Game = Life

Or... registering for Origins event tickets this year.

The title is a quote from the Gencon forums re Origins Registration this year.

They hired a contract firm to upgrade their deeply awful web registration.  Alas, evidently meeting deadlines (the opening of registration was postponed, postponed again, and then was pretty much impossible to connect to), and any kind of testing aren't part of the contract. 

Actually, I'm pretty sure they are, as Trey Riley says "heads will roll".  None of which helps the majority of us who can't get our frickin' events.  I empathize - hell, I quit IT because I couldn't deal with the level of stress any more.  It's not good for Origins, though.  Their web interface has always been a poster child for poor customer interfacing, and this just piles more on top of that growing bad reputation.

It's a good thing that Origins is a totally rockin' con, where I meet up with some of the best players and GMs I've ever known, 'cause otherwise I'd have given up.

I did, after hours and hours of attempting, slip through a hole in the endless "enter address" loop, and finally dodged the "you must buy a badge" after you click "credit card" wall to get the tickets that I manged to squeeze into my cart in one lucky transaction sometime during yesterday's 8 hour ordeal.  I can't buy the last ticket I need because, well, now vast tracts of events have just disappeared from the event list.  Which, btw, currently only shows the first 25 (lowest) numbers, and is relatively impervious to efforts to see anything else.

I hope they get it fixed, and soon.  I understand that the problem is probably the contractor, but well... management hired the contractor.  No matter how you spin it, it's EPIC FAIL.

If you use Twitter, the tags are #Origins2009 and #OriginsFAIL.

My schedule (I hope)... There's a distinct lack of early morning events, and I've left Saturday wide open in case Blackmoor is in dire need.  And I'm actually playing!  That's because I expect most of Gencon to be work, work, work, with the launch of Blackmoor 4th ed.

Wednesday 6/24/09

• 1:30 PM    6049    WitchHunter - Dark Providence: Redemption    That which was stolen must be returned; that which is free must willingly return to captivity.
• 7:00 PM    6102    Strange Times: I Am Mythos    Lou Grant meets the Tick meets Cthulhu in this game of horror and humor.

Thursday 6/25/09

• 8:00 AM    6251    WitchHunter - Dark Providence: Corruption    Along the Italian Alps a poison spreads; a pact once sworn has been broken. The pact must be avenged before the oaths can be restored.
• RUN 1:30 PM    6381    Star Mage Prophecies: R001 - Reborn    The StarMage Prophecies is a continuing RPG campaign that launched at Origins 2007. It is *not* Living Dragonstar reborn.
• 7:00 PM    6516    WitchHunter - Dark Providence: Salvation    Death walks the land. The hand that set the stone to roll may be forever severed if the memory of the hunt is keen.

Friday 6/26/09

• RUN 1:30 PM    6780    Fellowship of the white Star: A208 The Fat Lady's Song, (Part Four of the Faulty Towers series ) An Interactive Event.    Origins Premiere #4.  A semi-historic d20 horror campaign module set in San Francisco 1906.
• RUN 7:00 PM    6902    Star Mage Prophecies: R001 - Reborn    The StarMage Prophecies is a continuing RPG campaign that launched at Origins 2007. It is *not* Living Dragonstar reborn, but it could be considered Living Dragonstar reincarnated.

Saturday 6/27/09

• RUN 7:00 PM    7245    Blackmoor: Episode 49 Heroes on Ice (1-4)    With Dave Arneson's Blackmoor: The MMRPG, you can play at home or at any one of the great conventions that run Blackmoor games. We have released over 40 Episodes for home play and more popping up all the time!

Sunday 6/27/09

• SUN 1:30 PM    7502    Pathfinder Society Scenario #25: Hands of the Muted God    "When the man who would be the Muted God wordlessly stepped beyond the gates of the Starstone's Cathedral, his thousand and one faithful ringing the Ascendant Court watched with the silent contemplation that is their highest sacrament. When he failed to emerge, many of his penitents abandoned their vows but a small sect remained loyal and worshipful. You and your fellow Pathfinders are sent into the mountains north of Absalom to follow the path of a doomed party and uncover the secrets of the Muted God. His loyal band of followers, called the Hand, will stop at nothing to keep you away from their shrine--even forming an alliance with some of Golarion's most evil denizens."

It occurred to me that I've been so busy herding cats that I never posted my Origins schedule. Sap that I am, I agreed at the last minute to recruit, coordinate, zero and organize Blackmoor gms for Origins and Gencon. And edit the modules we playtested. As usual (not just for Blackmoor, but for just about any campaign I've ever worked with) we're down to the wire and the premieres are in various states of edit/revision. I hope I get them before the con...


As you can see, every slot is busy.  On the up side, I might be able to slip away to the dealer's room after my marshaling is done for those slots, assuming that there's someone to cover the campaign resource table.  But no drinking the night away for me, not with that 8 am Marshalling.  Gah.

Needless to say, I've done very little on my WWAWM entry... fortunately, it's Cat, and it will be fun for the players even if I make it up on the spot.

I'm back from Origins, intact except for my poor budget. It seemed as though the 'verse was conspiring to keep me from getting there.  First I had to work on Thursday, and then when that was cancelled, I threw a tie-rod.  (Details in View From the Tower.)  I persevered, and only missed Thursday's offerings (including a GURPS Firefly game... *sob*, as well as a new LD that I'll now have to pick up elsewhere).

( Origins nattering shielded to spare you boredom. )

A couple of useful links, apropos of nothing...

DnD Prestige Classes table with sources  - It's one of those terribly useful things, especially since it includes all of their proprietary stuff.
D20 Hypertext SRD - I've pimped this before, but here it is again.  Really, really useful!  I'm working towards not having to carry any books, and this helps a lot with DnD stuff.

For someone who doesn't really care much for D&D, I sure play a lot of it!

( Talkin' 'bout my character - run away! )
Which puts me in mind of Order of the Stick, of all things.  If you're not reading this web comic and you're a gamer, make with the clicky and go read it. Now.  No, really, I'll wait. It's really funny.  I may have to buy the book.

Wow... I've done something I've not done for many, many years.  I registered for a convention (Origins International Game Expo) with no intention of volunteering.  At all.  I don't think, actually, that I've ever gone to a game convention just to play.  Even my very first Gencon, I volunteered to help judge Chill.

I have friends I can stay with in Columbus, so my costs will be limited to the registration and the slots I play.  It feels wrong... but I think it's a very right thing for me to do.  I've been defining myself as a tireless volunteer for so long, it's time to try something a little different.  If I miss judging/volunteering that much, I can always do so for the next convention.

I had much gaming goodness over the weekend, impaired somewhat by constant pain from the Knee From Hell (see my other blog for dreary details).  It's hard to roleplay in a Tylenol 3 induced haze, and harder when you keep yelping from little stabs of pain.  Managed to have fun, though.  If I have time over lunch I may inflict details.