Gencon Player Perks

These random miniatures, most of them are from Akhamet. It's been a while since I painted, but they were fun to do as one-offs.

Gencon GM Perks

These models I gave to the GMs. They each got an Erote and a hoplite with the first letter of their name (Will got "A" for Allen).

Gencon After Action Report Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Lessons

Naming the adventures "Part 1-X" is really a good thing because people want to play the whole story. I will strive to do something similar in upcoming years.

Running three distinct specials is just too much work. It's awesome to run, but it is so much work ahead of time. I am thinking of running fewer - or perhaps longer - specials.

I took Monday off (as I write this report) and that was a great and good thing. I did very little, except sleep, eat, and play with the Dora the Dog.

Masks and a beard that's not like a Moses is difficult when you have to talk for long period, particularly as a GM. I got me a big turtle but it meant I did not feel the mask as it rode down my face. So I kept pulling it up and up.

Thanks

Running and putting together an event such as this cannot be run without a lot of people. I'll start with the easy ones: the Gencon staff and the Marriott staff who gave us a home for four days.

Putting together events like this, and being willing to put up with my madness requires dedicated and quality GMs. I want to give a big thank you to Matt, Randy, and Will who not only gave their time, but made my meager writing come to life and pop with excitement. To you three: a big thanks. You guys made my Gencon.

A special thank you goes to Spicer who led the Marriott HQ crew. He let us whenever there was something happening and everything that was going on with the hotel, a locked door, and other small issues. Made it so we never had to worry about anything, and when I had questions, his entire crew were awesome, personable and very friendly.

Getting all of this together required the help of many a playtesters to give the adventures a trial run before show time. There were many including all three of my kids, Tommy and Miah (the neighbors), Florent and Florence, and the con GMs. They provided me with insight on how to tweak or change elements that did not work as well as I thought or wanted. In the end, the result were a series of different adventures where different types of characters, types of players, could evolve and have fun together.

How could I not thank the players who spent their time with us at the con. You guys are the reason I/FOE put together these events and try to outdo ourselves with every convention. You give us a lot to think about comes time to plot the next element of this grand pseudo-campaign that is the FOEniverse! A big, heartfelt thank you.

A final thanks goes out to the Heroes of Rokugan crew who played and GM'd with me in those precious slots.

Final Thoughts

I left this year's event in very high spirits. FOE will come back to Gencon next year with some new. The car ride back to Nashville was an opportunity to come up with more and adventures to expand on the stories we played. We discussed many ideas including a day-long special, potential plots for the future, how rope/ roll in different threads.

But right now, I will sleep and take some time off to rest and recharge the idea batteries.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Gencon After Action Report Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

Saturday

Saturday, I was not scheduled for GMing. I kept myself as a backup if anything happened. So I got myself tickets to the Rokugan Larp and Battle Interactive.

For the Larp, it turns out I was the highest-ranking member of the Lion clan (I wore my Predators' jersey). Through great work from my fellow clan members, we managed to obtain most of what we wanted. Yay! Great work to the lions!

After the game, I ran back to the Marriott to make sure the guys had everything they needed. They did not need me and soldiered on.

As an added bonus, I got to listen to them practice their craft on the adventures I wrote. It was awesome to hear them and their take on the material. Made for interesting takes. Kreon, the main character of all these adventures was presented three different ways, but like Doctor Who, everyone recognized him regardless of the GM who portrayed him. I just could not stop smiling.

Next was the battle interactive. We were protecting the capital city from the Phoenix Master of Water gone mad. I joined a group with three other shugenja. A fun group, that included Brian-F. Throughout the game, Brian and I talked about things, including thoughts about Rokugan and Arcanis. We agree on many things and hope for many more about these campaigns we love. Made time fly by!

Highlight of the game was when we fought the master of water. In short, we softened him and his guards. A little. Then he beat the snot out of us. I survived by using special certificates. It was, I think, the only time in the campaign where I participated in such a unique/ major encounter. I only survived through the use of special certificates. I got my butt kicked and left to the side at the entrance of the palace. Memorable, with a story to tell about it.

Thanks to Ryan who ran it for us. Thanks to Cory and Parker for the final encounter. Thanks to the group who took me in for the day.

Back to the Marriott to listen in on the final scenes of the guys.

Sunday

Sunday was the final special, and the fourth installment Kreon's Woes, The Apology of King Kreon. Being Sunday morning, the eternal question of "How many people will show up?" And both Matt and Will shared that concern. I did not say much and tried to be conciliatory, but that question was on my mind as well.

However, fourteen brave souls woke up and arrived in time for the game and had to make a final judgement on poor Kreon.

(thanks of Matt for the pic)

The special went off very well as the players embarked in the craziness of the story. The mingling brought a lot of different and new perspectives to the different tables, making everyone think about their ultimate choice.

Everything done, we loaded the car and drove back to Tennessee without any serious events. Sleeping at home was nice.

Critical Events Summary

There are quite a few things to report from the events. Events that will affect the game worlds going forward.

Starting with Akhamet, the PCs explored some of the city of Algazan and returned with the following items that will need to be investigation and researched done to discover what they are:
- a magical copper bowl
- a magical gold bowl
- horrific writings in Horyrehmet
- odd windchimes
- a mysterious slab of pearlescent material they were unable to bring back but that sucked in two of their numbers.

Next on to Olympia, four of the adventures dealt with Kreon, his family, and his kingdom. After all was said and done, the following became clear:
- Queen Dionea was returned to Kreon's court
- General Klephos and his troops were rescued from the Lexosian
- Queen Aria was released and allowed to return to Lexos
- Zeus offered mercy to Kreon instead of smiting him with lightning
- Saggakara learned of the ancient crypts near the Pool of Athena.
- Kreon was taken by the Furies to be forever reminded of his shameful behavior.

These events may (will) influence future events in the world. Exactly how remains to be seen. I still have time to think about that before having to write anything.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

Gencon After Action Report Part 2

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4

Thursday

I slept poorly. I was nervous, excited, and filled with new ideas. There was much to do before 8am:
- get food and coffee (our hotel had a McDonalds nearby and I have something of a love affair with their coffee).
- set up the room: the banner, the book table, make sure everyone was ready.
- set up to run my own game
- get the badges (we arrived in Indy too late to pick them up on Wednesday)
- calm down and give a short prayer

It is always nerve-wracking waiting for the players to show up. Not only that, but would they like what we offered? Were the adventures good? Were they too niche/ complex/ difficult? Would they want to come back for additional slots? How many people would not show up?

For the first slot, I ran the Akhamet adventure: Burned and Cooked which is an interesting investigation that exposes elements of the setting.

One worry I had, was that Randy who was to GM the second slot but he had to run from one place to the other and may be late. But he was got to the game on-time and was ready to roll when the players arrived. Yay!

For the second slot, I ran Border Aflame, an Olympia adventure that is the most combat intensive of the two.

Then came the first of three special adventures: Digging in the Dirt. I worked on this one, then jumped to the Olympia ones, then came back to this one. Here, I thought of having the adventure location as the BBEG rather than having a monster. This made the story different and advanced the overall plot I wanted. Now the biggest issue we had: Randy runs fast, I run slow and we had a touch point where the PCs could meet each other.

The final part of the adventure involved the PCs searching a palace for any magical item. Now the place was not immense, and it had numerous rooms, challenges, and magic items to find. I'll provide more information about what was found.

Well in spite of that snag, we got it off pretty well and the players enjoyed the adventure and hated the city (hands wringing).

Then it was a quick drive back to the hotel to sleep.

Friday

I slept better as the pre-con jitters passed some. Many people talked about playing more FOE games and were excited about it. I was looking forward to a new day of adventure!

In the morning, I ran a slot of Lovers' Dawn, a story of love, betrayal, and Kreon. I had fun running this adventure inspired by watching too much Maury Povich Show.

For the afternoon, I hoped to catch a game of something OR serve as backup. Since I was not needed, I got to run across the ICC to play some Heroes of Rokugan.

I ran like a madman first to get a ticket, next to reach the HoR location... Only to find that I was one hour too early for their slot! So I visited the vendor hall. Not really wanting anything more than some Chessex dice, I wandered around. This cavernous hall was cutsmaller

No worries, I just stood around and talked to people. Especially my friend Bill-M. So we talked about our characters, and I told him a few of the secrets of mine (he's usually a GM, so that's fine). Fun chat, you know. Two old gamers talking about their characters...

Came game time, I sat at a table with... BILL AS GM! And to make things more interesting... Bill ran a very interesting game in which he used the information I told him against me in the adventure, adding an extra personalized touch. I really enjoyed the adventure and it felt special to my character. Thanks Bill!

My playing slot over, I ran back to the Marriott to get ready for the second special, The Spartian Queen.

Matt and Will held the fort like champs and we spent a few moments going over the adventure, making a few last-minute tweaks. This one again, Will ran fast, I ran slow, and Matt was in the middle. But we nonetheless got through it all, and the appearance of Zeus and Hera at the end added some weight and gravitas to the adventure.

If you are worried about me being mask-less, don't worry, I pulled it down, took the pic, and brought it right back up.

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4

Gencon After Action Report Part 1

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Gencon 2021 was going to be a unique experience. Masks all-around, a smaller attendance, an NFL football game next door on Sunday, many regular vendors would not attend, social distancing, all-around questions about what would happen and how it would go. Well, we have the answers to those questions.

The vibe around the con was one I will describe as "not like Gencon" at the same time as "totally Gencon."

Confused?

The lack of massive over-crowded events as I moved about the Indiana Convention Center (ICC), made everything feel different. Not bad. In fact, I compared this year's Gencon to Origins, where I never feel like I'm running around in a panic, have time to talk to people I meet, and don't feel like I'm in a rush to get everything done. It was odd and refreshing all at once. Before drawing any conclusion whether this was good/ bad/ indifferent, let's go over Gencon, touching on the highlights.

Wednesday

The day before Gencon... I was working. My original plan was to start early, finish my day around 1 or 2pm. Pick up Matt. Then pick up Will. Then drive to Indy, getting there around 8pm (because of the +1h time difference). It was a good plan. An easy plan. One that should be easy to implement. This allowed me to avoid the Nashville traffic.

But that's not QUITE what happened.

Turns out, I was added to a group to participate in an interview for a new (and well-needed) resource on the team. The meeting that planned for 14:30. DANGIT.

Well... That's nothing bad... All I had to do was leave Murfreesboro an hour early, join the interview from Will's house (he lives on the north side of Nashville, passed the traffic).

But then I was added to another interview, finishing around 1pm!

The best plans... Why not step out of the interviews, JP? Well I enjoy doing those. They are fun and I like to see if I can read the people well enough. (I like to think I've been pretty good so far).

In short, all went well enough. I realized my old PC was a junker. The interviews went well, I gave my thoughts and am waiting on leadership's final decision. We got stuck in traffic while in Tennessee, but from there, we flew to Indy as we (Will) talked about gaming, work, etc. I used the last 40 miles to talk business. And give my final recommendations to the guys: make sure ppl have fun, a few other notes about the adventure. Answered questions, etc.

Then we were in Indy, dropped Matt, checked in, headed to Dennys, then sleep.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

FOE Library for Gencon

With time,the FOE catalog grows and grows. This is (part) of what I am taking with me to sell at Gencon. This is the growing number of books I have to carry with me. Soon I will need an SUV to carry this library.

There are 2 Akhamet books, 1 Olympia book, 2 for Saggakar and 1 for Rhym. As I am not pushing much for TOS and Rhym my numbers are smaller. 

And a small overflow of Olympia books...

And with everything gathered for the con... I have more and more stuff to bring all the time. And that is after dropping a lot stuff: extra books, extra banners, extra cardstock, and even many of the GM battle maps!

So there you have it... all I will have to load into my Elantra. Oh and did I mention I was also loading two GMs and their stuff in there???

Oh MY!!!

FOE Gencon Goodies!

This year I gave out special goodies to FOE participants at Gencon! This means hand painted miniatures!

The GMs (Randy, Thor, and Will) each got two. And the table captains for each of the three specials will get one. These minis will be given at (near) random... (Okay I forgot on Friday night but gave them after Sunday's )

Olympia featured on Splinterverse

Splinterverse, a YouTube that goes over and gives overviews and first impressions of products from DriveThruRPG and DM's Guild (among other things). He gave a good overview that really captures many of my ideas when I wrote Olympia.

Check out the feature: Splinterverse on Olympia.