#142 Intro: The Con Game
As has become a mostly annual tradition, the old members of Forte gathered for Comic-Con International in San Diego. A tradition since 1990, as a matter of fact. And part of that tradition has been the annual convention Champions game. When the Forte campaign was still active, this was just a chance for a bigger-than life adventure...an "annual", to use the comic metaphor. But when the campaign ended and the players and GM all went their separate ways, it became something more. It became the foundation of ongoing Forte continuity...the only live Forte adventures left!
Well, this year, there was a bit of a twist, as a "sequel" Forte campaign--Forte 2000--had begun. I ran this Con game, and kept it right in with regular Forte 2000 continuity (picking up right where we left off at the online game (#141)), but in addition to Forte 2000 members, there would guest stars...members of the former Forte. This was the historic first "live" meeting of Forte past and Forte present.
Aaron (Dyna Girl, Electro Man) and I (Dr. Jackal, Nightsable, Seahawk) were living in San Diego at the time. Others drove and flew in. Ben (Moonspider) came down from L.A., but unfortunately Kaye (Tinker, Mist) had last-minute family obligations and had to be NPC'd into the game. Our Forte boys from Sacramento--Randy (Anvil), Jim (Tomarssuk) and Adam (Lightsedge)--made the trip down south, and Jeff (Vanguard, Max) came even further, jetting out from Iowa. But the furthest out was our old pal Martin (The Voice), whom we met 15 years ago through the Clobberin' Times, the Champions APA we were all once in, came all the way from North Carolina. Martin was never in the Forte game, but he read about it and knew so much about it from the 'Times, it always kind of felt like he was. So we finally officially brought him into the Forte world by having him make a character for Armor Security in L.A.
So what follows is the summary of that gaming session on that July Saturday night in 2003, in the dedicated gaming room in the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Diego. The night that two Forte eras met.