Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 11:24.
Could you add a little more detail, Tim? Otherwise, it's just an empty post that serves no function. What was great about Furnace, what games did you particularly enjoy, was there anything you thought was cool?
I'd take some highs and lows from Furnace. No lows were so low as to be horrible however.
On the high front, it was great to see everyone again. I felt there was a good positive feeling and buzz around the stall and that we made a very nice presence. Our games seemed to run strongly, which was nice. The booth came together well and looked decent. Obviously I was pleased with the reception, the sales and the play of D&H. Both my sessions played out as I would have wanted them.
On the low front, I think each of the three games I played in suffered a little, in different ways, from 'con' syndrome. Scott's valiant attempt to run 'Dread' was hampered by the cacophony in the Armoury, to the point where sometimes I could barely hear him. It was a fun game but a little too stylised a setting for me to be more interested in the game - a great con starter though!
Graham's game of Poison'd was the best game for me of the con. However I sort of found the fixation of the game on sodomy, child abuse and indeed necrophilia to be a little purile in some parts, which caused me a slight disconnect. That said, I escaped that by simply ignoring it! (Or indeed, dying. Twice). I'd love to play it again, in a slightly more serious atmosphere. Oh and that boy can GM too.
Monkey was a hoot but I think it suffered from end-of-con fatigue. I'd peg Monkey as a game to watch for next year. I love the mechanic and I love my character (which I have been lucky enough to have played two years in a row now! Go go Scribe - Administration FTW!)
It's got me all fired up for Dragonmeet and now I'm rather vexed that I will be missing Indiecon!
I have the same issue Neil does with the Armory. It's hard to hear what's going on. I really don't like playing in there.
Dread was fun, in a interesting-to-do-once way. Bursting into people's houses, demanding they tell us what we need to know, bursting into the next place...
Duty and Honour was fun. Still thinking about some aspects of the system.
I enjoyed Poison'd. It's easy to GM. You just facilitate, with a bit of taunting. "He's stabbing you. Are you going to do anything about that?".
I played Traveller first thing on Sunday morning, but it didn't work for me at all. I left after an hour, pleading a hangover. Not My Sort Of Thing. I'm going to try GMing Traveller to see if I enjoy it.
Then Hot War, which was superb. Brave Nazi scientist saves the world from the evil British.
Yeah, that Hot War sounded really fun. But it meant we couldn't hear what we were doing. In the Armoury.
Let me try pasting in the summary of games from my blog.
Monkey: Bag of Wind run by Ginger Matt. This is one of Newt's magnum opi (???), where characters are animal spirits and other immortals recently kicked out of heaven in a lighthearted mythic China. I tried the other con scenario at Continuum and had a fun time, so was happy to start Furnace with this. Skills and powers give a hand of cards according to their rating and you use either black (yin) or red (yang). While doing escort duty we found that some blighter had nicked Feng Po's bag of wind and the weather was running amok. This works really well as a con game. I don't think you'd run long campaigns, both because of the style and because there's an end point built in: the characters are aiming to accumulate virtue so they can return to heaven.
Wordplay: The Black Stones of Kovag-Re run by Graham Spearing. Wordplay is basically Graham's answer to HeroQuest, keeping the freeform description of abilities and measuring them as pools of d6. You pick a main one, get a bit of help from up to two supporting ones, amass as big a handful of dice as possible and count successes. He's working toward releasing it under Creative Commons with a print version in Spring '09, but you can download the current draft. It worked pretty simply and pretty well, hooking in very strongly to the psychological payoff of building a big dice pool. Much more about storytelling, framing conflicts and describing consequences, than anything tactical. Works well as a con game. This was actually an adapted scenario from Mongoose's Conan - the odious local governor hires us to bring back his beautiful kidnapped bride. Generated some good tension within the party - some wanted to fulfil our contract and some to free the girl and the oppressed city.
Reign: Heroes of Dindavara run by Paul Mitchener. This was one of my priorities to get into so I could try Reign, something I've pondered getting for a while. We had a good time, but I came out feeling that I don't need to pick it up, mainly because of complexities/oddities in the system. We were basically agents for a semi-secret intelligence/special ops organisation, send into the neighbouring Empire to investigate unusual troop movements. This game included one of those episodes that will live in legend: a rather challenging altercation with a group of demon-possessed cows. (PS - the Reign demons, the rest of the setting, and hell, Greg Stolze overall are weird.)
Wordplay: Troubles I've Seen run by Mark Galeotti. The decider for going into this one, actually, was that Mark (Mr Mythic Russia - please to ignore Google ads for nice Russian girls) will soon be going to live in the States and I hadn't tried him yet. ;) When Wordplay comes out it's going to have a number of theme settings, and this one is Cold Crusade - modern day, an increasing number of people are Touched by pagan gods and gaining magic powers, this isn't public yet but the major religions know about it and are Not Happy. The adventure was basically a heist movie using cunning and magic powers to get an ancient artefact out of the Vatican. Good fun, aided by some veteran players.
Qin: There's something strange in the neighbourhood run by Ginger Matt. How can you not stalk him with that hair? Qin is a game of ancient China with appropriate magical abilities, another one that I'd been curious about (and a very pretty rulebook). The scenario had us as a special unit of the city watch dealing with supernatural threats. There'd been an outbreak of ghosts and bitey things and we had to track it to its source. Qin turns out to be quite a traditional system, with various attributes, skills and special schticks, quite different from most of the other stuff I'd played. Getting my head round that, plus a dice method that's a bit unintuitive (for I'm not sure what benefit) left me a bit unimpressed with the game. Of course I was really tired by then (and something I'd eaten was bouncing off the sides on the way down), so the deck was stacked against it. It would probably do better as a campaign game where you had time to get into it.
Submitted by Newt Newport on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 10:41.
Ok so I could be accused of being biased here, but we set Furnace to be the ultimate small RPG con and this year it really sunk with me in that we had reached our goals and we are here to stay.
The only bad bit for me is that the whole experience whizzed past me.
I'd personally like to thank the Collective Endeavour: Iain, Neil and Andy for setting up shop once again. Every year you guys keep on getting more and more professional and it showed. There was a good selection of games being run and on offer. I was chuffed to bits that Duty and Honour sold out bar one copy :)
My own Furnace experience was a bit hectic, but I think this year I've learnt to chill out and enjoy the fruits of my labours.
Partially to promote Hearts in Glorantha but mainly to have fun we had a Gloranthan games track where we had three gms running easily accessible Gloranthan games of various systems - a simple homebrew, SimpleQuest and HeroQuest 2. We filled all but the last Sunday game - which fell victim to the fact about twenty people left after lunch to go home.
I took time out from running to play in the same Saturday night game of Reign as Tim. The Gm was on the ball and once I got my head round the setting (which is deliberately weird) I got into the narrative. Less certain about the rules system which involved rolling large numbers of d10 and making groups of dice. It struck me as a bit too random, my character nearly got killed by a herd of demon possessed cows because even though I was throwing 7 or 8 dice and not making a single pair!!
As Neil already said in his report I also ran Monkey on Sunday afternoon - a game which the players really made fun (Monkey to my delight is very player centred :) ) and Neil and his mate Andy provided some really good feedback for after.
Room D101 was less focused than at Continuum, but Neil and Ginger Matt ran a game of SimpleQuest and Monkey respectively, but I did have a table set aside for selling HiG and the 'Cheeky Monkey' version of Monkey inbetween sessions. Final scores on the doors three Cheeky Monkeys (to people who played in the games) to seven HiG (one of which was sold to player, six went to Jim at Patriot Games). Next year will probably be a big one for D101 at Furnace since we'll have more books out by then - at least three issues of HiG, SimpleQuest + one supplement (whcih is going to be Duel stated with Wordplay) and off course the one everyone is waiting for Monkey!
Furnace was excellent fun once again, and we did some decent sales for such a small con, more on that in another post.
I played two and ran two, replacing Rich's game on the saturday night with Inspectres.
Games I ran
I will be posting APs on both of these so will just give a brief overview.
Hot War
I was a bit nervous about this having not had the chance to test drive the scenario before the con but the players enjoyed themselves and it went well. The scenario was based around the 'memory' idea in the back of the Hot War book, and ended with a bloody shootout in a dissused bank that was being used as a makeshift medical facility by the main antagonist and characters pointing guns at each other. It was pretty cool.
Inspectres
This was my game of the con, and the first time I had run Inspectres over such a long slot. The firm was based in Edinburgh out of the shed of one of the character's and they encountered ghosts in basements as well as fish-based dimensions accidentally colliding with our own.
One of the players was an indie-sceptic, and though I don't think he will rush out and buy it, he had a good time. The confessional mechanic was used more than every other Inspectres, and the game was suprisingly coherent, wrapping up all the threads in a neat little bow.
Games I played
Duty and Honour
Top drawer old chap! Really good fun, with plenty of daring do, heaving bosoms and military espionage. I thought the game lacked a bit of direction, the hunting a spy mission not really showing off the games strengths in my mind, but I had a good time as Captain Longsdale and the system works well.
Spirit of the Century
This was my first time using Fate, and I really like the way it works. Pete (second name forgotten) was a great GM and we had lots of crazy action hunting down nazis determined to launch nerve gas over America. I was a little disatissfied with the old school GM styles pete has, where he announced the results of everything, but that down to my personal game preferences these days rather than anything to do with the game. Well prepared, well run and great fun.
Third year of Furnace for me, and it was as fun as always! My stall organisation left a lot to be desired, but we came good in the end thanks to Neil and Morrisons. Note to myself for next year: check where the tablecloths and stands are before the convention...
In a first for me, I played rather than GMd, managing 4 games in total! All were good!
Duty & Honour - Cadiz or Bust! I managed to muscle my way into Neil's first game of this, eager to find out what all the fuss was about. I wasn't disappointed - the setup of the missions was a breeze, as was the game itself. Great fun playing as Captain Lonsdale, especially as my trusty right-hand man Jenkins (played by Graham) repeatedly let me down, ending up with a maimed reputation between us! Plus, I managed to slay the nefarious spy Martineau in a duel! English 1 - French 0.
Sufficiently Advanced - A Patent Inspector Calls. I've been curious about this game since I edited it last year, but have never quite got my head around how the hell you'd run it. I'd like to think I'm a little wiser about Dom's game, which culminated in us giving the nod to the detonation of 10 stars and untold billions of lives lost to create a cordon around a rogue alien race. The game suffered a little from too many players, and one two many tangential discussions about this or that, but it was certainly interesting.
Conspiracy of Shadows, the Fall of House Atreides. I think this was my game of the con. A really cracking set-up, with the familiar characters and story playing out in an unfamiliar way. I ended up with Paul, as well as being (randomly) cast as the traitor. My ineptitude at trying to assassinate myself (and my father) as a decoy didn't work, attracting the suspicions of the other players midway through. Luckily the others faltered upon acting against their duke's son and fixated upon Jessica as the possible traitor, giving me time to stab Leto in the back, literally. I enjoyed it greatly!
Spirit of the Century - one final game to round the convention of, and the only disappointment was that I was meant to be running 6 Bullets at the same time but didn't get enough players. I played Jack "Danger Ace" Wallace, a Steve McQueen type character. I'm not sure how, but I seemed to acquire a huge stockpile of fate chips (although Iain struggled to get any, oddly) which certainly made for a free and easy game with lots of cool stunts. The fact that for the final scene I was basically out of the fight itself, flying around the zeppelin in my plane, and yet at the same time still had plenty to contribute, is a testament to how solid the system is. Love it as always! Plus, Nazis + zeppelins = win.
Pete (second name forgotten) was a great GM and [snip] I was a little disatissfied with the old school GM styles pete has [snip] Well prepared, well run and great fun.
Pete Atkinson (aka Sexy Lemur) - a fellow member of the Smart Party and therefore guaranteed Great Ref. Unfortunately (for the hippy crowd) we're also terribly Trad at times.
I hadn't been sold on Fate before, I think because of the way it had been presented (Aspects are Teh Win!), but Pete's reffing showed me how it could work in a way I'd like. Water Margin is ace.
All the games were cool at Furnace - in fact there were too many. Wanted to try Hot War and others, but no time to fit them in.
Another strong showing from the small but perfectly formed convention, with a hippy friendly attitude and wide variety of games on offer from 4ed and WW to all your guys stuff via Cthulhu, Savage Worlds and Monsters and Other Childish Things.
I think Furnace is a great testament to the fact that the wider gaming public doesn't distinguish between indie/hippy and traditional games - they just play games because they sound fun.
I don't know. I get the feeling many unknown games didn't get players: Bleakworlds, Six Bullets for Vengeance, Lacuna. There'd been some buzz about Duty and Honour and Poison'd, so those did OK.
That was a minor irritation, incidentally: on the timetable, games were identified by their title only. That helps well-known games (everyone knows what Call of Cthulhu is about) but hits less well-known ones.
If my playtest had been identified by its blurb (Bleakworlds, blah blah Blake's Seven blah blah Serenity), I think it would have signed up.
Submitted by Newt Newport on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 11:20.
I'm going to put my hand up and say I borked the sign up sheets. They were the last thing I did in one hundred and one things I had to do before Furnace
Because I didn't have to sign up for games last year, I was either running or had pre-signed I hadn't twigged that Darran who did last year's sheets also included game descriptions. It did cross my mind in the rush to get them done - but I thought against it since I wanted people to get in, sign up and get away from the board to eliminate the sign up scrum that happened in 2007.
There's been criticism here and on at the Tavern, which I've taken on board and will be fixed for next year.
Submitted by Dom Mooney on Sun, 09/11/2008 - 14:11.
Graham W wrote:
I played Traveller first thing on Sunday morning, but it didn't work for me at all. I left after an hour, pleading a hangover. Not My Sort Of Thing. I'm going to try GMing Traveller to see if I enjoy it.
Graham,
If you want to share (off forum if more appropriate) what you felt didn't work for you, I'd appreciate it, especially as (I think) the game which you played in is one that is in a sequence that BITS are currently editing together for publication. Any feedback would be welcomed.
Submitted by Dom Mooney on Sun, 09/11/2008 - 14:21.
Andrew Kenrick wrote:
Sufficiently Advanced - A Patent Inspector Calls. I've been curious about this game since I edited it last year, but have never quite got my head around how the hell you'd run it. I'd like to think I'm a little wiser about Dom's game, which culminated in us giving the nod to the detonation of 10 stars and untold billions of lives lost to create a cordon around a rogue alien race. The game suffered a little from too many players, and one two many tangential discussions about this or that, but it was certainly interesting.
It also suffered from the noise levels around the game (unfortunately, I had swapped slots so ended up on the table for drop in games) which cut one player out completely. I wish I'd picked up on it better (I did ask in the game, but he said he was okay at that point). What I do like about the system is that it effortlessly scales from one level (a murder investigation) to another (epic stellar destruction) and can switch back without difficulties.
Andrew Kenrick wrote:
Conspiracy of Shadows, the Fall of House Atreides. I think this was my game of the con. A really cracking set-up, with the familiar characters and story playing out in an unfamiliar way. I ended up with Paul, as well as being (randomly) cast as the traitor. My ineptitude at trying to assassinate myself (and my father) as a decoy didn't work, attracting the suspicions of the other players midway through. Luckily the others faltered upon acting against their duke's son and fixated upon Jessica as the possible traitor, giving me time to stab Leto in the back, literally. I enjoyed it greatly!
From a GM perspective, I always love running Conspiracy of Shadows blood operas. Last year was a blast too... I suspect that I'll stop doing this soon though, as the publishing route Keith is planning to go on means CoS will drop from the mass-market availability it has now. Shame, as the engine and setting are fun. In this game it took a while to spot you as the traitor, but it worked out really well!
Andrew Kenrick wrote:
I was meant to be running 6 Bullets at the same time but didn't get enough players.
And 6 Bullets was a game that I wanted to try, but I'd already committed to the Faded Suns Wordplay game as I wanted to see how it worked in SF terms because of the theme I'm writing for it. Sorry! Would have loved to have played.
---
Dom Mooney http://www.bits.org.uk/ http://www.powerprojection.net/
I'd personally like to thank the Collective Endeavour: Iain, Neil and Andy for setting up shop once again.
Me and Tim were there too, you know.
Thanks Graham. To be fair, though, I wasn't on the CE stall, but rather floating around in an elusive and subversive way like a real person playing bloody damn games.
Could you add a little more
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 11:24.
Could you add a little more detail, Tim? Otherwise, it's just an empty post that serves no function. What was great about Furnace, what games did you particularly enjoy, was there anything you thought was cool?
Cheers
Malc
Contested Ground Studios
Mixed
Submitted by Neil Gow on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 11:29.
I'd take some highs and lows from Furnace. No lows were so low as to be horrible however.
On the high front, it was great to see everyone again. I felt there was a good positive feeling and buzz around the stall and that we made a very nice presence. Our games seemed to run strongly, which was nice. The booth came together well and looked decent. Obviously I was pleased with the reception, the sales and the play of D&H. Both my sessions played out as I would have wanted them.
On the low front, I think each of the three games I played in suffered a little, in different ways, from 'con' syndrome. Scott's valiant attempt to run 'Dread' was hampered by the cacophony in the Armoury, to the point where sometimes I could barely hear him. It was a fun game but a little too stylised a setting for me to be more interested in the game - a great con starter though!
Graham's game of Poison'd was the best game for me of the con. However I sort of found the fixation of the game on sodomy, child abuse and indeed necrophilia to be a little purile in some parts, which caused me a slight disconnect. That said, I escaped that by simply ignoring it! (Or indeed, dying. Twice). I'd love to play it again, in a slightly more serious atmosphere. Oh and that boy can GM too.
Monkey was a hoot but I think it suffered from end-of-con fatigue. I'd peg Monkey as a game to watch for next year. I love the mechanic and I love my character (which I have been lucky enough to have played two years in a row now! Go go Scribe - Administration FTW!)
It's got me all fired up for Dragonmeet and now I'm rather vexed that I will be missing Indiecon!
Neil
Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/
I will admit to being a
Submitted by NeilFord on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 16:01.
I will admit to being a little subdued during Monkey on the Sunday afternoon, but definitely enjoyed Neil's portrayal of Scribe.
Furnace was indeed a great weekend and I will be definitely returning next year.
- Neil.
Games Co-ordinator
Dragonmeet 2008
"There is no place for Messiah here - it`s only hobby" - Deckard @ The Burning Wheel Forums
I will seek to find out more
Submitted by Graham Spearing on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 16:34.
I will seek to find out more from GMs who were running in the Armoury and The Cell.
Thanks to the Collective for coming to Furnace, we really benefit from your presence there.
Best
First Age
http://www.rpgfurnace.com
Empty post with no function
Submitted by Graham W on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 19:46.
It was superb.
I have the same issue Neil does with the Armory. It's hard to hear what's going on. I really don't like playing in there.
Dread was fun, in a interesting-to-do-once way. Bursting into people's houses, demanding they tell us what we need to know, bursting into the next place...
Duty and Honour was fun. Still thinking about some aspects of the system.
I enjoyed Poison'd. It's easy to GM. You just facilitate, with a bit of taunting. "He's stabbing you. Are you going to do anything about that?".
I played Traveller first thing on Sunday morning, but it didn't work for me at all. I left after an hour, pleading a hangover. Not My Sort Of Thing. I'm going to try GMing Traveller to see if I enjoy it.
Then Hot War, which was superb. Brave Nazi scientist saves the world from the evil British.
Graham
Saying more
Submitted by Tim Gray on Mon, 20/10/2008 - 20:50.
Yeah, that Hot War sounded really fun. But it meant we couldn't hear what we were doing. In the Armoury.
Let me try pasting in the summary of games from my blog.
Monkey: Bag of Wind run by Ginger Matt. This is one of Newt's magnum opi (???), where characters are animal spirits and other immortals recently kicked out of heaven in a lighthearted mythic China. I tried the other con scenario at Continuum and had a fun time, so was happy to start Furnace with this. Skills and powers give a hand of cards according to their rating and you use either black (yin) or red (yang). While doing escort duty we found that some blighter had nicked Feng Po's bag of wind and the weather was running amok. This works really well as a con game. I don't think you'd run long campaigns, both because of the style and because there's an end point built in: the characters are aiming to accumulate virtue so they can return to heaven.
Wordplay: The Black Stones of Kovag-Re run by Graham Spearing. Wordplay is basically Graham's answer to HeroQuest, keeping the freeform description of abilities and measuring them as pools of d6. You pick a main one, get a bit of help from up to two supporting ones, amass as big a handful of dice as possible and count successes. He's working toward releasing it under Creative Commons with a print version in Spring '09, but you can download the current draft. It worked pretty simply and pretty well, hooking in very strongly to the psychological payoff of building a big dice pool. Much more about storytelling, framing conflicts and describing consequences, than anything tactical. Works well as a con game. This was actually an adapted scenario from Mongoose's Conan - the odious local governor hires us to bring back his beautiful kidnapped bride. Generated some good tension within the party - some wanted to fulfil our contract and some to free the girl and the oppressed city.
Reign: Heroes of Dindavara run by Paul Mitchener. This was one of my priorities to get into so I could try Reign, something I've pondered getting for a while. We had a good time, but I came out feeling that I don't need to pick it up, mainly because of complexities/oddities in the system. We were basically agents for a semi-secret intelligence/special ops organisation, send into the neighbouring Empire to investigate unusual troop movements. This game included one of those episodes that will live in legend: a rather challenging altercation with a group of demon-possessed cows. (PS - the Reign demons, the rest of the setting, and hell, Greg Stolze overall are weird.)
Wordplay: Troubles I've Seen run by Mark Galeotti. The decider for going into this one, actually, was that Mark (Mr Mythic Russia - please to ignore Google ads for nice Russian girls) will soon be going to live in the States and I hadn't tried him yet. ;) When Wordplay comes out it's going to have a number of theme settings, and this one is Cold Crusade - modern day, an increasing number of people are Touched by pagan gods and gaining magic powers, this isn't public yet but the major religions know about it and are Not Happy. The adventure was basically a heist movie using cunning and magic powers to get an ancient artefact out of the Vatican. Good fun, aided by some veteran players.
Qin: There's something strange in the neighbourhood run by Ginger Matt. How can you not stalk him with that hair? Qin is a game of ancient China with appropriate magical abilities, another one that I'd been curious about (and a very pretty rulebook). The scenario had us as a special unit of the city watch dealing with supernatural threats. There'd been an outbreak of ghosts and bitey things and we had to track it to its source. Qin turns out to be quite a traditional system, with various attributes, skills and special schticks, quite different from most of the other stuff I'd played. Getting my head round that, plus a dice method that's a bit unintuitive (for I'm not sure what benefit) left me a bit unimpressed with the game. Of course I was really tired by then (and something I'd eaten was bouncing off the sides on the way down), so the deck was stacked against it. It would probably do better as a campaign game where you had time to get into it.
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk
Best con in years!!!
Submitted by Newt Newport on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 10:41.
Ok so I could be accused of being biased here, but we set Furnace to be the ultimate small RPG con and this year it really sunk with me in that we had reached our goals and we are here to stay.
The only bad bit for me is that the whole experience whizzed past me.
I'd personally like to thank the Collective Endeavour: Iain, Neil and Andy for setting up shop once again. Every year you guys keep on getting more and more professional and it showed. There was a good selection of games being run and on offer. I was chuffed to bits that Duty and Honour sold out bar one copy :)
My own Furnace experience was a bit hectic, but I think this year I've learnt to chill out and enjoy the fruits of my labours.
Partially to promote Hearts in Glorantha but mainly to have fun we had a Gloranthan games track where we had three gms running easily accessible Gloranthan games of various systems - a simple homebrew, SimpleQuest and HeroQuest 2. We filled all but the last Sunday game - which fell victim to the fact about twenty people left after lunch to go home.
I took time out from running to play in the same Saturday night game of Reign as Tim. The Gm was on the ball and once I got my head round the setting (which is deliberately weird) I got into the narrative. Less certain about the rules system which involved rolling large numbers of d10 and making groups of dice. It struck me as a bit too random, my character nearly got killed by a herd of demon possessed cows because even though I was throwing 7 or 8 dice and not making a single pair!!
As Neil already said in his report I also ran Monkey on Sunday afternoon - a game which the players really made fun (Monkey to my delight is very player centred :) ) and Neil and his mate Andy provided some really good feedback for after.
Room D101 was less focused than at Continuum, but Neil and Ginger Matt ran a game of SimpleQuest and Monkey respectively, but I did have a table set aside for selling HiG and the 'Cheeky Monkey' version of Monkey inbetween sessions. Final scores on the doors three Cheeky Monkeys (to people who played in the games) to seven HiG (one of which was sold to player, six went to Jim at Patriot Games). Next year will probably be a big one for D101 at Furnace since we'll have more books out by then - at least three issues of HiG, SimpleQuest + one supplement (whcih is going to be Duel stated with Wordplay) and off course the one everyone is waiting for Monkey!
Regards
;O)Newt
D101games -An Imaginary Company
Fortune and Glory
Submitted by Iain McAllister on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 20:03.
Furnace was excellent fun once again, and we did some decent sales for such a small con, more on that in another post.
I played two and ran two, replacing Rich's game on the saturday night with Inspectres.
Games I ran
I will be posting APs on both of these so will just give a brief overview.
Hot War
I was a bit nervous about this having not had the chance to test drive the scenario before the con but the players enjoyed themselves and it went well. The scenario was based around the 'memory' idea in the back of the Hot War book, and ended with a bloody shootout in a dissused bank that was being used as a makeshift medical facility by the main antagonist and characters pointing guns at each other. It was pretty cool.
Inspectres
This was my game of the con, and the first time I had run Inspectres over such a long slot. The firm was based in Edinburgh out of the shed of one of the character's and they encountered ghosts in basements as well as fish-based dimensions accidentally colliding with our own.
One of the players was an indie-sceptic, and though I don't think he will rush out and buy it, he had a good time. The confessional mechanic was used more than every other Inspectres, and the game was suprisingly coherent, wrapping up all the threads in a neat little bow.
Games I played
Duty and Honour
Top drawer old chap! Really good fun, with plenty of daring do, heaving bosoms and military espionage. I thought the game lacked a bit of direction, the hunting a spy mission not really showing off the games strengths in my mind, but I had a good time as Captain Longsdale and the system works well.
Spirit of the Century
This was my first time using Fate, and I really like the way it works. Pete (second name forgotten) was a great GM and we had lots of crazy action hunting down nazis determined to launch nerve gas over America. I was a little disatissfied with the old school GM styles pete has, where he announced the results of everything, but that down to my personal game preferences these days rather than anything to do with the game. Well prepared, well run and great fun.
I Will post up sales figures soon.
Cheers
Iain
'The Giant Brain': 'Revenge of the B-Movie' out now!
Mob Justice now available!
Hmm
Submitted by Graham W on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 23:33.
I'd personally like to thank the Collective Endeavour: Iain, Neil and Andy for setting up shop once again.
Me and Tim were there too, you know.
Graham
Third year of Furnace for
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 23:28.
Third year of Furnace for me, and it was as fun as always! My stall organisation left a lot to be desired, but we came good in the end thanks to Neil and Morrisons. Note to myself for next year: check where the tablecloths and stands are before the convention...
In a first for me, I played rather than GMd, managing 4 games in total! All were good!
Duty & Honour - Cadiz or Bust! I managed to muscle my way into Neil's first game of this, eager to find out what all the fuss was about. I wasn't disappointed - the setup of the missions was a breeze, as was the game itself. Great fun playing as Captain Lonsdale, especially as my trusty right-hand man Jenkins (played by Graham) repeatedly let me down, ending up with a maimed reputation between us! Plus, I managed to slay the nefarious spy Martineau in a duel! English 1 - French 0.
Sufficiently Advanced - A Patent Inspector Calls. I've been curious about this game since I edited it last year, but have never quite got my head around how the hell you'd run it. I'd like to think I'm a little wiser about Dom's game, which culminated in us giving the nod to the detonation of 10 stars and untold billions of lives lost to create a cordon around a rogue alien race. The game suffered a little from too many players, and one two many tangential discussions about this or that, but it was certainly interesting.
Conspiracy of Shadows, the Fall of House Atreides. I think this was my game of the con. A really cracking set-up, with the familiar characters and story playing out in an unfamiliar way. I ended up with Paul, as well as being (randomly) cast as the traitor. My ineptitude at trying to assassinate myself (and my father) as a decoy didn't work, attracting the suspicions of the other players midway through. Luckily the others faltered upon acting against their duke's son and fixated upon Jessica as the possible traitor, giving me time to stab Leto in the back, literally. I enjoyed it greatly!
Spirit of the Century - one final game to round the convention of, and the only disappointment was that I was meant to be running 6 Bullets at the same time but didn't get enough players. I played Jack "Danger Ace" Wallace, a Steve McQueen type character. I'm not sure how, but I seemed to acquire a huge stockpile of fate chips (although Iain struggled to get any, oddly) which certainly made for a free and easy game with lots of cool stunts. The fact that for the final scene I was basically out of the fight itself, flying around the zeppelin in my plane, and yet at the same time still had plenty to contribute, is a testament to how solid the system is. Love it as always! Plus, Nazis + zeppelins = win.
Andrew
The Smart Party
Submitted by evilgaz on Thu, 23/10/2008 - 19:25.
Pete (second name forgotten) was a great GM and [snip] I was a little disatissfied with the old school GM styles pete has [snip] Well prepared, well run and great fun.
Pete Atkinson (aka Sexy Lemur) - a fellow member of the Smart Party and therefore guaranteed Great Ref. Unfortunately (for the hippy crowd) we're also terribly Trad at times.
I hadn't been sold on Fate before, I think because of the way it had been presented (Aspects are Teh Win!), but Pete's reffing showed me how it could work in a way I'd like. Water Margin is ace.
All the games were cool at Furnace - in fact there were too many. Wanted to try Hot War and others, but no time to fit them in.
Another strong showing from the small but perfectly formed convention, with a hippy friendly attitude and wide variety of games on offer from 4ed and WW to all your guys stuff via Cthulhu, Savage Worlds and Monsters and Other Childish Things.
Rawk.
I think Furnace is a great
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 08:21.
I think Furnace is a great testament to the fact that the wider gaming public doesn't distinguish between indie/hippy and traditional games - they just play games because they sound fun.
Hmm
Submitted by Graham W on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 10:47.
I don't know. I get the feeling many unknown games didn't get players: Bleakworlds, Six Bullets for Vengeance, Lacuna. There'd been some buzz about Duty and Honour and Poison'd, so those did OK.
That was a minor irritation, incidentally: on the timetable, games were identified by their title only. That helps well-known games (everyone knows what Call of Cthulhu is about) but hits less well-known ones.
If my playtest had been identified by its blurb (Bleakworlds, blah blah Blake's Seven blah blah Serenity), I think it would have signed up.
Graham
I'm going to put my hand up
Submitted by Newt Newport on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 11:20.
I'm going to put my hand up and say I borked the sign up sheets. They were the last thing I did in one hundred and one things I had to do before Furnace
Because I didn't have to sign up for games last year, I was either running or had pre-signed I hadn't twigged that Darran who did last year's sheets also included game descriptions. It did cross my mind in the rush to get them done - but I thought against it since I wanted people to get in, sign up and get away from the board to eliminate the sign up scrum that happened in 2007.
There's been criticism here and on at the Tavern, which I've taken on board and will be fixed for next year.
Regards
;O)Newt
D101games -An Imaginary Company
It's cool
Submitted by Graham W on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 13:31.
Honestly, that's the only criticism I've got of Furnace, and it's a very minor-level one.
Graham
Phew
Submitted by Newt Newport on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 13:51.
But at the same time, please do feel free to air such minor criticisms.
If we can humanly make Furnace as smooth and fun as possible we will, and there's no mileage in us getting complacent.
Regards
;O)Newt
D101games -An Imaginary Company
Only just saw this thread...
Submitted by Dom Mooney on Sun, 09/11/2008 - 14:11.
I played Traveller first thing on Sunday morning, but it didn't work for me at all. I left after an hour, pleading a hangover. Not My Sort Of Thing. I'm going to try GMing Traveller to see if I enjoy it.
Graham,
If you want to share (off forum if more appropriate) what you felt didn't work for you, I'd appreciate it, especially as (I think) the game which you played in is one that is in a sequence that BITS are currently editing together for publication. Any feedback would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Dom
---
Dom Mooney
http://www.bits.org.uk/
http://www.powerprojection.net/
Thoughts on the games of mine you played...
Submitted by Dom Mooney on Sun, 09/11/2008 - 14:21.
Sufficiently Advanced - A Patent Inspector Calls. I've been curious about this game since I edited it last year, but have never quite got my head around how the hell you'd run it. I'd like to think I'm a little wiser about Dom's game, which culminated in us giving the nod to the detonation of 10 stars and untold billions of lives lost to create a cordon around a rogue alien race. The game suffered a little from too many players, and one two many tangential discussions about this or that, but it was certainly interesting.
It also suffered from the noise levels around the game (unfortunately, I had swapped slots so ended up on the table for drop in games) which cut one player out completely. I wish I'd picked up on it better (I did ask in the game, but he said he was okay at that point). What I do like about the system is that it effortlessly scales from one level (a murder investigation) to another (epic stellar destruction) and can switch back without difficulties.
Conspiracy of Shadows, the Fall of House Atreides. I think this was my game of the con. A really cracking set-up, with the familiar characters and story playing out in an unfamiliar way. I ended up with Paul, as well as being (randomly) cast as the traitor. My ineptitude at trying to assassinate myself (and my father) as a decoy didn't work, attracting the suspicions of the other players midway through. Luckily the others faltered upon acting against their duke's son and fixated upon Jessica as the possible traitor, giving me time to stab Leto in the back, literally. I enjoyed it greatly!
From a GM perspective, I always love running Conspiracy of Shadows blood operas. Last year was a blast too... I suspect that I'll stop doing this soon though, as the publishing route Keith is planning to go on means CoS will drop from the mass-market availability it has now. Shame, as the engine and setting are fun. In this game it took a while to spot you as the traitor, but it worked out really well!
I was meant to be running 6 Bullets at the same time but didn't get enough players.
And 6 Bullets was a game that I wanted to try, but I'd already committed to the Faded Suns Wordplay game as I wanted to see how it worked in SF terms because of the theme I'm writing for it. Sorry! Would have loved to have played.
---
Dom Mooney
http://www.bits.org.uk/
http://www.powerprojection.net/
Incognito
Submitted by Tim Gray on Sun, 09/11/2008 - 15:07.
I'd personally like to thank the Collective Endeavour: Iain, Neil and Andy for setting up shop once again.
Me and Tim were there too, you know.
Thanks Graham. To be fair, though, I wasn't on the CE stall, but rather floating around in an elusive and subversive way like a real person playing bloody damn games.
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk