GaryCon VII

Nobody can say that I am not dedicated to the gamer cause. One short week after hosting ScanCon 2015, I made the trek out to Lake Geneva to attend GaryCon VII and play a level of the upcoming Hobby Shop Dungeon with Ernie Gygax himself!

Ernie shortly after tearing my level 4 Ranger a new one with a couple of werewolves down on the third level of the Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul.

Pictures from ScanCon 2015

I've finally emerged from my post-Con cocoon to put up a quick picture-post follow-up about the convention. Spoiler Alert: It was the awesomest ScanCon yet!

Fifteen total attendees (not including the Most Honorable Ladyship of ScanCon: Dr. Mrs. Chainsword), three RPG events (two directly featuring time-travel), 15 scheduled boardgame events, four spontaneous boardgame events, one giant Roller Derby event, seven bottles of whiskey, umpteen Time-traveling puzzles, a nerf revolver shooting challenge, one kilt, and a new Winner of the Tournament of Champions! All in all, a glorious weekend of gaming to take us... Back to the Future!

Week of ScanCon2015 begins!

Welp, its almost that time of the year again, ScanCon! As ScanCon2015 starts on Thursday this week, we are racing to get everything prepared while still trying to hold down our day jobs. As such, the posts on here are going to be total weak-sauce in content in the meantime. I apologize in advance. Basically take this post as a "check back here next Wednesday" week-long hiatus announcement.

As for those attending ScanCon this year who have solved the Back to the Future mailer puzzle, make sure you log your name in the solver's database before Thursday. Also you'll want to make sure you also brush up on all trivia aspects of Time-Travel movies, but most importantly:

Back to the Future I

Back to the Future II

Back to the Future III

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

The Terminator

Terminator II: Judgment Day

Game on!

ScanCon2015 - The Great Time Travel Test Bonus Movies

So for the Tournament of Champions for ScanCon, I like one phase of the challenge to consist of a college-style written exam, probably to the chagrin of most of the attendees. I mean, we're all adults here, why do we still need to take tests? Because we're nerds, and think tests are fun! Or maybe just I do. And, more accurately, its simply the most efficient way to whittle a tournament of 16 contestants down to a more manageable size for a final challenge, so I usually give a test based on particular topics that are important to our culture. Last year the topics were Comic Books, Nerdcore Hiphop, and NES games from the 1980's.

The greatest cover of the greatest magazine of the late 1980s.

But this year is 2015, the year of Back to the Future II! so what a great opportunity for an all-1980's Time-travel movie lore quiz! Obviously I will be heavily testing on the three Back to the Future movies, but I decided I need to throw in a couple more ~80's Time Travel movies to help split up the tie-breakers (because all the hard-core contestants will surely be reviewing the Back to the Future thrill-ogy before they come to the 'Con). After much deliberation, I've decided to add twelve questions dedicated to the following bonus Time Travel movies to the quiz:

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure!

Most triumphant!

and 

The Terminator / Terminator II: Judgment Day

I'll be back...at least four more times.

Even though Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey is a superior movie to Excellent Adventure, it doesn't feature nearly as much Time Travel as it features inter-dimensional spirit-travel and mostly focuses on killer robots, so I'm not including it. But both Terminator and Terminator II are solid Time Travel flicks, and anyone who's seen the first one has automatically seen the other. Plus, it has killer robots, which are awesome! Wait, who said my reasoning is inconsistent? Obviously I'm not including the Terminator with Lieutenant Claire Danes or Batman, because, well...meh. I sure do hope the upcoming remake/reboot/JJAbrams-ification Terminator: Genisys will be good though.

 I know there are a lot of movies out there about Time Travel from the 1980s/90s, but these are two Time Travel Universes that I think fit well beside the Back to the Future trilogy on any self-respecting Time Travel Test (or DVD shelf). What other ones would fit the bill?

Game On!

Last-minute adventure changes! What to do?

To the miniature and terrain-crafting DMs out there, when you are preparing materials for a big convention game you are scheduled to run, do you also tend to only have your best ideas a few days before you have to run it? That's what's happening to me right now. I'm planning on running a Back to the Future-themed rpg at ScanCon in a week and a half, however while working on it this weekend I decided to change the whole thing to something more awesome than I originally had in mind. A grand idea struck me like a bolt of lighting and now everything I've prepared so far feels so lackluster. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave me the time to paint miniatures/build terrain for this new game idea for all the things I want to do.

Damn you Creativity Juice! Why do you only act as Epic Muse at the last minute?!

Ernie Gygax on the Vorpal Chainsword Podcast!

Happy GM's Day!

Got the chance to ask Ernie Gygax the all-important questions and put them up on the Vorpal Chainsword. This one is chock full of discussions about things like why GaryCon is so rad, the justification for Tenser's Transformation, what's in store for the Hobby Shop Dungeon, comparing fantasy movies of the 80's, and, of course, Stirges. Check it all out on the Vorpal Chainsword Podcast!