Not an autofail though, so you could still hit your number…BUT now the DM has license to screw with you or the group.  Also, as you bet hurt the results of your d6 change.  You get hurt, d6 results of 1,2,3 now count for ZERO as well.  Good times fun and makes me happy!  Ill talk about this ahead.

Pillars of the Game This game is Tolken to the core!  If you want some Lord of the Rings, here you go.  An example is as you travel, you have to make travel checks.  Mess up, you get lost and weary.  Weary character’s 1,2,3 don’t count above, just like if you get hurt.  It feels like the book and thats awesome!  Magic is few and far between, so more Tolken.  That all makes me happy.

Minor Problems Some of the mechanics like travel checks are both a group and an individual check.  This gets people weary quickly.  So basically its a skill that everybody has to have.  If everybody has to have it, then why even make it a thing?  Maybe we did it wrong, maybe there is errata, but its worth checking into.

Final Verdict  We V owns this game so we already have it, but id tell you t buy it anyway.  I liked what we saw.  Product quality may need some work, some mechanics may need some help, but what you gonna do?  I liked what I saw and want V to run a game of this right away!

6PM Goodbye! At the end of the last game, we said our goodbys and left.  I already miss my time at the con.  Lets bitch some more the forget the sadness

ED K’s RULES FOR ANY DEMO!

1) Figure out what major things your game does and make that happen!  DnD 4e is very combat heavy, every demo has lots of combat or at least 1/2 the time is.  4e also does lots of skill challenges, all demos have that.  Minions are a great thing so every demo has a few of those guys.  What ever your game does well and is a major part, your demo should do as well!  The Dragon Storm demo didn’t have combat.  Why?  Because our demo was free form.  Ok, but our guys were combat people.  So we only did social.  Fun, but not what we were there for.  If you leave a major part of the game out, I don’t know about it after a few hours then I wont think you game does that at all!

2)Everyone should shine in the demo.  When you make a demo, you know exactly what characters will be in the demo.  You also know what the characters will do in the demo since you’re writing it!  Both those things should go well together.  When you write the demo, you should have what characters you need in the demo and where.  Going into the woods?  you need the scout.  Going into talk to the king, you need the bard.  I’m not asking you to play across type, what im asking is you play to type!  I don’t need George R.R Martin/King reveals, I need to know who has to be there for anything to happen.  Dragon Storm had scouts on a diplomatic mission.  We didn’t have people at the table who could do what had to be done.  That’s a major problem.  The One Ring needed scouts, an some lore, and some exploration.  Everyone had a role and they filled it well.

3)The demo should be standard and written.  As a designer, when your game is done, its not done.  You go back and write a crappy little demo that anyone who loves your game can show your friends.  Here is the plot for 4ed:  King says orks in a town, you go to town and investigate (skill check), orks in woods (exploration skill check), find orks cave kill orks (2x combat, and dungeon crawl).  That’s it!  I don’t need great plot. I don’t want a great plot.  Great plots are like 5 course meals, great but take a long investment to get anything out of it.  Demos are the McDonald’s of the game world: quick, tasty, and get’s you want you need and now!  Standard demo’s make sure that your product is being shown the same way and you have the best face forward for your customers.  Our Dragon Storm demo was free lance and fun, but the only reason stuff worked is because we tried to break everything.  The One Ring was semi-written, but didn’t really require characters and that made things weird when the elf librarian was stumbling in the forest.  Makes some people have major problems with the game.

4) They all come with well vetted pregenerated characters!  STOP BOOING NOW!  Yes, no gamer want to be caught dead with a pregen as any hipster will not be caught dead drinking starbucks when some crazy region you’ve never heard of has coffee in a shop you’ve never even seen.  But, for a quick learning game, you need them.  They make life better and make things work well.  Also, when you make the demo as in part 3, you can make the characters for the problems ahead!  Go ahead and put in the dark forest, we’ve got a scout and hes damn good at scouting!  Everything fits like a puzzle.  Also, tell your DM who is staring at this point in the demo for each thing like my scout in the forest.  Easy and fun.  Also, makes sure everyone is engaged.  The One Ring had pregens, while Dragon Storm did not.  The character we had were freeform and not built for any problems at hand.

5)DEMOs ARE FREE!  Either as a PDF or as a physical copy given out at cons.  This is NON-NEGOTIABLE!  I should be able to google your crap and in under one minute should see your demo and a download button.  Don’t hid your crap on your website.  That just pisses me off when I have to sign up for your store to get a demo.  Give this out easily.  I love Living Arcanis because I was walking through, saw a demo folder and asked.  Got it for free and now I’m hooked.  If you want my money, make me want to give it to you.  The One Ring doesn’t have a free demo (its in one of the books), while Dragon Storm has a great free demo (and FREE PDR CARDS), that we didn’t do.

6)You’re demo is about 2-3 hours.  A nice demo give me some time to like my players, like the game, and hang out.  The DnD Next demo isn’t bad, but its a little to quick.  It does show off the system well.  However, I want my demo to run a bit like a simple game.  Give me some talking time so we can talk about the latest my little pony episode or whatever!  I want to have fun with my friends like we would at my house if it was game night.  Both The One Ring and Dragon Storm were pretty good in this point.

7)You have a quick rules sheet.  I’m not talking about the nuances of the grapples rules in 3.5, but I do want to have a nice sheet that show a turn order and what I can do on my turn with items like a standard action can become a move… simple rules that I as a new player will not know and really should.  Make that free or copy-able from the back of the demo.  Makes life easier for all involved (EVEN THE DM!).

 

Ok, now lets talk about your books

ED’s RULES FOR YOUR BOOKS!

1)Every book you put out should have a quick play section right in the front that your and your friend could hop in and play in under one hour of reading.  This could be your demo of whatever, but if you put out a game, at least the Dungeon Master Guide should have a section that lets you and your friends play in under an hour.  I dont want to buy a game and not be able to play it until three weeks later.  Would you stand for that in a video game?  How about a board game (looking right at you FF and Mage Knight!)?  No, now video games have tutorials in the game and even complicated games have quick start rules for how to play (An excellent example is Mage Wars with a whole different book how to TEACH the damn game!).  The rest of the book can be convoluted garbage, but the first section needs to be new player friendly.  4e was EXCELLENT at this.

2)  Your book has a nice section of pregenerated characters.  AGAIN WITH THE BOOING!  Here is what pregens do: they show me what the game designers think a standard character will look like in a standard problem.  I will customize my characters, but I use the pregens as a guide.  In 3.5 you don’t see any starting characters with a CON score of 3 right?  That’s because that is important and it will help you characters not die.  If you read on CON you learn this, but the pregens say this also!

3)Remember that demo quick rules?  Those should be here too. ….

4)Your index and table of contents should be crystal clear.  As a designer if you want me to experience your vision of the game, I need to know what the hell you said about any particular problem I have in the game.  If I cant find what you said, the I will make stuff up or go to a different game that does have things spelled out.

5)Product quality!  I want something nice.  Im not asking for the world, but your stuff should be nice.  Early 4th ed manuals rubbed off on your fingers, that was bad.  Those things should be fixed and ready for game time when its game time.

6)Organize your thoughts in a nice way that will make sense to an outside observer.  If your stuff is crazy and scattered (looking right at you Shadowrun) then I wont be able to find what you had in mind and how to do it.

 

Well those are my thoughts.  Monday combo on the way.  What do you guys thing?

 

LaVera and I made the trip down to Pentacon Today.  http://www.pentacongames.com/   Lets talk about what I did today and what I thought.

Con Basics: I got to the con at 8:30.  Game started at 9, 2, and 7:30.  Lets go through the pro’s and con’s (hah!)

con:  When I got to the con, I went to the main desk with a credit card.  I was promptly turned away.  It’s cash and carry out here.  Now, if this was a small con in a smaller hotel, that might be ok, but this con is pretty big.  Also, I don’t carry cash anymore.  Since that was my first impression of the con, and my wife specifically asked if we needed cash so I got to start the day looking stupid, left an impression.

Also, the way the con organizes the con’s games was kind of strange.  To sign up for a game, you sign up on a piece of paper for each game and time slot and use generic tickets for each game.  You can register online ahead of time for spots and that just gets your name on each sheet when they print it.  This con is kind of moving from the small size of a less then 50 people con to the multiple hundreds in attendance.  Not a major problem, but it might be time for computer registration.

pro:  This game con is amazingly friendly.  Gen con is nice as you feel like your part of the whole gaming community, but this con has a nice family feel.  While I bitch about the credit cards, the whole group here nice.  I feel like I can just join any group, and they will take me in.  Really like cons like that.

Also, the con is mid-sized.  Those cons have the nice variety of a large con and the homeyness of a small con.  Its really in the sweet spot.

Vendors!  Random businesses that have stuff I’ve never seen before that HAVE FACEBOOK and show me some cool new stuff.

Games:

9AM-Living Arcanis  I’ve written before about this game, but this time I got to play.  I had a great time and I got to meet up with a well connected DM who’s written much about the game and help developed the system.  Had a blast.  Best part was I got V into it and I think shes a new convert.

2PM-ADnD 2nd Ed  I know V isn’t as much of a social butterfly and wont just go talk to random strangers (read crazy) as I am, so I asked her to choose a few events that she wanted to try and I would try anything she suggested.  She hasn’t played ADnD in a long time and I never have so off we went.  I played a cleric, V played a ranger, and two other guys played a rogue and a fighter.  We didn’t exactly win, but we did have a great time.  I can see why people who have played 2nd love it, but I can see why 3rd ed was needed.  Its hard to know when a dice roll is good or bad because you don’t know if you should be rolling high or roll.  Also, Its really great to see some gaming history.

7:30PM – Darkus Thel After Hours  V and I both saw this and thought it would be interesting, but what we didn’t know is we had walked into the joke game.  The campaign directors of this system also run a few fun games each year that are completely slapstick.  The system is pretty easy that based on Tunnels and Trolls and is basically a d6 based system.  We met some great people.  Also, I think I may have inadvertently stole to show.  I caught a sheep that I named Mrs. Fluffy and proceeded to catch a spider that is named Ms. Spinny (She’s not married, still looking thought).  Also, I spent the game tripping balls on laughing gas and that made the game awesome.  Look forward to playing some more after hours games with these guys.

 

All and all a great day at the con.  I also loved the day spending ti playing games with V.  Next year, I plan to go again!