Gen Con, Fun Options

[BishopMcQ]

A few questions and clarifications:

AFB--I'm not familiar with the abbreviation, can you clarify?
Demolish--How do you understand them to work? By exceeding the Object Resistance with 2 net hits, all items that the character had LoS to should have taken 14 boxes of damage. Items under coats etc would have been unaffected.

Operational Knowledge--I had minimal operational knowledge of the events, I knew there would be a bank vault and two spirits. Beyond that Aaron played his cards close to his chest and gave specific direction to each of the GMs running tables.

Possession Traditions--I wasn't out to make a point with them. That was simply the Missions character that I had. His role was to enable the rest of his runner team, keep everyone moving, and defend against enemy mages. Thus his specializations were magical defense and conjuring. Banishing enemy spirits, provide counterspelling and magical guard, and possess fallen comrades to ensure that we didn't leave a body behind. I discovered with this session how out of balance they were after investing myself with a larger spirit than normal.

As said before, this thread can be used for feedback, suggestions, and critiques about the Scramble. I think we can all agree that planting an NPC amongst the PCs should not be done in the future. Other comments?

[Bull]

For the record, I personally didn't mind having the "plant" in our midst. Despite the fact that a couple of our characters are pretty low on the Karma Scale (I think Rush and Caine's Rigger each only have like 20 or 30 karma total, and I think Quince was a fresh-minted character), we had a pretty badass team. So Bishop was a nice challenge and, despite our suspicions, a nice surprise at the end. I had a ball with the game, even though I was kinda stuck without much to do for large portions of it beyond waving guns around (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

However, yeah, if there is any kind of "plant" next year, they should not mess with the other teams. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

All in all, good times.

[LurkerOutThere]

AFB--I'm not familiar with the abbreviation, can you clarify?
Demolish--How do you understand them to work? By exceeding the Object Resistance with 2 net hits, all items that the character had LoS to should have taken 14 boxes of damage. Items under coats etc would have been unaffected.

Operational Knowledge--I had minimal operational knowledge of the events, I knew there would be a bank vault and two spirits. Beyond that Aaron played his cards close to his chest and gave specific direction to each of the GMs running tables.

Away from books
That was the problem Aaron forgot the LOS rule. Whiich I don't fault him for too much because rules are easy to forget but when he was drawing out a radius basically because it seemed funny it seemed like another case of super powered NPC mage messign with us.

Clearly I need to apologize, when i heard that you had both items in your possesion I'd assumed you'd had fore knowledge of our goals and had sought them out to mess with us. Unfortunate but hey I was mostly at the sitting on my hands stage of the game at that point and leaving thigns to the magic folks. I'd written you and Viktor into the "well out of my league/plot bearing NPC" area.

I think we can all agree that planting an NPC amongst the PCs should not be done in the future. Other comments?

That in particular actually didn't bother me, but then again I wasn't on the team that was on the receiving end of it, but i'm not sure it would have bothered me even if it had been the case. It's not like NPC's carry "I'm an NPC sign" It was a sense that the NPC's were all randomly great form spirits or other suitably ridiculous things that was kinda grating.

[Aaron]

Away from books
That was the problem Aaron forgot the LOS rule. Whiich I don't fault him for too much because rules are easy to forget but when he was drawing out a radius basically because it seemed funny it seemed like another case of super powered NPC mage messign with us.

Actually, I didn't forget about the LOS rule. I made a ruling that some folks would have their commlinks visible, some wouldn't, and rather than dragging the narration of a few seconds into more than sixty, I made a ruling that everyone's commlinks were sufficiently visible. I could have also done for image links or other electronics, but I stuck with commlinks for two reasons: it was a) something reasonably replaceable the loss of which would make people sad and b) angry at the guy that did it.

Incidentally, I hated the system I was using for task resolution. You won't be seeing it again.

To Everybody: feel free to keep the feedback coming. I'm compiling a list of "Do Same" and "Do Different" as I have every year, so we can keep adding to the awesome.

[TranKirsaKali]

" if there is any kind of "plant" next year, they should not mess with the other teams. "

I disagree. I do think the "plant" should be careful of who they mess with, or how they mess with new comers. But Bull why should you have all the fun? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) As I said before it is fun with me to be messed with. And I do think that it would in some ways make it more fun for the higher experienced players. And yes I do mean players not characters. I know that karma does effect how well you do, but low karma characters that are being run by high experienced players will do better than new comers to our fun.

[BishopMcQ]

Clearly I need to apologize, when i heard that you had both items in your possesion I'd assumed you'd had fore knowledge of our goals and had sought them out to mess with us. Unfortunate but hey I was mostly at the sitting on my hands stage of the game at that point and leaving thigns to the magic folks. I'd written you and Viktor into the "well out of my league/plot bearing NPC" area.

Nope, actually due to needing to protect certain people for my team, I possessed our guide and our target. Those GMs happened to be the ones who had the items. I got them from them after other characters mentioned what it was they were looking for. (Somebody mentioned a need to get a necklace, and another team was looking for a lighter...) TransKirsaKali's Wolf shaman told my character about the problem -- she didn't like spirits being bound to the place against their will -- and then my teammates (Penguin and Quince) were talking with people and Penguin told me about the items.

Once I had them, my plan had actually been to use the chains as spirit formulae and bind the free spirits. (Aaron later told me how long that would take.) Bull/Rush ordered me to destroy them so as to secure another team's word that they wouldn't kill us. I got Trans/Wolf to powerbolt them into oblivion because my offensive spells were Demolish: Electronics and Manabolt, neither of which could hurt the items. (So TransKirsaKali, I needed you to break them...I couldn't do it myself.)

[LurkerOutThere]

I made a ruling that everyone's commlinks were sufficiently visible. I could have also done for image links or other electronics, but I stuck with commlinks for two reasons: it was a) something reasonably replaceable the loss of which would make people sad and b) angry at the guy that did it.

Which again just seemed like a general FU to all the actual tech people because not only does it seem unreasonable that a persons comlink would be visible, [/i]to me[i] the fact that the LOS extended BEHIND the casting mage seemed a further effort to inconvenience folks. I mean honestly, how many of us actually have our cell phone visible on us at all times? That's even before considering that your average hacker or Rigger thhat'd be 60k nuyen worth of gear and individually tracked availability programs i would have had to replace. Basically in a snap decision you decided you F over one archetype, which was further amusing because of the promimity to the clock that was where we were all standing.

[TranKirsaKali]

(So TransKirsaKali, I needed you to break them...I couldn't do it myself.)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) It is good to be needed! LOL and coolness. It was fun to do anyway and soo completely in character for someone who reveres and cares for the spirits. I am surprised however that you do not have a power bolt spell at least. I have always considered them to be the baseline spell to buy. But then again I have never played a possession shaman before. I haven't seen what else they can end up doing in a game.

[Quince]

I did not catch the fact that Bishop was a plant until well after he turned on the team. I assumed he was after an Affiliation objective, and wasn't too surprised that someone in the group made a move to cap the Target. But, man, he was TOUGH to put down.

And this is pure guesswork, but I'm also anticipating more betrayal within parties as NYC affiliations heats up. It's a good question- How much are you willing to screw your team for a Corp gift, and are you up for paying the price?

On another note, I'm glad my primary Commlink is hardened (and waterproofed). I lost a couple of burner 'links- but that's what they're there for.

[BishopMcQ]

Quince--I don't believe it would be too far of a stretch to say that corporations will use their pawns to further agendas which may be in conflict.

[Legend '09]

One thing that I could use help on for next year is how to make interactions clear that I have powers as a Face. Should I have explained OOC or called in Pavao? The later seems overkill but I was hoping to get more answers from NPCs than other people even though I was a new character/player.

Legend (Fern)

[LurkerOutThere]

Unfortunately, and this is a failure of any LARP system not just this one, it is very hard to map out social skills and abilities to in character behavior during the larps without making them mind control.

[Caine Hazen]

I'd like to give a big thanks to the Saytr's team... even though it was your mission to kill off our target, you played it to the hilt and held to your deal. You even pulled down our mark when our own team forgot about her. You guys were top notch!

Sorry for my problem causing... I myself was doing"poor impulse control" to the hilt, and things were getting boring fast. I can't say I didn't egg my team on a bit, and overreact when we had spells lobbed at us. It was all good fun! You guys all played it off great.

Hope to have as much fun next year when I shoot McQ's character in the face again! And I'm going to have more toys to bring hopefully!

[Bull]

We seriously need to get someone local signed up as a Missions GM so we can play through a couple more before next year! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[map]

Thanks to the GMS and players I played with at GenCon. I had a good time playing SRM.

Reading these posts helps me understand why Penguin (my GM at the last table I played on Sunday) roasted me for playing a Voodoo Mage. Actually I think I was roasted by the whole table, but it was all in fun, and they were a good group of players...

map

[DarkLloyd]

Fist off Lemme say, Aaron you and the GM's were great. My first Scramble was something I won't forget.

Thank you to all those NPC's and yeah to Bishop too... You guys would have been fun to interact with. (more on that below)

I had a blast seeing all the players going around making and breaking deals. You All were great. Especally my man Legend there, with his Bomb hackin' skillz. And Peirce; thanks for watchin out for Kali.
Bull you where entertaining to listen to. Drew/The Saytr you made the game for me. Man I hope to see you next year. (Oh and we'll bring MORE booze next time...)

As for How I felt about all the spirit sheenanegans? Well I can't say I was a part of that.
Well, besides the commlink thing. Oh and Bish, That nearly got you headcapped with that assault cannon I had. (And I couldv'e made it thru that armor.) BUT! You still had me fooled at that point, i thought you were a player, and I really didn't want to take a players' character away.
There was just way to many casters in there for Chrome's peace of mind.

My one big gripe were the logic puzzles. It was an interesting and cool idea for about the first 20 min's of futzing with them. Then they started a downhill slide into "God Almighty when will this end!!!!". And since I had, or could slot, the skill neccesary to work on both of the puzzles....that's where i was for Four hours........
Albeit with, some, interludes.
Like when Bishops group drew down on Kali. I snuck over, sat down in thier group placed a grenade on the floor(in their midst) and then took aim at the guy with the gun. All while using their group for cover. That was fun.

Or havnig Drew offer to hit me with his "Orgasm" spell and having to figure out a way to refuse the spell and still "Look tough" while Chrome was freakin' that Drew was gonna cast magic on him.

Or when Legend and the group of hackers on the bomb (I finnally just gave up on that one and stayed with the door) finally cracked it and got the disarm code. And I told him "Go disarm it. But tell everyone else that the code failed" Which leads into the most fun moment.

When whoever that was kicked the bomb and it didn't go off, in the middle of all that confusion strolling over swipeing the shell and walking back over to the door puzzle again. Listening to all te wispers about me at that point was funny as hell. Then whne the "Bums" came to shake me down for the bomb, that was cool. (I think that was Penguin and someone else. I did my best not to look at you and to concentrate on the puzzle. What Chrome would have done.)

Then, the best part for me. After the bums, the big troll guy (Sorry man i don't remember your name) came and loomed over me and I mean Loomed. (dude you're Huge!) And demanded I give up the bomb. After ignoreing him for a bit he kept geting closer to me and closer and more insistant i give him the bomb. I spun around in the chair I was kneeling on and made my hand into a gun. I put it right at his nose while teling him, "LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!! I'M TRYING TO OPEN THIS DOOR SO WE CAN GET OUT!! IF YOU DON'T, THEN I'M GONNA DROP YER ASS RIGHT HERE, FIX THAT DOOR AND THEN DRAG YOUR SORRY ASS OUT SO I CAN SELL WHAT'S LEFT!" Then I Knelt in the chair again and promtly ignored him so i could try and help with the door. We finally settle the prob by me telling him I want to keep the bomb from everyone else to keep everyone safe. He seemed to beleive that and went away. Thanks for that man, I LOVE telling that story.

And a HUGE thank you to all the people that worked on those friggen puzzles, especailly you guys on the bomb. Oh and props to the young lady who was the lead on the door lock, you kept things focused when I wanted to give up. Too bad we still ran out of time on that.

[Legend '09]

Just to clarify, I am the newbie face with Kali and Chrome's group. The awesome bomb disarmer is my son, character name Delta. He had just introduced me to the game that morning and now I'm hooked.

We played at our local game store this last Saturday. After GenCon and all you wonderful, experienced players, it was a bit of a let down. Delta and I were the most experience players there with 5 and 4 missions behind us respectively. But I WILL go back next month to gain more experience for next year's con. Still making newbie mistakes and bad assumptions.

People at work keep asking me what the Gen in GenCon means. Anyone?

Legend

[DWC]

People at work keep asking me what the Gen in GenCon means. Anyone?

Gencon was originally held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin because that was where Gygax (who organized the first one) lived. The con kept the name when it moved to larger venues and bigger cities.

[CollateralDynamo]

People at work keep asking me what the Gen in GenCon means. Anyone?

Also, originally only miniatures war games were played there. So it was a play on "the Geneva Conventions". You know, the rules about what you can do to who in war. Ohh gamers, we're so clever.

[Bull]

Heh, awesome that you guys had fun. And yeah, Drew is awesome. I don't think he posts around here... I need to dig up his email address at some point and see if I can point him this way (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[TranKirsaKali]

Delta, I am glad we got you hooked. It is a fun game and Chrome and I like spreading the love. And don't worry as the people you play with gain in experience things will get more interesting. They always do.

[LurkerOutThere]

Then, the best part for me. After the bums, the big troll guy (Sorry man i don't remember your name) came and loomed over me and I mean Loomed. (dude you're Huge!) And demanded I give up the bomb. After ignoreing him for a bit he kept geting closer to me and closer and more insistant i give him the bomb. I spun around in the chair I was kneeling on and made my hand into a gun. I put it right at his nose while teling him, "LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!! I'M TRYING TO OPEN THIS DOOR SO WE CAN GET OUT!! IF YOU DON'T, THEN I'M GONNA DROP YER ASS RIGHT HERE, FIX THAT DOOR AND THEN DRAG YOUR SORRY ASS OUT SO I CAN SELL WHAT'S LEFT!" Then I Knelt in the chair again and promtly ignored him so i could try and help with the door. We finally settle the prob by me telling him I want to keep the bomb from everyone else to keep everyone safe. He seemed to beleive that and went away. Thanks for that man, I LOVE telling that story.

Heh that was some funny stuff, at the time I'd done that I'd just come out of my heebie jeebies on the fear affect the spirit had put on me so I hadn't been watching the bomb. So my thinking was "Ok what idiot has the bomb, if their going to sell it fine, if their going to try and use a tank round in here i should find them and relieve them of it before they do something to get us all killed." Walked over with Monger, and he seemed like a guy willing to fight for it which I was afraid was going to be the option (Rattler was not in a very good mood at this point having been a magical chew toy on two seperate occasions) but once it became clear that he and chrome were on the same page. THings seemed much more kosher.

[DarkLloyd]

Good times man. Good times. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)