Save the Dinos!

During this whole pandemic scenario, there have been two resources that I have under-used to keep my gaming sanity.   My daughters Maja (11) and Millie (9), and my next store neighbor, James, who is more of a CCG and party game type player.  By the time school finally finished, the worst was over in our area, and the social circles expanded enough that the kids were kept active in the neighborhood while I remained shackled to my home office.  James got furloughed for the first five or six weeks and has been working on a construction site two hours away since then.  We've gotten a few games of Apples to Apples, Unstable Unicorns, and Pass the Pandas in, but not much else. 

But let's add a new resource to my gaming agenda.  James (and his wife Amy's) kids. 

Little Miles and Hallie are 5 and 3, respectively, and while much of what they do falls into the "Yep, I've seen it with my own kids," one potential area that excites me is revisiting "Toddler Gaming"  after years of experiments with my own kids. 

Getting permission from the parents for a quick "babysitting" lesson, I packed up the dinosaurs, unearthed all the palm trees I need to touch up anyway, and headed next door to introduce the kids to Mr Eric's rules. 

Concept:  Everybody's figure helped discovered a Lost World of Dinosaurs and other giant creatures.  Unfortunately, a volcano is about to erupt and destroy the Lost World, so it's up to the heroes to wrangle as many dinosaurs before it explodes (aka both kids get tired of the game).

Players:  Hallie, Miles, with Maja and Millie playing/helping.  And of course, Dad (James) wanted in on the action.

Rules:  Another version of my Toddler Interactive Adventure Resolution... Adventura (TIARA).  After years of trying to use different cool types of six-sided dice, I left the rules simple. 

• Only dice they stay on the table count
• Initiative - Playing Cards.  Everyone had one number, with the other three in the deck.  Sometimes you got lots of turns, sometimes you had to wait.  Teaching patience (even with the big and bigger kids).
• 5-6 Good, 1-2 Bad
• Full Ruler - run, but can't convince the dinosaurs to leave
• Half Ruler - walk, and talk to dinosaurs (or anything else they thought of) 

 Characters: 

• Quesadilla Bill 
• Mr Jumaji
• Rose the Big-Game Hunter
• A Kitty Made Out of Stone
• Lego Nightwing (pretty freakin' sweet!)

The first wave of dinos make it to the river.

In application, the game ran nearly perfect.   Players needed to move their figures to a dinosaur/creature and make a roll to convince them to follow them back to the river.  Success and once the dino touched the river they were safe.  Failure and a number of things could happen (more dice rolls!), including getting trampled on. 

Quesadilla Bill tries to talk to a T-Rex

Right before the first wave of dinosaurs reached the river, Hallie bailed on us, for a couple reasons, but Miles kept on till the very end. 

And the T-Rex was nice enough to carry Bill to the river...

 In the last round, there was a great push to get everyone off the board, but a giant butterfly had landed on an ankylosaurus and it was up to Nightwing to save them.   

Mr Jumaji rode his dino to safety. 

Using the power of the magic stone he had brought to the Lost World, he was allowed to roll four dice (all Good!) and the Butterfly picked him and the dinosaur up into the air.  

That flight stand is a mason jar full of bones from some dissection project the kids did.  

Trying to control the butterfly was too much and the dino landed back-first on top of the volcano, stopping the eruption! 

Not scientifically correct, but great for 5-year story.    And technically, Millie's character Rose was trampled by an angry dino during the game, so the threat of death is there... if you're 9 or older.

Within an hour and fifteen minutes I had set up, played through the initiative deck twice, and had cleaned up in record time.  Next time, we might try something a bit more directly cooperative, but the race to see who could rescue the most dinos looks like a winner. 

(TIARA) The Tornado at the Zoo

Over the Fourth of July weekend, we got a lot of Painting/Gaming with Daddy time accomplished.   For my eldest daughter, Maja (age 7), she'll amuse me with a variety of settings/rules and games, so long as she has fun.

My youngest, Millie (age 5), isn't as keen on the shoot-em ups and usually just wants to paint.

After a few card games, ninety minutes of painting, and Maja playing a riveting game of Legions of Steel, it was time to get Millie involved, so the box of Little (Morbidly Obese) People came out of the garage and I dusted off my always changing rules for T.I.A.R.A (Toddler Interactive Adventure Resolution... Adventure!)

Per the girls, a tornado hit the town, causing a giant wall at the zoo to collapse, allowing many animals a chance to escape.  It was up to Cinderella and Sofia the First  (plus their animal friends) to save them!

We also have a lost prince, lost girl and lost astronaut...

Objective:   Rescue as many animals as possible and that them to the zookeeper, named Noah.

Sofia started off with a bang.  The Amulet of Avalor, a magic item which allowed her to speak with animals, was a big help, but in a tussle with an elephant, the amulet was lost. 

 

Cinderella also had her magical talk with animals power, but the creatures she was encountering were too excited to be free to be convinced to go back. 

Mommny cow and baby calf, reunited and wandered off the board on their own (No Points)

Even with a "only fail on a 1 " situation or two, the girls were having trouble accumulating a menagerie of animal friends.  By the end, Millie had 2, Maja had 3, four had wandered off the board on their own free will, and one randomly wandered right into the hands of Noah.  



 

Need mates to go two by two?  I Noah guy....

Millie was amused most of the time, but I think I'll need to keep pushing the role-playing envelope, sort of like what the RPGGamerDad Podcast had been doing before they went on hiatus.

(Savage Showdown) #2 Leaving Tu'Lip... Fast!

When we last left our brave treasure hunters, Millie the Archaeologist and "The Mexican" had uncovered a cache of ancient artifacts, while their friend, Lego the Elf, succumbed to the horrors of the desert.

The surviving duo decided to spend some time in the local watering hole to celebrate.  They paid off their gnomish bodyguards and dismissed them, all the while Millie was looking for some strapping young locals to pack up their finds into the vehicles, so they could leave for the capital city and collect their finder's fee from the the museum.

The Mexican was surprised to run into his old pal, Vasily Negenievich.  a deserter from the Russian Imperial Navy and wandering soldier of fortune.  They spent considerable time telling tales and singing songs outside the bar (My players are 4 and 6.  Any worse activities and I question my parenting).  

Vasily and Fritz "The Mexican" O'Lay shoot the breeze, but not the people, outside the bar.

Millie also met a fellow treasure hunter, Nils Lingonberry, noted Swedish Adventurer.   Nils was willing to use his contacts at the museum to up the finder's fee for only the inclusion of his name to the find.  Millie agreed, and the Swede went up to the roof to work on his tan until the truck was packed and they were ready to go.

Millie did find able-bodied locals, but apparently their command of the English language was non-existent.  Despite putting a full d10 in Spirit (I called it "Heart" for my princess-obsessed girls), she couldn't make a single roll to direct the men to start loading the treasure.  It was quite depressing. 

Millie the Archaeologist fails to inspire the laborers to load her truck...

While Nils was soaking up rays, he spied a group of about a dozen armed men marching on the road from the capital, heading to the bar.  The Swede's shouts didn't only alert the Mexican and Vasily to investigate, but brought the attention of the laborers, who slowly wandered away from the vehicles, much to Millie's chagrin.

Nils Lingonberry sees danger from afar (and it's not the four-year old behind him).

The leader of the group was Lieutenant Colonel Thaddeus Ovaltine (Retired)  famed explorer and personal patron to  his Rough 'n Ready Rangers.    Ovaltine declared that he had jurisdiction from the museum to obtain the artifacts and personally take them back to the capital.  

Millie (the player) did not like this gentleman.  "Daddy, I think he's a bad man.  The sailor shoots him in the leg." 

You do not have jurisdiction, Senor Ovaltine.  I don't see no steenking badges!

Before the Russian could raise his rifle, a dull roar could be heard from behind them....

This doesn't bode well... for everyone else!

Lego the Elf had awoken some undead guardians with his digging, and the necromancer/priest had organized his troops to find the artifacts and return them to their rightful place.  In addition to the skeleton guardians, he had summoned a number of Desert Wolves to help.  

Vasily fired into the Rangers and fell back.  Millie barely managed to corral the workers and got them back to around the vehicles.  Nils fired a shot into the undead from the roof, but hurried down to the second floor to shoot out a window the next round.  

The Mexican?  He hooted and hollered, fired a few shots over the heads of the Rangers, and ran back around to the front of the bar.   Four lucky Rangers followed him in pursuit.  The rest met the assault of the undead.  

The Rangers are no match for the Desert Wolves

Ovaltine barely managed to get his men over the stone wall surrounding the bar, for protection.  Even with a Joker, the gunfire barely phased the creatures.    

The Jokers also brought a group of local bandits on the table.  The group couldn't hit the broad side of a dead camel, but their position forced the girls to move the heroes in different places to stay out of sight.  

Local bandits, peering over a mountain of knowledge

The Mexican pushed his way through the bar and ran up to find Nils on the second story, and they took pot shots at the skeletons.  Vasily continued to work back, killing some Desert Wolves trying to flank the group.  Millie finally decided to show the locals how to load the truck and somehow the act of strength, pantomime, and talking very loudly in English allowed them to catch on.  Very quickly, the truck and roadster were filled with artifacts.

After dispatching the Desert Wolves attacking them, the Ovaltine and Rangers appeared to have the upper hand, but the Priest drew a joker, allowing not only a final assault, but he also turned the wolves into Zombie Desert Wolves to press the attack further.    Luckily, Ovaltine got a Joker on the subsequent turn and killed the animals... again, and sent a third live one scrambling back to the Priest's safe location in some ruins.  

Ovaltine rallies his forces, but it's too late.

With the vehicles loaded, Millie jumped in the front seat of the truck, waiting for Vasily to eliminate the final flanking Desert Wolf.   He failed to do so, and the wolf pounced upon him.  The laborers all fled in terror from the brutality and Millie simply threw the truck in reverse and started driving away.  

For Nils, the sound of the truck backfiring, and the sound of the Rangers' steps finally running up the stairs meant it was time to go. Lingonberry ran out of his room, into another and flew out of the window in an attempt to land on the fleeing truck. 

Nils makes the jump

The Mexican attempted to follow suit.  

The Mexican does not...

At this point, the truck sped down the rough road towards the capital city.  The priest and Ovaltine were both too disheveled to try and stop them, beyond a few curses or a couple of wild shots in desperation.  Both would be soon plotting there revenge... soon!

And what is the fate of Vasily?

For this episode of Savage Showdown, I added a few more rules, most notably, character cards and playing cards for initiative.  We did stop at the FLGS and they were allowed to pick up some new dice for their characters.  The whole dice bin there needs to be exorcised of bad karma dice demons because poor Maja couldn't make any roll for Millie the Archaeologist until near the end, and that's with Bennies!   I did revert to my own T.I.A.R.A. system when the combats started getting big and I needed resolution quickly, but I think with time, the girls will like Savage Showdown.

Next:  The team of Millie and the Swede should make it to the museum without any hiccups, right? Will the Mexican catch up in time?  Is Vasily still alive? And if he is, will his thirst for revenge rival that of the bad guys?   Is Lt. Col Ovaltine really that bad?  We'll have to find out!

(Savage Showdown) #1 Searching the Lost Shrine of Tu'Lip

Ah, Father's Day.  The day you're supposed to force feed Dad bacon, give him a tie/golf clubs/power tools, and wait in line at a chain restaurant to feed steak... wrapped in bacon.  

I'm not that conventional type of guy.  For starters, I have the fortune of my wife needing to work the last five of the holidays, so I get to play single Dad with the girls.  

Every year, I try to keep our own traditions alive.  First breakfast down the road at the gas station/convenience store/ice cream shop/diner (I'm more of a scrapple guy anyway). Then we break out our "normal" tea party with the good china and a menu of grape juice, Herr's Barbecue Chips, and Tastycakes.  After that I banish them to the family room for a half hour of TV while I set up the annual game.  

Three modifications this year.  After breakfast, we hit the FLGS and I got... an iced tea, and the girls got random Heroclix.   We also added cranberry juice to the menu (my six-year old, Maja's, new favorite)  Finally, we're fostering six-week old puppies for a few more weeks, so I sent the kids  to play with and feed them while I set up. 

This year's game reflects a change from the big, quirky, and exciting games of yore.  The girls seemed to be interested in smaller games with fewer figures, so a skirmish game was in order.  Maja is also big into everything about Ancient Egypt that she can get her hands on (She watched the entire BBC Egypt mini-series with the same excitement someone her age should have for new My Little Ponies... or Ninja Turtles.  It's great! )

The game would be an amalgam of ideas I've stolen from everywhere, predominantly the gnomish treasure hunt game I played this past Cold Wars, the ever-evolving kids house rules I call TIARA, and my first attempt at using Savage Showdown mechanics, but not the playing cards.

Background:  Three groups of treasure seekers are scouring the backwater for ruins of what a partial translation calls the "Shrine of Tu'lip," and a structure built in the *mumblemumblecoughcough* Dynasty of Egypt.  

• Millie the Archaeologist (Gnomish Sidekick/Sedan).  Run by Millie.  A very resourceful, yet stubborn woman
• Lego Mi Eggolas the Elf (Gnomish Sidekick/Truck)  Run by Me.  Fame seeking Italian elf explorer.
• A German/Irish adventurer by the name of Fritz O'Lay, "The Mexican" (Gnomish Federale Sidekick/Truck)  Run by Maja.  

Using a streamlined version of the con rules, on the table were eight possible treasure area, labelled

"T1" through "T8."    There were eight additional markers, face down on the table with a corresponding number.  Teams needed to race over to those markers, claim them, and then they could travel to the spot and dig up the treasure.

Each team got two actions each turn, one for each crew, usually Drive/Jump out to pick up the clue/treasure or Drive/Shoot somebody else.  We used glass beads to represent those actions so no one forgot to do something, or try to do more than they could

Once one person got hit four treasure spots, or the group hit six combined, it would be a race back to the bar and the end of the game.  First person back would win an additional treasure.

More hints than Blues Clues, More Treasure than Jack and the Neverland Pirates

The first two turns were rough, but it was The Mexican who got the first hint/treasure combo.  Treasures were on a random d8 roll, and only treasures 1-4 were unguarded.  

Maja: "Put in on my Mexican's back. He can carry anything."

Millie narrowly missed me in a deliberate game of chicken, but my elf sent his gnome sidekick out to recover treasure #2

"This picture will look great in The Times"

Millie drove her car like a drunken cat, but uncovered the big prize, a sarcophagus with a mummy inside!

"But it's Fathers Day, not Mummies Day?"

Maja and I weaved around each other like Friday night traffic in New Jersey, until she took a good angle and rammed me from behind.    Each car took damage, but I got the chance to drive off and away from the crazed Mexican.

Millie tried to cross the stream, but got stuck, so she jumped out of the driver's side and headed for the two clue at the far corner of the table.  The sidekick manged to jump into the seat, get the car out of the water and into a decent postion.

Run, Millie, Run!

The Mexican reached another treasure, but this time a giant scorpion was inside!

I broke out Savage Showdown and it was a tough fight.  After a flurry of missed attacks, the scorpion stung O'Lay, suffering physical and continual poison damage.  Shots five and six from his revolver finally hit true and the scorpion was defeated.

I killed it!

Fear not, faithful readers, all The Mexican needed to do to stop the ongoing poison was reach the truck and spend an action the following turn using the Giant Scorpion anti-venom in the glove box. Maja did, however, get another treasure out of the deal.

Millie hoarded the two hits from the far side of the board, so I dove after the two left around me. 

Fate was not pleasant that day, as I rolled an unfortunate 8 for treasure.   

Gnome, reading Hieroglyphics "Wait, these don't stand for Tu'lips.   This is the Shrine of Two Lips... of DEATH!!!"

(Cue skeleton horde and high priest/necromancer)

I'm in a tight spot!

The sidekicks weren't as powerful as heroes, but all were statistically superior to the skeletons.  My guy even got to fight them one-on-one, despite being surrounded.  Even though I got two, sheer numbers persevered and the sidekick fell.    

I went dead last the next round, so I assumed Lego the Elf stalled the engine of the truck and couldn't get it restarted before the skeleton horde pulled him out of the truck and dispatched him.

A zombie game with less rotting flesh!

With Millie distracted by what distracts four-year-olds, it was up to Maja to race back to the bar with her spoils.  She narrowly dodged two poorly cast spells from the necromancer and made it to the safe confines of the bar, and a drink of choice.

Senor, what is that coming over the hill

Everyone had fun, Maja got to play with the Egypt stuff she painted/helped paint, and we have a great set-up for the next game, as the treasure hunters (Millie and the Mexican) drink, pack their things, and get the heck out of Dodge, before something comes over the hill.  

What Should I Run for Mepacon Fall 2015

So, a mess of work and family functions forced me to first cut short my visit to Mepacon Spring 2015
and ultimately cancel what little I could get to.

The Fall version of the convention will not suffer the same fate!   My assistant is already scheduled to work the weekend and I've scrapped any chance to visit Fall-In! the weekend prior.

While I haven't talked over anything with the con staff, let me assume that I will be working inside the Kid's Track for convention events.  Sure, grown-ups can play too, but there's a large contingent of 7-12 year-olds that need to be placated less than the adult Magic or 40K tourney players.   This also allows me to bring my eldest daughter, Maja, to her third convention, and keep an eye on her at the same time.

The last piece of the puzzle.  The theme for the convention is Star Wars. 

Let's figure out what I should run!

Star Wars RPG Jr (West End d6) - "Where's Lando"  An even simpler version of d6, perfect for ages 6 and up.   Pre-ESB Cloud City.  Bounty hunters have arrived and are tearing up the joint.  Who are they looking for?  And where's Lando?   Six Players

Star Wars RPG Jr (West End d6) -  "Attack of the Droids (Working Title)"   A droid army has attacked Cloud City!   Can a bunch of kids find the secret base and stop them where the adults could not?  Six Players

Gnome Wars -  Battlerama  - I've run Gnome Wars plenty of times at the con, both historical and non.  The non-historical games always get players, despite the fact that both have gnomes on the board.

Gnome Wars - The Battle of Yellowstone -  I've run this at Fall-In!  with great success.  The game covers the US Cavalry's management of Yellowstone National Park from  1886 until 1918.  Not only does it handle ten players, but each player's faction runs a solitaire sub-game to keep them busy.

T.I.A.R.A - The Search for the Tiara of Ninja Awesomesauce! -  T.I.A.R.A. has been a very fluid set of rules I've used with the girls over the last four years to cover role-playing.   It's a great "yes" system that will allow for some crazy mixture of Disney Princesses, Warhammer goblins, ninja turtles, and perhaps a few Samoans in a magic-fueled Pulp game, or even an ongoing story throughout Friday and Saturday. 

If I decide to avoid the kids track, let's try something different:

Contemptible Little Armies -  Second Samaon Civil War:  I've run this at Cold Wars satisfactorily.    British, American, and Samoan Royalists versus Samoan Rebels (and a few fictional German allies for fun)

Diplomacy -   "Terminal Velocity" Diplomacy  with each round getting shorter and shorter to fit a four hour time slot. 

Call of Cthulhu - Attack of the Reptile Bikini Women... in 3-D!!!  Fun, B-Movie style CoC mixed with Texas Fried Rock.  Completely stealing this from an issue of Worlds of Cthulhu magazine.

I'm not running playtests of the Gnomish Space Marine RPG.  I need something bigger than running games of my cannibalized homebrew sci-fi system of choice.

And now for something completely different:

Painting Clinic:  How to Paint a "Three Foot" Figure.  The con already has a free paint-and-take and the guys who run it do a good job, but they only have so much time for each person.  This would be open to ages 10 and up and cover how to turn basic block painting into a beautiful figure... from three foot away.  I think I can wrangle some figures for ad space or something close and it would be a great  two hour session.

Mepacon Fall 2014

I trekked up to Mepacon this weekend Ramada in Clark's Summit, and as always, a great time was had by all.

What popped up on the Ramada's sign after "Welcome to Mepacon"

Last Spring, I had taken my 4-year daughter to the con, and we had such a good time, that the words, "Daddy? I hope the whole family can come to the convention next year!"

 

So Saturday morning, the whole familia loaded up in the van and we got up to the hotel.   After grabbing badges, the kids (now 3 and 5)  immediately jumped into the coloring contest and I went through a pleasant gauntlet of greeting friends I only see at the con.

 

After that, we waltzed over to the Damon's Grill on the hotel grounds.  My wife and I relaxed to an appetizer lunch, while the children were ridiculously well-behaved except for playing with the volume controls on the table for the four projection TVs lining the walls.

 

We ran back to the van for the supplies for my Attack of the 50-Foot Princess game and headed back into the hotel ballroom to set-up.  Note to self:  carrying around plastic army guys and shoebox buildings is far superior to carry than  totes full of lead and MBA buildings. 

 

While checking the event wall to find my table assignment.  I was met with identical good news and bad news.  The good news:  I had a full table!  The bad news:  convention events and attendance swelled the past few years, and I was relegated to a tight role-playing table in the corner.  Between the location and the equally full table of D&D players inches away from me, two of my players decided to look for less cramped quarters, and hopefully we could put together a second session.

 

For the game, the objectives are simple:  The Princess must reach the tower at the other end of the board, the other players had to stop her.  While the the system and rolls were based off of my Toddler Interactive Adventure Resolution... Adventure (TIARA) system, this particular game owes alot to OGRE for damage and Battletech for hit resolution. 

Before she Let it Go as a queen, Elsa was a Princess

Our Princess for the encounter was a young Elsa.  Not only would she get stomp and smash/throw attacks, but every other round she could use her ice powers for a cone template that my daughter cut out of blue construction paper the morning of the con.

 

Each of the other players would control a Prince or Princess commanding a five-man squad, as well as either a tank, or an immobile howitzer. The squad's varied between gnomes from Gnome Wars and plastic army guys.

 

One Princess was set up as the last line of defense at the top of the tower....

 

This was the first time I had run this for players over 5 years of age, so I began to worry as the rolls failed to hit early on.  Elsa failed an easy roll to crush the tank and soldiers hiding in the auto repair shop, then her ice powers failed to freeze the fleeing soldiers!  Luck for her, the few shots that hit from the defenders hit her toughest part of her body, her legs (think OGRE).

 

My daughter hung around the table and I offered her a unit of Ice Goblins (blue gretchin) to help Elsa.  Two rounds into it, she ran off to paint a miniature, but kept moving the little guys around the flank and drew the attention of the young man running Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and his gnome detachment.   Following my rule zero: Anything fun is possible, I let him jump in a truck and attempt to run down the exposed goblins.    The gnomes ran over half of them, leaving them open to a goblin grenade attack.

 

All of them missed, plus I rolled 3 1's, which resulted in three scatter rolls.  All three scatter rolls landed at the feet of the goblins.

I forget my playing cards for initiative, so I used duplicates of Beer: The Card Game

 Back on Main Street, Elsa kicked a tank into Prince Hans' emplacement.  The Prince was looking for a place far less heroic to hide.   As Elsa contnued to wade through the defenses with only some significant damage from the other tanks, the young man with the gnomes began jumping and down.

 

Boy:  "Ooooh, oooh, I have an idea"

 

Me:  "What is it?"

 

Boy:  "The gnomes are going to break  a window, crush the glass, and put it into the fuel line.  I want to drive over to Elsa and let the truck explode next to her."

 

Me:  "Your new bedtime is now 8pm.  No DVR privileges ever, no matter what you parents say" 

 

But in the spirit of the game, I allowed it.   It took one turn to perform the task and each turn they drove they would need to make a roll to explode, each round getting cumulatively better odds.

 

They blew up with a 5 on their second turn of crushed glass adventure, blowing up the remains of the kicked tank from the earlier rounds.  Prince Hans was not pleased.

 

Elsa nears the objective

Elsa continued to outrun the defenses while blocking line of sight for the last immobile artillery piece on Main St.  She was battered, but the longe range tank shells only had hit all over and even concentrated fire might not fell the Princess.

But Rapunzel had a trick up her sleeve (or in her hair)... 

A hostage.

I've got a hair-dryer and I'm not afraid to use it!

This stalled Elsa and produced two ineffective attacks.  Just enough time for the town defenses to catch up.

At Princess Military Academy, every girl learns dancing, singing, and combined arms.

With the last tank shell, Elsa fell, three inches from her objective.  Rapunzel and her men cheered, but those cheers turned to screams of terror, as Olaf pushed them all off the tower.  It was a set-up all along! 

 

Rapunzel (far left) and Elsa are the royal casualties.

The remains of the town.

What nefarious plot does Olaf have, except WORLD DOMINATION (and warm hugs)?  Perhaps another con event is in the making...

After cleaning up, I went back to the family, who had each completed the official Zombie Hello Kitty picture for the coloring contest, and painting two minis, both of which I donated to the Painting event about six years ago. 

I tried my best to relieve my wife from herding the cats and caught with my friend Brian, who had only brough some of the more difficult beer-and-pretzel games to play, and caught up with my friend George who I don't believe I've seen in well over a decade.    It was as manly a time as a bunch of fathers with little girls could muster, watching them play with the remains of the game I had yet to pack up, while ALL of us were sipping on Capri Suns. 

As Hammer would say, Propper.

After letting the kids have a crack at the dice guess, my wife took the Millie, the 3-year old, out to the car for some sort of excursion.  This left me in lurch, as she possessed all of our cash, so we needed to borrow five bucks from Brian for the game raffle. Of course, my wife and Millie came back (with donuts!) two minutes after the raffle closed.  One of the tickets was a winner, but at that point the only choices left were older edition Warhammer books the school bus die from Zombie Dice.  I hoped that giving that to Brian and an IOU for lunch would cover us for now.

Watching Maja scan our raffle tickets looking for a winner was going to be the purest source of unbribled excitement.   Then they announced the winners of the coloring contest.  Maja won the contest at last Spring's con, but she relinquished it to... her sister Millie.  Upon hearing her name, Millie ran from her table at the back of the ballroom with the shower of happiness emanating from her smile, and the strength of a tractor trailer as she barrelled through the aisle of fat gamers.

Mepacon's Famous Everything Starts a Dollar Auction was verrrrrry productive for both the cons 15% take of each item, as well as numerous items that were auctioned off for a number of charities. 
Normally, Brian and myself are able to bottom feed a few items for a dollar two, but this year, the increased attenedance was so great, that even the worst gaming garbage imaginable was going for four or five dollars!  I also realized, as a father, I need to pay attention to my kids more, as they had absconded with my bidder card and tried (unsuccessfully) to snag a few items they wanted.

I had thrown in a few Call of Cthulu books into the auction that I had won at previous auctions, and we waited for the staff to complete to the transactions so I could get cash to get the girls a few things.

Our swag was minimal (and covered by the auction), second Erstwhile book of Brother Grimm Fairy Tales that Maja had already read twice at the dealer's table, two old con shirts (they were cheaper and in kid's sizes), and Zombie Dice, as well as Zombie Dice 2.

We drove home, put Millie to bed, and Maja and I played Zombie Dice before she went to her room, her final words, "Maybe next convention it can be just you and me, Daddy."

The big BIG news at the con was that they were moving for the Spring 2015 con.   The next con will be April 24-26 at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center in Downtown Scranton.  There's a few logistical issues I'd like more info about (parking), but they are working with local stores and clubs to offer Magic and Games Workshop tournaments. 

After 15 years of cons, it may finally be time for prime time. 

Edit: all pictures of Elsa came from play Mike Sarno. 

Jungle Safari

It's been a long, slow Autumn for gaming.  Work and family functions have been eating into any available time, so much so that I can't get a good hour to set up and play a game with my kids.

The stars finally aligned this week as I needed to pick up the kids at dance while my wife ran off to her own dance class (Zumba).  After reheating leftovers and plotting what I needed to get done before Mepacon this weekend, I pulled out a few things, cleaned off the dining room table, and set up a caveman hunting game.

With a few Fisher-Price animals and some Melanesians from Pulp Figures, we created a world of oversized mammals... and the hungry people who wanted a snack. 

Using my Toddler Interactive Adventure Resolution... Adventure! (TIARA) that I've been tweaking since Maja was two, we set up two human hunting parties at opposite ends of the board.

Maja spying a giant leopard

The giant bunny was added later, and successfully eluded the hunters

Maja's Blue Team reached a giant kangaroo first, and the whole hunting party concept was thrown right out the window, "Daddy, can my guys try and take the the kangaroo home with us instead?"

The blue team scores some hits on the kangaroo...

Despite getting a few rolls to "capture" the creature, and the kangaroo fleeing very slowly on its escape roll, the hunters spied the giant bunny, and sprinted past the kangaroo to reach it!  Alas, the bunny was very quick and dashed off the board and out of harms way.

... but get distracted and try to capture the bunny!

On my end, the Yellow Team spooked a zebra and then rolled poorly against a giant leopard.  The leopard busted through the wall of men,  killing one in the process, before working its way the the hill on the table that was designated "safe."  Despite the two teams meeting, putting aside their differences, and working together to surround the jungle cat, the leopard escaped!

The combined parties try to circle the man-killing leopard, but it evades capture.

I'm amazed at how much three months of kindergarten has affected Maja's math skills.  She was rolling for movement on 2d6, measuring out the distance, and adding up her multiple d6s for combat like a magic-user casting fireball in D&D.   I think she'll be fine at the con

And in a week or so, I hope to expand the game to include a few bigger blokes..

Oh boy... next week?

Mepacon Fall Event Finalized!

After a poll, much consternation, and finally some time on the laptop to submit it, my game for Mepacon Fall has been submitted and accepted!

Title: Attack of the 50-Foot Princess

System:  TIARA
Players:  8+
Timeslot:  2pm-6pm Saturday, November 15, 2014
Description: Batten down the hatches, hide in your basements, secure every one of 

your Disney loving children, a 50 foot tall Princess has been spotted
rampaging through the town.  Can the National Guard, mystical creatures,
and the right and goodness of normal size princesses unite to combat
this threat?  Is there more than one giant princess? 

This game is open to everyone of all ages, children under 8 may need some parental help.

With this Mepacon declared a "Family Con" per my daughter Maja, it's proper to recreate the wonderousness of the game I ran with my my girls awhile back. 

I chose TIARA as the blanket system to run the game, although I'm adopting portions of  TIARA, OGRE, Burning Plastic, and Gnome Wars to run this.  This week I'll assemble the pieces together.  Next week I'll accumulate the supplies.  That should give me three weeks to assemble by "kid-safe, art-class-approved" town.

Considering the only other kid-friendly game is a My Little Ponies game, there just might be enough stuff to keep the kids occupied for awhile.

 

 

The Gnome Runs Again!

Today was a busy day in the ViscountEric household.  This morning was the 5K race to support the organization my wife volunteers for,  A Positive Promise.   My wife had gotten the crazy idea to raise money to make my large frame run the race, and while they came up just short of the $500 to 'make' me run the race, I put it upon myself to do a little training and make sure I could finish the damn thing.

My wife even got me t-shirt for the event, plus matching ones for the girls...

Would this shot of my belly constitue a "belfie?"

I was slow as molasses, the course signage was lacking, causing everyone to run about 3.4 miles instead of the usual 3.1, and the hill on the couse nearly swallowed up some of the competent runners, but I did finish.  I helped clean up and sprinted  back to the new house, as my friends Nate and Steve (Balls and Archi) were set to make an appearance.

After the kids provided their mandatory tour of the house, we got down to brass tacks and commenced drinking and playing  games!

Our drink of choice.  Not bad, and priced right.

 The first game we played from Steve's bag o' tricks was Agents.  Despite a wildly successful Kickstarter and interesting gameplay mechanics, the artwork and quality of the product left me underwhelmed.

Next, my eldest daughter Maja, took the attention of the boys, and a container of her toys hit the table. Using some very basic TIARA rules, we established a do-or-die fight between all the ponies in the kingdom, the undersea kingdoms, and the snow creatures.

It took some spectacular dice rolls to maintain a tie, but Steve, playing Gaston, offered to broker a peace deal which was accepted, over television viewing hours.  Afterwards everyone had cake (Both pretend and real life!)

King Crab dominates the negotiations, for a turn.

Our final games of the evening were Dungeon Roll.  I couldn't get anything started when it was my turn, but I had fun nonetheless.

Here's hoping for a calmer Sunday.