PrinceCon 35 : wrapping up
Alex Reutter
mostly concerns the awards. General theme/GM scenario wrap-ups should
be forthcoming]
Thank you all for coming to PrinceCon XXXV and once again having the
stamina to see the finish of the world’s finest 46-hour roleplaying
marathon that can be completed in only 45 hours. This year you braved
rain, rain, the convention’s first foray into a combination monetary
and hose the mages system, some more rain, flooding, and felled trees
in addition to the usual array of monsters, bandits, thinly veiled
cultural references, and sleep deprived Game Masters.
I’d also like to thank the staff for the time they put in to running
PrinceCon, from writing and running scenarios to running Koshwig’s
Last Country Store West of the Gate, with special thanks to Chris
Cavender and Bill Johnson for joining the GM ranks this year.
There were some special theme-related awards this year. Koshwig needs
capable administrators to make the Pocket Universe adventure a
success, and so he needs:
* A Governor, who will be Randall Ravenmoon, played by John
Kliminski
* An Explorer to finish the mapping of the PU, who will be Petros,
played by Paul Anderson
* An Ambassador to keep strong relations between the Old and New
Worlds, who will be Oraculus, played by Tim Oliver
* An Industrialist to exploit the resources of the PU, who will be
Kerok von Hazelbrot, played by Aaron Sheffield
* And someone to keep order within the PU, who will be Stent
Heartshield, our “Sheriff by Accident”, played by Alan Zitomer
Finally, on to the player awards:
* Best Roleplayer Runner Up : Steve Wolfson
* Winner for Best Roleplayer : Sandy Carter
* Best Tactician Runner Up : Suzen Hance
* Winner for Best Tactician : Greg Arzoomanian
* Best Strategist Runner Up : Spencer Kipe
* Winner for Best Strategist : John Kliminski
There was a statistical dead heat for best player. One player was
ineligible because he runs our computer system which does the scoring;
however, Koshwig would like to acknowledge his Family’s Bard, Geoffrey
Khron, played by Aaron Mulder. Based on a tie-breaker method, a
second player was just awarded our best strategist, which leaves us
with the best player award for PrinceCon 35, Weiyi Guo.
Alex Reutter
There were the following intersecting background scenario storylines:
1. The Oraibi tribe, Peaceful People, indigenous to the Southwest
portion of the PU, believe that the time has come to leave the PU for
the "next World". There is an artifact in their pueblo village that
will take them there, but it is missing a part – an orb. They will
happily sign over all “rights” to mine the land to Koshwig if the PC’s
will help them find the orb.
2. The Stonehollow family has decided to interfere in the PU by mining
Orichalkon out from under Koshwig. They have a Gate set up underneath
the mountains with no other entrance or exit but the Gate. Using their
"uplifted" gopher servants, they have additionally hired a PU native
mercenary to organize gangs to harrass Koshwig's settlers.
3. The Stonehollow mercenary is John Bly, an outcast from the
"Peaceful People" who has forsaken the life of nonviolence because he
believes himself to be the true heir to the ancients. By going through
the Gate first, and alone, he believes that this will prove his worth
to his forefathers, and he will be given dominion over the new World.
While I cannot do their story the justice that Geoffrey Khron, bard of
the PU, was able to, the players in the first run party traveled to
Lordsburg and freed the town from the tyranny of Black Bart, who was
in the pay of John Bly.
The second run did some information gathering. In fact, so much
information gathering that they completed what I’d planned as the
first half of my second run, sidestepped the intended combat for the
end of the second run, and completed what I’d planned as the first
half of my third run.
The third run completed the second halves of my second and third runs,
including the capture, sentencing, and beheading of Stewey Slinker, a
cattle rustler in the employ of John Bly (yay Mavors justice!). The
rustled cattle were being transported through a illegal gate, but the
party left this for another party to investigate, because this group
had other business -- they retrieved an orb that *might* open the gate
in Oraibi, but it didn’t -- the orb they recovered would be needed for
Bill’s Saturday night run.
The fourth run investigated the illegal gate discovered by the
previous party, and discovered that it was being used by the
Stonehollow clan to transport the cattle to their base of operations
beneath the mountains, where the cattle and mined Orichalkon was
transported back to their estates in the old World via another gate.
This party gathered evidence that Stonehollow clan was illegally
interfering in the PU, but did not smash the gate. Because the
Stonehollow gate was not smashed, they continued to mine Orichalkon
out from under Koshwig’s nose until the old World legal machinery
could be put into action to shut it down. By that time, the value of
the veins under Oraibi was drastically reduced, and Koshwig’s ability
to bring about change in the old World was somewhat lessened.
There was no fifth run, and thus there was no one qualified to stop
John Bly from passing through the Oraibi Gate first. This Gate is a
one-way trip, and so no one knows exactly what happened on the other
side.