Chapter 47

It was the last full day of the convention, and after breakfast Ginger met us and we were on our way there. She once again said how much she had enjoyed the game the night before, and I told her she was more than welcome to join us that night for champagne.

Once we got there, we had barely started to wander the floor when I heard my name over the PA. Mr. Cummings was there with Roy, and after going to a private room they told me that all the arrangements were being made.

They laid out contracts for me, and I said I had to run them past my lawyer and dad. Mr. Cummings laughed, and that was exactly what he had told Roy what I would do. “One thing you will learn about Pete here, he is not a typical 18 year old kid. He has made well over $10,000 in the last year and a half. He is both not greedy, and trusts his dad completely. Pete, can I ask you to at least sign a non-binding notice of agreement, stating you are seriously considering the offer as made, and will respond within 15 business days?”

I nodded, and after looking it over signed it and handed it back. It did not commit me to any agreements, but it did commit me to negotiate fairly and gave a basic scale proposal. Wow, 10% of the company! In addition to royalties, and future shares of the profits! Now I would not only be a creator, I would be part owner of a company!

He said he had already faxed a copy to my dad and lawyer, and expected things would be concluded by the end of next week unless there was any objection. And then Roy said he also wanted a handshake agreement to at least one more adventure that was similar by the end of August. I also told them that after the end of August, my dad would have complete power of attorney, so could sign any agreements in my name.

“Pete, I know you are going to pretty much be out of contact after that for several months. But that way we can advertise at least one more adventure in the future, and we are already sending out feelers for other material that will fit. We are filing for a Delaware Corporation next week, and are considering using the name ‘XE Games’.”

“Hmm, how about ‘XY Games’? Or better yet, ‘XX-XY Games’? I get your idea, XE sounds like Sexy. I’m not saying it’s bad, but consider XX-XY. It would be named for the chromosomes for female and male, the female being first. It implies sex, but is not quite as obvious.”

“Good idea, I like it. We have three others, and the four of us will be voting on it on Tuesday.”

“OK Roy, fair enough. I only have one demand. That the name in no way be demeaning or offensive. No ‘Hot Whore Games’, or anything like that. Other than that, I am pretty much open to just about anything. Oh, and expect next week to have my next game, I actually just had an idea.”

“Wow, so fast? You actually mean an idea just came to you now, or you have been thinking of one?”

“Nope, just struck me right now. And ironically, the source is the same two girls that inspired this one originally. Linda, Holly, remember when I was running you all through the adventure where Peggy put on that girdle?”

They both started to laugh, and I joined them. “OK, in short Linda’s sister here and a friend were playing a couple in the game. And one of them picked up a cursed girdle of giant strength. The curse was that it changed the gender of whoever put it on, short of a wish. How about this time, we have it happen to an entire party? The DM passes out the sheets, and of course, most will naturally pick a gender they identify with. Guys will normally pick a male character, girls will normally pick a female character. That’s just automatic human nature. Then shortly after it starts, something happens and they all change. Now the guys have to play as girls, the girls as guys. Then we have it similar, with the and game being they find a way to change back?”

Everybody was laughing, and said it sounded great. “Oh god Pete, Linda and I will keep quiet of course, but you know Peggy, Mandy, and most of the others will kill you for this, right?”

“Yeah, and? Do you deny that it would probably be fun?” They all said it sounded great, and Roy told me to write it up. We ended the meeting, and Linda slipped out to join the group applying to take part in the game demonstration. Mr. Cummings had told me earlier that the guy he was going to have as the plant had to bail, and we would need Holly to do it. I simply told him that I was going to have Linda do it instead. And just like with Holly, Linda was going to pretend to be just another member of the audience. But of course, she knew that she was going to be the plant, and I was changing it from the Thieves Guild to the Mage Guild.

Mr. Cummings asked why the change, and I pointed out that in the video room that had been set aside for showing movies they had played a copy of Chaos in the Capitol the night before. “So far too many will get it if Holly is the plant, they may have seen the tape with her as Kaos. But I coached Linda as well, so she can do it fine.”

Well, the room set aside for the presentation was packed, and I got a lot of applause as I took the seat at the head of the table. Once everything was set, the people who were to play were announced, and soon everything was set.

I gave the introduction to The Guild Wars, and soon we were off. Fairly quickly two of the players were convinced the thief was the guilty one, and said they were watching him like a hawk. Of course, he protested his innocence, and nobody noticed that Linda was dropping notes to be recovered by her guild, stating items that were normal were magical with an evil aura that she claimed were typical of articles the Thieves Guild used, and even once dropping a note she intended to be found written as the thief.

Three hours later the adventure wrapped up, with the guy playing the thief dead, and the players all storming the Thieves Guild, and killing everybody inside they could find. Only to be surprised they found nothing inside to corroborate any of the evidence they had collected.

Only then I narrated the aftermath, where the Magic Guild hunted down the party and other guilds, and took complete control of the city. A lot of people were yelling, and tensions were high. And I then introduced Linda as my fiancee, and they all had to admit she had done a great job. And as everybody left the main table with a free copy of the game, I stood and told them about the game.

That first of all, there were dozens of ways to play it, and it was almost infinitely replayable. I had the director put up on the screen one of the character sheets, and I told them that this was a standard description, and each character had one like this. Then I had them display the next one, same character but as the spy. I then told them that any player could be the spy, it was up to the DM to decide who it would be before they played.

“And there are actually many ways to play it, not just with one of these characters being the plant. You can play with all players innocent, with a secret and hidden Assassin’s Guild is the guilty one. I even have written out ideas for two players to each be the plants, either working together or working against each other. So this really is a game where you can play it, then a while later play it all over again, and it will be completely different.”

There was a lot of applause at the end, and I took questions for about 15 minutes before Mr. Cummings took the stage and announced that the module was now on sale. They had brought 5,000 copies of the adventure, and I signed every single copy by the time my cramping hand was able to take a break. And I know it was that many, because we sold out the entire run.

And most of the people who had me sign their copies said they could not wait to play it with their friends. I suggested that they start with the option with the hidden guild first. Then play it later with a player as the spy, that way they would not suspect it. And most seemed to like that idea.

We had just finished, and we dashed off to the room set aside for announcing tournament winners. Mr. Cummings and I both took the stage, and a lot of people applauded when we told them who we were, and presented the awards for the winners of the Oubliette tournament. Small trophies, as well as signed copies of the game were the awards.

Then it was just time enough for a snack, then head over to the end of day keynote. And I was kinda shocked when I realized it was actually another awards ceremony! Not just for the convention, but for the gaming industry! That will teach me to not read in the schedule what the presentations were about.

I took the stage, and realized I was the presenter for the “Best Historic War Game – Board”, and when I read off that Civilization had won, I talked briefly how much I had enjoyed playing it as I presented the award.

Sadly, I was announced as a candidate for “Best Fantasy Game - Board” for Oubliette, but did not win. I was sitting next to Mr. Cummings, and I laughed as I called him an asshole, for not telling me what this actually was. “Well Pete, we were not sure if we will even win anything. But they wanted you to present something, and this was the best way to get you here.”

I however was blown away when “Best Fantasy RPG Module” was announced, and “Chaos in the Capitol” won! I took the stage, and was given a nice trophy. I thanked all of the fans who had played it, and even had Holly stand up, where everybody clapped for my best friend as the “Original Kaos”.

I took my seat, and all three of the girls gave me hugs and congratulated me. Mr. Cummings even congratulated me, as this would assure at least a third printing of the game. This time with “Origins Award Winner” clearly on the cover.

Finally, it was all done, and we were all on the way to the hotel. This time both Mr. Cummings and Ginger were with us, and Deana was waiting for us in the lobby when we got out of the car. She had thought ahead and grabbed two more bottles of champagne, and soon we were relaxing and sipping it as we talked about the last several days.

“Well Pete, now you know what the big conventions are like. And yeah, the LA ones are some of the biggest in the country. But this is really more of a National Convention, as well as a big trade show both combined. Oh, and we expect to sell out of ‘The Guild Wars’ within a month, so expect at least three or four runs of that also in the next two years. And some have told me you may be a two-time winner, it is already the favorite for next year. Better prepare your acceptance speech.”

“Sorry, no can do. Odds are I will not be able to make it, even if I do win. No telling where I will be, or if I can take time off even if I want to. But I promise I will try if I can. Too bad we can not do this for the Dildo adventure.”

I timed it perfectly, as both Deana and Ginger were sipping their drinks at the time, and both were almost incapacitated with giggles along with the other girls. We all had a good time, and I told the others my idea about the follow-up as they were not in the earlier meeting. Linda bless her pulled out her notebook and wrote down many of the suggestions they had, and they all said it would be a riot to play.

“So Pete, is this how you ended all the conventions we sent you to?”

“Yep, pretty much. My dad started it, and we have continued it every time. Once we are done for the night, go up to the room and drink champagne for a few hours to unwind before bed. And never enough to get drunk, just a few glasses each. With four of us, that normally means one bottle a night. More, if we have more people. Sometimes there have been as many as seven of us, with the girls sharing the rooms and us guys sleeping on the couch.”

“Uh-huh, you expect us to believe that?” Deana said with a grin.

“Deana, that is the truth. Once we had Linda and Mandy in one room, Holly and Peggy in another. Then me, Peggy’s boyfriend, and Holly’s boyfriend on the couch. Besides, you tell me how the logistics would work in a two bedroom suite with three couples and a single girl. Not possible.”

They all nodded. But Holly said that had been a great convention, and was actually fairly typical. “Now this time, I will not even deny that this time Linda and Pete there share the bedroom, and I sleep on the couch. But I also know that if I had asked, Pete would be sleeping here in a heartbeat and I would be in the room with Linda. This is more about us just doing something together that we all love to do than an excuse to have sex.”

It was almost midnight and we all said goodnight, and Ginger said she would pick us up at 9. We both hugged Holly, and Linda and I headed to bed where we were soon asleep.

We were just finishing breakfast, and Ginger said we had four hours to kill before we had to be at the airport. She asked where we wanted to go, and I told her we had all agreed to see the Henry Ford Museum. We spent almost all of our time there, exploring the exhibits and even seeing the cars they had on display. Then with an hour left she took us to the airport.

We all gave her hugs, and she had our information and promised to keep in contact. Then once we passed security we had just taken our seats when Deana joined us. We talked about how much fun we had had, and how we wanted to be able to attend future events. She told me that Gen-Con was as much fun, but this was more of an industry wide convention, where Gen-Con tended to be heavy with D&D, since it was so close to where TSR was headquartered.

The sun was just setting as the aircraft landed in Burbank. And after showing dad my trophy, Linda and I walked Holly home. I drove Linda home, and I said I would call her the next day,. But I might just sleep in and take it easy. She said she understood, and it sounded like a good idea.

I helped her bring in her stuff, and with hugs from her sister and mom soon I was back home. Deana’s car was still in the driveway, and apparently her and dad had already gone to bed. So making sure everything was locked up and turned off, I crawled in and was soon asleep.

The next few days were rather relaxing, mostly Linda coming over and chatting with me as I wrote up the new module. And confirmation that “XX-XY Games” was incorporated and the check was on the way. That Wednesday we had a full group, and I ran them through the second module.

They all thought it was just another dungeon crawl, and I had not warned them it was to be another sexy game as I had purposefully placed on non-sexy names for the characters. When when about a half hour they entered a chamber with a large stone that glowed pink, they did not think much of it. Until I described how the stone started glowing brighter, and each of them was changing genders.

And it was really funny, with Jack and Mike as well as the two NPCs becoming women. And Linda, Mandy, Holly and Peggy all becoming men. Mandy had been playing a ranger, and even her wolf companion changed genders, going from female to male. When they got to the inn and were waiting for their armor to be modified, of course the two couples decided to try their new bodies. And both Jack and Mike hammed it up as their girlfriends, now boyfriends, were “sticking it to them”.

And it took a while, but after a series of sexy encounters, they came into a room with a large stone that glowed blue. It was the counter of the first one, and asked them all if they wanted to return to their original genders. However, Mandy stated she wanted to remain male. And while everybody else reverted to their original gender, Mandy remained male and her wolf returned to female. I had written it this way, so any companion or familiar would always return to their original gender.

And of course, when they returned to the city they all had to try out having sex again. And they all said they loved it, and wrote out critique sheets and gave a few suggestions. The next day I made some changes based on things from the playthrough, and I sent it off to Roy.