Gen Con Day 1: Demon Dogs, The Wrong Room, And Meeting Wil

Good morning! (As I begin today's post, it's 6:51 a.m.) Getting ready to head to breakfast then over to the ICC for the traditional Opening Ceremonies. Later today, it's the inaugural run of my "Thundarr the Barbarian" Mutant Future game. So here are today's thoughts:

• Gen Con Plus: I like it when random folks start up a friendly conversation with you about their interests, hobbies, and whatever. Gen Con Minus: I don't like it when they continue to follow you around and talk about their interests, hobbies, and whatever after you've excused yourself and walked away.
• Want to have 30,000 geeks and nerds razz you? Have your computer crash on you while setting up your "Welcome to Gen Con" video presentation/ Nothing like watching the Blue Screen of Death pop up on a 30-foot screen overhead.
• At the Opening Ceremony, it was proclaimed by the Indy Mayor that Gen Con is officially "the four best days in gaming." The traditional Throwing Out of the First Dice was done by Mike Carr, designer of Dawn Patrol, which he has run at every Gen Con since Gen Con 0 in 1968. Couldn't get a picture due to the crowds.
• This year, rather than checking badges individually upon entry, they opened up the door to the Dealer's Hall and stepped aside. Ever see 30,000 gamers break into a mass sprint?
• My Thundarr the Barbarian game was AWESOME. All of the players were very familiar with the TV show, so many '80s action cartoon cliches were tossed about. The twist to this game was that a wizard had opened a dimensional door, creating TWO Thundarrs, Ooklas, and Ariels! Yup, all of the players got to play one of the main characters. And everyone got a chance to be a star, as every player performed some miraculous feat of derring-do. Here are some highlights: Thundarr racing up and cleaving a Possuman's club in two; Possuman cringes and toadies up to the gang and becomes their new lacky "Nathan the Possuman"; while riding a runaway fire truck being chased by laser-firing Possumen in Indy cars, the two Ariels cast simultaneous Sleep spells on the drivers, causing them to crash spectacularly; at the final showdown at the Indy Speedway, Ookla picks up a VW Bug and swats a giant purple worm with it; Thundarr leaps onto its back and rodeo-rides the worm; meanwhile OTHER Thundarr and Ookla pull a Fastball Special, bringing the wizard down from his high perch; Ariel creates a bridge to reach the wizard while OTHER Ariel races along it to drop the magical MacGuffin in the Bad Guy's lap. I could go on, but the game ran beautifully, although quite fast. (We finished in only 2 hours due to some awesome rolls by the teams.) Everyone seemed to enjoy the game as well and the teamwork amongst everyone was awesome-sauce.
• Having some time before my 5 p.m. Labyrinth Lord game, I decided to stop by the Dealer's Hall to see if I could meet Wil Wheaton, who was the Guest of Honor at that time. Big fan of Wil's, and his embrace of nerdom and geekery is awe-inspiring. The line was fairly short (it was the end of the day), so I was able to meet him and exchange some pleasantries. The visit merits its own post, so stay tuned!
• Sadly, I screwed up and missed my Labyrinth Lord game. I went to the wrong room, hung around for 10 minutes past time (at which point I decided I was lost). When I did find the game, it was well underway and it appeared someone with generic tix had taken my place. Glad to see it had a full house, but chagrined that I missed it.
• I'm heading to a game of Are You A Werewolf? in about an hour, so I'll close this with some photos of today's events:

The crowds are gathered outside of the Dealer's Hall, waiting for the stampede to begin.

Wizards had this awesome full-sized display of Lolth. The underlying blue light made it super-creepy.

Lords of Light! Our Thundarr  the Barbarian game rocked! (Much "thwarting" was had.)

And Wil Wheaton was pretty much the cool guy you'd expect him to be. We talked at length about...well...regular readers of this blog KNOW what we talked about. Stay tuned for more!

Gen Con Day 0: The Ram, The Stink, And Lucy Van Pelt Is EVIL

As I did last year, I'll be posting a daily "Live from Gen Con!" update with what I've seen, what I've done, and what I should have avoided... Because Gen Con doesn't really get started until tomorrow, tonight's update is all about the prelim games and events leading up to tomorrow's Big Show. I started this blog post at 10 a.m. upon arrival, and I'll be adding to it as the day goes on:

• As I traveled down 70 West out of Ohio, I passed a white Ford Focus with four younger-ish guys in it. They were kicking up and joking and laughing as they headed west. Later, this same car passed me. Then I passed them. For 160+ miles up to the Gen Con exit (which they also took). So, although I didn't technically travel with anyone, I had four "friends" with me from Columbus, Ohio, all the way to the ICC. Good to tag along with you, "unnamed dudes in other car"!
• While unpacking, I found a mechanical pencil I had lost. And by that, I mean I "found" it embedded in my hand as I emptied out my messenger bag. I have a huge gouge in my right hand and it hurts like the dickens.
• Zipped over to the ICC around noon to pick up the program guide. Wasn't expecting a lot of activity, but the Will Call lines are already up and running. They were also surprisingly long again this year, but since they're going to run them overnight, I think the backlog of early arrivers will get through pretty fast. But anyone who arrives tomorrow morning and expects to walk right through may be surprised by all of the OTHER folks who expected to do the same. Will report on how it turned out tomorrow.
• Took the camera to grab the usual shots of Big Damn Displays, but nothing is out and on display yet! I'm wondering if there's going to be anything this year, as the full-sized Drizzt, Ogre, Dragon, etc. statues are usually already out and being photographed. Was told at the KFG meet-up (see next post), that they were there, just hadn't been put out yet. Photos to come...
• Stopped by The Ram for my traditional noontime "Just got to Gen Con lunch". Had a Slaughterhouse Cheddar burger (ham, bacon, BBQ sauce on a think juicy cheeseburger) with a side of onion rings and a TALL mug of Indy Blonde Ale. Was feelin' fine, until my Cthulhu game in the backroom.
• At 1 p.m., I played in "It's the Great Cthulhu, Charlie Brown!" hosted by Kentucky Fried Gamers and run by "Rbree". I played Linus -- the philosophical intellectual who taught at Miskotonic. Also in our group was Charlie Brown (a war vet who was suffering from blackouts and was still pining over the Red-Haired Girl), Snoopy (now the nickname of an ace WWI pilot in our group), and Lucy (who was still practicing psychiatry). We had all been called together for a reading of the will of my recently deceased grandfather. To summarize: we all got bizarre inheritances; a mass of burning "darkness" invaded the mansion; we escaped just in time to encounter The Dreaded Kite-Eating Tree; did I mention the Deep Ones?; and we ended up at a lighthouse basement where Sally was about to be sacrificed by Marcie, Woodstock, and the Red-Haired Girl. We stopped the sacrifice and Lucy retrieved the moonstone, giving her dominion over the Deep Ones. And what happened next? Well, guess who the Mastermind was behind it all...
• 
• Great game. None of us saw it coming. The stunned "You do WHAT now?" moment was priceless. (And the Quote of the Game: "OK, roll against me to see if you're a virgin.")
• The Gen Con Stink was fun and much swag was collected by all. I also hosted the Labyrinth Lord Society Meet-n-Greet which had a handful of folks stopping by to grab some dice, tuck a few LL bookmarks into their tomes, and generally hang out for a bit. Not as many people visited as I had expected, but it was nice to meet the few who did make the effort to drop by.
• I'll be gaming until midnight every night this week, so I'm going to turn in early tonight while I have the chance. 

Hitting That "Holiday Road" (To Gen Con)

It's 4:30 a.m. here in The Savage AfterWorld. I've got the Landmaster packed up and fueled, and I'm heading out to Gen Con right now. Stay tuned for semi-regular Gen Con updates for the next few days!

And, as is a tradition in the Sniderman household, all of our vacations begin with this Lyndsay Buckingham song blaring from the CD player. I'm queueing it as this post goes live, so it's only fair you enjoy it too...

 

UPDATE: The Landmaster has landed! I'll have a "Day 0" post later this evening.

"Goliath Awaits" As A Mutant Future Setting

In 1939, a German U-boat sank the luxury passenger ship, USS Goliath. More than 40 years later, the rusting hulk is discovered 1,000 feet below on the ocean floor, teetering on an active volcanic fault. Oceanographers are sent down to assess the wreck, and they are stunned to discover more than 300 survivors and their descendants still alive, living in an air bubble trapped by the ship’s hull! And thus begins Goliath Awaits, a 1981 made-for-TV movie starring Mark Harmon, Christopher Lee, Emma Samms, and Frank Gorshin.

After sinking and discovering they hadn’t perished, the underwater survivors harnessed the power of the volcano, giving them heat and energy. They were also able to create an air and water filtration system and, over the years, established an underwater utopian society based on the 1930’s European societal class system, ruled by the ship’s captain and policed by his crew. However, the captain enjoys ruling his own underwater kingdom and has no interest in allowing a rescue of the passengers.

Ignoring the preposterous science that allows 300+ people to live and thrive in an underwater shipwreck for 40 years, Goliath Awaits posits a very interesting scenario: What kind of society would develop if a group of people were to suddenly find themselves cut off from the outside world? But the gonzo science that makes this movie possible also makes it an interesting setting for Mutant Future.

Picture it: A group of adventuring mutants somehow discovers an Ancient shipwreck resting on the ocean floor. Upon investigating, they find descendants of the original survivors who have managed to live and thrive in this “bubble community” for thousands of years. What kind of society would have developed? What kind of gonzo science would have made this possible? Would the survivors be untouched by mutation (a “pocket Ancient civilization), or would this community be even more mutated than “normal”? What gods would they worship? Would they demand rescue to the surface? Or would they attack the PCs as “unclean outsiders”?

The movie is an interesting concept that, as you can see, leads to an intriguing thought experiment for Mutant Future. How would an isolated pocket of Ancient society deal with the sudden introduction of “What The World Is Now?” And how would the PCs react to the discovery of a technology-rich Ancient society?

Goliath Awaits in not commercially available, but you should be able to find copies if you have “unofficial channels.” I believe the film is also available on YouTube.