Thursday, July 5, 2018

Will These Historicon Prep Posts Ever Stop?

Well yes they will - in 7 days.

What's up in todays update on the prep-slog to Historicon? Game Markers!  Whoo-Hooo!  It really doesn't get more exciting than this does it. I'll pause a few moments now if some of you with weaker constitutions have been overcome by the vapors.....

Ok lets get started!

Anyway last years game used a whole bunch of plastic colored disks as game markers.  They were functional but made the table top look like it had technicolor measles.  This year I'll be using some special made markers to enhance the look and feel of the gaming experience.

First up are 25 treasure markers, which will be scattered about the map.  As players reach these markers they roll to see what they get which can either be 1-3 gold bars or a roll and the ancient artifact table!  Amassing gold is a secondary objective in the game and will be used to determine the winner if the humans fail the main objective of capturing "Professor Akbar".

From bottom to the top

The first three rows are markers for the ancient artifacts.  The human forces are very feeble in melee combat which is a big drawback in the tight confines of the catacombs - They can equip themselves with three different items
- armor (the shield) for better defense,
-a sword (for better attacking) and, of course,
- the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch (for general mayhem)

I didn't get a chance to make artifact markers for last year's game so this is a fairly big addition to the game and I'm still tweaking the rules.

The next 30 markers are used for random monster encounter locations and since this is an Egyptian themed game what better image than Boris Karloff's classic Mummy?

Lastly, there are 6 catacomb entrance makers.  There are 8 different ways the players can enter the catacombs.  2 are really obvious so I needed 6 markers for the less obvious ones.

Just a handful of things to finish up before finalizing the packing list and getting ready to pack up.  My reservation at the Host has been confirmed and we should be ready to go.

I do want to thank the convention staff who adjusted the table assignments to allow me to have table D26 the entire con.  Putting on a convention with hundreds of volunteer GM's must be very complicated and trying to meet special requests like mine just adds to the burden so I'm very grateful they could accommodate me.

7 comments:

TamsinP said...

Nice tokens/markers Miles, although I'm sure there will be some who would prefer a nice dose of rainbow measles :)

BigLee said...

I'm feeling faint... Its the little extras (such as custom markers or scratch built terrain) that make a good convention game into a great convention game. I envy your players because they are clearly going to be treated to a classic.

Curt said...

Love the markers, Miles! They'll add that little bit of polish to your already excellent layout. I'm also delighted to read that Prof. Akbar will be playing a role in the excitement. Wonderful!

jmilesr said...

Curt - the whole game hinges on Prof Akbar!

Tamsin - NOBODY wants rainbow measles - it's even worse than the skittles commercial

Lee - Remember these players are subjected to me and my odd sense of humor for 3-4 hours - Im still thinking they deserve a bit more for that ordeal

Gary said...

Great stuff. I really like the Boris Karloff markers.

Spudnick080 said...

Thank you, Miles. You reminded me of my out of ammo markers I had forgotten about. Lucky I am also finishing up some last touches. However, I kind of got my table for the whole convention with exception of the game before. I don't think they saw my same request. I will just get some extra exercise I probably need anyway. See you soon at the convention!

DeanM said...

Oh my, you certainly are gearing up for the con, Miles! Nice work as always.