Gary Con Day 2: Riding Skylab To Earth And Punching A Princess

Today's update is a bit short and pictureless. But here's what went on in case you were curious:

• Ran my Timemaster game "The Day the Sky Fell" earlier in the day. Was a bit worried about how it'd go because it was a fairly complicated plotline. The Time Corps cadets learn that Topeka, Kansas, has been obliterated causing a Significance Wave -- a destructive force of sweeping historical changes. The cadets ended up at the Foreign Technology Division, the forerunner of today's National Air Intelligence Center and the former HQ of Project Blue Book. (Their chronoscooters materialized in Hanger 18, in fact.) After some investigation and a firefight with undercover Damoreans, they realize that Skylab is still in orbit days after history shows it should have reentered the atmosphere. After a time jump 72 hours earlier to the orbiting space station (now outfitted with a plasma cannon) and a zero-g fight with an alien infestation, the PCs got out of there just in time to watch the station reenter the atmosphere and burn up, setting the continuum straight. Fun stuff!
• Poked around the Dealer's Hall which seems twice as big as last year's. Or perhaps there's just more vendors in there. Regardless, it was great to do a bit of shoppin' amongst my gamin'.
• Was scheduled to play Dungeon with the game's designer David Megarry. When I got there, it appeared there were 16 people crammed around one table with another 6 or 7 of us jockeying for other positions. We all had tickets, so it appeared the event just got overbooked. I decided to bow out rather than try to force my way in to an already crowded gaming area.
• Room. Nap. Ahhhh. Recharged.
• Played in James Carpio's Horrors of Hod, based on his upcoming Tales of the Fallen Empire setting for the DCC RPG system. Very eerie, Howard-esque fantasy setting with lots of evocative imagery. (Imagine a fantasy land that's been ripped apart and reassembled...twice. And your people now live amongst the ruins of What Once Was.) We had a great time trying to rescue a mouthy princess. True to Real Life, I played the hulking barbarian. After chasing Her Royal Pain across the lands, we finally tracked her to the lair of an ancient plant-like evil that was abducting the citizens and converting them into mindless minions. I took a spear-like vine to the chest, which began to grow and fester. We fought on and we found where she was being held. She started demanding that we let her loose and her father was going to hear all about this and she was tired and hungry and thirsty...until my barbarian hauled off and punched her square in the face, knocking her cold. We returned her in blessed silence. ;)
• Back in the room for a pizza and bed. Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., Saturday morning 'toons live again with Gary Con's inaugural Thundarr the Barbarian game! Lots of fun coming up in 9 hours!