August Game Day

Oh my I have so many things that need to be written up for this blog.  The latest Game Day, Smallville at Magpie, Mage Knight board game, Dresden Files, my Mecha game and my new project, Risk Legacy, the Mistborn RPG, and 1989: Dawn of Freedom.  I'm going to type up as many as I can in this current sitting, so I can have them easily available for release over the next few days.

First up the latest Game Day.  It was this last Saturday, the 18th, at the Clubhouse at the Creek.  It was a ton of fun, and I was very happy to get a chance to playtest my Mecha RPG.  I ran a quick scenario for five players, and I think that for the most part people had fun.  I tried out quite a few new things that I added to the game on the fly, and most of it worked.  I love the system that John Wick uses in Aegis Project where players get to add details to the mission and the location of said mission.  This I stole whole cloth and am not ashamed to admit it.

I tried using my step up die system instead of building pools of D6s for all the mecha systems, and I do not think that it worked out all that well.  I definitely prefer the feel and ease of the pools of D6s.  The mental strain to energy points system also was a bit rough.  I love the concept, but I don't like my execution.  I'll probably drop the whole concept, I think the theme of the game is moving away from the one that inspired the mechanic anyway.

There were tons of ideas and questions, lots of good points were made.  I definitely need to have limits on how many points you can put into a given system, and come up with ways to customize both the pilots abilities and the mechas systems.  The initiative order also was rather slow, which is something I hate about the D&D style, one at a time initiative.  The Aegis Project has everybody roll at the same time.  I like that, but the more I steal from that game the more I can't help but think, "Why am I not just playing John Wick's game?"  That question is one of the main reasons that this game is going on the back burner for me right now.

At the same time that my game was happening there was quite a lot of other activity happening in the room, which I was very happy to see.  I got there a little late, and the whole place was filled with games in progress when I walked in.  Made my heart all warm and fuzzy :).  There was a game of Arkham Horror, the Winterwall Old School D&D game, and a Serenity one shot.  Had to have been about 15 or 16 people playing, and everyone seemed to be having a ton of fun.

After my mecha game I ran off and grabbed some lunch, while I was gone I think some games of Resistance, Munchkin, and Canvas Eagles all started up.  Apparently Anders tried to start up a game of Battlestar Galactica, but without me there to help push it it didn't happen.  I'll be making sure it gets played at a Board Game Day or Game Day in the near future.

I did get a four player game of Dungeon Lords going once I got back.  Resistance I think was on their 14th or 15th game or something ridiculous like that at the next table btw.  :)  We had a good time with Dungeon Lords, and I think everyone liked the game.  It is one that I enjoy, but I always feel bad about because it has one heck of a learning curve and an experienced player will usually blow any new folks out of the water in it. I was the experienced one and everyone else was a newb, btw.  A good number of other folks that spectated found the game to be interesting as well and I am quite certain I can get another round of it in at the next Game Day if I remember to bring it.

Overall things seemed to wind down and the crowd thinned out fairly quickly.  I think this was a combination of a lot of games happening right up front, like 4 or 5 at once; and the fact that Resistance kept 4-6 folks tied up for quite some time.  Not a bad thing on the whole or on Resistance in particular, don't get me wrong.  Just observing and hypothesizing about the observation.  I'm really looking forward to the next Game Day, I always do.  My hope and promise to myself it to present a game of my own design at each future Game Day, whether it be a totally new one or just a revised version of one I've already shown.  Very excited about that as well.