Unwinding during the three hour drive from OGC to my house this morning, I had plenty of time to ruminate on everything that went on this weekend. First, much fun was had. I played some games, ran some other games, met up with old friends and made some new ones. I call that a highly successful convention.
Friday, I played in Nine_Hands' Iron Heroes dungeonbash. I love Iron Heroes because it emphasizes the characters' abilities, rather than the items they carry. That and it's awesome getting bonuses to beat people up by beating them up. It's a wonderfully vicious cycle.
That evening was StupidSmurf's Call of Cthulhu game Everybody Dies. For the record, it does precisely what it says on the tin. StupidSmurf's an awesome GM and this adventure was no exception. It had a clever set up with great chances for roleplaying and even the opportunity to save the world. After playing the game, the next best thing was listening to everyone else who played it during other time slots that weekend and comparing notes.
Saturday was mostly given over to the two roleplaying adventures I had signed up to run, GURPS Discworld and B.P.R.D.. Discworld went pretty well, with a caveat. I had a table full of Terry Pratchett fans, so they got right into the mood of absurdisms and punnery. I was a little stunned by how quickly we tore through this one: two hours! If I run this in the future, and I think I will, because I eventually want to submit it to Pyramid, I know now to add in more encounters and things to do. Still, everyone laughed and enjoyed themselves, so all was well in the end.
B.P.R.D.: The Celestial Legion took the afternoon slot. It was a smaller group, but I think that was good, in a way. The three players each got to take a bigger role in the course of events, and had to hustle a little harder in those parts where someone else's abilities would have come in handy. The adventure was pretty well received and I had a blast improvising in and around the players choices and questions. (See? I know I can improvise and expand on the fly; now I just need to apply it more to the next time I run Discworld.)
This slot also marked the metamorphosis of Field Team Bravo into Strike Force Gonzo with the reinterpretation of a Venezuelan martial artist into the Ecuadorean Batman, complete with smiley bat symbol calling cards (thanks, Andy!). I'm seriously considering revamping the concept into a connected series of one-shots of over the top action with crazy loons because no one sane will possibly do the job.
After the drain of GMing for eight hours -- and not having a ticket to a particular game -- I decided to take the evening off to hang out with convention friends. These are people I only get to see at conventions, since we live in completely different states. I like listening to the back and forth, and glimpsing into people's lives outside the circle I have at home.
Sunday morning I refereed a board game, Fantasy Flight Games' Marvel Heroes, to keep with the year's super hero theme. It is an admittedly imperfect game in several ways, but it's still highly enjoyable. All four players said they had a good time, and one even asked me if I planned to run it at Carnage (probably not, as Carnage has become my "dedicated shill for Steve Jackson Games" convention). This particular session now holds the record for Longest Game of Marvel Heroes Ever, clocking in at four hours.
The board game ran so long, in fact, I completely missed the lunch break and couldn't find the Cutthroat Caverns GM before he joined a Munchkin game, so I went to the movies to see finally The Dark Knight. First time I've ever been a movie theatre that served food as the movie played. This movie wasn't bad, either.
For the remainder of Sunday, I helped break down some of the convention gear and then chilled out at the after-party, which was a nice way to wind down. Woke up this morning, got packed and was on my way by 10:30.
It was a fun weekend all around. I'm really glad to have met up with old friends and made some new ones. I'm already looking forward to next year, although I have no idea if I'll come up with anything for the "evil wins" theme.
See you all there (if not sooner)!
Tags: Ogc Conventions
