Convergence 2014

The 2014 venture into the Colorado Rockies is complete. The event was once again held at the base of Mount Evans at 10,000 feet in the University of Denver Alpine Field station. Holding the event at altitude is not without risk — one of our five participants had regular touches of altitude sickness. Nothing major but it did sideline him on occasion but never progressed to the point I needed to haul him back the thicker air of the Denver area.

We had five participants this year from 3 states. Three of the five flew in prior to the event. Role playing games were slim as I failed to prepare anything prior due to other responsibilities. So card games were the name of the game for most of the weekend — Magic, Munchkin and Drinking Quest.

The newest participant, Garrett, ran the one RPG over two sessions. He used the Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG with the players involved in an alternate modern fantasy environment. It was odd. It was strange. It was a heck of a lot of fun even if it wasn’t what I expected.

Many thanks to all the guys who always make the weekend enjoyable. Glad you could come up and looking forward to 2015. I may have to invest in a oxygen bottle.

Drinking Quest Play Report

Kick back, grab an ale and let me tell a tale of Drinking Quest 1 and 2. If you have not heard of Drinking Quest, it is a card based drinking game modeled after role playing systems. The system is easy to learn, easy to play, and features four quests per deck. Not to mention its hard to write a review after playing. I could have accomplished it but there would have been a) belching, b) emoticons, and c) words no spell checker could fix. All of the above might still apply.

Randall chose to open Convergence with Drinking Quest. After flight delays, random traffic nonsense, late shopping and finally some food, I busted out DQ1. I handed the full rules to Randall and the quick start card to Rob. After nods, we started into the game.

The first quest of DQ1 was our learning round. We double checked the rules. Also, the game reminded us that we are no longer in our 20’s. The game is a lot of fun; has crazy moments, and delivers far beyond what a four decade old body needs in drinks. Perhaps special attention should have been placed on the moderation elements stated in the rules.

Drinking Quest defines what a card system should be in a beer & pretzels environment. Its fun, light, and contains laugh your ass off moments as you or your friends get your ass kicked by a random card.

After 4 days of gaming, I have no hope of accurate quotes from the players but there are select moments that must be paraphrased.

Randall: [Somewhere after Quests 1 & 2 were complete] “Tell the creators there need to be more cards per quest.”
He may no longer hold that opinion after we completed four of four quests in DQ1 and 3 of 4 in DQ2.

Wheels: “I wish we would have had this 20 years ago.” “Do I have to drink again?”
Rob: “A fun system. Damn, is Wheeler drinking again?”
Mark: “Chug. Chug. Chug.”
Wheels: “I spend XP to make Randi drink…”

We could have saved the new quests in Drinking Quest 2 for another night. We did not. Instead, we rolled directly into DQ2 from DQ1.

Rob: “Wait, these stats don’t match the cards.”
Mark: “Huh, that’s odd, oh wait, here’s a DQ2 character sheet.”

Honestly, I was expecting the same stats and character information to flow from one deck to another. It doesn’t but it also didn’t matter. We jotted down the new characters and moved into Quest 1 of DQ2. At that point, I no longer heard requests for more cards per quests. I may have been distracted — I was drinking profusely due to many deaths.

Rob: “I have this defense thing figured out. It’s important.”
Wheels: “Drink biotch (directed at Randall during one of the many failed combats”.
Mark: “Chug. Chug. Chug.”

Enter the Snow Weasel.

The snow weasel was our favorite card. Rob drew it when well ahead of us in the game. Not only did it bite his leg on the draw, it mauled him in combat.

Rob: “Aww shit…”
Group: “*cackling*, *laughing*
Randi: “We aren’t getting through quest 4.”

Overall, Drinking Quest is a whole lot of fun. The system mechanics are very deadly which results in drinking. Not unexpected but I underestimated the number of failures that would occur. Some can be knocked off as poor dice rolls but everyone was drinking most of the time. The entire group gave a thumbs up for the game the night of play, the day after, and it was a point of discussion every day of the weekend. It may be more suitable to folks just entering drinking age and who enjoy power-drinking games but if you moderate (yeah right) any beer and pretzels group will enjoy it. Just have munchies available.

Get Drinking Quest.

At Play, I be missing.

DQ2 Quests Readied.

Break Time!

Last Word: Chug Chug Chug!

Pork Tenderloin In Bacon Shield

The weekend full of gaming is less than two months away. Time to prepare to fill some bellies.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

1 Tenderloin
1 Bacon Shield
1 Dabble of Dry Rub
1 Healthy Drizzle of Maple Syrup

For oven cooking, use a temperature of 375° for around an hour or until the internal temperature of the pork is 145-155 degrees. The test run is on a smoker rather than in an oven. The starting temperature was 325° then lowered to 260-275°

Wrapped, Spiked & Ready

Curious how to weave bacon to wrap your tenderloin or prepare it? The fine folks of Rusted Truck Ranch have this helpful video, which describes the process from start to finish.

After an hour with a nice dose of smoke, the bacon shield is looking delicious. I may salivate excessively for the next hour or so.

1 Hour In

After 2 hours, it looks even better.

Hour Two

The last picture I took before eating was very blurry. Fuzzy picture aside the final product was delicious.

Great gaming locations aren’t born on trees… some are in the woods

Four weeks ago, my Old Guys Gaming group held our semi-annual gaming get together at the University of Denver’s Mt. Evans Field Station. The field station is an alpine research facility located at the base of Mt. Evans near Idaho Springs, Colorado. Situated at an elevation of 3260 meters (10.6K ft), the station is not a traditional gaming locale.

For a semi-annual gathering, the location is ideal. The dormitory building can house twenty or more people. Our group is much smaller allowing everyone a bit of space and privacy during the extended weekends. Unlike a hotel, you need not worry about annoying people next door. The closest neighbor you could encounter is someone else staying in the house about 50 yards away. Gaming into the wee hours will not disturb anyone.

DU's Field Station, October 2010

The visit in May was our third outing to the field station. In addition to the other amenities, the field station is very inexpensive. The rate, as of this writing, is $150 minimum or $25/person/night. Far less than the cost of a hotel.

The cost and amenities have made the field station our de facto locale since our original stay in April 2010. The low cost was discussed several times. Every attendee has agreed the cost is below the value. I wanted to make an extra contribution for this visit to help with the ever increasing costs. I was not alone.

At the end of the stay, Randall, Wheels, and I settled up for the final stay. We left a little extra to support the location beyond the minimum. Our host was just as happy as we were. His thankful response included,

Whow! [sic] Your generosity on behalf of the station is greatly appreciated. You have a season pass at the station!

We might make it back this year, we may not. Still, adding a little extra to the pot so the field station will be there next time is well worth the expense. Thanks fellas for making it possible.

A little generosity goes a long ways.

You will fight….

Demon snow angels! Looks like we’ll have a bit of snow for the Spring 2011 Convergence. It’s currently snowing above 6000 feet and predicted to continue throughout the day and into tomorrow. The accumulation could be significant. Somehow snow is always an issue when I bring along home brewed beer. Very curious.

Intersection of I-70 & CO103

The current weather reports are a variation of this one:

Today…Widespread snow. Snow accumulation of 5 to 10 inches. Highs 29 to 39. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph.

Tonight…Snow showers likely. Additional snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Lows 19 to 29. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph after midnight. Chance of snow 60 percent.

The snow should make for an interesting drive up the mountain tonight.

Merakai Revamped at Convergence

Another Convergence is upon us. In four days, I’ll be rounding up people from the airport and headed into the Colorado Rockies for another weekend of role playing, old guy style. For the second time, we’ll have five people in attendance. For the first time, we’ll have a complete newcomer to our gaming circle. Hitting six attendees once again is just out of reach as one of the long time participants once again cannot make it.

Another first has occurred, a player stepped up and wants to play a specific game. Randall’s been to all but one Convergence and he wants to play some 2nd Edition AD&D. More specifically, he wants to play in my Grasslands of Merakai setting once again. He was one of the primary players during the years I ran the game. I’ve been tinkering with it for a few weeks so his request is easily accommodated. After a few emails, the game will not utilize old characters since no other player will have one. A new campaign will be born in an old setting with a new look.

Beyond the Grasslands, Wheels procured Munchkin Zombies at my request. Munchkin is a fast, fun game. Munchkin with zombies has to be a win win. I’m also going to try to find Zombie Dice if I can before Wednesday. Kevin from KORPG was willing to continue his zombie apocalypse game from last fall. Lastly, our newcomer, Garrett, has offered to run a Call of Cthulu style game. From my conversations with him, he’s blended in some World of Darkness. Sounds entertaining.

What is planned and what will get played always vary. Convergence is a dynamic environment. One where many planned games fall aside and others take over. Nothing wrong with that.

Kindling

Convergence Crazy: Prep Yourselves

I’m evil. Evil2 is more evil.

Identities hidden to protect the less than innocent.