Pre-Gencon Potpourri

Like many nerds, I'll be making the annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis starting tomorrow. This rite of passage began many moons ago, young padawans, when I used to travel there to play the collectible card game based around World Wrestling Entertainment (and to give you some timeframe on that, when the game STARTED it was still called the World Wrestling Federation.) It's been an intermittent part of my life ever since. And most importantly, it's the mecca of all things new and Wyrd.

My Jacob Lynch boxed set was purchased new at Gencon, along with everyone else from the Honeypot. When Avatars came out (you know them as Emissaries now) I picked up Zoraida and Kirai there. I still have a metal nightmare Lord Chompy Bits that I've really gotta get painted and get on a board for crying out loud. I've played in a number of Malifaux tournaments in Indy, and a few years back I discovered the joys of volunteering with Wyrd, particularly when it came to Fatemastering their Through the Breach games (wait, hold on, you're going to cover the cost of my badge, and give me booth credit, and all I have to do is...play Through the Breach? Umm, yeah, I'll go ahead and sign up now.) 

This year features the first Wyrd-run Malifaux tournament of the M3E era, which I'll be covering as a spectator rather than as a participant (I'll be busy killing off Fated characters for large portions of the allotted time.) It's a two-day event for the first time ever, which I know a number of competitive players have been clamoring to see for some time now. Hopefully Wyrd will also have a large amount of terrain (Adepticon already looked to have improved this issue), as the shooting gallery style boards have been another long-running complaint. Still, it's a great chance to get in many games of Malifaux, and Phiasco will be there doing many Ten Thunders related things that will likely leave opponents scratching their heads in puzzlement. 

My competitive hill to climb is going to be the Other Side tournament on Thursday. I've been scrambling to get a couple more squads of the King's Finest ready for the tabletop. I have some South Wales Borderers and Field Intelligence Corps fireteams painted to an...acceptable tabletop standard. Just don't look too close or you'll see the bare spots where primer is still showing. I have set down some ideas for each round in my head, though since it's a 2 commander tourney I won't have as much crew flexibility as I would in 1C games. I don't expect I'll be the only one for whom that is true. Mostly it's an excuse to get some more games in for what I consider to be a more fun tournament game than Malifaux (yeah that's right, I said it. I'm gonna write a whole blog post about it soon, so just you wait.) Maybe if I'm lucky, I won't have to play against Gibbering Hordes every round! Wouldn't that be nice?

I didn't realize the "Endless Numbers" special rule applied in real life, as well.

The only other tournament games I'll probably participate in is the Henchman Hardcore on Sunday. I found some nasty tricks from the Honeypot that I think could be pretty rude in that format, so I'll be eager to give them a try and find out all the reasons I'm wrong.

And, of course, most of Friday and Saturday I'll be running TTB. I love RPGs, and I love running them in particular. I'm a DM (or in TTB's case, FM) first, player second. This is truly a labor of love for me. This year I'm running 4 sessions of the game with three premade Penny Dreadful adventures. One adventure features the Fated trying to rescue a kidnapped Star Theatre showgirl and getting more than they bargained for. Another pits them against the Universtiy Transmortis in a more straightforward beat-em-up. The third features an expedition into the badlands and.....dinosaurs? No, that can't be right. *goes back to check the module name* Oh, yeah, I guess that's really what's going on there. That should be interesting! 

I think most of them are sold out (not because I'm running them. Though I'm sure if people had known, they would have sold out even faster) but people have a tendency to buy tickets and not show up, so there's no harm in getting generics and swinging by to see if a slot is available. Moreover, throughout the con Wyrd will also be hosting short character creation events where they walk you through performing one of the Tarot readings that generate a new Fated. I'll have pregens for all of the games I'm running (so will the other Fatemasters, but come on, you know you would rather play at my table) but if you show up with a Fated of your own, they can happily take their place. Sometimes I've even been known to sneak in an extra player or two if Matt Carter isn't watching too close, so you never know. Maybe you'll get to have your first adventure run by your favorite bloggist. I'll be honored to kill your character guide you into the world of Malifaux! 

Wyrd's bringing their usual slew of rare and limited edition stuff, as well as the full line of The Other Side models and some new M3E style crew boxes. Apparently the faction books won't be there due to a shipping issue, which kinda stinks but frankly I can live without. Those may end up falling in the "buy as pdf" pile for me anyways to cut down on the shelf footprint dedicated to Wyrd stuff (moving several times in as many years makes one appreciate digital literature. Also, this year's nightmare crew is the above Nightmare version of Molly, titled Brine and Bones. I gotta tell ya, I really couldn't be any less interested in playing Ressers but...goddamn that is a cool box set. Gotta stay strong. Must...not...buy...awesome...pirates.....

Ugh. 

Maybe I can put a "Will FateMaster for Nightmare minis" tip jar out when I'm running games to help offset the cost?

Anyways, that's what I'll be up to at Gencon. As you've probably noticed, I've been recruiting knowledgeable folks to contribute articles for the blog. If you're a cool guy, or if you beat me in a game of Malifaux, or if you know more about the game than I do (not a high bar to clear), expect me to hit you up and see if you're interested in joining the ever-growing legion of guest bloggists. Otherwise, feel free to find me or Phiasco to say hi, challenge us to a game, or tell us we're wrong and bad people. Either way, it's always nice to meet a fan! And it's Gencon, so you're not going to hinder my good time anyways. 

See you in Indy!