GenCon 1997

GENCON REPORT

Josh and I got to the airport on time, but had some very frightening moments when it seemed we wouldn't be allowed on the plane. We'd been told to bring photo ID, and I had a driver's license, but Josh didn't. He had school and work ID, but neither were government issued, and no one had told us we needed government issued ID. So he called his folks, while the clerk called a manager. Josh's folks were willing to fax the data from his passport, but no copy shops were open near them.

Luckily, the manager allowed us to go through, but warned us that, while our connecting flight would not be a problem, he didn't know what would happen on the return flight. He said to talk to the folks on the other end, but he personally would accept a faxed photocopy, the photocopy part being necessary to keep the picture from blurring when faxed. He also said that if the passport itself were necessary, to allow two days instead of one, as Fed Ex would be a bit burdened with the UPS strike (which was the first I heard of it as a reality rather than a possibility).

We arrived in good order. The clerk in Milwaukee said that they had to let us return if we'd been allowed to fly out and that a note should be in the computer. It wasn't, but she typed one in, and assured us that no passport, fax, or photocopy would be necessary. Then we met Doc, and assured him we had cash for the hotel room.

We'd planned to write him a check, originally, but when I mentioned this at near the last minute, he requested cash. Josh went to a cash machine, while I was "lucky" enough to have the extra cash. Josh had paid me back for charging his GenCon admission, and I'd not been able to get to the bank to deposit the cash due to a fever of 102 F. Luckily, the fever broke on Monday.

We cabbed to the hotel, which proved to be a touch more expensive than Doc had been told. But we got settled in, then met Avis Crane, Peter and Holly Hildreth, and Patrick and Terri Riley. We had a lovely dinner at The King and I, where I learned I can do native style spiced curry dishes, but have trouble with native style spiced dishes where the spice is based around those tiny explosive red peppers.

Next, we went to The Safehouse, which is a lot of fun to explore. I realized far to late to take advantage of it that there were a couple of LARPs being held at The Safehouse.

After we left, we went back to Avis' room to talk strategy on the A&E party. The problem was that Doc had scheduled the party for Thursday evening, and WotC inconsiderably scheduled their party for then. But we decided to hold ours anyway, especially when Patrick pointed out that he and no doubt others had rearranged schedules so that they could attend the party. We turned in relatively early, after a quick trip up to Polaris, the spinning restaurant at the top of the Hyatt. Its prices are more reasonable than those of the spinning restaurant at the top of the Trade Towers.

None of us had been insane enough to schedule an 8am game for Thursday, so we got up at 8am to make the opening of the Exhibit Hall aka the Dealers' Room, at 10am. Well, Josh and I arrived at about 10:20, when the insanity of the first rush had died down.

I was unsuccessful at scaming review materials from Chaosium or Pinnacle, but I did ensure that Josh and I would have the earliest slot for the CoC LARP on Saturday, and I was told that I should talk to Greg Stafford about reprinting The Book of the Three Dragons for the Arthurian line of fiction. Then, Josh told me to check out the Archetypes booth and look at the pretty cards they had. The cards were indeed pretty, and I was able to get a review copy.

Then, Josh and I parted ways, and I headed for the Atlas booth, where I was given a free OnTE deck and a sticker. I was told that I could get a free Burger box for participating in an OnTE demo, but I never did get there. I have enough cards, and any I want I can trade for or buy from Josh, who did get to the demo. OTE 2nd ed. was out, with a much more flamboyant cover than the 1st ed.

I went by the Pagan Publishing booth to get something I'd wanted for some time: A sterling silver yellow sign pin. I'd have prefered it if the sign itself were enameled yellow, but maybe I can do that on my own or have someone else do it (if I can find it - the danged thing vanished). I also discovered the auction store, and got a couple of bargains, including Queen Victoria and the Holy Grail for a buck, the first issue of the good, but short-lived Last Province, and a copy of Everway for Josh.

Industry news:

Lisa Pondsmith said that while Castle Falkenstein got lots of critical acclaim, it didn't sell all that well. Now, while the line's not likely to die, since too many people in the company like it (including her), she figures there will either be one product released per year or maybe a small newsletter, perhaps serializing the products that would have been released.

The folks at Rubicon have lots of plans for Everway, including, eventually, a 2nd edition. However, they plan to release most products online first, to be downloaded as .pdf files. Only those products that seem to be in great demand would be printed out. This was news to me, and also news to Greg Stolze, who was less than thrilled to hear that Realms of the Sun is going to be released online. And he heard it first from me, I believe.

Stellar Games is no longer publishing rpgs, though the company does still have copies of its old games. Actually, this may not be 100% accurate; I vaguely recall hearing about a new version of It Came from the Late Late Late Show. But what the company is doing now is selling Stonewyrks, hydrostone cement miniatures. They look good, even if that's not my cup of tea. I have their catalog, if anyone's interested.

My 4-8pm game was The Princess Acclaimed for Castle Falkenstein, gm'd by Jack Gulick. This was the third in a series about Princess Ursula Kaunitz and her friends. Three people wanted to join, but Jack only had two spots. One man agreed to give up his spot in return for a spot on Friday at 8am, when the game was running again. Two players had been in previous events, and Jack gave them first pick of the PCs. I'm not sure if that's a good thing to do. One woman picked Judith, the female swashbuckler, while the other picked Root, the Princess' fae guardian. I took the princess, while the three who'd joined took Owl, the dwarvish inventor; Sam, the Texan who worked for the Secret Sevice and told everyone (the Secret Service wanted to be underestimated); and Wolfgang, Judith's brother, member of a magical order and relative coward. (The family got the normal amount of courage and it all went to the daughter.)

The background material was in the form of the PCs' diary entries, which was delightful. In addition to that and the character sheet, we each had a computer-generated line drawing of our PC, and Jack apologized for not being able to have them framed and done on parchment, which is what happened last year.

The PCs were invited to the castle of King Ludwig of Bayern, but at dinner, everyone vanished from each other's sight. Everyone except the Princess was somewhere in the castle, while she was in a room containing the castle. From her perspective, it was the size of a model, and it was hard to see the figures running around. She quickly realized that this was the real castle, not a model, and tried, with little success, to get the attention of her friends.

Judith fought a duel with an old enemy whom she'd killed, which really baffled her. Ursula tried to separate the two, but found she couldn't touch anyone. Eventually, she pulled up a pole and wrote her name with the pebbles of the castle grounds.

Sam talked to a rival for an old flame's hand, while Owl tried to keep some odd fae creatures from destroying the castle's clock. Wolfgang tried to get through to another plane, and sensed the presence of a fellow student who'd vanished three years ago. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by Judith, fleeing from her duel. Unwisely, he went out to talk sensibly to her enemy and got grabbed by said enemy, but Sam shot at him from a window. Wolfgang fled, found a quiet place to meditate, and managed to get into the fae realms long enough to rescue his fellow student who had no idea that he'd been gone for three years.

Root was in the basement, talking to a fae friend who spoke in vague terms about a decision Ursula had to make. Unfortunately, Ursula could only see, not hear, the others, and Root's link to Ursula wasn't functioning. The last straw for poor Ursula was when she tried to grab one of the fae folk who'd been trying to break the clock. She succeeded, but he turned into a puff of smoke in her hand, and she felt terrible, not sure at all what she'd just done.

By then, she'd realized that she was at home, and her father was nearby. She went to him, in tears, trying to figure out what was going on. Now, this was a scene that was tricky to play. It's one Naomi would have relished, but I'm not entirely comfortable with this kind of gut-wrenching scene, and the GM didn't want too much sentiment, so we both underplayed. What Ursula thought she eventually figured out was that she could either keep her father alive by watching over him or keep her friends alive by watching over them.

Her friends, now that she was no longer watching, were having difficulties finding each other. Judith, who had resumed her duel, was doing badly, despite having cut her opponent's pants (and despite Ursula's having previously managed to make him lose his footing by hitting him, or the ground beneath him - not sure which - with a large rock). Sam had been shot by his rival and was trying to stauch the wound, while the player expressed the hope that Ursula would Catch On already. I wanted to do this quickly, but believably, and Ursula did not want to make a snap decision without knowing all the details.

Meanwhile, Owl learned from the fae that they wanted to stop time, so he jammed the clock just before it would have struck 9pm, then stopped it more carefully so it wouldn't break. Ursula's father explained that he should have died just before he met her fae mother, but the mother had saved his life so that he could have an heir. He assured Ursula that he'd led a fine life, fifteen years more than he'd been entitled to.

Ursula's decision was obvious. I'd been saving the King of Spades to use to improve Ursula's social graces skill when she met King Ludwig, but decided that bidding a loving, but graceful farewell to her father took precedence, so I used it then. She kissed her father goodbye, then ran back to the model/castle.

You know how sometimes the dice are smarter than we are? Well, it works with cards too. No sooner had Ursula returned than Judith's player finally drew a club, the suit used for physical skills, like fencing. She'd had no luck all game. Part of this was timing, as the players got cards for a)being cool and b)being watched by Ursual. But part was the kind of luck that really improves the story.

Wolfgang found Sam, and the woman playing Wolfgang did an excellent job as the fastidious sorcerer who was medically trained, but could not stand the sight of blood. Still, he managed to patch up Sam, while Judith won her duel, and Root reestablished his mental link with Ursula. All the pcs met in the courtyard. The clock struck 9, despite having been stopped, and Ursula materialized there and was very unclear about what happened.

Ursual: Can I faint now? I mean, May I faint now?

Owl caught her, and of course, King Ludwig would choose that moment to arrive, with Lord Auberon. Ludwig was sympathetic towards Ursula's plight. Ursula needed to be reassured that it was okay to go to sleep and that she did not literally have to be watching over her friends all the time. Then, she (not I) burst into tears because her father was dead.

Then we learned the truth. When the clock struck 9, Ursula's father would die, no matter what. What he wanted was to see that Ursula was a worthy heir, but he couldn't explain all of this to her. Owl had brought her a vital extra few minutes by stopping the clock, but of course, the fae magic couldn't be held back forever. Jack explained that he'd decided that Ursula had to grow up and that would make a good end to the story, though he had hoped to bring the pcs to America, where Sam lived. I told him he could always run a sequel in a couple of years.

We voted for best role-player, and I voted for the woman who played Wolfgang. The man who played Sam won, and he was very good. Jack was an excellent GM, with a good sense of when to cut away from each character so that we all had an equal amount of airtime. He was also good at different voices, from the weird faes in the clock to the British lordling who was dueling Judith to the Texan rival of Sam.

I asked him about the second run later in the con, and he said that went well also. Only five players appeared, so he cut Root's part, as Wolfgang could and did serve as the link with Ursula. This Ursula broke off a piece of rock from the castle as her stylus, and Wolfgang clambered onto it, and Ursual lifted the rock with Wolfgang out of the castle.

(Sept. 3: Nick, the man who played Owl is now an adjunct lecturer at Bronx Community College's English Dept., where I've been an adjunct for 2 years.)

The A&E Party: After The Princess Acclaimed, I went back to the Hilton, and let Patrick and Terri into our room. Doc arrived soon after, and then Josh, and Josh and I tried to get beer for the party, but discovered that Milwaukee stops selling alcohol outside of bars after 9pm. The party still went well, despite being up against the huge TSR/WoTC thing. People came in waves, so that the room was never too crowded, but also never empty.

People I remember arriving (my apologies if I forget anyone): Patrick and Terri Riley, Avis Crane, Peter Hildreth, Chris Pesl, Jonathan Tweet, Greg Stolze, Peter Hentges, a man and a woman whose name I'm blanking on, but who are good people and who worked the Chaosium booth, Rebecca Hamster, and her friend whose name I forget (April?). Other A&Eers not present at the party but present at the convention included Nicole Lindroos, Keith Sears, and Tony Lee.

Friday, Doc, Josh, and I all had 8am games. Mine was Dr. Troodon Wants Your Brain, gm'd by Todd Miller, who'd run it on Wednesday, with Josh. Josh did not give anything away. I played Dr. Rosen-Rosen, who believed in curing patients with Art Therapy. Patrick Smith was Rebecca Hatchet, the doctor's ruthless grad student. The patients were Zoot, a schizophrenic (whose player did a frighteningly good job, since his wife works with schizophrenics); Bob, who didn't -seem- crazy; and Johnny Bravo, rock star. (Josh played Duke, an ex-commando, but we only had five players, so Duke was dropped.)

Dr. Rosen-Rosen had a lovely drive to work, although CARL (Computers Are Really Loveable), the new computer running security, would not accept her pass or Rebecca's. When CARL finally did accept them, he referred to Rebecca as Dr. Hatchet.

Bob was already at Art Therapy, and Dr. Rosen-Rosen arrived in time to stop Dr. Troodon from putting more pressure on Bob to volunteer for brain therapy. Troodon was her rival, and Rebecca respected him more than Rosen-Rosen. Zoot and Johnny were supposed to scrub floors in the basement. Instead, they found a weird glowing hole in the wall, and a nearby corpse. Zoot took the corpse's gun, which Johnny somehow got away from him when Zoot flipped out (I think due to messing with weird tech), and Johnny handed him a weird gizmo he'd found on the guy. There was also a chicken-sized dinosaur running around, which really upset Zoot. Eventually, the orderlies rounded both up. They were respectful to Johnny (one of them gave him some drugs), but rough with Zoot who was convinced they worked for Richard Nixon or something like that.

The two were dropped off in Art Therapy, and everyone except Dr. Rosen-Rosen began sketching. The players actually did sketches. Bob got Johnny to autograph his. Then, everyone heard a rustling from the wastebasket, which turned out to be a chicken-sized dinosaur. It ran around, and started coughing.

Dr. Rosen-Rosen: Here, have a glass of water.

Dinosaur: Oh, thanks. (catches itself, runs around making animal noises)

Somehow, it got killed, I think by Zoot, and Rebecca suggested Rosen-Rosen try mouth to mouth recussitation, which she did, with no success. Johnny asked if she'd do it to him, while Zoot and Rebecca got into a tug of war over the chicken, er, dinosaur.

Zoot hit Rebecca over the head with a chair, stunning her. Now, you're supposed to call the orderlies when this sort of thing happens, but for some reason, Dr. Rosen-Rosen decided it was not necessary.

Rebecca: You've really got a problem with this passive-aggressive thing.

More dinosaurs appeared, larger ones. They talked, explaining that they just wanted to eat some vegetation, and adding that we should look out for the carnivores. We decided that we'd be safer in the basement, silly us. To make matters worse, CARL decided to turn himself off, since he was doing a bad job, plus he was supposed to be loveable, and he just wasn't. Rosen-Rosen tried and failed to convince him that she loved him. (The Rosen-Rosen in the other run was more successful. I was doing a Veritable Flake, raising my voice by about a major third.)

We made it down to the basement and Rebecca vanished, I think cutting a deal with Troodon. She also displayed some disturbing cannibalistic tendencies, which had been foreshadowed in her sketch for Art Therapy.

Rebecca (licking her fingers): Mmm. The stain on the walls tastes like blood, but is actually cough syrup. I think I'll have some more.

We encountered the carnivores - some of us, at least, as the pcs divided, united, and divided again in various combinations throughout. Rosen-Rosen used her Art Therapy to distract them, and got one of the two carnivores to do paw prints in blood on the wall long enough for the humans to run.

Zoot tried to get the carnivores to spare him so he could take them up in the elevator so they could eat more people. He got in with one carnivore, and the chicken-sized dinosaurs taunted them from the shaft until Zoot tossed one into the elevator, and, I think, somehow climbed out himself.

Meanwhile, Rosen-Rosen, Johnny, and Bob found the room where Troodon stored all the brains in jars.

Rosen-Rosen: Oh my. Now, wouldn't it be a shame (knocks brain down) if there were an accident here (knocks brain down) And Doctor Troodon's Research (knocks brain down) WERE ALL RUINED! (tosses down brain after brain).

Bob (grabbing her as she's about to throw another brain down): Stop! That's my brain!

He explained that Troodon had removed his brain. Rosen-Rosen was horrifed, and surprised that Troodon was still trying to recruit the brainless Bob, but Bob said he must have forgotten. Bob pulled out a gizmo, made a shimmering hole in the wall, and left, brain under his arm. Rosen-Rosen wished him luck.

Actually, Bob was a time-travelling smuggler who had just stolen Hitler's brain, which he sold for a huge sum of money. What's more, he had an autographed picture from the famous Johnny Bravo (who died in a tragic plane crash)!

Meanwhile, Dr. Troodon had mutated into a dinosaur and was trying to eat Rebecca's brain. And there were guys in silver suits trying to wipe everyone's memories and catch the time criminals. Rosen-Rosen escaped from the silver guy by throwing a brain at (well, through - he was sort of holographic) him, and running. She managed to escape from Troodon as well, after failing to convince him to eat Rebecca instead of her. In addition to, sure, but that wasn't what she wanted.

Rebecca hid from Troodon in a cabinet in the brain room, and Troodon turned his attention to Rosen-Rosen, who grabbed a surgical saw. They agreed it was time to settle their rivalry once and for all.

Troodon pinned Rosen-Rosen to the ground, and thinking quickly, she decided to motivate Rebecca to break through her negativity.

Rosen-Rosen: You horrid person! You want to eat my grad student, and you have no appreciation for how brilliant she is!

Rebecca (Bursting out of the cabinet, brain jar held high): I see the light! Art therapy! (Brains Troodon)

Rosen-Rosen (slitting Troodon's throat, then sinking back): A+! A+!

The two found they had common ground, and agreed to work on World Domination Through Art Therapy, getting a grant and pinning the damage of the present situation on Troodon, who was dead, and so couldn't argue. Alas, the silver guys showed up to wipe their memories. They tried to convince the silver guys that the brains they were holding out had their memories, but the silver guys just decided that proved they were nuts.

Guy 1 (pointing device at Rosen-Rosen): Should we take her back to the asylum?

Rosen-Rosen (jumping at him in rage): Never mention that!

Players: Ah, that explains it!

Rosen-Rosen was zapped back in time, as was Rebecca.

Zoot dodged dinosaurs and guys in silver suits. He climbed up the elevator cable at one point. When CARL came back online, he managed to raise the computer's self-esteem, begging him to open a door.

Zoot: Carl! You are God!

CARL: God? Do you really think so?

Zoot: Yes!

CARL: Well, I do have absolute power here...

Zoot: God, do not forsake your son!

CARL: I've decided to open and close -all- the doors at random!

CARL was able to help Zoot for a time, but soon realized that there were too many silver guys and dinosaurs running around. However, he assured Zoot that God was with him. The silver guys eventually wiped Zoot's memory, but not before he told CARL to remember everything and tell him. Unfortunately, the silver guys, who were really timecops, made sure that none of this ever happened, so that didn't work. (In the earlier run, Zoot lined his hat with tinfoil, so they couldn't wipe his memory, but they did make him promise not to tell anyone about the incident.)

Meanwhile, the timecops set up a sting operation in the future to catch Bob, whose real name was Xokdbasbqw. He threw himself on the mercy of the court, which pulled in Johnny as a character witness. Big mistake. Still, Xok got off easy: 300 years of being cryogenically frozen followed by a life time of work in the slug mines. (The Xok in the earlier run was killed, I believe, and I think so was Rebecca, who'd eaten Hitler's brain.)

So, everything was erased, and the next thing we knew, Rosen-Rosen was a graduate student working for Dr. Troodon, who was using Art Therapy to try to cure Zoot and Johnny, while Dr. Rebecca Hatchet tried to get Rosen-Rosen to sign away her brain.

Todd was good at dividing time -- the only slow spot was for Bob's character after he'd returned home -- and he had a fine adventure that kept me wide awake throughout, no mean feat at 8am. We voted for Best Role Player, and my vote went to Patrick, who was Rebecca, but to my surprise, I won, apparently by popular acclaim. I was good, and I was over the top, but I thought this was true of everyone. But I wasn't complaining, and I floated on an adrenaline high for about an hour, then felt it wear off. The prize was a $5 gift certificate, which I spent on Chaosium's The Dreaming Stone for CoC. (Damn fine product.)

I also picked up some review material, and just as I was thinking that I should really carry everything covers out, so everyone could see, just like Jonathan Tweet taught me, who should I meet but Jonathan himself, who chastized me for carrying everything so that the covers did not show?

At Pagan Publishing, I got review copies of $30 worth of materials and spent $80 on other things, earning me a free copy of a video tape of Halloween, which I gave to Doc. I also got a review copy of Armageddon and learned that there would be a free playtest, which I made sure to join. There's nothing like seeing the system in action to get a feel for it, and it's great when the author runs it.

However, there were so many at the playtest that the group was split in 2, and I did not end up with C. J. Carella. I forget the gm's name, but he was nice. Unfortunately, he had a very soothing voice, and the lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with me. Also, we all needed to leave after two hours, which was just when we were starting to get to the plot, where we would have seen the combat system in action. So, the game was halted, and I went over to the other table, where C. J. Carella was running a combat, and watched for a round or two, then headed out to get dinner. After that, I went back to my room to drop off my stuff, and headed for the Hyatt and the live Castle Falkenstein game.

Josh arrived, then left to search for his gaming coupons, which he'd lost. He came back muttering that he had to be a toon, since he'd found them on his way back to the hotel, when he'd given up. They were in the gutter of the street near the hotel.

The Falk game was a complex, political game, although there was some scattered violence. I was the head of the Swedish delegation. Josh was my aide, and the third member was my lame bodyguard, though we were the only ones who knew he was lame. This was a sensitive matter to him, and the only reason I knew, since it wasn't on my character sheet (Janice Sellers explained that her hardcopy had been lost. Luckly she had a backup on disc.) was because the player told me out of character.

All of us worked together well, perhaps better than we ought to have if we were being strictly in character, but I think the stretch was permissible. I automatically pointed Josh at people I wanted information from, since I know his capabilities. Also, when I had to be two places at once, I had him confirm a rumor.

The Swedes had the only open and above board delegation. The Norwegians were saved by having a Prussian spy (None of us suspected him, but the player thought that was because he was a lousy spy, as he didn't cause dissention.) The Irish had a British spy and a vampire who almost killed Josh's pc.

Josh: She wanted to whisper in my ear.

Lisa: Did you let her?

Josh: Of course not! We were alone in the room -- there was no need to whisper. And two people had been poisoned already -- maybe she was trying to poison me.

The poor vampire couldn't kill anyone. Her friend and fellow Irishwoman thought she had a problem with men, and so, with good intentions, kept sending the priest to check up on her.

Vampire Player: I was ready to kill the priest, which I should have, since he was the British spy!

We suspected the Italians and Rhinelanders of all manner of mayhem, including consorting with the Prussians (Prussia and Britain were the bad guys and were Not Invited), but they bore no malice toward anyone but each other. I lost track of who backstabbed whom and why during the post-game wrap up.

The Poles seemed unified to me until the end, when one of the delegation accused the others of being involved in some conspiracy just as the other delegations were finally signing an agreement. The assassin found this to be a stroke of luck, as it gave him opportunity to kill the head of the Rhineland delegation, but actually, the Polish accusor was creating a diversion to let another member of the delegation have a chance to sign the agreement, since he couldn't understand why none of the other Poles wanted to do this.

It turns out that one woman in the Polish delegation was really a fae, a pure being, and she knew that there was another such being in The Netherlands who wanted to kill her. This explained why she didn't want to work with the delegation from that country, but during the game, it made my character's life more complicated, as the first deal I made was with the Netherlands' head, as we agreed to watch each other's backs. So, I had to try to keep promises to him and to the Poles, totally unaware that there was a potential coup a-budding in the ranks of the Netherlanders. It had to do with a love affair, I think.

My choice for Best Roleplayer went to Mark Ferelli, the head of the delegation from the Ottoman Empire, as he was not only a brilliant negotiator, but one who stayed in character during negotiations. Alas, he lost to the assassin, who was more visible to most of the players. But he did get a treaty negotiated between the Ottoman Empire, Poland, Sweden, and Norway for favorable trade relations and passing on information, "details to be worked out later by our respective governments" (the most frequently-used phrase of the game). He was advised to get this all in writing, so he did, inspiring me to get a similar treaty signed by Swededn, Norway, The Netherlands, and Ireland, without the information trading agreement, as the Poles had us (myself and the Norwegian delegate) convinced that they were nervous about The Netherlands being conquered soon by Prussia. This led to an amusing scene. I told my bodyguard to get someone from the Netherlands, so he got the first person he found, who turned out to be the manservant to the son of the head of the delegation. He could not understand why we were trying to negotiate with him.

By the end of the game, we had an agreement, not to fight Prussia or even to impose trade sanctions, but to meet at regular intervals in Switzerland. This was signed by Italy, Poland, Sweden, Norway, The Ottoman Empire, and Ireland. Switzerland refused to sign anything which would compromise its neutrality. As for the Rhineland, the head of the delegation had just been killed, and the young woman who took his place refused to be pressured by the rest of us. In a picture perfect moment, she looked off into the distance, and with exactly the correct expression and tone of voice, she said, "This is a very important decision. It is the first of many such decisions I will make." The Ottoman delegate told us that the matter was between her and Allah.

In the wrap up, I asked if she would have signed the treaty. She said that she would not have, partly because we were pressuring her, partly because an aide/friend told her not to, and partly because one of the Netherlanders told her not to if the current head of the Netherland delegation signed it (He did).

Needless to say, Josh and I retired far too late, and were tired the next day. I kept dozing. This was a real problem in Doc Cross' OTE game, Hotel California, although I did have the advantage of knowing the song. The title, as in Dr. Troodon Wants Your Brain, was properly misleading, though accurate as well.

Doc assigned us characters, which, he warned us, would all be female. He also assigned us a central trait and told us to pick one side trait. I think he assigned us our flaws.

Josh and I were Muffy and Buffy, apparently upperclass teenage schoolgirls, but actually undercover agents based on the Dirty Pair who caused lots of damage on supposedly covert operations and argued a lot. We couldn't get guns, of course, but we did get cool gadgets. The other players had a 9-year-old child who'd been summoned by a telepathic dog named Bob, a shapeshifting alien on vacation (mass was conserved in the shapeshifting process), a computer hacker, and a sweet middle-aged woman who was actually a spy (Doc was unaware of the spy bit until late in the game).

Due to Weird Stuff happening, the terminal was sealed and we had to get rooms at a hotel. Naturally, the only one with rooms was the Hotel California. The television talked to Muffy and Buffy, sending them in pursuit of weird stuff. The girl met her dog and went to JJ's, where JJ, the owner, narrowly missed being assassinated. The girl, it seems, had a secret trait - any attacks which would hurt her somehow failed to work.

After much path crossing, we learned that there were three factions: JJ, The Lizard King, and Aaron Parker. (One of the players quickly figured out who the last two were, and wondered if JJ, who was a woman, had a raspy voice.) I forget exactly why, but Buffy, my pc, wanted to see the Lizard King. He turned her into a wallabe, which made attacking him and his bodyguards rather difficult.

Eventually, everyone - pcs and npcs - wound up in a huge arena. The musicians fought with music, with Avis Crane playing JJ. The 9-year-old stood in a zone of safety with Bob. Muffy and Buffy attacked whomever they could because that's what they do best. The spy attacked whomever got in her way as she headed for the 9-year-old and safety. I think this is when Doc realized she was a spy. The vacationing alien blew her top because she Wasn't Having Any Fun, so she shifted to a more monstrous form and started attacking people.

Finally, Frank Zappa (I think - my knowledge of music is shaky) stopped the fighting and explained what was going on. The musicians wanted to become gods. Well, JJ didn't care, but she didn't want the other two to become gods. Zappa already was a god, so he divided us up into three teams - hacker and alien, child and spy, Muffy and Buffy. We were to find the psi-cats collected by the three factions and get all three collections of 24 cats into one room where they would go into heat and release a lot of psychic energy. Whichever team got all the cats would send their patron shooting into godhood. Whether this meant we could leave the Hotel California -- where, coincidentally, all the cats were stored -- was another matter.

The only problem with this was that Muffy and Buffy were supposed to help the Lizard King. Buffy refused to help, on the grounds that he'd turned her into a wallabe (She got better). Zappa pointed out that she had no choice. She decided to make sure someone else got the cats, while Muffy, originally against the idea of helping the Lizard King, gradually came to decide that it was a good idea. After all, he'd turned Buffy into a wallabe, which ought to have taught her manners.

All of this was academic, however, as Buffy got blown away by the Homicidal Cheerleader, played by Avis, who sighed that the first time we were in a game together, her pc blew mine away. We didn't even find our own cats, let alone anyone else's. Muffy got Buffy to their room, where they tried to find out where the cats were from the television, but he wasn't talking any more. The coffee table was, and it warned them about the ninjas in the bathroom, who promptly attacked.

The other two teams went into cat collecting mode at once, and really got into it, the alien using a four-armed, shorter form to carry lots of cat-cages, while the spy dressed as a maid to steal the cats but got caught in the hacker's trap. Also, there was a beast in one of the rooms that just couldn't be killed by the steely knives provided to us (I was the only one who knew the appropriate song line, and of course, my pc wasn't there.) The game had to end on account of the time, though.

Josh was a bit annoyed that Doc had taken Buffy out by what looked like GM fiat. This doesn't bug me too much for my sake -- I was having serious trouble staying conscious -- though I do wonder if Doc thought I was making trouble with Buffy's attitude. Doc? I really wasn't trying to.

No, the annoying thing was that Josh's pc couldn't do anything because Buffy needed help. She wound up short an eye, an ear, an arm, and a leg, IIRC. So, Muffy couldn't do anything, or Buffy would die, but since Buffy wasn't dead, Muffy was effectively taken out of the game. If this sounds confusing, it's probably because my memory is hazy.

Doc decided the guy who created the middle aged spy should take the prize for best roleplaying, and I agree.

Anyway, the next game was Peter Hentges' OTE game where the weird stuff in The Edge was even weirder than usual. We created our own pcs for this one, Josh and I importing old pcs, which, in retrospect, we probably should not have. It didn't mess anything up, but it was a lazy way out. Also, due to minor miscommunication, Josh thought I meant that we should also keep the continuity from the game where these pcs appeared, which I hadn't intended at all, but in hindsight, it didn't hurt.

So, he was playing Dave, hacker and spy, and I was playing Christopher Gabriel, empath, very loosely based on a manga character, herein after referred to as CG. To make him different from the last time, I decided he probably did a bit of cat-burgling on the side.

Patrick Smith played a professor who taught Science! at D'Aubainne University. Dave was one of his students. Unfortunately, the building he was supposed to give his lecture in had vanished, to be replaced with gray mist. Dave walked a bit into the mist, and came back without part of his shoe, but convinced his shoe had always been like that. CG joined them, and the Professor created a machine to track the next appearance of the fog.

There was more fog where a warehouse used to be, and here, Public Hero Doctor Obsidian met Sandy Antunes' pc, whose name I forget. He was a mystic and, I thought, a fence. Actually, he did the stealing himself. He and Dave had crossed paths before, Dave being after the microfilm hidden in the art object the other man wanted. The final pc was a bestselling author.

CG tried to scan the fog empathically, and got terrified of nonbeing. Pens stuck into the fog lost bits of them, so we thought that the pens had alway been that way, but then we wrote a note with a pen saying that it hadn't, sticking it into the fog, and wondering how the nonfunctional pen we'd always had could ever have written that note.

Tracking the fog, we spotted Thor in the Plaza of Flowers, taking some cars apart, then found the next appearance of the fog in Great Men, which really made CG nervous because it was Satanist turf, and he had an idea who might appear there. As it turned out, the pcs were just asked to a meeting with Sir Arthur Compton, who explained that he thought this was happening because someone had gotten into his library somehow, copied the scrolls of Anubis, and read part of them, or messed up a step.

We checked at the Parapsychology Dept. of D'AU, since the effect had started at the university, and learned who was studying what, and that there'd be a ritual in Justice Barrio to learn more. The ritual produced no information we didn't know, and the chairman of the department said that it would take a couple of weeks to figure out exactly what was happening. Maybe a month.

We talked to his grad students and TA, breaking into a couple of their rooms, but learned nothing. We did spot the archangel Gabriel, who wanted to find a band to join.

The next day, we spotted a new manifestation, and caught the TA at the scene. Doctor Obsidian hypnotized him with his crime ring. As the player said, the scary thing was, this worked. The TA fumbled and happily took orders for the remainder of his life.

We went back to the TA's room to try to figure out what he'd done. He hadn't gotten into Compton's library. The Professor called Compton, but left only a brief message, since no one wanted to bring him in on this unless absolutely necessary. But I knew Peter would bite us with that phone call. (I was right. But it also saved our bacon.)

Somehow, the TA created a symbol of control, which trapped us in the room. The chairman called to give us rituals to use. The TA also, at our foolish request, created a symbol for air, which caused a huge wind.

Around then, Compton called, and we stressed that the TA did not steal anything from him and we had this ritual, but had to destroy the link to the weird shit which was either the TA or his notes. Compton did something on his end, and both notes and TA vanished to our chagrin, but the effect stopped, and the edge was back to (what passes for) normal.

Peter explained that actually, the chairman was the real villain. He'd gotten into Compton's library somehow, and his notes were what set the TA off, because he'd loaned said notes to the doomed TA. We had told the chairman everything, but he wasn't about to tell us the real story.

Game quote:

PC (I forget which one; either the occult thief or the author): Does the term "lithium" mean anything to you?

Dave: Lithium? One of the elements in the periodic -

PC: Okay. It doesn't mean "Take every six hours?"

(Nope, it didn't. That was what it meant to Dr. Rosen-Rosen, though.)

Peter decided that we'd all contributed equally to the adventure, so, since there were six of us, he'd roll a d6 to determine best role-player, and I took the prize. I know I would not have if we'd voted; my performance was decent, but no more. Josh and I would not have voted for each other unless one of us had been really astounding -- I would have voted for either Patrick (the professor) or the man who played Obsidian. Josh wouldn't have, I think, voting for either Sandy or the man who played the author, both of whom gave less flamboyent but still above average performances.

I finally met Greg Stafford, who is a very charming man, and talked to him about the possibility of getting Kenneth Morris' complete The Book of the Three Dragons back in print. As he said, my pitch was not precisely encouraging, as I wanted him to understand the problems involved (loyal but small audience). He told me that Raymond Thompson was editing Chaosium's line of Arthurian fiction. This is excellent: Thompson wrote Return from Avalon, which inspired me to do my dissertation, and gave me good advice (what I focus on is less important than that I focus on something). Greg also mentioned a trilogy that Chaosium hoped to reprint. All he remembered was "Gawain", but that was enough for me to know, instantly, which trilogy he had to mean. We've both been reading far too much of this stuff.

Our next and last game was the one-hour CoC Larp, where Sandy was one of the GMs. There were six pcs, and all of the names were carefully unisex. The characters had minimal descriptions -- just basic stats and skills. Sandy asked who wanted the combat monster, and no one volunteered. Eventually, someone took one pc, and the rest were put facedown on the table. I got Sgt. KC, the combat monster. Josh got the priest, but traded for the teenager. The minimal description was not a problem; it was like books and movies where the protagonists are designed to be something of a cipher that all viewers can project what they like onto.

Josh was in suit, hat, and tie, but ditched the jacket to keep in persona. I was in a jacket and skirt, with my hair loose for the first time all convention, but it fit well enought, and it turned out that the combat monster was perfect for me. Sandy came into the room where we were starting and handed me a folding knife (firmly taped closed).

Of the four other guys, only one was dressed for Cthulhu Classic (1920s), but we all got into character quickly. This was helped by the staging, as the scenario moved us from room to room, but not by the initial set-up. We started in a room with a nurse/receptionist telling us to sign in, giving the reason for our visit. We were utterly clueless about why we were there, and after the scenario, told the gms to tell the next group something like, "You've all got appointments to see the doctor" before tossing them in.

The woman playing the nurse/receptionist was perfect. She was frightening. I mean, I've never seen the Type of the bored, nasty, impatient receptionist that close (and I hope never to do so outside of an rpg!), and she had the perfect tone of voice and a way of snapping her gloves ominously. Brr.

The priest decided to proselytize (Sandy had told us that the priest could be of either gender and need not be particularly faithful), and asked for the copy of the Bible on the table.

Receptionist (with scornful disbelief): You came here to read? (finally lets him take it)

Priest: Thank you.

Receptionist (if only I could reproduce her vocal tone - it raised the hair on the back of my neck) Oh, don't -thank- me!

As Sgt. KC, I sat at attention, while the priest forced his attention on a hapless gentleman, and a woman burst in screaming about a burn. The receptionist grabbed her and hustled her out, crying, "Doctor, good news! Another burn victim!" We stared in disbelief, then realized we were locked in. Then, the lights went out and we were informed that the air was stale. Then, we heard a woman scream.

One of the players happened to have a lighter in his pocket, which helped him find the flashlight. I held the flashlight while Josh's pc picked the lock; ie, Josh told Sandy that he was doing this, and Sandy gave him a progress report every few seconds. (Later, Josh told Sandy that a 4 pin lock is easy to pick, quickly, even in the dark, for anyone with skill in lockpicking. He suggested the lock be changed to a 5 pin one.) The guy in a suit started banging on the door shouting for help, which resulted in a wellmeaning actor in the larp opening the door in the belief that we'd really gotten locked in. We were playing in rooms in and around the Arena, and the staff of the convention center did lock the doors even when they were supposed to be aware that the rooms were in use.

We got back in character, with the guy in the suit, herein after referred to as Suit, stating that his character would continue to bang and yell. Josh's pc, Leslie, IIRC, got the door open. I grabbed the receptionist's book on ESP, a red herring, and looked at her bookmark, a Clue. It said that there was no luck - no star burn. Better luck next year.

I handed the book to Josh, automatically, muttering that I wasn't the reading type. It occured to me later that I was relying on the player, not the character, though KC had reason to trust Leslie, as he was one who got us out of the locked room. The other two ways out were to break the door down or to find the button under the receptionist's desk that would open the door. (I don't think any group found it or even thought to look for it.)

Outside, we were told that the walls were bulging oddly and/or looking like red and blue swirlies. We came to two rooms, one labelled "Morgue", the other "Surgery". From the Surgery room, we heard chanting. It was thrilling to press my ear to the door and really hear people chanting to Yog-Sothoth, though, of course, my character knew nothing about the OGs. After, we were told that the actors had been told to speak up after an early run or rehearsal, but I had no trouble hearing them. And the chant would continue until we broke in.

We headed for the Morgue, where we were attacked by a zombie singing Fish Heads. The combat system worked smoothly. Again, I thought more like a player than a character, as I systematically gathered all the props I could find. I think we were all doing that. Then, we headed into Surgery.

I was the first in, of course, and I saw the woman with the burn -- did I mention it was star-shaped? -- lying in the pentagram on the floor, with doctor-types standing around. As I called out, things moved fast. The doctor left through the back. He was really going through the pentagram and vanishing, but there was no way to simulate that. Anyone who saw him leave out the back would be told that their pc saw him go through the pentagram. None of us did. I barely registered his presence, as my attention was taken by the man attacking me with the very large knife or very short scimtar. Then, the nurse/receptionist moved to cover us with her gun, and I thought, "Oh shit."

However, the gun rules, it seems, need serious tweaking. By all rights, the receptionist should have been able to shoot at least one, probably three of us. But it seems that once she moved, she couldn't shoot, and if she changed targets, she couldn't shoot that round. This allowed Leslie to throw the book I gave him at her.

When all the dust settled (about 2-3 rounds, not too confusing), the lady with the gun and the guy with the knife were dead. I claimed the gun, and checked on the woman in the pentagram.

Lisa: Is she still alive?

Woman in the Pentagram: Dead.

And the air was going stale again. It rushed out whenever we opened the door. We couldn't find secret doors. The priest eventually went into the pentagram to put the Bible on the dead woman's chest, after I suggested praying might be a good idea. The priest vanished, and everyone followed after, more or less.

KC was going to go last - civillians first, you know - but had to drag Suit, who was freaked. Of course, he'd been freaked since the zombie incident. (It hadn't helped that KC casually cut off its remaining arm after it went dormant again, or that KC explained that when she cut off a guy's arm, he generally stopped moving. This just made Suit think she was a dangerous lunatic. Can't imagine why.)

We all wound up Outside, in yet another room. There was a shape chained under a blanket. The blanket had a mysterious sign on it which was explained in the doctor's notebook. Alas, the notebook looked blank to the player who examined it, so we never got that clue. But there was a man there who explained to the others. This was good, because KC's first move was to level the gun. The man explained that the monster under the blanket was afraid of light and wouldn't attack so long as it was under the blanket, and it couldn't get out from under.

Intern: As long as it's under the blanket, we're okay.

KC: What if it gets out from the blanket?

Intern: Then... we're... Not Okay.

(Josh, you see the difference between the staccatto, Kirk-punctionation and the trailing-off ellipsis?)

The Intern got the monster to open a gate through which said Intern promptly fled, followed by the priest, who took a strange chest we'd found. The chest was left behind, however. The gms explained that it was a last ditch escape clause, containing a potion to transport pcs back to normal reality. Josh noted that this was unnecessary -- serious CoC players, the kind attracted to such larps, could accept the party dying horrible at the end of the adventure. I dunno; considering this was part advertisement, I see why the gms wanted to maximize the chance for a happy ending.

We never did break into the chest or figure out what it was for. Instead, we discovered the monster spoke English when it yelled at KC, who was trying to repeat what it was saying.

Monster: You don't say that about my mother!

It didn't even seem afraid of the light. But it wanted the blanket off. The others agreed to take it off -after- it opened a gate for us. Note that none of us knew for sure what it had done, and KC was highly dubious about all of this, as was I. But this turned out to be the best result we could have gotten. We were transported back to the hospital parking lot, down only a little San for seeing the monster throw off its blanket.

Monster: And don't come back!

After that, we were brought back to the first room and debriefed. We gave back all the props, and saw the first bit of the game from the outside. Again, the woman with the burn came and was hustled out. The woman playing the receptionist looked at her watch, and after a minute, she, not the "burn victim", went to the door and screamed.

Josh and I headed back to our room to change, and then to the non-existent Pagan Publishing/Steve Jackson party. Like the A&E party, people came and went in stages. I remember a talk about performance flow, which is what happens when one gets so involved in a performance that one does not necessarily remember what happened afterwards. Someone mentioned that this happened with alcohol too, and I startled Robin Laws by saying "Yes!" with extreme vigour. He wanted to see me eloquent and drunk, but wanted a guarantee of results for his investment, which I couldn't give. A drink would've likely put me straight to sleep at that point.

Sandy came in, delighted that all of the CoC larps were finished. Josh went to play OnTE, and Doc and I went back to the room, collapsing around 1 or 2 am, I think. Josh made it back an hour or two later, and we moved our stuff out (except for Doc, who stayed till Monday) and Josh got to the National Shadowfist Tournament, which he won.

While he was playing, I went to the exhibit hall, spending the Chaosium Chaos Bucks which we'd gotten for participating in the CoC larp. Chaosium only accepted one certificate per item, so I had to buy two items. Darn.

Then, I found ten bucks on the floor of Nancy Lebovitz's booth. After ascertaining that it almost certainly did not come from her cashbox, I claimed it, later feeling somewhat guilty about this stroke of luck, as she was having bad luck herself.

I discovered that Sunday is a good time to get products to review. Tip: If you know someone at a company, wait until that person is at the booth before trying to get review copies. While I could not get Blue Planet (and I want to hear how it is -- should I spend my hard-earned cash on it?), I did get a copy of The Shattered Sphere and SOL, both of which I promised to review for A&E, so you'll be hearing about them soon.

I also got a review copy of the rpg Legend of the Five Rings, and heard something of the background. Greg Stolze was kind enough to explain what was riding on the card tournament, while John Wick knows how to read in front of an audience. His voice was loud enough to be heard without the need for a megaphone. Later, I sat down and learned to play the card game.

I also found the booth where Kult products were being sold and asked for a review copy of Kult 2nd ed. I received that plus review copies of other Kult products, including the card game. This was despite my warning that I am not the ideal CCG reviewer, but the company was confident that I would like the game. I still need to playtest it, but having read the rules, I must concede that it is not like the other games out there. And I like the art.

I met Josh at his tournament, where he'd won a copy of Feng Shui, autographed by John Woo. He also won a gift certificate which he used to buy a box of Everway Spherwalker cards, so contact him if you're trying to complete a set. We left as the exhibit hall closed, grabbed a quick meal in The King and I (excellent, quick service), and returned to the hotel to claim our stuff and cab to the airport.

I'd wimped out on wearing the Pagan Publishing t-shirt with the pentagram on the grounds that we'd already had trouble getting on the plane at the other end. Luckily, the note about Josh was still in the computer, and we were allowed to board, passing the time before boarding talking with Phil Brucato and Mark Ferelli. Mark walked with us to our connecting flight which was boarding as we arrived. We landed safely, but were less than thrilled with the taxi driver who drove us home. Fortunately, we did arrive whole and more or less sound.

Stuff I Got as Review Copies (The technical term is "scamming", even when one is not, in fact, running a scam)

• Age of Empire (RPG set in the Victorian age)
• Archtypes (deck of pretty cards)
• Armageddon
• Back for Seconds (Feng Shui)
• Thorns of the Lotus (ditto)
• Kult, 2nd edition (from Heartbreaker)
• Purgatory (for Kult)
• Kult Players' Companion (ditto)
• Beyond the Boundaries (ditto)
• Heart, Mind, & Soul (ditto)
• The Kult CCG
• Legend of the Five Rings RPG
• Realm of Shadows (from Pagan Publishing for CoC)
• Realm of Shadows Players Aid Kit (ditto)
• SOL
• The Shattered Sky

Free Stuff:

• Armageddon T-Shirt (I got this for going to the playtest)
• Mythos Stalwart and Corrupt Cultist decks (from spinning the wheel at Chaosium's booth)
• Poster of the Britain of Pendragon (ditto - what I'd have loved to win was the cap with eight furry green eyestalks -- if they'd been selling them, I might have bought one)
• Phoenix Deck for L5R
• Dune CCG (which I gave to Tony Lee)
• OnTE Deck
• Shadis #39
• Two issues of Starry Wisdom
• An issue of Serendipity's Circle with a scenario for OTE

Stuff I Paid Money For:

Stuff from the auction store:

• Immortal Eyes (Changeling)
• Queen Victoria and the Holy Grail (Golden Heroes)
• Eurosource (Cyberpunk)
• Last Province #1
• Everway (for Josh)

Stuff I bought in the Exhibit Hall:

From Chaosium:

• The New King Arthur Companion
• A Ressurection of Time
• The Dreaming Stone

Chaosium threw in the Dreamlands Investigator Cards (mythos) and the Cthulhu for President '96 Press Kit for free.

From Pinnacle:

• Wild West Poker Deck

From GenCon:

• GenCon T-shirt

From Pagan Publishing:

• Yellow Sign Pin
• Cthulhu Fthagn t-shirt
• Delta Green t-shirt
• Pagan Publishing t-shirt
• Darkest of the Hillside Thickets CD
• Delta Green: Alien Intelligences
• Ambrose
• Tales of Terror
• Dwellers in Shadow

Pagan Publishing threw in a free copy of Halloween, which I gave to Doc.

From Holistic:

• Fading Suns Players Companion
• Priests of the Celestial Sun
• Forbidden Lore: Technology

Holistic threw in a free GM screen, complete with really cool star map

Stuff from assorted dealers:

• Deeds of the Ever Glorious (for Tekumel)
• The Future King
• Synners (novel by Pat Cadigan)