GenCon Wrap: Wed/Thurs

Aug 19, 2009 10:45

Good lord, I haven't blogged in a long time. I've been writing - some - but nothing that can actually be bandied about at the moment ( Read more... )

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brainiacfive August 19 2009, 16:55:33 UTC
Sounds awesome. I WILL get back to GenCon one of these years, but I just realized since we are committing to go to Dragoncon next year, I will probably be skipping Gencon again.

Keep up the reports so I can live it vicariously.

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ivan23 August 19 2009, 18:08:01 UTC
You got it, my man!

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waiwode August 19 2009, 17:35:11 UTC
An afterthought added as a forward: What follows is a funny comment not be construed as a complaint. Nor should anyone assume that I sat up against a pillar in the convention hall crying because I have no friends. It's just that my eyeballs were exhausted from looking at all the gaming, and they were perspiring a bit.

For me, this con was about my third favourite, ranking behind the last two years, but ahead of my first con, where I basically knew nobody. This year I left a lot of room for social activity ... to find that all the folks who were invariably non-stop social in the past were all caught up in gaming!

I'm not critical of that ... it makes nothing but sense. One of the reasons I don't GM at GenCon, either scheduled or off-the-cuff, is that I just don't normally get a chance to play, and GC affords me that ( ... )

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ivan23 August 19 2009, 18:07:27 UTC
I kinda DO want a six-day Con, but I can accept reality when I have to.

Here's my thoughts: For me, having one game scheduled during the day and knowing I'd play a pick-up game at night was awesome. It meant I *could* sleep in or spend time walking the floor, while not missing out on the fun. It meant I got to play with people I love playing with, play games we're not used to and keep together as a coherent unit.

For the folks who DON'T have time to play, like Dana, Lisa and Jenn; being able to split off for a meal makes perfect sense to me. It works out well for everyone and gives a bit of a breather between games.

That's how I plan to run it next year as well, I think.

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ivan23 August 19 2009, 18:03:51 UTC
No, I missed the GM reaction! Too caught up in the moment, I think.

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editswlonghair August 19 2009, 18:57:49 UTC
"Man, I can't do this to anotherr player," which led to me shouting, "It's an awesome story! I will never play this character again! CUT ME! CUT ME!"

Wow. Was that the guy who play tested Caper and cried because he got double crossed? What is wrong with these people? ;)

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brainiacfive August 19 2009, 19:17:25 UTC
I dunno. I think in an environment where you don't know the other players, it was a perfectly acceptable thought. Ivan was all for it, but another might not have taken the abuse of their character so... enthusiastically?. I try not to close off another player's fun if I can help it. Even when I take control of a LARP, I try to leave the others with a loophole to stop me. :-)

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editswlonghair August 19 2009, 19:36:30 UTC
I think in a one-shot, its a bit overboard to be so milquetoast... Not saying you have carte blanche to be 'that guy' (or, as Ivan calls him, 'ugly gamer goob'), but the story's the thing. Have at it, and apologize after the session if feathers get ruffled. It is only a game.

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ivan23 August 19 2009, 19:47:56 UTC
And I get where the guy was coming from. I think part of the trick is that we've got enough empathy or social skill to know when we have to back off, for the most part, and a lot of folks there might not have had enough quality interaction yet to pick up on those signals.

We DESTROYED a guy in the LARP, and found out later he'd driven like eight hours just to play in that one game and was planning to drive the eight hours back that night. I felt like kind of a dick, and I and another guy went to make sure there were no hard feelings ... dude said no, shook our hands, and we went on our way. Still, it's hard to shake that feeling.

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