Tag Archives: Adventurers League

GenCon 2015 Wrap-Up

GenCon 2015 was a great success! Cut to the Chase Games had a handful of games on the schedule, and they went swimmingly (except for the third one – I think there was a mixup on my DM dashboard – see below). I didn’t have any products to showcase so no booth or anything fancy like that, but I sure spent a lot of my time gaming it down with lots of terrific folks!

I had three sessions for Cut to the Chase Games on the books – TG1 Lost Temple of IbholthegTG2 Tongues of the Screaming Toad, and TG3 Shadow Out of Sapphire Lake, along with a pile of Adventurers League games for Baldman Games. Let’s look at each one.

TG1 LOST TEMPLE OF IBHOLTHEG
I had a great table of players for the inaugural run of TG1 and, though we didn’t finish (the modules are not meant for 4 hour slots!) we all had a lot of fun and got past the titanic toad that guards the temple. Here’s the pic of the players at the end of the session. Great people, and some Minnesota boys to boot!

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TG2 TONGUES OF THE SCREAMING TOAD
I was perhaps most worried about this one, because it’s a bit of a mystery to begin with, which is always tricky to pull off. Who knows if the players are going to pick up on the bits, or if I’m going to have to push them? Thankfully, the table was another set of FANTASTIC players and they all got into it quite well. So much fun. Again, we didn’t finish – but we got past the mystery part, so that made me quite happy.

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TG3 SHADOW OUT OF SAPPHIRE LAKE
So this one was my middle game on Friday, and in retrospect I think there was a mistake on my DM dashboard at GenCon. I was sitting in my room, nearly alone, waiting for players to show up. Nothing! I figured it’s GenCon, people get busy and can’t make it to games, but to have no one show up? Pretty strange. Afterwards, I investigated and found that my dashboard sent me to the wrong Indiana ballroom. Blergh. So no TG3 players or pics. Sad face.

ADVENTURERS LEAGUE GAMES
I really enjoy judging for Baldman Games – last year was my first year EVER running a game at GenCon, and it was for Baldman running new games of 5th Edition. I had so much fun I ran Adventurers League games at Gamehole Con in November in Madison, Winter Fantasy in Fort Wayne in February (sucky drive!), and Origins in Columbus in June. Next year? I’m hoping I’m going to have my hands full of Cut to the Chase Games slots but who knows? The Epic on Saturday night was fantastic – I got to run the Tier 3 table (12th level average party) and the players really got into the swing of things down in the bowels of the hedonistic fire giant city, tearing it up with colossal gladiators in a coliseum of blood and terror.

My view for most of GenCon

My view for most of GenCon

GenCon is such a whirlwind of movement, people, sights, and sounds that it can be quite overwhelming. I also learned earlier in the year that 7 sessions (or roughly 30 hours) of ANYTHING at a convention is my limit – I get worn down and my voice goes bye-bye otherwise.

What does the future hold? Hopefully nothing but awesome things for everyone! Game on!

Handy Printable Form Fillable PC Reference Cards!

The Adventurers League had a nice post about using Inspiration, a mechanic in 5th Edition. It’s something I rarely remember, but mainly because it’s quite a lot of work to write down and remember everyone’s details at a convention table. But I liked the idea, and put together a quick PDF that can be used to hang on a GM screen that contains the key information. Check out my 5E PC Reminders and let me know what you think!

The sheet is designed so you just have to print it out and make two cuts – one horizontal and one vertical. There shouldn’t be any paper wasted. Make sure to select the Actual Size option when you print in Adobe Acrobat (rather than Fit).

One note – I wish I had a separate spot for Background, as I think that is an important aspect of a character, so I what I’ve done is put it into the Race field (so it would say Human Pirate or Hill Dwarf Criminal).