This is a Baltimore con, at Johns Hopkins University: 48 hours of gaming, gaming, gaming!
I was especially excited to attend because Steve Jackson was there too, playing the target
of one game and being sociable in general.
I got in Friday in time to check in at the hotel, make my way over to
the con, and then make and put up posters for the Hacker game I was running at
10, and was delighted to get a full slot (6 players). However, they didn't
quite get into the game as well as they could have (they just didn't seem
to relish it the way I do), so I need to figure out how to improve my
patter. The game ended close to 2 am, I handed out prizes (courtesy of
the publisher of Hacker, who was there at the con), and some of us agreed
to play the full version of the game (this had been the "demo" version I'm
working on) the following evening. One of the players asked if I was up
for a game of INWO (Illuminati: New World Order, a take-over-the-world
CCG) and lent me a deck, but he didn't take long to beat me, and politely
took his leave, presumably in search of a better opponent. I wandered
through the game rooms just to see what else was going on, and one of the
con chairs gave me a ride to my hotel. Discovered the incredibly great
water pressure at the Quality Inn (my shower's not that bad since the
plumber put in a real showerhead, but this was great). Stayed up a while
figuring out my game plan for the next day.
Saturday morning, I knew I'd have a hard time getting a good meal at the
con (unless I wanted pizza again; I'd given away half the one I ordered
Friday night), so I had a good hot breakfast (Reuben, asparagus soup --
only way to get vegetables) at the corner deli at 11, then left a note
for my sister Trish back at the hotel and called for a van ride (a very nice
service of the con). At the con, I filled
in at the Steve Jackson Games table, so Seth could
check on the rest of the MIB. This gave me a chance to look over the new
games and eye the prizes, watch the Killer game (a LARP) while it was in the
room, and chat with some folks I had met at Worldcon. Then I got to play Car
Wars (sort of a wargame, only with miniature cars) for the first time at
2. I enjoyed the carnage, and maneuvering my car, but I took the GM's
(Game Master) direction at one point instead of following my own
instincts, and didn't win. Trish found me there, and informed me that
some CW games are actually campaigns with objects, not just arena
deathmatches, which could also improve the game, once I was more familiar
with the mechanics (what dice to roll, when). Once I realized I couldn't
win and that my next game was coming up, a fellow player and I maneuvered
ourselves into head-on collisions (we'd both lost our front armor earlier)
and died. I got a bumper sticker for being one of the later diers.
At 6 I ran and played Hackers, which took only 1.5 hrs. Note my "demo"
version took 4 hrs. There's a problem here, though I know it makes sense
that a 3-player game should take a BIT less time than a 6-player game.
I'll have to think about it. Anyway, I eventually got a ride back to the
hotel, where Steve Jackson was throwing a party to thank those of us
who stepped in to run gaming at WorldCon when he couldn't make it. At
midnight, he kicked us out, so I got a ride back to the con, and
eventually found Trish, whose LARP playtest was being postmortem'd. It
was interesting listening to the analysis, and I must say, of all the
games I saw at the con, Trish lucked into the one with the cutest guys, as
far as I noticed (though this was one of the few times when I was just
looking around, instead of competing). When Trish and I tried to leave at
2, we were hijacked into a "half-hour" game of Awful Green Things
(board game) that lasted until 4 am. On the plus side, I triumphed
mightily over Trish -- the only 2 of her crew that escaped were sucked
into a black hole. When Trish asked if this made up for her sucking my
favorite character to death with a giant tick (D&D (Dungeons and Dragons,
catalyst of RPGs and most modern gaming), high school or earlier), I was
able to reply loftily that nothing could ever make up for that. At which
point, our hijacker gave us a ride back to the hotel.
Sunday morning, we checked out, dumped our luggage in my car, and I
dropped Trish off in time for her 10 am game, then hunted for parking
(eventually, finding a great place in front of where I knew we'd exit).
I then joined in a game of Dino Hunt (board game that can also be a CCG,
scientifically accurate except for the time travel stuff, meaning, very
accurate on dinos). After that, I waited to get a Silicon Valley Tarot
reading (problems with motivation, thinking of changing jobs, greatest
fear involves alienation from friends/loved ones), in which the deck
is computer-industry-oriented, so you have cards like "VP of Marketing"
and "IPO" instead of "Death" and "The Lover(s?)". I finally made it to
the anime (Japanese animation) room, which had been running videos 24hr
starting midnight Friday, watched the conclusion of some cosmic battle
fairy tale, and the start of some romance whose hero comes from a family
of paranormals, and eventually Trish's game was over, so we picked up her
car and then found our way to a really nice, long, late lunch at a family
restaurant, thanks to the Quality Inn's check-in clerk's recommendation.