Post by Pistolwhip on May 3, 2020 20:51:13 GMT
Hey all, I'm home I'm board, tell me a story. What is your favorite GenCon memory? Specifically Sparks related. If this one proves popular I'll start a second no Sparks memory thread. I'll go first.
During GenCon 2015 when I ran the interactive I had several judges during marshaling declare their table was for high level players. Seeing the potential issues I quickly decided to declare my event newbie friendly. This is the rear we did Empire Strikes Back: Hoth. (Empire Strikes Back: Cloud City would follow the next year) To say a I put in a lot of planning for my table was an understatement; I had maps, props, stat blocks, secret letters. Oh it was going to be great. Then a third of my table was children, like 9-10 year olds playing with their dads. In addition there was Andy and Vicki Hammock. I won't lie, my heart sank. I couldn't expect kids to get the nuance I had planed. Oh no!
How wrong I was!
The event started with giving each person a secret letter with their personal mission. Those familiar with Paranoia should see the similarities. Little did they know each player got a variation of the same letter. You are so-and-so from secret Imperial organization (ISB, Ubictorate, Imperial News Agency, Expergium, etc.) and have taken their real players place in the mission. Play as normal but get the artifact located in a cave on Hoth. Would you know it, command sent all the players to go get an artifact from a cave on Hoth. Amazing how these things work out. The little girl pulls me a side and asks how she would have been taken out. I say something about being jumped in the bathroom and that works for her. She turned out to be an excellent roleplayer. I was shocked at how assertive she cold be playing with adults. Hr dad had done an excellent job of raising a gamer. The plot moved along, they got attacked by wolves, trying to eat their tuntuns and they make it to the cave, which was really a buried Rakata taraforming ship. All sorts of mutated monsters attacked them and as fate would have it the Imperials, notice an energy signature and bombard the cave trapping them inside. As things get more tense I'm being passed hidden notes as the players plot to make their move. They find the artifact and I pull out this odd book like thing I got in thrift ship. It looked like a book and had a latch and make of fake leather, also it was real beat up giving it the artifact look. I dump it on the table and the players look at it and then at me. "Unlock the book" I say mater of factly. A couple players take turns looking for how to open it and one eventually figures it out and finds a note inside. The note says "you have touched the artifact and feel yourself starting to turn into a Rakkata." This gets me an odd stare and then they place it back. "Whats it say" someone asked of course, they just pass the book and note to the next player who reads it, smirks and puts it back. About half the table falls for this before players get suspicious and stop touching it. On the way out some of the imps make their move, declare heir allegiance to the empire and start shooting. The other half, also imps undercover I should remind you, fight back by maintaining their cover. Half the players kill the other half or send them running. meanwhile the monsters have figured out a way off the ship and the Hoth ecosystem is doomed unless they take action. those that are left fight a folding action at the reactor as they cause the ship to blow. In the act they fire off their guns the reactor explodes and the party TPKs. it was great. Somewhere on other rebel assignments the real players go about their business having no clue what had happened in their name. Best table I ever ran.
During GenCon 2015 when I ran the interactive I had several judges during marshaling declare their table was for high level players. Seeing the potential issues I quickly decided to declare my event newbie friendly. This is the rear we did Empire Strikes Back: Hoth. (Empire Strikes Back: Cloud City would follow the next year) To say a I put in a lot of planning for my table was an understatement; I had maps, props, stat blocks, secret letters. Oh it was going to be great. Then a third of my table was children, like 9-10 year olds playing with their dads. In addition there was Andy and Vicki Hammock. I won't lie, my heart sank. I couldn't expect kids to get the nuance I had planed. Oh no!
How wrong I was!
The event started with giving each person a secret letter with their personal mission. Those familiar with Paranoia should see the similarities. Little did they know each player got a variation of the same letter. You are so-and-so from secret Imperial organization (ISB, Ubictorate, Imperial News Agency, Expergium, etc.) and have taken their real players place in the mission. Play as normal but get the artifact located in a cave on Hoth. Would you know it, command sent all the players to go get an artifact from a cave on Hoth. Amazing how these things work out. The little girl pulls me a side and asks how she would have been taken out. I say something about being jumped in the bathroom and that works for her. She turned out to be an excellent roleplayer. I was shocked at how assertive she cold be playing with adults. Hr dad had done an excellent job of raising a gamer. The plot moved along, they got attacked by wolves, trying to eat their tuntuns and they make it to the cave, which was really a buried Rakata taraforming ship. All sorts of mutated monsters attacked them and as fate would have it the Imperials, notice an energy signature and bombard the cave trapping them inside. As things get more tense I'm being passed hidden notes as the players plot to make their move. They find the artifact and I pull out this odd book like thing I got in thrift ship. It looked like a book and had a latch and make of fake leather, also it was real beat up giving it the artifact look. I dump it on the table and the players look at it and then at me. "Unlock the book" I say mater of factly. A couple players take turns looking for how to open it and one eventually figures it out and finds a note inside. The note says "you have touched the artifact and feel yourself starting to turn into a Rakkata." This gets me an odd stare and then they place it back. "Whats it say" someone asked of course, they just pass the book and note to the next player who reads it, smirks and puts it back. About half the table falls for this before players get suspicious and stop touching it. On the way out some of the imps make their move, declare heir allegiance to the empire and start shooting. The other half, also imps undercover I should remind you, fight back by maintaining their cover. Half the players kill the other half or send them running. meanwhile the monsters have figured out a way off the ship and the Hoth ecosystem is doomed unless they take action. those that are left fight a folding action at the reactor as they cause the ship to blow. In the act they fire off their guns the reactor explodes and the party TPKs. it was great. Somewhere on other rebel assignments the real players go about their business having no clue what had happened in their name. Best table I ever ran.