Well Gen Con has come and gone. I
want to tell you a story about one of the last times I was at Gen Con when it
was still in Milwaukee. If you've never been, go. As a gamer it’s a warm
feeling knowing that everyone here is a gamer. Unlike Comic Con where you have
no idea why some of them are there.
In any case, I had signed up for
a Star Trek tournament using the FASA Star Trek system; one that I particularly
love and use myself. And since I am also in STARFLEET International, I went in
my uniform. Getting to the table I
discovered three things; I was the only one in a Star Trek uniform, the DM was
this scenario’s author and he was wearing a KU Jayhawk hat. That last item, let me explain. I graduated
from the University of Missouri-Columba and Kansas University is our
arch-rivals. Basically Orcs vs Elves. So I had to give him some playful crap
about that.
The scenario was a two-parter.
The best three players from two tables would advance to the 2nd and
final round. Also at the table I was playing at was a young man who said he had
just received his commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army
reserves through a 4-year ROTC program.
Ok, that’s something else I had to playful get on; see I attended a
military school for 6 years. Unlike him, it was 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
for 9 months. I was glad for him as I know what he had to go through and I knew
what he had to look forward too. So the
game started.
The first part had us as a Starfleet
crew going to investigate the loss of a Federation starship that had slipped
into the Mirror, Mirror universe. At the
end of this round, after the votes were tabulated, I didn't make the cut. That
was ok with me, I had a good time, and to me that is what makes a good game.
But the GM was impressed with me and said he wanted me in the 2nd part
as he had a special role for me to play…
So the 2nd part
starts. One of the people that had advanced was this new 2nd
lieutenant. This time the PCs were playing a Federation rescue team sent to
rescue the Federation ship and any crew and get them back to Federation space,
along with any information. I was playing the captain of the Federation ship that
had slipped through. They were to rescue me as I was being tortured. Or so they
thought.
I was in actuality my Mirror,
Mirror counterpart. The real captain had already been killed and I was placed
where I was as a set up so the PCs could rescue me, and I could in fact then
present the PCs to my Mirror, Mirror superiors.
Now this group of PCs was
paranoid. It took them 2 ½ hours to get to where I was being ‘tortured.’ They
get to the control booth and were cautiously and quietly and s l o w l y trying
to figure out what to do. The GM, the
creator of this scenario had finally had enough and snapped. He grabbed a piece
of paper and wrote something on it and gave it to the PCs. When they asked what
it was he replied, “It’s a pass for the Clue Bus; get a clue!” He then grabbed
the paper back and scribbled some more and thrust it back at them saying “Here,
I even gave you a transfer!” All the
time I had been sitting quietly waiting to be rescued. They finally rescued me
and we got aboard their ship and was making our escape.
The ship was taking fire. And the
direction we were heading had us going by the original Federation ship, mine
supposedly, so we decided to beam over and use that ship to escape. The only
problem was the shields were up. No problem. I’m the captain, so I have the
command over-ride. Nooooo, I don’t. I figured I was about to give myself
away. The Communication’s Officer PC,
who was the one who would send the code, was basically described as a
‘MacGiver’. I made up some numbers and gave it to him figuring I could fast
talk my way out it when it didn't work. He rolled in front of all us. The only
way he could screw up if he rolled like a 95 and above. Guess what? He rolled
double zero. In this case, that was not good, so it didn't work. So we figured
we would go through the captain’s launch on the ship to access the computer and
then use my voice over ride to lower the shields and we would beam over and
take the ship.
Another aspect of this; all this
time, this new 2nd lieutenant had been the rescue party leader. But
when we stepped aboard the ship and got it under control, I assumed command.
The new 2nd looey did not like that. My argument was simple; for the
rescue he had been the leader but aboard MY ship, I am the captain. He didn't
like it and the other PCs were caught in the middle. Well the MacGiver had
scrambled the command codes so the enemy couldn't do what we just did. You
could see this guy looking between us; me, still in my movie Trek uniform and a
brand new 2nd lieutenant. He said that he wrote down the code,
cleared it from his screen and gave the paper with the command override for the
ship to… me.
I tried not to be smug when I
thanked him and ordered us to the rift in space between our two universes so we
could go ‘home.’ What the PCs didn’t
know was that the Mirror, Mirror universe was set to invade the Federation. So
we get there, and there are all these ships. We are hailed; there is a final
attack briefing and since my ship is the one to lead the attack, I had to
attend. So I and my Chief of Security are going to take a shuttle across.
As we land, there are guards to
arrest the PC. About this time the Admiral comes down and congratulates me on
capturing all the invaders. (We had left the table and were outside everyone
else’s hearing while all of this was going on.) I thank him and then say, “Oh
by the way sir; here are the command overrides so you might want to shut
everything down before they get a chance to do anything.” It wasn’t until that time that I realized
that the GM had forgotten I had them. He literally broke up laughing and almost
fell on the floor when he realized I had totally done something he had never
thought would happen. It was something that he wasn’t prepared for; and as we
know, DMs don’t like that.
Back at the table, the rest of
the PCs are told what is going on as their shields are lowered and shuttles are
landing. Well the 2nd lieutenant runs to the engineering room and
sets up a switch so he can mix matter and anti-matter thereby destroying the
ship. He wasn’t going to be taken alive.
Three times he was asked to surrender; there was no shame he was told.
The rest of the PCs decided that discretion is the better part of valor and
surrendered. The lieutenant gave
everyone a chance to get off the ship before he blew it up. Even after everyone
left he was given one last chance to surrender. He didn’t and blew the ship up.
What I didn’t know until after
that happened was that there was a resistant movement that raised its head and
stopped the invasion by detonating a photon torpedo in the rift, thereby
closing it. Had the lieutenant only surrendered, he would have been alive to
see it. As I think back on it, I don’t
know if I would want to be a part of this brand new lieutenant’s unit. In real
life In a game, he took it a bit too seriously.
The GM also wanted a certain
outcome; and made it that way. The GM said that every other time he ran it,
everyone lived and succeeded in getting away and collapsing the rift. Except
this one.
But I’m not done yet!
Since I had been to Gen Con a
number of times, and this was his first time there, and I had a great time
playing with him, I invited him to come and try some of the local hang outs
that the thirty-thousand plus gamers went to when they weren’t locked in
gaming. I took him to The Safe House.
You are not cleared to receive
all the information about the location (it is a great place-themed in spy
motif. I highly recommend if you are anywhere near Milwaukee, check it out).
Once we made it in, we ordered
the house special called “Spy’s Demise’. You get the drink in a themed glass;
the drink is then discounted and you get to take the glass with you. The drink
looks like Kool-Aid. Trust me, it’s not.
My Jayhawk friend walked around,
checking things out, seeing people he knew and generally exploring. I had been
there before so I stayed closed to the table. And since we were both having the
same thing, I thought I would be a good friend and friendly opponent, and give
him some of my drink-often. He never saw me do it, and could never quite figure
out why his drink was always more full than mine.
After awhile we decided to grab
something to eat, so we moved from the bar to a table. As we sat down, he had
just gotten a fresh drink. He said that he was going to the bathroom and for me
not to touch it. I replied I had no idea what he was talking about. As he stood
to go he looked at a large table filled with people next to us; people we had
no idea who they were, and said, “Make sure that he,” meaning me, “doesn’t mess
with me drink.” He then left.
Right after he was out of sight,
I took his drink and poured all of it into mine. The people at the table just
watched me. He then came back and immediately asked what happened to his drink.
I stated that I didn’t know what he was talking about as he drank all his drink
before he left. He said he hadn’t. A woman at the table behind him piped up and
said that I taken his drink. He turned back after she was done and said that I
had been messing with him and his drinks all night. As he berated me the woman
who had spoken up got up and left. He concluded his rant stating that he even
had a woman who had seen me mess with his drink.
I looked at him and asked, “What
woman?”
“That woman right there at that
table!” He turned around and saw an empty chair where she had been. He then
asked the table what had happened to the woman that had been sitting there.
This table, full of people we had
never met or seen before looked at him with blank stares. One man said, with a
perfectly straight face, “What woman?”
I wonder if that guy was from
K-State?
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