Countdown to Total Confusion 2011

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.

Countdown to Total Confusion 2011

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:21 am

Just over two weeks and it'll be here. Get your tickets now if you haven't already (online registration is still open). Just a warning though, by the sounds of things it looks like I'm gonna have a crowd. Hope you can make it.
Mark

PS here's the info again in case you forgot.

Total Confusion (http://www.totalcon.com)
Where:
The Holiday Inn
31 Hampshire Street
Mansfield, MA 02048
Ph# (508)339-2200
When:
February 24-27, 2011
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?
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby DrKwang » Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:11 pm

Just registered for Saturday's Road to Altamira!
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby Rebecca Iavelli » Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:14 am

by DrKwang » Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:11 pm

Just registered for Saturday's Road to Altamira!


Yeah!!!
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby Lady Grace » Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:43 pm

Ah, Mansfield...last time I was there I went to the Rush concert at Great Woods (when it was STILL called Great Woods) for T4E and got there via limo. 8-)

I think taking a limo from Ohio would be more than a touch out of my price range these days.
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:16 am

WOW What an auspicious beginning! Thurs night 8 players (had to send away 3 others). Fri night 7 players (all but one of whom were repeat players). Sat night 4 players (one of whom called the adventure "The best game I've played at TC this year").

The first and second night players, during a break, learned I'd already written the third adventure, and offered to bribe me to switch the Sat night adventure from a replay of Episode 1 to Episode 3 (so they could continue playing). Was asked at every single session what other cons they might be able to play. Handed out half a dozen guildofsanmarcos(dot)net cards to prospective players. AND it looks like backgrounds were even more popular than I thought. Three players expressed interest. One even began writing at the table so as to have it ready when he got back to internet access. Hopefully, we'll see some action here soon.

All this doesn't include the fact that the two people outside my regular group who love 7th Sea the most (and whom I expected to be at one or more of the adventures) were unable to come to TC this year. No worries though, they connived me into running more games at OGC (http://www.ogc-con.com/) in late August.

Overall review

The "give out the special, xp generating, dd then giving more dd for heroic actions" (so players can save up the first two) seemed to work out real well. I was giving out an average of nearly 1 per player (so everyone got the hint) some even noticed and gave me reasons to give out more dd (like the player who rolled low on an important roll. He loudly (and humorously) lamented the fact that he'd brought food for everyone and didn't even get a dd out of it, so he could use the dd to add to the roll...)

Pacing for the adventures as written is VERY tight. If running either of these in the future, keep in mind that getting through the whole thing will be quite tough. HOWEVER, I found a couple of good shortcuts that can help out quite a bit (I'll post them in the GM Forum). That said, I made sure there was at least an hour for the last scene or two so the heroes could go up against the bad guy with plenty of time for heroic actions.

Frank, Sal and others were right about character generation time. I'm gonna need more experience doing that as I tend to pontificate. We were right on time all three nights but that was because at each session we had several who'd already made characters (on Friday, everyone had).

Secret Society interest is (at least for now) decidedly one-sided. Its far easier for the heroes to get R&C or LV interest than IC or ES. As a matter of fact nearly everyone got R&C, most got LV, and I'm not sure that I gave out even a point of IC or ES interest. But, as they say, chance is lumpy. And I only ran three adventures. So its entirely possible I have skewed results.

Everyone seemed to get into the spirit of things. The HEROES in Heroes of Altamira seemed to do its trick as I got out of it exactly what I expected. We even had a player with a scoundrel (played the Montaigne Thief template) who eschewed the reputation for more money but did a terrific job going right along with the plot (even if for selfish reasons). It was wonderful.

Favorite moment - I don't think this gives away anything but just in case, SPOILER ALERT!

The heroes confronted the talkative villain and not only got him talking but used the "Free Villain Wile Activation" card to ensure he blabbered. It was stupendous. Fight scene while talking about all the bad guy's secrets...

I think thats about it for now.

Mark

EDIT: Apparently that's not it as I thought of several more things to add.

1. Personal Agendas - Both the people expressing interest in doing the backgrounds and those who seemed keen on getting the Secret Society interest (and ESPECIALLY those who got a certain cape and mask...) wanted to know how they could play more. So it looks like I better get ready to do Personal Agendas. Worse, it seems that many are planning to attend several cons in order to play more, which means PAs are going to have to have different 'adventures' at each con. So I guess I better get to work.

2. Drumming up interest - at TC there were several panels and podcasts with the Guests of Honor. AND it turns out I was on a panel (Writing Great Adventures, yea, I know what the heck were they thinking asking me...) and was interviewed for the podcast (where I hyped HoA). Not exactly sure where to find them yet, but I'll give you all the web info when I know more.
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?
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby salamanca » Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:26 pm

That is all very, very excellent.

Send me some details on exactly what the issues were concerning character generation and I will write up a shorthand sheet you can hand out. (I am guessing you need both a shortcut list of costs to purchase, list of maximum limits, and suggestions towards expanding the templates)

I would guess in terms of the players and scoring Society interest it's a combination of what was required to gain that interest and the themes of the adventures. (along with players needing to gather a bit of experience in pursuing this sort of thing in a convention setting) but you are also skewing towards the big two in terms of traditional player interest in castille.

I don't know about multiple PA sessions per year. If you gather the interest I think you will, at least at the start, you are going to have full attendance at each con. As cool as it is to see folks following you from con to con, it might end up edging folks out that only get to one convention a year. ( and despite my reputation for running huge groups) Running huge groups in sessions that are aimed at covering personal events for each player will cause problems for you and lack of enjoyment for your players.

As always, I got your back. anything you need looked over or rethought, let me know.
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby BLAMM! » Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:18 pm

Some thoughts after playing in both games...

I think the character generation could be streamlined by reducing the options presented to new players. The templates are a greats start, but while the booklets you had were useful, they represent a huge time sink as players try to peruse and digest everything in them. I would suggest creating a quick start booklet that contains only the information from the Player's Guide, and perhaps a limited set from that as well. One page per subject would probably be ideal. i.e. One page for each type of Advantages, one page for Civil Skills, one page for Martial Skills, etc. Basically, a smaller set of options to put in front a new player will lower the learning curve and speed things up at the table. Experienced players of course could still use all the options available to them, but since they should already be familiar with them, they aren't slowing things down. If I think about this too much longer I'll have an example quick start guide posted soon. (Hubris: Geek obsession/compulsion. :))

As for Personal Agendas, I would suggest laying down a limit of once a year per player. That would lessen the pressure on you and allow more players to get their own PA covered. I don't think it's an unreasonable limitation given that most people will only attend a HoA session once a year anyway. Those can make it more often (like me) would just have to get over it.

The action cards you handed out are a great idea. I had considered something similar in my own Con campaign game, but they were going to be the simple "bonus to a die roll" type of thing. Yours have a CCG quality that is a great attraction. My own two draws, "Not as Bad as It Looks" and "Look Out behind You" fit my character perfectly.

Overall, I had a great time and I look forward to the next games. I'm having so much fun playing a "Reckless" character who likes to act first and ask questions later. My personal high point was when I successfully disarmed a certain nefarious character from across the room after he had set our whole group back on its heels by taking a hostage.
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:31 pm

BLAMM! wrote:Some thoughts after playing in both games...

I think the character generation could be streamlined by reducing the options presented to new players. The templates are a greats start, but while the booklets you had were useful, they represent a huge time sink as players try to peruse and digest everything in them. I would suggest creating a quick start booklet that contains only the information from the Player's Guide, and perhaps a limited set from that as well. One page per subject would probably be ideal. i.e. One page for each type of Advantages, one page for Civil Skills, one page for Martial Skills, etc. Basically, a smaller set of options to put in front a new player will lower the learning curve and speed things up at the table. Experienced players of course could still use all the options available to them, but since they should already be familiar with them, they aren't slowing things down. If I think about this too much longer I'll have an example quick start guide posted soon. (Hubris: Geek obsession/compulsion. :))


If you're volunteering, I certainly won't stop you

BLAMM! wrote:As for Personal Agendas, I would suggest laying down a limit of once a year per player. That would lessen the pressure on you and allow more players to get their own PA covered. I don't think it's an unreasonable limitation given that most people will only attend a HoA session once a year anyway. Those can make it more often (like me) would just have to get over it.


To get further into this discussion, lemme outline a Personal Agenda session. It's split into two, with the first half being just for personal things for your character (joining secret societies, backgrounds, buying things, duels, local gossip, developing contacts, etc.). The second half would be an adventure that I'd planned for the campaign, but which, for one reason or another just didn't last long enough to be a full grown adventure. These would be local problems which might or might not lead to new backgrounds and or contacts. Ideally, once this gets off the ground I would split the players into two groups one half would do the personal things first, the other half the adventure first. That way, should you want, you could forego the adventure entirely and do two adventures on your background (or a background and a secret society, or any of those in combination). However, despite it being run twice, you could only run through the adventure once.

So that said, the problem I have with this is, what if you don't want to play through the adventure, just work on your background (or the other personal stuff). Why should I limit you to playing once when the time is there available to you. Maybe I could do something like, the 'event' can only be played once per year that gives you the full xp for the session. But you can still come to more than one PA if you have the inclination. That way you could get some extra xp but I wouldn't have to write more than one 'event' per year (which still doesn't address the BIO adventures, but that's a whole nother story).

BLAMM! wrote:The action cards you handed out are a great idea. I had considered something similar in my own Con campaign game, but they were going to be the simple "bonus to a die roll" type of thing. Yours have a CCG quality that is a great attraction. My own two draws, "Not as Bad as It Looks" and "Look Out behind You" fit my character perfectly.


I unashamedly ripped those off from Shadowrun Missions. Course they only give those out at the two big cons and my intention is to give them out every time the game is run (but not at PA adventures). Just so you know, there are a total of 10. If you want I can give you the list of what you're looking for.

BLAMM! wrote:Overall, I had a great time and I look forward to the next games. I'm having so much fun playing a "Reckless" character who likes to act first and ask questions later. My personal high point was when I successfully disarmed a certain nefarious character from across the room after he had set our whole group back on its heels by taking a hostage.


I'm really glad to hear that Bob. It makes all my (really all our) work worth it.

Mark

PS, you mentioned being able to go to other cons. Where else am I gonna see you this year?
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?
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby CarlZog » Thu Mar 03, 2011 7:36 pm

I had an awesome time playing both these sessions, and I'm definitely one of the people who will be looking forward to the third adventure next year!

I'd echo the thoughts about streamlining character generation at the table. The reality is that many may end up playing only once, so the more complete the templates the better. Essentially, I think you could make pre-gens available with names and backgrounds left open. I built my character ahead of time, but I had the core rulebooks and some passing familiarity with the system.

I thought your pacing was very good. You said there was some stuff you had to gloss over, but we also pretty big groups, which slowed things down. A little more time/opportunity in encounters for the witty banter and flair that characterizes the swashbuckling genre might have been possible with a smaller group.

Any other 7th Seas games going on at GenCon?

Carl
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:31 pm

CarlZog wrote:I had an awesome time playing both these sessions, and I'm definitely one of the people who will be looking forward to the third adventure next year!

Third AND Fourth actually. Gentleman's Wager and A Little Favor respectively.

CarlZog wrote:I'd echo the thoughts about streamlining character generation at the table. The reality is that many may end up playing only once, so the more complete the templates the better. Essentially, I think you could make pre-gens available with names and backgrounds left open. I built my character ahead of time, but I had the core rulebooks and some passing familiarity with the system.

You know, that gives me an idea. I make maybe 6-12 fully done characters for ultranoobs. Not only do they have all the Traits/Skills/Knacks but they also have all the numbers calculated out for them. All of these are "Practice" characters. Anyone playing one can (if they choose) write up another character if they want to continue in the campaign. If not no loss either way and we just saved a BUNCH of time...

CarlZog wrote:I thought your pacing was very good. You said there was some stuff you had to gloss over, but we also pretty big groups, which slowed things down. A little more time/opportunity in encounters for the witty banter and flair that characterizes the swashbuckling genre might have been possible with a smaller group.

I completely agree.

CarlZog wrote:Any other 7th Seas games going on at GenCon?


The fine folks with Game Base 7 do another living campaign (and the inspiration for mine to go a different way) called Crimson Valor. You take the part of a crewman on either one (or both at this point) of two captains' ships, The Crimson Dawn or The Knightly Valor. They usually sail into port and have an adventure. Couple of warnings. The campaign is well on its way (I think they premere 18 or 19 at GC this year) so you may miss some of the metaplot (such as there is). Additionally, If you sign up for say, 7 there are two different adventures (one for each crew, you are allowed to play in both adventures), BUT there will be nothing on the description to tell you which adventure of the two will be running. You can narrow it down a bit by looking at the GM. If it's Frank or Kenny, that's The Crimson Dawn, Kristin or Kara on the other hand tend to do The Knightly Valor. Yours truly does whatever they tell me to do (but if you tell me which adventure you signed up for I can certainly check it out for you). Next, the style of the adventures differs in that the Crimson Dawn tends to have heroes who are a bit more mercenary in their outlook and the Knightly Valor more 'heroic' Though the xp whores will be at both (and yes I am one of them.)

Mark
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?
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion 2011

Postby salamanca » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:04 pm

You have a plateful of stuff and I got free time. I can beef up a set of the templates to complete stats. I do recommend we discuss which and how many behind the scenes. Almost forgot... Dana Devries has still been running a larp at gencon as well. If I hear of any other notables, I will pass word.
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Re: Countdown to Total Confusion

Postby Sister Sonya » Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:53 am

Actually, for those who remember Sidhe Shadow/Christian McLeod from Revenants, he presented two 7th Sea games at each of the last two GenCons.
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