Thursday is often my big day at Origins, because there's consistently a Thursday morning event that I want to do. See, a while back, I stumbled upon a game using the Hero System entitled 'The JSA vs. Hitler's Bunker'. I actually went up to the convention on Wednesday that year so I could make it to that 8AM Thursday event, and I have not regretted doing the same every year since.
See, this one GameMaster runs a JSA event at every Origins, and it's always at 8AM Thursday. I think 2004 was my first one, and I haven't missed one since. He uses these unique JSA miniatures composed of colored twist-ties - they're amazing.
This year's JSA event was JSA vs. Predator, and I got to play Wildcat. We had fun hunting the hunters, and Wildcat was appropriately durable. Hit with a missile at point-blank range, Wildcat was damaged, but he wasn't stunned, and retaliated with a sock to the jaw. The players voted for me to get the prize for that event as well, largely thanks to how I decided who to help in the final fight. Air Wave and Green Lantern were taking on one predator, and Wonder Woman had just been severely hurt by another. I thought a second, and decided.
"I'll go help Wonder Woman since I debuted in her comic."
They admired my decision methodology.
That was scheduled to run till 2PM, but we actually wrapped up a little early - I had time to run and get lunch, and take the first huge suitcase of Magic cards down to the exhibit hall to sell. Troll and Toad stuck right with their buy list prices, and trusted my counts (I'd made copious notes) so that was finished pretty quickly.
My next event was a demo of the Dragon Storm RPG, from 2PM to 4PM. Dragon Storm is a little different from most RPGs - it doesn't really rely on books. The characters are all based on cards. And the characters are all shapeshifters. So to make a character, you'd select a base character card - a 'Human Werewolf' is one - and that would tell you your base stats, and how many other points worth of cards you can select. The additional cards would include a 'class', an alternate form, and a variety of techniques or skills to fill out the basic character.
The Gamemaster uses cards, too - he has a deck for places, scenes, NPCs, and the like. It's a novel approach, even if I find the setting a little limited. This was my first time trying it, and the demo was well-attended - I think we had 7 or 8 people, and they weren't expecting more than 5. No prize was awarded at that event, but we did all get coupons, and we got to keep our demo character cards.
From 4PM to 6PM, I had a break, so I met up with my cousin Ryan, and we drove out to Tommy's Pizza, another local chain I'd been cajoled to try. The pizza was excellent - not as good as Massey's, of course, but very nice. Getting back into town was kind of a pain, as traffic was backed up, but Ryan got me within a short walk of the convention center in time for my next event.
From 6PM-8PM, I had Mystery Express, a Clue-like board game set on the Orient Express. The game has a kind of fixed forward timeline as the train moves towards Istanbul, and you have to solve the murder's particulars using a number of card-swapping techniques and fine memory to come out on top. I was able to correctly identify all five elements of the crime at the end, and won the prize there, as well!
Three events with prizes so far, and I'd taken them all - and promptly gotten small bags of dice for each of them.
My final event for the evening was scheduled from 8PM to Midnight - Illuminati, the Card Game. I actually own a copy of the game, but had not previously played it. Each player takes on the role of a different secret society, trying to build up a power structure of organizations to take over the world. It's kinda wacky and fun, but also incredibly cutthroat. I got pretty discouraged halfway through, as nobody was letting me get much of anything - you can interfere with one another's battles - but after several cycles, they started having to turn on one another to keep specific players from winning - and then I had the move that'd put me over the top, and the cards to pull it off.
I managed to wrap up the game with a win around 11PM, and though it was supposed to be prize-supported, the GM couldn't find his prize slips - so he got me a substitute. I'd mentioned to him I had the game and the first expansion at home, and he had been talking about the second expansion - so for my prize, he handed me a copy of the second expansion! Perfect.
It had been a long day at that point, so i headed back tot he hotel room to catch up with Andrew and get some rest. Fortunately, my Friday events didn't start until 9AM.
