Gen CON 2010 - Science Patrol! Go! Analysis.

Okay, so anybody who knows me knows I love me some kaiju. And even more than kaiju, I love wacky, old school Japanese live action superhero shows, the Ur example of which, is the great grand pappy of 'em all Ultraman! So I created a Savage Worlds scenario loosely based on elements of the show. I ran it at the first Helgacon, and also ran a sort of campaign with the scenario a couple of years later, both with resounding kudos from the players.

My solution for how the Ultraman type character, Astro Man, could be played, was to have all the players run him as a team, each taking a turn with his normal punches, jumps, and kicks, or being able to sacrifice their turns strategically to have him do special Astro attacks. All told, it worked pretty well!

So I brought it with me this year to Gen Con. I hadn't had the time to preschedule it as an official event, but I'd heard before that Pinnacle Press, the publisher of Savage Worlds, had a sign up board at their booth in the dealer hall where pickup games could be advertised.

Well, they weren't doing that, but the fella at the booth said that they were running a big Savage Worlds blowout thing called Savage Saturday Night, and would love to have as many GM's as they could get.

So I turned up, and after some initial confusion I ended up with six players, five of whom were a gaming group from someplace in the upper midwest, I gathered. I was a little rusty with Savage Worlds, so I was glad to have the guy who GM'd regularly for them at my side for rules help.

Overall, it was a fine session. I got back in the swing easy enough, and Savage Worlds never disappoints in how much you can get done in a few hours time. Sometimes the players were a little passive and zoned out, but that's understandable at day three of a grueling con.

One of my players had been having a very difficult con, having hurt his leg before he came and having spent most of it in a wheelchair. I won't repeat the stories he told at the table, but suffice to say he ran into some major jerks who behaved in a very unkind fashion towards him.

(Pro tip to all you nerds out there. You don't get to play the "Poor us! Everybody shuns us and picks on us!" card if you're gonna be dickweeds. You act like the bozos this guy was describing, maybe you deserved to get pantsed and shoved into a locker a few times when you were in high school. Just sayin'...)

Anyway, I bring this up 'cos that player got to have the crowning moment of awesome in the game when Astro Man judo flipped the Mega Ominoid into a building. I'd like to think I brightened the con a bit for him.

So yeah, we ended on a high note, and the whole thing only was about two and a half hours, which was great 'cos I needed to get back to the hotel and A: Chill and B: Pack, so thumbs up.

A good time was had by all.

Kampai!

P.S.: To the fella sitting at my right at the table, the GM guy, who's name I don't recall. I haven't forgotten about sending you the Science Patrol! Go! materials, I just haven't dug them all up yet. I'll get 'em to ya sooner or later.

P.P.S.: And here's another Man... Or Astroman? video, just because when we sent the gold plated record album out on the Voyager, they're what outer space sent back!