This is my attempt to talk about Dreamation 2017. I'll assuredly fail to mention some amazing people.

This is my attempt to talk about Dreamation 2017. I'll assuredly fail to mention some amazing people.

tl;dr - everything was amazing. I met cool new people, reconnected with cool people that I adore, and played some fantastic games.

Roomating and driving up with Tony Lower-Basch, George Austin, and Ariana Tobias worked tremendously well. Meeting friends new and old is really the best part, for me. Knowing I have games to bring back home, and people to connect with, is fantastic.

Whenever showing up to these, I try to keep in mind that, as Garfunkle and Oats might put it, I wear camouflage on camouflage. I'm a white guy with no particular distinguishing marks, haircut, or mannerisms. Being aware of this, I don't really expect people to remember me, and am always thrilled when they do.

Some games:
Thursday:
Nightingales as run by Misha B! This was bleedy and great, and I got to play with Patty Kirsch, and two people new to me whose names I do not have. A couple of truly great moments: playing as Omar the wounded soldier in the opening when we still had hope for him -- and even then being moved nearly to tears. And, communally arranging a scene so that it went from ladies talking about patient care to Patty acting as an asshole doctor and mansplaining my place. I sat down so she could looooom.

Friday:
Morning: I ran my first Dreamation game! An in playtest game about space pirates called Solar Wind and Sales. I got some good feedback, and have some good changes to make. Fundamentally, I think there's some really good mechanics here that drive the story in the direction I want.

Afternoon: Dream Askew with Chelsey E.. We had four players, which worked out amazingly well. This was probably the best game of Dream Askew I've ever played and bleedy as fuck.

Evening: I wound up a little sick after dinner and ditched out of a larp. I took some time to call home, then went to the bar and wound up meeting and playing games with Vincent Baker, Meguey Baker, and the always amazing Rachel E.S. Walton.

We played Bedlam Beautiful and omg. Rachel and Meguey teamed up as The System and The Disease, and I fought to find the one person who wasn't trying to do me ill. This wound up being surreal, a game of a woman walking around at night while struggling with her mental illness and, eventually, coming home to a worried husband.

Midnight: Sleep, the larp. A game for 1-N players. In our room, 4. I always sleep better the second night, and had given my sleeping pad a bit more time to inflate. I slept wonderfully.

Saturday:
Morning: I ran my other game, a game currently in search of a name, with Sean Leventhal and Sarah Shugars! This was one of the better plays I've had. Which makes sense, as I was running up against a wall and sought professional help.

This is a game where you play as fantasy adventurers returning from the adventure, and have to face the repercussions. Its the down time between adventurers, and is all about the social repercussions.

I've got some good playtest information, and some absolutely fantastic ideas that I want to pull in. We came up with more ideas in the car. More on that when I do them.

Afternoon: A larp didn't get enough people, and I wound up at the bar with Jason Morningstar, Chelsey E., Shane Liebling, and a half dozen others. We played Choose Your Own Adventure, a game told in the second person.

When that broke up, I wandered around and wound up playing The King Is Dead with Vincent Baker and Shane Liebling. Hey Vincent, when can I throw money at you to get a few copies?

Evening: City of Brass with Adam Dray.
I've learned something! I do not like Dungeon and Dragons fifth edition any more than I thought I would! The fictional levers are not obvious to me, and I have to think outside the system to get what I want.

That being said, omg, playing as a braggart warlock who is known to everyone as a dangerously bad dude? Pretty rad.

Sunday:
A second session of City of Brass with Adam Dray. I was in two in part as I've wanted my murderhobo game to work for City of Brass, and I think I can do it.

I experimented with asymmetric information warfare in City of Brass, and have some lessons I'm going to try to bring home. For those following along who know The Big Fucking Deal that I was trying to work through, I think I taught myself the solution in these games.