[Rant] NeonCon I am so pissed off at you!

I happened upon this this week...

NeonCon is coming back in 2014!

After some three years' absence, it is coming back. This con, which some saw as the "Gencon of the West" (after the death of GenCon West Coast), was always run as one of the big cons. Knowing the leadership, that's what they went for. There needs to be such event in the southwestern USA.

Learning of the 2012 cancellation really, really saddened me, I would've wanted - at the time - to make NeonCon be one of the major stops for NeoExodus. We had prereleased the NeoExodus book there in 2011, and premiered "Ruins of Trovaska" there that year.

In 2012, I was planning on having the official "launch party" for Legacies there a year later, rather than the soft launch we had. It was a major blow when I heard of the cancellation. Not only would I not go to Vegas, but my plans for big, public release were trumped.

So for two years, I stayed in touch with my buddies. Hoping against hope.

Then last week, I decided I would attend Arcanicon in Detroit. After debating, I decided to book myself a flight and head out there. I know. Detroit is NOT an overly exciting destination, but I really want to do more Arcanis. I don't see any reason to travel for PFS (since play has no impact on plot), but Arcanis... I can have impact and influence during major battles and interactive (like our players do in Legacies).

Passes a few days.

Then I saw the return of NeonCon, March 21-23rd of 2014... Now I have my plane ticket for Detroit...

So there you have it, NeonCon is back, I can't go.

I'm pissed at NeonCon.

Because as you all know, the world revolves only around me.

JP

Neoncon 2011: The Hate

Reading my previous three parts about my trip to Vegas for Neoncon, it is easy to think that I am happy and that everything was great at Neoncon. But NOTHING could be further from the truth. I have a lot of hate to send out to people.

Doug is the mastermind behind Neoncon and someone who has been nothing but nice to me, even when I was purposefully a dick to his kobold character… Any one of his characters really. This time, Doug went too far: he organized a great show once again in spite of some political issues (issues I won't go into here as they're not my opinionated self to comment upon). Then he gathered a collection of swag that made me so jealous, a pile of swag that makes classic adventures look like a poor man’s treasure hunt. I am certain there were more than a few magic items in the large shelves behind his staff. Then he – and his staff – go on and give away all the NeoExodus Campaign book! That book should retail for 100$+, if not a million bucks!

Let me throw Jeremy Olson under the bus… When I sat down at his Shadowrun Missions on Thursday night, I was looking forward to four hours of wacky Seattle-based madness, then be on my way happy to have tried something but not wanting more. But because of him (and his table of 'runners), I found myself actually enjoying Shadowrun and looking forward to MORE missions! As if I had time for more gaming? Really? More gaming? Just because the character he built for me is exactly what I wanted to play and that somehow I managed to survive (and be useful) to the group, I have no reason to spare him. So to you sir, I say, a chicken on your head! Now I will have pacify my wife twice as much!

Then there is Mike Brock, my Paizo Overlord. Mike emailed me that he had something he needed to talk to me about and that we should set aside a few minutes during the con. I wondered what he was gonna tell me. Turns out we had our chance on the first slot (Thursday afternoon). Although the NDA monster is gonna eat up anything I could say about the chat, he had my head spinning and my ideas and thoughts running a thousand miles an hour (and still is). You will noticed that I pointed the speed in mph rather than the kilometers I know and love. I’m already losing sleep because of him and I KNOW I will be losing a lot more. And it’s all Mike’s fault. I know it has nothing to do with my yapping and BS about "putting my money where my mouth is". Trust me, I know. That has nothing to do with anything!

How could I post a hate-filled email without mentioning Louis Porter Junior? That’s right. The man behind NeoExodus… There are so many reasons to send hate his way. Throughout the con he was worried about things like How many characters killed? or Are they running in terror? or How did they like it?. You know the kind of questions one cannot ask… For those are part of the GM-player confidentiality agreement of 1988^TM. I would not be the one to break such an agreement… Who would I be if I told that I killed no one? That on two out of three NeoExodus tables, the players opted NOT to continue and flee (they’ll say withdraw, but they are lying). Or that the overall vibe was positive regarding NeoExodus? I mean COME ON, MAN! I won’t be THAT GUY, LPJ. Find yourself another stool pigeon!

Dave Stern. David A. Stern III. You thought you’d escape my hate-filled wrath? WELL NO! For those of you who do not know Dave played in my shortened version of The Sashenka Incident on Saturday morning. Then in the afternoon, with a NeoExodus book in hand, he approached me with some thoughts about the adventure. Insightful comments, yes. Valid comments, yes. But they force me to work to include them… like a good twenty minutes! It’s like a lifetime! REVENGE!

Can I say a word about time change? Because of you, I woke up in a panic! Then I called the front desk thinking it was 6am! That girl giggled and said "sir, it's only 4." Thought that was clever? Well I did not! I could not go back to sleep after that... Forced me to get up with my heart beating a thousand miles an hour. Not Cool. Not Cool.

Oh! Did I mention anything about the 14$ sandwiches or the 24$ cheese pizzas? Well hate to you too! Don't laugh... Only in Vegas could you find those.

Oh! And also lemme send hate to all of you who did not attend Neoncon. We could’ve use a few more people!

I must calm down… The dark side surged within me so much that got sick all day yesterday.

That’s it for Neoncon. I’ll attend again next year!

JP

NeonCon 2011, Part Three

Saturday

That morning, we had a sorta Paizo-VC breakfast at the Excalibur’s buffet. Robyn, CA, Stephen (SRM) and myself pigged out before running back to the Tropicana for the morning slot. I was not due to GM NeoExodus until 9am, but I like getting there to see if I can help.

Turns out, one GM was missing in action. Guess who??? That’s right, our glorious leader, Mike Brock was missing. So I started running the event for him. It was Part 3 of the Intro (which I had not prepared). But I played Dradle Dreng, Lady Morilla and Grandmaster Torch for the young wide-eyed Pathfinders.

Comes 9am a player (who I would later know as Dave Stern) shows up to play NeoExodus. At the same time, Mike strolls in at a leisurely pace… Excellent. I tagged him into the adventure and move to NeoExodus for “The Sashenka Incident”.

Table of three into the political thriller that is “Sashenka”: fun times to come. This time: Freija, Nose-Cutter and Hans got embroiled in the turmoil of Imperial and local politics. I had to cut some elements of the adventure short to fit in the four hour we had.

The afternoon I spent gladly doing nothing but walking around the hall, shopping, talking and listening in on Courtney’s excellent rendition of my “Terrors” adventure I wrote for the Beginner Box Bash. I won’t hide that I preferred the original version, but the one that was produced for the BBB was excellent (it’s a question of setting, not adventure). I also listened in on Stephen (SRM) run Midnight Mauler. It was very interesting to hear another GM’s take on this adventure I now run with only minimal peeping at the text anymore. I looked at the painted minis involved in the events. In short, I made a butterfly of myself (a fat, balding butterfly mind you).

Of particular note, during that time, Dave (from the morning game) came to see me with an issue he had in the adventure. He and I talked for quite a while about it. In the end, he managed to convince me (he must’ve made quite a Diplomacy check). Following our talk, I had to re-think a few things and his argument is extremely valid. I talked to LPJ about it last night and in turn brought him to Dave’s way of thinking. So I have to go back into the adventure and clean up some things. These elements will be moved to a later part of the story.

Thanks Dave and congrats on getting me a lot more work!

For the evening, I had volunteered to run the Gencon Special, Blood under Absalom. The adventure has a few issues and things I wanted to change to make it flow more smoothly. So I gathered my judges and I told them what to change. I have to give a lot of kudos to Peter, Jay, James, Will, Chris, Bruce and Nick who went along with my last minute changes and brought everything together. The game was fun.

One thing I strongly disliked is the finale with the stupid d20 roll-off that serves no real purpose but to add “action”. I have no problem saying it was stupid (said it before, will say again). There should NOT be a “winning” and “all others loose” in these types of events. Last year’s Year of the Shadow Lodge, though it suffered from some issue was a better adventure.

A big thanks to Doug Daulton who provided a mountain of swag (although that mountain led to one happy table and 6 table of disappointed-to-pissed-off players). But experience teaches us many things, including the splitting of swag! Next time we’ll make sure everyone leaves with something…

Though I tried to stay up all night, I went to bed and slept. Too soon, it was onto the shuttle, to the airport and…

Sunday

Got home, ate with the family. Slept. Woke up, watched my fantasy football getting creamed by Julio Jones. Watch The Simpsons. Fell asleep after that. Snoozed through Family Guy (I don’t watch Allen Gregory, that crummy show they put after the Simpsons, it’s just terrible). Got up, went to bed.

That was my last days at Neoncon…

Next time: The hate, the hate and bucket of hate flowing onto the con…

JP

NeonCon 2011, Part Two

Thursday

My Neoncon trip started with an early morning as I dropped my two girls at school, then off to the doctor for some blood work, and finally onto Pueblo Airport. Pueblo sits on the Arkansas River and was the old border with Mexico.

So I got to the Airport. The place is very small. However the café there (Spitfire Grill) does serve a nice green chili, which I enjoyed on eggs. Nice. Very nice. Good spice, I ordered the half-and-half and it was, well I already said it, nice. The Allegiant Air plane lands and moves up to the terminal. I kid you not; the MD-80 was longer than the terminal. I left the terminal, went outside to check and sure enough…

If something happened during the flight, I had no knowledge of it. I slept throughout, waking up as we were over Hoover Dam (I assume it was Hoover Dam). Shuttle to the Tropicana and voila!

I told Doug that I would GM a slot at 2pm, but to put my name is soft ink as I would likely be delayed (I was). When I got to the con, it that 2:20 or so, my table had folded and the guys had moved to another table. I wanted to run The Dalsine Affair but had no problem with what was done. So I enjoyed the free time. Looked around, chatted with people, including Mike Brock with whom I had an extended discussion (the chat I mentioned on my previous post). I got to talk with Doug a little, played a game of Orbit, said hello to a lot of people I hadn’t seen in at least a year. I used this to do a lot of socializing which is a rare boon to me at con, since I generally spend most of my time running or organizing. Neoncon would be no different.

Evening time came, and I sat down at Jay Olson’s Shadowrun Missions game. Jay and I exchanged a number of tweets about it and I asked him to build me a character since I would not have time (or the books) to do one myself. Before continuing on to the game, let me be candid here. Okay, even if you don’t I will be anyway… If you read this blog you know I always try to be brutally honest.

I am not a fan of Shadowrun.

I have no specific issue with the setting, the system, the people, the adventures or the location of the game.

It just does not do it for me. Nothing specific. Just not my thing.

That said, since I have nothing against the game, I am definitely willing to play the game occasionally. If I get to play, then I’m even more interested in playing. I was intrigued about how they did their organized play (having never heard back from the Missions guys for my “Organized Play People” blog series).

So I finally sit down, and get handed a troll shaman.

NICE.

Look over the character… while I do not understand most of the crunch, I get the role. Look over the book for a few things. Bah, if I need something I’ll either wing it or be told how to do it, fail spectacularly and have a jolly ol’ time.

The adventure itself was a simple affair, with a few surprises. It was very entertaining and I must say that I had a blast playing Ralph B (for Boogerman) the Rat Troll. I did spend most of the adventure hiding or invisible, but had a great time trying to keep my mouth shut to get the promise bag of candy…

I was surprised and happy to get a 10$ Catalyst gift card at the end! I had a great time already. But 10$ adds a cherry to the sundae. Or with food prices on the strip… more like a Snickers bar for your meal…

Friday

Woke up early on Friday, got me a coffee and was on my way to running Encounter at Ramat Bridge. Exciting time. I know I had Robyn and Jay at the table, but did not know who else so I got everything ready. Table of four, game on. The adventure went well (even though they forgot to bring a healer, oops!). I noticed that pretty quickly the players understood the strong political undertone of the adventure.

Before I knew it, we were done, WELL ahead of time. The quickest run of Ramat Bridge ever! After the game, I sold my last copy of NeoExodus and had to start pointing people towards the swag pile for more.

Lunch.

Then in the afternoon, as I hovered near the muster area for Pathfinder Society, there seem to be a lull in the play. I had already played every PFS adventure offered. As things began to stagnate, I called out that I had a Call of Cthulhu adventure in my pocket. Within a few minutes, I had a table of 6 and they were on their way to Normandy…

I ran In Darkness, I wait the scenario I wrote for the 65th anniversary of D-Day. The players had a blast shooting at targets left and right – and each other. The adventure is fun, fast-paced and exciting more in-line with a Pulp Game than Call of Cthulhu, but the Mythos is clearly there. The fact that it deals with elements most of us are familiar with (at least in passing), makes the adventure that much more special.

I like how the adventure turns from a war film into a horror movie. Slowly, but unescapably.

For in Darkness, It waits…

The evening organized in a similar fashion, but this time I ran Ruins of Trovaska, the latest NeoExodus adventure I had come up with. This time, the adventure follows the PCs as they head into Sametia where they discover some more things about NeoExodus…

After that I went in search of food, then sleep.

Tomorrow: Saturday and Sunday.

JP

Neoncon 2011, Part One

If you did not know, I spent last weekend in Vegas at Neoncon. I will post a more complete version of My NeonCon Experience 2011, there are a few topics I wanted to touch upon first.

My next post will include a bucket of hate I have to send to Vegas and its people. It’s a full bucket. Overflowing I may add.

NeoExodus Pre-Release

If you did not know, NeonCon was a pre-launch event for NeoExodus. Over the three days I was there (I flew back early Sunday morning), I ran three NeoExodus adventures: Encounter At Ramat Bridge, The Sashenka Incident and a playtest of Ruins of Trovaska.

After my Friday morning slot, I was out of books! A good way to go…

The product is great. No doubt. The adventures, though complex and filled with politics, did go over well. I would really love to have more GMs to allow more people to experience NeoExodus. In time, it will come. I will have Ruins of Trovaska and Slaver of the Dominion (it was on the Neoncon program, but I was tired and no one showed up, so I gladly took a slot off) on the next Genghis Con program, here in Denver.

If you have a NeoExodus story you want to share, do not hesitate to email me (jp@chapleau.us), tweet it (@JPOnGaming) or post it as a comment here or on Facebook, I am extremely interested in what you think.

Pathfinder Society

Mike Brock (aka my Paizo Overlord) and Stephen Radney-Macfarlane (SRM) were in attendance and both ran a few adventures. I even tagged in for Mike when he woke up late on Saturday morning. It all worked out in the end. Unfortunately, I was not able to able to get either of them to sit at a NeoExodus table… I guess the call of Vegas was too much for them.

Mike and I had a long chat over a number of things regarding the Society.

Yes.

You all know.

This means that most of the conversation is covered by this filthy beast known as the NDA monster. However, that means there are a lot of GREAT announcements to come. I mean seriously. This is stuff that make me want to play and get MORE involved with Paizo and the PFS campaign. I certainly hope that you will too.

We spent a lot of time talking about how I felt about the Campaign and what I would like to see change. Truth be told he and I spent a few hours Tuesday before the con talking about this. So in effect, this was a return on some of the topics we talked about. I cannot wait for him to announce the many things he hinted at. Among the dates of PaizoCon (July 6-8), I can say them since the Paizo blog now announced it.

Vendors

Among the vendors were a number of returning faces, including Infrno with whom I had a chat. Okay I spoke with Mike Muldoon, the brain behind the operation. His flaming mohawk really looked cool. I was pleasantly surprised to see the various changes and updates to the system since the last time I took a good look at it. Mike really liked it when I told him that he had "Replied so fast, I did not have time to complain"^TM, which was true. I also got my first Infrno reward…

The program has come a long way and I like it more and more every time I see it.

D20 Pro had more demos, but I didn’t have time to really sink my teeth into that one. Mat Morton & Co was there enjoying the con.

I spoke with Quentin Boomer about his latest book, The hole behind midnight for which he had some free art; the Art Institute Lady who assured me that I was not a hopeless art case… Heard that Louis? SHE liked my painting AND she is much more pleasing to the eye that you; the 42 Games guys maker of Orbit (I only got to play 1 game but their latest installment really makes the game look much better than last year’s pre-release product); and I browsed through the number of other items (being broke has benefits).

Venture Captains

This year again, NeonCon allowed a number of Venture Captains to get together and play some PFS and other games. In attendance, I can remembet Robyn Nixon (from Los Angeles), Mike Az (from San Francisco), CA Garrett (from Boise, Idaho), Rene-A (from Phoenix, Az) and of course, our host Doug Daulton (Mr. Vegas). We played a number of events, I saw Robyn take part in a Dark Ages tournament (a minis game I never saw played before). I got a seat for Rene at a Blood under Absalom table (which I once again Oversaw, strong of my Tacticon Experience).

I really like meeting these guys face-to-face. It allows for a different dynamic and a lot of idea exchange. Like in the old LG days, one thing that always surprised me is the variety of background and interest shared by campaign staff. Yet the common passion unites us. Very cool.

I want to salute Robyn who was plugging my own blog more than I was, and praising it too! Thanks Robyn!

And especially: Thanks Doug and crew for putting it all together.

JP

[Avatar of the Kaga] Faiths of Exodus, Part 2

The Cult of the Dragon

Though the name brings up thoughts of another similarly-named cult in another campaign setting, NeoExodus’ Cult of the Dragon does not worship dragons or consider them to be of worship.

A belief system that exists almost exclusively among the barbarians of the Janus Horde, the accepted version is that nature rests upon a powerful dragon. Followers of the cult believe that they have to slay and defeat nature’s wrath – incarnated by dragons and other such enormous beasts. To that end, they embark on quest and slay the biggest monsters they can find and drink of their blood. For the blood makes them stronger.

Like most things about the Janus Horde, the exact origin and meaning of this faith is unclear at best. The few active priests (who are mostly all oracles or druid) do not fully agree with each other about the exact nature of the faith. They even have difficulty agreeing on the look, location, creation of the dragon. The only thing that matters to them is that they take nature by the horns, claws, jaws or wherever else they may grab on and plunge a sword into it.

The Sanguine Covenant has declared the Cult of the Dragon and all its followers to be heretics.

Next time: More minor faiths of Exodus (after Neoncon)

JP

250th post, New stuff for Neoncon and Commission

This is the 250th post to this blog! Thanks to all of my readers!

But you did not come here for that. This past weekend, I completed a number paint jobs I needed to do. First the new miniatures I painted for the new NeoExodus adventures. They are historicals I will use as a members of the Janus Horde. The first four miniatures are from Old Glory's "Horse Archers" range. These were extras I have from my Parthian army. The final one is an ancient Egyptian from Foundry.

This one will be a leader, wielding a lance, which I modeled as a xyston.

This one is a Hordes' spell caster.

The next series of miniatures are also for the Janus Hordes. These miniatures are Sea People from Foundry. The Sea People were a confederation of people coming from the Black Sea and/or Aegean Sea area. They both served and fought against ancient Egypt. (Wikipedia's entry on the Sea People, which is pretty decent). These minis I painted with the white skin of Kalisans. Three of them have swords and one has a misc bladed weapon.

All of the minis above will be used as NeonCon for the first time as part of "Ruins of Trovaska". I am very excited.

Finally, last week I posted some of my latest commissions and I hinted at a "third" commission. This one is an interesting one. The shield with the huge tongue is a focal point. Steve asked me to have an "armor colored" armor, with a blue tint to it. The base was electric blue, then three different washes and silver highlights to create a very crisp-looking armor. I kept the The picture makes the armor appear much bluer than it appears. The red sash was used to add extra highlight. The final miniature is very interesting.

JP

CURSE YOU, ADAM DAIGLE!

Last night, I sat at my computer, watching Criminal Minds and Billy the Exterminator (waiting to re-watch Star Trek: TNG), expecting to do nothing useful. So I opened my email and there it was. An email from Adam Daigle with the stats of the monster we designed in his workshop at Neoncon (see my previous article on Neoncon here). I hastily opened it and scanned through the stats looking for changes (he did a few I really liked), read through the prose, ecology and all of the good stuff.

Okay. I DID NOT LIKE THEM. I hate them! They creep me out! Totally! I mean, I wasn't able to sleep without seeing the horror in mind nightmares. I just lurks there beyond the scope of my active perception... It waits for me to make a mistake before it grabs me. Am I wishing a duck on Adam's head for that? No.

What he did is WAY worse than that.

It was a comment so innocent yet so insidious, that only slowly and too late, does one grasp the horror of it all.

In his email, Adam challenged me (and Mike who also attended) to produce a 4e version of the monster! Yes! Me creating a 4e monster. I felt challenged! I had to respond! Honor demanded I try my hand at it! For the first time in some eleven months, I open my 4e books and rose to the challenge. My intimate knowledge of 4e is blissfully going away, but I think I came up with a creature that can be of interest to 4e players and DMs.

Thus I curse you with a chicken upon your head, Adam! Because of you I opened book I did not look at in 10 months.

Come to think of it... I could have merely said “no” and be done with it...

Come to think of it some more... Adam helped me remember why I disliked 4e so much: the mindless stats, the powers, the lack of damage, the situations that make little sense, the monsters that do not scare anyone, the conditions that suddenly stop without reason.

Thanks Adam! The exercise helped me remember why I love Pathfinder so much. Hmmm, Pathfinder...

JP