Today I ran my first "convention" game.

Well, it was not really a convention but I like the way it sound. It was more a gaming day ("VII Jornada De Rol De Invierno De Caballeros De Montevideo") that's organized in winter to gather non-perishable food and/or warm clothing to be donated. You can check about the event here and here (both links are in Spanish).

I wanted to run a short low-level adventure using Labyrinth Lord and after some search I bought "Ruins of Ramat" at DriveThruRPG.com. I thought that a short adventure for 4 to 6 1st level characters with pregen ones to speed things up, would be a good choice for the event. I talked about it with my fellow players of our Google Wave game, and I learned that Rob Conley (Bat in the Attic) uses it at conventions. I knew I was on the right path. Thanks guys for all the tips!

And since I'm a "Knight of Dangerous Quests" of the Labyrinth Lord Society, I'm posting a couple of pics (yes, I want those points!) that document the event.

Thanks to all the guys that joined the game (clockwise): Giancarlo, Pedro, Esteban, Rodrigo, Pablo and Leonel.

The World’s Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz

Gabriel took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 40%!

You are a Gary Gygax Hero. You know much of Gary Gygax. You are probably the DM of your game group (but you might insist on being called 'referee').

Paladin Code: You completed this quiz without using Google.

She's the Labyrinth Lady...

Our Millenium's End game setting

We're playing Millennium's End in a future in which everything that could have gone wrong in our World went wrong, but not that wrong. Here's what our DM sent us.

"Some general information about the World's situation around July 2013:

USA

• Attack in 2011 by domestic terrorists against Obama (he survives but significantly reduces his public appearances, which is seen as a sign of fear and significantly damages the Democratic Party and moderate groups of Republicans who supported him).
• Attack against the Clintons on a visit to Africa. Hilary survives but Bill doesn't. She changes quite dramatically and some people talk of "a new Margaret Thatcher". It has multiple problems with the Obama administration for this but has such popular support that no one dares to remove her.
• Due to both international and local terrorism, and with the support of groups of Democrats who swing towards the Conservatives, the Senate approves the so-called "Patriot Act II" (which essentially revives the original Patriot Act and deepens it in many cases).
• With this move towards conservatism, the growing influence of the "Tea Party" and the vision of a "world war", the 2012 elections are won by Sarah Palin.
• Admiral Eric T. Olson (former commander of USSOCOM) is assigned as SECDEF.
• Admiral William H. McRaven (former commander of JSOC) is assigned as commander of USSOCOM.
• Surprisingly (or not so, as recent years events) Hilary leaves as Secretary of State.

South / Central America

• The "Drug War" continues to intensify in Mexico, Colombia and other countries (tens of thousands of deaths per year, increasing mechanization of the forces on both sides, less U.S. support outside its borders given the global situation).
• Colombia and Venezuela in war "virtual" (Chavez and Uribe remain in power, constant border skirmishes, the use of terrorist groups for "covert" attacks on the other side, special forces raids, numerous attacks on presidents and other military and government figures with varying degrees of success).
• In Cuba, Fidel Castro dies, his brother Raul deepes the reforms with greater openness to the USA but, with the whole world situation, almost no attention is paid to the country in the absence of significant natural resources.
• Indigenous groups in Brazil (possibly supported by foreign extremist environmental groups) get organized and threaten international interests. Because they compromise the investments that are maintaining the growth / stability, they are brutally repressed. Lula (who had managed to maintain power) is having a lot of pressure about this issue and his administration is quite complicated.

Middle East

• Iran's nuclear power plants, both public and secret are raided and destroyed with none being held liable. Despite the official denial, Iran accuses Israeli special forces to have perpetrated the attacks and declares that he will retaliate. Several Iranian missiles are fired at multiple targets in Israel (much of them are stopped by the new generations of Patriots, but some reach their target causing civilian and military casualties).
• Israel responds with air strikes that generate several skirmishes in the air (usually won by Israeli forces considering their superior training) and several bombing raids on Iranian military bases and infrastructure targets.
• What was climbing rapidly to a war is "stopped" by the UN Security Council (supported by the votes of Russia and the USA. They already have too many problems elsewhere to "tolerate" an open war between Israel and Iran which would get boh involved).
• Afghanistan is just as unstable today (U.S. forces remain there, changed a couple of governments but the Taliban / al-Qaida could not be completely eliminated).
• Iraq without the Americans is in constant instability (with suspected Iranian intervention in many cases) and on the brink of civil war.
• Syria / Hamas take advantage of the situation to intensify their attacks on Israel (short-range missiles and terrorist attacks).
• With the speech to defend its borders, Israel abandoned the negotiations with Palestinian groups, took back several concessions made and complete the invasion and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Far East

• A second incident in which a supposedly DPRK torpedo sunk a frigate of the ROK. People of ROK forces the government to take a signficative military action (to avoid completely losing popular support), which results in an aerial bombing operation that destroys several strategic targets in the north.
• The response of DPRK (declaring the 1951 truce broken) is a ground invasion across the DMZ that generates a "shooting war" between the two countries, with thousands of casualties in the first two days of the conflict. Given the real risk that the invasion of the north to be effective (because of the numbers), USA intervenes "in fulfilling its obligations and treaties."
• In one of the defining moments of the decade, Hilary Clinton at a conference for the international press threatens to use tactical nuclear devices against DRPK if the invasion does not stops immediately. Russia is not going to let that happen and the consequences of using any nuclear weapon by the U.S. would be answered "in the most severe form," leading both countries to the highest state of alert had been seen since the worst days of the Cold War.
• A day after taking the world on edge, in a joint press conference, military leaders and KOR DPRK declare a new armistice (assuming there were furious diplomatic efforts of USA and Russia during those days with both countries, but nothing comes out). While the war stops, the whole region is extremely unstable with Japan and China in a state of constant alert. None have been involved directly in the conflict (at least publicly).
• The other "flashpoints" in Asia are still there: the wild Myanmar dictatorship, rhetoric and skirmishes between India and Pakistan, etc., although everyone receives a lesser degree of international concern under most significant problems elsewhere.

Europe

• In line with USA (and in many cases the vision of NATO as a "deterrent" important in situations that are occurring), there is a significant return to conservatism in most European governments, ending sometimes decades of control of Social-Democrats.
• In line with such movements and taking advantage of the "international unrest" there is a resurgence of various terrorist groups and / or nationalist movements (IRA, ETA, Red Brigades, etc.).
• Ethnic and religiuos problems are the cause of occasionally atentandos and incidents.
• Russia has several ongoing conflicts in their borders (especially Georgia), and several Islamic terrorist groups inside and outside its borders.

Africa

• Essentially the same problems remain and in many cases they're worse because the UN is more concerned with the scenario in Asia.
• Somalia (and to some extent other countries) is back in the state of the 90s, with a government totally ineffective and "warlords" controlling large areas of the country. The killings and "ethnic cleansing" are distressingly common and receive little international interest.
• Piracy is getting worse in all the areas close to Africa. Many shipping routes have changed and when that's not possible it has forced shipping companies to travel with military or para-military convoys."On future posts more about Black Eagle LLC, our characters and missions."

On future posts more about Black Eage LLC, our characters and missions.