Got a solid 6 hours of sleep, quick shower, bananas and an apple for breakfast, boogied on down to my first game of the day.

Note: there may be spoilers below for some of the games I played in! Be careful if you are a regular Strategicon attendee and might play them in the future.

Slot: Sunday, 9am – 1pm
Game (System): ”Deadliest Catch” (Trail of Cthulhu)
My Character: Tom Hawkins (professor of Anthropology)
GM: Steve
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: a single d6

I was looking forward to this game, having played in some of Steve’s games before and being a fan of the fine folks at the Dead Gamer’s Society – and I wasn’t disappointed.

Based loosely on the reality show “Deadliest Catch,” our characters quickly found themselves at the center of a Cthulhu-esque mystery in Dutch Harbor. There were fish men, family secrets, betrayals, suicide, patricide, pacts with evil – in short, it was a Cthulhu game. Had a really great time, and was once again pumped up for running my Jem game.

Perhaps the highlight of the game for me was one of the characters, already teetering on the edge of sanity, realizing that his father was part of the secret pact with evil that led to his sister’s suicide … and pushing his father to his death off the same cliff his sister jumped from (right in front of the town sheriff no less!). Brilliant.

Dealer’s Room

I made a quick visit to the Dealer’s Room in between slots – this was literally the only time I set foot in the board game room. Since the only RPG I run is GURPS, and I already own all the GURPS hardcovers, there’s not usually all that much for me to browse, but I did find a couple things.

This little gem is a card game called Poo. The players are monkeys in a zoo who have eaten some bad Monkey Chow, and are paying the price. The object of the game is to keep yourself as clean as possible, while inflicting 15 points of Poo on all the other monkeys to knock them out of the game. Couldn’t resist! We’ve played once so far, with 8 people, and it was a lot of fun.

The other items I bought are game counters from a company called Dapper Devil:

In addition to these that I bought at the con, I just bought a few more online (dead, invisible, and prone). When there’s a battle going on, say 6 PCs vs. 6-8 NPCs, anything that can help me quickly remember who’s been wounded, who’s stunned, etc. is awesome.

I see that they do custom orders – if I get the resources I might inquire about having some GURPS-specific counters made up: “Less than 1/3 HP”, “Kneeling”, “Aim 1″, “Aim 2″, etc.

The only other thing I sometimes grab in the dealer’s room is the convention t-shirt, but I wasn’t a big fan of this con’s shirt. It was the same as the cover of the program, which works great as the program, but on a t-shirt would just require too much explaining.

I got to my assigned table about a half hour before game time and started setting up.

Slot: Sunday, 2pm – 6pm
Game (System): ”Jem: License to Kill” (GURPS)
GM: Me!
Players: 5/6
Dice mechanic: 3d6, roll under target number

Ended up with an empty seat for this run, but we still had a great time. One player arrived wearing a pink “Jem” t-shirt and bright eye shadow in a band across her eyes. Good sign!

The father and son who had chatted with me on Saturday night played, and the 9 year old was a hoot and a half to run for. He played the sniper, and at one point took out a two-man patrol walking too close to his sniper’s nest. When turns went around the table again he declared that he was packing his gear and moving to a new location. When asked why he would do that instead of just staying hidden where he was, he matter-of-factly replied, “Snipers never stay in the same spot after they’ve taken a shot.” This is the same kid who, when I asked him to make a Stealth roll to sneak past a sentry, answered, “I don’t want to sneak past the sentry, I want to sneak up behind him and shank him.” Dad, of course, had a proud smile on his face throughout.

This time through had just as many crazy firefights and sneaking around as Saturday’s game. The team again managed to snag the weapon prototype and get the defecting double agent to safety without serious injury. Maybe I’m not hard enough on the PCs.

I was very pleased with how both Jem games went. Having never GMed for anyone outside my usual gaming buddies, I was pretty anxious – but everyone said they had a great time, and the online comments in the days after the con were delightfully positive and humbling:

“All I have to say is I have heard NOTHING but good about this. And you did it due to a challenge on the boards. I say, good show man.”

“Awesome game, Mook. Thanks!”

“It was fab. Not only a great game based on the show but a very solid espionage mission that would work well on its own. Would play again.”

“I wanted to reiterate how amazingly awesome your Jem game was. I didn’t know anything about the cartoon going in, and had only a passing knowledge of GURPS, but neither of those things mattered because you made it easy and accessible. Seriously, you were a great GM: calm, prepared, knowledgeable, engaging and above all, a lot of fun! I would consider myself lucky to get to play in another game that you were running. So, if you plan to try something else at the next con, count me in!”

“I wanted to tell you again just how much fun I had at the Jem game. It was a blast! You made GURPS easy & easy to navigate, the story was fun & super-engaging, *you* attracted a lot of fun players, & you are a fantastic GM! (I definitely picked up some tips for myself. ”

After the game I splurged on a pizza at the hotel restaurant and relaxed. Apparently, even I can reach my limit of bologna and salami … who knew? Eventually I made my way to the last game of the day.

Slot: Sunday, 8pm – midnight
Game (System): ”Darkest Night, Brightest Day” (Pathfinder)
My Character: Kyle (Drow fighter/ranger with dual scimitars)
GM: Tyler
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: d20, and polyhedrals

Once again, the fine folks from Happy Jacks did not disappoint! This was another fun game, where we all played good-aligned Drow fighter/rangers with dual scimitars. There was Driggt, Drivvt, Driddt, Dribbt, Drimmt, and me … Kyle. In our attempt to “defect” to the surface world, our little party rained flashing steely death down upon an entire encampment of Orc grunts, a couple of uber-special Orc elites, and a huge dragon with a sonic breath weapon.

Not only did it rock, but I got to keep my Drizzt … er, Kyle figure. Nice! I went back to my room and slept like a baby.

Slot: Monday, 9am – 1pm
Game (System): ”Magic, Mohawks, and Mirrorshades” (Fate/Shadowrun)
My Character: Big Bob (Orc ganger with a chrome spike mohawk)
GM: Morgan
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: d20, and polyhedrals

The reality that the con was nearly over, with just a couple of games left to enjoy, began looming this morning. This game helped take my mind off that for a few hours. It was the third time I played Fate, and the third time I had a freakin’ blast. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, and I’ve begun reading Fate 2.0, free from the publisher, for ideas to steal for my GURPS games.

This was “Shadowrun as it was meant to be,” meaning all of the coolness and bad-assery of the original setting, with none of the clunkiness of the original rules. I really enjoyed the over-the-top cinematic action of it all – firefights with high-tech guns, netrunning, magic spells, summoned spirits – start to finish it was like being in a supercool action movie.

And then it was down to … the last game of the weekend!

Slot: Monday, 2pm – 6pm
Game (System): ”To Defy the Stars” (D&D 4th)
My Character: Cleave d’Amage (human barbarian)
GM: Gina and Megan
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: d20, and polyhedrals

I’m reiterating the spoiler warning on this one specifically, as it followed an unusual narrative. 

Originally I had planned to leave Gateway after midnight on Sunday, as I had done for Gamex. But I really, really wanted to play in Gina and Megan’s game, so I extended until Monday. So glad I did!

The game started off on a perfect note, with the GMs giving every player Mountain Dew and Cheetos. Nice touch.

We were a more or less standard fantasy adventuring party – I played a barbarian named Cleave d’Amage (love it!). The group of us was relaxing in the Brown Badger, our favorite generic tavern, when a mysterious old crone offered to tell us a secret if we bought her a drink. The secret was that all of our lives, every decision we’d made and every action we’d taken, were not truly ours. We, and every other living person in the entire world, were merely the playthings of two goddesses named the Queens of Fate. Our free will was an illusion – and we agreed to take up the crone’s cause, find our way to these mysterious Queens, and end their reign of tyranny.

The going was tough. Paths didn’t lead where they were supposed to, and a group of hostile gnolls “happened” to block our way. We began to notice strange things – for example, the gnolls only seemed to move in very specific patterns, and the grass and ground beneath our feet were marked with 10′ squares.

Ultimately we reached the chamber of the Queens of Fate, after overcoming their temple’s riddles and puzzles (including a cool ‘musical lock’ that the GMs played on a child’s xylophone behind their screen, and that our bard had to recreate – luckily the bard’s player was in a band!). It was an epic battle, full of magic and animated statues and summoned elementals, but ultimately we defeated them both (I actually got high-fives from around the table for a natural 20 critical hit killing blow that took out one of the goddesses).

We ran a little late so the epilogue was necessarily brief, which was too bad – I could have stayed to chat and wrap up for hours. I did get to keep my barbarian figure though. Score!

What an awesome way to end such a great con. This was probably my favorite game of the weekend – the GMs really nailed it, and I look forward to playing more of their games soon. Way to go out on a high note!

It was an exhausting weekend, left me totally drained by Monday afternoon, but I had an absolute blast and got to play a ton of great games with a ton of great people. Can’t ask for much more than that!

I’m already looking forward to OrcCon, in February … not sure what, if anything, I’ll run there, but early possibilities include GURPS: Battle of the Planets, or GURPS: The Warriors (or both!). We’ll see how things shape up.

Things I Learned This Convention

• Bring Pencils, Not Dice: I made sure to bring plenty of 6-siders to my GURPS games, but didn’t bring any extra pencils … naturally, everyone had their own dice, but a lot of people asked for something to write with.
• Don’t Pack Shorts: I thought wearing shorts would be more comfortable, which normally would be the case … except the average temperature of nearly every room I played a game in was °64.

Thanks to all the GMs, players, volunteers, and staff that make these conventions possible … after only attending twice they’ve already become high points of my year.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Strategicon Gateway 2011 convention here in LA. Just like Gamex in June, I had an awesome time – probably even better than before, because I knew more people and faces, and this time I ran a couple of game slots too instead of only playing.

I got there Friday at noon and came home Monday evening. In those 3.5 days I played 8 different games and ran 2 sessions of my “Jem: License to Kill” one-shot, 4 hours for each slot, for a grand total of 40 hours of gaming. Yes, I basically put in a full-time work week in a weekend of gaming – and it was glorious.

Again my suitcase was crammed with food aplenty: 18 cans of Fresca, apples, bananas, bread, salami, bologna, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, mustard, mayo, and wheat thins. Oh, and clothes. Annoyingly the Sheraton charged me $20 for the mini-fridge (it was free last time), but I guess it could be worse.

The layout was the same: RPGs on the 2nd floor in the conference rooms, board and card games in the 1st floor ballroom. I literally only set foot in the ballroom one time, and really that was only because I had to in order to reach the dealer’s room. It’s not that I dislike board and card games – I don’t, in fact I go to a weekly meetup (Friday Night Dice) to get my fix. But when I’m at a convention, it’s all about the RPGs!

Check in time wasn’t until 3pm, but thankfully my room was ready when I got there at noon. I grabbed my con badge (Yay! It says, “Volunteer: RPG GM”!), unpacked, and relaxed in the room for a bit.

Note: there may be spoilers below for some of the games I played in! Be careful if you are a regular Strategicon attendee and might play them in the future.

My first game of the con was supposed to be a 2pm slot called “Resident Evil: The NC Virus,” using the All Flesh Must Be Eaten rules, which sounded very cool. I arrived at the table but the only other person there was the GM. By 2:10pm it was clear no one else was showing up, so we cancelled. I went off in search of another game. Unfortunately, I found one!

Slot: Friday, 2pm – 6pm

I didn’t put any stats for this one because it really didn’t grab me. Everyone was friendly, the GM tried his best, but it fell completely flat for me. Fears that it was a bad omen were unfounded, though – the rest of the weekend was great!

I returned to the room for a couple of quick sandwiches, then headed back down for Game Two.

Slot: Friday, 8pm – Midnight
Game (System): “Happy Jack’s Pathfinder” (Pathfinder)
My Character: Benton (70 year old Ranger, level 20)
GMs: Casey and Bruce
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: d20, and polyhedrals

In this game we all played “standard” fantasy adventurers who had long ago retired and settled down in a small town. An old enemy of ours had returned, and was sucking the life force out of the townspeople, making them old and addled, us included. Because of our age we were all hard of hearing, had bad knees and backs, etc. Great fun was had by all! (“Put in your horn!” “WHAT?” “Get off my lawn ya damn kids!”)

The slot was supposed to end at midnight, but everyone agreed to go “a little late” when the GMs asked. Around 12:30 we started the climactic final battle (against a Jabberwocky no less!) … and finished at 3:45 am! It was one hell of an epic battle, but I was a little worried about running my first con game the next day. I dragged my ass back to the hotel room and passed out by 4am. Great end to the day (morning?).

Up at 7am! Greeting the day with 3 hours sleep – quick shower, a couple of bananas, and off to my first Saturday game.

Slot: Saturday, 9am – 1pm
Game (System): “Dead Presidents” (Wild Talents)
My Character: John Fitzgerald “Ghost” Kennedy
GM: Tyler
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: d20, and polyhedrals

In this game we all played, you guessed it, dead presidents. See, when a president dies he is reanimated and given super powers by the government for the purpose of defending our great nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I played John Fitzgerald “Ghost” Kennedy, whose powers were to turn insubstantial, flight, and healing. Other dead presidents on our particular team were Ulysses S. Grant, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, all with their own assorted super powers – for example, Nixon could control shadows, FDR was a super-speedster (wheelchair and all!), etc.

The GMing was fluid and fun, and all the players did a great job with their characters. In particular, “Tricky Dick” Nixon was cracking me up (sorry, don’t recall the player’s name) – he had the accent down, and played Nixon as conniving and unscrupulous. We fought against Nazis with jetpacks, working for Kim Jong Il and Hitler’s brain, who were trying to steal a robot body designed to house Abraham Lincoln’s brain for Hitler.

It was as awesome as it sounds!

To me, the line of the game came when the team needed the medic (my character, JFK) to try and stabilize someone who’d been shot in the skull. “Give him to JFK,” the cry went out. “He’s a medic and he has experience with head wounds!” Ouch.

During the final battle Kim Jong Il morphed into a dinosaur (his superpower) – one of our team crammed Hitler’s brain up his poop chute, followed by a large canister of liquid oxygen; then when he was knocked unconscious he reverted to human form, which … ended messily for him. Totally wacky, off-the-wall fun!

After “Dead Presidents” I was in a great frame of mind for running my first convention game ever, pumped up and enthusiastic. I grabbed a quick sandwich in the room, gathered up my stuff, and headed to my assigned room.

Slot: Saturday, 2pm – 6pm
Game (System): ”Jem: License to Kill” (GURPS)
GM: Me!
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: 3d6, roll under target number

I started setting up the table like a half hour before game time: hex mat down, GM screen up, character sheets and table tents displayed, complimentary copies of GURPS 4th Lite distributed, etc. I meant to take a picture of the table before game time, but I was pretty nervous and totally forgot.

The group that gathered for my first game couldn’t have been better. Much to my relief, fully half the table were Happy Jack’s people that I already knew (thanks Gina, Megan, Bloodsparrow!); the other half were all fun and enthusiastic too, so I really felt comfortable. One fellow had sat down solely because it was “the only GURPS game with an open seat,” and had no clue what Jem was all about – but after the initial shock and dismay he stuck around and enjoyed himself.

The game ran smoothly and everyone seemed to have a blast. I didn’t lose the ability to speak or toss my lunch on the table, so big pluses there. Details of the game can be found on the game page, but basically the PCs were CIA assassins sent to Russia to infiltrate a secret KGB science facility and steal a weapon prototype, as well as to contact and protect a high-value Russian double agent.

While being a fabulous and famous 80′s glam-pop girl band.

There were firefights, sneaking around, explosions, and even some player-vs.-player combat near the end. The only major departure from my expected plot was that they almost immediately grew suspicious of their handler, so instead of taking a plane to Moscow they traveled by tour bus. This caused me to change the attack from “corrupt pilot and co-pilot try to kill you all at 30,000 feet” to “black helicopters firing missiles descend upon you!” They did seem to enjoy popping a dual-.50 caliber machine gun turret out the top of the bus and taking out the choppers though.

The prototype was recovered, as was the double agent, and no one on the team was seriously injured. Important lesson to always remember in GURPS – sniper rifles hurt!

We finished the game about 5 minutes before the slot ended. My first time GMing at a con really was awesome, and I’m looking forward to running many more times.

Once I packed up all my stuff I headed back to the room to make a couple more sandwiches for dinner. About the only thing that would make these cons even better would be someone to hang out with in between slots. None of my non-gamer friends attend, and the folks I know at the con I don’t really know well enough to invite myself to dinner with. Plus, bologna and salami gets really boring!

Trying to operate on such little sleep, plus being drained from the anxiety of running Jem, finally started catching up to me by evening, but I really wanted to play the game I was preregistered for, so I sucked it up and headed back downstairs.

While I was waiting for others to arrive, a man and a small boy came over to where I was sitting. The man asked if I was Mook, and running the “Jem” game on Sunday. When I said yes he asked if he and his 9 year old son could sign up for it (since it was rated as “13+” in the program), and I said sure. I really appreciated the fact that he didn’t just show up at the table Sunday and ask me then!

Slot: Saturday, 8pm – midnight
Game (System): ”The Shadow Grows” (One True Ring)
My Character: Alecia, ‘The Bride’ (human woodswoman)
GM: Denys
Players: 5/6
Dice mechanic: d6 + custom d12

I loved this GM’s style at Gamex a few months ago – his game was my favorite of that con. I almost blew off this slot for the Happy Jacks live podcast, but A) I really wanted to play another game run by Denys, and B) I wasn’t able to quickly find the location of the podcast recording.

The system for this game was One True Ring, a new “Lord of the Rings” RPG currently available in Europe and soon to be released here. The artwork was fantastic, the rules very story-centric, and it uses an interesting dice mechanic of a d6 with a custom d12 (the “11″ is replaced by the mark of Sauron, the “12″ by the mark of Gandalf).

Our party was great – a hobbit, a dwarf, 3 humans from different cultures – and the exploration of Mirkwood and attempt to deliver a magic gem to a distant hedge wizard was totally fun. Unfortunately I was really kind of out of it for most of the game – I was just so tired! I apologized to the GM afterward, but I hope I didn’t affect the enjoyment of any of the other players.

The parts I was coherent for were awesome, and I’m looking forward to more games from this GM at future cons. Collapsed into bed just after midnight.

This post is already running long, so I’ll break here and cover the last two days in the next installment. In a nutshell though – Gateway 2011 was a grand ol’ time.

As a warning – it’s long.

I haven’t been to a gaming convention in probably 15+ years, and Gamex didn’t disappoint. I had a great time! The people were fun and friendly, the games were varied and well-run, and the hotel room was quiet and comfy. It was an awesome little vacation.

I got there Friday evening and came home really, really late on Sunday. In those 2.5 days I played 7 different games, each 4 hours long, for a grand total of 28 hours of gaming.

The hotel had more than enough room, and seemed happy to have us – they certainly treated me well. I had preregistered for the convention online, so all I needed to do was pick up my guest badge. The only difference I noticed between this and the conventions I went to in New England was pricing structure – in New England there was an admission fee (usually about $25-$30), then an additional fee per game slot (usually $2); Strategicon has just one cost for general admission (depending on how many days you register for), then you can play in as many game slots as you can cram in without further cost.

I checked in to my room and unpacked my bags. As I’m a gamer on a shoestring budget, I made sure to bring enough supplies: a 12-pack of Fresca, apples, bananas, bread, salami, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, mustard, mayo, and wheat thins!

I wandered around a bit before my first game. All the RPGs were on the 2nd floor, in small conference rooms with usually two groups to a room. The board and card games were in the massive ballroom on the 1st floor. Even with dozens and dozens of tables set up it didn’t seem too squished (though naturally it was pretty noisy). I think LARPs were on the 3rd floor. Around 7:45pm I headed off to my first game.

Note: there may be spoilers below for some of the games I played in, so be careful if you are a regular Strategicon attendee and might play them in the future.

Time: Friday, 8pm – midnight
Game (System): “A Time for Heroes” (Fantasycraft)
My Character: Running Ox (Ogre soldier)
GM: Joe
Players: 3/6
Dice mechanic: d20, roll high

At first I was a little concerned that this game took place right in front of the RPG gaming area, instead of inside the conference rooms. But once 8:00 rolled around, foot traffic died down to almost nothing. The GM, Joe, was friendly and clearly enthusiastic about the game – I’d never heard of Fantasycraft, but then I’m not really plugged in to the ‘D&D and all its minions’ juggernaut the way I once was. It was a d20 system, though, and easy enough to pick up.

Originally it was just Joe and I, but after a few minutes we were joined by a couple of GMs who had no players show up for their games. I played an Ogre warrior named Running Ox, a member of the king’s personal guard. The adventure focused on the poisoning death of the king, and our efforts to bring his killer to justice before tradition dictated that we be laid to rest alongside him. Because there were so few of us playing, once we discovered the identity of the killer and her allies the GM asked if we wanted to just sort of skip ahead to the confrontation. We wiped the floor with her, her animated garogyles, and her Pirate Isles conspirators.

Joe used Twizzlers to mark rooms on the map, which we got to eat, so yay! You can also see the combination “clipboard/dice tray” I cobbled together (very convenient!).

We ended early, so I was fast asleep in my room by 10:30 and got a good night’s rest.

Time: Saturday, 9am – 1pm
Game (System): “Repo Notice” (Hunter: The Vigil)
My Character: Charles O’Hare (Mall Cop)
GM: Sarah
Players: 3/6
Dice mechanic: d10 dice pool, 8-9-10 count as successes

After a quick shower and breakfast I popped on down to my first game of the day, a post-apocalyptic game where corporations rule the world and everyone has access to cybernetic organ implants. Problem is, if you fall behind on your organ payments the company sends a repo team to take them back (which is at best unpleasant; at worst, fatal). My character was Charles O’Hare, a mall cop at one of the corporate shopping centers.

It wasn’t a full game, just the GM (Sarah), myself, and two other players, but we had a blast. All of the characters were 90 days behind on their organ payments, and had until 5pm that day to raise enough money to avoid repossession.

We donned giant animal suits to perform in the mall children’s show (“The Merry Meadows Medley Hour” – I was a bunny), we escorted an illegal drug shipment, we considered assassinations and thievery and all sorts of mayhem. By 5pm (in the game) we had earned enough – but after the bank took our credits we were told the transaction might not process until the morning, so we ended up battling for our lives in the city’s sewers against a psychotic repo man anyway. Fun! (Despite the 15 minute forced break and evacuation everyone had to endure due to a hotel fire alarm).

When we were done I had an hour between games, so I stopped into my room, had a couple sandwiches, and headed back to the RPG area.

Time: Saturday, 2pm – 6pm
Game (System): “Orcs Attack” (GURPS Banestorm)
My Character: Pigiron (Orc knight)
GM: Wes
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: 3d6, roll low

Woot, a GURPS game! Always great to see how other GMs run things. This was also my first full group, the GM (Wes) and six players. I was Pigiron, an Orc knight. Our village was wiped out and the survivors enslaved while we were away, leaving us to track down the filthy humans and elves responsible and show them some Orc justice.

Eventually the invaders were routed and all of our people set free, but the best part was that during the final battle, Orcs being Orcs, most of the player characters ended up fighting one another in an attempt to kill the enemy general, the theory being that whoever killed the general would command enough respect to be the new leader. So I was killed by my right-hand Orc Ragnar, Ragnar was then killed by our archer, then our mage let loose in the middle of the whole crowd with a massive exploding fireball (though I think she may have then caught an arrow in the trachea). Total chaos, total fun.

After the game I had some supper and a quick nap.

Time: Saturday, 8pm – midnight
Game (System): “Night Fears” (Dresden Files/FATE)
My Character: Andy Drabyk (Teen Jock)
GM: Denys
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: dF (Fudge dice), roll high

This was hands down my favorite game of the entire weekend (and not just because I got to use Fudge dice!). It was the first time I’ve played FATE, and I really liked it. On top of that the GM, Denys, was great at drawing players into the story and setting the mood. All the players really put in 100% creating and running awesome, interesting characters too. I played Andy Drabyk, a teen jock, one of only two normal humans in the party (we were all teens, but most of the others had paranormal abilities).

The game had a corpse in the wall, the angry ghost of a murdered infant, secret black magic, disembodied hands, spirits laid to rest, a mirror portal to the Night King’s Dark Faire … what more could you ask? Wonderful game, wonderful group, wonderful GM.

Hit the sack around 12:30am.

Time: Sunday, 9am – 1pm
Game (System): “No Escape” (World of Darkness Slasher)
My Character: Randy “Rage” Robinson (Ex-Pro Wrestler)
GM: Steve
Players: 7/6
Dice mechanic: d10 dice pool, 8-9-10 count as successes

I’m reiterating the spoiler warning on this one specifically, as it had an ending I didn’t see coming.

This was tied for my second favorite game of the weekend. My character was Randy “Rage” Robinson, a disgraced pro wrestler with a bit of a “roid rage” problem. The rest of the party (more than a full group  - 7 players) was made up of a variety of different folks – a meth-head, a teacher, a goth girl, a movie actress, another teenage girl, and a techie. We were all together on Alcatraz island, the last tour group of the day, but as the sun went down and the fog came rolling in, the ferry never came back to get us.

Sweet little “Ranger Amy,” a 5′ 8″ bundle of cute, told us she’d go to the radio tower to find out what was going on. She left the party in the gift shop, we chatted for a few minutes – and then out of nowhere she was back, strangling the meth-head with a shoelace garrote! My 7′-tall bruiser took her out quickly (and messily), but not before she killed the tweaker. Then the whole party passed out.

When we woke up, Amy’s body was gone. As we tried to find a way off the island, she attacked and killed one of us again, showing none of her previous wounds … and again, we all passed out. This pattern continued until there were only three characters left: the goth girl, the actress, and the teacher (Ranger Amy took me out with a pickup truck going 50 mph – awww yeaaah). They made it to the radio tower and found a collection of notebooks, one detailing each of the seven character, all written in the same handwriting. The last three PCs ultimately figured out what was going on – the goth girl slit her own wrists, and the teacher and the actress attacked one another until only the teacher was left standing – the remaining dominant personality.

In a nutshell, if you’ve seen the movie Identity you know what was going on. Each of the PCs was a single personality of a woman suffering from traumatic multiple personality disorder. All of the events of the game took place in her mind – “Ranger Amy” was actually the personification of her psychiatrist, killing off each unhealthy personality until only one remained.

I thought it was a great twist, and the GM, Steve, ran an exciting game of cat and mouse between the characters and the “killer.” Awesome. This was my second game with a lot of players from the Dead Gamers Society (the first being “Repo Notice”) – each and every one of them definitely had a hand in making this con great for me.

Had some quick lunch and then checked out the dealer’s room. It was a decent size, with quite a bit of product, but I didn’t end up buying anything except the convention t-shirt. Thing is, all I really play is GURPS, and I already have all the published hardcover books. Still, always nice to see game stores come out in support of a good time.

Time: Sunday, 2pm – 6pm
Game (System): “Happy Jack’s Navy SEALS Dungeon Crawl” (GURPS)
My Character: Cpl. Antonio Barahas (Medic/Corpsman)
GM: Stu
Players: 6/6
Dice mechanic: 3d6, roll low

This was my other second-favorite game, GMed by Stu from the Happy Jack’s podcast, and with some of the other Happy Jack’s crew as players (Stork and Casey, maybe Tyler?). Also the second group I met that seemed full of gamer goodness (there was another game I wasn’t in run by Happy Jack’s listeners Megan and Gina, “Space Nazis From Venus”. I heard from no fewer than 3 different people over the course of the weekend what a great game it was).

In a nice bit of internet camaraderie, Stu noticed my name tag and said, “Oh, are you Mook? Like the online Mook? I like your combat examples.” Me too! Wish there had been some back when I was learning – I should do more.

Anyway, I played the medic, Cpl. Barahas. We were a Navy SEAL fireteam (and one CIA spook) in the ’70s sent to investigate a jungle temple where a team of archaeologists, and the Army patrols sent to find them, had all disappeared.

Long story short – we found a Drow city deep underground … and they were training with the M16s and other firearms they’d commandeered from the captured Army soldiers. Pure gaming gold! What a great excuse to go Rambo on a city full of damn dirty Drow. Though my own contribution was largely to get shot in the ‘twig and berries’ by an assault rifle (owie), I still had a great time – sniper rifles, M16s, claymores, Drow, even a black dragon. We tore through them, rescued our comrades, and got the hell out of there without losing a man.

The only nit was that the group sharing the room with us was occasionally crazy loud, but meh – that’s always a possibility at cons. I went to one Connecticut convention in the 90s where every single RPG game had it’s own small suite to itself, including a restroom and water cooler. That was Sweetness.

Treated myself to a pizza from the hotel restaurant instead of cold cuts and fruit, which was yummy, but I realized the day after I got home that the waiter had accidentally scooped up my rings along with the table trash. Doh – ah well, they were cheap anyway.

Time: Sunday, 8pm – midnight

I’ve left identifying marks off of the last game. It really just wasn’t for me. I was originally pre-regged for a Call of Cthulhu game called “That Sinking Feeling,” which sounded awesome (did anyone get to play that? how was it?), but after talking to a few folks and being swayed by their enthusiasm, I foolishly decided to join their game instead.

To be fair, every single other person at the table seemed to be having the time of their lives, so maybe it was just me. In any kind of social hobby, with so many different play styles and ways to have fun, it’s inevitable that there will be some mismatches here and there. Still, I did “win” a Toon Ace Catalog out of it, and six great games out of seven is a pretty damn good ratio in my book.

I really had a great time at Gamex 2011, and am already looking forward to the next convention, Gateway 2011 in September. I’m hoping to run 2-3 GURPS games at that one, we’ll see how it goes. Based on the strength of this weekend, I heartily recommend the Strategicon conventions to anyone looking for some great games.

Instead, they asked for more information; then an outline of what the book would look like; then a 5,000 word writing sample.

A few months after that, I signed a contract promising to deliver a 54,000 word book for PDF sale. I submitted a first draft, received a ton of great editorial advice, then submitted a revised second draft. That was submitted to open playtest and review by a small group of their established writers, resulting in even more advice for improvements.

And today, finally, I emailed in my completed final draft, weighing in at 55, 222 words, along with suggestions for artwork and marketing blurbs.

It was  a lot of work, but I really enjoyed doing it. The hard part now will be waiting – and waiting, and waiting – until it is finally done and ready for sale!

… which means TheMook.Net has been around for at least 13 years, since 1998.

Nice.

Quick version: I loved it, played a whole bunch of great games, and am enthusiastically looking forward to running some GURPS games at the next one (which is in September).

I’ll try to post some occasional updates on how the con is going from my phone – you can follow along through my Twitter page.

Here’s a shot from the doorway looking in – computer and bed, with the closet on the left and a bookshelf to the right:

And here’s a shot taken from the bed, showing the bookshelf – chess books and computer chess game, theology books, and of course the GURPS 4th Edition line (including Low-Tech, which just arrived yesterday, woo!):

This is the closet/cupboard and other bookshelf – a few books on writing, my shelf of “Books To Read”, and the games I brought with me for amusement (Talisman, Hero Quest, Munchkin, Once Upon a Time, Knightmare Chess, Zombie Dice, and many others):

Finally, here’s my closet – yep, those are all the clothes I own in the world, excepting a few pieces of cold weather gear I left in Tucson for when I return to New England:

Modest but extremely comfortable! I affectionately refer to it as my Cave, Nest, or sometimes Cell (in the “monk’s room” sense, not the “incarcerated” sense). A perfect little niche for me in the world.