[urahara1001]

For anyone that hasn't paid attention when I've spoken about it in the chatbox, I'm writing for a new pen and paper RPG being made by FASA called 1879. We'll be presenting it at Gencon Indy next month with some demos, and I'm being called on to run a few of them. Thing is, while I have been a GM for several years, I haven't run a game in a convention setting before, so I need to practice. Given that this place is full of fellow geeks and nerds and other people who avoid sunlight, I could use some of you to volunteer as victi... er, players.

I'll probably be looking to set up the demo sometime either next Friday (8/8) evening (past 6pm Central time) or Saturday (8/9), depending on when people are available. The convention has a limit of 4 hours, so that will be the target duration. I'll run the game either through Skype or through Google+ Hangouts (Google+ is preferred, as it has an app for RPG's called Roll20 with some useful features, but if that's not possible for everyone then Skype will do). I will note ahead of time that I'm not actually allowed to run the official 1879 demo until Gencon, but I can run a demo set up for Earthdawn, which is where 1879 is pulling most of its mechanics from anyway. The target number is 4 players since that's what the actual demo will have, but I can be flexible on that here.

So, if anyone is interested, give a post with what day(s)/time(s) work best, and I can get everything organized from there. If there are enough people interested and available, I could potentially even run a demo on both days to get me even more practice. Even if you can't make either of these but are still interested, let me know as I'll have more opportunities to run the scenario after the convention.

[N.P.C.C.]

I'd love to get in on this, but my computer has regressed into a blue screening PoS for the past two months or so...Can't run any game without it overheating and restarting itself.

[mattroks101]

I'll play it. I should be available 8/8 evening. Pick and time and I can probably do it.

[SuperLoliSentai]

I would but I shall be in Portland Oregon the weekend of the 8th.

[MADEVIL]

If I'm free I'll join in since I had some knowledge of playing FASA games in the past or I might know someone who would like to join in.

[Akyho]

I have always wanted to do a pen and paper RPG and heard you talk about this game for ages. So I throw my hat in for that friday you say that will happen.
.

[thedarkmessenger]

I would but I shall be in Portland Oregon the weekend of the 8th.

****, you too? :o

I'm heading to Boise for this weekend, and then staying in Oregon from the 4th until the 11th.

[redeadlink]

i can be in. i work until 5 pm PST though and probably won't be home til around 6 PST

[FrustratedRocka]

Dammit, I'm going to be at Otakon. But I can ask if any of my friends from the Legend devteam are interested.

[urahara1001]

Alright, that's four then for next Friday then with Mattroks, Mad, Akyho, and Redead. Looks like our best start time would be after 8pm Central time. Shall we say official start time is 8:30? I can probably start the call about 8 for anyone available then to allow for some time for distributing documents and picking out characters. This would normally be part of the 4 hour time frame, though since we'll be doing this online rather than in person, some allowances there are warranted.

Assuming this time works for everyone mention, if anyone else is available then and would care to join in, I can add you to the call. And for everyone gone, as I said, I can always run another game later. Matter of fact, once we get closer to the release date I may need some balance play testers anyway.

Also of note to N.P.C.C., the only things you'd need to run are Skype and/or a browser and a Word document for the character sheet. To address the primary issue, if you haven't yet, you might also want to try getting a can of compressed air and blowing out the vents as well as doing a defrag and an msconfig cleanup (if you don't know what that is, I've got a post on it in the country music voting thread).

[N.P.C.C.]

I guess i could give it a try then. I should be able to make the time mentioned. Thanks for the advice.

[mattroks101]

That time works for me! Let me jot it down on my calendar.

[Akyho]

So the time is CST or CDST? So its CDST right? Cos I do have convert from my correct time to your wrong time. :P

[urahara1001]

CDT for summer, which is UTC-5. If it helps, at the time of this post it is 10 minutes to 4pm by my clock.

[Akyho]

I am all sorted for times now.

[urahara1001]

Just doing a reminder post so that everyone remembers and is ready for Friday. Also, I've got the list of pre-gen characters ready, so I figured I'd post it and give people a chance to call dibs if there's something they really want to play. If anyone has any questions on what each character is like, just ask.

I have:
Dwarf Swordmaster - Mattroks
Dwarf Thief
Elf Air Sailor
Elf Archer
Human Nethermancer (spellcaster, kind of like a necromancer)
Human Wizard
Ork Beastmaster
Ork Troubadour
Troll Skyraider (basically an airship viking)
Troll Warrior
T'Skrang (lizard people) Elementalist
T'Skrang Scout - Akyho

[Akyho]

I will try and T'Skrang Scout, already reading up on things.

[N.P.C.C.]

Forgive my ignorance, but i'm not sure i understand how this is supposed to work. Where does the word document fit into this for one?

[mattroks101]

I'll be the Dwarf Swordmaster.

[urahara1001]

Forgive my ignorance, but i'm not sure i understand how this is supposed to work. Where does the word document fit into this for one?

The Word document is going to have your character sheet. In the simplest of terms, it will tell you what you can do and what dice you need to roll to do it (if you don't have physical dice, you can use an online dice roller). It'll list all the important information for your character, such as your defense ratings, your health ratings, your basic stats, your Talents (magical abilities) and Skills, and all the relevant dice to roll (if any).

When we play, you'll just need to have open the program used for the call and your character sheet so that you know what you're able to do. The information for the scenario you'll be playing through is all going to be on my end, and I'll be speaking it to you through the call. As situations arise, you declare actions for your character based on the abilities on your character sheet. For example, if I tell you that you're exploring a cavern and there are seven ogres surrounding you, if you're a Warrior you'll most likely want to fight them, in which you'd use abilities like Melee Weapons or Unarmed Combat; if you're a Thief you'll probably try to sneak in the shadows to look for a sneak attack, in which case you'd roll Stealthy Stride; if you're a Troubadour you may want to distract them to allow others to get in a free hit, in which case you'd use something like Taunt. So on and so forth. You can also pick actions that may not be on your character sheet, in which case I'll probably have you make a stat check. For example, say you're the Thief and you want to be the distraction, but you don't have Taunt. In that case, I'd have you make a Charisma test to try and get their attention.

What I'm going to do is stick all the character sheets in a shared dropbox folder that I'll link everyone to once we go to start (I've got a couple of things I'm finishing up, otherwise I'd give the link now). I'll go over how to read the character sheet and what the specific rules are once we start the call. It's easier to learn by doing, and teaching will be part of what I need to practice anyway.

[N.P.C.C.]

Sounds simple enough - and if not, looks i'll pick it up once i play for a while.

[mattroks101]

Ok well ****, my dad wants to see a movie at 7 tonight. Dunno if it will actually happen, but in the case that it does, if I'm not there when it's time to start, don't wait on me, I might not be able to show up.

[urahara1001]

So noted. Even if you're only able to play for part of the session, that's okay with me. These are all one-shot characters anyway, so if you have to leave early I can just have you get eaten by a grue.

I sent a PM out to everyone on the current list with the dropbox folder link and my Skype handle so y'all can add me. If anyone else manages to get free and wants to join in, let me know and I'll send you the info. The call will start in about 4 and a half hours, and I may or may not be reachable until then.

[N.P.C.C.]

I guess i'll call the Human Nethermancer

[urahara1001]

Tonight's demo has completed successfully. Thanks to everyone that played; I hope it was fun for all, and it has definitely helped me out a bunch. If you guys have any notes for me on the scenario, my GMing style, or anything else you can think of, please send me a PM to pass it along. Also, I believe Mattroks should have a picture to share for what happens when you get multiple people from AMV Hell together on a call.

[mattroks101]

Ineedidly do, here's the pics:
http://imgur.com/a/8UmLi

[urahara1001]

Gencon is now over, and I just wanted to send out another thanks to everyone that tested with me. The games I ran went very smoothly, and getting the practice time in helped immensely. Also, I can now run the official demo, so if there are any people that are interested in playing through it, let me know and we can set something up. I may also look for people to test out other scenarios I may write up in the future, whenever I can find time to get that done.

[MADEVIL]

Looks like Gen Con did well this year, an article popped up on IO9 already about it. I'm sure there are pictures of the Fasa booth out there somewhere.

The Coolest Games Art And Cosplay We Saw At Gen Con-2014 (http://io9.com/the-coolest-games-art-and-cosplay-we-saw-at-gen-con-20-1623979892)

[KitsuneSnow]

I'd like to Lets Play this pls pm me

[Akyho]

Ignoring how.......consufing the last comment here is, I feel sort of invested in my one play character already and would not mind playing any other games in future.

[PudPuller]

"Ohh look there's a kid trying to make a game, Lets kick the **** out of him before he takes our business"

[Akyho]

This is getting even more confusing. This is an Pen and paper RPG that you cannot lets play and cant beat a kid up over business....cos its not kids making.....