Phenomenon is over for another year, and it’s back to reality once again. Booooo! 11 sessions in total, and I was running for all of them I think it’s my first time being fully booked at a convention. As always, massive thanks go out to my players, the con orgs and my play-testers. You’re all worth your weight in gold. By the end, I was, I think, 2 players short of fully booked, a feat which is both incredibly flattering and utterly terrifying. Despite the terror, it’s been a good few days for my ego, with numerous compliments flowing my way afterwards, one saying my game last year inspired his game this year, to say nothing of hearing one guy had adapted and re-run one of my old ones for his home group, so the legend of Tarrasque lives on. My throat has mostly recovered from all the talking, shouting and laughing (A couple of other GM’s briefly lost there’s) and a massive chunk of today has been spent napping to recuperate. The older I get, the more time I need. So, how did it go, I hear you ask?

It was a joy. There’s the usual first couple of session nerves, and the last session exhaustion and insanity. I had one person say in future they’d try to book my last session and I’m choosing to take that as a compliment. First session there was stress, as I realized I’d forgotten to print the stat sheets, Fortunately I still had the playtest versions with me, so with some addition the stopgap solution worked and an early morning Officeworks visit fixed it. They’re a godsend. The two late Sunday sessions left me with a bad dose of ‘can’t sleep, too anxious’ which is never a fun situation. I don’t think anything went particularly wrong in them, though a couple of sessions did go long. Poor time management, too much anecdoting and not moving things forward owing to players having fun are long term problems of my GMing. There was a wonderful moment where a long term player gently reminded me of my knack for over-anecdotes, and if you’re reading this, I really appreciate the tact of it. Also, it could have been finding that Niece, Age 15, chose the femme fatale character in her session not realizing that when I said her partners have a tendency towards accidents, I meant that she arranges them. Whoops. She did really well, but as it was my first time running for her there was a little extra nerves. The event itself was an experiment at running something a bit darker, with some more depth than my usual fare. Now, while I threw out most of that tone about 1.3 seconds in, it was still there in the characters, and a few players jumped in and worked with it, some incredibly well.

Don’t get me wrong, the ones who didn’t did nothing wrong. However the player reads the sheet and forms an interpretation of the character, that’s fine by me. There wasn’t any sort of “I don’t think the character would do that’ thing. I’ve not had that at Pheno, short of the guy who made a Holocaust reference during a Tarrasque session. For the life of me, I can’t remember who it was, but it was gratifying to see the rest of the table immediately join me in shutting it down, and he didn’t try to bring it up again. It’s a collaborative experience, between player and GM, and that variety is one of the joys of it. Half the reason I keep coming back is the variety, of seeing what each group does, where they take things. You can run an adventure 10 times, for 10 different groups and get 10 different solutions to the problem. The adrenaline hit when that ‘they want to do what?’ moment kicks in, it’s a hell of a thing.

Some sessions had less dice rolling than normal, with the last few mostly being descriptive and the dice kept for the really important stuff. I attempted, on the advice of my playtesters, a flashback mechanic, which sometime worked. There was even one guy who was familiar with the system, which was a first. Being fully booked is shattering, but the feeling of being in demand is wonderful. The sense of ‘all these people want to experience what I’ve written’, no matter how many I run, I still get butterflies in the stomach. I’ve talked about having a co-GM for tabletops so I can have a rest or run a few more sessions, but it doesn’t feel right for me. This may sound arrogant, but I feel that a large part of my event’s popularity is my GM style, and while I’m sure other GM’s could do a wonderful job at it, certainly with more intensity and rules knowledge, it wouldn’t be me. I’ve heard talk of GM’s running each others games, or all writing games based on a single blurb and seeing how things go. Hell, I’ve contemplated “Gav’s con game roulette”, where the players show up and a random con game of mine is chosen. Prize giving was, as always, a nightmare. Everyone was deserving of an award, and I do try to give at least 2 each con to people I’ve not run for before. Encouraging newbies is a good thing.

Selected highlights and quotes follow:
The prison break where three people all claimed to be the lover of one very unsuspecting prisoner.
The session where the Cardinal wasn’t played by Tim Curry, but Tom Baker. “You’ve performed a wonderful service for Galli-France.” To say nothing of “Consider it done, and I didn’t even need the sonic screwdriver!”
Commenting how the prisoner has been worked over to an extent the NSW Police Force would think excessive. Yes, I did re-watch Blue Murder recently, and yes, I wasn’t proud of that line.
The use of the phrase “Upside down Miss Jane” in an incredibly unsettling accent, which prompted my response “It puts the squiggle in the basket or it get’s the hose again.”
The last session who engaged with my internal logic of the game being a low budget 1970’s BBC show like no other. I returned from a toilet break to find them explaining the actors had a tea break, not to mention the grumbling about other actors getting better fitted costumes and how they should have read their contracts.
Each session having at least 1 George Takei cameo, with him in perfect renaissance garb commenting “Oh my…”. I don’t recall why it started, but by session 2 it became a challenge to work it in.
Bardcore versions of Yackety Sax, Eye of the Tiger and Hot For Teacher.

“Storming the Bastille sounds like a dangerous idea.”
“I dunno, it sounded revolutionary”

“The voice over says The Cardinal’s boys are in a fine mess.”
“Well, the tricolour is painted on the roof of the carriage, the General De-Gaulle…”

“Caught on fire.”
“Cordon bleu!”

“There’s butter in every room.’
“Well, we are in Paris and it could be the last tango.”

“It is a wonderful day in the Bastille and you are a terrible poltergoost.”

“I lost my liver in a poker game to Oliver Reed.”

“The best way in is going to be as a prisoner. Any volunteers?”
‘Alright, I’ll be the prisoner.” *punches the Guard in the face*
‘I’m not wearing that uniform, fuck it I’ll punch him too!”

“I’m gonna take him out the washerwoman exit.’
‘I’ve not heard it called that before…”

“French maids outfit, French maids outfit, German maids outfit.”
“I’VE COME TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM. JAH VUHL!”

“That’s what you can’t read it, it’s in Comic Sans.”

“Still, life could always be worse. We could be English!” *loudly spits*

*A purse of coins has just been retrieved from a prison wallet* “That’s the shittiest business deal in history.”

More quotes will no doubt follow, as the document was extensive. I’m having ideas for next year, but none of them are at a working stage yet. Mostly they seem to be freeforms, as I’d love to get a chance to play (and nap) again. I’ve an idea for another Babylon 5 one, and am kicking round ideas for one set in the ‘Cold War spies, but with magic’ idea I had a while back. I still haven’t had a game where I can wear the wand holster I own, and I may have to write the damn thing myself in order to. Based on the post con chatter, there’s a lot of freeforms being planned. Who knows, there’s plenty of time to decide.

Time for bed. Good night. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning. Be seeing you.