|
Written by Paul Mara
|
|
Jun 22, 2006 at 09:22 AM |
|
Vaticon was under the directorship of "Brian Wilson" this year.
See the gallery here: Click Here
Vaticon was good craic this year. I rpg'd all saturday (literally right into the early hours) and I played a mix of games on Sunday. There was good attendance this year with many games including a Versus tournament and the settlers nationals drawing people in. I recognised mibs, dominicon peeps, confess peeps and certainly an IGA person or two (I think, damn, I really have to get along to Gaelcon). Apart from the excellent RPGs, Card and board games I played, I had a go at Werewolf which is excellent but I'll go into later. Anyway, on with the review.
Saturday
On saturday, I arrived out between 9 and 10. A brief glance around the areas and I realised the final touches were being put into place. Oh and I saw Colm Lundberg looking very suspicious over on a couch. Little did I realise how much I'd be getting to see him later on.
Vs PlayTest
The first game I played was a Vs Play Test with Damien McGurrell (Also know as Amazing Dominicons Con Director). He provided me with a JLA Ally decka and I was testing his new Brotherhood Reinforcement deck with it. I was doing well until the 7th turn when alas I got no 7 drop. My 6 drop batman didn't really have a chance and I ended up on -17. Signed up for Colm Lundbergs Ark - the Trilogy game in the moring, I left Damien as he went to the Vs Tournament.
Ark - the Trilogy
An unusual game to begin with, there was four ladies and two gents as PCs (Usually, it's difficult to find a lady at all). I think this is a good sign for the future. The idea of the Trilogy was to play three games with certain common areas and a common main theme. The Trilogy was an all day event. The three systems we played were AD&D (D&D 2nd Ed), Pendragon & In Nomine. The name of the Game should give the main theme away but I won't go into it lest I spoil the adventure for future revelers but I will describe the games.
AD&D
The game was set in Ancient Egypt during the final days before Moses led the slave to freedom accross the red sea. Assembled by Moses himself, the group was asked to sneak into the heart of the main Egyption city to steal valuables to help finance the great escapte from the tyranny of the Egyption (not silons). The loot would be used for many purposes in getting the people to freedom.
This was a good game. From a seemingly straightforward adventure, details got complicated and players become challenged with some hard decisions.
Pendragon
The second game in the Trilogy found us in medieval Jerusalem as Knights or members of religious orders. With a backdrop of inner church politics and general distrust of Islam, We were charged with taking a special role in the forthcoming battle between the crusading forces of christianity and the overwhelming force of Islam under Saladin.
This game was GREAT. Levels of Innocence, Brutishness, Intrigue and Certain Betrayal run well in this game. They say it's hard to make a good sequel but this definitly did the job.
In Nomine
Ah sure, this game was only Godlike. The year is 2050 and mankind is on a path to destruction, but hey that's man for ya! We were Celestials and our minds were more focused on the standing battle for souls. The forces of Lucifer believe they would win the war if a claim could only be made. Archangels Michael and Laurance charge the group with going to earth to seek out the law of God before Infernal forces might warp it to their own use.
This was a high powered game with some excellent Conscience play by the GM Colm. It certainly gives an excellent introduction to In Nomine.
Summary of Ark - the Trilogy
In total, the game took ten to eleven hours to play. This included some very short breaks for the vitals, food and air. We were still playing almost to the end of the pub quiz that night. Fortunatly, we were able to find a quiet corner in which to continue. This enviroment immersed the players in a sense of purpose behind the game, though it was very draining towards the end. Excellent work, great game, Full marks.
Innquizition - The Pub Quiz
I got to the quiz for the last few rounds. It looked like it had been good craic and that's not just because of the priestly appearance of the quizmasters. There was just a good sense of banter going on. The quiz used a side game of battleships between the tables, the questions seemed fairly difficult (cept that M:TG one) but I think everyone was happy by the end of the quiz.
As an aside
I ended up giving the Maynooth people a lift home and got to sit in on an In Nomine game. That's how I ended up with gaming stuff till the early hours!
Sunday
Well, I arrived out early on Sunday. There was a noticable drop in attendance due to the seeming absense of any CCG events. That said though, there was plenty of personalities about and stuff to do.
Played Texas Hold-em Poker
Sorcha (come on here, everyone knows sorcha right?) organised a game of Texas hold-em so I joined in and played two very long games. T'was third and fourth games I'd ever played though so it was alright.
That game where you say the Animal noises.
Another game Sorcha organised called.. erm eh.. woops I've forgotten the name so I'll call it "That game where you say the Animal noises". It's kinda like a board game or a table game.. It's good for a bit of light hearted fun.
Played Expanded Settlers
Then I got into the humour for a bit of Settlers. Well, I roped a few players together and got a good game going. Ah that was fun as It had been a while since I got some wood for sheep.
Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony was well done. As per usual the Vaticon committee members were real personalities and everyone threw stuff at the con director and one attendee even attempted to batter him with a chair. I tell ya, they're gonna get the con director one of these years.
Played Werewolf
After the closing ceremony, we found out that the pub would still be open. A game of Werewolf was mentioned and everyone was enthuastic so I joined in. The game was good fun. It's like a cross between a board game, a table top and larping but more eh.. hmm role playingy (is that a word?). Anyway overall idea is that the players are villagers and scattered amongst them are werewolves. At night the werewolves kill and during the day the villages kill. The turns are directed by the GM. The goal of the game is to be the last man/woman standing. Everyone should try this out once.
Summary of Vaticon 2006
I believe Vaticon 2006 was a reasonable success. I'd say that more CCG events on Sunday could've attracted back some of the attendees from Saturday (course it's been ages since I seriously played CCGs so I might be wrong). Definite high points for myself were the Trilogy Game (a first for me and well done at that) and Werewolf (I don't know if it'd be good al the time but it certainly has a first time appeal!). Well done guys, I look forward to seeing you next year!
|
|
Last Updated ( Sep 18, 2006 at 02:40 PM )
|
