And the heroes arrive in Seattle! Here’s Jim, Jeff, K.C., Randy and Adam on Friday morning at Sea-Tac Airport. Let the Forte 20th weekend begin!
	And let it begin with...lunch! Hey, airline travel is hungry work! Can’t remember the name of the burger joint that we went to, but it was quite cool and retro. And you can make out our Seattle host, Aaron, in the background.
	Here’s Jeff and Adam waiting on some HOT WINGS, baby!
	Adam, Aaron and K.C. rappin’ and catching up on old times.
	How you know you’re staying at a fine hotel in Seattle (we were staying at the La Quinta, FYI). They don’t just give you coffee. The give you Seattle’s BEST Coffee. Wow! Oh, wait…I don’t drink coffee… Ah, it’s the thought that counts.
	After lunch and a stop off at our hotel, it was off to hang out at Aaron’s place. Here, on his back deck, K.C. and Adam (and Aaron’s dog Jake) soak up some rays on a gorgeous Seattle summer day.
	Jeff and Jim, clearly wanting their tourist status to be quite clear with their shirts, hanging out on the deck as well.
	The blurry Jake manages to put up with having all these strange geeks in his house just fine.
	And there’s the Forte Seattle Weekend gang (sans Aaron, who took the photo so I could get into one myself…). After twenty years of saving Seattle, here they all are finally IN Seattle.
	I like to try to squeeze in at least one smart-ass photo each trip I’m on. This is the one for this trip.
	Fear not, citizens! Wingboy is on the grill! Aaron cooking up some dogs for our Forte Barbecue later that day.
	The official mascot of the Forte Seattle Weekend! We should have gotten him a cape, don’t you think?
	Randy and Jim roaming around Aaron’s way-cool house.
	And what does Vanguard take on his burger? You guessed it…that’s classified.
	A bucket o’ tasty beverages for our Friday night throwdown. Keeping it Forte real, Aaron of course had to buy some Rainier beer!
	And the gracious Mrs. Wingboy (I’m betting money she’s never heard herself referred to by that name…yet…), Jeni, our other weekend host, got home after work to meet all the guys and join us for food, drinks and fun.
	Jeff and Jim enjoy the onset of evening, while our trusty mascot keeps a careful vigil over them.
	Aha! With Jeni home, this gave us the chance to finally get a group shot of the whole gang before heading back to our hotel. Wish there could have been a few more Forte alums in it, but really, we were lucky to be able to get this many of us, so we’re not complaining.
	And it’s always a good idea to get a second one in case someone blinked. Nope, looks like Jeff waited until the second one to do that…
	And here’s Adam, Aaron, Jeff and K.C. in the lobby of our hotel Saturday morning as we prepare to take off on part one of our Seattle tour!
	And wanting to load up on carbs for the long day ahead, Randy sucks down a free hotel bagel.
	Without Forte’s jet copter, the Silver Bullet, to carry us around, we had to settle on a rental van that we quickly dubbed The Khaki Bullet.
	Here we are getting parked in a lot and getting ready to disembark on foot to roam the Seattle waterfront.
	Reservoir Geeks. A Quentin Tarantino film.
	The first stop on our Forte Seattle tour? Bell Harbor, where the boat Seahawk lives on is harbored. One of those is his. Think he’s home?
	A cruise ship is docked nearby. If any criminals are planning to rob it, they picked the wrong day, buddy!
	Vanguard keeps watch over the harbor and the Sound beyond. Rest easy, Seattle.
	Randy (Anvil) and Adam (Lightsedge) enjoying the sun and the waterfront breeze.
	Jim looks on while K.C.’s head radiates angelic light. Okay, we’ve always joked about K.C. being the Forte world’s deity, but who knew?
	Look! Up in the sky! Is that Armature flying by?
	Here’s Jim with a rather famous Seattle landmark in the background behind him. Can you spot the Needle?
	The guys scoping out the view of downtown
	Adam with the brightly-lit Seattle streets behind him
	Hey, what’s that I see in the distance? Why, it’s Pike Place Market, a famed Seattle landmark! Let’s check it out, shall we?
	Here we are in front of the Market. What are all those tourists taking photos of? Let’s see…
	Hey, it’s not just another Starbucks…it’s the original Starbucks! Otherwise known as the First Evil. K.C.’s in the shot, walking past it.
	Inside the Market itself, Aaron, Jim and Adam are tempted by many of the tasty treats for sale by busy vendors.
	Jeff, too, is checking out the wares
	Outside, you can see the famous clock on the Market sign.
	Here’s the guys taking a brief break while K.C. shares some chocolate-covered cherries he’s bought.
	Yes, wherever those Forte guys go, they’re bound to draw a crowd. Ahem. I said, they’re bound to draw a—
	THERE’s the crowd. Thanks for learning your cues, people. Extras. What are you going to do?
	Randy, Jim and Adam are planning out the next part of our downtown journey. And Jim is quite happy because he just bought a bunch of salmon. Polar bears. Always thinking with their stomachs.
	The Forte boys say good-bye to the Market. And some lady walks by. And there’s a big pig statue on the roof.
	Jeff and Adam chillin’ on the streets of Seattle.
	Aha, our other big destination for the day. The entrance to the tour of Underground Seattle – or the original Seattle that got built over. This is a place Forte characters visited more than once during the campaign. Now it was time for the Forte players to take their turn! And I liked the appropriate Rogue’s Gallery place inside. But as we missed the tour that was starting, we first headed elsewhere for lunch…
	I save the city and the universe and all you got is Lite Beer?
	“Live for the Ride”. Words Jeffs Baumgardner lives by.
	Man, you can’t throw a rock in Seattle without hitting some touristy Forte-themed place. I hope Jack’s getting a piece of the take.
	Grr! I’m Dr. Jackal! Arrr! Okay, moving on…
	The gang regroups after the Underground tour (you’ll have to see K.C.’s pics for shots of that. Due to certain obvious accessibility issues, I skipped that particular journey).
	K.C., Jeff, Randy and Adam wait to cross the street downtown
	And they’re still waiting, but hey…let’s take this moment to get a good view of the downtown area. Can’t you just imagine Vanguard heading down that hill on his motorcycle, or Phantasm slugging it out with a bad guy in the middle of the street?
	And they’re crossing! Woo hoo! That means we can head back to the van and back to Aaron’s place for the game!
	And we gather ‘round the Storck dining room table to begin “Forte Forever”, the 20th anniversary Forte game! And here Jim tears open his shirt to reveal his heroic identity. Jim Kletzing is really the famed polar hero Tomarssuk! GASP!!
	While Aaron watches, GM K.C. gets the mat set up for hot gaming action. Note the dice and the red vines. Both sure signs that a Champions game is going down.
	Aaron, with dice in hand, decides what Dyna Girl should do against the bad guy. Hit him…or hit him ever HARDER?
	K.C. and Jeff during the game. I don’t think that it’s fair to the players if the GM wears his lucky Cubs shirt…
	That’s right, boys, K.C. brought VILLAINS! Did you think you were just going to roleplay out a tea party, nancy boys?
	The bad news for Aaron and Jeni was that Adam and Jake bonded, so the dog would have to fly home with us.
	Aaron scans the Dyna Girl sheet in the midst of combat, and you can see here my laptop screen (with a piece of Forte art up on it). I was both using it to view my digital character sheet during the game and, more importantly, to take notes for the forthcoming game write-up. Where were these things back in ’87?
	K.C. explains to Aaron and Adam what nasty things the villains just did to Dyna Girl and Lightsedge. Oh, the humanity!
	Randy, Jim, Aaron and Adam, fighting to save the world. Again. And you can see my game notes there.
	And you can see more of my game notes there (looks like we were at the second-to-last battle at this point), as well as the salmon Jim bought to share with us all. Mmm. I THOUGHT something smelled fishy here…
	Jeff and me, fighting the good fight. But as you can see by his shirt, whereas I am but the learner, HE is the master…
	Me and Randy, hanging in there as the hour grows (really) late…
	You can hear the stories, you can read the reports, but nothing can ever really capture the courage, heartache and stark reality of combat than looking upon the actual field of battle.
	You want some REAL Forte history? Here’s the exact same dice box Jeff has been using since the very first Forte game on November 5th, 1987. If those dice could only talk…
	THIS IS IT! The final battle! The cataclysmic conclusion to the Forte Forever epic! The fate of Forte and the world stands in the balance! No words can paint a picture more gripping than this photo itself!
	But you’ll have to read the write-up to find out how THAT all turned out. But for now, let’s jump to Sunday morning, and to our trip to the top of the Space Needle! Here’s K.C., Jeff and Jim checking out the view of our fair city. Not sure there if Jeff’s looking through something or making some kind of insulting gesture at someone…
	Hey, is that Captain Compass that K.C.'s just spied? Ahoy!
	Aaron and Randy checking out the view
	Here’s a view of the Sound, and if you look real close by the waterfront, you can see the globe atop the Seattle Post-Intelligencer building…where the retired Dr. Jackal works!
	Adam and Aaron rapping about Forte locales, most likely.
	A tour in progress, you say? What better tour guide could you have than the godfather of Forte himself, K.C. Ryan?
	Heroes all.
	Jim looks out over the city.
	If I’m remembering right, that warehouse area way across the water there is where K.C. thinks the hidden Forte base is. He can’t be sure, of course…because it’s hidden…
	Three ladies look out across Seattle, dreaming of maybe catching a glimpse of one of those hunky Forte heroes.
	Oh, please, can’t the poor Forte heroes go ANYwhere without the paparazzi following them?!
	Oh, okay. It’s just Jim.
	While Randy and Adam relax, Jeff looks across the city hoping to spot Ravenscroft.
	While Jeff keeps looking (he’s out there somewhere!), Aaron explains the complexity of Dyna Girl’s motivations to Adam.
	"Come ON," Anvil insists to Adam. "Anvil was CLEARLY a better basketball player than Dr. Jackal!"
	Fighting crime is thirsty work. That’s why Lightsedge reaches for Mountain Dew when he’s doling out Seattle justice. Just Dew It!
	Randy and Aaron check out one of the cool interactive Needle display screens
	And thanks to the handy wheelchair situation, our group gets to take the Blue Elevator down as we finish our viewing.
	And let’s take a look up at the Space Needle from below. Impressive, isn’t it?
	Ahhhhh!! I’m falling off the Space Needle!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh…!!!! Okay, never mind…
	Jim, Randy, Adam and Aaron chilling out while K.C. and Jeff finish up their Space Needle shopping.
	Speaking of Space Needle swag…they naturally sell a selection of Forte collectibles…such as this Tommy Bear.
	So the chairs outside the Needle aren’t the most comfortable, but at least they’re functional
	Jeff and Jim, doing that Seattle tourist thang.
	Riddle me this, Vanguard!
	Just everybody hanging out outside the Needle
	Ah, and dramatic shot of Randy and the Space Needle. Trey Seattle.
	And on the other side of Seattle Center, we come upon…the Forte Museum! Yes, this is the building we’d picked out (the Pacific Science Center) to be the famed Forte Museum. Awesome!
	And another shot of the Museum. Just imagine the bitchin’ Forte interactive displays inside. I hear they have a 1/16 scale Silver Bullet replica in there, dude.
	And another shot. Me, I want to check out that life-sized Phantashia statue, personally. Heh heh heh.
	And here’s Forte guys hanging out in front of the Forte Museum. Perhaps waiting for the next Imax Forte documentary to begin.
	And…still hanging.
	Heroes are human, too. Sometimes during the midst of battle, a Forte hero has been known to have to run off to the restroom…
	Ooh, I like the Needle shot with the cloud. Looks like a cloud of dark mystic energy is surround the Needle as a villain prepares to open a gate to the netherworld and unleash an army of demons on the city. Yes, I am a nerd. Why do you ask?
	And here’s the guys back on the Needle side of Seattle Center, waiting for the valet to show up with the van. Yes, they have valet parking at the Needle. Classy town.
	I think that calls for a close-up.
	And let’s take one last look up at the Needle as we bid it farewell.
	And if you’re ever looking to visit Seattle Center, here’s a handy map for you.
	And speaking of saying good-bye, it’s time for all of us to say good-bye to Seattle, and to each other. But time for one last shot (taken outside the theater by Jeni after we caught a movie), and a chance to remember what a great time we all had the past three days.
	Yep. Friends for twenty years, folks. Friends and teammates. That’s something being spread all over the country can never change. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another twenty years for a shot like this! Let’s all starting getting ready for Forte 25!

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