Decided that I better start writing up the reports on the weekend that was at CanGames 2010. These reports aren't going to be as detailed as I might normally write them, 'cause I was pretty under the weather with the bowel problems and all (although that may be resolving now due to the doctor's taking me off one of the meds I was on), and to be honest, I didn't take the heaping load of notes on stuff that I normally do. In any event, this first day of the con report goes behind a cut...
Friday, May 21st
I was fortunate in that I didn't have to work the entire morning today, so was up at the usual time and went to work. Got back to the house around 10:00 am or so and started to do the final packing of the stuff to take to the convention for the gaming purpose, but unfortunately spent a modicum of time on the loo dealing with ramifications of the medication. Also felt the coming on of a sore throat (possibly part of the allergies), and realized this could wreak havoc with the games, especially on Sunday when I had to...ah, but that's getting ahead of myself. :)
In any event,
For some reason,
While I went to the loo,
By this time it was around 4:30 pm or so. I wandered around the convention facility a bit with
I went to the assigned gaming table on the intermediate level of the curling club venue, and got hit with the major *layer* of humidity up there, and the smell of food from the cafeteria area. It was going to be a sweaty, stick-to-your-skin evening of gaming. The final spot for the DW: AiTaS game was quickly filled, so I had a full table for the running of the first of the two scenarios, "Keeping the Peace". The game itself went very well, I thought, even though it had some unexpected moments. The six players were taking on the role of a small United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) group in Jerusalem, 1997, during the changeover in power to the minority Palestinian government. The player characters for the game were Captain Michel Laflamme (the patriotic leader of the group with an intense loyalty to UNIT and his mission in the city), Sergeant Rebecca Eisenberg (the sabra second-in-command of the team, with an interest in archaeology), Captain (Doctor) Helen Karlsson (a doctor who signed up with UNIT, who takes her Hippocratic oath seriously), Corporal Robert Faruq (a devoted family man and people expert who knows naught of technology), Corporal Kenji Hotaru (a technican specializing in electronics), and Corporal Frederick Schulte (a neo-Nazi chemical engineer). It was great having two female players at the table to take on the roles of Dr. Helen and Sgt. Eisenberg. After I went through the rules for the game with them, the players were quite surprised at how simple and workable the rules were, although the concept of Story Points eluded them a bit until they got some experience in the game system under their belts. The six players at the table really got into the roles that they were given, and the conflict in the UNIT party itself was something to behold, especially given the mirror-like aspects of their own conflicts somewhat reflecting the powder keg situation in Jerusalem itself. When one added the discovery of the alien artefact, the various factions in the city that wanted the artefact, and the arrival of the hostile aliens once the second artefact showed up, it added up to a really great scenario. The revelation of the arriving aliens being classic Sontarans was reflected in the reactions of the player characters, and there was some terrific stuff in the second half of the adventure. The first half of the adventure was pretty much the player characters having to protect the dig site from all the factions, and the final third of the adventure was the action/combat scenes that one expects when UNIT is around, but without a Time Lord to help them deal with the aliens. The players loved the Talkers/Runners/Doers/Fighters combat Initiative sequence (I was tempted to alter it somewhat for the scenario, but had found that didn't work in the playtests), and the scenario ended on a high when Robert Faruq, aided by two of his companions, was able to destroy the Sontarans and shut down the temporal portal at the cost of his own life. Brilliant stuff! :)
Some of the highlights of the game that stand out in my mind involve Captain Laflamme engaging in a blustering argument with the three religious leaders of Jerusalem and the dig archaeologists over the disposition of the artefact, and being told that UNIT was going to have to protect it from all sides. He was even more irritated when the Brigadier, Bambera, assigned him and his team to protect it. Laflamme's player also did a good job first verbally sparring with the leader of the Palestinian police and then calming him down to get him to work with the UNIT personnel to prevent any violent outbreaks at the dig site. The dislike and sheer malevolence towards each other on the part of Sgt. Eisenberg (the Jewish sabra) and Cpl. Schulte (the card carrying neo-Nazi) was palpable, and there was some great roleplay (and lots of Story Points given out!) between them. Schulte insulting and rejecting Dr. Karlsson because of her being Swedish was taken out on him by a *very* thorough physical when Laflamme thought that he might be under the alien influence, and Dr. Helen's player had Schulte's player squirming; heck, some of the other players looked...uncomfortable. The relationship between the two technical types, Cpl. Kenji Hotaru and Cpl. Schulte, was also very nicely played by the two players, and they teamed up for some good task resolution as the adventure progressed. I also was taken by surprise when Captain Laflamme tried to take on the Sontaran commander in single combat, only to try and blow his head away with his weapon (thank Goddess for Story Points!). The final sequence, where Faruq sacrificed his life to save them all from the Sontarans, was wonderfully played by the players, and had the lovely pathos and tragedy that such a sequence would have in Doctor Who. The group was devastated by his loss afterwards, but soldiered on and kept order in the aftermath of the repulsion of the Sontaran invasion.
In the meantime,
So there you have it, the Friday at CanGames. Hope folks enjoyed the read. Saturday will be covered in one of the next posts.