Dexcon schedule now up!

The complete schedule of events for this years's Dexcon convention in Morristown, NJ over Independence Day weekend is now up. Lots of really good stuff there, including some old-school stuff (a brief glance showed at least one Expert Rules game on the schedule, and there are doubtless others). I will be running/helping with:

• Friday 2:00 - 8:00: Q0003: "OGRE Macrotures 2013" by Steve Jackson Games. Steve Jackson himself will be there to oversee the festivities!
• Friday 8:00 - Midnight: R0268: Adventures Dark and Deep; "Tomb of the Pirate King" (which will be played on an enormous table featuring 3D terrain from Legendary Realms)
• Saturday 8:00 - Midnight: R0325: Adventures Dark and Deep; "Tomb of the Pirate King" (ditto)

It looks like a light schedule for me, but that Ogre macrotures game is 6 hours long, and I will also be manning my first con booth as a publisher for the duration of the convention, so getting away this long was a bit of work.

If anyone is in the area, I cannot recommend this convention highly enough. They have something for everyone-- old school and new wave indie RPGs, Pathfinder, miniatures, board games, LARPing, computer games, console games... the thing is easily the finest fan-run gaming con I've been to. See you there!

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Wizards won't have a booth at GenCon

According to this article over at io9.com, "Wizards will not have a presence on the Gen Con exhibit floor" (the exhibitor's map at the GenCon site confirms this).

Wow. Nothing. I realize they're trying to lay low in order to build excitement for D&D Next, you'd think they'd have something there to, I dunno, hump M:tG or something. This is the 20th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering, for crying out loud. You'd think they'd want to make a splash with that other than just tournaments.

They will be running events, and are an official sponsor of the convention, but no booth.

__________

Also, please don't forget the Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary Kickstarter going on right now! 900 monsters, suitable for most OSR-type games, all under one cover. Can you help get us to having an illustration for each and every one?

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Thoughts on Dragonspear Castle

So the announcement about the first D&D Next adventure, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, has hit the blogs, and there is a bit of buzz going on around it. They also seem to be cementing their relationship with Forbes, with a spiffy article all about it.

Erik Tenkar isn't pleased (to say the least) that it's being offered as a GenCon-only offering. Meaning, you can pre-order the adventure, but there is no shipping option. You must be at GenCon this August to pick up your copy. Personally, that doesn't really bother me. It's a marketing decision, and they want to be able to have some sort of big D&D Next presence at the convention besides seminars and presentations, so this is a way to build buzz. I get it. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to get a copy, but I can't say it bothers me.

I'd like to talk about a couple of other things in the announcement, though.

First, it's not just going to be an adventure, but the book will also have a copy of the playtest rules in it. They're marketing this as a sort of yearbook, even with places for folks to sign their copy. It marks a point in time in the design cycle, not just the release of the game itself. I still have those 4E preview books, and they served the same purpose (although they were sold in Barnes & Noble).

Second, I'm a little put off by the notion that it's a "mini-campaign comprised of four thrilling adventures designed to advance characters from 1st level to 10th level." 10 levels in four adventures? Considering the latest playtest rules are 316 pages long, and this book is "over 200 pages" long, even if they smoosh down the rules a lot, there's not a lot of room for the adventures themselves. 10 levels in 50 or 60 pages? It seems a bit much, and doesn't fill me with confidence about the speed with which characters are expected to level up, and thus what the "sweet spot" of PC level is going to be for the game. I prefer a low-level game, and anything over level 20 is for gods and godlike NPCs...

Third, I was hoping that we'd finally have a definitive ruling on what the official name of the game will be, but it seems they're still being coy. The upper-right corner of the cover sports the 4th edition logo, while the lower-right says "Playable with D&D Next rules". And the Forbes story refers to D&D Next as a code-name. So will it be just D&D? D&D 5th Edition? D&D Next? Something else? It seems like we still don't know.

Fourth, I'm intrigued by the announcement of the Candlekeep playtest adventures that will be run at GenCon (from the Forbes article):

All throughout the entire weekend, we’re going to have a constantly running game where you just get in line –if you want to DM, you can DM your friends or we’ll have volunteer DM’s on hand– and you can play through scenes of this climatic battle.”

After each group finishes the adventure, the results of their actions will be collected and tabulated, and used to determine the fate of Candlekeep, which will be announced at the end of the convention. “If you’re told to go behind enemy lines and trash a supply caravan, whether you succeed or fail will tie into the greater results of the entire weekend. Essentially it’s one massive interactive adventure.”

I'm not a fan of having big campaign-impacting decisions decided by a single convention, but I love the idea of different groups of adventurers being sent on different missions associated with the same adventure, all interacting with, or at least impacting, one another.

__________

Also, please don't forget the Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary Kickstarter going on right now! 900 monsters, suitable for most OSR-type games, all under one cover. Can you help get us to having an illustration for each and every one?

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DexCon16 Information Now Up

For those of you in or around the New Jersey area and who love a great gaming convention, the information for this year's DexCon convention is now up. DexCon 16 will be held at the same location as in recent years; the Hyatt in Morristown, NJ, from July 3 through 7. DexCon is a fantastic fan-run convention with all sorts of games, from RPGs to LARPs to miniatures to board games to video games.

Folks who want to run games can submit proposals through the website right now, and reduced room rates for the hotel are also available. One of the highlights (for me, anyway) will be an Ogre Macrotures game on Friday afternoon. What's Ogre Macrotures? Imagine a hotel event room taken over by a game of Ogre, with the Ogre itself two feet long...

Oh, and Steve Jackson himself is going to be there to oversee the festivities!

Gonna be a great convention, as always. I'll be running a bunch of Adventure Dark and Deep games, and you can be sure you'll see me at Ogre as well. See you there!

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Ogre Miniatures at Dreamation 2013

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to run two games of Ogre miniatures at the Dreamation 2013 convention in Morristown, NJ. Unfortunately, I didn't run the scenario I had originally intended to run; there was a mechanical issue with the scenario I never could get over (how to have a submarine firing cruise missiles at the attackers without completely unbalancing the scenario), and I didn't get the submarine model done in time to use as a prop on the table. I could have worked around the second issue, but the first was a showstopper.

Anyway, I ended up running a Ceasefire Collapse scenario on Friday, and a Raid scenario on Sunday. As always, click the images to embiggen. The Ceasefire Collapse was straightforward. Both sides started with equal amounts of vehicles and infantry, a Mk-III Ogre, and had at it. Both sides had some towns for the other to turn to rubble, too.

The PanEuropeans (top/left) went for a static defense with three howitzers centered on the towns in the corner of the board.

Most of the early action was on the left flank, as a force of Combine GEVs sweeps towards a lightly defended town.

The PanEuropean Ogre charges over the bridge to try to pick off some Combine units,  but gets mauled for its efforts. The attack on the left flank went really, really slowly as a few squads of infantry (which are tripled in defense in towns) held off five attacking GEVs.

The town was eventually turned to rubble and the GEVs swept right, and the PanEuropean MK-III retreated back over the river, to hide under the cover of the howitzers.

The Combine player begins his big push.

This is what we like to see. Ogre vs. Ogre, nose to nose.

This was the last picture I was able to take before my camera died. Short version; the Combine force off to the left circled around the woods and attacked at the same time as the red Ogre did. Since the PanEuropean Ogre had gotten pretty damaged, and there were almost no PE units left besides the howitzers, the battle was won by the Combine.

Sunday's Raid had a combine MK-III Ogre and a squadron of 10 GEVs attacking a PanEuropean industrial complex which was guarded by another MK-III, some infantry, and a handful of GEVs and light GEVs. The defenders got random reinforcements on every turn, so there's definitely a time issue for the attackers. Futz around too long, and the defenders have so many units you can't win. Note the great orange paint job on the defending forces; one player brought his own Hollanders to the fray.

The Combine attackers (top) split their forces; GEVs on one flank, an Ogre and a pair of GEVs on the other. The PanEureopan defenders (bottom) are more spread out, with their Ogre in the middle.

The Combine GEVs (top) come around the flank and start sweeping everything before them.

The defending GEVs and light GEVs try to pepper the attacking Ogre (in red), but inflict relatively little damage.

The Combine player through more ones on his attack rolls than I have ever seen in any game. It was unreal. (In Ogre, you want to roll high. Ouch.)

The expected duel of Ogres never materialized. They danced around each other, but never had the toe-to-toe slug match I thought would happen. 

Most of the defending buildings and units destroyed, the Combine player retreats and wins a comfortable victory on points.

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Dreamation 2013 After-Action Report

I just got back from the Dreamation 2013 convention, and it was, as always, a wonderful time!

I ran the three "Giants" modules, using the AD&D rules, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. A couple of players went through all three, while there were some newcomers in the later sessions as well.

The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief went like clockwork. The party snuck around, killed giants in their sleep, charmed one to get information, and eventually found the treasure room and the teleporting device that took them to The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl.

Best... yarmulke... EVER

By the time they got there, however, they took a decidedly more aggressive approach, lobbing fireballs and lightning bolts around, killing lots of giants but not getting any information (or treasure, as they kept slagging anything worth taking).

The Hall of the Fire Giant King was more of a mix of the two approaches. They started off great, sneaking around invisibly, but found themselves having to take out a band of gnolls and two fire giant guards. Things could still have worked out for them, but they left the bodies where they could be found, alerted the wily Obmi that something was afoot, and lost two of their band to some poisoned arrows. They weren't helped by being fooled by a trio of rakshasas impersonating the lords who had hired them. Once the remaining adventurers were cornered by fire giants and hell hounds, the rakshasas also struck, and the party either teleported away in ignominy or used haste to run for the hills.

Thrilled that her wedding
reception was in the same
hotel as a gaming con full
of LARPers in costume.
Really!

Still, everyone agreed it was a grand time, and I certainly had a lot of fun running the modules. I hadn't run them since I was in high school, and never in a real tournament situation. Loads of fun.

I also ran two sessions of Ogre Miniatures, which I'll recount in a separate post.

The rest of the convention was a blast as always. Lots of great games being played, over 1,600 gamers packing the hotel, and a really great staff putting everything together. If there were any foul-ups, I was unaware of them.

Definitely highly recommended (along with the other cons put on by the same outfit, Dexcon and Metatopia) if you're anywhere in the vicinity of New Jersey or even farther afield.

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Dreamation Convention Schedule Now Up

The schedule for this weekend's Dreamation convention in Morristown, NJ is now posted. Here's what I will be running:

• Thursday, 8:00 PM: R155: AD&D 1st Edition; "Steading of the Hill Giant Chief"
• Friday, 2:00 PM: W465: Ogre Miniatures; "Last Sub Out of Bristol"
• Friday, 8:00 PM: R222: AD&D 1st Edition; "Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl"
• Saturday, 8:00 PM: R304: AD&D 1st Edition; "Hall of the Fire Giant King"
• Sunday, 10:00 AM: W772: Ogre Miniatures; "Last Sub Out of Bristol"

Hope to see some folks there!

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Gaming Plans for 2013

I've got a pretty full plate when it comes to gaming stuff in 2013...

• I'll be attending the Dreamation convention (Morristown, NJ) in February
• My adventure module "The Village of Welthorp" is due out NLT March (this is the stretch goal for the Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore kickstarter that ties in with both that book and James M.'s Dwimmermount kickstarter, which should be shipping then)
• The Black Blade Publishing edition of Castle of the Mad Archmage is due out NLT May
• The Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual is due out NLT June
• I'll be attending the DexCon convention (Morristown, NJ) in July
• I'll be attending GenCon (Indianapolis, IN) in August (yes, you read right!)
• The Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit is planned for release NLT August
• The Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary is planned for release by the end of the year
• I'm planning at least one more adventure module by the end of the year ("The Temple of the Old Ones", which I ran at DexCon last July)

All that in addition to running my weekly ADD Greyhawk campaign and occasional wargame/boardgame days, plus being the organizer of the Garden State Gaming Society meetup and the OSR Google+ group (everybody's welcome!). Still, that'll clear the decks of all my major project obligations, and allow me to move on to smaller, but hopefully more frequent, offerings. See you all in 2013!

Update: Looks like GenCon is no longer on the table. Pity-- I was really looking forward to it. Ah, well. there's always 2014.

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Convention Question

Looking ahead to my 2013 convention schedule, it looks like I might-- just might-- be able to hit a non-local convention this year, in addition to Dreamation, NJcon, Dexcon, and Metatopia (and possibly NEPACon, too). The question is, which one?

GenCon: The big, obvious choice. But I'm not sure how much there would be for someone like me who doesn't play 4E or Pathfinder. I know there's the OSR Booth in the dealers' room (anyone know how to get hold of those guys), but is there anything else for me?

North Texas RPG Con: Lots of OSR goodness to be found here, but I wonder if it's a little too small to warrant schlepping halfway across the country for?

GaryCon: Another obvious choice, but also another small one. It's also coming up quickly, so I'd need to commit soon.

Any advice on choosing from folks who've been at one or more of these cons recently, or other conventions I've missed? I didn't include Origins purposefully; I'm a little more focused on RPGs at the moment than wargames (for obvious reasons). Thanks in advance!

Of course, I could just go to Shore Leave this year. Haven't been there in years, and it would do my old Trekker's heart good to see it again, and that's something the family would want to come for, too.

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Dreamation Pre-Registration Now Open!

Pre-Registration for the Dreamation convention in Morristown, NJ is now open. The convention runs from Thursday, February 21 through Sunday February 24, and you can pre-register for $50 for the whole weekend. You can pre-register and submit event proposals (for you to GM) here. Along with its companion convention DexCon, Dreamation is a blast. Just about every type of gaming you can imagine is present (board games, RPGs, miniatures, card games, video games, LARPing, computer games), plus there are a lot of neat special events and a great dealers' room.

I've submitted the following events. I'll keep everyone posted when the actual schedule is put up and I've got times and event numbers.

• Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (AD&D 1st edition)
• Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl (AD&D 1st edition)
• Hall of the Fire Giant King (AD&D 1st edition)
• Last Sub Out of Bristol (Ogre Miniatures)

Also, if Steve Jackson has the Deluxe Ogre game out by February (which might be dicey-- heh), I'm sure I'll be in the board game hall most of the time I'm not running something else, helping run endless sessions of Ogre.

Hope to see you there!

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Making Failure an Option

One idea that was floated at the Metatopia convention a week ago was the idea of failure. It came up in the context of a seminar on indie RPGs and their influence on mainstream RPGs. Normally I eschew the "indie RPG scene" because it tends to look down on the OSR (of which I count myself as a proud member), seems  overly involved in self-referential navel-gazing, and is consumed with being new and edgy for the sake of being new and edgy. But I'm certainly not above acknowledging a potentially neat idea when I hear it.

The idea in question was in regards to failing rolls. When a thief has a 20% chance of picking a lock and blows it, or someone has to roll a 14 in order to use their Intimidate skill, or has to make an Intelligence check to do something. Someone on the panel mentioned that some "indie" games don't allow for failure in such instances. The character always performs the task at hand. But if the player fails the roll, Something Bad happens story-wise. It's almost like the player is paying karma back in order to succeed in the mechanical task.

This sort of concept has direct applicability in a game where The Story is paramount. When a character blowing a chance to find a secret door could potentially threaten the ability of the characters to continue with the plot, having such a mechanic in place makes a lot of sense.


Now, picture such a mechanic in an Old School context.

I can see reasons to include such a thing in an Old School type game, where there isn't necessarily a plot that must be followed, so much as there are cool things that the players might otherwise not have the opportunity to discover. Think of it as "the game would be more interesting if he makes the roll." While that runs counter to the ethic of "the dice rule", I think it's a perfectly legitimate attitude to take in some circumstances, inasmuch as it short-circuits the impulse to fudge a dice roll, because failure actually makes the game more interesting all around. I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing (bearing in mind that "the dice rule" can also make the game more interesting, depending on the circumstance).

If the thief misses his pick locks roll, he still manages to open the door, but there's an automatic wandering monster the next round.

If the bard misses his Charisma check, he still talks his way into the Duke's daughter's birthday ball, but one of the courtiers develops a crush on him, and clings to him for the entire evening, making whatever his actual mission is very difficult.

If the savant misses his Scholarship roll, he still knows where to find the book that has the nugget of information he's seeking, but it's in a private library under the care of someone he studied with as an apprentice, who hates his guts and will doubtless throw up all kinds of road blocks to accessing the book.

Etc. etc. etc.

I don't think such a mechanic would work universally in an Old School game, because one of the tropes of our style of play is that you're not a superman and often when you fail that means you need to use your imagination to think of an alternative. But, given the ethos of "fun is better than tedium", I can see a GM employing such a mechanic in specific situations or at his whim, if it's obvious that doing so will open up new opportunities for interesting interactions.

Given that criterion, I'd probably not want to open it up to the players' choice (by earning "story points" or whatever the kids at RPG.net are pushing nowadays), precisely for the reason that they can't know where the best opportunities for such exist in the game. But I do think it's worth considering, and offers a neat mechanical alternative to simply fudging a roll; if you do fudge a roll, it becomes an opportunity to bring in more consternation for the PCs to have to manage.

And, as long as it increases the fun, I'm inclined to like it. 

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Upcoming NJ Convention News

A couple of quick updates for those who are local enough to take part in the New Jersey convention scene.

Metatopia, the convention specifically for game designers to present works-in-progress for playtesting (as well as tons of excellent seminars for game designers/producers and those who aspire to be) has moved its date to November 2-4. Pre-registration for the convention is now open; if you want to see what some of the best up-and-coming independent game outfits have in the pipeline, or want to become an up-and-comer yourself, this is an indispensable opportunity.

I should also point out that the same people are running the First Exposure Game Hall at this year's upcoming GenCon, which is organized along the same lines.

Double Exposure is also doing their 2013 Super Saver Combo deal right now. If you want to attend both Dreamation in February and DexCon in July, you can sign up for both for ludicrously low prices. I'm a regular attendee at both conventions (which cover RPGs, miniatures, board games, computer games, video games, and LARPs), and I can't recommend them enough. If you can go, you should go, and this deal is really too good to pass up.

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First Exposure Playtest Hall at GenCon

I just got an announcement with this pretty neato news from the folks who put on Dexcon, Dreamation, and Metatopia here in NJ. If you're going to be at GenCon this year, it's definitely worth looking into. Plus you get to try out brand-new games before they're even published!

Double Exposure, Inc. is pleased to announce a new area of Gen Con 2012 - the First Exposure Playtest Hall.

Double Exposure will be using their unique formula of reversing the focus of the games - allocating eager players to the requests of the Designers and Publishers!

Dozens of Designers and Publishers will present their prototypes for playtesting at the FEPH, and Gen Con attendees will be able to get FREE tickets to try out new concepts with the genres and mechanics they are interested in.

The FEPH will be running throughout Gen Con, from 9AM Thursday to 2PM Sunday. Role Playing and Story Games will be put into four-hour slots beginning at 9AM, 2PM and 8PM (10AM on Sunday). Board Games, Card Games and Wargames will be put into two-hour slots following the same schedule.

Designers and Publishers: This is your opportunity to officially tap into the giant pool of players at Gen Con - put your games on the tables and Double Exposure will find you the people you want to playtest with - give us your needs and we'll fill them!

Players: Help to shape the next generation of games - fill out a short questionnaire about yourself and your interests, and Double Exposure will match you up with a new game that you can assist in the development of. Designers and Publishers will even put your name into the playtest credits when they release their game!

Join us for the debut of the First Exposure Playtest Hall, to be located in Sagamore 6 & 7 at Gen Con 2012.

For more information, send email to: firstexposure@dexposure.com.

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After Action Report: Operation Shockhammer

One of my main events at this year's Dexcon convention was an Ogre Miniatures scenario I devised called Operation Shockhammer. Four Ogres (plus a few token screening units) are tasked with assaulting a very well-fortified defensive position; lots of walls, revetments, and favorable terrain. (The attackers get 1 MK-V, 3 MK-III's, 4 GEVs, 4 LGEVs, 3 HVY, and 1 SHVY; the defenders get 2 Fencers, 150 points of infantry and 150 points of vehicles, plus 20 revetments and 36" of walls.)

The purpose of the scenario is to test a classic static defense against a powerful point attack force. If the attackers are able to take out the defenders piecemeal, they'll win handily. If the defenders are able to sucker the attackers into a fortified kill-zone, they should prevail.

The defenders opted to put their Fencers in the middle, piling up armor behind the walls and concentrating their infantry in the woods. They also had several heavy weapons squads mounted on GEV-PCs, to act as a rapid strike force.

 The attackers concentrated themselves on the right flank. This forced the defenders to rush all of their strength from the opposite side of the board into the attackers' path.

Unfortunately for the defenders, they had bunched up their GEV-PCs too closely, and half their rapid strike force was destroyed by spillover fire.

The defending Fencers and howitzers pounded the attacking MK-IIIs. Unfortunately, the MK-V remained relatively unscathed even at the end of the battle.

Even a desperate last-minute ramming attempt by one of the Fencers couldn't stem the tide. As time ran out, it was pretty clear that the attackers would be the winner. The game was called in their favor.

I think what did in the defenders were two tactical mistakes. First, they rushed towards the attackers, rather than trying to draw the attackers in to their well-fortified positions. Almost none of the revetments were utilized; it was like throwing away 60 points. Secondly, they didn't take advantage of the Fencer's chief asset; they closed to attack with their guns rather than simply lurking out of range and pounding the attackers with missiles. Had they done those two things, I think the battle might have gone very differently.

All in all, I think the scenario worked pretty well, and everyone seemed to have a good time playing, which is the most important thing!

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Dexcon 2012 Report

Vinny-- the man behind the
con. A terrific guy and someone
who really knows how to
put a fun convention together.

This weekend I attended the always-fabulous Dexcon gaming convention in Morristown, NJ. I was scheduled to run two AD&D 1st edition games, 2 sessions of Ogre Miniatures, and one of The Awful Green Things From Outer Space. Alas, the games that were scheduled to run on Thursday and Sunday didn't end up happening due to lack of attendance. Given that the very beginning and end of any convention is fraught with poor attendance, I'm not too hurt.

Thursday I ended up winning a Robo Rally game played in "The Arena", which is a huge miniatures field intended for mega-scale games. We played on the floor with a variety of model robots, and had a grand ol' time. I also won Core Worlds, which I've reviewed here previously, and can't emphasize enough just how great a game it is. If you like deck-building games, this is a perfect example of the genre. I'm frankly not a fan of the genre, and I absolutely adore this game.

My AD&D 1E game happened Friday, with many familiar faces from previous RPGs I've run, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The party ended up falling for the various distractions, and only tumbled to the real goal with a half hour to go. They managed to alert the entire group of bad-guys, and had two choices of tactics. The one would have locked out the villains and given the party a win, the other would have gotten them pasted. They chose the latter. Still, I think the adventure stood up well.

Friday night I played a historical minis game from the Wars of the Roses using the Poleaxed 2 rules. I ended up losing, but it was close-fought; if I had inflicted one more point of damage on the enemy, I could have forced a tie. But I didn't. I lost. I take comfort in the knowledge that the Lancasterians lost the battle historically. But it is a cold, cold, comfort.

Ogre Miniatures happened Saturday night. This was a very experimental scenario, basically pitting a vast static defense against a very strong small but powerful attacker. It ended up being very close up to the end-- the way I know that is that each side thought the other was vastly overpowered. A full after-action report replete with pictures will be forthcoming. EDIT: Here 'tis.

Here are some pics from the con. There were about 2,000 people in attendance, and I can't recommend this convention enough. It's a blast.

Warhammer in the Arena. This game went about 20 feet long. Absolutely amazing.

Getting ready for Monsterpocalypse

My Lancastrians about to be pasted in the Wars of the Roses.
Damn you Lord Percy!

A setup for DC Heroclix. I thought it was amazing. I could almost see Zan and Jana.

Another Heroclix setup. But look at it carefully. The
awesomeness is expressed with study as to what exactly it is supposed to be.

Thanks to everyone-- especially the volunteers and staff-- who made Dexcon the vastly fun experience it was this year!

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DexCon Schedule Now Posted

DexCon is consistently one of the best gaming conventions around.

The full schedule of events for this year's DexCon gaming convention in Morristown, NJ has now been posted. The convention will be held July 4-8 and is an absolute blast. If you're anywhere near the northern New Jersey area, you should consider stopping by; they have every kind of gaming you can think of, from miniatures to board games to LARPS and of course RPGs.

I'm lined up to run the following:

• R0183: AD&D 1st Edition, "Temple of the Old Ones". Thursday 2 PM - 6 PM. People in the city of Greyhawk have always been a little strange, but eccentricity has given way to outright bizarre and in some cases violent behavior. All signs point to the weird ruins of a temple dedicated to a group of unknown, pre-human deities. Your mission is to enter the ruins, discover the secret behind this rash of odd occurrences, and hopefully put an end to it.
• W0510: Ogre/GEV Minatures, "Operation Shockhammer". Thursday 8 PM - 12 AM. The North American Combine is launching an offensive against the PanEuropeans on a broad front. Spearheading the invasion is a force of Ogres - self-aware cybernetic tanks with enough firepower to take out a regiment single-handed - with conventional armor and GEV support. The objective: Annihilate the enemy, which is dug in in-depth.
• R0236: AD&D 1st Edition, "Temple of the Old Ones". Friday 2 PM - 6 PM. 
• W0884: Ogre/GEV Minatures, "Operation Shockhammer". Saturday 8 PM - 12 AM.
• B1004: The Awful Green Things From Outer Space. Sunday 3 PM - 5 PM.

Hope to see some of you there! I'll be wearing the "SPI Died For Your Sins" button. 

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DexCon 15 Registration Now Open!

Pre-registration and GM event registration for one of my regular conventions has just opened. DexCon, held in beautiful Morristown, NJ, will run from July 4th through the 8th of this year. It's a wonderfully eclectic mix of board games, RPGs (with an emphasis on indie RPGs), miniatures wargames, video games, and LARPs. It's held in a really terrific hotel, right in the middle of town, with easy access to a tremendous array of great restaurants. I can't recommend this convention highly enough.

This year, I've submitted the following events:

• Ogre Miniatures ("Operation Shockhammer")
• AD&D 1st Edition / Adventures Dark and Deep ("Temple of the Old Ones" - a new adventure)
• The Awful Green Things from Outer Space (the old Steve Jackson classic by Tom Wham)

As always, if anyone else wants to submit some old-school gaming goodness, I'll put together some flyers and hopefully drum up some additional interest. Let the Invasion of the Awful Grognards from Outer Space begin!

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Dreamation 2012: Part 3 (Organized Play)

For my final thoughts inspired by this year's Dreamation convention, I wanted to pay a little attention to the way that companies view and deal with the people who play their games. This was a subject that was talked about at some length in the seminars run by Scott Douglas, both in the specific realm of organized play and the more general realm of companies growing their revenue streams.

Scott, having been head of the RPGA for quite some time, naturally has some great insights into that aspect of the hobby/industry. He stressed the point that having an organized play structure in place is exceedingly helpful for companies not only to market their own games, but to grow the market by bringing in fresh players.

Note, however, that just having that infrastructure isn't enough. You have to know what to do with it. One of the things I found most striking at this convention was the comparison between how the RPGA was represented and how the Pathfinder Society was.

I found the difference between the two quite illuminating. While both Pathfinder Society and Living Forgotten Realms were well-represented in the schedule, I found the Pathfinder Society to do an overall better job of representing the flag. They had colorful posters with good art around the gaming hall that not only advertised their own group, and Pathfinder in general, but specific adventures as well. The RPGA had a white oversized printout that they shared with another, local-but-aspiring-to-more group called NAGA.

The Pathfinder Society GMs were easy to spot; they all wore shirts that clearly identified who they were and what they were playing. The RPGA GMs, not so much. I don't have a dog in the Pathfinder-4E race, but my own impression was that the Pathfinder Society folks were better organized, better supported from their home base, and more enthusiastic than their RPGA counterparts.

How does this translate into sales, or growth in players? Well, hard numbers are difficult to come by, but according to the latest survey of retail stores by Purple Pawn, Pathfinder is far outstripping 4E in terms of sales. That's in line with other industry estimates that have been coming out over the last year or two. I certainly won't say that it all has to do with the way they are handling their organized play arms, but it certainly couldn't be hurting that the Pathfinder Society seems more energetic, confident, and supported, and Pathfinder is doing better in retail stores.

There is one thing of which I am not certain, since I'm not a Pathfinder player myself (although I am on record as saying I think Paizo is doing everything right in terms of how to run a game company viz-a-viz their fan base) is how Pathfinder compares in in-store play as opposed to conventions. Do they have anything comparable to the WotC Lair Assault program? I'd be curious as to what other people's experiences with organized play, either with RPGA, Pathfinder Society, C&C Society, etc. has been. Do your observations square with mine, or have you had a very different experience?

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Dreamation 2012: Part 2 (Raid on Frederikshavn)

At this year's Dreamation 2012 convention (click here for my overview after-action report) I got to run the Ogre Miniatures scenario I'd been working on for the last few months for the first time "officially". It turned out pretty darned good (unlike my photography using my Blackberry; apologies for some of the fuzzy pictures). As usual, click to embiggen the pictures.

The basic scenario is thus: the Combine is staging a raid on the PanEuropean spaceport at Frederikshavn, Denmark. The Combine has sent a single MK-IIIB Ogre across the floor of the North Sea, timed to emerge at the same time a fast attack force of GEVs arrives at the facility. The defenders get a regular trickle of reinforcements, and must hold off the attackers until their strength is sufficient to destroy the invaders. The attackers are targeting an experimental space plane on the gantry, as well as various fuel depots and administrative buildings scattered across the battlefield. Each target objective is given a point value; only the objectives count for points, not destroyed units.

Starting positions. The PanEuropeans took a pair of mobile howitzers to support their infantry and Ogre MK-III. The attacking Combine forces (right, in the photo above) took as many light GEVs as I had, and a couple of regular GEVs on their extreme left flank (bottom of photo). Their Ogre (a MK-IIIB) went up the right flank.

The defending units focus almost entirely on the huge wall of light GEVs attacking up the center (top of the picture above). 

The PanEuropean Ogre makes short work of the light GEVs, but not before they take first blood and destroy one of the scenario objectives; a PanEuropean fuel depot. The attacker was reminded of one of the game's key tactical concepts; disperse your units to avoid spillover fire. Two missiles from the defender's Ogre took out 5 attacking units.

The small force of regular GEVs completely flanks a few defending infantry and makes a dash towards a fuel depot and the space plane gantry beyond.

The attacking Ogre, having taken out one of the defending mobile howitzers, approaches the space plane with few defending units in between.

The defending Ogre races to intercept the attackers; you can see the three attacking GEVs in green are closing in on the space plane.

The defender got lucky and had some well-timed reinforcements appear in just the right area of the board. He managed to take out both of the Ogre's main batteries by incredibly gutsy 1:2 attacks, aided by excellent die rolls.

In the end, though, the attacking Ogre had a clear field. You can also see his GEVs at the top of the photo laying fire into the space plane. 10 structure points were required to take out any objective.

And that's all she wrote. A decisive victory for the Combine attackers. I believe the defender made a critical error by concentrating too much on the force of GEVs and ignoring the Ogre coming up the side of the board. Even so, the players seemed to have a good time, I know I had a lot of fun seeing the game play out, and I think the scenario works very well now that it's been polished. I'll be running this again at the next convention (DexCon, in July, same place; Morristown, NJ), and have an idea for another scenario I might put together for it as well.

A pdf of the scenario is now available over in the "Free Resources" section off to the right.

Note to Steve Jackson Games: Please get these figures and the rules back into production! Several people, seeing what we were playing, either said they wish they had known it was being played, or that they would like to play, but can't because it's OOP. There is absolutely demand out there for this excellent game. 

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