Gary Con, day three

     So today we started with sausage gravy and biscuits, it is a certainty I will return home fat. Norhing scheduled, so I took my time getting into the con. Managed to catch the end of the What's New From Goodman Games. So the have the license to put out Fritz Lieber Lankhmar stuff, as well as Jim Ward's Epsilon City for Metamorphosis Alpha. Definitely some cool stuff coming.
      Coming out of the seminar, I saw JV West and Reid San Filippo, and after talking about how we each had nothing scheduled, Reid volunteered to run a little Crawling Under a Broken Moon.

We ended  up with six people playing and Reid ran a Christmas themed adventure, totally fun. Once again I played the luchador. That is how awesome the class is! Afterwards I swung through the dealer's room again, picked up some more awesome stuff which you all will hear about later. My friends were done for the day, so we left and had a late lunch at Culvers once again.

     A couple of hours later, I returned to the con. Basically hung out with my friends in the bar, while my friend joined the group he played with to accept the AD&D first edition open championship. It was fun drawing with Brian Thomas, but all good things come to an end. Before I left, Luke Gygax did stop by to talk to one of the guys sitting at our table.

Tomorrow we will be trying to get on the road quickly, with only a few things to get done before leaving. The post will come at the end of the night. Later, and take care folks!

Con on the Cob 2014!!

    

Tim, Ken, and Dave

     Things have been busy around here with conventions, artwork and real life taking my time. Last weekend was Con the Cob 2014, and man was it fun. I ran two scheduled games plus a pick up game, and played in two games. I arrived Thursday just in time to run my first game, Dwimmermount using Labyrinth Lord. Three people showed up including Tim shorts (Gothridge Manor), Ken H. (Rusty Battleaxe), and Dave (Forgotten Runes). The session went well, the group made two forays into the dungeon, their characters needed a break midway through the session. Just before the end, one of them got a bit greedy and died from a trap. Later that evening I got to play in Tim Snider's (Savage Afterworld) Death in the Dust Cryptworld game. The Pacesetter system is amazing, plus Tim runs a fantastic game. Our Pc's were investigating an old mining town being turned into a theme park(?) where terrible vandalism has taken place. A couple friends of mine joined me, as well as Tim Shorts and Ken H. Everyone had a great time, if you have a chance to play in a game run by Mr. Snider then I highly recommend it.

     Now, before I get into Friday, I should talk about two important aspects of the dealer's room. Tim Snider was manning the Goblinoid Games/Pacesetter booth and Roy Snider was in charge of the Goodman Games booth. From Tim I acquired Rotworld and Time Master, and from Roy I worked on completing my DCC fanzine collection, I'll write more about what I got later.

     First thing Friday, I played in Tim's Thundarr the Barbarian game. I got to play the mokk in training,Oosoo the mokk. My die rolls fit in with the neophyte angle, since I couldn't make any decent rolls. Oddly I was the only person to damage Thundarr. Thankfully my luck turned around and I dealt the final blow to the villain. Next I ran Mutant Future for four, this was one of the scheduled games but apparently I talked it enough that they were all my friends. We had a great time as they explored the last tower of Ol' Bus, scavenging for supplies and artifacts.

My friends Jason, Chuck

Mysti and Derrick

     I was really looking forward to Saturday, since that was when I would unveil my Patrick Troughton second Doctor costume.

Wow, look at those pants! The next thing I was looking forward to was three of my friends (Jason, Chuck and Derrick) wanted to play Dwimmermount. I had my notes from the previous game, since my plan was to run subsequent games as if they had occurred in real time (ie. doors that were battered down would be that way, dead monsters would be laying wherever they fell) Ironically the entered a different way and therefore it never came into play. It was lots of fun and ended on a tpk.

     Con on the Cob, once again, was awesome. This year even more so, and I will be back next year, definitely running games again. Hopefully showing some artwork as well.

Gen Con 2014: day two

     Here I am, typing away. After posting yesterday I went back to the exhibit hall visited Goodman Games booth (again) to pick up their program guide. When you purchase this item, you roll on a table to see if you get anything else, examples are getting the guide itself for free or one of the giant posters that adorn the booth. I happened to get the 50 dollars off my purchase at the Troll Lord Games booth, with a qualifier that it is not endorsed by Troll Lord. I was nervous as I approached the Troll Lord guys, but they werepretty cool about it, they liked the note that Joe Goodman wrote for me.

     Today started off well, I went to play in a DCC game at Embassy Suites, and it was amazing. I have a picture but my tablet does not want to load, bleargh! I got to play a dwarf,and I almost died once. Out of the six of us that started, only four survived. I got to watch a spell duel and the halfling jumped off a platform and landedthe villain who had been hovering out of range. That has been all of what I have done so far today. More to come!

Fanzines, setting alternative?

     This seems to be the case for the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg, with Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad and Crawling Under the Broken Moon leading the way. Metal Gods fleshes out the great city of Ur-Hadad, with info on it's gods and a street urchin character funnel. Crawling is a post apocalyptic zine set in Murica and each issue so far (issue two just came out) has a new character class, a weapons article, new creatures and new location/encounter. These two are fairly new to the scene, thankfully I caught an interview with one of the Metal Gods creators on Spellburn (I think this is the one) and I have a copy of CUBM #2.

     Unfortunately I know less about Crawljammer, a pulp sci fi zine (Bat Men of Venus) with new classes and creatures. Along with Crawl! we seem to have the bases covered; fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy. Since Goodman Games has been concentrating on releasing adventures for DCC, 'zines have been where you can get new additions for your campaign, and from what I have seen and heard, the quality is fantastic. From new and amazing artists to great and groovy writers, you can find them here. It is kind of like a new generation for rpg. I realize there was stuff like Alarums and Excursions back in the day, but unless you were in an active gaming community you would never know about it. The internet and podcasts allow creators and fans to talk about these things and "boost the signal" when it comes to these 'zines.

     So, what if we had a 'zine that was almost like the old gazeteers? Maybe something giving flavor to different creatures, regional goblin tribes? Perhaps the Festering Slit tribe is fond of using poison? The Copperclaws might be open to negotiation. This can be done with so many things in so many ways it is really exciting. That is all I have time for now, I'll get back to this later.

     

    

Kickstarters and you

     I love Kickstarter, but recently I had a strange revelation. I got my copy of Weird Wars Rome from Pinnacle Games and did not have the urge run out and run it. Part of it could be my recent run of Savage Worlds games that have fallen through (probably a large part) but a part of it I think is the time between the end of the Kickstarter and when you get the product. I did receive the pdf for WWR, which I glanced through and then forgot about, so it was not like I had nothing until receiving  the package. Just sometimes that gap is enough to let the mood slip by.

     Which leads me to my real issue. Goodman Games Metamorphosis Alpha. Oversize hardback reprint of the original product with additional material from Jim Ward himself. The first pledge levels are about posters, dice bags, and adventure modules. To get the book you plunk down eighty dollars, which it is worth that I am sure, but why not throw in a pdf somewhere in the lower echelons. In the video from Gary Con they state that you can pick up the pdf, I am alright with that but to get the notes, magazine articles and extras from Mr. Ward and company, I am stuck with the hardback. Enough of that, let's move on.

     Mobile Frame Zero 002: Alpha Bandit is in it's final week, fully funded and ready to go. If I had the cash to throw around, I would go all in, maybe I will dip my toe in. Next in line we have Guild of Shadows, a thieves guild campaign for Savage Worlds. It looks pretty cool, something for those players who want to be in an all thieves guild game. I would be tempted to use information from the book in conjunction with the main rules, so that any thieves or swindlers in the party can do something on the side.

     A little something to check out and think about, happy Saturday folks!