Countdown to Origins 2014

[salamanca]

And since this is like post 250... We are 48 hours and 35 minutes until HOA gets underway.

[smafdi]

AAANNNNDDD because you said that i shall now endevour to text you every 5min asking where you are. Lucky for you i'm lazy and probably won't feel like going that far.

[Black Jack Rackham]

No worries if you don't Stephen, I texted him about ten seconds after he posted it initially

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, I'm at Mark's, they fed me dinner (a wonderful grilled chicken and rice), got some of my stuff packed into the back of Mark's van, and the rest will go in tomorrow.
Hard to believe that after all the waiting, we will be getting up and on the road to head out to Origins tomorrow!

Squeel!!!!

[cpugs]

Safest of drives. Have a great burger for me. And see you very soon. I get in around 10:30, so if anyone is up I'll see you in the Big bar on 2......

[kenderleech]

im looking at arriving wednesday around 2-3ish

[salamanca]

Well Ken, then I will see you when you arrive if you drop into the champaign room. (probably at a corner table near the front but away from the door). anybody else rolling in between 1 and 5 can feel free to stick their head in and say, "hey".

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, Mark and I will be heading off in about 3 minutes! See you all when you get there!

[salamanca]

Mark called from the road this afternoon. By now, he should be long checked in, settled in and enjoying lovely dinner company. And soon... A pregame game. I was ready to go until I got another idea...so it's back to work. See you all very soon.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Yep, Mark and I arrived safely, had a wonderful dinner with wonderful company, got unpacked, and got our tickets, then were able to make it to play a fun game of Tales of the Arabian Nights (I hope I remembered it correctly), which I found easy to learn, and it was fun too. Mark said he's going to try and get it.

Now, I'm already up, because I guess I'm just too hyper to sleep, or just used to being up at 4:30 am, or both, so checking the web for my regular morning stuff I do, and then heading to get ready for the day!

[salamanca]

It's here, it's here !. Christmas morning!. No, wait. It's better!. It's OOOOORRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiGGGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. That day when cranky Saint Sal comes down from the north to give all the boys and girls horrible plot twists. See you all in a handful of hours. Gotta pop in at work for a bit first.

[kenderleech]

leaving genconville in 15 minutes to go to originsville.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Another Origins is past us now, and we had a great year! Mark and I are home and safe. We got to his house around 4:30 - 5AM and I crashed there til about noon. I'm at my home now and have to deal with a dead refrigerator, and a live rat - who is very happy to see me, because he missed his cheese puffs while I was gone, and he is addicted to cheese puffs.

Hope everyone else got home safe and sound. See you all next Year!(Except you Mark, see you Sunday!)

[salamanca]

Well, i'm home and have been for long enough to get a day of work in. Jeremy probably sqweeked into work a couple minutes late. Have not heard if Ken is still in Originsville or not. Thanks to all our stalwart vets who showed up for more of our abuse. Extra thanks to the returners who normally play at Gencon I had a blast meeting and playing with you all. And a very mandatory welcome and thank you to our new residents of Altamira. I spent the entire con running events and knew going in that this year had to be about making sure you all had a great time instead of being entertained. (not to imply that your play was less than entertaining because you all were awesome) and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Every year we get some great new folks (and this one was no exception) that I hope come back. We also always seem to lose a few that I wish come back. But this year we had absolutely no players that I am hoping forget we are here. (nobody focused on ruining games, failing to understand you are heroes, refusing to play with others, etc). This was, for me, one of the most enjoyable groups of players to GM for ever. In fact, there are so many of you that I am going to have to abolish my mental list of 8 players I would most prefer to see together for a game. I can't get that list small enough for a table anymore. Now, on a "serious" note. Guys quit picking on Mark by telling the new guys they should play with me because I'm the better, more fun GM. I know you are doing it to dupe them into giving you their space and it's not fair to the new guys to have to suffer me all weekend. (and Mark is starting to believe it).

[kenderleech]

I made it home, after an extra 22 hours in ohio.

[salamanca]

An extra 22 hours in Ohio is good for your health. It makes you appreciate the sanity of home.

[kenderleech]

... I know each of those words, but together, they make no sense.

[cpugs]

Thank you Dave. Mark, Laura, and Ken for running great events. Thank you to everyone who joined us for dinner for good times and good conversations. And thank you all for being my friend. I miss you all and can't wait to see you all again!!!

[salamanca]

Charlie, it was much better with you than it was without you last time. Thank you for snacks and dinner, dinner and snacks, yet more dinner and most importantly for sparing me from having to play through episode 7 myself. But I think you did a better job of playing my character. (unless Mark has the patience of a Saint.). Now before we all get weepy, it's less than a year until Origins.

[crimsonjoe]

Had a fantastic time at Origins. It was great seeing everyone (GMs and fellow Altamirans), the LARP was a blast (I really should have started a betting people on the cheese wheel), and episodes 7 and 8 were a blast (Mental note: don't volunteer to stay behind and handle Sergei). Already looking forward to next year.

[daundelyon]

Had an awesome time as usual. Also, I have to thank you for making three of my friends feel very welcome. They enjoyed themselves and I'm pretty sure I can convince them to come back.

[salamanca]

There was no "making" involved there. Your friends ARE welcome. And I fully expect to see them all back.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Still trying to recover from the drive back and thinking of all of you. Just need the time to sit down a write all I wanted to say. I'll edit this later, but know I have read and thought about all you said! So so SO glad to have seen all of you once again!

Ok got my thoughts together, so lets talk Highs, Lows, and In Betweens!

Highs
Tremendous Old Guard Return Rate - I knew darn near every single player who sat down at my tables every day but Sunday's DOMINGO GIGANTE! I love seeing old faces not only because of my incessant need for validation but also because it means you're having fun. And when players have fun I have fun. And I cannot understate how much fun this year was! For the first time ever I actually had enough gumption to wish that we had just one more day.

Wonderful Compliments - several of you stopped off to tell me that HoA is the reason you come to Origins, is the highlight of your con, or is the only reason you do RPGs at all. (or maybe it was just about 7th Sea but I'm going to choose to believe it's all about me). I am truly humbled by that.

Seeing Absent Friends - Charlie, Origins just isn't the same without you. Heather, your return was a poignant reminder of just how much I missed you. Amanda (even though you will never read this) 30 seconds was simply not enough.

Lows
DOH! moments - Its no surprise to anyone that I forgot to pass out cards (at least one table a year has to hunt me down or remind me about mid-way through the game). But at the LARP? what an idiot!

NOT ENOUGH TIME - I had to bow out of lots of stuff including the awesome hanging out things most of you did till well after midnight. I just didn't have the energy and I hate that.

Ken's Car - I think it's a universal anxiety when someone you know tells you about car problems and you instinctively wince, remembering the last time you were in the same position. I was just glad to hear it wasn't as disastrous as it could have been.

Violence - surprised I'd even need to write this despite Dave's pointed reminder of another type of assault that is all too common (and which we don't talk enough about). But I will say, watching that was something I never thought I'd see at Origins and which I hope to never see again (or should I say I hope will never happen again).

In Betweens
No rooms - started bad but then we got the highest visibility spot in the whole darn con. Wonderful but that meant games got interrupted by gawkers

Overflow Events - I was ecstatic to see so many return players we needed to run overflow events, but one of the highlights for me is that I get to run the newest events solo for the first year (that way I get to see all of your shining faces). But this year I simply had to give that luxury up. So Dave and I decided for next year we're going to run another official session of the two newest (so I'll be running 9 and 10 three times during the con rather than two) That way maybe we can get you all into official games rather than having to hope you can get in on generics.

Stopped for Speeding on the way home - also started out badly since I was doing over 80 in a 65 zone. And I'm pretty sure CT has a deal with MA to collect fees. So all in all could have been an expensive mistake. But like normal I was honest about my guilt (My policy is that they catch me way more than I get tickets for so no need to try and talk my way out of it). But when I couldn't find my registration I was so exuberant when we at last did find it, he couldn't help but laugh at me and let me off with just a reminder to slow down (and a warning of construction up ahead).

And one more thing, Funniest moment of the con...

After quite some harassment about my *ahem* desire for player feedback regarding the adventures, Jeremy and I were walking back from the dealer's hall when someone pointed toward us and said, "Love your shirt." Automatically I responded "thank you." to which he said, "No I meant the guy next to you. (Jeremy)" Without missing a beat, Jeremy said, "I told you before, not everything is about you, Mark." Had I been drinking, I would have spit it all out.

[Dr. Miguel Contreras]

I would like to thank all of you GMs for running really fun games, I had a blast.

I would also like to give a special thank you to Dave for putting together a very cool LARP. It was only the 2nd LARP I've every played in. The 1st one was not that great of an experience so I was a little apprehensive about playing. But Dave you did such a good job tying everyone's characters together and making it fun for everyone. So I can't wait for your next one.

[salamanca]

We had less than 25% of the characters involved. You cannot begin to fathom just how tied everything was to each other. If you were working with somebody on one quest, you were opposed on something else. If you are friends in real life, I split you up to force you to work with someone else. If you were backing a character in the cross event, they were against you on at least two quests. And most of the personal quests were built to push you into something with the people you know best from the campaign. And their personal quest was not on your sheet but probably included you in some way as well.

Now for the next one, all major plots will fall to players we know will show up. all extra characters will have stuff going on that supplements the active campaign people. But I am done worrying about how many we have or if we will get enough outside players to participate. (and if Mark lets me kill a major NPC, I may very well write it as a locked room mystery, If i can figure out a plausible motive, opportunity and what not)