When I moved to the Bay Area some years ago, I did a deep dive into all of the regional conventions we could reach with a day trip. One of the most intriguing was a small local event called PolyCon hosted by Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo. Back then we didn’t have the time or resources for an out of town convention, even though SLO (as the area is called around these parts) is only about a 4 hour drive.
A jaunt down the coast this spring to see Hearst Castle reminded me that I’d always intended to hit up PolyCon, and that a small show might be an ideal place for my son Xander to test out his appetite, and tolerance, for convention going. (He’s dropped in on a couple of local shows, but he’s never really had the full experience.)
Getting something on the family calendar is never easy, but I managed to pull it off; it helped that I could pitch the trip as a long weekend where we could hike, hit the (chilly Pacific) beach, check out amazing local restaurants, and (oh yeah) get in a crapton of gaming.
Despite some hiccups, it turned out to be a great experience!
The show normally runs over three days (this year it was only Saturday and Sunday) and it also had shorter hours than usual (roughly 8am to 8pm), but the smaller scope worked out fine for us and our 12-year-old gamer. A combination of students and volunteers host the show and it takes place in the CalPoly SLO’s Julian A. McPhee University Union. Boasting 100,000 square feet, the Union was a more than adequate venue.
It was not hard to convince X he could find something fun to do with dozens of scheduled events in the offing. In fact, he was stoked out of his mind for a 12 hour BattleTech extravaganza. It was a “beginner’s welcome” event called The Grinder where you start with a simple mech and each time you get killed you move up to a bigger and more complicated unit. I dug out a beat up second-hand copy of the BattleTech boxed set and he pored over it in the days leading up to the con. It is literally all he could talk about on the drive down. (If you’ve had a 12-year-old boy, you know what I’m talking about!) He was even willing to get up early on Saturday(!) so that he could be there at the table at 8am ready to rock.
After we got registered Saturday morning, an easy process since I’m estimating there were only about 150 attendees for the whole weekend, we went over to find the sign-ups for the various events. PolyCon is intimate enough that it doesn’t bother with pre-registering for individual games. You just find the sheet for the game you want and sign up on the spot. I noticed that the organizers were prepping a big wall chart with the full slate of games listed on it. Right away I could tell something was wrong; I noticed that the BattleTech game was nowhere to be seen. Luckily it wasn’t hard to track down an organizer. He told us that so many of the folks working the event had run into complications, that the whole thing had been cancelled.
Xan was crushed.
I told him I was sorry, but that this was a hard but important lesson of convention going… things don’t always go as planned. We did our best to comfort him; we bought him a muffin, and then gave him some time to process.
As I watched him brood, I realized that he might want to jump into a session of Sentinel Comics RPG I was signed up for. We’ve played SCRPG at home with his friends a few times so I knew there’d be a familiarity there. He reluctantly agreed, but then brightened up once he realized he’d get to play Unity, the same pre-gen he’d played at home. Even though our game was a couple of summers ago, Xander’s grasp of the character concept and how to use her abilities were rock solid. I don’t know about anyone else at the table, but I was impressed with his focus and strategic thinking. He got everything out of Unity’s minion making abilities and then some.
The game ended on a cool note. As the Freedom Five started to get the upper hand on the bad guys, Mike (our GM), turned to Xander and said, “Okay, how does everything get resolved?” It was cool to see X get a chance to wrap up the first ever session where we’d gotten a chance to play as peers.
With newfound purpose, Xander headed off to play in his first ever D&D game (we play everything but D&D at home). Meanwhile, I got ready to run my 19th century Cthulhu Dark scenario, The Cable. I’ve run it maybe ten times at conventions, so it’s second nature at this point. What was new to me was the playing space. Some of the RPG rooms for PolyCon are in the offices of various on campus organizations. The room I drew, the Pride office, was a very chill hangout spot that I needed to reorganize into a place to play. Luckily the games I facilitated over the weekend didn’t require a lot of room, so I was able to make do with a small table, a couple of chairs, and an L-shaped padded bench. I set up my GMing stuff on the desk on the far side of the room. In the end it worked out fine, aside from the lingering anxiety of messing with someone else’s work area.
Another complication was that there was an Escape Room set up in the back of the same suite of offices. In the session before mine people just strolled right through our gaming area. Rude! There were two other ways to access the Escape Room, so when I started my session and a couple of folks started to wander through I said Very Cheerfully, “Hey, we’re playing, could you please go around the other way?’” I only had to do that a couple of times before people got the message.
The Cable went over well if not spectacularly, while Xander got his D&D on. At any rate he was in the room next door and he said he could hear us laughing through the wall. 🙂
Around that time I started to figure out the prize support system for the show. As a GM I was supposed to go to the prize table before my sessions and get PolyTickets to give to the players. These could be redeemed at the Prize Vault, which was filled with donations from various sponsors and vendors. I’ve seen systems like this before at conventions, but they all work a little differently. Xander and I combined our winnings and did well over the course of the show. I ended up bringing home a couple of pre-painted HeroScape figures and a hoodie from a local bar that features axe-throwing. X was delighted to get his hands on a 3D resin-printed dragon’s egg.
Sunday morning my wife, Deanna, dropped me and Xander off at the student union. She found convenient parking so that we could make our exit directly from the show. However, we did our share of walking to the venue. In the good old days of PolyCon guests could stay on campus for a nominal fee, but now you need to find your own accommodations. We ended up staying in a budget (non-chain) hotel about a mile away and didn’t have any issues getting back and forth. SLO’s climate is mild and my only complaint would be that it was quite windy while we were there.
Sunday started with Xander getting into still more D&D, and in the afternoon he ended up in a pick-up game of Shadowdark.
With Xan headed off on his own, I got ready to run my second game. If you’re a long time reader of the blog, you might remember that once upon a time I ran a home campaign of Greg Stafford’s Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game. It’s something I like to trot out for cons or other get-togethers with relative strangers. The rules are light and fun (you toss coins when something needs to be randomized) and everyone seems to have an instinct for playing Ye Knights of Olde.
The table was made up of Tom (known as T) and his friends, rounded out with some con regulars… and I think maybe one other newcomer. They gelled into a really lovely group. I ran a scenario I usually refer to as Pilgrim’s Progress. Our Heroes are meant to defend a pilgrimage route beset by brigands/con men who are running wild across the countryside. I’ve gotten good (I hope!) at molding the scenario to whatever characters the players cook up. (Prince Valiant: TSG has a really light skill/attribute system, and putting characters together is a snap. You even get to invent a coat of arms for your knight!)
In this particular run, T had an idea that turned into a pivotal piece of inspiration for me. He mentioned that his knight was quite pious and was focused on his home life and taking care of those that were nearest and dearest. I said, “Oh, how come?” And he answered that his knight (was it Sir John Carlisle?) had been to the Crusades and that his squire, whom he was very close to, had died in a terrible battle. And I was like, “Yeah He Did”, and added, “You still can’t get over the awful axe blow he took to the face.”
We nodded and moved on, but very quickly it popped into my head that his Squire actually hadn’t died, but survived… fueled only by the thought of getting vengeance on his former mentor. That, in fact, Sir John’s squire hated Sir John so much, that he was the leader of the aforementioned mob of cutthroats, and further that he wouldn’t be happy until he’d burned down everything Sir John cared about (including Canterbury Cathedral).
Our knights started the session in captivity, having been drugged by the would-be insurrectionists during a harmless night of revelry. (We’d played out said night to get everyone comfortable with their characters.) They wake to discover that they’re locked up on a barge headed off to France to be held for ransom. Sir John is taunted by a mysterious man in a metal mask and told that it’s “too late to stop what’s coming.” Later, during the breakout attempt, a lantern is broken and our knights find themselves fighting the crew while trying to keep from getting burned alive. They manage to gain the upper hand on flames and foes alike.
Once they make it back to shore they discover that the pilgrimage route they were supposed to be protecting has indeed been ravaged by the Masked Man and his cronies. They follow the path of destruction right to Canterbury. Sir John strides to the cathedral while the other knights fight a desperate running street battle, rallying citizens and soldiers.
John finds the Masked Man in the cathedral dragging the bishop around by a leash. In the final confrontation the Masked Man shockingly reveals himself as (Dun Dun DUUUN!) John’s old squire… and unburdens all his rage and loathing for his former master. After a decisive first pass, it becomes clear that Sir John is in bad shape and that he’s not going to beat the squire in a stand up fight. At this point T asked me out of character if his knight could defeat the squire if he sacrificed his life to kill him. In the end Sir John welcomed his own death blow to get close enough to stab his former charge in the heart. The other knights rushed in just in time to comfort their dying friend and to hear his last words.
It’s not always easy to give a one-shot a pleasing shape, but I think we nailed it. I’m beginning to realize a technique (or trick?) for giving a short game some punch is finding a meaningful death at the end. Also, it’s nice to discover I’m getting better and better at keeping a scenario fresh by wrapping player choices around a predetermined framework.
With Xander off having his own fun, my wife Deanna and I got a rare chance to game together. We managed to play Heart of the Deernicorn’s Fall of Magic, facilitated delightfully by Ian Brown. For the first time I can recall at a game Deanna and I slipped into two-man comedy team mode, throwing each other a couple of “no look passes” along the way. I played a slow-witted, morose, and ever-hungry giant with a dark past. One of my favorite moments was when the giant went to a temple to seek out a confessor. Deanna jumped into the role of a doddering priest and I could tell where she was going instantly. My giant launched into a boring preamble until Deanna’s priest started to nod off, and then I shifted into a heartfelt unburdening of my crimes which fell on deaf ears. Tragicomic gold!
It was a great table, and just a delight to see that even off the beaten path, there are lovers of sincere freeform play.
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A couple of days ago Xander asked me when PolyCon is happening again, a sure sign that we’ll be back. I’m just hoping that he can get his Battletech on this time. But even if he can’t, I think we’ll be fine. Because it turns out wherever you go, there are more great gamers to play with.
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toomuchcontent 