Last weekend was OrcCon - one of the three major gaming conventions in the Los Angeles area. The four-day convention was quite large and focused mostly on boardgaming, but there were also a lot of miniature games, card games, and RPGs as well.
The RPG offerings were completely dominated by 4th Edition "Dungeons and Dragons" - there was an entire ballroom devoted entirely to 4e RPGA. I engaged one 4e DM in conversation and asked if he had an pre-gens so I could join in. He said no, but I might be able to find someone in the room with a computer who could help me build a character. I wandered off to play in the Zooloretto tournament.
The demand for RPGs was high and most of the games filled up early and had waiting lists. I played in a session of All Flesh Must Be Eaten GM'd by Mike Lowrey, which was very enjoyable thanks to the kooky players. I also played in a hilarious World of Darkness game run by Steve Ramirez of the L.A. Dead Gamers Society. Steve's scenario was called "Aliens Invade the Drive-in" and we all played teenagers in a small town being visited by invisible aliens. The interactions between the jock, geek, and rebel characters were highly entertaining.
Besides a few sessions of Call of Cthulhu OrcCon lacked much old school RPG activity. Robert Lionheart ran a last-minute late-night old school D&D megadungeon on Feb 14, but I couldn't join in because, for me, after 8pm on Valentine's Day usually does not involve rolling polyhedral dice.
How's Zooloretto? Been thinking about picking that one up. Sorry I missed out on Saturday!
ReplyDeleteZooloretto was a nice, quick, relaxing game of set building. I enjoyed it and would be happy to play again, though I don't know if I would buy a copy. For a set building game I'd rather play Ra.
ReplyDeleteI got the highest score in the Zooloretto qualifying round, but I dropped out of the tournament in order to leave early because my band was playing in West Hollywood that night.