GenCon Indy 2007 report (part 2)

Filed under Events on August 21, 2007
Keywords: Dungeon Crawl Classics, Dungeons and Dragons, GenCon, Goodman Games

Having arrived 3 hours later than expected on Thursday, I head to the GM HQ desk first thing Friday morning (i.e., 10:30-ish) to get my badge. Then I hit the exhibition floor to do some mini-hunting in preparation for my games. At about ten minutes to noon, I hunt down Harley to learn where the big get-together lunch is. It was great to meet Marcy for the first time, and to reacquaint myself with colleagues. I only regret I didn’t have more time for such socializing. A mistake I won’t repeat.

Food arrived a mere ten minutes before I was due at the Goodman Games booth, so I wolfed down half a burger and a handful of fries, paid my check and said my goodbyes. The booth was bustling as Ken (another Book of Treasure Maps author) and I took our seats. We chatted up DCCs with several folks, but no one purchased our particular adventure or asked for an autograph. About five minutes before 2pm, I grabbed my gear and headed for the Hyatt, and my first GM session.

My first group consisted of four gentlemen who had all registered for the event. I passed out the pre-generated characters and they selected the dwarven wizard, the dwarven fighter, the elven ranger and the elven rogue. All PCs where 5th level. I won’t go into specifics of the adventure, so as to avoid spoilers. The group did make it as far as defeating the Big Bad, but did not have time to fully investigate the temple. It was a fun group, punctuated by the motto “Fourth Edition will fix that!” (Yes, WotC announced the release of 4th Edition starting in 2008.)

Session number two was made up of two married couples that knew each other. Only one of the couples had registered for the event. They chose the dwarf fighter, half-elf sorcerer, half-elf druid and human cleric as their PCs. Again, all were fifth level. The druid ended up being very powerful, using a combination of entangle and call lightning to great effect during one encounter.

This group didn’t make it as far, just to the top of the plateau. One of the ladies started nodding off toward the end, due to the late hour. Another good, fun group. One funny exchange early on had us all laughing. The group was heading off into the jungle for the first time and I was describing the humid, steamy clime and how everyone was sweating profusely. The sorcerer blurts out, “I don’t sweat. I have a high Charisma.” (One of the guys was playing the sorcerer.) I respond, “Very well, you are glistening profusely.”

So ended Friday. I returned to the room by 1am and promptly crashed.

The third group–Saturday’s afternoon session–was a struggle. Due to one of the many hiccups of the GenCon event system, 6 players were allowed to register, even though I had set the limit to 4. I had begun passing out the 5th level versions of the characters when the first four had arrived, thinking we were at maximum capacity. I took those back and handed out the 3rd level versions. They chose the following: dwarf fighter, human cleric, dwarf wizard, halfling rogue, half-elf druid and half-elf sorcerer.

This was another all-guys group. One gentleman had never played 3.5 rules, and I’m not even sure he knew it was a 3.5 game, as the first question he asked was whether he could use a 1E character he brought. There was also a rules lawyer. The player had a bored–even pained, I would dare to say–look on his face for most of the session. His first comment to me was something about correcting mistakes he found on the character sheets.

This group struggled for many reasons, mainly because there appeared to be little chemistry between the players. They made it about as far as the second group. The rules lawyer offered some advice to me after the session, which was actually quite sage. He was disappointed that they didn’t actually get to the “dungeon”part of the dungeon crawl, and suggested I removed a couple encounters to expedite the adventure.

I took his advice with the fourth and final group, removing the initial encounter as they debark the boat and head for shore. I probably should have removed the random encounter in the jungle as well, but I had bought a mini just for it and hadn’t rolled that particular monster yet, so I wanted to actually use what I spent money on. This group did complete the adventure, though we stayed an hour longer than our allotted time. (Sorry, Ed.)

This group was also a fun one. It was another collection of all-male players, including a father and son. I am honored to have been the GM for the son’s first D&D experience. The characters chosen were: the dwarf fighter, human paladin, human cleric, dwarf wizard and elf rogue. With five players, I decided to return to the fifth level versions. The father played the dwarf fighter, and did an excellent job at being surly and singleminded. There was a funny moment with the dwarf wizard where he set a hut in the village on fire in order to prevent the possible spreading of disease. The fire spread quickly along the thatch roof and leaped to nearby roofs. Soon the whole village was engulfed in flames.

So ended GenCon Indy 2007 for me. I made it back to the hotel with only a couple hours before I would need to depart to the airport. The flights home were uneventful and I spent Monday trying to get my internal clock adjusted back to Pacific time.

I did little video interviews of the groups at the end of each session (except the third) and will get those online soon. I’m also seeking permission from Goodman Games to post a “director’s cut” PDF that includes my notes and some tweaks to the adventure based on the GenCon experience.

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