DC Gameday XV

If you're local to the metro DC area, I highly encourage you to check out DC Gameday XV.  DC Gameday happens twice a year in March and October and represents one of my favorite things to do in gaming: play random games that you can't really play without a huge gamer crew.  Oh sure, there will be Pathfinder and D&D games, but you can find one of those anywhere.  I want to use my Gameday to play random ass games.

Games are posted as GMs offer to run them and are listed on the site.  Best of all, because almost all of the games are obscure, GMs tend to offer them as 'come as you are without any system knowledge' games.  So, if you want to try something new, this is totally the place to do it!

It takes place over the weekend of October 25-26.  There are morning and afternoon gaming slots.  Each lasts for four hours.  They also have a big social event on Saturday evening, if you're not being consumed by law school shenanigans like I normally am.  Anyway, registration opens on Friday, October 10 at 8:00 p.m.  And do register at 8:00 p.m.--slots in good games fill up fast.  I was considering offering to GM a 13th Age game, but it looks like someone's already going to do that.  So, I can PLAY 13th Age!!

When I went last spring, I only got to go on Saturday, but got a chance to check out Monsterhearts for the first time and to play a Numenera game in the afternoon.  I'd never played Monsterhearts before--it has easy mechanics and can easily be exported to just about any system.  The system is based on Apocalypse World, but was designed to better explore issues related to sex and different sexuality.  In the classic Monsterhearts setting, you have a turn on mechanic that means that another character may be able to sexually excite your character--even if you don't want them to!  The game we played was loosely based upon the movie Casablanca.  I even got to play a fantastic piano player--who has supernatural powers derived from a deal he made with the devil.

Apocalypse World is a tremendously flexible system.  In fact, there's a Kickstarter closing TODAY called the Spirit of '77 that's also based on it.  What's the Spirit of '77 you ask?  "Spirit of 77 is a role-playing game based on 70’s pop culture – glam music, grindhouse action films, kung-fu, weird science and revved up race-cars on lone highways, outracing Smokey and the Man!"  So, basically it's awesome.  And, the website has a preview adventure posted: The Cruise Ship of the Damned.  They've also taken the time to create a soundtrack of rockin' 70s tunes on Spotify that are supposed to go well with the game.  Perhaps I will offer to GM that one!