(Kickstarter) Battlelords: The Shipping Kickstarter

Early on for Kickstarter, I saw a lot more non-preorder gaming crowdfunding.  Whether it was a coffee shop/gaming hangout in Durango, or some money for a chess club in Rochester to travel to a tournament, Kickstarter can be more than just getting new products out the door.  

While I originally looked at this one with furrowed brow, Battlelords; The Shipping Kickstarter hits all the heartstrings that I'm talking about. 

Good News: 23rd Century Productions is out of Battlelords of the 23rd Century books in North America! 

Bad News:  The next printing would be so expensive, they'll need to split it up into three books. 

Short-Term Good News: Their warehouse in the UK has a boatload of product.  

Short-Term Bad News:  Have you tried to ship anything from the UK recently?  Have you tried to receive anything international to the US in the last few months?  

So they're offering a few books, such as the Battelords Core Rules, Uncle Ernie's, and even an Everything option, and you will receive the Fully Armored book (a $50 value) absolutely free. 

Due to quantity, this Kickstarter is restricted to the first 150 pledges.

And... considering it's a Kickstarter to pay for bulk shipping, it's a good time to add that shipping will be calculated at the end of the Kickstarter and added to your pledge.

#RPGaDay2024 - Day 15 - RPGs with Great Character Gear

 Day 15 of #RPGaDay2024 makes us break out the games with swag, "RPGs with Great Character Gear."  

I have ranted and raved for years that my favorite convention of all time was the second one I ever attended, Lehicon IV, 1991.  It was simply a combination of a number factors, each individually would make a great con, but together made things the gold standard I strive in vain to find today.  

One of those factors was Battlelords of the 23rd Century.  

Hiding in a back room off of the massive ballrooms, I was a passive plyer in an adventure run by the game's designer, Larry Sims, letting the combat machines do their awesome combat things, only revealing at the end of the mission that my Zen Rigeln healer was, in fact, a Tza Zen Rigeln anti-healer, as I kneeled beside a dying Ram Python, and promptly high-fived him in the face with my mystical anti-healing powers.  

I was hooked, and while Battlelords always popped up to play in home mini-campaigns and conventions, I always enjoyed getting and reading the books.  

Years ago, someone kindly broke it to me that Battlelords is the best example of D&D in space. All the tropes were there, plain as day, except for the addition of starships and pulse weapons.  Magic is replaced by some psychic abilities, but in reality, it's accomplished through gear.  

For a better perspective think combat runs in Shadowrun, but those are the equivalent of no-contact scouting missions.  

Playing Battlelords without worrying about gear is like playing Car Wars without paging through an Uncle Al's catalog.    There's always something bigger, something your character dreams about saving enough credits to buy.  

Nowadays, Battleords of the 23rd Century is under the care of 23rd Century Productions, and they've even got a Savage World version, for heathens who don't want that much crunch and simplified gear modifiers. 

(Kickstarter) Savage Battlelords - Reprint Campaign by 23rd Century Productions

If I wanted an episode of "You know grinds my gears"  it's smaller companies running multiple Kickstarters for multiple printings, or worse yet, multiple editions when they hold print runs close to the vest and they print barely over Kickstarter demand and have no capital for a 2nd printing.

The  Savage Battlelords - Reprint Campaign by 23rd Century Productions is not one of these.  As the Kickstarter states, the Carnage Companion (CC) and Alliance Setting Guide (ASG) are getting a 2nd printing regardless of whether this Kickstarter succeeds, but the crowdsourcing allows pledges to get these book under retail.  The initial Core Rulebook for Battlelords of the 23rd Century for Savage Worlds is also available to order, and a 2nd printing is planned, but the publisher expects to provide 1st printing books during fulfillment.  

(Kickstarter) Uncle Ernie's Summer Catalog by 23rd Century Productions

 Somehow I missed the launch of the Uncle Ernie's Summer Catalog for the latest edition of Battlelords of the 23rd Century 

Uncle Ernie's has been the the quintessential monster/creature collection for just about every previous iteration of Battlelords, and this one looks to be no different.   This book contains more than 35 illustrated monsters with Battleords AND Savage Worlds stats.  

Stretch goals at this time are only battle maps, and the add-ons include print OR PDF versions of the classic books, as well as Savage Worlds versions.  Physical copies do NOT come with a pdf. 

(Kickstarter) Savage Battlelords by 23rd Century Productions

 In my youth, I was enamored with the crunch-heavy Battlelords of the 23rd Century.  

Decades later, as I've encountered middle-age and fatherhood, I've embraced the nuance elegance which is Savage Worlds.  

I'm conflicted whether to be disgusted or mindlessly fanatical over the Kickstarter presence of Savage Battlelords as a thing.

Consolidating the weapons and systems data in SW makes the setting loose a little of its flavor, but there is a twisted part of me that just wants to add an Eridani or a Ram Python in a pulp game and let them have a go at it.  

(Kickstarter) Fully Armored: Gear Manual for Battlelords of the 23rd Century

 Battlelords of the 23rd Century is that niche RPG that fits the niche sci-fi stat crunch gamer perfectly.  And while I'm not the perfect demographic for that game (anymore), my ears perk up when a Kickstarter uses the term "Gear Manual"

Fully Armored: The Battlelords Gear Manual appear to fill the beloved slot of the previous editions' Lock-n-Load.  Gear, gear, gear, followed by guns, guns, and a few more guns.

This Kickstarter is another opportunity to get the latest edition of Battlelords, as well as all the current books and swag.

Another Month of Games (Apr '21)

It's a bright day for Gaming with the Gnomies.  After months of barely anything catching my eye in Alliance Game Distributor's monthly Game Trade Magazine, there are a number of items in this month's issue that call out to me.... to buy a lottery ticket and hit it big.  

Issue #254 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at your FLGS or online here. 

ViscountEric's Want List

Nothing

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want Last

23rd Century Games

Battlelords: Charlie Foxtrot .........................................................$40.00

There's a special place in my heart for Battlelords of the 23rd Century, ever since my introduction to the game by Larry Sims himself at Lehicon IV.

Chaosium

Call of Cthulhu: Horror on the Orient Express .......................... $89.99

A reformatted version of the behemoth of a project that nearly tanked Chaosium.  Still huge at over 700 pages.

Gale Force Nine

Aliens: Alien Queen ................................. $15.00

Aliens: Alien Warriors .............................. $25.00

Aliens: Heroes of Hadley's Hope .............. $25.00

Aliens: Sulaco Survivors ........................... $15.00

I have a nostalgia for homebrewed Aliens games using Legions of Steel tiles and the Leading Edge miniatures boxed set.  Those are long gone, but these prices are comparable to and sculpts superior t figures from 25 years ago.  

Palladium Games

After the Bomb RPG HC ............................ $36.99

I'll post the deluge of Palladium books going hardcover in the Imaginary Store section, but this one speaks out to me.  A little TMNT or Radioactive Blackbelt Hamster action with the clunky Palladium system is something that pulls at my heartstrings and wallet, which is what I expect Palladium planned all along.

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

Arc Dream Publishing

Delta Green: Black Sites ......................................................... $44.99

Delta Green:  Static Protocol ................................................... $19.99

Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes ...................................... $64.99

Beadle and Grimm's

Pathfinder RPG: Complete Chronicles HC .................................... $40.00 each.

Combination rulebook and journal for Pathfinder characters classes.  Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard.

Bellweather Games

Lions of Lydia ............................................................................ $39.99

Black Armada

Last Fleet RPG ........................................................................... $35.00

Last Fleet RPG Deluxe Edition .................................................. $50.00

Last Fleet is a tabletop roleplaying game where you play courageous pilots, officers, engineers, politicians and journalists struggling to hold the human race and themselves together under unbelievable pressure.

Cephalofair Games

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion Removable Sticker Set and Map .......... $8.50

Gloomhaven: The Black Barrow Puzzle (1000 piece) ........................... $19.99

Chaosium

Runequest:  The Red Book of Magic ......................................... $34.95

Cubicle 7

Warhammer - Age of Sigmar - Soulbound RPG: Champions of Order .............. $39.99

Warhammer 40K - Wrath and Glory RPG: Foresaken System Player's Guide ...... $39.99

Global Games

Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG 4th Edition:  Adventures .......................................... $14.95

Goodman Games

DCC: Chaotic Wizard Glow Dice ........................................... $34.99

DCC: Lawful Wizard Glow Dice ............................................. $34.99

DCC:  Neutral Wizard Glow Dice ........................................... $34.99]

DCC: Demon Skull Re-Issue Kickstarter Edition ................... $69.99

DCC: Original Adventures Reincarnated #6 - The Temple of Elemental Evil ........ $99.99

I know I have a category called "ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List" and I know the original T1-4 took up our entire summer back in high school, and it is a two hardcover slipcase, but a hundred bucks for something that's pretty low on my to-play-again list is pretty steep.  Plus, if I did run it, I would destroy those books just from general use.

Kobold Press

Deep Magic (Pocket Edition) 5E ............................................ $24.99

Kobold Guide to Monsters ...................................................... $19.99

Legendary Games

The Dragon's Hoard (5E) #1 .................................................... $12.99

The Dragon's Hoard (5E) #2 .................................................... $11.99

Epic Treasures ...........................................................................$13.99

Legendary Planet: Mind Tyrants of the Merciless Moons (Starfinder) ...... $24.99

Legendary Planet: Player's Guide .............................................$14.99

Legendary Planet: To Kill a Star .............................................. $34.99

Mythos Monsters ...................................................................... $19.99

Plant Symbionts (Starfinder) .................................................... $10.99

Power Armor (5e) ....................................................................  $13.99

Treasury of the Crusade (Pathfinder2) ...................................... $10.99

Treasury of Winter (Pathfinder2) ...............................................$11.99

When it's a third-party publisher, releasing books for Pathfinder, Starfinder, and 5e, I love the prices, but I predict shelf confusion and lost sales at brick and mortars, due to the sheer volume of books

Loke Battle Maps 

Box of Adventure: Valley of Peril ................................................ $32.00

Mongoose Publishing

Traveller RPG: Aliens of Charted Space - Volume 1 .................... $59.99

Traveller RPG: Aliens of Charted Space - Volume 2 .................... $59.99

Traveller RPG: Skandervik ...........................................................  $49.99

Monte Cook Games

Arcana of the Ancients: Where the Machines Wait ....................... $29.99

Ptolus: - GM Screen ....................................................................... $17.99

Nerdburger Games

Good Strong Hands RPG ....................................................... $39.99

Onyx Path Publishing

Contagion Chronicles ............................................................ $50.00

Pirates of Pugmire ................................................................. $45.00

Pirates of Pugmire - Screen ................................................... $20.00

Scarred Lands: Creature Collection (5e) ............................... $50.00

They Came from Beneath the Sea RPG ................................ $50.00

They Came from Beneath the Sea RPG - Screen .................. $20.00

Osprey Publishing

Absolute Emperor .................................................... $20.00

Jackals RPG: The Fall of the Children of Bronze. ... $35.00

Oathmark: Bane of Kings ......................................... $30.00

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder: AP - Fists of the Ruby Phoenix 3 - King of the Mountain ............. $24.99

Pathfinder: Flip-Mat Classics - Museum  .......................... $14.99

Pathfinder: Pawns - Abomination Vaults  .......................... $19.99

Pathfinder: Lost Omens - The Mwangi Expanse HC ......... $49.99

Starfinder: AP - Horizons of the Vast 1 - Planetfall ........... $22.99

Starfinder - Flip Tiles - Space Station Docking Bay Exp.... $19.99

Palladium Books

Beyond the Supernatural HC ...................................... $36.99

Dead Reign RPG HC .................................................. $36.99

Heroes Unlimited RPG HC ........................................ $36.99

Nightbane RPG HC .................................................... $36.99

Ninjas and Superspies RPG HC ................................. $34.99

Palladium Fantasy HC ............................................... $39.99

Rifts: Anniversary Commemorative Ed HC ............. $49.99

Rifts: Book of Magic HC .......................................... $39.99

Rifts: Game Master Guide ........................................ $39.99

Rifts: Chaos Earth HC ............................................... $34.99

Rifts: Adventure Guide HC ....................................... $36.99

Rifts : Duty's Edge Novel .......................................... $12.99

Paradigm Concepts

Arcanis 5e: Children of the Scale ............................ $24.99

Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Savage Worlds: Deadlands -  The Weird West Core Rulebook ............. $39.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - The Weird West Boxed Set ...................... $99.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands -  The Weird West GM Screen & Adv ....... $19.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands -  The Weird West Pawns Boxed Set .......... $29.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - The Weird West Companion .................... $24.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - Horror at headstone Hill Boxed Set ......... $29.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - Lake Chronicles Solo Adventures ............ $24.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - Map of the Weird West ............................. $4.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - Map Pack 1 - Grand Saloon ...................... $14.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - Map Pack 2 - Boot Hill ............................. $14.99

Savage Worlds: Deadlands - The Weird West Action Deck ................... $19.99

Pokemon USA

Pokemon TCG: First Partner Packs 

Role 4 Initiative

Luxury Faux Leather Dice Box/Rolling Dice .................. $23.99

I promised myself that I wouldn't go on another dice rant this month, so I'll avoid mentioning most of the solicitations.    I don't have the same compunctions with dice accessories,

Steve Jackson Games

Munchkin Apocalypse - Kaiju ......................................... $9.95

Studio 9 

DCC: Welcome to Eastwood ............................................ $9.99

Wizkids

D&D Icons of the Realms: Kobold Warband .................... $44.99

See, back to 'Not the demographic.' A small painted kobold 'warband' for $45?  No way.

D&D Icons of the Realms: Premium Figures ..................... $7.99

Warlock Tiles - 1" Dungeon Angles and Curves ................ $79.99

Warlock Tiles - 1" Dungeon Straight Walls ........................ $79.99

Warlock Tiles - 1" Town & Village Angles and Curves ..... $79.99

Warlock Tiles - 1" Town & Village Straight Walls ............. $79.99

(Kickstarter) Charlie Foxtrot for Battlelords of the 23rd Century

After much hullabaloo, the new edition of the traditionally over the top and proud of it Battlelords of the 23rd Century is in the hands of those who pledged for it on Kickstarter, all 540 fabulous pages of carnage and crunch. 

In celebration of that, 23rd Century Productions has launched a second Kickstarter, Charlie Foxtrot, containing five one-shot adventures for the game.

Charlie Foxtrot will contain five one-shot adventures for Battlelords, including pre-generated characters. In addition, there are several short fiction stories to help flesh out the Battlelords' universe. It will also include a small planetary atlas detailing the worlds and locations where these adventures and stories take place. As a whole, Charlie Foxtrot fleshes out this little corner of the Battlelords' universe, creating a sandbox for you to play in... before you blow it up with your shenanigans.

If you missed out the latest edition of Battlelords, or just want more swag, numerous add-ons are available for the campaign. 

(Kickstarter) Battlelords of the 23rd Century 7th Edition

Another die-hard bunch of fans of the crunchy sci-fi RPG, Battlelords of the 23rd Century have joined forces to launch a Kickstarter for the 7th Edition of the rules.

Adding more races to core character options, and the eternal mission to edit and clean up a lovingly crunchy system seem to be priorities.

The pdf is available for $25 and the monster of a main book is $50 with S&H tacked on via the backerkit.

#RPGaDAY2015 Day #5: Most Recent RPG Purchase

The last RPG book of any sort that I've purchased has been Battlelords of the 23rd Century, 6th Edition.   The saddest thing?  It was back in March!

I've owned all but one of the editions since it was first released in 1990, but as I purged items from the collection, it was usually one of the first to go.  I've only played it three times ("BattleMastered" once, played twice), the last being a at least 17 years ago.

Why snag up a copy of BLot23C now? 

My on-again, off-again project is the Gnomish Space Marines RPG (GSM), a part humorous, but also part hard sci-fi game.   The early seedlings were based on TWERPS and the "Gnomish Space Marine" parody song out of a Dragon Magazine April Fool's Issue, but since then they've evolved into a more crunchy concept that Battlelords has in spades.   GSM needs deteriorating armor, auto-fire rules, cyborgs, and just the opportunity to slide a Ram Python into an encounter.

www.ssdc.com

RPGaDay #14 Best Convention Purchase

Here's a fun fact that I didn't realize until today's topic came up:  Almost all of my conventions purchases are either (a) card games (b) board games or (c) auction purchases that I mine for material and throw back into the auction a few cons later.

I can only recall buying two RPGs.   I snagged up Mouse Guard at a Mepacon a few years back.  We've only played one game of it, but I believe it was a great value (especially versus the current boxed set).  The other was Battlelords of the 23rd Century - 2nd Edition (1990)

I've discussed this before on my post about Lehicon IV, but I got commandeered into one of Larry Sims' games Saturday night at Lehicon, and I had no issue dropping twenty bucks for the softcover rulebook. 

Over the years I have played Battlelords a couple of times, and even ran it once.  I enjoy crunch in large doses, but the editing of every single edition of this game is so convoluted , that we would be looking up modifiers and various rules on a regular basis. 

Still, it had Eridanni Sword-Saints, Cizeraks (large sentient felines with weapons systems strapped to their back, Phentari (who loved the taste of human flesh), and the mascot of the game, the Ram Python.  The Ram Python's motto was "If it moves, kill it.  If it doesn't move, pick it up and kill it."  So much could be broken down to D&D in Space and the system was crunchier than a day-old cookie, but the book just evoked FUN, and usually that's the first thing we're looking for in a game.

I know they're working on another edition, and I know that the pdfs of the last edition are available at www.ssdc.com, but I got rid of this edition a loooong time ago, and I'd like to have it back. 

Time to scour e-bay...

RPGaDay #6 Favorite RPG Never Get To Play

Let's be honest here, it hasn't been the Golden of Age of Gaming (aka High School) for twenty-plus years.  I'm lucky if I can pull a half dozen sessions of any RPG, so this beggar can not be too choosy.

Of course the title "Favorite RPG Never Get to Play" is just vague enough that I'm going to leave two answers with different criteria. 

If I got the chance to play the RPG of my choosing, we'd be playing Talislanta. 

 

Funny thing is I have a complete set of pre-d20 Tal books, and the last time I played in the world was before d20's creation.   Tal was a happy interruption using the converted D&D characters from my college game while we were on Summer break.  It was a short but epic quest to find a way back to their world. 

 

The thing with Talislanta is that I would have to run the session, regardless of edition.  If I wanted to be a player, I would be demanding Battlelords of the 23rd Century. 

 

 

 

I'm due for a single session to keep me going for another decade.  It's that middle ground between Legions of Steel and Rifts, with a healthy dose of number crunching and player vs BM (BattleMaster) conflict that would be a welcome alternative to anything current. 

Do Not Be Alarmed, This is Only a Free Module

I was perusing the Legions of Steel forums, hoping for any sign of life beyond the word "hiatus," when this little tidbit came up.

Before Global Games introduced the world to LOS, they had gotten a license to make adventures for, of all things, Battlelords of the 23rd Century. Their first (and only) Battlelords product was "Don't Be Alarmed, 
This is Only a Test."    Battlelords current company, SSDC, now has it up on their website as a free pdf.


http://www.ssdc.com/files/battlelords/do_not_be_alarmed.pdf


Wow, there's so much crunch there, I think I broke some teeth!

Battlelords on Twitter

So, Battlelords of the 23rd Century has gone all Twitty, er... I mean Twitter. The Facebook game I had mentioned in Beta Testing? It's up and running on Twitter.

I fooled around with it on my viscounteric Twitter account (don't check it out, I haven't updated in months). It was enjoyable to remininsce about Ram Pythons again, but it's a Bot23C flavored version of Mafia/Vampire/Smurf/Sorority Wars.

I still have a downtown to clear in Zombie Lane and that involves visual gunfire!

http://twitter.com/bl23c

Battlelords 23C is on... Facebook?

I picture certain things for Battlelords of the 23rd Century. A game on Facebook and Twitter? Not so much. Yet that is what they're doing with it!



As of right now, they're going from Alpha to Beta versions of the game, so it is not active. My only question (in Battlelords-speak), is this a Mafia Wars-equivilant for your social media-equivilant. I would love a Zombie Lane version, where you can run around the board as a Ram Python, pick things up... kill them.

Battlelords is alive? Again?

The Ram Pyton: Not as Cute as Kitten

Recently in my post raving about how awesome Lehicon IV was, I brought up Battlelords of the 23rd Century (henceforth known as Battlelords...) It was an imperfect game for the perfect time in my life, with a hyperactive salesman as its spokesman.

To the naysayers, Battlelords was just fantasy races... in space... with big-ass guns... with the supposed coolness turned up to 11. And unlike the grumbling fans in the D&D/video game argument, I completely agree with those people. It COULD be like this. It could very well have played as a Barrier Peaks meets Traveller, but it doesn't.

It plays like Phoenix Command meets a high five of awesome to your face!

In the 23rd Century, megacorporations run everything, including military operations. Well, sometimes we call them "espionage" but we don't say that around the Ram Pythons.

Ram Pythons, gigantic reptilian muscle bound behemoths who could rip off a human's arms, carry around weaponry designed for tanks, and had the brain the size of a shrivelled pea. I'm working this off of memory, but the primary order a Ram Python could follow was "If it moves, kill it. If it doesn't move, pick it up and kill it!"

The main rulebook (one of 5 editions?) was chock full of cool races. Orion Rogues, Ram Pythons and their less violent (and stupid) cousins the Pythons, Eridani Swordsaints, Zen Rigelns, and of course the Phentari, a squid like race that were combat monsters, but would spend all their downtime figuring out how to cook the humans in the squad. They LOVED human flesh.

Of course, there is secondary reason for the continued love. Their first (only?) licensed product was a module... "Don't Be Alarmed, This is Only a Test," produced by a small Canadian company called Global Games, ergo, an indirect LOS tie-in.

The system was clunkier than an arena of clumsy people trying to clog dance. There were multiple levels and types of armor, skills, etc, and to be honest, although I ran two sessions back in the mid-90's I had no idea if I was doing the system justice. The players had a good time, but not using the system relegates the core book to a weapons and fluff book. Does one try GURPS with this? I just don't know.

Surprsingly, the game's still kicking around. There is a playtest group (in Vegas!) working on a less-wocky new edition. You can still get most of the product, and even better, you can get it in pdf.

It's not for everybody... just the kids who wanna be cool. Check it out at www.ssdc.com

(Nostalgia) Lehicon IV: The Gold Standard

It was the Spring of 1991, MC Hammer was all the rage, Aqua Net was eating holes in the atmosphere, and American troops were mobilized in Saudi Arabia, ready to take on the unconquerable Republican Guard. Worse yet, I was a Junior in High School. I had already attended my first convention (Lehicon III) at the Sheraton Hotel in Easton. I had a taste of convention AD&D, Axis and Allies, dealer rooms and the world outside my gaming group, and I wanted more.

Lehicon IV was a three-day convention at the George Washington Motor Lodge in Allentown, PA. It promised to be the biggest con ever in the area, and even today, everything else paled in comparision. Why?

First off, let's completely ignored the meat-and-potatoes of a con, D&D in some form or another.... they had

(1) Massive Star Fleet Battles tournaments rotating throughout the weekend with 30+ people just playing that, plus slots of Learn to Play SFB and follow-up New Captain tournaments.

(2) Multiple "giant" wargames run with 8+ players, multiple games per slot. the boards were probably 6x10, but with hundreds upon hundreds of Persians, it sure looked bigger.

(3) Battletech Arena - The "You-Kill-it-You-Keep-it" game on a massive 3-D board. Absolute cutting edge at the time, and never few than 12 players at the board all con long, with people rotating in and out all the time.

and that was just 2/3s of the FIRST ballroom. Most cons I've been to in the last ten years would kill for just that kind of attendance. Heck, I've gone to a lot of cons that didn't need that much space! There was just a pile of RPGs, a slew of mini games, hell I think Kingmaker was run each slot and I think they got players in all but one slot! Double Hell, I think someone ran Outdoor Survival to a full table!

With multiple ballrooms, side rooms, and bedrooms reserved for gaming, the three horsemen of Doritos, (Charles, Scott, and myself) grabbed a ride from one of our parents and headed to Allentown.

Friday:
Friday was our public GMing debut for both my buddy Scott and myself. I couldn't pass up running just one game and getting in for free. Contrary to people whining at registration desks about event ticket nowadays, $20 was a lot of money for a kid washing dishes for $3.25/hr.

I had decided to run Talislanta (2nd Edition). My "Crystle Dungeon" was short on plot, extremely Euro-centric for Talislanta, and just an opportunity to kill Darklings, and that was AFTER I playtested the scenario with my group.

I had three players, all kids younger than I was that never played before. It was short (2 1/2 hours) but lots of fun. The Darklings never stood a chance. I took my hour and a half of free time and hit the dealers area.

Scott had been sat at the table next to me to run Top Secret/S.I. - some sort of zany spy intrigue aboard a nuclear submarine adventure. He had a whole 2 players (our other friend Charles and some other guy). Details are sketchy, but I think Scott forgot all his notes, or the game went FUBAR early. He winged four-plus hours of the game, and it still is agruably, the best game he has ever GM'ed.

Saturday:
Saturday morning I jumped into the first round of a two round AD&D tourney module, not RPGA, just multi-rounds with players voting to see who got to play the second round. Trust me, it was all the go back in day. I was still geting my feet wet in the "how does everyone else play D&D" sense. I killed a few things, got nothing accomplished plot or character-wise, and I was told to check back to see who made it to round two that night. It was as boring as the details I just gave, but at 11am on a Saturday at Lehicon, I couldn't wait to see the results at dinner.

Saturday afternoon was a "How to Play Megatravller" event. We rolled up characters (yay, mine didn't die during creation!) and in the last hour we investigated some fallen ship stuck in a swamp. To this day, I still have no idea how mechanics work, but it was a good time.

Over the dinner break, they posted the qualifiers for the second round of the tourney. Woo-hoo, 1st Alternate! Again, not something I would even ponder playing nowadays, but I was in my glory!

With my Saturday evening opened up, I jumped into the De Bellis Antiquitatis Beginners Tourney. To the layman, DBA is a basic system for fighting ancients battles. Our tourney had Egyptians fighting Tibetans fighting Zulus fighting Romans fighting etc. Armies and playing space is very small and battles are very quick. Ten of us learned the rules and rotated between different battlefields and getting to play nine different armies. I had even bought brand new six-siders from Crazy Egor's to play.

Three hours later, I left the tourney posting an unbelievable record of 0-9. Yes, that's a zero, followed by a dash, followed by a nine. I couldn't make a roll if my opponent's Zulus had been bound, gagged, and suffering from heat stroke. Again, I did have a great time.

With a few hours left over I wandered about the con, seeing if there was anything to jump into.

I was jumped myself by a barrell chested man with no neck and a gigantic mouth who asked if I wanted to play in a brand new game he had written. Within minutes, I was a sitting at a full table, a Tza Zen Rigeln detailed in a massive character sheet, and the legendary Larry Sims doing the first of many never-ending talks I have heard, amping up the table about just how cool Battlelords of the 23rd Century was.

I didn't do much that game either, except soak up the atmosphere, and do some nasty reverse healing on the party's Ram Python (I high-fived his face!), but I was hooked and Battlelords was my big purchase of the con. And Larry's mailing list is the reason we got mailers for UBCon up in Buffalo, but that's another story for another day.

Dealers- Two words, Crazy Egors. I swear the dude had one short wall and almost one long wall of Ballroom #3 with just boxes upon boxes of anything you ever wanted. The dealers went around the walls, plus there were tables in the center of the room to ensure a 360-degree shopping Nirvanna. There were other rpg dealer, some dude who sold dragon candles, a mini painter, and at least a minis dealer. I swear upon my unlucky DBA dice that On Military Matters was there too, but it was over twenty years ago.

My memories of my swag was even less. My DBA dice, a copy of Battlelords, and some D&D modules I probably never ran, but I had also never seen them in the stores either.

My friends had a blast as well. While they did wander around, I think Scott and Charles spent most of Saturday at the Battletech Arena. Somebody brought home some free minis.

What makes this the greatest con ever? The sheer amount of potential each time slot had. When I received the pre-reg book in the mail, I went through a stack of paper trying to schedule out the most diverse and exciting weekend of life. Did I succeed? Oh heaven's no, I was young and stupid. In hindsight, I would have paid to get in, play some DBA, learn to play SFB, jump in some Avalon Hill boardgame, maybe some WRG 7th, maybe the BTech Arena. I'd even try to learn Traveller again (Mega or not). I realized then that I wasn't going to be pigeon-holed into one corner of room, like the BTech gearheads, the RPGA, or the hordes of crazy people from Long Island who had come to play SFB. This is why, even in the heyday of Magic, I needed some role-playing to keep things from getting boring.

My Favorite Convention Games

So, the next two Mepacons will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the con. No theme has been determined, but I figured it would be great to have a "best con events ever" category. Old classics dusted off once again for public consumption to see if they still have that magic.

That got me thinking about games I've run/played in at cons. There are a lot of good games, a good dose of forgetable ones, plus a lot of other times I was in a miniature or CCG kick. But here is a list of the top 10 con games I've participated in...

1. GURPS: IOU - Scavenger Hunt! - This game had EPIC written all over it. A motley group of Freshthings search the steam tunnels for the one item that will put them over the top in the Freshthing Orientation Scavenger Hunt. Fanastic players. Great PCs, Hilarity ensues.
2. Talislanta - The Crystle Dungeon, My first game I ran at a con (Lehicon IV at the GW Motor Lodge). Needs a revamp but it worked seven years later at a Bogglecon or two...
3. TOON - Cthulhu Comes to Springfield - Co-GMed with Bob Wintermute. Lovecraft and The Simpsons. Comedy Gold. Must remember not one under twelve next time, otherwise it gets weird in a Law and Order: SVU kinda way.
4. GURPS: IOU - Road Trip! The free-form sequel to Scavenger Hunt! Rolling with the punches, and cleaning up after tac-nuking Springfield, Massachusetts.
5. AD&D 2e - The Jade Monkey - run by Joe Ward, it was the first con game I played in that I actually had fun. Plus I've using the William of Arinka pregen PC as part of my campaign for years.
6. Hackmaster: In Search of the Unknown The only HM event I have fond memories of... I had converted B1 before Kenzerco did for HM. This is the game where Steve "Drow Game" Heitzer took over a Half-Orc warrior with and intelligence of 4 and rampaged the scenario. This is where I earned the nickname "Q" from.
7. TWERPS: Space Cadets - I converted a Star Frontier mod to TWERPS, got a few players and had a great time, even after the one guy decided to disarm a planet buster bomb with a point blank shot from his blaster.
8. AD&D 2E - The Harpers - I took over an AD&D for Matt D, who was sleep-deprived, or scheduled to work, or something. Problem was I had been up for 36 hours with Legions of Steel, and stealing corny items from any GM I could remember at the time, had the PCs ultiately turn into Green Lanterns and fight some Cosmic badass... If that was right
9. Battlelords of the 23rd Century - GM'ed by the man, the myth, the loudmouth, Larry Sims himself at Lehicon. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fucking awesome
10. Star War d6 - run by Eric Pierson at a Bogglecon. I played the ship's captain, who patterned after Marino. Yes THAT "Dude, you were out of toilet paper so I used your shower curtain" mythic-level Marino. It was a hoot.

After some thinking (and knowing for certain that I can't show up for Mepacon Spring 2011) my events will be (1) a sequel to my Hackmaster "Q" game, tenatively titled "Resident Chaotic Evil," (2) reliving the IOU scavenger (complete with GURPS vs Risus), and (3) Cthulhu Comes to Springfield. Good thing I didn't snag the Simpsons actions figures from Steve, they might actually slow down the vignettes, and create even more SAN-losing situations...