Origins 2003 Photo Album

I had a great time at Origins this year. I was able to bunk with my brother, work the Paizo Publishing booth, mainly hanging out and hawking subscriptions to Undefeated, the newest and slickest gaming magazine on the market.
I have to admit I would have liked it much better if I had been able to win the World's (I went 2-3 so I did not make the finals) with my own version of a "Here Comes da Judge" Law Dogs deck. The deck worked pretty well in most cases, but I should have torn those Whatleys to pieces. I made them ALL wanted on the first turn, only to see 3 lynch mobs and 2 Bounty Hunters go by in gambling phase in the SAME hand. He was perplexed, knowing that somehow there was a purpose in his dudes being wanted, but not knowing what was really coming. I did get some satisfaction when I returned, however. Martin Maddog (North American Champion) came against me with his tournament deck and I beat him fairly easily in 2 out of 3 games, so the deck must work better at times, eh?
I enjoyed seeing many of you again. As always it was a pleasure to remind Bilal of the Great Snitch shootout 2 years ago (wherein the Snitch killed his shooter by drawing a Straight Flush). It was always good to hang with Andrew Davidson at Barley's and watch him eat his second bowl of chili. Charlie Hooks, as always, was a pleasure to talk deck ideas and convention schedules, as well as other stuff. Rich Carter and Charlie both looked at my Tourney deck the night before the World's event, and I tuned it up a bit using their suggestions.. (Can I blame them for my losses?) Pat Pulvino was able to remind me of how much I missed having Josh there to annoy and rag on me. I saw former champs Kerry B. and Jason "the kid" Jung, but they did not participate with us. Joe Fourhman brought his wife and some friends along to play under the beautiful banner he had made.
There were many others I saw, met, and just must admit, I cannot even begin to recall everyone's name.

The Paizo Emblem

What exactly is this creature supposed to be? Is he a wizard? Actually, this is the Paizo Golem. I was at the convention with the Paizo people. Paizo is a newly formed company which now publishes Dungeon Magazine, Dragon Magazine, and Star Wars Insider Magazine. Their newest product is Undefeated, a magazine aimed at CCG players, boardgamers, and miniature enthusiasts.

The Arena Challenge

Paizo was offering an Arena Challenge and used this beautiful prototype (by Dwarven Forge) for combat. Using the gladitorial setting and D & D rules, convention goers were invited to combat. The winner of each bout returned for a final conflict on Sunday morning, the winner received a Roman sword.













Joe Fourhman had this WONDERFUL banner made up for the event. It really helped establish Doomtown's presence and (we hope) sent a message to Alderac that we aren't going away!











Here I sat broken-hearted
Penny Farthing Final had barely started
Warn't too long till Rachel got busy
Then the Sioux came to town and they got pissy!
Later on Rachel took a chance
Massacreed the Sioux, all they did was dance

I'm the guy at the end of the table. To the left is Matthew Fell(?) who is the NEW Doomtown champion, by the way. On my right is Bill Sydes (spelling?) You can see Steve gloating over what he thinks is a good hand. The wristwatch hand at the opposite end of the table belonged to the Law Dog, Pat Pulvino, who lost the Hanging Judge too early in the game to be much of a factor.

What happened here was Steve Partridge was dropping tons of control points. Rachel kept doing her job on the deeds while everyone else pretty much stayed at home. Towards the end of the game, Rachel massacred at Steve's Sioux home, only to watch Eagle Rock send most Sioux to out of town deeds with Control Points. Rich Carter managed to take the event.










Now this has to be an interesting picture from the sealed deck tournament that Andrew ran. In the foreground you see my open box of chips- translation is "Preacher has already lost his game!" At the end of the table, talking to Andrew is the fellow who beat me. I was even nice enough to tell him how to do it!!! The fellow told me he was new to the game and might not play properly. At the end of the first day, I had a control point deed in play. As his first high noon action he asked, "I can massacre your home now, right?" "Sure," I told him. He was sending all of his guys, but I advised him to leave one influence out of the fight to come and step on my control point. Silly me!

Oh Crap!

I don't remember the player on the right, but I do remember wondering what he was thinking when I first saw the picture. It sure looked like an "uh oh!" or an "Oh Crap!" to me. After he finished his game I showed him the picture. He advised me that he was just thinking, not overly concerned. I believe he won that game as well. The player on the left was the Whatley player I failed to put away in the Word's event.






Rich always has a piece of green felt with him! It makes you wonder one of two things.


1) Does he think this felt will being him good luck like a green clover?

or

2) Is he afraid the high class hotels will run out of that cushy toilet paper?