Watchdog
Aug 12th, '10, 08:13 AM
I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who played in an Evil Fleet Productions event this year. It was unanimous - we thought that this was our best year ever for events.
I hope the rest of the Evil Fleet members will post some comments as well. Meanwhile, speaking only for myself:
On Thursday, both runnings of Paranoia Trek went great. The only glitch in the first one was a player who didn't feel well and had to leave early. I was nervous in the second running because only three players with event tickets were at the table at 7:07 for a 7 pm game. Finally a fourth player sat down and said his three friends were in the bathroom and would be right over. They were all women, which made it the first time I ever ran an event with more women than men (4-3) and more Brits than Americans (again, 4-3).
I was particularly happy with The Weakest Clone segment in the GSN sector. The first round was mostly fill in the blank Trek trivia (what was the name of Data's evil android twin?) with a few multiple choice (Who was with a woman more out of their league: Wesley Crusher with Ashley Judd, or Young Spock with Zoe Saldana?) In the remaining rounds, all questions were multiple choice, but due to a time shortage, they would only receive the answers, not the questions. (Seven of Nine or Agent 99? Q Continuum or Q Branch? Beverly Crusher or Beverly Hillbilly?)
Each round the weakest clone was voted on and then vaporized.
Other highlights were the karaoke duets on the boatbot in the LUV sector, the spooky campfire stories at the KOA sector, and the puppet show and big autocar race in the demarcation zone between the NAS and CAR sectors.
On Friday, I assisted Dave Cabrera in running his Unnameable Basterds Call of Cthulhu event, which was basically Tarantino's film with Nazi werewolves. I got to play Col. Landa as an NPC, and while it certainly wasn't Oscar worthy I don't think I embarrassed myself. I also used a blood squib to the surprise of the players - and the GM. This time we didn't get any blood on the ceiling, so it was an improvement over last year, at least from the Hyatt's perspective.
Saturday was our signature Can of Whupass event. We set a couple of records: most event tickets turned in (all 25, a first), and most players ever (29, beating the old record by one.) I'm pretty sure between this and Joe's JSA vs. Cthulhu event, Evil Fleet ran the two biggest Hero System events at Gen Con.
And as far as the taunts went, this may have been our best year ever. There were so many great players and great taunts, but I do want to single out a few people and taunts, and hope that others who played will post their favorite moments as well.
First, congratulations to Brad, who not only won Whupass for the first time but won his third Best Taunter award as Christopher Walken, Texas Ranger. It wasn't just the impression that was good, but his superb comic timing and creativity. He never lost a taunt that I can recall, and he didn't take any damage in the entire fight. He had so many good ones, but I think my favorite was when he taunted Barry Bonds, the Incredible Bulk:
"I don't...care much...for your sport...as I find it...to be...(ten second pause)...too slow...(everyone was laughing, twenty second pause)...for me."
I turned to look at the judges and saw no fewer than three people wiping tears from their eyes. It was truly a tour-de-force, and will be talked about for as long as people remember Whupass.
But there were many other excellent taunters, both from returning and new players. David Carradine: Hung Fu was the runner-up, and received several taunt cards for his efforts. The Gleeks combined musical numbers with some spot on character impersonations of Rachel and Artie. Sarah Palin: Going Rouge had some hysterical ramblings (my favorite was warning the teen Gleeks against "recreational abortions"). The Mad Men had the best nonverbal taunt of the night, slowly blowing cigarette smoke into their attacker’s face. Rorshacca had some very disturbing journal entries.
Other favorite moments:
The newlywed couple who did a great job as the AA team brought in two coupons they were given for donating to the Robert Heinlein Blood Drive. We ruled that they could use them to automatically win one taunt.
After being eliminated, they got to throw a parachute man into the ring and won the taunt.
Me: Do you want to increase the chance to hit or the damage?
Her: To hit.
Him: (simultaneously) Damage.
They both stared at each other. The other players laughed and started chanting “First fight! First fight!” She won the “discussion” and rolled the exact number she needed to hit with the +1 bonus. She didn’t say “I told you so” either, so I think those kids have a shot. J
Bill & Klaatu’s Excellent Invasion lost a taunt when a player pointed out that Bill called Klaatu “Ted”. On their next taunt:
Klaatu: Bill, what’s that smell?
Bill: Gee, I don’t know, KLAATU.
The Gleek’s text message: “Oh my god! Lindsay Lohan died?!” and the great wheelchair gag.
One member of Rash of the Titans kept being sent back to the prize box again and again by my wife Judith. Her crime? Not taking enough swag!
A long-time spectator who finally took the plunge and played, selecting Tony the Tiger Woods and doing quite well (“Are you from Sweden? ‘Cause I think Swedish girls are GRRRRRRRRREAT!”) in his first ever Whupass game.
The Happy Birthday singing of the entire room to a long time player who couldn’t make it while her husband held up his cell phone. It just might have been romantic enough for her to cave on the gaming table issue…but it probably wasn’t. ;)
The winner of last year’s Whupass, The Curious Case of Benjamin Grimm, placing his character on the Wall of Fame while inspirational orchestral music was played.
That same player finished third this year with Barry Bonds, and rolled the dice on using tainted steroids as a healing power. He blew the activation roll, and the side effects meant he took the damage instead of getting healed, thus knocking himself out.
Two different taunt/retorts where each player received at least one card, and in one case, a total of three were given out!
I could fill up a whole page of Walken taunts. The only one he came close to losing was when someone (Burns Notice?) brought up Balls of Fire, a movie I wasted two hours of my life watching. But his winning taunt on the last attack of the night against Hung Fu was inspired, asking Hung Fu to join him in a duet of the jazz standard “I’ve Got the World on a String.”
I know I’m forgetting a lot more. We hope to have some videos of the event up soon.
Time for me to thank the rest of Evil Fleet. We had a lot of really cool prizes this year – even more than usual, thanks to some very generous donations by an Evil Fleet member who wanted to remain anonymous. Bill did another great job on the miniatures, especially a last minute Snooki Monster. Joe worked overtime, both as teaming with Triumph as Dr. Phil, and answering many rules questions from the new players. Dave Cabrera did the camerawork and helped out with rules questions, too. My wife Judith did many things before and during the event to make it a huge success. Thank you again, love of my life. And yes, I’m saying that even after a convention where I got to chat with Felicia Day, so you know my love is true.
We have an Evil Fleet Productions page on Facebook, where you can look at pictures (and soon, videos) from all of our events, including Ice Station Omega, JSA vs. Cthulhu, and the rest of Joe’s Hero System games. I hope you stop by “like” us – we love having our egos stoked.
We’d also love to hear from you if you have any compliments and especially suggestions/criticisms on how to make our events better. We know there’s always room for improvement, and we strive for that every year. As we say on our Facebook page, our goal is simple: to put on the best events at Gen Con. And we’re just cocky enough to think we can pull it off.
But we can’t do it without great players and great feedback. So please, let us know what you thought. And most of all, thank you for helping us create gaming memories that will last a lifetime.
David Wulatin
Evil Fleet Productions
I hope the rest of the Evil Fleet members will post some comments as well. Meanwhile, speaking only for myself:
On Thursday, both runnings of Paranoia Trek went great. The only glitch in the first one was a player who didn't feel well and had to leave early. I was nervous in the second running because only three players with event tickets were at the table at 7:07 for a 7 pm game. Finally a fourth player sat down and said his three friends were in the bathroom and would be right over. They were all women, which made it the first time I ever ran an event with more women than men (4-3) and more Brits than Americans (again, 4-3).
I was particularly happy with The Weakest Clone segment in the GSN sector. The first round was mostly fill in the blank Trek trivia (what was the name of Data's evil android twin?) with a few multiple choice (Who was with a woman more out of their league: Wesley Crusher with Ashley Judd, or Young Spock with Zoe Saldana?) In the remaining rounds, all questions were multiple choice, but due to a time shortage, they would only receive the answers, not the questions. (Seven of Nine or Agent 99? Q Continuum or Q Branch? Beverly Crusher or Beverly Hillbilly?)
Each round the weakest clone was voted on and then vaporized.
Other highlights were the karaoke duets on the boatbot in the LUV sector, the spooky campfire stories at the KOA sector, and the puppet show and big autocar race in the demarcation zone between the NAS and CAR sectors.
On Friday, I assisted Dave Cabrera in running his Unnameable Basterds Call of Cthulhu event, which was basically Tarantino's film with Nazi werewolves. I got to play Col. Landa as an NPC, and while it certainly wasn't Oscar worthy I don't think I embarrassed myself. I also used a blood squib to the surprise of the players - and the GM. This time we didn't get any blood on the ceiling, so it was an improvement over last year, at least from the Hyatt's perspective.
Saturday was our signature Can of Whupass event. We set a couple of records: most event tickets turned in (all 25, a first), and most players ever (29, beating the old record by one.) I'm pretty sure between this and Joe's JSA vs. Cthulhu event, Evil Fleet ran the two biggest Hero System events at Gen Con.
And as far as the taunts went, this may have been our best year ever. There were so many great players and great taunts, but I do want to single out a few people and taunts, and hope that others who played will post their favorite moments as well.
First, congratulations to Brad, who not only won Whupass for the first time but won his third Best Taunter award as Christopher Walken, Texas Ranger. It wasn't just the impression that was good, but his superb comic timing and creativity. He never lost a taunt that I can recall, and he didn't take any damage in the entire fight. He had so many good ones, but I think my favorite was when he taunted Barry Bonds, the Incredible Bulk:
"I don't...care much...for your sport...as I find it...to be...(ten second pause)...too slow...(everyone was laughing, twenty second pause)...for me."
I turned to look at the judges and saw no fewer than three people wiping tears from their eyes. It was truly a tour-de-force, and will be talked about for as long as people remember Whupass.
But there were many other excellent taunters, both from returning and new players. David Carradine: Hung Fu was the runner-up, and received several taunt cards for his efforts. The Gleeks combined musical numbers with some spot on character impersonations of Rachel and Artie. Sarah Palin: Going Rouge had some hysterical ramblings (my favorite was warning the teen Gleeks against "recreational abortions"). The Mad Men had the best nonverbal taunt of the night, slowly blowing cigarette smoke into their attacker’s face. Rorshacca had some very disturbing journal entries.
Other favorite moments:
The newlywed couple who did a great job as the AA team brought in two coupons they were given for donating to the Robert Heinlein Blood Drive. We ruled that they could use them to automatically win one taunt.
After being eliminated, they got to throw a parachute man into the ring and won the taunt.
Me: Do you want to increase the chance to hit or the damage?
Her: To hit.
Him: (simultaneously) Damage.
They both stared at each other. The other players laughed and started chanting “First fight! First fight!” She won the “discussion” and rolled the exact number she needed to hit with the +1 bonus. She didn’t say “I told you so” either, so I think those kids have a shot. J
Bill & Klaatu’s Excellent Invasion lost a taunt when a player pointed out that Bill called Klaatu “Ted”. On their next taunt:
Klaatu: Bill, what’s that smell?
Bill: Gee, I don’t know, KLAATU.
The Gleek’s text message: “Oh my god! Lindsay Lohan died?!” and the great wheelchair gag.
One member of Rash of the Titans kept being sent back to the prize box again and again by my wife Judith. Her crime? Not taking enough swag!
A long-time spectator who finally took the plunge and played, selecting Tony the Tiger Woods and doing quite well (“Are you from Sweden? ‘Cause I think Swedish girls are GRRRRRRRRREAT!”) in his first ever Whupass game.
The Happy Birthday singing of the entire room to a long time player who couldn’t make it while her husband held up his cell phone. It just might have been romantic enough for her to cave on the gaming table issue…but it probably wasn’t. ;)
The winner of last year’s Whupass, The Curious Case of Benjamin Grimm, placing his character on the Wall of Fame while inspirational orchestral music was played.
That same player finished third this year with Barry Bonds, and rolled the dice on using tainted steroids as a healing power. He blew the activation roll, and the side effects meant he took the damage instead of getting healed, thus knocking himself out.
Two different taunt/retorts where each player received at least one card, and in one case, a total of three were given out!
I could fill up a whole page of Walken taunts. The only one he came close to losing was when someone (Burns Notice?) brought up Balls of Fire, a movie I wasted two hours of my life watching. But his winning taunt on the last attack of the night against Hung Fu was inspired, asking Hung Fu to join him in a duet of the jazz standard “I’ve Got the World on a String.”
I know I’m forgetting a lot more. We hope to have some videos of the event up soon.
Time for me to thank the rest of Evil Fleet. We had a lot of really cool prizes this year – even more than usual, thanks to some very generous donations by an Evil Fleet member who wanted to remain anonymous. Bill did another great job on the miniatures, especially a last minute Snooki Monster. Joe worked overtime, both as teaming with Triumph as Dr. Phil, and answering many rules questions from the new players. Dave Cabrera did the camerawork and helped out with rules questions, too. My wife Judith did many things before and during the event to make it a huge success. Thank you again, love of my life. And yes, I’m saying that even after a convention where I got to chat with Felicia Day, so you know my love is true.
We have an Evil Fleet Productions page on Facebook, where you can look at pictures (and soon, videos) from all of our events, including Ice Station Omega, JSA vs. Cthulhu, and the rest of Joe’s Hero System games. I hope you stop by “like” us – we love having our egos stoked.
We’d also love to hear from you if you have any compliments and especially suggestions/criticisms on how to make our events better. We know there’s always room for improvement, and we strive for that every year. As we say on our Facebook page, our goal is simple: to put on the best events at Gen Con. And we’re just cocky enough to think we can pull it off.
But we can’t do it without great players and great feedback. So please, let us know what you thought. And most of all, thank you for helping us create gaming memories that will last a lifetime.
David Wulatin
Evil Fleet Productions