I spent June 10 to June 16 in Columbus, Ohio for this year’s Origins convention. It was a good convention for the gamers and merchants–nothing memorable for me. There really wasn’t much in the way of hall costumes. So, this year I’m devoting the blog record to the merchants and the signs that marked their booths.

 

I’m just gonna show some of the best booth banners and maybe a few other things that justified a photo.

 

Looking at the main concourse lobby on Wednesday morning before the crowds arrived.

 

A distinctive feature of the convention center is this gigantic staircase that is seven aisles wide–three escalators in the center and two wide stairways on either side. When I felt strong, I climbed the stairs, averaging about 5 flights of stairs per day.

The Exhibitor’s Hall before anyone gets set up.

 

HackMaster was just across the aisle from Flying Buffalo. Dave Kenzer is standing by the HackMaster Banner. I just wish Tunnels & Trolls had a banner like this.

 

Jolly Blackburn, creator/artist/writer of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic book poses heroically.

 

My friend, Jolly, personifies all that is best about gamers at Origins. This is the single nicest guy in gaming, even nicer than me, and I’m as easygoing and friendly as you could ever wish. Jolly is better.

Here begins the great banners of Origins.

 

I’m not going to comment on most of the banners.

 

I told these guys I expected some tribute because I’m the Trollgod, but it didn’t happen. They even stole my acronym, T&T.

 

Heh, I’m using this cartoon as my background on Facebook right now.

 

Fantasy cartography is getting pretty great, but not for Mac owners.

 

 

Ya think something might be epic around here?

 

 

 

James Ernest is still the mastermind behind Cheapass Games. I had a good talk with him at a later time.

 

I demoed this game. It was kind of fun, like a g-rated version of Las Vegas.

 

This is a beautiful educational game that looks like a lot of fun to play. The designer and his family will be thousands of dollars in the red, and unlikely to appear again at next year’s Origins. Sad, but true. That is still the fate of most self-published books and games.

This guy is a talented artist. A lot of artists come to Origins. I don’t know why. Gamers are mostly not interested in buying or commissioning art.

 

 

There was some great steampunk costumery stuff. You had to be rich to afford it.  $80 vests. $500 coats.

 

 

Technically, this is more of a toy company than a game company, but you could certainly use these toys in games.

Henry Lopez (seated, white hair) is a man who produces quality games. His Witch Hunter 2nd edition rpg is one of the few things I brought back with me from Origins.

Cute!

 

I’ve played King of Tokyo. It plays fast and is good fun. Brilliant game!

There were a lot of zombies at the show. Zombie games remain popular.

 

Steve Jackson games was there, of course, doing their highly irritating “Exact Change” song and dance whenever anyone paid with cash in the exact amount asked for.

 

 

Will Neibling Sr. is a Hall of Fame game designer with a deep interest in World War II and military simulation. He still runs his own game company.

 

 

 

 

It was a big panel and took 2 photos to show it.

 

Arrrrgh!

 

 

3D open dungeon on display at the Kenzer booth. The pieces are modular, and can be built into any pattern you wish. Great for miniatures, and so pretty.

 

 

Where do they get those marvelous toys? I’m not in the Exhibitor’s Hall now. I’m off in open gaming where the mini-gamers have set up.

 

If I had a lady, I would buy her one of these gamer jewels.

 

 

I do so love fantasy art featuring warrior women. Not sure I wanna be married to one tho in the modern world.

 

A good thing about the dealer halls these days are the many demos going on. Tired? Sit down and learn a new game.

 

Speaking of warrior women, there weren’t very many hall costumes, but this woman had the best one of all. Awesome to look at, and a killer smile when I talked to her. I wanted her so much.

 

This is what the main concourse looked like after Origins had ended on Sunday afternoon.

 

Finally, a selfie picture of me just to prove I was there. Crom! I look more like a gnome or a goblin than a troll these days. Maybe it will look better if I grow my beard back. I started working on it for the whole week of Origins travel and show.

 

And that was my look at Origins 2014.  If you were there, and have a comment, please leave one. What did you like best and least about this year’s Origins?

–end

Ken St. Andre kenstandre@gmail.com

It all started with this email:

from: Rick Loomis rick@flyingbuffalo.com

to: kenstandre@gmail.com
date: Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 5:37 PM

subject: Famous Game Designers/Origins poker deck:

Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.

Ken,
The votes are in, and you are one of the four kings this year. Sometime in the next month you need to send me a photo you’d like to use, and a list of the game design accomplishments you’d like to highlight. Also which king do you think is appropriate?
Rick
Flying Buffalo Inc  www.flyingbuffalo.com
PO Box 8467, Scottsdale, AZ 85252
480-945-6917

which left me going “What?”

And then another email showed me things were already moving.

from:		S Crompton sscrompton@cox.net
to:		Rick Loomis <rick@flyingbuffalo.com>
cc:		“Ken St. Andre” <kenstandre@gmail.com>, Bear Peters <themancalledbear@gmail.com>, Liz Danforth <etdanforth@gmail.com>
date:		Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:44 PM
subject:		Liz is the King of Hearts

Been working with Liz this morning  on her card for the Game Designer deck and we think it came out pretty cool.  I took this photo of her at my house the day we all did the photoshoot.  I added a new background and cleaned it up a bit and TA-DA – the Liz card.

Ken – your next!  We keed a good photo of you wearing your hat, maybe with the T&T Gm Screen in front of you with a dark background… Or whatever else we come up with.

Onward!

Stee

[Note: I am showing these emails just the way they came to me, typos and all.]

When Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo needs a graphic production of some sort, he turns to his main man, artist/writer/compositor Steve Crompton. Steve is our main man for the actual physical production of Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls also.

On the following day I called Rick and asked what was going on. Rick told me that I got the third most votes of the possible game designers to be in the deck. Reassured by that, because I was afraid that it was just going to be a bunch of Flying Buffalo people this year, and in that case, I didn’t want to be part of such naked self agrandizement, I agreed to participate. Rick told me that he had been voted in also, but that he felt that was too many Flying Buffalo people in one deck, and so took himself out of it.  So, I called Steve, and talked to him about it, and he told me to hurry up and send him some pictures and the rest of the info.  Here is my letter to Steve:

from:		Ken St. Andre kenstandre@gmail.com
to:		S Crompton <sscrompton@cox.net>
date:		Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 4:43 PM
subject:		King of Spades
mailed-by:		gmail.com

Hi, Steve,

     If I get my choice, I want to be King of Spades. The word spade comes from the latin: spada meaning sword. Swords and sorcery fantasy is my life. Furthermore, in Bridge and many other cards games, the spades are ranked as the highest suit. Therefore, my King of Spades would outrank Liz’s King of Hearts. And why isn’t she Queen of Hearts instead of King of Hearts?

[Too much honesty here, but I decided to narrate this event as it actually happened and let the chips fall where they may. Actually, this shows a petty side of me that I’m not proud of, but it’s there, and it’s me.]

I’m attaching a couple of pix you could use. Pick the one you think is best. My preferences are shown in the order of attachment.

Games to credit me with: Tunnels and Trolls, Monsters! Monsters! Stormbringer. Wasteland, the computer game.

If you have room on the card you might mention Griffin Feathers and Rose of Stormgaard.

Best,

Ken

P.S. That really isn’t the best picture of me from the photo shoot. I’m thinking you might pull out one of two from last spring–I can’t seem to find them any more, and pick one with a full face shot in it. But I like the one with the yott. I’m doing my wizard impersonation there, and it does have the Trollgod’s Hat.

Ken

[and I sent him these three pictures of me]

from:		S Crompton sscrompton@cox.net
to:		“Ken St. Andre” <kenstandre@gmail.com>
date:		Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 1:36 PM
subject:		Re: King of Spades Ready for you to approv

Ken here is your card!  It took me some work, but I used the big picture you sent and made you look like a mage casting a spell!  Hope you like

Be sure to read the text and edit as you see fit.  Just remember there isn’t much room.

Steve

and my reply:

	Feb 27 (1 day ago)
to S

Hi, Steve, I like it. Tis a stunning effect, but I think it could be better. How would it look if you took out the rather gloomy blue background and photoshopped in either an erupting volcano? emeral green flames? or a fantasy city-scape?  See attachments, please. I don’t know if any of those would work better, but I’m thinking the whole thing is too dark, and a lighter touch in the background might make it better.

You know me, hard to satisfy . . .

Note: you probably can’t legally use any of these images. I include them just to put different ideas in your head.

[Note: I am not going to show you the three images I sent back to him. I have no right to reproduce them, and I only sent them along as examples of things I would rather see in the background of my card. They showed an erupting volcano, an elven city, and emerald flames.]

sscrompton@cox.net	Feb 27 (1 day ago)
to me

The idea is that you are in a classic dungeon, but I’ll see what else I migjt have that might work.
Steve

Ken St. Andre kenstandre@gmail.com	Feb 27 (1 day ago)
to sscrompton

And the idea works, but I just don’t like that gloomy blue background very much. Give me something with some red in it, please.

Ken

S Crompton	Feb 27 (1 day ago)
to me

All right take a look now.

Don’t forget to read the text too.

Steve

Ken St. Andre kenstandre@gmail.com	6:20 PM (23 hours ago)
to S

It’s better, Steve. More symbolic, more evocative, more T & T.

Let’s talk about the text. It is not quite perfect.

The fact is that I was a co-designer on Stormbringer and Wasteland. I could make a case for being the primary designer, but other people were also involved and they were important.

So, if you’ve got the space, let’s change the last half of that credits sentence to something like: “and he was instrumental in designing Stormbringer (the RPG) and Wasteland (the computer  game).  That is probably too many words, but it is a more accurate reflection of the truth. Perhaps you can squeeze it all in by reducing the fontsize.

Or perhaps you could just say something different like:

Ken St. Andre, Credits: Tunnels & Trolls, 1975, Monsters! Monsters!, 1976, Stormbringer, 1981, Wasteland 1988, Trollhalla.com 2002, Tunnels & Trolls 7th edition, 2005, Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls 2014

and in tiny little  2 point type at the bottom “and lots of other crap”.

You know, when you actually look at the record, I’ve done a lot of stuff in my life/career.

or another approach: Credits: Tunnels & Trolls (all versions 1975-2014), Stormbringer, 1981, Wasteland 1988, Trollhalla.com 2002-

Thanks for being so careful with it. I want it to be the best Kings card ever.

S Crompton	8:31 PM (21 hours ago)
to me

Ok here is an updated version with new text.

Please proof

Steve

Ken St. Andre kenstandre@gmail.com	9:27 PM (20 hours ago)
to S

That’s a great card, Steve. I am honored that you put so much time and work into it, and every other King in Origin deck history is gonna be so jealous. Thank you very much for all the effort you put into making this card.

[And that is the end of this story, dear Reader. I have given you a glimpse–the same glimpse that I’ve had–of what will be in the 2014 Flying Buffalo Origins Poker Deck. I’m very pleased to be included as a king, and shown you all what a pain I am to work with. heh!  I have no doubt that Steve remains hard at work finishing up the rest of the deck.  The man is the greatest workaholic I know.]

****************************************************************************************************************************

If you have ever obtained a Flying Buffalo poker deck at Origins, or if you’d like to get one of the older ones from me, or if you plan to come see Rick and me at Origins, why not leave a comment?

–end

Ken St. Andre, steampunk tai chi master, passes through the Gates of Steel to enter the World of the Weird.

I love hall costumes. Not enough to really get into that scene myself, although I would be totally willing to wear great costumes that others made for me, but enough to appreciate and enjoy it when the costumed folk surround me. Last week there was an anime con in Mesa, Arizona. I thought about attending but decided to only go on Sunday, and to only go to see the cosplay. I am not much of a fanboy for any particular anime, but at least the costume I wore made me part of the cosplay crowd, and made it really easy to talk to them. I took my camera along and this is what I found.

Pikachu and Ash were there.

Far future assassin. Awesome weapons and armor. Glad I was not his target.

Avoiding the old joke about horny ladies, I will say these pretty devil girls seemed very happy not to be in Hell.

A cat may look at a queen, and I looked at this one. I believe Wonderland is getting more psychedelic than Carroll’s Wildest Imagination.

And speaking of queens, here’s Marceline, the Vampire Queen from Adventure Time.

I really like the vampiriness of her costume, so I got this closeup to show her teeth. She doesn’t have to drink blood–she just eats the color red. Getting her teeth whitened wouldn’t hurt, though.

Kill La Kill–a high school frull of killer girls. Our heroine is Ryuko Matoi who wields one half of a giant pair of scissors.

Although cosplayers live to be photographed and complimented, many of them have no idea how to pose. This is the Before I got them to actually do some cosplay.

and this is after. All I had to do was suggest they come back to my place with me, and they got much more animated. Don’t you agree that they look much better while threatening me with unspeakable evils?  (Just kidding. What would I do with two beautiful and dangerous young females? The world will never know. grin.)

Sometimes you just want to chill with your friends. Hanging out at Taiyo Con.

Are these girls wearing the scariest pajamas ever? The humanoid figure you see on their clothing is a titan from Attack on Titan.

From the huge to the tiny. When I left the Titanic twins behind, I met this radiantly beautiful fairy.

I asked about the mask. She just likes to wear it. I tried the line from the Princess Bride on her where the Dread Pirate Roberts defends his mask by saying he thinks it is very fashionable, but it went right by her.

The girl in pink was standing with the girl in black when I took her picture, and wanted to be photographed too. I mentioned (lol) how dangerous they looked, and whispered to Pinky that she was the one who really terrified me. That really made her smile and she said she liked me.

Not all of the dangerous characters and great costumes were worn by women. This guy with his twin swords was posing almost nonstop, often with ladies who liked his killer looks.

Deadpool was there. He seemed to be mostly a beast of burden for the girl he was with, but he had the better outfit. Heh, it would have been great to get him into a faceoff with that furure assassin character or maybe the ninja up above.

Here’s another guy with a suit of armor I’d really love to own. Maybe he’s supposed to be Riddick, or maybe he just likes the bald look. I kind of like it myself.

A lot of the costumes were amazing with great props like the swords, guns, guitars, horns, and such, but I talked to this guy in the LAPD armor from the computer game Fallout with the Pip-Boy. The Pip-Boy 3000 appears in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. It’s an electronic Personal Information Processor (PIP) manufactured by RobCo Industries in the mid-21st century, and acts as the player’s HUD in the game. (info courtesy of the Fallout wiki)

The Lady in Red was a vendor selling elf hats from the Legend of Zelda. I came within an inch of buying one, even though I can’t think of any reason for ever wearing it. Simple but cool.

The newly-dead don’t all lie down and molder. This one was ready to defend herself and had the cutest freckles and engaging smile when caught off-guard.

Short, blonde, female Naruto, but dangerous all the same. I truly love the dangerous ones. I showed her this tai chi guard and push posture to get her into action instead of just portrait mode.  Knowing some tai chi has its benefits.

Is that an owlbear I see lurking in the background?

Very handsome wolfman–I didn’t ask him to pose, just caught him going about his business.

Rushing into the Dealers Room, she stopped to let me take a photo, but she forget to smile. This is what happens to beautiful young anime characters once they get middle-aged and world-weary.

Volunteers make any convention run. These kids were in costume and doing their duty, even tho the need for volunteers was mostly gone by Sunday afternoon. I salute Con volunteers everywhere and thank you for your time and effort.

Colorful. Great hair. Has a boyfriend.

Storm of the X-Men was blowing in as I was blowing out.

Maybe she’s here.  to apprehend Deadpool. She certainly looks ready for action.

And that’s all, folks.  I am sure I missed some great costumes, and didn’t go to any panels or see any of the anime stars on hand, but I had a fun hour taking pix and talking to the people in the lobby.  I don’t know if Con promoters and producers would want me to say this or not, but people, hotel lobbies are free. If you can’t afford to pay the high prices of attending today’s many sci-fi, fantasy, media, anime, comics cons, you can still go and hang out in the lobby where you may get a chance to talk to the participants, see great costumes, take some photos, and otherwise enjoy yourself. It is a lot better than staying home and playing computer games all afternoon–though there is nothing wrong with playing computer games, and I play a lot.

Next weekend I will be a gaming guest at DarkCon 2014, and I think I’ll wear my steampunk tai-chi master costume again–at least for one day. I will be doing a panel on Saturday morning with three other more notable game designers than myself (Tom Dowd, John Wick, Todd VanHooser), and I should be running some Tunnels and Trolls for anyone who would really like to play. Bring your characters and your dice and come game with me!  You can learn all about DarkCon here: https://www.facebook.com/events/162229360629080/.  I will be taking pix, and should have another Con report here in a week or ten days.

If you ever indulge in cosplay, or take pix of those who do, why not leave a comment? If you were at Taiyo Con,  you should certainly leave a comment and tell what was best about the Con for you.

–end

I design games. It’s what I do. And not just role-playing games and scenarios. I can make any kind of game, out of virtually any kind of material. Before the end, I would like to show the world some of my other game designs.

Another TrollCon is coming up at the end of July.  20 or 30 people will get together in Scottsdale to play Tunnels and Trolls and other games and just have a good time.  I’ll be there.  This year I wanted to do something a little special for the people who come from other parts of the country to game with me.  So, I created this game.  I’ll give it to you if you come to the con. Otherwise, I’ll sell it to  you.

It’s a simple game. Steal the dragon’s gold!

This one isn’t a complicated roleplaying game. It’s snatch and grab.  Cunning versus Power.  Would you like to try it out?  Are you clever enough, swift enough, to steal gold from a dragon?

The game will be available in pdf at the beginning of August.  In the meantime, if you’d like to have a hardcopy, send me an email.  The price will be $8 in the U.S.A, or $12 in any other country, and I’ll cover the postage and have it autographed by the artist and me.  Need a birthday present, or a Christmas gift for a gamer friend?  This could be a good option for you.

I’ll demo the game at GenCon, and we (meaning Flying Buffalo) will sell it there.  In the meantime, if you’d like a copy hot off the presses, send me an email: kenstandre@yahoo.com.  Or just paypal some money to me at that address.

If you’ve ever tried to steal gold from a dragon, or if you think stealing is wrong, why not leave a comment?

*************************************************************

Two days later, and I’m back from the post office. I’ve just sent off some 42 copies of Dwarves and Dragons to the first people who were kind enough to order it. Those who are close to me should get their copies tomorrow, further away by Saturday, and the rest of the world before the end of next week.

If this game came in a box from Z-man or some other good-sized game producer, I might have included some extra components.  The game needs 1D6 in order to play. I didn’t put it in.  Who out there doesn’t already own dice?  Now that production is done, and I have a chance to think about it, it could be fun to make a couple of custom D6s for it.  I could have a Dwarf Die with a pair of eyes on it where the one should be indicating invisibility for the Dwarf when he rolls a 1.  I could have a Dragon Die with a Dragon head on it instead of a six to indicate when the dragon is breathing fire.  You don’t need special dice for this, but it would be nice.

There’s another component I expect the players to provide on their own: coins.  Three or more pennies can serve as the dragon’s hoard. Everybody can produce a handful of copper or silver to use as treasure pieces.  Or I could have designed some cardboard gold coins.  It’s another non-essential that would have driven production costs up.  If the game becomes very popular, which I am not counting on, it would be fun to design some fantasy coins for it.

Miniature lovers, Dwarves and Dragons is the perfect opportunity to use your minis in play.  If you have dwarf minis, you should use them; if you have a dragon mini of about the right size, you should use it.  You could also use the transparent stones/counters used in Magic and other card games for the boulders in the cave instead of the cardstock counters that I provided.  By taking the game out of the realm of cardboard and cardstock, and pushing it into the realm of realia, players could get even more fun out of it.

It’s sort of like using a fancy chess set versus using a plain chess set.  The game is the same, no matter which set you use to play it.  The fancy set is kind of distractiong at first, and you might not play your best game when admiring  your crystal queens and rooks and things.  I’d like to see it fancy, but I’m happy to see the game as it is.  It’s a start!

My 50 signed and autographed copies are almost gone.  Don’t let that stop you from buying one from me.  If I need more copies of the game, I will get more.  And I’ll sign and number them for  you. However, this first release is special, and I’m making the price as low as I can to encourage people to get one, and to reward those who support me at the beginning,  When the first 50 are all gone, the price will go up to what it really ought to be.  So, it’s a case of EARLY BIRD GETTING WORM, or early buyer getting a deal.

–end

39 years ago I helped start LepreCon, the first sfnal Con in Arizona.  At least if anything else preceeded it, my friends and I had never heard of it, though we knew about cons in California and back east.  Since then the number of cons has increased tremendously, and it reached a point where cons weren’t just for science fiction any more–they spread out into all sorts of related fields, like Gaming.

It all blurs together after a while, but I don’t remember going to any gaming specific cons before the 1990s.  However, once the idea caught on, it became quite popular.  This year, I have attended three Gaming Cons here in Arizona–VulCon I, Conflagration 1, and RinCon 2012.  In addition, I have spent most of my con time gaming at DarkCon, LepreCon, ComiCon, and CopperCon.  And those were just the cons in Arizona, which I tend to attend because they are close and don’t cost me much money.  Out of state I went to Origins, OSRcon, and GenCon.   And I’m planning on LaughingMoonCon on Oct. 20.  That makes 8 weekends minimum spent at conventions, mostly gaming–slightly more than 1/5th of the year’s weekends up to my neck in cards and dice mostly.

Last week, Sept 28-30. I was in South Tucson for RinCon 2012.   This southern Arizona convention is about 5 years old now, and I have attended it once before.  This year the Con committee made me an offer I couldn’t refuse (a hotel room for my stay at the con–I’m easy, folks, you can have me for as little as a place to stay while at the con (grin)).  My son and I went to the Con.  I played Tunnels & Trolls twice, and a few other games.  I was on two interesting panels with John Wick and Mark Truman who were the other major frp people at the con.  We talked about such things as GM technique, things to keep in mind if you want to create your own frp game, and how the sport of role-playing has developed and is likely to continue developing.

I took my little camera along and took a few pictures, which I will now share with you.  They don’t really make a story this time, but it should give you an idea of what it was like.

There was plenty of function space at the Airport Holiday Inn in South Tucson. About half of the gaming took place in this large hall. The dealers have an area down at the far end.

I broke a rule, and actually played That Other Game. Jim McKenzie, the big guy on the left ran Pathfinder for most of the weekend, and I sat in on a game Friday afternoon as a wizard. Had to leave after about an hour of play, and I got back just in time for the grand finale. My wizard wasn’t missed, and got to throw one magic missile in the whole game.

Although you will find I prefer my own Tunnels and Trolls to all other frp systems, I am willing to play other games from time to time.  Really, it isn’t the system that matters.  It’s the role-playing that counts and having a good time with others.

That evening, Jamie, the cutie on the right taught my son James, the blurry fellow on the left, and me how to play the World of Warcraft CCG. James won–twice. I prefer Magic ™, but if one were a WoW player (and I’m not), I could see how one might grow fond of this game.

James Ernest was the Guest of Honor at RinCon. James is an amazingly smart game designer of mostly board games, but he could do anything. We know each other, but don’t mingle that much. Here he is having breakfast at the hotel buffet on Saturday morning. Bacon, eggs, and orange juice–yum!

The major Event of the convention was a GM conference on Saturday morning from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.  5 game designers including me down front and 20 to 30 people in the audience at various times.

Audience, right side, Matthew Nielson down in front.

Audience, left side.

John Wick sat to the right of me. John pretty much dominates any panel he is on.

John said he had designed 10 rpgs this year already.  I said, big deal, designing them isn’t so hard.  Getting them published and out to the gamers in an attractive format is the hard thing.  John amended his statement to say he had published 10 rpgs already this year.

Mark Truman sat to the left of me on the panel. Mark is a game designer on the rise.

You won’t see any pictures of me at this Con, at least none that I own.  I was always pretty much at the center of the action and looking out admiring the great works of other people.

RinCon pays its GMs in RinCoins–tokens that dealers have agreed to take as part of the purchase price of games. Alas, I spent my RinCoins buying more Magic.

This BEN HVRT (clever play on Roman letters and a movie title) looked like a lot of fun. It represents all the great games I saw at RinCon but never got the actual chance to play.

After 2.5 days of gaming goodness, RinCon came to an end on Sunday afternoon.  While I was there I participated in a Pathfinder game, 2 Tunnels and Trolls sessions, a Settlers of Catan game, several rounds of Magic with my son, a WoW demo, a game of Gloom with my son, and a long session of Legacy the other t & t game (time travel and technology).  It was a good weekend for gaming.

If you were at RinCon, or some other gaming convention recently, why not leave a comment and mention your exploits there?

–end

I spent the weekend of August 9-12 in Toronto at the second OSRcon, organized by Chris Cunnington and sponsored (sort of) by Trollhalla member Carter Soles.  It’s a small gaming con with an attendance of less than 100 people, but they flew me in and gave me a hotel room to be Guest of Honor, and I was very happy to go.  I’ve never been to Toronto before.  It’s a lovely megalopolis–a strange mixture of old and new side by side.  The old stuff is all bricks and granite; the new stuff is all steel and glass.

It was all role-playing gaming.  In the two days of the Con, I never saw s single board game or card game being played.  I brought a few decks of Magic along, just in case there was nothing to do, and I needed a pickup game, but I don’t think anyone else at the Con even had a deck with them.

I brought my camera too, and I took some pictures.  The order in which I took the pix is pretty much a chronological record of what I did at the Con.  So let me start putting them up.  One thing I have to say.  Although I don’t take the best pictures, I like the ones I take better than I like the ones taken of me.  I kinda hate how old and silly I look.  In my mind I’m Harrison Ford.  In reality I’m Don Rickles.  Sheesh!

This is a very poorly organized and constructed blog, but I wanted something online before I head to GenCon for a week.  This is the rough first draft of the adventure.  I’ll polish it up and make it prettier when I return from GenCon in a week or so.

Some people say, if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.  Talking about this blog, I say, like Nike, Just Do It.  This one isn’t done well, but it’s here as a record of my travels and good times.  Ken St. Andre is no perfectionist.

I’m in a food court at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on my way to Toronto. I had to spend several hours there between flights. The architecture was bizarre. Dallas is so big that you have to ride a train between terminals.

The escalators are huge at Dallas. I spent a lot of time on this trip looking up.

Here’s a shot of that train I was talking about.

My flight was late. Here I’m in Toronto. These three came and got me at the airport. From left to right: Brendan, Chris, Carter. To meet them I think I had to walk a mile through the airport from where the plane landed, and go through Customs, all at 2 o’clock in the morning. Such are the adventures of my life.

Friday morning, I walked past this bizarre building. It is the Robarts Library of the University of Toronto. My path to the Con from my hotel took me right through the heart of the campus.

The little black thing in the center of the photo is one of the evil black squirrels of Toronto. It was the most ferocious wildlife I saw (not counting Man) on this trip.

Toronto seems to be full of these ancient Gothic towers. I took this shot at sunset walking back to the hotel. Should have gotten more pix from Friday, but my batteries were dying.

I ate most of my meals at the Fox and Fiddle restaurant and bar. It’s a very lively place inside at night–the karaoke there is excruciating.

Looking down Bloor Street on a wet Saturday morning. I managed to get more batteries for my camers. Thanks, Brendan!

Looking the other way on Bloor Street. It rained a lot in Toronto while I was there. I didn’t care. I was having a ball.

The strangest building on Bloor Street–the Royal Ontario Museum (the Rom). I thought it looked like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

The angular part of the museum was a post-modern addition to the original grey brick construction. Apparently the main attraction inside was Dinosaurs.

That’s the C.N. Tower in the distance. It’s the Canadian version of the Space Needle. I saw it a bit closer while heading to the airport on Sunday. Very tall. Revolving restaurant.

The very first Tarzan illustration–under glass–on display at the Merrill Collection at the library. I have been a life-long Burroughs fan, and it was a pure treat to see all the ERBiana they have (I didn’t see anywhere near all of it.) at the library that hosted the convention.

The library was doing a display of Edgar Rice Burroughs material when I arrived–almost all Tarzan. They had pulp magazines in a display case. This Blue Book is from Tarzan the Untamed where he’s in Pal-Ul-Don.

It appears that I didn’t actually photograph much of the gaming convention itself.  I was far more interested in the library and the displays they had upstairs.  Really, I did spend most of 2 days in the dungeon playing games, but when the camera came out, it was books and bizarre sights I chose to photograph.  Other photographers were there, and perhaps I can insert some of their pix into my own.

Big little books featuring Tarzan of the Apes.

My favorite pulp magazine of all time was Planet Stories. I used to own some of them. This is Planet #1–Golden Amazons of Mars. What were they thinking?

The Dragon Queen of Jupiter, a Leigh Brackett story I’d never heard of before. Oh, I so wanted to take the mag out of its cellophane wrapper and read those old stories.

Tarzan in Blue Book magazine. and Tanar of the Earth’s Core. I love pulp science fiction magazines, and I got to see some great old covers in the Merrill collection.

First editions on display in the Osborne collection of the Toronto Public Library.  The theme was insects in Children’s Literature.

Painted walls of Toronto. I don’t have any idea why this magnificient scene of birds and a rhino was on the wall of a cheap diner not far from the library.

Griffin-guarded entrance to the Toronto Public Library where the Con was held on Saturday around 2 p.m.

From the edge of the lobby, you can just see the skeleton of a gigantic dinosaur. The head is at the left.

Looking into the museum. Top right corner is dinosaur neck and head. I was trying to photograph something smaller and bizarre in the center but people walked into the path of my photo. Grrrr! It’s what happens when you’re too far away from the target.

I got into the lobby of the ROM. This little dinosaur skeleton was there to greet me, or perhaps to eat me.

On Sunday morning I found a troll–a great black stone troll on the street across from my hotel. He was apparentlhy sad to see me go.

Here I am at the Toronto airport saying goodbye to my friends Carter & Brendan. My bags are on my shoulder and in my hand, and there are 9 hours of air travel ahead of me.

My adventures weren’t quite over.  The airport was confusing, and I wound up at the wrong gate, and after hours of waiting I hear an intercom announcement that’s last call for my flight at a different gate.  I have shoes off and coins on the ground as I was figuring out what to do with my Canadian change.  I gathered my things and ran through the airport, shoes untied, bags half open and made it to my gate, last person to board.  On the run, the battery of my phone jounced out and so did a paperback book and sci-fi magazine.  They found the reading material, and I got it back on the plane, but the battery was lost.  Oh well.  One pays for one’s pleasures, and it was a small price–that along with a sore backside from 6 hours in a plane and another 3 waiting in airports–for the most fun weekend I’ve had in years.

If you’ve ever been to Toronto or attended a really small gaming convention that was all role-playing, go ahead and leave a message?

end

Amber, the true foundation of Reality, lost its way when King Oberon disappeared into Shadow.

Being a game designer is a lot like being a writer.  It’s not so much that you want to invent new games, just like writers don’t necessarily want to write.  You can’t help it.  You can’t stop.  Game designers design games because they can’t NOT DESIGN GAMES.  Writers write because they can’t not write.

For every game that gets made and becomes a success, who know how many there were that never got made, never got played, and were only a flash of ideas?  Below the line of stars begins the actual rules that I typed up in 1984.

********************************************************************************************************************

The card game for Amber was conceived during the seventies when I was GMing a vast play-by-mail simulation of the Amber novels.  At the time I thought this would make a good science fiction game, but couldn’t rouse much enthusiasm among muy circle of friends.  They weren’t much into card games.  The outline for the rules has languished in a desk drawer for several years.  I’m going to write it  out now so I can throw my notes away, and possibly get this game published somewhere.  I believe it deserves to see print.  (Comment from 2012:  never happened.  I typed up what follows, and it went in a box, only to be rediscovered after I moved and started going through all my old stuff.  I wonder if I should throw these pages away, or offer them up for auction somewhere, or donate to a university.  Why would any university care?)

Equipment

To play the Game of Amber you will need a complete Tarot deck, paper, and writing implements.  You should have at least 4 players, and the game is better if there are 9 or more.

Set Up.

Divide the tarot deck into 3 sets of cards: the Chaos deck consists of the 22 numbered Major Arcana; the Encounter deck consists of the 16 Court cards; and the Shadow deck consists of all the numbered Suit cards.  Shuffle the Shadow deck and the Chaos deck and set them aside.  Spread out the Court cards.  Each player should choose one card to represent him or herself.  You may use either names from the Amber books, or make up your own names.  Supplement One matches the Court cards with the major characters of the Amber novels.  After each player has taken a Court card, the rest are shuffled and placed face down.  Before starting to play, deal each player 2 cards from the Shadow deck, face down to represent their unknown resources in Shadow, and one card face up to represent their known powers.  Set the unused part of the deck to one side.

Background

Oberon, immortal founder of Amber and its true ruler, has vanished, leaving no designated heir to the throne.  All of his offspring believe themselves to be worthy, and each is maneuvering to gain the support of enough of the others to take the crown and hold it.  In game terms, anyone who can take the throne and successfully hold it for 3 turns will be the winner, and perpetual ruler in Amber. While this internecine strife engulfs Amber and the Shadow worlds, Chaos is also making its move to destroy Amber and the Pattern so that chaos may rule supreme.

Play

Before beginning to play the tabletop is designated as the City of Amber (assuming now that the players are seated around a table in order to play a card game), and the center of the table is the Throne.  The Chaos deck is shuffled, and one card is placed face down on the Throne which is known as the Siege Perilous. (The Thorne has that name, not the card.)  The first player to actually place his card on the Throne turns over the Chaos card and must take the consequences of the card. (See Chaos table in Supplement Two for meaning of the Chaos cards.)

All players start in Amber with their Court card and one Shadow card face up on the table.  They also have 2 cards face down.  There is a 5 minute Diplomacy round in which players may seek alliances among themselves.  During this time they may show their face down card t the other players or not, as they choose.

At the end of the Diplomacy turn, each player must take a slip of paper and secretly declare an option.  All options are revealed simultaneously.  There are 4 options possible:  1. wait in Amber (this is neutral and makes no move), 2. seize the Throne (If only one Player seizes the Throne, he/she gets it and we move to phase 2.  If two or more Players try to seize the Throne, there is Civil War, and the game moves to phase 3.  If no one seizes the Throne, the game remains in phase 1.), 3. attack another Player.  (See attack and defense rules below), 4. move into Shadow (or if in Shadow, return to Amber)  Before any player moves into Shadow, all remaining Chaos, Court, and Shadow cards are shuffled together into one deck and placed face down on the Table.  Each time a Player moves from Amber into Shadow, he must take the top card off the combined new Shadow deck.  If it is a Chaos card, he must play it face up and take the consequences (usually that will indicate some sort of Chaotic move against Amber which would jump the game into phase 4 (Attack on Amber).  If it is a Court or Shadow card, he may conceal it.  The Player then surrenders his own Court card which is placed on the bottom of the Shadow deck.  Each other Player then cuts the Shadow deck once without looking at the result, effecting a new shuffle of the deck.  From this time on, whenever a card is played, it will go into a discard pile which will be cut back into the Shadow deck after each round of play as was just described. Players may only take one Shadow card for each trip into Shadow, and must return to Amber before they can move back into Shadow and take another card.

Phase 3: Civil War

Whenever there is more than one claimant for the Throne, there will be Civil War.  Civil wars are fought by playing Shadow cards against the other players.  Each suit has a special meaning and may only be played to accomplish a particular thing.  Swords are the cards of Attack, and may only be used to attack and capture the other Player.  Wands are the cards of Defense, and may only be used to defend against a Sword attack.  (If a higher numbered Wand is used against a lower numbered Sword, it is a counter attack, and the defensive Player may capture or defeat the offensive Player.)  Cups are a suit of Compulsion and may be used to force an alliance.  They are useless against Swords, however.  Pentacles (Coins) are the suit of economic strength and may be used to block compulsion by Cups.  In addition, there are several special cards with specific meanings and powers that will be described below.  No matter who wins a Civil War, no Player will succeed in taking the Throne of Amber on that turn.

Combat occurs by playing one card against another until one Player is unable to continue.  Cards are played face down and simultaneously–then revealed to see what the results are.  Any one card of Wands can counter any Sword attack excpt the Ten of Swords (see special cards).  Any Pentacle can counter any Cup.  In the event of mutual attacks with no defense, the stronger attack will win.  The loser in such a conflict, unless slain with the Ten of Swords, is banished into Shadow for the number of turns that represents the difference in the combat (i.e. 9 of Swords vs. 5 of Swords sends the Loser into Shadow for 4 turns) without being able to make any play or draw any Shadow cards until he has come back to Amber for at least one turn.  If the battle is in compulsion and not force, the Loser becomes the vassal of the Winner, and forfeits one Shadow card up to his entire stock for each point by which he was beaten.  Each card played in a Civil War is placed face down in the discard deck, shuffled with all other discards at the end of the turn, and cut back into the Shadow deck at the end of the turn.  Players may play any number of cards in the course of a Civil War, up to everything they have.

Phase 2:  Seizing the Throne

Eventually someone will seize the Throne without a Civil War.  That Player must then turn over the Chaos card that has lain there face down and accept the consequences for either good or evil.  The Player who occupies the Throne has great resources to draw upon and may draw two cards from the top of the Shadow deck each turn, but must leave them face up in front of him in Amber so that everyone can see them.  If he holds the Throne for 3 complete turns after taking it, the game is over and he has won.  After phase 2, move to phase 4.  A player who is on the Throne may not initiate a Sword attack against any other player, though he may use Cup (compulsion) attacks if he wishes.  He may use Swords if he is attacked by a Rebel.

Phase 4:  Encounters in Shadow

If a Player is banished into Shadow as a result of losing a Swords combat, he gets no turn until the time limit expires.  He may still condust Diplomacy with other Players during the next Diplomacy round.  After his time limit expires, he may take one Shadow card and return to Amber if he wishes.

If a Player has gone into Shadow voluntarily, he surrenders his Court card and takes one Shadow card in its place.  There are then 3 possibilities.  If he draws a Chaos card he looks at Supplement Two, the Chaos table, and follows instructions for the cards there.  This must be done openly so that all Players can see.  If he draws a Court card, he may either conceal it for a while, or give it back to its Player.  If he keeps it, nothing happens, but if he returns it, he may either use the return to initiate combat, which moves the game into phase 3, Civil War, or demand a ransom of one other card face down in its place from that Player.  If the Court card does not represent an active Player, then the Player ma ally with it by playing it face up in Amber in front of him.  He will then draw 2 cards from the Shadow deck face down to represent the strength of the alliance, and that Court card will be taken out of play for the remainder of the game.  There is one other thing that can be done with a Court card.  If it has not been revealed or played, and the Player who holds it is in Amber, it may be used to summon that other Player back to Amber and force him to reveal all his Shadow cards face up for all to see.

If phase 4 ends without reverting to Civil War, then one complete turn is over, and the Players begin the next turn with phase 1 where each Player selects anoption and reveals it simultaneously after no more than 5 minutes of Diplomacy.

Special Cards

There are 5 special Shadow cards with only one meaning.  They must be used for their special meanings and not for the general purposes of Attack, Defense, Compulsion, or Protection.

They are:

Nine of Cups–the Wish card.  Whoever it is played on (and you may play it on yourself or another Player if you wish) automatically gains the Throne of Amber.  The former occupant, if there was one, forfeits all the strength of the Throne, and goes back into the general population of Amber.

Seven of Cups–Betrayal.  Whoever it is played on loses all alliances, and must forfeit 1/2 of his Shadow cards to person who played the card on him.

Ten of Swords–Death.  Whoever it is played on, unless protected by the Ace of Wands, dies.  His Player card is removed from the game for the remainder and all of his Shadow cards go back into the discard pile.  The “dead” Player is out of the game.

Two of Pentacles–Defeat.  Whoever this card is played upon, even if it is the King of Amber, loses all Shadow cards to the discard pile immediately.

Ace of Wands–Protection.  This card when played, protects the Player on whom it is played from Death by the Ten of Swords.  It will not protect against death at the hands of the Forces of Chaos.

Combat

Combat is always conducted by using the Shadow cards.  Each card represents a source of power that is effective against two of the other sources and ineffective against one of the other sources.

Swords:  physical force on the attack.

Cups:  magical compulsion.

Pentacles (Coins):  financial strength (suitable for hiring either mercenaries or magicians)

Wands:  Defensive strength (fortifications and the support of the common people)

Swords may attack Cups and Pentacles but will be beaten if a higher numbered card is played.  Any Wand played against a Sword negates the attack.

Cups may be played against Pentacles and Wands and will be beaten if a higher numbered card is played.  Any Sword played against it will negate the attack.

Pentacles may be played against Wands and Swords.  Any Cup played against a Pentacle negates the attack.

Wands are strictly a defensive card.  They can do damage in a counter attack when attacked by Cups or Pentacles, but you cannot initiate an attack with a Wands card.

Combat is always conducted with one Attacker and one Defender.  In the option phase or during the Shadows phase one player will initiate combat by declaring his intention to attack another.  Multiple players may attack the same person if they wish, but only one at a time.  In the event of more than one Player initiating an attack, they can flip a coin or roll a die to decide who gets to attack first.

Other Players may not help an Attacker with his attack.  However, when all Players concerned are in Amber, they may choose to help a Defender with some of their own Shadow cards if they wish.

In combat the Attacker plays a card first.  The defender must then respond with a card, or give up.  Attacks are decided by the numerical value of the cards, high value winning except where the defensive card just nullified the attack (such as a Wand against a Sword or a Sword against a Cup).

An attack with Swords always causes physical defeat and retreat so that the losing player cannot move for the number of turns by which he was beaten.  In the event of ties, Players may either break off the attack in a stalemate or continue by playing a second attacing card.  If a player cannot respond to an attack he must surrender and acknowledge defeat.

An attack with Cups always reduces the loser to the state of vassal to the winner.  The loser must give the winner Shadow cards equal to the number he was beaten by, or all of his cards, whichever is the greater number.

An attack by Pentacles may be either one or the other as specified by the Winner.

A counter attack with Wands against Cups and Pentacles has the same effect on the loser as an attack would have had.  If the counterattack succeeds, the attacker must either retreat out of play into Shadow or give up cards.

Defensive plays when successful inoutpointing attacking plays cause the combat to end for that turn, but leave both players where they are.  Most attacks will only last one turn., but may go on for any number of rounds (1 round equals 1 card from both attacker and defender) as long as both players have cards.  (Example:  Eric attacks Corwin with the 8 of Swords. Corwin replies with the 2 of Wands, negating the attack.  Eric comes back with the 6 of Pentacles.  Corwin plays the 7 of Wands, defeating Eric on the counterattack by 1 point.  Corwin wins.  Seeing that Eric has one card left, and not having any himself, Corwin (the Winner) declares Eric must be his vassal and give him one card.  Eric reluctantly hands over his last Shadow card and the combat is over.)

After combat is over, it then moves to the next Player who has an attack chosen as his option.  If, in the example above, Corwin had chosen to attack Fiona, he would then initiate his attack.  Since he has only the 3 of Cups that he just took from eric, he would use that to attack her.

These are the Rider-Waite Court cards, but any deck except possibly the Amber itself or Lovecraft tarot decks would work.

Supplement 1: The Court Cards

You may either play Zelazny’s characters or make up your own names.  If using Zelazny’s characters, these names are associated with the following cards:

King of Swords:  Benedict

Queen of Swords:  Fiona

Knight of Swords:  Corwin

Page of Swords:  Brand

King of Cups:  Julian

Queen of Cups:  Deirdre

Knight of Cups:  Blaise

Page of Cups:  Merlin

King of Wands:  Gerard

Queen of Wands:  Flora

Knight of Wands:  Caine

Page of Wands:  Martin

King of Pentacles:  Eric

Queen of Pentacles:  Llewella

Knight of Pentacles:  Random

Page of Pentacles:  Moire

Supplement 2:  The Chaos Cards

0.  The Fool:  Chaotic Forces intervene.  You lose all Shadow cards (to the discard pile).

1.  The Magician:  Mastery of Chaos.  You may hold this card and play it at any time to gain any object except the slaying of another player.  (Example:  You may use this card to negate another Player’s attack, or change the outcome of an Attack.  You may play the card to force another Player to give you a Shadow card.  You may play the card to save the life of a player attacked and killed with the Ten of Wands.  When playing this card, you are the Master of Chaos for one brief moment.)

2.  The High Priestess:  Mystic forces attack Amber.  Draw 10 cards from Shadow deck without looking at them.  Play them to attack Amber.  All Players in Amber must defend against this attack.  If Amber falls, the High Priestess takes the Throne.  If she holds it for 3 turns then all players lose.  While she is on the throne treat Her as rules of Amber with all rights and priveleges and powers of the ruler, including the right to replenish her forces from the Chaos deck.

3.  The Empress:  The Player marries (a princess of Chaos) and gains strength.  Draw one Shadow card face up on each return to Amber from Shadow.

4.  The Emperor:  You have encountered Oberon in Shadow.  Draw 3 extra Shadow cards to represent his support.  If the card starts on the Throne, everyone wins except the Player who turned it over.

5.  The Hierophant:  Mystic forces attack Amber.  Same as for the High Priestess but Chaos only gets 6 cards.

6.  The Lovers:  Player is distracted by Love.  Lose 2 turns (no actions except Diplomacy permitted) and return to Amber.

7.  The Chariot:  Armies of Chaos attack Amber.  All Players in Shadow return to help defend the City.  Chaotic armies back off, but each Player must discard 1 Shadow card.

8.  Strength:  You have found an unexpected ally in Shadow.  Take one extra Shadow card.

9.  The Hermit:  You have encountered Dworkin.  He’s crazy and no help to you.  You may declare him as a Scion of Amber when returning to Amber and play him face up to gain two allied Shadow cards.

10.  The Wheel of Fortune:  Discard all your Shadow cards.  Draw the same number from the Shadow deck to replace them, all face down.

11.  Justice:  When this card is played, it forces the abdication of any Player who has the Throne if that Player has ever attacked another Player.  Otherwise, no effect.

12.  The Hanged Man:  Misfortune.  Lose 1 turn and 1 Shadow card.

13.  Death: Forces of Chaos have intervened and slain your Player.  There is no defense and the card may not be played on another Player.

14.  Temperance:  You gain two Shadow cards in exchange for this, but you may make no other play this turn.

15.  The Devil:  Chaos makea a total attack on Amber.  All Players gain  2 Shadow cards and return to the City to help defend it.  Chaos gets whatever is left in the Shadow deck, shuffles it, and then attacks randomly by laying down the top card of the Shadow deck.  If all attacks are not turned back then Chaos takes the City and wins.

16.  The Tower:  You have been captured and imprisoned by forces of Chaos.  If your Court card is not already in the Shadow deck, put it there.  You remain helpless there until some other Player draws your card and uses it to summon you back to Amber.

17.  The Star:  This card may be held.  A Player may use it to bring some other Player (not himself) back from the dead, or to stop and cancel any Chaotic attack on Amber. (Example: The Devil has been played.  Chaos is making an all out attempt on Amber.  A player holds the Star card.  That player may stop the Chaotic attack and end the turn and the battle at any time by playing The Star. When the Star is played, every card that has been played goes into the discard pile and gets reshuffled back into the Shadow deck.

18.  The Moon:  Demonic forces attack Amber.  They are weak and get only 3 Shadow cards, but only Players currently in the City may defend against them.

19.  The Sun:  Your character gains in popularity.  You may name any other Player in the game as your vassal to help out during a combat phase (except the Player attacking you)

20.  Judgment:  Forces of Chaos attack Amber with the first two Swords cards turned over out of the Shadow deck.  Only the King on the Throne may defend.  If there is no King, all players are banished to Shadow for one turn, and the Throne remains empty.

21.  The World:  You have walked the Pattern and gained control.  You may replace the current ruler in Amber and add his forces to yours while he is exiled to Shadow for 2 turns.

Attack on Amber

There are several times in the game when the Forces of Chaos may attack Amber.  Forces of Chaos may be played by a dead player or a non-player.  They draw the specified number of Shadow cards to use as weapons.  Any further Chaos cards drawn or turned over during an attack are discarded without being used.  When Chaos is attacking, all 4 suits count as Swords only.  The Ten of Swords, if played by Chaos, will slay whoever holds the Throne at the time.  If played against Chaos, it ends the attack instantly and Chaos is defeated.  If Chaos wins the attack, any Players still in Amber will be slain and removed from the game, unless the attack was solely against the King.  If only the King was attacked, and he is beaten, then he dies, and the Forces of Chaos leave other Amberites unharmed and the Throne empty.

After an attack on Amber the game always reverts to phase 1, Diplomacy and option selection.

The End

Postscript:

During the retyping of these rules this morning, I did not copy the exact words I used in 1984.  It is 99% the same, but I couldn’t resist adding a few clarifications and improvements.

I believe the game as explained above is both deep and playable, and that it would be better with more players instead of fewer.  I’d like to actually try it some time, so I guess playtesters are wanted.

If you are now or ever were a fan of Roger Zelazny’s epic fantasy Amber series, feel free to leave a comment.

DarkCon, a Steampunk science fiction convention for Arizona.

The fannish new year of 2012 started off very well for me with DarkCon in Mesa, Arizona.  I live in west Phoenix, and it was a long drive back and forth, but still less expensive than getting a hotel room.  The Con Committee invited me to the show as a guest and were extremely nice to me.  Look at the great gifts they gave me, and the other Guests just for showing up.

This bag was packed with food, drinks, jewelry, the pocket watch you see, a treasure chest, a calendar, a special Dark Ones shot glass, and other goodies. The name tag isn't paper in a holder--it's a golden plaque. Wow! I have never been treated so nicely in my life, and other guests also got great stuff.

DarkCon ran from Thursday afternoon at about 2 p.m. until Sunday night.  They had 7 notable professional guests this year.  First was Jacqueline Carey, the Author Guest of Honor.  She has several fantasy epics to her credit, and I have to tell you all I consider her writing to be a little kinky–I like it.

Jacqueline Carey graciously took this picture with me on Sunday.  The lady in the blue sweater in the background is actress Meg Foster, and we are at the Wrigley Mansion in Biltmore.  You can see Camelback Mountain in the background.

There were 2 media guests: Ernie Hudson and Meg Foster, an actor and an actress, and they shared their experiences making such video entertainment as Stargate and Masters of the Universe.  These three people were the true stars of the convention.

Gaming guests were John Wick and Ken St. Andre.  Tod VanHooser, the master of the Laughing Moon system, was also there.  All three of us ran games for fans who wanted to play.  We also collaborated on a panel about Game Design on Friday afternoon.  The panel was well attended.  Many thoughtful questions were asked and answered.  John Wick and I wore our hats, and we advised Tod to get himself a signature hat if he wanted to make it big as  a FRP game designer.

John Wick and I are trying to look dynamic. We are good friends, and admire each other's work--at least I admire his.

Tod VanHooser in the Superman shirt is running a Laughing Moon adventure for some of his devotees. In addition to the game, there is Laughing Moon fantasy fiction available from him as well.

Artist guests were Madame M, and Mark Greenawalt.  Madame M was promoting her new book: CREEPY LITTLE BEDTIME STORIES.  Mark Greenawalt did a body painting exhibition that was most entertaining.  Alas, I had very little to do with the artists as I spent all my time gaming.

DarkCon is the brainchild of the Dark Ones, a Phoenix fan group with Steampunk and media connections.  Jeff Jennings and Nola Yergen are two of the ringleaders in that group–they are the two that I know best, although I really don’t know any of them very well.  The Dark Ones are an intensely social group, well known in Arizona for the great parties they throw.  Although there were parties every day, I really only attended the opening party on Thursday night and the Sunday Brunch at the Wrigley Mansion.  The food, drink, and conversation at both parties were truly excellent–I’d tell you more about it, but I don’t want you thinking I’m some kind of gourmand, and I don’t want you to be jealous.  (grin–but I will say I was treated to champagne with orange juice at the Wrigley Mansion–first time I’ve ever had champagne for breakfast.  Yum!).

Brunch at the Wrigley Mansion--living the good life! The empty chair in the foreground is mine. The two ladies on the extreme right are Jacqueline Carey and Nola Yergen. The man in the orange shirt is Chris Colbath, a friend of mine who helped make the con a lot of fun.

I really can’t tell you too much about the Con.  We held it in the magnificent facilities at the Marriott Hotel at 200 N. Centennial Avenue in Mesa, Arizona.  There was a huge space allotted for gaming, and we filled it up with every kind of tabletop game you can imagine.  There was computer gaming in a separate room, but I never found it, and frankly, I didn’t miss it at all.  In addition to the two games of Tunnels and Trolls that I ran,  I also got to play Ticket to Ride (Europe), Settlers of Catan, Thunderstone, Buffy the Vampire Slayer with me as the evil Master, Last Night on Earth (Zombies and Martians and Monsters, oh my!), Apples to Apples, and an ancients naval miniatures game with quinquiremes (for which Jay Nash and I made up a whole set of alternate rules–game designers tinker with everything–especially if we can see a way of doing the same thing that makes more sense.)

Jay Nash taught me how to play this game, and then I made him rewrite all the rules for it. I'm the guy in the hat.

Jay and I spent a good part of Saturday afternoon together, first playing his game, and then just hanging out during a meal at the hotel restaurant.  I showed him where the free Con goodies were at the DarkCon suite and the Green Room, but he preferred to buy something, and he bought me lunch too. Thanks, Jay.  The reason I mention this is because Jay is one of the chief organizers of Vul Con, a pure gaming convention which will be held Feb. 25-26 at the Phoenix Convention Center, and I will be a gaming Guest of Honor at that convention also.  (If you live in the Phoenix area, come say hi, and maybe game with me.)

Let me just rave about my enthusiasm for DarkCon for a moment.  Gaming!  That is what I like, and Gaming was well represented and attended at this Con.  The Arizona Men in Black (who promote Steve Jackson Games) were there, and running excellent games continuously.  I got to play The Stars Are Right, and had victory assured on my next turn when Jason Youngdale (who took most of the really good photos in this blog, and who is also setting up a gaming convention here for June called Con-Flagration) beat me to the punch.

Just one of the tables maintained by the Men in Black. This group, under the leadership of Jesse Foster, consistently runs high quality gaming events at Arizona Sci-fi and gaming conventions. Not only do they provide the games, teach people how to play, but they offer free prize support for them all. I love these guys! (in a purely platonic way)

The Arizona Guise Knights were also running games at the convention, and I played with their members more than once.  This is an indenpendent Arizona group not associated with a gaming manufacturer in the same way that the Men in Black are.  Excellent and friendly gamers however, and a credit to the gaming community.

Tiffany Branum ran the Game Room and did an excellent job of it.  Signing up for games was extremely easy.  She and her staff smoothed all obstacles.  Phoenix area gamers owe Tiffany and her husband Chris a lot for all the work they do in creating great gaming environments.

I gamed with the Guise Knights more than once, but Jason never got my photo with them.

If you look carefully at the pictures, you will see that many of us, including me are dressed oddly for a science-fiction convention where the usual attire is jeans and sf t-shirt.  The Dark Ones have an affinity for Steampunk–Nola Yergen is an expert costumer,

A beautiful young lady who I met at the Thursday night party in one of Nola's many amazing costumes.

and her work is often in the Steampunk genre.  I put together a modest steampunk outfit–vest, pocket watch, hat with goggles on it, and if you look carefully a demon-head pin that identifies me as a member of a secret magician’s society.  There were many better costumes than mine–in fact, most of the true costumes were better than mine–look at the Guise Knights picture again for an example of true elegance.  Such fannish conventions often feature costumes, and always have a masquerade in which the best of the costumes are displayed for admiration and prizes.  I’m sorry, but I missed the masquerade.  I missed the Memorial Barry Bard movie previews and free goodies dispersal also (and I really like to go to those just to keep my t-shirt collection fresh.)  I missed a ton of great stuff at DarkCon, and I was still as busy as I could be with the stuff I did.

Chris and I model the magnificent lanyard badgeholders provided by the Con Commitee for VIPs (him) and Guests (me). I am steampunk. He isn’t.

Much more happened at the Con than I am able to convey in this blog.  I spent part of my time hanging out in the Green Room–a hospitality room for volunteers and guests.  The food and friendliness in that room kept me going even when I was tired, and especially when I was hungry.  I played Texas Hold’em on Friday night with a great bunch of riverboat gamblers.  I never won a single hand, but it was fun while I lasted.  I took some weapons training from the Phoenix Society of Historical Swordsmanship–those guys really know how to use all kinds of swords, and thanks to their training, I know a bit, too.

I had a lot of fun.  I saw and talked to a lot of friends.  If you were there, you probably had a great time also.  If you weren’t, then you missed a really good time.  You can look up the Dark Ones, the Phoenix Society of Historical Swordsmanship, the Men in Black, the Arizona Guise Knights, and just about everyone else that I mentioned on Facebook, so I’m not providing any links.  This is going to be a great year for conventions in Phoenix.  I recommend that you try to attend some of them.  I will be there–you can count on that!

I like to spend time by water. It's so symbolic. (grin)

(a note about the photos and pictures used in this blog:  some of them are my own photos, others were taken by the stalwart Jason Youngdale, and a couple were lifted from Nola Yergen’s DarkCon page on Facebook–copyright and ownership of all the photos and pictures belong to the original creators.  I recommend searching DarkCon on Facebook.com to find many more pictures of the convention–it was a fantastic place and time for us.)

If you were at DarkCon this year, or wish you had gone, why not add your own comments below?

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Boring cover, but an exciting book

 

I’ll admit that I was fooled by the Science Fiction label on the spine.  I read Snow Crash by Stephenson and really enjoyed it.  But, Reamde isn’t science fiction–it’s a thriller, and only a couple of years in the future.  There isn’t much happening in the book that couldn’t really happen in our own hyperfrenetic 21st century.

 

Reamde, which Stephenson pronounced as Reem Dee, but which I pronounce as reamed–which gives the whole title new meanings–has a special attraction for me because one of the main characters is a troll.  He calls himself Troll–he’s an internet troll and a hacker, and my general feeling about such people, especially if a virus they created has victimized my computer lately, is that they should all be hunted down and slain, or at least lobotomized so they can’t do it again, but the truth is that Marlon the Troll is a pretty good guy, and one hell of a computer whiz.

 

This is a thriller about an abducted girl, named Zula, who gets involved, as hostage, with first the Russian mafia and then Islamic jihadists.  She shows a lot of courage and brains, and makes some good friends along the way.  A large part of the plot deals with a futuristic MMORPG set up as an even better version of World of Warcraft–that’s where the Troll comes in.  It’s a super pk-er type of environment.  I wouldn’t last a minute there, but it’s fun to read about the characters that thrive in such a virtual world.

 

There’s a lot of plot, a lot of characters, a lot of action.  The book is 1042 pages long, and took me a week to read.  I’m not going into too much detail about it–better if you look it up for  yourself.

 

Back in the Day before the computer ruled every other waking moment, I read a lot–usually more than 100 books a year.  Alas, there is only so much time, and that is no longer true.  Now I finish maybe 10 books a year.  I’m not keeping a book log any more, so I’m not sure how many real books I finish–more than five, less than twenty.  There are also more comics than ever, especially since I can get graphic novel versions of stuff I didn’t buy.

 

If you re-arrange the letters in Reamde, you’ll get Read Me.  Good advice in this case . . .

 

If you’ve read Reamde or anything else by Stephenson, I’d love to see your comments.

 

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I spent most of last week–Aug. 2 through Aug. 8–at GenCon in Indianapolis.  Thirty or forty thousand gamers, dealers, exhibitors, models, musicians, and cosplayers were also there.  What a scene!  I talked to a lot of people, sold and signed a lot of Tunnels and Trolls stuff, and got some incredibly kind words and compliments from nearly everyone I met.  I had a blast.

Last year I devoted my camera work to people in costume.  The costumes were abundant this year also, but I’m not going to do that again.  This year, I just took a bunch of pictures, and each one reminds me of the fun I had.  Sit back and enjoy the show.

Rick Loomis and Corencio are having supper at Steak and Shake near the convention center.

Rick Loomis, Mr. Flying Buffalo himself, is my principal publisher and patron.  I go to big conventions like GenCon and Origins with him to help man the Buffalo booth and to promote Tunnels and Trolls.  This year I brought along my son Corencio to help with the heavy lifting.  We arrived late on Tuesday, set up the booth on Wednesday–that’s a miserable job as the convention hall is not fully air-conditioned before the show starts–and it’s 90 degrees and 200% humidity inside.  After setting up we all went over to Steak and Shake to have supper–yum!  I do love those double fudge shakes, and this is the only place I ever get them.

Three Amigos--Grimtooth, Shrek, and Trollgod.

Later in the day, I ran into my friend Steven Crompton, and Corencio took this  Three Amigos picture for us.  I didn’t expect to see Steve at the show, but he came to demonstrate his new Powers superhero trading card and sticker game.  Steve is an amazing artist–and the creator of Flying Buffalo’s Grimtooth the Troll character.  Steve is an Arizona boy from Scottsdale, and also a member of my <a href = “http://trollhalla.com&gt; Trollhalla </a> web fanclub for Tunnels & Trolls fans.  That gigantic ogre is really a foam rubber creation and lighter than it looks.  He was extremely busy taking pictures with Con attendees for the whole week.

Rick and Corencio teach retailers how to play Nuclear War.

On Wednesday night before the show we went off to demonstrate our games for retailers at Victoria Station.  We showed a few people how to play Nuclear War and Lost Worlds.  Wizards of the Coast hogged most of the visitors with their lavish spread and demonstrations of Magic ™ and their Dungeon Assault version of Dungeons and Dragons–not available for purchase, but playable by groups in game stores that sell their products.  Steve Jackson Games and Mayfair were also there in force.  I ignored the big companies pretty much–I’m there to see what the little guys are doing.

Typical of the small exhibitors was this company with their pirate miniatures game. Very nice toys they had.

Explorers back from the Center of the Earth.

When the show opened on Thursday morning I went around and talked to some of the dealers.  I most admired the ones who came in costume and wished I had more than an old Tunnels and Trolls t-shirt to wear.  Before it opened on the first day was the best time to see what was at the show–after it opened it was a shoulder to shoulder crowd scene most of the time.  That’s great for dealers, but not so good for rubber-necking game designers.

The Flying Buffalo booth number 501 just before the doors opened to the public on Thursday morning.

Flying Buffalo shared 1/8 of our booth with a small company this year that couldn’t get their own booth.  Studio 9 does small fantasy-themed card games.  Last year they released Treasures & Traps; this year they came out with Villagers and Villains.  People in the picture include Cameron and Lisa in the light green shirts, Bill who helped us in the booth, Rick in the command chair, and Corencio hanging around the back.  One of the few games I got at the con was the T&T card game.  I liked the initials.

Christian, also known in Trollhalla as Dupin, stopped by to say hi.

Death wandered around during the convention. He didn't seem to be taking anyone with him, though.

The Olde Guard was there in force. Here I am with colleagues Robin Laws and Ken Hite.

A member of Trollhalla demos my new DewDrop Inn solo adventure.

Trollhalla member Brrrennt gives A TRAVELER'S TALE a thumbs up plug.

Trollhalla member Kopfy shows off the latest two publications from Peryton Press–Elder Tunnels–Tunnels & Trolls fiction and games that don’t come from me and Flying Buffalo.  I think it is very good to have some outside support for my game.

Perrryton and Aarrra'aghaa are both members of Trollhalla.

Classic profile of a winner--later in the afternoon, Perrryton came and whupped Corencio, Brrrennt, and me in a game of Magic.

Brrrennt explains some of the finer points of the game to Corencio.

The convention center provided a couple of good places to simply sit down, eat, relax, play your games.  I spent a fair amount of time in this area gaming.  It wasn’t as noisy as the main halls, and food was close at hand in the form of small convention center cafes just out of sight.  I ran my one game of Tunnels and Trolls at this table on Friday afternoon.

I had to walk a mile for my supper on Thursday night.

When the dealer room closed on Thursday, Corencio and I joined some friends for a Mexican supper.  Afterwords, we went to their domicile for a Call of Cthulhu game–everyone died, but no one went mad.  Thursday was actually the first and the best day of the Con for me.  Flying Buffalo had a very good day for sales, and most of the friends I actually wanted to see at the Con came to see me that day.  Then we finished it all off with a game.  Can’t beat that!

Fast forward to Friday . . . We had so many helpers at the Flying Buffalo booth that I couldn’t actually stay there all the time.  In one way that was bad because some of the people who came to see and meet me actually missed me.  In another way it was good because I got out and saw more of the Con.

Friday morning found me at the Namaste booth where I went to see my friend Liz Danforth–she who is the very Goddess of Fantasy Illustration–and the creator of the classic Tunnels and Trolls 5th edition cover.

Dungeon delving is a blast.

Aaron wants to revolutionize MMORPGs. I'll help him if I can.

I’m in the picture here with John Harmon who is one of the artists at Namaste games.  He spent some time explaining their storyblocks system to me.  They brought Liz Danforth to the con for the first time in ten years, and signed her up to do concept art for the mmorpg they are creating.  I demoed their system, and I like it–very story based, and not so much twitch gaming like most of the runner/shooter computer rpgs you see these days.  I hope they succeed.

Liz Danforth (in purple) is talking to some of her fans.

It was great to see Liz out on the convention scene once again, and apparently having a good time.  On Saturday night Liz had supper with me and Rick and Corencio and Steve and Rick Roszco at the High Velocity Sports Bar in the Marriott.  That’s living the high life, folks.

Arch geekery with Steve Jackson.

Liz and I connected with the ever reclusive Steve Jackson at the Namaste booth.  Twas really good to see Steve again–it has been more than a decade since our paths last crossed.

LIfe-sized Robo Rally.

When I wasn’t in the dealers’ room trying to sell stuff or talking to people, I hung out in the convention lobby a lot.  In once place they had a life-sized Robo Rally game going for the whole convention.  It attracted a lot of attention and was beautifully produced.  Where do they get those fabulous toys?

Steve came by and talked business with Rick later in the day.

Richard Roszko is the Nuclear War apps developer for Flying Buffalo.

One of the people who helped out at the Buffalo booth was “Nomad” Rick Roszko.  He created the spinner map for Android cell phones for Nuclear War, and is working on a complete Nuclear War app.  The two Ricks think that if Apple Computing would only approve these apps, they would soar to undreamed of heights of popularity and richness.  C’mon, Apple, get off your butt, and approve the Apple I-phone version of the Nuclear War spinner.  Later you can approve the T & T cell phone interactive stories we intend to do.  Nomad took us all to dinner on Friday night at the Claddagh Pub.  Thanks, Nomad!

Saturday was Shadowfist Day!

On Saturday Corencio and I spent a lot of time playing cards at the World Championship Shadowfist tournament.  You may see me write about Magic a lot, but my real favorite collectible card game is Shadowfist–the game of Hong Kong action science fiction movies.  My son, Corencio, is currently the Arizona State Champion of the game–though I think he was lucky when he won that–and we tried our hand at the World Championship.  Now this is sort of typical of my life in gaming.  Here I was, competing for the world championship in a game, and there were only 14 other competitors.  Neither Corencio nor I even came close to winning–we didn’t even make the finals–but we had a good time, and saw some great players in action.

Do these guys look like kung-fu killers to you? The Shadowfist Championship tourney.

After the Shadowfist tournament I went back to the Buffalo booth for the afternoon.  Rick went off and ran a Nuclear War tournament at 4 p.m.–he had 30 players.  Ha!  He should bill it as the Nuclear War World Championship tournament at GenCon.  He might get 100 players if he did that.  When the hall closed a bunch of us went off and had supper at the High Velocity bar.  What  a feast!  But what will forever stick in my mind was the fact that they had television monitors in the Men’s restroom.  You could stand there doing your business and never miss a moment of whatever game was currently playing.

Sports TV heaven and the food was good too. I could not say the same for the Champions Bar in the other Marriott hotel down the street where I had lunch on Sunday.

We parked across the street from the football home of the Indianapolis Colts. The whole stadium is enclosed within this gigantic brick building with huge neon lights on the outside.

The City of Indianapolis has a lot of bizarre and impressive structures in it.  I would have a good time just riding around and photographing strange places.  The football stadium is one of them.  So is the church that follows.  I wish I had time and a local guide to get to know these places better.

Twin Towers--the top of the cathedral across the street from the convention center.

Go for baroque front facade of the church across from the convention center.

The church was so massive I couldn’t get it all into a single photograph.  Likewise for the stadium, and I didn’t even try for a photo of the power plant or the convention center itself or the state Capitol buildings a block to the north.

Some Uruks got lost in the Dealers' Room on Sunday--three of them.

Did I mention that the hall costumes were incredibly great this year?  They were spectacular and none were better, imho, than these lost uruks.  The leader, above, had this harsh rasping voice you could hear halfway across the hall, and yet he was the soul of courtesy and couth.  I tip the trollgod’s battered fedora to the Uruks of GenCon.

Looks real to me.

This fellow had an axe to grind--luckily not with me! I'd sign him up in a hearbeat to guard the trollcave at Trollhalla.

Sunday was the least eventful day of the trip.  I had lunch with my Trollhallan friends and said goodbye to them.  Perhaps we’ll meet again some time.  By 6 p.m. the Con was over, and we had packed the stuff we didn’t sell and were ready to head out.  This concludes my tale of GenCon Indy 2011.  It was the best I’ve ever attended.  All the dealers seemed to do well, and the gamers, cosplayers, etc.  all seemed pretty pumped up and pleased with it.  My congratulations to Peter Adkisson for running a great Con.  Long may it continue!

Goodbye to Indianapolis!

I know thousands of you were at GenCon with me.   There were a million other things I could have mentioned, but I’ve been working on this blog for half the day already, and I have to stop some time.  What did you enjoy most at GenCon?  I’d welcome your comments for this blog.

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