Post Origins Babbling
Jul. 1st, 2008 04:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orikesOrigins was a blast.
I went last year for the first time, and I enjoyed the convention itself, but I felt a little out of sorts during the downtime between games. Last year I went with a 'sometimes' friend and a friend of his. Both of them were very busy doing their own things, so I was pretty much left to my own devices when I wasn't in a game. Despite being obnoxiously outspoken at times, I'm a fairly shy person with people I don't know. Even with chatting folks up happily during games, it's not like I'm quite capable of finding random people to hang out with outside of those structured moments.
This year, though, I convinced two local friends to go with me. Doug said yes a while ago, and then a bit after that, Scott announced that he was going to go too. This meant I had company on the ride down and would have 'hang-out' company at the con. It really made all the difference in the world.
This time, I enjoyed both the gaming bits and the in-between bits.
The gaming bits are why I go, though. While Origins isn't as big as GenCon, it's still pretty darn huge. There's board gaming and collectible card gaming and miniatures gaming and LARPing and tons of stuff. Me? I'm there for the roleplaying games. When I go to a con, I'm not happy unless I get at least two RPGs in a day. More if I can fit it and still keep my sanity.
The 'sometimes' friend I mentioned is a guy named Kevin. He's someone I met at a local convention several years ago and have kept in touch with since. He's probably one of my all-time favorite GMs ever. As a history professor, he's got a vast storehouse of knowledge in his brain. As a GM, he's all about the story and the characters. He basically brings out everything I love in a roleplaying game. As it happened, I played in three of his games at this con.
Wednesday night, I got into one of his games based on Marvel comics and using the old Marvel SAGA system. The characters were all super powered teenagers from the Xavier Institute and they were searching for a lost classmate at a gaming convention. The characters he has for the game are a mix of canonical characters (Canonball, Cyclops, Angel, Kitty Pride, Cypher) and originals. I'd actually played this scenario before, but even if Kevin's running the same scenario, it'll end up being a different game.
Thursday, I started off with some Shadowrun. I LOVE me some good Shadowrun. This might seem a little out of character since Shadowrun can be a munchkin/hack-en-slash system, but there's just something about the setting and the conceit behind the setting that I love. I also discovered a couple years ago that the folks who run Shadowrun games at Origins and GenCon are part of a pretty solid group of GMs. They're all pretty good at mixing in the story along with the boom and the bang of the dice rolling. It was actually a good thing I started off with this particular game because I found out that the Shadowrun tournament I had wanted to take part in actually started on Thursday night, NOT Friday night.
So, as a result, I also played Shadowrun that night. The tournaments with this crew of GMs is always fun. The first year I played one, they had someone come in dressed like a federal agent and give the instructions in the type of manner you'd expect. Last year, they had garbled recordings they played to represent some of the data we found. This year, we all got mourning headbands as we raised a toast to a fallen comrade who had made a dying request of his teammates. It's good stuff and I got in with a great group of people.
Friday, I thought I was going to be starting out with a Firefly game. As it turned out, it wasn't Firefly, but it was a game using the same system. I'd signed up for a Castlemourne game using the Cortex system. I also apparently signed up to play with a couple of complete idiots. Even though the GM threw us opportunity after opportunity, it was a TPK within the first hour. (TPK = Total Party Kill) The chick playing the leader of the group just would not leave. Three of the other players weren't outgoing enough to go against the leader and the fourth was gleefully playing his character and waiting for the TPK. The GM actually apologized to me since my character was the only one saying, "We need to get the hell out of here!"
The GM ended up taking pity on us and pulled out another scenario to run for those of us that wanted to stick around. The idiot player stuck around, but she seemed to have gotten the point and behaved in the next game. The next scenario he ran was still the Cortex system, but this game was based on 'Supernatural'. We played a bunch of Texas teenagers getting into the trouble out in the woods. There was a mysterious hunting lodge, hints of cannibalism, scary ghosts, and a crotchety old man with a shotgun who swore too much. It was a blast. It also put the nail in the coffin about me actually getting around to watching 'Supernatural'.
After that, I went out to dinner with Doug and Scott. We went to Bucca Di Beppo, which I really love. Unfortunately, we ordered too much food and the dish I picked out wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. Still, it was nice to have dinner in a real restaurant.
The second half of the Shadowrun tournament was Friday night. Again, it was a blast. The group I was with was a lot of fun. It's always cool when there are some other roleplayers that you connect with and you can let your characters play off one another. There were only three teams, so everyone was going to win something. I think my team came in second. Regardless, I ended up with a $5 gift certificate to the Catalyst Game Labs booth. Yay!
On Saturday, I played in the Carcasonne Tournament with Scott. It really wasn't too much of a tournament, but we played a few fun games with a nice lady from some other state. We very nicely took turns coming in first, so we each won a game. In the end, we agreed amongst ourselves to let Scott 'win' our round of the tournament so he could come back later that night to play in the finals. I think he ended up coming in second, but still ended up getting the first place prize since the guy who actually won it didn't want it.
After that, I snuck in one more Shadowrun game. This one involved lots of explosions. I may like story in my games, but there's something to be said for some well executed action and big booms.
Saturday night was the second Kevin game. I wasn't going to play this particular game since it was another session of 'The Great Con Game' which is what I played on Wednesday. He told me to show up anyway and he'd pull out a different scenario to run. I dragged Scott along and we ended up having a blast. It was the same group of X-men based characters, but this time the kids were heading to NYC for a night on the town. Of course nothing could possibly go wrong. Again, it was a pretty good group of players, and there was some nice interaction in the way we played the characters off one another.
Sunday was an initial rush of getting the room packed up, getting checked out, and hitting the dealer's room one last time. The last game ended up being the final Kevin game, but this time it was a completely different system.
Four Colors Al Fresco is a quirky little game created by the game company 'Impossible Dream' which is also responsible for Dread (which is probably one of the simplest and most brilliant ideas I've ever seen in gaming – if you want a great horror/suspense game, take a look at Dread). Four Colors essentially takes the super hero concept and places it during the Renaissance. Kevin's Four Colors games revolve around the students of 'Professor Omega's School for Gifted Omegas'. Yes, another game with teenagers and super powers. If you sense a theme, you're right. I've played every scenario that Kevin has come up with for this particular setting and I'll avidly jump in on any others he comes up with. One of the characters is one I actually consider to be 'mine'. I came up with her initial concept that gave him the idea that created the larger focus of the scenarios he runs.
I've probably rambled in far more detail than anyone needs about the convention, but it was a blast. In the days leading up to it, I was actually dreading it to a certain degree, but once we were on the road (and my headache went away), I was starting to get a little excited. Once we were actually in Columbus, I forgot any worries I might have had about the trip.
Now I just need to save up for GenCon in August...
I went last year for the first time, and I enjoyed the convention itself, but I felt a little out of sorts during the downtime between games. Last year I went with a 'sometimes' friend and a friend of his. Both of them were very busy doing their own things, so I was pretty much left to my own devices when I wasn't in a game. Despite being obnoxiously outspoken at times, I'm a fairly shy person with people I don't know. Even with chatting folks up happily during games, it's not like I'm quite capable of finding random people to hang out with outside of those structured moments.
This year, though, I convinced two local friends to go with me. Doug said yes a while ago, and then a bit after that, Scott announced that he was going to go too. This meant I had company on the ride down and would have 'hang-out' company at the con. It really made all the difference in the world.
This time, I enjoyed both the gaming bits and the in-between bits.
The gaming bits are why I go, though. While Origins isn't as big as GenCon, it's still pretty darn huge. There's board gaming and collectible card gaming and miniatures gaming and LARPing and tons of stuff. Me? I'm there for the roleplaying games. When I go to a con, I'm not happy unless I get at least two RPGs in a day. More if I can fit it and still keep my sanity.
The 'sometimes' friend I mentioned is a guy named Kevin. He's someone I met at a local convention several years ago and have kept in touch with since. He's probably one of my all-time favorite GMs ever. As a history professor, he's got a vast storehouse of knowledge in his brain. As a GM, he's all about the story and the characters. He basically brings out everything I love in a roleplaying game. As it happened, I played in three of his games at this con.
Wednesday night, I got into one of his games based on Marvel comics and using the old Marvel SAGA system. The characters were all super powered teenagers from the Xavier Institute and they were searching for a lost classmate at a gaming convention. The characters he has for the game are a mix of canonical characters (Canonball, Cyclops, Angel, Kitty Pride, Cypher) and originals. I'd actually played this scenario before, but even if Kevin's running the same scenario, it'll end up being a different game.
Thursday, I started off with some Shadowrun. I LOVE me some good Shadowrun. This might seem a little out of character since Shadowrun can be a munchkin/hack-en-slash system, but there's just something about the setting and the conceit behind the setting that I love. I also discovered a couple years ago that the folks who run Shadowrun games at Origins and GenCon are part of a pretty solid group of GMs. They're all pretty good at mixing in the story along with the boom and the bang of the dice rolling. It was actually a good thing I started off with this particular game because I found out that the Shadowrun tournament I had wanted to take part in actually started on Thursday night, NOT Friday night.
So, as a result, I also played Shadowrun that night. The tournaments with this crew of GMs is always fun. The first year I played one, they had someone come in dressed like a federal agent and give the instructions in the type of manner you'd expect. Last year, they had garbled recordings they played to represent some of the data we found. This year, we all got mourning headbands as we raised a toast to a fallen comrade who had made a dying request of his teammates. It's good stuff and I got in with a great group of people.
Friday, I thought I was going to be starting out with a Firefly game. As it turned out, it wasn't Firefly, but it was a game using the same system. I'd signed up for a Castlemourne game using the Cortex system. I also apparently signed up to play with a couple of complete idiots. Even though the GM threw us opportunity after opportunity, it was a TPK within the first hour. (TPK = Total Party Kill) The chick playing the leader of the group just would not leave. Three of the other players weren't outgoing enough to go against the leader and the fourth was gleefully playing his character and waiting for the TPK. The GM actually apologized to me since my character was the only one saying, "We need to get the hell out of here!"
The GM ended up taking pity on us and pulled out another scenario to run for those of us that wanted to stick around. The idiot player stuck around, but she seemed to have gotten the point and behaved in the next game. The next scenario he ran was still the Cortex system, but this game was based on 'Supernatural'. We played a bunch of Texas teenagers getting into the trouble out in the woods. There was a mysterious hunting lodge, hints of cannibalism, scary ghosts, and a crotchety old man with a shotgun who swore too much. It was a blast. It also put the nail in the coffin about me actually getting around to watching 'Supernatural'.
After that, I went out to dinner with Doug and Scott. We went to Bucca Di Beppo, which I really love. Unfortunately, we ordered too much food and the dish I picked out wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. Still, it was nice to have dinner in a real restaurant.
The second half of the Shadowrun tournament was Friday night. Again, it was a blast. The group I was with was a lot of fun. It's always cool when there are some other roleplayers that you connect with and you can let your characters play off one another. There were only three teams, so everyone was going to win something. I think my team came in second. Regardless, I ended up with a $5 gift certificate to the Catalyst Game Labs booth. Yay!
On Saturday, I played in the Carcasonne Tournament with Scott. It really wasn't too much of a tournament, but we played a few fun games with a nice lady from some other state. We very nicely took turns coming in first, so we each won a game. In the end, we agreed amongst ourselves to let Scott 'win' our round of the tournament so he could come back later that night to play in the finals. I think he ended up coming in second, but still ended up getting the first place prize since the guy who actually won it didn't want it.
After that, I snuck in one more Shadowrun game. This one involved lots of explosions. I may like story in my games, but there's something to be said for some well executed action and big booms.
Saturday night was the second Kevin game. I wasn't going to play this particular game since it was another session of 'The Great Con Game' which is what I played on Wednesday. He told me to show up anyway and he'd pull out a different scenario to run. I dragged Scott along and we ended up having a blast. It was the same group of X-men based characters, but this time the kids were heading to NYC for a night on the town. Of course nothing could possibly go wrong. Again, it was a pretty good group of players, and there was some nice interaction in the way we played the characters off one another.
Sunday was an initial rush of getting the room packed up, getting checked out, and hitting the dealer's room one last time. The last game ended up being the final Kevin game, but this time it was a completely different system.
Four Colors Al Fresco is a quirky little game created by the game company 'Impossible Dream' which is also responsible for Dread (which is probably one of the simplest and most brilliant ideas I've ever seen in gaming – if you want a great horror/suspense game, take a look at Dread). Four Colors essentially takes the super hero concept and places it during the Renaissance. Kevin's Four Colors games revolve around the students of 'Professor Omega's School for Gifted Omegas'. Yes, another game with teenagers and super powers. If you sense a theme, you're right. I've played every scenario that Kevin has come up with for this particular setting and I'll avidly jump in on any others he comes up with. One of the characters is one I actually consider to be 'mine'. I came up with her initial concept that gave him the idea that created the larger focus of the scenarios he runs.
I've probably rambled in far more detail than anyone needs about the convention, but it was a blast. In the days leading up to it, I was actually dreading it to a certain degree, but once we were on the road (and my headache went away), I was starting to get a little excited. Once we were actually in Columbus, I forgot any worries I might have had about the trip.
Now I just need to save up for GenCon in August...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 02:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 07:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 07:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 07:38 pm (UTC)If you miss it, I'd say keep your eye out for a local con or something that you can hit.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 08:54 pm (UTC)I saw an ad for it on TV the other day, and I was like, "Heeeyyyy--that's right on the other side of town now, isn't it?" Catch a bus Downtown and get in on the fun!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 09:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-01 09:23 pm (UTC)I'm pretty sure, though, you'd have really enjoyed the Supernatural game, or the two Marvel SAGA games.
I'm not sure where you are geographically, otherwise, I'd point you towards some cons to try out. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 01:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 02:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 02:59 am (UTC)Next year we're going to try to get to at least one Con... next year...
Might not be a gaming con, though... Chris has been making noise about going to whichever one Pete Abrams is at next year, since he doesn't do them all anymore. Maybe D*Con.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 06:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 07:22 pm (UTC)I've thought about hitting DragonCon, but Origins and GenCon are closer. :}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 08:51 pm (UTC)I saw him at the World Trade Center about a month before 9/11, and the line to see him wrapped and curled all over the place, with very little sign of movement fFor a fFew hours before the signing ended. I didn't actually see him at all, but got a couple (distant) photos. Still, going and seeing is well worth the trek. Comic-Con as a whole is totally worth the time and money, I think.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-02 09:08 pm (UTC)- fFriendly types who are totally cool with sharing points and completely are willing to build silly looking structures because it's fFun.
- Competitive kinds who refuse to share points and will do anything to edge you out of anything.
The important to thing is that I was up against not one, but TWO of those doods in the second game who were obviously good fFriends. I completely crushed one guy -- his fFinal score was somewhere around half of mine. The other guy only beat me by ONE LOUSY POINT, which I was considering today I might have been able to beat him out of, possibly, in a last ditch play, to tie the game up.
By the way, the big prize which the other guy gave me .... fFunny story about that. The box says "Dig and Play! Treasure Hunt!" Now, I don't know about you, but when i get a game box I assume certain things about the theme. I assume we won't actually be building villages on some island called Catan, fFor example. The "dig and play," however, is no joke.
The box includes a big block of plaster, and a digging tool. No shit. The playing pieces are embedded inside a brick!
This is not a game. This is a tool fFor parents to keep the kids busy fFor a fFew hours.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-03 01:40 am (UTC)