Dreamation 2007

Write Ups

Mortal Coil SF (ae187)

Don't Rest Your Head: Don't Rest Your Head: Unregarded Age in Corners Thrown (ae187)

Grey Ranks and Swords for the Boy King (ae187)

Burning Empires: Surrounded By Wolves (ae187)

Overview

Dreamation was a lot of fun. I went primarily for the indie gaming scene.

The Buying

For the first time, I knew that I would not be able to pick up every indie game I wanted that I didn't own. Heck, these days I have to be on my toes to make sure I've even heard of most of what is out there.

I picked up

• Zorcerer of Zo -- This was a lot of fun to read. Not a lot new for me, and the system, while easy enough for me, doesn't strike me as better than my usual favorites (OTE, EW), or, for that matter, FUDGE. But, it's the whole package I like, the combination of world, system, and step-by-step walk through of the author's campaign, which was short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the essentials.

• Spirit of the Century
• Hero's Banner
• Seven Leagues
• Cold City

The Networking

Rob Donoghue wisely would not say when The Dresden Files would be coming out. Judd Karlman said he'd send a playtest version of 1st Quest my way, though, as Julian noted, logically, the home group should do it without me the first time. I told Michael Miller why he is my hero.

The Games

I played 6 rpgs I had never before played:

• Mortal Coil, deliberately stretched to sf. Fun, though I am not sure I should be gming it.

• Don't Rest Your Head, which I am sure I could gm, though I want to see Dark City first.

• Grey Ranks, playtest. It may need a bit of tweaking, but pretty solid. Probably not for me, but Naomi Rivkis would probably enjoy it.

• Swords for the Boy King

• Burning Empires, mixed results for me. Where it was good, it was fabulously good. Where it was annoying was where there was too much debate over mechanics and tactics for my taste, and I am not sure how much that's just group dynamics and how much it's exacerbated by the mechanics. Also, fitting BE into a 4 hour slot means cutting a lot of stuff that makes it BE. Definitely worth doing the game.

• Ganakagok, with the Menominon tune in my head. 7 players, midnight to 4 am, with at least 2 of us sleep depend badly. Loads of fun, though there are a few things I'm not sure I like about the system. As with BE, must reserve judgment till I've read and tried to play it outside con setting.

Post Convention

Josh and I paid a shiva call to Michael Burstein* and family. Josh was able to help make up a minyan, and Michael's discussions about sf and observing shabbas on Mars prompted me to ask some questions about shabbas observance in the play be email game I'm running, where there are four campuses in different locations, linked by magical gateways. The questions I had involved situations that easily defaulted to known cases.

Then, Josh and I met Julian, Beth, and Dave Demast for dinner and Julian's Feng Shui game, lest the five of us feel gaming deprived after a weekend of Dreamation.