Category Archives: Gaming

AmberCon Northwest 2017: After Action Report

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It’s been a long while since I’ve done a recap of my ACNW weekend, but I had a great time and tried a bunch of new things, and thought I’d share.

For those not familiar, AmberCon Northwest is a four-day game convention just outside of Portland, Oregon, at the McMenamin’s Edgefield. It (and other AmberCons) was originally started as a venue to play the Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game. In recent years, it’s also attracted a wave of indie gamers. So the core of it is still Amber, but it’s a chance to try out all sorts of things.

Ambercon T-shirt art

Ambercon Northwest XXI T-Shirt, with art by Lee Moyer.

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Final Norwescon 38 Schedule

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I have received my final schedule for Norwescon 38 (April 2-5, 2015). Because I know you care, I am offering it up to all of you! If you want to see the rest of the schedule for Norwescon, click here.

Worldwide Dead
Thu 3:00pm-4:00pm – Cascade 9
Nathan Crowder (M), Pat MacEwen, Jude-Marie Green, Arinn Dembo, Jeremy Zimmerman

The Power of Free
Thu 6:00pm-7:00pm – Cascade 10
Esther Jones (M), Diana Copland, Frances Pauli, Jeremy Zimmerman

Gamer Etiquette: Use Your Words
Thu 8:00pm-9:00pm – Cascade 9
Sar Surmick (M), Jeremy Zimmerman, Eric Cagle, Ogre Whiteside, Lola Watson

Reading: Jeremy Zimmerman
Fri 10:30am-11:00am – Cascade 1
Jeremy Zimmerman

Short Stories: At the Cutting Edge of SF
Fri 3:00pm-4:00pm – Cascade 5
Cat Rambo (M), Alex C. Renwick, Jeremy Zimmerman

Autograph Session 2
Sat 3:00pm-4:00pm – Grand 2
Jeff Sturgeon, Django Wexler, Randy Henderson, G. Willow Wilson, Kristi Charish, Frog Jones, Richard Hescox, Darragh Metzger, David J. Peterson, Esther Jones, Jeremy Zimmerman, John (J.A.) Pitts, Kevin Radthorne, Laura Anne Gilman, Michael G. Munz, Rhiannon Held, Leannan Sidhe, Steven Barnes, Tim McDaniel

Top 15 Best GM Habits
Sat 7:00pm-8:00pm – Cascade 10
David Nasset Sr. (M), Wolfgang Baur, Jeremy Zimmerman, Ogre Whiteside

The Next Generation: Gaming with Kids
Sun 11:00am-12:00pm – Cascade 10
Jeremy Zimmerman (M), Patrick McKinnion, Adrienne Carlson, Wednesday (Nessie) Phoenix, David Fooden

Tentative Schedule for Norwescon 2015

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I’ve been invited to Norwescon as a panelist for the first time, and I’m super excited! I’ve received my tentative schedule, which I’m providing below. Times and dates are subject to change. I’m also not including the two instances of the the writing workshop, where I’ll be participating as a pro. (Yay!)

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Space Cowboy Archetypes

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After watching Guardians of the Galaxy a few times in the theater, I’ve felt more inclined to try and dust off my idea for a space cowboy Apocalypse World hack. I’ve yet to successfully complete an Apocalypse World hack of any sort, so this might be a dubious effort. But I figure I can at least poke at it for a bit.

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D&D Starter Set!

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I recently ordered the new Starter Set for D&D 5th Edition. In part to get a cheap look at what the new version was like. In part to check it out before I tried buying one for my niece. It’s a pretty big box, and looks like it’s filled to the brim:

D&D-box1

After a cursory glance at the stuff on top, I dug out everything to see what all they included. And I ran into this:

D&D-box2

It appears that the majority of the box is really just that filler box. The actual contents are just two booklets (the basic rules and an adventure, which has some GMing tips), a set of polyhedral dice (though only one d10, even though it notes you’ll need to do percentile rolls in the book) and a few pre-gen characters.

D&D-box3Somehow I thought they’d include something like a grid mat, maybe some cheap cardboard miniatures, something. Nope. This box is mostly filler.

I’ll probably still buy it for my niece. It looks like it’s an approachable intro. I’m just underwhelmed by the presentation.

 

Monsterhearts Three Ways

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For some people, the three-day Labor Day weekend is a last hoorah for summer. Maybe a camping trip. Maybe a day of meat. Some other horrible thing involving sunshine and the outdoors.

I spent three days shunning the evil Daystar and running Monsterhearts one-shots, collaboratively spinning yards of angsty teenage monsters and their messy lives. All in an effort to feel a bit more comfortable with the rules before I run a one-shot at Ambercon Northwest.

Yeah. I’m a huge dork.

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