Gen Con 2006 Report, Part 3: Friday

For the record Gen Con is not a Trekkie convention. Sure, there are Star Trek fans. But there are also fans of other science fiction series. There are also fans of fantasy novels, horror fiction and historical battles. The convention is best described as a gaming convention.

:: FRIDAY

Since we have no scheduled events, my roomie Captain Squash and I slept in. Hey, this was our vacation. Unfortunately, I discovered at lunch that I was missing the Firefly LARP. I had promised Solitude I would attempt to get into the game with generic tickets. Later I found out that she missed the game, too. I felt terrible about it for the rest of the convention.

After lunch we decided to play a board game. We found a Mayfair game called Elasund. The game involves players competing to build buildings and a church inside a walled city. It was pretty good. In fact I picked up a copy to play with friends later.

By playing the game we earned a ribbon. Mine had the word Clay on it. By collecting the remaining ribbons -- Grain, Ore, Wood and Sheep -- you earned a Knight of Catan ribbon and a coupon for fifty percent off one item in the Mayfair booth. I managed to acquire the Knight ribbon. I was given some ribbons and found a few on the ground outside the Crowne Plaza hotel! Oh, my lucky day!

This year marked the return of the Gamer Olympics. The concept was to have players do in the real world the physical feats that characters regularly do in the fantasy gaming world. Players were asked to throw a javelin, carefully maneuver through a “Passage of Death” and compete in an archery contest. There was also a room where players fight in padded weapon gladiator battles. They set up seats for spectators to watch and cheer their favorite gladiator. I did not attempt this but there is always next year. I would like to hear from anybody who did the Gamer Olympics this year.

Friday afternoon I played another BYOV LARP, A Holiday at Hogwarts. My character was Archibald Rummery, a 1st year Ravenclaw wizard with a "broken" camera. I did not enjoy the game. But first let me say I have not read the Harry Potter books. I have seen all of the movies and enjoyed them. Also, I was challenged by my character. Perhaps a better player could have done more and enjoyed the game more.

In order to help make the game better I want to give some constructive criticism. First of all, things were too spread out. The game took place in at least five different rooms. I only found three of them. I only knew where two house rooms were: Ravenclaw and Griffindor. The locations of other rooms were a mystery.

Secondly, the players were too angst ridden. This is a children's book, right? It is not the acrimonious world of Vampire: The Masquerade. I did not like how certain players played their Slytherin and Ravenclaw characters. I understand that the difference between the player and how a player portrays their character. I am saying that a couple players did a poor job with their characters. I truly don't want to play if some of the same people play the same characters next year.

Lastly, there were players who were new to LARPs that were given powerful characters. They were a little to eager to focus on specific goals and were not open to conversation with other players. I had three people tell me not to bother them and to go away. For a social LARP they did not have much motivation to interact with folks of their same house, much less outside of it. I have seen teams pull together better in other LARPs. I once rallied a group of twelve players to fight a powerful demon in a Vampire game. Before this game I was never told to shut up and go away.

I hope these comments improve the game. I appreciate the hard work that the BYOV team put into the game and its props. Most of the players were fine. A few bad apples spoiled my fun.

So, I left the LARP disappointed and upset. I trekked over to the Alcatraz Brewing Company to check out the Cthulu Live Party. I discovered the Party Hard Corps (PHC) elite including Ruckus, the General and the Colonel were playing their drinking game, Cult. Cult involves accumulating points while being a true believer and gaining favor with the Messiah. If you lose all your points, you must perform an act of humiliation. It is a strange game but loads of fun. Several members from the Ohio squad joined us. Unfortunately, the PHC did not have a good Gen Con. I noticed that they were particularly laid back from their typical rambunctious selves. Later the General told me that he lost his dice bag and some costume props at Gen Con. Ouch.

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Posted at 11:45 PM