Con-drop, ladies and gents (and all points aside)
This weekend was NERE, the Mind's Eye Society's NorthEast Regional Convention. MES is broken up into small regional clusters, with the NorthEast comprising of New York and every other state along the eastern coastal united states until the Canadian border folk ask to see your passport. The region has their own Coordinator and Storyteller staff, uniting the club's organization and giving their stories a sense of continuity throughout the region, seeding plot from National.
Every other year, the Region holds a convention. Everyone in the area (and quite a few outside of it) get together and game for a weekend. This was my first convention for the club. I should add that I was there on the grace and goodwill of my friends Greg and Margaret, who frankly shouldn't have been that awesome, but I love them anyways.
This is how the convention went, broken down by day.
Thursday:
The convention took place in Seekonk Massachusetts, which is several minutes away from the Rhode Island border. It was remarkably larger than it first appeared, going deeper than I had anticipated. The entire ballroom area was marked off for us, registration of both convention goers and their characters were taking place in the usual mad rush of "OH MY GOD WE PLANNED FOR THIS AND THERE IS STILL MADNESS AROUND". I got my two characters, my Vampire and Changeling, registered. I was given my staff pass (I was storytelling for one of the games) and set along my merry way.
Before games began, our (Greg, Margret and I) friends Jillian and John arrived. Jilly gave me a beautiful journal to continue my writing projects. Folks, journals are like gold and sex to me, I have developed a massive addiction to writing in them for various projects and anyone who purchases one for me is immediately and automatically gets this reaction from me:
Thursday night was dedicated to Vampire The Requiem. I play Owen Asteria, member and guard/assistant/Elder Wrangler for House Asteria. As such, Owen doesn't chase plot so much as he interacts with the other players, mostly the Asteria themselves as most are either political plot chasers or bug fuck nuts monsters. So it was refreshing to meet players not part of the family or New York. I got to meet members off the DC court and members of the Circle of the Crone, a Covenant of Vampires who believe in embracing their nature in the tradition of various pagan rites. The highlight came when a bunch of bloodspattered ghouls came in and Owen's grandsire (the woman who made Owen a vampire was made by this vampire) wanted a taste. This was clearly a mistake and a trap, one of Owen's Aunts stepped between his grandsire and the ghouls while Owen (gently) placed his hand on his shoulder. Long story short, when the ghouls sprung a trap, Owen and his Aunt jettisoned his grandsire out of the way. Owen, at the very least did his job.
The night ended with a meeting of the attending Acolytes. Most of whom were female, which reminded me a lot of the Women in LARP post I put up about a month or so back. These were powerful figures within the area, all women. Out of Game, these were all geeks enjoying the fuck out of themselves and the game they were in.
Friday
Friday started rough. During the evening I had triggered severely (alcohol and lots of people will do that to me) and so I did not sleep. I repeat: I did not sleep. So after an early round of breakfast and availing myself of the pool, I slipped into my Changeling character and made my way down to game.
I play Jin, a member of the West Court, an asian based Court that focuses on Honor and War You'd be surprised and amazed at how little that Court gets represented in game (not aided by the fact that the Western Eurpean based Seasonal Court is given more focus by the National clubs despite the fact that New York has access to hundreds of diverse cultures). I was it's only member present. My friend Abby ran the game and had myself and the Diurnal Kings (the Day and Night Courts) acts as judges for the other courts antics.
It was a fun game, mostly meeting interesting people. I just wasn't into it and by the end of game I wished to drop out. I didn't have any other game to play that night, as I was set to run Mage the next morning. I visited the charity auction and picked up a Mage prop juju bag for myself (and my players...maybe). The auction was nothing if not hilarious as Jeremy, a former New York player was performing the role of MC and Roastmaster of the entire audience. I hadn't laughed that hard in week.
After that and my friends Margaret and Stan availed ourselves of the pool. It was probably one of the best parts of the entire experience. As I've written in other posts, I find dealing people to be a draining experience and I find groups to be a fucking nightmare at times as a result. Sitting around relaxing with two people I know and am comfortable with was as refreshing as the hour nap I got beforehand. The night ended quietly with only minor bits of drama (which all ended happily, thanks god) strung about.
The next day was Mage. Now, as some of you will remember from previous posts, I get anxiety during games I run for people I play and speak with on a regular basis. Now I'm playing in an unknown environment for god knows how many people I've never really met.
Nervous? Nah. I was motherfucking petrified.
Add to that that the person who was going to play my star NPC had to step down and one of my assistant had become a plot cookie for the Accord venue's game which was running across from us. I was ready to crawl into a hole for a while. But I had the support of Margaret and Stan (I told you, I'm comfortable with them and that goes a long way) and Jared, who helped with combat and immediately made himself awesome to my eye.
The mage game was thus: An archmaster, someone whose abilities with magic has in fact allowed them to leave our reality and enter the otherwise closed realms of magic came back to this plane to ask for assistance. I was given permission by the national storyteller for Mage to use the otherwise unusable archmaster and the use of real, honest-to-christ Time Travel. So I took the players to the site of Occupy Wall Street in October of 2011. They discovered the attacks of protesters by Tremere Liches, soul hunting mages, they also discovered a connection to an even bigger conspiracy of liches that ties in to National Plot.
In the end, it went by smoothly and five hours went by in a flash. I was told by some of the players that it was one of the only games where time travel was used in a non-bullshit way and that everything tied itself off nice and neatly. People enjoyed it, they liked my style and I've already received contact from players afterwards for downtimes in New York City.
After that was dinner with the Asteria family. Having home cooked Italian food was a welcomed treat and was also good bonding time, we went from there directly to the Requiem game as the whole family was (with the exception of one) entirely present. It was fun, but my heart wasn't into it. I left early to slip into comfortable clothes and prep for the party that happened afterwards. Sunday was spent packing and prepping for the ride home, we were all exhausted and done.
In the end, I had a lot of fun. I've mentioned it before, I don't do well with groups of people, don't feel like I make much of an impression and I feel drowned out in the noise. While that certainly felt true (note that word: felt) I had an amazing time and felt welcomed and appreciated by friends new and old alike. I am however supremely burned out, and I think a break is called for. I need to recharge my batteries and prepare for the next big adventure.
I thank you all who I met this weekend, and all who put up with my ST-Induced Anxiety attacks. I love you all,
Later.
The night ended with a meeting of the attending Acolytes. Most of whom were female, which reminded me a lot of the Women in LARP post I put up about a month or so back. These were powerful figures within the area, all women. Out of Game, these were all geeks enjoying the fuck out of themselves and the game they were in.
Friday
Friday started rough. During the evening I had triggered severely (alcohol and lots of people will do that to me) and so I did not sleep. I repeat: I did not sleep. So after an early round of breakfast and availing myself of the pool, I slipped into my Changeling character and made my way down to game.
I play Jin, a member of the West Court, an asian based Court that focuses on Honor and War You'd be surprised and amazed at how little that Court gets represented in game (not aided by the fact that the Western Eurpean based Seasonal Court is given more focus by the National clubs despite the fact that New York has access to hundreds of diverse cultures). I was it's only member present. My friend Abby ran the game and had myself and the Diurnal Kings (the Day and Night Courts) acts as judges for the other courts antics.
It was a fun game, mostly meeting interesting people. I just wasn't into it and by the end of game I wished to drop out. I didn't have any other game to play that night, as I was set to run Mage the next morning. I visited the charity auction and picked up a Mage prop juju bag for myself (and my players...maybe). The auction was nothing if not hilarious as Jeremy, a former New York player was performing the role of MC and Roastmaster of the entire audience. I hadn't laughed that hard in week.
After that and my friends Margaret and Stan availed ourselves of the pool. It was probably one of the best parts of the entire experience. As I've written in other posts, I find dealing people to be a draining experience and I find groups to be a fucking nightmare at times as a result. Sitting around relaxing with two people I know and am comfortable with was as refreshing as the hour nap I got beforehand. The night ended quietly with only minor bits of drama (which all ended happily, thanks god) strung about.
The next day was Mage. Now, as some of you will remember from previous posts, I get anxiety during games I run for people I play and speak with on a regular basis. Now I'm playing in an unknown environment for god knows how many people I've never really met.
Nervous? Nah. I was motherfucking petrified.
Add to that that the person who was going to play my star NPC had to step down and one of my assistant had become a plot cookie for the Accord venue's game which was running across from us. I was ready to crawl into a hole for a while. But I had the support of Margaret and Stan (I told you, I'm comfortable with them and that goes a long way) and Jared, who helped with combat and immediately made himself awesome to my eye.
The mage game was thus: An archmaster, someone whose abilities with magic has in fact allowed them to leave our reality and enter the otherwise closed realms of magic came back to this plane to ask for assistance. I was given permission by the national storyteller for Mage to use the otherwise unusable archmaster and the use of real, honest-to-christ Time Travel. So I took the players to the site of Occupy Wall Street in October of 2011. They discovered the attacks of protesters by Tremere Liches, soul hunting mages, they also discovered a connection to an even bigger conspiracy of liches that ties in to National Plot.
In the end, it went by smoothly and five hours went by in a flash. I was told by some of the players that it was one of the only games where time travel was used in a non-bullshit way and that everything tied itself off nice and neatly. People enjoyed it, they liked my style and I've already received contact from players afterwards for downtimes in New York City.
After that was dinner with the Asteria family. Having home cooked Italian food was a welcomed treat and was also good bonding time, we went from there directly to the Requiem game as the whole family was (with the exception of one) entirely present. It was fun, but my heart wasn't into it. I left early to slip into comfortable clothes and prep for the party that happened afterwards. Sunday was spent packing and prepping for the ride home, we were all exhausted and done.
In the end, I had a lot of fun. I've mentioned it before, I don't do well with groups of people, don't feel like I make much of an impression and I feel drowned out in the noise. While that certainly felt true (note that word: felt) I had an amazing time and felt welcomed and appreciated by friends new and old alike. I am however supremely burned out, and I think a break is called for. I need to recharge my batteries and prepare for the next big adventure.
I thank you all who I met this weekend, and all who put up with my ST-Induced Anxiety attacks. I love you all,
Later.
Craig,
ReplyDeleteI understand entirely. When I'm running a con (and I run on the Coord side, usually as the Event Lead) I don't sleep for four days. I do swim a lot, since the pool is balancing for me, and I have my little rituals to keep me from losing it on someone who needs directions. For me, it's one of the more fantastic experiences I can have in the club, and always exceed gaming on my "fun" meter.
And I was in the club 4 years before I went to a con I wasn't working. Welcome to the club. ;)
Jenn,
Deletegood to know it's part of the tradition :D. My problem is that sleep is primarily what keeps me from going from "consistently frustrated" to "Slasher Movie killer", and my back up supply of backrubs and milkshakes were noticeably missing :P