gamestorm2003

====== GameStorm 2003 Convention ======

http://www.pdxgames.com

I was there Sat and Sun. Overall I was impressed. The organizers did a great job. There was a good mix of games, discussions, presentations, and vendors. The Portland/Seatle area has a large group of fun, talented, enthusiatic gamers. $30(late fee) well spent.

Had a blast in Jim Dickinson’s discworldesque Fudge Game, http://www.pdxgames.com/events.php#54|“Beneath the City of Thralls” Have a look at his http://www.castlegk.com/BCOT/Default.htm|website for info on this adventure and a bunch of other neat stuff he’s created. It was my first time playing with http://www.evilhat.com/projects/fudge/fate/|FATE. Got me more interested in that Fudge variant than just reading the FATE rules had. I liked how aspects helped “define” the characters and really encouraged role-playing. I also liked the “weaker” Fudge Points and how they were expended to cast spells. I thought it was too easy for the players to avoid anything bad happening. Also, didn’t much care for how players and NPC’s would get into ‘bidding’ wars, ticking off aspects until one of them ran out. When I get to use FATE Aspects as a GM I’ll limit the players to using one box from each Aspect (or group of similar Aspects) and one Fudge point per “action”.

Jim D. used Jim Pacek’s http://homepage.mac.com/wilmanric/ip/|“Fudge/Fate cards”. Which are really neat. He has created several different card sets. For a few dollars Jim will email you a PDF. I bought some card stock yesterday and just ordered a couple decks from Jim’s site. I can’t wait to give them a go.

Unfortunately, I missed out on Rodney Barnes’ Force 10 Fudge Sci-Fi as it was co-scheduled with Jim’s game. The scuttlebutt in the barracks says there was much carnage and none too little bug ass kicking.

I was treated to a little more FATE experience in an unscheduled event run by Jim Pacek. We ran out of time before we could play it all out which was too bad as I was having a great time. Jim, provided a thrilling narrative of how our characters saved the poor little desert children. Much nicer than just leaving the adventure unfinished.

I GM’d a short Fudge Fantasy adventure, Grey Ghost Game’s http://www.fudgerpg.com/fudge/mess.html|“Another Fine Mess”. I was blessed with a great group of Role-players. Although, I could have done a better on a couple of points everyone seemed to enjoy it. Several people new to Fudge claimed to liked the system. I gave them copies of http://www.fudgerpg.com/fudge/FudgeNutshell.pdf|“Fudge in a Nutshell” (2 page rules) and pointed them to various online resources. I was also able to pass out a few nice prizes:
http://fudgerpg.com/products.html#dicepackages1|“Fudge Dice”
http://www.fudgerpg.com/fudge/#expanded|“Fudge Expanded Ed”
http://www.fudgerpg.com/gtcrasher/bioe.html|“Believe it or Else!”
several copies of http://www.fudgerpg.com/fudge/mess.html|“Another Fine Mess”
All graciously donated by http://www.fudgerpg.com/|“Grey Ghost Press”.

To fill some time I played a game of SJG’s Star Munchkin. I won and that qualified me for the “final” in which I crushed my opponent :) and won a copy of the game. Beginer’s luck yipee! Other Phat Lootz :) I snagged are a copy of GM http://www.rpgrealms.com/GRIP/whatis.html|GRIP from playing in Jim’s game and Forge Out of Chaos(TM) donated by http://www.basementgames.com/|“Basement Games Unlimited”, given to me cause I volunteered to be a GM.

At midnight I saw an indie film, “The Gamers” from http://www.deadgentlemen.com/|“Dead Gentlemen Productions”. It was hilarious, I give it a two tenticles up review. Go to their site to get a trailer that does not do the movie justice. There’s a VHS availble right now. But, the producers who were at GameStormto answer questions mentioned that they are working on a DVD. So, that’s what I’m asking http://fullyevolved.com/thinc/pages/santa/santa1.html|Natas to send me this http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/seasons.html|“Winter’s Solstice”.

Cool Vendor of the Con award goes to http://threadimpressions.com/|“Thread Impressions”. Who will embroider one of a gabazillon different designs or your custom logo onto shirts, hats, whatever for a lot less than I expected.

Don’t think I’ll make it next year (650mi is too dang far on a portlandtrip|motocycle). Hopefully Fudge will continue to have a strong representation at Game Storm.

Thanks to the people who played in my game and also Alan C., Jim D., Jim P., Rodney B., Ann D., Grey Ghost Games, Steve Jackson Games, OSFCI, finally and especially all the volunteers that made GameStorm 2003 possible.