MACE West 2019 New Basic Layout

PLEASE NOTE:  Gaming registration has moved.  Organized Play (PFS and D&D AL) has swapped with regular gaming.

MACE West 2019: Miniature Mash-Up’s Dave O’Gara

JustUs Productions is proud announce Carolina’s own Youtube Crafter Dave O’Gara of Miniature Mash-up will be coming to MACE West 2019 and running some games one again for us.  He will be running 5th edition D&D and classic Marvel RPG by TSR.   His games are tagged with MMUP in OGRe.  You must be registered for MACE West 2019 to participate

MACE West 2019 Games by Dave O’Gara

Friday 8 PM

D&D fifth edition

The Sea of Moving Ice 

Saturday 8 PM

Marvel Super Heroes (Classic TSR)

Dread Light under Gotham.

MACE West 2019: Open Painting with Karen!

Once of our MACE craft-con participants from MACE 2018, Karen Montgomery, would like to host a open painting session at MACE West.  Paint your minis.  Paint your crafts.  Get tips from Karen who is a very skilled painter!    It will take place in the Ducker Tea room on Sat from 1 pm until whenever Karen wants to clean up and go to bed.

Painting supplies ARE NOT Supplied.  You must bring your own.   It’s a place for all of us who paint away in relative solitude.  A chance to come together and share tips and tricks and give and get feedback.

Deck of Stories, a GM playing aid by Critical Dice

From: Critical Dice
Reviewed by: Ron McClung

Deck Of Stories

From: Critical Dice
Type of Game: RPG Playing Aid
Game Components Included: 50 cards, plus 3 blanks and an instruction card
Retail Price: $14.99

Deck of Stories is a new RPG Playing Aid from Critical Dice.

I got something in the mail yesterday.  Critical Dice is a company that came out to MACE 2018 and to be honest, I totally missed them.  Being the gaming coordinator, I was simply too busy to check out every vendor at the dealers room.  However, Jeff Smith talked big about them and I heard more and more about them afterwards.  A lot of people  talked about their high quality and innovative products and ideas.

The Deck of Stories is their latest idea that we plan to thorough play-test at MACE West 2019.  It is a playing aid to help a GM come up with a plot on the fly, when say the characters go off on a different and unintended direction (which never happens, right?) or the GM needs an idea for a quick one shot.  Since I got them, I have been shuffling and flipping these cards while I sit at my desk at work, imagining what kind of stories I could create with them.  They are quite interesting.

From the website:  “Adventure in 15 Minutes”

As said, there are only 50 cards.  My first thought was that it leaves a lot of opportunity for expansion.  Despite that, there are plenty  of story potential in these fifty cards. There are two parts to each card – the Hook and the Next Steps.  The Hook is the story idea for the card – one or two short sentences to inspire your imagination.  The Next Steps ask questions stemming from this idea and help you formulate and round out the idea.

The general model the card system is based on is called ORC.  O is for Open.  Cards with this letter on them can be used as an opening scene idea.  Hook examples are:  “Take the River is your fastest route. Many Creatures Lurk Along the Riverbanks.” … or … “Everyone in the town begins speaking gibberish.  Communication is impossible.”  R is for Rise.  These are rise in action, the change in the story, or the plot twist that take it to the next level.  Example: “Your team meets another group that seems strangely familiar.” C is for Climatic action.  It represents the hook that will bring things to a close, the boss-fight or the epic ending.   Example: “To save the life of a party member, a deal must be struck with a being from a lower plane.”   With those examples alone, I am already formulating a plot for a simple village encounter.

The players have just come down a river after a big fight, once of horribly injured.  They seek help at this village but suddenly, all in the village speak a foreign tongue of another plane.  They do not understand and can not get help because the people do not understand the party.  What’s happening?  Why?  Who is at the center of this confusion?  Has the enemy from their last fight returned or does he have allies?

Cards can have one, two or all three letters on them.  For cards with multiples, this means it can be used for any of them.  The questions in the Next Steps are great because they really help you formulate the idea in your head.

From the website:  “No railroading, no over preparing”

 At MACE West 2019, we had a big game of 4 tables.  GMs run 1 hour with one group using the cards, and then the GM moves to the next table.  We had everyone running D&D 5e, to keep things simple. Everyone seemed to have a great time.  By all accounts, the games were all a great success.   I think the Deck of Stories was received very well.

A few weeks later at my home game, I had to come up with some visions for each of my players.  I whipped out my Deck of Stories and pulled a single card for each vision.  It worked perfectly.  It was awesome and now I have new story elements I can work into the campaign.

In conclusion, these cards are awesome.  They are very inspired and I do hope they expand on them.  Perhaps a more sci-fi or horror oriented version or something like that. They are diverse and just fun to throw down to get the creative juices flowing, at the very least.  If you want to use them as intended, I recommend sitting for about 5 to 10 minutes before your game, and throw down a couple of cards for each letter – O, R, and C and think about the story you want to tell some.  It doesn’t take much, just a little though before actually running the game.  I am glad I got to review them and I highly recommend them.

For more details on Critical Dice and their new RPG Playing Aid “Deck of Stories” check them out at their website https://thecriticaldice.com.

Codex Rating: 18

MACE West 2019: Emberbright Returns!

Matt Holmquist returns to MACE West with the Living MACE campaign contest winner – Emberbright!  What is Emberbright.  A few years ago, we conducted a contest between some of the best GMs to create a world that MACE can call its own.  Matt was the final winner and his world, Emberbright represents a collection of ideas from those in the contest.

Matt and  JustUs Productions are continuing the development the setting that will act as our own living campaign setting. That means you can create a character for it at one event and play that character at other JustUs Productions events that host this living campaign. We are planning to run it in at least 3 different systems – Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, and D&D 5e.

Matt will be running his adventures in D&D 5e.

About Emberbright

Emberbright is a bleak fantasy world where humanity struggles as the subjugated species after a cataclysm of divine proportions.

A millennia ago, humankind nearly destroyed the world – an event later named the Unraveling. The greatest kingdoms lay to waste, and the largest race reduced to nomads. Those that did not devolve into tribal cults in the north, eeked out existence as servants to the Elf Mageocracy or as second rate members of the Ignis Combine. (Igni – goblinoid fire-elemental race). The gods, once protectors of man and their greatest strength, have gone silent. Lorekeepers of the remaining human settlements still espouse that faith will restore humanity to its previous glory. What few baronies managed to survive have started to form alliances. A rudimentary collection of city-states has laid the groundwork for the rise of the next great human kingdom. The balance of power may shift again. The Wizard Lords have enjoyed their time as the most powerful beings, and the Ignis Leaders would not give up their monopoly on trade and steam tech. What of the Icemen to the north… no one knows what agenda their seemingly random raids hold. The great cycle of the heavens nears another completion. What will the next thousand years hold? What part will you play in it?

Character Creation Guidelines

Here are are guidelines for creating your own characters for the Emberbright Living Campaign D&D 5e adventures. First, a reminder that this is a trial of home-brew characters so the rules may change between conventions and characters made during these beta phases may not be cannon after we finalize the rules. So please do not get too attached to these first characters.

1. Characters will be made using the 27 point buy method. Normal restrictions in the Players Handbook apply.
2. You must take the Class/Background packages for starting equipment. No Substitutions at this time.
3.  The races currently allowed are Human (and the variant Human), Elf (High and Wood elves only), Igni (Rules here), Forged (Rules here) and Dwarves.
4.  All classes in the Players Handbook are allowed at this time.
5. All characters will need to be emailed to me by Nov. 1st. Once submitted and approved no changes will be allowed. Email them to me at matt.holmquist (AT) gmail.com with the subject Emberbright Character Submission and once I look it over I will reply with approved or any corrections needed questions/clarifications.

If you have any questions please feel free to email Matt with Emberbright in the subject and he will reply as quickly as I can and if needed I will update this with corrections and adjustments.

MACE West 2019: Smart Iguana Games

For MACE West 2019, Smart Iguana Games will be demoing their game Gravity Warfare – Gaming on a Whole New Level as well as their new games – a new dice game called Doce is a competitive and tactical dice placement game.  See more about Gravity Warfare on their Instagram.

See OGRe for Smart Igunana Games demos.

Smart Iguana Games will also host a DOCE Tournament to promote their new game.  DOCE™ is  a competitive and addictive dice game where players take turns placing the dice on the 5 x 5 grid, strategically placing your dice thinking 2 steps ahead of your competition, with the goal of connecting 4 dice that equal 12. Can you outwit your opponents in this tactical dice game?

Challenge and outwit your opponents in this new 2-player strategic and tactical dice game.

1. You and your opponent choose a color set of dice, one marker and one blocker.
2. Take turns placing a die on any available square on the grid.
3. Make a line of 4 of your own dice that equal 12.
4. You may also win by strategically using one of your opponents’ die that is already in play, but it must me either at the beginning or at the end of your line, meaning 3 of your dice must be connected.
5. Score the round.
6. Play a total of 4 rounds, alternating 1st player. The person with the most points at the end of the 4th round wins the game.

The tournament prizes will change as follows:

1st place: Copy of Special Edition, gold DOCE trophy, admission to MACE 2020

2nd Place: Copy of Color splash, silver DOCE trophy, admission to MACE 2020

About Gravity Warfare

War has ensued following an attack on the Mothership and problems have escalated for the occupation of space elements among several Alien Races of nearby constellations. You are the leader of one of the six great races fighting for the central sector of the Cosmos.

You need to transfer all your interstellar fleet to this disputed area before the rest. But you need to be careful, since only one unsuccessful placement on the subspace can break the entire fragile gravitational balance and lead to a devastating anomaly! The tumbling of the ships from the subspace happens in a random way, and therefore one must be very dexterous and attentive. Enemies are also playing a role and are capable of twisting time and space to ruin your plans, strategically placing their interstellar fleet in key locations.

The most nerve-wracking game yet! In Gravity Warfare™ you must choose your challenge cards and use your ability strategically against other players on their turn, and have the dexterity to make it through yours. In the game, you play one of 6 commanders of alien races with a special ability each, whose goals are to either run out of pieces to play (troops), or to make other players lose on their turn.

At the beginning of the game, players randomly choose a player card and choose a color set of pieces. Then, each player is dealt one Guardian card (protective card) and 7 cards from the deck – of which, they must strategically choose 5 to play with. The cards contain challenges or events such as “Spin it!” or “Stack it!” which you may issue to other players, one per turn.

On a turn, the active player rolls the dice which tell the player which piece of their army to play, and where to place it. At the same time, other players now have the opportunity to force that player to play their turn in any way they want so long as they have the respective challenge card. For example, If I have the “spin it!” challenge, I may use it on your turn if I want you to spin the board and play your turn while the board is in movement.

To win in Gravity Warfare™ you must be the first player to run out of pieces. But if you make any piece fall from the platform, you lose!

ARE YOU READY TO MASTER GRAVITY?

MACE West 2019: Play to Win Games

We will have almost 40 Play to Win games at MACE West 2019.

Adam’s Apple Games

Swordcrafters

Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy

AEG

Space Base

Istanbul Dice

War Chest

Anvil 8 Games

Front Line: No Komrades

Bezier Games

New York Slice

Chara Games

Soul of the Empire

Cheeky Parrot Games

Hoard

Formal Ferret Games

The Networks

Wordsy

Gorilla Games

Palaces

Grandpa Beck’s Games

Skull King

Cover Your Assets

The Bears and the Bees

lndie Boards & Cards

Shogunate

Pirate 21

Exodus: Paris Nouveau

The Resistance

Coup

Joe Magic Games

Madstone

Mayday Games

Bad Doctor

Poetry Slam

Cahoots

Viceroy

Shades of Vengeance

Champion of Earth

Evil Overlord

Smirk & Dagger Games

Before There Were Stars …

Nut So Fast

Stronghold Games

Paper Ta les

The Bottle Imp

Gold Fever

Diamonds

Thames & Kosmos

Dimension

Drop It

Lost Cities: Rivals

Word Slam

Wattsalpoag Games

Echidna Shuffle

Winners will be announced Sunday Afternoon at 2pm. You need not be present to Win. Please PRINT NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS on the Form provided.  Sloppy writing may cause you to lose the game you want. BE NEAT!

MACE West 2019: Empire Games

Empire Games will be attending MACE West, demonstrating their new game, Alchemy 101 as well as their great game, I Drank What?.  They will also be hosting a free open-play tournament for Alchemy 101. Join them as they show you how to poison your friends at a wine party and have fun doing it.

About Alchemy 101

Alchemy 101 is 2 to 6 Player game of magical mayhem!

In the game of Alchemy 101 you play young wizards at an unnamed magical academy of some questionable prestige. You are studying for the midterm exam, and your Alchemy Master has set an array of different potions and elixirs.

Your challenge is to find all the magical mixtures hidden among the Pumpkin Soda by any means necessary. To add to the test, a number of Essence of Frog have been placed among the potions. Those who get transmogrified will get an F (for frog, obviously) and must muck out the hippogriff stables (Ewwww!). This quickly becomes a problem because as soon as your teacher left the room, a less than graceful classmate has knocked over a Potion of Forgetting. Now no one remembers which potion is which. The only way to figure that out now is to start tasting.
Only one of you is walking out of here with a good grade, the rest, well, will be small, green and slimy. Alchemy 101 is a mad dash to see who gets the A, and who is hopping to the infirmary.

MACE West 2019: D&D Adventurers League

The MACE West 2019 D&D Adventurers League schedule is posted.  Here is the list of scenarios.  See OGRe for complete schedule.  You must be registered for MACE West 2019 to participate.

D&D AL Scenarios (2 hrs)

CCC GEL01: Bedlam at the Benefit
CCC SRCC 0101: Trouble in the Old City
CCC SRCC 0102: Down the River of Snakes
CCC SRCC 0103: Altar of the Smoldering Eye
DDAL 0804: A Wrinkle in the Weave
DDAL 0805: Hero of the Troll Wars
DDAL 0806: Purging the Blood
DDAL 0807: Into the Dark
DDAL 0808: Crypt of the Dark Kiss
DDAL 0809: Fangs and Frogs
DDAL 0810: The Skull Square Murders
DDAL 0811: Poisoned Words
DDAL 0812: Xanathar’s Wrath

D&D AL Scenarios (4 hrs) Slots

CCC BMG 22 PHLAN 21: Demagogue
CCC BMG 23 PHLAN 22: Hatemaster
CCC BMG 24 PHLAN 23: The Royal We
CCC ELF 02: An Adventuring Party Walks Into A Bar
CCC MACE 0101: The Blight of Geoffrey
CCC MACE 0102: A Panthers Peril
CCC MACE 0103: Haunted Memories
CCC MACE 0104: Blights End
CCC YLRA 0101: Her Dying Wish
CCC YLRA 0102: Uneasy Lies the Head
CCC YLRA 0103 Bound By Duty

About D&D Adventurers League

The D&D Adventurers League is an ongoing official organized play campaign for Dungeons & Dragons. It uses the fifth edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rules, and features the Forgotten Realms setting. You can play D&D Adventurers League games at any place that features adventures bearing the D&D Adventurers League logo. You can create a character and bring that character to games anywhere D&D Adventurers League is supported.

Most D&D Adventurers League games are public, in-person play events. Typical venues for these events are game and hobby stores, conventions, and public-accessible game day events.

See more about the D&D Adventurers League

MACE West 2019: DM Scotty

JustUs Productions is proud announce that our 2018 MACE appreciation Award Winner DM Scotty will be coming to MACE West 2019 and running some games one again for us.  He will be running Index Card RPG and these games will showcase his hand-crafted terrain. 

His games are tagged with DMSCOTTY in OGRe.  You must be registered for MACE West 2019 to participate

Friday: 3 PM – 7 PM & Saturday: 2 PM – 6 PM

A Weirdly Strange Night of Terror

Why are you all in a dive dinner at 10PM in the desert on the outskirts of a tiny New Mexico town known for UFO sightings. Join this group of desperate people and find out. The game will be run using ICRPG (Index Card RPG). This game is for mature players.