Tobias blogs

I took the train to LinCon on Sunday planning to stay there for half a day. I had read the folder and didn’t feel like going, but I had promised Kristoffer to organise (and write) his “Salty Crackers” game at LinCon, so I went.

When I arrived, I found out that there was no way of getting a one-day pass at a reduced price. They wanted 300 SEK from me if I wanted to play. However, at three o’clock, the price for staying for the rest of the con was going to be lowered to 200 SEK and I was free to wait with my payment until then. The LinCon rules allow visitors at the con for free, provided they don’t play. And the man behind the counter was quick to tell me — in a slightly threatening tone of voice — that if they “caught me playing”, that would cost me 600 SEK. I replied “What a bunch of nazis you are!”, in a joking tone of voice. I don’t think he realised why.

I mean, man! “Welcome to LinCon. Here are our rules for fining you. Do feel at home.” Phew.

So I wandered around the 90 minutes until the clock struck three. Not playing. Bought some old fanzines from 15 years back from pure nostalgia and talked to people I hadn’t met in years. Very nice. Not playing.

Martin told me that going to LinCon and looking for role-playing games was a mistake. I was ranting a bit over the state of things (as I am accustomed to, at times). I had hoped that someting would be there that surprised me in a good way. But no. That hadn’t happened to the people I talked to who had stayed the whole con either, so maybe it is just not me (and my short stay).

I’d written the “Salty Crackers” game on the train from Stockholm to Linköping very much inspired by the On Stage! model with bidding for a scene etc. that I met in Italy. I’ll post the game here later. The bidding etc. worked great, and a few more rules were added (such as the winner of the bidding sesion having to set an end condition of the scene). Hilarious play, but crappy, as the game was still lacking in a few places (I had two hours on the train — cut me some slack here!). We played until Thorbiörn and I was forced to run to the waiting Taxi to catch the train home.

The train home had an old-fashioned dining cart, where we hung out the entire trip, drinking expensive beer and talking. We have a new game. We have new plans. I’m happy about that.

And, oh, we have a new homepage now. But that’s a different blog post.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under English, Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.