CoastCon XXXI
This past weekend marked the annual celebration of all things geekdom here in south Mississippi; CoastCon. I'm not quite certain why, but I paid my $40 to spend the weekend gaming with the same friends that I game with every weekend for free. Okay, that isn't true. I know why I paid the money. CoastCon, like any other convention, is a chance to be with people who share your interests and won't look at you funny if you decide to dress up as a pirate, or a Jedi knight, or Wolverine. In fact, there is a very good probability that they're dressed up as well.
In addition to all of the great costumes (and the not-so-great costumes), there was a small merchant's room and a lot of gaming and other events. Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) was there, as were Gigi Edgley (Farscape) and David Gerrold (science-fiction author). The Imperial 501st Legion, "Vader's Fist," was well-represented (and I am even considering joining up). Even the Dark Lord of the Sith himself was present!
I spent the weekend playing games. On Friday, we played a Settlers of Catan game that ran entirely too long! I think that, after all was said and done, we finally had a winner after four hours of play! Most people who are familiar with Settlers will know that even with four players, two hours is considered lengthy. Friday night we got involved in a game of Mississippi Queen (a madcap steamboat race down the mighty Mississippi River) and played several rounds of Ca$h 'n Gun$.
If you've never had the pleasure of playing Ca$h 'n Gun$, you should go right now and order your copy. In a nutshell, you have eight bullet cards; five are blanks, two represent regular shots, and the last one is a "quick shot." The pot is filled with a random amount of cash, then every selects a bullet card and places it face down in front of them. One player counts to three and all players point their foam pistol at another player (any player you wish). At a second count of three, any players who wish to dive for cover may drop their gun to the table. This prevents them from taking a hit, but also means that they cannot take a share of the pot. All players still in the round reveal their bullet cards. If you played a blank, there is no effect and both you and your target get a split of the pot. If you chose a bullet, your target is shot and is ineligible to share the pot. If you chose a quick shot, your shot fires first and your target may not even be able to fire back! (Normally, if both players reveal bullets, each takes a hit and is ineligible for the pot.) If you or your target dove for cover, you simply discard your bullet card, sight unseen by the other players. Each card can be used only once in the round. If the pot cannot be split evenly, the remainder of the money (that portion that cannot be split) stays in the pot for the next round. At the end of eight rounds, the player with the most money is the winner. For every shame marker you have (indicating that you dove for cover), you sacrifice $5,000 from your total.
There are also some special ability cards that change the game a bit. These are dealt randomly to each player at the start of the game, and include things like a card that allows you to see who is pointing at whom before you decide to point your own weapon, or a card that awards you $5,000 for each shame marker, instead of penalizing your for it. Finally, if you have six players, you can use the undercover officer option, which makes one of the players a police officer. Each round, the officer can choose to make a phone call. Three calls before round six or before said officer meets an untimely death means that he or she wins the game. Of course, if people figure out that you're the cop, you've just become the target du jour.
On Saturday, we began with a session of Arkham Horror, a long-winded, but ultimately fabulous game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Even without the expansion (we were using the Dunwich Horror expansion), the game runs pretty close to three to four hours. We played for four and still had not reached a definitive conclusion when we had to call the game. Basically, the idea is that all players portray various 1920's persona's who are out to prevent a great evil from entering the world (the precise nature of the evil is determined randomly; we had to prevent Hastur from arriving). They do this by exploring the town of Arkham, gathering clues and sealing gates that open at random, spilling forth horrible monsters, there mere sight of which can drive one insane! This game has hundreds of markers and cards (literally!) and simply opening the package is enough to warrant a sanity check, but for fans of the Cthulhu mythos it's almost as much fun as a session of the role-playing game.
Saturday evening, I ran a session of Mutants & Masterminds, playing Time of Crisis using a selection of archetypes from the PDFs available from Green Ronin on RPGNow. The game went well, though we decided to wrap up about midnight. When we left them, the characters were stuck in a variant world where the Nazis had conquered the globe. Even though we had to leave them hanging, a good time was had by all.
On Sunday, everything was starting to wind down. We played a marathon game of Talisman that lasted about four hours (of course, we has more than the recommended number of players, too), and we finished off the weekend with a quick game of Guillotine, a cute little card game about the French revolution from Wizards of the Coast.
There are three pieces of advice that I bring away from this con; two are the same two pieces of advice that I always seem to have to give after any con I attend.
First, wear an appropriate costume. Ladies, I'm sorry, but not everyone is built like Lucy Lawless. If you aren't one of the fortunate ones, do not try to dress as Xena. You aren't helping the image of geeks everywhere by parading around in a tight leather outfit about four sizes too small and thinking you look "hawt." You don't. Gentlemen, the same rule applies to you. Without the benefits of digital enhancement, most of us don't have the body to pull off a Leonidas costume from 300. Please don't try; you'll only embarrass yourself. And if you're going to dress as Tarzan and wear only a loincloth, you might want to visit the tanning salon first. The glare was blinding us!
Second, and this is important, please remember to bathe daily and use soap and deodorant. You might not notice it, but the rest of us do. When you get 3,000 people into a relatively confined space, little things become big things. We don't appreciate that you conserved water by skipping showers for the last two days.
Finally, this is a new message to those of you who smoke. If the con is being held in a public place and you are in costume, be aware of who might be watching. The young lady that came dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid did a great job on her outfit and looked very nice, until she stuck the cancer stick in her mouth. I'd hate for a child to have been walking by at that moment. A friend told me of a con that he attended where Captain Planet (and apparently, the costume and demeanor were spot-on) was seen smoking. Just be aware that your actions are representative of the character you are dressed as, and that impressionable minds might be witness.
As for me, I can't say that the con was a total loss. I did meet a new friend and I got some goodies for myself. I got a cool t-shirt that shows four attractive young ladies peeking out from behind a shower curtain with a caption that reads, "Conserve hotel water, shower in groups!" I also picked up a nice obsidian necklace for Kanna (in the shape of a kitty) and a "naginata" for my weapons collection. It's actually far too short to be a true naginata, but since it's intended for display and it was only $40, I figured, "What the hell?"
The one downside was with a local hotel, the Quality Inn in Biloxi, MS. Keep in mind that everything I relate to you here is third-hand information. I did not stay at the hotel, nor did I have any dealings with anyone who had. What I tell you here is strictly based on conversations I heard at the con. Take it for what it is worth.
Apparently, when CoastCon approached the hotel looking to reserve room blocks, they were told that party rooms (rooms specifically designed to host parties) would be permitted. However, that manager went on vacation and the manager on duty expressly forbade party rooms and told con guests that they could have as many people in a room as was legal, but if there were any noise complaints, they would be asked to leave with no refund.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were several complaints and many con guests were evicted from the hotel sans refund. I understand that one individual was even arrested. Apparently, however, no actual records of the complaints exist, and it was later discovered that the rooms from which the complaints originated were completely empty and had been all weekend! This kind of behavior is unacceptable, and I urge all science-fiction fans everywhere to openly boycott Quality Inn. CoastCon will certainly not be returning to that hotel in future.
In addition to all of the great costumes (and the not-so-great costumes), there was a small merchant's room and a lot of gaming and other events. Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) was there, as were Gigi Edgley (Farscape) and David Gerrold (science-fiction author). The Imperial 501st Legion, "Vader's Fist," was well-represented (and I am even considering joining up). Even the Dark Lord of the Sith himself was present!
I spent the weekend playing games. On Friday, we played a Settlers of Catan game that ran entirely too long! I think that, after all was said and done, we finally had a winner after four hours of play! Most people who are familiar with Settlers will know that even with four players, two hours is considered lengthy. Friday night we got involved in a game of Mississippi Queen (a madcap steamboat race down the mighty Mississippi River) and played several rounds of Ca$h 'n Gun$.
If you've never had the pleasure of playing Ca$h 'n Gun$, you should go right now and order your copy. In a nutshell, you have eight bullet cards; five are blanks, two represent regular shots, and the last one is a "quick shot." The pot is filled with a random amount of cash, then every selects a bullet card and places it face down in front of them. One player counts to three and all players point their foam pistol at another player (any player you wish). At a second count of three, any players who wish to dive for cover may drop their gun to the table. This prevents them from taking a hit, but also means that they cannot take a share of the pot. All players still in the round reveal their bullet cards. If you played a blank, there is no effect and both you and your target get a split of the pot. If you chose a bullet, your target is shot and is ineligible to share the pot. If you chose a quick shot, your shot fires first and your target may not even be able to fire back! (Normally, if both players reveal bullets, each takes a hit and is ineligible for the pot.) If you or your target dove for cover, you simply discard your bullet card, sight unseen by the other players. Each card can be used only once in the round. If the pot cannot be split evenly, the remainder of the money (that portion that cannot be split) stays in the pot for the next round. At the end of eight rounds, the player with the most money is the winner. For every shame marker you have (indicating that you dove for cover), you sacrifice $5,000 from your total.
There are also some special ability cards that change the game a bit. These are dealt randomly to each player at the start of the game, and include things like a card that allows you to see who is pointing at whom before you decide to point your own weapon, or a card that awards you $5,000 for each shame marker, instead of penalizing your for it. Finally, if you have six players, you can use the undercover officer option, which makes one of the players a police officer. Each round, the officer can choose to make a phone call. Three calls before round six or before said officer meets an untimely death means that he or she wins the game. Of course, if people figure out that you're the cop, you've just become the target du jour.
On Saturday, we began with a session of Arkham Horror, a long-winded, but ultimately fabulous game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Even without the expansion (we were using the Dunwich Horror expansion), the game runs pretty close to three to four hours. We played for four and still had not reached a definitive conclusion when we had to call the game. Basically, the idea is that all players portray various 1920's persona's who are out to prevent a great evil from entering the world (the precise nature of the evil is determined randomly; we had to prevent Hastur from arriving). They do this by exploring the town of Arkham, gathering clues and sealing gates that open at random, spilling forth horrible monsters, there mere sight of which can drive one insane! This game has hundreds of markers and cards (literally!) and simply opening the package is enough to warrant a sanity check, but for fans of the Cthulhu mythos it's almost as much fun as a session of the role-playing game.
Saturday evening, I ran a session of Mutants & Masterminds, playing Time of Crisis using a selection of archetypes from the PDFs available from Green Ronin on RPGNow. The game went well, though we decided to wrap up about midnight. When we left them, the characters were stuck in a variant world where the Nazis had conquered the globe. Even though we had to leave them hanging, a good time was had by all.
On Sunday, everything was starting to wind down. We played a marathon game of Talisman that lasted about four hours (of course, we has more than the recommended number of players, too), and we finished off the weekend with a quick game of Guillotine, a cute little card game about the French revolution from Wizards of the Coast.
There are three pieces of advice that I bring away from this con; two are the same two pieces of advice that I always seem to have to give after any con I attend.
First, wear an appropriate costume. Ladies, I'm sorry, but not everyone is built like Lucy Lawless. If you aren't one of the fortunate ones, do not try to dress as Xena. You aren't helping the image of geeks everywhere by parading around in a tight leather outfit about four sizes too small and thinking you look "hawt." You don't. Gentlemen, the same rule applies to you. Without the benefits of digital enhancement, most of us don't have the body to pull off a Leonidas costume from 300. Please don't try; you'll only embarrass yourself. And if you're going to dress as Tarzan and wear only a loincloth, you might want to visit the tanning salon first. The glare was blinding us!
Second, and this is important, please remember to bathe daily and use soap and deodorant. You might not notice it, but the rest of us do. When you get 3,000 people into a relatively confined space, little things become big things. We don't appreciate that you conserved water by skipping showers for the last two days.
Finally, this is a new message to those of you who smoke. If the con is being held in a public place and you are in costume, be aware of who might be watching. The young lady that came dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid did a great job on her outfit and looked very nice, until she stuck the cancer stick in her mouth. I'd hate for a child to have been walking by at that moment. A friend told me of a con that he attended where Captain Planet (and apparently, the costume and demeanor were spot-on) was seen smoking. Just be aware that your actions are representative of the character you are dressed as, and that impressionable minds might be witness.
As for me, I can't say that the con was a total loss. I did meet a new friend and I got some goodies for myself. I got a cool t-shirt that shows four attractive young ladies peeking out from behind a shower curtain with a caption that reads, "Conserve hotel water, shower in groups!" I also picked up a nice obsidian necklace for Kanna (in the shape of a kitty) and a "naginata" for my weapons collection. It's actually far too short to be a true naginata, but since it's intended for display and it was only $40, I figured, "What the hell?"
The one downside was with a local hotel, the Quality Inn in Biloxi, MS. Keep in mind that everything I relate to you here is third-hand information. I did not stay at the hotel, nor did I have any dealings with anyone who had. What I tell you here is strictly based on conversations I heard at the con. Take it for what it is worth.
Apparently, when CoastCon approached the hotel looking to reserve room blocks, they were told that party rooms (rooms specifically designed to host parties) would be permitted. However, that manager went on vacation and the manager on duty expressly forbade party rooms and told con guests that they could have as many people in a room as was legal, but if there were any noise complaints, they would be asked to leave with no refund.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were several complaints and many con guests were evicted from the hotel sans refund. I understand that one individual was even arrested. Apparently, however, no actual records of the complaints exist, and it was later discovered that the rooms from which the complaints originated were completely empty and had been all weekend! This kind of behavior is unacceptable, and I urge all science-fiction fans everywhere to openly boycott Quality Inn. CoastCon will certainly not be returning to that hotel in future.