Countdown to Origins 2012

[salamanca]

System errors showed the thursday edition of epi. 2 sold out but only one ticket sold. So a very lucky individual got to play that basically solo with Mark finally introducing his character. So we sold 58 slots out of 60 with 5 tickets having been restricted. We also had generic tickets all over the place and most sessions seated more than 6 players. As for all of the new crew... Thank you for making my job that awesome. I had too much fun. Those who have been planning to show but can't work it out (looking at you, Grace). Start plans for 2013. You are missing some awesome roleplayers. Special shouts to my Personal Agenda people. That session was awesome. (and I will be rescripting that for use outside the campaign in the future).

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, finally up and aware again. Got back to Mark's house about 3:30am, and Charlie, Mark and I went our seperate ways then (we had already dropped Eric off at his house). Made it home in no time it seemed, and waiting to see a post from Charlie to know that he got home ok, but I think he did.

A great year for playing; some awesome games run and played by some awesome people. I already can't wait for next year.

[cpugs]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.. THANK YOU!!!!...

Thanks to Mark for driving, entertaining, listening, and filling in the blanks. And running the best games at Origins. Period.

Thanks to Laura for having a great time.

Thanks to Eric. Nice to meet a new local body who games that fantastic.

Thanks to Dave for being Dave, entertaining us, prodding us to be better, and being one of the best people I know.

Thanks to the people from the board for coming out and nailing evey event. I had a blast.

Thanks to Origins, because once you get there, there is no better convention on Earth.

I will share with you my response on the drive back. To the question of what my best time was at Origins, it was sitting down to a good meal, with people I love, and just talking. My oldest and best friends I have I met at Origins. I am so looking forward to meeting by next best friend next year.

Take care....

[Sister Sonya]

My apologies for not making an appearance at Domingo Gigante.

I foolishly signed up for the 8 hour Shadowrun LARP that began at noon Saturday. This mostly consisted of the Shadowrunners mindlessly shuttling between that part of the Hyatt that included the food court, around the Exhibitor's Hall, and in the Art Show, in a sort-of scavenger hunt... for six hours.

I was walking in Italy around 10 miles per day in just the previous week... over uneven cobblestones, in 85 degree heat, and so forth... but the LARP was much tougher on my knees and feet.

Dave! I want to be a carpenter in the 2014 7th Sea LARP. My mission in the LARP will be to try to sell furniture to everyone. I will carry a chair around to show off my craftsmanship.

And, I will sit on it from time to time just to show how comfortable it is...

[Black Jack Rackham]

To add to Sal's comments,

We did, indeed, have an excellent group of both new players (most of whom jumped in with both feet and played through all four episodes) and returning veterans. Speaking of the veterans, it was terrific to see all the returning faces! This campaign will only survive if we can get people returning year after year, and it seems like we've got a terrific base so far.

The interplayer banter was excellent, lots of people roleplaying from the get-go and everyone jumping straight into the spirit of the adventures. And that's not to mention all the improptu stuff that went on. I think that was probably the highlight for me. People going off-script to just add little details to make the game come alive.

Now as for the PA, There was a lot of individual stuff going on. But I'll let individuals chime in to give their own descriptions of what happened. All I will say about it is that it was wonderful to see other heroes jump into the fray when it seemed one of our heroes was in over her head. The adventure played out far more interestingly than I wrote it, and that can only be attributed to their intervention.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, you got me confused. I thought Dave wrote the PA story game this year, that I did not get to play, we just did backgrounds with you.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Yes, that would be correct. I was suggesting that the folks who did individual events (and who would like to discuss what happened to them, as opposed to keeping it private, since it only happened to them) might want to share...

[smafdi]

Just wanted to jump in and say again that the HoA games were some of the best I played this year. That's 2 in a row Mark. Good Job! The only game that may edge out near the top was the CV bar debacle, though the PA was pretty interesting, stupid writers knowing how to use hooks properly. (great cliffhanger there between parts 1 and 2 of the PA adventure dave)

I'm really looking forward to eps 5 & 6 at origins next year.

[Sister Sonya]

Now as for the PA, There was a lot of individual stuff going on. But I'll let individuals chime in to give their own descriptions of what happened.

So Mark, it might be better to address some aspects regarding Francisco Valencia de Soldano in private for a bit (I'm hoping to work with you to make him the best Nemesis/Rival/Hunted/Romance/Curse/et.al that he can be).

But, I think I'm going to wait for Orianna to step up for our table first, as the spotlight was on her.

[Orianna]

Oh my! Sure, I'm happy to step up.

I had a great time at the PAs, and I hope I wasn't "doing it wrong" by involving other PCs - in the other 7th Sea game I play, we try to have several people involved in a plot, even if one character is the "star" of that particular adventure. Thus, I was sort of expecting Orianna to have help evading the kidnappers; she did send several of them running, but she's a non-combat (mostly) character, so that ruled out fighting, and she's too honorable to run off while her friends are in danger, so that rules out fleeing. I really liked how it worked out, though, with Orianna helping in her own way while the more martial characters handled the fighting.

I was surprised that Orianna ended up revealing her secret so soon - yep, she's Lindora Vestini, a count's runaway daughter.

Oh, and the winged mouse sickness was actually pretty funny, but a note to Ludvig: Orianna was not standing that close to Rafael's shoes!

[salamanca]

Personally, I think I love the idea of being able to drag your friends in to help you out. Romeo is planning on doing so and also planning on working with a few people that may be sharing a problem.

As for those of you who played the adventure in the PA session, we are NOT running that again so outside of mentioning where Steve's character knew her from, there are no spoiler restrictions on that session. feel free to talk it up or start a thread discussing it.

[Black Jack Rackham]

I will go on record right now as saying that anyone sitting at the table is free to help or request the help of anyone else at the table.

[Black Jack Rackham]

I've asked this elsewhere and not gotten an answer. But given our (HoA's) phenomenal attendance, I'm not really sure how well the con was attended. Anyone know?

[salamanca]

One of the local doomsayers was venting this week about how bad this year sucked and claimed attendance around 15,000. But he is a ccg guy and has lousy taste in games so that may explain why his con was not as fun as our version. Only number I will confirm was 1,000 day passes got sold saturday and nearly half upgraded to a full event pass for the day.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Hmm, I guess I'd always thought they were smaller than that (around 7-8k) but maybe I was thinking of full con attendees.

So is 1k on Saturday good? bad? average?

[salamanca]

That is a thousand people who showed up on saturday and paid 10 bucks just to look around and shop. Half of them ponied up the difference on cost to play a game or two. If somebody offered to put my my daily total at over 15 grand, I would be delighted. But this being origins, I would venture it ranks as "didn't suck".