Part one of Saturday Night 78 ended with quite a cliffhanger…
…so here's part two!
If you're intrigued by Fiasco, I highly encourage you to get a couple of friends together and play it at your next game night. And if you want to give the Saturday Night 78 playset a go, you can download it from Bullypulpit.
Also, if you've played Fiasco and want to give another non-traditional RPG that focuses on storytelling a try, pick up my friend Paul's game A Penny For My Thoughts.
This comes to us from my son, Ryan Wheaton. Click it to embiggen:
Footnote: If there was any question that love — not biology — makes a family, look no further than my son's delightfully twisted sense of humor, which I think I helped foster.
I've been seeing lots of messages on Twitter and Facebook from people who are really excited to come see me tell stories and perform at the upcoming Denver Comicon. I love it that so many people are excited to see me do my thing… and I feel terrible that I have to cancel my attendance this year.
I am under an NDA, so I can't disclose exactly why at the moment, but I got an absolutely AMAZING job that conflicts with the convention, and there just wasn't a way to make the schedules work out.
I don't cancel convention appearances lightly, because I know how disappointing it is for the people who are attending. I assure you that this isn't a ploy to win a game of Mystic Warlords of Ka'a, or even a bowling match… this is just something that happens from time to time when someone like me is lucky enough to land a dream job that conflicts with a planned trip out of town.
I'm really sorry, and I hope you still have a great time at the con. Hopefully, I'll be able to be there next year.
So io9 did this thing called the 10 Suckiest Fake Video Games That People Play In Science Fiction. Spoiler Alert: The Game from, uh, The Game is number one.
1) Suckdisk from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Actually, we don’t remember this game having an actual name on the show, but “suckdisk” feels like a good name for it. The object of the game is to suck a disk into a tentacle with a mouth. That’s it. And it’s not even a game of skill – you win by “letting it happen.” D00d. At least the UI is simple, but basically this episode is a cautionary tale about improved technology – once we have the ability to stimulate the pleasure centers of your brain, you may be ridiculously satisfied with some pretty weak gameplay. Actually, I like this episode, despite the game looking seriously ridiculous.
So when I saw that they decided to call it "Suckdisk", my mind immediately crafted the following scene:
INT WESLEY'S QUARTERS.
Wesley looks down at the game, then up at Robin.
WESLEY
Um, this isn’t the game I wanted to play.
LEFLER
But you asked me to come to your quarters and play Suckdisk!
WESLEY
Right. I think you misheard me.
Tip your waitress, folks.
I spent most of the morning signing autographs and taking pictures with fans here at FedCon. I got some lovely gifts, including a cake that was made to look just like a The Wesley Crushers bowling shirt. I don't usually accept food at cons, but this was so amazing, I couldn't say no. I took pictures that I'll put onto my Flickr when I get back home.
When I was finished, Robbie McNeill and I went with Stephan to the old city here in Dusseldorf. We walked along the Rhine, ate lunch in a wonderful Lebanese restaurant (it was awesome to eat until I was full, instead of eating until I just wasn't hungry #firstworldproblems), and wandered around looking at the old buildings. If I ever get to come back to this con, I'm totally going to spend an extra day here, just so I can tour the countryside a little bit so I can see and feel Germany; the couple of hours we had just scratched the surface, and now I really want to see more.
The hotel is right next to the airport, so I figured we should take the tram back. I mean, how hard could it be to get to the airport?
Not very hard at all, it turns out. We rode the subway to the main central train station, and then took a train straight to the airport. While we stood on the platform waiting for our train to arrive, I looked down the track, and saw five or six other tracks all winding off between houses and buildings, electrical wires strung over them all. A train arrived just as another one was pulling out of the station, and I said to Robbie, "This is what Germany looks like in my imagination."
He said, "We do shows on Chuck where he goes around the world, and I wish I'd brought my camera with me to capture this. It would be a perfect background if we ever send Chuck to Germany."
The train ride back was pretty cool, and I kind of wish it had lasted twice as long as it did, because just as I was starting to get that feeling that I was really in another country, we pulled into the station.
We all parted ways once we got back to the hotel, and I took a nap before meeting Kate Hewlett and her friend for dinner, which was — I am not making this up — a tofu hot dog covered with some kind of weird relish and crispy onions. I don't say this lightly: it changed my life in many unexpected ways. In fact, I think I'm going to have another one for lunch today.
Before I forget: the Cosplay here is phenomenal. I've seen a Wampa that was easly 2.5 meters tall, a couple dressed as Major Asshole and Dark Helmet, a Storm Trooper who I'm pretty sure was with his son, who was dressed as a miniature Scout Trooper.
The coolest thing, though, was a group a women dressed as Cat Nurses from Doctor Who. I looked for The Face of Boe, but he was nowhere to be found.
