Showing posts with label Stargate SG-1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stargate SG-1. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

In Which The Warlock Concludes the Previews...

Whew!  This is the last set, I promise.  With 39 total events on the docket, we're out in force for this year's Origins Game Fair. 

If you missed the previous preview links, check them out here:
Set I:  In Which The Warlock Posts Some Previews...
Set II:  In Which The Warlock Posts More Previews...

Title: Sovereigns of the Sea
System: Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
Sessions: Wednesday, 7pm and Saturday, 7pm
Description: The Doctor and his companions have found themselves aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge under the command of Blackbeard the Pirate. But little does the infamous scoundrel know that the ancient treasure he's been searching for belongs to an alien species that doesn't take kindly to pirates. (Featuring characters from the Doctor Who television show. Rules taught, new players welcome!)

Title: Stargate SG-1—Shifting Loyalties
System: Savage Worlds
Sessions: Thursday, 7pm
Description: The Goa’uld Klorel, son of Apophis, has contacted the SGC and says that he wishes to defect to the Tok'ra. It's up to SG-1, Bra'tac, and Jacob Carter to determine if they've found a new ally against the System Lords or if this a clever ruse to discover the location of the Tok’ra secret base. (Featuring characters from the television show. Rules taught, new players welcome!)

Title: Stargate Atlantis—No Man Left Behind
System: Savage Worlds
Sessions: Friday, 7pm
Description: Todd, the Wraith scientist, has contacted Atlantis with an interesting discovery: Michael has captured Lt. Aiden Ford and hopes to discover how the Wraith enzyme interacted with him so that he can make an army of super-soldiers. It’s up to John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Teyla, Ronan, and Carson Beckett to rescue their former team member and work with Todd to thwart Michael’s plans. (Featuring characters from the television show. Rules taught, new players welcome!)

Title: Lord of the Rings Risk
System: Lord of the Rings Risk—Trilogy Edition
Sessions: Friday, 7pm
Description: The classic game of strategy, set in Tolkein’s Middle Earth.

Title: Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle
System: Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle
Sessions: Saturday, 7pm and Saturday, 9pm
Description:  Crawl up the corporate ladder in Dilbert’s wacky world of bureaucrats and corporate chaos. Get rid of all of your cards to win!

Title:  What’s Summoned in Las Vegas…
System: Scion
Sessions: Wednesday, 7pm and Thursday, 7pm
Description: On your thirteenth birthday, you found out that the world wasn’t quite what you thought it was. As it turns out, one of your parents is actually a God, and you have been blessed with some of their abilities. Life for a scion isn’t easy, though: now that you’ve been recognized by your holy parent, you’re basically at their beck and call, fixing any problems that might pop up. You’re basically a magical fixer, but with crummy pay and little appreciation.  One day, your godly parent tells you that there’s trouble brewing in Las Vegas. Someone is trying to summon a titan, which is one of the great enemies to the Gods. But the Gods have rules about when they can and can’t interfere, so you end up being sent along with a group to stop this person before they can summon the titan. 13+, rules taught.

Title:   Road of Trials and Tribulations
System:   Blue Rose d20
Sessions: Friday, 7pm and Saturday, 7pm
Description:  Aldis is a country which prides itself on its excellent education system. One of the schools is in the capitol city of Aldis, where the best and brightest train to become top-notch Shapers (magic-users). And wouldn’t you know it, but it’s exam time at the Aldean Academy of Magic, and the Shapers all have to complete some pretty tough tests. One group of Shapers in particular has an especially tough set of tests. This group is made up of the top Shapers from each area of study, and they will have to work as a team to help a group of weary travelers go from a nearby village to the capitol city. There will be many trials and tribulations waiting for them, but if they succeed then they might just get that A they’ve been looking for. 13+, rules taught.

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Warlock's Origins 2010 "Live" Blog--Wednesday!

Note: While this entry is going up today, it was written just following the day listed. Stay tuned throughout the week for my day-by-day coverage of Origins 2010!

Whew! Origins has come, my lovelies, and your friendly neighborhood Warlock has been busy already! On the plus side, though, since GAMA has sponsored a free Wi-Fi spot outside of the open gaming hall, I can keep you updated on all the glorious action.

After a bustling trip up, and a quick shot over to the airport to pick up Karl, we were ready to rock and roll on Wednesday.
Karl and I actually started the day together, with a round of The Stars are Right!, a relatively new production from Steve Jackson Games. Fundamental premise: you’re all cultists of the Great Old Ones, rearranging a 5x5 grid of stars and constellations, hoping to be the first to summon forth a sanity-devouring horror.
It’s a neat little game, though the spatial reasoning aspect of it was a little outside of my typical comfort zone. The gameplay, once we got through the ruleset, was really solid.

From there, we hit North Market—my absolutely favorite lunch spot while in Columbus—where I swung by Barry’s NY Deli for a sandwich and some matzo ball soup. No pastrami this time, though—I was too early! Rather, I settled on a (still very tasty!) corned beef on rye, with their glorious deli mustard.

After lunch, I joined the Enigmatic Mr. Ebbs for some Stargate SG-1 action, with the Matinee Adventures group. While I was a little disappointed at the number of people around the table—there were 8 or 9 of us in on one game, the Savage Worlds system was able to handle the number of players, where the d20 rules did not. The GM was particularly solid, as well, as our team attempted to find the long-missing Major Cromwell on a barely-explored world. Our party was more than a little trigger-happy, though, leading to some rough times for yours truly, playing the only diplomat!

Dinner at Barley’s went quickly, before we had to prep for our first events of the year. Mine-—my first session of Survival of the Fittest—-was sold out, with a solid crew of gamers from Columbus and the surrounding area. They eagerly set about the task of hunting down Xanthippus Ral, only to have their party cohesiveness break down as they were surrounded by the Fydae Zombies. However, they jumped full-on into the PvP spirit, and went down in a blaze of glory! I'll admit, I was a little nervous when starting to run this game, being on the "big stage" and all, but it turned out to be a total blast, as the players really grabbed the intent of their characters.

For once, after I managed to pack up my minis and battlemat, I actually managed to head down to the “Big Bar on 2”—-the Hyatt’s own bar—-to hang out with El Willy, his wife, and Kain (of TableTop Gamers) and his wife. It’s been ages since we’ve had a chance to just sit down and shoot the breeze, so this was really a welcome change, and a much needed break to wind down the day with.

Tomorrow? The PlatinumChick finally arrives in town, EEE and I will root out some heretics in Dark Heresy, and I’ll have a glorious time checking out this year’s sold-out dealer hall! Pics are forthcoming, my lovelies! Stay tuned!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

In Which The Warlock Assesses His Schedule...

With Origins less than a week away, it's now that happy time to show off what I'll be doing during the week!

Last year's Origins, while a ton of fun, had a massive flaw for me. With few exceptions, I ended up playing mainly D&D, WEGS, and Call of Cthulhu. While I love all three--collectively, they make up my three favorite game systems--there is, as they say, "too much of a good thing". I actually ended up envying the PlatinumChick's schedule, which broke up her favorites with other cool games, like a Watchmen-based "Mutants and Masterminds" game.

This time around, though, I vowed to change it up a little! On the whole, I tried to limit myself to one board game and one rpg per day, in addition to the games that I'll be running myself. So, without further adieu....let's take a look!

Wednesday, June 23

The Stars are Right--#4984--9:00am-11:00am
I figured that if I'm going to start Origins right, it's got to be with some tentacled-goodness! Plus, TSaR is an Origins-award nominated game, from the eponymous Steve Jackson Games. I was really pleased with Cthulhu Dice (and have similar hopes for Zombie Dice), so this one should be a winner.

Matter of Time--#6794--1:00pm-5:00pm
The first convention game that I ever played in was a Stargate d20 game, at our first Origins. That game was utterly miserable. However, I have high hopes for this one. Will (the ManMan!) spent quite a bit of time converting SG-1 over to the Savage Worlds system, and it looks like he wasn't the only one with that idea. This one definitely has me excited.

Survival of the Fittest--#7085--7:00pm-11:00pm
An old favorite from WittCon VI, I'm excited to be running this one. Plus, even more exciting, it's sold out!

Thursday, June 24

Rescue of a Lifetime--#6895--9:00am-1:00am
As if I'm not going to get enough heretic-smashing fun, I joined a Dark Heresy game joined by the good folks at Amorphous Blob Games. This one's unique, though: you see, it's a two-table affair! This one should be interesting, no doubt.

Giant Settlers of Catan--#3977--2:00pm-4:00pm
Don't get your panties in a twist, fellow gamers. I'm not actually going to play this one. I joined this as I had thought that our WittKids would be joining it en masse, but such wasn't the case. Besides, I have some shopping to do in the Dealer Hall during this time!

WEGS Plume Mountain--#7197--7:00pm-11:00pm
After throwing down this module at both FOPCon and AnCon, it's ready for its Origins debut! Hopefully my dice will cooperate this time, Ctenmiir will stay out of the mud pit, and BiBBle won't go down like a punk! I still have slots for this one--come on out and Spante up!

Friday, June 25

Cosmic Encounters--#3523--10:00am-12:00 noon
I honestly have little to no information on this one. I know it's a board game, I know it's relatively new(-ish), and that it's based on an older board game which has since been revamped. Aside from that, I have no foreknowledge whatsoever. Surprise!

Sibilant Whispers--#6469--1:00pm-5:00pm
I've already noted my excitement for this 4e scenario in my last entry. Our dwarven clan is almost ready, complete with Hamish (my avenging paladin!), a mighty Invoker, the PlatinumChick's war-skald (a Bard, wielding a two-handed hammer!), and Karl's star-pact Warlock. Very exciting indeed!

Survival of the Fittest--#7084--7:00pm-11:00pm
See above, only this one still has slots! Come purge the unclean with us!

Saturday, June 26

The Clue of Cthulhu--#7111--9:00am-1:00pm
Earlier, I mentioned the difficulty of the PlatinumChick and I actually gaming together. Well, we decided to end that right quick. This game--run by our good friends at Rogue Cthulhu--will be our first one together!

I AM William Wallace--#6803--2:00pm-6:00pm
I know very little about the Might, Magic, and Lore system, but I couldn't pass up a chance to "kill the English" here. Bonus points, if I can get a hold of the actual Hamish, Wallace's hairy friend from the movie (and many of my D&D characters' namesake!).

WEGS Plume Mountain--#7196--7:00pm-11:00pm
See above, and Spante up some more! Slots still remain for this one, too!

Sunday, June 27

Attack of the Mutant--#4924--10:00am-12:00 noon
We decided to end out this year's Origins on a laid-back note, with a little bit of board-gaming. This one, a riff on the old '50s monster movies, should be a lot of fun...

Red Dragon Inn (Play with a Creator!)--#4571--1:00-3:00pm
Okay, so I had an ulterior motive on this one. I'd heard good things out of Slugfest Games' brainchild, so I've been wanting to give this a roll for a while, but being able to play with a creator is a unique experience. Plus, if this helps get me an in for "Dungeon Slam!"...all the better!


Well, cats and kittens, that's it! Come on out and see us in Columbus, starting next week!

Friday, June 26, 2009

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!)