WARP One: Gaming at its best

By Tanya Cook, June 25th, 2018

Fans of tabletop games enjoyed two full days of programming at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum this past weekend. WARP One, short for Wargaming and Role Playing, kicked off its inaugural weekend on Saturday, July 28th and continued through Sunday evening. Future WARP events will take place roughly once per quarter at the Hangar and will include long and short games for all ages.

Attendees could choose from Dungeons and Dragons Adventurer’s League to Savage Worlds to Star Wars X-wing and more. All experience levels were welcome and many Game Masters, or GMs, were running their own unique campaigns. Local expert Game Master, Virgilio San Andres was running a game of his own design based on Flash Gordon and the 1980s cult classic film adaptation in particular. Local gaming shops and gaming companies also donated several games that players could enter a lottery to win.

For those who are new to role playing games, imagine an interactive story that depends on character actions and choices. Players typically create a character who has various skills and attributes and then they work together to complete a mission as a group. Campaigns or games are run by Game Masters (GMs) (also called Dungeon Masters (DMs) in Dungeons and Dragons, specifically) who create the settings and basic plot points and frequently write quite a bit of backstory too. Dungeons and Dragons is sometimes compared to the Choose Your Own Adventure middle grade storybooks, except with more combat and more dice rolling. In a recent interview, Robbie Thompson, former screenwriter for the popular television series “Supernatural”, credited Dungeons and Dragons with helping young writers hone their skills in storytelling by acting as DMs. After participating in a four-hour one shot campaign, I can see why this would lead to great storytelling skills!

As a lover of both “Game of Thrones” and Westerns, I signed up to play a variant of Savage Worlds described as a Fantasy Western called “The West Wood”. Our GM Darrell Hardy led us through a four-hour action-packed adventure that helped me to brush up on my burgeoning combat experience. Thankfully, my fellow game players were extremely patient with my newbie status and not always knowing the difference between an eight versus ten-sided die. For more information about how you can support Darrell’s development of The West Wood, check out his website, which contains links to his Patreon site.

Wings Over the Rockies was an amazing setting for this event. According to one of the co-organizers, future events will include evening hours. While the museum itself does not offer concessions, the Lowry Beer Garden, Rocket Ice Cream and Copper Door Coffee are all located next door. WARP Two is coming your way Sun Dec. 9, 2018. Game passes are $10 for the entire day and require admission to the museum. Day passes for the museum are $15. But an entire day of entertainment for $25? Pretty great deal.

To register for WARP Two and future events click here!

Tanya Cook is a sociology professor at the Community College of Aurora. Her current research project “Always Keep (Nerd) Fighting,” explores fandom-based charity work and activism. When she’s not teaching or writing, Tanya enjoys learning new cosplay skills and playing Settlers of Catan with her children.