Claimh Solais

Ambercon Northwest: A Review

So, I'm back from Ambercon Northwest and figured I should write up a review.....

Before the Con: We flew out with Jarrod, Patrick and Matthew on Tuesday, getting to spend several days at the hotel and the surrounding areas. We went to the beach on Wednesday and then had the pre-con dinner at a seafood place in downtown Portland. We got to meet a bunch of great people that we would be playing games with over the next couple of days and things looked good. On Thurday morning we went to see some waterfalls. Jack, Kristen, Matthew, Kris and I climbed to the top of one of them and my legs were sore most of the weekend from this. We went to drive back to downtown Portland before the con started but got caught in a traffic jam and had to return to the hotel.

The Hotel: Besides the people, the coolest thing about Ambercon Northwest was the hotel. The Edgefield is more of a bred and breakfast than a hotel and has several cool bars and restaurants attached to it. There is a distillery, a winery and a brewery there, so if you like to drink, there is good drinks available. Also, all of the halls, rooms and doors have murals painted on them, making each area of the hotel and each room unique.

Slot One: The House at Pooh Corner Chapter XI- GM: Me
IN WHICH Sir Pooh de Bear, Tigger, Owl and the rest of Christopher Robin's friends in the Hundred Acre Woods realize that Christopher Robin is not going to return. The Hundred Acre Woods gets smaller. Rabbit organizes a search party and Piglet meets a Heffalump. Growing up can be a scary thing, especially when your best friend grows up and leaves you behind. Will the Hundred Acre Woods survive without the very special boy who brought it to life?

This was a dark, twisted game.....based on Winnie the Pooh. Jack, Kristen and I came up with the idea at dinner one night when joking about horrible genres that never should be mixed. The game turned out to be quite successful and was talked about through the rest of the con. It certainly is game that people who played in are likely to remember. From, Pooh blowing the stuffing out of the brains of a woozle with his cork-gun to a stoned Tigger and Roo searching for munchies, there were so many moments that were so.....wrong. I won't say anything more about the "Poothulhu" game in case my co-GMs and I decide to run it again someday. (Unlikely, but possible.)

Slot Two: The Wonderful Pattern of Oz- GMs: Amber Cook and Melissa Kocher
We’re off to walk the Pattern, the Wonderful Pattern of Oz, You'll find it is an emerald one! If ever a prettier one there was. If ever a One True Realm there was, the Realm of Oz is one because, Because, because, because, because, because, Because of the marvelous place it is. Oh, we’re off to walk the Pattern, the Wonderful Pattern of Oz!
This game was a twisted version of The Wizard of Oz and Nine Princes in Amber. I played Dorwin (Dorothy/Corwin), a young girl growing up on a farm in a world of black, white and grays. Her and her bratty little brother, Todem (Toto/Random), is about to be taken away to an oprhanage, she chases after him and sees the house of her sister, Flowers (Flora/Scarecrow). Seeing the house, she realizes that she is missing memories on goes on an adventure that eventually leads her, Todems and several lost siblings on an adventure to Oz. The game was very clever but what really made this game was how well everyone played kids. From the ways that we picked on eachother and squabbled to the ways we dealt with the problems that arose, we felt like real kids.

Slot Three: Pools of Red, Flashes of Amber- GM: Me
There is a pool of blood on the floor and the night has just begun. What started as a joy-ride through shadow to escape your overbearing family turns into a life-or-death struggle. The elders warned of dangers that could be found in deep shadow. If only you had listened.....
This was my Amber game using The Pool system. It seemed to work out very well and some very clever actions by the players made me stay on my toes. The Pool system was not used to its full potential, I believe and I will try to write up a more in-depth of the game at some time and explain why. While I thought that the Pool was a perfectly suited system for Amber, I'm not as sure now. Still, I think the system was a lot of fun and I look forward to running it again sometime.

Slot Four: The Courts of Tigger - GM: Jeremy Zimmerman
But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is...
I'm the only-- Hey, who are you guys?
This is a long-running series of games at ACNW, a somewhat silly mixture of Amber and Winnie the Pooh. I joined the game this year as Lion, a stuffed animal who believes that he is the King of the Hundred Acre Woods. When he and several of the gang stumbled upon a castle, he naturally assumed that it was built for him by Pooh and moved in. Unfortunately the many-colored Tigers that lived in the castle objected. The tigers claimed to be Tiggers of the Courts of Tigger, but Lion knew better. There is only one Tigger.

Some quotes from the game (courtesy of Amber Cook, the player of Tigger):

Jeremy as GM: "The Blue Tiggers are fleeing in the face of the Orange Glitter Tiggers."
Kiergan: "This is not the Dark Pooh (game)!" (referring to the Poohthulhu game)

An Orange Tigger in the Courts of Tigger while arguing with the Pooh characters: "You can do what you want in your little One Tigger Town!"

An Orange Tigger: You can't be here. This is the Courts of TIGGER and only tiggers can be here."
Lion: "No, this is MY castle. Pooh just built it for me."
the Orange Tigger: "No. This is the Courts of Tigger. And we are the tiggers."
Lion: "But Tigger's the tigger. And he's the only one."
the Orange Tigger: "He's been lying to you the whole time."
Tigger: "No, I've been a tigger, not a Lion!"

Slot Five: Mars Ascending - GMs: John Schleick and Kristen Gibbs-Schleick
The corporations run the schools. They own the militaries. They are the governments of the Inner Planets. They can buy and sell people like cattle, controlling every aspect of their lives.

In the Outer Rings it is a different story. A lucky few escape the corporations. These are thieves, rogues, pirates. They live on the edge of the territory, picking the bones of those less fortunate, getting by any way they can. Most of the time, the corporations don't care.

They do now. One unlucky crew has found something the corporations want, bad. They only question now is what the crew does with it. Will it be honor among thieves? or will the rule of honor become more of a guideline?

This game used a clever auction for creating characters that gives a lot more background for the characters. Unfortunately, it took up a big chunk of the games time and left a lot less time for the actual play time. The scenario was pretty interesting and there was some fun roleplaying in the game. (I knew there would be since there were some excellent roleplayers. I ended up as the ships First Officer... an ex-smuggler who cared greatly for his crew but had a penchant for mean practical jokes. The game was a lot of fun.

Slot Six: Brave New Krypton -GM: Me
It has been almost 20 years since the aliens arrived. A few hundred survivors of a doomed planet many light-years away, they escaped the destruction of their planet in giant space arks. At first these aliens, who looked so much like ourselves, seemed to be a blessing as they shared advanced scientific knowledge with humanity, but it soon became a nightmare. The Earth's environment made the newcomers exceptionally powerful. Under the leadership of General Zod, they set themselves up as Earth's new masters and began changing the planet into a replica of the world they had left, a planet named Krypton. Recently, the resistance has learned that the Kryptonians have a weakness: radioactive crystals from their homeworld. Can the resistance use this information to finally end the alien occupation?
Well, I allowed more players than I should of for this scenario and it got a slow start but by the time the plot started moving, everyone seemed to be having a good time and I got a lot of compliments on it. It was originally going to use the Marvel Universe System but I decided over the course to scrap the system entirely which seems like it ended up working pretty well for how the scenario turned out. The players spent a lot more time in the early planning stages of the game, so I ended up putting aside some of the early action scenes. All in all, it was a success and has cemented my plans to run another "Elseworlds" game at ACUS 2005.

Slot Seven: The Butterfly Catcher's Society GM: Jeremy Zimmerman
Into every great society, every principality of great power and influence, there inevitably comes the first sign of decay. Amber is no exception, and the Butterfly Catchers' Society is a prime example of the decay. These young men are in the prime of their lives, will some day inherit the money, and sometimes titles, of their families, but are somewhat lacking in the wits department.

The members of the Society are meeting for a First Annual Meeting of the Minds, in which they enjoy food and wine and share tales of their mighty exploits.
This was the Baron Muchausen Roleplaying game with an Amber twist. I played Count Basil, a young noble from a rich family that deals in rare spices and herbs throughout shadow. We told stories, interrupted the stories of others and generally had a great time. We learned the best way to deal with the Giant Owners of the Giant Cats of Ghanesh, how Sir Reginald was able to stop a civil war that was started over the careless use of a Silver Spoon, how Martin's enjoyment of Broccoli turned Llewella's hair green and who actually created the Primal Gorillapotomus. We amused ourselves greatly.

Overall: This was the first time I have ever been to a con and enjoyed every slot I have been in. Kudos to all the great GMs and players. The atmosphere was amazing! I can't wait until the next time Carla and I can go to the con.

Posted by Nuadha at November 17, 2004 10:52 PM