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Evolution of a convention game: The Grindhouse (lotsa pics!)
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<blockquote data-quote="UselessTriviaMan" data-source="post: 5820947" data-attributes="member: 6678460"><p>Thanks guys!</p><p></p><p><strong>The Grindhouse PCs:</strong></p><p>I've collected a pretty big pile of the DDM pre-painted figures, and I realized they'd be perfect for this event. I based my PCs on the miniatures, and each character figure determined its gladiator's race, equipment, etc. </p><p></p><p>For example, this year's grand champion was the half-orc paladin:</p><p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/UselessTriviaMan/Half_Orc_Paladin.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><em></em></p><p><em>(image totally belongs to WotC)</em></p><p></p><p>Obviously, this particular guy was decked out with full plate armor and heavy steel shield, and his primary weapon was a longsword.</p><p></p><p>I used Excel to make the character sheets (and to make my life a bit easier). Each class had its own template, but the overall character sheets were all laid out the same:</p><p></p><p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/UselessTriviaMan/GrindhousePCexample.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><em></em></p><p><em>(Everything below/to the right of the red line didn't appear on the character sheets. And as champion, Gulg the Fearless won't be participating next time.) </em></p><p></p><p>I cut 'n pasted, and used formulas as much as possible, and tried my best to make these character sheets as user-friendly as possible. I think it worked pretty well; color-coding made it really easy to direct the players to the relevant section when they needed to look up anything. And it was really easy to include character pictures for each PC...</p><p></p><p>To help manage all the stuff these PCs were carrying, I swiped something I'd seen decades ago in a convention game - all items, ammo, spells, and xx-per-day abilities were printed out on 3x5 cards. I don't know exactly how many cards this took, but I estimate the final total was somewhere around 2500 cards. These were clipped to the character sheets, and the players got cheap pocket folders to put all these in so they wouldn't get lost. For spellcasters, I printed up spell lists with all available spells for each caster class. (My intent was to set it up so that players would never have to crack a book at all.)</p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>After sifting through the wreckage that is my Grindhouse paperwork, I think I can actually report the final tallies.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Out of 56 available gladiator PCs, 20 of them appeared in the 7-1/2-hour battle. <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In playtests, the best we were ever able to accomplish was 20 combat rounds in four hours. We called it quits at the end of round 36, at the 7.5-hour mark.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At least six PC deaths were due to traps, both magical and mechanical.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As far as I can remember, I know we had at least five players who'd never touched Pathfinder or 3rd Edition D&D. I think they all had a good time. I hope.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Equipment List: 56 PC sheets, ~2500 3x5 cards, 20 pocket folders, 3 hanging-file boxes, 2 bottles of rubber cement, 1 box of pencils, about 6 dozen tiny bulldog clips, and 5 printer ink cartridges (3 black, 2 color).</li> </ul><p>The awards given out:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Grand Champion</strong> - awarded to whoever scored the most points as King of the Mountain<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Total Carnage Award</strong> - awarded to the PC with the most kills<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Yellow-Bellied Diehard Award</strong> - awarded to the PC who survived the longest<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Golden Lemming Award</strong> - given out to the PC who got killed off the fastest<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">And finally, we gave out the <strong>Golden Stork Award</strong> to the PC with the most epic and spectacular Fail</li> </ul><p>This year's Grand Champion cheesing with the GMs:</p><p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/UselessTriviaMan/Grindhouse/068-1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><em>(I'm the one in the Mario hat)</em></p><p></p><p>This guy totally earned it, too - he was the first player to show up for the Grindhouse, and he was the only one that stayed 'n played the entire time. He ended up winning three of the five awards!</p><p></p><p>So there you have it. Now all I need to do is replace the deceased PCs, and I can put the whole thing away until the next convention. Which will apparently be <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/185531978203608/" target="_blank">Xenocon</a>! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="UselessTriviaMan, post: 5820947, member: 6678460"] Thanks guys! [b]The Grindhouse PCs:[/b] I've collected a pretty big pile of the DDM pre-painted figures, and I realized they'd be perfect for this event. I based my PCs on the miniatures, and each character figure determined its gladiator's race, equipment, etc. For example, this year's grand champion was the half-orc paladin: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/UselessTriviaMan/Half_Orc_Paladin.jpg[/IMG][i] (image totally belongs to WotC)[/i] Obviously, this particular guy was decked out with full plate armor and heavy steel shield, and his primary weapon was a longsword. I used Excel to make the character sheets (and to make my life a bit easier). Each class had its own template, but the overall character sheets were all laid out the same: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/UselessTriviaMan/GrindhousePCexample.jpg[/IMG][i] (Everything below/to the right of the red line didn't appear on the character sheets. And as champion, Gulg the Fearless won't be participating next time.) [/i] I cut 'n pasted, and used formulas as much as possible, and tried my best to make these character sheets as user-friendly as possible. I think it worked pretty well; color-coding made it really easy to direct the players to the relevant section when they needed to look up anything. And it was really easy to include character pictures for each PC... To help manage all the stuff these PCs were carrying, I swiped something I'd seen decades ago in a convention game - all items, ammo, spells, and xx-per-day abilities were printed out on 3x5 cards. I don't know exactly how many cards this took, but I estimate the final total was somewhere around 2500 cards. These were clipped to the character sheets, and the players got cheap pocket folders to put all these in so they wouldn't get lost. For spellcasters, I printed up spell lists with all available spells for each caster class. (My intent was to set it up so that players would never have to crack a book at all.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After sifting through the wreckage that is my Grindhouse paperwork, I think I can actually report the final tallies. [list] [*]Out of 56 available gladiator PCs, 20 of them appeared in the 7-1/2-hour battle. [*]In playtests, the best we were ever able to accomplish was 20 combat rounds in four hours. We called it quits at the end of round 36, at the 7.5-hour mark. [*]At least six PC deaths were due to traps, both magical and mechanical. [*]As far as I can remember, I know we had at least five players who'd never touched Pathfinder or 3rd Edition D&D. I think they all had a good time. I hope. [*]Equipment List: 56 PC sheets, ~2500 3x5 cards, 20 pocket folders, 3 hanging-file boxes, 2 bottles of rubber cement, 1 box of pencils, about 6 dozen tiny bulldog clips, and 5 printer ink cartridges (3 black, 2 color). [/list] The awards given out: [list] [*][b]Grand Champion[/b] - awarded to whoever scored the most points as King of the Mountain [*][b]Total Carnage Award[/b] - awarded to the PC with the most kills [*][b]Yellow-Bellied Diehard Award[/b] - awarded to the PC who survived the longest [*][b]Golden Lemming Award[/b] - given out to the PC who got killed off the fastest [*]And finally, we gave out the [b]Golden Stork Award[/b] to the PC with the most epic and spectacular Fail [/list] This year's Grand Champion cheesing with the GMs: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/UselessTriviaMan/Grindhouse/068-1.jpg[/IMG] [i](I'm the one in the Mario hat)[/i] This guy totally earned it, too - he was the first player to show up for the Grindhouse, and he was the only one that stayed 'n played the entire time. He ended up winning three of the five awards! So there you have it. Now all I need to do is replace the deceased PCs, and I can put the whole thing away until the next convention. Which will apparently be [url=http://www.facebook.com/events/185531978203608/]Xenocon[/url]! :D [/QUOTE]
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