Reelman's Open House Report

[Reelman]

We arrived in Taylor early Wednesday evening, checked in and headed for Jason Makers for dinner. He and his lovely and gracious wife treated us to chicken parm (my fav), asparagus, and later in the evening brownies. Dinner was a real treat but the highlight was hanging out with the Markers and just visiting. The low light was Mrs. Marker handing everyone their collective butts in a game of Settlers. It would have been a good idea to pay attention to the directions but I was in the throws of a delicious dinner and a healthy share of Makers Mark. It was past one when we got back to the Ramada but that did not stop me from staying up for another hour to try and finish character backgrounds for my 5 games.

Thursday morning Diane and I were off to the Henry Ford Museum. I had not been since I was 10 and recall it being incredible. It did not disappoint, the Presidential limos, the massive trains, the wonderful cars, the giant steam engines, too much to describe but there is something for everyone! Just as we were finishing up and picking up a few gifts for friends in the gift shop when Tony Falzon gave a buzz and said they could still use a few strong backs at the warehouse to help setting up. I hustled over as quickly as I could ready to throw myself into the mix. The warehouse looked awesome, I was not sure what possibly could be left to do besides open the doors and start slinging dice. Citizen Lazlo, the PB staff and volunteers did a great job getting the place ready! A few freelancers and staff were there and the rest of the crew was on the way with another load of stuff. I talked to Nimmy and Subbie (who was kind enough to give me a sneak peak at his B-Day gift to Kevin, a wonderful NEMA Glitterboy with a Rifts standard fighting off the apocalypse drawn by Freddie Williams, awesome stuff, I really need a print) for a few minutes before the rush started. We offloaded a ton or two of comics and got those stored safely. Wayne handed me a staff name tag (an unexpected surprise) and then the tray of staff badges to hand out. The job was more challenging than I thought it would be what with a room full of Jason Richards and only one Jason Richards badge. We milled around for a few minutes, I got to talk to Apocalypse Zero for a few minutes and cornered Carl for a little Hades interrogation. Carmen rolled in a few minutes later and I was so happy to see him I must have shook his hand at least 3 or 4 times. We inhaled some pizza and then went upstairs for a little chat with Kevin. I sat towards the back half worried someone would notice I had unintentionally weaseled my way in and would show me the door at any moment. Kevin went around the room and introduced everyone. He gave a little talk about the future of Palladium and role-playing which Palladium is going to play a huge part in. Updated us on the movie deal, where PB is at with Harmony Gold and Robotech, not to mention a few other irons that are in the fire. As the talk was winding up, Brandon Aten and the east coast crew rolled in and the party was ready to start! We got a preview of Joe’s incredible Dead Boy costume and some insight on all the hard work that went into putting it together, congrats Joe, that is some good stuff. I talked with Carmen a little more, and had a nice talk with Subbie. In my fan boy exuberance I had neglected Diane back at the Ramada, so I hustled back and treated her to a lovely dinner at Denny’s. She should have smacked me around and been ticked off but instead she was working on my character backgrounds.

After a few hours of sleep we arrived at the Star Theatre for the PB screening of Spiderman 3, we should have asked for a group rate as we accounted for ¾ of the attendance at the 11:00 AM show. The movie was not that great but the company made it well worth the price of admission. We grabbed quick lunch of Little Caesars; I miss crazy bread, and back to the Ramada to work on my games. A quick pit stop at Kinkos and off to VIP night we flew. I ran to the gentleman sitting behind the Jason Richards name tent and quickly completed my transaction for 2 “We are all Jason Richards” tee shirts. The nice man handled my transaction with engineer like efficiency but could I be sure this was the real McCoy? Diane and I had a nice talk with Braden Campbell before he was off to entertain the non-VIP folks at the Ramada. I found the table for my VIP night game, dropped off my stuff and got in line for dinner. Kathy really outdid herself, salad (another chance at veggies in a grease and carb filled weekend, woo hoo), deli sandwiches, baked ziti, sauerkraut and sausage, awesome Swedish meatballs and peanut butter brownies, a true feast. We dined with Randi and Roger Cartier and Matthew (sorry I missed your last name). Diane informed me Matthew had asked the now immortalized in T-shirt form question of Kevin “What do you attribute the success of Rifts?” He had a lot of great adventure ideas and we encouraged him to submit some for the PDF adventures PB is planning on selling.

We were whisked upstairs for Kevin’s opening talk. We heard about the movie deal, Robotech, some other opportunities for PB, and the awesome line up of books in the pipeline. Kevin talked about the predictions of the demise of pen and paper role-playing games and how some people in the industry feel that role-playing is dead or dying. Kevin and Palladium (not to mention the people in the room) will not be counted among that number. RPGs may be in a down cycle but that won’t stop Kevin and Palladium from leading the resurgence. There are so many great products on the way, the Hades series, Warpath, a book or two for Chaos earth, BTS2 sourcebooks, some people are working on Nightbane titles and add Robotech to the mix, the future of role-playing and Palladium look brighter than ever! Everyone was fired up after the talk so we went and took up the banner and were off to sling dice.

I ran Beyond the Supernatural 2 “Search and Rescue.” Did I ever have my work cut out for me; I had a table overflowing with great players. Carmen Bellaire, Taylor White, Jeff Ruiz (Nimmy), and Levi Johnstone were all in attendance. Carmen played the FBI agent; Taylor White grabbed the nutty parapsychologist by the horns climbed to new heights and then dove over the edge with his performance (one of many highlights in the game). The guys (sorry, I suck with names) that played the local cop and the park ranger really got into the characters and added the perfect back woods flavor. Levis latent psychic lead the charge and the Psi-Mechanic really shined in the end with his brilliant use of the bend metal power that saved the kidnapped little girl from being stabbed by the possessed college professor, bravo! Everyone seemed to enjoy the game and the Ale-8. Around 12:30 Alex M stopped by to find out if we were planning on spending the night, thankfully we were just wrapping up and heading out. Back at the Ramada, I worked for an hour on my Saturday games and collapsed into bed around 2:30.

A very few hours later, Diane and I were enjoying a hearty breakfast at Bob Evans before heading off to the Open House. I quickly got my Dwarven Forge “Duluth Hive” assembled and covered in card stock before most of my players arrived. During the build, I got to talk to my old friend Kerry (sorry our schedules did not mesh, I missed having you at my table) and Roger and Randi stopped by to check out my Hive setup.

“Just another bug hunt” started nearly on time (my first and last on time start time during the open house). Again I was privileged and challenged by 6 terrific players, we killed some bugs, accomplished the mission, and only a couple of characters fell in the final battle with the queen. After the first game, I quickly reset everything, grabbed a Diet Coke and Wayne drug me off to the GM panel. Not sure what I was doing on a panel with Kevin, Jason Marker, Jason Richards, Carl Gleba and others but I was there none the less. I was able to over come my fan boy amazement and lend a tip or two and a couple of stories but as usual I learned much more than I was able to share. While I was suffering from a bit of fan boy shock, the best part for me was looking out over the assembled group of GMs that were eager to ask questions and improve their craft. It was a delight to see so many people hoping so find some little tidbit or two to add to their home game and help share the love of role-playing with their friends. Before I knew it the time had slipped by and I was off to run my next game. I returned to my table to find 12 players for my 6 player game and I was a few minutes late! I ran up and grabbed the sign up sheet and we found the first 6. I am sorry that I could run you all thru “Just another bug hunt” but it is just too tough with the minis and space, thanks for your interest! The afternoon game was great, I am always amazed how 2 groups can look at the same game and attack it in a different manner. That is one of the things I love most about running games! The afternoon group managed to complete the mission as well and make it out by the skin of their teeth. I quickly switched tables, put on my BTS2 hat and got rolling with “Fresh from the Oven.” By now my voice was starting to show the effects of all that talking, yelling, and crazy voices. I had several return players at my table (I guess all the other games were full) including old friends Wallace and Lord of Bones. They were able to solve the mystery, save the baby and dispatch some of the secondary vampires but the Master Vampire got away. Diane had long ago left the OH and headed to Denny’s with the crew of freelancers. I packed my things, said goodnight to Alex and headed back to the Ramada with a couple of my players. By the time I arrived at Denny’s, the waitress was finished with the freelancer table and I would have no “Moons over my hammie”, oh well I needed sleep anyway and had very little voice left.

Sunday morning came way too soon. We packed up and headed for some Bob Evans. After a plate of blueberry hotcakes, eggs, and lots of coffee we were ready to hit the last day of the open house. Several people came over for a look at the “Duluth Hive” before I packed it up. Kevin seemed to really like the hive and the queen. I was feeling the effects of going all out for several days and wondered what kind of game was to be had that morning. I found some voice and managed to run a good game of “Spiteful Blessings” for 7 outstanding players. The game ran great, the players really kept me on my toes. The true highlight was when the mechanic parried the Bursters flame strike with a fire extinguisher, unbelievable! We rapped up nearly on time and I was off to shop and talk to some of the artists. Sadly I missed Johnnie Z but I did get to talk to Ramon Perez (and have him sign a couple of copies of “Machinations”), Comfort Love, and meet and chat with Mark Dudley. I picked up D-Bees of NA, Machinations of Doom, some books as presents for friends, some stamps and greeting cards, and all the new shirts. Diane was still playing in Jason Markers Heroes game so I chatted with Damian Magecraft about the MAs and other topics.

We managed to gather all the Jason Richards clones together and get a picture. After the picture Diane presented the “real Jason Richards” with a copy of Arzno that all the poser Jason Richards had signed in their own Jason Richards style. I have to give full credit to Diane for this brilliant idea she came up with during VIP night. She purchased a copy of Arzno but was caught in the act by Jason himself who personalized the autograph to Diane, she quickly switched copies with mine (glad I brought it) and went about getting clone signatures. (I will post pictures of the title page with all the signatures as soon as I get a little more caught up.) Talked to Jeff Hanson for a few minutes and told him I “needed” Warpath, he said it was on Kevin’s desk just waiting to move forward, Woo Hoo maybe by Gen Con? A boy can dream. We made the rounds and said our goodbyes to friends new and old, signed MadManMikes book, and finally met SpinachCat. Just as things were winding down and we were saying our goodbyes, Brandon Aten called me and asked if we could pick Taylor up on the way home. His car died outside of Findlay and was stranded, we gladly agreed as we were heading that way. After a little misdirection we picked Taylor up at the Pilot truck stop in Fostoria, OH. I felt so bad for him he was actually glad to see us and spend a 5 hour drive across OH/KY with us, he said it was better than Greyhound but I am not sure. We had some good conversation, a little BK and a long drive. My eyes refused to focus anymore in Florence, KY and Diane took over and got us to Taylor’s house in Louisville. She completed the loop and got us safely back home around 2:30 AM.

Thanks to Kevin, Kathy, Alex, Julius and Wayne for having us into their second homes and giving us such a great weekend. Thanks to all the wonderful players that sat at my table, I hope you had as much fun as I did. Thanks to all the artists and writers who were so open with their time. We fans are so lucky to have a great group of people creating these wonderful worlds for us to play in and for encouraging the fans to join their ranks as freelancers, what other profession and group do you see that openness and dedication? Thanks to all the volunteers, Citizen Lazlo, Becky, Joe, and all the others whose names I forgot or simply don’t know, this awesome weekend would not have been possible without your time and efforts, you guys and gals rock! Thanks to Levi and Diane for working on organizing the sign-up sheets to help all those awesome players get to the tables.

See you all at Open House 2008!

Updated with Photo Goodness -
http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x139/ReelPhotos/Open%20House%202007/

[Reelman]

Robot, thanks for the kind words, glad you had a good time! The mini enviroment is from DwarvenForge.com, the minis were a mix of Palladium minis, others and some kitbashed creations.

[Jason Richards]

The book was a great surprise. Thanks again to you and Diane for that.

[Reelman]

The book was a great surprise. Thanks again to you and Diane for that.

You are so welcome, it was the least we could since you have been such a good sport about the gag that will not die. Diane had a blast getting everyones signature even the ones that had brain lock signing your name.

[Lord_Dalgard]

Chello!

And I was the juicer in the morning game....lol, I ate at Bob Evans for the first time that morning and had the "bowl of Gravy from Hell"!!!! lmao!

Anyway, "Bug Hunt was great and I realy enjoyed myself, as did my wife (who played Tremble).

Later,

Tony

[Warwolf]

I wish I would have made it over to see your hive Reelman.

So, who got to eat the Xiticix eggs?

[Reelman]

I wish I would have made it over to see your hive Reelman.

So, who got to eat the Xiticix eggs?

Warwolf, it was great hanging out with you this year. Check out the pictures on my photo bucket site. Lots of other took pictures, hopefully they will post as well. Everyone was warned not to eat the eggs due to a couple coats of Armory matte finish, too bad my play testers did not get the warning! They did not seem too much worse for wear, but the eggs were extra crunchy!

[Reelman]

Chello!

And I was the juicer in the morning game....lol, I ate at Bob Evans for the first time that morning and had the "bowl of Gravy from Hell"!!!! lmao!

Anyway, "Bug Hunt was great and I realy enjoyed myself, as did my wife (who played Tremble).

Later,

Tony

Both of you guys rocked, glad you had a good time. Not much of a gravy person but I do love the blueberry hot cakes and coffee at Bob Evans!