Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Crom, yes. That, I must say, Luke and GaryCon have taken care of to a treat; there are volunteers with carts of water and snacks serving the GMs, and the venue has a sandwich menu for the con available til 10 PM. A hotel chicken cutlet sandwich may not be five star dining, but the fact they will bring the damn thing to your game table and let you put it on your room is a lifesaver.

Oh, agreed! The water cart didn't make it around to me at last year's Gary Con, but that was because they were short on volunteers. The hotel was great - I ate all of my meals at the game table, and it was a real lifesaver - as were the comp'ed sodas, which I thought was a nice touch.

This is, again, why Gary Con is a cut above a lot of conventions - of all types. I keep getting asked if I will come to so-and-so's convention, and I keep pointing out that it's going to have to be of the same 'quality of life' as Gary Con; I simply can't do anything less, given my shortages in stamina and energy levels. Now, admittedly it's also wanting me to run games - my kind of spectacle is apparently seen as a marketing advantage for conventions - but it does come with a cost in 'installed technology' and logistics. When I bring all this up, the conversation always stops dead as most event organizers are simply not aware of the magnitude of the effort needed to run a trade show booth or demo games like we used to do at AGI, or even just putting on The Big Game for the attendees.

I don't really have a good answer to any of this, either. I've done all I can on my end, by building 'pre-packed' games that require a minimal footprint and logistics, and by making everything I own as multi-purpose and as durable as possible - but there almost seems to be a sort of culture shock when people contemplate what goes into the show production. Had the same issues in doing masquerades at F/SF cons, which is why Costumers' Guild West did "The Masquerade Manual".

On the other had, made sixteen square feet of Underworld / 'dungeon' tiles done this evening in a couple of hours. Used up all the off-cuts from the modular terrain tiles and some paper from the crafts store - total cost, $12.00. It's been a very fun day!

Yeah, it's just easier to work in your own home. A home model railroad is a lot less logistical nightmare than trying to take a portable around to malls too.

For that matter, I remember trip after trip from the Coffman garage to the third floor with boxes of tanks, trees, hills...

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Yeah, it's just easier to work in your own home. A home model railroad is a lot less logistical nightmare than trying to take a portable around to malls too.

For that matter, I remember trip after trip from the Coffman garage to the third floor with boxes of tanks, trees, hills...

Agreed about the modular layout - remember the 'portable' down the club? I had looked at redoing my layout as a modular one, but there was no demand - there are no more mall shows like the ones we used to do. No show, no portable.

The garage is gone, by the way; it got taken over by the bookstore. Our old route is gone, too, and I (for one) am not heartbroken. This, our readers, was back before the days of affordable carts to move things with, and so any large game had to have a caravan of bearers to meet you at your over-stuff car and carry everything up. If you were really lucky, the elevator would be a) working, and b) unlocked. This, I suspect, is why we settled in for those long afternoons of gaming - once we were in, we really didn't feel like hauling it all out again! Opening the windows and standing out on the terrace with a net was not an option, although we did think of it on a number of occasions...

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

From AsenRG:
Expert knowledge might help betting. Who knew?

She's written a book on the subject, and can recite the heritage of any race horse back to the turn of the last century. She factors in weather, track surface and conditions, the jockeys, and everything else. The Allies went into Normandy with less information then she has at her fingertips, and when she gets out to the track it's hysterically funny to watch all the grizzled old experts shut up and try to look over her shoulder. The Derby went well for her today, and she's showing a very clear profit this evening.

My respect for your wife only grows, Uncle. And she'd make a terrifying spymistress!

For some reason, this reminds me of going to a kick-boxing match with a friend who has been good enough to be the sparring partner of the Republican champion at the time. He would look at the fighters approaching the ring and predict which one would win. I had learned to do the same, for a while, but I was still lucky there was no betting involved.

...a doggie, I guess?
\Nope; Gertie, the Great Golden Dragon, and terror of Blackmoor for decades. That lump of clay terrified us, let me tell you!

Ah, Gertie, the figure of the Great Golden Dragon?
Uh, weren't you on her side?

BTW, if you didn't have the skill, how did Phil proceed?
Also, I assume you can deflect dying blows? Or are they autosuccesful?

He'd have you roll percentile dice, with the roll being under whatever stat seemed the most applicable.

Excellent!

And fun fact of RPG trivia: that structure is present in Unknown Armies 2, down to the percentile dice.
(Checks are minor, significant and major, depending on how hard the task is. Minor ones succeed if you have the skill at a minumum level; significant let you roll under the stat. Major ones, like combat or magic use, require you to roll under the skill, which can at best meet the stat level).

And yes, and no; dying blows were rolled for just like regular ones; they just had more panache.

Makes sense. And makes fighting so much fun...

(Which reminds me of the same game - Unknown Armies actually begins its combat chapter by "Six Ways To Avoid A Fight". And then proceeds to give you a very lethal combat chapter. I think Phil, and your group in general, would have approved).

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed. It's a job, and not very fun one at that. The worst part, for me, was the scarcity of provisions; we'd have been better off sending out foragers to the local farms.

...which brings us to the next question. When you do foraging on a Tsolyani campaign, what happens?
A) Inside Tsolyanu, is it even necessary? Or would you get food in exchange for "Clan favour"?
B) Outside The Empire, how would you go about procuring supplies for the men and Chlen? How about the Tsolei Isles? Pechano?

Originally Posted by Hermes Serpent

Having done games at Cold Wars, Historicon and Fall in on the East Coast for quite a few years in the early 2000's I can sympathise with the 'hauling scenery' thing. I had everything in plastic tubs and used a flatbed hand cart to drag all the stuff about too. The water stands always seemed to run out without replenishment at least once a day every day for four days. The food at The Lancaster Host was never of the best quality but decent woul have been nice. I do remember people on occasion getting food poisoning from the often overpriced concessions. I do however have fond memories of Lapp's Amish Restaurant and the breakfasts there. Alas long gone now with another hotel scheduled to be built on the site.

Now at least I don't do all the wargaming cons back in the UK or I'd be spending many weekends dealing with overcrowded roads and indifferent accommodation. At least for Games Expo I get to stay in the Hilton Metropole at the National Exhibition Centre and can take the game material down to the room where I'm running my games very easily. The trade hall this year is in one of the centres main halls a large area by usual UK con standards.

Heh, I've never been to an Amish restaurant. Now I'm trying to picture what's different to a regular one.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed about the modular layout - remember the 'portable' down the club? I had looked at redoing my layout as a modular one, but there was no demand - there are no more mall shows like the ones we used to do. No show, no portable.

The garage is gone, by the way; it got taken over by the bookstore. Our old route is gone, too, and I (for one) am not heartbroken. This, our readers, was back before the days of affordable carts to move things with, and so any large game had to have a caravan of bearers to meet you at your over-stuff car and carry everything up. If you were really lucky, the elevator would be a) working, and b) unlocked. This, I suspect, is why we settled in for those long afternoons of gaming - once we were in, we really didn't feel like hauling it all out again! Opening the windows and standing out on the terrace with a net was not an option, although we did think of it on a number of occasions...

Heck, I don't even think plastic tubs had been invented yet, so was battered cardboard boxes and a train of bearers. HUGGA bugga HUGGA bugga....

Originally Posted by Hermes Serpent

Having done games at Cold Wars, Historicon and Fall in on the East Coast for quite a few years in the early 2000's I can sympathise with the 'hauling scenery' thing. I had everything in plastic tubs and used a flatbed hand cart to drag all the stuff about too. The water stands always seemed to run out without replenishment at least once a day every day for four days. The food at The Lancaster Host was never of the best quality but decent woul have been nice. I do remember people on occasion getting food poisoning from the often overpriced concessions. I do however have fond memories of Lapp's Amish Restaurant and the breakfasts there. Alas long gone now with another hotel scheduled to be built on the site.

Now at least I don't do all the wargaming cons back in the UK or I'd be spending many weekends dealing with overcrowded roads and indifferent accommodation. At least for Games Expo I get to stay in the Hilton Metropole at the National Exhibition Centre and can take the game material down to the room where I'm running my games very easily. The trade hall this year is in one of the centres main halls a large area by usual UK con standards.

Agreed!!! I used to hear all of the stories from the HMGS East shows, and it really put me off going.

And having driven in the UK - my model railway club is in Wakefield, and we have friends in Wiltshire - I know exactly what you mean. Getting from Minety to Toddington to visit the Glos and Warwicks stam railway was, without a doubt, the most terrifying thing I have ever done in my life. The uphill blind curve leading to the car park at Belas Knap was my undoing; I still get the shakes at the thought of finding the car park was full of people as I rounded the turn. On the other hand, the Missus asking me on the return trip - we went by a different route - why the road was suddenly straight as an arrow for miles was worth the terror; I told her to look at the note on the map for the A-419 (I think), and the look on her face when she realized we were going home via the 'Roman Road' was priceless...

Originally Posted by AsenRG

My respect for your wife only grows, Uncle. And she'd make a terrifying spymistress!

Ah, Gertie, the figure of the Great Golden Dragon?
Uh, weren't you on her side?

...which brings us to the next question. When you do foraging on a Tsolyani campaign, what happens?
A) Inside Tsolyanu, is it even necessary? Or would you get food in exchange for "Clan favour"?
B) Outside The Empire, how would you go about procuring supplies for the men and Chlen? How about the Tsolei Isles? Pechano?

She makes Walsingham look like an amateur, she does. She does the research, and thinks before she does.

Yep. Very, very lucky dice roll by Yours Truly, otherwise we'd all have been charcoal.

Ah, the subject of foraging. I've gotten to be an expert, on this...

a) Inside the central empire, it's usually pretty easy; you pay for what you get, either in writs or favors - however, once the local surpluses are eaten out, then it's hard cash; and after that, you're out of luck. Normally, a garrison relies on the local suppliers, just like anybody else, but troops in transit can eat out a locale in no time flat. So, you keep moving, and head to the next town wher you can get supplies. One has to keep the troops very firmly in line, as their natural tendancy to 'help themselves' will land the legion - and the supply officer! - in a lot of very hot water with the locals. The farmer will complain to the fief-holder, the fief-holder to the governor, the governor to Bey Su, Bey Su to Avanthar, and Avanthar to you.

b) 'Civlized' places like Pechano are like the Imperium, but you pay for what you get - usually at inflated prices, too. Isolated spots like the Tsolei Isles are a big problem, as they don't have enough of a local infrastructure to deal with large bodies of hungry troops, so you pay through the nose and starve after a couple of weeks. The absolute worst is Milumaniya, where there is nothing locally, and the locals are quite hostile. So, you live off your carts, carry your own fodder and water, and become very road-bound and very slow-moving. Which, in turn, means that you spend a lot of time and energy keeping the locals away from your carts, where the sack of grain represent - to them - vast wealth. And, that, of course, is why Phil did it that way - all this leads to adventures and fights of various sizes - 'locate the lost supply column', anyone? - which is the whole purpose for having the game / campaign in the first place.

Me, being a good staff officer, always made sure that we had a month's worth of rations on the carts, and hopefully a week's wort of fodder. The problem is that after a while, you wind up having the chlen eating all the cargo capacity of the carts in the supply train, so you want to have as much good grazing available as possible. Which, of course, gets us back to the adventures - guarding the baggage and supply train was always the absolute fastest way to get into trouble there ever was in Phil's campaign. Second fastest way was going out with a foraging party to see where the nearest well was.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Heck, I don't even think plastic tubs had been invented yet, so was battered cardboard boxes and a train of bearers. HUGGA bugga HUGGA bugga....

No, they hadn't, Bwana / Sahib, which is why we always looked like the explorers in "Source of the Nile" before we even played the game. And a diabolical little game it was, too...