Category: Gaming

As I mentioned last week, it was time for Dorkstock again. This is always a fun weekend for me, not the least of which is because I get to play and run games like Cartoon Frag and Life-Sized Kill Doctor Lucky. This year’s Dorkstock was momentous in several way: the debut of the Gamehole Plush Monster Island (minor tweaks are needed to a couple characters who were overly powerful), along with Steve Jackson & John Kovalic’s announcement about Munchkin 2nd Edition, as well as plans for a Munchkin RPG with 9th Level Games made for an exciting weekend.

When it comes down to it though, what makes conventions shine in my life are the people. Some of our Dorkstock crew gathered on Wednesday night, taking the rare opportunity to play games among ourselves after our initial room set-up. Thursday morning, before an early start at Life-Sized Doctor Lucky, I was delighted to find out that my best friend from high school – whose podcast, Memoirs of a Neurodivergent Latina, I’ve mentioned before – was attending for the first time, GMing for Monte Cook Games just down the hall from Dorkstock. Despite our busy schedules, we managed to grab some time together across a couple meals and random encounters. Maybe next time we can play a game together.

At a work-related conference recently, I heard about Google Notebook, which is an experimental AI that can parse information from your uploads. I decided to upload my past blog posts about Dorkstock as an experiment. I uploaded PDFs of six blog posts – 2017 (our second year in Madison), 2 from 2018 (before and after), 2019, 2021, and 2023. Please note that I experimented with Google Notebook because it’s only using my uploaded content, not stealing it from somewhere online. After feeding the blog posts in, I asked “What is Dorkstock?” I’ll note corrections inline.

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Dorkstock is a mini-gaming convention held within a larger convention. One person described it as a “tiny little division of Gamehole Con.”

Origin
Dorkstock is a labor of love started by fans of John Kovalic’s work. Kovalic is the creator of the comic “Dork Tower.” [I don’t believe I’ve ever referred to John by just his last name; I either call him John or John Kovalic.]
● Fans wanted to create a convention related to his work and that of other artists published under “Storm Press.” [Missing the word “Dork”.]
● They decided to hold a mini-convention within a larger convention that John Kovalic was already attending.

Games
A variety of games are played at Dorkstock, with both scheduled and pick-up games.
● Some of the games are related to the “Dork Tower” comic, such as “Igor Bars.” [Bwahahaha… “Igor Bars” is referred to as a game!]
● There are also life-sized games, like “Warhamster Rally” and “Escape from Dork Tower.”
● Dorkstock has featured special guests like Steve Jackson and Phil Reed, who are known for games like “Munchkin.”
● Attendees enjoy playing “Munchkin” at Dorkstock, even running Munchkin Block Party events.

Location and Growth
Dorkstock has been hosted at Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin for several years.
● It has grown from a one-day event to a four-day convention.
● There is a “Dorkstock coloring table” at the convention.

Dorkstock has also expanded beyond Madison, Wisconsin.
● There were at least two “Dorkstock UKs” and a “Dorkstock West.”

Personal Impact
For one attendee [me!], attending DragonCon and waiting in a crowded booth led them to the comic “Dork Tower”, which led them to John Kovalic and eventually, to their involvement in Dorkstock.

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It’s not a terrible summary of Dorkstock. The follow-up question (prompt provided) of describing an unique aspect of Dorkstock focused on our life-sized games. Speaking of which, this weekend’s Dorkstock features the debut of Greed Quest Live, along with the return of other life-sized games. If you’re near Madison, stop in and see us – most of Dorkstock’s games are in a room upstairs, while the life-sized games are in the dealer’s hall.

All hail King Torg!

Whether the table next to you is playing Kobolds Ate My Baby! or Knuckle Sammich, you’re going to hear people repeatedly shouting “All hail King Torg!” Last year, as 9th Level Games prepared to launch a new edition of Kobold Ate My Baby! through Backerkit, they included an option to purchase a plush kobold.

I don’t need another role-playing game I’m never going to run (please ignore the two others I’ve bought from them since then), but I definitely wanted another plush inspired by John Kovalic’s artwork. I mean, check out the teeth on that kobold… isn’t he adorable?

When he arrived in March, I wavered on what to name him. He looks a bit young to be a king, yet I wanted to pay tribute to those many games of Knuckle Sammich we’ve played. I settled on calling him Prince Torg rather than King Torg (all hail King Torg!). That led us to last week, when instead of saying all hail Prince Torg, it changed to all hug Prince Torg.

And that seems to fit.

Though the website never got updated this year (the logo wasn’t ready until a couple weeks before the convention), we had a fabulous time at Dorkstock, hosted again at the delightful Gamehole Con. We had a good assortment of scheduled games, some pick-up games, and the perennial Dorkstock coloring table which included this year’s logo in black and white. Here’s a copy if you missed out on coloring it at the convention:

This year’s Dorkstock included our Munchkin Block Party once per day – multiple Munchkin flavors running at up to three tables (depending on registration numbers), with an overarching half-hour rule that affects all tables (and change every half hour), and the new addition of stretch goals and rewards for achieving them. For example, one stretch goal was to defeat a monster while cursed; one half-hour rule was a +2 bonus in combat if you were wearing long sleeves. (It was pretty chilly in the Dorkstock room at that point, everyone had long sleeves on!)

For player convenience, we use a board from one of the Deluxe sets even if that Munchkin flavor doesn’t have one, which is how I ended up running Munchkin Grimm Tidings with a Crazy Cooks board. And just for fun, I asked the players if they wanted to use the cartoon figures I bring for Frag. It turned out to be a great game, with a lot of player interactions – well, Munchkinly ones, like messing with other people’s combat and asking for help against difficult monsters. Amusingly, the winner was the only player at level 8 when they kicked open the door and found a monster they could handily defeat. Another player slapped an extra monster onto the combat – one that could join that particular monster without a wandering monster card – and a third player forced the level 8 player to accept her help in the combat with a card, not realizing that defeating two monsters would give him the two levels he needed to win.

We also welcomed 9th Level Games to Dorkstock this year, celebrating their new version of Kobolds At My Baby! with a frequently crowded table of players shouting “All hail King Torg!” We also had Pavlov’s Dogs and Schrödinger’s Cats on our schedule, followed by an impromptu Knuckle Sammich (also including random “All hail King Torg!” shouts). Immediately following the convention, they launched a Kickstarter for Scurvy Buggers, described as “a found family RPG.” It’s fully funded and they’ve already hit their first stretch goal, so now’s a great time to pick up an easy-to-learn pirate RPG. I look forward to playing it at next year’s Dorkstock.

Our life-sized games: Warhamster Rally, Escape from Dork Tower, and Kill Doctor Lucky, were located just inside the dealer’s hall, and I’m happy to report that Doctor Lucky was in fact killed in all four runs. (It was really close on one of them, there were less than five minutes left when Doctor Lucky finally died.) Alas, I did not get any photos of the life-size games this year. I did, however, take a photo of this cute owlbear at the Imagining Games booth. (Yes, one came home with me. And yes, I’ve hugged an owlbear today.)

I mentioned a while ago – almost 5 years now! – that I play Pokémon Go as a way to motivate myself to get outside and walk. (In winter, that’s get into the garage and use the treadmill now that it can integrate with Google Fit.) Part of the basic functionality is research goals – timed, field, and special research. The field research comes from spinning stops when they’re nearby, whereas the special and timed ones are generated by the system. The timed ones vary from single day events to months-long challenges, like the GO Battle League challenges and this Master Ball challenge.

If you’re looking at the screenshot, you’ll notice some of those numbers (goals) are quite high… catch 1000 Pokémon! Complete 150 Field Research tasks! The reward is what makes it worth it… in addition to a bunch of stardust and experience points, there’s a Master Ball. And 80 days to complete all of it. (My timing was lucky, it started the day I went to a heavily Pokémon-ed area.)

There are three types of balls normally used in the game: Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball. Increasingly powerful and increasingly rare, these balls are accrued by spinning stops and gyms and by opening gifts (received by… spinning stops and gyms) with your Poké Friends. The type of ball you want to use will depend on the level of the Pokémon you’re trying to catch and its difficulty (beyond the level – some are just harder to catch). As a general rule, I use a Poké Ball for anything under 400 CP, a Great Ball up to 800 CP, and an Ultra Ball above that. (For additional context, my highest CP Pokémon is currently 4248.)

Some Pokémon are just harder to catch… they’re elusive, appearing only occasionally, and likely to flee after one successful throw unless they actually stay contained. A successful throw means you hit the Pokémon with the ball and see it captured… it doesn’t always stay caught though. There are all sorts of calculations going on behind the scenes, with better throws (towards a diminishing circle) and curveballs adding bonuses that will help the Pokémon stay caught.

And then there’s the Master Ball… it has a 100% catch rate. When you get one, you save it for a hard to catch Pokémon.

Will I succeed at completing all of these goals? I have my doubts on completing 60 raids and the 120 Excellent Throws (that’s hitting a tiny circle on the Pokémon) in that time, but I’m certainly going to try.

Last summer, Avatar Legends: the Roleplaying Game appeared on Kickstarter and was well received – to the tune of 81,567 backers. Not surprisingly, I was one of them, and that was before my gamemaster announced her intention of running a game in that world. It raised over $9 million (which sounded amazing until Brandon Sanderson started his Kickstarter).

Using the Quickstart guide, we each picked a playbook and designed our characters, knowing that some adjustments might be needed once the full book was released. We discussed when to set our adventure, deciding to avoid the well explored time periods surrounding Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, settling instead for the era when Aang has disappeared and the Fire Nation has just unleashed war on the other nations.

My character, Yeshe, is a traveling bard and storyteller, so I decided to write her background into a letter to her mentor.

Hitomi Nakai
Mistress of Word and Song
Iron Brew Tea House
Ba Sing Se

Day of the Comet
To the noble and esteemed Hitomi,

I hope you continue in good health in Ba Sing Se, and I appreciate your understanding of my reluctance to return to that city which generates the mixed emotions of meeting you and my abandonment, albeit accidental, by the monks of the Air Temple on that oddly fated field trip.  As you instructed, I have set out to gather stories across the Kingdoms, and have landed myself in the middle of what may be a momentous historical event. 

Per your recommendation, upon arriving in Piper Tower I immediately sought out a prominent Tea House.  I had been chatting with the locals at the Mud Pearl, mainly about the occasional difficulties in dealing with stubborn Fire Nation merchants that frequent these docks, when an exceedingly pregnant Air Nomad waddled in.  She had barely settled in on a sturdy bench when the skies began to darken as the hundred year comet approached.  I was gathering my belongings, anticipating watching the comet’s crossing from the docks, remembering how special an event you said this would be for all of you firebenders, when a young firebender burst into the Mud Pearl, shouting that the Fire Nation was attacking.  This was followed immediately by a plop of water hitting the dirt floor; the Air Nomad’s birthing process had begun at a most difficult time, and she yelled repeated about waiting for her young boyfriend, Tora. 

I followed several people, including the young firebender who had brought the news, outside, and heard others bar the door behind us to protect the woman’s childbirth.  In the ensuing chaos, the others fought off Fire Nation soldiers who were actively destroying buildings and harassing people.  I ran up to the less involved, the idle soldiers, asking for the missing Tora.  I began to despair for the young woman’s loved one when a soldier responded “You mean General Tora?”  Now, instead, I despair for the young woman. 

With her infant son in her arms, the young woman fled with several followers from the Mud Pearl, myself included, to her air bison, waiting just outside of town.  En route, we encountered none other than the General himself, who offered to keep the woman, named Bindi, safe from the fate of her fellow Airbenders if she goes with him.  Another fight might have ensued had it not been for a hapless melon merchant, rushing through the street with his cart, who crashed into the General, allowing us to escape.

As we were traveling on her air bison, Rini, Bindi shared the news that she seeks her nephew, who may be the next Avatar.  Good Hitomi, I hope you are able to discover what General Tora meant regarding the fate of the Airbenders, as his statement was most ominous.  I shall travel with these people as far as I am able to see how this story progress, writing always with the turtleduck quills you so generously provided.  

Your loyal student,
Yeshe

Are you playing Avatar Legends? I don’t say this often, but… tell me about your character.