Piratecat's GenCon report

[Fiery James]

Just waiting for Saturday

I'm just waiting for the Saturday events, where PC and I pull off the biggest bank job in Milwaukee's history... and then realize that we'd left a signed copy of OF SOUND MIND in the vault and have to go back in and retrieve it. Hilarious stuff!

- James

 

[(contact)]

Originally posted by Piratecat
I lose on best adventure

I wondered what that Russian judge was going to do with herself after the whole Olympics thing.

 

[mythusmage]

This game had a remarkable moment in it. They were facing down a badly injured ghoul-like demon that had one paralyzed PC captive in a "move and he dies" showdown. The rest of the group was trying to negotiate for his life.

All except for the druid. He had previously wild shaped into a bat.

"I want to swoop into the demon's mouth!"

I look at the guy in surprise. "You sure?" He nods assent, and since I had already described the demon's gaping maw, I let him do so. The demon got an AoO, of course, and crunched down on the bat - paralyzing him - and swallowed him. The paralyzed druid tumbles into the demon's stomach, where hideous acid begins to dissolve him....

and the druid's player smiles and says, "Okay. I wild shape back to my normal dwarven form."

I goggle at him. The druid makes his fortitude save, the demon fails hers... and the result was beautiful as the demon burps, grabs her belly, and screams as she is ripped in two by a very angry dwarf.

Beautiful! I'm gonna have to remember this.

 

[Piratecat]

I still can't believe that Doctor Doom asked you to sign his nipple.

I believe my response was, "Sure! Got an X-acto knife?"

Saturday

5:24 am: I'm awakened by snoring. Loud snoring. Rumbling snoring. I lift my head - and chortle at the irony. It's my friend who complained the other day!

Glee.

I keep hoping that he'll turn over, but no such luck. I stagger out of bed and try to wake him. Twice. Nope. So I go and get my laptop - you know, the laptop with the built-in microphone - and record a minute of his snoring. I feel guilty and don't save it, but it helped me feel much better. Finally, I wake him briefly and all becomes quiet. Ahhh, the sweet silence of self-justification.

Showing up in the arena at 8:45 reveals a tremendous surprise. Sure they SAID they'd come, but who thought? Waiting at the Call of Cthulhu gathering area is Doctor Doom, Urbanmech, Nemmerle, Barcode, Dinkeldog, and Halma. I collar the judge coordinator and ask to get their table, and off we go!

The game was one of my favorite of the con, and it alone was worth the price of admission. Three dead, three insane, and everyone having a heck of a lot of fun. I strain as I try to convey about eight or nine simultaneous NPCs, all of whom have different voices, all while trying to build on the horror that keeps growing. Even now, I can hear Dr. Doom's voice as he talks to his hallucinated dead mother... chilling. Good stuff, and a reminder of why I love the game so much.

Only seizing time for a bagel for lunch, I hit the dealer's room, and run into Al. I invite him to come play that afternoon, hoping that I can get him at my table. I explore the dealer's room but remain mostly strong, not purchasing much in comparison to last year. My local gaming store offers a big discount, so I try to keep a modicum of will power; I partially succeed.

Then to run the Spider Queen module! Al doesn't end up at my table, but Nemmerle manages to be his judge, so I know he's in good hands. I do my best to add some roleplaying to the setting and end up succeeding well enough that I'm not unhappy with the result. The players have fun, too, so all is well.

After the game I run to a local steak house to have dinner with Fiery Dragon Productions. Over a long and meat-filled meal - mmmm, meat - we manage to roast Mearls and discuss everything from gaming strategy to industry rumors to bad Fiend Folio monsters to comic books to why Fiery James is posing naked in the next product. Doesn't get much better than this.

Afterwards, Claudio Pozas and his wife stays with the FDP guys as they stalk me. I sneak away, make it to my hotel, and settle down on my bed. Alone for the first time in days! My friend comes in and offers a Safe House trip, but (already half asleep) I decline. Then the phone rings.

Next: drunken bouncing and the Sunday finale.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Ya know, these are almost as fun as your story hour, P-Kitty

And I must have bumped into you 4 or 5 times that weekend, including at that wonderful steak house.... *drools as thoughts of food return to haunt him* I missed the D&D open round that my friends and I advanced to for that meal, and boy i'm sure not regretting it one bit

 

[Fade]

...why Fiery James is posing naked in the next product.

You're just trying to find out if we're really reading it aren't you?

 

[Izerath]

One of those lucky few

Well hello Piratecat!

It's a bit strange placing a real name and face to a handle instead of the opposite, as is so often the case when dealing with the wired world.

I just wanted to say I have been a long-time lurker around here, not the boards in particular, but EnWorld in general, ever since Mr. Noah's site went defunct. I finally decided to pipe up when I discovered that you, Kevin Kulp, were in fact Piratecat.

Now, you're probably wondering.....who is this freak? I don't know him! Well, let me introduce myself. My name in Ron Janik and here's how you may (or may not) remember me.

I was one of those lucky few who played in your Call of Cthulhu "Art for Art's Sake" slot on Thursday at Gencon. I played Tabitha during that session and I just wanted to say it was the best dam RP I have ever experienced at Gencon.

No holds barred, no kissing up. I mean that sincerely. And here's more.

It perhaps ranks up there with one of the best RP sessions I have played in all time. I can't ever recall a game where nearly everyone stayed in character for every minute of the game. In my 18 years of playing, that's a tough feat to accomplish by any stretch of the imagination, especially among a group of total strangers.

You truly pour your heart and soul into GMing and you bring it out of the players at the table. You do a wonderful job at setting the stage and setting the bar for the level of play you expect at the table through actions, not words. I can't say enough about my experience at your gaming table. My buddy (the guy who played the old insane man, Peter, I think) agreed. We recommended the game to everyone we saw the rest of the con. Others went and played, and came back with the same result.

So cheers to you on your award. It was well deserved!

Hopefully I will get to know you and others in the EnWorld community in the time to come, and I promise, I will do my best to live up to the stellar standards so dubiously set by you.

Thanks for making my GenCon a memorable one! I am looking forward to future correspondence an all manner of topics. So let the words flow, and good gaming!

Sincerely,

Ron Janik, a.k.a. Izerath

 

[Piratecat]

Ron, that's really nice of you - thanks!

I have vivid memories of you volunteering to go with Michael Tey into the sacrificial circle, just so you could sacrifice your sanity and your soul to wither him. Sure, now your long-dead mother keeps you company at the sanitarium, but you averted something that would have been far worse. You made the right choice!

God, what a good game that was.

So anyways, officially, welcome to the boards. It's good to have you here! I have another entry or two of this thread to write up as soon as I finish a story hour entry and a big chunk 'o work, so stay tuned.

 

[Ashy]

I'm going to have a Tshirt made that reads "Don't blame me -- I voted for Piratecat!"

Let me know when you get them, 'cause I want one too!!!

 

[Sialia]

Bandeeto and I didn't go to Gencon.

We went to a family reunion.

And a wedding.

But when we changed planes in O'Hare on the way out, we had a good long while to sit and watch the gamers heading for their plane to GenCon.

You just couldn't miss them.

And we sat there with our luggage and the stroller and car seat and a reasonably well behaved Scampering Chaos and thought, "It's just the next gate over. One little gate. What's one little gate?"

And then we sighed and did the LG thing and dutifully got on our own plane to go make a whole lot of grandmothers happy.

But next year, them grandmas are gonna have to pick a different weekend for their parties . . .