GenCon 2020!
On the plus side of everything, today was the start of ~Virtual Gencon!~
I am spending Virtual Gencon almost exactly the same way I spend my Reality Gencons: holed up in the Asmadi Games demo room nearly the entire time, ideally teaching Phoenix Syndicate to as many people as I possibly can. I suppose under normal circumstances there would also be a bout of the Ridiculympics, but hahaha no I'm so sorry but no1. Also under normal circumstances I'd go throw pocket change at robots made of magic cards, but I don't think there's a way to replicate that over zoom.
Anyways, the gist of that was that I am indeed spending my VirtGencon in the Asmadi Games Discord (which, given the way Discord works, is a place I've been vaguely keeping an eye on for literal years now) and also on TableTop Simulator in order to teach Phoenix Syndicate. I have four games over four days, and the first one was today, and *gosh* am I happy.
Like, don't get me wrong, TTS is a super frustrating interface that srsly Takes Some Getting Used To and *especially* since a few of the things that ought to work don't (like being able to select more than one cube from the stash at a time sigh). But I deeply deeply love this game, and have so done for...I probably started demoing it at my first GenCon so let's say this is year seven? The game finally got published this past year and I am so sad I haven't even played my physical copy, but dang, I get to teach it to people? Yes please!
More accurately, I get to take a thing I love and enjoy and I get to teach it. I am good at teaching and I love more than just about anything getting to teach people, especially getting to teach people things they want to learn! Aw damn, I'ma get weepy if I continue thinking about this thread too much. Suffice to say, I am _really_ happy that I get to do this.
So yeah. I'm hoping the next three days continue to have good energy and that TTS doesn't get too dumb. Also, if anyone out there has the simulators of tabletops and would like to learn a 3x2 board game that takes ~2 hours to play (but look, it's gonna be 3 hours because TTS slows everything _waaaaaaaay_ down) I would be so happy to teach. I would be even happier to play, but will point out that I tend to do very well playing against first-timers because I know this game inside and out, and I'm not gonna be arrogant enough to say I'll definitely win", but I am gonna be accurate enough to say "I'm not gonna make flaily decisions while I learn how it works".
(Alsoalso, I don't know who else that last paragraph was at, but![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ckd I know you do the games, hmu?)
I hope your summer is going well, and I know the things you're doing instead of your usual events are nowhere near good enough, but I hope you can find joy in them anyways. <3
~Sor
MOOP!
1: I *love* running the Ridiculympics, which involves being LOUD and having FUN and causing TROUBLE but in a FUN CHAOS way and also CRAFTS?! and definitely a SCAVENGER HUNT!!! and also everyone is wearing a KEEN CROWN and like...it's a stupid wonderful event. But to run it requires me to be at my absolute most intensely "I'M ALIVE AWAKE ALERT ENTHUSIASTIC" and christ, it's a goddamn pandemic, access to that version of myself is *significantly* more difficult than normal *especially* in spaces filled with near-strangers where I have to be The Social Norm Setter And The Norm Is FUN!.
2: A "four-X" board game is one in which the central mechanics involve eXploring, eXpanding, eXploiting, and eXterminating. Syndicate doesn't have any violence (either player-on-player or player-on-world), so it's just a 3x.
I am spending Virtual Gencon almost exactly the same way I spend my Reality Gencons: holed up in the Asmadi Games demo room nearly the entire time, ideally teaching Phoenix Syndicate to as many people as I possibly can. I suppose under normal circumstances there would also be a bout of the Ridiculympics, but hahaha no I'm so sorry but no1. Also under normal circumstances I'd go throw pocket change at robots made of magic cards, but I don't think there's a way to replicate that over zoom.
Anyways, the gist of that was that I am indeed spending my VirtGencon in the Asmadi Games Discord (which, given the way Discord works, is a place I've been vaguely keeping an eye on for literal years now) and also on TableTop Simulator in order to teach Phoenix Syndicate. I have four games over four days, and the first one was today, and *gosh* am I happy.
Like, don't get me wrong, TTS is a super frustrating interface that srsly Takes Some Getting Used To and *especially* since a few of the things that ought to work don't (like being able to select more than one cube from the stash at a time sigh). But I deeply deeply love this game, and have so done for...I probably started demoing it at my first GenCon so let's say this is year seven? The game finally got published this past year and I am so sad I haven't even played my physical copy, but dang, I get to teach it to people? Yes please!
More accurately, I get to take a thing I love and enjoy and I get to teach it. I am good at teaching and I love more than just about anything getting to teach people, especially getting to teach people things they want to learn! Aw damn, I'ma get weepy if I continue thinking about this thread too much. Suffice to say, I am _really_ happy that I get to do this.
So yeah. I'm hoping the next three days continue to have good energy and that TTS doesn't get too dumb. Also, if anyone out there has the simulators of tabletops and would like to learn a 3x2 board game that takes ~2 hours to play (but look, it's gonna be 3 hours because TTS slows everything _waaaaaaaay_ down) I would be so happy to teach. I would be even happier to play, but will point out that I tend to do very well playing against first-timers because I know this game inside and out, and I'm not gonna be arrogant enough to say I'll definitely win", but I am gonna be accurate enough to say "I'm not gonna make flaily decisions while I learn how it works".
(Alsoalso, I don't know who else that last paragraph was at, but
ckd I know you do the games, hmu?)I hope your summer is going well, and I know the things you're doing instead of your usual events are nowhere near good enough, but I hope you can find joy in them anyways. <3
~Sor
MOOP!
1: I *love* running the Ridiculympics, which involves being LOUD and having FUN and causing TROUBLE but in a FUN CHAOS way and also CRAFTS?! and definitely a SCAVENGER HUNT!!! and also everyone is wearing a KEEN CROWN and like...it's a stupid wonderful event. But to run it requires me to be at my absolute most intensely "I'M ALIVE AWAKE ALERT ENTHUSIASTIC" and christ, it's a goddamn pandemic, access to that version of myself is *significantly* more difficult than normal *especially* in spaces filled with near-strangers where I have to be The Social Norm Setter And The Norm Is FUN!.
2: A "four-X" board game is one in which the central mechanics involve eXploring, eXpanding, eXploiting, and eXterminating. Syndicate doesn't have any violence (either player-on-player or player-on-world), so it's just a 3x.
no subject
Oooh, fun -- I've done that at Origins with Darker a couple of times, for Fealty and Spirit Island. (The latter when it was still in "here's a cool game that you should totally publish" mode.) It's a grand way to spend a weekend.
I don't know the published version of Phoenix Syndicate as well -- I've been playing the betas occasionally forever, but have only played the final version once. (At Christmas: I bought it for my nephew and taught it to the family.) And yeah, TTS can be a pain in the tuchus. Still, very neat.
And yay teaching! I'm currently prepping to teach some Renaissance card games using playingcards.io at the end of this month. If you have any interest in learning some very different games, ping me and I'll loop you in.
no subject
no subject
Cool -- traditionally we do them about every six weeks. We're still finding our feet for the virtual version, but knock on wood I expect them to get back to a semi-regular schedule...
no subject
no subject
Nothing on the radar yet, I'm afraid. I've wound up in charge of making Arisia possible this year, and that is Sucking My Brain Out. I suspect we'll run a session in November, but it's dependent on me not exploding into a quivering mass of stress before then.
(And speaking of moving, hi! Your new place is a short walk from me, apparently in between my place and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
verdantry's, so hopefully we'll actually get a chance to meet and figure out whether we know each other in-person. If circumstances permitted, I would totally be suggesting a Welcome to the Neighborhood boardgame day or some such.)