UCon 2016 Convention Report
Ypsilanti, Michigan, 11-13 November, 2016
Hosted by the Marriot Eagle Crest Conference Center


Here is the Photo link for those of you that just want the eye candy...
https://goo.gl/photos/i4B3y7jHP8qwG68J7

If anyone has problems viewing the Photos let me know, and I'll post em and provide a link over on Imgur for you.

Just got back from UCon 2016 in Ann Arbor. I'm pleased to be able to say it's one of the best gaming conventions I have been to in quite some time. I booked four events to run for them there including a fantasy world building workshop, and three Original D&D gaming rounds. A special thanks to all the UCon staff, and to RJ Thompson, and to Laura for making this a memorable and enjoyable experience!

The RPG coordinator had placed multiple requests up on G+ for GMs to show up, and run some games for them, specifically old school games, or OSR games. So I obliged him. He said they were going to do a fortieth anniversary Judges Guild  celebration, so two of the D&D games scheduled were Judges Guild Wilderlands gaming rounds, and one ended up being a historical based D&D game concerning the Second Crusade. Now this last game was titled The First Crusade, because it really was the first crusade for a bunch of common Englishmen and Normans, although it really occurred in 1147, and was really part of the Second Crusade.

I had wanted to go to GaryCon last March, but my wife talked me out of it. "Save the money you plan on going to GaryCon with and use it for our summer vacation, and I'll pay for your Hotel Room at GenCon."

This seemed like a satisfactory solution to fighting with her over the span of a couple months, ...only thing was, is by the time I went to get a hotel room for GenCon at the convention center, there were none available. I did end up taking one of my gaming friends to GenCon though. So I went ahead and let my wife take care of her side of our agreement by booking a hotel room for UCon in Ann Arbor. Cost her less to pay for our entire stay there, then for one night stay in Indy at the convention center hotel. So a win-win for everyone.

I also invited my son Nick to join me for the first time. I told him if he kept his grades up in school, I would excuse him for a day, and he could join me and play games as part of a private family holiday.  He had all A's and B's, except for one C+, so... he got to go with me.

Showed up Friday about one in the afternoon after a smooth four hour drive. Breezed in and checked into the hotel room, and then went down to the convention center and checked in. My badge was comped, cause I was running four slots over three days, and the badge for Nick for the weekend was $30, and I went ahead and picked up the Play Games All Weekend ribbon ( So I wouldn't have to keep buying game tickets every time he wanted to try some new game out.) for $15 more and we were both set for the weekend.

Had five hours before hosting the Dawn-of-Worlds Fantasy Worldbuilding workshop so I checked out the dealer hall, of course...

First interesting booth there for me was Antiquarian Boardgames, and they were selling that traditional Viking board wargame titled Hnefatafel. The young lady in the photo is Dr. Valerie Hampton. She is an archaeologist, as well a member of the SCA, a writer, a professor, a game designer, and a producer, amongst other things. She has some authority on how the Vikings actually played such a game, because she actually gets paid to go to Scandinavia when they find an interesting Viking burial. This is so she can study the Viking burials, and Vikings, and learn more about them, and then teach others what she has learned. She was sitting with K'Allen Sprague-Williams, also a game designer, a co-designer for Traders of Valhalla, the new Viking Boardgame they are in the process of making. They had a prototype on the table at the show, and these photographs are of the beta version of the game. It looked pretty awesome actually, and went right to the top of my Christmas Wish list.

An Indiegogo campaign underway to complete the game, and you can learn more here:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/traders-of-valhalla-game#/

Next to them was Joe Ho from Starcalled Studios LLC. Joe, along with Andrea Clark, they were showing their newly published Fantasy Campaign Setting for Panthfinder/5E, Zodiac Empires. Absolutely fabulous over-the-top quality epic artwork, along with first-rate printing & layout, in short a gorgeous and interesting new campaign setting for gaming. He was running demo games after closing the dealer room in the evening. I really wanted to sit it on a game and was not able to get a free slot. I went to pick this up on Sunday afternoon, but for some reason the dealer room had closed down at two PM in the afternoon on the last day of the show, and they were packed and gone before I even got back to their booth. One more added for my Christmas list this year though!

Ran into John Reyst next running the Open Gaming Store. Talked to him about his SRD websites, and he said the Pathfinder website was still going really strong, and the others were doing ok. He had earned enough from the SRD websites to quit his day job, and what he had been doing with some of the extra money was buying RPG stuff, and then reselling it. Now this newer business has been growing too, and he had a full booth of goodies for gamers attending the show, including a bunch of OSR stuff like Swords & Wizardry, and a really decent collection of Pathfinder minis, and just tons of cool gaming stuff. His booth was brisk with business, and me and him talked for awhile about what kind of truck he would need to haul the growing collection of games and gaming accessories around that he was selling at conventions. Secretly I think he just likes going to game shows to play RPGs and boardgames with everyone from across the country, and his hobby is running a gaming booth at conventions just to fund his worldwide gaming aspirations, So kind of like this, Me: High Level Old School Gamer, John Reyst, Demi-God Level Gamer, International Explorer, and Game Retailer.

Next up was a fine young woman, and a local Ann Arbor resident, Kelly Carnahan who runs Level 8 Craftling a custom Leatherwork & Repair Shop, She is of course, a member of the SCA, and can do up all manner of leather clothes, armor, and accessories like book covers, scroll cases, and pouches, and even sturdy and strong card game holders as well, if you like. You can reach her at:

windsung@gmail.com

Two FLGS were represented in the dealer hall,

Destiny Games
42134 Ford Road
Canton, Mi 48187
(734)404-5548
http://www.destiny-games.com/
...and Pandemonium Games from Garden City

Pandemonium Games & Hobbies
6033 Middlebelt Roadside
Garden City, MI 48135
(734) 427-2451

http://www.pandemonium-online.com/

Nick picked up a Pokeball from what was possibly d. quirkworks.com, or maybe it was the Mystik Waboose... and for clothes and gaming t-shirts there was the Mystik Waboose, you can find them at a small local Great Lakes convention or by emailing mystikwaboose@yahoo.com

Ancient Artillery was there. This was a place you could buy prebuilt miniature Catapults and Trebuchets for marshmellow wars. The siege equipment looked strong enough to handle marbles and small rocks with ease though.... You can find them on the Internet at //www.ancientartillery.com

Finally, my Sons' favorite spot for the show, CJS games were he dropped maybe $40 just on dice. We spoke with Sherry Sutton, one of the owners for awhile. They specialize in dice and unique accessories for gamers, and you can find them on faceboook here;
https://www.facebook.com/cjsgames

After strolling through the games room, still had plenty of time, so went to see about meeting Brett Slocum in the Tekumel Room to sit in on one of his Petal Hack games, and met George instead who sat in on my Fantasy Worldbuilding round a bit later on Friday. I did get to play in a round of Empire of the Petal throne, but that wasn't until Saturday afternoon.

I have not attended a gaming convention in five years, and I used to enjoy going to one or more shows a year, and I always liked providing a great many photos showing what was being sold and played at shows. This show is no exception, so I went over to the boardgames hall to see just what was being played this day. Now what is being played is promoted by dealers at the show, and also by the players themselves and so can be considered a popular vote of really good quality boardgames, especially when they are being played at a regional convention such as this one.

So, first up, Battlestar Galactica. Took some really great shots on Saturday of the handcrafted miniature fleet built by the game host, but here is one taken on the first day I was at the show on Friday night.

Time Stories
Very popular during the show, and was run for all three days we were there. Here in this game you play a time traveler going back in time to fix a broken timeline, only uh... there are five other players also going back in time to fix the broken timeline. What could possibly go wrong? First guy in the photo here is looking to make some variants for the game, kinda the way we used to do custom maps and cards for Axis & Allies. This was a very interesting looking game.

Flick em Up!
A western style game with little wooden gunfighters. You set it up on a tabletop, and then use that miniature wooden hockey puck and try to knock down the wooden cowboys thereby "killing them". A great deal of fun, Cowboy hats are optional for play...

From 7-12 I ran my Dawn of Worlds Fantasy Worldbuilding workshop. Including myself and Nick there were six folks playing and we made it through eighteen of thirty turns, and got a real good start on what everyone will soon know as Corrien a fantasy world as chronicled in The Songs of Corrien. The entire group wants to finish this as a play-by-post campaign, so when we are finished with that, I will most likely post a followup for this over on G+

Day 2

First thing at nine AM, my Judges Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy 0D&D game, set in the port city of Valeria in Barbarian Altanis. When R.J. Thompson, The RPGs coordinator first contacted me about my games, he had them all moved to the OSR room. Here's a couple money shots of that first game of the morning. It went splendidly well with plenty of the old school goodness. A couple of the players at the table had been playing 0D&D about as long as me, of course there were also a few people at the table who had never even seen a D&D white bookset. I had plenty other of the original supplements on hand as well, Ready Ref Sheets, Warlock,  the Cal-Tech D&D variant, the Holmes Blue Book, and of course rules Cyclopedia, all available at the table for use during the game. I let one of the players pull spells for his wizard from his 1e AD&D spellbook, just because he brought it.

Ryan, the RPG track coordinator mentioned that they were doing a Judges Guild 40th anniversary celebration, so in addition to running 0D&D games all weekend, I brought my Wilderlands collection.
The Entire Wilderlands collection. The full original setting, five separate modules with all eighteen 17"x22" Double side printed campaign maps that take up 6'x10' of floor space, as well as the 50 or 60 adventure modules that make up the Wilderlands campaign setting itself. I asked him if he wouldn't mind me setting it up, to show folks the awesomeness of the original Wilderlands setting and for a photo op. Becuase, Old School, and he said sure. Later on towards the evening we were able to take over a whole corner of the OSR room and set it up, and I even included Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign for Lolz! I'll have the pix for this OSR awesomeness a bit later.

Had about an hour after my first game, so grabbed lunch and checked out some more of the boardgames action, Here's the full Battlestar Galactica setup with the custom made minis. Also there is some D&D 5 being played, and then I went up and joined a Tekumel adventure being run by Victor Raymond, and had a great time!

Played a 3rd level administrative Priest of Thumis, From the Moon of Evening Clan, a craftsman, and a ships' captain by the name of Kotáru hiKálodèl. We were tasked to recover a stolen item for another higher ranking clan, and booked passage on a Galley from Jakalla to Usenánu.

Other than this introduction, I won't go into the detail of the game, so won't be spoiling any surprises for any later players that may end up playing in this newly designed adventure. I had a great time. In fact, one of the most challenging games I have played in the new millenium, Had to think on my feet constantly, and also had to abruptly shift directions more than once, to avoid an untimely death for my priest.

After that, I got a bye on my 2nd 0D&D gaming round for the day. No one had preregistered, and no one had showed up at the table to play, ...so after waiting about twenty minutes, I packed up the D&D for the night, but broke out the Judges Guild map collection, and laid the entire Original Wilderlands Campaign Setting out on the floor, with the CSIO and CSWE city maps, Thunderhold, Modron, and Sunstone caverns on my gaming table, and the First Fantasy Campaign right next to the Wilderlands. I love bye rounds as much as Gming as it gives me free time to enjoy the game show.

Then I went and found Bill Webb and RJ Thompson, and we took a few selfies including the entire Wilderlands Campaign Setting. He did stop by for a photo op, simply because no one ever uses their original Wilderlands to play in D&D in, everyone seems to keep them books locked up, like in museums now, with like alarms and stuff, except for me of course, who actually plays D&D games using his original Wilderlands D&D campaign setting.

For you old school fans, The first, and still the largest published Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, along with us from left to right, Bill Webb, owner of Frog God Games, Former partner in Necromancer Games, and also a good friend to Bob Bledsaw, Myself (The GameDaddy) and RJ Thompson, RPGs Coordinator for Ucon 2016!

Then after some other folks came by to get a few pictures of that Judges Guild awesomeness, I packed everything up, and grabbed some dinner with Nick. Nick had been playing some other games, he'll be providing a more comprehensive writeup of his first-time convention going experience a bit later. After dinner he chose to do a Call of Cthulu game, and I wandered around a bit getting some table counts to see what was popular.

Boardgames, at least forty, probably closer to sixty tables running on Saturday night in the main hall. There were fifteen to twenty tables of Pathfinder running in the Ballroom. 5eD&D had five full tables, the OSR had two full tables, DCC OSR games had two full tables. A couple of gaming clubs had five tables each, John Wick was running 7th Sea.

Bill Web was running a Swords & Wizardry game group of just about a dozen players through the original Judges Guild Tegel Manor. I sat in on this for a couple of hours as an observer while working up a new batch of 0D&D character pre-reg sheets for the Sunday 0D&D. This was because the players in my morning game had used almost all my prepared character sheets, and had kept them as souvenirs after the game.

Bill ran a lively game, and the Judges Guild Tegel Manor is one of the best old school dungeons. Imagine that abandoned old haunted house like the one just down the road from where you lived as a kid, ...you know, that one you always wanted to explore... Now imagine going into it, and finding out it really is haunted, and full of monsters. That's Tegel Manor.

Have to give a shout out here to Chaos Boy who was one of the Tegel Manor explorers. I'm pretty sure Chaos Boy set a new record in getting his torchbearers killed, and in having to to roll up new characters during a single game session, his characters charged through the Manor, without regard for their personal safety trying to save the rest of the party, and i'm pretty sure he successfully triggered just about every trap that was in the Manor. This was like watching a horror show unfold, and much blood was shed, and was sprayed all over the mansion decorating it even more, and mostly from the players.

 

When Nick finished with Call of Cthulu, we called it a night and retired.

Day 3
This last Picture says it all. What the newest generation of gamers thinks of original Dungeons and Dragons after playing for just a few hours. Two thumbs up for 0D&D. Me personally? I was on the lookout for Demogorgon, and couldn't shake the thought that I had just stepped into Stranger Things.

We played a historical Crusaders game of D&D where the players took the cross, and set out from England and Normandy in 1147 a.d. sailing to Jerusalem to insure that pilgrims could complete their holy pilgrimage in safety, and to protect Christians, and Jerusalem from the infidel.

From Left to Right – Quman 5th Level Cleric, Bob of London 5th Level Ranger, Ian of Normandy, 5th Level Cleric, Andrew of Brixton, 5th Level Templar Knight.

The game started pretty rough, the players all had to swear an oath to fulfill the Statutes of Dartmouth, an agreement to protect their fellow crusaders as they embarked on their journey to the Holy Lands. Since this was the first slot everyone was tired from the day before, and Bob the Ranger being super tired head-desked and started to go to sleep on me. I fixed that right quick by breaking out the minis and having all the players pick their characters out for this game out. Then thing improved even more as I pulled my ship mockup out. It's a full scale 25mm modular three deck sailing ship built out of Balsa wood and basswood. Naturally we had to properly equip the expedition, and the players got busy making sure they had enough crates of supplies, barrels of ale, horses, pack ponies, tents, and other sundries to ensure a comfortable expedition, then they did the math making sure they had enough victuals, water, and ale to complete an expedition to the holy lands. Quite awake now and satisfied they all set sail.

Oh, and they named the Norman longboat they were traveling in "God's Judgement".

They eventually ended up helping the King of Portugal by besieging Lisbon to rid it of Muslims, sinners, and infidels, and they had an epic good time doing it. It turned out awesome.

What me, and Andrew of Brixton, learned about the real crusades while playing this game.

1) Sometimes the priests gave up the cross, and took up the sword, in the heat of battle in order to fulfill their crusader oath.
2) Hunting is the most favored past time of bored crusaders. When the party landed in Portugal, after speaking with the Bishop of Porto, the players went out into the countryside and devised their own snare traps, and drop traps to hunt with, and captured wild game. They ended up with a cougar pelt, five hares, and three ducks.
3) Large catapults that throw table sized rocks from behind city walls are very hazardous for Crusaders and landed ships alike.

None of the Players died playing, but the players did lose some Norman hirelings, and some imaginary infidels died in creating our Sunday morning entertainment. Naturally all the players kept their character sheets, and the Ranger apologized for napping at the gaming table. Considering all the ale that was flowing down in the pub and at Dartmouth the nights before, it's a miracle that Bob, the Ranger from London was able to join the expedition at all.

To Good Gaming! GameDaddy out!

Did Palladium show up and support the con since it is right in their neck of the woods?

Quote from: Ulairi;931112Did Palladium show up and support the con since it is right in their neck of the woods?

I didn't run into anyone I knew from Palladium, and I don't recall a Palladium booth in the dealer room.  I do remember seeing a booth with Fate and Fate accelerated available, and didn't make it back in time on Sunday to buy either of those either. There was one retailer that was absent on Friday, and when I went by the booth about 2:15 on Sunday they had everything packed already except some minis.

That's an awesome and thorough report! Good job.