{"id":1434,"date":"2012-02-10T21:51:47","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T21:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2014-12-03T21:52:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T21:52:35","slug":"owlcon-xxxi-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/?p=1434","title":{"rendered":"Owlcon XXXI Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rocks fall. \u00a0People die.<\/em><\/p>\n

Or so goes the motto of Owlcon XXXI, a fear-inducing slogan that seems right for the year 2012. \u00a0 Owlcon XXXI is the third straight years of this great gaming convention that we\u2019ve been able to attend, organized by the nice folks of FastWarp and Rice University. \u00a0Though there are not nearly as many events as say a GenCon, I prefer this con to the larger ones I\u2019ve attended; it is manageable, with all events within a few buildings\u2019 walk, and the organizers spread the 4-hour blocks of time out so that there is time for lunch, socializing, and hitting the vendor\u2019s floor in-between games. \u00a0This also leaves ample time for pick-up games and for discussing gaming theories and mechanics and making new friends.<\/p>\n

The first games start at 10am, providing enough time to sleep in, grab a warm breakfast at the hotel before walking the mile to campus for the day\u2019s adventure. \u00a0We\u2019ve found the Best Western on S Main to be a relatively inexpensive yet comfortable abode for the few nights in-between the gaming fun, and will probably be back unless we decide to crash with some of the locals next year. \u00a0If civilization makes it to 2013\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This year, I ran a rousing game of Junta on Friday night, and we had a full table, so all the cabinet positions were filled. \u00a0There was a lot of rhubarb-rhubarb going around the table, especially after the Amis stiffed us a few years running, or so reported El Presidente. \u00a0Two very bloody, effective coups transitioned the three presidencies over the four hours, shifting the ultimate power among three distinct voting blocks. \u00a0The competition was fierce with Damp pulling off a victory by a mere 3 million pesos.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, I played three tabletop role playing games for the first time. \u00a0First, in tabletop Call of Cthulhu, I played Ed Wood, where I was trying to make a film in an old graveyard just outside of Burbank, when of course an alien vessel lands in a nearby valley. \u00a0After cutting a wall through the Scottish groundskeeper\u2019s house into his garage, fighting off zombie hordes with a chainsaw and a pack of shovels from the back of a pickup truck, we made our way to the unidentified vessel. Sucked in by a black, tarry, tentacled monstrosity, we preceded to cut our way out and accosted our captors, who seemed to have an answer to all our inquiries and accusations. \u00a0Finally, after learning of his plan to take over the masses with media, we pretended to hook him up with an agent and made them a movie deal. \u00a0In the end I used him to profit from the production of a string of B movies. \u00a0Good times had by all.<\/p>\n

Next, a player from the Junta game the night before brought his self-published Effigy rpg in and a group of us played a pick-up game for a few hours. \u00a0I played a burly gent known as \u201cthe Ogre\u201d and chaperoned a party of motley freaks into the netherworld through a boarded-up portal in the back of a bar. \u00a0Of course! \u00a0Gotta love games set in the modern era, especially ones that have been hand-made by designers with artsy persuasions. \u00a0I need to find a pdf copy of the rules to run a one-off as a break from our usual campaign. \u00a0Xsemaj, you have a review copy to send us?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, off to Feng Shui, a high-flying, cinematic game of Hong Kong Kung Fu. \u00a0Actions are taken in \u201cshots\u201d, which says a lot about the intended visuals. The story was well crafted, and the players were top notch (excessive jive talking aside), so the action had great flow, and we got in 5 solid scenes in four hours. \u00a0One thing I realized is that I am woefully behind in my knowledge of kung fu film tropes. \u00a0A mechanic I wasn\u2019t fond of in this game is easily illustrated (and required a house mod to rectify): I ended up playing a slow character (well, two slow characters, after I swapped out of the hulk and into a wizard after one player had to leave due to an illness). \u00a0Mix this with one character being able to move every shot (usually you move every third shot), and over the course of the 4-hr session, I think I was able to make 8 or 9 moves. \u00a0This is something I would definitely change about the game. \u00a0Other than that, it\u2019s a great setting and a simple system to learn.<\/p>\n

Saturday night we went out after all the games were done, and had some mini excitement, then retired to the room to watch the original Star Trek pilot. Given this and my near-40-yr-old self, and I slept in on Sunday, then hit the vendor\u2019s floor around noon, where we caught up with Michael from Skirmisher Press<\/a> and Leo from Dungeonstone<\/a>. These two vendors made great quality goods for planning adventures and executing encounters. \u00a0I didn\u2019t get a shot of them, but I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be back next year, as they see continued success.<\/p>\n

As will we.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the finale, the coup de grace<\/em> of this year\u2019s con, Adam and Damp played in my \u201cEscape from Lost-In\u201d Gamma World adventure. \u00a0I was surprised to see no other Gamma World games in the program this year. \u00a0It\u2019s such a perfect one-off game for these settings. \u00a0Anyhoo, the goal was for the mutants to find various airplane parts scattered about the city of Austin after the end of civilization as we know it in 2012. \u00a0After surviving a shootout with some pigs on 6th Street,\u00a0they learned form a local baron that they had to collect fuel, a fuselage, an engine, some rotors or a propellor, and a computer module to run the thing.<\/p>\n

Beginning their exploration close to the scene of the shootout, the group explored the ruins of the UT tower, encountering a beast resembling a dracolich with lasers in its eyes. \u00a0After an intense battle where many flames torched the beast and a rat swarm\u2019s dog turned on the rats, the mutants slew the beast, claiming the rotors in its nest as their own.<\/p>\n

They made their way into the UT sewers using a map scribbled in a margin of a page of the Gutenberg Bible that they lifted from the wreckage of the Hairy Ransom Sunder. \u00a0After wandering the subterranean depths, they had to solve a puzzle, survive a falling ceiling, \u00a0a fend off cryogenci ooze that made its way up from the grates in the floor. \u00a0In the back chamber, they located enough fuel to fly them at least to the coast of the Gulf.<\/p>\n

Finally, they made their way to an ambush spot along the old I-35 (now called either \u201cdirty drive\u201d or reverted back to East Ave.) to intercept the delivery of a few airplane engines. \u00a0After hatching an elaborate plan, they fought off the pigs driving and escorting the cargo, unlatching the flatbed from the rig, and taking the goods for their own. \u00a0This was the theme of the evening, and they were successful in their mission. \u00a0Now the big question of where to, now that the promise of a working plane is in their grasp.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be back next year, with new adventures in hand!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rocks fall. \u00a0People die. Or so goes the motto of Owlcon XXXI, a fear-inducing slogan that seems right for the year 2012. \u00a0 Owlcon XXXI is the third straight years of this great gaming convention that we\u2019ve been able to attend, organized by the nice folks of FastWarp and Rice University. \u00a0Though there are not nearly as many events as say a GenCon, I prefer this con to the larger ones I\u2019ve attended; it is manageable, with all events within a few buildings\u2019 walk, and the organizers spread the 4-hour blocks of time out so that there is time for lunch, socializing, and hitting the vendor\u2019s floor in-between games. \u00a0This also leaves ample time for pick-up games and for discussing gaming theories and mechanics and making new friends. The first games start at 10am, providing enough time to sleep in, grab a warm breakfast at the hotel before walking the mile to campus for the day\u2019s adventure. \u00a0We\u2019ve found the Best Western on S Main to be a relatively inexpensive yet comfortable abode for the few nights in-between the gaming fun, and will probably be back unless we decide to crash with some of the locals next year. \u00a0If civilization makes it to 2013\u2026 This year, I ran a rousing game of Junta on Friday night, and we had a full table, so all the cabinet positions were filled. \u00a0There was a lot of rhubarb-rhubarb going around the table, especially after the Amis stiffed us a few years running, or Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1435,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions\/1435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}