Greetings gophers. It is once again past time for a rambling wall of text from yours truly. Despite most of my free time this month being swallowed by basketball and watching westerns to prepare for an upcoming episode of Underdiscussion, I managed to work in a important gaming first for me. I know what you’re thinking. ” But W.D.R. surely a gamer as worldly and sophisticated as you has done it all.” Amazingly this is not the case. This past weekend the local high school held their twice yearly game convention, Recruits, and I ran my first two convention games. I have to admit that I needed a little prodding to decide to do it. The idea of some random group of strangers sitting down at a table and then me trying to run a game conjures images of every rpg horror story I’ve ever heard. Thanks to the owners of my friendly local game store, Pulp Fiction Comics and Games, I took the plunge.
I was quite pleased with the experience despite my initial misgivings. I ran a session of Gamma World, which many of you are familiar with from the podcast, and a session of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition. I must say that Gamma World makes for a mighty fun convention game. I ended up with a full table of five including a couple of folks I already knew. Thanks Eric and Ted for making my first attempt a little more comfortable than it could have been. The game went smoothly and the goofiness of Gamma World produced a fun time for all. At the end of the game the players had retrieved the yellow cakes and celebrated their missions success. I was relieved that I had made it through the game and had actually had quite a bit of fun.
Next up was Warhammer, which was a much more serious game. It also has some unusual but good mechanics that could be an issue with new players. I had restricted this game to four players because of the game design and once again had a full table. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the players from the Gamma World game had come back for another session with me. I have to admit that this really made my day. I find it a huge compliment for someone to enjoy my game enough to devote another chunk of their convention time to my game. While Warhammer did not go as smoothly as Gamma World, it seemed to be another successful session as everyone involved seemed to have fun. I know I really enjoyed it. I will be running some more games at the next Recruits if I am able. If any of you out there have considered running a game at a convention and haven’t, you should give it a go. It is certainly not like a regular game but it really is rewarding.
When I wasn’t running games, the table behind where I was running caught my eye. It was a display by a miniatures company out of Atlanta, Georgia that makes 15-20 mm figures. The thing that got my attention was the amazing detail for such tiny figures. It didn’t hurt that they all had absolutely fantastic paint jobs as well. I recommend checking them out. The name of the company is Splintered Light Miniatures. The owner seems like a great guy and hopefully we can find a way to have him on Underdiscussion. I also checked out a local company DGS Games. They are working on what could be a very interesting system that integrates a rpg, a skirmish game, and a large scale battle game. I would suggest checking them out as well.
That will just about do it for this edition. I can make no promises about when the next Chat will show up but there will be another one soon.
