Thursday, August 28, 2008
GenCon UK Day 1
Having learn from my practice run in 2007, I booked in advance this year - early bird ticket (4 days for £40, instead of £50 on the door) and all the game sessions I wanted to attend. Most of the RPGs have a slot at either 9am, 2pm or 8pm so it is possible to play almost solidly from breakfast to midnight with gaps for meals (as I will be Friday).
Today started well - picked up my pack of game tickets in Palmer Building and went upstairs to a UFS drop-in session. UFS - or Universal Fighting System - is a CCG version of the arcade/console games like Soul Calibre or Dead or Alive. So you basically play cards to help you attack or block, taking the opponent out before they do too much damage to you. The beginner game (where you get a free starter deck) is nice and simple - thump, block, thump, etc. But then we played through a normal game where - just like in the console game - there is a lot more responding to attack moves with special effects, leading to quite convoluted situations. Even though I was a complete beginner, I had an inkling I wouldn't have the mental approach necessary to consistently build a winning attack combo on my own. This is not the game for me, regardless of how large the women's breasts are in the artwork.
Stuffing my free demo deck into my pocket, I went shopping in the trade hall:
Three cheap books (£5-£7 each, instead of £21, as 3rd edition D&D books are being dumped in favour of newly released 4th ed.):
Wizards of the Coast - Stormwrack
Wizards of the Coast - Dragon Magic
Wizards of the Coast - Complete Mage
Two games from the bring and buy stall:
Burley Games Limited - Take it to the Limit! (£8)
Rio Grande Games - Carcassone: The Castle (£5)
"Take it to the Limit" is a bigger version of the very good "Take it easy". For geeky facts fans, both games are named after Eagles songs from the 1970s.
I picked up "The Castle" because I liked the first few Carcassonne games although, after looking in the box, it's not an expansion for them though so I'll have to see if the family are willing to give it some time. It is a (co-designed) Reiner Knizia game and he can do no wrong at the moment and that may help.
Here's a lovely setup of a normal boardgame (Shadows Over Camelot) - would be lovely to use this when my friends play the game but too much of a bugger to cart around each time. ("Hi" to Tom, the rocker in the top right corner).
Here's the much more mundane retail version of the board:
Afterwards, I spent lunchtime in Cafe Mondial (which does free coffee refills - marvellous) reading some of my new books until the afternoon Call of Cthulhu session was ready to start. I almost didn't make it on time as I was defeated by a door, one that had a pull handle but required you to push. I game in this building almost every week but little things like this can even catch out hardened veterans like myself. So dead on 2pm I stumble into the room (thankfully not the last player to arrive).
Suite 350, by Chad Bowser
"A young, upstart company has struggled to make a name for itself in the world of business consulting. In the midst of a reinvention, a consultant is brought in to give the office a new look to keep the ideas flowing. His ideas have drastic consequences for the company and employees as they are drawn into a sublime horror, from which only the investigators can deliver them."
I played a member of SWAT team sent in to relieve a potential hostage situation. First thing my character did was twist his ankle jumping out of the helicopter on the roof. It went down-hill from there although we managed to all eventually escape with the situation solved. One thing that amused me was that the adventure was set in a building owned by Microsoft with floors rented out to other companies. "Hey, I work for MSFT and I didn't know we had an office in Columbus, Ohio". Needless to say, a quick check on the Internet proves I know nothing about the company I work for, absolutely NOTHING.
Game complete, I was driven home for tea before returning in time for the 8pm Call of Cthulhu session:
Charlie Don't Surf, by Max Bantleman
"May 10th 1969, the A Shau Valley near Hue, it’s been quiet... too quiet... the air is thick with the expectation of an attack from Charlie in response to operation Apache Snow. You and the remains of your squad from the 101st Airborne are out on deep recon, trying to get back to your base at Hill 937: ‘Hamburger Hill’. You come across two abandoned vill’s. Scouting the area you find something that changes your world. Makes you think that Charlie may be the least of your worries..."
(Downloadable copy of the Shadow Warriors scenario is here)
Again, we got back alive (and with a damned sight more SAN than in the first game). The games master [[Ben Adkins]] was top notch with excellent background knowledge on the Vietnam war to add flavour to a non-mythos game (not all Cthulhu games need to have Deep Ones). The player running 'sarge' was pretty good too.
And so home to bed (and my blog).
Today started well - picked up my pack of game tickets in Palmer Building and went upstairs to a UFS drop-in session. UFS - or Universal Fighting System - is a CCG version of the arcade/console games like Soul Calibre or Dead or Alive. So you basically play cards to help you attack or block, taking the opponent out before they do too much damage to you. The beginner game (where you get a free starter deck) is nice and simple - thump, block, thump, etc. But then we played through a normal game where - just like in the console game - there is a lot more responding to attack moves with special effects, leading to quite convoluted situations. Even though I was a complete beginner, I had an inkling I wouldn't have the mental approach necessary to consistently build a winning attack combo on my own. This is not the game for me, regardless of how large the women's breasts are in the artwork.
Stuffing my free demo deck into my pocket, I went shopping in the trade hall:
Three cheap books (£5-£7 each, instead of £21, as 3rd edition D&D books are being dumped in favour of newly released 4th ed.):
Wizards of the Coast - Stormwrack
Wizards of the Coast - Dragon Magic
Wizards of the Coast - Complete Mage
Two games from the bring and buy stall:
Burley Games Limited - Take it to the Limit! (£8)
Rio Grande Games - Carcassone: The Castle (£5)
"Take it to the Limit" is a bigger version of the very good "Take it easy". For geeky facts fans, both games are named after Eagles songs from the 1970s.
I picked up "The Castle" because I liked the first few Carcassonne games although, after looking in the box, it's not an expansion for them though so I'll have to see if the family are willing to give it some time. It is a (co-designed) Reiner Knizia game and he can do no wrong at the moment and that may help.
 | Next event was the Loren Wiseman Q&A". Loren was heavily involved in creating Traveller at Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), an RPG is used to play in school back at the turn of the 70s/80s.  The game still exists, now in the (hopefully) capable hands of Mongoose Publishing. |
Here's a lovely setup of a normal boardgame (Shadows Over Camelot) - would be lovely to use this when my friends play the game but too much of a bugger to cart around each time. ("Hi" to Tom, the rocker in the top right corner).
Here's the much more mundane retail version of the board:
Afterwards, I spent lunchtime in Cafe Mondial (which does free coffee refills - marvellous) reading some of my new books until the afternoon Call of Cthulhu session was ready to start. I almost didn't make it on time as I was defeated by a door, one that had a pull handle but required you to push. I game in this building almost every week but little things like this can even catch out hardened veterans like myself. So dead on 2pm I stumble into the room (thankfully not the last player to arrive).
Suite 350, by Chad Bowser
"A young, upstart company has struggled to make a name for itself in the world of business consulting. In the midst of a reinvention, a consultant is brought in to give the office a new look to keep the ideas flowing. His ideas have drastic consequences for the company and employees as they are drawn into a sublime horror, from which only the investigators can deliver them."
I played a member of SWAT team sent in to relieve a potential hostage situation. First thing my character did was twist his ankle jumping out of the helicopter on the roof. It went down-hill from there although we managed to all eventually escape with the situation solved. One thing that amused me was that the adventure was set in a building owned by Microsoft with floors rented out to other companies. "Hey, I work for MSFT and I didn't know we had an office in Columbus, Ohio". Needless to say, a quick check on the Internet proves I know nothing about the company I work for, absolutely NOTHING.
Game complete, I was driven home for tea before returning in time for the 8pm Call of Cthulhu session:
Charlie Don't Surf, by Max Bantleman
"May 10th 1969, the A Shau Valley near Hue, it’s been quiet... too quiet... the air is thick with the expectation of an attack from Charlie in response to operation Apache Snow. You and the remains of your squad from the 101st Airborne are out on deep recon, trying to get back to your base at Hill 937: ‘Hamburger Hill’. You come across two abandoned vill’s. Scouting the area you find something that changes your world. Makes you think that Charlie may be the least of your worries..."
(Downloadable copy of the Shadow Warriors scenario is here)
Again, we got back alive (and with a damned sight more SAN than in the first game). The games master [[Ben Adkins]] was top notch with excellent background knowledge on the Vietnam war to add flavour to a non-mythos game (not all Cthulhu games need to have Deep Ones). The player running 'sarge' was pretty good too.
And so home to bed (and my blog).
Labels: gencon
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