WOW!!! I had a less memorable time on Spring Break with fifteen Fraternity brothers (not that that was AT ALL forgettable!). The games were amazing, and the people were amazinger!
It was my first real GenCon (after, essentially, a day trip last year), and I'm glad to have been there on a year when so many of our overseas friends were able to attend. Morrus, Inconsequenti-Al, Nerfherder, and Hypersmurf were a blast to party with. I felt a particular kinship with Hypersmurf (which was fortuitous as we played in three games together and I also played in one that HE GMed), and I hope he can find a way to make it back soon (it ain't cheap coming something like 50,000 miles!!!
).
Wednesday: Fusangite's Trailer Park Boys game was a great way to kick off the Con! Most of what happened I can't really regale you with here for fear of giving Eric's Grandma a heart attack (or maybe even a Grand Mal seizure!), so I will be much more detailed on CM. I can say that Suzi Yee rocks, [-]Yang[/-]Yacknome likes showing his rocks, and Fusangite is amazing! GMing this game was like herding cats into a pool. The wildest, most chaotic game I can imagine anyone ever being a part of!
The Not-Necessarily-a-Canadiana Circus/ENWorld party was a blast! Starting to put names to faces was cool, though it was strangely difficult to remember a lot of them the next day! Most people did not fear the snakebites (I'll get you yet Keeper!).
Thursday: Started with Rel's Sky Galleons game. Great game! Many distractions! We were in a high traffic area with constant evidence that there are getting to be a TON of hot females at GenCon. It didn't hurt that we had three major perverts (Rel, Dave Stebbins, and myself) at the end of the table with, by far, the best view (I think poor, little John Crichton got whiplash)!
I got to spend about 2 hours in the dealer hall. I turned out to be my only time there (I didn't have much $$$ to spend anyway).
Thursday Night was The Universe's League of Extraordinary 80's TV Stars! Belen (as Knightrider), and Reveal (as TJ Hooker) were playing one-up on seducing Charlie's Angels, while The Galaxy (as Magnum) rocked the 'Stache, Ghostwind (as Bo Duke) blew up a helicopter with a bow and arrow, and Frukathka (as Matlock) got to become "New Hannibal", as the original Hannibal was dead. All this while Hypersmurf (as McGyver A.K.A. "New Face") and I (as B.A. Baracus) one-upped each other on improvised destruction (I got to make a flamethrower out of things I found in the Judge's Chambers in "Night Court"!).
Late-Night was the judges party. Lots more drunkenness. Cherry Busters for the ladies (I hope everyone liked them).
Friday: Began with Buttercup's Tunnels Under Moscow. Great Setting! I don't think we were supposed to defeat Rasputin as easily as we did, but we made a couple of lucky rolls!
Then came Hypersmurf's Elvis & Einsteins Excellent Adventure. PirateCat, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, may have accidentally poisoned Walt Disney to death, and Rel, as Arnold Schwarzenegger, somehow became a baby who could still "crush you wit' his baby ahms"! Nareau as Houdini, Reveal as Elvis, Alenda as Marilyn Monroe (as a dominatrix... MEOW!!!), and Fett as Clint Eastwood were great. I had fun as Einstein. The "extra dice" mechanic was really cool (even though I can apparently no longer do Algebra, and Fett can't work a Nerf gun that worked fine for Hyp), and we killed lots of Martians and saved Bill's grandma so Bill could still be born to rock with Ted!
ENnies later that night were more enjoyable than I, as a casual gamer, expected.
Then came a round of TBR where nothing really happened.
Saturday: began with Belen's Chronicles of Carolina. What could be better than playing a displaced Texan in a Post-Apocalypse game? Maybe dying in a blaze of glory charging a machine gun nest with guns blazing screaming "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!!!"
I was a little late for Diaglo's OD&D (1974), but it was great. The TPK at the hands of four weak, little goblins was as much fun as killing the Ogre Zombie just before (we were still weak from that fight... yeah, that's it).
Piratecat's Dread game that evening set a new standard for awesome! I am willing to conced that Barsoomcore IS a Jenga God only if he agrees that Jenga is a Polytheistic apparatus! It was fun playing an old, British widow. It wasn't always easy to keep from slipping into the "Monty Python drag character" or Mrs Doubtfire, but it was worth the effort. There is also a perverse pleasure in seeing one of the most respected GM's out there tell a player "That was the worst example of meta-gaming I've ever seen in my life". Lay the smacketh down, P-Kitty! A lot of visitors stopped by to check out the action. Rodrigo Istalindir even accidentally defeated the BBEG by dying first! WOW!!!
Then, some fun board/card games to finish the night since I had missed the TBR crew.
Sunday was Alenda's Halfling Musketeers and it lived up to it's phenominal reputation! The outrageous French accents were definitely flying around (even though Hobo's sounded more like Arnold Schwarzenegger!), and many swashes were buckled! Or were buckles swashed?
Then, a fun dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery with everyone telling tales of their exploits for the week.
All told, the only improvement that could have been possible would have been the attendance of those who couldn't be there. Hope you can all make it next year, you were missed (for about five minutes
).
