"Historicon 2013 Sunday Report" Topic

You can see a copy of the report with pictures here: link

Before I post the text, I really want to thank the hard work of the HMGS-E team that made Historicon 2013 possible--and thanks for re-newing F-burg for another two years!

Rob

Sunday

For the last day of Historicon 2013, I was running a shipcrawl game starting at 9 MA—so again had to leave home relatively early (for a Sunday, 7:30 is early). The drive was not bad, as the traffic was again light, but not as fast as on Friday. I arrived at the convention center with plenty of time to set up my game.

Now, on to the game itself. Like last year, it was a shipcrawl using a modified version of Chain Reaction 3.0—though this time, the players were investigating what happened to Ceres Station, the base that last year's crew set off from and returned to (bearing unintended "gifts"). I had five players—each representing a different faction with slightly different objectives; there was the UNSC, whose ship was also carrying a Parasol Corporation team, and Doorway Technologies, whose ship was also carrying Dark Plateau "investigators," and finally there was a group from a public interest society (but who arrived using a stealth shuttle via a "back door" emergency airlock so that they could get there and leave without being blasted by the UNSC—or could pass themselves off as station crew survivors).

The Dark Plateau and Doorway Technologies crews tended to lead the way at the main air lock, and quickly took down the three shamble zombies spotted in the main concourse. This turned out to be a mixed blessing, as it really made the players overconfident (and drew the attention of the rager zombies that were around the corner). The main group of teams then split up a bit, with the Doorway Tech guys opening up the door to the UN wing of the station and spotting more shamblers, the Parasol guys opening a door to the restrooms and getting jumped by giant ants, and the UN leader along with the Dark Plateau guys running into the zombie horde from hell, which was led by a T-cell mutant. The Parasol guys ahd trouble with the ants—and though they managed to kill them, the teams' leader was taken out of action—and by the time a medic had revived him, his rep was down to a 3 (from a 5). The shambler zombies were dealt with by just shutting the door again, but their rager cousins were not so easy to deal with. In the ensuing fight, all of the Dark Plateau guys went down (not all to zombie bites—some were "accidentally" shot in the back by their erstwhile allies from Doorway Tech), as did the Doorway Tech leader. The Dark Plateau leader was revived by the UN medic and immediately opened fire one of the remaining Doorway Tech troopers in retaliation for the earlier "accidents." The UNSC joined in and at the end of the self-immolating exchange of lead, steel, and coherent light, The only humans left on this end of the board were the UNSC team, the Parasol team, and one Doorway Tech trooper (who was abandoned on the station when everyone else pulled out). I would like to add that the Dark Plateau team was run by the dad of the Doorway Tech player, which might explain some of the more bloodthirsty "accidental firearms discharges" that occurred.

Elsewhere, the PI team had snuck into the main corridor of the Dark Plateau wing of the station and slightly less quickly eliminated the security ‘bots stationed there. Then, they tried to get into the main computer room, which turned out to be guarded by three much tougher security ‘bots. While the PI team won the combat (eventually), they lost one of their guards. Not yet cowed by their surroundings, they proceeded deeper into the station and entered another room with strange creatures safely locked away in cages.

At this point, we ended the game, as it was noon. The winner was the public interest group, who managed to get plenty of data to release to the public, showing the evil experiments being done by the corporations in charge of Ceres Station with their willing accomplices in the UNSC. As the other teams (well, the survivors, anyway) withdrew without exploring their relevant sectors, I think this particular game may make a reappearance next year when the follow-on wave of UNSC troops and their corporate sponsors return to reclaim the space station. Of course, the creatures that have made the station their home may grow in numbers and danger…

Other than running my game, I didn't get to look around much, but I did see a Napoleonics game being run with LOTS of painted figures and that in itself was a pretty neat sight. And that was the end of Historicon 2013.

Thanks Rob
C

Speaking as the Dark Plateau player, I would like to say 'Ack! GAH! *thud* gurgle….' :D

Yes, my son was playing Doorway, and I think initially he was trying to help his old man's complete ineptitude with the dice that day. I had a pretty strong edge in potential successes against the zombie horde with a strong battle line – right up until I consistently rolled no successes. My son managed to kill the zombie boss with a lucky roll and that kept him firing into the melee. Then after a while it was funny that he was 'accidentally' killing his dad. He had a good run at the Con, winning 3 of the 5 games he played in. But this one was a debacle – we didn't penetrate past the first room.

That was largely due to a mistake I made – weapons fire seemed ineffective against the zombies, requiring a hit than only killing them on a natural 1. Once the boss monster surprised my team and was locked into melee with my team lead, my armored troopers with the vibro knives stepped up and I thought I'd do OK against them. The problem being now I had a much harder time getting a success, and still needed a 1 to kill them after we had anywhere from 2-4 die rolls to determine the melee victor. So my mistake there – perhaps considering having some combat effect against the zombies other than kill or no effect might be worth a thought – while zombies keep coming, they aren't always battle effective without arms or legs. :D

But despite the blood bath, it was a fun scenario and really well put together. And highest marks for imagination!

There were a few other games going on that I saw – some kids were fighting the battle of Hoth from Star Wars (complete with foot high AT-AT), there was the aforementioned Napoleonics that looked very nice, and there was the Eat Hitler scenario – players took the part of Nazis who invented a time machine and tried to go back and change the course of WWII. Unfortunately, their calculations were off and they ended up in the Jurassic. You played a faction of the Nazis trying to stay alive, and also a faction of dinosaurs trying to eat the other Nazis. Fun kids game. :D

Thanks again, it was a great ending to a great con!

Demiurgex,

Thanks for playing--it was a fun game to run. As for the zombies--sometimes I give them "hit points" and they do get shot to pieces, but tracking the hits slows down the game some.

Maybe I'll make a change and have a successful hit (but not kill) reduce a zombie's rep by one--until they are at 0.

Anyway, you and your son are welcome to come back next year and try to retake the station!

Rob

Katzbalger,

Had a blast, and would love to try to redeem my honor at another incarnation.

Not sure if its worth making the change, we did have a pretty impressive run with bad luck with the dice that game, so might have been an aberration.

The reduced rep sounds interesting, I'd be curious how a play test would go with it.

One thing that might be fun if you go that route though – hacking up zombie parts can get very bloody. Perhaps a roll for infection every time you melee with one and reduce rep but don't get a clean kill? Or is that just too evil? :D

Hmm--sounds evil at just about the right level. I'll have to think about that!

Rob