Having played Dungeon World, Lady Blackbird, Hollowpoint, and the Tower of Gygax, I was a happy convention goer. On Sunday, we went again through the exhibitors’ hall, hoping to score some good deals. We did pick up a few boardgames for dirt cheap.
The highlight however, was Jenny saying “We should go to Games on Demand and see about playing another game.” Almost reluctantly, I followed. In my head, I think I was wrapping up this year’s GenCon.
We purchased two more generic tickets for the 12pm to 2pm slot. As it turns out, the creator of Bulldogs!, Brennan Taylor, was going to run an adventure. Immediately, my spirits perked up. There would be one last hurrah!
Brennan ran his Jaws of the Barracado scenario. The scenario was kicked off by with the captain accepting a package that needed to be delivered to a pirate planet…no questions asked.
I’ll skip the scenario details, as I’d rather people play the game than listen to my recounting of the plot. Instead, I’ll focus on our tables interaction.
Excluding Brennan, we had 6 players at the table. Two of us had read Bulldogs!, 2 of us had played a Fate game, one of us was a regular role-player, and one of us was a new role-player. Brennan did an amazing job of providing help and insight for the newer players. He was patient, and I believe did a great job explaining the rules as they came up.
Brennan explained that each of the characters had signed three years of their life away to embark on dangerous cargo deliveries. Clearly we were a flying hive of scum and villainy.
The table ended up choosing their characters, and I grabbed Gloop, a Tetsuashan systems expert. The Tetsuashan are a small, slug-like race with the following racial aspects:
Begin OPEN GAME CONTENT
Aspects:
- Short of Statur, Strong of Will
- Slug-Like Form
- Space is Home
- Omnipresent
- Fearless
- Inscrutable
Stunts:
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Slime Trail - Can walk on walls
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Squish - Can squeeze body to extremely small size
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Resilient - recover consequences faster; once per scene may clear away one minor consequence
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Regenerative Power - can regrow lost limbs
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Poisoned by Salt - salt inflicts extra stress
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Reduced Speed - Movement costs more
Having practiced lots of Dr. Zoidberg impersonations, I opted to use a modified Zoidberg voice for Gloop. I also decided he was somewhat petty and a real schemer.
Being the systems expert, Gloop kept the ship warm and humid, much to the chagrin of Prbrawl, a Ryjyllian pilot; The Ryjyllians come from an ice planet.
Gloop reprogrammed the medical robot to be a better meat shield than a doctor and systems expert; After all, having regenerative powers, Gloop didn’t really need a doctor. And if Gloop wasn’t head and shoulders the best at systems, they might replace him.
The interaction with the other players was fantastic. Prbrawl, the pilot, was played as a brown nosing second in command to the drunken captain. This created a wonderful moments, as each of the crew worked to undermine Prbrawl’s self-appointed authority.
By far, this game was my favorite one that I played at Games on Demand. Brennan gently prodded the adventure along. More importantly, he wisely yielded narrative control to the players our group, as we were clearly enjoying establishing our characters and the relations to other characters, and playing a day in the life of our disfunctional ship.