Go Play NW 2013 Wrap-Up

A cool song. A bit long and repetitive, but still very enjoyable!

So I'm back from GPNW! Feeling so satisfied.

Had a couple of goals this year:
* Play games, but also Run games (as either facilitator or GM).
* Meet and play with new people.
* Play with people I've met but not gamed with.
* Participate in the Lottery, and at least one Donut game.
* Play new games, and limit Apocalypse-Powered games to half the con.

How'd I do?
* Yup! Ran two games, one GMless, one MC'd.
* Done.
* Done!
* Done and done.
* Done! The reasoning behind this limit was that if I felt like it I could have played ApW-powered games every single session. Heck, I probably could have played 7 straight games of Monsterhearts. The rule was to keep me playing new sorts of games that I hadn't experienced before.

So what was actually done?
* Showed up to Seattle around noon. Couldn't see Johnstone or the other Vancouverites over at Cal Anderson so went back to SU. Found Everyday Music on the way though - I love this record shop over in Portland and it's a regular stop for me there, so stumbling across the nearby one is great.
* Hung out with John Powell and Tony Dowler and Carl Rigney for a while.
* Went to the Friday Night Feast with Cristoph, Lisa, and Kynnin. I already played a game with Kynnin last year (Geiger World), but the other two were new to me - I saw quite a bit of them through the con, we hung out a bit, and they were in my Monsterhearts game. They were all from Vancouver, so it was pretty interesting. The Feast was very good actually.
* After dinner was the only game of the night! Written and run by Jeremy Tidwell, I played Last Generation. It was really fun, and quite interesting. I've a third of my AP post for this one already written :3 Found it through the Donut by the way, so fixed up one of my requirements already.
* Pat let me stay at his place. It was really nice of him and any time you're down in Tacoma Pat, my place is open.
* Saturday morning I was gonna play something, and went for the Donut. I felt like there weren't too many people facilitating, so I threw myself into the fire and pitched The Quiet Year. After a mild panic at the start of the game where I couldn't find my keys (they were out in the lobby), we got underway. As my first time running a game, I was a little nervous, and I felt okay about how I did. I know I rushed Dan some and he vocalized at the end that he was a little discomforted by it and I feel really bad about that, bu he liked it enough to buy the game so I'm glad he was still able to enjoy it.
* After a calm lunch hour, I had the Lottery. Pulled Joli, Martin, and Eileen. Joli facilitated Spione, written by Ron Edwards, which is a GMless game about spies in Cold War Berlin. It was very interesting, and a little boundary-pushing at first, but I enjoyed it a lot.
* Went for dinner with a whole gaggle of people at Elysium Brewery. Damn good burgers. HIGHLY recommended.
* The evening game was my scheduled running of Monsterhearts. During the feast the night before Ben Robbins convinced me that 5 players was probs. too many, so Feiya was willing to switch to another Monsterhearts game. Then Neil accidentally double-booked himself so he did his other thing and Teri jumped in, so 4 players. Then, at the start of the game Jess showed up and just asked to watch cuz he was later and games were full, so we just let him join in so I had 5 players anyway. Everyone was pretty new to it other than Jess, who I played with at Technicolor Dreams, and Teri had played once. Jason had read the rules quite thoroughly, and Cristoph and Lisa played Dungeon World earlier that day and as such had a rudimentary familarity with the basic ApW framework. The game was fantastic. I'm pretty sure that was my favorite Monsterhearts session yet. Everyone had their A game going, it was damn satisfying and every character had a cool arc that happened. The Doppleganger was not played, but we playtested Orion's Skin The Firestarter, so that was interesting.
* I went home that night. I then slept in too late and missed the SUN-01 session. Sucks, but I got to be rested, so that's cool. In the space though I played Trans-Europa with Morgan and a couple others. It was actually really cool - I'm not a big board-gamer, but it was a really good one. Learned it and pulled off the whole thing within a half-hour, which is swift and still interesting, plus there's some pretty elegant design in that game.
* Jackson and Johnzo and Christian invited me to play Anima Prime with them for Sun-02 and then I went to lunch with Joe and Jackson and someone else who's name escapes me so I'm sorry, it was cool talking to you but I'm bad at names.
* We came back and played Anima Prime. I haven't decided whether this game or my Monsterhearts game was better, but one of those was definitely my highlight game for the con. Christian (the writer of the game) ran it, and it was really cool. It was very accepting of wanting crazy cool and creative powers, and hit an interesting balance between being very lightweight but also being fairly intricate. Fiction-wise, it's a combination of action anime and Final Fantasy. The whole time I was thinking "this is definitely a game Kris should check out." On a hunch, after the game I asked Christian which FF game he drew most from, and he came back with Final Fantasy X. I had guessed that actually, seeing as its Kris's favorite. I would definitely play this again.
* Last game of the con was Dungeon World with Jay running and Ross, Johnzo, Erin Sara, and Drew playing. Johnzo and Drew's characters were returning, with this being their third adventure in as many cons, so Nesmit and Emory had some experience. We were all third level. It was cool and maybe I died at the very end, I'm not sure. We had to cut it short right at the end of the slot cuz Johnzo had to bail. Fun stuff!
* Finished out the night by going to Von Trapp's and enjoying food with a whole gang of people. Then I drove Ross and Orion home before heading back myself. And that was Go Play NW!

So to sum up:
* Last Generation (Donut)
* Quiet Year (Ran, Donut)
* Spione (Lottery)
* Monsterhearts (Ran)
* Anima Prime
* Dungeon World

Also, I bought three (well, 2.5) games!

I own the Quiet Year already! But I talked to Joe and worked out how to pay for just the Bag and the fun things that came with it. I especially really wanted the little skulls for Contempt Tokens. Don't need to carry around my tin of pennies anymore!

This is 300, a little set of rules Orion wrote for Fabulous Replacement. The resolution mechanic is bowling. Like, at a bowling alley. It starts with "When you pay, tell whoever is handling the transaction 'My life for Xerxes!' Their reply implies your current relationship with the great God-King, Xerxes.
Maintain a serious and respectful silence as you wait for your shoes."
I want to play this game.

They Became Flesh, a game by Elizabeth and Shreyas Sampat. It's about Fallen Angels who love humanity, who hate them. One GM plays God, one GM plays Humanity, everyone else is Fallen Angels. It looks really really interesting.

I think that's a good wrap-up of the con! I'm gonna write up AP of as many as I can.
Later!
End Recording,
Ego.