Countdown to GenCon 2020

Want to know where Heroes of Altamira is playing next or want to beg someone to bring HoA to your own local con? Look no further.

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:27 am

salamanca wrote:Oh! And a request from each of you for your first memory of your first Gencon, please?

Well, the last year GenCon was still up in Wisconsin was my very first GenCon, AND my very first time to play 7th Sea. I have told this story many times so forgive me if you already know it.

I didn't know the whole "you need to sign up early for both rooms and events" thing so I got flights for Me, Jenny, and David (who was a mere 2 years old at the time) about two weeks ahead of time. We got a hotel room within walking distance (because 2 miles is a distance which can be walked). I made myself a list of events I wanted to try and get in (because of course I made a list). On that was the official 7th Sea event (and sadly enough would become the last official event), The Tower of Faith. I got there early and waited, and was second in line to get in if not all the players arrived. Unfortunately, they all did so I almost left, not realizing they could make an extra table. But then they did, because there were at least as many waiting as had signed up. So off we went to find a spot.

Turned out, there really wasn't one, so we sat in one of the wider hallways off to the side. I got the Castillian Aldana Swordsman who was secretly a member of the Invisible College. Unfortunately, I misread that and thought it meant something ENTIRELY different. So when we arrived at the tower and had to cross the bridge I confidently said I would simply turn everyone invisible because I had the Invisibility College...

Still embarrassed about that.

Anyway, players and GM helped me understand just exactly what was going on and then kindly allowed me to re-state what I would do given I did not have any invisibility.

Oh yea, one thing. Since we were on the floor, I had to use something to roll dice on. Since I had just come from the dealers hall prior to this event, I had a couple of books I'd bought. Specifically Gary Gygax's Lejendary Adventure. So about half way through we take the usual break, so I am sitting talking with other folks about 7th Sea and learning a bunch of new stuff. In the midst of this, a heavyset guy comes up to see what we're doing. No biggie, lots of folks have been doing that. He spots my dice coaster and asks me if I am a fan. I tell him, "Well I haven't read these yet, I just bought them. But, I am a Gygax whore so if he wrote a book about dogshit I would probably buy that too." He chuckles and we talk about the con for a little while before he says he has to go.

I turn back to the rest of the players and they have, that look. You know the one I mean. They know something and they're just waiting for me to clue in to it. It takes me about ten seconds then I say, "no. No, do not tell me that was Gary Gygax I was just talking with. DON'T say it." And they're biting their lips and then the grins and slow nods begin.

So at my very first GenCon I met the man himself, and didn't even know it.

On the way home I was still super stoked about 7th Sea. It was the first game since D&D and Champions to get under my skin that way (I didn't play Deadlands or Shadowrun until after that). So coincidence of coincidence I end up sitting right next to the GM from that game. We got to talking and he gave me the original adventure, so I'd read it years before it got released.
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
User avatar
Black Jack Rackham
Site Admin
 
Posts: 6938
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:37 am
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby CaitlinCallahan » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:12 pm

salamanca wrote:Sneaking up on Thwak is never a good idea.

Deb, are you going to cover the incident involving Floyd and a lobby carpet and some larpers?


You would have to ask for THAT story.....

I don't remember exactly where we were, but a bunch of us were all in a room when Floyd bursts in, somewhat out of breath, and announces to the group that he had just been attacked by undead boobs.

We were staying in the Omni, and there was a short hallway between the lobby and a side exit from the hotel that we often used, as it was a slightly more direct path to the convention center. The hallway was tiled, and contained one of those gray carpet runners, the kind with the heavy rubber underside on it. Anyway, the runner occasionally got messed up at the one end by the door. Apparently, Floyd was leaving the hotel as a group of vampire LARPers were coming in. One of the girls tripped a bit on the carpet, falling forward into Floyd, and well....she kind of popped out of her corset as he stopped her from falling on her face.

(In the interest of full disclosure, Floyd's retelling of the incident is a bit more colorful than I am comfortable recounting.)
User avatar
CaitlinCallahan
 
Posts: 377
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:50 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby CaitlinCallahan » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:23 pm

Saturday. I am still REALLY enjoying working the booth, though it is not without it's drawbacks.

On the plus side, a woman in a truly AMAZING victorian vampire costume let me take her picture when she visited the booth. I also learned more about gaming in prison than I really ever wanted to know (very talkative individual who apparently had recently been released).

I am graciously allowed to leave the booth a little early, to allow me time to eat dinner and get ready for the 7th Sea PA that evening.

The PA is amazing. We found out just how hot the water is in which Bogdan has immersed himself. And I get to do the final installment of my Betrothed background. I am completely unprepared for the twist that Mark threw in at the end (and the broken step goes completely over my head). I must admit, it left me with a bit of mixed emotions - I was thrilled to complete the arc, and thoroughly enjoyed the session, but at the same time, was a bit sad to have the story end. Which is why I selected Romance as a new background (because apparently, I am a glutton for punishment).
User avatar
CaitlinCallahan
 
Posts: 377
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:50 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby CaitlinCallahan » Sat Aug 01, 2020 1:32 pm

salamanca wrote:Oh! And a request from each of you for your first memory of your first Gencon, please?


My first GenCon was back in 1995. There were not a lot of women at the con, and I felt a bit out of place. I actually did not play in any games. I brought a lot of books with me, and spent most of the Con observing games that Floyd was running.

My second GenCon was a bit more memorable. There were still not a lot of women at the Con, and I only played in games that Floyd was running. Dragonlance had a new card-based RPG that came out that year, and Floyd was running one of the demos for it. I got to play a NPC kender (the setting had a darker, more serious version of the kender in it). It was the first game I played at a con.

There was a young boy at the table who was very confident (and honestly, a bit overbearing) about his knowledge of the world of Krynn. He was playing a paladin, but I'm not sure he fully got the concept, since he almost got into a fistfight with the party's rogue (in character, not actually - the kid was only about ten years old, and the rogue was being played by an adult). The kid ended up leaving the game about 30 minutes early to go and meet his dad. The RPGA used to do a thing at the end of their sessions where all the players at the table got to vote for the best role player at the table, and the winner got a gift certificate redeemable in the dealer hall. The table voted for me to win the certificate. I was reluctant at first - I didn't even have a ticket for the game - but the guys at the table insisted. Made me feel pretty good about my first RP experience at the con.
User avatar
CaitlinCallahan
 
Posts: 377
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:50 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Sat Aug 01, 2020 2:51 pm

CaitlinCallahan wrote:The PA is amazing. We found out just how hot the water is in which Bogdan has immersed himself. And I get to do the final installment of my Betrothed background. I am completely unprepared for the twist that Mark threw in at the end (and the broken step goes completely over my head).

Not my first GenCon but the nonGenCon 2020 one of my players recounted the end of an Personal Agendas adventure I wrote for her. She is someone I consider to be an "expert" roleplayer so I really feel the need tobe at the top of my game. If I am reading her comments correctly, she loved it and was sad to see it end. There is a little lump in my throat as I read this, and since I am safely behind the anonymity of my computer screen I feel free to tear up a little. (not that I will ever admit it)

CaitlinCallahan wrote:I selected Romance as a new background (because apparently, I am a glutton for punishment).

Fortunate for me then that CORONA will mean I never have to write it :twisted:
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
User avatar
Black Jack Rackham
Site Admin
 
Posts: 6938
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:37 am
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby kenderleech » Sat Aug 01, 2020 4:04 pm

My first gencon was in 05. And honestly... I dont remember any of it. I do remember almost getting screwed out of going by work, but thats par for my life. I Can extrapolate some things from my own existance into a story tho.

I had taken a job less then 2 months earlier working for godiva chocolate. The store was hiring for a "keyholder" position, which is someone who could open or close the store, and recieve deliveries at the loading dock. the position was opening because the assistant manager was going on maternity leave. I interviewed, and well, appearantly, the store manager Literally went to her office after my interview, and quit. 2 weeks later, i get a call asking me to come in and interview Again, because it seems I was the Only applicant with manger experience. Thus began my worst scheduled week of my existance. I had to get 4 weeks of training into 8 days before the acting manager went on maternity leave.. and I was going to have to run the store, because, no manager. My schedule was 4am to 9am, and then 4pm to 9pm for 8 days. 45 minutes from home, at an airport, with a shuttle bus to go back and forth from the parking lot. I slept more in the parking lot then at home that week. I had made sure, with the district manager, that I was getting gencon off as part of my hiring terms. The assistant manager from the godiva location downtown, who had been doing much of the stores paperwork (since neither the assistant nor myself had been trained in it) was supposed to be opening the store the 4 days of the con. he decided to quit instead. The district manager wound up coming down from chicago for 5 days to run the store.

So, my extrapolation. I know i walked the dealer hall with Joy (my fiance) I know we bought a nene thomas calendar and likely a print for the wall. I know i spent money on schlock mercenary stuff. And i know i bought a copy of a book from a local author, because about 5 months later, after i got around to reading it, I saw she was from Indianapolis, and that the book was based on a game she had ran with her husband and friends. I emailed her and asked if they were still gaming, and got invited to come over. These were the people who introduced me to 7th sea.
kenderleech
 
Posts: 756
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby kenderleech » Sat Aug 01, 2020 4:14 pm

So, its Saturday! Saturday I never have my shit together. Ive had to buy dice, steal notebook paper, borrow drama dice representations, and caffeine sources over the years, some more then once.

The daytime games are fun, i get to play around a lot while mark is running that years new stuff. This is where i get to throw myself into things like "How talkative IS carlos" "How creepy Can porte be?" "How many types of bees does macario know about" "Can Jenario fish for information without asking questions" and "How many people would francois Actually let swipe his stuff"

The evening however, is where the fun is. Because i know I can do whatever i want with marks PA, and the players are (mostly) going to enjoy it.

My Fondest saturday memory, is 2 years ago. The PA after the PA. Francois Playhouse' first Official event. With no Real actors, or musicians, or stagehands, The show still goes on. I set the stage for My Friends (who are playing Francois' friends) and turned everyone loose. Mark and I about died of laughter. I do hope he still has the partial recording of it, and if so, He needs to send it to me. or put it up on youtube.


Thank you All for that night.
kenderleech
 
Posts: 756
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby CaitlinCallahan » Sat Aug 01, 2020 7:06 pm

Black Jack Rackham wrote:Not my first GenCon but the nonGenCon 2020 one of my players recounted the end of an Personal Agendas adventure I wrote for her. She is someone I consider to be an "expert" roleplayer so I really feel the need tobe at the top of my game. If I am reading her comments correctly, she loved it and was sad to see it end. There is a little lump in my throat as I read this, and since I am safely behind the anonymity of my computer screen I feel free to tear up a little. (not that I will ever admit it)


You are definitely reading the comments correctly! :D

CaitlinCallahan wrote:I selected Romance as a new background (because apparently, I am a glutton for punishment).


Black Jack Rackham wrote:Fortunate for me then that CORONA will mean I never have to write it :twisted:


NOT FUNNY!!!! :P
User avatar
CaitlinCallahan
 
Posts: 377
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:50 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:10 pm

kenderleech wrote:My Fondest saturday memory, is 2 years ago. The PA after the PA. Francois Playhouse' first Official event. With no Real actors, or musicians, or stagehands, The show still goes on. I set the stage for My Friends (who are playing Francois' friends) and turned everyone loose. Mark and I about died of laughter. I do hope he still has the partial recording of it, and if so, He needs to send it to me. or put it up on youtube.

I do, I can (and will, and did), and I don't have any clue how to do that.
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
User avatar
Black Jack Rackham
Site Admin
 
Posts: 6938
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:37 am
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby Sister Sonya » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:34 am

salamanca wrote:Oh! And a request from each of you for your first memory of your first Gencon, please?

It all kind of runs together as you get older. My father introduced me to all sorts of games in the '50s. We visited many Civil War battlefields during that time.

I got Avalon Hill's 'Gettysburg' game for Christmas in 1958, soon bought Tactics II, Dispatcher, and others, for sale in a local hobby, shop in 1959 and thereafter. I subscribed to The General. My first Con was IFWs at Lake and State Streets, downtown Chicago, in 1971.

I subscribed to Strategy & Tactics magazine. Unfortunately, never went to NYC with my sleeping bag. Jim Dunnigan used to host games on the lower east side, which were Cons of a sort.

Bought the second boxed set of D&D around 1975, but played more Chivalry and Sorcery in the late '70s and '80s. Rented a car in Chicago, drove several friends to a campground near Wisconsin Parkside where we pitched a tent and slept in sleeping bags. No showers for the weekend! GMd C&S for two 4-hour events and got in GenCon for free.

Attended first Origins in 1979. Making better money at work; stopped GMing events at Cons in 1986. Ran a 7th Sea home campaign from around 2005-2015.

I'll keep going to Origins, but had decided not to attend GenCon 2020- right after GenCon 2019. It had become too much, has become too expensive for what you get. There are smaller Cons that are more fun.
Sister Sonya
 
Posts: 721
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:59 am

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby salamanca » Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:38 am

You all see this?

Mike, in the 70's sleeping in a tent to go to the con! Think about that when it is your turn on the couch or floor at the next con.

And he also was an early participant in the "no showering at the con" movement that we are thankfully and hopefully leaving in the past.
I don't mind growing old... but I hate growing up.
salamanca
 
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:25 am
Location: in the back of your head

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:27 pm

He is a better man than I. I hate camping. My idea of "roughing it" is no cable TV.
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
User avatar
Black Jack Rackham
Site Admin
 
Posts: 6938
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:37 am
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby kenderleech » Sun Aug 02, 2020 1:38 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYx3KsSb-tI


There is the link for the post PA PA for the playhouse.
kenderleech
 
Posts: 756
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby salamanca » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:05 pm

Oh, "playhouse" like a theater.

All this time i thought you meant Francois had a playhouse like PeeWee Herman.
I don't mind growing old... but I hate growing up.
salamanca
 
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:25 am
Location: in the back of your head

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby kenderleech » Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:11 pm

If you have watched the video.. you might realize how close that is.
kenderleech
 
Posts: 756
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby CaitlinCallahan » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:45 pm

Sunday is always somewhat bittersweet. There's a lot of cramming as much as I can into the last few hours of the con.

One year, while the guys were wrapping up tear down of the booth, Nicci and I ran over to Harry and Izzy's to pick up several bottles of their cocktail sauce (it's the same as what they use at St. Elmo's - the shrimp cocktail at either place is pretty amazing). While we were waiting for them to bring us the bottles, a couple and their teenage son came in and requested a table. After a few moments, one of the hostesses began to lead them upstairs to seat them, which is when the woman had a complete meltdown. Now, we've been eating at Harry and Izzy's every year since the con moved to Indy, and have always had stellar service. The last couple of years, our wait staff has told us that GenCon is their favorite convention of the year, because even though they are super busy, the people are generally pretty nice (and tip fairly well). Back to the woman having the meltdown. She appeared not to have noticed how packed the restaurant was, and had gotten it into her head that they were not being seated on the main floor because her husband and son were both wearing shorts. Nothing the hostess said seemed to be getting through. The kicker for me was when she announced that she was "from Chicago, and had never been treated this way before". The three of them ended up storming out. I felt compelled to say something to the poor hostess. I let her know that I was also from Chicago, had no idea why the woman was so upset, and that I thought she had handled the woman very professionally, and it was obvious that the woman was the one with the problem.

And I cannot talk about Sunday without sharing the story of how I was "tricked" into running my first game. Floyd was responsible for organizing the games for Margaret Weis Productions. I had been doing demos for board game that was not yet in production. Saturday night, Floyd was concerned that he was "losing his voice", and since he did not have any other back-up GMs, wanted to know if I'd be willing to run a Serenity game Sunday morning. What was I supposed to say? The game was sold out - there was no way I could let him cancel the session, so I agreed. I was a bit of a wreck for the first five minutes or so, then got so caught up in the adventure, I forgot to be nervous. (Firefly fans are pretty cool, after all.) I thanked the players at the end of the session, letting them know it was my first time running a game at a con. They were very kind with their responses, and so I got reeled in to running Serenity games at conventions for the next couple of years.
User avatar
CaitlinCallahan
 
Posts: 377
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:50 pm

Re: Countdown to GenCon 2020

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:31 pm

I remember running (or maybe I was playing, I can't remember exactly, but I think I was running because I remember thinking I should have intervened a bit earlier in retrospect) a Supernatural game for you all (MWP) one year, two of the players got into it about how they were supposed to play their characters. One of them wanted everyone to play along with how "the boys" would do it, and the other just didn't want to go along with the plan. It was very uncomfortable and in the end one of them (the more reasonable one in my opinion) decided that perhaps for the best of all he would bow out. If I recall correctly we were running in Union Station.

That was the same year my friend Karl got grumpy with Verne Wetherholt during the early days of CV. Now THAT was a sight to behold...
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
User avatar
Black Jack Rackham
Site Admin
 
Posts: 6938
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:37 am
Location: Massachusetts

Previous

Return to Events

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests