Ubercon (Edison, NJ)
Ahh Ubercon. What can I say about Ubercon other than they really treat us well there. Alyssa, the RPG Coordinator, is extremely accommodating and even helped El Willy proof the book before it went to the publisher. They also have a registration system that WORKS, which is more than I can say for most other conventions.
All in all this year's Ubercon was great. Great games with great players. Some copies of WEGS even sold which is always good news. My favorite part was playing a scenario that I actually wrote. Man was it a disaster. It was a great disaster though, because everyone still had a blast playing, but it really showed me some flaws in the mechanics I had come up with. I will do a separate post about the scenario with my thoughts on it.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
WEGS Copper: The Campaign
I wanna play a campaign. Not just little 2 or 3 hour encounters with disposable characters that I chew through. I want a character that I can invest in. I want to care about a character. Instead of just whining about this, I am going to make it happen. I have decided to write a Wegspaign. I am going to begin writing and fleshing out my campaign hopefully to have it ready in time for the Wegsoramacon. I will try to make it so that it is playable in 15 hours. (It won't be a very extensive campaign.) This way at the Wegsoramacon, it will be playable in five 3 hour sessions. Or three 5 hour sessions.
Whatever the outcome, the point of this campaign is to demonstrate WEGS copper to anyone interested. Most of you have played WEGS 101 or some variation of it. WEGS Copper is really the next level out there. A much richer Ark system, with a lot more options for customizing your Ark. Plus there are so many more skills and spells that just are not included in WEGS 101. The main reason behind this was to make WEGS 101 simple.
This is not to say that WEGS 101 characters are not welcome. They can play right alongside WEGS copper characters with almost seamless integration. And it is very simple to transfer a WEGS 101 character to the Copper sheet and system.
The mechaniks are the same, but the game has changed.
Whatever the outcome, the point of this campaign is to demonstrate WEGS copper to anyone interested. Most of you have played WEGS 101 or some variation of it. WEGS Copper is really the next level out there. A much richer Ark system, with a lot more options for customizing your Ark. Plus there are so many more skills and spells that just are not included in WEGS 101. The main reason behind this was to make WEGS 101 simple.
This is not to say that WEGS 101 characters are not welcome. They can play right alongside WEGS copper characters with almost seamless integration. And it is very simple to transfer a WEGS 101 character to the Copper sheet and system.
The mechaniks are the same, but the game has changed.
Friday, September 7, 2007
There's Something About WEGS
Ok so what is it about WEGS. I have played other games, and not since Dungeons and Dragons have I seen people get really excited about these games. My thoughts are as follows.
Is it the fact that conventions draw people with a predisposition to like WEGS? Is WEGS just being encountered to people who are mega enthusiastic about something that has the spirit of D&D, but with a more simple interface, friendlier rule system, and a bit of wacky-ness thrown into the mix? Is WEGS just being introduced to people who are already Table top game inclined and just get super excited about anything new?
Or Is WEGS actually the kind of thing that appeals to a larger scope of people. Do people just naturally like to roll dice and have them determine some kind of outcome? Is it the fact that WEGS very much feels like you are gambling, except you don't lose your house. Every time you roll the dice (done for just about EVERYTHING in WEGS) you are tempting fate to see if a person/character/thing you have created will be able to do what you want them to. There are no guarantees or sure things in WEGS, and this is proven time and time again when people forget to cover the 95. Does this give WEGS an extra sense of excitement that D&D or other Table Top Role Playing Games just don't have?
Or is it the Wegshogs. With El Willy presiding as lord and master of all rules he wrote, Pretzel Bob and Myself representing all the evil machinations of El Willy's creativity, and Spointer the dedicated Sage always on the players side helping to make sure they can push the limits of their character are we just a gaming force. Do we breathe life into the game, or do we merely accentuate the already very lively and spry system known to the world as WEGS.
I like to think that it is a combination of all three of those things, and countless other elements that make WEGS something special. The odd thing is this, Gamers are not known for their subtlety and I have witnessed many MANY gamers tell game creators exactly what they think about their games: Good, Bad, or Indifferent. So why has WEGS been gifted with so much positive responses, and so very few negative responses... This I will have to ponder.
Is it the fact that conventions draw people with a predisposition to like WEGS? Is WEGS just being encountered to people who are mega enthusiastic about something that has the spirit of D&D, but with a more simple interface, friendlier rule system, and a bit of wacky-ness thrown into the mix? Is WEGS just being introduced to people who are already Table top game inclined and just get super excited about anything new?
Or Is WEGS actually the kind of thing that appeals to a larger scope of people. Do people just naturally like to roll dice and have them determine some kind of outcome? Is it the fact that WEGS very much feels like you are gambling, except you don't lose your house. Every time you roll the dice (done for just about EVERYTHING in WEGS) you are tempting fate to see if a person/character/thing you have created will be able to do what you want them to. There are no guarantees or sure things in WEGS, and this is proven time and time again when people forget to cover the 95. Does this give WEGS an extra sense of excitement that D&D or other Table Top Role Playing Games just don't have?
Or is it the Wegshogs. With El Willy presiding as lord and master of all rules he wrote, Pretzel Bob and Myself representing all the evil machinations of El Willy's creativity, and Spointer the dedicated Sage always on the players side helping to make sure they can push the limits of their character are we just a gaming force. Do we breathe life into the game, or do we merely accentuate the already very lively and spry system known to the world as WEGS.
I like to think that it is a combination of all three of those things, and countless other elements that make WEGS something special. The odd thing is this, Gamers are not known for their subtlety and I have witnessed many MANY gamers tell game creators exactly what they think about their games: Good, Bad, or Indifferent. So why has WEGS been gifted with so much positive responses, and so very few negative responses... This I will have to ponder.
Emmet. The Bravest Gnobbit Berserker Ever
Back in the early play-testing days of WEGS I created a Gnobbit Warrior named Emmet. The WEGS World that Emmet existed in was a different world from what you current Wegshogs will experience. That is until the release of WEGS copper.
Emmet was an oddity in the early WEGS system because he did not follow what would be considered traditional race roles. First off he was a Gnobbit Warrior. Gnobbits, while heralded for their fleet footedness, and extreme dexterity, were never really lauded as fierce Warriors. To make matters worse, Emmet was a two-handed sword wielding Warrior. Back in the olde days of WEGS this meant that when he hit, he did 60 wounds. No dice rolls. No calculations. Nadda. He was of course forced to only attack once every other round, but this did not slow him down because of the skill Berserk. It allowed up to 4 attacks per action. Giving him the potential for 240 damage in a single round!
Needless to say this presented a balancing issue and the WEGSGods (El Willy) decided to balance this out for future editions. This of course happened many times throughout the life of Emmet and all of the WEGSians that came before the release of this game.
I suppose I am writing this so that you realize the struggles that Emmet had to face, so that you Wegshogs and future Wegshogs could live in a balanced world.
Emmet was an oddity in the early WEGS system because he did not follow what would be considered traditional race roles. First off he was a Gnobbit Warrior. Gnobbits, while heralded for their fleet footedness, and extreme dexterity, were never really lauded as fierce Warriors. To make matters worse, Emmet was a two-handed sword wielding Warrior. Back in the olde days of WEGS this meant that when he hit, he did 60 wounds. No dice rolls. No calculations. Nadda. He was of course forced to only attack once every other round, but this did not slow him down because of the skill Berserk. It allowed up to 4 attacks per action. Giving him the potential for 240 damage in a single round!
Needless to say this presented a balancing issue and the WEGSGods (El Willy) decided to balance this out for future editions. This of course happened many times throughout the life of Emmet and all of the WEGSians that came before the release of this game.
I suppose I am writing this so that you realize the struggles that Emmet had to face, so that you Wegshogs and future Wegshogs could live in a balanced world.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Ubercon!
Good news on Ubercon! It turns out there is actually going to be one this year. They have changed the location of the convention to lovely Edison, NJ which means it is a bit more of a trek for Spointer and myself, but it gives us an excuse to get a hotel room instead of driving back and forth. Ubercon is possibly my favorite convention we go to simply because of the atmosphere of it. It is not a big con, it does not really try to be a big con, and it feels full of con-goers even though it isn't a big con. ¹
It is also the first convention I ever attended as a GM.
Do not be surprised if this Wegshog decides that El Willy needs to have some more exposure and starts running his own scenarios at Ubercon. I have secretly been working on my convention scenario about the Arks attending a convention.² The scenario will put the players up against some of the nastiest things any Ark has ever encountered. Including, but not limited to:
¹ - Extreme use of the word Con in a single sentence.
² - Very Meta. ³
³ - Footnote style stolen directly from Terry Pratchett.
It is also the first convention I ever attended as a GM.
Do not be surprised if this Wegshog decides that El Willy needs to have some more exposure and starts running his own scenarios at Ubercon. I have secretly been working on my convention scenario about the Arks attending a convention.² The scenario will put the players up against some of the nastiest things any Ark has ever encountered. Including, but not limited to:
- Ogres dressed up as Gnobbit school girls.
- A wandering group of Hobgoblins role playing being ARKS.
- Groups of Humnz dressed as different animals prowling about.
- Goblins that haven't bathed in well over a decade.
- And a group of Mages that can't stop arguing over the proper application of spell that only exists in a game they all once played.
¹ - Extreme use of the word Con in a single sentence.
² - Very Meta. ³
³ - Footnote style stolen directly from Terry Pratchett.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
2007 Con Season Recap Gencon
Gencon (Indianapolis, IN)
Gencon. The mother of all gaming conventions. This was it for the Wegshogs. The moment of truth. The official release date of WEGS 101. El Willy decided to pull out all the stops for this Gencon and set ME up as the one and only GM. So I was sure to hold that over his head the entire convention. Our first night game (Midnight Quickie) went well enough and we had some fun with it.
Every other game we had players for went very well also. We finally were able to play Reservoir Dwarves and I must say I do love that scenario. Although I could do without the fake New Jersey Mafia accents.
Spointer LARPed for most of the con earning him the title Weirdest Gamewick Gamer. Although the people he LARPed with were fairly normal, so maybe we will give him a pass on it this once. But just this once.
All in all the convention was a pseudo success. There is finally a WEGS 101 book to buy, and some people actually bought it. We inducted a few new Wegshogs. These Wegshogs are a special subsect of Wegshogs known as ShroomEaters. And we are proud to have them on board for the game.
And that wrapped up our bing Con season. I am still recovering from Gencon, and will be until Ubercon in my home state of NJ (If the con even gets off the ground).
Gencon. The mother of all gaming conventions. This was it for the Wegshogs. The moment of truth. The official release date of WEGS 101. El Willy decided to pull out all the stops for this Gencon and set ME up as the one and only GM. So I was sure to hold that over his head the entire convention. Our first night game (Midnight Quickie) went well enough and we had some fun with it.
Every other game we had players for went very well also. We finally were able to play Reservoir Dwarves and I must say I do love that scenario. Although I could do without the fake New Jersey Mafia accents.
Spointer LARPed for most of the con earning him the title Weirdest Gamewick Gamer. Although the people he LARPed with were fairly normal, so maybe we will give him a pass on it this once. But just this once.
All in all the convention was a pseudo success. There is finally a WEGS 101 book to buy, and some people actually bought it. We inducted a few new Wegshogs. These Wegshogs are a special subsect of Wegshogs known as ShroomEaters. And we are proud to have them on board for the game.
And that wrapped up our bing Con season. I am still recovering from Gencon, and will be until Ubercon in my home state of NJ (If the con even gets off the ground).
2007 Con Season Recap Historicon
Historicon (Lancaster, PA)
Best Con Ever.
We were on fire at this convention, which is kind of weird because we were the odd man out. This convention was dedicated more toward reality tabletop war games, and somehow we found our niche among their players. We had people waiting in line to play WEGS! We also ran a very heavy schedule at this convention, but it paid off.
Aside from Spointer, our usualy Dwarf Mystic hurling buffs every which way, we had a Humnz Mystic cross Buffing with him, wreaking a spell web so intricate the Spante made out heads spin. We had a Dwarven Elvis or Delvis as he liked to be called. And he played in practically EVERY scenario we ran. When he finally exited the game (via a giant club to the face) he was the most powerful WEGS character to date.
All in all this convention was filled with the most normal, nicest, and best behaved gamers I have ever encountered. Ohh and you were allowed to drink at the game tables!
Best Con Ever.
We were on fire at this convention, which is kind of weird because we were the odd man out. This convention was dedicated more toward reality tabletop war games, and somehow we found our niche among their players. We had people waiting in line to play WEGS! We also ran a very heavy schedule at this convention, but it paid off.
Aside from Spointer, our usualy Dwarf Mystic hurling buffs every which way, we had a Humnz Mystic cross Buffing with him, wreaking a spell web so intricate the Spante made out heads spin. We had a Dwarven Elvis or Delvis as he liked to be called. And he played in practically EVERY scenario we ran. When he finally exited the game (via a giant club to the face) he was the most powerful WEGS character to date.
All in all this convention was filled with the most normal, nicest, and best behaved gamers I have ever encountered. Ohh and you were allowed to drink at the game tables!
2007 Con Season Recap DEXCON
DEXCON (New Brunswick, NJ)
Ahh the first of the truly local cons for the year. What a disappointment. The entire weekend we may have played a total of 3 games. I couldn't tell you. The con was so under populated and lightly attended it was an embarrassment to being held in the most densely populated state in the union.
At the end of the convention we agreed that it never happened.
I was at home.
Reading the new Harry Potter.
There was a clown.
Ahh the first of the truly local cons for the year. What a disappointment. The entire weekend we may have played a total of 3 games. I couldn't tell you. The con was so under populated and lightly attended it was an embarrassment to being held in the most densely populated state in the union.
At the end of the convention we agreed that it never happened.
I was at home.
Reading the new Harry Potter.
There was a clown.
2007 Con Season Recap Origins
Origins (Columbus, OH)
This is one of the big ones. Out here in Columbus we had a great time. Granted we canceled some games due to interesting scheduling tactics on the part of the convention. We did however have an opportunity to play some amazing games at this convention. El Willy scheduled us pretty hard, but due to no shows we did get some breaks.
Some of the games we played were interesting to say the least, especially a particular Pigsskabs Skool for Wizzerds. We learned at this convention that that particular scenario just goes wherever it wants to, and not to worry too much about it.
As always Dwarf Walks Into a Bar was a crowd favorite. There were interesting interactions between Borkfu and a human that pretended to be a Goblin pimp. Almost further than we like to take it, but it was kept in check and did not get too out of hand.
Other than the games out there, we did hit up an amazing german schnitzel place that El Willy officially proclaimed was his favorite place to eat... ever.
Oh and there may or may not have been an issue with my good/evil doppelganger (The jury is still out as to where I fall because of my goatee). However I pointed out that I am a HE and she is a SHE. Thus making her some weird clone experiment gone terribly wrong.
This is one of the big ones. Out here in Columbus we had a great time. Granted we canceled some games due to interesting scheduling tactics on the part of the convention. We did however have an opportunity to play some amazing games at this convention. El Willy scheduled us pretty hard, but due to no shows we did get some breaks.
Some of the games we played were interesting to say the least, especially a particular Pigsskabs Skool for Wizzerds. We learned at this convention that that particular scenario just goes wherever it wants to, and not to worry too much about it.
As always Dwarf Walks Into a Bar was a crowd favorite. There were interesting interactions between Borkfu and a human that pretended to be a Goblin pimp. Almost further than we like to take it, but it was kept in check and did not get too out of hand.
Other than the games out there, we did hit up an amazing german schnitzel place that El Willy officially proclaimed was his favorite place to eat... ever.
Oh and there may or may not have been an issue with my good/evil doppelganger (The jury is still out as to where I fall because of my goatee). However I pointed out that I am a HE and she is a SHE. Thus making her some weird clone experiment gone terribly wrong.
2007 Con Season Recap Whittcon
Whittcon (Whittenberg, OH)
Took a half day from work to fly out to Ohio for this convention that never was. Unfortunately all the airports in our area, and in Ohio shut down due to MASSIVE ice storms. Pfft whatever. So we had to cancel this Con this year which really sucked because we were going to be something of a guest of honor at this convention. Ohh well. I am looking forward to attending it next year.
Took a half day from work to fly out to Ohio for this convention that never was. Unfortunately all the airports in our area, and in Ohio shut down due to MASSIVE ice storms. Pfft whatever. So we had to cancel this Con this year which really sucked because we were going to be something of a guest of honor at this convention. Ohh well. I am looking forward to attending it next year.
2007 Con Season Recap I-CON
This con was a weird one, mainly because it was heavily into the cos players, and the fact that it took place on a college campus, while school was in session. It was odd seeing all the freaky cosplayers interacting with all the semi normal college kids. Gaming seemed to be an afterthought for this convention, with the spotlight being on dressing up as Japanese Schoolgirls. We did get a few true Wegshogs out of the convention, so it wasn't a bust.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Pre-Midnight ramblings
Ok fellow Wegshogs, here is my first real post.
I have been playing WEGS for almost 9 years now, and the thing that still amazes me is how much the game has really remained the same. Of course the stuff we play at conventions (WEGS 101) is a tailored down version of the original game, but the feel of the game hasn't really changed that much at all. Dice rolls became more streamlined, skills changed names, and the advancement system was altered, but the idea of playing a game that is easy to learn, and rich in it's environment is still there.
Sure when I first started playing I never thought that anything would come of it, but now with WEGS officially being released its kinda weird. I mean El Willy's system is what I really cut my teeth on as far as tabletop RPG's are concerned. Sure I had played D&D and GURPS and Warhammer, but I only played them cause it was the cool thing to do (in the weird social circle I existed in). With WEGS I actually really started looking forward to a game, anticipating it, planning how I would play my character.
Thats what got me hooked into tabletop games ever since. All the rule mongering I did really helped me to understand gaming systems and even their creation and balancing. It also helped me to realize that when you cheat at a game, the only one you are cheating is yourself.
More to come.
I have been playing WEGS for almost 9 years now, and the thing that still amazes me is how much the game has really remained the same. Of course the stuff we play at conventions (WEGS 101) is a tailored down version of the original game, but the feel of the game hasn't really changed that much at all. Dice rolls became more streamlined, skills changed names, and the advancement system was altered, but the idea of playing a game that is easy to learn, and rich in it's environment is still there.
Sure when I first started playing I never thought that anything would come of it, but now with WEGS officially being released its kinda weird. I mean El Willy's system is what I really cut my teeth on as far as tabletop RPG's are concerned. Sure I had played D&D and GURPS and Warhammer, but I only played them cause it was the cool thing to do (in the weird social circle I existed in). With WEGS I actually really started looking forward to a game, anticipating it, planning how I would play my character.
Thats what got me hooked into tabletop games ever since. All the rule mongering I did really helped me to understand gaming systems and even their creation and balancing. It also helped me to realize that when you cheat at a game, the only one you are cheating is yourself.
More to come.
Birth of a Wegshog.
I have been putting this off for just about 2 years now. Ever since I started attending gaming conventions as an official Wegshog I threatened El Willy with posting a blog, and now I am finally making good on that threat. It seems kinda dumb to start blogging AFTER the big con season, but I figure this will help me work my way into it slowly.
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