NerdLouvia 2018 AAR

[Photo from NerdLouvia Facebook]

For my last event of the year, I headed back up to Louisville for NerdLouvia, an 18+ convention. There was tabletop, board, and video gaming.

I woke up at 5:15 and after turning and tossing, I decided to get up, touch up on some files - I would not call that writing - then got ready to leave.

That's when the horror hit me. It was snowing in this early morning... SNOW! The doom of the South! I drove up I-24, then I-65 and the skies cleared up pretty much as soon as I reached the border of Kentucky. From then on, it was blue skies and dice rolling.

The con was at Spalding University, in a building around a century old. It had that "old school" feel (yes, pun intended). With all the RPGs in one of the old ballroom. And when I say old, it had balcony and a mezzanine. Of course, its original charm had since been completely removed in favor of a neutral-color sheet rock walls. A shame for something that once must have been a draw. Oh well...

First my first game, I ran an abridged version of "Panacea" for Akhamet. Fun group. I used the opportunity to test a few things and gauge the level of difficulty. Some areas need beefing up and others are fine.

As some of the players stayed for the second slot, I decided to run something different, but still in Akhamet. While I had an adventure ready to go, I opted for my secret alternative. A sort of extension/ expansion of "Panacea" which deals with some of the fallout and follows up on the events the PCs just dealt with. This was very informative for me as a writer because they used methods of investigation that I can say were "novel". In the end, they rescued the person and a good time was had by all.

My GMing time over for the day, I allowed myself a chance for some gaming. I had secretly brought some PFS characters in the hope of playing with Chad and Holly, but they left, so there was no reason for me to play that. I then looked around and decided to try the Louisville Multiverse, which is a local organized play thing. I am always curious about how different OP groups work and their rules. I looked at my box of miniatures and built a simple human druid called "Brown Fox of the Wolf Tribe" with a plains Indian way of talking. "Be like the eagle walking on the plains" and other such nonsense. I had a good time dispensing wisdom that way. I am curious about it and will want to see if I can play or do more with these guys.

Then I went to my hotel and slept.

Sunday morning not up too early (for once) and I was back at Spalding ready to roll. I was able to park right in front!

I ran a game of Mythic Greece, once again testing out "The Crown of Zeus", reviewed since the previous week's run-through, and it does run pretty smoothly, with some interesting and varied combats.

The Good

- Central venue Central Louisville is a decent place to meet during the day. It was easy to get to and get out of.
- Food Trucks Just like at Imaginareum early in the year, they had a food truck parked outside. This made for a convenient place to get food. I did not note the truck name, but the guys on Saturday did a patty melt that was awesome. Great stuff. The fries were something of a let down, but that melt puts it in this category.
- Games I said it many times, but I really have a great time with Kentucky folk, both as a player and as a GM. That is one of the main reason why I go back so many times.

The Improvable

- Acoustics The room was very loud, and with my bad old man ears, I had difficulty understand everything my players said, particularly on Saturday. Nice looking room, but the flat surfaces reflect noise.
- Parking Saturday parking can be problematic with park meters and restrictions. It is no surprise outside main business hours, that place is deserted.
- Central venue Central Louisville is a terrible place to meet at night, the area is filled with bums and well does not feel safe after dark.
- 18+ Event I expect many will disagree with me, but the 18/21+ due to the on-site sale of alcohol limits the attendance. I could not take Jojo or ActionMan with me, and for almost everything that happened, that restriction added nothing.

The Conclusion

Great people. Great games. Some issues with the venue I can overlook. I would review the 18+ limit, at least for daytime events. But none of these nags are enough for me to re-evaluate my participation, and I plan on being back again next year, if the folk of Nerd Louisville are willing to have me run stuff again.