Origins 2008

The Theory (ae202)

My current Origins schedule looks like this:

Wed, June 25:

7 pm - 11 pm: 6123: Nobilis: A Game of Gifts, Chris Hall and Jessica Hammer

Thurs, June 26:

10:15 am: Shopping and eating. NB: La Krema closes stupidly early.

1 pm - 5 pm: 6318: Abduction, CoC, Matt Wiseman -- I think we play the monsters.

5 pm - 6 pm: Get Lots of Food!

6 pm - 10 pm: 6471: Victim's Ball, CoC, RogueCthulhu, Kevin Kreiner, French Revolution era setting.

10 pm - 11 pm: Check food and liquid situation, replenishing as necessary.

11 pm - 3 am: 6554: Find Me, CoC, Dreamlands, part 1 of 2. I doubt I'll be able to make part 2, but I don't think this will be a problem. Brian Martin.

[IOW, 12 hours in the CoC area. Must bring glow in dark CoC dice Stephen Tihor gave me.]

Fri, June 27:

10 am -- Shopping, free time, eating. NB: La Krema closes stupidly early.

1 pm - 5 pm: 6778: Festival, CoC, Dave Condon, Fascist Italy setting, involving entertainers and their latest performance.

5 pm - 6 pm: Get food.

6 pm - 10 pm: 6876: A Hole in the World, Unknown Armies, Todd Furler.

Sat, June 28:

10 am -- Shopping, free time. La Krema closes stupidly early. Check on North Market hours as well.

1 pm - 5 pm: 7162: Detectives Unlimited: Show Yourself!, Unknown Armies, Lori Piper, next in her series, and, as far as I can tell, sequel to the one Julian and I played in last year, Throw a Penny.

6 pm - 8 pm: Break. Get food.

8 pm - 1 am: 2618: Nobilis: Torn From Glory. Nobilis larp. Chris Hall and Jessica Hammer.

Sun, June 29:

10 am - 2 pm: 7475: Tears of the Bluebird, CoC with Mature Content label, supposed to be very disturbing. I would have thought an 11 pm to 3 am slot was better for this sort of game, but apparently, the accepted tradition is to hold it in the last slot of the convention, which means Sunday morning / afternoon. I may or may not drop it depending on my mood. The two questions in my mind are, "Is this what I want to be the last game of the convention for me?" and "Do I trust RogueCthulhu to end on time?" Marx Stead.

2 pm - 4 pm: Last licks, dealers' room.

The Reality (ae204)

Overview: How It Played: Lisa's Origins Schedule

Wed, June 25:

7 pm - 11 pm: 6123: Nobilis: A Game of Gifts

This was awesome. Great players, great gms, great pcs which were a good compromise between total pregen and total on the spot creation.

Around about midnight, Josh and I started heading back through the convention center, hoping the walkways between hotels would be open, given the torrential thunderstorm. We were told that no one was allowed upstairs. There was a tornado warning, and the walkway we had planned to cross, known as the breezeway, had glass walls. Bad combination.

About a half hour later, we were given the all clear, and we walked back with a couple of friends. The walkways were indeed still open.

Thurs, June 26:

La Krema did not close stupidly early, but extended its hours for the convention.

10:15 am: Shopping

Given the kidney stone, I used my wheeled suitcase when I shopped. This worked really well.

1 pm - 5 pm: 6318: Abduction, CoC, Matt Wiseman -- I think we play the monsters

A total blast. This was a straightforward game, not a parody, and it was both hilarious and macabre, though there was an issue of which I was blissfully ignorant.

5 pm - 6 pm: Get Lots of Food!

I certainly had food on hand.

6 pm - 10 pm: 6471: Victim's Ball, CoC, RogueCthulhu, Kevin Kreiner, French Revolution era setting

Slow start, due to infodumping issues that I'm pondering how one could handle better, and to a situation where we had almost a larp with 8 players and 1 gm. A co-gm would have helped. Awesome finish. It would make a good larp. Our run would make a good movie.

10 pm - 11 pm: Check food and liquid situation.

Particularly critical, but under control.

11 pm - 3 am: 6554: Find Me, CoC, Dreamlands, part 1, but I don't think I can make part 2, which should be okay with folks. Brian Martin

I bowed out halfway through, pleading stamina issues. It was a good scenario, solid and fun. It was well paced, afaik, since the gm said we were halfway through when I left. All of the pcs were cool enough that, while I had preferences, I'd have been happy with any of them.

I want to see the notes for Brian's scenarios. If I can't manage to get through them as a player, maybe I can run them for my group.

[IOW, 12 hours in the CoC area. Must bring glow in dark CoC dice Stephen gave me]

I did bring the dice. Turns out they won an Origins award. Cool though they are, I favored the colored rocks.

Fri, June 27:

10 am -- Shopping, free time

1 pm - 5 pm: 6778: Festival, CoC, Dave Condon, Fascist Italy setting, involving entertainers and their latest performance.

Game cancelled. The gm was sick for long enough shortly before that he couldn't then get more days off for this, and he wasn't sure about his own stamina. The shuggoth.net folks were very good about making sure the three of us who showed up could get into another CoC game, but the ones running didn't appeal to me enough.

I played in Narcissist, which was fun and gave me a taste of a system I'd never played. It ran simpler than I'd thought, though we didn't interact with the time travel mechanics much, so I don't know how those run. There's going to be a second edition of Continuum and a first full release of Narcissist at some point, but no word on when.

5 pm - 6 pm: Get food

Yep.

6 pm - 10 pm: 6876: A Hole in the World, Unknown Armies, Todd Furler

Fun, but more chaotic than expected. This was the first time I have ever seen Todd run over, and he checked first to see if we were okay with that, saying he could move things faster if necessary.

Sat, June 28:

10 am -- Shopping, free time. La Krema closes stupidly early. Check on North Market hours as well.

To my surprise, I got to North Market. I solved the problem of figuring out which bread to buy by asking which one fit my desires, e.g., not sour, not too hard to tear, good to mop up sauce.

I did secondary shopping, preordering stuff I knew I wanted and getting some unexpected half-price bargains, including Qin.

There's always one "If I had more money" thing I never do get. This time, it's Green Ronin's Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary. I don't need it, but I've got the rest of the lot. AEG's Emerald Empire would also have been cool.

1 pm - 5 pm: 7162: Detectives Unlimited: Show Yourself!, Unknown Armies, Lori Piper, next in her series, and, as far as I can tell, sequel to the one Julian and I played in last year, Throw a Penny.

This was a lot of fun. It was indeed a sequel, and I got to play the same PC as last time.

6 pm - 8 pm: Break. Get food.

And drop stuff in room and get extended check out time.

8 pm - 1 am: 2618: Nobilis: Torn From Glory. Nobilis larp.

Totally awesome.

The lights went down. An impassioned debate began about war, hope, life, death, and other matters. Interesting larp mechanic: At game start, you hand other players plot envelopes that give them information, plots, or both.

Sun, June 29:

10 am - 2 pm: 7475: Tears of the Bluebird, CoC with Mature Content label, supposed to be way disturbing. May or may not drop it depending on mood -- not sure how much I trust RogueCthulhu, which seems to think it doesn't have to write or run events to fit the 4 hours allotted. (Also, I'd think 11 - 3 am slot better for mature content, but...)

After some back and forth on how I wanted my Origins to end and how well I was feeling, one section was canceled by the gm, who did not think it was yet edited enough to run. Another gm scheduled to run the other section had not arrived, but I decided to take his word for it and the refund.

I genericed into Kat Miller's With Great Powers game. Lots of fun, an excellent way to end the convention.

2 pm - 4 pm: Last licks, dealers' room.

8:08 PM: Return flight

Er, no. The flight was canceled. We got onto a 5:15 flight that boarded close to 6, iirc, and left around 7, maybe earlier. Then, we had take out dinner from Newark Airport at the baggage claim area and made our way home.