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Who's Yer Con 2016, Apr 1-3,

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arenson9
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Who's Yer Con 2016, Apr 1-3,

We had a successful Sentinel Tactics tournament laster year for Who's Yer Con 2015, and are beginning to think about what we'll do for 2016.

 

Who wants to help? I'm looking for people who are willing to demo the game, judge tournament games, and/or invite people to try out a demo or the tournament.

 

Last year we had enough players for three four person teams and ran a single-elimination tournament. We had some fun prizes, including painted minis donated by GtG, and unpainted minis and other games donated by Russ and me. Russ and I ran demos on Friday night and Saturday morning, then ran the tournament Sat afternoon and evening.

 

Things I'd like to improve upon and new challenges:

  1. Russ and I were exhausted. We could use more help.
  2. Our space for the tournament was pretty good, but only by accident. I want to make sure we get all the tables and space we need.
  3. We were off in a low-traffic corner, which had its advantages, but proved poor for attracting people to demos. There was a jam-packed free-play area and I'd love to get some demo games going there.
  4. By next April, the next core and expansion games will be out. How will having so many more characters change what we want to do?

 

Given the above, and after some brief discussions with others, here's my current vision (though it's open to debate):

  1. We will run demos both in the assigned table area, and also in the free-play area. Demos will be skirmishes.
  2. We will plan on a four team, single elimination tournament. This is simply three games -- two first round games and then the winners play a championship game.
  3. Demos will again be Fri night and Sat morning. The entire tournament will again be on Sat.
  4. The tournament will include the new characters.
  5. We need at least four volunteers to make this successful

 

Who's Yer Con

http://whosyergamers.org/wyc.php

 

Some details

  1. Splitting up our volunteers between the free-play area and the assigned tables is annoying. It makes it harder to help each other out and simply to hang out and have fun working together. Communication/coordination/timing has to deal with being far apart. Materials can't be as easily shared. Still, we can't run the tournament in the free play area, but the free play area is where the vast majority of potential players are, so I see no viable alternative to being in both places. If we really can't get enough volunteers to make being in both places doable, than we could fall back to what we did last year and just be in the assigned tables area, but I hope it doesn't come to that.
  2. I think demos as skirmishes, rather than scenarios, is best, because that's what the tournament will be and people should know what they're getting into with the tournament. Scenarios are tempting because they're a bit more accessible (I think) and because it's straightforward for a single demoer to teach 1-4 new players the game by controlling the entire villain side. Still, so many of the scenarios aren't really about actually trying to incapacitate others, and I think there are viable techniques for running demos for fewer players, so it seems like the best choice to demo skirmishes rather than scenarios.
  3. Four team, single elimination tournament can accommodate up to twelve players and requires no more than two simultaneous tables and two simultaneous judges.
  4. If we get less than twelve players, we can make teams out of fewer people if necessary (or even just have two teams if we get down to six).
  5. If we have _more_ than twelve players, then I might call an audible and find a way to accommodate them. Up to two more teams can be accommodated by adding an extra round, but not needing more tables and judges. For six or eight total teams we'll need either another timeslot or one or two more judges and one or two more tables. I'm not too worred about tables, as I expect that we'll be using some tables to set up characters and those can be cleared off in a pinch. Not as sanguine about having the judges we need, but it's possible.
  6. Including the new characters will pose a logistical challenge in terms of how to display/prep all those characters for people to choose from, but I assume we'll find a way.
  7. It's a bit daunting to have _SO_ many characters to choose from, but I think that it would suck to _NOT_ include either the older or the new characters. People like the older characters and are excited for the new ones. Besides, I think most of the people who will be the most daunted by all the new characters are actually the people who know the game better. People who are brand new to the game are already picking mostly blindly. If someone likes the game well enough to know the characters well, I figure they're more likely to be excited by all the new characters then put off by them.
  8. Given so many characters, I'm leaning towards having multiple bans per team. This may be unnecessary, given the relatively nascent meta knowledge most people with have of the characters, and thus be more annoying than interesting. I'll need to think more about this and particularly welcome opinions about this.
  9. Minimum four volunteers: A demoer and a wrangler in both the free-play area and at our allocated tables. ideally all four would be able to demo, so they can give each other breaks. We could probably use plenty more people to run extra games in the free-play area, help wrangle more players, run errands/grab food, allow people to work in shifts.
  10. It would be nice to identify in advance booths in the exhibit hall area that are selling the game.
  11. I'd like to not only have a few handouts to advertise the Indianapolis Sentinel Tactics league, but have a QR code that people can scan to take them to the Facebook page.

Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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Like I said yesterday, I'm definitely interested, but occasionally need to travel for work. I expect to be free that weekend, though.

In related news, I just learned that there's a Facebook page for the Indianapolis Sentinel Tactics group.

arenson9
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We have decided to definitely host a Sentinel Tactics tournament at Who's Yer Con.

 

I know the first message above was a wall of text, so a simpler question:

  • Who's interested in helping and/or playing?

 

 


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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I'm helping!

(Really wanted to say "I'm participating!", but it was too ambiguous to answer the direct question. wink)


"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal

Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)

arenson9
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I've submitted games:

  • One hour demos: Fri 7,8,9pm; Sat 10,11am
  • Tournament: 1-3pm; 3-5pm; 5-7pm. I doubt we'll need the third time slot.

 

If you'd like to register in advance, you can register for the con and (eventually) register for events at: http://whosyergamers.org/

 

Who's Yer Con is a free con, though they will ask if you want to become a member of Who's Yer Gamers for $25.


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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While I'm not available for running demos/tournament, I will be at WhosYerCon to demo my own game, Cold Steel Wardens: Roleplaying in the Iron Age of Comics.

Actually, for that matter, I'll be in mid-Kickstarter for the follow-up book, CSW: Rogues Gallery.

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I'm in!


Australian living in Toronto. I make a lot of games. http://about.peterchayward.com

arenson9
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I'm very pleased to announce some exciting news for the Who's Yer Con tournament:

 

* Painted minis grand prize! In addition to a number of sets of unpainted miniatures that have been donated by Rabit, Donner, and Spiff, Greater Than Games has donated a set of painted miniatures as the grand prize

 

* As you can see in the post above, we will be joined by Peter Hayward as one of our judges. For those of you who don't know, besides being a very cool guy, Peter is also the organizer of the Australian Sentinel Tactics tournament, and has been organizing the playtesting on the next wave of Sentinel Tactics products.


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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Andy - 

let me figure out if the kids are with my ex or with me that weekend. If I'm single, I'll come demo/run the card game for (some of)  Saturday.

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See all you guys there


When the dust clears.... there is only Bunker

arenson9
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jffdougan wrote:

Andy - let me figure out if the kids are with my ex or with me that weekend. If I'm single, I'll come demo/run the card game for (some of)  Saturday.

Awesome!


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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Kiric wrote:

See all you guys there

 

You are a person of inestimable quality!


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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arenson9 wrote:

 

jffdougan wrote:
Andy - let me figure out if the kids are with my ex or with me that weekend. If I'm single, I'll come demo/run the card game for (some of)  Saturday.

 

Awesome!

Will it matter if I don't know until a week or so before? Misaligning spring breaks are messing with my ability to predict.

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jffdougan wrote:

 

arenson9 wrote:
 jffdougan wrote:
Andy - let me figure out if the kids are with my ex or with me that weekend. If I'm single, I'll come demo/run the card game for (some of)  Saturday. 

 

Awesome!

Will it matter if I don't know until a week or so before? Misaligning spring breaks are messing with my ability to predict.

 

It means we'll build a schedule that doesn't rely on you, and then slot you in where it makes sense. Perhaps we'll try to run extra games, or you'll be able to give someone else a break for a while.


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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Worst case scenario? You can enter the tournament!


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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Event reg is up for Who's Yer Con

 

http://whosyergamers.org/wyc.php

 

 

Tournament starts Sat at 1pm. Grand prize is a set of painted minis, including the core game, the expansion, and the minions.


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

arenson9
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arenson9 wrote:

Event reg is up for Who's Yer Con 

http://whosyergamers.org/wyc.php  

Tournament starts Sat at 1pm. Grand prize is a set of painted minis, including the core game, the expansion, and the minions.

 

You can just come by at 1pm and probably find a spot in the tournament, BUT think about how happy you'd make me if you preregistered.

 

ALSO, I can confirm that along with the grand prize of a set of painted minis (courtesy of GTGs), there will also be a complete set of unpainted miniatures and a couple other sets of unpainted minions (courtesy of awesome forumites Rabit, Spiff, and Donner). We will also likely have some other prizes to share.

 


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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arenson9 wrote:

We will also likely have some other prizes to share.

Including some SotM variant cards...


"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal

Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)

arenson9
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Rabit wrote:

 

arenson9 wrote:
We will also likely have some other prizes to share.

 

Including some SotM variant cards...

Which I totally would have mentioned! If only I'd remembered!


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

Rabit
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No stress. We're here to support each other! smiley

(Feel free to update your post and delete these. It's your power; you must use it. wink)


"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal

Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)

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Andy -

I'm currently about 90% confident that I should be able to do a day trip on  Saturday to help out with card game demos. If somebody wants to offer me a place to crash overnight, I could possibly even arrive on Friday night around 7:00 or so Indy time, but I figure that's pushing it.

arenson9
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jffdougan wrote:

Andy -I'm currently about 90% confident that I should be able to do a day trip on  Saturday to help out with card game demos. If somebody wants to offer me a place to crash overnight, I could possibly even arrive on Friday night around 7:00 or so Indy time, but I figure that's pushing it.

 

Cool. Please send me an email:


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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arenson9 wrote:

 

jffdougan wrote:
Andy -I'm currently about 90% confident that I should be able to do a day trip on  Saturday to help out with card game demos. If somebody wants to offer me a place to crash overnight, I could possibly even arrive on Friday night around 7:00 or so Indy time, but I figure that's pushing it.

 

 Cool. Please send me an email: arenson@spatzel.net

Done.

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Who's Yer Con is Friday! Tournament is Saturday at 1pm! Anyone here planning to play in the tournament?


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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I ran five demos today. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and a few people were really enthused. I'm a bit optimistic that we'll get at least enough players tomorrow for four teams. Russ also ran at least a couple games (as well as some games of SotM) and Ian ran at least one earlier in the day before the rest of us arrived. Peter got in late and was almost immediately recognized as the person running the Scuttle Kickstarter! At which point he whipped out a copy of the game to play with a couple of people.

 

Tomorrow we'll be running demos by 10am in two spaces -- our designated tables (GP-19-22) and the free play area. A little bit more time to try to encourage some more people to join the tournament. 

 

Tournament starts at 1pm. I saw four of the six people who were in ast year's finals today, and one of the other two has moved to FL.

 

The tournament has 'Player Wanted' signs to put on tables. Most are just generic, but a few are 'personalized' to particular, often played games. One of the people who was in on the con decision making is a huge fan of SoTM, so there are a few that specifically mention SotM. Super fun to see that!


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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We had a good tournament yesterday. Not as many participants as I would have liked (9), but still plenty to have a ton of fun. We had some people come by later looking to join the tournament, so maybe we could have done more to be clear about the start time.

 

It was great having so many people helping. In the morning we had enough people to have demo games going in both the free play area and at our assigned tables while having others to help find new players, etc. While Peter and I judged matches we regularly had two Tactics games being demoed by Russ and Ian while Jeff had gone off to the free play area to run a demo of Sentinels. Ian's 3D  buildings (modified from Spiff's and available on Spiff's site) were a great draw -- really caught the attention of people walking by.

 

Our tournament map was the same as the one from the initial tournament in St. Louis (and last year's Who's Yer Con), with the addition of an additional volcano tile closer to the starting hexes. Our nine players sorted into four teams. The first round saw a runaway victory by Not in the Face, Not in the Face using the Dawn/Truth strategy to devastating effect, while the other first round match was a close fought battle, won by team JT.

 

For time constraints, the tournament was single elimination, but we gave the two remaining teams an option of single elimination or best two of three for the finals and they elected for best two of three. The finals ended up going to three games, all of them close, but Not in the Face, Not in the Face pulled out the win, coming back from a close loss in the first game to take both game 2 and game 3.

 

Game stats:

  • Round 1, Match A: Spoon vs. JT
  • Bans: Legacy, Omnitron (JT)
  • Picks: Dawn, Operative, Bunker (JT) vs. Absolute Zero, Wraith, Tachyon; JT won 3-2

 

  • Round 1, Match B: Not in the Face, Not in the Face vs Obliveon
  • Bans: Blade, Bunker (Obliveon)
  • Picks: Ra, Proletariat, Legacy (Obliveon) vs. Dawn, Wraith, Operative; NiF,NiF won 3-0

 

  • Finals Game 1: NiF, NiF vs JT
  • Bans: Dawn, Omnitron (JT)
  • Picks: Bunker, Unity, Legacy (JT) vs Blade, Ambuscade, Wraith; JT won 2-2 on health

 

  • Finals Game 2: JT vs NiF, NiF
  • Bans: Blade, Bunker (NiF,NiF)
  • Picks: Dawn, Legacy, Tachyon vs Omnitron, Beacon, Wraith; NiF,NiF won 3-1

 

  • Finals Game 3: JT vs NiF, NiF
  • Bans: Dawn, Blade (NiF,NiF)
  • Picks: Legacy, Bunker, Ra vs Beacon, Omnitron, Wraith; NiF,NiF won 3-2

 


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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More stats:

 

Number of games each characters was banned/picked in:

Dawn, Legacy, Wraith, Bunker (5)

Blade, Omnitron (4)

Tachyon, Ra, Beacon, Operative (2)

Absolute Zero, Unity, Ambuscade, Proletariat (1)

Visionary (0)


Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel

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I talked a little bit about my experience running the SotM demo game with Andy, Ian, Russ, and Peter over the course of the day afterward, but I'm still not comfortable with how I handled a couple of things and am still trying to figure out what I might have been able to do differently.

Background: The people for whom I was running the demo game were a family, two parents and a girl who was probably in her early teens. The kid was in a furry costume for much of my interaction with her, which initially made judging her age difficult. The father said something that suggested 12, but after she had pulled the head off later on, I still think my instinct of 13 might be closer to right. The parents expressed some interest in learning, so I grabbed my big bag of SotM and we went looking for a place to play. (Eventually, we ended up in the same room as where Platinum Warlock was running a CSW game. PW, I know that you were busy with your own game, but if anything jumped out to you, let me know.)

Game scenario: Baron Blade (because training game) vs Legacy (me), Tachyon (kid), Wraith (mom), and Bunker (dad) in Ruins of Atlantis (their choice).

As we got into the game, it became clear that the teen wasn't entirely focused. I think that some of that was being hot under her furry suit, but it later also seemed that some of was connected to her being overtired and some was that she was a video gamer at heart. (I did subsequently make a point of trying to plug Sentinels Digital afterward.) OK, I can deal with that - I deal with partially/dis engaged teens in my day job all the time. When I run teaching games, even for my 5th grader & his friend, I have two things I consistently do in service of keeping their immersion and agency. One is that during a player's turn, I'll prompt them along the lines of "Tachyon, you get to play a card. Tachyon, you can use one power now. Tachyon, draw a card."   The other is that, if asked for suggestions, I will try to explain clearly what options exist, sometimes identifying that these are what I think are the best two or three options of more than that, but ultimately leave the final decision up to the player.

One thing that bugged me, and that I didn't feel like I had a way to intervene more directly, was that the dad kept pressuring the daughter to pull her furry head off. He kept arguing it from the perspective of making it easier for to interact with the rest of us, but despite some of his behavior in the public area of the con, I couldn't shake the feeling that part of why he was going it was because he wasn't comfortable with her identity. The best I could do there was just to say things like, "I'm not having trouble hearing her."  It felt like any more direct intervention would have been interfering in a family dynamic that I had no place interfering in.

The other thing that happened was that about 1/3 of the way into the game, we had somebody come  by and start to watch what was happening. That's not an issue - we're at a con; we should expect to have an audience. He started to offer "help" - also something to expect. However, the help he was offering was much more in the vein of "you want to do this" than "these are your options and what will happen if you pick each."  Shortly after he had come over was when it became really clear the teen was having a hard time focusing on what we were doing, and so I didn't directly ask him to let me handle teaching the game. But, despite my saying at least twice that I was trying to do this, rather than what he was doing, he didn't take the hint and continued to try to quarterback the rookies' turns. I suppose I could have asked him to leave, but as I didn't think we was engaging in behavior that rose to the level of "alert con security," I wasn't comfortable doing that, either.

The game ended in a victory, and the parents definitely thought they had a neighbor who would love it. The dad was interested in playing again sometime, as he was starting to see how the pieces came together (getting a 20-point Omnicannon shot off probably helped); the teen might come around to it via the app eventually. (Earlier in the day, I also helped use the app to teach a father/son who were waiting for somebody else in the family to finish something else. He came by and thanked me later - I think he had a really good time with it.)

I think I'm especially sensitive about this right now in part because I just finished reading a long, and depressing, piece about how tabletop gamer culture has a major problem with harrassment, racism, and rape culture. (I agree with much of said article.)  I've also got a daughter in kindergarten who is one of my main gaming partners, when she & her brother aren't busy fighting about who gets to play Minecraft.

 

tl;dr - introduced two families to SotM card game, one via app & one via physical game. Had issues with how dad interacted with daughter over furry outfit wherein I wasn't comfortable with interaction but was more uncomfortable with intervening. Also had issues with a passerby "helping" (almost?) to the point of taking over at least two of the new players' turns. Maybe should have asked him to leave & let me teach the game, but didn't.

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I love that you're thinking about these issues, Jeff. It looks like you handled it as well as you could in the moment. It's hard to work up the courage to ask someone (like that onlooker) to leave, but sometime it's necessary.

At GenCon last year, I had some issues with family dynamics as well: a family had signed up for a Villains demo, and the father (or grandfather?) was just clearly not as involved as the others. But it was less globally problematic, due to gender and age.

jffdougan wrote:
I think I'm especially sensitive about this right now in part because I just finished reading a long, and depressing, piece about how tabletop gamer culture has a major problem with harrassment, racism, and rape culture. (I agree with much of said article.)
I also read that article! Like you said, long and depressing.
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Well, there's a family I know who has a pair of kids in the same grades as The Grasshopper (5th) and The Munchkin (K). Gender-reverse their kids and mine to get matching ages.  The dad in that family is a lifelong hobby gamer; the mom can take or leave - about like my situation was before my separation (divorce not yet final).

The older kid in the other family had decided pretty early into my knowing her that her dad's kind of games were a boy thing. I've been really conscious to try to make sure that The Munchkin gets messages saying that this is an OK thing for girls to do. 

PlatinumWarlock
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jffdougan wrote:

*snip*

Sorry I couldn't chat more, brother!  I ran something like 10-12 hours of CSW that day, plus more on Sunday...

It looked like you were doing a solid job, all told.  Your explanations seemed pretty thorough and I didn't overhear anything particularly egregious.  

I think part of the issue with the furry-kid comes in terms of eye contact.  The kid's facemask prevented pretty much all actual eye contact, which makes getting a read on them particularly difficult.  Are they paying attention?  Are they engaged?  Can't read their face or their eyes, which can make things difficult.  I'm in agreement that 'gamer culture' definitely has an issue in terms of inclusion--women, minorities, and LGBT persons, specifically--but none of those descriptors provide a physical inhibitor to person-to-person communication.  While Dad might not have been happy or understood his kid as a furry, airing his grievances at the game table wasn't the answer.  But, at the same time, I don't think it's an unreasonable request to take off a full head-covering when it actively inhibits you from learning a game you're not familiar with.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the "quarterbacking" player in my passive-perception.  Maybe actually offer him a seat next time and let him play?  At least then, you could corral the quarterbacking?  I've found that Sentinels isn't too hard to drop in a player midway through, under normal circumstances....just shave off a few hit points and start them with a random card or two in play.

jffdougan
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PlatinumWarlock wrote:

 

jffdougan wrote:
*snip*

 

Sorry I couldn't chat more, brother!  I ran something like 10-12 hours of CSW that day, plus more on Sunday...It looked like you were doing a solid job, all told.  Your explanations seemed pretty thorough and I didn't overhear anything particularly egregious.  I think part of the issue with the furry-kid comes in terms of eye contact.  The kid's facemask prevented pretty much all actual eye contact, which makes getting a read on them particularly difficult.  Are they paying attention?  Are they engaged?  Can't read their face or their eyes, which can make things difficult.  I'm in agreement that 'gamer culture' definitely has an issue in terms of inclusion--women, minorities, and LGBT persons, specifically--but none of those descriptors provide a physical inhibitor to person-to-person communication.  While Dad might not have been happy or understood his kid as a furry, airing his grievances at the game table wasn't the answer.  But, at the same time, I don't think it's an unreasonable request to take off a full head-covering when it actively inhibits you from learning a game you're not familiar with.

He was definitely harping on the ability to interact as his stated reasoning, and that I got. Out near the Tactics Tournament, he'd seemed to get her being different and be OK with it, which I think is part of what threw me for a loop once he started trying to get her to show her human self.

PlatinumWarlock wrote:

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the "quarterbacking" player in my passive-perception.  Maybe actually offer him a seat next time and let him play?  At least then, you could corral the quarterbacking?  I've found that Sentinels isn't too hard to drop in a player midway through, under normal circumstances....just shave off a few hit points and start them with a random card or two in play.

At this point, I think I've got my explanations pretty solid. I've run Sentinels for The Grasshopper & some of his friends on more than one occasion, so I've had a lot of practice at ironing out how to set up the game & get people going & focused. (Keeping five 3rd-graders, 4 of whom don't know the game, focused at the same time was a challenge! Fortunately, they're a bit older now.)

I don't have a lot of experience with dropping somebody in partway through a game, but I'll keep that solution in mind. The guy in question was the one who was standing next to the table for most of the game, and I'm not surprised your passive perception didn't pick up that was what he was doing, since your primary job was to make sure the people playing CSW were having a good time.