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It has been awhile since I've posted, but the time in between has been great in terms of gaming. In particular, I wanted to share the gaming experience that was Strategicon LA (Gateway) over Labor Day. This was only my second full con experience but I planned well for it and in the end it really paid off. Me and my friend Mike arrived in the early afternoon on Friday after an uneventful drive in. We really were not signed up for any games yet because we missed the internet window and everything I had an interest in was full. After meeting up with our local friends who were already there and gaming, I got the info that the sign up books had not been out anyway that day. After finding these books, I discovered open slots in every game I wanted to play. There were so many interesting choices but only so much time, so I had to choose. Our schedule and my experience:
Friday night- A Star Wars RPG game based on the Smallville rules set. 'Treasure of Hoth" was a very enjoyable 4 hours of scene based roleplay and character interaction. I really enjoyed this one and hoped every game was going to be this good. In the end, the "Treasure" decided that the temptation of the Dark side was far more entertaining and fryed the padawon with lightning.
Saturday morning- Historical minis, skip-bombing mission in the Pacific against a convoy of Japanese supply ships, using the "Check Your 6!" rules set. The guys who were running this did a great job preparing and explaining the rules to 4 of us who have never played this type of game before. Had a difficult time lining up my bombing runs initially but in the end (we really had to rush to finish up) I accounted for a destroyer and maimed a supply ship. This is one game I hope we can play from time-to-time here locally. A lot of fun.
Saturday Afternoon-Rushing from Check Your 6 back downstairs, we were next playing Houses of the Blooded of which I had heard many great things. Perhaps it was my choice of character, the group dynamic, or something else about the game, but this was the weakest of my experiences all weekend long. I was very entertained by my friend Anthony and a few of the other players at the table, who I admit are clearly better at this sort of thing than I am, but I found the theatrical/dramatic stuff going on to be too much for even a roleplaying dork like myself. Note to self- fighting based characters with no social skills are boring in these games.
Saturday Evening-Whats going to save me from the bore that is nobility quibbling over some throne? Zombie smashin! Alpha Omega is a game Ive never played or even heard of. my initial idea of the game was going to be an elite team with badass weaponry nuking tons of undying bodies. But once the game got underway I quickly realized this mission was something else entirely. I actually had a blast, and the group dynamic was really interesting and funny. The DM had 2 friends who were sitting in and playing NPCs that we encountered at different times during the mission. There were also 2 other guys in our party who I didnt know who were funny simply because of the ridiculous decisions they made (splitting away from the group and knowingly inviting danger in a zombie infested town= guaranteed death). In the end my character died a heroic death braining the assholes that ambushed us in the first place. I liked this rules set, also thought the books were very pretty. If I had more disposable cash I would pick them up.
Sunday Morning- Our initial fallback plan waas that if we coudnt get into anything else we would play some LFR. "Gathering Storm" was an ok module compared to others Ive played. The DM was pretty good, especially at the storytelling and moving the game along aspects. In the encounters though she could have done a lot more. Maps were confusing squigles of color, creatres were represented by hilariously incorrect models, and she was inconsistent in her targetting of PCs. She had a rule against killing anybody, yet she would focus fire against some of the softest characters, and actually wound up killing me. Given all that though it really wasnt so bad.
It was a great weekend overall with a chance to hang out with some of my best friends and enjoy some new games. My next post will include a few pics and some details about the 2 awesome meals I had while in Cali.