I have a confession to make: I am frequently “that guy” at the gaming table. No, not that guy, ew, gross *shudder* thank heavens no. I actually bathe. No, I mean that guy who gets a little too into his moments, a little carried away. I frequently lose touch with the rest of the group’s needs when I’m in that awesome moment of role-playing. I don’t try to steal the spotlight, mind you, but once I have it I tend to forget I am in the forefront and just run with the moment as long as I can. It’s not a conscious move I’m making, and once I realize that I may in fact be hogging I do my best to step back, and then feel really guilty about the whole thing for a bit.

Lately I tend to leave every game session with this unspoken fear that I went too far this time, that those seemingly awesome ideas of things to do and my efforts to bring them into play crossed a line. I wonder how much of this is overly self-conscious paranoia, and how much is really me getting a bit lost and over-zealous? Fearing that the latter may be the case, I ask you: how do you reign yourselves in, folks, when the spotlight gets a little too awesome to let go? How do you avoid being this guy?

For part two of my look at my PAX 2010 experiences, I’m going to mainly focus on tabletop gaming, and some deeper observations about the convention at a meta level.

The Tabletop Gaming Experience

In stark contrast to the Big Media Sensations of the Expo Hall and its surrounding environs, the tabletop gaming sections were focused, subdued, and full of intense interpersonal connection-driven energy. Everyone was talking to everyone else about the games they were demoing, and it was obvious that most of those doing the shilling were knowledgeable about and affectionate towards their games of choice.

This atmosphere of mutual enjoyment was the main reason why I kept finding myself drifting back towards that cramped room on the third floor after each of my progressively-shorter rangings back into the larger fray. I kept seeing the same pleasant faces lit up with the joy of their current game, kept hearing the same awesome voices raised in moments of imaginative excitement. Despite various moments of personal exhaustion and disconnection, the energy in that gaming room kept bringing me back to myself. That was where I wanted to be, in the end, and where I felt I most belonged. Read more

Last weekend Three weekends ago (this has taken longer to write than I initially expected), I attended the gargantuan beast of a convention that is the Penny Arcade Expo, or simply PAX. To use an adjective some feel is watered down by internet overuse, the convention was quite Epic. Not as Epic as last year’s experiences, but I personally feel that things of Epic descriptive quality frequently come in multiple grades of the term. In the next several hundred words, I will do my best to tell you all about it.

Since this post was getting way too big, I’ve broken it into two parts: Video Games, and Everything Else. Read past the cut for more. Read more

Apocalypse World – the new game from Vincent Baker – has been making the rounds through all the gaming blogs I regularly follow. It’s a grim’n'gritty, totally player/character-driven game of post-apocalyptic inter-personal relations. I’ve heard it described on more than one occasion as “Firefly, but after the bombs.” It’s wicked fun, and I’m currently involved in two steady games of it.

On more than one of these aforementioned gaming blogs, the writers have made comments to the effect of “this ain’t the tabletop version of Fallout, kids” or “if you’re looking for the apocalypse Fallout, try Gamma World instead.” My first instinct was to nod my head and think “yeah, this game is way more mature than Fallout, that’s totally right.” But upon recent deeper play-throughs of Fallout 3, I realize that that couldn’t be further from the truth. Apocalypse World is perfect for bringing the world of Fallout to life.

Let’s face it: the Fallout universe is right fucked from the get-go. It’s the blasted remains of a world scorched by a global nuclear war started in the 2100s – a war fueled by civilizations that never shed their 1950s ideals. As you wander the wasteland in any direction you wish to explore, you see the remnants of those elitist, isolationist ideals everywhere. You never once forget that the way things are now was caused by the smothering hubris of the last generation of powers-that-be, and in their stead you find only ruin and chaos.

The Fallout franchise is frequently remembered for its tongue-in-cheek humor, but what tabletop game session isn’t, as well? I’ve played all the games in the franchise to date, and while I agree that that humor is there and in droves, the most recent game in the series at times takes a stark turn towards the depressing and macabre. As a prime example of how Fallout 3 can definitely work with Apocalypse World, let’s look at the town of Grayditch. Yes, there be spoilers behind the cut. Read more

This weekend at PAX (I have another full post on that forthcoming), I came up with a random new game idea while in the bathroom looking at the crazy pictures I had snapped that day¹. I’m giving it the working title of Cosplay Costume Combat/Gaiden. The premise: walk around the convention and take pictures of cosplayers² and any other weird freaky shit you see. Meet up later with others who have done the same. Randomly pick photos from your camera, and then make those characters fight. Throughout the course of the weekend I mentioned it to several groups of other gamers and cosplayers alike, and all of them found it to be an interesting premise (the Rollerderby girls were especially animated in their ideas), so I figured I’d draft up an initial post for some preliminary design musings.

First and foremost, I want the game to avoid design pretensions and established indie considerations that are common with the current gamut of small-press RPGs. This should be a game for brand new players, a game I can actually get cosplayers to play on the spot just by walking up to two of them at a con. Simple to understand game terminology, with a focus on Kicking As and Dressing Awesome. Kinda the “Barbie Takes Mushrooms and Goes Shopping” of action-oriented RPGs.

I’m picturing two modes of play: Combat! and Gaiden! The first mode is quick and easy to demo, and played in one of two ways. You can either follow the format from the initial idea, and make up stats for random cosplayers you’ve photographed during the con, or you can approach two or more actual cosplayers while they walk around and convince them to play Real-Time. The latter format would also allow them to get more sweet pictures taken of them from bystanders, so it’s a win-win situation for cosplayers and game promotion alike.

The second game mode, Gaiden!, takes it much further. Again, two formats of play: digital and live. The digital format also involves scanning your cameras for cool photos, and then turning them into an epic quest to save the people of the convention from certain doom. Look over the photos, pick some heroes, some villains, and some points of contention, and then go with it, using the Combat! mode mechanics to resolve things. The other Gaiden! format stick with live-action cosplayers, leading the actual players across the convention on a LARP style of play to save everyone from certain doom. Quite certain to get lots of photographs, too.

Mechanics musings to come in the near future.

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¹ Yes. In the bathroom. Indeed.
¹ I didn’t take these, but here’s a good mix of some of the awesome PAX cosplay this year.