GenCon 2007

My GenCon 2007 got off to a rough start when my ride had a flat tire shortly after arriving at my house (causing us to leave three hours later than planned), followed by a speeding ticket along the way. Still, neither of those obstacles prevented us from getting there, and the way I looked at it, we'd gotten our bad luck behind us and things were going to get better from there. I got to know Don and Joanna a lot better, which is a Good Thing; 20 or so hours together in the car round trip will do that. Thanks to the two of them for being willing to cart me along.


A blow-by-blow description of my GenCon would probably be boring, so I'll just comment on some highlights. First off, hats off to the restaurants of Indianapolis in general! The service was generally good and friendly, the food was good, and the waits generally (if not always) reasonable. They really go all out to make us feel welcome.


I'd heard about GenCon's legendary exhibition hall, but was still overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. Incredible! I spent time there every day, and could've easily spent more. I didn't actually spend all that much money, but it wouldn't have been hard to go way over budget. I picked up the indie game "Don't Rest Your Head", The Book of Unremitting Horror, a couple of Firefly related T-shirts, and far more dice than I'm likely to need, including some particularly cool Q-Workshop dice that'll be my new main set.

Seeing all of the costumes was also a new experience. I've seen the occasional costume at game conventions, or more often at science fiction conventions, but never so many at once! There's something very cool about an environment in which people can dress however they like, however unusual that approach might be, and reasonably expect that others will accept it without blinking.


IPR's Games on Demand turned out to be our "go to" option, since we'd made a decision well in advance not to plan too much to do. We tried a survival story game called "Giger Counter" that's intended for stories where the monster(s) kill the characters off one by one, then the monster wins or a few stragglers manage to survive. It was good for what it was, if narrow in scope. In another session, Don Corcoran's Artesia game using tarot cards for resolution resulted in a pretty good story. We were able to try the Shab-al-Hiri Roach, run by Jason Morningstar, which contained some good ideas, but I think we needed more players to get the intended effect.


I learned to play a board game called Puerto Rico. I'd heard from some friends (primarily people with PAGE) that it was good, but this was my first experience with it. I wouldn't say I was blown away, but I'd certainly be willing to play it again.


I played in a Hollow Earth game on Sunday that wasn't to my taste. The GM clearly enjoyed doing his descriptions of how events played out and knew his historical references. My problem with the game was that he violated one of my cardinal rules: Let the players play. The scenario was an utter railroad job in which we had no control at all over how events played out. We could only try to make the ride more flavorful, and even that was difficult because the GM would cut you off as soon as you paused, launching into one of his elaborate descriptions. Frankly, he didn't need any players, except to be an audience. I appeared to be in the minority at the table, as the other players (including the friends who came in with me) seemed to enjoy the session well enough, but I was extremely frustrated. I don't think the GM was a bad guy; I just put it down to style clash and would avoid playing a game he's running in the future. I know there are some GMs who claim that the only way you can wrap up a story in four hours is to railroad it, but I know from personal experience that that's simply not true. I rarely railroad as a GM, and usually manage to keep it invisible to the players when I do (with false choices, or other similar devices).


The best reason to go to GenCon was simply to hang out with people whose company I enjoy. I'm very much an anti-cell phone person, but even I have to admit that cell phones were essential to having any chance at all of getting people together for dinner from their varied locations. I tried like heck to get together with everybody I wanted to, but there just wasn't enough time. My apologies to those I didn't reach, if you happen to read this.


I found myself reminded once again that I enjoy GMing far more than playing, as my own events went well across the board. The Sorcerer event was probably the best of the bunch, with all four players bringing their A game to the table and Dr. Aether contributing the occasional NPC. Bringing my In Nomine scenario "Lilim Faire" out of the vaults again was a blast, with the two Lilim players leading the way. "A Slice of Blackwoods" went well enough, though the in-party differences boiled over more than usual, and one of the players didn't take that well.


I had a fantastic time and definitely plan to go to GenCon again. Sooner would be much better than later, so I'll see what I can do to make it happen again next year. One change I would make would be to plan one session per day as a player in addition to GMing one session per day, with the planned sessions in the morning or evening, leaving the afternoons free for the exhibit hall or other improvisation. I would also plan to meet some of my friends for some meals instead of relying on winging it each time. There's just too much literal ground to cover on foot to get away without some planning.

Have an Unspeakable Day!

It's H. P. Lovecraft's birthday! If you don't already know who he is, he's one of the most influential horror writers of all time, and you're probably aware of him from a secondary source, even if you haven't read any of his work directly.

And if you have read his work directly, I don't need to tell you that it'll bend your mind in new ways when you read it.

I'd hoped that I might post something from GenCon at some point while I was at the convention, but was far too busy for that to be even a possibility. I'll be posting on the subject some time in the next few days. For now, I need to get some rest!

Reflections on Fluid

The form that Fluid is taking is, not surprisingly, fluid. I've realized that I was actually trying to write two (possibly mutually incompatible) games into one, and I have to make some choices if I'm going to make this work. So, I'm going to think out loud here about what exactly I'm trying to achieve, to clarify it in my own mind.

First off, I'm trying to achieve simplicity. I want Fluid to be a game that people can understand and be able to play with only a few minutes of explanation at most. The story should progress almost as quickly and easily as people can speak. I want fight scenes as fast and furious as an action film. I don't want lengthy and complicated character sheets or rules. And yet, the characters should have depth and real differences between one another, as much as in any piece of fiction.

Secondly, I want to give more narrative power to the players than they have in most RPGs. This is for two reasons. One reason is that I believe a group of people will have more interesting ideas than any single GM. Another reason is that the more power the players have, the less preparation should be necessary on the part of the GM (selfish, I know, since I'm usually the GM). The players should also be more invested in the story if they have personal input rather than just reacting to what they're given.

There are some indie games that give players narrative power, but most of those have left me with an empty feeling, and I really hadn't pieced together what could be wrong with players describing how a scene plays. This is sometimes referred to as "author's stance", as opposed to the player describing his actions from a first person point of view. It distances the player from his character, and to me, there's an important tension that's lost when that happens. And yet, I want players to be able to add to the setting and contribute plot elements of their own. I want to work toward a situation where the GM and players can all contribute on the fly to some degree, which should put that tension back in, since nobody will know with any certainty what to expect next.

So, I'm going to take another run at the rules, and I'd like to give copies to all of the players this time, so they'll have a better grasp on what we're doing, and perhaps help me work out any remaining bugs. I have another session scheduled for 8/12. The character sheets, unfortunately, will be changing since the last session, but the good thing is that they'll actually be far simpler than the original version, due to the influence of the Unistat session at DexCon. I think I have a better grip now on what I'm trying to do, and hopefully that will show.