Gencon 2025 Events

 

Gencon 2025 Events:

Linked below is some additional information on my RPG sessions and the topics that will be covered during my seminar sessions this year

Games

Demonhunters:

A darkly humorous take on the modern supernatural genre. Mechanically, it can best be described as a mix of Cortex and FATE. It really does feel like those two systems got together and made a baby. 

Zoetrope:

Zoetrope is a card based RPG of time travelling rent-a-cops. Raucus fun and unexpected events at every turn. The GM will challenge you at every moment to adapt and overcome the twists of fate and bad luck that comes your way. 

Leverage:

The Leverage RPG, published by Margaret Weiss Games back in 2010 is an RPG version of the television series of the same name. If you've seen the show, then you will completely understand the game. Even the opening credits of that show read like an RPG. Each of the players will takje on the role of the team's Grifter, Mastermind, Hitter, Hacker, or Thief. If those sound like class names in and RPG to you then you're brain is already moving in the right direction.

This was the first game I played that utilized flashback scenes as an actual game mechanic, and its pulled right from the show. It just WORKS. Don't worry about overplanning evey move of your heist - you can figure out the fine points in flashbacks after the fact. It isn't a game about succeding or failing at roles - but rather more about what happens when things go wrong. Notice the difference there? Things going wrong and failing an action might not be the same thing, but they sure are close cousins. 

Seminars

GM101: Introduction to Gamemastering

SEM25ND272371    Thursday, 8am
SEM25ND272372    Friday, 8am
SEM25ND272373    Saturday, 8am

GM201: Conversational GMing

SEM25ND272374    Thursday, 10am
SEM25ND272375    Friday, 10am
SEM25ND272376    Saturday, 10am

Gencon 2023 - Enter the Nooblings

I brought along a longtime friend and their teenager to join me this year. Both nerds, but they've never done a con like this and were both looking forward to it. We got an AirBnB fairly close (2-ish miles) from the convention center, and we ended up using those scooters to zip in and out. That was absolutely awesome. Loved it. And cheaper than Uber-ing in and out each day.

Gencon seemed to be getting back to the 'good old' days. You know, the pre-pandemic years where you couldn't get a hotel in the block and 90 percent of your desired events were booked before your turn came up for event reg :)

Thursday

GM101 - GM201
I think I'm really hitting my stride on these, and have been dialing these seminars in over the last 10 years or so. I'm always adapting them based on feedback though. This year i did some public research about new GM anxieties and anxieties around improvisation in general, and got some surprising results.
I was in the Hyatt this time for the sessions. Haven't been in there before. Location was OK, audience engagement was great, and I got some good feedback. Biggest one was people wanted my notes. I don't really have much for notes, just a general outline and its stream of consciousness (well...."carefully dialed in" stream of consciousness at any rate). So after the  con, I decided to finally sit down and try to put it all in one place. It sprawled very quickly and has rapidly turned into a book. I'm hoping to have the first draft fully completed by Gencon 2024, so that I can give people something if they are asking for it.

I'll ding myself some points for not the best audience management I could have, and I do need to be more mindful of the time. 
Grade: A-

Character Voices for your RPGs

This was probably some of the best used time I've spent at a convention. Given by real life voice actors / musical theater performers, it covered the various methods used to create unique voices. Learning to isolate and control the various aspects of what makes the timbre and tone of a voice, that kind of thing. We practiced in small groups and discussed amongst the group what we were feeling and observing. A very cool and very worthwhile class. I highly recommend it. 
Grade: A+

Investigative Roleplaying Masterclass

This was supposed to be a masterclass in the stated topic, with Kenneth Hite and Robin Laws as presenters. What it ended up being was just an overcrowded room and Q&A session. I did not get a thing out of it. Bummer because these two are investigation/horror game design masters. I had very high expectations, and even low expectations weren't met.
Grade: D

Heroes of Altamira (7th Sea, 1st)

The edition for this game wasn't listed and I couldn't get an answer from the organizers prior to the show. This was important as I specifically had been wanting to try the 2nd edition. Turns out this one wasn't. It was poorly organized, the GM wasn't prepared and I don't think even knew she was going to be GMing until just before. And thanks to a weird player sitting next to me, a moment was brought into the game where I literally snapped my head toward him and very loudly exclaimed, "What the FUCK?!", as the GM pulled up the X-Card. Like really, dude. What the fucking hell is wrong with you? This was not a fun session. Not at all. GM was trying, I'll give points for that, which is the only thing saving it from an F-
Grade: F

Friday

Eclipse Phase

I skipped because an  unexpected dinner opportunity with a cousin I haven't seen in at least 10 years. came up. My friends attended the session and reported that it was very good.

Grade: Withdrawal

Demonhunters

I ran 2 sessions of Demonhunters this year for Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, the publishers of the game. I'm going back to this report card a year and a half later (I'm always behind it seems), and just am not remembering too many details other than in both sessions, the players had me doubled over laughing with some ov their antics. I think I was in the zone for my GMing, and the players were just crushing it. Some themes I can recall though:

• Emotional damage
• Gremlins
• Gremlins on fire
• Gremlins and couches on fire
• EVERYTHING is on fire
• Interviewing the undead, re-deading, and raising them again
• Various insults to the "Twilight" series

Grade: A

Avatar 

Pirate Borg

Surprise hit of the con for me. Group wasn't the greatest but was good enough, and the GM very enthusiastically embraced the "pirate GM lifestyle". I don't even know what that means, but why not say it anyway. He was great. He played the NPCs with gusto, and rolled with whatever came next. I can't ask for more than that in a GM. I'd heard nothing but good things about Mork Borg so I figured hey, "Mork Borg + Pirates? What's not to like" so I showed up with some generics and was able to get in. I did this instead of attending a short session of Avatar. I've convinced myself to not feel bad about it, but I'm still not totally comfortable about bailing on the Avatar session.  
Grade: A

Sunday

Aerodrome

I had been wanting to play this game for YEARS. Had always seen it in the giant hall with lots of other miniatures games, and wanted to try it out but never able to do any more than just walk by on my way to my next event. I finally tracked down the game and figured out its name. And it was everything I wanted it to be. WWI dogfighting. Does just what it says on the label. The group putting on the event does a fantastic job of keeping everyone engaged, coaching when needed, and just keeping it action oriented and fun. I was not disappointed, and other than having to wait, it was worth the wait. I'm definitely going to play again next year if I can get a ticket!
Grade: A++++

Gencon 2022: Meatspace - Report Card

Front Matter

This year I brought my 12 year old daughter with me. She was curious as to where Dad goes every summer. He seems to love it so much. We have a very close bond, and she's been a little into anime lately so I thought is a good time to share my love of Gencon with her. It did not disappoint!

GM101

As is my usual routine, I kicked off Gencon with my GM101 Seminar. I did not do a 201 because my youngest daughter attended with me this year, and I didn't want her to die of boredom. Attendance was good and for the first time, I actually had A/V provided. This was unexpected, but I had some slides I used when I ran this seminar during Gencon Online during the pandemic. So I plugged in my trusty Macbook and away we went. I opted out of using the microphone though as I can project fairly easily into the back.

Overall I think the session went well. Had some good questions from the group, some nice back and forth and they seemed fairly engaged throughout. I was satisfied with my performance and I think the audience felt it worthwhile. Which is good because that's the entire point. If it isn't useful, it isn't worth doing, IMHO.

A- : I did well, but there is always room for self improvement.

Threadbare

As it happens, this was my daughter's second experience ever at an RPG. (I'm a Bad Dad(TM) for not doing more with her at home, she just doesn't have the interest, really. The con was an anomaly.) Threadbare is a PbtA - Powered by the Apocalypse engine game, derived from the framework of Apocalypse World by Vincent Baker. In my opinion this game is a very BIG DEAL as of how much influence it's had over the last decade in RPG gaming. 

The conceit is the idea of the characters being toys in a world without humans. Think a gritty version of Toy Story. But not too gritty. Things like influencing other toys via friendship and playing games with them are prominent throughout both thematically and mechanically. Being a PbtA game, it focuses on story - the story drives the mechanics, and everything informs that. This is my preferred way of playing and I think that players who get a start on story-heavy systems are at a great advantage if they move on to more 'standard' RPGs like D&D later on. I feel like they learn to RPG the "right way".

The GM for this game shared a similar philosophy to me and worked hard to encourage and engage my daughter, which made for a great experience for her. What a great way to start the con, and have her experience a game in which I was a peer and not the GM.

A

Demonhunters

I'll open by saying this is one of my most favorite games ever. I run it myself at pretty much every convention I go to, I'm just completely in love with it. Think Dark Comedy Dresden Files A-Team, and you are on the right track. Its a blend of Cortex+ and FATE, two systems I adore as well, and really hits a sweet spot between story and rules. There's a level of abstraction in there that really really works in all of the good ways. Add to that the fact that every session of DH that I've played in at Gencon has been fantastic.

Which brings me to the downside. This particular session just...wasn't any good. The scenario was confusing, the GM was really encouraging people to think rules first and optimimal approaches versus story driven ones, literally trying to convince the players to NOT do the story/character driven things, which were sounding just amazing, in favor of doing the mechanically optimal thing. This was a HUGE disappointment for me. The scenario was also confusing and arbitrarily railroaded to need an extremely specific solution, without which there could be no resolution to the story. I didn't really enjoy it. Neither did my daughter. :(

D

Eclipse Phase

Now I had some concerns about this one. EP can be on the crunchier side, and whith my daughter having some very limited experience I worried she'd just get lost. Which she did. But it was OK - the GM also is an adherent to the story over stats school of thought, and really adapted things to draw her in. I really saw her come to life and the table particularly enjoyed her presence, and actions. Entertaining, story appropriate, even her table behaviors in response to the game were just wonderful and she was a delight to play with. For example - her character suffered from Psi powers connected to the X-Virus, which when used can subject her to control by said virus. She pushed it too far, lost control, and snapped the neck of a labor union leader right in front of a large group of members, while we were trying to pump him for info. She very slowly slid down her chair to hide under the table for a moment. Absolutely cracked us all up. We both had a great time and she still talks about that moment from time to time

A+ 

Dungeons & Dragons

This one was a big deal to me. Although I am primarily a non-D&D person, it does happen to be the go to game for so many people, and if she were to continue, this might be the path she ends up on. I really hoped for a great experience. Lets run down the positives the GM brought to the game, considering the most important thing to me is my 12yo daughter having a good time.

Female GM, fairly young (guessing early 20s)
High energy, very engaging and warm personality
Encouraged my daughter to sit right next to her, so she wouldn't have to make her feel uncomfortable by asking my daughter to speak up over and over. 
Absolutely rolled with my daughter's ideas as they came out and made sure her voice was part of the game conversation, and encouraging her when needed.
I'm so grateful to her, I wish I could remember her name!

And then there's the scenario - students at the Strixhaven University pledging a fraternity and tasked with guarding the group's mascot, a baby Owlbear named Chico. The whole thing was just delightful in every way

A

Cosplaying

So this was kinda new to me. 8 years ago I took my older 2 daughters to Gencon and for Saturday we did a fairly simple group cosplay. We went as Wash, Kaley, and River from Firefly. The outfits weren't elaborate, but we were recognizable and were asked a few times for pictures. Pretty fun. This time I thought go big or go home. My youngest had gotten me into Attack on Titan and we watched a whole bunch together, so we really bonded over that. She had been doing some closet cosplays to school so I said let's go for it. I got some designs from an artist online and printed out 2 sets of ODM gear, swords, sword boxes, and we went ahead and picked up the full uniforms to go with it all. I did Commander Pixis and she did Section Commander Hanje. We felt like absolute ROCK STARS. Could barely walk 50 yards without being asked for a photo all day. We did the contest and got huge cheers when we went on stage. It was almost surreal. I think it's a Daddy-Daughter experience she'll probably remember forever. I know I will. Definitely the high point of the con. For both of us, I think. And truly probably the high point of life for me so far with one of my kids. Such an amazing experience to have shared together.

A+++

Gencon(line) 2020 - Plague Edition

Gencon - Plague Edition!

I don't remember a ton about this Gencon. It was 2020, the lost year for so many of us. However the ability to still play, albeit remotely was pretty cool. And certainly better than nothing.

GURPS - Deadly Ice

This session of my favorite old school RPG had our characters investigating some kind of mystery. I can't remember much, it was 2020 :)

The session used Roll 20 in kind of a vanilla way. There wasn't any game mechanical integration, but the GM used the handouts and other features well. The group was good and overall a good experience
Grade: B+

Trail of Cthulhu - The Case of Ernest Wheedon

Very well run by the GM. Although I think most of us figured out the mystery early, or at least had strong suspicions, everyone in the group rolled with it, and played the characters up in their ignorance and we had a fantastic time - in which we eventually realized we were all in fact just ghosts. Already dead, and our task was to put things to rest. Well done.
Grade: A-

Fate of Cthulhu - The Rise of Tssthogua

I came in late on this, as in this was the fourth and final session of a 4 part mini campaign. It wasn't needed to be in the earlier sessions, but I believe it would have been helpful. I'm already familiar with FATE and its various versions, and FATE of Cthulhu fits in well, with its own interpretation and take on things. In this game, the investigators are traveling through time to stop the stars from coming right, or whatever other existential threat is facing humanity today. It also takes the idea of madness with a more gentle hand. I like this - mental illness isn't a joke, and gaming around with the idea of sanity requires a very special kind of touch and skill to do it well and not just make it for the LOLs. This game instead looks at corruption. When a player is fully corrupted, they are no longer a hero, and no longer under the players' control. Get the same job done, but with a significantly less insensitive bent to it. I don't think it gets in the way of roleplaying someone's lack of coping and losing of their senses a bit, but lets focus on the point of it mechanically. Maybe you think its just more "woke-ness". Just keep an open mind and give it a chance.
Grade: B+

InSpectres session (GMed)

So much goofy fun is had in an average Inspectres game, and this was no different. I was able to rope in a very old friend who usually can't go to gencon, but was able to play in this session because it was online. So lemons from lemonade!

InSpectres session (GMed)

I don't remember the particulars of either of these Inspectres sessions. What I do remember was the table being great, and having a really fun time Going for them.

GM101 - GMing for Beginners and GM210 - The Art of Conversational GMing

OK, here is where "Genconline" kind of shone. I've been running this seminar for about a decade now, and this was by far the largest audience I've ever had. Not constrained by physical attendance, or by the number of seats in the room, people were able to attend from all over. I had people in the audience from Europe, Australia, and South America. What a treat to be able to reach such a wide audience.

It also gave the the opportunity to have slides. (Yuck! I know you may be thinking). But honestly, sometimes just having a picture up can help really drive the point home even better than just your words. Here's an example. From my section all about what NOT to do when you're planning your early sessions:

A funny picture, but it gets the point across like mere words can't describe. 

Finally, for the first time I was able to record the seminar. If anyone is interested you can find them here if you're interested. If you like what you read, or think it sucks and want to tell me about it leave a comment!

GM 101

GM 201 

I'm not the be all end all of GMing. These are just my own experience of whats worked and not worked for me over the years. Use at your own risk, I hope they're helpful.

SO that's Gencon 2020. How was your experience? I'm heading out to physical meatspace Gencon in just a couple of weeks. With some nervousness about it of course. Really going to try to not get COVID!!!!!! Wear your masks people. This is the Con Crud from hell on steroids pumped up on PCP and Crack. Wear your masks. Wash your hands. Be safe, and I'll see you there. If you run into me say hi. :)

Gencon 2019 - Time With My Daughter

My middle daughter returned to Gencon again with me, and that is always a treat. Some really nice Daddy - Daughter time, the two of us heading out on an airplane to a fun place where there's going to be lots of smiles from both of us.

On to the games

Masks
A Powered by the Apocalypse game about teenage superhero. This game focuses not only about the conflicts between heroes and villains, but also the conflict between teenagers. It recognizes the challenges of what it might be like to be a teenager who finds themselves with superhero powers. What it would be like to be REALLY different from everyone else at school. How do you juggle those pressures and stresses. Its a really cool take on the superhero genre.
Grade: A-

The Fleet
A Powered by the Apocalypse game in the vein of Battlestar Galactica. A lot of room in here for interpersonal conflict alongside high stakes adventures. The creator did a good job of modeling the characters and their archetypes. In particular the way that those characters interact with their fighters. The GM takes on the role of the Commander (Commander/Admiral Adama). The players will be (I will definitely butcher the playbook names) the rookie, the CAG, the Chief, the psychic, the XO, etc. Great way of bringing the concepts of the main characters of the show into the forefront.
Grade: C (if the table were better grade would be much higher. Other player was really just not fun for us to play with, and pretty disruptive)

Sentinels of the Multiverse
Another superhero game. This one has its own system that definitely feels like it was born out of Cortex Plus, and some flavor from Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, which itself was a Cortex Plus game. Its not the same, but you can feel the DNA in there. A really interesting twist to the game is the idea of some powers not being accessible until things become dire. The hero being really busted up, or running out of time in the scene. Scenes themselves will also have a turn - the environment. And a scene is given a certain amount of rounds before things will go disastrously wrong. It puts a really nice pressure to act upon the players.
Grade: B+

World Wide Wrestling
The WWE in Powered by the Apocalypse form, with the GM acting as the producer, setting up the fights and making the "who wins" decisions. The matches play out like choreographed series of moves, flowing back and forth as wrestlers take momentum and move back and forth. It's extremely fun. What's more, the wrestlers engage in pre-match smack talk and backstage/locker room interviews.

I played the part of a washed up former olympic wrestling bronze medalist, who is just grinding it out on the pro wrestling circuit as a "jobber". That guy who's purpose is to lose to the stars. Through some absurd sequence of luck, he ends up actually accidentally winning,  giving him his first win.
Grade: A+

Last Will
A boardgames in which players are competing with one another to spend their rich uncle's money to prove they are the most worthy of it. First one to bankrupt themselves is the winner. We both liked this one, and I bought the game.
Grade: A-

Little Fears
Another new game for me. I love getting to try new games at Gencon. Hannah and I played the roles of two kids, age 10 or 12 I think, who were on family trips to Sesame Place. Unbeknownst to us, evil things were afoot. Our friends began to disappear as we encountered monstersed versions of Cookie Monster, Ernie, and more. I have to say the GM found the creepiest Sesame Street art ever created for this -
     
and more. Turns out Mickey Mouse was trying to steal all of the color from our world and be evil and such. We both had a great time, and Hannah figured out what the secret was just in time to save the rest of us.
Grade: A

DemonHunters
I wish for the life of me I could remember what the plot was for this one. Definitely a huge act to follow from the "Harrison" musical plot line from the year before. Suffice it to say that we both love Demonhunters. I hope you check it out and have some fun with it too.
Grade: A

Artemis
Artemis is Artemis. We both love it. We didn't feel like it was very well run or organized this year, and found the physical bridge that was created not really much more inspiring than just the usual laptops on a table. And don't get me wrong, laptops on a table with Artemis is a damned fun experience.
Grade: B

The Exhibit Hall

Meeting up with friends
Not entirely the same when you've got a teenager with you. Your teenager probably doesn't give a crap about any of your nerd friends that you only get to see once a year. Not her fault, and I probably shouldn't have dragged her into it. Was still nice to grab a meal with them and swap stories.
Grade: B

GM101: GMing for Beginners
I feel like I was back into my old form and got a lot of good feedback from people about it. I'm always glad to help a new GM get over their nervousness and go into the game excited, and hopefully with a few pointers and new techniques up their sleeve to help their games feel more natural, less choppy and overall more fun. Its a privilege to be afforded the opportunity to share what I've learned and I continue to be humbled by peoples willingness to listen to me. Different this year was my daughter being old enough to stay at the AirBNB by herself while Dad ran off to blather on about GMing. Went back after to pick her up and off we went to the con.
Grade: A

Overall Gencon Grade: A
While I do love and cherish my solo Gencons because of the freedom to just play and run the games I want without having to consider anyone else, there is something so supremely heartwarming about sharing it with one of my girls. Its not totally her thing. She doesn't love it the way I do, and doesn't play during the rest of the year. But the fact that she wants to take this trip and play with me just fills me with such Dad-Joy™ that I can't even begin to express how good it feels.

Gencon 2018 - The Friendining

Gencon 2018 - The Friend-ening

Gencon 2018 marked the return of me attending Gencon with a group of friends. Some friends joined me this year for the pilgrimage to nerd Mecca. I had rented an AirBnB with 2 bedrooms for the trip. As the organizer, I got one of the rooms, some others had the other room with the bunk beds (BUNK BEDS!!!!!! ZOMG) and the others piled into the living room on the sofa, etc. We shared an Uber/Lyft in and out each day and it worked out pretty well.

I learned from Gencon's past and didn't try to signed up for a whole bunch of events with my group, knowing how restrictive, (not to mention difficult it is) it can be to coordinate things together. So I limited myself to a small number. We planned to do Firefly, the RPG, Kobolds Ate My Baby: Fury Road, and a session of Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. More on these later on.

GM 101
There's been such demand for intro GMing seminars lately that I decided to run this one twice. Had a great audience for both. A few people even asked me to game with them, so I invited them to come to Games On Demand, where I would be doing my GMing for the con. Lots of questions asked, answers shared, experiences shared among the group, and best of all, people telling me they now felt less anxious about running their first games. Mission Accomplished!

InSpectres
I ran a whole bunch of this at GoD. I love it each and every time. Great groups each time. I had an old man moment in one session though where a younger kid (please remind me to up the age-limits on my games) named his character Hulk - to which I asked, Hogan or Marvel, and he said "who?" Meaning he had no idea who Hulk Hogan was. At least the other players at the table had a laugh with me on it, and didn't leave me feeling completely old in the cold.

A group from the earlier GM101 class showed up for one of these sessions, and they were a joy to game with. Ran into them at Weber Grill the next day, where they sent me over a dessert as a thank you. Thats the biggest compliment I could get I think. Very much appreciated.
I LOVE running this game for people at Cons
Grade: A

Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator
Had been looking forward to this one a lot. Our group was just about large enough to run an entire ship on our own, and we signed up to play on the "jumbo bridge" a full scale setup, with podiums for each station rather than just laptops on a table. But when we got there, there was a huge mixup. On top of it all one of our players had forgotten his ticket at the apartment. Which ended up not being such a huge deal since we weren't able to play on the big bridge anyways, as it had been double booked and already seated for the slot.

To the organizers' credit they handled the situation well - offered to refund our event tickets, and give us 2 hours of play time on one of the laptop-on-a-table bridges to fill our time. Turned out to be a great session. Was nice to play with these guys, as they are my "home crew". When we do Artemis at home, this is who plays. Although we play at home, its still cool to play 'out' together.
Grade: B+

Kobolds Ate My Baby: Fury Road
This event was the highlight of the Con this year. We had a feeling it was going to be epic before we even showed up for it, just on the title alone. Kobolds Ate my Baby + Mad Max Fury Road? YESPLEASE! We were joined by a couple of other players and received our pre-game briefing. We would be kobolds in the vein of warboys from the movie. King Torg (ALL HAIL KING TORG!!!) would be the analog to Immortan Joe. A slimy human was trying to run off and escape with a nice tasty pile of babies, and we must stop them!!!!!

The GM explained to us the variant rules for this session, namely the process of being WITNESSED! Upon taking an action, a player may yell "WITNESS ME!!!" and the other players must respond with "WITNESS!!". This entitles the witnessed kobold to a 3 dice bonus on their skill check, but must immediately make a death save, at an increased difficulty of course.

Oh, and the GM literally had a deep pile of character sheets for us to write up new kobolds in a pinch for when we would inevitably die.

Fast forward a bit into the session, and my friend Matt decides to jump from our kobold war-mobile onto the tanker truck. Seeing this as a pivotal moment, he yells "WITNESS ME!!" and we all cheer him on "WITNESS!!".  He fails his death save and wipes out, but in a twist of fate his death is described as "False Witness!" and he does not die, and instead lies on in humiliation.

The Next round he again tries, in hopes of redeeming himself - "WITNESS ME!!" and we all rejoice in his madness - "WITNESS!!!". Another failed death save and tragic failure.



AND ANOTHER FALSE WITNESS!. He is again denied a glorious war filled death into Valhalla, shiny and chrome. We're laughing more at him now than we were with him. But the fight goes on. And his turn comes up once more. Seeing no other choice than the path fate had put him onto he yells "WITNESS ME!!!!" - and in response to the plea for witness unto Valhalla erupts the sound of....nothing. Crickets. Not a peep from the table. Alan (another friend) and I look over at Matt, our arms crossed shaking our heads in disappointment at his repeated failures. And then the laughter erupts. Man, that sequence alone was worth twice the price of admission!. What a great session. Havent had that much fun in quite a while.
Grade: A++

Firefly
This one rapidly filled up my "fuck this game" checklist for convention games before it even started. 8 players at the table? NOPE. That exceeds my max quota by 2. GM present and on time? NOPE. Strike two. GM Shows up and doesn't have the materials for their session? BOOM. Bob's out. I apologized to my friends for bailing, but this was too much too soon on my shit-game-o-meter, and I had to skedaddle. Dont recall exactly where I went after that, but it was most likely Games on Demand, to play something. Might have been Axon Punk.

I later heard from that friend that the session did indeed turn out to be a complete shitshow. Maybe I can get a quote from him about it.


Axon Punk
I played the part of a hacker who had become an AI and lived that way so long, they no longer identified as human. Just as an "it" called Corporal Kittens. It taunted "the man" endlessly and used RATM as soundtrack for the crew's exploits against the authority. Not sure how I feel about the system. It seemed a little clunky, but I had fun all the same.
Grade: B


Zoetrope
A very interesting game of Time Cops - using a custom card deck to mark points on the timeline, which can then be moved around as we bounce around, messing with our own timeline, creating save points, redo's, etc. Trying to explain your way out of your own paradoxes is a very entertaining thing. I think everyone had a great time with this, I certainly did.
Grade: A

Gencon 2017 - The Anniversary-ing

***I'm getting REALLY bad at posting these. You'd think nearly a year two years later I'd have this done. So I'm posting it now, and hopefully I will finish it later. Maybe. Right......

This year, for Gencon 50, I decided to bring my 12 year old daughter Hannah. She's a budding tabletop gamer, and usually gives me a pretty hard run for my money in whatever game we are playing. In addition to having a great palate for tabletop boardgames, she has a nascent interest in Role Playing / Story games - just like Dad, so that makes me melt inside.

Demonhunters

You know you're going to have either a great or massively disappointing con when the first game out of the gate is one of the best you've ever played. I've had the chance to play Demonhunters before, and had about as much fun the first time. Biggest difference here is that while I played the first game with a very good friend (who single handedly kept me on target enough to prevent a complete and total Gencon-Meltdown(TM) last year, so thank you to him) - was that this year I was playing with my daughter as well.

Scenario: Hannah played the Ninja Assassin Vampire with a blood addiction, while I took on the role of the gadget-builder-technomancer with a very short attention span. Did I mention that Demonhunters is just a BIT tongue in cheek? And it hits the mark perfectly. When we were being sent to investigate and put down a haunting at a theatre at the premiere of "Harrison", the musical celebrating the short but uneventful presidency of William Henry Harrison, I knew we were in for a great game. The author of the scenario is a brilliant genius, so whoever you are out there, you Sir/Madam, are a badass.

System: The game system for Demonhunters is an incredibly well done and elegant blend of Cortex and Fate. Two of my most favorite game systems for getting out of the way while enhancing and encouraging narrative play. Its hard to say exactly why this particular blend works so well, it just does. If Fate Core and the Cortex Hacker's Guide had a baby inside of the Emergency Room of a Dark Comedy Hospital, Demonhunters is what you would have. Just trust me, its that good.

Notable Moments: The two notable moments for me were Hannah jumping from the catwalks to tackle Yorick, the cheap plastic skull that was flying about attacking people, and smashing him into a cloud of fine plastic particles in which she appeared like a ninja from a smoke bomb - while I commandeered the P.A. system of the theater to read scathing reviews from the bad boss guy's previous thespian disasters, reducing him to tears

Grade:  A+ (This session was the highlight of the con for us. Hannah is a huge fan of musicals, and this just hit her sweet spot)

My Seminars
GM 101 Intro to GMing - A
GM 201 - GM Workshop - A
GM 301 - Don't remember wtf I called this one or what it was about - B ( I feel like I was off my game here)

Psi*Run
Scenario: Our runners climbed out of a helicopter crash in Montreal, Canada. We had a levitating teen, an old man who could open doors in space and time, a woman who could manipulate memory, and my 50 something who could control small concentrated areas of wind. Sounds like a typical Psi*Run recipe for disaster right? I'm not sure which game had a higher body count. This one or the session of Eclipse Phase in which we released a roomful of tigers onto an unsuspecting bio lab full of Yakuza thugs.

Grade: A

Eclipse Phase

System - An interesting take on a percentile system. Roll % under like you typically would. Doubles is a critical success or failure depending on whether the roll was a success or failure. I like the way that this inherently increases likelihood proportionally to the skill level of the character.  Another unique aspect of EP is its utilization of trans humanism. A body is merely equipment. "Sleeves" as they are known are just a tool, and you mind can be transferred into an appropriate to the situation (or in the case of disaster, a new one) sleeve. The character sheet has 2 parts. 1 for your sleeve, the other for your mind. The setting features such transhuman ideas as uplifted whales and octopi, along with chimpanzees.

Scenario: Rescue a friend who has disappeared. Hannah didn't really grok the world and was confused through much of the game. Not her bag, but I do like EP quite a bit.

Notable Moments: Hannah the hacker releasing a veritable zoo of hostile animals from their cages in the research center as we merrily escape, meanwhile the badges reap what they have sown.

Grade: B

Leverage
System - One of my all time favorites. this was introduced to me by Dave Chalker way back at Gencon 2012 maybe? Its an adaptation of the Cortex system, originally from Margaret Weis Publishing. Same system is the underpinning for Firefly, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and Smallville.

Scenario - A wealthy race team owner wants to get rid of a driver that isn't making him what he used to, and won't play ball by throwing races.

Notable Monents: The takedown was an immensely entertaining culmination of scams, schemes, and serendipity. The bomb the villain had intended to use to kill his driver and collect insurance money was relocated to his own private garage, where he kept his extensive collection of antique cars. Meanwhile another one, a fake designed to look like the real thing was placed on the car, swapped out for the original. We rigged it to blow just a smoke trail. Something enough to get the driver to stop without being hurt, and for an investigation to ensue, which of course would lead right to the bad guy - who is now short 1 extensive antique car collection.

Grade: A

Inspectres
System: d6 based, narrative driven. I've come to love this game more than lamp. It puts the story completely in the hands of the players, and they tell it through play. Each time a player rolls a 5 or 6 on their skill checks (from 1d6 to 4d6 based on their skill) they will earn "Franchise Dice". These represent both the potential income gained from finishing this job successfully, and also serve as a pacing indicator for the story.

Scenario - I don't recall the particulars here, other than my character was the lawyer of the group who made extensive use of the various legal contracts needed for servicing a customer with a supernatural pest problem.

Notable Monents - Lots and lots of generally zany mayhem.

Grade: A

Shadows of Esteren
System - Very simple, d10 resolution. There is FAR more substance to the ambiance and feel of this game than there is in terms of game mechanics. I found the mechanics of the game to be somewhat irrelevant, and they took a huge backseat to the story of survival we were telling. Hopeless survival...pretty sure we all died, but had a great time doing it.
Scenario -  Survive a world that is surrounded by the unknown. And the unknown is DANGEROUS. We had to come to the realization though that we were living in a dream, and dying because we were sleeping out in the elements. Freezing to death. We did realize this and eventually woke up by jumping off what seemed a cliff that would lead to certain death. Upon hitting the ground and "dying" we awoke in the mountains.

Notable Monents - In the end we all died in a cave, from a vicious pack of wolves. It was fun though grimly hanging on to the bitter end. We both enjoyed the game

Grade: B+

Inspectres
We  played inSpectres again. No surprise its a great, fun game. You should play it too.