Mines of Kevos

When my brother Kevin and I were in high school he wrote a simple game in Commodore BASIC he called Mines of Minos. In it a miner had to move around mines in order to escape a cave. This past week I wrote a version in Java using the Slick 2D library.

This is a gift for Kevin. You will need a recent version of Java to run it.

Click on an image for a larger version.

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Heroic Adventures

For the first time in over a year I made it out to an Atomic Squash game night at Heroic Adventures. I had fun playing Gloom, Let's Kill (that game has issues), Patrician and Stone Age (my new fave). It was nice to meet new folks and see the regular crew.

I took some pictures. Unfortunately the ISO setting I selected on my digital camera washed out most of the images. Ah well, I uploaded copies of them to my Flickr account.

Click on a picture for a link to a larger version.

Creative Limit

Archon 32 Recap

This past weekend was Archon 32. I started Friday afternoon by making a trip to Office Depot to pick up name badges, folders and sheet protectors for the materials of the Kobolds Ate My Baby LARP. I arrived at Archon where I ran into a bunch of old friends and signed up for games with my buddy Jim.

We headed out to dinner at Applebees. There he filled me in on the latest goings-on in the world of politics. I must admit that I had been busy with convention prep and didn't spend enough time to understand the details of the recently signed $700 billion “emergency” financial market bailout bill. Jim told me that it felt like a stealth tax to subsidize mortgages for poor folks and to profit politicians. I agreed with him that some of the fundamental problems still exist even after the massive give-away.

After dinner I joined Jason's Circus Imperium game. We were joined by a group from Ohio. We teased two of the girls from Ohio by calling one of them the “nice” one and the other the “mean” one. Both played the game enthusiastically and were amusing.

Jason has a room party that night. His was the only party that night. Once he told folks that he wasn't giving away free alcohol, the foot traffic to the room died down. I played a little Rock Band and a dice game. I left around 1 AM to go home to print out all of the materials for the Saturday morning game.

The Kobolds LARP started at 10 AM Saturday morning. I was surprised that we sold out all of the slots for 15 players. I was even more surprised that all of them showed up. In 2006 we had a number of no-shows. I had writing help this year. Jason and Adam contributed a number of ideas I tried to incorporate into the game.

The LARP was set in a school of magic. The players were divided into two houses with three of the players having no house alignment at all. Each house had six players. During the writing process I drew influence from chess pieces. I realized that there are six different types of pieces: pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, kings and queens. So I spent some time thinking about high school archetypes and how they might correspond to chess pieces. For example I wrote a bureaucrat that corresponded to a pawn and a class president that corresponded to a queen.

Jim's two oldest boys joined the game. They are grade schoolers with little gaming experience. So I made with House Elfs. Their goal was to help their school house, much like a brownie or a billiken.

We ran three different contests for the House cup competition. The first was to write a drinking song. Since Adam decided to sleep in, we drafted one of the house elves to help judge. In a stroke of hilarity one of the players bribed him with a dollar bill to vote for his house.

The second contest was a competition called Snatch the Troll's Stash. We lifted ideas from the game Devil Bunny Needs a Ham. We laid out a grid on the floor using paper plates. We marked off a line using masking tape. The goal was to go from one end to the other on the plates. They draw cards for movements. If they drew a King or an Ace, then the Kobold that was furthest along was moved back to the beginning. Unless, of course, they were past the marked line in which case they drew against the Troll Cave Horrible Death Chart to determine their fate.

The last contest was Headditch. In our last brainstorming session Jason got the idea to set it up like fuss ball. We laid down six parallel strips of masking tape on the floor. Players had to stay on their strip of tape. We gave them sticks with nets on the end. We pulled the head off of a Kewpie doll and used that as the ball. The players moved the head to the end of the room to their goal to score a point. We did some improvisation, but it worked out.

Next I played a game of Living Greyhawk using Dungeon and Dragons 3.5 rules. The players were cool but the game was kind of a bummer. It ended by having us watch a village burn to the ground.

I headed to White Castle with Jim to pick up some carry-out. I wanted to make a 7:30 PM Arkham Horror game so we got the order to go. On the walk back to the convention hotel a mini-van pulled out of a parking lot. We thought the driver was slowing for us. Jim started crossing in front of him. But he lurched forward. Jim quickly ran out of his path. Then the van swerved toward me! I put a death grip on our sack of Slyders and spun around to deflect most of the force of the speeding van. Only then did the driver decide to stop. He opened his door and asked if we were okay. We were shocked but fine. The only damage was that the chicken rings that were sitting on the top of the sack were not strewn all over the ground. Ah well, another Archon, another White Castle adventure.

Will ran a game of Red Dragon Inn. It was a fun casual game and a nice change of pace from the inexplicably short Arkham Horror game.

Then, somebody started a game of Werewolves of Millers Hollow. This game requires eight players. So Archon is about the only place I get to play it. The game started with around 12 players. A couple of tables were added and the number of players expanded to somewhere around 30. I snapped some pictures with my cell phone camera and uploaded them to my Flickr account.

I didn't make it home until around 5 AM on Sunday. I was exhausted and slept most of the day. So, this year was another great Archon. I met some new friends and spent some time with old friends. We are already talking about plans for next year's Archon and discussing writing games for next year's Die Con.

Tabriz School of Magick

Archon is a few weeks away. I have been putting together a Kobolds Ate My Baby LARP for the Atomic Squash gaming group to run there. The game is called "Tabriz School of Magick". All of the players are Kobold freshmen trying to avoid death and destruction to win the school cup for their house.

We learned a few lessons from the last game and are using them to make this year's game better. First of all, I expected all of the players to act as individuals looking out for their own self-interest and survival. What happened was amazing. The players joined together in a group leaving the group occasionally to pursue their own goals. This year we are grouping players in two houses to give them a group of which to be a part.

I gave everyone in the last game a goal of escape and did not give anyone a clear way to accomplish it. This year we have the school cup that one group of players will win.

A player familiar with the tabletop game suggested that we include edges and bogies. This rules are indeed hilarious and work well. But I haven't thought of a way of including them in the LARP without disrupting game balance. In LARPs it is important that no single player is overly powerful. If there is a powerful vampire for example, it is important to have a powerful vampire hunter. Last game I gave players special abilities taking care to maintain balance. I think it worked well but am thinking about how to improve them.

We charge money for the game. We ask the players to pay one dollar. We aren't in this to make money. We do this because we limit the game to twelve players and want to insure that players who sign up actually show up to play the game. By the way the money are got last time we gave to a group who came from out of state to run games at Archon.

CptSquash and Pancake have already given me some great ideas that I need to write up in our private wiki. I'm trying to organize a brainstorming session with them for this weekend. I think our players are going to love the great material and improvements we have made this year.

Gen Con 2007 Report, Part 5: Sunday

Last month I attended a gaming convention known as Gen Con. The following is my recap what happened on Sunday, my last day there.

:: SUNDAY

After I settled the bill with the hotel I had breakfast with BYOV guys. I really appreciate the effort Jay put into letting us share the room with a BYOV game master. Everybody was tired. I was a little sad that it was over.

Squash and I headed back to the vendor hall for one last pass and to say our goodbyes. I talked to folks at Kayuda Maps. They are producing a advertisement-driven map editing web site for fantasy gamers. When they mentioned that they told me they planned to add icons to represent items on their maps, I asked them if they considered using icons that professionals working the logistics industry use. They had not considered it, but seemed open to the idea.

I watched a patron demo a MMORPG called Age of Conan. The game was gorgeous. But it is definitely for mature players. I wonder if this will limit the success of the game when it hits the market in late October.

I bought a copy of Kill Dr Lucky from the Paizo Publishing booth. I have not yet played this game but I look forward it.

Signgirl and I love to play Fluxx. I noted that Looney Labs plans to publish Zombie Fluxx in early October.

That wraps up my recap of Gen Con. Once again I had a good time. It was over too quickly. If you enjoy gaming, you and your family should consider attending next year's convention which will be held August 14-17, 2008. Watch the Gen Con website for information on how to register for games early next year. Or better yet, check out the Gen Con Community Forums.

Gen Con 2007 Report, Part 4: Saturday

Gen Con Indy happens every year sometime in August. This is my recap of Saturday, my fourth day there and the last full day of this year's convention.

:: SATURDAY

I completed the Mayfair Games Ribbon Quest. It worked like this. For every Mayfair Game you demoed in the vendor hall or attended in one of the game halls they gave you a badge ribbon. The badge ribbons were different colors and read "Ore", "Wood", "Sheep", "Clay" and "Grain", one each of the resources found in the Settlers of Catan game. When you collected all five you received a Knight of Catan ribbon, a Catan-related goodie and a coupon good for 50% off of a Mayfair Game of your choice. I bought the Kids of Catan game to play with Signgirl and her son D, who loves the game.

While I was there I also picked up a copy of Patrician. It is a well-balanced game of tower building that I enjoyed playing with Squash, Brian and Mike.

I helped Squash with his ribbon quest by demoing another game. We played Shear Panic. It is a cute game that involved maneuvering sheep for the most points while preventing your neighbor from getting his points.

Cpt Squash and I went to our next event, the Amazons LARP. Once again I crossed gender lines to play a Amazon magic user. The character who really the actress Lucy Lawless in disguise and did not have any magical abilities. So my goal was to keep my disguise and not to draw attention to myself. A ceremony was planned at which my character was supposed to perform real magic. Fortunately events unfolded so that I was able to meet my goals.

My last game was Crafty Games' Ten Thousand Bullets LARP. I was a little apprehensive that a LARP set in a prison would not be very much fun. They did some interesting things with the game. To start with they put us in "cells" which were a series of chairs arranged in small groups. If you wanted to talk to a prisoner in another cell, you have to go to imaginative lengths to keep the conversation private. One player wrote messages on paper and threw it when the players playing the guards had their backs turned. My character had an escape plan that kept me engaged in the game until the very end. I enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought I would.

Squash and I met up with another gamer buddy and his female friend and went back to the RAM. We hung out at the RAM for a while talking about the past week. We discovered that our buddy's friend had her Masters in Mathematics. When I told her I had considered going back for a Master degree, she encouraged me to pursue it. It really made me consider my decision not to commit myself to getting an advanced degree.

I dropped by Mike B's room party. It was hot and cramped in there. I met a gamer who lives not more than twenty miles from the town in which I grew up. Small world! I didn't stay long and left to get some sleep.

Gen Con 2007 Report, Part 3: Friday

Every year for the past six years I have attended Gen Con. What follows is my recap of Friday, my third day there.

:: FRIDAY

I had lunch with Jay of BYOV, Cpt Squash and other members of the Atomic Squash gaming club. We went to an Italian place named Buca Di Beppo. I recommend it highly. We got a laugh when Brian made a big deal about his serving of lasagna was smaller than his buddy's lasagna. So somebody mentioned it to the waitress who in turn summoned the manager. Brian was very embarrassed. Of course we gave him a hard time about it.

I found myself with time to kill before my next game. So I went to the convention center and checked out the Gen Con Auction. I bought an auction card and watched for a bit. They were auctioning off items from some obscure role playing systems and later cards from collectible card games. I walked over to an area they had set up with used games and related items at a fixed price. It can best be described as a garage sale for gamer stuff. I found and bought A Merry Kobold Christmas, a campaign I did not have for the Kobolds Ate My Baby roleplaying game.

Next I walked though the miniature painting area. I keep meaning to try the paint and take when I am there. Ah well, another time. I went to the vendor and demo some games at the Mayfair booth. First I tried Age of Discovery. The game had a lot of little pieces and took a long time. The worst part of the game was at the very end you could affect your score with a multiplier that was not easy to understand.

There was a giant-sized Kragmortha board game set up. I was pleased to see another Atomic Squash gamer and his family join the game. While the game was interesting, it quickly became boring. In a way it reminded me of the late Gregory Horror Show game.

I played a quick game of Elk Fest. Do not call it Elk Hunt. Shame on you. The game has a simple mechanic. Your elk must pass from one ice shelf to another by using stones that you flick into place on your turn. If you fall off the stones you must start back from the beginning. It plays quickly and can be entertaining, especially if somebody else is bumping the table.

The last game I demoed was Hey! That's My Fish!. In this game players are penguins was move around a grid of cards. The trick is that once you land on a card it is removed when you move off of it. In this way you can strand other players on their own ice floes. This is a type of game where you get to mess with the other players. The rules were easy to learn. I really enjoyed this game.

I spun by the Mongoose Games booth. I learned that they did not yet have the Spycraft World on Fire. That was disappointing. This is the system on which we based this years Spycraft LARP

I bought a copy of Kobolds Ate My Baby Deluxe Hard Cover for Signgirl. She promised to help me write a new Kobolds LARP. I am so excited to have her assistance! She had some great ideas that helped me spice up the characters for the aforementioned Spycraft LARP.

Lastly I picked up Gloom, a card game from Atlas Games. Squash tells me it is fun game. I cannot wait to play it.

I went to my scheduled game, the Harry Potter LARP. This year's game focused on the students of the Slytherin house. A player or two took this game too seriously. C'mon now; it is a game. Lighten up and have a good time. If you feel you did not get the character you wanted, you should not make all of us listen to you whine about it.

Tom J, the game master, talked me into playing the game again this year after my sour experience last year. Mission successful! I enjoyed the game.

This video features Slate's take on gamers. There are quite a few scenes from the Harry Potter LARP including an interview with Tom J the Snape-looking game master and Henwy playing the evangelist.

Gen Con 2007 Report, Part 2: Thursday

During the third week of August I returned to Indianapolis for my sixth Gen Con. While not everything went off without a hitch, I am choosing not to dwell on those things. What follows is my recap the first full day at the convention.

:: THURSDAY

Thursday is the first full day of Gen Con and the official start. The vendor hall opens at 11 AM to the masses. I slept in this morning and had lunch so I missed the giant nerd herd of gamers who storm the vendors looking to be the first to get their hands on the shiny new games and demo this year's latest and greatest offerings.

The vendor hall was massive this year. There are thirty rows inside where in years past there were twenty two. Most noticeable for me are the companies that were absent. Chaosium was not at Gen Con this year.

The big news was the announcement by Wizards of the Coast of the long rumored Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. That was more exciting than their sad attempt at social networking called Gleemax. Is this is their way to reach out to the role playing community after booting non-Wizards games from the RPGA?

Signgirl and I have been playing Magic: The Gathering lately. So I stopped at the Dave and Adam's Card World booth and bought two boxes of Magic cards. Come to find out they were in Chinese! Fortunately they later let me exchange the one unopened, sealed box of cards for credit toward the English version. Signgirl is selling the opened box on eBay for me. Any takers for Chinese Magic cards?

My first game was the Torchwood LARP. Torchwood is a British sci-fi series that is best described as a combination of X-Files and Angel. In our game I played a military leader who was illegally running a black market operation out of the Cardiff base of operations. I had the best time with this group of players. Everybody was played their parts superbly. I reveled in my role of troublemaker as I set up distractions for anyone who got to close to my operations.

Next Cpt Squash and I played in a Fey LARP loosely based on the writings of Laurell K. Hamilton. Fey are fairy folk. Theirs is a world of acrimony that rivals the Vampire: The Masquerade or the writings of Anne Rice.

I played a female assassin who was a human monk. My role was to assassinate the visiting Pope. This was not my last trans-gender roleplaying at the convention. Fortunately, the female players were terribly offended by the way I choose to play my character. I did get an education on the sisterhood of shared governance which I mistakenly called a cabal.

Here is my only picture from the Fey LARP. Mar was showing off the pirate puppet he bought earlier that day. This picture makes me smile.

Gen Con 2007 Report, Part 1: Wednesday

This year was my sixth year attending Gen Con. It is a large annual gaming convention attracting over 25,000 attendees. What follows is my recap of the first of the five days at the convention.

:: WEDNESDAY

I met my buddy Captain Squash at his place. We loaded into his vehicle and headed out. On the way we listened to several podcasts. The first was Fear the Boot. We listened to their recap of this year's Archon including coverage of the R-rated Furry panel. They ask an interesting question: who invited the anthropomorphic fetishists into the gaming subculture?

Next we listened to an episode of Diggnation, a show where two guys that used to be on TechTV talk about the top stories posted on the digg.com social bookmarking news site. Basically these guys sit around drinking beer and riff on new articles. It is pointless really but they did use the words "poon palace" which made Squash and I laugh.

Lastly we listened to an episode of This Week in Tech hosted by Leo Laporte, another TechTV refugee. I quickly got bored with the endless prattle about Apple's iPhone. I wonder what Laporte thinks of Apple announcing that they will cut the price of the iPhone by $200 just two months after introducing it to the market. Suckers!

Thanks to Jay of BYOV we stayed at The Hilton this year. The room was nice. Even though the hotel is not one of the ones attached to the convention center by the skywalks, or hamster tubes as we like to call them, it is decent place to stay during Gen Con.

Cpt Squash ran off to watch a minor league baseball game. I wandered down to the RAM to see if I could get into a session of Wednesday Gaming there. The meeting room was packed wall-to-wall. While I was bummed that I couldn't find a game, I was pleased to see that Wednesday gaming was popular. I bought a mug from the RAM while I was there and left for the convention center to pick up a swag bag.

Later Cpt Squash and I made our way to the Fourth Annual Gen Con Forum Stink, a gathering of regulars who frequent the Gen Con online community forum. When we arrived they gave us a bag of swag -- free promotional items and other stuff.

They had a passport game as an icebreaker. They had several categories such as "Veteran Stinker", "Attended 10+ Gen Cons" and "Played True Dungeon". When you found a player that matched a category you could ask them to place a sticker in your book. I ran into a bunch of old friends and met some new ones.

After the Stink several of us wandered over to the RAM. Since it was packed, we decided to trek to Rock Bottom instead. I have to say it was just as fun as the RAM. They had specials on drinks. Squash and I tried a sampler of their beers. They were good. The consensus was that Rock Bottom may become the new Wednesday Post-Stink place in the future.

We left there to go to a place that had karaoke. After listening to somebody massacre Creed's "Arms Wide Open" I had a massive headache. I took some Tylenol and hung out until our buddy Otter took her turn at the mike. She blew everyone away and ended up taking home a cash prize for placing in their karaoke contest.

The 100 Best Meme

Since I have been back from Gen Con real life obligations have colluded to prevent me from posting the planned Gen Con recap blog entries. Or, maybe it was the mullet I borrowed from Kentucky Fried Gamers. My IQ dropped the moment I put it on and has not yet recovered.

Currently the internal network is down at work leaving me with a moment to crank out a quick entry.

One of the cool things I missed at this year's Gen Con was Green Ronin's Hobby Games: The 100 Best book. The following meme lists the hobby games found in the book and asks the blogger to indicate their level of personal experience.

Boldface if "I own this game."
Italics is "I have played this game."
Italic and Bold are "I both own and have played this game."

Bruce C. Shelley on Acquire
Nicole Lindroos on Amber Diceless
Ian Livingstone on Amun-Re
Stewart Wieck on Ars Magica
Thomas M. Reid on Axis & Allies
Tracy Hickman on Battle Cry
Philip Reed on BattleTech
Justin Achilli on Blood Bowl
Mike Selinker on Bohnanza
Tom Dalgliesh on Britannia
Greg Stolze on Button Men
Monte Cook on Call of Cthulhu
Steven E. Schend on Carcassonne
Jeff Tidball on Car Wars
Bill Bridges on Champions
Stan! on Circus Maximus
Tom Jolly on Citadels
Steven Savile on Civilization
Bruno Faidutti on Cosmic Encounter
Andrew Looney on Cosmic Wimpout
Skip Williams on Dawn Patrol
Alan R. Moon on Descent
Larry Harris on Diplomacy
Richard Garfield on Dungeons & Dragons
William W. Connors on Dynasty League Baseball
Christian T. Petersen on El Grande
Alessio Cavatore on Empires in Arms
Timothy Brown on Empires of the Middle Ages
Allen Varney on The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Phil Yates on Fire and Fury
William Jones on Flames of War
Rick Loomis on Fluxx
John Kovalic on Formula De
Anthony J. Gallela on The Fury of Dracula
Jesse Scoble on A Game of Thrones
Lou Zocchi on Gettysburg
James Wallis on Ghostbusters
James M. Ward on The Great Khan Game
Gav Thorpe on Hammer of the Scots
Uli Blennemann on Here I Stand
S. Craig Taylor, Jr. on A House Divided
Scott Haring on Illuminati
Dana Lombardy on Johnny Reb
Darren Watts on Junta
Greg Stafford on Kingmaker
Lester Smith on Kremlin
Wolfgang Baur on Legend of the Five Rings CCG
Marc W. Miller on Lensman
Ted S. Raicer on London's Burning
Teeuwynn Woodruff on Lord of the Rings (boardgame)
Mike Breault on Machiavelli
Jordan Weisman on Magic: The Gathering
Steve Kenson on Marvel Super Heroes (Jeff Grubb version)
Gary Gygax on Metamorphosis Alpha
Greg Costikyan on My Life with Master
John D. Rateliff on Mythos
Chris "Gerry" Klug on Napoleon's Last Battles
John Scott Tynes on Naval War
Erick Wujcik on Ogre
Marc Gascoigne on Once Upon a Time
Mike Bennighof on PanzerBlitz
Steve Jackson on Paranoia
Shannon Appelcline on Pendragon
JD Wiker on Pirate's Cove
Richard H. Berg on Plague!
Martin Wallace on Power Grid
Tom Wham on Puerto Rico
Joseph Miranda on Renaissance of Infantry
James Ernest on RoboRally
Paul Jaquays on RuneQuest
Richard Dansky on The Settlers of Catan
Ken St. Andre on Shadowfist
Steven S. Long on Shadowrun
Peter Corless on Shadows over Camelot
Dale Donovan on Silent Death: The Next Millennium
Matt Forbeck on Space Hulk
Ray Winninger on Squad Leader
Lewis Pulsipher on Stalingrad
Bruce Nesmith on Star Fleet Battles
Steve Winter on The Sword and the Flame
Jeff Grubb on Tales of the Arabian Nights
Shane Lacy Hensley on Talisman
Douglas Niles on Terrible Swift Sword
Ed Greenwood on Thurn and Taxis
Mike Fitzgerald on Ticket to Ride
Thomas Lehmann on Tigris & Euphrates
Warren Spector on Tikal
David "Zeb" Cook on Toon
Mike Pondsmith on Traveller
Zev Shlasinger on Twilight Struggle
Kenneth Hite on Unknown Armies
Sandy Petersen on Up Front
R. Hyrum Savage on Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
George Vasilakos on Vampire: The Masquerade
Kevin Wilson on Vinci
R.A. Salvatore on War and Peace
Jack Emmert on Warhammer 40,000
Chris Pramas on The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Steve Jackson on The Warlord
John Wick on Wiz-War

Clearly I have more gaming to do! I will attempt to post the recap entries later this week.

Gen Con Indy 2007 Schedule

Friends, it is time for Gen Con. I will be there from sometime Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning. As I type this I still don't know in which hotel I'll be staying or what time I'll be arriving.

So, who's going? Give me a shout out if you see me, even if I am zoned out in my own world. I *love* to hear the words: "I read your blog". If you'd like to join me for lunch, I plan to be at the RAM for lunch after Killer Breakfast on Saturday.

Those of you who have been to the Indy Convention Center know that cell phones do not get good reception and the ambient noise in most places make phone conversations impossible. If you try to call me, please leave me a voice mail message. Or, send me a text message.

Here is my schedule for this year's convention:

Wednesday, Aug 15

• ?? pm - Arrive and Check in to Hotel
  
• ?? pm - Grab Swag Bag from Indianapolis Convention Center
  
• ?? pm - Gen Con Forum Stink
  
• ?? pm - BYOV Room Party

Thursday, Aug 16

• 11 am - Vendor Hall Shopping and Swag Grab
  
• 5 pm - LRP00089 Torchwood: Remember The Time?

Friday, Aug 17

• 4:30 pm - LRP00087 A Holiday at Hogwarts: Slytherin House

Saturday, Aug 18

• 9 am - RPG00010 Hickman's Killer Breakfast
  
• 11 am - Lunch at the RAM
  
• 7 pm - LRP00056 Ten Thousand Bullets LARP: RIP

I hope to bump into each of ya there.

Real Life Music Visualization

Physics rocks! Check out this demonstration of a Ruben's tube. In this video a foil lined PVC pipe gives a real-world visualization of sound. Remember friends, PVC at this temperature can melt and emit noxious fumes.



I have been playing Puzzle Quest for my Sony PSP. It uses the same "connect-three-matching-items-in-a-grid" game mechanic throughout most of the game. What is interesting is the RPG aspect that they layer on top of it. The monsters you compete against have the ability to heal themselves, leech health and mana off you and alter the grid. As you level up you can train mounts, research spells and forge magic items which give you bonuses. It is a cute little game.

DieCon 7 Recap

The lovely Signgirl and her son D joined me for the first night of DieCon this past weekend. Jon Bancroft's daughter took us through a game of KinderBunnies. During the game Jon dropped off a coupon which Signgirl used to buy some games for D.

I wrote and helped run the Spycraft LARP for Atomic Squash. In all we had about 22 players and wrote 35 characters. Sorry Jirel, but the Cynthia Pride character was cut due to lack of players. Thanks again for writing up the information on the collectible card game.

Our biggest asset for LARP development was the wiki. I believe the ability to work online and see the edit history and recent changes made us more productive. It took some time to become adjusted to the wiki-style formatting. But everyone who used it seem to pick it up fairly quickly.

We published a guest list, a list of characters, on the Atomic Squash forums before the game. The feedback to the list helped us gauge player interest. We were better able to select which characters to put in the optional column in case not enough players showed up.

For a three to five hour game I feel that a 300-400 word character description worked well. It gives the player a good feel for the character and improves their game. For example I gave the Doctor Lo character a family. It was not important to the immediate events of the game, but helped define the character.

There were not big stories that encompassed a large number of characters. This allowed us to safely cut characters and augment the game by playing the museum curator and auctioneer as non-player characters (NPCs). Most players had at a couple goals that encouraged interaction with other players. Making Otto's disappearance a mystery discouraged players from sticking to their small circles and encouraged them to circulate among the other players.

A couple players told me how much they enjoyed their characters. Seeing them enjoy the game made all of the hard work worth it.

I was thrilled to see Signgirl laughing and enjoying the LARP. Big points for you, sweetie! Now I'll have to draft you to help me write a new Kobolds LARP.

I Know What You Did Last Weekend

I spent the Memorial Day weekend writing characters for the Spycraft LARP that Atomic Squash plans to run at DieCon this Saturday. I started Friday after work and worked morning to night on them. I took a few breaks to play Battlefield 2 and do some shopping. More on that in a bit.

We managed to post a list of characters for this year's game. In total there are a total of 35 characters. Since we usually have around twenty players, the unfortunate reality is that a third of these characters probably will not make it into the game. I just hope some of the ones I sacrificed my holiday weekend to write find their way into the game. Here is the list of characters on which I worked the past three days (in the order on which I worked them):

• Vittorio Esperto: an Italian collector visiting the United States. (White Tux, Greased Hair, Pinky Ring)
• Malcolm Whitlow: a former Prime Minister of Australia. (Bald, Charismatic, Bold tie)
• Clodomir Uteem: an exiled islander and activist. (Dark Skin, Beard, Scowl)
• Nicole Mason: an Australian government official. (Plain, Flat Hair, Nice Dress)
• Jamal Riggs: a European Union tax agent. (Wrinkled jacket, Wing tipped shoes, Soul patch)
• Izanami Kishi: a famous Japanese actor and martial arts expert. (Black Formal Robe, Bald, Short)
• Hong Gildong: a Korean-born Texas oil magnate. (Comb over, False Teeth, Designer Tuxedo)
• Jeremy Wade: the assistant to Izanami Kishi. (Flamboyant, Curly Hair, Pink Shirt)
• Juan Kerr: the bodyguard to Elsa Beisheim. (Eye patch, Muscular, Van Dyke)
• Cynthia Pride: a British journalist working for The London Times. (Pantsuit, Short Hair, Notepad)
• Elmyr: a little known artist seeking some exposure. (Ascot, Chain Smoker, Earrings)
• James Camelot: a hacker who claims he has a program that can determine if paintings are fake. (Young, Nerdy, Skinny Tie)
• Pat Pennyworth: a beautiful auctioneer working for Fukabun Naka Auctions. (Stiff Prosthetic Arm, Stunning, Red Dress)

Yeah, I'm a slacker. I have a new respect for writers. Getting my head around most of these characters was a challenge. How do you make a tax agent interesting? What motives a wealthy Texas oil tycoon? What would compel somebody to spend time with a former Australian Prime Minister? I am convinced that writing involves hundreds of these little decisions. Good authors are the folks that make the best decisions.

I managed to accumulate enough points in Battlefield 2 to get promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant. So far I have earned 75,099 points and have played the game for a total of 825 hours.

I picked up Ozzy Osbourne's new album, Black Rain. It definitely rocks. The album features some juicy guitar riffs, or as I heard a DJ once say, ".. the sound of finely tuned chainsaws". It's a beautiful thing. The lyrics were adequate but fell short of being great. Thankfully Ozzy did not completely disappoint me like Sevendust's last effort did.

Spycraft LARP Gets a Wiki

I am continuing to work on the Spycraft LARP for Atomic Squash. Our setting this year is an art auction. Here is the description of the game if you have not read it yet:

Mickey took twenty eight pictures of art items for the game. I spent some time last night uploading them to our game wiki and creating pages for them. By the way while I think wikis are terrible for software project documentation, we have succeeded in using one to organize our character sheets, art items, game rules and reference materials.

We are also trying to think of some nice items to give away as prizes for players. Last year for the Fight Night game Atomic Squash gave away a pair of boxing gloves. Cool, huh? Ideas?

I saw this on a fortune cookie yesterday: Doing what you love is freedom. Loving what you do is happiness.

Don't panic! I just found out today is Towel Day, the annual celebration of the life and humor of Douglas Adams.

This Just In

It was a busy week for me this past week. On Thursday I met Signgirl's family and went to her graduation from Southwestern Illinois College. I brought my Olympus EVOLT E-500 digital SLR camera. In an attempt to appease her anxious five year son I let him snap a few pictures with it before the ceremony. He was mostly careful with the camera but thought it was cute to press his face against the lens. After the ceremony we went to a get together with Signgirl's classmates and friends.

On Friday Bella Rose and her husband came over for an impromptu BBQ. I told Signgirl I usually like to plan things like that out better. But lately I've been trying quite a few things outside my comfort zone. Things were fine. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

The next day Signgirl took me to a graduation party hosted by a classmate, VA. VA recently moved into a house in Belleville not too far where I used to live on North Charles. She has already done some great work remodeling the place. Out back was a building that was once used as a bakery. It is now being used to house a couple old cars and a refrigerator.

Later that evening we met Nicholas and his fiancee, Delaney, for dinner at Union Station in St Louis. Afterwards we toured the mall stopping to see the floor show at the Fudgery and feeding the mutant koi in the pond under the train shed. There was some discussion about Ren Faires including the recent trend for pirate only faires. Arrr, looks like Signgirl wishes to go to one of these later this summer.

Jason came over on Sunday. I have been helping him write characters for the upcoming Atomic Squash Spycraft LARP game. We hammered out the backgrounds for a dozen or so characters. Jason laid out his plans for the two weeks we have left before we run the game at DieCon. He wants me to figure out how to print out the characters in a format suitable for our players. So I plan to be occupied with game work this week.

Signgirl is making a trip out of town. Her and D came over yesterday and stayed until I dropped them at the airport around 5 AM this morning. When I got back home, I climbed into bed and fell asleep. I woke around 11 AM and sent an email to my boss saying that I was going to be out today. Then I fell back asleep and didn't get up until around 5 PM. Yeah, I am a bum.

Quick Update

I've been doing more writing for the Spycraft LARP. I added information to our wiki about the now defunct Spycraft Collectible Card Game (CCG). It was difficult to find the information. As recently as two years ago there was an active community around the game. Now there is hardly a trace of it. I had to go to the Wayback Machine to find information on the game's factions. When a game dies, it disappears.

I went over to CptSquash's place Monday night. We played a game of Power Grid. I have had a copy of the game for two years now and haven't had the opportunity to play. It was a fun game, but I lost terribly.

The terms of my mortgage were different than I had discussed with the company before the closing. They are redoing it with terms I like better. That means I have to close again. Yeah, more paper signing! LOL! Thankfully they are waiving the closing fees for the redux.

Open Office Owns

If you use OpenOffice, I highly recommend upgrading to version 2.2. Autokerning is now enabled by default. It makes a noticeable difference in making documents easier on the eyes.

I tried out the Folding@Home client on my Playstation 3. It is interesting to watch the ball-n-stick molecule model twist in real-time. In the background is a rotating Earth with points of lights around cities. The program caused my PS3 to run hot. The fan was so loud I had difficulty getting to sleep. I decided to move the PS3 out of its shelf in the entertainment center and place it on top where it can get better air circulation.

I believe the trouble with my Linux box is the Ethernet adapter card. Since NewEgg didn't have the Intel card I wanted I decided to get a Trendnet TEG-PCITXR gigabit Ethernet card. It is supposed to have good Linux support. Does anybody have experience with this card?

I am helping to write the Spycraft LARP (Live Action Role-playing) game for DieCon 7. I set up a Wiki for the all of the authors to use. I have spent the better part of the past week creating pages for last year's characters and brainstorming pages for this year's game. I'm a little disappointed that the organizers don't have more of a sense of urgency since the game is close to eight weeks away. Last week I changed my plans in order to get together with the others. I didn't hear anything so I contacted one of them who told me the meeting wasn't going to happen. Frustrating! Ah well, I gotta tell myself I am only volunteering my help. If I was in charge of getting the game together, I would do things differently.

What the Wiki

Ninja Burger RPG Occupation Quiz

Choose a Ninja Burger Career at the
Ninja Burger website.

Kobolds on a Plane Online!

I posted all of the characters sheets and game master project files online. They are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. If you use them, I ask that you give me credit.

The good stuff can be found at koboldslarp.com

Enjoy, you naughty Kobolds!

Archon 30 Report

This past weekend I attended Archon 30. It was good to see friends and have some fun gaming.

This year Cpt Squash convinced me to run a Kobolds Ate My Baby (KAMB) Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game. I named it Kobolds on a Plane! I stayed up late Wednesday night writing characters. In addition to the 9th Level Games KAMB books -- Kobolds Ate My Baby Super Deluxx Edition and Kobolds the Charades -- I drew influence from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz, White Wolf's Werewolf: The Forsaken and, of course, this summer's hit movie Snakes on a Plane!

:: THURSDAY

Since I pre-registered for Archon 30 I had a relatively short wait to pick up my badge. While standing in line the topic on most folks mind was next year's Archon. Convention organizers plan to host the 9th North American Science Fiction Convention (9th NASFiC) in place of Archon. They have also decided to hold it two months earlier than the normal Archon, on August 2-5.

I met up with my buddies Jim and Adam. We decided to to go to Applebees to grab some dinner. Adam showed us a movie of his new girlfriend out with him at dinner. Jim and I launched into talk about politics. We expect things to really interesting with some important elections only a few weeks away.

I decided to run back home to work on the Kobolds on a Plane! I put together a spreadsheet listing every character in the game, another listing all special abilities and finally a list of items in the game. Then I put together three pages of horrible death charts that the player might encounter. I put these in a binder for Cpt Squash to read in preparation for the Saturday game.

Cpt Squash threw a room party this year for his gaming club Atomic Squash. Adam was rocking out on a game called Guitar Hero. He showed off by playing with the guitar behind his head. Several of the Hex Games guys stopped by including Steve Johnson and Colin Thomas. Elonka also stopped by. She told me she had given a talk earlier about Archon's Wikipedia entry and noticed my picture. I took a picture with her and Colin Thomas, uploaded it to wikipedia and changed the caption to read "Patrons enjoy Archon 30".

I saw Kelly, formerly of Memphis and now in Seattle. She looked cute. We talked about her weekly game out there. It was funny when she apologized to me for being too geeky. Sorry to say, most of the rest of the year it usually is me apologizing to an uninterested female for gamer dorkiness.

I made ribbons for the badges that say "I Hugged Gazpacho". I gave out a bunch during the convention to the brave who actually hugged me. I have lots left over. Oh well, I guess I have some for Gen Con next year.

When I left the Atomic Squash Party about 4 AM, Britt was laying on the bed in there asking why the ceiling was moving. Uhm, he was drunk.

:: FRIDAY

I slept through the Fury of Dracula game but made it for the Elasund game at 2 PM. It was my second time playing the game and the first time I actually finished one. I won! I think I'll have to play it again.

After running out to try a Mexican place with Adam, I found my way to the Mississippian Room for the SLUGS Vampire LARP briefing. They gave me character by the name of Michael Collins. There was a Father Collins in the game a few years ago. This character was an excommunicated priest. My goal was to protect a character named Rev Teddy and see the end-times Apocalypse happened. The most serious problem I had with the game was the negativity I got from a player (name isn't important). I had my holy symbol out Friday night. "Do you have that holy symbol out?!", she asked. "Yeah. You can see my holy symbol.", I responded. "Is this your first year or something?", she had a look of contempt. In fact it is my ninth year playing the game."No, this isn't my first year.", I responded. I secretly hoped she didn't treat any first year player this way. She was not friendly. I did not care for her role playing at all. I role played away from her group. I didn't want the confrontation on the first night.

Before the LARP began I wandered into the Monroe Room where the Visioncon group were holding their Mojo Tasting Party. They had samples of their namesake drink which that drink after saying this salute: "Quick! Before it eats through the cup!"

Seanta Claus was DJing the dance hall again this year. He and his crew decorated two conference rooms like the Carousel scene from Logan's Run. It was quite remarkable.

I left the convention around midnight to go back home and do more work on Kobolds LARP. I printed out character badges and item cards. I put together the booklets and printed out copies of the character sheets. I wrapped up around 4 AM and managed to get some sleep before I had to get up to get to the game.

:: SATURDAY

I had about 12 players for the Kobolds on a Plane! LARP. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I was blow away by how enthusiastic and creative all of the players were at 10 AM on a Saturday. There was a good mix of new players and veterans. In the game you could save a hit point by barking like a Kobold. The bark, though, had to be better than the last player's bark. I will never forget the attractive purple-haired werechicken hunter. She let out a high pitched bark that I think broke glass! There were also some great one liners. For example when asked where a Kobold had put his dead snake, he responded by pulling out the folded item and saying: "My snake is right here! in my pants!" Vux, the elderly Kobold, had a spell which would summon water from cupped hands. I had no idea how hilarious that would look when he held his cupped hands just below waist level. The Kobold that jumped from the plane actually got the "Undesirable High-Speed Air-Ground Interface!" from the Random Horrible Death Chart!

Here is some news. I plan to release PDF versions of the game files on koboldslarp.com as soon as I proofread them. I can't release the horrible death charts because I borrowed them from the Kobolds the Charades book. I will make my own charts if I write and run another game the year after NASFiC.

At 2 PM Ed of BYOV ran Ill Met by Moonlight, a Fey LARP. It was a beautiful game. There was a ton of background information. Even though we were short players the game turned out great. I had a great time playing it. I am looking forward to more playing more BYOV LARPs at Gen Con next year.

The second night of the Vampire LARP was a wreck. The character playing Rev Teddy did not show up. I was a little surprised to find out that a new player was playing him. The refs did not let me know. I had spent three hours pestering any judge I could find if Rev Teddy had made it back into the game. Eventually I found the character and played the rest of the night. The game ended with my character living; only the second time I've managed to do that.

The Zombie Squad crew was back with a room party. I had traded emails with one of the hosts on MySpace. He promised that this year's party would be bigger and better. They delivered! They had three hotel rooms converted into an entrance area, a dance hall and a refreshment room. It was awesome. I wish I had more time to enjoy it.

The Party Hard Corps was out in force. They were playing their games, roaming the halls and patronizing the various room parties. Babypants was giving out Jelly Bellys. I wish she had warned me about the popcorn ones. It was great to see General Dissent again and have the opportunity to social with him for a bit.

I talked with Tom J about Hogwarts LARP. He assured me that this year's game will be different. He also told me that the player with whom I had an issue was actually a decent fellow. I trust his opinion and agreed to try the Gen Con Hogwarts LARP again next year.

:: SUNDAY

Well, three days of sleep deprivation caught up with me. I slept through the SLUGS Vampire LARP debriefing and awards ceremony.

Sunday is also the day I usually register for the next year's Archon. Unfortunately, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $90 for a convention which is a week before Gen Con and is probably not going to be attended by the regular group.

My only regret is that I did not make it to the dealer hall this year. Perhaps that is a good thing. I didn't spend any money on new games. I wanted to pick up QAGS 2nd Edition and Munchkin Impossible. Perhaps I'll ask for them for Christmas.

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Kobolds on a Plane

Archon is three weeks away, friends! As part of the Atomic Squash gaming group I plan to run a Kobolds Ate My Baby live action role-playing game (LARP) tenatively named Kobolds on a Plane!

Here is a description of the event I submitted to the gaming manager:

KOBOLDS ON A PLANE!
A Live Action Role-Playing Game for Kobolds Ate My Baby

Short Description
Rival kobolds have kidnapped you and your clan. They sold you to a strange traveling gnome who stows you onboard his airship. You escape your crates to raid the cargo hold and unleash some pathological and gastronomic mayhem. Newcomers welcome. Young children will be eaten.

Description
Rival Kobolds disguised as the famous Kobold chef Emerald and his kitchen staff visit your cave. The sneaky bastards arrange a cooking demonstration where they take your entire clan by surprise capturing you in a huge wooden cage. While dining on your clan leader in an epic-level BBQ and contemplating tasty new recipes for their Torg Foreman Grilles(tm), a strange Gnome arrives. He is Phil T. Olaf, an entertainer and entrepreneur. In exchange for two pairs of shiny boots, a bag of cheesy doodles, three Atomic Squash T-Shirts and a yummy Human baby, he acquires all of you! His plan is to transport you to a human zoo where you will be caged and put on exhibit as a rare type of prairie dog.

You are prisoners aboard Olaf's Gnomish airship, the Pike Maiden. Most of you have managed to claw through your crates and chew your way through the dunnage. You are ravenous and angry (well, that's normal). Find a way to escape your captivity while managing to live.

Gen Con 2006 Report, Part 5: Sunday

Just last week I was in Indianapolis for Gen Con. Sunday is the last and final day. It was also the day I spent the most time in the exhibitor hall. The exhibitor hall is Darwinism in action. Usually on Thursday everybody is anxious to promote their RPG/comic/game/dice. By Saturday some are despondent. By Sunday those with the weak ideas are suicidal.

:: SUNDAY

My buddy and I went to a Italian restaraunt called Buca di Beppo. They had huge portions. The small portion was intended to be shared by two people. Fortunately, they have a lunch menu. I had a terrific meatball sandwich.

As we were walking to the convention center we noticed a wedding party leaving a hotel. The car had the words Just Married written on it. The family and friends gave hugs and kisses and waved as the couple left. My buddy reminded me that Archon usually has a wedding party every year. Sadly, we have not witnessed a gamer wedding at Gen Con.

Let me give a rundown on the things I noticed in the Exhibitor Hall. First of all, Hecatomb is dead. Instead Wizards of the Coast was promoting a new collectible miniatures game called Dreamblade. At the Fantasy Flight Games booth I noticed that John Kovalik lended his art talent to MagBlast. Has anybody played it? There was hate, HATE for WizKids this year. Several of their former volunteers really felt betrayed. Not suprisingly MageKnight which had them lined up for blocks two years ago is dead. Their latest product HorrorClix has no gravitas. Monte Cook and Malhavoc Press were there with a 672 page game system named Ptolus. At $120 you have to be hardcore to even consider it.

There were a host of video games. Flying Lab Software showed off its Pirates of the Burning Sea, a pirate game meets MMORPG. It looked ok with nothing compelling about it. Next there was IIXII: The Continuum, a collectible online wargame. This is an interesting idea for a MMORPG. Basically you do not pay a monthly fee but instead pay for your characters. Their idea is to make a turn-based war game where the characters are collectible and can be traded. I think they are walking a fine line. Once you establish how much a character is worth, if a server ever crashes and the character is lost, then the company can be sued.

I also saw early versions Warhammer Online and Neverwinter Nights 2. Warhammer looked like a World of Warcraft clone. I have only played WoW briefly. But that is my first impression. Neverwinter Nights 2 is a great looking improvement over its predecessor. I understand that they updated the game to include Dungeon and Dragons 3.5 Rules. So, this is something I am going to be watching for in the future.

I was disappointed that Munchin Impossible by Steve Jackson Games was not available at Gen Con. But they just recently announced Munchkin Cthulhu. So, I have two more games to which to look forward.

Titanic Games had a full color version of Kill Doctor Lucky. This game is like Clue in reverse. Your goal is to kill Doctor Lucky. It looks like a lot of fun.

I demoed the City of Heroes collectible card game (CCG) at the AEG booth. It was ok. I am not a fan of theirs ever since they killed the Initial D CCG. Also, the Spycraft CCG is dead. They have killed off a few interesting games.

Captain Squash and I picked up copied of the Kobolds Ate My Baby LARP rules by 9th Level Games. We plan to run a game of it at Archon. Stay tuned for more details!

Lastly, I picked up a copy of A Great Disturbance by Aegis Films. They promised that their documentary, 20-Sided, would be completed soon. We shall see. I will try to post a review of A Great Disturbance if I like it.

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Gen Con 2006 Report, Part 4: Saturday

I was Indianapolis last week for Gen Con. On Saturday the convention run out of swag bags to give attendees. Swag, which stands for Stuff We All Get, is a collection of promotional items and coupons. I have seen folks get greedy and go back for bags four or five times. Tsk tsk.

:: SATURDAY

I was up early Saturday morning to buy more generic tickets before the Hickman's Killer Breakfast. Every year Tracy and Laura Hickman run an event that combines role playing with a sing-along. This year's theme was Southern Fried Breakfast. Imagine Lord of the Rings meets NASCAR. The sing-along were Johnny Cash tunes with lyrics about Hobbits and gamers with bad teeth. The breakfast is heavy on audience participation. Everyone is assigned a first level character who WILL DIE. How long a character survives depends on how entertaining a player is.

This year Henwy brought a cardboard cutout of himself. When confronted with a swarm of Girl Scouts, he cast Mirror Image, produced the cutout and promptly hid behind it. Too funny! In the history of the game his mirror image is the only character that has survived. Last year Henwy came as the Grim Reaper. I wonder how he is going to top himself next year.

After Killer Breakfast I met up with Mike B for lunch at the RAM. Mike was tired and looked like he wanted to fall asleep in his plate of pasta. He decided to flirt with the waitress and drew her pictures of Dungeons and Dragons creatures. He did some nice renderings of a Beholder, Ankeg and Gelatinous Cube. He told me that he was throwing another room party that night. I will give more details on that later.

I found Captain Squash playing a demo of Bang! in the exhibitor hall. It is a fast paced card game that looked like a lot of fun. The game only costs ten dollars. So, I picked up a copy to play later. I am thinking it will be fun for Archon.

Later that evening I joined the BYOV crew as players in Dave Collin's Courting Murder LARP: Enemy Within. My character was Lord De Morgen, part of Queen Marianna's court with eyes set on the throne. In the first ten minutes of the game a sorceress signed me to a blood oath. This meant that because spent the rest of the game trying to kill her, my character died at the end of the night. Oh well, death happens. Of note was the woman who played the Queen. She was near tears when she learned of double cross and the death of her sister. She was extremely convincing. I have never been so moved by a player.

We went to the RAM for post-game drinks and conversation. They had Serenity playing on the TV screens. I asked Dave Collins about his starship LARP. He told me that he usually only write 5-6 games in a series before he feels the story cannot go any further. I asked him if he wrote a game with a sequel in mind. He told me that he usually doesn't but that once a game finishes he has ideas on where it should go next.

Rennie, the event coordinator for Gen Con, was at the RAM. Around 3 AM the RAM was closing so Captain Squash and I left for Mike B's After Dark Room Party. We were joined by a couple BYOV guys, El Fire and her husband Chattan and Rennie. Mike threw another great party. We met a few more foks from the Gen Con Forum and had a great time.

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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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Gen Con 2006 Report, Part 2: Thursday

Last week I attended Gen Con with 25,000 other attendees. I mostly played live action role playing (LARP) games this year. I played a couple board games, too. I noticed a decline in popularity of role playing games (RPGs) and a raise in interest of board games and Dungeon & Dragons miniatures.

:: THURSDAY

We slept in late Thursday morning. Once we got up and hit the street we discovered a new game. I call it Bum Dodging. We encountered a few panhandlers on our walk to the convention center. I wanted to sign them up for the Stuck Mojo Progressive Outreach Program. That's where you start by bringing the want ads section from the local newspaper to the bums' attention. Then you start kicking them and scream, "Get a job you bums! You make me sick!" This motivates the less fortunate citizens while providing a tension release for the over taxed population.

New this year was Segway Racing. You know Segways. They are those over-priced two-wheeled electric scooter things that you stand in. I agree with Tom J that the Segway racing would have been more appealing if they dressed them like chariots complete with spiked spokes like the movie Ben Hur.

We had some time to kill. So we wandered into the Board Game HQ. There we found a group called Alleged Enterprises. Actually we found out later that the judges were the husband and wife who comprised the company. I did not hate the game. A typical game usually lasted 10-15 minutes. After the fourth game though, the game started to lose its novelty. The game is basically this: players are playing in a bad game. The Game Master has ego points and the players have interest points. As you play you can reduce interest and ego points. The first player to eliminate the game master or a given number of players by removing their points wins.

The first LARP I played the BYOV LARP named The Skein: Midgaard. My character was Hashim ibn Ma'mun, a mysterious stranger and skilled assassin. His motivation was to kill a king named Ottar or to find out his plans and stop them. At one point the king is dead, lying on the floor, I am surrounded by about ten angry vikings, all of whom are pointing at me and saying "You killed the king!" I had to think fast to survive that one! I pleaded my innocence and drew attention to the smashed window in the room. As I was "examining" it, players left the room. Soon I walked out behind another player and fled to safety. Too much fun!

Next came another BYOV LARP called The Fey: Winter Solstice Ball. The LARP was inspired by the fairy fantasy writings of St Louis native writer Laurell K. Hamilton. Here my character was Lorcan, a war minded Goblin King. I snapped pictures of a BYOV Doug who played a court jester named Tom Thumb and foXXtail who played a rumormonger named Sionnach. My goal was to incite fighting between the fairy factions. I decided to spread a couple rumors myself. I consulted that judges that I was having a hard time because Fey consider it bad form to lie. They allowed me to invent methods to detect and kill a creature called the "Nothing". I invented a potion that had to be consumed to increase paranoia between factions. Ultimately, the Nothing was exposed and the potion was found to be fake.

Captain Squash and I followed foXXtail to the Marriott where NZKnight was waiting. He led us up to Mike B's room for the MST3K Room Party. In the end we did not watch much of the movie but had a good time talking and laughing. I promised Mike a case of Ski soda which I had left back at my hotel room. It's ok I'll just have to figure out another way to get it to him.

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Gen Con 2006 Report, Part 1: Wednesday

This past week I attended Gen Con Indy. It is a large gaming convention with over 5,500 scheduled events.

:: WEDNESDAY

Right away my buddy and I noticed the time change. Every year before this one Indianapolis decided not to participate in Daylight Savings Time. My buddy Captain Squash decided he had to see a baseball game and asked me to drop him off at Victory Field as soon as we arrived downtown. Whatever! I navigated the one-way streets to our hotel, the Radisson.

Our hotel room was nice. It had a nice view of the War Memorial. The Rock Bottom, Qdoba, Penn Station and Hard Rock restaurants were all nearby. It was a short walk to the convention center. Unfortunately, it was not attached to the center by skywalk. But the weather cooperated and was nice most all week.

We made our way to the Third Annual Gen Con Forum Stink, a gathering of regulars who frequent the Gen Con online community forum. When we arrived they gave us a bag of swag -- free promotional items and other stuff.

They had a passpor