Marscon 2015

Last weekend was Marscon 2015, in sunny Bloomington, MN. It was relocated to the Hilton near the Mall of America. All in all, a good time. Unfortunately, I had a somewhat disorganized weekend, so I probably didn't take full advantage of what the con had to offer.

First off, the hotel. The Hilton was a new location for Marscon. A pretty nice hotel, but the parking lot was a bit too small. The Hilton did have some overflow parking down the hill that it shares with, I think, the Park Plaza. Two issues with this: 1. there is nothing to indicate that this is overflow parking, and 2. as you may or may not know, some con goers can't handle hills as well as others. But, the hotel was pretty nice otherwise, and easy to get around. The staff seemed decent as well. Some people complained about the heat in their rooms, but I didn't have an issue with that.

Second, the programming. Marscon had a nice spread of programming, and it's upped its game with educational programming and things for the youngsters. There appears to have been some last minute chaos, though. I found out Wednesday night that the con had decided to use two of my panel ideas and that I was on both panels to act as moderator. Both went okay, but only one other person was on one panel with me, and I was the only person on the other panel.

I wish I'd hit the movie room. It appears to have had a good selection of movies and people seemed happy with it. And as always, there was karaoke. And room parties. A fair number of room parties that ranged in quality from 'meh' to pretty darn cool.

I think the con staff did a pretty good job overall. There was one incident with a security volunteer, but I won't go into the specifics because it would just be hearsay and it seems to have been dealt with appropriately. The consuite staff in particular did a great job.

All in all, a pretty good con. It was perhaps a little disorganized, but this was a new hotel and I expect things will run more smoothly next year.

The Keythong for 5e

Picture by Scatha the Worm on Deviantart.

The Keythong is a heraldic beast like the Griffin. It differs from the Griffin in that it has spikes instead of wings, and in some myths, it is supposedly the male of the species with only the females having wings. For my purposes, I'm treating them as separate species.

Keythong

Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 12

Hit Points 59 (7d10+21)

Speed 50 ft.

Str                    Dex                  Con                  Int                    Wis                  Cha

18 (+4)             15 (+2)             16 (+3)             2 (-4)               13 (+1)             8 (-1)

Skills Perception +5

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages –

Challenge 2

Spiky Hide. At the start of each of its turns, the keythong deals 4 (1d8) piercing damage to any creature grappling it.

Keen Sight. The keythong has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Actions

Multiattack. The keythong makes two attacks: one with its beak, one with its claws.

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.

Keythongs are wingless cousins to the griffin, with the body of a lion and the head and forelegs of an eagle. A pair of slightly curved horns grows from their heads and spike-like spines sprout from their backs, particularly dense in the shoulders where a griffin’s wings are located. They live in mated pairs, and coordinate their attacks with their mate when they hunt. They do not seem to possess the same fondness for horse flesh as the griffin, though they certainly wouldn’t hesitate to take one if the opportunity presented itself.

Fierce and Loyal Mates

Keythongs mate for life and will not take another if their partner dies. They are also fierce combatants, and will not hesitate to defend their mate or young. They never surrender, fighting to the death if need be.

Guardian Beasts

A keythong can be raised from an egg to serve as a companion and guard beast. Due to their spikes, training them to be mounts isn’t practical. Training a keythong can be a dangerous and resource intensive process, and typically requires a trainer well-versed in their ferocious nature.

Once trained, they are completely loyal to their master, defending him or her as readily as they would their mate or young. They will also guard their master’s property with that same feriocity.

Con of the North

Every year on Valentines Day weekend Con of the North takes place in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. I'm not a fan of the date, for what should be obvious reasons, but I've managed to go to this con for a few years now. Con of the North is a gaming convention that currently happens in Plymouth, MN, which is a lot closer to where I live than its last location in St Paul.

The Crown Plaza is a pretty nice hotel. Parking has been mildly problematic, but the hotel & con have worked together to alleviate the problem, & they did a pretty good job this year.

There is generally a good mix of games. Pathfinder Society seems to have pushed out some of the other RPGs, but they seem to be slowly coming back. I don't play PF Society, so that makes me happy. There is also quite a lot of miniature gaming, with some nice terrain. For the 40K fan there is a Rogue Trader tournament. Every year there is even Battletech! Can you believe it? I love that game!

Overall, it's a good time. I highly recommend Con of the North if you can manage it. I'm lucky to have a very understanding girlfriend.

Monarch of the Monsters 5 is upon us!

I'm sure most interested parties have already seen this, but if you haven't, Kobold Press' Monarch of the Monsters 5 is underway. Go flex some of those creative muscles.

http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page19084.php

Well, this week sucked.

So, despite my first few posts, I never claimed this was a gaming blog. Since that is the case, I am going to share my non-gaming experiences from this week.

I totaled my car on Wednesday. Ice on the road, a guardrail, and it all added up to a totaled Toyota Corolla. Thankfully no one else was involved, despite it being rush hour. I was also able to walk away from the wreck without any injury at all. No idea how. So, as you can imagine, I've had a stressful week.

My insurance company is Progressive, and I am truly amazed at how efficiently they sorted everything out. I had a check in hand Friday. Really, I'm just stunned. My only complaint about the whole thing is that they are putting a lot of pressure on me to get a new car. I can understand the urgency; they don't want to pay for the rental longer than they have to, but I live in a state where it is illegal to sell cars on Sunday (most stupid thing I've heard in 2015 so far). Slightly annoying, but they sorted out the car much faster than expected & actually gave me more money for it than I'd expected. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with Progressive.

Who doesn't need a few more weapons for 5e?

En World has a collection of user made 5e creations. Some are better than others.

I find that I really like the stuff created by the user Jargogle. He expands the weapon list a bit, & also provides extensive lists of Asian & European weapon & armor equivalents.

Check it out: 5e weapons & armor

Two-handed weapons and optional speed factor

In the DMG there is an optional initiative rule called speed factor. It lists a bunch of modifiers for different weapon types and situations that affect your initiative roll. There's more to it than that, but that's not important for my purpose here. Anyway, the table lists a -2 penalty for two-handed melee weapons. That's completely wrong.

Now, I'm not an expert in medieval weaponry. I have, however, been taking medieval combat classes for a little while. I guess I can really only comment on the sword, as the class hasn't included things like axes or spears, but it has been clearly demonstrated by the instructor that the longsword is noticeably faster when used with two hands rather than just one. Now, I'm not talking some giant monster two-handed sword that you couldn't possibly use one-handed. Though looking at that table, it also gives a penalty for a heavy weapon, so if I were to use speed factor, I would consider just ditching the two-hander penalty and only apply the heavy weapon penalty.

It basically has to do with greater control of the sword. To really hit someone hard with a one-handed weapon, you pretty much have to get some momentum behind it. When you have two hands on the hilt, it takes a lot less motion to get power behind the hit. Does this apply for the other versatile weapons besides the longsword? I'm not sure, as I haven't worked with an axe or spear. Honestly, I would assume so if I was using speed factor and I'd just dump that two-handed penalty altogether.

Just my .02.