Wednesday, September 18, 2013

DragonCon 2013: Gaming Pics!

While going through my phone the other day, I realized I hadn't posted the pictures I took as mementos of each game I played at DragonCon. 

So here they are without pomp or fanfare.


The all-important badge
Old School D&D:

My character sheet w/lifelike illustration

Taking "safety in numbers" a bit too far.

Notice that my character is right next to the dragon. I was blinded earlier and proceeded to use the 10' pole to guide me around. Eventually poking a sleeping white dragon.

Malifaux:

My crew of goblins
Things were going better than they looked.
Killing the golem was a bit of an error. It explodes on death, doing some serious damage.

Fate:
Gormon the Goblin Pirate and Failed Mutineer.

A photo-realistic portrait of Gormon.

Dungeon Crawl Classics:

This photo does not do justice to the awesomeness that this session was.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Caverns of the Iron Raven Convent : A MythicGME and Five Room Dungeon Example

For the second attempt combining MythicGME with the Five Room Dungeon, I used the Searchers of the Unknown Rules.

Characters
Dario, Veteran of the Pits of Night P(AC 5, Mv 6, HD 1, Hp 4, #att 1,D 1d8 sword)
Lucio, the Vengeful Blacksmith (Ac 3, Mv 3, hd 1, hp 8 5, #att 1,D 1d10 battle axe)
Antonio, the Executioner of the Windswept Caves (Ac 6, Mv 9, hd 1, hp 5, #att 1, d 1d8 sword, 1d6 bow)
Paolo, the Tailor (Ac 9, Mv 12, hd 1/2, hp 3, #att 1, d 1d6 torch)

This example played out more like I imagined when I first fell upon the idea.

****
Scene 1 - the guardian, chaos 5

Set up: Following legends of a great treasure somewhere in the caves underneath the ruins of the Iron Raven Convent, the party wends their way up into the mountains, up the steep solitary road to reach the former holy site. After kicking around the rubble the party found a trap door into the cave system. Lighting a torch, they descended the narrow stairs into cool, damp caves. After 50' the party reached a landing and found themselves in a 30’ diameter circular cavern [roll event meaning and subject for contents Vengeance Misfortune] standing before a 10’ tall crystal statue of the Raven God himself (living statue).

Roll to see if scene stays as is: 3, altered scene

Altered scene: The statue is not a living statue, but there are no clear exists from the cavern.

To the party’s dismay, no passages extended from the cavern.

“There must be a secret door here somewhere, check the walls of the cavern!” ordered Lucio, the group’s de facto leader.

[Rolled level + 4 for each party member. Dario scores a success to find one, IF one is there. Is there a secret door in the wall of the cavern? 50/50 23, yes. ]

“Over here!” called Dario. He had found the seam around what was clearly a secret door.

[Is the mechanism for the door in the wall? 50/50, 03, exceptional yes. ]

Checking carefully, Dario noticed an odd shaped stone protruding just a bit more than it should have from the cavern wall. He pressed and pulled on it and, sure enough, the door slid back.

Scene 2 - Role playing or puzzle, Chaos 5

Set up: After advancing carefully down a twisting tunnel, the party emerged into a grand cavern. Rays of sunlight slipped through a grate high above their heads and danced on the surface of shallow pools - most likely rainwater that entered by the same means. [Gratify Mundane]. Another statue of the raven god, this time in obsidian with large dark red gems inset for its eyes, stood tall along the south wall. As the party moved into the cavern, it crowed“What gifts do you travelers seek?”

Does this setup keep?  9, yes.

Lucio piped up, “We seek the treasures of the Iron Raven Convent!”

[Use subject + meaning for dialog: excitement anger]

“Caw! Seek and you have found! But first you must make the proper offering!”

“And what is the proper offering?”

[Using MythicGME subject action: Attach goal]

“Caw! Write your goal upon parchment or ribbon and burn it in the brazier at my feet, offering a prayer to the Lord Raven!”

As only Paolo could write, the party had him scribe their goal of the treasure onto a scrap of parchment, and burned it per the statue’s instructions.

[Does the statue fulfill their wish? Very Unlikely 53. No]

The statue began to vibrate, which turned into full blown shake, rocking on its dais. Steam poured out from a vent upon which the dais sat, temporarily blinding the party. When it finished, a small wooden egg lay on the floor.

Lucio picked it up cautiously and opened it, inside on a strip of paper were the words

TRIUMPH ENVIRONMENT PROPOSE AMBUSH (generated with two rules on subject + action tables)

“Lousy circus trick” muttered Lucio.

Dario, however, thought there might be more to it.

Scene 3 - Red Herring Chaos = 5

[How to play this? Obviously, If I know it is a red herring, then it's not really a red herring. I decide to play out whatever scene results and THEN check to see if it's a red herring or not]

Setup : Ahead the passage forked, from the left a cool damp breeze blew, flickering their torches, to the right nothing but silence and darkness.

Play as is? 8 yes.

“My guess” said Antonio, is that the left will take us out of the caves. The wind is blowing in from outside.”

“Then we go right?” asked Lucio.

The party agreed.

Scene 4 - Red Herring or Big Battle, Chaos = 5

Setup: They couldn't be sure, but it felt more than once that the tunnel had sloped downwards several times. Indeed, the silence had grown more profound as they proceeded. 

After nearly an hour, and several discussions about turning back, the party found themselves before the mouth of a large cavern. Inside they crept, carefully, their eyes scanning everything within torchlight, hoping there was nothing beyond. The ground was soft red sand that gave slightly with each step. Littered about their feet they saw bits of bone here and there.

Finally, they came to a mountain of skulls piled some 20’ high. Within each skull opals, rubies, garnets, pearls and more filled the otherwise empty eye sockets. Suddenly, the pile rumbled, skulls sliding and tumbling to the sand below and climbing from within, a giant skeleton-like abomination with 6 arms with 2 swords and a spear, and the head of large bull. From no visible means, the beast let out an unholy cry, an obvious challenge to the party.

does this setup hold? 3, altered. is the skull pile an illusion?Exceptional yes.

Altered Setup: They couldn't be sure but it felt more than once that the tunnel had sloped downwards several times. Indeed, the silence had grown more profound as they proceeded.

After nearly an hour, and several discussions about turning back, the party found themselves before the mouth of a large cavern. Inside they crept, carefully, their eyes scanning everything within torchlight, hoping there was nothing beyond. The ground was soft red sand that gave slightly with each step. Littered about their feet they saw bits of bone here and there.

Finally, they came to a mountain of skulls piled some 20’ high. Within each skull opals, rubies, garnets, pearls and more filled the otherwise empty eye sockets. Suddenly, a blood curdling and unholy cry echoed throughout the cavern. To the party’s surprise, charging straight towards them, as if it materialized in front of the skull pile,came a giant skeleton-like abomination with 6 arms with 2 swords and a spear, and the head of large bull.

Check initiative
bone golem attack 1 : 9
bone golem attack 2: 10
bone golem attack 3: 7
Dario: 7
Antonio: 10
Lucio: 5  
Paolo: 13

Paolo took off running - bringing the torch with him Antonio chased after him.
The Golem attacked (1-2 Dario, 3-4 Antonio, 5-6 Lucio) Antonio as he turns to run - 19 Antonio ac is 6 + 8 for golem level, miss
The golem atttacked again - 1-3 dario 4-6 Lucio , Dario. 5+8 =13, roll 15, miss
Dario turned to run, but the golem got in its attack - 1-3 dario 4-6 lucio , lucio. 3+8 = 11, roll 17, miss
Lucio also takes off running too (he only moves 10since he's in plate)

Antonio and Paolo made it to the cavern’s exit, Dario is 10’ behind them and Lucio, 10’ behind him, is closest to golem.

Initiative:
Golem1 : 7
Golem2 : 10
Golem 3 : 7
Dario : 10
Antonio: 12
Lucio: 10
Paolo : 15

Paolo made it out of the cavern into the tunnel. The light of his torch now only barely lit the last 20’ of the cavern.  Antonio follows close behind

Lucio/Dario/Golem - 1-3 = Lucio 4-6 = Dario, 4. 5 + 8 = 13, roll = 15, miss. 

Dario just made it out of the cavern, but Lucio still had 10’ to go. and he has to run
passed the golem, which had passed him to attack Dario.

Golem attacks: 3+8 = 11, 15, miss. 1 hit!  spear 1d6, 3 HP damage

Initiative:
Golem 1 3
Golem 2 7
Golem 3 3
Dario 11
Lucio 9
Antonio 16
Paolo 12

Antonio ran to stop Paolo from running further. Dario almost caught them and Lucio made it into the tunnel.

Is the tunnel tall enough for the golem? Unlikely.  33. Yes. Random event, 83, ambiguous event, Adjourn A representative

The golem crashed after the party, but at the tunnel, clearly tall enough to allow it to enter, it stopped, pointed its spear at the party and unleashed a boot-quaking roar, before turning back into the cavern.

[due to the illusion, i decide that this was indeed the red herring, the other tunnel is the one we should have taken]

Scene 5: Big Battle Chaos = 6

Setup: Having returned to the fork in the tunnel, the party ventured towards the source of the breeze. The tunnel plunged them downward and then up and up until finally the found themselves approaching another cavern. 

In the opposite wall, a cave mouth revealed a bright sunlit sky. 12 sarcophagi adorned with the sign of the Iron Crow lay arranged in clock positions around a magic circle inscribed on the ground. The party quickly noted that two of the sarcophagi were open; two ghouls crept from the shadows.

setup stick? 4. No. Interupt. NPC action. Punish the Intellectual

Interrupted scene: Having returned to the fork in the tunnel, the party ventured towards the source of the breeze. The tunnel plunged them downward and then up - In their haste, they failed to detect a pressure plate which triggered a trap door beneath (1-dario 2 - lucio 3 antiono 4 - paolo, 5-6 reroll, 1) Dario; he fell to the bottom of a 10’deep pit. Fortunately, he suffered only minor injury (1HP)

Scene 6 - BIg Battle, Chaos = 7
[I decided to try the same setup again. is it in the spirit of the rules? i’m not sure. I decided I would take out the ghouls and I would try again. The possiblity still exists that the scene will be altered or interrupted, and in fact, it’s a greater chance, since the Chaos Factor increased.]

Setup: Having returned to the fork in the tunnel, the party ventures towards the source of the breeze. The tunnel plunges them downward and then up and up until finally the find themselves approaching another cavern. In the opposite wall, a cave mouth reveals sunlight and sky outside. 12 sarcophagi adorned with the sign of the Iron Raven arranged in clock positions around a magic circle inscribed on the ground. The party found that two of the sarcophagi were open.

Does it stick? 8. Yes!

The party moved carefully to the first open sarcophagus.

[Is anything inside? 50/50 02 exceptional yes.  is it a monster? 50/50 61 yes. I used the a d3 to determine how many hd the monster will have and get 3. I then rolled on the appropriate level table in the Labyrinth Lord rule book ]

As the party peered inside, they were met with the site of a skeleton, buried in what what appears to be wet stone.

[does the grey ooze strike? 1-3 yes, 4-6 no 1]

Without warning, a snake like mass of the stuff strikes out at the party.

Who is closest? 1-2 Dario 3-4 Lucio 5-6 Antonio 7-8 Paolo. 1 Dario.

The grey ooze smashed into Dario (for 15 points of damage.) The force crushed his rib cage and pierced his heart, he died instantly.

Initiative! grey ooze = 10
Lucio = 4
antonio = 11
paolo = 18


Paolo opted to fall back away from the strange creature while Antonio smashes at it with his sword. (1+1= 2 which is well less than the ac of 8). He hits (for 8 points) of damage but the abomination still lives.

it attacks = 1-3 Lucio 4-6 antonio 5, Antonio. Antonio has an ac of 6, the ooze needs 6 + 3 (its level), and gets a 10! miss!
Lucio brought down the power of his battle axe (2+1 is under the 8 needed but does 1 little point of damage); it barely noticed. 

Initiative: ooze = 11
antonio = 16
Lucio = 10

Antonio attacks again. (1+1! hits! again for 8!) The thing ceased movement and begins to immediately dry out and crackle into dust.

The party checked on Dario and realized he was done in. They built a funeral pyre for him, but first they couldn't help checking the other open box.

Is there anything inside? 50/50 20. yes.
is it a monster? 50/50. 90 no.


Inside the other chest, [is it treasure? 01 exceptional yes. is the treasure’s guardian nearby? 50/50 no] and the party finds a bounty inside: 700 sp, 30 gp, 1 gem, 3 pieces of jewlery . They estimate the gem is worth 10 gp, 1 jewlery is 600 gp, 1 jewlery at 800 gp, 1 is 400 gp. A nice haul albeit at the loss of their friend.

Greed set in and they couldn't let the others go unchecked.

Do they find anything else?50/50 78, no.

While Lucio and Antonio explored the mouth of the cave, Paolo began gathering materials for a funeral pyre, although not before helping himself to Dario’s sword.

Scene 7 Twist/Conclusion Chaos = 7

set up: As the flames burn their friend’s body, Lucio and Antonio peer out into the sunlight to find themselves high above a lush green valley surrounded on all sides mountains, with no obvious passage through. The glint of sunlight off a large gold dome atop a brilliant white structure captures their attention. They turn and tell Paolo to hurry with the ropes and spikes.

stay as is? 8. yes!

Infiltrate the Orc Outpost : A MythicGME + Five Room Dungeon Example

So, here's my first attempt at using MythicGME for a dungeon crawl-like experience. Microlite20 provided the character generation, combat, and other game related rules.

I've pretty much just copied my notes, with minor editing, to make it clearer and easier to follow.

****
Scene 1 - Guardian. Chaos = 5


Setup: Orcs have been raiding a small village on the fringe of civilization. The townsfolk are terrified and unable to stop them. They seek out the help of the nearest garrison of the kingdom. Artemis Prime, a scout for the garrison, has been sent to ascertain the orc force strengths. Artemis has tracked the orcs to their lair, an abandoned mining complex in the hills about 3 miles from the village. He sees two rather brutish orcs standing guard at the mine’s entrance.


Modify setup? Roll 1d10. Result: 4. Interupt. PC Negative. Take Enemies. No ideas, roll again. Spy Peace.


Interrupted scene: Orcs have been raiding a small village on the fringe of civilization. The townsfolk are terrified and unable to stop them. They seek out the help of the nearest garrison of the kingdom. Artemis Prime, a scout for the garrison, has been sent to ascertain the orc force strengths. While tracking the orcs to their lair, Artemis hears the tell tale snap of twigs of someone following him.


Is it an orc? 50/50. 24. Yes.


A javelin whistles through the air (roll for Orc to hit, 4 + 3 , miss) but it sails past Artemis.

Artemis quickly scans the forest for his attacker (DC10 - because i don't understand how to assign these yet, Knowledge = +2 + Mind +1, roll 4 +3 = 7, nope.) but is unable to see him.

The orc charges out of his hiding place, spiked club in hand.

Initiative: Orc 16, Artemis 6

The orc closes quickly and swings for Artemis (18+4 = 22 hit. For 9 points of damage! )The rogue staggers, he swings his sword, but blood seeping into his eye makes it difficult to see. (Roll 10, + STR bonus +1 = 11, Orc has AC 13)

Initiative: Orc 11 Artemis 18

Artemis swings again and this time his blade strikes home (13 + 1 = 14. He does 6 HP of damage, the Orc has 3 HP and is struck dead). Artemis quickly examines the body for anything that will help his cause.

Does the orc have anything on him that reveals a way into the orc hideout? Unlikely. 51. No.

Artemis drags the body into an old hollowed out tree trunk to hide it from any of his orc cronies who might be about, and resumes tracking the orcs.

Does it lead to the old mine? 50/50. Yes. 33, random event  PC Negative, Ambush Illness (i rolled 3x to get something that i could interpret)

Artemis follows the trail through the woods and sees that he is approaching an old mine that had been abandoned some time ago.  Unfortunately for him, the wound from the orc’s weapon had become rapidly infected, a sudden fever causes his knees to buckle. (I decide this will be filth fever but faster acting, -2 to dex and -3 to str. it will last 1d3 days. Fortunately, i roll one day).

Unable to continue, Artemis hauls himself up into a tree and lashes himself to the trunk in case he might fall, bathes his wounds, drinks and eats and then passes out


NPCs = village townsfolk, garrison, orcs
Threads = determine orc force strength


Scene 2 -  The Mine Entrance = Chaos 6

Setup: After a rough night and morning, Artemis resumes his task and gets within site of the mine entrance.  Two brutish orcs stand guard. 

(roll 1d10, 10, stands as written)

Artemis needs to take out the orcs before they can raise the alarm and he decides to draw them out - he builds a small fire and quickly disappears into the brush, hoping the orcs will take the bait.

Does one of the orcs investigate the smoke? Likely. 47. Yes.

One of the orcs makes his way into the woods towards the smoke, as he passes by Artemis, Artemis leaps out to plant his sword in the brutes back (subterfuge DC 20, rolled a 12) Unfortunately, as he rose up, a dead branch snapped beneath his foot, alerting the orc to his presence (what goes around comes around!)

Initiative: artemis 14 orc 4

Artemis swings ( 17 + 1 = 18, hits for 4 hp damage) and his sword makes contact, but the orc is still standing .

does the orc shout out for his compatriot? Likely. 3. Extreme yes.

The injured orc bellows something that Artemis does not understand, but judging by the ruckus from the direction of the mine, it isn't good.

The orc swings (3+4 and misses) but is off the mark.

Initiative: artemis 17 orc 1

Artemis has no time for this and swings again( 18 + hits,  for 6 HP) , the sword pierces something vital and the orc is dropped

Has the fire gotten out of control? 50/50 39, yes.

To Aretmis’s surprise the small fire began to spread. The other orc guard was fast approaching and it sounded like he had friends not far behind.

Artemis scrambled for cover - intent to let the orcs pass him by.

DC20  17 , fail.

A javelin whirs through the air, striking him in the shoulder ( 3 hp damage) as he did so . 

"This was a fools errand!" he thought. Had he been setup? 

His heart pounded in his ears as he ran.

initiative: Areimeis : 21 orc 14

is there a creek or river nearby? 50/50 10 yes.

He sprints towards the creek, hoping to lose the orcs there -

Outrun the Orc? contest. Physical + Dex. Artemis = 20 + 4, orc 3+3 = 6.
Artemis is easily able to out distance the orc who will have to resort to tracking in order to find him.

Is Artemis able to get to the creek? 50/50, 37, yes.

After reaching the creek , his movement covered by the sound of the rushing water, he wades in and quickly makes his way downstream towards the village .


NPCs = village townsfolk, garrison, orcs
Threads = determine orc force strength, raging fire in forest, was this a setup?

MythicGME and a Five Room Dungeon Adventure


For awhile now, i've been mulling over how to use MythicGME for a scene based dungeon adventure. The idea was in part inspired by marketing tactics of several games that claim a new school approach with an old school feel. 

In my mind, new school means, at least in part, scenes, not the gritty details of exploration (and probably a lack of resource management as a game mechanism), and the supremacy of the narrative over individual desires e.g. being willing to do something with your character that is to their detriment, but makes the story that much cooler. 

For some time, I could not wrap my head around how to do this with a dungeon crawl. 

I have no doubt it's because I really enjoy crawls, dungeon or otherwise (stating the obvious to regular readers of my blatherings). Why would you NOT want to encounter empty rooms, map your progress and track how many torches you have left?

But, at the same time, it seemed like a scene based dungeon could be fun - a different kind of narrative, especially given the nature of MythicGME.  This would not be a replacement to my usual approach, per The Ever Expanding Dungeon, but rather, something more likely for one-offs.

Still, I could not figure out how I would approach it. For one, I had to let go of the idea that it'd be a crawl in any traditional sense and accept that the map would probably abstract if one existed at all, and the overall approach more cinematic. 

And then, the other day it hit me, borrow the 5-Room Dungeon structure, using MythicGME to fill in the details. Like the 9Q's from SoloNexus, the 5-Room Dungeon provides a structure upon which you can hang ideas that result from randomizers, like Rory's Storycubes or the Subject and Action lists in Mythic.

Excited, I sat down to play on Monday night; I quickly learned that there's a caveat when using MythicGME. 

Mythic being Mythic means that it's possible, like my first attempt, that you can  setup a scene but it might not happen that way (you roll to check to see if there's an interrupt or an altered scene). As you'll see when I post that effort, this completely undermined my intent, although I enjoyed the end results none the less.

If anything, it shows how with Mythic, you can't even railroad yourself!

The mistake I think I made is that my first scene was not yet inside the dungeon. So, I followed that up with a slightly modified approach where I put the party into the dungeon in the first scene. The results were much more in line with what I thought would happen, at least in terms of the structure of the session - content, as always, was news to me based on my interaction with the randomizers.. 

I'll post the session summary of the first attempt tomorrow, as it's basically written, and follow with the 2nd attempt soon after.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

2013 Goal: Run a Dungeon Crawl for my Local Meetup Group

One of my goals for 2013 is to run a game for my local RPG meetup group. While I have met some people in the group, it's a large group and there's no telling who would come out for an old school dungeon crawl.

Time is running out and I need to get a jump on this.

After some arm twisting, my regular players and some additional friends agreed to "play test" a couple of dungeons to help me pick the most enjoyable one. If I'm going to go out and run a game for strangers, I'd like the adventure to be interesting enough to give the players something to work with.

We started last night and didn't even get inside (they opted to go in via the roof rather than the front door, but that led to some hilarious complications), but already I have learned a few things:

It's best to use pre-gens or have players create their characters before the game session. We lost over an hour and that's even with my menus of equipment packages that were intended to speed up that part. 

I want to use physical representations of resources - torches, oil flasks, arrows, etc. Maybe glass beads or pennies or some other token, to give the player a real world representation of their diminishing resources.

Spells, per one of my players suggestions, should be printed out on an index card that the player turns in when its cast. Again, resource representation.

Another player suggestion, make the character sheets modular. The idea is to have the basic equipment lists on index cards, character stats on another, weapons and armor on another, special skills (thieves, turning for clerics), saving throws another (create several for each class in case mulitple players play same class). They could be laid out in a rectangle on the table in front of the player, like an ordinary character sheet.

Since it's a 1 shot, all PCs have the same chance to hit, make that a hard-coded piece of the character sheet.


***

I'm really trying to step up my game after DragonCon - just going all in. I'm excited about the next session and seeing how they'll approach the dungeon.

In addition to determining which crawl I'll run for the meetup group, I'm on a mission to show my regular players that a dungeon crawl is neither necessarily hack-and-slash or a railroad. Already, I have dispelled some of the players' misgivings about dungeon crawls, just by letting them go in through the roof.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

DragonCon 2013: The Games I Played

My DragonCon began Friday morning with a train ride into Peachtree Center station and a walk up the longest stairwell I've ever seen in person. That was followed by a race-walk to the Hilton, which is where the gaming is located.

Game 1: Old School D & D.



The first game I played in was billed as Old School D&D although the exact version wasn't clear from the description. As it would turn out, it was a mash up. Quite a mash up.

The DM was new to b/x and to running a game at a con. His biggest flaw was his refusal to say "no" when someone walked in wanting to play. The result: 18 people. 

It was like a small army going into the dungeon. It was also the first time I have ever played in a group that legitimately needed a caller or two.

Needless to say, he wasn't prepared with characters for that many people I'm not sure how long character generation took, but it was awhile. It seemed like every time he thought he was finished, someone else would walk in.

Mistake number 2 was not really explaining b/x and how it was different than 3.x and 4e which, it seemed to me, was most everyone's starting point, save a handful of us.  Before you could blink, there was a drow magic user, an elven thief, a barbarian? (i think someone mentioned they wanted to play paladin or ranger or some such). And then he rolled out the battle mat.

He made an attempt to explain that it wasn't about where your miniature was on the map, but that's a foreign idea to a lot of people with 3.5 and 4e backgrounds and it became inevitable that we were playing just that kind of game. The minis, on the other hand, were classics from the 70s and 80s and that was pretty cool.

Other things that didn't sit well with me: Clerics had unlimited casting (he referred to the cleric more than once as "the healer" which, to me, is a modern take on the class and not a b/x take on it), magic users got unlimited casting of their one spell as well, and death was at -10 or -CON (i can't recall).  To my mind, the unlimited casting broke the game.

18 people in the Caves of Chaos and not one death. Or a wandering monster for that matter.

The DM did an admirable job wrangling 18 people (combat took forever), and I had a great time despite my criticisms - he was funny as were many of the other players and I laughed a lot (how could you not when you play a game that included "Spit on the dwarf" as a solution to a problem). I even liked my character, a thief  I named Bumble the Bouncer (T:1).  i bought a 10' pole and was tapping around for pit traps constantly, until i went blind and then it was for navigation. But, it just wasn't what I thought I was signing up for; i felt like the love of my gaming life was tremendously short changed. 

Game 2: Malifaux Demo

They were running a number of miniature game demos in the basement of the Hilton throughout the con. I got pretty excited when I saw Malifaux in the program, as I've mentioned here before.

I got to squeeze in a game Saturday morning before a panel I was looking forward to.

The game, for those that don't know, is based around a range of miniatures and as such, is not something you'd pick up to use with other manufacturers' products. There are several factions, but unlike many games, the requirements for a faction are fairly small - literally a handful of figures suffices for play.

You also need the rules (2nd ed is due out in September or October, I forget) and a Malifaux Fate Deck - you could use ordinary cards, but the decks are available for under $5 online.

I had done some reading about the system and one thing it's not typically used for is fights to the death where one figure remains at the end. Typically, scenarios are built around multiple objectives. But for demo purposes, a no quarter given fight is probably the easiest thing.

The guy running the demo was not totally familiar with the 2nd edition changes, but he was just filling in for someone who couldn't make it, and he did a good job explaining everything else, that it really didn't matter.

The fact that the game uses cards not dice made it all the more appealing to me, given my penchant for card based systems. The low investment in miniatures is nice too - a starter box is pretty much all you need to get playing. Have I mentioned that the miniatures are beautiful?

While the rule book isn't cheap, it's not outrageously priced either.   

So, I took the plunge and ordered two factions and 2 decks on Sunday night when I got home from the con. This and Flame of War will give me two social miniatures games to play.

I'll wait to order the rules since they're pre-order right now. In the meantime, I can paint up the factions.

Game 3: Games on Demand - Fate: Accelerated



This group was just 5 people plus the GM so already a better set up. We had a choice of 4 different indie systems and Fate: Accelerated was the winner at our table.

I had tried to read the Fate Core rules in the past with little luck but playing it this way, it made so much more sense. 

The setup was that we were mixed lot hired to recover a downed airship. I played a goblin pirate and failed mutineer. Other party members included an elven thief with huge debt, an itinerant human priest, a human wizard's apprentice with a penchant for pyromania, and an orc mercenary that took his contracts seriously. Very seriously.

I'm not even going to try to explain how the game is played but I'll note that, combat is slick in that it's just one opposed roll basically (although we had almost no combat). The game is about story telling first and foremost. You can define any kind of character you could possibly want. Advantages and stunts are pretty cool and I found myself trying to play the character as circumscribed by these items on the character sheet, in order to bring those things into the game. Rather than feeling game-y, it felt like they encouraged characterization.

It also seemed more collaborative than I usually experience as well, but I don't know yet if that was the GM or the rules. I'll know soon enough - I bought the rules and 4 sets of FUDGE dice (which Fate uses), I liked it that much.

Game 4: Portal Beneath the Stars - Dungeon Crawl Classics

This was my final game of the con and it was my favorite. 

Portal Beneath the Stars is a Dungeon Crawl Classics 0-level funnel. I've only played DCC once before (Sailors on a Starless Sea), but I love the funnel concept and couldn't wait for this. I only wish I had signed up to play some of the GM's other sessions!

Our GM, Brandon (SavageGM on Twitter) was full of energy and enthusiasm for the game. He knew the rules and the adventure like they were his own, rolled dice in the open and spent as much time standing up and pointing out where features would be using the room we were in, where statues were and how they were posed, and acting out various bits, as he did seated behind his screen. 

Even though I was exhausted, not once did my attention wander. It couldn't - he was riveting.

He was also totally inspiring - I wanted to go home and run a game right away (Sadly, that didn't happen).

This was what playing a game at a con should be - it should pump you up so that you go back to your home group fired up to play, and give you new ideas to improve your own GMing or new story ideas or just renewed enthusiasm.

****
Gaming at DragonCon was better than I could have imagined. It was such a downer to realize on Sunday night that I wouldn't be going back downtown to play another game.

I can't wait for next year! 

With some better planning, I can probably squeeze in another game or two, or maybe, I'll run Labyrinth Lord or b/x and try to convey my excitement for the game to others.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

DragonCon 2013! The Loot Post


DragonCon was AWESOME!

I had a fantastic time playing games and people watching. 

Unlike the first time I went in 2010, this time, I made it home before midnight each night and got actual sleep. Also, unlike that 1st time, I did the convention my way.

In 3 days, I played 3 RPG sessions and a demo of Malifaux and went to two gaming panels. The games and panels will get their own write-up in a separate post as I want to give them their due.

In addition to the game playing and people watching, subsisting on almonds and energy drinks, and climbing the Peachtree Center stairs of DOOOOMMMM! more times than I'd ever want to, I also shopped.

A lot.

Here's my haul:

I got my mustache!
Purely for reference - and maybe a really detailed skirmish game.

Lot's of maps and rumors and such.

I have always loved the look of  TWERPS. I'll probably never play it. Lou Zocchi  himself gave me an incredible sales pitch for the module.  I couldn't say no!

More on this in the game post.

These books and gm screens, plus the TMNT rules I already had, bring me that much closer to a complete Palladium mutant collection
 

Most of the RPGs were at awesome discounts (except Fate: Accelerated ,but that's just $5 new anyway, and the TWERPS games) - even the used copies were less than the sticker (most were purchased at 30% - 50% off).

Next up, I'll post my thoughts on the games I played.