Origins 2011, Day Four (and Five)

The final chapter! Till next year, anyway.

Schedule for Saturday, June 25th was :

11AM - 1PM : Advanced Tips and Tricks for Miniatures
2PM - 4PM : Building Terrain : Abyssal Gate
7PM - 11PM : Twilight of the Gods (Mutants and Masterminds)

I'd very nearly decided to make it a full day of miniatures events, but at the last moment, I decided I needed one more RPG event as a capper. I left myself plenty of time in the morning so I could sleep in after having done the Smithees the night before.

The Tips and Tricks class was excellent, and after the convention, it's inspired more purchases of craft materials for me than anything else in recent memory. The tips about miniature 'basing' were particularly cool and helpful. I haven't started using most of the things I learned, but I'm preparing to do so.

The Terrain class was also cool, but sparsely attended. We had three, out of a potential class size of eight - but this meant he gave us each an extra 'kit' to take home and work with later. The kit includes some pre-cut foam in the rough shapes needed, to speed the class along. I was pretty pleased with my Abyssal Gate when the class was done - less pleased when a careless bellhop ignored my instructions about the bag it was in and crushed it, though. I should be able to fix it, but sheesh - when I tell you the bag has something fragile in it, don't toss it on the cart on its side. Dumbass.

Twilight of the Gods was a fun adventure of the 'The world is lost - can the heroes beat the villain and allow reality to snap back to its normal shape?' variety. (Though it wasn't immediately clear that things could go back to the way they were.) It was set in the default universe of Mutants and Masterminds, and the players each took on the role of one of the Freedom League. I had some issues with the portrayals of some of the other players, because they seemed to be trying their damnedest to fail the scenario, but I had fun playing the role of the Freedom League's resident city elemental, Dr. Metropolis.

Now, I have no idea what his personality is supposed to be like, but I was playing him as a Spectre type - aloof, mysterious, that kind of thing. This led to some hilarity.

(The FL's female Batman type - Raven - has shown up to rescue us all from the forced labor camps we were held in. She begins working on Lady Liberty's power nullifier collar.)
Me (to GM) : "Hey, I have Disable Device. Can I do my own?"
GM : "Sure, roll it."
Me (to GM) : "28."
GM (amused) : "Dr. Metropolis removes his own power inhibitor..."
Captain Thunder : "Why didn't you do that before??"
Me (as Dr. M) : "It wasn't time, yet."

Once free, Captain Thunder runs off on his own to start an intimidation campaign against the interdimensional conqueror who kicked our asses in the backstory, and Lady Liberty goes to mess with his troops at his stronghold, leading to her ass getting kicked again, and a haphazard regroup is staged, leaving Raven VERY annoyed with the level of unit cohesion. Her player starts ranting at me, about Captain Thunder running off on his own.

Me (as Dr. M) : "There's no need to take that tone with me. I am here, where I am required. I understand you are very upset. There, There." (delivered with a near-monotone, and a patting hand gesture at the end)

Got a hero point for that, and a belly-laugh from Raven's player.

All in all, I had great fun in that session. Especially once Captain Thunder got his act together.

Sunday morning, I went back to the exhibit hall once more to look for some particular miniatures, and had no luck - finally packing it in and checking out of the hotel to start my drive home.