So I get my badge, go over tonight’s events and sign up. They have plastered the walls with papers for each event. You register just by writing your name and badge number down. The staff here are quite friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, the hotel’s internet access requires a “conference code” and I am told that the convention has not secured one. Now, I obviously don’t know much about running a convention, but the badge for this thing cost me $45 for the weekend, which is almost as much as Origins or GenCon. Internet access should not be considered an exhorbitant expense. Besides, doesn’t the con staff forsee a possibility of needing internet access for one reason or another?
Let’s set my gripe aside for a moment. After deciphering the con schedule and how the booklet is sorted (by event number, with the preceding event letter being ignored), I choose my activities for the evening. The dealer’s room is closed tonight, so my first approach of publishers will have to wait until tommorow morning.
My priority event for the evening is
D550: Independent Publishing Roundtable. Everything you ever wanted to know about designing, publishing, and promoting your own role-playing game, but were afraid to ask. Come join us and we’ll discuss everything from game design goals to playtesting to printing techniques to cutting-edge theory to sales and marketing. Creating your own RPG has never been easier that it is right now. Fresh faced and old hands equally welcome. Sunday...
Whoa, okay, big screw up. I was planning based on the grid, which said the lecture was tonight, when the listing said it was Sunday. I was told the grid was incorrect. I should have figured it would unlikely to hold a lecture from 11pm to 1am. Anyway, I tried to join a SW minis game, but even though it said “all materials offered”, that apparently does not mean the same thing as “provided”, so I decide to play Boggle, but no one else signs up so I end up playing Grave Robbers from Outer Space.
Grave Robbers from outer space:
Title Words - hitler unuchained in the subterranean grave crypt with x-ray
The GM explains rules, which is good because even though I’ve played this a couple times, it has been quite awhile. I notice another player has an Ambassador bad. His name is Timothy Burall and he played during 1e.
8:25pm
The hall is pretty empty, most of the scheduled games aren’t running. There was a nearby game of cosmic wimpout that ended fast.
Wow, a attacked b, who played a special to stop it, c played a special to stop that, b stopped that with another special, and a finally ended it with yet another special, so the attack went through.
I think there’s also a game of alhambra going on. I’ve heard the name, but have no idea what they are. This is a z-man game, coincidentally.
I have prom queen with scream queen on it while another player has high school, so basically this combo means for the rest of the game I can cancel any attack by discarding three and there’s no way to change that since the prom queen is invulnerable while not at the high school.
I got hit by “snack bar” after I killed someone’s character and I lost my turn and had to go to the con suite to get her some fig newtons. I grabbed some snacks for myself while there. It’s nice that they give free snacks here. There’s no food court or anything so I guess it is a matter of necessity.
I always feel a little weird playnig these kinds of games. Everyone else always gets into it, reading the quotes and joking around and I seem like I’m playing it with “secret squirrel” rules.
8:40pm
One of the six had to drop out. I have onl 2 points, but am still basically invulnerable. H-oh, we just realized that a special effect can kill her, since its not an attack.
8:52pm
Boggle is running. I wanted to play it earlier, but no one else was signed up so I played Grave Robbers. Space mimic from uranus is gonna end up killing my prom queen.
9:10pm
This has got to be the lowest scoring game ever. Scores are 7, 2, -13, 2, and I’m at 0. An 8 attack on the 7 player becomes a 48 because of two special effect cards by a third player. Someone draws the last cards before my turn so I end the game with no cards in play and only 3 in hand, none of which have any of the magic words.
Final scores are:
Jillian Goldberg 0
Timothy burall -9
Brian Billisitz 2
Benjamin Kaplan 14
Michael Keller 0
I’ve got some free time until my next game at 10, which is Apples to Apples, just because I really have nothing better to do until the Super Smash Brothers Melee tournament at midnight. Looking at the schedule, Puerto Rico catches my eye but then I remember that I hated that game every time I’ve played it. Ooooh, there’s some game called “Candyman!” that’s apparently some sort of parody of Candyland. I think I’ll try that instead of Apples to Apples.
I’m gonna spend my space half hour snacking in the con suite and planning my schedule for tomorrow. Everything begns at 9am so I’ll try to get here by 7:30 to avoid traffic. That means I’ll have to wake up by 6 to do it. I’ll start by trying out memoir ’44 at 9am, then I have an hour to go to the dealer room and try to meet publishers until Mario Kart at 1 or maybe one of Louis XIV, Mystery Abbery, or Pirate’s Cove at 2. I’ve heard lots about Louis XIV.
10:05
“Run for Your Life, Candyman!” is overbooked, so a couple people drop to go play Apples to Apples. This is apparently a very popular game. This looks hilarious. I’m gonna concentrate on it and report from memory later.
10:14
We’re about to start. My character’s name is “Bitey”! How great is that?!
11:27
Despite being in last for most of the game, I managed to come in second place, losing only one leg along the way. This means I advance to the championship round of Candyman! Along the way, I hit the guy who won with a card that hit each body part once, letting me lop off three limbs simultaneously in the coolest move of the game.
3:26am
So, I’m finally home. I went to play Smash Brothers Melee. Not enough people signed up so we just player games. There was someone there who apparently had been practicing with pros for 6 weeks, so I was concerned about having my skillz called into question, especially since I hadn’t played the game in 6 months.
It basically ended up being him and me every game. The other players said there were two games being played: one for first place and one for third. I won about 75% of those games, so I guess the rust came off pretty fast. After that guy left I just cleaned up every game until the second to last one at 2am when a bomb exploded between me and another guy and my body flew off the screen first. I won the last game then drove home after grabbing some fast food.
I’m unbelievably tired. I think I’ll skip Memoir ’44 tommorow and just get some sleep.
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