Gaming, Friends & Madness

I'm just back in Cork after a long and mostly enjoyable weekend in Dublin, at the 20th anniversary of GaelCon. Like last year, Claire and I decided to stay in Clontarf Castle for the weekend, saving us from nightly travel, and adding greatly to the sense of relaxation and time we could spend with friends. Also, we got to enjoy kick-ass all-you-can-eat breakfasts with everyone else that was staying.

As with last year, we played lots of card games and board games, but far less RPGs. I don't think any caught my attention, even enough to read beyond the title. Even Claire, who played in something for every slot last year, spent most of the Con just hanging out with friends, playing table-top, non-RPG games. That said, it was a heck of a lot of fun! Not only did we get to play games we know and love, but also lots that were new to us!

Both nights had us up late into the morning hours, chatting to the others that were staying in the castle. And there were a lot. About ten others from Cork alone, and then a bunch of gamers from all over that would be very good friends. Sunday night in particular found around 20 of us in the lobby until 3:30am, howling with laughter over some incredible stories and general shenanigans!

All in all, it was a good convention. Not as good as last year, possibly, but then, that was an extraordinarily good year! I'd say that while last year was my favourite convention so far, this year was my second favourite. We had to make our own fun a lot more this year, and that's a sentiment I've heard echoed quite a bit over the last hour before we left this afternoon. Everyone seemed to have fun, but only because they made their own.

There was one huge disappointment, though. Last year, I missed the table-quiz, which seemed like a blast, and this year, I was determined to stay for it and join in. Except this year, the GealCon Charity Table-Quiz was an unbelievable disgrace, with clear bias towards the Dublin crowd, an utterly unfair and non-sensical "bonus round" system, ridiculous rounds, an annoyingly ambivalent "odd-one-out round", and just a general lack of entertainment, apart from two, possibly three rounds.

But, you know what? We had fun. We bought some new stuff, played some new games, made some new friends, played some old games, hung out with some old friends and enjoyed every bit of that. We're definitely going next year, and definitely staying at the castle again. Far too much fun to miss!

Mea Culpa

I was wrong. So very, very wrong. One quiet week does not a death knell make.

This week there were two tables of RPGs, one large table of non-collectible card games, one board-game table, and one small CCG table, way off in the corner, away from everyone else...

On top of all of this, I was doing nothing, as there were no free tables left, and two other people turned up with a bag of board games and fast card games, but left due to lack of space! I'm not complaining here, I'm just illustrating the fact that it was so busy, we didn't have room for everyone! Monday Night Gaming is not on the way out, just moving up! So I was wrong. I feared for the worst, and needed something to write about!

Last night, at rough guesstimate, there were:

• 8 non-collectible card gamers - Bang and Gloom
• 6 roleplayers - Dark Heresy
• 6 board gamers - AEGs Tomb
• 5 more roleplayers - something New World of Darkness
• 4 that arrived, hung around and wandered off
• 3 CCG players (Upper Decks Vrs System)
• 2 arrived to game, but too late to grab tables
• 2 GM's running RPGs
• 1 catching up with a lot of people he hadn't seen in a while - me
• Total: 38

Nice.

Monday Night Gaming

In my last post I briefly mentioned Monday Night Gaming, the new weekly event for gamers in Cork. It's been running for four weeks now, and apart from missing the first one due to exhaustion (we had just gotten back to work after our Epic Holiday), Claire and I have been to all the rest. In just three weeks, we've seen numbers drop significantly, and if it continues, I don't see good things on the horizon for this fledgling event.

The first night we were there, we discussed the lack of space and tables, and I even lamented that all the big tables had already been taken. Two RPGs and one table of board games were in full swing, and there were a few people still hanging around. There was a good crowd, and Claire got into a 4th Edition DnD once-off. I managed to start up a game of The Big Idea on a spare table (it doesn't need a whole lot of space), and got five other intrepid entrepreneurs to join me, resulting in mayhem and hilarity! A quick game of SET after that, and the night came to a close. All in all, great time, great games, great company.

Second night, we arrived a little earlier and got caught up chatting about our holiday and the wedding with a few people that we hadn't seen up to then. Claire got in on a DnD game under the 3.5 rules, and I introduced four players to the madness that is a game of Until We Sink. Once again, we wrapped up the last bit of free time with a game of SET, which almost drove everyone over the edge. The attendance was good, with a few new people, but a few missing faces from the first night as well. Despite this, the room was lively and energetic, we played some great games, and fun was had by all.

This week was much quieter. Two RPGs started up, Mage and DnD 3.5. I looked around the room, and realised I was standing by myself. Thankfully, just as I was about to start up my DS, I spotted someone else not playing in either RPG and challenged him to a card game, which he happily accepted. In no time at all, our two player game of Infernal Contraption was a four player game with two others watching with interest. Once finished (I lost), we even got in a second game with one new player (I won! Yippee!). And, once again, we ended the night with a game of SET*. I think that's becoming a requirement of my night now! How bad?!? I love the game!

So it's still fun for those that turn up, but the numbers are dwindling. What's happening? I think that there is a bit of a settling in period, as numbers shift around while new people come to see what it's all about, and others decide that this isn't for them. That's fine. Nothing wrong there. Apathy is a big factor. Lots of people don't care. We've spent ages complaining about the fact that there is no good place to go gaming, and now that there is, we couldn't be bothered. Believe me, I know this one first hand. I spent weeks rounding people up for my original Spirit of the Century game, offering places to people I really thought would enjoy it, but very few were actually interested in making an effort to attend (honestly, I got very lucky with my final group). I'm not complaining here, just making a point. I know there are tonnes of things I'd love to do, but just can't build up the interest to pursue right now (NextWave customs anyone?). Dammit... I had more. I got stuck on apathy though... Ah. Who cares?

The other big challenge for the group is it's reliance on a small number of core members to run stuff, and the effects of upcoming external events. Brian Caball has been successfully running RPGs every night we've attended, but he's not going to be there next Monday, due to an army of miniature commitments he has had painted into the schedule for months. GaelCon is swiftly approaching, and I doubt many that make the trek to Dublin will be interested in dragging their exhausted husks into gaming the night they get back! Hits like this could weaken the still young gaming night, and if it can't stand by itself before Christmas rolls around, it may not survive into the New Year.

Monday Night Gaming has been a lot of fun so far, and I for one would hate to see it go. It's been a great opportunity to game with people outside my usual group, as well as share the love of some games I know aren't available in Cork with the Cork gamers. I'll be trying my best to continue showing up, bringing along a few fun card games, or an RPG now and again.

That's if I can be bothered to write one, of course!

*- I'm really awful at this game. I've never, ever won a game of SET. But I love it, so I bring it every night anyway. I don't know why I torture myself, but I do.

Aces & Eights

Having played and enjoyed the RPG Deadlands, as well as having a passing interest in card games, I invested in a set of poker chips. Two decks of cards were included, but they were paper thin and two cards got their edges marked while I was trying to shuffle one as soon as I opened it! So I also bought a shiny new, high-quality pack.

I've never played poker, and had to learn the rules, so I can't say I've learned to control my "tell" yet, but then, I don't even know what it is! My current guess, based on games of Cluedo, Fluxx and Chrononauts, is that I smile like a maniac when things are going my way, and try to play it cool. So... not really that hard a tell to spot then!

Anyway, I also plan on using the chips to track Fate Points in Spirit of the Century, and hope to see them flying back and forth across the table throughout the games! I love the clink of the chips against one another, and find myself playing with them on the table while I'm watching cartoons at home. I'm also slowly learning how to flip one across my fingers like they do in the movies! I would love to be able to sit at the head of a table of players, describing the scene that lies before them, slowly turning over a chip from one finger to the next, threatening to compel any one of them!

Denis 2, Boredom 0

It's been a busy few weeks for me, so much so that I've had little time to enjoy photographing toys, blog, or do very much online at all! In particular, the last two weekends have been jammed with excitement and fun!

On Saturday the 20th of October, I was home in Tipperary at a wedding. Not my own! No, this was for a friend of the family that we've known for years. Although she's from Coventry in England, her parents are Irish and her fathers family is from the area. She wanted to get married in the small parish church of Killea, the village I'm from. It was a great day, and both the Bride and Groom looked amazing. I spent most of it babysitting their daughter, who was simply adorable. She's only 15 months old, but so well behaved throughout. I was surprised when she took to me so fast, and spent most of the day in my arms. I guess it helped that I brought her brightly coloured toys she can safely chew on.

The meal was great and after a break to watch some big rugby match, we went back in for the dancing. Woo! I'll tell you, I could have danced through until the sun came up the next morning! It was a blast. I just had loads of fun. And I got to dance with a bridesmaid! I took loads of photos up until the music started and then I was far to busy jumping around looking like an idiot to stop to take any more.

Which was exactly what happened this weekend as well! I was having so much fun, I have no photos at all as visual aides to relate my awesome weekend through! For the October Bank Holiday weekend Claire and I travelled to Dublin for GaelCon... and to escape the Cork Jazz Weekend.

This year, Claire and I decided to do something different. Normally, we go to GaelCon, meet friends, go into the city, shop, go to the con, hang out for a bit, sit around bored, get the bus back into the city, go to the hostel we're staying in, go to sleep, travel back to the con and so on and on. This year, Claire and I booked ourselves into Clontarf Castle, where the con itself was on! This made some huge differences to how the weekend unfolded right away. No travelling once we reached the hotel on the Saturday morning. No having to leave early to get the last bus to the hostel. No pressure to go anywhere. In fact, for the first time I can remember we didn't leave the castle for the entire day on Sunday! And we got awesome all-you-can eat breakfasts in the hotel. How can you possibly top that?

And we played games! Claire tried to get into an RPG in every slot, I tried out a few, though not every slot, and while we weren't playing organised games, we were playing games like No Thanks, Guillotine and Tsuro in the main hall with anyone that walked past. All in all, it was a busy, eventful, fun weekend. Add to that getting to meet Lynn and Graham for the first time in ten months, hanging out until 2am with Mulcahy, Killian, Fiki, Sarah, Farrell and Lorna in the lobby telling stories and gasping for breath between fits of laughter and getting to meet a tonne of new people and you could say I had the best damned convention of my life!

Right now I'm exhausted! I hadn't even recovered from the wedding weekend when we left for GaelCon! Next weekend, Claire is heading back up to Dublin for another wedding, and I'm here in Cork. I plan to keep up the great run of weekends with a gaming night in my house on Saturday, and possibly even Friday and Sunday evening! Well, at least Saturday. Maybe Friday will be drinks in the Well. If you're reading this and around for the weekend, just let me know! I'm sure we can fit you in.