HeroCon 2008

[Susano]

Just reporting in. We've had one day of games, and all is going well. Well over 40 people attended Saturday, and we expect more to attened later Sunday.

[Tribal]

Pictures, details please :D

[Susano]

I'm working on it.

[OddHat]

Lots of fun, had a blast. Thanks to the Herocon crew for a great weekend. :)

Personal highlights:

My Young Titans 2008 game. Couldn't have asked for a better group of players.

Dave Mattingly's Algernon Files game. Always wanted to see that campaign close up; a great answer to the "High point total Champions games don't work" canard.

Nestor D Rod's HEX game. Fantastic setting, fun system, great GM, and another excellent group of players.

Ross Watson's Dark Heresey game. My first time playing that system and setting. Great fun, and I'll be looking more into the setting.

Mike Surbrook's Next Wave game. A player whose name will be held for future blackmail purposes laughed until Coke came out of his nose; by any standard, that's a win.

The Industry Panel. Informative, interesting, and I've rarely seen that many people whose work I've enjoyed in one place.

Looking forward to next year. :)

[rjcurrie]

First a few comments on OddHat's comments:


Lots of fun, had a blast. Thanks to the Herocon crew for a great weekend. :)

I'll echo that.


My Young Titans 2008 game. Couldn't have asked for a better group of players.

As usual, you ran a great game with a good mix of silliness and seriousness.


Nestor D Rod's HEX game. Fantastic setting, fun system, great GM, and another excellent group of players.

A highlight of my con too. OddHat was downright creepy as the hermetic magician, sorry, gentleman academic.



Mike Surbrook's Next Wave game. A player whose name will be held for future blackmail purposes laughed until Coke came out of his nose; by any standard, that's a win.

To avoid the future blackmail, I'll confess to being the player with coke coming out my nose. I was likely the weak point in the game when it came to humor but since I was playing Monica Rambeau, that was probably okay.


The Industry Panel. Informative, interesting, and I've rarely seen that many people whose work I've enjoyed in one place.

It was a good panel. I enjoyed it too.

Now for my own comments which will be on my own games since OddHat already covered the three games I played in.

Saga of the Smiling Fox: This was only the second time that this game has actually been played and I was pleased to see it come off completely differently. Some great players and it was fun to see the Smiling Fox's band of rebels maneuver the evil Duke Duvel's men into being shot by the group of crossbowmen hired by one of Duke's lower lieutenants to take out the Fox. It was partway through this game that I suddenly realized that I could add Hogan's Heroes to list of inspirations for this event.

Remarkable Wrong-Righters: Another good run of this year's adventure -- one that I thought was going to run short until the characters unexpectedly destroyed the book of magic spells needed to set things right. Fortunately, they were able to obtain another copy of the book and save the day.

Friends of Justice: This year's adventure was a mystery involving a new vigilante named Mr. Fog that is designed to have several different outcomes based on what seems to work with the player's actions. This time around, it played out very differently -- to my delgiht. I always like be kept on my toes by the players. Special mention should go to Lee Garvin (designer of Tales of the Floating Vagabond) for his wonderful portrayal of inventor/engineer Duncan MacKillop.

[watson]

My HeroCon 2 Memories:

Pre-Day 1:
It was, as always, great to see and chat with some of my good friends out East. The Friday night dinner at Carraba's is getting to become a tradition...I think the restaurant is going to have to give us THREE tables next year!
Most awesome idea to come out of the pre-HeroCon dinner:

So, the Nazi's leave Earth on the eve of their defeat in WWII: a rocketship takes them to Mongo, where the conflict takes on a new dimension.
Ming the Merciless + Hitler, Allied Commandos + Flash Gordon, Rayguns and SS, dinosaurs and Hawkmen and the Thule Society oh MY!

Highlights of the dinner:

Lee Garvin's introduction. "Hi there. I wanted your job, but you got it instead." (Me: *silence* *awkward moment*)
(Turns out Lee is a great guy and an awesome roleplayer!)
Darren Watts' discussion on "hitting what you shoot at" in game design.


Day 1:
The day began a bit chaotically but once things got sorted out, the con was off to a rocking start.

Young Titans: My second time exploring the universe of the Young Titans, and I am totally and completely hooked. Note: If any of you reading this ever get a chance to enjoy a game with the incomparable Oddhat (Robert Dorf), don't think about it, don't hesitate: just do it! Awesome story, involving far too many comedy moments to list, acts of heroism binding the embodiment of evil, and (on my part) a truly amazing move-through culminating in 18 BODY, 61 STUN, 16" knockback, and one villainess smacked out the side of an ancient temple and down to the side of the mountain! I can't wait to play Ms. Junior Olympia again and I look forward to seeing what Oddhat has in store for the group. (Yay for chainmail cape!)
Highlights:

Really big hats
"Also, ow!"
Collateral Damage!
"There are no dragons in Japanese Mythology!"
When informed that the embodiment of evil is, in fact, a dragon chained and bound, Ms. Junior Olympia's "Charitable and Good-hearted" psych lim kicks in: "Awww, poor dragon!"


Warrant of Belief: My first time attempting to run my Shadows Angelus (http://surbrook.devermore.net/worldbooks/shadows_2/shadowsindex2.html) campaign setting in a convention environment. I feel like I can do this a lot better next year, especially having more content. Also, if I had chosen the back room, the noise factor wouldn't have been such a problem. That having been said, I think things went relatively well as an intro to the setting, and I got to have some great roleplayers join some of my former regular group. Joe Pabis deserves special praise for playing Officer Bernard Templeton note-perfect.
Highlights:
"Dude, I rock!"

Dark Secrets: Stephen Furlani's Dark Heresy game, Dark Secrets, was my Day 1 final game...and it was incredible! Stephen is a very good friend of mine and a truly excellent player. But as a GM, he is freakin' diabolical! Add in folks like Lee Garvin and Bob Harrison, and we got to enjoy finding out that even in the grim darkness of the far future, there can be a totally hilarious convention game. Lee Garvin deserves special mention for playing a completely astounding Tech-priest!
Highlights:

"I'm warming up to it."
"You rebel scum!"
"I'm about to void my warranty."
"This ought to teach you to run away!"
That damn humming song!


The full impact of Day 1 combined to leave me nearly falling asleep on my feet once the adrenalin of being around so many cool gamers wore off.

Day 2 picked up with me noticing just how incredible the prize table and raffle items were...there were some very drool-worthy prizes indeed, including the entire run of Gunsmith Cats in graphic novel format.

Jurisdiction: A very pleasant surprise was the visit of two regular posters from the Fantasy Flight Dark Heresy boards showing up to join my Dark Heresy game in the morning slot, along with Oddhat snaring an open slot! I got a chance to talk about some of the upcoming products before launching into the game, and a good time was had by all. Jurisdiction is what I consider to be an excellent convention-length Dark Heresy game, and it did not disappoint!
Highlights:

Multi-meltas don't leave much body behind...
"That girl in the pink hair is not only rude, she sneaks very poorly!"
"Sir! Can I please shoot it now?"


After Jurisdiction, Darren Watts had a "what's new with Hero Games" discussion, wherein I made immediate plans to buy the Ultimate Base when it comes out. Dave Mattingly also had some words on Blackwyrm's new direction with publishing novels.

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.: Rarely do I get the chance to play in a Mike Surbrook game, so I didn't pass up the chance! I don't know much about Nextwave, unfortunately, so I missed many opportunities to crack jokes, but I truly enjoyed watching the volleys fly between Rod Currie, Oddhat, Thomas MacManus, and Nestor Rodriguez. Holy cow, those guys had this "satire of superheroes" thing down pat. I did, however, get to kill some monsters with gratuitous violence, and who can ask for more than that?
Highlights:

"I bloody hate lolitas."


Next was the gaming industry panel. It was kind of a "dream team" moment, being seated with some real industry personalities, such as Fred Hicks, Chad Underkoffler, John Ziegler, Lee Garvin, Dave Mattingly, and Darren Watts. The panel fielded some very interesting questions and we had a rollicking debate. Dave, I think, got the greatest response with his discussion about the change in how roleplaying games have handled failure and success over the years.
Highlights:

"Failure means you get twice as much spotlight time."
"There will be no Dark Heresy plushies."


The con wound down sunday night, and I played in the last game of the convention...

Friends of Justice: Rod Currie has never disappointed with his excellent convention games, and Friends of Justice was no exception. I was treated to some really interesting pulp noir, including the potential birth of a pulp superhero! Special Mention goes to Daniel (I forgot his last name!) playing Sebastian.
Highlights:

"Come back! I'm not done hitting you yet!"


Post Con:
I am definitely looking forward to next year! I almost didn't want the ride to end...and I am already planning on how I can get Venture Brothers Hero 2 off the ground as the FIRST game of HeroCon 4 in 2009!

[Susano]

Oddhat -- any chance if getting a copy of your Internet Chuck Norris? Do you have it has an HDC?

[OddHat]

Oddhat -- any chance if getting a copy of your Internet Chuck Norris? Do you have it has an HDC?

Um...Eh? I have a composite write up of Chuck Norris as he appears in his films and on TV ("Colt McQuade") which I can send you, but I don't have an Internet Chuck Norris. Just a few notes on the final McQuade sheet on how to convert him into the Internet version (by giving him stat boosts and the "Tears Cure Cancer" VPP). The write up was based on Norris' autobiography plus viewing most of his films over the years. (The possibility exists that I have too much free time)

[Susano]

Ahhhh... I see. I'm trying to decide on ways to improve the final Nextwave battle. The 'statless' "Internet Chuck Norris" was funny, but not satisfying enough for most of the players.

[OddHat]

Ahhhh... I see. I'm trying to decide on ways to improve the final Nextwave battle. The 'statless' "Internet Chuck Norris" was funny, but not satisfying enough for most of the players.

I'll read a bunch of Internet Chuck Norris jokes and put something together. :)

[Susano]

A high DEX, SPD 12 and the like is fine. I gave him a CV of 10 and 10d6 of damage.

[OddHat]

A high DEX, SPD 12 and the like is fine. I gave him a CV of 10 and 10d6 of damage.

I'd want to give him 50% Damage Reduction (Luck Based), Combat Luck, and the Disadvantage "2 x STUN and BODY from The Internet Bruce Lee, The Real Bruce Lee, The Real Chuck Norris, The Internet Mister Rogers, and their immitators". In a Gestalt campaign, his back story would be:

The Internet Chuck Norris is actually the Gestalt of an Internet Meme; he resembles the real Chuck Norris at the height of that actor's fame, but his skills and personality are a caricature of the real man. Almost invincible in one on one combat, his prowess is greatly reduced when facing foes that the public expect to be able to defeat him. It is highly recommended that his Luck Based defenses and extra damage classes do not apply in combat against foes that would be expected to defeat the Internet Chuck Norris.
-------

That would give the players another opportunity to take him down without having to base their attacks on Chuck Norris jokes. :)

[Susano]

Oohh... perfect. And it works for how Beyond's and HATE's Human Resources agents we see presented in the comics act.