Thanks to TLG, Jim Ward, etc. for TC 09(moved here by me)

tylermo · Post by **tylermo** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:34 pm

Well, I'm mostly recovered from my 8 or 9 hour round trip to Little Rock. After a hot and muggy two-night stay at the Hilton of campgrounds(KOA, baby!), and 3 days of gaming, I think I'm back to my old, worn out self. I arrived at TC an hour or so before things got underway on Friday. Upon opening one of the closed doors, I saw a man sitting at a table. To my surprise it was none other than TSR luminary from way back, James M. "Gamma World" Ward. Yep, Jim. It's me. The Gamma World autograph hound. hehe Seriously, it was an absolute pleasure meeting you. A true gentlemen who runs a good game, but we'll get to that later. Soon after, I saw some of my other TLG-friends, and acquaintances. Mark Sandy, and two guys who I go back to 2003 with, Stephen Chenault and Todd Gray. Prior to things kicking off, we managed to discuss everything from politics to obscure, and/or cheesy films like Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars, Flash Gordon(1980), Metal Storm:The Destruction of Jared Syn(?), Dark Star, Space Hunter 3-D:Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, and countless other cheesy gems. We all know our cheese, and Mark in particular, seemed to know as much or more. I tip my hat to you, and your knowledge of Battle Beyond the Stars. My memory is a bit foggy, but I seem to remember seeing Breakdaddy, and McBain pretty early on as well. Not to mention various con-goer's who trickled in. I didn't end up playing in any games Friday afternoon. Spent time talking to many people, including Todd, Stephen, Mark, and several of you from the boards. Ate at Waffle House, and nearly saw a car(from an accident on Shackelford Rd) hit the corner of the restaurant. Thankfully, the occupants of the two vehicles weren't injured. Anyway, I later returned to TC, and played in Stephen's C&C game. Good stuff. My halfling rogue was infuriated by a Troll Lord who had skewered many a halfling, and attempted to charge him. I struck a few blows with my daggers, then got up on his shoulders and try to stick him in the eye. The dice didn't quite work out, and I soon found myself in the maw of the Troll. Bye bye Tylermo. hehe Forgot to mention that I caught up on some C&C material I still needed to the tune of about 81.00(including some phb and m&t new printings) Day one was a lot of fun. Day two: Wasn't in any morning games, but chit-chatted with everybody as usual. Had some Chinese buffet, and returned to the con. Played in McBain's Star Trek game. It's been a few years since I last played Star Trek, but always good. Later, I ran my off-schedule Savage Worlds game. I used their Slipstream setting(Flash Gordony pulp) with a 1980 F. Gordon-movie influenced adventure of my own. At first, we only had 4? players, but later added a couple(bad on names here. Treebore, Bryon, TK-Tracy, "Savage" Jessica-as I call her, and the guy who had played SW before, etc. ) We roped Jessica into the game after she kept advising her boyfriend about what "she" would have done during a particular scene. Savage Worlds has a mechanic that requires the use of bennies(tokens, stones, poker chips, etc) for re-rolls, removing wounds, etc. Occasionally, the gm can reward players extra bennies. I was probably overly-generous with Jessica, but she was cracking numerous jokes(which shall go unmentioned), etc. The people at the SW forums will wonder how a player wound up with 16+bennies. The answer:I'm just easy when it comes to the female players. She was an absolute hoot, and that was before she had a 32 ounce cup partially filled with that famed Russian drink. The session ran too long, and had to be wrapped up at midnight. Anyway, we bravely soldiered on(sunday morning) just before Jim Ward's Tainted Lands game. Still weren't finished with the session. At 11:00am, it was time for Jim's game. Breakdaddy, and many others were gathered around for TL. Jim's style of gm'ing is something to behold. Almost anytime we attempted to do something(utilize a magic item, etc), Jim would say, "About 11 years ago you attempted to use the Dwarven throwing hammer when some beastie? was on your friend, Gary the Dwarf's shoulder. Using the hammer to remove the beastie also took off your friend's arm." I'm not doing Jim justice, you had to be there. Jim even refered to something that was "tainted", and I could have sworn he put emphasis on the word, so I(in a booming announcer's voice) said, Tainted Lands by James M. Ward coming soon at GenCon 2009! Only $29.99!" Got a few good yucks out of the one. Guess you had to be there for that one as well. After Jim's game, I got my players back to "finish" Slipstream. After over two hours...mission NOT accomplished. hehe We were up to 7 total hours, and more would have been needed to finish. Some re-tooling for GenCon is required. Said my goodbye's to BD, McB, Stephen, Todd, Jim, and all of the rest before being the last man out of the room(other than the cleaning guy). Hell, I helped him stack a couple of chairs. Anyway(hope I don't forget any names), I like to thank everybody for the experience. Stephen, you and Todd have been like long-distance friends since 2003 Egyptian Campaign. It has been a pleasure seeing you guys every year since then. Mark, I didn't get to know you until GC 05? and other years, but it's always great chatting with you. Your knowledge of anything thing from obscure episodes of Voyager to ???? is amazing. Davis, I didn't know you as well at first, but have met you 5 or 6 times now. Always a great guy. Enjoyed hearing about some of your and Todd's misadventures. Break, and McBain, nice to meet you guys in person once again. Feels like I almost know you's. Bryan K, and myriad others with TLG, the same can be said for all of you. Also, had a Hell of a time meeting(for the first time)Treebore, CKDad, and several others from the forums. Would also like to thank those who participated in my game(long as it was) including the young man(on Sunday), Tree's daughter who sat in for awhile, Tracy, Bryan, Savage Jessica, etc. Hopefully, some of you will be encouraged to check out SW, as well. I'm fortunate to have two rpg families(C&C and Savage Worlds). Looking forward to TC 2010! See you at GenCon. P.S. other than a bit on Friday, I didn't think about missing the Styx concert in St. Louis on Saturday. I was caught up in Troll goodness!

huds0n · Post by **huds0n** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:45 pm

Just so you know Tyler. In honor of your Flash Gordon pulp game, i've been watching Flash Gordon all day today.
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Richard McBain

Trolllord Games

Convention Coordinator

Executive Director - TrollCon, Winter Dark
richard@trolllord.com

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ALEA IACTA EST - THE DIE IS CAST

tylermo · Post by **tylermo** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:12 pm

Awesome. I just watched it, and the Filmation cartoon again recently. I have the complete animated series, and the bootleg movie version that was on in primetime years ago. It's better in some ways because the ongoing series ended up with a jar jar-type character in the form of some cutesy dragon. If you don't own the cartoons check em' out.

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:25 pm

Very nice! McBain was just telling me earlier how he wanted to make more time for gaming at the Gen Con upcoming. I tend to agree. I havent played an RPG at Gen Con since 2006

tylermo · Post by **tylermo** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:41 am

It's mere coincidence, but Savage World's Slipstream has apparently been nominated for an Ennie for "best setting".

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:32 pm

tylermo wrote:
It's mere coincidence, but Savage World's Slipstream has apparently been nominated for an Ennie for "best setting".

Nice!

CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:55 pm

tylermo wrote:
It's mere coincidence, but Savage World's Slipstream has apparently been nominated for an Ennie for "best setting".

Very cool. I've been lukewarm about Savage Worlds since first hearing about it (it's just a shade too rules-light for me for most modern or sci-fi, which is what play outside the fantasy genre) but Tyler's enthusiasm has me intrigued. Look for a PM from me about this soonish.
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"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."