I had not originally planned to come to Pacificon this year, but I ended up going together with my son. I didn't run any games, and was disappointed in the con organization, but we still had fun.
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RPG
Event IR-382 Sat 9:00AM-1:00PM |
by Paul Chang DnD 5E (Game, Some gaming, 18 and older) |
| Description: | Play from the point of view of the goblins and orcs. The stalwart group shall plan an infiltration mission into the Citadel of Morningside. Level 1-5 Characters. |
This was a supposedly Adventurer's-League-compatible D&D5 event. I used a pre-gen AL drow fighter, while Milo played a deep gnome rogue. The characters were gladiators from the Underdark recruited to bring magical bombs into the surface city of Morningside. It included a briefing, a long journey by barrels through an underground river, and then the beginning of combat through troops in the tinker's guild. We had to leave early, and it didn't seem like much of a loss.
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CCG
Event C-343 Sat 10:00AM-1:00PM |
By Martin Magic: The Gathering (Tournament, Tried it, All Ages) |
| Description: | Players grab a random bunch of Magic cards from a box of commons/uncommons to create their Warriors. Warriors increase their power by dueling throughout the weekend with a final Sunday Championship. |
A straightforward tournament using freely available cards from a huge box. It was fun to go through and test deck-building skill without relying on personal cards.
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LARP
Event L-238 Sat 6:00PM-12:00AM |
By Deirdre's Nightmares (Devon Apple and ?) L.A.R.P.S. (Game, Some gaming, Character and/or Armies Supplied, 18 and older) 18 players |
| Description: | Troubleshooters, the most excellent Computer requests that you please investigate productivity shortfalls at our underwater algae farms. Non-compliance is grounds for Cancellation. Have a nice day. |
A straight Paranoia game using a random combination of "Loyalty" and "Virtue" cards (actually secret society and mutant power), plus a backing for their group role assignment (Happiness Officer, Hygiene Officer, Team Leader, etc.). The action involved being sent to an algae farm where they had to figure out the ongoing problems.
I played Termin-R-TOR, named for his connection to Corpore Metal. There turned out to be various hijinks as might be expected, ending with finding out way onto a submarine beyond the reach of the Computer. ....
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LARP
Event L-326 Sun 11:00AM-3:00PM |
by Danielle Goudeau & Erik Woodbury 22 players Freeform (Game, Newcomers, Character and/or Armies Supplied, 13 and older) |
| Description: | This is a game about humans interacting with AI, and exploring companionship and identity together. AI / human pairs will alternate between one on one and group play. 6-22 players. Cooperative. |
I played a human character Ping An (developed from the template "P"), and was paired with an AI played by Autumn Rauscher. The game sets up players by their preference along different axes about how serious they want play to go, along with another dimension.
This ended up being a pretty emotional game. I chose strongly to have Ping's life be a complete wreck. He was barely making a living in Hollywood as a script reader, with frustrated dreams of being a script writer and no successful relationships. (I answered the question "How do most of your relationships end?" with "After the first date".) He volunteered to be paired up with an AI in order to develop material for a script.
Ultimate
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LARP
Event L-106 Sun 5:00PM-11:00PM |
by Rob Allard/Bill Howard 18 players L.A.R.P.S. with some GM Fiat (Game, Newcomers, Character and/or Armies Supplied, 18 and older) |
| Description: | A holy artifact; the Heiligfaust - the HolyFist - lost during the War of the Cross, has been found. Ships from 3 nations have been sent to retrieve it. A Team Volare Production. |
I played Fr. Antonio - a Vodacce Inquisitor with the Vaticine Church. I was also playing with my son Milo who had an unrelated character. My character was unpopular with most of the others, as unsurprisingly, an inquisitor was not trusted and perhaps even hated by most. Among other things, the Inquisition forbade most magic - often punished by torture and death, which colored how the magical characters saw me. My skills were Torture, Quickdraw, Melee Combat, Sleuthing, and Scholar (Holy Artifacts). The Torture skill required 5 minutes alone with an unwilling victim - and had the supposed limit in bold "You may only use this twice per Character per game." In practice, no one would put up with me torturing someone for even five minutes. I eventually had one victim -- Scott playing a rebellious provincial priest who tried to steal the gauntlet. But even after being put in my care, I was stopped from torturing before 5 minutes were through.
The main plot came down to a tricky political position of who should try to wield the Heiligfaust once found. I think three people tried it on, all ending in disaster as they tried to kill others and were themselves killed. There did come a notable point when Milo tried throwing the gauntlet overboard together with its cage. (This resulted in him being physically grabbed as a player.) ....
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