Roleplaying Game Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space – Cubicle 7 Entertainment Eclipse Phase – Catalyst Game Labs FantasyCraft – Crafty Games A Song of Ice And Fire – Green Ronin Publishing Supernatural Roleplaying Game – Margaret Weis Productions
Roleplaying Game Supplement Big Damn Heroes Handbook – Margaret Weis Productions The Day After Ragnarok – Atomic Overmind Press Seattle 2072 – Catalyst Game Labs Warriors & Warlocks – Green Ronin Publishing Weird War II – Pinnacle Entertainment Group
(snip)
Bonus content: This is the ballot presented to the retailers at GTS, representing the jury selections:
I'm glad that my Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies made the jury selection ballot; it's an honor just to be pre-nom'd. ;)
Since S7S won't hit traditional distribution (through Alliance) and being listed in Game Trade Magazine until next month at a minimum, and that retailers are the ones who vote for OA noms at GTS, I was hopeful but not overly optimistic about its chances of getting a nom.
On the upside, I should be at Origins this year, and will be able to vote on the nominees! Yay!
Other notes:
1. Congrats to all my friends who have stuff on the nom slate!
2. I'm intrigued that 3 of the 5 RPG noms are licenses.
3. I'm intrigued that 3 of the same companies show up on in both RPG categories.
Good morningafternoon, Internets! Did you miss me?
If anything cool, fun, or important has happened since Thursday night, please let me know in comments.
Behind the cut, below, I'm going to talk about what I did at Dreamation 2010 this past weekend. LJ usernames will not be used to protect the innocent because I'm too lazy to look them all up. (I apologize in advance for misspellings and flat-out wrong names; mea culpa.)
Onward!
Events
FLIDAY
Drove up to Rob Donoghue's house at ZOMG o'clock.
Got on the road around 5:30 am.
Much great gaming geekery discussion, ranging from design matters to personalities to industry ideas.
Got to the Hyatt in Morristown; half-hour parking lot hell.
Check-in, got ourselves situated; see many people, many handshakes and hugs; lunch with Ryan Macklin and Matt Gandy.
General hanging out, with a particular "gobsmack Chad" moment:
MACKLIN: "I bet you think you deserve a motherfucking medal for just being you, for just being Chad Underkoffler, don't you?"
YOUR HUMBLE: "Abso-friggin'-lutely."
MACKLIN: "Alright, then, bitch!" (fumbles in bag, produces a medal)
YOUR HUMBLE: (pole-axed; gapes like a goldfish; starts laughing hysterically)
MACKLIN: (to puzzled onlookers) "It's the Silver ENnie for S7S I accepted for him at GenCon."
[Well played, sir. Well played.]
Sushi for dinner with Gregory Phillips, Brennan Taylor, and the delightful Lilith Taylor (who we all bored to tears for awhile talking about -- God help me, that I did this -- the economy, CDOs, the Move Your Money concept, yadda yadda. (Sorry, Lilith. The three of us we being old farts.)
Played in a game of 3:16 -- Carnage Amongst the Stars (which I got from the "Haiti Bundle" on RPGNow/DTRPG), GM'd by Matt Weber. Much bug-huntin' and "officers are idiots/douchebags" fun. Think Aliens meets the Starship Troopers movie.
Through the kind introduction of Darren Watts, and the sufferance of Vinny, got into the late-night Texas Hold 'Em game ($20 buy-in). Only had to wait about a half-hour before a seat opened up. I was writing off that $20 as an "entertainment and education expense" -- you see, almost all of my poker playing has been computer/online, so I have very few table skills. I saw this as an opportunity to learn those, and was happy to pay for the privilege, and said as much going in. I made mistakes, I learned, I had fun, and in the end, I made money: when I cashed out at 3 am, I was up $29. (That money helped with some of the Purchases below. Thanks, guys!)
A little under 3.5 hrs sleeps, and then...
SABADAY
When taking my morning shower, one of my greatest fears happened:
I slipped and fell in the extremely slick hotel tub.
I fell completely out of the tub, ripping the shower curtains free.
I narrowly missed cracking my skull open on the toilet, avoiding a porcelain slam to the brainpan that would have resulted in leaking blood and brains onto the lineoleum.
As it was, I landed on my... pride. (And we all know my "pride" is very well-padded.)
Lesson learned? I don't care: I'll wear my fake Crocs into hotel showers from now on.
BONUS: It's also darkly funny, in a way: "WET NAKED FAT MAN FALLS DOWN IN BATHROOM; FILM AT 11."
Paid $20 for coffee and a small plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.
Played Ganakagok in the am, GM'd by Jeff Collyer. Think tribal mythopoetical "Inuit-esque" folks, before the first rising of the Sun. The first Ganakagok game I'm been in NOT run by the author/designer (Bill White), and the most soap-opera-y thus far -- much of the play was all about social ties, relationships, status, and the Village.
Pizza for lunch with Joanna and Connie and others.
Spent first part of the afternoon sitting at a table in the hallway between the hotel lobby and the conference center with Rob Donoghue:
Shootin' the shit with whoever passed by.
Gave an academic interview to Bill White on North American jeepform/freeform play.
Talked with Vinny regarding some of the stuff I'll touch on in the Sunday Indie Roundtable discussion below.
Farted around with Rob and a deck of cards, trying to see if there was a good card-based resolution system for the sort of "give-and-take" in conflicts one sees in fiction and movies.
Played in Dan Solis' Happy Birthday, Robot. It's a fantastic all-ages game, and can RAWK as a "generic" party game with non-gamer geeks. (Any game that can credibly survive the input of an over-caffinated/over-sugared 7 yr old has serious chops.) This one's a winner, folks. (muskrat_john, this is an Out of the Box game just waiting to happen. SRSLY.)
Dinner, with much discussion of semiotics. ROCK ON!
While waiting for the stars to align, Jared Sorensen (that magnificent bastard) tricked a bunch of us into playing several rounds of JUNGLE ADVENTURE, a Parsely game. . . and thus assured I'd buy ACTION CASTLE the next day (see below, Purchases). (Parsely games are PERFECT party games, BUT I do have to note it may be only perfect for those of us at a certain age. I don't really know if the whippersnappers would get into infocom-style text adventures. I welcome insights.)
My attempt to Make Macklin Cry (by running Mythender) more or less fails. Mac's on top of his game, and handles it with aplomb and fun. CURSES!
Awesome lobby socialization.
Sleep the sleep of the Dead.
SUMDAY
$20 bacon and eggs, again.
Looking at the sched, I figured there was a decent chance of getting into a Fiasco game: many tables, early Sunday, rock on.
Have ridiculous amount of fun with Fiasco. (Jason, was it "Besting" or "Breaking" or "Busting" when talking about one's "Jonx"?)
Fantastic, if short, chat with Remi Treuer.
Many hugging goodbyes.
The Indie Roundtable, where:
Vinny laid out some ideas for a separate, Indie publisher/designer-focused mini-con. More deets will be forthcoming -- but I find the idea of a robust practical game design seminar track, a publishable academic "Proceedings" document, the idea that demos could be video'd and YouTube'd, and a central online forum/resource site VERY HOT. (Think of this mini-con idea as "Indie Roundtable, all the time!")
I offered my arrogant opinion on many topics.
Kudos to the Robs (Bohl and Donoghue) for emcee-ing.
Saddlin' up with Rob D. for the drive south.
Much great discussion, ranging from gaming stuff to fiction stuff to genealogical/family history stuff to philosophical explorations.
Get my car from Donoghue land; drive home; magically find an appropriate parking spot. Unpack/do required chores. Crash.
I was looking at Chad Underkoffler talking about whether or not to go to Dreamation this year, and it reminded me of my perspective on conventions in general. Since I’m both a publisher and a hobbyist, conventions are always composed of some mix of selling (and buying), talking (networking), and playing. The question, then, when I consider whether to attend a convention is what that convention does best, and whether or not I’m already getting that “best thing” itch scratched by some other convention that year. If I have limited ability to attend multiple conventions, it also becomes a game of prioritizing those three activities and choosing the one or two that get to “win” that year.
In my own personal constellation of conventions, this boils down to a choice among the pros of three specific cons.
(That latter link will keep you reading for HOURS.)
ALSO, because I am a tres geeky fanboi, I was thinking today that if I saw a story where Harry Dresden and Vlad Taltos teamed-up, I'd probably plotz.
(Then, I thought about Vlad teaming up with Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen, and I DID plotz. Then, I thought about the Three Musketeers teaming up with Cyrano and Captain Alatriste, and plotzed halfway through the thought. We shall not speak of the Kirk and Sheridan team up, or the Matthew Gideon and Malcolm Reynolds team up.)
Since I'm home sick today (coughhackwheeze), I figured I'd spend some time talking about the PDQ# Space Opera Hack (which I'm using for pick-up games at cons) I ran for animadversio and ladylyonesse at DC Gameday this past weekend, while I wait for the Q to kick in. (Guys, if you wanna post your character write-ups in comments, I won't complain.)
Part of the fun of PDQ# SpOp is the creation of the list of "Facts" about the setting that develops through Setting the Dials and Character Creation (both of which only take about 30 to 45 minutes tops per three players) and the course of play.
Let's step through it...
SETTING THE DIALS This phase is for laying down the basics of the setting, so that folks can make up characters for that setting.
Thumbnail: Firefly-esque galactic exploration. Aliens/Robots?: Aliens. Psi?: Weak and rare. Ships?: Group ship -- 2-person scout. Travel?: FTL via Star Wars-style hyperspace. Raygun Power?: Normal weapon (use MOD as usual), with a 1-shot kill (drains battery). Why Together?: Odd-couple scout team, randomly assigned (unresolved sexual tension). Liz's One Thing?: "Uninhabited" inhabited world. Tom's One Thing?: Running against the Doom Clock. Givens?: Free Good [+2] Galactic Scout Forte.
CHARACTER GENERATION Most starting Facts come form here, especially from the Planet (at least 3 Facts per) and Past Fortes of each character. (See below.)
PLAY Subsequent Facts come from actions in play and table-talk. (See below.)
FACTS This is what the setting is like, what's there, who's there, that sort of jazz. The first two Facts are givens (and have held true in all PDQ# SpOp game I've run so far).
(character generation)
1. Swords & Rayguns. 2. Planets are named after elements. 3. TELLURIUM (Tellarites): * Gas Giant. * Cloud cities (suspended from below on repulsor platforms). * Smuggler's haven. 4. RHODIUM (Rodians): * High-powered business. * Corporate aristocracy. * Xenophobic (other human planets inclusive). 5. Gas can, apparently, be "mined." (Extraction of fractional layers.) 6. GOLD/AURUM (Aurites): * Jungle planet. * Huge cave networks. * Money means nothing. 7. Division between plant and animal on Aurum is fuzzy. 8. Aurite "cave people" are a mysterious threat. 9. Jungle folk go into the caves for 24 hrs as a rite of passage; some do not return. There is a Guardian of the Light and Dark to help them enter the caves, turn those back before the day is up, and repel cave people. 10. Guardians of the Light and Dark are Amazonian and have vague telepathic powers. 11. Aurites can be exiled by "forcible volunteerism" into the Galactic Scouts. 12. Mining concerns have their own "peace forces" (akin to Military Police) somehwere between unionized labor and management. 13. A Rhodian corporation took over a Tellarite mining concern... and started to do bad things. 14. Meteorball is the most popular sport in the galaxy. (Zero-G football.) 15. Most common retirement-injury for meteorball is "blowing out your pancreas."
(play begins)
16. INDIUM (Indites): * New planet on long-range scans. * Far away. * Plenty of radioactives (used for FTL drives) and -- regular structures? (*) Structures have regular/sharp-edged Superman Fortress of Solitude exterior and irregular/gem-studded cave system interior. 17. Galactic Patrol only have bi-corders -- the tri-corders don't come out until next year. 18. Apparently, sexual innuendo is a galactic constant. 19. "What can I say, it's a sexist galaxy.." 20. "...but Amazonians don't even notice!" 21. Indites eat metal (especially gold, yum; alloys, plastics, and organics, yuck!) and poo uranium. 22. "Successful negotiating with the Indites to trade metals for their poo will DEFINITELY make us Tier B Scouts, now!" 23. "What, we made it up to Tier C already? Go us!" 24. Indites have a hive-mind. 25. There are Gorilla-men (alternately, "Gorillalilla-mens")from... some other planet in the galaxy. 26. The primary melee weapon of Tellurium is the "skimatar."
RULESY THOUGHTS FROM SESSION
A. Liz took "Fearless" as her SpaceOperatic Forte (in S7S, Swashbuckling Forte). I thought that was neat, so I did something similar with the antagonist character I was creating alongside of them (Judson Dok,Rhodian Corporate Aristocrat), taking "Relentless."
This was neat. It kind of made the SpOpForte into a bigass unchained Technique (with MOD bonuses) applicable to other Fortes. It also made the selection of actual Techniques under it slightly easier/quicker, at the expense of really needing to identify what you wanted this sort of SpOp Forte to really enhance.
The benefit-stacking (MODs, +1/re-rolls) for particular Forte and situation combos got interesting. For Dok, he was Relentless (bought up to Expert [+4]), Technique of Foe: Tom's PC, Technique of Situation: Chasing, and had a separate Expert [+4] Pilot skill: all of which meant that he was constantly on Tom's PC's tail, chasing him through space... and often shooting him down. WHICH MATCHED PERFECTLY with Tom's character's Foible of "On the Run.")
B. PDQ# states that adding a Minor Fact to the game costs no Style Dice. As I've been running PDQ# SpOp, I've found myself AWARDING Style Dice for generation of Minor Facts that make it onto the Fact list. No one has as yet tried to create anything I've considered a Significant or Major Fact -- and that could be a function of these being pick-up, one-shot games -- makes me wonder if I should codify this.
C. PDQ# SpOp has thus far always generated humor, often silly -- but it's mostly played straight. This is very nice. The best media examples I can think of are Big Trouble in Little China, Firefly, and Buckaroo Banzai. (Flash Gordon and Star Wars are within the scope, but on the straighter-faced end of the spectrum; Ice Pirates is probably the far end of the silly spectrum.)
Short form: Had great conversations, played fun games, drank regional sodas (Cheerwine and Dr. Enuf FTW!), and made silly faces at well-behaved babies. An all-around win.
Otherwise, the long day-by-day breakdown behind the cut...
(Apologies ahead of time, I'm not going to try and get everyone's LJ username... but feel free to chime in with comments!)
WEDNESDAY macklinr flew into BWI in the evening; I picked him up; we swung by drivingblind's place -- it's on the way back -- to chew the fat a bit.
Much talk regarding games, girls, the gaming industry, and keeping your head on straight.
Good times.
THURSDAY Purchasing final bits of gear, packing, and puttering.
FRIDAY Drove down in the early afternoon. Freaking hot and humid. Registered, found my cabin, unpacked, said hellos, checked the schedule, explored the campsite.
Played my first game of 1000 Blank White Cards -- I really dug it. Then, later, a game of Misspent Youth, where our Youthful Offenders (YOs) ended up, uh, kinda worse than the Authority. Good times. (See my Overview of MS.)
Oh, and also kept Ryan awake all night with my snoring -- with an able ripsaw-assist from Buddha.
I need a new sleeping bag: my mummy bag only fits up to mid-torso: my chest and shoulders don't fit into the damned thing. Luckily, I had a blanket. And despite the heat of the days, the nights were cold and damp, even in the cabins. Note for next time!
SATURDAY Chatting in the morning, then playstormed nikotesla's game Xenon.
After lunch, took a long, solitary walk up to the deserted Camp A. Lots of solo thinkery on issues of current concern, while communing with nature in the Big Blue Room. Went back to my bunk and nap-crashed for an hour or two.
Learned how to play Jungle Speed, which I will be purchasing soon. Played JS until it was time for me to go and be an Oven Master (cook) for dinner.
Ran the stove for dinner: cooking soup, pasta, sauce, and a balsamic glazed chicken for around 55 people with Emily Care Boss, Epidiah Ravachol, and Joshua Riley.
Played MythEnder, and helped End the Migard Serpent! Boo-yeah! Gotta say, some of the other players' characters had some full-octane insanity that I was envious of... like "The Tongueless Last Emperor of Rome" as a Companion Weapon or the Drowned Pirate Captain who wants to "kill the ocean" demanding a terrified farmer tell her a children's story as a was to regain Mortality. Awesome. (See my Overview of ME.)
Late (around midnight), I ran a game of PDQ# Space Opera. We started with two facts:
#1. This is all Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers: swords and rayguns. #2. All of the planets have the names of elements from the Periodic Table.
As we worked through "setting the dials" and character creation, and then later in play, we added more facts to the setting. In almost exactly two hours, we went from nada to a setting described by 20 or so facts, four fully-statted PCs and 2 NPCs (a villain and an archvillain; the latter, alas, didn't show up in play), and three action-filled, entertaining, hilarious scenes -- complete with immediate adventure resolution and a cliffhanger!
I think PDQ# SpOp ("spop!") is going to be my minimal prep game to run at conventions. I'll type up my notes tonight and try to bash together some simple handouts and forms to fill out to facilitate even speedier play. Then I'll print out a bunch and slap them in a folder to put in my game bag.
SUNDAY Played a version of the game Fred describes as "the Grateful Dead concert of Indie Gaming" (I'll let him chime in on that when he gets a chance), Ganakagok in the morning, and it was great! Nine of us played the newish "jeepforged" version of the game. The best way I can describe it is that it's a structured, freeform, one-room LARP.
Ryan and I packed up, loaded the car, came back to the Deluxe Apartment in the Sky-y-y to eat something, take showers, and do laundry. Then I drove Ryan back up to Fred's so he could crash there before flying out today. Had a nice long discussion covering much ground, and also got the 411 on the "end of Season 1" D&D4e game I missed on Saturday.
Got home, ordered a pizza for the first time in two weeks, ate, watched Batman: Brave & the Bold (with Bat-Mite! How cool is that?), then did freelance editing into the wee hours. Then I crashed like the Hindenberg.
SUMMARY: Had oodles of fun. Will try to go again next year!
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