Dreamation

Posted on by Paul Beakley

Dreamation
Trial Balloon/Too Many Choices

I’ve set myself an Iron GM goal of running one thing each day at Dreamation in a couple months. But I’ve got so so many things I want to run. And I’m also bringing along at least one big board game to play with friends, and those tend to take like a third of a day to play out. So I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

That said, imma throw these titles out there just to test the waters. Lowest vote definitely gets dropped; possibly the bottom two get dropped and I “only” run three things in four days. Which is approximately my current highest pace for facilitating heavier-than-systemless games.

Really the only games here that require any kind of prep are Burning Wheel and Motobushido, but in both cases it’s fairly minimal. BW takes the most delicate touch, but damn I miss me some Wheel. And if it’s a one-shot, shit man, let’s go ahead and say it might be Wheel or Empires. That’s right. 

VOTE VOTE VOTE

SOMEONE BUY ME COFFEE AT DREAMATION BECAUSE I GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS

Published by Paul Beakley

I founded the Indie Game Reading Club in 2010. I've written and developed RPGs since the mid-90s, now I mostly talk about playing them.

0 thoughts on “Dreamation”

  5. I voted MYZ and BW and Sagas. Then I realized that I could only vote for one. Dammit! I went with MYZ. My christmas copy is on the way and I am stoked. I really want to play Sagas with you sometime, though!

  6. Not that you’re asking but as your friend and veteran Dreamation goer, I think dropping the lowest two (or ones you’re least jazzed about) in favor of a saner schedule would be a wise move. You could always bring a back-up for a pick-up game if you’re worried, but there are a lot of solid GMs who go, and a ton of great games to play (the IGX schedule doesn’t reflect the sheer quantity yet – a lot of us procrastinate until the new year), and a lot a people you’ll enjoy the company of.

    They have a big board games crowd, so you can always dip into that if you’re burned out on RPGs, and if you’re feeling like expanding your world a bit, you could try a no-costume larp or two. 🙂 There are also lots of people who wait until they get there to fill their schedules and still have luck finding good stuff, and also people who schedule time for naps or hang outs to have a more relaxing experience. I usually run three and pack the rest of my schedule with games I want to try that other people are running.

    Oh, and Pro Tip: most people are wrecked by Sunday from packed schedules and staying up too late drinking and/or talking, so if you run a Sunday game, make it one that you can run half-brained and also one that’s exciting enough that people will want to wake up for.

  8. Rachel E.S. Walton thanks for the pro-tips!

    I confess the four day schedule does feel tough. I’ve got three solid days in me but that fourth might be a push.

    Can’t wait to see you there!

  9. Nope, alas.  But there is talks about moving New MexiCon up in the year so it might only be 3-4 months until we have the opportunity to game some.  Happy gaming to you!  Hope you are rekindled!

  11. Allow me to slightly disagree with the esteemed Rachel E.S. Walton​. We only have a ton of games to offer if people run them. I’ve been seeing several mentions of “I’m not going to run so many games this year.” And it makes me nervous, is all. I’d rather not run eight sessions to help broaden the schedule, but I’ve done it before and am not too old to do it again!

  16. Michael Miller Riiight…but this is Paul’s first Dreamation and he’s coming from far away. I want him to have a good enough time and have a chance a get a sense of it so he wants to come back. 😛 I’ve seen people burn out and then regret their efforts.

    If there ends up being a shortage, though, you shouldn’t have to run 8 sessions either! Can you let us know if there is a shortage when it gets closer to the time? Maybe we can help encourage more people to step up to GM or a few of us vets or above mentioned gluttons for punishment can take on another slot.

  17. Rachel E.S. Walton and Michael Miller, be happy to run as many games as you would like! If you could magically give me more vacation time! Sounds like a blast, though! Hope you all have a really good time!

  18. Can someone explain what igx is and how it fits alongside GoD and the convention itself? I don’t really understand how this particular event works.

    I can also serve time in the GoD pits as well if that’s a thing.

  20. There is no GoD … at Dreamation.

    IGX is all scheduled events. Double Exposure conventions have enough scheduled events of awesomeness , and open Big Board-style event registration that there had been no need for GoD.

    (Actually, Kathryn Miller​ invented GoD to make GenCon a little more like Dreamation.)

  23. Yeah, registrations work like this:

    A few days before the event, Vinnie will post the games list. You email him what you want. You can also write your name in on a paper signup if there are open slots at the con.

    There’s pickup gaming but nothing formal like GoD.

  27. I voted for Burning Wheel because I’m a masochist and want to make Paul Beakley do the most work. Also, Sagas may be great, but do I own a totally metal Sagas of the Icelanders jacket patch? I do not, because nobody sold me one.

  32. Argh there’s no way to shut down the poll. I’m getting weird rando votes in there now.

    But before that started, how interesting! MYZ pulled ahead, which I sort of expected, but where’s the Urban Shadows love? It’s new, it’s PbtA, it’s tons of fun. I’m more than a little surprised that it’s DFL. Which is not to criticize or compare it to Burning Wheel or Motobushido. But I know gamers and I thought y’all would be more drawn to the novelty of the new. Or are there already lots of US games already on deck?

  33. With only vote per person, I can (baselessly) speculate that many of those interested in PbtA systems voted for Sagas, and might have chosen US as a second choice, if it were possible.

Leave a Reply