In Which The Warlock Expounds on Scheduling...

With only three weeks till the show itself, GAMA's finally managed to open up event registration for this year's Origins Game Fair.  I've always tried to be supportive of GAMA, as they're propped up significantly by their volunteers, rather than the full time staff that GenCon benefits from.  Even though I've disagreed with them at times--particularly about this year's date change, they've always been really receptive to receptive criticism and feedback.

But, with the open registration, I'm faced with a greater quandary:  what to do?  what to play?! 

Compared to prior years, there are significantly fewer events on the docket, which restricts ones' options significantly.  After doing the math, there's about 300 less events.  Strangely enough, there are actually 30 more RPG events than last year, though!  Go figure, right?  However, it feels like the variety that we'd always been able to enjoy at Origins seems to be in rather short supply.  Less people means less GMs, which means less variety of events. 

Truth be told, scanning through the spreadsheets of events, I wasn't really jazzed on many of the role-playing options in general.  While I'm eager to sit in on an advanced session of El Willy's "Dingbitt's Inferno" scenario, the only game that I actively sought out was an opportunity for the upcoming D&D Next playtest series.  The PlatinumChick was eager to jump into one of the events held by Matinee Adventures, but our scheduling conflicts prevented her from jumping in as one of the "Birds of Prey".  Many of the less-played systems out there are playing only on Wednesday and Thursday, which precludes our enjoying them, as we won't be arriving until Friday evening.

Where I have found a good degree of interest, however, is in the seminars.  Moreso than in any of the other years we've attended, the seminars at Origins have really come up.  Plus, most seminars have no entry fee, which keeps down our attendance cost!  If my schedule runs out as it stands now, I'll be sitting in on at least three seminars on game design, including one with the dice-master himself: Lou Zocchi.  With my editing and drafting cycle of Cold Steel Wardens approaching so rapidly, I think it'll do me some good to hear as much as I can from the "industry insiders" as possible.

I want to make sure that I get a good deal of time in the dealer hall, if for no other reason than to check out the new releases and see what other indie designers are coming out with.  Plus, trolling for deals at the SJGames booth and other places almost always ends out with me walking away satisfied.  Though, this time around, I'm hoping to manage to pick up the first component for my Man-at-Arms cosplay:  his iconic mace! 

Truth be told, I already miss my annual ritual of prepping games for Origins.  While this has afforded me some additional time for other projects--finishing out Tyrian Horror and doing some new freelancing--I love GMing at convention games, and I'm disappointed to be shut out this year.  That said, there's always next year...

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!