how was Hickman's Killer Breakfast?
- Thread starter rossik
- Start date
I was only there for the beginning, but what a beginning it was! In addition to the trailers for The Gamers: Dorkness Rising and the new Dragonlance animated movie, there was the hysterical Killer Breakfast Safety Instructions (starring several of the younger Hickmans, and it has been a repeated treat for the last few years).
This year it was PHANTOMS OF RAVENLOFT -- a return to the horror classic that Tracy and Laura created so many years ago that spawned an entire campaign world, sung to the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The opening number was something I will never forget!
I was a "celebrity" guest victim, along with Margaret Weis and actor Jason Marsden ("Tasslehoff" in the upcoming Dragonlance movie). My explanation for just how I got there drew a few laughs ("I'm not sure, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.") and kept me alive at first. Another player at the table claimed he had journeyed to Barovia just to get my autograph on his copy of the Battlestar Galactica RPG.
When Lord Soth stepped into the Barovian tavern I knew I was doomed, but flashed my tattoo identifying me as a member of the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch (see the Demon Hunters films by Dead Gentlemen Productions). This was made more impressive because there were about nine other members of the Brotherhood inthe audience who immediately jumped to their feet and displayed their own tattoo.
Poor Margaret got killed for product placement, and then Jason's heroics resulted in about three times his character's hit points in damage -- but he promptly transmogrified into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The beserk dinosaur either ate or stomped everyone in the tavern, including the attractive girl who was dancing next to me (in real life, as well as the game!). Thusly killed, I made my back to the booth -- which Margaret had bravely given up her life to plug to hundreds of Killer Breakfast fans.
Jamie Chambers
Vice President
Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.
This year it was PHANTOMS OF RAVENLOFT -- a return to the horror classic that Tracy and Laura created so many years ago that spawned an entire campaign world, sung to the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The opening number was something I will never forget!
I was a "celebrity" guest victim, along with Margaret Weis and actor Jason Marsden ("Tasslehoff" in the upcoming Dragonlance movie). My explanation for just how I got there drew a few laughs ("I'm not sure, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.") and kept me alive at first. Another player at the table claimed he had journeyed to Barovia just to get my autograph on his copy of the Battlestar Galactica RPG.
When Lord Soth stepped into the Barovian tavern I knew I was doomed, but flashed my tattoo identifying me as a member of the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch (see the Demon Hunters films by Dead Gentlemen Productions). This was made more impressive because there were about nine other members of the Brotherhood inthe audience who immediately jumped to their feet and displayed their own tattoo.
Poor Margaret got killed for product placement, and then Jason's heroics resulted in about three times his character's hit points in damage -- but he promptly transmogrified into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The beserk dinosaur either ate or stomped everyone in the tavern, including the attractive girl who was dancing next to me (in real life, as well as the game!). Thusly killed, I made my back to the booth -- which Margaret had bravely given up her life to plug to hundreds of Killer Breakfast fans.
Jamie Chambers
Vice President
Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.
Dragonhelm
Knight of Solamnia
rossik said:
Killer Breakfast has nothing to do with food and everything to do with death. Tracy gets 8 people on stage, who are given a 1st-level character. He asks everyone how they got there, then asks what they are doing. Your character lives until such a time that your death is more amusing to Tracy than being alive. Tracy usually goes through over 200 characters in two hours.
The two sure-fire ways of staying alive (for a short time at least) is to either do something incredibly brave or something incredibly stupid. Often, these are the same thing. Tracy also accepts bribes, though be careful with food bribes as he may be on a diet.
Killer Breakfast is, IMO, one of the best parts of GenCon. I highly recommend it.
Tracy hands out 1st-level characters just before you get up on stage. This way, you get no emotional attachment to them. Mark down the time you go on stage. In seconds. Then mark down the time of your unjustly demise. Again, in seconds. A character's life span can often be measured in just that - seconds.
Dragonhelm
Knight of Solamnia
rossik said:
One year, the game started at the Inn of the Last Home. Tracy asked how I got there. I told him I was a bard and that every inn should have a bard. He put me on the spot and told me to sing. Luckily, I had written up a spoof of Johnny B. Goode and sang. Tracy then said a ton of people swarmed towards me, knocking me off the bridge to my doom below.
Now the record time is -5 seconds (retroactive). Tracy asked a guy how he got there, and he said he was from the government. Tracy told him he was dead. This person said that he hadn't finished, so Tracy let him finish.
"I'm from the government...and I'm here to help."
Immediately, he was slain and his death time was -5 seconds.
This year, I vaguely recall some rednecks in their pickem-up truck fleeing from zombies. I think the one feller's sister-wife was the guy on the end in the beard.
If there is any possible way for someone to die, it will happen.
Truth Seeker
Adventurer
I never seen a person getting so red-faced, almost every 5+ minutes.
Tracey has such stamina.
Tracey has such stamina.
