Gencon 2024 After Action Report Part 4

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7

Notes from Gencon

- New FOE GMs I have had multiple years where I struck gold by meeting people who are just awesome. I put out "Looking for GMs" and meet people through that network who are all completely different and bring in a different take on the game. This year, Matt-A, Matt-R, Michael-B, and Samuel-Y all joined the FOE crew. You guys are all invited again next year!

- Returning FOE GMs Wow. What can I say about the skill and quality of GMs I have. And their willingness to return to GM for me. Of particular note, this year, Adam-G, Bill-C, Logan-Y, Marissa-W, and Steve-E all earned their black jackets! WELL deserved jackets too! I want you guys back, if possible next year.

- New Players Like every year, we have new people who come to play with us. Yes, new to FOE, but also new to RPGs in general. I am particularly conscious of this and take what I call the "Jim Shooter" approach. In short, this means that ANY adventure can be a person's first interaction with the product and that person must quickly be drawn into the story while not turning off the regular reader.

- No-shows Not a unique issue, but every slot, 4-6 people did not show. On the plus side, it allowed us to seat EVERYONE who came to us with generic tickets. And a few more.

- GM cancelations Yes, I had a few of them. However, everyone was forthcoming and honest so I was able to juggle slots, add more people where needed and everything went off smoothly. No surprise last-minute no-show.

Overall

- Eleven different adventures ran, across four different setting, from FOE's Akhamet, Olympia, and Ozaka, and including Player Hater Games' Skytorn.
- Five writers wrote adventures this year, which showed the versatility of the settings. That's JP and four brave GMs.
- Every event on the program ran and though we had to contract players during one event. Still everything happened.
- Total of 49 FOE tables ran (sorry Brandon, I'm counting your 2 Player Hater Games).
- This year, we continued our partnership with Player Hater Games. Whereas last year Brandon and Sicquan GM'd for FOE, this year Brandon ran a game in their Skytorn setting, with cloudships. Likely we'll repeat that experience next year.
- I created hundreds of small terrain pieces to complement the adventures. The trees and other pieces of scatter gave life to the adventures by adding a 3d element. Those looked really nice and created focal points for games.
- I provided baggies filled with miniatures for the GMs to help them run their game.

Characters Retired

The following characters were retired and will no longer be available for play.

- Bianka (Princess, Deceased in Olympia)
- Idelgo (Rhym, Executed in Ozaka)
- Juri-Sho (Rhym, Promoted to General in Olympia)
- Kritias of Spartia (Olympia, Deceased in Akhamet)
- The rest of the Rhym Iconics (Rhym, Lost in another dimension)

Their replacements will be posted on this blog later this year.

GM action shots

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7

Gencon 2024 After Action Report Part 3

Parts 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Saturday Aug 3rd

Half of Gencon had already passed. Now to sail that ship home...

By now, everyone knew was to do and did their thing. A well-oiled machine.

This year, FOE continued its work with Player Hater Games with Brandon-A running FOE games. However, new this year, Brandon ran games set in their setting of Skytorn, featuring flying skyships and a world in the clouds. Definitely something that sounded awesome. We talked and he asked me if he could run some. I said "yes".

Actually, I said "Yes" followed by a "I'll build you a skyship."

Which I did.

But I looked SOOOOOOOO bad... I had to admit defeat and not turn it in...

But Brandon's adventure was really entertaining with people pushing each other to their death off the ships. It was pretty brutal. A good complement to other FOE events.

During the morning slot, I got to speak briefly with a YouTuber I really enjoy, Seth Skorkowsky who does reviews and commentaries about many different games. I was pretty excited to talk to him. Okay I don't think he cared much for what I told him about FOE, but I thought it was cool.

Then again, I'm partial.

Sunday Aug 4th

There is something about the final slot of the con. Your body is tired and beat up, but the excitement is still there. We got enough people to run all five tables. This is really a testament to the quality of games my GMs put together.

The exploration of the forbidden city of Kemunin proved the reason it was forbidden with many a valiant last stand. Still an exciting end to the con.

Gencon was over.

Drive home. Eat. Sleep.

After Gencon (Feelgood story)

During the con (I believe it was Saturday night), a player (Graham) had a set of very beautiful drawing/paintings. He placed them on the ground and I nearly stepped on them, so I told him I placed them on one of the boxes at FOE HQ. He forgot them at the end of the event.

He forgot them at the end of the Sunday Morning slot.

One of my GMs brought it with him as we packed everything.

I hadn't even woken up from my first nap that I received an email about it. We exchanged emails and turns out Graham is from the Nashville area! Woohoo! (I was worried about having to put them in a tube).

Friday at lunch, we finally met, and he now has his art! That put a nice touch to Gencon. Thought I'd share it here.

Parts 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Gencon 2024 After Action Report Part 2

Parts 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Thursday Aug 1st

I woke up real early (remember the "passed out" of yesterday?) and began working on my second novel.

The time came. The convention began!

First slot, I mis-entered one event. A little on-site work and we were ready to roll. Five tables. It was beautiful.

Of the five tables, three were written by others. This year, Bill-C, Steve-E, and Rebecca-P all wrote and ran their own adventures. Each of them showcased the setting in ways that were very different from my own style, showcasing the versatility of the settings. Different adventure styles make for a much more interesting experience IMO.

Bill's Labyrinthine adventure contrasted with the event-based adventure from Rebecca, as both we set in Olympia. Same thing between my travel adventure to Steve's puzzle-filled dungeoncrawl. The different groups experiencing the same adventure.

In the evening, the first special: Re-leash the Kraken took place. I was nervous because we were running a special with many new GMs. Mike-B and Matt-R were the newbs joining a team of now veterans featuring Adam-G, Jason-R, and Logan-Y. I always worry how they will be able to deal with the craziness these specials are.

The adventure featured the Kraken. YES, The Kraken. The one whose stats appear in the Monster Manual. That CR20+ monstrosity! I had tentacles painted and done. I had terrain (see this post for pictures). And the combats turned out to be rather dynamic and surprised more than one player, which was a great bonus. Awesome to see!

Concerns unfounded. By the end, both newbs were veterans.

A Gallery of the action

Friday Aug 2nd

In the morning, it turns out I had entered another snafu in the system. No worries, I took the table and ran The Lost Hall of Khuf-Thanat myself! I really enjoy that adventure because of that final encounter and the choice the PCs get to do. What makes it particularly interesting is that there are multiple ways to accomplish the goal, it's not just a "straight fight."

An interesting event happened in the morning. There was a gentleman scheduled to play Rebecca's adventure and his girlfriend (sorry I did not record your names). She was unwilling to come in because [reasons]. I told her that the adventure he was scheduled to play was not the usual D&D fare and that it had much more behind it.

I was not over-selling it, Rebecca's adventure is tortuous and allows for MANY interpretations. There is much deviousness in that charming little package!

During the afternoon, I stood outside the room, talking to a charming couple (Shout-out to Anita and Matthew) when we saw a young lady in distress. We talked to her and she was having an anxiety attack. She came to the JW looking from the Marriott. I did a quick look around the room and saw that Bill's table was still at the first room. He accepted to take her in and I sat her to play. I never knew her name, but can dream that by making her play something, it brightened her Gencon. She seemed quite pleased when she left and in a better mood.

For the evening, we headed to Ozaka for a friendly meeting between Ozaka and the FOEniverse. I did not know but this event happened at the same time as the big 50th event. But undeterred, we condensed the five tables into four. A number of people with generics joined us and a few FOE GMs got to sit down and play as well! That was a common theme throughout the con: no-shows but very invested people with generics returning throughout the con.

Ahhhh the joys of planning in a modular way for specials!

So the Ozaka adventure idea came to be from the Ozaka special from 2023 (aka "The Godzilla Special"). At one point, a you player (shout-out Asher) decided to run off into the Ozakan forest. Fleeing.

That got me thinking... His character (my notes have him as playing Thutmoses the bard from Akhamet) would HAVE to come out of the woods for food. Sparking an interest in all things foreign. So Lord Azaki would try to meet and learn from these foreigners and obtain things he wants from them... I had a setup. Now, I needed an adventure...

That setup became "Cuts Petals in Pools of Blood"

The adventure had a lot of twists with an interesting twist at the end... one that ended in disaster for the Ozakans... Still peopole

Parts 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Gencon 2024 After Action Report Part 1

Parts 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Before Gencon

On July 3rd, after rolling out a big day-job fix, I finally had a day off only to come down with Covid! I did very little but try to complete my final adventure. I generally try to finish all the regular adventures by Memorial Day (last Monday of May) and the specials by July 4th to allow the GMs time to review, comment, question, and sometimes, alter the adventure.

This time, I was mostly on-track save for one adventure. I flip-flopped over what I wanted to do, changing from one idea to nothing. Then getting sick made it all so much more difficult as for a week, I barely had two hours of clarity to focus and sit at the computer.

I sat at the computer but did little more than watch slack-jawed at the screen.

Doing nothing creative.

That Monday and Tuesday are absolutely excrutiatingly difficult and stretch on forever.

Wednesday the 31st

Somehow, the day of Gencon arrived. It was time to leave. YAY!

I got up early to drop off ActionMan at football practice before finishing to pack the car. ActionMan and I had packed most of it the night before.

Since I drove only two of us this year, I took my Elantra instead of the minivan to Gencon. The night before ActionMan and I played Tetris to put everything in the car. AND leave room for Thor's stuff.

SUCCESS!

I picked up Thor in the morning and we were off to Indianapolis.

We got there, stopped at the Murder Row hotel to check in. Then had a fun time driving through Indy to avoid the terrible traffic on the Interstates to reach our hotel. Checked in.

Then to the ICC to get the GM badges and do some early set up.

209 at the JW was a great room. At the other end of everything, but a great location.

After that, came time to go and have dinner. It has become something of a tradition to hit the Dennys to get a good solid meal. I ate like a pig as we waited to Chris-K and Matt-A to join us.

I ate too much and passed out on the bed.

Parts 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

[Ozaka Campaign] Facing the Dragon of Darkness

Back to Ozaka after a week where everyone was sick... This time, the party decided to bypass the dungeon and head to the roof to tackle the Yaminoryu, the dragon of darkness.

This dragon is a creature that corrupts everything that comes into contact with it. The party has been trying to track it down for quite a while now. They help defeat its army when it attacked the town of Aoshima and try to defeat it.

The dragon is inside its tower, forcing the PCs to cross the roof, climb the ichor-covered tower, and confront it there...

This is the climax of the Winter-Summer Campaign 2024. Our heroes are in the fight of their lives. Will they succeed? Tune in next time...

Gencon Writing update

There are a few tickets for the FOE Gencon Event: FOE events at Gencon.

With Gencon fast approaching, I feel it is time I put up a post about Gencon, the writing updates and a number of other oddities. At least pretend I'm not only painting minis in my troll cave.

I'm not.

What I've been doing is working on a crucial piece of work for my day job (247Sports). That work has been exhausting (and exhaustive), seriously draining my writing juices. Add to it that I was stuck in a writing funk for the specials. Namely that I knew WHAT story I wanted to tell but breaking them down into pieces. Into adventures. Then into encounters.

If staring at a blank page is terrifying, then looking at a logline and not have any idea what to do with that is perhaps worse.

So I drew.

And I painted.

And watched Youtube.

And I tortured myself.

And I made doodles in my writing book.

And I worked on my novel set in Olympia.

Yes, I did everything to try and break through that blank page.

Oh I can up with SOME things. Ideas for breakdown that would work. Things that could be made into adventure material. Very playable. With twists, different combats.

But I was not excited by any of it. So I worked and toiled on it. I knew there were something cool. Something memorable to find in there.

Then it happened. Doodles brought it together.

The same doodles that decorate this post. They came more-less at random.

In the case of the second Olympia special, my mind was on something extremely down-to-earth. I've not problem with that... but as a Special? Something I want to be the highlight of the convention?

For someone other than me?

Empathy? I must be growing older! Ha!

Seriously. I was completely stuck when that one doodle suddenly brought it together. Now I had everything I wanted AND something with a major fantasy element. Now all I had to do was write it.

And break it down further.

I believe these stories will be interesting, fun to both run and play.

Now to stop slacking.

Get off Blogger.

Put down the phone.

And finish writing.

Your GMs are asking for the works

There are a few tickets for the FOE Gencon Event: FOE events at Gencon.

[Ozaka Campaign] Battle of Aoshima

With two players out tonight, I ran a one-off set in the campaign's main city while the party is away tackling another challenge.

Everything was peaceful before the Wakou opened on the town of Aoshima with their cannons. In no time, the docks were ablaze and the brave adventurers had to rise up to stop the onslaught. Galleon-born cannons quickly set buildings aflame as their barrage did not cease. The town's defenders held succeeded in slowing down the raiders.

As our brave heroes withdrew into the town, they rescued many people who took refuge in a warehouse only for the Wakou to chain the doors and set the place ablaze!

Finally, our heroes reached the House of the Sun, the Temple of Amaterasu in town where the Wakou were burning the Torii Arches and one of their witches performed a ritual against the building. Whatever she did, she succeeded partially when an uncontrolled yokai emerged from the portal and rampaged through town until stopped by our heroes.

They were relieved by the arrival of Tojo Hiroshi and his samurai. Their bravery was noted.

[Ozaka Campaign] Haunted Bamboo Forest

Tonight, my ozaka party went through the Haunted Bamboo Forest on their way to meet the Keep of Shadows...

[Ozaka Campaign] Village in the Trees

Tonight in my ozaka campaign for dnd5e... The PCs try to open the way for their army to face the Yame no Ryu (the Dragon of Darkness)

On the way, they investigated a tree-borne village with a surprise...

[Ozaka Campaign] The Ambush from the Trees

The beastmen ambush the party from a multi-level tree hideout!

[Ozaka Campaign] Shipwreck channel

I will post the short AARs for my current Ozaka Campaign organized in a Westmarch-style campaign where the PCs have to deal with the many problems of the town of Aoshima.

Tonight, the heroes investigated Shipwreck Channel, the site of a battle between a Wakou wizard and a pair of white dragons...