Chapter 31

I went in and grabbed a cart as Holly opened the trunk. We placed all of the luggage on it, then walked in together to get our room. I should not have been surprised that Mandy was sitting there waiting for us. “About time!” she said, and came over and gave each of us a hug.

In short order I was giving the girls their keys, and we headed up to the suite. But we wasted little time, and Holly took my backpack and I had the camera bag and the three of us headed downstairs. I got us our passes, then we made our first round.

I looked at the things for sale in the vendor room, and was able to find several of the game systems Dee had suggested. And one of them was called GURPS, a kind of generic rule set that could be adapted for any genre. I picked that up, along with a few expansions for fantasy and modern games. I also picked up one called “Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes”, and realized the rules were very similar to Tunnels & Trolls. I went over behind Holly and opened my backpack and slipped my new books inside. I bent over and kissed her cheek softly and thanked her for holding it for me.

She turned and kissed my cheek in return, then whispered “I can still feel you leaking out of me.” Then with a grin she headed off to check out some comics. Mandy came up and took my hand in hers, so we told Holly we were going to wander a bit as she was going through a stack of Elfquest comics.

We had just entered the open game room when I heard my name on the intercom. Mandy kissed me softly, then said she would get Holly and meet me in the lobby. And I was not surprised when I got there and saw Brad and Dee. I gave her a hug, and she said dad had taken George upstairs for his nap and was staying with him. Brad surprised me by giving me a hug, and said it was great to see me again.

The girls had just joined us and were giving hugs to Dee when Brad told me they had already been playtesting “Boken Nabasen”, and the results were all impressive. “In fact, I sent a copy of your second draft to my associate in Japan, and they both love it. Some are predicting this will be even bigger than the Kaos adventures, as well as ‘Darkness Out of the Light’.”

“So that one is selling well?”

He grinned and nodded. “Oh yes, our top seller for the last four months. Still followed closely by ‘The Guild Wars’. I bet if you walk through the game floor, it will not be hard to find a game of it going on. And surprisingly, it even got an approval of the NAACP. First time ever for a game accessory.”

“Well, I did it for my friend to be honest. Jacki was bummed because like most others she just assumed all characters are as white as Mandy here is. That was kind of an in your face way for me to break that misconception. And if I did that, then I am glad. But the money will be nice also I have to admit.”

We all laughed, and by this time we were in one of the small rooms set aside for meetings. I opened the bag and handed Brad the two tapes of the game from the week before. Then I opened the backpack as I was explaining what the tapes were and handing him the folder I had prepared for him.

“In these are photographs of Okinawa, mostly things and places that inspired me. As well as draft drawings that Mandy already did. Also is the paperwork for Jacki, I want her to be given co-writing credit on ‘Boken Nabasen’.”

“OK, that is not a problem. Are you sure though? This is a lot of money we are possibly talking about.”

“Brad, she gets a 20% share, but I want her name on the cover. There is a lot of her influence in that story, just as Holly here helped me with my first one.”

“Oh no Pete, I barely helped you with that. Brad, mostly I just listened to him, and told him if an idea was good or not. But a hell of a lot of that was a surprise even to me. And parts two and three were entirely his own work.”

“Well, Mandy. I can tell you already I am accepting your art work. Expect a contract next week. Can you work in watercolors?”

Mandy chewed her lip for a second, then nodded. “It’s been a while, but I can do that.”

“Great. That one with the old man under the arch? Make it full color, that is what we will use for the cover. And make watercolors of all of them, we are already planning on adding a secondary book for a deluxe edition. Included will be color versions of your art. The details will be in the contract, but we are planning on a $1,500 advance, and 5% of net profits after that for sales of that edition.”

Mandy bounced up out of her chair and ran to give Brad a hug, kissing his cheek. “Oh thank you, that is amazing!”

“Now remember, that will only be on sales of the deluxe edition, the regular one is still a flat rate. But we are already planning on making a large run of each, and work on the translation has already started. Now Pete, I suspect our first shipments for the convention have already been sent. You said you got approval for the date already?”

“Yep, all locked down. The exchange is like a little mall, maybe six stores, the PX which is like a small K-Mart, a food court, and a set of conference areas like that Con we met at. We have the entire place for two days. And the Recreation department has promised us a permanent home if there is enough interest. We are going to have exhibitions and tournaments for everything from D&D and chess to Chutes & Ladders, Risk, and many more. We want to invite all games and gamers, of all ages. And hopefully, this can become an annual event.”

“Well, if you get it started, I am sure it will be. You got what, 18 months left there?”

“Yeah, about that. Then after that, I have no idea. But at least when I am back in the US I can return to making appearances at some conventions at least. It’s hard to believe this is my first in over two years.”

“Well, expect your speech to be standing room only. You have quite a fan base now, when your adventures are combined with your articles.”

I thought for a few minutes. “Well, ‘Boken Nabasen’ is not ready for sale yet. But you have the video of the second full playtest. Why not edit that a bit better, then you can show it before the public release? Or in fact, let me shoot another one in Okinawa. I will do a tape as a travelogue, shooting some of the things that I got my inspiration from, the countryside, the architecture and art, even some of the people. Then I will get a group together that is all military, and we will send you the tapes. And if I can arrange another camera or two it will be even smoother, do like a true three camera setup.”

“Wow, look at you talking like a producer here. Where did you learn that?”

“Gloria, of course. I really did pay attention to what she was doing, and I will see what I can do when I get back. Give me two or three weeks to make the tapes.”

“OK, that works for me. And by the way, I asked Riku what that meant. Does it really mean ‘Shipwreck Adventure’?”

I grinned as the girls all laughed. “Yep, but if you can think of something better, go ahead. That really is just a working title, to be honest. And for the Japanese translation, you can just call it ‘Shipwreck Adventure’ in English. The Japanese really love throwing in almost random English words, so that will get them talking as much as this one would here I bet.”

“Hmm, good idea. I will run that past Riku. Oh, we also now have a contract with AAFES, they will start selling our products in the next few weeks. So thanks for that also, we do not expect it to be a large selling market, but it is one that I am glad to take at least a piece away from TSR.”

“Oh, talking about TSR. Brad, as part of our agreement for those entry-level books, they want me to create a simple one to two hour adventure. Low level, as a kind of introduction that can be used with those books. I want to make kind of a ‘Kaos Light’ one, lifting a lot of the plot from my very first one. But make it where it ends at a small tower in the same session. But everybody starts at first level. Would that be a problem?”

“Well, it might. Are they offering to pay you for it? And are they going to sell it?”

“Yes, they are offering to pay me. But no, it will not officially be for sale. From what I was told by Ginger they would send them out with packs of the starter book, so somebody could hand those around, then take them through a simple adventure in short order. There will be a nominal price of $5 on them, but that she said was more for inventory and bookkeeping purposes. They expect to be giving them away for promotional purposes, and not actually selling them.”

“Alright, I will send them a formal proposal next week. I will not make any complaints public or private, so long as it is not sold to the general public, and that we get recognition and thanks for allowing our intellectual property is used. I don’t think that will be a problem, to be honest. Were you going to use Kaos?”

“Yes, but not in name. Similar character, NPC only and the wands are less powerful. She will be a straight NPC, no duplicity involved.”

“OK, that is probably for the best. That way they can play the real thing later, and still be surprised.”

“OK, last thing. Dee here is working on a new adventure for XX-XY. It will take her a few more months to finish it up, but it will be about bandits this time, kind of a kinky romance version of Robin Hood you might say. If Robin Hood was a girl.” I pulled out another folder and handed it across. Brad admitted he loved the artwork, and if the adventure was like her first one she would have a sale.

“And Mandy, same agreement for the art as usual. But full color for this one, it will be the cover also. We moved into our new facility last month, and included is a six color Heidelberg press. There is already an agreement in place for them to print all the covers for XX-XY. Of course, that is easier when I am one of the owners of both companies.” We all laughed, and soon the meeting broke up.

We paused in the multimedia room on the way back to the game floor, and there was a video of Kaos playing on the TV. We all watched, and it was funny holding the hands of each girl, watching a younger version of Holly and I playing on the big screen on the wall. And it was also nice that nobody seemed to connect the kid on the screen with the shoulder-length hair with the older high and tight wearing Marine in the back.

Walking through the game room we stood back and watched a group playing through Darkness. But this one was way different. They were just starting, and as expected the Paladin went charging in, sword drawn. But he failed his check, and struck one of the “dark elves” down.

And the DM played it masterfully, describing how the Paladin fell to the ground writhing in pain. The other players assumed he was struck down by a spell, and charged in also, and soon the other three farmers were dead.

And when the Paladin finally stopped shaking, the DM explained how he felt like his soul had been half ripped from his body, his deity had left him, and his holy symbol now felt dirty and unclean. This was fascinating to watch, as none of the games I had ever played actually had the Paladin strike them. The Paladin was loudly complaining that was “bullshit”, and it was his sworn duty to destroy all evil in the realm.

The DM then rushed to the dream that night, where the priestess used astral projection and interrogated the party on why they had attacked some farmers who had done them no harm.

“Lady, I do not know who you are, but somehow you perverted my religion, and I am sworn to eliminate all evil that I find!” the now ex-Paladin said.

“Sir Knight, they are not evil, and I am not evil. Take my hand, and see unless you are afraid.”

He took it, and the DM described how he felt nothing but goodness and purity from her, and there was nothing evil about her at all. He then added in a bit I had not considered, and described how she went to his Holy Symbol and put her hand on it. It glowed brightly, and when it was picked up a sense of righteousness flowed through any who picked it up.

The ex-Paladin still complained, and it seemed like the DM was growing short of patience. Holly and Mandy had both been holding my hand tight during this, and I felt I should do something. “Excuse me, can I add a word please?” The DM nodded, as did a few of the players.

“Mr. Paladin, the elves you saw were not evil. In fact, they are good. The saving throws you failed was to see if you would notice that fact before you struck them. You failed, so in your zeal to smite them you never noticed that they were not evil at all.”

I looked to the guy that was DM as the Paladin suddenly looked thoughtful. “And you have done a great job so far. It is actually interesting to watch somebody fail that roll, and you handled it masterfully. Out of all the games I have seen and played of this adventure, this is the first time the Paladin failed all the rolls. And I like that touch with the holy symbol.”

He smiled and thanked me. “I take it you have played this before?” he said.

Mandy at this point started to giggle, and Holly was right behind her. “Look at the cover, this is Peter Culver. And the giggler on the other side of him is Amanda Carol, she is the one who illustrated it. So yeah, he has played it a lot.”

I was soon shaking hands with everybody, and was not surprised when a few adventures and magazines came out and I was asked to sign them. “I will let you get back to your game, but please give him a chance everybody. He is running it as it should be run, and think about what it is really about. This entire adventure is about breaking down stereotypes, and realizing that they do not apply in a game world. Nowhere does it say that black-skinned elves that are not Drow are evil.”

I then leaned forward and whispered into his ear “I would suggest adding a geas for the Paladin to regain his powers. At the end if he redeems himself let him have them back again.” He nodded, and I asked him to meet me after the keynote to tell me how everything played out.

Both girls kissed my cheeks and said I had handled that great. “Well, even the hard-headed one there was finding it hard to say it was being done wrong, when I was there to say he was not. But I’m gonna add that to the adventure if it is printed again, he really had a good idea there which I never thought of.”

We decided to head on over and get some dinner, and soon we were all seated in the dining room having some steaks. “So, what is the plan tonight, Pete?” Mandy asked.

“Well, I was figuring we could go back to the floor for a little bit, then go upstairs and get comfy and relax. I have two bottles of champagne for each night. Tomorrow night though, I wanted my dad and Dee to join us. And Sunday I promised to have breakfast with just her.”

Thankfully they all thought that sounded great. We decided to walk through the tournament rooms, and saw that quite a few were in action even at 8 at night. And when I got to the last room, they were playing Oubliette.

We all watched, and I realized sadly that they were using tiles I had never seen before. Oh well, I have not been involved in the design of this game for two years now. One of the convention staff came over and asked if she could help us, and I just smiled.

“Naw, I just wanted to see how the tournament was going. Those red tiles, where did they come from?”

“Oh, an expansion earlier this year. ‘Tropical Nightmare’. One side is of a dense rain forest, the other is of lava fields. It lets us add more to the outside, as well as add lava inside the dungeon. Kinda like Mordor.”

I whistled. “Great idea, I wish I had thought of it.” Holly squeezed my hand and Mandy chuckled as the girl looked all confused. I just thanked her and smiled as we left the room.

“You didn’t tell her who you are?” Mandy asked.

“Naw, no reason to. But I like that idea, I will have to look into a few more myself now. I have never felt a need to ‘toot my own horn’ Mandy. That one convention I only did so because I wanted to see how it would play in a tournament, then they needed another judge to run the game.”

She nodded, and I had the delight of both girls kissing my cheeks at the same time. We went back to the open game room, and soon all three of us were pulled into a large scale game of Car Wars. Apparently they had modified it to work with Hot Wheel’s cars, and it was a blast. Mandy was almost acting like the Mandy I remembered from long ago. Making noises as she fired the guns or rockets on her car, and then the sounds of explosions as they blew up.

It took me right back to seeing her at 13 doing the same thing. Of course, as I admired her breasts hanging down in her tank top and the way her tight shorts hugged her ass, I had to admit she was in no way the little girl I first met all those years ago. She was now 17, and a stone-cold fox.

It was just after 9 when Mandy finally died, and we all headed up to the room. I let the girls take their showers first, as I set up the champagne, cheese, and crackers I had picked up earlier. They both came out in the robes I had given them, and after they took their seats on the couch I went to take my own shower. I got into shorts and a tank top afterwards, and went out to join them.

Holly poured the wine, and we all leaned back and sipped it. We all admitted that we had loved today, it had been far too long since we had just hung out together and had fun like this.

“And Holly, did you notice all the looks we were getting today? I swear a third of them were hostile, and a third of them were jealous.”

Holly nodded, and I looked back and forth at them. “Mandy, what are you talking about?”

“Oh, you were not really paying attention. But Holly and I both were. Pete, how often does a guy walk around hand in hand with two different girls?” I thought for a moment, then shook my head.

“Exactly,” Holly picked up. “From the guys, it was mostly envy and jealousy. With the girls, it was a bit more varied. Some looked admiringly, others looked almost hostile. We notice such things more than you guys do, and both Mandy and I saw it. That’s why we went out of our way to hold both of your hands as much as we could. And I have to admit, it was kinda fun.”