My slot 1 was the Tomb of Horrors, as envisioned by Jeffrey Hosmer (Jeff - what's your forum name again?).

What really got me about this game was that I used to own the module and never bothered reading through it because I thought it was so lame. I mainly signed on because I wanted to play some D&D and also wanted to game with a few of the people that had already joined. I wasn't expecting much from the game itself.

Jeff was packing pre-printed map pieces and all the hand outs and everything, though - and I was amazed at how much better the module plays compared to how it reads. He delighted in the gruesome traps, but it never felt like he was "against" us. All said, we fared pretty well. We defeated Acerak (thanks to having to fast-forward to fit into the time limit - I doubt we would've reached him otherwise).

I also got to play a super dogmatic cleric who reserved his healing and poison-curing magic for those whom he felt were deserving. That's always fun. Who was our thief? Was that you, Churcher? Anyway, the whole party was great and everyone was a blast to play with.

Here's the short version: If you can take a passive-aggressive "fuck you" module written by Gary Gygax and turn it into something incredibly fun, you deserve more kudos than I'm able to give. Stellar job, Jeff. You made a believer out of me.

Corrected for brevity and reduced redundancy.

jhosmer1. I still owe him lunch from FtC3, I totally forgot this year.

*bows deeply*

Thank you kindly. I've been trying and trying for years and years to nail down how to teach board games. While the specifics of a game vary, here's my general order of topics.

1> What is the theme and who/what do the players represent?
2> How do you win?
3> When does the game end?
4> Bring out just enough components (and briefly explain them) to bridge to...
5> What steps do you take in a round or turn of play? (In a game with multiple steps, as you hit each new step, recap the earlier parts briefly.)
6> Ask for questions now. (Take questions before, but since they throw off the flow of information, give short answers that center around the theme of "I'll talk about that in a bit".)
7> Hit only the more advanced topics that the players will encounter or need to incorporate immediately, saving the rest for brief descriptions in between turns/rounds.

If the group seems a bit serious, it might be appropriate to cover some possible focuses of gameplay and things to avoid. But if the group's more intent on experimenting than winning (personal thanks from me to Rebecca for putting that mindset forward), then just start things up!

Slot 1: Ran the Gamma World game. Thud & Az had the same loaded dice. They rolled the same DAMN CHARACTERS! Terris, Orgeteeth, & SandPunk rounded out the group. I could not have had a better time running that game. I thought SandPunk was going to urinate himself he was laughing so hard.

Slot 2: Why did Churcher run Traveller? HeHe! 'Cause I goat-roped him into it. He did a great job with the large group.

Slot 3: Dan's double-blind Star Trek ship-on-ship battle was amazing. Info was sparse. Communication limited. it made for an exciting game.

Slot 4: Mikey's Skies of Glass game. That was the start of an epic campaign. I want to know what happens to Lyle, Christine, George, Jed, & Arron. How did they escape? Where did they go? Where did they end up? I can understand Mikey's reluctance to run this every week, because it is dark. But, I am willing to find time for a once/month Skype game. Dude, YOU ROCK!

Slot 5: Even with two no shows I ran Millennium's End. Hope Mike & Mike enjoyed it.

Slot 6: Chris Mais brought the Black 1970s back to life. "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" ain't got $#!+ on "Return to Black Man's Atlantis"

That was me!

SandPunk's game of Calvin and Hobbes was freaking awesome! I will play again and again in the coming years if he keeps doing it.

Yay! You did a good job I'm going to want to play that again sometime.

I ended up buying it because it was so fun! Also, Stacy got the short end of the stick...

Thank you Runester!

And I have to indeed reciprocate with your Expendables game in Slot 5. I hadn't had so much fun in the longest time as a player. I mean hell, we flew a C5 GALAXY into the ground, JUST to take out a dish that was barely in any way inconvenient to us.

That and the explosion high-five, and the 'Soooo Cooornyyyy' death descriptions after a particularly bad one-liner made that game BRILLIANT.

If you ever do something next year I'll be the first to sign up!