So, I know I had said I'd try to post on 1st and 15th, but I held off this post so I could give a review of my weekend at Chupacrabracon, one of the three cons I try to make it to every year. Chupa used to be in biking distance from my house, or a rather lengthy walk. It moved to San Marcos, TX, which is theoretically 52 minutes from my house by car. Theoretically. Traffic on IH-35 is legendary for being an absolute mess, and this weekend was no exception. Still, I was jazzed. I was scheduled to run Shadowrun on Friday, play Battletech/Alpha Strike all day Saturday, and run Robotech Sunday. At Chupa, there is a nice little perq that if you run at least 8 hours of games, you get in free. Score. But things started to change the day after I submitted my games. My wife, Mary, has been suffering with early-onset arthritis in her knee, it was basically bone-to-bone. We suddenly got a surgery date- a week and a half before the con. Recovery for this surgery is said to be 6-8 weeks. As I type this, she's got her home care physical therapy nurse coming to work that new CyberKnee. OK, so, I'll be on nurse duty the same as Mary was when I had my heart surgery, no problem, we'll find family or a friend to assist Mary for the weekend, and I'll hit Chupa. And to be clear, there were more reasons to go than just gaming. Chupa has a lot of industry folks in attendance, from Battlefield Press, for whom I am coordinating the Robotech sub-license effort for Savage Worlds, to Pinnacle Entertainment, and more. And this year, Catalyst Game Labs. I love Battletech and Shadowrun, and Philip Lee, the editor of Shrapnel, was there to talk to about what they look for in submissions. So, cons have become business as well - Retro Arcana needs to get our name out there.
So I was pumped. Ready to go. And the week Chupa was going to happen, we got a call from my wife's surgeon - post-op appointment, Friday at 11. So I had to cancel my Friday game as I'd be in a completely different city. So we did our appointment, and I resolved to go to Chupa Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, traffic more than doubled the time necessary to get to San Marcos, so I missed my scheduled Battletech game. Then my phone rang. My BFF was in the hospital. Stroke. Needed help. My battle buddy Ed and I dropped what we were doing and went to the rescue. Like Ed said, if we don't help our friends what good are we? So, we missed most of Saturday. Made it just in time to be 40 minutes late to the next Battletech game. The awesome Catalyst staffers who were running the game held my spot open, and I was able to play some Alpha Strike. My partner and I were matched up with Rusty Zimmerman, author, and apparently dirty clanner. It was a GREAT game, we barely - BARELY - pulled out a win. The cool thing about this game? We were playing con attendees versus editor Philip Lee, author Rusty Zimmerman, and community manager Rem Alternis. And at the end of the game, each player got to take home a lance of painted 'Mechs. My partner took home our Lyran Guards 'Mechs, and I got our opponents, pictured below.
So, this was amazing. I really dig Alpha Strike- though I'm still a die hard fan of good old Battletech. Great game, close fight, and the MVP on the OPFOR side was the Mad Cat (Timber Wolf for you Clanners) which was the last OPFOR mech to drop, and killed three of our Mechs, leaving only our Stalker standing.
I had to did home after that, to make sure my wife was being taken care of and had to deal with my kiddos for being in Teenager Mode and failing to keep up with Mom Duty. I really dreaded driving back the next day, and wasn't sure I should given the difficulties Saturday caused at home. But we made arrangement for a friend to come over and hang out on nurse duty, and I returned on Sunday to run my game. I had planned on running Savage Robotech, but I didn't have the time I needed to translate Cyclones and Invid into SWADE stats with Sci-Fi Companion data. And I only have 2/3 of the backer draft at that. So I fell back to Palladium- but realized creating last-minute pregens for Palladium would take all night. I did, however, have pregens already made for the Strange Machine Games version of Robotech. So I grabbed my SMG stuff, and crammed well into the wee hours.
Sunday, I explained to the players that we just didn't get the mecha portion of the SWADE Sci-Fi Companion in time for me to have gotten what I wanted done finished, so I was going to run the SMG version of Robotech. We jumped in, and had a GREAT time. Some Expeditionary Force personnel crashed on Invid-held Earth, joined up with a Southern Cross survivor and his Myrmidon tank, recruited some of the locals for a resistance cell, and fought a few Invid and some collaborators. We all had a good time, poked and prodded the AD6 System that SMG used in Robotech, and pronounced it fun. One of my players was even an old shipmate from my time in Starfleet, and it was wonderful to see her and her family. Also - WOW, she played the Medical Corpsman and just happened to have the Medical Cyclone, which sports medical equipment and a pair of vibroblades to cut survivors out of wrecks for medical treatment. Turns out they also cut through Invid. And collaborators made into cyborgs by the Invid. Damn, Doc.
So, it was a rough weekend, but there were a couple of bright spots, courtesy of Chupacabracon, Catalyst Game Labs, and the tag team of Strange Machine Games (Robotech with the AD6 system) and Battlefield Press International (Robotech for Savage Worlds.) Chupa has been a great con since Chupacabracon I. Chupa is one of the three Texas cons I try to hit every year- Chupacabracon, The Long Con, and North Texas RPG Con. Next up: NTRPGCON in June.
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