PAX East 2012 Observations

1.) Joshua and I have very different playing and teaching styles.  Not that that's a bad thing, it's just interesting to see.

2.) Split range weapons, especially a Direct/HtH split, are not good when teaching people how to play MFZ.

3.) I just may not be skilled enough to make Split Range weapons work for my teams.

4.) Bring more snack-type food.  Running MFZ for 5(?) hours burns a lot of calories.

PAX East 2012 Photos

Here are a double handful of photos courtesy of the people who played in the games!

Photos from GearsFC3S.

Table View, Black Knight Strongarms frame.

Overhead View, Strongarms team.

That's me in the top right.  I'm guiding someone through the dice choices for their mech.

Spider Mech team.

Another view of the Spider Mech team.

A Strongarms frame takes cover between two buildings.

Crab Mechs have been damaged!

A mech's-eye view of the Black Knight Strongarms.

Alternate view of the White Strongarms.

The White Crab Mech has been reduced to a stationary gun platform.

The Blue one too!

Photos from KoMinneapolis.

Spider Mech Leader.

This shows more of the confrontation between the Spider and Crab mechs from Game 3.

There was someone else who took pictures but they didn't give me permission to post them here.  Here are links to those pictures.  Photo 1.  Photo 2.  Photo 3.  They're from the set-up/start of game four just before Joshua took over for me.

I'd like to thank all the people who took these photos as I had forgotten my camera that day.

PAX East 2012 Report

PAX East was AWESOME!

First off, the floor space is huge.  It's easily twice the size of the main floor at Gencon.  The people are all enthusiatic and upbeat.  I will try and make it there again next year.

I arrived a little after 9:30am and began setting up.  Luckily I had some time as the floor didn't open up until 10:00.  It took me a little while to get all the terrain set up the way I wanted it and the cheat sheets for all three teams filled out.  After the floor opened I spent some time answering questions and talking to people.  Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 one of the people I was talking to mentioned he had brought a team of mechs with him.  From that point on the day took off.  We started a game right then and there which quickly morphed into a five-way scrum as another con attendee showed up with a set of mechs.  This game gave way into another and then a third.  We had several people cycle in and out over the course of these games.  It seemed like we always had a crowd of observers and people curious about the game.  It also seemed like every other person I spoke with was a backer on Kickstarter.  Interest and support for this game is very high at the moment.  Let's hope it continues onto and past the publication of the game.  I managed to keep going until 4:00 when I ran out of steam.  Joshua took over for me and I went for a walk to relax and recharge.  I came back around 4:30 to watch and answer questions for people.  I jumped back into the game when Joshua left.  We wrapped things up sometime after 7:00.  Frank, Vlad, and another player -- who's name I unfortunately don't remember -- helped me clear the table and put things away.  Thanks guys, I hope to game with you again next year.

At some point Jerry Holkins, Tycho from Penny Arcade, showed up and watched us play.  Apparently he's a huge fan of the game and is really looking forward to playing.  I damn near crapped my pants when I realized who  he was but I gathered my wits and talked to him for a bit.  He came back three other times during the day to watch and talk with Joshua Newman.

I had an immense amount of fun.  I'd like to say thank you to everyone who participated, who asked questions, and those who just watched.  You made my day fly by and enjoyable beyond belief.

If you're a reader and have photos of the table from any point during the day, please send me a link.  I forgot my camera yesterday and I'm still kicking myself for that.

PAX East 2012

I will be at Pax East 2012 on Saturday helping Johua, Vincent, et al. demo Mobile Frame Zero.  Please stop by if you are planning on attending.