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Message no. 1
From: Bull <chaos@*****.COM>
Subject: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 22:46:53 -0400
At 11:44 AM 8/21/98 -0700, GRANITE wrote these timeless words:
>> yeah...this from the guy who typed a 50 page tome for the earthdawn
>> tourney at gencon...and then expected us to read it!
>
>ROFLOL...hey..That was what the briefing was for ;P
>Anyway..It was complete and left nothing that needed to be guessed at
>by the Judges :) The print was big too :P
>
True... Very true... But still, a most excellent adventure...

Of course, In my opinion, a tournament game should be very structured... :]

But you did a great job writing it up... Good enough that I managed to
stumble into GMing the ED Tournament without actually knowing the rules
(long story as to why and how this happened).

I'll give you guys a synopsis of MY first round tourney game in a second
(Granite could probably give you the full story... My memory gets fairly
fuzzy past the second round storyline).

>Oh and welcome to the list :)
>Everyone meet one of the other FASA GC Judges ....
>
Which one? I seem to have missed the initial post... Jeff, by chance? I
know he had asked me to send him the SRN Subby instructions...

Anyways, now for:

HOW I SURVIVED EARTHDAWN AT GEN CON 98 :]

OK, as I mentioned, due to a bunch of MAJOR complications the month prior
to Gen Con, I ended up assigned to run ROund 1 of the ED Tourney. Other
than reading through the main rules book the week before GC, and a couple
of short games that I played in about 4 years ago, I was going into this
tournament blind. Needless to say, I was more than a bit panicked.

Of course it gets worse...

I got to my Hotel in Milwaukee after Midnight (About 12:30, I think) on
Wednesday Night. THe 1st round of the tourney was at Noon on Thursday. I
spent three hours that night going over the Earthdawn Adventure, and
fortunately, there was very little combat involved, and was Heavy on the
RP. I was Saved! I was hoping to bluff my way through this...

One of Loki's players, Rookie, was there as well. He wasn;t playing in the
tourney, and was familiar with the rules since Loki's been running ED for
the last couple months. Rookie volunteered to ride shotgun and help out.
Rookie, you were a huge help in the end, man! Thanks! :]

Anyways, I get to the table after about 4 hours of sleep, and the group I
get sits down... I hand out little name tents that the players can set up
and write their Real Name and Character's name on so that everyone else has
an easier time remembering who's who. At the end of the table sits a
woman, and her name card reads "Sherri Prosperi".

I'm praying it's a coincidence. But then Lou Prosperi himself walks up and
chats quietly with her a second while everyone is settling in. I'm now
running a Tournament game for Earthdawn, with the Wife of the head of the
Earthdawn Line (Lou is the ED DLOH, in case you didn;t know, or at least
was before FASA decided to licnse the game out... No one knows if Lou will
end up doing ED with whoever ends up producing ED), and I don't know how to
run the game! Could things get worse?

Yup.

Sitting across the table is a guy named Drew (Can;t think of his last name
off hand). I find out shortly after the game starts that Drew runs the
Earthdawn RPGA network... At this point, I cuss under my breath a lot and
go back, figuring I'm about to run the worst game of my life.

Guess what? I was wrong... IMO, It was one of my better game sessions,
despite serious lack of rules knowledge...

That team went on to win the ED tournament, and 4 members of that team also
were on the winning Shadowrun team as well (Drew and Sherri both didn;t
play the SR game). They beat out Team Jolt in the last round of both
tournaments (For those of you who were on the GC97 SR List Team, I was very
happy by that turn of events... What can I say, I'm petty :)).

They were a fantastic group to play with, that's for sure...

They even came up and gave me a Beanie Baby Racoon right before the "Awards
Ceremony" and the announcements of the winners of the tourneys...

OK, Racoon Story Time :]

The basic premise of the 1st round of the tourney was that the PC's are
hired to stop a band of slavers that's been ravaging the country side...
Pretty simple, but it gets more fun.

During the first night, the Players decide to stay in the town that hired
them. They set up watches. Now, the adventure was written so that there
are a couple times when perception tests are important. To cover that, we
were told to have the players making regular perception tests. So during
the night the Thief rolls an ungodly high Perception test on his watch
(They actually set up watches just outside the Inn), So I have him hear a
noise in the brush at the edge of town... he goes to investigate, makes a
bunch od stealth rolls, and manages to startle a Racoon that was rummaging
through some garbage thrown outside town.

Well, throughout the course of the adventure, the racoon made appearances
whenever the Thief made a decent Perception test... But no one else in the
party had seen it. EVerytime the thief pointed it out, it ran off before
anyone else saw it. :]

At the end of the adventure (The PC's track down the Slave Caravan, only to
find it being destroyed by Lofwyr. Lofwyr then charges the PC's with
finding out where the Slavers are coming from, because they work for his
brother, and Lofwyr wants to stop him.), the PC's track down a group of
slavers that escaped Lofwyr, and after a fight between the PC's and a group
of Slavers that Rookie ran, the players were still affected by some kind of
frenzy/berserk spell. The thief looks around and says he wants to find the
Racoon so he can "Get it!". He then rolls a 2 on his perception test,
failing miserably. However, the rest of the group then sees the Racoon
sitting in a tree watching the Thief...

They got a chuckle and had a great time... But the fun didn;t stop there...

Loki ran this group on Day 2, and he continued using the Racoon... At one
point the mage cast a "Quicken Pace" Spell, and the racoon got into the
area of the spell, so it was affected as well...

That night they made camp, and while they were eating, they kept hearing a
"Whoosh! Thump! Whoosh! Thump!" When they went to investigate, it was
the Racoon trying to jump into a tree branch to sleep, but it was moving so
fast it kept overshooting it's mark. :]

There was also a really humorous scene where the PC's confronted a Windling
NPC (Played by Tony Glinka) that stole all their gear. :] Tony can tell
you about that better than I, though...

Third night the PC's all end up on a boat, and Granite is GMing. He
manages to convince the PC's that they just ATE the Racoon for dinner! The
Thief runs onto the deck and starts puking, and the players actually Boo'ed
Granite for this! But he let them off the hook at the end of the game by
having the Racoon reappear and tug on the thief's leg... Made them
happy... :]

Overall, it was a blast, and it really surprised me when I showed up with
the other judges for the awards presentations and the players came up and
said "Bull, we have something for you" :] But it was also a lot of fun :]

Anyways, that's enough out of me... The tourney's were a blast :]

Bull
--
Bull -- The Best Ork Decker You Never Met
chaos@*****.com ===== bull22@***********.com
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/3604

=======================================================
= =
= Order is Illusion! Chaos is Bliss! Got any Fours? =
= =
=======================================================

"Can the Gummi Worms really live in peace with the Marshmallow Chicks?"
-- Pinky, "Pinky and the Brain"
Message no. 2
From: Patrick Goodman <remo@***.NET>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 22:18:35 -0500
>They even came up and gave me a Beanie Baby Racoon right before the "Awards
>Ceremony" and the announcements of the winners of the tourneys...
>
>OK, Racoon Story Time :]

<snip raccoon story>

Oh, I love it!!

Glad you had a good time, Bull, and glad you made it back okay.

---
(>) Texas 2-Step
El Paso: Never surrender. Never forget. Never forgive.
Message no. 3
From: Tony Glinka <porthos@****.COM>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 20:45:13 -0700
Bull wrote:
>
> At 11:44 AM 8/21/98 -0700, GRANITE wrote these timeless words:
> >> yeah...this from the guy who typed a 50 page tome for the earthdawn
> >> tourney at gencon...and then expected us to read it!
> >
> >ROFLOL...hey..That was what the briefing was for ;P
> >Anyway..It was complete and left nothing that needed to be guessed at
> >by the Judges :) The print was big too :P
> >
> True... Very true... But still, a most excellent adventure...

I liked having the 50 page tome. :) It made it much easier for me
being a first time tourney GM.

<BIG SNIP>

> There was also a really humorous scene where the PC's confronted a Windling
> NPC (Played by Tony Glinka) that stole all their gear. :] Tony can tell
> you about that better than I, though...

I would have gotten away with it too, if hadn't been that darn "Stick
Together" spell that the group's elementalist cast on me. Stuck my feet
to the branch of the tree I was taunting the group from. Then I failed
poorly on the strength test to break free of the spell and Loki decided
that I fell flat on my back onto the branch and was completely stuck.
They demanded that I point them to their stolen gear and when I told
them I couldn't do it, they sent the troll up the tree after me. The
reason I couldn't point it out to them had nothing to do with my
willingness. It was because my arms were also fastened to the branch.
So the troll broke off the branch and waved it around with me stuck fast
to it as a Windling divining rod. In the end they rewarded my skill as
a thief by casting a "Puddle Deep" spell on my wine cup and I drunk
myself into a stupor, knowing that I had succeeded (at least initially)
against a group of six adepts 4 circles higher than me.
I especially like the touch of taunting the dwarf as shorty and told
him he snored. And when they offered to trade for their stuff, I just
told them that I would just steal it from them the next night. The
whole scene was pretty damn hysterical.

> Third night the PC's all end up on a boat, and Granite is GMing. He
> manages to convince the PC's that they just ATE the Racoon for dinner! The
> Thief runs onto the deck and starts puking, and the players actually Boo'ed
> Granite for this! But he let them off the hook at the end of the game by
> having the Racoon reappear and tug on the thief's leg... Made them
> happy... :]

This was a really good ending to the raccoon saga. The fact that this
group won made it even better.

Tony
--
Porthos@****.com -- GridSec: SRCard
Porthos' World of Shadowrun: http://members.home.net/porthos/sr/sr.html
Tony's SRTCG Site: http://members.home.net/porthos/srtcg/srtcg.html
Home of the SRTCG Q&A: SRCard's Official Unofficial SRTCG FAQ
Message no. 4
From: Craig S Dohmen <dohmen@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 21:40:13 -0400
> Anyways, that's enough out of me... The tourney's were a blast :]

Maybe for you. For me, it was possibly the worst game I ever participated
in. :( The GM was lame, we could hardly hear each other other those idiots
in the corner, and I don't mind a few perception checks, but that almost all
we did.

"Roll perception."

"*clatter* Twelve."

"You see a flock of grouse."

Big deal! At one point we saw a deer, and we were so bored that we actually
went after it and killed it. The only fun part was when the wizard tried to
*tackle* one of the slavers. :^D

All in all, it was a dreadful waste of 4 hours. Fortunately, the other two
Earthdawn games I played in made up for it.

--Craig
Message no. 5
From: Bull <chaos@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 22:28:36 -0400
At 09:40 PM 8/22/98 -0400, Craig S Dohmen wrote these timeless words:
>> Anyways, that's enough out of me... The tourney's were a blast :]
>
>Maybe for you. For me, it was possibly the worst game I ever participated
>in. :( The GM was lame, we could hardly hear each other other those idiots
>in the corner, and I don't mind a few perception checks, but that almost all
>we did.
>
Bummer man... :(

But I know what you mean... I was having a real hard time getting heard,
and I was talking fairly loudly... We were at the table right NEXT to
those dorks...

(If you were near our side of the room, our group was the group with the
player who dove to the floor twitching... Twice... :))

>"Roll perception."
>
>"*clatter* Twelve."
>
>"You see a flock of grouse."
>
>Big deal! At one point we saw a deer, and we were so bored that we actually
>went after it and killed it. The only fun part was when the wizard tried to
>*tackle* one of the slavers. :^D
>
Agreed... That is lame... :(

Do you remember who your GM was? (Ummm... Reply to that particular
question privately :))

>All in all, it was a dreadful waste of 4 hours. Fortunately, the other two
>Earthdawn games I played in made up for it.
>
Cool deal :]

Next year you'll have to make sure you hook up with the rest of the List
members, if for no other reason than a nice meet and greet :]

Bull
--
Bull -- The Best Ork Decker You Never Met
chaos@*****.com ===== bull22@***********.com
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/3604

=======================================================
= =
= Order is Illusion! Chaos is Bliss! Got any Fours? =
= =
=======================================================

"Can the Gummi Worms really live in peace with the Marshmallow Chicks?"
-- Pinky, "Pinky and the Brain"
Message no. 6
From: Tim Kerby <drekhead@***.NET>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 11:05:52 -0400
On 22 Aug 98, at 22:28, Bull wrote:

> Agreed... That is lame... :(
>
> Do you remember who your GM was? (Ummm... Reply to that particular
> question privately :))

No, don't. I'm curious if it was the same lame GM we had for the
Shadowrun tourney.

> Next year you'll have to make sure you hook up with the rest of the List
> members, if for no other reason than a nice meet and greet :]

As I found out this year, if you want a list team, everyone has to
register early. You can't count on filling a team with list members
by using generics.

--

=================================================================
- Tim Kerby - drekhead@***.net - ICQ-UIN 2883757 -
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Reality is the only obstacle to happiness." - Unknown
Message no. 7
From: Jeffrey Jones <whitebuddha@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 06:58:16 -0700
---Tim Kerby <drekhead@***.NET> wrote:
>
> On 22 Aug 98, at 22:28, Bull wrote:
>
> > Agreed... That is lame... :(
> >
> > Do you remember who your GM was? (Ummm... Reply to that particular
> > question privately :))
>
> No, don't. I'm curious if it was the same lame GM we had for the
> Shadowrun tourney.
>
> > Next year you'll have to make sure you hook up with the rest of
the List
> > members, if for no other reason than a nice meet and greet :]
>
> As I found out this year, if you want a list team, everyone has to
> register early. You can't count on filling a team with list members
> by using generics.
>
> --
>
> =================================================================
> - Tim Kerby - drekhead@***.net - ICQ-UIN


no your right don't...as some of the shadowrun and earthdawn judges
are on the list and since the "drekhead" in question may be listening
share it with the group...we can all share in the constructive
criticism...
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @*****.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Message no. 8
From: K is the Symbol <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 12:11:14 EDT
In a message dated 8/24/1998 9:01:20 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
whitebuddha@*****.COM writes:

> > - Tim Kerby - drekhead@***.net - ICQ-UIN
>
>
> no your right don't...as some of the shadowrun and earthdawn judges
> are on the list and since the "drekhead" in question may be listening
> share it with the group...we can all share in the constructive
> criticism...
>
Tim, Meet Jeff, Jeff, Meet Tim. Thomas, Jett, Gurth, Rookie, meet
Jeff...Jeff, have fun :)

-K
Message no. 9
From: GRANITE <granite@**.NET>
Subject: Re: GC98 Earthdawn Tourney Memoirs (was Re: Adventures)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 01:45:04 -0700
Bull said:
> But still, a most excellent adventure...

Hmm..I don't remember writing Bill and Ted into the story.... :P

> Of course, In my opinion, a tournament game should be very structured... :]

Absolutely..That is the only way that teams can be fairly compared
for advancement..It levels the playing field..

> But you did a great job writing it up...

Thank you...It is getting difficult getitng my head through
doorways...

> Good enough that I managed to
> stumble into GMing the ED Tournament without actually knowing the rules

Good...then I put in enough detail..

> I'll give you guys a synopsis of MY first round tourney game in a second
> (Granite could probably give you the full story... My memory gets fairly
> fuzzy past the second round storyline).

I probably could..But I plan on trying to publish the adventure later
on...

> Which one? I seem to have missed the initial post... Jeff, by chance? I
> know he had asked me to send him the SRN Subby instructions...

Yup...

>...... "Sherri Prosperi".

By the way a very good RPer..I had the good fortune to play in an ED
game the GC one year and happened to end up sitting across form
her..Quite creative..And this year I was able to Judge her team the
final round..Quite a fun time...

>... (For those of you who were on the GC97 SR List Team, I was very
> happy by that turn of events... What can I say, I'm petty :)).

Now..now..none of that..You are on the other side to the screen
now... ;)

> There was also a really humorous scene where the PC's confronted a Windling
> NPC (Played by Tony Glinka) that stole all their gear. :] Tony can tell
> you about that better than I, though...

Hmm..seems like Fin'al Bane got a bit greedy....

> Third night the PC's all end up on a boat, and Granite is GMing. He
> manages to convince the PC's that they just ATE the Racoon for dinner! The

No convincing to it..they ate a stow away racoon...Meat is meat when
your at sea...And fresh meat is welcome...Originally I had intended
it to put an end to the racoon...So I'm an Evil Gm..what can I say...

> Thief runs onto the deck and starts puking, and the players actually Boo'ed
> Granite for this!

It was hilarious...You should have seen their faces when they passed
a perception test for tasting the meaty stew..I let them know that it
tastes strangly like racoon..they quiz the cook..and he confirms
it..Although he didn't know what it was called..having lived his life
on the sea..The thief even found the racoon's tail behind a crate..I
thought he might take the tail as a momento..but he threw it
overboard..When those that quized the cook let the rest of the PCs
know what they were eating..All of their faces fell..It was like they
just saw the neighbor's dog get hit by a car..they all got kinda
depressed..It was cool..They were so into their characters and the
story..They impressed me..

> But he let them off the hook at the end of the game by
> having the Racoon reappear and tug on the thief's leg... Made them
> happy... :]

They were so bummed out by the end..And feeling VERY guilty about
several of the events that occured..[I will hold back the details for
now in the hopes of getting published]..that I wanted to perk them up
a bit there at the end..so I had the Theif do another perception
test and he notices a racoon at his feet tugging at his pant
leg...Everyone instantly perked up...

> Overall, it was a blast, and it really surprised me when I showed up with
> the other judges for the awards presentations and the players came up and
> said "Bull, we have something for you" :] But it was also a lot of fun :]

That means you gave them something special..And that is a very good
thing...

From: Tony Glinka
>This was a really good ending to the raccoon
>saga. The fact that this group won made it even
>better.

It made a good warm fuzzy ending to the story...

>From: Bull
>But I know what you mean... I was having a real
>hard time getting heard, and I was talking
>fairly loudly... We were at the table right
>NEXT to those dorks...

This was a VERY big problem for everyone..There should have been pipe
and drape everywhere..but Andon didn't want to pay the extra cost of
having it set up...Or at least that is what I have heard..this has
been addressed to The kind folks at FASA..
--------------------------------GRANITE
"Rock Steady"
===============================================
Lord, Grant Me The Serenity To Accept The Things I Cannot Change,
The Courage To Change The Things I Can,
And The Wisdom To Hide The Bodies Of Those People I Had To Kill
Because They Pissed Me Off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ShadowRunner's Serenity Prayer
===============================================
Understanding is a three edged sword. - Kosh
What is best in life?
To Crush Your Enemies,
See Them Driven Before You,
And To Hear The Lamentation Of Their Women. -Conan
I Am The LAW! -JD
Jamais Arriere

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