Chicago Gameday XVI: the aftermath!

[Nev the Deranged]

Great times. Once we got rolling, Agon proved its worth enough that I bought Reidzilla's copy from him (he's got another one coming in the mail). Normally I don't prefer crunchy or tactical systems, but this one is well done and I think once a group of players gets familiar with it, it could seriously kick some ass. Thanks to Reidzilla for running, and for my awesome little dice goblin, who says "meh!"

So, I was totally afraid that I would bomb at running a game (last time was in grade school, I think), but I had a great batch of players who really helped make the game work, partly by overlooking my crappy skillz, and partly by stepping up and prodding me with good ideas. Several times someone suggested something just as the same idea was about to come off my tongue, so I think we were all on the same wavelength. Maybe this GMing stuff isn't as hard as I thought... heh.

That said, I'm really looking forward to the next game day, and in my effort to a) learn to GM better, b) spread the indie game love, and c) actually play some of the several hundred games I own; I will probably end up running something at game days in perpetuity. Which is pretty cool, IMSHO.

And heck, I might even run stuff on non-game days too.

Thanks to everybody, Buzz especially, for setting things up and rocking out.

Peace out, and game on.

Dave (aka Nev... or is it the other way around?)
nevthederanged@aol.com

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Another great gameday has come and gone. I had an absolute blast in my morning session, so big thanks to all of my players for putting up with my wild, most decidedly un-Lovecraftian take on Call of Cthulhu. It started sorta subtly, but I realized that really, half the fun in a gameday environment is losing Sanity, so I adjusted accordingly. I just hope you enjoyed as much as I did.

Gamma World? WOW. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. What a rediculously bad system, and what an amazing scenario. And the game was a blast not in spite of, but really, because of how crazy the rules were! You did an awesome job, buzz. Now I just need to play Synnibar to complete my insanity.

Many thanks to our generous hosts at Game's Plus--you rock.

Big thanks to buzz for organizing yet another successful gameday--if not our most successful gameday.

Thanks for running stuff, fellow GMs, and thanks to everyone who came for making this gameday awesome.

 

[Ninjacat]

Wooooo, GameDay!

Many thanks as always to Buzz for running things and to Curt & the crew at Games Plus for hosting us! It was a blast as always, and I think this one pulled off really well, games filling up rapidly, very few drop outs, prizes went smoothly... it was almost CREEPY how well everything went, or maybe that's just me paying too much attention to the Call of Cthulu.

My thanks to Jason/Trev.Moon. for running wacky-fun sanity loss with CoCthulu in the morning, it was great. You play far too disturbing a homicidal hillbilly redneck, mister. *g* (But hey, the cheerleader didn't die first, or even second! Rock on!)

And many thanks to my players in the afternoon M&M event. Shiny happy sparkly people preventing the end of the world! Or at least the dress rehearsal in Chicago. And really, when you have sparkly magenta marionette demon-wizards along with the human high-speed glowstick and the psi-net.com rave waver, AND you get to kick the butt of a wolf that uses Soldier Field as its doggie-bed with a longboat made of dead toenails... really what more can you ask for? Der Spot, Reid McC, Annamarie, BOZ, Sharraunna, Nazriel, and Lifelike, thanks so much for an afternoon/evening full of fun!

Now, here's hoping everybody made it home in one piece, eeesh.

See Ya Next Time!

 

[William Ronald]

Thanks to thalmin and everyone at Games Plus for being great hosts, and buzz for his hardwork in organizing the Gameday.

Thanks to Reidzilla and my fellow Agon players. I had fun.

Also, I would like to thank my players in The Hand of the Mountain. You were a fun bunch to DM, and I am looking forward to the next Gameday.

 

[brehobit]

Thanks to Buzz, Curt et. al., for the wonderful gameday! I had to leave after the first session (feeling ill) but had a great time playing the D&D cartoon game in the first session. Diana kicks rear.

Mark

 

[HinterWelt]

Great Gameday and fun had by all. Thanks to Buzz and Curt for their part. I would like to thank Mark for letting me play my silly but hopefully not disruptive hot pants wearing halfling rogue! Thanks Mark for a great game.

If anyone has any =questions about any of the books they picked up from HinterWelt Enterprises, please don't hesitate to contacts me at bilbo@hinterwelt.com or visit our site at www.hinterwelt.com.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[TracerBullet42]

I feel like every time I sit down to write the "after" post the first thing I always say is:

"Wow...where to begin?"

This game day was, in a single word, uberawesometasticaliciousllygreat.

I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. And when I was done with that...I laughed again. (And then I had some chicken parmesean for dinner. Yum!)

As always, I must start by thanking Buzz for being the man with the plan and Thalmin for being the man with the store. You guys, as always, rock and we appreciate your efforts in putting together these events.

THE REDCOATS GIANT FRICKIN' ELEPHANTS WITH CITIES ON THEIR BACKS ARE COMING!!!

I can't believe that I still have not learned. I remember thinking yesterday morning, "They are gonna breeze through this so fast and you're just going to have to make stuff up to keep the game going until 2:30." It was not so. You just can't account for the royal bodyguard arguing with the princess about whether or not she can stick her bow into the purple pool to dye it purple for 20 minutes. Events like that are exactly what makes playing an RPG so fun! Some of my fonder memories from this game:

-The princess plays the bongos.
-Wilimac awakens from his re-reincarnation to find a huge meal prepared and asks, "Did I make this?"
-Heroes Feast makes you immune to poison. (Hadn't taken that into account and made a potentially nasty encounter into just a ho-hum one.)
-The purple dwarf
-The severed orb-clutching hand (you sickos!)
-The purple pool/dying of the bow/argument of the year debacle.
-Clarence!
-A magic ladle!
-Burning down the mansion, taking extra special time to deface the fancy self-portrait of Vareck. (Incidentally, thank you for providing me with an new, and soon to be very angry, villain.)
-War painted princess dropping the tribal beats as Miranda sings a dirge and they ride off toward the sunset in their hover-carriage seeing Vareck's manor rubble-ize itself.
-That awesome encounter with squids and Chuuls and Hill Giants and dire wolves. (Oops...not enough time.)
-Dealings with the king. (Someone always seems to put their foot in their mouth. I love playing the king.)
-A fumbled cooking check, followed up with some sulking by Wilimac and a little mocking by Bilimac. "Get out of the kitchen!" (Pot falls on his head.)
-Giant Frickin' Elephants With Cities On Their Backs!
-Those poor first crossbowmen that got butchered on tower 1. One of whom tried to flee over the edge with a grappling hook. <SNIP> AAAAGGGGHHHH! [thud]
- Encounter with the evil merchant. Much butt-kicking ensues.
- Sneak princess puts on the helmet, "Stop!" [Balance check!]
- "It's been fun, boys, but I'm afraid it is time for me to leave." [Snaps fingers and disappears.]
- "He's still here!" Flame Strike. One dead, evil merchant.
- Hey, we've got three of these Giant Frickin' Elephants With Cities On Their Backs...I think it's time to open up franchises.

And there was much rejoicing. Thanks to my players, rvalle, Redwind, Diremede (I still have your dry-erase marker, if you want it back send me one million dollars), bigznak, Maiden Cyborg, and Jay (I think that was your name...but you'll always be the princess to me, buddy.) You guys made this game more fun than I could ever have imagined!

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the Legion of Gold!

My, my, my...

Buzz, I don't know how (or why) you put up with us during this game. But a big BOOYAH and thank you for running, what has instantly become, the most bizarre game of which I have ever been a part. I have now gotten a taste of the original Gamma World system, and I find that it tastes like a combination of pizza, fish, milk, and a little bit of failure. (Although the system does feature many, many fine charts.

But the game, Buzz, oh how the game was a blast. Trev (who's this Jason of whom you speak?) played a magnificent Tinman (armored soldier). Rowport took on the role of Neo-zombie Scarecrow (If I only had...MORE BRAINS!). Tofu-Master was representing Capt. Dorothy. Yort ate everything (and eventually everyone) in sight as Lyon, the feral Lion. Reidzilla and Paul (register, dangit!) were members of the lollipop guild with crazy mental powers, and I managed to claim Toto-epsilon-4! I'm not sure that I can find fitting words for how this game played out. You simply had to be there for this one. I described it to Buzz afterwards, saying, "It was like going to a really, really bad movie with a bunch of your best friends. I had a blast while I was there, but I ain't ever seeing that one again!"

At one point in the game, I started writing down some of the ridiculous things being said. Here's what I've got:

Paul: "I'm gonna finally make good use of my thong."
-----
Buzz: "Now you must suffer the penalties of the posion matrix!" (There were a lot of matrices involved in this game...)
-----
Reidzilla: "Oh crap. Nobody's gonna save us!" (the kin of munch)
TracerBullet42: "It's funny because it's kinda true." (and we didn't.)
-----
Buzz: "Now I will tell you this in advance because the rules are so stupid." (Regarding the way we have to defeat some tough enemies.)

So Buzz, thanks for the awesome fun, in spite of the system. I only have one remaining question...

Is that poor, lonely, hard-working, defenseless robot gonna be ok?

Awesome gameday folks. Let's do this again sometime.

 

[buzz]

Another one for the record books

Gameday XVI... is over.

First off, I hope that everyone was able to get home without incident last night. I had a slow slog across the tollways and one near-accident, but otherwise made it home intact.

Anyway, XVI was an AWESOME Gameday. All-together, we had 46 attendees, GMs included, 47 if you include BOZ. We may very well have had a couple walk-ins I wasn't aware of, too. Honestly, I think that may be a record.

That out of the way, let me offer profuse thanks to...

...Curt and the crew at Games Plus for hosting. Best. Store. Ever.

...all of our volunteer GMs for running the events. Special thanks to William Ronald for stepping up at the last minute.

...to Games Plus, Bill/HinetrWelt, Steve Jackson Games, and everyone else who donated to the prize table.

...to Reidzilla for producing our flier and TracerBullet42 for making copies. If there are other folk who distributed copies, too.. thank you!

...to rowport, Thorindale, brehobit, sw3333, Pbartender, and Yort for a highly animated (pun!) morning game. Now I can say that I helped defeat Venger! Oh, and... LOOK OUT!

...to Reidzilla, rowport, Trevalon Moonleirion, TracerBullet42, Yort, Tofu_Master, and Paul for being oh so patient and fun in my insane GW1e game. You guys made one of the stupidest adventures ever into one of the most memorable.

...to all of our attendees! You guys are what Gameday is all about. It was great to see both regulars and newcomers.

Okay, that's enough sentimentality for now. Pictures are forthcoming.

Cheers!

 

[buzz]

Gamma World PCs

Kelleris, iirc, asked that I post the character sheets for my GW1e game (.pdf, 268 KB). Voila!

 

[waterdhavian]

Thanks to Trevalon Moonleirion and William Ronald for running some great games. Had a lot of fun.


Buzz, I kept overhearing your game between the dividers, it sounded hilariously fun.