The Players Assembled...

A Saturday Game at Historicon

Dingbitt's Dunge O' Doom

A total of nine players I believe, encountering their first onslaught of minions (all three of 'em). Various elements of WEGS can be seen - poker chips, playing cards, skill cards, Ark kards, miniatures, battlemat, pencils, dice and lots of arms obviously...

The game was packed and the action was non-stop (after the players managed to eliminate the first three minions...).

Photo courtesy of littleleadheroes.com

To-Gash! To-Gash! To-Gash!

To-Gash was released in minion form earlier this month at Origins in a little scenario called Pigskab's Skewl 4 Wizzerds (our little anti-Potter jaunt). To-Gash is a hulking brute (part-Orge, part-Dragonian) who serves as the skewl's head chef. He is the one responsible for keeping the maggots off the meat of the headmaster. Though the meals served to the students are one step away from rotting, there's never a peep of a complaint due to the cleaver that hangs on To-Gash's belt (right next to the scalp of a former student named Holiver...).

The name To-Gash comes from a wound one of the Wegshogs received from some sort of swimming accident earlier this summer. It is also a nod to all things Belushi...

To-gash!

To-gash!

To-gash!

Yawlamoooooo!

Historicon was super for me and the Wegshogs this past weekend. Talk about non-stop table action! All games were played at or over capacity. System ran full throttle. The Yawlamoo ended up being a great scenario that kept us on our hooves the entire time... This is another sure fire crowd pleaser now! The Alamo meets Helms Deep with carnivorous cows cluttering the field of battle... More details to follow, but this pic should sum it up for now!

And, yeah, we had the worst painted miniatures in the place...

Summer Sucks For Blogging...

With con season, going to print with my first game and the leisurely repose of summer, my blog average has fallen... Oh, well. That's the gaming life, I suppose....

Historicon...

Well, me and the Hogs are off to Historicon this weekend.

That's the third con this month: Origins, Dexcon, Historicon.

This one is gonna be combat heavy, my friends...

Can't wait to return with some war stories!

Ganakagok...

There were a few brilliant moments at Dexcon, and one of them was sitting in (as an observer) on a session of Bill White's Ganakagok game. Usually at cons I don't have time to look left or right - but Dexcon being what it was for WEGS, I found myself with lots o' downtime. I had read a little bit about Ganakagok via the Indie Game Explosion postings on Dexcon. I knew that it was an indie rpg story game that had something to do with Eskimos. Not something that would peak my interest particularly, especially as I've hit a dry spell with interest in story games. I just don't play them well, but that's another story...

I was chatting with Bill's brother Mel, who invited me to sit in on the game. In a brief conversation, he had explained the premise and some of the mechanics which sounded cool. Mel explained that it was a fantasy game, not historic (which I had assumed due to the presence of Eskimos). Players create members of a tribe who roamed a fantastic iceberg nation. Pre-game, the tribe forever lived in darkness under the brilliant stars above. However, for the first time, dawn approaches. This is the story mechanic the drives the game. The players come to terms with the coming of the dawn, what it means mystically and the changes it brings to their tribe.

Mel called it Eskimo Punk which peaked my interest further and sold me - though I'm not sure if this term is appropriate. I think The Clash when I think punk. Bill then came over and gave me a quick overview of the character generation and story-telling mechanics which use a deck of Tarot-like cards (Eskimo themed). The cards are used in several ways to build the setting and guide the story. Really cool concepts.

The game got even cooler as I observed it. From the start, the cards are used to guide folks to mythic character themes and key character branding (literally with a stat called Scars). The game quickly ramped up as each player stepped up to outline two huge sheets of paper hanging on the wall. One sheet was the map of their nation and each player filled in places of interest - so they had a hand in creating the world setting. The other sheet contained a map of the character's relationships with the other members of the tribe, their loves, their hates. This instantly established starting points in the story and history. Before the game itself begins, folks are connected on so many levels. Really cool. No - really cool. And the game got cooler from there. From the seating of the players at the table in character age order (from youngest to oldest), the story proceeded clockwise around the table with plenty of little tricks using the cards to generate the story. There's some beautiful things going on in this game. For me, it's the structure of the game that defines why I like it. That and the fact there's a balancing act in the game with Good Medicine and Bad Medicine, a very similar concept to the Good Kharma / Bad Kharma in WEGS.

The title? Well... It's a tough one to pronounce, but it does fall trippingly off the tongue once you're used to it!

Ganakagok

Say it. Love it.

I bought myself a copy at the con and can't wait to run it for some of my crew. It is one of the two trophys I walked away with from a less than successful WEGS con. The other trophy was a book called "Baby's First Cthulhu" or something like that. That was an impulse buy though.

Ganakagok made the trip worth my while.

The Dexcon Dunge O' Doom...

Well, Dexcon has come and gone. Not too sure what to make of it as we only ran 2 of the 8 games we had on the con schedule. Players were few and far between, but we were lucky enough to get a full compliment of excellent players for our Friday midnite special - Dingbitt's Dunge O' Doom! The arks/players were:

Gnobbit Warrior - Will
Elf Ranger - Ken
Goblin Warrior - Jeff
Dwarf Sage - Bill
Humnz Mage - Dave
Humnz Mage - Mel

I ran the game solo, letting Will jump into the game (despite the protests of the players who thought he would be more of a handicap!). Gameplay was fast and furious. After testing the waters on Level 1 where the group of adventurers encountered a demented Dwarf witch and her guards, the group jumped down to Level 5 where they received quite a beating from a Hobgoblin battalion. Taking a moment to heal the wounded and rethink their downward venturing, they decided to retreat up to Level 4 where they handily dispatched a three-headed tentacled horror. For their final encounter, they plunged down to Level 6 where they found the Chamber of the Golden Cow. It was here that all hell broke loose in one final fantastic frenzy.

Without giving too much away for those of you who might encounter such a chamber in your ventures, the game ended with the 2 Warriors and the Ranger pitted against the 2 Mages and the Sage. Yes - the game ended in a grand player-vs-player showdown. Fighters versus Spellcasters! Spoints were flying and Phew points were popping! When things turned really bad for the spellslingers, Dave the Humnz Mage used the spell Jumpin' Jazzophat to jump off the game board, leaving the two other spellcasters scurrying toward the edge. Unfortunately, the edge of the board was too far for Bill's Sage (who was plum out of spell points and Phew!) - the Sage was the first to bite the dust. Mel's Mage made a valiant dash for the exit, but was cut down just two squares away from escape!

There was great character play from beginning to end and it was tremendous fun to see the party unravel so quickly in the final encounter... The game wrapped up around 3:30 a.m. This was the high point for WEGS at the con - from there it was all downhill unfortunately... Players seemed few and far between at this con. I guess most decided to skip this con to stay home and read Harry Potter...

Ya live, ya learn...

Shaun Of The Wegs...

(Here’s a long story from Origins to keep y’all sated for the next few days…)

One of the funniest moments at Origins was also one of the most austere – and it wasn’t gaming based. In the movie Shaun of the Dead, Shaun and his group of hapless zombie-fearing heroes are cutting through backyards making their way to the safety of the Winchester (a local pub). As they round a corner, they come face to face with one of Shaun’s friends, who is also leading a troop of zombie-fearing heroes to another safe haven. Shaun and his friend compare their plans (of which Shaun’s is the lesser), and then both groups depart their separate ways. The brilliance of the scene is that as they depart, they pass each other single file – for every member of Shaun’s party, there is an exact same member in the other party. There’s the fat guy double, the girl with the artsy hat double, the Harry Potter dweeb double and the Mom double. It’s just brilliant…

Anyhow, it was the end of the convention, Sunday afternoon and we needed drinks and eats and drinks badly. So, me and the Wegshogs were taking a shortcut through this deserted elevated walkway. Destination, Max and Erma’s. We had taken this same walkway a couple nights prior at midnight and it was a creepy place. The enclosed overpass is a long, crooked corridor with lots of nooks. Its tinted windows give the hallway some kind of grey un-light. The various exits are hidden and you can walk right past them unaware. If this was NYC, the place would be a haven for the various urchins and a convenient urinal for the walking drunks post-last call… In fact, if this was in NYC, the walkway would be closed after sun-down. Growing up in the NYC area, you come to assess things this way. But this was Columbus, OH – there was naught to fear.

Until we rounded a corner and came face to face with a couple of gamers who popped up from a concealed flight of stairs. Instantly I recognized the two as our WittCon comrades – of all the places to meet folks you know! We quickly hailed each other and then compared our plans. Lionel and troop were heading back into the convention center to take one last look around, and we were heading to the pub for one last beer. As Lionel and his friend talked with me and Will, Sue and Bob had taken a step back against a wall. Suddenly, the wall opened and Bob let out a wee-girly scream. Ends up they were standing in front of some concealed elevator doors. Inside were the other two members of the WittCon party – Andy and Julia.

We all quickly exchanged greetings, talked excitedly about the con, wished each other well, and then went our separate ways. Me and the Weghogs went down the stairs to street level and the pub. Lionel and troop went onward to the convention hall. As me and Will hopped down the stairs, I turned to him and said, “You know that was the scene from Shaun of the Dead we just lived, right?”

From behind we could hear Sue laughing at Bob for his little elevator scream…

We laughed at the absurdity of it all. What were the odds of coming face to face with folks you know well in a city flooded with gamers? Especially in that deserted area? Just something that was meant to be… It was great seeing those folks one last time and saying farewell in person.

Perfect way to end the con.

From One Con To The Next...

Things have been nutzo getting WEGS 101 to print in betwixt con adventures. With Origins still fresh in the memory, El Willy and the Wegshogs dash off for more non-stop gaming this weekend at DexCon (a big NJ con). So, you might not hear much from us the next couple of days. I know, I know... I sill haven't even begun to post my post-Origins musings... All 6 of you who read this blog must be dying of suspense! Technically, there's 9 of you out there, but 3 of you were with me at Origins. That leaves 6 of you waiting for the tales wegziotic...

Hang in there...

7... 11...

07 / 11

WEGS 101 is done.

Sweetness, indeed.

Should be back from printer by month's end - unless something goes awry with the final proof.

In craps, 7 and 11 pay the line...

How poetic...

Countdown To GenCon...

Despite the fact that the last thing I wanted to do today was anything WEGS related (after doing it non-stop for the last five days at Origins), I hesitantly pulled down the online GenCon schedule to see how it would compare to what I just went through.

(I'll be honest - there were times between Origins games that I just wanted to crawl into a corner and sleep. If it weren't for the Weghogs juice-ing me up with Dr. Pepper, that just might have happened...)

According to the latest GenCon pre-registrations, 9 of my games are sold out. Out of the 99 total seats available at the WEGS table, 33 remain to be filled. 20 of those remaining seats are for our three Sunday afternoon games (which tend to be dead slots due to the fact that the con is at it's end and folks try to use that time for their final shopping spree in the exhibit halls). With the exception of those three Sunday games, all other games have folks in them.

Despite the fact that the only thing I want to do right now is sleep, I'm pumped for this next WEGS onslaught. Between now and GenCon, I have two other cons with equally aggressive game schedules - but I wouldn't want it any other way.

The summer of WEGS rocks!

Back From The O...

Me and the Wegshogs did Origins this past weekend. It rocked! I'm still trying to recover from the sheer exhaustion of it all. Don't quite know where to begin, but methinks it's going to be one looooong chain of posts.

The best part of the con for me was seeing folks return from cons where we previously have run WEGS the last couple of years. We had folks drop in from prior Origins, WittCon, Ubercon, and GenCon. I usually recognize them on site - and while I don't know some of their names, we instantly connect once we remember what scenario they previously played in.

I'm honoured to see folks return to the WEGS table.

It's one of the perks of face-to-face gaming.

101 Arks Await...

With Origins but three days away, El Willy's been a busy packing and printing. Hot off the printer is a neat stack of 101 Ark Kards ready to be consumed by the throngs of gamers set to descend on Columbus, Ohio this week. I figured I'd print 101, just 'cause it jives with the title of the game.

Hopefully, we'll use them all - but chances are we'll only burn through half of them. That is unless the Yawlamoo ends up being particullarly brutal on the players...

Origins details will be posted next week.

Yup.