Extremes in Gaming

June 23rd, 2007 (boy am I behind in my posts!Thanks to Todd for prodding me) Endgame in Oakland sponsored Good Omens Productions very own Good Omens Con (GoCon!). I'm not a member of this fab group of GM's but they tend to run fine games. They run more toward the indie direction. Fine by me. They're dedicated to bringing more interesting games to conventions. More power to 'em. The entry fee to GoCon was a can of food which they then donated to charity. Way to go guys & gals!

Sean Nittner ran a Wilderness of Mirrors game. This is an unpublished Superspy game written by John Wick. A superb game, with simple mechanics. It's also a collaborative storytelling game. Since I'm going to be running InSpectres for my home group, I jumped into this game. Sean and I played in Todd Furler's Unknown Armies game at KublaCon. Cool to see him again. The game just flat-out rocked! It has a fabulous opening concept: The players put their characters through the exposition portion of most Superspy movies - y'know, that scene where the agent is briefed on the bad-guy [click! goes the slide show] and their minions as well as their secret lair [blueprints appear on a computer screen] and the obligatory hot chick [click! click!! click!!!]. In this game we created that scene ourselves and made up all of our own obstacles (and hot chicks. oh yeah and Tibetan Female Ninjas). The GM took notes and after we had enough to fill the 6 hour slot, he (as the commander of our top-secret unit) sent us out on the mission.

Collaborative Story Games rely heavily on good players (who aren't afraid to complicate things for themselves) and a nimble GM who mostly backs out, but throws in twists when needed. We had both and the game just flowed from one groovy moment to the next. The Superspys were cool and backstabbing. The villains were rotten and 1.5 dimensional. Perfect for the genre. We won, of course, and blew up the evil volcanic lair.

Dinner with my friends Basil and Gil (Gil played in the supersy game with me) and then back to Endgame. GoCon had 2 time-slots with 6-hour games. Endgame's mini-cons have 3, 4-hour slots. I gotta say that the 6-hour slots work better. Unless, of course, the game isn't up to snuff...

Gil, Basil and myself all signed up for a different collaborative story game after the dinner break. This was the opposite experience of Wilderness of Mirrors. The system was difficult to grasp and I gotta say, wasn't explained very well. Veteran players all and 2 hours into the game, the system still wasn't clear. I finally gave up and let the GM tell me what was up. Good players again and we managed to pull a story together, but it was a struggle. The GM kept asking us what we wanted to do next, or suggesting the kinds of scenes we should try. There just wasn't enough guidance for us to create the kickin' story that we'd experienced in the AM. It was a tough 5.5 hours. Yep, we actually wrapped early.

Enough whining. I was in a great game, and a not so good game. This gave me the extremes of what I might expect when I ran my own collaborative story game, InSpectres. Now I'm afraid - very afraid. But first, I had to get through the next Mini-con.

Bonus! Basil, Gil and I (along with some other KublaCon gamers) had planned on getting together for a monthly game. Some trick since we live 60+ miles apart. 2 of the players live 90+ miles from The City. Basil and I were able to strong-arm Gil into running a Call of Cthulhu game.

Paranoid when Tired

I love to run Paranoia. I usually run Monday AM because everyone is sleep deprived and Paranoia works well when you can't quite get all of your thoughts together. However, 9AM is just too freakin' early. Next year, 10AM. I realized almost immediately that I was so tired that I couldn't actually remember the rules. Seriously! Turns out that it didn't really matter. Did I mention I love running Paranoia!?

OK, even with a 9AM start, the game filled with players (again no-show slots filled by crashers). I had a few new twists, such as people starting off on their 3rd or 4th clone and then progressing past the original 6, each clone less and less perfect (copy of a copy of a copy, ya know). I started the game with the characters finishing a de-briefing from a previous mission and getting sent out on a new mission immediately. I also had the corridor outside of the de-briefing room repainted while they were being de-briefed, insuring that they'd commit treason just by stepping out of the room. Several clones were lost before they ever got out of the room. We were off to a fine start.

I introduced a new Bot. The TrackBot. It's supposed to track an item and lead the Troubleshooters to it. Their mission: To recover this item (which is above their security clearance) and return it to the Briefing Room. Unknown to them, this is a treasonous item, dumped into the Underplex by an Ultraviolet citizen. Worse, the entry port into the Underplex is located in the floor of a transtube and the TrackBot is too big to fit through the opening. Countless clones were lost trying to get into the Underplex. Finally, some well-placed explosives got the team into the Underplex. Some complications with a ScrubBot and some Experimental Weapons in a metal access tube and the party was completely wiped out. There endeth the tale. I warn new Paranoia Players that they should not be surprised if they never get to the adventure. Sure enough, they barely did and our 6 hours was up. (OK, it went 6.5 hours, but no one complained)

2 new Players for Paranoia (including one crasher from the previous day's Cthulhu game). I'm spreading the happiness. Hail The Computer! It was a really fun game with good Players.

I cleaned up the room and began the dismal task of hauling my gaming stuff and luggage to my car. Then I set off to find anyone remaining that I might bid 'farewell' to. I found Japji (who runs KublaCon) and thanked him for another great con. This is a difficult and somewhat depressing time for me. The convention is over, I'm tired, coming down off of adrenaline and I just don't want it to end. Well, this time it didn't.

I found Todd Furler, Matt DeHayes, Kim Hill, and Matt & Kim's friend Dwayne as they were starting a new round of 'Shadows over Camalot'. I don't do much boardgaming, and I was tired, but... I didn't want the Con to end and here are my friends inviting me to play, so...

I fear that Camalot was lost to the darkness due to my lack of concentration. 'Shadows' turned out to be a fun game (I'd play again) and I got to hang for awhile longer. The convention staff came and told us that the convention was technically over and if the hotel staff wanted us out of the meeting room, we'd have to clear out. Even as tired as they were, they had this much courtesy remaining. Have I mentioned how much KublaCon rocks!?

We wrapped up the game without the need for the hotel staff to shoo us away. That's when Matt & Co invited me to dinner. Now, Todd was taking a red-eye out and the rest had to drive a few hours, but there were 3 of them to share the driving. As much as I wanted to, I needed to get home before my Other Half thought I was dead in a ditch somewhere in the mountain pass I still needed to cross. Difficult as it was to tear myself away, I headed home. Still not willing to completely let go, I called my friend Jay Button in Colorado and blathered all the way home about how great KublaCon was and how I wished he'd been there. Finally, home safe and sound, I ate something and fell into bed, needing some sleep for re-entry.

How was KublaCon 2007? Nearly perfect. I can't wait for next year...