Thursday
Thursday was the Fantasy Hero event. Two people pre-registered, and nobody showed up. Very frustrating, but in the long run a good thing, as my voice was not in the best of shape (I had gotten a cold Tuesday and it was now descending into my throat) and would not have lasted the con if I had to use it so early. I spent the time in the dealer’s room instead, then went on to assist my friend Rex’s Champions game.
Rex runs a game where the players get to play the villains, a group named the Street Scum. The event manages to violate at least 9 of the 15 or so guidelines for good taste and acceptability that GenCon supposedly enforces on events but hasn’t yet. This was the last year for the Street Scum, too, because we both were getting tired of running the events. The scenario this year puts the Street Scum in the position of running for public office, under the aegis of the criminal organization Python and its leader, Mr. Montgomery. (Subtle and unsubtle jokes abound in this game.) This allowed the players to be obnoxious and brash and made for some really good roleplaying on everyone’s part. Even the dumb brick had good lines: after they finished winning the election, the player said “Gee, Brain, now what’re we gonna do?”
After that was dinner with Rex, Rex’s friend who was going to help him with the other Street Scum events, Van, and Paul, where we came up with the Zen Collectable Trading Cards game, which uses cards from any regular playing card deck. I’m told Rex’s friend and a couple of others actually freaked people out the next day by sitting down and playing the Zen Collectable Card Game.
Friday
The Riddle of the Fire Pattern
Friday I did get to run my Amber game, with three pre-registered players (out of six) and three generic tickets. The players had to work out a puzzle involving a set of Trumps and a forgotten and missing Pattern. Four of the characters were each tied to one of the Aces of the minor arcana, which related to their pre-eminence at one of the four characteristics of the system; one was tied to the Magician; and finally, one was tied to the Chariot. All of this tied into some imagining I did on the relationship between the Patterns and the suits of the Tarot: the three known Patterns (aside from the Primal Pattern) are all tied to a particular element, earth, water, and air. All that was needed to complete the sequence is one tied to fire, and was what the players had to track down, uncover, and restore. That, and help Dworkin combine the power of all five Patterns into trap for a creature of the Abyss that consumed patterns.
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