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Secondary Traits of Echelon

Posted by Mad Brew On May - 27 - 2010

This is part of the Echelon RPG Development series. Here are links to other articles of the series:

Secondary Traits are not purchased with Experience like Core Traits; instead they are derived from Attributes or Species. Some Ability Stunts, Advantages, Hindrances, Species, and Templates may also affect Secondary Traits. There are four categories of Secondary Traits: Defense, Energy, Offense, and Spatial.

Defense

Defense scores are used by characters targeted by harmful actions. Depending on the action, a defense score may be used to calculate the Difficulty Rating or it may be used to add to the targeted characters dice pool result. The appropriate Defense score is determined by the action being taken and is provided in the action’s description. Defense scores also determine a character’s Initiative.

Reaction

A character’s Reaction is derived from Dexterity and Intelligence, as it is a measure of the character’s reflexes and knowledge of tactics. Most Ranged and Melee Weapon Attacks are opposed by the target’s Reaction score.

Calculation: Reaction = Dexterity + Intelligence + Apotheosis + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Resilience

A character’s Resilience is derived from Constitution and Strength as it is a measure of the character’s to recover from and deflect harm. Many Abilities are opposed by the target’s Resilience score.

Calculation: Resilience = Constitution + Strength + Apotheosis + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Resolve

A character’s Resolve is derived from Spirit and Wisdom as it is a measure of the character’s willpower and determination. Many Abilities are opposed by target’s Resolve score.

Calculation: Resolve = Spirit + Wisdom + Apotheosis + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Destiny

Destiny is usually viewed as an external force of the universe exerting its influence on persons to direct them towards a predetermined fate, which people arrive at regardless of their own actions or the actions of others. Echelon views destiny as a guiding force that can be thwarted, redirected, or harnessed. Characters in Echelon actually make their own destiny through Apotheosis and its influence is reflected in two Traits: Karma and Kismet.

Karma

Destiny can exert its influence upon any action. This influence is called Karma. The Karma of Echelon is not tied to quaint ideas of good and evil but to less subjective benchmarks of success and failure. Karma is drawn to exceptional success and failure, encouraging the momentum of success while trying to break the momentum of failure. Whenever a character achieves an exceptional success, he gains 1 Karma. However, when a character suffers an exceptional failure, he gains a number of Karma equal to his Apotheosis rank.

[Design Note: How Karma is earned may change depending on how Apotheosis is finally implemented as a conflicted gauge.]

The maximum amount of Karma that a character can acquire varies. At character creation Maximum Karma is initially equal to his Apotheosis rank, but may be modified by Race, Advantages, or Hindrances. A character begins play with a number of Karma equal to his Maximum Karma. A character can never gain more Karma than his Maximum Karma score, any extra Karma is lost.

A point of Karma can be used once per turn as an Immediate Action. Karma can be used to gain an extra die on an action roll, boost any single Defense Trait by 5 before the result of an attack is known, or for a character to automatically stabilize himself when dying.

Calculation: Maximum Karma = Apotheosis + Modifiers

Kismet

Sometimes destiny imposes itself fully upon the fabric of reality, changing it to reflect the desires of characters. A point of Kismet may be spent to obtain an automatic success on any action. That success is considered a rank 1 exceptional success. A point of Kismet may also be exchanged for 3 points of Karma. Finally, a point of Kismet may be spent by a character to ignore an attack that would permanently kill that character. If Kismet is spent to prevent death, it must be spent in the same round the killing blow was delivered. Should Kismet be used by two characters to ensure success on an opposed action, then both characters lose 1 Kismet and the result is determined as if both characters spent Karma to gain an exploding die.

Whenever a character gains a rank in Apotheosis he also gains 1 Kismet. A character’s Maximum Kismet is equal to his Apotheosis rank. At creation, a character begins with a number of Kismet equal to his Apotheosis rank. A character can never gain more Kismet than his Apotheosis rank, any extra Kismet is lost.

Calculation: Maximum Kismet = Apotheosis

Energy

Energy Traits are renewable resources derived from the two Attribute Types: Body and Soul. Character use Energy Traits to power Abilities. An Energy Trait’s rank also establishes the maximum number of Temporary Energy that a character can acquire. If a character has an amount of Temporary Energy greater than or equal to the Energy Cost of an Ability, that Ability can be used with the Energy Cost being removed from the Temporary Energy pool of the character.

Animus

Many Abilities of arcane, divine, or otherwise magical origin draw on the power of the soul, Animus. Animus is derived from the three Soul Attributes: Intelligence, Spirit, and Wisdom.

Animus is recovered at a rate of 1 point per Apotheosis rank every 10 minutes. A character who is completely rested, which is an 8 hour sleep for most characters, fully recovers their Temporary Animus at the end of such a rest.

Calculation: Animus = 10 + Intelligence + Spirit + Wisdom + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Vigor

Feats of martial, natural, and other talents are fueled by the power of the body, Vigor. Vigor is derived from the three Body Attributes: Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength.

Vigor is recovered at a rate of 1 point per Apotheosis rank every 10 minutes. A character who is completely rested, which is an 8 hour sleep for most characters, fully recovers their Temporary Vigor at the end of such a rest.

Calculation: Vigor = 10 + Constitution + Dexterity + Strength + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Vitality

Vitality is a mixture of stamina and life-force that measures a character’s well-being and ability to survive injury and sustain extreme exertion. When a character suffers damage in combat, it is subtracted from his Vitality score. When a character’s Vitality reaches 0 or below, he falls unconscious. If the character’s Vitality is below zero, he loses a point of Vitality every round. When a character’s Vitality score reaches an amount below zero equal to his maximum Vitality score, the character dies. Vitality is derived from Constitution, Spirit, and Size. Also, as Vitality becomes lost, characters accrue penalties to action rolls (see Combat).

Vitality is recovered at a rate of 1 point per Apotheosis rank every hour. A character who has completely rested, which is an 8 hours sleep for most characters, recovers double the normal recovery rate at the end of such a rest. For example, a character with an Apotheosis of 2 who just slept for 8 hours would recover 16 Vitality. However, if that same character only slept for 7 hours of the same 8 eight hour period, he would only recover 8 Vitality.

Calculation: Vitality = 25 + Constitution + Size + Spirit + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Offense

When characters need to resort to violence or some physical persuasion, Offense Traits come into play. Most Abilities that target characters use Accuracy as a modifier to determine the success of an attack and Impact as a damage modifier.

Accuracy

Accuracy is an assessment of how effective a character is when making an attack. Accuracy is derived from Dexterity and Intelligence because physical attacks rely on coordination and knowledge of weak points in the target’s defense. More esoteric abilities often require complex somatic or material manipulations as well mental acuity. Basic attacks and many Abilities use Accuracy as a modifier for action rolls.

Calculation: Accuracy = Dexterity + Intelligence

Impact

Impact is a measurement of hard a character strikes when making an attack. Impact is derived from Strength and Wisdom because it depends on pure might and intuition about how best to deliver a blow. Basic attacks and many Abilities use Impact as a modifier for damage and effect rolls.

Calculation: Impact = Strength + Wisdom

Initiative

Initiative determines the order in which characters act during a combat round. There are many variables that determine how quick a character responds to threats including muscle memory, intuition, and visual cues. Therefore, a character’s Initiative score is equal to his highest Defense score.

Calculation: Initiative = Highest Defense + Miscellaneous Modifiers

Spatial

Spatial Traits are concerned with movement and space. These are not derived from the Core Traits as are other Secondary Traits. These Traits are determined by Species because of physiological constraints. However, Size and Speed can be modified through Abilities, Advantages, Hindrances, and Templates.

Size

Size is a general classification of much space a character consumes. Size helps determine Vitality and becomes a factor in tactical movement during combat. A character’s Species determines Size. For example, a human has a size of 5.

Speed

Speed is a measurement of the distance a character can move in feet during a round of combat. A character’s Species determines Speed. For example, a human has a tactical speed of 25 feet. When moving miniatures across a battlefield, 1 inch = 5 feet.

[Design Note: the average human can run long distance, 3 or more miles, at approximately 12 miles per hour, or 17.6 feet per second. The fastest humans can sprint short distance, 100 yards, at approximately 25 miles per hour, or 36.6 feet per second. It is the designer's estimation that the average human could move approximate 1/4 his running speed during combat without becoming fatigued. This works out to approximately 4.4 feet per second with a combat round lasting 6 seconds. This equates to a total 26.4 feet, or rounded down to 25 feet for ease of math and measurement.]

Listening to: She Wants Revenge – She Wants Revenge – Tear You Apart

Design & Development, Echelon

Apotheosis and Echelon Core Traits

Posted by Mad Brew On May - 26 - 2010

This is part of the Echelon RPG Development series. Here are links to other articles of the series:

While I mentioned the design and development goals in my Bucking the Trend article, I did not mention the goal of actual play. Besides the traditional epic quests and quintessential adventuring lifestyle, the point of playing Echelon is to break free of one’s mortal coil and obtain divinity. This deific journey is called the Echelon Conduit, from which the game takes its name.

Apotheosis

There are many different reasons for playing roleplaying games, but Echelon is specifically directed at players who want create unique characters and watch them grow to legendary personalities. Since the game is about characters and their struggle during the course of their own exaltation to legendary or divine status, there is a mechanical gauge that reflects a character’s progress.

[Design note: It’s my belief that whatever idea is core to the game should be represented by a mechanic.]

Apotheosis

A character’s Apotheosis rank determines the maximum rank of Abilities and Attributes. Every character begins play with an Apotheosis rank of 1 and a maximum rank of 5 for Abilities and Attributes. For every additional rank in Apotheosis, the maximum rank increases by 1. This trend continues until a character reaches Demigod rank at which point the maximum ranks increases to 15 and again to 20 at the rank of God. For example, a character with an Apotheosis of 3 would have a maximum rank of 8 for Strength (or any other Attribute or Ability).

Unless otherwise stated, a character’s Apotheosis rank is added to every action roll, but not damage or effect rolls. Apotheosis does not have a maximum rank, however many consider an Apotheosis rank of 10 godhood. Apotheosis may never be reduced below zero. Should a character’s Apotheosis rank ever reach zero, he loses access to all Abilities and Advantages and may only make basic attacks.

[Design note: It would be interesting to make Apotheosis a conflicted gauge (similar to Blood Potency^[1] in Vampire: the Requiem) where there are advantages and disadvantages to having a high score. Currently, it only has positive effects, but I would like to entertain some methods of frustrating characters with high Apotheosis.]

Apotheosis Ranks
Rank	Designation	Max Ranks
1	Adept	5
2	Champion	6
3	Savant	7
4	Exemplar	8
5	Paragon	9
6	Legend	10
7	Saint	11
8	Avatar	12
9	Demigod	15
10	God	20

Destiny

Apotheosis also grants characters resources that help players influence the results of actions. Apotheosis influences two Secondary Traits: Karma and Kismet. Both of these Traits represent a character’s destiny and its influence over events the characters are involved in. In Echelon, destiny is not inevitable, so characters may fail fantastically when pursuing it, but it still exerts a significant influence. Both Karma and Kismet are detailed in the Secondary Trait section.

Attributes

Attributes give a rough measure of a character’s aptitude concerning several key aspects. There are two categories of Attributes: Body and Soul. Each category has three Attributes associated with it. Body attributes include physical aspects of a character: Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength. Soul attributes include meta-physical or mental aspects of a character: Intelligence, Spirit, and Wisdom.

Attributes are used as prerequisites for many Abilities and Advantages. They are also used in most action rolls and even many damage and affect rolls. Attributes also determine the base values of all Secondary Traits. All characters start creation with zero ranks in each Attribute. The maximum rank for Attributes is determined by Apotheosis; however, the minimum rank for any Attribute is -5. Should an Attribute be reduced beyond -5 for any reason, the character becomes helpless and cannot move or act.

Constitution [Body]

This Attribute measures a character’s stamina, fortitude, and durability. Constitution helps determine a character’s Vitality, Resilience, and Vigor.

Dexterity [Body]

This Attribute measures a character’s agility, coordination, and nimbleness. Dexterity helps determine a character’s Accuracy, Reaction, and Vigor.

Strength [Body]

This Attribute measures a character’s brawn, puissance, and potency. Strength helps determine Impact, Resilience, and Vigor.

Intelligence [Soul]

This Attribute measures a character’s knowledge, reasoning, and aptitude for learning. Intelligence helps determine Accuracy, Reaction, and Animus.

Spirit [Soul]

This Attribute measures a character’s presence, charisma, and force of personality. Spirit helps determine Vitality, Resolve, and Animus.

Wisdom [Soul]

This Attribute measures a character’s intuition, wits, and common sense. Wisdom helps determine Impact, Resolve, and Animus.

Check back tomorrow for a round-up of the Secondary Traits. In the meantime, I love hear any general feedback about the system so far as well as any ideas on how to implement Apotheosis as a conflicted gauge.

Listening to: Damn Laser Vampires – Rue Morgue Radio Hymns from the House of Horror – Saint of Killers

REFERENCES

[1] Blood Potency is a power limiting gauge in Vampire: the Requiem. The higher the score, the more blood you can spend, the higher your attributes can be, but it also comes with a price.

Design & Development, Echelon

Normal Distribution Resolution

Posted by Mad Brew On May - 25 - 2010

This is part of the Echelon RPG Development series. Here are links to other articles of the series:

The design calls for a resolution mechanic that simulates a normal distribution, which when graphed looks like a bell curve. This means at least three dice must used. A dice pool using 3d6 is currently the chosen configuration. The 3d6 dice pool has a range of 3-18 and a mean of 10-11. A strong reason to use the 3d6 dice was for ease of determining Difficulty Ratings (working from a mean result of 10).

A mechanic with a normal distribution was chosen because I believe it more accurately reflects success in real life. With most single die implementations, you have the same chance of rolling any of its values, which does make sense to me. This method provides more consistent, if not cinematic, results.

Difficulty Ratings

A Difficulty Rating, abbreviated DR, is a target number that must be met or exceeded to attain success whenever a roll is required. Some DRs are static numbers derived directly from traits of the target. For example, it is always a DR 20 to pick an average lock. Other times, the DR may be the result of an opposed check.

Determining Success

When an action requires a roll to be resolved, three six-sided dice are rolled and the results are tallied. In addition to the total value presented by the dice, modifiers are also added to the total. If the final total meets or exceeds the Difficulty Rating, the action is successful.

Critical Success & Failure

With single die mechanics, critical success or failure is usually achieved by rolling the maximum and minimum die values respectively. Such die results also usually infer automatic success or failure. This method could be used in a multiple die system effectively making critical successes and failures very rare (requiring all three dice to display the maximum or minimum values).

Echelon uses the combination of open ended rolls and variance. While this means there are no automatic successes or failures, there may always a chance to succeed with open ended, or exploding, dice rolls.

Open Ended Rolls (Six Again)

In Echelon, characters may specialize in certain abilities. When rolling to resolve an action related to an ability a character has specialized, the player may designate a single die as an exploding die. Anytime the exploding die shows a value of 6, roll it again and add the new value to result total. If the new value is also a 6, repeat the process until anything but a 6 is rolled.

For example, if a player rolls the resolution dice and gets a 6 & 3 on the normal dice, and a 6 on the exploding die, he would add the results and get a 15. Then he re-rolls the exploding die and adds the result to his total. He continues re-rolling and totaling the result until the exploding die does not result in a 6.

A character may also spend resources to swap an exploding die into his dice pool for a single roll. Only one die may be added to a character’s dice pool in this manner. It is possible for a character to have more than one exploding die in his pool by having both types of exploding dice. The best way to distinguish the exploding dice is by denoting them with a different color.

Variance

Variance is the difference between the final sum of the roll after all modifiers have been applied and the DR. Some actions provide additional benefits if a roll exceeds the DR by a specific amounts. For example, if character casts fireball on a pack of wolves, and his roll has a variance of 5 more than the Difficulty Rating, he might gain an additional die when he rolls damage. This is called an Exceptional Success.

Variance also works in the other direction. For instance, if the same character had rolled 10 less than the DR while casting fireball, the roll would have a variance of -10. This is called an Exceptional Failure, and in this case would result in the character losing additional resources. The exact benefits and penalties of Exceptional Success or Failure is defined in an ability’s description.

Other Options

Another possibility includes using a 3d8 dice pool that has a range of 3-24 and a mean of 13-14. However, calculating DRs become unintuitive since the mean result is a 13. Another thought would be to use a mechanic similar to Savage Worlds where players roll two dice and take the higher of the two results.

Listening to: Ghoultown – Mistress of the Dark – Mistress of the Dark

Design & Development, Echelon

Game Design: Bucking the Trend

Posted by Mad Brew On May - 24 - 2010

This is part of the Echelon RPG Development series. Here are links to other articles of the series:

I’ve posted before about Echelon, the roleplaying game rules I’m developing. It began as a point buy conversion of the venerable 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons rules set, but then I decided that I didn’t want all the baggage that came with an existing system (expectations, flaws, & licensing). Besides, instead of trying to make an existing system fit my needs, it would be best to just start from scratch and build a new system.

I plan on publishing the system once it’s finished, but I’m really only creating the system for me and a select group of friends. I don’t expect a lot of people to be able to invest the time necessary to learn and play the game. Mechanically light rules seem to be the trend in game design today. This is attributed to the fact the target audience (gamers with families and/or busy careers) have less time to learn or moderate complicated rules. Or maybe that is just what the designers (and some vocal fans) want to see.

Design Goals

I don’t really care about the trends. All I really know is what I want. I like complex, but playable rules. I like mechanics. I like games that are easy to learn, but difficult to master. Is Echelon going to be some awesome break-out game? No. That isn’t my goal. What are my goals?

Rules that feel familiar while still being fresh & original
Cohesive rules that fit together and make sense
Rules that are easy to learn, yet difficult to master
Freedom of character development
Create a game I want to play

Development Choices

I have already made a few development choices that I feel are necessary to help me meet my design goals.

Employs a resolution mechanic with a normal distribution^[1]
Supports gridless, skirmish style miniature combat^[2]
Point-buy, nearly classless character progression^[3]

Over the next few days I plan on developing much of the core system, or at least enough where readers can see where I want to go with the rules.

Listening to: Fields of the Nephilim – Dawnrazer – Preacher Man

REFERENCES

[1] In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution or Gaussian distribution is an absolutely continuous probability distribution with zero cumulants of all orders higher than two. Wikipedia

[2] This means movement and areas of effect will be determined by measured lengths instead of squares. See Warmachine or Malifaux for examples.

[3] For more information on level and class in game design see my other articles:

Design & Development, Echelon

Conventions, Events, & Geosocializing

Posted by Mad Brew On May - 3 - 2010

GenCon

As GenCon^[1] approaches, my thoughts keep wondering about how emerging and existing technologies could be used to make the convention/event experience more enjoyable. I took a high-level look at using location-based social technology before in Leveraging Geolocation for Roleplaying Games^[2], but I wanted to explore the technology at the implementation level for gaming conventions and events.

Why Go Geosocial?

Why should gaming events even bother with adding a geosocial element to their business model? I think there are several valuable reasons to do so: free advertisement, added value, and social-space unification.

Businesses achieve free advertisement every time someone posts about them (assuming it’s positive) to their favorite social network. I personally believe traditional advertisements are becoming obsolete. The real marketing power is getting everyone to talk about your product/location (favorably). Building a game into a location-based mobile web app that broadcasts updates to social networks is a good way to do that.

I believe the most important reason to look into developing a geosocial social network is because it bridges the gap between the online and physical social-spaces. There has been a social disconnect between the two since the inception of virtual communities. Becoming too involved the virtual world creates real-life problems. It is common enough now that we have entertainment that parodies those issues (i.e. The Guild^[3]). Geosocial apps unify the virtual and actual social worlds.

Issues with Current Geosocial Apps

Foursquare

The current versions of the popular geosocial applications, Gowalla^[4] and Foursquare^[5], have limited or absent support for events. This is because they have naturally built their applications to identify permanent locations (i.e. venues), not events (recurring or otherwise limited by time). Gowalla recently added limited support for events, but they have a 12 hour limitation.

I imagine it will only be a matter of time (within the year) before both apps, or new apps, have improved support for events. For now though, it would require a partnership between the app and the event to pull off a truly engaging and useful implementation. Besides, when you’re using Foursquare to check into a location, you don’t want the search results choked full of events from the last few (or next few) years; it would make the application difficult to use in a city with an active event schedule.

A Possible Solution

Beyond coming to an agreement with the software developer of an existing application, the organizing entity of an event could develop and maintain their own application. With Foursquare’s or Gowalla’s API, the event application could even interface with those apps, taking advantage of the power of the existing software (and keep the overhead low).

I think the best solution would be to develop an application built from the ground up with time-limited events in mind. The application would detect the user’s location (either via GPS, cell tower triangulation, or IP address) find nearby venues and check for current events happening at those venues. The user would then be able to select from the listed events and check in.

Event managers would be able to tie their events to multiple locations, all of which could be active simultaneously or scheduled for different times. This feature would be useful when an event overflows from the primary venue to adjacent locations such as from a convention center to connected hotels. It would also allow managers to schedule recurring events ahead of time.

A geosocial event application should also allow for nested events. For instance, GenCon isn’t just one event; it is a collection of hundreds of events happening in different rooms of the venue (and connected locations) at different times around the clock for four days. To be truly useful, the applications should allow a user to not only check into the primary event but also the multitudes of events functioning under the umbrella of the convention.

Processing Voluminous Events

Because the accuracy of most devices are not really granular enough to recognize two tables sitting a couple of feet apart from each other in an exhibit hall, nested events become difficult to navigate through after more than a handful are occurring simultaneously. However, I see two excellent, but involved, answers to this problem.

The first answer is for event managers to provide registration information to the app. The application would cross-reference the user’s ID with events they have registered for and provide a custom list of sub-events to select from. The enterprising software developer would supply a turnkey registration system for events (upload a formatted excel spread and voila!).

The second answer would allow for more than just events requiring registration but would require more than just a user’s mobile device (until hardware manufacturers build it in). It would also require more logistical overhead of the application isn’t owned by the event itself. The event would issue RFID enabled badges and set up scanners at each event.

Precision RFID Check-in

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification. It is most often used to track inventory, but it can also be used for access management and human identification. There are certainly concerns about privacy and security when employing RFID, but in this context I believe those concerns can be mitigated by not becoming too eager to embed or track any more information than necessary (userID & access level is all that is needed).

Depending on the specific RFID frequencies and scanners used, tags can be read from distances ranging from just a few inches (~2 centimeters) to more than forty feet (~12 meters). Long range readers would be useful for checking visitors into large, general areas (i.e. exhibit halls, ballrooms, & floors) while short range readers would be more effective at checking visitors in at individual booths or tables.

I can two layers of implementation here. At the macro level are scanners that cover large areas that would be most useful for the convention organizers to track. These areas would have long range scanners that are networked to a few workstation/servers operated by the convention that would process the incoming data and communicate with the event web application.

At the micro level would be the individual booth/event readers. To reduce costs, the convention could charge connection (if the vendor provides their own scanner) and/or equipment rental fees. Vendors would also have to bring their own computer (a netbook might be even be sufficient), run the communication software, and connect to the convention’s network.

A recent example implementation of such technology is the RFID enabled tags that Facebook handed out to attendees at their F8 Developer’s Conference a couple of weeks ago^[6].

Additional Benefits of RFID

Aside from the primary benefit of precision location check-in, investing in RFID would have operational benefits too. Visitors and vendors would not need to keep track of even tickets anymore; simply checking in with your badge could interface with event registration records. Access to specific levels of visitors (press, vendors, VIPs) could be managed by RFID scanners. Visitors could use their badges to get event information (such as directions on how to get there) from information kiosks. Visitors could even pay for items with system credit stored on their account and accessed by RFID.

The information gathered about visitor traffic could help convention organizers streamline and improve the layout of events. Does that free gaming lounge actually attract more visitors, or is it a waste of time, space, and equipment? Would placing two large vendors at different ends of the exhibit hall improve the flow of traffic by eliminating choke points? These are a few of the questions that could be answered using the data collected by RFID scanners.

Other Possible Features

In addition to posting information on the event application itself, updates could also be broadcast across other social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, or MySpace. The more visibility the convention (and its app) has, the better. I would also implement shared logons such as OpenID^[8] or OAuth^[9] allowing users to use their Facebook, Google, Twitter, or other accounts to log into the convention app. This would remove a barrier for many people to use the application due to their unwillingness to create yet another login.

It would also be great if users could share their experiences by uploading photos, video, audio, and by capturing public Tweets containing hash tags associated with the convention. Some very cool visualization^[10] could be programmed into this part of the application by finding associations between locations, frequency, and tags.