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GenCon is only a week away. This time next week, us volunteer GM's will be asleep in our beds getting ready to run for four days straight.
Thought I'd share this. Just had my first bad dream about running at the Con.
First I showed up late to my game because I wasn't organized and ready to go, dropping stuff as I ran towards my table. Then, the table kept stretching away from the wall where the outlet was for my laptop (not sure why I was using a laptop). Finally, some guy didn't have a ticket, so he tried to pay me 18 cents in pennies, saying it was the same thing.
Very weird....
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Mitch: You know, um, something strange happened to me this morning...
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch: No...
Chris Knight: Why am I the only one who has that dream?
[i]Real Genius[/1]
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Mitch: You know, um, something strange happened to me this morning...
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch: No...
Chris Knight: Why am I the only one who has that dream?[i]Real Genius[/1]
+1
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William, everyone is feeling what you are going through. We all want to impress the players and have everything run smoothly. I think your subconscious anxiety is valid. It reflects how much you care about delivering a quality game to the players. Take heart. You could be stressing over nothing. You might get a table full of kids who just want to roll the dice and kill stuff, and could acre less about maps, props or role-playing. You could get a table of people who just like to role-play interactively and could care less about where they are or what the plot is about. You may get a bunch of guys who sit around and tell stories of adventures-past and entertain themselves. There's a subset of Murphy's Law that says the more prep work you do, the more likely the players will go completely off-script and do the opposite of what you're prepared for them.
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William, everyone is feeling what you are going through. We all want to impress the players and have everything run smoothly. I think your subconscious anxiety is valid. It reflects how much you care about delivering a quality game to the players. Take heart. You could be stressing over nothing. You might get a table full of kids who just want to roll the dice and kill stuff, and could acre less about maps, props or role-playing. You could get a table of people who just like to role-play interactively and could care less about where they are or what the plot is about. You may get a bunch of guys who sit around and tell stories of adventures-past and entertain themselves. There's a subset of Murphy's Law that says the more prep work you do, the more likely the players will go completely off-script and do the opposite of what you're prepared for them.
That being said, i now have 18 cents and an urge to hitchhike to GenCon.
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William, everyone is feeling what you are going through. We all want to impress the players and have everything run smoothly. I think your subconscious anxiety is valid. It reflects how much you care about delivering a quality game to the players. Take heart. You could be stressing over nothing. You might get a table full of kids who just want to roll the dice and kill stuff, and could acre less about maps, props or role-playing. You could get a table of people who just like to role-play interactively and could care less about where they are or what the plot is about. You may get a bunch of guys who sit around and tell stories of adventures-past and entertain themselves. There's a subset of Murphy's Law that says the more prep work you do, the more likely the players will go completely off-script and do the opposite of what you're prepared for them.That being said, i now have 18 cents and an urge to hitchhike to GenCon.
All the cool kids are doing it!
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William, everyone is feeling what you are going through. We all want to impress the players and have everything run smoothly. I think your subconscious anxiety is valid. It reflects how much you care about delivering a quality game to the players. Take heart. You could be stressing over nothing. You might get a table full of kids who just want to roll the dice and kill stuff, and could acre less about maps, props or role-playing. You could get a table of people who just like to role-play interactively and could care less about where they are or what the plot is about. You may get a bunch of guys who sit around and tell stories of adventures-past and entertain themselves. There's a subset of Murphy's Law that says the more prep work you do, the more likely the players will go completely off-script and do the opposite of what you're prepared for them.
Doug-Doug is right, I learned a long time ago to stop over-preparing.
Read your module until you're comfortable with the flow and most importantly the bad-guys. Beyond that, do regular make your map style prep-work and everything will run smoothly for the most part.
Now all of this still doesn't prevent me from getting nervous about the upcoming events. It's not the same as running a game with people you know. I have my mental points though. At a minimum I aspire to be better than GM Y I had at Gen Con, and my goal is to be as good as GM X (a GM I had last year at Gen Con). That helps keep me at least a little grounded.
Anxiety dreams are the best!
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Anxiety[def]: Having to run three Pathfinder Society Modules at Gencon 2010, none of which as of Thursday, July 29, 2010, are actually available to me to read in order to prepare for said convention -- all while supposedly supporting during play of said modules the Advanced Player's Guide, my copy of which I will not receive until about 30 minutes before play is scheduled to begin.
And I thought Red Wine & Vicodin was just a cool song...
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Ah, I'm not really nervous, definately a little anxious. And I won't lie, not having my scenarios yet is definately a stress factor, but all in good time. It just means I bring the generic flipmat and whoever sits at my table to subject to my hasty scrawling vs. a nice neat map.
I just figured I'd post the dream for a laugh, and to see if anyone else's subconscious is messing with them.
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I did this last year, and delivering a great experience slot after slot is absolutely a lot of effort. However, when I manage to get a table really excited, up on it's feet and cheering -- well , that's an amazing feeling that 100% worth it. I find that I get a thrill out of entertaining people in the context of GMing.
I'm sure you'll do fine; best of luck!
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Ah, I'm not really nervous, definately a little anxious. And I won't lie, not having my scenarios yet is definately a stress factor, but all in good time. It just means I bring the generic flipmat and whoever sits at my table to subject to my hasty scrawling vs. a nice neat map.
With any luck, the Gencon scenarios will make liberal use of flip-mats and/or map packs.
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Ah, I'm not really nervous, definately a little anxious. And I won't lie, not having my scenarios yet is definately a stress factor, but all in good time. It just means I bring the generic flipmat and whoever sits at my table to subject to my hasty scrawling vs. a nice neat map.With any luck, the Gencon scenarios will make liberal use of flip-mats and/or map packs.
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They do... and I have no map packs... but, at least I have one of the flip mats we'll be using...
I had a dream that a rakshasa turned into my dog from 20 years ago to attack me.
Was it anything like this?
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I had a dream that a rakshasa turned into my dog from 20 years ago to attack me.Was it anything like this?
That's awesome.
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Unfortunately one of my nightmares became a reality. I ordered about a dozen minis for Gen Con, only to find out today that the order never processed because Paypal is retarded. GRR! Now I'm left scrambling to fill holes in my aresenal of minions!
What ya need? If they are WotC Minis I have a Ton and may have some to lend during GenCon.
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Unfortunately one of my nightmares became a reality. I ordered about a dozen minis for Gen Con, only to find out today that the order never processed because Paypal is retarded. GRR! Now I'm left scrambling to fill holes in my aresenal of minions!What ya need? If they are WotC Minis I have a Ton and may have some to lend during GenCon.
Ditto
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DittoUnfortunately one of my nightmares became a reality. I ordered about a dozen minis for Gen Con, only to find out today that the order never processed because Paypal is retarded. GRR! Now I'm left scrambling to fill holes in my aresenal of minions!What ya need? If they are WotC Minis I have a Ton and may have some to lend during GenCon.
I have a bunch myself; if I brought them all I'd need a rolling suitcase. With the five different scenarios I'm running it feels like it's still not enough! :P
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The mini I'm missing most is a large and/or huge scorpion. There's an amazing P-65 version from Reaper, and I don't know about a good version of one in "Plastic Crack," as I somehow managed to avoid that craze. Anyway, I'm running #52 five times, and I feel the scorpion encounter is the one encounter in the entire mod that benefits the most by having a proper mini.
I could also use a few large sized black dragons, up to 4 barghests (greater and non), a fire giant, an ettin, and something for large-sized Living Monoliths w/ falchions.
I'm trying to work my local GMs for the rest of the minis, but it's difficult because I really hate having to ask to borrow stuff. :(
p.s. As a back-up I was going to use a beholder mini for the scorpions(either the large red one or huge purple one). I figured that might instill some fear (and confusion!).
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The mini I'm missing most is a large and/or huge scorpion. There's an amazing P-65 version from Reaper, and I don't know about a good version of one in "Plastic Crack," as I somehow managed to avoid that craze. Anyway, I'm running #52 five times, and I feel the scorpion encounter is the one encounter in the entire mod that benefits the most by having a proper mini.
I could also use a few large sized black dragons, up to 4 barghests (greater and non), a fire giant, an ettin, and something for large-sized Living Monoliths w/ falchions.
I'm trying to work my local GMs for the rest of the minis, but it's difficult because I really hate having to ask to borrow stuff. :(
p.s. As a back-up I was going to use a beholder mini for the scorpions(either the large red one or huge purple one). I figured that might instill some fear (and confusion!).
I'll bring my scorpion along with me. It's the Reaper one you mentioned. I won't be at Gen Con until Thursday evening, but you are welcomed to borrow it once I get there.
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I could also use a few large sized black dragons, up to 4 barghests (greater and non), a fire giant, an ettin, and something for large-sized Living Monoliths w/ falchions.
I have 1 Large Black Dragon and 2 types of fire giants, 2 Fire Giant and 1 Fire Giant Forgepriest, those useful?
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The mini I'm missing most is a large and/or huge scorpion. There's an amazing P-65 version from Reaper, and I don't know about a good version of one in "Plastic Crack," as I somehow managed to avoid that craze. Anyway, I'm running #52 five times, and I feel the scorpion encounter is the one encounter in the entire mod that benefits the most by having a proper mini.
I only had 2 Hellsting Scorps and the 2 of the Fiendish ones from Deathknell. Which is fine for Tier 5-6, but not for 8-9.
Azmyth went to Chuckee Cheese yesterday of all places and picked up 8 plastic scorps for .50 cents a piece and painted em all, based and flocked them. Turned out great. Voila
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Azmyth went to Chuckee Cheese yesterday of all places and picked up 8 plastic scorps for .50 cents a piece and painted em all, based and flocked them. Turned out great. Voila
Nice job!
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+1Mitch: You know, um, something strange happened to me this morning...
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch: No...
Chris Knight: Why am I the only one who has that dream?[i]Real Genius[/1]
Rue the Day? Who talks like that?