From: Allan Rothberg Subject: 1st NYC Consim Dinner (Formerly PC Expo Dinner) To all and sundry, Well, we pulled it off. Despite my fears that we would fall flat on our faces, 12 local area gamers showed up at Houlihans this evening to drink, dine, and otherwise revel together. I managed to shot a few photos and I'll post them showwhere (John K., Alan P., can I upload them to either or both of your superlative sites?). A few good stories will be circulating around the list from this evening, but I'll leave those others who attended to add those (Thom, that's your cue). Those in attendance were (in no particular order): Allan Rothberg Thom Sobzcak Gary Gonzalez Ted Raicer The lovely Nicole Kolberg The also lovely David Ferris JR Tracy Richard Simon Mike Nagel Brandon Einhorn Carl Fung and Rob Sevlowitz. (forgive any mis-spellings ,but it's your own damn fault for having such lousy handwriting). Many thanks to those who had to travel long distances to get there, but I hope all who attended had as much fun as I did. My one regret is that due to the seating, I didn't have a chance to speak to all of you nearly as much as I wanted to. Several expressed hopes that we could repeat this again, and several future meetings were discussed. (The currently theoretical LICon was also discussed, and it was suggested that we move it to Hoboken on the NJ side, Carl was then volunteered to be the Site Committe, at which point Carl denied knowing who any of us were! Smart man, Carl.) I hope this spawns similiar get togethers in the other regions of the world as well. It was an all around enjoyable evening and was fairly easy to co-ordinate and put together. The PC Expo turned out not to be a factor whatsoever (alright, Mike, mabye it was for you), and there isn't a reason in the world why this couldn't be repeated on an more frequent basis. I will leave you with two questions: 1) What percentage of the attendees wore glasses? and 2) Which attendee spent most of the evening at the bar? (Hee-hee). Allan From: Carl Fung Subject: Re: 1st NYC Consim Dinner (Formerly PC Expo Dinner) On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Allan Rothberg wrote: Ah yes! And what do we do after such a fine affair? Come home and email. Yes, as Rob Sevlowitz put it today, welcome to the wargaming geeks! But I must say it was a gracious affair, albeit we could've gotten in a game or two or even play tested Napoleon at Chattanooga. > Many thanks to those who had to travel long distances to get there, > but I hope all who attended had as much fun as I did. My one regret > is that due to the seating, I didn't have a chance to speak to all of > you nearly as much as I wanted to. Several expressed hopes that we could > repeat this again, and several future meetings were discussed. (The > currently theoretical LICon was also discussed, and it was suggested > that we move it to Hoboken on the NJ side, Carl was then volunteered to > be the Site Committe, at which point Carl denied knowing who any of us > were! Smart man, Carl.) Of course I volunteered, what better to do than take advantage of a drunk college student. And what's this with sticking me with the bill? Hey I'm a college student, aside from the occasional game I'll buy, I'm flat broke... As for the location, I'll see if I can get a auditorium free or something. I'll just tell the dean that a bunch of 40-50 year old transfers are coming in for a in open house and need the space... Hell, the dean won't be able to tell gamers from geeky engineering students anyway. Either that, or all ye shall hold the convention in my dorm room, the ultimate convention center. A spacious 15' X 15' box without air conditioning, who could ask for more? Oh yeah, public facilities available and all the ice you could eat! OK enough stalling, back to studying... > 1) What percentage of the attendees wore glasses? It's staring at all those damn tiny 1/2" counters I tell you! > and 2) Which attendee spent most of the evening at the bar? (Hee-hee). Quote from tonight, "hey, what's that, Consim happy hour? Tequila all around!" From: David Ferris Subject: Re: 1st NYC Consim Dinner (Formerly PC Expo Dinner) Allan Rothberg axed: > I will leave you with two questions: > 1) What percentage of the attendees wore glasses? All but the lovely Nicole, who does wear glasses while driving, and JR, who may or may not be lovely, but who didn't appear to be wearing glasses. > and 2) Which attendee spent most of the evening at the bar? > (Hee-hee). Actually, we don't know. There may have been quite a few people who were looking for the table, but who failed the navigation rolls and were unsuccessful in the recon phase. Nicole and I also had a great time, and we thank everyone for attending. We're looking forward to this proposed LICon, whenever and wherever it takes place. I was going to mention, but kept forgetting, that we are helping to run a con here in Northern New Jersey in early November. It'll be at the Picatinny Arsenal (somewhere around Exit 34 off of I-80) in the Officers' Club, an all-day Saturday thing. It'll be an all-around gaming con open to whatever refs and players want to do (ahem) although it's being put together by PIGS and HOGS, local primarily-boardgame and primarily-miniatures groups respectively, so the con will tend to have more board and miniature wargame events than RPG or cards. Hopefully. Web sites to find out about PIGS, HOGS, and the upcoming convention: http://users.aol.com/ferns1/hogs.htm That's the HOGS homepage (which is in dire need of updating, I need to get cracking) from which you can surf to the PIGS homepage, which is where you'll find info on the con. Several people at the dinner last night asked where they could get Napoleon at Chattanooga. It's freely downloadable from: http://users.aol.com/nrk1 A few people have reported trouble printing the .EPS files (although they seem to work okay for most people) and lots of folks have asked if NaC could be made available in the more convenient (and reliable) .PDF format. So far my attempts at converting the files to .PDF have been unsuccessful. Has anyone out there been able to squeeze the .EPS files into .PDF? Mucho appreciated. Ted Raicer asked about NaC: "Is it playable?" The answer is: "Yes, I think so." It was intended to be playable, and I can't think of any reason it wouldn't be. However, I've never gotten around to trying to play it myself. What's more, I've heard back from lots of people who enjoyed reading the rules, I've never heard from anyone who actually *played* NaC, so I really don't know for sure. If you've played it, please let me know how it went. I'm curious. Most likely, rather than "Is it playable?" the *real* question should be, "Why would anyone want to?" but that's another matter entirely, and I'll let the reader be the judge of that. DLF dferris@research.att.com From: "Thomas E. F. Sobczak, Jr." Subject: Re: 1st NYC Consim Dinner (Formerly PC Expo Dinner) > Well, we pulled it off. Despite my fears that we wouyld fall flat on > our faces, 12 local area gamers showed up at Houlihans this evening to > drink, dine, and otherwise revel together. Eating and drinking under a sign that read "Oddfellows Arms". How apropos. I was surprised at how NORMAL we all looked! Seems like everyone worked out for this ('cept me) and left the stained t-shirts home. ;-) +3 modifier to our next morale die roll. > I managed to shot a few > photos and I'll post them showwhere (John K., Alan P., can I upload them > to either or both of your superlative sites?). A few good stories will > be circulating around the list from this evening, but I'll leave those > others who attended to add those (Thom, that's your cue). Story #1: Games (Nappy at Waterloo and Creature that ate New York) were provided and NOONE played! Come on folks! At least we got to meet each other and put faces to those oh so impersonal e-mail addresses. Next time, we actually punch the counters. I'll take the French and vow to defeat all comers. Anyone who needs the errata for CtaNY can e-mail me. Story #2: We were discussing odd rules verbiage (specifically from SPI's SNIPER!) and came up with a new game. Next get-together, a prize goes to the person who can make Gary G. shoot beer through his nose. This time we came up just a little short. More as I remember them or make them up. > Those in attendance were (in no particular order): > Allan Rothberg > Thom Sobzcak > Gary Gonzalez > Ted Raicer > The lovely Nicole Kolberg > The also lovely David Ferris > JR Tracy > Richard Simon > Mike Nagel > Brandon Einhorn > Carl Fung > and Rob Sevlowitz. > (forgive any mis-spellings ,but it's your own damn fault for having > such lousy handwriting). > Many thanks to those who had to travel long distances to get there, > but I hope all who attended had as much fun as I did. My one regret > is that due to the seating, I didn't have a chance to speak to all of > you nearly as much as I wanted to. Several expressed hopes that we could > repeat this again, and several future meetings were discussed. I, too, had a great time and look forward to doing this again. It was wonderful to talk to Ted Raicer about his designs and upcoming projects. David Ferris gave us the inside story of the making of Napoleon at Chattanooga and it's sequel, Josephine Does Dallas and Glorieta Pass. (David, I must get the History Emporium's number for future research!) I, too regret the seating layout, but, hey, next time. Count me in for the next go'round. > I hope this spawns similiar get togethers in the other regions of the > world as well. It was an all around enjoyable evening and was fairly > easy to co-ordinate and put together. The PC Expo turned out not to be > a factor whatsoever (alright, Mike, mabye it was for you), and there > isn't a reason in the world why this couldn't be repeated on an more > frequent basis. > I will leave you with two questions: > 1) What percentage of the attendees wore glasses? 83.3%. > 2) Which attendee spent most of the evening at the bar? (Hee-hee). Poor Brandon. However, I can now confidently challenge him to any game that contains a significant recon element. Midway, perhaps? Guiness Stout can truly emulate the fog o' war! Bye for now, Thom Sobczak From: "Thomas E. F. Sobczak, Jr." Subject: Re: 1st NYC Consim Dinner (Formerly PC Expo Dinner) > flat broke... As for the location, I'll see if I can get a auditorium > free or something. I'll just tell the dean that a bunch of 40-50 year old > transfers are coming in for a in open house and need the space... Hell, Ooooohhh! Cheeky 21 year-old thinks anyone over 25 is middle-aged! We'll get you for this Carl! (tongue firmly in cheek) > the dean won't be able to tell gamers from geeky engineering students > anyway. Either that, or all ye shall hold the convention in my dorm room, "Geeky"?!? Speaking of which... David Ferris had asked at the dinner what each of us did for a living. Few, if any, responded. I'd like to know myself. So I start: Thom Sobczak Director of Development Information Systems for the American University of Beirut [Lebanon. Really!] (a tech weenie who manages tech weenies and explains to technophobes) David Ferris Network management guru for AT&T Bell Labs (similar tech weenie status) Allan Rothberg Male Dancer the lovely Nicole Attorney Gary Gonzalez in the Garment Industry (Gary, tell us or we'll let our imaginations run wild!) Carl Fung Student Ted Raicer Good enough to make a living designing games (translation: I have no idea) And the rest?!? Thom Richard Simon - 09:27am Jun 21, 1997 PST (#613 of 626) I still miss my Ex but my aim is improving! And now for something completely different: After Action Report - The 1st Annual Consim Dinner, aka The Creatures That Ate at Houlihans A Role Playing Game in which 13 gamers take on the role of normal people. Never having met FtF, the players were asked to locate each other in a bistro, hidden in a major transportation center in a large metropolis. No maps or otherwise distinguishing characteristics were provided to the players. Victory was determined by the players' morale level on the last turn. Play commenced at 5:45 PM on June 19, 1997. The game commenced with a Random Events Die Roll (2d10): (23) "Who Are You Guys, Anyway?" - Restaurant Loses Reservation. David Ferris, masquerading as a miniatures enthusaist, and who was accompanied by his own rules lawyer in the form of his spouse Nicole, took the first turn. Utilizing the Hostess Confusion Modifier, he rolled on the Table Location Chart (1d6) and got a (4): "Bury Them in the Back" Obviously, the hostess knew enough to keep gamers away from the normal customers. Yours truly, posing as a human being (and doing it badly) went second. using my "Good Timing is Everything: card, I was able to tag along with David and Carol as we headed for our quiet (big) table in the back. The remainder of the players, a virtual "Who's Huh?" of gaming (see below), in their turns, approached the dreaded "Table of the Unknown", with a questionning "Consim Table?". Apprised that they had, indeed, reached the Victory Area, and that the residents looked astonishingly lifelike, if overly bespeckled, the smiles broke out. Only one gamer, Brandon Einhorn, failed his Awarenes Check die roll and failed to locate the group on his frist try - He was penalized by spending a half-hour in the Bar Area. This was surprising since, as one wag put it" It's hard to tell a gamer when he's dressed as a normal person and not drooling." :-} Thomas Sobczak, posing as a Misguided Guide and sans threatened scarf and sign, even brought games for everyone to play. We all know that gamers can't gather around a table (even a dinner table) and do anything but roll dice! Ted Racier, masquerading as a game designer, managed to get through much of the evening without talking about WWI, despite his best efforts! :-} The meal itself was somewhat of a random event and kudos go to the waiter for putting up with it all. Judging by the laughs and conversation, it appears that all the players passed their Congeniality Die Rolls. After the last turn, it was found that all the players had their morale level raised sufficiently for an Operational Victory and, with threats of doing it again next year, the participants headed back to their caves. Overall, the game flowed smoothly and, despite the poor random die rolls, there were no arguments over the rules or the victory conditions. The game rated one large Smile and is highly recommended. Participating Mutants were: Brandon Einhorn, David Ferris, Carl Fung, Gary Gonzalez, Nicole Kilberg, Mike Nagel, Ted Racier, Alan Rothberg, Bob Sevlowitz (aka Tom Cruise), Thomas Sobcsak, J.R. Tracy, and yours truly. By the way, the only Errata we could find was not showing up!!!