Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Bren

If it makes you feel any better, chirine ba kal, I have no idea who that guy is and his name has already been forgotten.

Understood; I feel the same way. It doesn't have any influence on what I do; for all intents and purposes, they're irrelevant. So, let's go forward, shall we?

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Yeah, all this is true. It's why tickets to ride behind CMST&P 261 start at $100 on a 15 car train; their insurance carrier demands they carry something like $100M in liability. Many many millions, at least.

I don't even know if the University of Minnesota HAS a gaming group any more, but the ability to reserve the entire third floor of Coffman Union for free was sure a boon to running U-Con there. All those rooms for free, and the first floor Great Hall for $100.

But even if anybody did do that, would the gamers come to such a "minimalist" convention?

The world wags on.

True. All too true.

There isn't a 'generalist' game group like what we had; there's a computer gaming group and I think a board gaming group, but that seems to be it. And the third floor of Coffman has been very changed, so that there isn't much space for meetings like what we had.

I don't know; not enough data. the local game con, Con of the North, has finally broken 500 people, after several decades of trying to get more then the 350 - 400 that they had for years. It's a pretty 'minimalist' convention of the kind we used to run, but the market seems to want Official, Authorized, Approved, Sponsored Events With Premium Game Play. That kind of event brings them out in droves, I've seen.

As a general observation, game cons look like F/SF cons, which look like anime cons, which look like game cons. Aside from the proportions in the program book of the types of events, it's gotten pretty hard to tell them apart from each other.

Originally Posted by AsenRG

You chose smart.
And that's duly noted, but I'm thinking a relatively minor number of people appearing separated - as servants, slaves or guards. But for some reason, they get left behind, often with a rudimentary understanding of the language, if that. Their employers communicated with them in their native tongues, mostly.

If they're taken for demons, can a smart one leverage that? A PC did exactly that trick, but it wasn't exactly easy, and it was in Lyvianu (and let's add to this, she proved she can deal with pretty much any task they could set). Would that stand a chance to work in, say, Jakalla?


Weird. Most people here are completely happy to pay their ticket, which admittedly has only a nominal price - we gather in a boardgame cafe, so this is actually their entry fee - and in exchange, they get a place where there are just some tables to play, and people willing to run a game.
Maybe it's just that we have never had a "maximalist" convention, so they don't know they could expect more.

Oh, right. Understood. The lower the social level of the stranded people, the worse off they are going to be.

Oh, yes, very much so - as long as one can deliver the goods as a demon, of course. Your player would certainly be able to get away with it in Jakalla - the Livyani are a lot harder sell on this kind of thing, so if they got away with it in Tsamra, Jakalla would be a snap.

Agreed. See my previous reply; cons here in the US now have a lot of 'bells and whistles', as con committees try to out to their competition. Me, all I want is a big room with tables and chairs - the game's the thing!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

It's the historical period overlapping the end of the Latter Times and the beginning of the Empire of Llyan of Tsamra. It's the time when most of the Undying Wizards got their start, and when magic-users - 'magic' having been invented - could do pretty much anything that they wanted to. Think the Wild West with energy bolts and fireballs.

Oh, well that sounds interesting. I don't remember having read this before. Cool. I think I can use this to solve some continuity issues in my game.

Shemek.

Chirine,

In the same issue where the interview with Phil was, I saw there was a module in which you are mentioned. It says that one of Dhichune's political appointees, some Ito woman, denounced you and tried to have you deposed/impaled. Was this something that happened in game or was it "artistic licence" by the module designer?

Shemek

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

As a general observation, game cons look like F/SF cons, which look like anime cons, which look like game cons. Aside from the proportions in the program book of the types of events, it's gotten pretty hard to tell them apart from each other.

That's a very good observation, indeed. I'm almost tempted to go to the next anime convention and run a Japanese game...

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Oh, right. Understood. The lower the social level of the stranded people, the worse off they are going to be.

Isn't that always the case?

Oh, yes, very much so - as long as one can deliver the goods as a demon, of course. Your player would certainly be able to get away with it in Jakalla - the Livyani are a lot harder sell on this kind of thing, so if they got away with it in Tsamra, Jakalla would be a snap.

Interesting; why would it be harder in Livyanu? I had assumed the exact opposite, because of the many disparate gods and goddesses who keep what demons serve them in secret. Maybe I was wrong, and thus went too easy on the player?

Agreed. See my previous reply; cons here in the US now have a lot of 'bells and whistles', as con committees try to out to their competition. Me, all I want is a big room with tables and chairs - the game's the thing!

I'd settle for the big room as well. Obviously other people want different things for reasons unknown to me!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

As a general observation, game cons look like F/SF cons, which look like anime cons, which look like game cons. Aside from the proportions in the program book of the types of events, it's gotten pretty hard to tell them apart from each other.

Truth.

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Weird. Most people here are completely happy to pay their ticket, which admittedly has only a nominal price - we gather in a boardgame cafe, so this is actually their entry fee - and in exchange, they get a place where there are just some tables to play, and people willing to run a game.
Maybe it's just that we have never had a "maximalist" convention, so they don't know they could expect more.

Well, I'm not sure what a "boardgame cafe" is other than what is implied by the simple meaning of the words, but I've never seen one here in the USA. There might be some somewhere in this land of a third of a billion people.

In the US there has been an increasing trend towards decreasing socialization (see "Bowling Alone,") so a US "convention" has to be more than "let's meet up at someplace we have to pay money for." If friends are going to gather to play games they'll simply do it in somebody's house. Conventions offer a chance to meet new gamers and try new games, as well as the "dealers' room" where you can buy everything from dice to swords.

The smallest convention I know of is the one-day "ReCon" of Minneapolis, which basically provides a big room with big tables for miniatures gamers. But miniatures gamers are odd ducks even in the gaming world. Quack.

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Interesting; why would it be harder in Livyanu? I had assumed the exact opposite, because of the many disparate gods and goddesses who keep what demons serve them in secret. Maybe I was wrong, and thus went too easy on the player?

"I know what a demon smells like, and you aren't one!" Tough to fool folks who have magic coming out of their ears.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Oh, well that sounds interesting. I don't remember having read this before. Cool. I think I can use this to solve some continuity issues in my game.

Shemek.

Yep; it's so far back in the past, there are no reliable historical records, so all we have are legends. Which, of course, are the stuff of adventures.