Gen Con gaming experiences [Archive] - Wizards Community

Gen Con gaming experiences [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Hobunn
08-15-06, 01:55 PM Hey all.

I had a blast at the Xen'drik Expeditions events and really enjoyed all the Blackwheel adventures. I want to thank all the GM's, the faction coordinator and the RPGA for a wonderful gaming experience. I also wanted to hear the other stories of heroism and high adventure from this weekend (and maybe put an on-screen name to the faces of the con.)

I'll start with the best experience I had at Gen Con Indy that happened at the end of Well of Woe round three.

Half of our party are from a different faction (apparently Cabal I learn well ATF), and had gone down swinging. The Blackwheel Company was represented by Qreshk a Gnoll Scout and Grinder (my PC) a Warforged fighter, and having just finished what we were sent to the Well to do and are preparing to leave. I then agonized over the decision of leaving the others there to be killed by the Well's guardian or to leave them to their fate. Throwing caution to the wind, I leapt to the attack and between Grinder and Qreshk we saved the other members from their fate and left the Well heroes.

It was both fun and empowering as a player to remember that we're playing heroes and acting on that impulse was one of the best RP'ing moments I've had in about thirty years of gaming.

Other experiences that stand out in my mind from the initial Blackwheel adventures.

The cautious parable of the overcurious halfling and the centipedes
Experiencing a warforged spot check.
Grinder: "I don't see anything..."
GM: There is a resounding 'CLANG' from the axe striking the warforged's chest.
Grinder: "Oh there it is..."
Learning that apparently a Warforged with a CHR of 12 is the best diplomat in the party.
And that Grinder should never jump. Ever. :D

So what's your list?
kiddoc
08-28-06, 11:59 AM I had some amazing gaming experiences. I've run Blackwheel's 1-6 with my playtest group already (we began back in march!) and you get sort of "used" to how a party works. Having the chance to see all different sorts of characters and parties in action was fantastic. I really loved some of the surprises I saw:

A gnoll with a -2 Cha bonus serving as the party's "Negotiator" and rolling consecutive natural 20's (and while being assisted!) on a pair of huge diplomacy checks.

A changeling rogue completely "inventing" a new path to one of my adventures.

Watching in amazement as a female player at a table next to me used "Feminine wiles" to flawlessly subvert a major stumbling block for her platoon.

Seeing a Warforged Scout Scout named Scout.

Watching my DM's peel the sleep and exhaustion out of their eyes and give their tables everything they had for 6, 12, and sometimes even 18 hours of phenomenal gameplay. I was in appreciative awe of their hard work, dedication, and level of fun.

Having a 12 year old girl out-diplomify me without even so much as picking up a die. :bow:

Seeing the above-mentioned changeling rogue invent the new adventure path, only to botch a portion of it. His one hope was a DC 25 diplomacy check to save his skin. He needed a natural 20... he rolled... a natural 20.

Watching one of my Delve tables with only 5 players take me down with 5 minutes to spare. They were one of only two tables then entire weekend (almost 30 trips through) to defeat me in the Delve.

Watching the entire party leap to their feet at another table (the other table to vanquish me) as their raging gnoll barbarian confirmed a full powerattack crit on the final (big bad, MEAN) beastie, and rolling 11, 12, 9 for her damage to dial up something like 60 points in one swing, killing the critter dead instantly.

The deceptively cruel encounter--The party rolled up the Witchblade in the delve--and they nearly defeated me the time before. This time, I was able to take control of their gnoll barbarian (yay for will saves!) and immediately laid waste to their cleric, and finished off almost all the party with their own melee tank. :P
GaiasDream
08-28-06, 01:02 PM GenCon was a marvellous good time! It was my first GenCon ever so I had lots of "firsts" and good memories to share.

I played 5 sessions of Blackwheel with my gnoll druid, Klawgrinn.
On Thursday I played in Principal of the Matter under the excellent DMing of Dan Erbacher - my first RPGA session ever! We were successful in our mission for the Company despite earning the enmity of the goody two-shoes in the Covenant of Light. Oh well, Klawgrinn couldn't care less about what those shiny uptight fools think of him or the Blackwheel Company. We took the time to listen to the song of our "objective" at the end of the session... Klawgrinn's misinterpretation of the song made for a memorable RP moment in Well of Woe.

Next up was that Well of Woe. I played in the Friday night marathon 3-part back-to-back session under Rene Ayala, another extremely talented DM. We had 5 Blackwheel recruits and one gentleman from the Crimson Codex... it was tense at the beginning as everyone kept their secrets carefully guarded, but once we got deeper into the jungles of Xen'drik and bled alongside one another, trust was established and we developed a good sense of teamwork. There were too many memorable moments in the marathon to recount them all, but three stand out:
1. Our warforged fighter Greaves nailing the dancing ogre in the Thelanis Wall with a critical, saving the party from almost certain doom after our dwarf fighter Dunovin charged the beast.
2. Klawgrinn's ridiculous and nearly suicidal attempt to immolate himself as a sacrifice to the redspawn belcher down in the Well. Many thanks to the rest of the party, who stepped in to save the brave but foolish gnoll from a crispy doom.
3. After solving the teleportation circle puzzle with the 4 stone tokens, Klawgrinn crushedThe Flame in three consecutive rounds with a nasty Shilleleigh beatdown, the third blow being the killing strike. I think the hot rolling at the end was my good karma for the stupidity earlier with the 'belcher.
I will always remember The Well of Woe session as one of the finest nights of gaming I've experienced. Thanks to Rene, Peter, Joel, Sean, Lee and Bill (the Steak n' Shake crew!) for an exciting and memorable delve. Gristlegnaw, the stupid lucky "epic dire rat," will always consider himself the official mascot of the group. :D

On Saturday I joined Dan Erbacher's table again for the Price of Progress. We had a clever and well-balanced team which happened to include both a gnoll druid (Klawgrinn) and a gnoll warmage (Grolnik the Mad). We evaded notice by other factions while escorting our objective safely out of the Xen'drik wilderness. The best moments of the session were watching Fang, one of our two gnoll barbarians, take down the swamp ape with two swings, and Grolnik's clever use of a burning hands spell and an imaginary Krenshar to take advantage of the heir's jumpiness so we could swap out the tomes without being noticed. At the end of the session we were all promoted to Dragoon status by Sgt. Tragar for our excellent work in such a slippery situation. Onward for our United Aim!

Thanks to the factionmasters, DMs and organizers who made playing for the Blackwheel Company such a great D&D experience. Many thanks also to the folks who slaved away at the Xen'drik Delve tables all week... that was a blast to fill up the hours when I wasn't in a Blackwheel expedition. I will definitely be back to GenCon next year, this time with family!
kiddoc
08-28-06, 03:24 PM I love to hear those stories, they make my monday!

I have to compliment Dan too, he ran TONS of consecutive Blackwheel Adventures and at the end I began to wonder who made the better Kleris, Herent the Modest, or Sgt. Tragar, because Dan was looking and sounding better than the guy that wrote them!

Keep the stories coming, and thanks for the feedback!
smerwin29
08-28-06, 07:21 PM One of the joys of going to the big cons and watching tables play mods you've written is just sitting in awe of the incredible talent of some of the judges. I know I have watched my mods being run by incredible judges, and I can only imagine it is like writing a play and watching incredibly talented actors bringing it to life.

Shawn
Crimson Codex Guy
githmorien
08-30-06, 06:06 PM My favorite moment came during the second round of Well of Woe.

We'd finished the "negotiations" with the bored half-orc hermit (which my ever-proud Valenar flatly refused to participate in: "the Valaes Tairn are warriors; we do NOT perform like trained seals!" I was so grateful to our most excellent DM for actually letting me run with that) and had just come upon the dancing ogre.

The DM begins describing the scene, when one of the guys at my table cuts him off:

"Hey: you made us perform; now it's your turn."

And with no further ado, the DM promptly gets up, strolls out to the dead center of the Sagamore Ballroom floor, and goes straight Riverdance on us.

Oh man, you should've SEEN the looks on the faces of the people at the other tables!

But the performance was quite good (especially considering that he'd been running games for almost 24 hours by this point), so he got a nice, noisy round of applause from us.

There are no words to describe that level of cool!
smerwin29
08-30-06, 06:48 PM Rule 341: Don't mess with a man who can Riverdance.

Shawn
(who has a bard/barbarian in another campaign whose Perform skill is Riverdance)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Hobunn 08-15-06, 01:55 PM	Hey all. I had a blast at the Xen'drik Expeditions events and really enjoyed all the Blackwheel adventures. I want to thank all the GM's, the faction coordinator and the RPGA for a wonderful gaming experience. I also wanted to hear the other stories of heroism and high adventure from this weekend (and maybe put an on-screen name to the faces of the con.) I'll start with the best experience I had at Gen Con Indy that happened at the end of Well of Woe round three. Half of our party are from a different faction (apparently Cabal I learn well ATF), and had gone down swinging. The Blackwheel Company was represented by Qreshk a Gnoll Scout and Grinder (my PC) a Warforged fighter, and having just finished what we were sent to the Well to do and are preparing to leave. I then agonized over the decision of leaving the others there to be killed by the Well's guardian or to leave them to their fate. Throwing caution to the wind, I leapt to the attack and between Grinder and Qreshk we saved the other members from their fate and left the Well heroes. It was both fun and empowering as a player to remember that we're playing heroes and acting on that impulse was one of the best RP'ing moments I've had in about thirty years of gaming. Other experiences that stand out in my mind from the initial Blackwheel adventures. The cautious parable of the overcurious halfling and the centipedes Experiencing a warforged spot check. Grinder: "I don't see anything..." GM: There is a resounding 'CLANG' from the axe striking the warforged's chest. Grinder: "Oh there it is..." Learning that apparently a Warforged with a CHR of 12 is the best diplomat in the party. And that Grinder should never jump. Ever. :D So what's your list?
kiddoc 08-28-06, 11:59 AM	I had some amazing gaming experiences. I've run Blackwheel's 1-6 with my playtest group already (we began back in march!) and you get sort of "used" to how a party works. Having the chance to see all different sorts of characters and parties in action was fantastic. I really loved some of the surprises I saw: A gnoll with a -2 Cha bonus serving as the party's "Negotiator" and rolling consecutive natural 20's (and while being assisted!) on a pair of huge diplomacy checks. A changeling rogue completely "inventing" a new path to one of my adventures. Watching in amazement as a female player at a table next to me used "Feminine wiles" to flawlessly subvert a major stumbling block for her platoon. Seeing a Warforged Scout Scout named Scout. Watching my DM's peel the sleep and exhaustion out of their eyes and give their tables everything they had for 6, 12, and sometimes even 18 hours of phenomenal gameplay. I was in appreciative awe of their hard work, dedication, and level of fun. Having a 12 year old girl out-diplomify me without even so much as picking up a die. :bow: Seeing the above-mentioned changeling rogue invent the new adventure path, only to botch a portion of it. His one hope was a DC 25 diplomacy check to save his skin. He needed a natural 20... he rolled... a natural 20. Watching one of my Delve tables with only 5 players take me down with 5 minutes to spare. They were one of only two tables then entire weekend (almost 30 trips through) to defeat me in the Delve. Watching the entire party leap to their feet at another table (the other table to vanquish me) as their raging gnoll barbarian confirmed a full powerattack crit on the final (big bad, MEAN) beastie, and rolling 11, 12, 9 for her damage to dial up something like 60 points in one swing, killing the critter dead instantly. The deceptively cruel encounter--The party rolled up the Witchblade in the delve--and they nearly defeated me the time before. This time, I was able to take control of their gnoll barbarian (yay for will saves!) and immediately laid waste to their cleric, and finished off almost all the party with their own melee tank. :P
GaiasDream 08-28-06, 01:02 PM	GenCon was a marvellous good time! It was my first GenCon ever so I had lots of "firsts" and good memories to share. I played 5 sessions of Blackwheel with my gnoll druid, Klawgrinn. On Thursday I played in Principal of the Matter under the excellent DMing of Dan Erbacher - my first RPGA session ever! We were successful in our mission for the Company despite earning the enmity of the goody two-shoes in the Covenant of Light. Oh well, Klawgrinn couldn't care less about what those shiny uptight fools think of him or the Blackwheel Company. We took the time to listen to the song of our "objective" at the end of the session... Klawgrinn's misinterpretation of the song made for a memorable RP moment in Well of Woe. Next up was that Well of Woe. I played in the Friday night marathon 3-part back-to-back session under Rene Ayala, another extremely talented DM. We had 5 Blackwheel recruits and one gentleman from the Crimson Codex... it was tense at the beginning as everyone kept their secrets carefully guarded, but once we got deeper into the jungles of Xen'drik and bled alongside one another, trust was established and we developed a good sense of teamwork. There were too many memorable moments in the marathon to recount them all, but three stand out: 1. Our warforged fighter Greaves nailing the dancing ogre in the Thelanis Wall with a critical, saving the party from almost certain doom after our dwarf fighter Dunovin charged the beast. 2. Klawgrinn's ridiculous and nearly suicidal attempt to immolate himself as a sacrifice to the redspawn belcher down in the Well. Many thanks to the rest of the party, who stepped in to save the brave but foolish gnoll from a crispy doom. 3. After solving the teleportation circle puzzle with the 4 stone tokens, Klawgrinn crushedThe Flame in three consecutive rounds with a nasty Shilleleigh beatdown, the third blow being the killing strike. I think the hot rolling at the end was my good karma for the stupidity earlier with the 'belcher. I will always remember The Well of Woe session as one of the finest nights of gaming I've experienced. Thanks to Rene, Peter, Joel, Sean, Lee and Bill (the Steak n' Shake crew!) for an exciting and memorable delve. Gristlegnaw, the stupid lucky "epic dire rat," will always consider himself the official mascot of the group. :D On Saturday I joined Dan Erbacher's table again for the Price of Progress. We had a clever and well-balanced team which happened to include both a gnoll druid (Klawgrinn) and a gnoll warmage (Grolnik the Mad). We evaded notice by other factions while escorting our objective safely out of the Xen'drik wilderness. The best moments of the session were watching Fang, one of our two gnoll barbarians, take down the swamp ape with two swings, and Grolnik's clever use of a burning hands spell and an imaginary Krenshar to take advantage of the heir's jumpiness so we could swap out the tomes without being noticed. At the end of the session we were all promoted to Dragoon status by Sgt. Tragar for our excellent work in such a slippery situation. Onward for our United Aim! Thanks to the factionmasters, DMs and organizers who made playing for the Blackwheel Company such a great D&D experience. Many thanks also to the folks who slaved away at the Xen'drik Delve tables all week... that was a blast to fill up the hours when I wasn't in a Blackwheel expedition. I will definitely be back to GenCon next year, this time with family!
kiddoc 08-28-06, 03:24 PM	I love to hear those stories, they make my monday! I have to compliment Dan too, he ran TONS of consecutive Blackwheel Adventures and at the end I began to wonder who made the better Kleris, Herent the Modest, or Sgt. Tragar, because Dan was looking and sounding better than the guy that wrote them! Keep the stories coming, and thanks for the feedback!
smerwin29 08-28-06, 07:21 PM	One of the joys of going to the big cons and watching tables play mods you've written is just sitting in awe of the incredible talent of some of the judges. I know I have watched my mods being run by incredible judges, and I can only imagine it is like writing a play and watching incredibly talented actors bringing it to life. Shawn Crimson Codex Guy
githmorien 08-30-06, 06:06 PM	My favorite moment came during the second round of Well of Woe. We'd finished the "negotiations" with the bored half-orc hermit (which my ever-proud Valenar flatly refused to participate in: "the Valaes Tairn are warriors; we do NOT perform like trained seals!" I was so grateful to our most excellent DM for actually letting me run with that) and had just come upon the dancing ogre. The DM begins describing the scene, when one of the guys at my table cuts him off: "Hey: you made us perform; now it's your turn." And with no further ado, the DM promptly gets up, strolls out to the dead center of the Sagamore Ballroom floor, and goes straight Riverdance on us. Oh man, you should've SEEN the looks on the faces of the people at the other tables! But the performance was quite good (especially considering that he'd been running games for almost 24 hours by this point), so he got a nice, noisy round of applause from us. There are no words to describe that level of cool!
smerwin29 08-30-06, 06:48 PM	Rule 341: Don't mess with a man who can Riverdance. Shawn (who has a bard/barbarian in another campaign whose Perform skill is Riverdance)