Between working a full shift at work Thursday morning and driving in Massachusetts traffic, I was exhausted so my wife and I ordered some deep dish pizza and had early night for we both had to be back at the convention early the next morning for our “Minioning”. Friday morning the we arrived in the gaming hall, which was located on the 18th floor of the Graduate, overlooking the Omni Hotel where the vendor hall was, and the rest of Downtown. Right when we walked in, multiple RPG games were already underway and the Extra Life Raffle was set up which had some really great prizes donated by artists, publishers and stores. walking past the dozen or so tables of Agents, Investigators, Handlers and Keepers the board game hall was neatly tucked past the chattering of dozens of gamers. This is where my wife and I spent our time at the convention. I ran 2 groups through the intro scenario for the Arkham LCG, “The Gathering”. The first group was a 4 player group of close friends hellbent on “griefing” each other for their collective amusement. Questions such as these came up during their session?

“Can I use this dynamite blast to damage my friends?” Skids then proceeded to use his first action to play said card in the study… “So I can spend my entire turn trying to “heal” my teammate with Medical Texts?” Daisy proceeds to draw the -4 and the Auto-fail tokens trying to bandage Roland up. “What happens if I fail an attack while an enemy is engaged with another player?” You damage them instead Oh good! This’ll be payback for that Dynamite earlier, you ****!

Surprisingly enough, They managed to defeat the Ghoul Priest, with a solid Barrier and Agnes stabbing him with Lita’s help. Hilarious. The second group of the day was a 3 player group who had what I would call a more normal experience, and came out on top with Skids and Roland sacrificing themselves to hurl dynamite at the Priest. Both groups seemed to have a great time playing and wanted to know what happened next in the campaign. Players enjoyed the narrative driven game play and appreciated the RPG aspects of the Arkham LCG. My groups Saturday also had a great time playing and learning the game! my first group that day was 2 players, one of whom received the game as gift from his wife but never had the chance to play it until then. The last group I ran was with fellow podcaster, Brian Murphy of the "Miskatonic University Podcast and a couple of his friends, who picked the game up quickly.

The look of dread on people’s faces when they draw their first auto-fail on a big test is good fun when it’s not you! Watching people as they experience the game for the first time was a treat to see and an honor to be a part of a great (old ones) gaming experience for those involved.