In Which The Warlock Burns His Wicks at Both Ends...

I find myself situated in an odd position, my lovelies. A few months ago, I posted a review of John Wick’s article series “Play Dirty”, after Kat recommended it. Now, I knew that John Wick was a successful game designer—-Legend of Five Rings stands for itself, to say nothing of his other numerous credits—-but I did not know of the massive controversy that “Play Dirty” had apparently inspired in the gaming community at large. And now, over 10 years after its original publication, Wick’s article again seems to be raising eyebrows, with no less than 3 separate threads on RPG.net (as I type this, anyway) as well as a scathing review on The Hopeless Gamer (http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com).

Now, I’m hardly anywhere near the top of the heap in terms of gaming design or even in terms of games run. I’ve been lucky in my years of gaming to have played with some great people, to have started my own campus gaming club (and convention with it), and to design both unique modules and board games on my own. All this time, I’ve been happy to classify myself as a “Dirty GM”. I’ll readily admit, I have a reputation amongst the Wittenberg gaming community because of it, yet somehow my tables are always full (and often, there’s a ‘waiting list’ to play).

As a GM, I’ve enslaved my players’ characters to illithid and had them eradicate the monastery where they trained. I’ve had characters die, while in the Nine Hells, then convinced them into infernal pacts to return to life. I’ve had characters arrested and placed on trial (as mentioned in an earlier post) for killing foes that they viewed as legitimate adversaries. I’ve had characters trapped for nearly a month of game-sessions on a derelict ship infested with daemons, with nary a weapon between them. I’ve done numerous horrible things to characters, in the name of story…yet they keep coming back.

Why, you ask? Why subject a character to such torture? Why are you such a bad person, Mr. Warlock?

Well, the long and short of it is, in fact, the same reason why Wick’s advice burns so true.

One of the big reasons that people game is, in addition to tell a good impromptu story, to feel heroic. And, at their core, heroes face challenges. Massive challenges. Challenges that we, as ordinary mortals, could not hope to face. When we overcome those challenges, we feel heroic, we feel proud for our vicarious accomplishments, and we enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done. A “Dirty GM” is one that finds creative, distinct ways to challenge both his players’ characters and the players themselves.

The Hopeless Gamer contends this view: “Does this mean I've never felt challenged in an rpg? Not at all, when the rules allow it, and the GM plans for a good fight or challenge to overcome, I accept failure. That is, I accept failure when it's a result of dumb luck or my own poor decision-making. Failure because the GM tweaked the scenario and then railroads the outcome of the situation is a no-go.”

THG then continues, describing one of the tactics that Wick used to challenge a player who had been taking advantage of the “Dependent NPC” Disadvantage in one of his Champions games. The scenario starts as a standard one: a hated villain places a bomb at the top of a restaurant where the super, Malice, and her supers-hating grandma are eating lunch. The twist is, of course, that the bomb is a diversion, leading to a fight with the villain, who paralyzes Malice, unmasks her, and sends her crashing through the restaurant’s skylight down in front of Grandma, who has a heart attack (and dies) due to the sheer shock of the situation.

In that example, Wick did nothing that was even reasonably outside of his jurisdiction as a GM. Combat between his villain and Malice was rolled, with her failing. As Dependent NPC is a Disadvantage, Wick was well within his rights to place Grandma in peril. Malice’s character—her decision, mind you—did not clear the restaurant, nor did she go save Grandma…instead, she went off to fight the villain; a fight that she lost fair and square. The villain’s actions after her paralysis were simply the icing on the cake of Jefferson Carter’s master plan. Wick did not, as THG implies, "doctor the scenario" or rig the dice. He did, however, stack the deck in the villain's favor, but he did so the way the player themselves requested, by taking the Disadvantage in the first place.

And, lest we forget, Malice “retired” after this scenario. Note the terminology here. Malice retired, not the player. Were I in Malice’s shoes, I’d have probably retired as well, but note that the player stayed. In fact, the player came back for more…particularly at the very end, as Malice’s alter-ego returned to place mastermind Jefferson Carter on trial.

I find it interesting that THG and his group are fans of Icons, particularly, since Icons has a built-in methodology to take advantage of players’ weak points by Compelling the Challenges that a player has chosen, with only Determination points in recompense. In fact, Icons recommends that GMs “compel those things and bring them into the game…since it helps to keep the game more fast-paced, creative, and exciting” (Kenson et al 92). In fact, the game goes so far as to state that compelling a weakness “lets the GM inflict pretty much any effect short of killing the hero outright” and suggests that this sort of compel should be used to take away powers, handicap characters, and expose them to near-death experiences (Kenson et al 77). Can a GM be a jerk for doing so? Yes, if it occurs in every session, time after time. Is a GM “Dirty” for using such a thing? Not necessarily.

A Challenge in Icons could be, for some poor GMs, license to abuse his players. However, Wick’s advice isn’t to do so. Rather, he recommends taking these items into account and using them judiciously. A Challenge isn’t meant to be taken lightly—rather, it’s meant to be something for the player to overcome. As Wick writes in Episode 2: The Return of Jefferson Carter, “The point here should be obvious. Heroes, real heroes, are willing to pay any cost to rid the world of its Jefferson Carters. Any cost at all. I only told you about the characters who failed, who lost resolve…I was testing them. Pushing them…Because a hero isn’t measured by how many times he gets knocked down, he’s measured by how many times he gets back up” (Wick 31).

Wick continues, as per these challenges: “The whole point of mythology is to teach lessons that cannot be communicated any other way. Roleplaying is living myth. We aren’t hearing the heroes’ trials, we are the hero. ..pain is what pushes us, We don’t grow without pain. We don’t evolve without pain. We don’t learn without pain. If nobody ever knocked us down, we wouldn’t know the bliss of getting back up” (Wick 38).

Two other examples seem to continue to come up, in discussion of Wick’s piece: Wick’s use of Luck and Immunity powers. I’ll deal with each of these individually.
Admittedly, Wick does stereotype players who take Luck as an advantage, stating that they “tend to be a little self-centered. After all, they would rather spend points on something that will get them out of trouble, rather than something that would compliment or aid the group” (Wick 15). However, his suggestion of “get the group in trouble” is a perfectly valid one. It’s, in fact, the premise of nearly every RPG out there—a group works together to overcome a challenge.

However, if a character chooses to avoid working as a group, they’re essentially asking to take on the challenges on their own. Playing ‘by-the-book,’ the luck-based player not only decries the other players—“perhaps one of his powers could have countered the effect? If he had stayed behind, he’d have been able to help them out”—and chooses to run-and-gun by himself—“Let’s see him Luck his way out of a combined total of 1,500 points of hard hitting villains” (Wick 16).

If a character is willing to take on those in-game consequences, all of which are realistic circumstances, then there shouldn’t be a problem. Further, it’s legitimate in-game. Many rail against this example, saying that “You didn’t make the character Lucky—you made him Unlucky, because now he’s up against all of those other forces!” To the contrary, the character’s Luck was applied to exactly what the character wanted it to be. Could a random dice roll have been applied to which side of the blast the character ended on, so that there might be a chance that he wasn’t on the same side as the villains? Sure, but it doesn’t change the narrative end result. At the end of the day, his buddies get fried and the villains focus on the outlier.

I’ll readily admit, I thought I had a much harder time defending Wick’s “Immunity” example, if for no other reason than it’s so short. Literally, the sample that he provides is a total of 2 paragraphs. To be honest, that alone speaks of people reading too much into it. But then, I realized something. Incurable, superhuman-only virus? No cure, aside from one that takes away powers? This one wasn’t Wick’s idea at all—this is an adaptation of The Legacy Virus storyline from the X-Men! And, of course, in the comic, Colossus (a character with Immunity if there ever was one) sacrifices himself to make a cure available to everyone.

There’s not an RPG out there that doesn’t say, somewhere in its GMing section that “Story trumps rules.” GMs are expected to come up with ideas that are both out of the book and out of the box to challenge their players. In this case, it’s obviously a major plot point, but it also speaks to the player’s endurance. Did the player change his character, to reflect the changes in him due to Carter’s virus? Did he undergo training with other heroes, to take on a new superhero identity? No…he chose to walk away, unpowered and cowed, rather than forge on. No player should be so locked-into their own character, as to not want to change to reflect a major narrative event. That’s not bad GMing—that’s being a bad sport as a player.

I will admit that John Wick got one major thing wrong. On RPG.net, he mentions that the first Episode of “Play Dirty” is emblematic of the rest of the article. I beg to differ. You see, I find that a great gulf exists between those who read only the first Episode and those who read the full series. Those who read only that first Episode lose context and miss out on the redemptive message on the resilience of both heroes and the players that come around the table. They miss out on the justification for “underhanded” tactics, particularly as they apply to experienced players (who like to think that they’ve ‘seen it all’). They miss out on the glorious Episode 5, on how to narrate combat, making fights feel real. They miss out on Episode 7, which rips apart three massive Player Assumptions which, when inverted, make for games that none will ever forget. They miss Episode 10, which is geared specifically towards players. And worse, they miss Episode 11, which hits home the emotional point that Wick builds upon through the entirety of the series: that games are capable of changing people, just like his friend “Happy Fun Ball.”

The people that read the full article, though, either become converts (likes yours truly), or at least have their own perspectives on gaming challenged. In this case particularly, you can’t judge the book by its first Episode, much less the cover.

I suppose I’ll leave off with the words of another Wick—Larry Wickman, my pseudo-boss and author of WEGS. WEGS is, at its core, a decidedly adversarial game. The Kreator/Minion Master in WEGS is a role designed to be like a casino boss, smiling to the players and chit-chatting, as he pulls away their stack of chips. Larry sums this the core of “Play Dirty” perfectly, in the opening pages of the WEGS Old Skool Redux:

In any given game, minions will be vanquished, Arks will be lost to the Spheres, and kingdoms may crumble. All this may come to pass routinely during the course of great adventure. As long as the players play their parts and do their best to immerse themselves in this fantastic experience, they capture the essence of the game. That’s the biggest win of all. (Wickman 4)

The best stories out of gaming come out of the adversity of heroes. To pull the punches of the forces of evil, to hold back on providing a true threat to the characters due to the misguided believe that it’s “not fair” to target the players or build in story-driven choices that drastically affect their characters….to do any of these robs the characters of their heroic destiny. “They want to think that last die roll was the luckiest one they ever made. They want to feel that their characters’ lives were hanging in the balance, ready to fall like a pin hanging on the edge of a precipice. That’s what players want. And that’s what a Dirty GM gives them” (Wick 22).

The Warlock's Review: "ICONS--Superpowered Roleplaying" (A Playtest Review)

I've been excited to do this entry since first hearing of Icons, back in April. However, I only recently received my hard-copy of the rules, so I held off. Besides, I had more than enough to blog about, with all of the chaos of Origins! But, with the madness of the Big O behind us, I can finally get down to brass tacks.

Icons is the brainchild of Steve Kenson, the lead designer on Mutants and Masterminds, and its forthcoming expansion, DC Adventures. Upon looking at the Icons rulebook, it immediately becomes apparant that Kenson is a guy that knows his capes. The cover is a pastiche of several send-ups of classic heroes, swinging into action, while the book itself looks and feels like a comics trade paperback. Kudos are especially due for artist Dan Houser and layout man Gareth-Michael Skarka.

So, on the past weekend, six of the Witt-Gamers pulled out their dice to give
Icons a whirl through the sample adventure: "The Wages of Sin!" To say the least, we were not disappointed.

Icons relies upon random character generation, which may not be to everyone's taste. While rules are given for "point-buy" char-gen, it's strongly encouraged for players to throw down their d6s and see what comes up. Our group came up with the following:

Doctor Ohm: Intellectual genius extraordinaire and master of electricity. (Powers: Gadget Wizardry--replicates Electricity Control and Resistance: Electricity)

Fast Food Frenzy: Superstar celebrity chef and mind-control maven, FFF's brute strength is only further augmented by his legendary Sammich Strike! (Powers: Mind Control and Strike)

RoboRoo: A bionic kangaroo, programmed only for truth, justice, and the Australian way! (Powers: Fast Attack, Leaping, and Animal Control--Marsupials)

Murphy's Law: The unluckiest person ever to stay alive! (Powers: Probability Control--Bad Luck and Absorbtion--Kinetic Energy)

The Grey Lady: The victim of a seance gone wrong, she walks the line between life and death. (Powers: Mind Shield, Life Support, Super Senses)

Out of the characters, Doctor Ohm was hands down the most powerful. Ending up with Wizardry at a power level of 10 (as high as it goes!), he was able to duplicate nearly anything that anyone else at the table could do. While the player didn't abuse this level of power, I did have to adjust a few things in the adventure to keep him from breaking open the plot. I did feel bad for The Grey Lady's player, though. Her stats were abysmally low, and she had almost no combat ability and very little health. I didn't realize until later that the system encourages re-rolls for players who roll a power-set that is so close to identical. Life and learn, I suppose.

As a gamer disillusioned by the complexity of most supers-game rules, Icons was really a breath of fresh air, rules-wise. Based in part upon the FATE system, Icons uses a d6-d6 system, which provides a modifier to one of its six base stats. Want to punch someone? Roll d6-d6 to get a modifier to your Prowess stat. Exceed the mook's Coordination stat (his ability to dodge and the like), and you hit. Succeed by a certain margin, and you can stun him or even send him flying across the street.

The simplicity of the dice mechanic definitely aided my group in terms of roleplaying. While we're a rowdy lot to start with, the ability for players to narrate their own actions and describe their own combat maneuvers allows for a great deal of flexibility. Most of my group had a blast with this, but Fast Food Frenzy's player was probably the most imaginative, slinging explosive sandwiches against Doctor Zin's ninja mooks.

What really appealled to my group the most were the ideas of Aspects and Challenges, especially as they concern Determination. Ever wonder how Captain America can hang with Thor and Iron Man? Determination's the answer, at least as it applies to Icons. Since the player of Murphy's Law had Probability Control as a power, she received a huge pool of Determination, which she could use to alter the plot, providing horrible luck for her foes. Determination has a ton of uses in Icons, but my players seemed most interested in performing Power Stunts (offbeat uses of their powers) and in creating RetCons (changing the plot to add in or alter minor elements).

In using Determination, I'd definitely recommend using poker chips or some other method of tactilely representing the points. We began the game without said chips, and few people, even Murphy's Law, used Determination at all. After doling out the chips, Determination came in droves.

The thing that really put Icons over the top for me was the simplicity. My group, knowing nothing of the rules (or even of its FATE-based origins), were able to make characters, get a handle on the rules, and play through the sample adventure in 4 hours total. That really says a lot about the system itself. While the book itself doesn't go into much detail about specifics--you won't find the damage stats for a sword or a pistol, you won't find how far someone can run in a round--it leaves such things within the realm of the GM.

However, such simplicity can be a double-edged sword. You see, there's no "Initiative" system in Icons. Instead, I ported in a version of Savage Worlds' system, using playing cards to determine turn order. Luckily enough, that worked well for us, as we were all pretty familiar with SW. Further, while there are stats for "mooks" in the core-book, the stats are left intentionally generic, so that they can be used in multiple ways.

Overall, Icons is the sort of superhero game that really appeals to my table. It's quick to pick up, quick around the table, and allows for massive variety, even within "standard" power sets. While some may not care for the random character generation or the lack of specifics in certain aspects, Icons is well worth the sticker price in all aspects.

(Icons is published by Adament Entertainment, and was created by Steve Kenson, Gareth-Michael Skarka, Walt Ciechanowski, and Morgan Davie. Icons retails for $29.95 USD.)

In Which The Warlock Shows Off His Swag!

One of the best things about the Big O has always been the swag that we bring home, time after time. As much as I love my game room...we're already filling it up, and this trip didn't help that situation at all!

The Swag from Origins 2010

A few comments:

Wild Cards and Icons: While I had actually pre-ordered Icons before Origins, my hard copy didn't arrive until just afterwards. But, Karl's birthday present for me--a copy of Wild Cards, which he won while at Origins, really will make it interesting. I was totally unfamiliar with George R.R. Martin's serial-novelization, but the universe of Wild Cards is a really unique one, particularly for low-powered yet four-color action. I'm looking forward to giving this one a run this weekend!

Steve Jackson 3/$10 Table: Cardboard Heroes Castles and Valor & Snarl: Each year, I make a point of hitting the SJGames table, to pick through their overstock. Since I've been investing in Dungeon Tiles, the Cardboard Heroes Castles were a no brainer this time around. I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to throw down a fully 3d siege! As for the dragons...well, I just couldn't beat the price!

Delta Green: Of all of the Call of Cthulhu settings and scenarios, I absolutely love the Cold War-style paranoia of Delta Green. While the sourcebooks have been hard to get a hold of, the Big O always serves as a great place to find them. Eyes Only was on sale this year, and I found the Cthulhu Live version tucked away on a discount bin! Can't beat that one!

WEGS Redux and WEGS: Dice Rule! Ah, yes! The fruits of my labor! You see, after working for El Willy, editing his text since last July, it was absolutely a blast to see these in print. Plus, I was able to grab up #88 of the first print run on each book--the best Good Shot there is! :D

Miniature Swag from Origins

Like I said, the PlatinumChick and I picked up a ton of minis! She has a propensity to pick up half-naked warrior-women, while I skew more towards monsters (since I GM so often) and towards dwarves (because I like dwarves!). I'm particularly proud, though, of the two mages I found on the discount bin, and the Ptolus Pistoleer that I picked up for $1.50.

Another Craig T. Nelson

And, best of all, I found another Craig T. Nelson mini! Actually, truth be told, I found three: two of which I gave to EEE and L-Train to enjoy. Go Flesh Gordon, go!

Our dwarves, fresh from Sibilant Whispers

Naturally, I gave out the minis to The Professor, Chaotic Frederick, and Karl that belonged to them, but the PlatinumChick's and mine will look great on our mantle. Here's for hoping that I can get them painted sometime soon!

SunnyVale Acres--Draft I

Oh, and what's this? This would be a prototype for a certain SunnyVale Acres board game, about to hit playtesting. I'll keep you posted on the gory details!

In Which The Warlock Puts the Wraps on Origins 2010...

Man, oh man! I'm almost glad for the fact that things are starting to calm down a little now, with both Origins and the 4th of July weekend behind me. While both were a blast, they aren't exactly "relaxing" endeavors by any stretch!

I had intended on pumping out this entry last week, but didn't get the chance, as I was unpacking all of our swag (to be detailed in tomorrow's entry!) and re-packing for my first trip back to Pennsylvania since Thanksgiving. Plus, I had something else on my mind...more on that in a bit, though!

On our final day at Origins, Karl, the PlatinumChick and I ended up skipping Attack of the Mutant in favor of a little extra sleep, but did manage to wake up in time for a trip through Red Dragon Inn with the amicable Geoff, from Slugfest Games. Little did we know, though, that Geoff is, in fact, their head-gaming-guru. Spiffy, indeed!

I'd heard good things about RDI before, but none of us had any experience with it. Lucky for us, the rules were quick for us to pick up--even with us playing preview classes with the soon-to-be-released second expansion pack! I took up with the Troll Alchemist, while Karl and the PlatinumChick took on the Pixie and the Gnome Artificer, respectively. By the end of the game, Karl was able to snatch away victory from another of the players--another Dayton native, no less!--then rolled a Natural 20 on his swag check, walking away from the table with a brand-new board game!

Even nicer about this, I got to talk to Geoff a little about submissions and the like. While he wasn't that interested in Dungeon Slam!, the idea behind SunnyVale Acres seemed to really intregue him. With any luck, I might just have a buyer for SV Acres, once I get some playtesting in!

From there, we set out for one last go-round in the Dealer Hall, with the PlatinumChick making her yearly mini purchases. Man, if nothing else, we walked away with a ton of minis! That'll all be in the swag rundown pics, coming tomorrow.

After saying our goodbyes to El Willy and his crew, we headed off for a brief lunch at BD's...only to see Willy the 2 and Donnie once more! We palled around for a while over Mongolian Barbeque, then split up, heading back towards Dayton.

On the trip home, though, I got to thinking, as I usually do after our yearly geek-pilgrimage...

• Running Games at Origins is FUN—No, really! I had a blast running players through Survival of the Fittest, and despite my horrid dice luck in WEGS Plume Mountain, the game was a laugh riot. I’m actually contemplating running 6 games, rather than 4, next year.

• Minis are Heavy!—Ugh. This was the one downside about running games that were miniatures-heavy. Between my maps, minis, dungeon tiles, and more…that was a load. I’m really not sure how EEE managed to survive, carting his massive Ninja Nuttiness castle back and forth.

• Anything with Cthulhu in the name sells—This one blew my mind. EEE’s CthulhuTech games all sold out. The PlatinumChick’s CoC games…all sell-outs. As I mentioned to some of my WEGS players, I’m thinking about writing a new scenario: “WEGS + Cthulhu = WEGSthulhu!”. I’m pretty sure that I’ll sell that one out next year!

• There are a TON of games I want to run—This is a big one. I came away from Origins with lots of ideas, ranging from a Wild West-era Cthulhian cattle-drive, to a horrific trip through Castle Glamis (of MacBeth fame), to an Icons version of “The Near Orbit Mass Driver Blues”. As always, once I get them written up, I’ll be test running them at the various conventions around Dayton.

• This year’s WittCon should be a blast—I had a ton of players in my games from the Columbus/Cincinnati/Dayton area, all of whom seemed to show some real interest in a local convention. Plus, I was able to get some information from a Cincinnati-area game store, which sells Ral Partha miniatures, especially the “bulk” minis, sold by the ounce. With a solid core of gamers and a lot of great prospects for support on the horizon, this year’s WittCon may be the biggest one yet!

The Warlock's Origins 2010 "Live" Blog--Saturday

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!

Man, oh man! Origins 2010 hit its WittWEGGin’ climax with a bang, as we headed out for games in the early morning after a late Friday night. Karl was up even earlier than the PlatinumChick and I, as he’s been playing in an ongoing SPARKS Star Wars d6 game. The PlatinumChick and I, though, got to indulge in a rare opportunity.

You see, while we’re both gaming fanatics, we rarely (if ever!) get to play with one another! Usually one of us, if not both of us, are GMing, whether it’s D&D, Call of Cthulhu, or some other system. In fact, it occurred to me as we were scheduling for this year that we’ve never played Call of Cthulhu together before at all!
That’s since changed. Thanks to the noble folks at Rogue Cthulhu, particularly our glorious GM Justine, we joined The Clue of Cthulhu: a scenario based around the board game-turned-movie “Clue”. Deciding to leave my fate up to the dice I rolled randomly…and took on the role of Mrs. Peacock for the duration. The PlatinumChick decided upon Ms. White, who turned out to be a “black widow,” killing her husbands for insurance money. A disgraced possible-Communist opera singer, I started off in the best disguise I could think of: a gruff, Bronx-style street mama that sounded of emphysema. Only when my secret was revealed did I switch a prim, proper, articulate 1920s dame.

The game was an utter blast. Everyone at the table was deep in character, including a fellow named Derek, who I had met twice earlier…both in Stargate Savage Worlds and in Rescue of a Lifetime. Apparently we were on the same wavelength when scheduling!

After a quick lunch, the PlatinumChick and I managed to score probably the biggest win of the whole convention. For the last 4 years, we’ve been trying to finagle a room at the Drury Inn and Suites, which adjoins to the Convention Center food court. While we’ve stayed at the Hyatt most years (and the Mariott down the street last year), we’ve been wanting to find somewhere that we can fit 5-8 people in a room comfortably. Finally, finally, finally…we snagged a suite for next year’s Origins! The WittKids will be living in style!

But, by that point, I was about to head off to my next game, I AM William Wallace: a send-up of “Braveheart”, using the rules from Might, Magic and Lore. I wasn’t familiar with this system, but the staff was really friendly and helpful. Plus, it was nice to be able to talk shop with other designers (including the creator!) as we played the game. Who knows, maybe they’ll be interested in hiring on a certain platinum-coated freelance editor?!

Again, a quick meal (with Minnesota Steve, one of the other WEGSHogz!), our group locked and loaded for our last set of games. This time around, WEGS Plume Mountain was sitting with a full table, including the infamous WEGSHog, Kim the Elf Warrior! While several newbies were in the fray, Kim and Steve were great in helping out with teaching the rules and giving them pointers as they headed into Keraptis’ dungeon.

However, I must say…my dice again betrayed me. The heroes escaped nearly unscathed, with but a single NDE between them! Even worse, the dice were on their side! Ctenmiir took his daily nose-dive into the boiling mud, BiBBle survived a little longer than normal (but still got punked), and the players rolled no less than 3 Wicked Successes (01!) in 4 rolls! Madness!

It was equally great to hear that the other WittKids’ games went off well. The PlatinumChick’s If Train A Leaves at Midnight game sold out, with her hosting the aforementioned Rogue Justine and her father. EEE had a blast with Who Wants to be a Mi-Go? and L-train’s tac-squad took out zombies in Zombie Graveyard. Nearly all of our events went off without a hitch, which was fantastic, and word is slowly spreading about little Wittenberg and its’ mighty gaming community! WEGSVangelize, friends and neighbors!

With one more day in our yearly geek-fest, we’re going out with a bang! Tomorrow brings another chance to play with a creator with Red Dragon Inn and hitting the dealer room one last time before heading back home. Game on, fellow geeks!

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

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!


Another day of Origins has already passed us by, and it’s been a glorious run so far! Now to head towards finishing the con with a bang!

Today started with some Cosmic Encounters, as hosted by Game Base 7. GB7 is Fantasy Flight Games’ happy demo-team and, while I can’t really complain about the service, the youth and relative inexperience of the team members is a little concerning. While Zoe, our GM, was quality, many of the others were somewhat immature and not very experienced on the games they were running.

Cosmic Encounters was quality, though I’m not sure it’s something I’ll pick up personally. The premise is simple—your alien race must conquer the planets across the galaxy by wheeling, dealing, and terminating with mass prejudice. Some rules, however, were a little fiddly, and the GM’s race was incredibly overpowered in comparison to some of ours.

Afterwards, it was time to gather our dwarven clan and head off to the RPGA room. This was a real treat, as it was in the brand-new Battelle Hall ballroom. Gorgeous scenery and locale made for a quality setting for what turned out to be a solid game. The group really had fun, and we picked up Chaotic Fred and The Professor just in time for it.

The biggest problem I had with Sibilant Whispers was not the game, the GM, or the RPGA. Rather, it was my dice! Ugh, once again, the Pwn Andy rule was in effect. While the first encounter went well, I spent most of the second encounter dominated and floating through the Elemental Chaos, and most of the third stunned. I hang my head in shame—once again, my dice fail me. Jules, however, won the MVP award and, with it, a free set of GameScience dice courtesy of GAMA. Woot!

After another quality dinner at the Japanese Steak House (man, we eat well in Columbus!), we got ready to set up our games for the evening. Friday brought us another round of Survival of the Fittest. I was a little worried about this game, as I had thought that only 2 people had registered for it. To my excitement, 5 showed up—more than enough to run, and run well. After something of a slow start, the players really started rolling as they explored Xanthippus Ral’s swamp-borne abode. Unfortunately for them, their troubles were only starting!

One of the nice things today was being able to hang out with some of the other WittKids who have come in for the weekend. BLoff, Chaotic Fred, and The Professor are some of the better gamers around, so it’s nice to be able to share in the spectacle with them, as well as with the new blood. Great times, indeed.

But, with two more days of hot gaming action, I’m not done yet!! Game on!!!

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

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!

I must say, I’m glad that today was a little slower than yesterday, or else I’d definitely be wiped for this weekend. Luckily for yours truly, fellow gamers, your friendly neighborhood Warlock took a slightly easier schedule for today, which let me relax a little and enjoy the actual convention itself.

The Enigmatic Mr. Ebbs and I started off the day on the right side of the bed, heading off to hunt down some heretics in Rescue of a Lifetime, Part I. There was a short moment of drama as EEE’s badge went missing, but the GAMA staff was quick to give him an assist, getting him a replacement. Lucky for him, he had his tickets still, which served as proof that he had paid for his badge in the first place.
If it’s one great thing that I can depend on, it’s the quality and the hilarity coming from Amorphous Blob Games. GM Rich—who had GMed our previous forays into the Calixis Sector—took us through another hearty adventures, with my Arbitrator Moric drinking everything in sight and EEE’s psychotic Psyker Bazziti laying down flame in the name of the Emperor.

EEE actually ended up being honored with the MVP of the session, gaining a set of custom dice, with yours truly picking up the Origins swag. You see, all of the Origins events this year—in honor of the 35th anniversary of Origins—have full prize support. Later in the day, I swung by the RPG Headquarters and was allowed to roll for my prize: a set of GameScience precision dice. Not bad at all!

As I mentioned in my previous schedule, I dropped my previously-scheduled Giant Settlers of Catan game in favor of some extra time in the dealer hall. This was a pretty prudent decision on my part, as I had quite a bit of shopping to do. After picking up the necessary minis for tomorrow’s Sibilant Whispers RPGA game and a set of minis for Karl’s D&D game, I swung by the WEGS booth to hang with their crew for a tick. Naturally, I also made some time to check out the other vendors, talk to the Con on the Cob people about possibly doing some demos for them, and hit the Steve Jackson Games booth to pick up Delta Green: Eyes Only as well as to raid their 3 for $10 table. Naturally, though, I’ll cover all of the swag in my post-Origins report!

After picking up the PlatinumChick and finding our way for a quick dinner at Buca di Beppo, we headed out for our evening games. On the plus side, EEE, L-Train, and Karl all sold out of their games! On the downside, though, I was left with a mere one player: the old school WEGSHog Minnesota Steve, with whom I chatted for a while, before he joined Karl’s game. While I was left out in the cold, it was exciting to see the rest of the WittCrew fill the seats so early in the con. I snapped some pictures before heading up with the PlatinumChick for a relaxing evening of reading and movies.

With a full slate on deck tomorrow—Cosmic Encounters in the morning, Sibilant Whispers in the afternoon, and another venture into Survival of the Fittest tomorrow, I’m sure to be picking up the pace tomorrow. As always, I’ll keep you posted on the geeky goings-on!

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!

In Which The Warlock is Back!

Another Origins has come and gone, my lovelies, and it's been one heck of a ride.

As I'm sitting here, recovering from all of the awesome gaming, I'm going to take tonight catch my breath and relax, and unpack all of our glorious swag.

This week, stay tuned for my "pseudo-live" entries, done after each night of our Origins experience. Then, keep your eyes peeled for my post-con wrap up and swag report. And don't forget the pictures! They're coming, as soon as I can get them uploaded!

Cheers, all!

In Which The Warlock Supports Some Reapers...

As I'm busy packing for Origins 2010, I wanted to set aside a little time to show off minis I'm looking at picking up for our RPGA game. With clan united behind axe and hammer, we shall prevail!!

The PlatinumChick's mighty war-skald!

The Professor's wrathful Invoker!

Chaotic Frederick's furious Avenger!

Karl's starry-eyed Warlock!

Your friendly neighborhood Warlock's very own Hamish, Paladin of Amuanator!

All of these, naturally, are from Reaper Miniatures (all rights reserved, and all that jazz). Hopefully, I can find them all! :D

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!

In Which The Warlock Delves Deep...

I've come to the realization that, somewhat unduly, I tend to rag on the RPGA more than I really should. While the RPGA doesn't typically interest me, it does get a lot of gamers together, and supports the hobby in a way that no other organization really does. Plus, the support it's given by WotC really aids in conventions, both large and small.

For once, though, the RPGA has piqued my interest--this year's Origins Game Fair.

You see, in our group, we rarely (if ever) get to actually play together. Sure, we play RPGs, but one of us (usually myself, Fred, or the PlatinumChick) act as the GM. That means that someone inevitably gets left out of the game in at least one aspect.

But, at Origins, if we have someone else run game...we can actually play together!

So, we signed up for a paragon-tier RPGA game--"Sibilant Whispers", which has something to do with a "mad warlock's prophecy in the East Rift". Thanks to the RPGA's guidelines for character generation, we're able to bring our own characters to the table, fresh from the DDI Character Builder.

The question was, though, what should we run? Then, as we e-mailed back and forth, it struck me:

an all-dwarf party! A clan!

I've never done something like this before. I've seen the possibilities for it on RPG.net and a few other message boards, but I'd never even seen the results of running a one-race party, all of whom are related.

As such, I've been busy (in amongst packing, getting scenarios finalized, and prepping the house for our yearly sojourn) putting together our characters. I've put the finishing touches on my own: Hamish, son of Harrigan--a Dwarf Paladin of Amaunator. With waraxe in hand, he's ready to lay down some holy justice!

In Which The Warlock Rants Just a Little Bit...

This is going to sound like heresy to some of my gaming friends, particularly in the Springfield area. Really, this is going to sound like heresy to the PlatinumChick even, as it's going to sound a little off-putting, even though it fits.

I, your friendly neighborhood Warlock, can't stand EuroGames.

By EuroGames, I'm referring to the genre of board games that have been coming out of Europe for the past decade or more, which include "Settlers of Catan", "Carcassonne", and "Galaxy Truckers". U.S. developers and the like have been creating these as well, with games like "Kingsburg" and the like. Eurogames are epitomized by their 'friendly' nature--they're built for the family and the like to sit around and kibitz. They're rarely competitive, because people are only rarely "knocked out" of the gameplay. They're rarely involved, because they're meant for a whole family to play, which means that they tend to be unfocused.

They bore me. To tears.

The passive agressive nature of conflict in these games aggravates me beyond belief. Even the most aggressive PvP player in "Settlers of Catan" can only build from their own starting position, and only pursue other players with The Robber when the dice allow. Strategy isn't involved--it's pure dice luck, as you're more focused on building up your own cities.

"Kingsburg" is a really killer in that nature. For the entirety of the game, you have no contact with the other players, aside from placing your dice. And, even then, the most aggressive that you can get is placing your dice in a space that another desires.

That's miserable. That's sad.

Conflict is, and must be, at the root of all games. It's human nature to want to win, and to use our wits (and other resources) to do it. When a game removes that conflict, it becomes nothing more than a table-piece--something to decorate your room with.

Without conflict, what's the point?

As I set out on the 5th (and hopefully submission!) draft of "Dungeon Slam!", I've been keeping this idea deeply in mind. "DS" has really become something different than everything out there. At every level of the game--from start to finish, and from high to low powered--there are ways to interfere with other players. Even a freshly dead, weakened character can make the life of a fully beefed-out champion into a living hell.

Smirk and Dagger Games have always done a great job with this, as have a few other companies, such as Fantasy Flight. Of course, Steve Jackson's "Munchkin" series emphasizes this philosophy, but it's a true rarity in a sea of Euro-trash. Most uniquely, "Arkham Horror" (and games of its ilk, like "Fury of Dracula") include conflict, but rather force the players to group together, as they attempt to defeat the game itself. Conflict remains, whereas games like "Settlers" leave me wanting.

Alack, alas, fellow gamers...a great void exists for us cut-throat bastards, who want nothing more than to stab their brethren in the back, betray them in underhanded manners, and break their words. With any luck, "Dungeon Slam!" and its follower "SunnyVale Acres" will break new/old ground in the gaming world!

In Which The Warlock Speaks on AnCon...

In our ongoing efforts to bring the Wittenberg style of gaming to other conventions, L-Train, the Enigmatic Mr. Ebbs, the PlatinumChick and I headed out for a semi-local convention last weekend: AnCon 2010, in Hudson, OH. I had heard good things about AnCon from several sources, and was even further encouraged to hear that it was Amorphous Blob’s “home convention”. I’ve always enjoyed AB Games’ selections at Origins, so I was happy to be joining them again for a weekend.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that AnCon was really a great experience. In fact, it was somewhat underwhelming.

We arrived on Friday to a bustling hotel. After picking up our badges, we headed to our room to await word from our old friend Nick and his fiancée, Chaotic Lauryn. Thumbing through the on-site book, we immediately took notice of what became a hallmark for our entire weekend: a whole slew of typos and errors.

You see, we arrived at AnCon locked and loaded with 3 sessions of games each—I had prepped WEGS demos (complete with free prize support from El Willy!), while EEE, L-Train, and PlatinumChick brought CthulhuTech, d20 Zombies, and Call of Cthulhu respectively. I had personally done the write-ups for all of our games, pulling them from previous WittCon and Origins descriptions, proofing them as I went. The write-ups in the on-site book, though? They were a train wreck, with numerous misspelling and the like. Wittenberg was misspelled each time, being spelled “Whittenebreg”. Seriously, guys? For a comped badge, I’d have edited the book myself.

The next day, we set out for our first games, arriving early so that we could check out the Dealer Hall and perhaps jump into one of the many WotC Dungeon Delves that were going on. Believe it or not, I actually had fun with this one. Rare is the time that all of us actually get to play D&D together—usually, at least one of us is the GM, so we can’t all pull a character and just run through an adventure.
After the Delver, we headed out for our first games. Or, rather, game. Singular.

Only Jules’ “Welcome to Zendik Farms” game had any players whatsoever during the first session. Both L-Train and I were left in the cold, while EEE had a pair, which quickly left, as they were apparently hung over from the previous evening’s festivities. After an hour-long palaver with Dave Radzik—the AnCon organizer—I put away the Copper Pot and rejoined our group.

We decided upon a demo of Blitz Jager—a space-based dogfighting game that was still in playtest. Unfortunately, Blitz Jager was something of a dud. In less than an hour, it became infinitely apparently that there were massive balance issues between the space “factions” and that actual dogfighting was nigh-impossible. You had to practically be on top of your foe in order to deal damage to them! Some ‘dogfighting’, right? Disappointed with Blitz Jager, we waited for Jules to finish her trek through Cthulhu territory to grab some food.

That evening, I had been looking forward to running a group through Dingbitt’s Dunge-o’-DOOM—the quintessential WEGS dungeon crawl. I had 4 people signed up for it, only to arrive back to see that all four had cancelled! Hell’s bells, I thought! What was the point? I did manage to scrounge up three players, who joined EEE, L-Train and Emily in the dungeon. However, that meant dropping both EEE’s and L-Train’s games, for whom no players showed up.

The next day brought with it much of the same. While PlatinumChick’s game had players on deck, she was feeling under the weather, so the players joined EEE’s game. I was just about to pack up my WEGSing materials, when an interesting thing occurred.

One of the con organizers came by with his three kids. Apparently, he had attempted to get them into one of the WotC Dungeon Delves, but both of the coordinators were running games. Looking for an easy-to-learn, dungeon-crawling game, he thought that WEGS might fit the bill. As such, I passed out the Ark cards and L-Train joined me in initiating the youngest group of WEGSHogz—two pre-teen girls and their 9 year old brother.

Y’know, I had thought that I might have a hard time with the whole thing, but the teaching background tends to help. L-Train took the little brother under his wing, while I focused on the two young ladies. With two Warriors, a Ranger, and L-Train’s Gnobbit Trickster in tow, they headed deep into White Plume Mountain…where they handed my dice to me on a platter.

Let’s do the math here: 5 (on the Damage Die) + 2 (bonus from Vagary’s Discretion) x 7 (Ranger Strength) + 6 (6/66 Good Shot) + 4 (Ranger Strength Up) = 7 x 17 Wounds! That’s 119 Wounds! In one bloody hit! In the words of our 9-year-old “ninja”… “BiBBle bits everywhere!”

We headed home shortly after our two games ended. L-Train and I had enough time for me slip into the Dealer Hall once more to pick up some Call of Cthulhu minis—including a Dunwich Horror set, which I’ll be reporting on later.

Overall, I can’t even say that I had a fun time at AnCon. We had brought 12 games to Akron, only to have less than half of them go off and, even then, only because our own gamers jumped in to fill seats. The people at the Reg Desk often seemed confused at what was going on, and attendance seemed really sparse for the number of events going on.

I suppose a fitting analogy for it all might be the Clarion Inn’s own breakfast. As AnCon GMs, we were given passes for a free hot breakfast buffet each morning. It was a great perk, I thought, as we went to the breakfast on Saturday. That is, until we got there. Service was lousy, it took over half an hour for us to get seated, and we didn’t even get drinks till the end of the meal. We still went Sunday, but it was no better. Just as with the breakfast, AnCon had hit-and-miss service, few games we were able to actually play, and little interest in what we were bringing to the table.

I’m not sure whether we’re going to give AnCon a second chance in this regard. While it got the word out on WEGS a little bit and it’s close-by, I’m not sure it’s worth the expenditure for next year, if we can’t even fill half of our slots. I feel like both FOPCon and even WittCon were somewhat better organized, with more events going off, and a better handle kept on scheduling. Time will tell, I hope.

In Which The Warlock Gives His Props...

So, I know that I promised a review of Icons in my last entry. I'm holding off on running a session of it for a week, as Ebbs is heading to North Carolina for the long holiday weekend.
And, for that matter, I have a whole series of observations on AnCon that I need to toss in, once I get the pictures off of my new camera. However, this entry is about neither of them.

The WittKids and I have been attending Origins for the last 4 years. Each year has a been a blast, and we're excited to be finally running events at the Big O for the first time. However, Origins isn't without its foibles.

The most trying, most frustrating of these difficulties tends to come from event registration. Origins has had a hell of a time getting it sorted out over the last few years and, in comparison to its bigger cousin GenCon, it seems disorganized, slow, and inefficient.

Many, many gamers get frustrated at Origins for this aspect. GenCon has its events list up earlier, they cry. GenCon has online registration earlier, they wail. Some even put up the infantile argument of "This is stupid--I'm never going to Origins again!"

To them, I say "Good. More games for me, then. We didn't want you anyway."

People seem to forget that Origins is run by GAMA, a non-profit organization of game manufacturers, while GenCon is run by GenCon LLC--a corporation. GenCon has more funds and more ability at its disposal than GAMA does in putting on a con. For that matter, most of Origins' staff are volunteers--usually unpaid volunteers, who are reimbursed through other manners (free badges, free hotel rooms, free travel, etc.). The actual staff of GAMA works diligently with an ever-changing crew of people to provide one of the premier game shows in the country.

To them, I say "Thank you!" Thanks for putting up with all of the bull pucky that people throw down in their ignorance. Thanks for putting in long hours, fixing server crashes, addressing customer service e-mails, and aiding all of us in setting up a really great time.

So, thank you, GAMA. I'll see you in Columbus!

In Which The Warlock Refuses to Stop Running...

Sorry on the late blog entry this week, my lovelies. It's been hectic out here, between the close of the semester, the upcoming con season, and the final proofing for "Dice Rule!".

This weekend, we're heading to AnCon up in Hudson (Akron), Ohio. The WittWeggers are pulling out all the stops, running three games a piece. If you're in the neighborhood, come and join us for a session of WEGS, Call of Cthulhu, CthulhuTech, or d20 Zombies!

Also, stay tuned next week for my review of Icons, Steve Kenson's new brainchild from Adamant Entertainment!

In Which The Warlock Makes a Literally Allusion...

With Kat's summer Ravenloft game about to pick up, I figured that now would be a good time to debut my newest alter-ego: Ishmael Mallouk ben Hassib, a star-crossed mariner...

Name: Ishmael Mellouk ben Hassib

Age: 29

Race: Half-Orc

Location: Docks District, Marrakesh

Profession: Mariner.

Parents: Mahjoub (father) and Nahjet (mother)

Siblings: None

Faith: Will pray to Talos, Lord of Storms, on occasion while on a
voyage. Not particularly religious.

Fav. Food: Ferakh Maamer—spring chicken stuffed with couscous, raisins, orange-flower water, and almonds, simmered in a honey-garlic sauce. Served with white table wine.

Pastimes: Dart-throwing, throwing dice, sailing his one-man catamaran.

Party Role: High-damage skirmish fighter; explorer and mariner.

Strengths: Movement-based abilities, high damage attacks, large amount of skills, ability to fight at range and in melee with equal ability.

Weaknesses: Middling defense and HP, lack of social skills (cha-based), stigma from being half-orc.

Background:

Ishmael Mellouk ben Hassib’s childhood was not one of great happiness. Ishmael’s father, Mahjoub, was a minor merchant who often led expeditions into the southern deserts to take the native tribesmen as slaves. Ishmael’s mother, Nahjet, was one such slave, which Mahjoub found attractive and took as a concubine. Ishmael’s birth was an entire accident, as few believed that a Marrakeshi man could even have a child with a Samburu tribeswoman.

Ishmael was raised primarily by his mother, who rarely was able to leave the ben Hassib homestead. Nahjet was kept essentially as a slave, used by Mahjoub for sexual purposes and to keep the house. Ishmael had little in the way of dealings with his father, and was kept “out of sight and out of mind.”

When Ishmael was 14, Nahjet died of malaria. Mahjoub, not wanting anything to do with his pseudo-son, cast Ishmael out of the house. By this point, Ishmael was spending most of his time on the Marrakesh docks anyway, and he brushed off his father’s banishment. Illiterate and without education, Ishmael volunteered for work where he could get it, eventually finding himself on The Fleur de Tempete, a Narbonne trade ship owned by the Marquis de Saint-Michele. Mahjoub, however, went bankrupt not two years later, then committed suicide out of shame. With no one left to object, Ishmael took back his full name.

On board the ship, Ishmael made the acquaintance of a seasoned Narbonne mariner—Yves d’Alban—who began to teach him basic necessities for ship-faring: knot-tying, weather-sense, fishing, and whaling. Yves was something of the father figure that Ishmael never had, so the young Ishmael was eager to learn all he could. To this day, Ishmael says that he learned to read and do basic mathematics from Yves’ shipping manifests.

The Marquis de Saint-Michele, however, was not interested in Marrakeshi spices alone. Rather, he was equally interested in enslaving the Samburu tribes and putting them to work. For many years, Ishmael kept his half-Samburu heritage a secret, ferrying slaves and spice through Marrakesh, bound for plantations and other ports.
Eventually, he was called on his odd, exotic appearance and he exposed his past, though most of his sailors—scum, themselves—only used the fact for good-natured ribbing and curses.

Aboard the Fleur de Tempete, Ishmael saw many sights that would blast the sanity from any less-hardened man. In addition to the cruelty perpetrated upon the Samburu, the trade routes used by the Marquis’ ships took them in ways that were plagued by horrors of the deep. On just such an expedition, Ishmael found himself thrown overboard, as the Fleur de Tempete was ripped downward by a hideous horror of the deep. Ishmael watched the ship go down, with 45 crewmen and 200 slaves aboard. Clinging to a piece of broken mast, Ishmael drifted along for hours before passing out.

By some strange twist of fate, Ishmael found himself washed ashore approximately fifty miles south of Marrakesh. Taking courtesy from some Vistani nomads, Ishmael managed to find his way back to port, only to find that the Fleur de Tempete had made dock there! Beyond flabbergasted, as he had literally watched the ship be pulled under by a tentacle horror, Ishmael sought to investigate. However, continual circumstances—along with both Narbonne guards and Marrakeshi assassins—have kept him from looking into it further.

Ishmael desperately wants to find out the truth behind the Fleur de Tempete, as it seems like there is more than meets the eye going on. He hopes to find Yves, but wonders if he could trust the old man even if he did manage to find him. Ishmael also feels a deep conflict, in how the Narbonne have treated the Samburu people, to say nothing of the Marrakeshi natives. While he has taken their money and worked for them for years, the continued cruelty and effeminate pomp of the Narbonne has worn on him. After staring death in the face on the high seas, morality has begun to set in.

In Which The Warlock Sets His Watch...

So, when Kat sent me John Wick's Play Dirty, I knew that I had a gem on my hands. Little did I know how useful it would really come into play until this last session of our weekly "The Tear of Ioun" 4e game.

This session was special for me, because it marked the PC's trial. As I'd mentioned a few entries ago, my lovely players ended up killing a few of the Harrowfolk on their way to the Forlorn Tower, then being arrested on both murder charges and for crimes against the state. Killing the Harrowfolk meant breaking a 30 year old peace treaty between Wellspring and the surrounding Harrowfolk tribes, leading directly to war.

So, as the PCs were arraigned and met with their "Silent Advocate", Alderman Cylus, I went into lengthy detail as to how the trial was to proceed. The Tribunal of Five--Wellspring's judicial body--would hear three series of arguments from both the prosecution and the defense: The Trials of Character, Deeds, and Motive. Witnesses were called alternately, with cross-examination optional.

With no hesitation, the party dropped into full role-play. Witnesses were called, arguments were made...

...and I placed twenty black poker chips in the center of the table.

Eyes got wide. "What are you doing, Andy?" they asked. I didn't reply.

You see, in Play Dirty, Wick describes something that he calls The Armageddon Clock. Premise is that the party is on a timer, only they don't know how long they have. All they know is that when those chips run out, the GM smiles...and bad things happen.

The trial continued for nearly an hour-and-a-half in real-time. Every so often, I'd simply reach over my GM screen and pick up a chip or two. When I pulled three off of the stack in one go, Will (our runepriest) looked at me in abject terror. I just smiled.

At last, the last chip was pulled. The party fell silent. I grinned...and slammed the stack of chips down onto the table with all the force of a spiked football. Chips flew everywhere, as I narrated:

"A massive crash echoes through the courtroom as a giant catapult stone, easily the size of a man, smashes through the roof! It splinters beam and tile, crashing to the stone floor where you sit. The people in the gallery panic, screaming out and fleeing for the doors! It appears that the siege has begun...

With the courtroom in chaos, the party was able to flee into the city even as it descended into chaos. However, they did not do so alone! Rather, they escaped with the help of a mysterious stranger--the enigmatic eladrin known as Elladan RedHand. After a brief meeting with Elladan in his possibly-extradimensional hideout, they decided to join up with the eladrin in finding Saint Estelred's ancient laboratory and, with it, the artifact of their desires: The Tear of Ioun.

As such, next time, we start off with a midnight romp through the besieged Wellspring, in the hopes to get to Estelred's ancient laboratory...and an encounter with its current, mind-flaying occupant!

In Which The Warlock Gets Dice-Whooped...

Fellow gamers, I am truly a creature of karma, particularly when it comes to dice.

Back at Wittenberg, when we were still clustered around 3e D&D, I played in a game run by a fellow named Silas. In that game, my scrawny level 1 psion was confronted with staggering odds for success....and succeeded...time after time after time. From sucking out the soul of a demigod at level 1, to dominating a massive half-giant and stealing his vampiric regeneration ring....that little bugger survived everything.

In WEGS, my Nordling series has caused El Willy no end of pain, surviving everything he and his crew have thrown at my Humnz Trickster horde. In a realm of odds and gods, Nordling and his decendents have made their way.

In my more recent games, my players and I have been referring to one of my dice as the "Black Die of Doom" for its player-killing power. The players know that "shit's gettin' real" once the BDoD comes out, because crits are just around the corner. (I suppose that it doesn't help their odds that the BDoD has a bubble in it, right around the '2', making that natural 20 come around all that more often!)

But last week? I got my dice handed to me on a platter, as the odds and gods came to take their revenge.

At last week's FOPCon 2010, I kept busy by demoing the WEGSventure that I'll be running this year at Origins: "WEGS Plume Mountain". WPM is a thematic rewrite of TSR's classic D&D dungeon crawl, "White Plume Mountain", with some WEGSified twists. As expected, the Arks were in search of the enigmatic trio of artifact weapons--the eponymous Wave, Whelm, and Blackrazor.

The first session went fairly well--with 4 WEGS newbies around the table, they managed to find all three artifacts, but not confront the final, climactic encounter (which I built specially for this adventure!). The second session, though....that's where the the butt-whoopin' started.

With 5 players, including Jules and Ebbs, I had expected much the same session. I was deadly wrong.

The quintet headed after Whelm first, and I knew that the dice were not on my side when Ctenmiir, my Level 6/66 Vampire Warrior Master Minion, took a faceplant in the boiling mud surrounding his home. Two INI rolls of elemental wounds later, he staggered towards the PCs with only 2 chips of wounds to his name. His blood chip? A measly 1 on the d10 roll. Ouch.

Heading after Blackrazor next, the group outmaneuvered the Dun Djinn and his Astral Reavers quite handily. In a mere 6 innings, the group had defeated the group, pulling forth Blackrazor and a much higher Rank Bump than expected.

With the PCs gaining ground on me, I amped up the Wave room, transforming a lowly 6/66 Sage minion into a full fledged Master Minion, and added a few Rangers in for good measure. This, my lovelies, is where my dice turned on me.
The group's Warrior--a WEGS newbie whose dice had been hot all night long--succeeded on his Act Fast test, charging the Beast in the Boiling Bubble with his action. Caught off-guard, BiBBle failed his Invulnerability test (of course!), resulting in a massive hit, as the Warrior rolled a 6 on his Damage Die!

If that weren't bad enough by itself...the Warrior was wielding Blackrazor! It was soul-sucking time, and BiBBle didn't even make it through the first inning!

BiBBle's mistress, the Hag Countess, didn't make it much longer than him, going down to the Warrior's black blade at the top of inning 2. By the end of that inning, all that remained on my side of the battle-mat were my 6/66 Sage and a lowly 4/44 Ranger!

Suffice to say, the final encounter went much the same way, with my overpowered minions going down like punks. What's worse is that I can't even chalk this one up to experience--the newbies were doing the most damage across the board!

While I'm excited to see WPM get put through its paces, it appears that my continual dice-luck may finally be catching up with me. Here's for hoping that it will survive at least through my next D&D session!

In Which The Warlock Cries "Excelsior!"

Oi, my fellow gamers, oi! Con season has befallen us and it’s landed with one hell of a thump out here. With WittCon VII in the books at the beginning of this month, we’re already halfway into our slate of conventions for this year.

The Entry Banners at C2E2

Last weekend, Jules, Lionel and I traveled to the Windy City for the first ever C2E2—the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. This was my first ever trip to Chi-town, so I was excited to see what it would entail. After the 6 hour drive up, we hit the town on Friday, and then the convention floor on Saturday. Here’s a few thoughts from the road:

• Nom Nom Al’s Beef. Sweet zombie Vecna, Al’s Beef! After heading around the Field Museum for the majority of the day on Friday, my cousin Jason—the very same dice-junkie that got me addicted to RPGs in the first place—picked us up and took us to the original Al’s Beef on the west side of Chicago. Al’s has been all over the Travel Channel, most recently through the hilarious Man vs. Food with Adam Richman. And let me tell you…it’s fan-bloody-freakin’-tastic! If you go, get it “dipped” and, if you like the spicy, the “giardinare”. Just don’t wear your best shirt—you might be as covered in the au jus as the hoagie itself!

• Chicago is NOT a walkin’ town. Now, I’ll readily admit that I’m out of shape. I’m pretty well “gamer-shaped”, but I’m also a teacher—I’m on my feet all day, most days. Chi-town wiped me out. After getting lost outside of Millenium Park, I chalked my aching calves up to dehydration, but when we walked 15 odd blocks through Chinatown to the McCormick Place Convention Center…I was having a hard time standing, and that was before the convention!

• Forget the trains! Okay, so Lionel’s aunt—whom we stayed with—lives in Waukegan, which meant that we rode the Metra train in each day. I was fine with that. But, using the L-trains in Chicago meant reading utterly Byzantine schedules (which included trying to find the now-defunct Black line) and multiple transfers. And the fare? Due to Lionel’s purchase of some standees, we caught a cab back to the Metra station. The cab fare for four of us was $3 less than the tickets for the L-train…and it’s quicker, even with Chicago traffic. Next time, we’re hailin’ a cab!

• The McCormick Place is BIG! Seriously—I mean BIG! I had thought that Columbus had a big convention center, but the McCormick Place dwarfs it. What was crazier was the fact that, in addition to C2E2, the center held an entirely different convention for kitchen/bath designers at the same time! Hell’s bells!

• Superhero Cosplay is gaining ground. It’s no secret, if you’ve been around my blog, that Jules likes to dress up as DC superheroines (Black Canary, Huntress), but I was surprised to see so many people in costume at C2E2. What’s more, the costumes were really quality! When helping Jules find some more components for her “modern” Black Canary costume, I experienced a little bit of frustration from a poster on RPG.net, claiming that “unless you get it professionally tailored, it’ll look like shit”. I beg to differ and will gladly cite my photos from C2E2 as proof. See for yourself!

A REAL Rogues' Gallery!

Jules with a mini-Canary!

Marvel-DC Crossover, anyone?

Black and Scarlet--they go great together...

• C2E2’s light on the gamer-scene. I was kind of disappointed to find this out, particularly knowing that Wizards of the Coast was heading to C2E2, but not to Origins (as they have not for the last few years). Truth be told, WotC was really the only game company there at all! They ran the typical stuff for them—RPGA games, Dungeon Delves, and a Magic open-tournament—but there were no other games being held whatsoever. Even the various vendors, most of which probably sell material of both geek worlds, didn’t have much in the way of game material. Truth be told, I wasn’t really looking to buy dice or the like, but it was still kind of disappointing.

• The Dealer Hall Dilemma. I realize that, at a comic book convention, you have mainly two/three properties—Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. I get that, really. But the vast majority of the vendors I went to were all selling the same stuff. I can’t count the times I saw the X-Men: Manifest Destiny TPB from booth -to-booth, all for various prices. It felt tedious to flip through the same stacks over and over, seeing the same selections. I’d have killed to pick up Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin or some of the earlier Avengers works, but you really had to go “box-diving” to find what you were after.

• That said, there are a few gems. I was able to find a rare, early-90s Ghost Rider/Captain America crossover, which I hadn’t read yet, as well as a whole slew of the Brave and the Bold TPBs for Jules, and many others. We also picked up Huntress—Year One, which was a solid read, if a little mediocre in the ending.

• Randy Milholland’s a nicer guy than he wants you to think he is. Jules and I both have loved Something*Positive since its inception, and this was our first real opportunity to meet Randy, as he was sharing a booth with Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots. He really liked Jules’ Black Canary costume, and chatted with us about Frank Miller (“he really needs to shut the fuck up”) while doing a sketch for Jules. Really, he’s a fantastic dude—misanthropic, yes, but then again…so am I.

Man, that’s a lot. All this, and I still haven’t even mentioned this week’s extravaganza! This week, we’re playing it a little more local, as the WittWeggers head to FOPCon 2010, in Huber Heights. We’ve got a full slate of games on deck, include playtest demos of Will’s “Savage Worlds” game Ebbs’ “Ninja Nuttiness,” Jules’ new Call of Cthulhu adventure—“If Train A Leaves at Midnight,” and the inaugural run of my Origins special: “WEGS Plume Mountain”.

If you’re in the Dayton area this weekend and want to sling some dice, make your way to FOPCon! $5.00 admission gets you a seat at your choice of games all day long, as well as entry into the massive (and spiffy!) FOPCon raffle. See you there! http://www.fopcon.com

In Which The Warlock's MasterPlan is Revealed...

GMing is hard work, cats and kittens.

Depending on the system, each game has its own rigors. D&D involves minis, tactical combat, and a keen eye for strategy, in addition to knowledge of both characters and monsters. Call of Cthulhu and other horror games take deep gravitas and a powerful establishment of mood that, if done right, won't ever let up. Heroes Unlimited requires...well, let's be honest: Hereoes Unlimited requires a straightjacket and men in white coats.

Hell's bells, I've even worked up a sweat when GMing WEGS, if for no other reason than the fast paced frenzy of Spoint-slinging across the table.

Needless to say, when I come across something to make my GMing job easier, I pick it up. This started with finding ways to organize my minis--while I first used small plastic Sterilite bins, I've upgraded to a multi-tiered tackle box, with a bottom section big enough to fit a random assortment of Dungeon Tiles and other game necessities.

Oh, yes. The Dungeon Tiles. I've gotta say, Wizards of the Coast has me under their thumb with these. It's so easy to throw down a few tiles on top of the battlemat to add some 'scenic hazards' for the PCs.

However, all of this pales in comparison to my latest discovery. By Mighty Cthulhu, this latest bit blows them out of the water like a scrapped German U-Boat.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your gaming pleasure: MasterPlan

I can't even take credit for finding this gem--if not for the folks over at RPG.net, I'd have never heard of it.

MasterPlan is a massive utility, building in an encounter generator, a campaign workbook, mapping software, and just about everything else that a potential GM could want. I've barely scratched the surface on this tool after downloading it last night, and I already have a bajillion ideas on how to use it.

When Wizards of the Coast announced their D&D Insider initiative, they experienced quite a bit of scepticism, due to poor implementation.

Quite simply, MasterPlan is today everything that D&D Adventure Tools hopes to someday be.

Just to get some practice with the system, I generated a few "Random Delves"--the stereotypical, 3-encounter dungeons made famous by WotC. Quite literally, everything is editable, in an easy-to-use, simple format. Generating a 15th level delve for 8 PCs with 2 encounters and multiple traps? Done in about 45 seconds. It's that simple.

And the best part? If you have an Insider account, MasterPlan will access the compendium, adding in everything that's already there. All 12,000 odd classes, monsters, traps, skill challenges, and magic items--they're already loaded! By the Nine Hells, that's convenient!

I definitely need some more time to explore MasterPlan to run it through its course, but it's easily the most comprehensive, most usable, most useful GMing software I've ever seen.

It makes one wonder, though, what happens next with it! With d20Pro getting nominated for an Origins Award this year (despite "incompatibility" with 4th Edition D&D), where will this leave the MasterPlan? And, once WotC hears of this...one can only wonder...

Get it while you can, children! It's astounding!

In Which The Warlock Finds Better Ways than Killing...

Color me inspired.

After reading the "Play Dirty" article, I've taken some of John Wick's advice to heart for my Friday night game. The ability to kill a player is minimal. The ability to keep them coming back for more pain....that's power!

We're playing through an actual pre-published adventure for once--"The Tear of Ioun" saga, by Robert J. Schwalb. It's pretty standard for my fare: heavy on the Cthulhu, lots of investigation and madness, and lots of forbidden magic. However, we've gotten so far off track that I might as well have been writing my own adventure!

Our intrepid adventurers began, leaving the small town of Wellspring in search of the "Forlorn Tower" a few days travel away, through the Harrowwood. On the way, they encountered a small group of Harrowfolk, which had surrounded the party.

Now, the adventure says pretty clearly that, "the Harrowfolk are not hostile, unless the PCs prove hostile or untrustworthy". Well, just as soon as the Harrowfolk began questioning the group, finding out that they were from Wellspring...Fred's battlemind tried making a break for it. Combat ensued, and the Harrowfolk leader escaped, swearing revenge against both the PCs and Wellspring.

Somewhat concerned, the PCs returned to Wellspring to inform the Lord Mayor of Wellspring. Aghast, he had the PCs arrested on the spot. Why, you ask? Well, it just so happens that Wellspring had signed a peace treaty with the Harrowfolk at the end of the Bael Turathi-Nerathi-Arkhosian war.

The treaty treats all Harrowfolk as Wellspring citizens, provided that the Harrowfolk guard the roads in and out of Wellspring from banditry. Attacking the Harrowfolk broke the peace treaty, and now the tribes are on the warpath!

The PCs were equipped with explosive "Collars of Bane" to keep them from escaping from the city environs, while their trial was scheduled for three weeks hence.

If this weren't bad enough, the PCs have just finished exploring the "Forlorn Tower", which was tainted with Far Realm corruption streaming in through a re-routed waterfall. Unfortunately for said PCs, falling into the waterfall (which occured no less than 3 times!) subjects one to particularly unwholesome energies and creatures. Back in Wellspring, they're about to find out exactly how messed up they truly are...

The one plus side for our heroes is that, for some of them, their actual classes have been released. Fred, Jules, and Will have all been working from the playtest versions of the battlemind, seeker, and runepriest respectively. Now, they finally get to have their full range of class options! Well...for all the good that it will do them.

*insert maniacal laughter here!*

In Which The Warlock Kicks Off the Con Season Right...

Well, WittCon VII is in the books, and it went down in a blaze of glory.

We pulled in 83 people (the second highest attendance so far!), with tons of games going off. We even had a few complaints about the lack of more games, particularly D&D! That's a good complaint to have, all told. With any luck, we'll be able to break triple digits next year, especially with all of the help we've gotten from the other cons and game stores in the area.

The full album is up on Facebook here: WittCon VII Photo Album

But, here are a few highlights...

Ninja infiltrators in action!

In the weeks leading up to Wittcon, Ebbs spent countless hours laboring over his "Ninja Nuttiness" castle. It truly did not disappoint! I look forward to seeing this at the tables at Origins, as the centerpiece for the WittGuild's first ever sessions at the Big O!

Laying down tricks at the Magic Tourney...

After several unsuccessful times at hosting a Magic: The Gathering tournament, we finally pulled it off. New Witt professor Kyle wrangled the tournament, which held 12 of our participants. With luck, WittCon will continue to ride on this success, and hopefully hit at least 20 at our tournament next year!

Lionel makes his purchases from Diceman Bob

We were privledged enough to have not just one vendor, but two this year! Bob Kindel, of the Light Trading Company, brought out his massive array of dice, as well as newcomer Bryan Bailey. Bryan compiles and composes gaming soundtracks for games of all sorts--everything from pulp or fantasy to horror or cyberpunk. I picked up two of his soundtracks for my upcoming games....and can't wait to break those out! In addition, we also had back Shane, running his yearly Paint-and-Take, which was immensely popular (as usual!).

Costume Contest Winners--Heather, Ebbs, and Jules

As you can see, these are the winners of our yearly costume contest. Jules took the opportunity to debut her Huntress outfit, which she's planning to take to C2E2 in Chicago. Bookery Fantasy donated a huge amount of swag for the contest, which allowed us to raffle it off in addition to giving out prizes!

El Willy and friends playtesting Big Bang Mudang

And, of course, there's our guest of honor! After a full day of running WEGS demos, El Willy opened his evening slot for his newest endeavor, "Big Bang Mudang". BBM is a hugely entertaining, hilarious game of dice-blasting, time-traveling witches. I'm excited to see this one hit print--it's fast around the table and has a great little mechanic behind it. Don't forget your demon dice, children!

Well, with WittCon over, we get a short break. Well...sort of. I'm working through El Willy's final proofs for "WEGS--Dice Rules!" as well as the Redux version of "WEGS 101". Plus, it's only two weeks until we're at the con scene again, driving to Chicago for C2E2. Can't wait for the chaos to roll on!