Home form GaryConIV!

[seskis281]

Will post more later as I've just driven home and am ready for sleep before re-entering the real world tomorrow, but just a few tidbits -

There were 17 C&C events that I know of that ran over the 4 days this year!! - I ran 2 official games with full tables of 12 each, a pickup game, Brian Miller ran 4 games, Tylermo ran one Sat. nite, Mark Martin (storycrafter) ran two (one of which I played in and it was terrific!), Ben "TrollboyFan" ran 2, Shane G. ran 2, Sir Osis ran a pickup game (in which he TPK'd all of us), Steve "bloodymage" ended the con with a game today, and Piper ran a pickup game today. I know at least several of the new players on my tables went during the game break and bought books from Tyler A lot of C&C fun - even if I killed Piperdog twice.

We also had a great Society/TLG board get-together last night, and Piper, Sir Osis, Morty, GoOgleplex and a few others were able to enjoy some significant face-to-face comraderie at the con - and also we took the lead started by Pat "Moriarty" and Julian to talk about some additional ways to reinvigorate the Society in addition to their work in resurrecting the Domesday. Will talk more in the coming weeks, but one thing I made sure to do was recomit to being around more and carving some time to help coordinate the Society more again.

All our thanks definitely go to Luke, Dale, Chris & the entire GaryCon crew for throwing a truly fantastic con!! We gamed the hell out of this con this year

[Skeletor]

Saw your booth at GaryCon and the game looks interesting. Unfortunately, I did not have time to demo, but I'll be picking up a couple of books just the same. There was a girl working the booth that was very helpful and pretty much sold me on it though I cannot recall her name...

Either way, GaryCon was fantastic and I'll be back again to get into an event. I suspect you'll be at Origins and/or GenCon, so I may take the opportunity there as well.

[seskis281]

Looks like Ben Gifford ran another one on Sunday too, bringing the total to 18 C&C events for the 4-day con

[Rigon]

Sorry I missed all the fun. I'm gonna try to shot for next year.

R-

[Go0gleplex]

It was a great time...well worth the time and money to attend. If possible, the wife and I would definitely attend again. What was best for me, was getting to meet friends from here on the boards with whom I've had many a great conversation with. The gaming was awesome too...I was 3 for 5 (coming out alive)...and John and I spent a little game time to burn down a town in Mark's game (stinkin cultists). Overall, it ended entirely too quickly.

[blackmote]

here we are at the Saturday morning 'At the Sign of the Green Dragon' C&C Game with John as DM. I am second from John's right in the black shirt:



Fun game - if not a bit hectic with twelve players. I believe this could have been broken easily into two games with six players each. I understand the desire to expose as many players as possible to the C&C system. But if someone feels 'left out' - which I'm sure at least a quarter of these folks did - the game might not be so appealing. Just my two coppers.

In my case, I've been curious about C&C for many years and already knew I was going to take the plunge and invest in the books. So purchasing was a no-brainer for me. It's one of the reasons I packed light for the con. I intended to leave with a half dozen new hardbounds. hah hah!

Regardless, you did a great job as DM, John! You handled the flow of the game very well, made believable NPCs come to life, and told a very good story. Kudos to you! I look forward to gaming with you again next year. And who knows? Perhaps I'll have a C&C game of my own to run by that time.

Thanks again!

[CKDad]

Hoyt - responding to your question in the other thread - I was two places to your right in the green shirt & House Targaryen hat (playing the elven wizard).

~ John, AKA CKDad

[seskis281]

Hey Hoyt - thx for playing - yeah, 12 was a bit much, first time I've tried that (and just so you know, when Steve is at the con and runs he runs 20 or so people!) - always before I've done 6-8 max and will probably set that as limit, I just wasn't sure how many C&C games were going to happen and wanted to maximize it, and as I said I've played in larger with Steve so figured I'd give'er a run - hell, my "pickup" game Thursday ended up with 12 as well.... next year I'll probably run 4 games with slightly shorter blocks and adventures (with some being tied to a new Society idea we're looking at....). But welcome to the Crusade and am glad you got to play!

[miller6]

Sounds like we need a C&C tournament so I'm tossing my hat in to write and coordinate a 3 round C&C tournament for next year's Gary Con. First round on thurs, 2nd on fri, and 3rd round on sat. I'd provide a copy of each round to the CKs a few months in advance for playtesting, register the events, get tables scheduled, have a Q and A session for CKs before game time each day, hand out scoring sheets, tally results and assign and marshal players to tables.

Scoring would be as follows: Each player ranks the 5 other players at their table from 1st to 5th in the following categories: rules knowledge, role playing, team play, strategy and leadership. The CK does the same but CK vote counts as double. Tally up the totals and the top 4 individual scores from each table advance to round 2. Round 2 would have 4 tables but only the top 3 scores from each table advance to round 3. Round 3 would have 2 tables with the top 3 individual scores winning a prize. I coordinated RPGA tournaments at Gen Con and Winter Fantasy that were set up the same way, drew a crowd and went smoothly.

What I'd need from the Trolls is a prize for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place (progressively less costly) for the awards ceremony. I'd also need other CKs to run rounds with an extra CK as backup for each round (i.e. 6 on thurs (2 slots of 3 tables), 4 on friday (2 slots of 2 tables), 2 on sat (2 slots of 1 table). I'll run one table each round after marshaling or give it to the extra CK if we're not short. I'll bring a couple extra CKs with me to the convention just in case. Marshaling would take place in the front room on main floor by the hotel entrance where a sign and results would be posted. Gaming would take place in the gaming rooms downstairs or in the tournament room upstairs if it's available. I'd leave a stack of scoring sheets at the TLG vendors booth for CKs and pick up results from there then post results in the marshaling area. The CK Q&A meetings would be in the room behind the registration desk if they let us use it or at a table in the bar upstairs (less preferable since gamers could eavesdrop).

That's the plan but I'd need approval from the Trolls and convention staff to make it official.

Comments? Suggestions? Trolls input?
Brian

[CKDad]

Brian - I've been working on something similar. However, I've come to believe that tournaments with rounds aren't the way to go - people have to block out the later rounds in their schedule, and then that slot is wasted if they don't advance. You're also not likely to get teams that can stay together for the entire three-round event.

I've been thinking of something more along the lines of the AD&D open which was run at GaryCon - same adventure, just run for different groups over multiple days. I think that's a more viable format.

I would also lean towards a more objective scoring mechanism, focusing more on defeating (or cleverly avoiding) encounters, locating secret or hidden items, and achieving objectives. That's going to be a lot easier for different CKs to evaluate & score, and also doesn't outright penalize new players.

Otherwise, we seem to be thinking along similar lines. I'm very interested in discussing this further.

[CKDad]

BTW, my notion is that we enlist C&C Society CKs to run the tournament at Origins and GenCon as well - and possibly other conventions, but definitely the big three.

[Omote]

BTW, my notion is that we enlist C&C Society CKs to run the tournament at Origins and GenCon as well - and possibly other conventions, but definitely the big three.

Yes.

~O

[miller6]

I noticed that the AD&D tourney at Gary Con wasn't elimination and wondered if that was to simplify coordination and marshaling or if it was to make it less-competitive and maintain the table count each round. Doesn't matter to me if it's elimination or not. I've coordinated both types of tourneys and both scoring systems and found each has its pros and cons.

Personally, I enjoy writing adventures, coordinating and running events so it's all good as far as I'm concerned. People have fun and it generates interest and sales, recruits players and advertises a great game either way.

Brian

[CKDad]

Brian - why don't we split this off as a separate thread, maybe up in the C&C Society forum (though it probably fits fine here as well)?

[miller6]

No prob. Will continue the discussion as needed on the C&C Society board.
Brian