Gameholecon 2020 Report and Fast

Well, it wasn't in person, and it wasn't as long as I usually go, but Gameholecon happened in 2020 - virtually. I took the Friday off of work (normally I would take Thursday and Friday, but work has been insane lately and I didn't relish the thought of getting that far behind - good thing, given this grind of a week) and gamed Thursday night, all day Friday, and all day Saturday. Well, that was the plan, anyway. Thursday night didn't happen because our Keeper (it was a Call of Cthulhu game) had a family emergency arise. And, as I say, "family first"! No compromising on that rule. So, I took some time to work on a gaming project I've been working on for a little while.

Friday morning started off with a game of Empire of the Petal Throne - my third, I believe (though I played in a game of Bethorm: The Plane of Tekumel at Gameholecon last year, so that's four games in Tekumel, but three of them using EPT rules). Victor Raymond, whose judging style I really love, ran the game. There was all the cultural intrigue one expects from Tekumel, no small amount of lucky dice rolls in our favor, and a fun premise. My character's family had been kidnapped by a local warlord, a sort of prince-pirate, in the area known as Háida Pakála, and I, with some very capable compatriots, had to try to get them out of their hostage situation in three days, after which I would either have to pay an exorbitant ransom or they would be killed. I know just enough about Tekumel (having read two of M.A.R. Barker's novels and having played a few times before) to be able to encourage others in the party to strategize, though I wasn't socially adept enough to affect a lot of the ideas I suggested. We had one extremely lucky dice roll that saw the local consulate from the Tsolyani empire (of which we were citizens) offer us whatever help he could. The right bribe in the right place in the right time, combined with a critical success roll, gave us just what we needed - guidance to the best entrance to the underworld, where we could make our way to the family, and a distraction "up top" while we were busy doing our thing down below. It was as much fun as I've had adventuring . . . in any game . . . in a long time. I'm probably going to make it a habit to play in at least one EPT game at every Con I attend, so long as their ones I haven't played in before. So. Much. Fun. Here's my character:

Next, a much-needed game of Dungeon Crawl Classics, entitled "Escape from Algol," run by my friend Julian Bernick. I've known Julian for a long, long time (we first met at a World Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis back in 2002) and it was good to play with him. I played a halfling, which I've never played in DCC before. That was fun. I would play a halfling again, for sure. Anyway, the premise was being transported to the planet Algol by a wizard who hired us (and, of course, died in the process of transporting us there). We were the first humans to visit this planet in many years, and the lizard men entities that lived there had a prophecy among them that humans would one day return. It was a nice blending of Dungeon Crawl Classics and Mutant Crawl Classics, in some ways. A sort of Sword and Planet affair that had us fighting nanite spiders and floating laser-shooting eyes. My favorite part: Being tied to a rope and pushed out by another party member to try to grapple with one of the immense laser-eyes, missing, then being pushed out again, where I succeeded in beginning the longest running battle of the game by wrastlin' the eye, with the help of several other party members. Long story short, we ended up blasting up through the floor of the dungeon in a spaceship that had been buried there (but, of course!) and then crash landed on the planet Carcosa - which I thought was a great touch, given that I had played in an online game at Garycon with Julian running it, wherein I played a Hot Dog Suit Guy (yes, that was his character class - and it was awesome) on Carcosa. Just stupid amounts of fun.

That evening, Julian and I played, along with our mutual friend Trevor, in our mutual friend Larry Hamilton's AD&D 1e game "Ogre Island and the Black Crate". I played two characters, a half-elf mage and a human fighter. I really liked this because 1) Julian, Trevor, and Larry are all awesome, 2) we were all a bunch of old skool Grognards playing 1st edition, and 3) it was a sandbox setting in a ruined city full of ogres, giants, trolls, goblins, and pirates. It felt good to not be railroaded - really, Larry was up for whatever we wanted to do. It felt like I remember D&D feeling as a young kid, honestly. And that's a good feeling! The climax was the party and two stowaway ogres holding on to a chained crate for dear life as it magically flew through the air back to the wizard that had hired us. I seriously loved the open "feel" of it - yes, we had a goal, but we didn't have to stick to it if we didn't want to. We prevaricated a fair amount, then decided to do it. But man, that feeling . . . gaming freedom! I need more of that in my life.

Saturday morning, it was Call of Cthulhu time. "Horror On the Buffalo River" set in the Ozarks of the 1920s. I played Wesley, an outdoorsman hired by the University to go with the party to determine if a state park should be opened in the Ozarks. Long story short: hell, no, it shouldn't! After successfully summoning Shub-Niggurath, and encountering the main "bad guys" (which, I must admit, was a morally ambiguous call as to whether they were bad or not), we had three of six characters left, one of which was permanently insane. Just like you want a Call of Cthulhu adventure to end! My character besmirched the other sane survivor, a pompous southern gentleman on the Board of Trustees, threatened a law suit against the University, won, and retired to be a hermit in Alaska . . . as perfectly befit the character. At some point, though, I'm guessing Delta Green paid him a visit and . . . well, you know.

Saturday afternoon I was able to game with my good friend Brendan LaSalle. It had been quite a while since I'd gamed at Brendan's table, and he's the guy who first ran DCC for me. He ran us through a new Harley Stroh adventure, something something of the Black Abbott. Or something. Doesn't matter. I played an Elf (with a name suspiciously like the halfling I played the day before), along with Jim Skatch, Haley Skatch, and others. The adventure is set in a really cool pentagram-shaped dungeon, which was full of puzzles and traps for us. It was like a low-level Tomb of Horrors for DCC, in many ways. I really enjoyed playing with this group, especially seeing Jim and Halley, whom I hadn't seen since - good grief, Garycon two years ago? Has it been that long? *Sob*.

Lastly, I played in a game of Numenera, which I had never played before. The players were great, the GM was great, the setting was great . . . and I hated the system. If I want to do a bunch of math, I'll just turn on my work computer and log in (I do purchasing and sourcing for my day job). I felt that the game system was trying way too hard to emulate a video game, which is a real shame. The setting is rich and super enjoyable to explore. But I felt like every time - no, I didn't just feel this way, it was true - every time I needed to do anything, I'd have to pull up a friggin' calculator or a scratch pad to get anything done. Just not my cupa java. But I swore that I would play at least one new game at every Con I attend, and I haven't broken that promise to myself yet. So, I played Numenera, and probably won't again. Win some, lose some.

All-in-all, Gameholecon was a great time, as usual. The guys running Gameholecon are top-notch, whether virtually or in meatspace.

But let's get that vaccine done, 'K, Pfizer? I want to be around my gaming buddies in the real world before too long. Please? 

And did I mention that I fasted for 62 hours over the weekend? Yep, started Thursday evening and broke my fast on Sunday morning. Trying to get this last 8 pounds of "overweight" tamped down and done with. Nothing like 50 hours of ketosis to help things along. I'll be fasting every weekend this month (not for 62 hours each time - that was rough - more like 40 hours) to try to get rid of this last batch of stubborn fat and, no joking, to enjoy the benefits of long fasting. I gotta tell you, after fasting, eating, and . . . um . . . processing that food (*ahem*), I felt the best I have felt in years. Granted, you feel pretty rotten while fasting, but the extreme hunger only lasts for about 17 hours. Once your past that, you're, well, not golden, but you'll be fine. 

Oh, and how is the social media fast going? It's . . . not as easy this time. Trying to move back into the analog world is hard work, some times. I think I need to fill my calendar with stuff to keep me busy, such as writing this blog post. And I need to slow down and enjoy my unstructured time more, rather than feeling like I need to always be doing something busy. In fact, I'm going to go do some leisurely reading right about . . . now!