Friday, August 29, 2008
GenCon UK Day 2
One thing I forgot to include yesterday was a photo of the game that looks amazingly like Subbuteo.
FTChamps is a flickable game, just like the original, except they have added a collectable flavour by selling individual player figures that you click into the bases. Each figure can be bought in packs or singly for around £2 each. If it takes off then the money should roll in.
Day 2 at GenCon started with a 9am game of Call of Cthulhu (Dark Ages):
Unsung Saga, by Oscar Rios
"For long months all of you had prepared for the raiding season. The new Knorr, 'Ravenar' was ready to sail. Her lines were sleek; her deck strong, and her raven figurehead was newly painted black. Axes were sharpened, swords oiled and her crew was ready. Goodbyes had already been given for by dawn you would all be on your way to Ireland.
This game was set in viking-period Scandanavia and followed the classic CoC model - lots of investigation and weirdness leading up to a big battle. I played the skald, minstrel, what-have-you with a nod to the style of Monty Python's "The ballad of brave Sir Robin." In line with the adventurer's title, the saga remained unsung as the singer didn't survive the epic climax.
After lunch the same Keeper ran a 1930s period Cthulhu investigation:
One of Us, by Max Bantleman
The players took on the characters of various freaks in a travelling circus. This was more complicated than the earlier game although this may just have been down to a different mix of players. There are a few ways to play most adventures - you either let events drive you (going with the plot) or you try and drive events (resisting or missing the plot). The latter occurs when players start to really let their imagination go wild on what they think is happening, usually causing the Keeper to have to handle off-the-wall activities which don't necessarily fall in the scope of the plot. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.
(downloadable from here)
After tea, the third and final CoC game of the day from Flammable Penguins:
Emerson Manor, by Vittorio Leonardi & Annick Drewnicki
"A dark descent into the horrors of the past. Dark Themes present. The memories a home can hold. Time gets trapped in the creak and warp of the wood. Dreams slide and catch in stained shingles interwoven. The Emerson Manor home of the gifted toy maker has sat still for many years. The town and time have marched on but this silent marker remains. Does it hold what you seek or merely a few children's scary stories and little else."
This game went on until 1:30am (5.5 hours)! And we all died. A lot of the time was consumed by one or two players firmly playing their interpretation of what they were seeing and another (in his first CoC game) needing to understand what was going on in quite some detail. All the characters had partially interconnected backgrounds which made progress difficult at times as personal objectives competed. The slow mirror-by-mirror drift into insanity for the characters (admittedly a feature of a number of CoC scenarios) didn't help progress much either. Again, another example where the player mix is key to the success of the game. Should you stick to playing your role or playing the game, or a bit of both? Not always easy to work out where the balance is.
During the day there was a flying display of hunting birds outside. Unfortunately this was when I was playing but all the birds were available to observers.
Bald Eagle
Barn Owl
Harris Hawk
Tawny Eagle
White-backed Griffon Vulture
FTChamps is a flickable game, just like the original, except they have added a collectable flavour by selling individual player figures that you click into the bases. Each figure can be bought in packs or singly for around £2 each. If it takes off then the money should roll in.
Day 2 at GenCon started with a 9am game of Call of Cthulhu (Dark Ages):
Unsung Saga, by Oscar Rios
"For long months all of you had prepared for the raiding season. The new Knorr, 'Ravenar' was ready to sail. Her lines were sleek; her deck strong, and her raven figurehead was newly painted black. Axes were sharpened, swords oiled and her crew was ready. Goodbyes had already been given for by dawn you would all be on your way to Ireland.
This game was set in viking-period Scandanavia and followed the classic CoC model - lots of investigation and weirdness leading up to a big battle. I played the skald, minstrel, what-have-you with a nod to the style of Monty Python's "The ballad of brave Sir Robin." In line with the adventurer's title, the saga remained unsung as the singer didn't survive the epic climax.
After lunch the same Keeper ran a 1930s period Cthulhu investigation:
One of Us, by Max Bantleman
The players took on the characters of various freaks in a travelling circus. This was more complicated than the earlier game although this may just have been down to a different mix of players. There are a few ways to play most adventures - you either let events drive you (going with the plot) or you try and drive events (resisting or missing the plot). The latter occurs when players start to really let their imagination go wild on what they think is happening, usually causing the Keeper to have to handle off-the-wall activities which don't necessarily fall in the scope of the plot. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.
(downloadable from here)
After tea, the third and final CoC game of the day from Flammable Penguins:
Emerson Manor, by Vittorio Leonardi & Annick Drewnicki
"A dark descent into the horrors of the past. Dark Themes present. The memories a home can hold. Time gets trapped in the creak and warp of the wood. Dreams slide and catch in stained shingles interwoven. The Emerson Manor home of the gifted toy maker has sat still for many years. The town and time have marched on but this silent marker remains. Does it hold what you seek or merely a few children's scary stories and little else."
This game went on until 1:30am (5.5 hours)! And we all died. A lot of the time was consumed by one or two players firmly playing their interpretation of what they were seeing and another (in his first CoC game) needing to understand what was going on in quite some detail. All the characters had partially interconnected backgrounds which made progress difficult at times as personal objectives competed. The slow mirror-by-mirror drift into insanity for the characters (admittedly a feature of a number of CoC scenarios) didn't help progress much either. Again, another example where the player mix is key to the success of the game. Should you stick to playing your role or playing the game, or a bit of both? Not always easy to work out where the balance is.
During the day there was a flying display of hunting birds outside. Unfortunately this was when I was playing but all the birds were available to observers.
Bald Eagle
Barn Owl
Harris Hawk
Tawny Eagle
White-backed Griffon Vulture
Labels: gencon
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