The Gaming Den

Ramnza at [unixtime wrote:1155503141[/unixtime]]

Krowout wrote:
This is a short message because I must return to my quest to find the mythical land of the Seven Bars.

I am convinced they never existed.

I'm glad we ended up finding other, existing bars.

Bars that exist rule.

Cross-posted from Nifty...

fbmf’s GENCON report

CAVEAT: In the last seven days I have consumed more than three bottle of bourbon, of which 2 2/3 of that was Turkey 101. My memory is, therefore, foggy in places. If I left anything out, feel free to correct me.

On Wednesday, Liz and I had lunch with Sir Neil and Aisling. Among other topics of conversation, Sir Neil regaled us with tales of his first D&D game. It involved a backstabbing assassin turtle and a stolen birthday cake. He would tell the story better than I, so I leave it to him to fill in the details.

We then retired to our room to sleep off the jet lag, had dinner, and met up with Sir Neil, Aisling, Medesha, Zherog, Aphrella, MJH, AMW, and Dragon Snack in Oberoni and Arturick’s room. We stayed up for a while catching up and bullshitting.

Thursday, Liz and I got up, had lunch, and met up with the gang for a few rounds of BANG, Settlers of Catan, Fury of Dracula, and heavy drinking. Pausing only to emerge for food, this continued until we went to bed that night. Oberoni and I also discovered a liquor store within walking distance.

Liz and I had lunch with Oberoni Friday and then did some shopping in the dealer’s room. I got my picture taken with one of the Juggy’s from The Man Show. We got back to a to Arty/Oberoni’s room to an in-progress game of Fury of Dracula. Oberoni pontificated on Dracula’s ability to go gaseous, seep into a vampire hunter’s ass, and polymorph into a wolf causing said hunter’s “anus to explode”. It’s mildly funny sober, but it’s fucking hilarious if you’ve been drinking. He caught me in mid drink and Wild Turkey went up my nose. It tasted like burning.

“Poopie” and “Peehole” were the buzzwords of the day. Don’t ask. I’m serious.

Friday night was designated pub crawl night. We hit about half a dozen places in all. Highlights include Medesha and Liz dancing at the Happy Times Café (It was HOT!) and Aphrella doing two shots of Cuervo back to back. (Maybe it was three. I had a lot to drink that night.) This was also the night of the Search for Mythical Seven Bars™.

Saturday Liz and I finished up our souvenir shopping and Liz got two of her Dragonlance books signed by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. We had met up with Tzor on the way to the dealer’s room, and he kindly agreed to snap a picture of Liz with Margaret and Tracy. The three of us then met up with Sir Neil, Aisling, Arturick, Oberoni, AMW, and Dragon Snack at the Spaghetti Warehouse where the Rich Meat Sauce joke was resurrected for the duration of the meal.

We then retreated back to the room for more gaming (A little Catan and some Fury of Dracula). That game may have been the source of Oberoni’s “I’m gonna drive a stake in that asshole!” comment, but I could have my day’s mixed up there. After that, we went to PF Chang’s for dinner. Including wait time, this process took about 2 ½ hours, but to be fair to the wait staff there were fourteen of us (The Ariochs had joined us) and it was very busy.

Sir Neil and Sir Neil and Aisling left us soon after that as they had an early flight the next day, but before she left Aisling treated us to a song at Oberoni’s request. Let me attest that she has a beautiful singing voice.

The GENCON dance was next. The Ariochs dressed as Black Mage and White Mage, and there costumes were awesometastic. We stayed for about a half-hour, as other than the druck chick dressed as slave girl Leia there wasn’t much to see. Once again heading back to the room, we finished of the liquor supply and played a few more games of BANG! and the “Canadian Nacho Game”, as Liz called it. I didn’t play it so I can’t tell you much about it.

Bidding farewell and promising to return next year, everyone called it quits about 2:30 or so. It had been a good vacation and Liz and I are glad we got to see everybody. Liz was happy to put names to the faces of the folks I talk about so often and, in some cases, whose posts she has read.

It was good to see everybody, good meeting the new people, good to make new friends (Chris Squared and Leo among others). To paraphrase Oberoni, “I don’t even know why I need a badge. I just come to Indianapolis to see friends that I only get to see once a year.”

Well said, my friend. Well said.

GenCon was extremely fantastic. I had an absolute blast. I think I drank a bit too much/too quickly Saturday night, but I just had a minor headache the next day, thanks to fbmf waking me from my drunken stupor and suggesting I drink lots and lots of water.

The Ariochs had freakin' awesome White Mage/Black Mage costumes.

I can't wait for next year. I think I'm going to try and save up enough cash to either arrive one day earlier, leave one day later, or even a clever combination of the two.

Oh - so we post at Nifty then copy paste here eh? Naw. I got more blabbing to do instead.

My favorite moment at GenCon was when on Saturday night, after meeting a few people at the Hyatt with my daughter (who had been at the Con all day dressed as a princess - she's 6) and **Oh, hijacking my own story here a sec** we ran into Medesha. And she was looking umm... perky so it occured to me that I might never (or at least not in 2006) see her again, it seemed like the time for good-bye hugs. But then it occured to me that I'm really not sure if I did or said anything to far over the line the night before. So I issued a blanket appology for anything wierd or rude... and then mosied on to my next appointment. Only after my daughter made me stop at the loby/elevator waterfall to throw money in did I recall that the odds of me doing or saying something considered 'over the line' by that bunch are astronomical - even with alcohol.
In fact, I could probably eat a handful of peote, wash it down with mescaline, and snort a gram of coke and still not cross the line - but that combo would probably put me in sight of the line.

Anyway - [Hijack off]

So I go to the next spot and while there chatting with some more DNDOGers, find that my daughter is heavily engaged in a gown comparison with a similarly dressed adult. Being the conscientious parent that I am, I go over there and join the chit-chat. And in doing so I discover that the other girl is on a quest.
She's looking for 2 more people to help her and her boyfriend play-test some characters in a team duel. (3 on 3 and they have 7 so far.)
Half jokingly I suggest that - 'Princess Little Rose' (daughter in character, PLR from here on out) and I would be happy to join in. The girl (Ifny), takes me seriously and suggests that the Princess play the Barbarian.
Bla bla bla - fade to scene.
There is no DM but for flavor, I decide to describe the situation to PLR as if at a table-top.
Her first suggestion of course, is that both teams of players make friends and attack the king and all the arena guards then escape into the forest.
Head pats all around.
So we make some crummy initiative rolls and the opposing team decimates us before we even move with a series of 2 ice storms and a druidic flame strike.
PLRs turn comes up and she gives the table a slightly pale, blank face. So I describe how she is this big hulking brute with a massive axe and the muscles to use it. Then seeing a look I take for some kind of inner pacifist trying to get out, I add that the other team are all mean, evil, trying to kill us AND they're both uglier and more disgusting than anything she's ever seen.
She confirms with me just how big her Barb's muscles are and how sharp the axe. So we think we're all set now right. She looks at me, cute as can be - Med will confirm, this isn't just proud daddy shit - rolls the dive and without breaking eye contact with me to look at it says, "I can't look, you tell me if I made it."
"Made what?" two of us ask seriously.
"My jump check," She responds, "This place is a death trap - I'm running away and you said the walls were only 20 feet high so with muscles like mine, I might make it into the crowd and get away from those ugly bad guys!" This last is said with a quivering lower lip and a very accusatory pointing index finger at the people on the other team.
And with that, the Finger of Mass Incapacitation is born. The whole group is immobilized for the next d4 rounds and when the paralysis wears off, all we can do is howl and laugh for another d6+6 rounds.
By then of course, the child is indignant, "What? I'm serious you guys. That's not funny." She looks like she'll cry now so we try to make straight faces but relapses are quite common for the next 45 minutes while the other team finishes us off.

Oh, our team name: "Mr. Pink"

Which really pissed me off too because the druid had a pet that had more attacks, a higher attack modifier and did more damage than I could possibly do in a round as a Samuri (equal level to the druid) with his ancestral blade - Daisho I think it's called.

In the end she slept in the car and we played some more Sunday morning. I broke out the miniatures and paint that hasn't seen daylight for years and she discovered that whole little world. She wants to go to GenCon again next weekend and I told her, 'So do we all honey. So do we all.'

[duped from Nifty]
GenCon was a hoot.

Wednesday: 16 hours straight of Living Greyhawk pre-gencon madness at the Westin. whew

Thursday: Up early after getting 2 hours or so of sleep, back to the Con early, picked up free stuff from a booth or two (dice & minis), played a few demos, visited the auction hall and bought some discounted games. Followed by wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner lasting until late evening.

Friday: Sleep in, rally at my parents home near wedding site to get ready, and so I can finally start working on my best man speech and toast 3 hours before wedding. Wedding went off well, speech went off better (mostly due to strength of the writing, since I messed up plenty in the delivery, being a very very nervous public speaker). Returned to rally point to crash for the night around midnight.

Saturday: Up earlyish (4-5 hours sleep), turn in tuxedo, back for more Living Greyhawk where my wife got the special cert at our Core Special table. Generally kicking all sorts of D&D butt in the 2 mods we played. I finally got to put a face to one of my LG region's triad who seems to have taken a strong disliking to me for some reason (I really couldn't say why). This day was our best chance to carouse, but we were pooped and my wife started having a migraine so twas time to turn in.

Sunday: Back for many more demos, finally got my wife knighted by Catan, bought games and used the discount from the knighting. Scoured the dealer room to find the one game I'd been looking for- and finally found it. Went to my annual post-con wrap-up where my friends and I break in some of the new games we just bought, until 11pm. Sleep around 1am.

Monday: I wake up again at 5am, give up on falling back asleep by 5:30am and decide now is a good enough time to share my Con experiences.

I've speculated with my wife that next year we may just get 1-day badges and hang out for the rest of the Con, since I'm not sure I have the endurance to do that many demos in the dealer room next year (we sure don't need more games now!), and I don't particularly wanna pay so much to play LG cores which I can play later on the cheap.

- Erik

I had the most amazing time. I meet Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and was too awe struck to actually speak. I felt like such a dork because they had to ask me questions...for instance...what's my name. I also meet Larry Elmore and had my picture taken for his website. I don't know if he'll actually use it, but apparently I was giddy enough to be considered the happy costumer. Wow! Not to mention Giant In the Playground signed my copy of Order of the Stick.

But yes, the crowning glory had to be abusing Oberoni when we played Catan.

clikml wrote: I've speculated with my wife that next year we may just get 1-day badges and hang out for the rest of the Con...

We were thinking the same thing too.

Ramnza at [unixtime wrote:1155781391[/unixtime]]
But yes, the crowning glory had to be abusing Oberoni when we played Catan.

On a relatively related note, I learned in Settlers that if the three other players all have a settlement around a "6," don't drop a robber there at the beginning of the game.

Who needs diplomacy? I can beat three other players at the same time...or not.

Was it "abuse Oberoni" week or something? He was being abused horribly during BANG! also

though, he wasnt the first person shot at >.< I was!

I recall getting pretty cranky about that. Zherog was actually making illegal plays to jack me over. Quite annoying.

P.S. I think the Wild Turkey added to my crankiness.

Amethyst_Butterfly at [unixtime wrote:1155787735[/unixtime]]Was it "abuse Oberoni" week or something? He was being abused horribly during BANG! also

though, he wasnt the first person shot at >.< I was!

We have a theory that, for any given game, you and The Count will simply blow the shit out of each other as soon as possible. True or false?

Amethyst Butterfly wrote: Was it "abuse Oberoni" week or something?

Yes. But he really brought it upon himself when he declared war on all three of the other players at the same time. More than once, in more than one different game. Ahh...good times.

Ramnza

Oberoni at [unixtime wrote:1155789084[/unixtime]]

Amethyst_Butterfly at [unixtime wrote:1155787735[/unixtime]]Was it "abuse Oberoni" week or something? He was being abused horribly during BANG! also

though, he wasnt the first person shot at >.< I was!

We have a theory that, for any given game, you and The Count will simply blow the shit out of each other as soon as possible. True or false?

he always starts it. Yes its pretty true, tho he has backed off a bit because i get pissed off about it if he goes too hardcore, because i dont play dirty, so im like wtf! whysomean!

You never want to witness Monopoly in this house.

No one will play monopoly with me anymore after the one time I pointed out the rule that you can only buy houses from the bank while the bank has house tokens...

-Crissa

That's the way we always play.

Game On,
fbmf

It's in the rules. I beleive it's under the title "Housing shortage".

Monoploy is where I learned that to become wealthy, you actually don't need to know what the hell you're doing, you just need to screw everyone else over. Taking someone else down is a heluva lot easier than building yourself up.

Ame wrote:he always starts it. Yes its pretty true, tho he has backed off a bit because i get pissed off about it if he goes too hardcore, because i dont play dirty, so im like wtf! whysomean!

I'm the same way.

Ramnza at [unixtime wrote:1155959479[/unixtime]]

Amethyst Butterfly wrote: Was it "abuse Oberoni" week or something?

Yes. But he really brought it upon himself when he declared war on all three of the other players at the same time. More than once, in more than one different game. Ahh...good times.

Ramnza

It was only the one Settlers game, I thought.

I hope that after that, I said to myself, "Self, remember that 'diplomacy' thing you really like? Yeah, why don't you go back to that?"

I get my ass kicked at Diplomacy. Because everyone is a bastard who never holds up their end of a bargain.

Of course, this is pretty much normal for politics, but hey.

-Desdan

See, this is why I play with you guys.

Besides, while I whoop Sammi at chess, she always whoops me in Diplomacy, and really, there's only so many times two people can play games against each other. Which is prolly why we're always searching for coop games.

Why aren't there more coop games? There's tons of solitare games.

-Crissa

Great, now I'm using LJ HTML when I should be using BbCode and I already do vice-versa...

There's a bunch of co-op games out there now. Since GenCon this year I've been playing lots of new board games that friends and myself have bought.

Co-op games among them: Betrayal on the House on the Hill (good), Sevinpold (bad), Arkham Horror (good), Descent (good).

Most of those games are fairly pricey however.

Oberoni wrote: It was only the one Settlers game, I thought.

Actually, I think it was two. I can't remember now. Ah...it was fun.

It was. On a related note, I just got Settlers and Bang! in the mail today. Life is good!

Locked in an effort to curb spamming.

It will be unlocked at a later date.

[/TGFBS]

I'll be there Wednesday night to Saturday, should anyone like to meet up, shake hands, and imbibe and adult beverage with me.

Game On,
fbmf