The Warlock's Origins 2011 Live Blog--Tuesday and Wednesday!

Ahoy, gamers!  Now that the WittKids are set up in the Drury, we have free wifi.  That means that I can actually keep you posted on all the action, as it happens!



Hausfrau Ebbs and Herr Thunderforge!

Yesterday wasn't so much gaming, but lots of geekdom indeed, as we spent the day driving up and getting settled.  However, we did manage to make it to Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Columbus' German Village.  While the "Autobahn" sausage buffet was a little overpriced, the quality was spectacular.  Our group of 8 was utterly stuffed, by the time we left.  And the cream puffs?  Oh, my...the cream puffs...

After the binge of sausage, we made our way up High Street to the theater to take in a showing of Green Lantern.  That was, to put it mildly, a pretty big mistake.  I'll post a full review of the movie after Origins ends, but suffice to say that this was no Iron Man or The Dark Knight.  Rather, this was more on the level of Daredevil, Blade, or Ghost Rider.  Pretty sad, all told, considering the $200 million budget, most of which went towards numerous overdone CGI effects. 

So you say you want some Revolution?

Today, though, began Origins proper with a classic SJGames board game: Revolution, complete with the Palace expansion.  Neither the PlatinumChick or I had played this one before, but it was somewhat reminiscent of Kingsburg, with each player attempting to bid for influence among a series of advisors, in the hopes to gain the most influence in the town.  With a little bit of luck (and a pretty crafty bait-and-switch, if I may say so!), yours truly managed to pull out a victory, by taking over the Fortress and the Town Hall, for a whopping 95 victory points.  My reward?  A copy of Spooks, an SJGames card game.  Woot!

"Sim, Sim, Sala-Bim!"

After a leisurely lunch down at North Market, the PlatinumChick and I set out for our first actual RPG of the con:  "Jonny Quest and the Secrets of Hanebau".  While neither of us were familiar with the Ubiquity system, it was particularly easy to catch onto, and our GM made the game exciting and true to the cartoon.  Playing Dr. Benton Quest, I must say--I took entirely too much pleasure in working some "SCIENCE!" into the game.  In the end, we escaped from Antarctica with the intact corpse of an alien creature--proof that alien life exists in the universe! 

"...Hanebau" was run by the one of the guys from Matinee Adventures and, after a few games with them over the years, they're swiftly rising in my eyes, in terms of quality.  While it's hard to top the games that Amorphous Blob or Rogue Cthulhu put forward, these guys give them a run for their money!

Nigel, the Professor and Ricky discuss
their options in "Westward..."

After a quick dinner with the PlatinumChick and ChaoticKarl, we made our way off to our first Witt-run games of the convention:  sessions of "Westward...", "Orcs Gone Wild" and "Lawfully Blonde", in addition to our other offerings.  I had made some changes to "Westward..." particularly in the addition of a new player in the chaotic travels of the San Juan Express.  Unfortunately, my new minion didn't last too long, as Ricky "One Armed Bandit" Parker flung him from the speeding train as it made its way towards Dodge City!  Still, the scenario went particularly well, with most of the players really getting into the feel of the characters.  The fellow playing Nigel, especially, was hilarious.

We still have some refining to do, regarding our convention procedure.  Setting up our banner took far too long, and we didn't manage to get our feedback sheets to every game.  Also, our dice didn't arrive on time, which means that while we were able to give out our bookmarks and Bell, Book and Comic pens, our engraved dice are somewhere in limbo.  Even still, we're managing!  Things are going well, and the feedback we're getting is really positive!

While we had intended to go grab a drink with El Willy after the games ended, plans once more fell through.  I'm almost getting used to that one--we never manage to raise that glass! 

Never fear, though, cats and kittens!  There's more gaming to be had...and maybe, just maybe, yours truly will be able to relax with his WEGS-ing boss-man!  For more pics, check out the pics on my Facebook album!