TL;DR: This will be the last convention I work on.
I’ve tried to build up the tabletop gaming community for decades. I started by running events at conventions, trying to make them as welcoming to all as possible; I joined the local game club and helped sustain and grow it, always trying to bring in a fresh pool of games and gamers; then I helped organize game days, and finally game conventions.
I started in a place and time where the majority of people who could and would dedicate the time and money to go to a convention were straight white men with someone at home to take care of everything else. I tried to make it easier and more attractive for families, kids, women, queer people, disabled people, persons of color, those who didn’t think of themselves as gamers because they didn’t fit some stereotype or another.
When I joined Big Bad Con as a volunteer on its first year in 2011, I felt right at home because inclusiveness and community were core values. Over time I have left all the other conventions I worked for, but I kept up with this one. I have worked on every instance of Big Bad Con and Big Bad Online; and the only one I did not attend was in October 2022, when my husband and I were concerned about covid. The event was so well managed that I dared show up in 2023.
I love the team of volunteers and staff so much. I love the GMs and players who show up radiating enthusiasm and positivity. I love the new designers who bring their games for playtest. I love the extended weekend of new and old friends, of old favourite games and new experiences.
But I’m not gonna lie, it is a metric shit-ton of work. During peak months it’s as much work as a regular job, and I already hold two of those. It means my summers are basically written off working on con prep. In addition, every year the convention grows by leaps and bounds thanks to word-of-mouth, so although our wonderful internal tech-heads have created better tools for us to manage the work load, it still increases from year to year.
And this year, just when we though we had it all ready to go for the opening day of game signups, some people decided to brew a shit storm.
It’s been a busy year for me so far, though not one filled with exciting tales. (There have been enough ups-and-downs on the world scenes, though.) One interesting thing I did, though, is some work for Looney Labs: they were getting ready to release their Looney Oracle for GenCon, and hired me to create a Roll20 implementation.
The Looney Oracle is a tarot-like fortune-telling tool that offers cryptic advice on a topic of your choosing, or answers a yes/no question. It showcases the library of beautiful art Looney Labs have accumulated over the years in creating their various games.
And on Roll20, it’s now available as an addon you can attach to any campaign or game, regardless of the system used. It includes three decks: an advice deck with fortune cookie-like quotes, an answer deck with Magic 8-Ball-like replies, and the oracle deck proper, with evocative art.
As well as all the art, the official rules are included; but I can think of many alternate ways to use. For example, you could duplicate the oracle deck and remove cards to keep only the ones with art you feel fits your game. Or you could hack the rules to create different “spreads” in the same way that there are many commonly used tarot spreads. I’m a sucker for oracle decks in general, so I have lots of ideas to use this addon as an alternative to rolling dice to determine in-game uncertainty.
Yesterday, in honour of the start of fall season, we played the first two chapters of Legends of Sleepy Hollow.
In preparation, as we usually do when trying a new game, we read the rules and watched videos providing rules overviews, play-through, and game reviews. The key criticism you hear/read among these is that the rulebook and story book are not clear enough and need editing. I had downloaded a PDF file of the rules from Board Game Geek and it does contain clarifying edits. On the plus side, the rules are short so it’s not hard to read them in their entirety.
A similar criticism is that while beautiful, the map tiles are not always clear on what constitute distinct spaces, and a couple of map tiles actually cut the image short. Nevertheless, we figured out both maps and rules.
Despite these flaws, the rules are fun and relatively simple, and the art is beautiful. We loved the game! As most reviewers say, the action pool mechanic is great. The player characters are all highly customizable as they advance through the chapters, providing good replay value. The thematic cohesion of the various elements makes the game more immersive. We all want to work our way through the whole storyline.
This is another game that is still deeply discounted on Greater Than Games’ site, and another complete steal at $25 for this fun, beautiful game.
We went through the four training missions of the board game Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice during two sessions back in late July and early August. It’s a beautiful, high-quality game and a lot of fun.
Mechanically, all three of us really enjoyed the stealth-based approach, where it’s really important to stay hidden as long as you can. The tutorial missions do a great job of teaching newcomers the rules gradually, and the rulebook is replete with useful cross-references to help you find the info you need.
Aesthetically, the components are beautiful and of high quality, a pleasure to handle. This is the version of the game that mostly uses standees rather than miniatures, and I think I like that better because the standees are clear and various groups easily identified.
Thematically, none of us had played the digital games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, so I can’t say for sure how well it conforms to the feel of the series. I’m not fond of playing killers, and we don’t seem to have any moral high ground over the adversaries! My husband was not fond of the weird tech, but I have played Renaissance clockpunk games like The House of Da Vinci series, so it didn’t bother me.
I liked the game a lot, and at the current price on Greater Than Games‘ site, it’s still a steal.
I have been watching the Netflix series Judge Dee‘s Mystery (Da tang di gong an) and I love it. The casting and production design are great. The season comprises ten mysteries or rather story arcs split unevenly into 32 episodes. I just saw episode 21 and there is a terrific fight between two archers mid-episode!
As I expected, we retired our heroes at the end of a long episode this weekend, and over a year of playing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. After prevailing in a final, epic confrontation with Morgaine, we retired our heroes to Corbenic. Maybe it’s only for my own benefit, but I want to preserve the images I took during the campaign.
This is a little attempt to resume blogging. I lack the time to write the long game reviews I used to, but maybe if I drop a few lines at a time I can at least get back into a regular pace.
My husband, our friend Steve W. and I have been playing the campaign board game Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon for over a year and we are now in the final chapter. We’re playing an episode this afternoon and I look forward to it! I play Arev, Steve plays Maggot, and Edmund plays Beor. Here is a time jump between Chapter 3 (if I remember correctly) and Chapter 15.
It’s been a great deal of fun; I really enjoy how the characters develop in a way that makes narrative sense based on the players’ choices.
It’s Thanksgiving and I’m grateful for my spouse, family, and friends, my cats, my employers, living in California, cable-knit sweaters and flannel pajamas, modern medicine, podcasts, Marvel movies, 91 trump indictments, tabletop games, having more books than I can read, coffee, and so much more.
Edmund with our friends’ dog, OrlaOur cats Gato-ichi (black) and Valentine (white)
The crew is having a picnic at a park overlooking the approaches to the Van Der Greaves estate, using bits of food to represent a map of the estate.
Timeline:
From dawn — House preps start
Noon — Entertainers, decorators and caterers set up the ground floor rooms
Sometime in the afternoon or evening — Church protest starts outside
6 pm — Expert examination by Manfred Willoughby
After that, Violet steals antidote from room 21 on second floor
7 pm — Guests start arriving and explore
Pandora arrives fashionably late.
Between 7 and 9:30 pm is our time to cut through the floor from the basement and steal the panels; Warden team moves them to the cart. Friendly entertainers are located in nearby rooms.
9 pm — Speech and announcement
We need to be gone by 9:30 pm with the panels. Delivery is in a warehouse in the slum district.
9:30 pm — Unveiling, guests start being admitted to the Silver Chamber in small groups
11 pm — Party ends
Night 6: Legwork Scene
Violet dresses up as the Bandit King and stages a failed assassination attempt on Lady Malindra in her manor. (Our first official Drama scene!) First she incapacitates a lone guard patrolling outside and hides his unconscious body — badly — in the bushes. Then she makes her way inside and meets a squad of five more guards on the stairs to the second floor, who clearly recognize “Gabriel Vega”. Violet taunts them then runs away, smashing through a window. The guards ring the alarm bell and give pursuit. A running fight follows, in which the guards only succeed in grabbing “the famed Gabriel Vega’s” hat.
Pandora secures access to the party as the companion of an elderly noblewoman, then checks in with her Spider contact. Desiree confirms that Charles Montesque has picked up on the rumours about Gabriel Vega and the protests, but she also mentions more rumours about the Archpriest Galenna Altair’s visit to Dunhaven to demand that Lady Malindra return the panels of the Silver Chamber to the Church or face charges of heresy. Needless to say, cancelling the party would affect the crew’s plan.
Emilia goes to some society columnists and entertainment critiques and gets the newspapers to publish scathing articles on the affair. The articles, jeering that Lady Malindra will have to cancel her party and submit to the Archpriest, are calculated to goad Malindra into digging her heels.
This works, but now the Archpriest threatens to excommunicate any guests who show up, and will bring a squad of knights militant with her. A lot of concerned guests cancel their plans to attend, as do Lysa of Rotwood and Manfred Willoughby.
Day 7: Legwork Scene
Emilia visits a magus she knows to get three matched talismans that will allow the crew to communicate during the job, but at the price of a painful brand appearing on Emilia’s skin (1 penalty die). When turned on or off, it takes at least 5 minutes before it can be switched back.
Pandora acquires some knock-out powder, just in case.
(Violet passes on legwork.)
Night 7: The Heist
Archpriest Altair shows up at the front gate with her knights militant, a scribe officiously writing the names of all who enter the manor, and an unruly mob protesting the event. Two squads of the City Watch are keeping a wary eye on things.
Inside, the party is much more sparsely attended than expected; Pandora mingles with the thinned crowd.
Under cover of her supervisory job, Emilia goes to Lady Malindra’s study and picks the locks to the door and the desk. Violet joins her and switches the antidote to the alchemical veil for the fake she got from Naomi.
Next, Emilia sets up in the cellar to pierce through the floor of the Silver Chamber. It’s quiet in there and everything seems to be as expected, so she climbs in to get the panels.
Meanwhile on the ground floor, the crowd is beginning to get angrier, switching from throwing rotten fruit to small rocks. Pandora also notices Charles Montesque strolling through the house among the guests, and Charlotte staying as far away as possible from the front of the house and the mob.
Emilia starts dissolving the glue holding the panels, pulling them off the wall, and disguising them using the temporary lacquer to disguise them as wood panels.
Violet sneaks through the house and down to the entrance of the tunnels to bring in her team of Night Wardens. But in the middle of moving the panels from the cellar to the cart, Montesque wanders in and witnesses panels being switched on the cart. He flashes a badge and asks what is going on.
Violet steps out from behind Montesque and stabs him, saying: “I’m sorry, my friend, but this is the cost of interfering with Gabriel Vega! Surrender, my friend, and you may live…”
Montesque steps back and reveals a hand crossbow. “Right back at you!” He lets loose a bolt, even as the rest of the Wardens hurry to get the rest of the panels.
The Reef 