It's all still a whirl, but I want to do a quick recap while it's clear in my head.
FRI-01 I ran a playtest of Jason Bradley Thompson's Dreamlands game. I was terribly nervous, as I've never run it before, and running a game in playtest is always a big challenge. The game managed to deliver both a dreamy exploration of the land of wonder, and a surprisingly crunchy mechanical exploration of the roles and rules. The band of dreamers opened the gates of the Sea and saved the ageless city of Olathoe, only to find it changed beyond recognition upon their return; a thousand years past; their names not even a memory.
FRI-02 I played one of two tables of Pax Pamir, a game of the Great Game of colonialism in Afghanistan, in which the players pit the great powers against one another in an attempt to ascend to control of their region. After some wild swings and changes of allegiance, Brandon won this match. I love this game and can't wait to play it again.
SAT-01 I was the Bene Gesserity in a game of Dune. We had a great start, cut tragically short by a turn 3 Guild victory, as we were not sharp enough on the uptake to hedge against the sneak win.
SAT-02 I ran another playtest of Dreamlands. This group was down for some real experimentiation, quickly mastered the mechanics and started kicking the tires through the first half of the adventure. In part two, the players declared they wanted to see this game without dice, so we hacked it to be diceless and found it a very interesting variant. Hats off to the GPNW spirit of experimentation and playtesting!
SAT-03 I facilitated Space Corp for a mix of new and experienced players. The game was intially close, but Harry Lee blew the doors off in the third age.
SUN-01 we played Orleans, a board game I'm always happy to get a chance to play. I can't remember who won this, as at this point my memories start gettings hazy.
SUN-02 I got to play Brendan Adkins dreamlike game The Loveblind Bird (in development). Brandon, Brendan, and I wove the poetic tale of the voyage of the Loveblind Bird and created some lovely game artifacts to take home. As that game only took an hour, we had some time to kill in which Brandon and I introduce Brendan to Unearth and then got a lesson in how to play Battle for Rokugan from Antain and two others.
SUN-03 I was completely worn out, and spend the slot happily recovering and chatting with a wide assortment of folks.
Huge shout out to everyone at Go Play. I wish I could have gamed with you all!