August 11 1999 RussCon Report

I'm back from the Go Congress in San Francisco, which was a great time. Daniel's back from Hawaii, Curt's back from Europe, William's bar schedule changed, so there were lots of new old faces...

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The Mystery of Irma Vep:

This terrific fun play is getting great reviews. It's a clever horror spoof, sort of like a Call of Cthulhu adventure run by drunken comedians or something. Two actors play all the parts! See the August 6 Chronicle for featured review. I know some folks are interested, but no one's told me date preferences yet. Let me know ASAP! I'll be making reservations soon. It runs through August. As a default, I'm thinking next weekend, August 20 or 21, just to get the ball rolling.

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Puffing Billy Train Tournament:

This will probably be the last weekend (August 27 & 28) (both days since some train games are long, but you don't have to come both days) unless I start hearing feedback from people. Winner gets free admission to LaserQuest when we do that soon thereafter.

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If anyone has experience running a convention (gaming, sf, or whatever) and would like to read over the 2002 Austin Go Congress early planning document and give feedback, let me know.

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Game Results:

Rheinlaender 5 William 4 Marty 1 Daniel 1 Bob -2 Curt -4
Canyon 5 Bob 4 Daniel 2 Curt 0 William -2 Harry -4
SecretLabyrinth 4 JeffF 3 Jay -1 Clayton -1 James -1
ZirkusFlohcati 4 Bob 3 William 1 Daniel -1 Curt -3
Streetcar 4 RussW 3 Steve 1 WendyWhe -1 JP -3
ZirkusFlohcati 4 Daniel 3 Curt 1 Bob -1 William -3
Giganten 4 Jay 3 Clayton 1 James -1 JeffF -3
MembersOnly 4 Curt 3 William 1 Bob -1 Daniel -3
Dampfross 6 Steve 5 JP 3 WendyWhe 1 Marty -1 JonathanC -3 RussW -5
HookOrCrook 4 JeffF 3 William 1 Daniel -1 Curt -3
IronHorse 3 RussW 2 Marty 0 JP -2
Bluff 4 JP 3 JeffF 1 Daniel -1 William -3
ZirkusFlohcati 4 JeffF 3 JP 1 William -1 Daniel -3
ZirkusFlohcati 4 JeffF 3 JP 1 William -1 Daniel -3

More train games got played. I found an old 1983 train card game Iron Horse. One of the listed playtesters is Brian Marick. Could that be the same Brian Marick who wrote The Craft of Software Testing? I'll have to find out... but I digress.

The Flea Circus game got played a lot! And the final 2 sessions had the same outcome. Go figure.

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Evening's Soundtrack:

Melissa Etheridge, Brave and Crazy
Marianne Faithfull, A Secret Life
Passengers, Original Soundtracks 1
The Pogues, Essential Pogues
Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones

Sea Biscuit detected the common theme. John Donne observed that no man is an island, but all these CDs are. Published by the Island label, that is.

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Rank ratings:
 0.7500 Steve (2 games played)
 0.5556 JeffF (6)
 0.3333 Jay (2)
 0.1765 Bob (5)
 0.1579 JP (6)
 0.0000 RussW (3)
 0.0000 WendyWhe (2)
 0.0000 Marty (3)
 0.0000 Clayton (2)
-0.1034 William (9)
-0.2069 Daniel (9)
-0.3000 Curt (6)
-0.3333 James (2)
-0.6000 JonathanC (1)
-1.0000 Harry (1)

New Win ratings:
 0.5556 JeffF (6)
 0.5000 Steve (2)
 0.4000 RussW (3)
 0.3333 Jay (2)
 0.2353 Bob (5)
-0.1000 Curt (6)
-0.1053 JP (6)
-0.1379 William (9)
-0.1724 Daniel (9)
-0.2000 JonathanC (1)
-0.2500 Harry (1)
-0.2500 WendyWhe (2)
-0.2727 Marty (3)
-0.3333 Clayton (2)
-0.3333 James (2)

Jeff and Steve are the Co-Devils! William and Daniel share the Dedicated Award.

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Some things never change.

Russ