Origins 2009--Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Photo Gallery!

Ebbs peruses Monsterpocalypse minis.

Doctor Who Cosplay.

Playing Ravenloft on the big screen with the d20Pros.

Karl peruses his options in Ravenloft.

GM Dan gives Will a lot to think about.

Giant Settlers of Catan.

Lionel tells Jules exactly where she can get some wood.

Happy Happy Settlers players!

Lionel tries Jules' "Pho Ba" at North Market.

Jules, cosplaying as Black Canary at Origins 2009.

Willy the 2 and Don bring the pain on Saturday's Power Play.

A Legendary Encounter--Kim the Elf Warrior meets the WittWeggers!

Black Cat Cosplay

The whole group at the BattleTech Simulator

Karl preps his mech-mashing strategy.

Maranda, Ebbs, and Lionel at Trailer Park Wars.

Karl and the GM at Trailer Park Wars.

Jules enjoys her trailer park's amenities.

Jules meets Chainmail Speedo Guy.

Poison Ivy Cosplay at Origins 2009.

Sunday Power Play at the WEGS Booth.

Origins 2009 (Semi-)Live Blog--Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Wow. The remainder of our 2009 trip to the Big O went by in a whirl, and I'm only now starting to get caught up on all of my correspondence. But, that won't stop me from chronicling all the chaos for you, oh few-and-faithful readers!

Friday
After Thursday's late night, I managed to eke out at least a little sleep on Friday morning, before heading out for a demo session of Chrononauts, a game by Looney Labs. While I had seen Looney Labs (and their HUGE following) at Origins in previous years, I hadn't actually played any of their games. As such, Chrononauts was totally new to me.

I was fairly pleased. The game centered around a static, card-based timeline of historical events, which your time-keeper adjusts, screws-up, and repairs, based on the goals listed in his ID and his mission. Unfortunately, I was so engaged in the game, that I forgot to whip out my camera. No big loss, there, though...almost immediately after, I managed to meet up with Lionel and Ebbs (freshly back from playing a Ghostbusters minis game) and roam around the dealer room before...

Ravenloft. Man, oh, man--this one was a trip. Heading off into the lands of the mists with Karl and Will, we swiftly found out that our game was not, in fact, in the Madison room--rather, we were out in the lobby, on the big screens with the guys from d20Pro.

I had seen d20Pro's product last year at Origins--their dungeon utility software was a novelty, but I really didn't have much interest in it, as I have a gaming group able to play live. However, this was a rare opportunity to play in a setting I love, and I wasn't about to turn it down.

Nor was I disappointed. GM Dan, of the d20Pros, ran us through "The Ghosts of Mistmoor"--an old 2e Ravenloft adventure from Dragon magazine, which he had not only updated to 4e, but also adapted for use on the group's networking software. I took up the mantle of Amelia--a pistol-packing follower of the eponymous Rudolph Van Richten.

This game was intense. Between the natural horror of Ravenloft, and the inter-party conflict (ironically, over attacking/damaging party members), this game was well worth the 8 hour committment. Did I say 8 hour? I meant 10 and a half! After beginning just before 2, we ended at 12:15 on Saturday. After a climactic encounter with the ghosts of the Mistmoor family, and the treacherous Erebus, we triumphed over the curse of the mansion and headed out.

Unfortunately, though, due to a lack of players, we ended up having to cancel the Friday Midnight Madness WEGS session. Disappointing, entirely...I was ready for a new Nordling to take on the 99 Orks! No luck there, though, and we headed back to the Marriott for a few hours of sleep before the weekend started.

Saturday

Saturday made for a unique day as Jules finally got up the courage to cosplay at Origins for the first time, in her classic Black Canary outfit. Surprisingly, there were a lot more cosplayers this year in previous years--mainly as anime charaacters, superheroes and various ren-faire warriors. The costumes were really quite good, and incredibly varied--you'll be able to see some of the better ones in my upcoming photo gallery!

However, the gaming started, with Lionel, Jules, and myself heading to a game of Settlers of Catan, played on the giant Mayfair games board. I must say, I felt kind of bad for the poor guy who ended up with us three around the board. He probably didn't expect such a brutal game! Our first session ended with a triumph for yours truly, while our poor new companion got roaded into the center of the island. The second game was somewhat more fair, as he and I tied by the end of the game.

After a rousing game of getting wood for sheep, the three of us headed off to North Market for a fantastic meal. I know I've spoken highly of North Market before, but I wasn't in the mood for curry this time (gasp!). This time, I was after deli-style, and I wasn't disappointed. Barry's NY Deli, provided me with a fantastic pastrami on rye, with homemade mustard, and a bowl of fantastic motza ball soup. Couldn't beat it with a stick!

That led directly for us to hit the next WEGS Power Hour, where Willy the 2's infamous crystal-blue dice awaited. Surprisingly, we made it out alive, from this lethal demo, though my previous warrior--Ghormash the Goblin Warrior--was out of Phew points. His enchanted daggers wouldn't be much use to him, without the ability to take a single hit!

From our trip to WEGS, we skipped over to dinner at the Convention Center Food Court before trying out something new to Origins: the BattleTech mech-battles simulator. On Tuesday, we got a glimpse of the event-coordinators setting up, and knew we had to jump in on this. We set a reservation for 8 of us, ready to rumble on Saturday evening.

And the results? Well, unfortunately for yours truly, PwnedAndy's Uziel mech didn't fare so well, falling multiple times beneath the missiles of Lioner1 and others. Ebbs, however, took home the gold, pulling in 14 kills while only dying 5 times. Fantastic results for him!

That was something of the beginning of some more misfortune for me, as my D&D game following--The Dragon Helm of Hador--was cancelled 15 minutes before the event began. Grr, indeed. As such, I met up with Lionel and Ebbs again, and threw down some Chrononauts--Lionel ended up picking up the card decks--in their room, before heading off for...

Trailer Park Wars.. As a group, we were pretty familiar with Gut Bustin' Games' "Redneck Life", but this one was even better. Set to build up your own trailer park empire, you build up amenities in your own park, while inflicting horrible tenents and natural disasters on other players' parks. I think we actually astounded the GM with our viciousness, as we hit the end-game with fervor, keeping one after another from winning with horrible glee.

After a late, late dinner on Saturday, we headed back to the hotel where we awaited the last day of our Origins 2009 Adventure.

Sunday

Waking up a little later than hoped, we had to rush to get checked out, then to head off to our first game, an Intro to CthulhuTech. Unfortunately for us, this wasn't...well, a game. Rather, it was a paid-seminar on the intro to the game. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed--I had already bought a used copy of the game on a trip to Bookery and was wanting to know more about how to run encounters in the game, or to experience a play session. Not the case, so much.

However, our later game--CutThroat Caverns proved to put this one to rest. Another Smirk and Dagger game, our adventurers tried to one-up one another for kill after kill through tough monster encounters. After a bit of luck, and some good card-playing, my dwarf (Orn--with umlauts, even!) ended out on top.

After one more go-round in the dealer hall and our last Power Play session, it was time to head on home for another year.

Up next? Pictures from Friday through Sunday, and then my final Origins 2009 wrap-up. Stay tuned!

Origins 2009--Wednesday and Thursday Photo Gallery!

All righty! Here's the first set of incriminating evidence of the WittWeggers' trip to the Big O 2009! Be sure to look for the second set of photos, following our Friday-Saturday-Sunday entry!

Welcome to Origins 2009!

Lionel, Ebbs and Willy, ready to throw down.

Lionel looks over the catalog.

Ebbs and Emily at the Big O!

Outside Yankee Trader.

At the Teppanyaki House.

Stargate Scenes from the Minis Room

Get to the Gate!

More temples to explore in the Minis room.

Incredible detail! You can even see the symbols on the DHD!

Sieging the castle.

Cows with Guns!

An army on the march, in the Minis room.

Faing down the Xenos in Dark Heresy.

Is that Righteous Fury I smell? It sure is!

"I'll give you 10 Gold to seal his pants!"

"Are you serious? Stealing his pants?"

Ebbs enjoys some North Market pizza.

Willy the 2 deals out some pain at the WEGS booth.

The first Power Play session throws down!

The Power Players are ready to rock.

Karl makes his move.

Jules, Ebbs, and Lionel are ready for some Italian food.

Ebbs really is Superman.

The gang at Buca di Beppo's.

SG-1 meets D&D.

Jack O'Neill gets grabbed by a Chuul!

Where's Teal'c when you need him?!

Throwing some dice in SG-1: White Plume Mountain.

Origins 2009 Live Blog!--Wednesday and Thursday

I must apologize on the delay, but things have been so hectic out here in the Big O, I haven't had a chance to type up anything yet, aside from captions for my first set of pictures. To be honest, Origins is going by in a massive blur of dice, chaos, and loads of fun...but that won't stop me from covering the action!

With no offense meant, I'm going to leave Tuesday off. We ended up with something of a late start, and arrived just in time to...well, stand in line and wait patiently for our badges. Not a whole lot to do, but contain our nervous excitement and try to get some sleep for...

Wednesday

The majority of us started our Origins experience with something entirely new to us, the Origins Premiere Track. Basic premise is that you come in, a publisher arrives with some product in beta-testing, and you play through it. I can't say too much about what we actually played, aside from that it was by Bucephelus Games (those snarky buggers that keep Lionel entranced with "Oh My God, There's An Axe In My Head") and that it dealt with (of all things) the Bill of Rights. Tons of fun, even if we did break the game somewhat...

But with the Origins Premiere Track, came a visit from an old friend: Emily! We hadn't expected her to swing in, but it was great to throw down with her again, as well as reminisce about "old times".

From there, we slipped off for North Market--one of my favorite places for lunch. The sheer variety of great ethnic food is fantastic, and you know I'll never turn down a curry!

After a hearty lunch, our corps roamed around the still-being-set-up areas, eyeing up the visual feasts to be had. One thing that immediately caught our eye was a new addition--a VR BattleTech simulator. More on that, on Saturday, though!

If it's one thing I can say about Origins--we eat well! A North Market lunch was followed by a dinner at Columbus's famous Japanese Steak House. Reservations definitely pay off in this respect! I love teppanyaki style cooking, and the steak that I got was tender beyond belief. Will's whitefish filet, too, looked amazing. And that's to say nothing of the show!

After the dinner/show, we putzed around the miniatures room--eyeing up some of the set-ups that Will would be playing at for his Stargate SG-1 Miniatures battle game, before we all separated and I headed off for Dark Heresy: The Hunt for Heretics Continues.

Another great thing about Origins is the fact that you see the same people from year to year. And, lo and behold!, our GM and another player were ones that experienced Ebbs' psychic rampage last year. This year's scenario revolved around a shipment of "ale", which just so happened to contain a series of spores that prevented the dreaded Orks from spawning. Eldar were trying to get their mitts on it, and it was up to the Inquisitors' Acolytes to save the day. Wanting a change from the tech-priest I played last year, I took up the mantle of Flair--a heavy-bolter toting Guardsman.

I tell you, there's nothing more satisfying than rolling for Emperor's Fury on a head shot from a heavy-bolter. Eldar brains everywhere!



Thursday

Thursday had me up early to set off for my first D&D game of the con--A Dead Man's Party. Run by a tag-team duo of husband and wife, I was pleased to find out that this (as well as my Dark Heresy game) were being run by Amorphous Blob Games. ABGames are a really quality group of gamers, and I really can't recommend their games enough. That said, I guess I have an ulterior motive for saying so--at the end of each game, the players vote on the best role-play in the session and that person gets free swag. Lucky me, they rather liked Malic the half-elf's exploits (pants-theiving and all!), and I walked away with a copy of 3.5e's "Expedition to Undermountain".

Thursday also brought about our first session of the WEGS Power Play! As we settled around the table, talking trash with El Willy, his wife, and Wt2, the heat got cranked up past 11, as Wt2 tossed down a huge selection of massive baddies. Ebbs' poor sage, nearly doomed from the start, ran off the board in the third inning....only for him to bring in a ranger that flung death and pudding from the rafters! A great session, and we really got the word out for a good group of clustered observers.

Again, we eat well at Origins. After WEGS, we headed off for our reservation at Buca di Beppo's--a family-style Italian joint, where we manged on a filling lot of great, garlicky goodness.

We ended out the night splitting up once more, and I headed off to a game of two great flavors that tasted great together: another ABGames production--Stargate SG-1: White Plume Mountain.

Let me set the record straight. WPM is one of my favorite "old skool" D&D modules. It's such a wacky dungeon, and it has some of the most iconic magic weapons in the game hiding away in it. And Stargate? Don't get me started. One of my college catchphrases was an inside joke with another Gate-junkie that was simply, "So...Teal'c has hair."

This game was a blast, with really great, friendly gamers. We set out after the Wave halberd....with an SG-team that absolutely couln't swim! After Jack O'Neill nearly got crushed by a chuul, saved only by Sam Carter's grenade-throwing, we were about ready to pack it in. However, we held out, and took down "the beast in the boiling bubble" garnering the Wave for ourselves.

Man. That's a lot. I've got more to come today, as I'm about to set out to demo Chrononauts, then to head into Ravenloft for 8 hours. And that's to say nothing of tonight's WEGS Midnight Madness session. It's going to be a mad dash to the end, fellow gamers!

(Please note: Pictures are forthcoming!!! Please be patient, as I try to desperately catch up from behind!)

In Which The Warlock Shoots for a Hat Trick...

With another of my beloved Pittsburgh teams bringing home a championship--the Pens winning the Stanley Cup, over Detroit in Game 7--I guess it's only fitting that we open with a hockey theme.

Origins starts next week, and the Witt-Kids out here are all a-buzz with excitement. Lionel's desperate to get his hands on the long-errant copy of "Oh, My God, There's An Axe In My Head", which he's been waiting for since last year's geek-fest. Ebbs is eager to get his hands on some new minis, to say nothing of info on Rogue Trader, the next Warhammer 40k RPG supplement. And me? I already mentioned my two frenzies in the last post. On top of that, I'll hopefully be able to keep you fully abreast of all things geek, live-blogging each night after the carnage goes down!

But the thing that really has me jazzed is the WEGS Power Play (see, there's a reason I went with a hockey theme!). Now that it's finally been "officially" announced by El Willy, I can talk about our involvement with it.

The WEGS Power Play is a high-stakes demo game that we'll be hosting at El Willy's booth each day at Origins, between 2pm and 4pm. Each time, the Witt-Wegger crew, and whomever shows up, will face off against a new, hard-hitting baddie, ready to bring the pain. Obviously, we won't be alone--El Willy, Willy the 2, and all of his native WEGS-crew will be out in force, ready to pit their dice against ours!

Plus, each person that joins us around the table will get a free deck of Origins 2009 Commemerative playing cards--the perfect things for throwing down a round of Dingbitt's Roundhouse, or WEGS SuperZ Blackjack!

If you're coming to the Origins Game Fair, come see us between 2pm and 4pm, at the Gamewick Games booth--booth 327, on "Diplomacy Avenue", right next to the Paint and Take area.

Keep your stick on the ice, gamers! The Big O is next week, and we're ready to rock!

In Which The Warlock Assembles a Pirate Crew...

I ran into a slight problem early-on, as I started prepping the "Pirates of the Underdark" game, which I'm only starting to figure out how to address.

See, in Pirates of the Caribbean, even though the focus is primarily on the main characters--Elizabeth Swann, Jack Sparrow, and Captain Barbossa--there are a ton of minor characters, without whom the plot wouldn't move at all. I'm talking about Pintel and Ragetti, Mr. Gibbs, the Nine Pirate Lords and the like...all those guys who have positions on the ship, but aren't necessarily the center of attention.

So, with our Friday Night Pirates finally finangling their way into a ship, they've been having a devil of a time mustering up a crew.

My solution to this? Put it back into their hands. Basically, I've asked for all their unused character ideas--all the ones that have been sitting in the back of their heads--so that I can make them into their very own pirate crew.

However, this comes with a bit of a twist. You see, I'm assembling the actual character write-ups...with minor changes, of course. And, coupled with the minor changes, I'm intending on making them as "piratical" as possible, which wouldn't be complete without backstabbing and skullduggery.

As such, their ship (which doesn't have a name yet! Oi! They've got to get on that!) will be swiftly stocked with a scurvy crew ready to swashbuckle their way through the Sunless Sea.

As it stands now, our intrepid heroes are about to set sail on their first voyage. They're heading to a deserted island, where the creator of their ship--the now-deceased gnome, Melearas--had agreed to ship a mysterious cargo for a strange benefactor with a mysterious tattoo. One only knows what they might find...

In Which The Warlock Preps for Epic Throwdowns...

Before we start, a brief aside: a few posts ago, I mentioned Nick and his unfortunate motorcycle accident. Well, never fear! Nick is slowly getting back in the swing of things. You can really tell he's getting back to normal, when he's nagging me about not updating on time. Go figure....

At any rate, the big O is just around the corner, and we Witt-Weggers are getting more jazzed by the day. Right now, planning for Origins has been my stress relief (yeah, believe that one!), in the midst of filing paperwork, scheduling inspections, and prepping our mortgage in the hopes of closing on our new house.

However, there are two events that have had me on the edge of my seat for the last few weeks, and just won't let up.

Firstly, there's "The Ghost of Mistmoor"--the massive 8 hour long Ravenloft game, starting at 1:30 and ending...well, probably when all of the PCs fall to some Darklord. As I mentioned when Kat started her game, I could probably count the number of times I've actually played Ravenloft on one hand. This is mainly because I'm usually the one running it, breaking out the Tarokka deck and the big, black GM screen, with all sorts of twisted ideas to inflict on my players. To have the tables turned...oooh, can't beat that with a +3 Mace of Disruption.

The second one, though, is swiftly becoming an Origins tradition--El Willy's epic Midnight Madness WEGS Scenario. Last year's Madness set us against the uber-mummy KlattaBarraBoo, with our only hope (which was quickly lost and forgotten!) being the Holy Hand Grenade. That game ended in a huge stalemate at 3:30 in the morning, with one of my many Nordling incarnations itching for another chance to Skorp his way through the dungeon. This time around...well, I'm not quite sure what El Willy's planning. Over on the TableTop Gamers forum, he's already started a poll...but results are tight, and even my own inclination was for him to just "roll the bones" and let the dice fall where they may.

Odds and gods, baby! Either game, it's all going to come down to a roll of the dice!

In Which The Warlock Posts on Life...

A few posts ago, I made mention that there really weren't a whole lot of summer movies that I was really looking forward to and, because of such, I didn't do my usual "Summer Movie Rundown". Perhaps, in the end, that's for the best.

You see, it appears that I'm going to have more than enough to do as it is!

The PlatinumChick and I, as I've mentioned before, are preparing for our wedding in October, which has taken up a good deal of our time. While much of the "big stuff" has been taken care of--the hall, the catering, the ceremony itself--there are a ton of odds and ends that are still on-deck, which we're wrapping up.

On top of this, I'm still plugging away at Dungeon Slam!, and will hopefully have my elusive 4th draft out sometime this summer. I have a ton of playtesting notes that I have yet to really put into effect, which will hopefully streamline the draft and give it that final push towards submitting it for publication. Here's for hoping, right?!

Oh, and the big news. Just this weekend, the PlatinumChick and I put in an offer on a house in Englewood, just north of Dayton proper. After some negotiation, we settled on a price and are now in the stages of getting the house inspected and getting all of our mortgage paperwork signed. With any luck, we'll be closing on the house before we ship out for Origins!

The whole process right now is massively intimidating--no lie. The sheer massive amounts of money getting bandied about in paperwork scares the poo out of me, but it's been something that we've really been wanting to do for a long while. The apartment we're currently in is affordable, and good for what it is...but it's always been lacking in the things we really wanted: a sizable kitchen, a true office in which we can work, and space to entertain (and game!). Luckily, this house has it all... :D

And so, the madness begins this week. Just as the school year ends, it seems like everything's actually heating up!