I just got back from MACE, a regional convention in High Point, NC. Here's a thread to talk about what you played, how it went, and stay connected! I met a lot of cool people who said they lurked here, and I hope you'll de-lurk long enough to say hey.

So I playtested a Trail of Cthulhu adventure, The Black Drop, which was informative. Final toll: Three dead investigators, two hopelessly insane investigators, one seriously pissed off investigator with a new mission in life.

I played Annalise, which was fun, although I think it suffers from the four hour block format. Here's some of the stuff we claimed and used:

Not the card that reads "FLAMING MEN". Love the plural. It spiraled into gonzo and we destroyed the Greek city-state of Athens with black magic.

I facilitated two games of Fiasco, both of which went really well. One, set in the American suburbs, was all about surveillance and blackmail. I beat a guy down with a Swingline stapler, a house blew up, the only kind character was chased out of town. The other, using the "traveling rock band" playset, was an extremely raunchy exploration of what happens when the troubled twin in a failing boy band gets set up by his capricious handlers to make an "Internet sex tape". What happens is, generally speaking, not cool at all. Here's Shane Jackson getting ready to threaten his guitar tech:


Finally I ran Psi Run, which is a game I really love, using Chris' new rules. It went OK - there were some nice moments, and the rules tweaks are good - but as sometimes happens at cons, it just didn't catch fire. Still:


How about you?

This was my first MACE

On Friday I played "Penny for my thoughts", Somehow from the Memory seed "Oatmeal cookies" we made a guy loose both of this legs and win the special Olympics.. The best Memory seed was "Gardening the Fuck out of some tomatoes". Yes, I was the Rugby Champ that gardens to forget.

I played in Jason Morningstar's Fiasco game, set in the American suburbs. My peeping cable guy was all about the blackmail.. till he got beat down with a Swingline stapler. Intimidated by a "sweet" Up class lady.. Who he felt the only escape from was to blow up his house.. My ending was weak sauce, that game left me wanting more..

I will not spoil the "Dread" adventure, by talking about it. However everyone told me I play a great crazy guy.. Not sure how I feel about that. Or that the crazy guy was the only one to survive.

Contenders, made me want to cry. It was just too fast and too sad.
I played an Big Black Ex-Con, with a Spanish Baby Moma. I was all set to just barely have an good ending.. Then things when bad. and worse.
I couldn't Finish exploring the story I really wanted to in only four hours..

Very nice Con, Glade I was able to go.

Another great MACE for me. Friday, a chance encounter with a couple waiting to play the "Treasure Quest" got me roped into playing a session of MACE's version of True Dungeon. It was small but fun, and we ended in a TPK. Very old school.

I ran two session of SotC, one for 6 players and one for 4 players. Both went very well, each having its pithy one liners, and over the top moments.

The first responders PTA game was good fun, with lots of new players. It had elements of racial tension that made it tense, but in a good way.

Saturday night I played Fiasco with Remi. We chose "The Ice" as our setting, small people stuck in Antartica. Our initial dice meant we had a ton of crime in the initial relationships. We were bad, bad people even before the Tilt. In the end my cook deep fried an endangered species, fed a danish laced with Draino to the town sheriff, scammed prescription drugs, and ran over someone on the ice road. And I had one of the smaller crime lists. The game works wonderfully to generate a pear shaped situation. Jason really has something there.

On Sunday I ended up playing a quick board game "Samuria" by Renier Knizia. Very fun, now on my list of games to buy.

Jeff

Saturday was great! I got in four games though one fell apart half way through (a Werewolf: Apocolipse/GM improv game). First off was In a Wicked Age which was everything I expectied, the scenerio we drew out was a courtly drama from the Godkings of War oracle. The highpoint was when we had a Resivoir Dogs moment where everyone drew swords and spells on each other in the councle chamber. That scene ended with one NPC dead and two players (myself and the murderer) imprisoned in the hopes that we might kill one another.

That evening I was in Jason's Psi-run game which took us from Washington D.C. to my home town of Richmond, VA where we destroyed several local landmarks including a restarunt, a skyscraper and a mall all while running for our lives. After that game we all decided to give Fiasco a try which was the 'Rock and Roll' game that Jason descibed in his post. I played the guitar tech that Shane threatened in my favorite scene from that particular game.

Saturday I ran a Burning Wheel one shot of my own design based on the characters from the Pirates of the Carribian movies. The game was a definate success and I had amazing players around the table who took their characters and blew the doors down. I will probably be posting a full AP later this week so that the players can get on there and give me their thoughts on how it went.

All in all a great con. I met some awsome people who I hope to see there again and possably at Nerdly next year.

Yeah, this MACE was tops, and I haven't missed one in some time. And I won't miss next years, to be sure!

Jeff's SotC was a hoot, and I was glad to play it even as I was picking up a used (signed!) copy from Andy (the next day). I didn't realize, at first, what "Mysteries" was as a skill... until Jeff mentioned "occult, magic, weird science" and then I was, like, "Oh, wait; I'm a fucking MAGE?!" Then I was able to really branch out--until then, I was looking for some way to do investigative-type stuff.
Favorite Moment - We're fighting cultists and their mad scientist leader in a brownstone in New York, midget wrestler knocking guys flat, the scientist laughing as we help him with the sacrifices... and then I had an idea. "ARISE, MY FELL SERVANTS!" *clap* Roll Mysteries. All those downed cultists become my undead minions, fighting the remaining cultists... until the limo bashes through the front window, on fire, rigged to explode.

Then I ran IAWA Sat morning, and tried to really push it to a second Chapter. Probably too quickly, in retrospect, but it was part demo, part one-shot, and I wanted the folks who'd never seen it before to see the Chapter progression and the functionality of the We Owe list. As it turned out, the one name on the WOL was Andy's, and he didn't want to bring back the character, so it fell to The Oracles to re-introduce any desired characters, which they (typically) did--we ended up with a continuation of a Queen's rise to power, five year later. The second Chapter sort of stalled--LOTS of talking, not enough killing (for my take on the Hyborian Age)--and that taught me something about IAWA:
Lesson Learned - For one-shots and con games, at least two Best Interests should involve death or maiming; and be willing to throw out any oracles which suggest good, peaceful times ("joyous celebration"). The first Chapter's Best Interests were very much at cross purposes, so the action came soon enough (with my first successful "drawing out the conflict"--I usually let them rush up to or circle it). But the second Chapter's joyous celebration, nominal PC relationships (one was an loyal aide to another--not enough hot sauce!), and a lot of courtly conversation kept the dice in the center of the table. Not a big deal, given it was the last 45 minutes... but I spent all of lunch staring across Main Street, smoking, trying to figure out what happened. The above was my conclusion.

I foolishly allowed Are You A Werewolf to be scheduled for Sat afternoon, in the lobby, and of course it didn't make (it takes at least 7). But that got me into Jeff's PTA game, which I thought would make a killer series. Seriously (in spite of Andy saying that usually happens). The undercurrent of racial tensions barely got to be played out, and that is what really grabbed me--in particular, with the doctor's guilt and paralysis in a crisis over possibly being responsible for another Muslim's death under his drunken ministrations. A really, really solid group of players (and GM!) who could have torqued that story line into an Emmy.
Favorite Moment - A mujihadeen-wannabee trying to come kidnap the doctor (who was blamed for not saving the local imam) with some baseball-bat-wielding tugs while my Pakistani cab driver stood on the doc's porch with a shotgun. Brother Ali (the kidnapper) is trying to taunt me by saying I'm not being loyal... to which I reply, "And you are no better than those who would throw us into Guantanamo without justification, if you take this man who's done more for the Muslim community that YOU ever have." I think three hands shot out o the Fan Mail pile to kick me one for that. *blush-smile*

Saturday night, and the Fiasco game. Man... Just... fucking-A, man. I've already told non-gamer buddies about that plot, that fucking twisted story of addiction and bumbling desperation and homicidal lunacy. Jason et al: you NEED to finish that up and get it out--folks will be making play sets within the week. A PERFECT balance of freeform narration informed by a pregnant situation generator. And it's oh-so-totally ready for Wave. ;)
Favorite Moment - I have two, one personal (I'm such an egoist!) and one resultant from the end game. For myself, there was a near-climax scene where my drug pushing Columbian is trying to force the Ratheon contractor and my former distributor to lead me to an impounded shipment... and some Earth Firsters are trying to stop us because of the illegal Puffin trade in which my distributor dabbled. One of them (the leader?) is yelling at my guy as he tries to pull away in a truck. I give the universal signal for "What? I can't hear you" and roll down my window. He obligingly steps up to repeat himself... and I casually pull a gun and blow him away through the window. Ugly-funny, which it seems Fiasco gets at fast.
But the best was the very end, where the whole "movie" comes full circle, as the Innocent (relatively) of the game--Mike's guy--is carrying his dieing (actually already dead) brother (Remi's) body back to town, along the ice road on which the first scene started. He's almost hit by a trucker--echoing the opening scene where he's stoned to the bejesus and hits someone at the SAME mile marker--and he's admitted into the cab, where he finally realizes his brother's dead. "The camera" holds on him as the truck pulls away, then pans down to show the mile maker in the foreground. "What's the name of the movie?" I ask, with an obvious reply by all, almost in unison. Awesome.

In closing, my Sunday Contenders game was... black. As dark as I'd ever played it, for sure. Only one of the down-and-out street fighters actually ended with a positive (more Hope than Pain); everyone else went to shit: the ex-con (Nicholas) loses his family; the street thug (Bowen) loses his life on the day that he's as wealthy as he's ever been; the day-trader (me) loses his image-conscious daughter's affection and his freedom as he's jailed for embezzlement... but there was a ray of hope at the end:
Damn-I-Almost-Cried Moment: The homeless guy, who didn't really do anyone wrong, didn't threaten any connections, just fought his fights... his Epilogue was done as the credits roll. You know: after the fade to black, when the sad piano music is playing, and you're about to stand up to leave, and then there's these extra scenes. Homeless Mike as a stock clerk, then as store manager; signing a deed on a new house, with his no-longer-homeless wife beaming at him; hanging up the 4oz. gloves now that he's built a life and gotten off the street. Damn, it was a beaut. After all the blood and awful rivalry and crime, it was sort of... validating, maybe? A much better end for the Innocent than the Fiasco game, for-fucking-sure! :)

MACE is the best con local con, period. Net year, I'll just avoid trying to run Universalis Sunday afternoon! (No, it didn't make, DUH.)

Posted By: ziphtI played an Big Black Ex-Con, with a Spanish Baby Moma. I was all set to just barely have an good ending.. Then things when bad. and worse. I couldn't Finish exploring the story I really wanted to in only four hours..

I totally agree--we had the juice for a 10-Rep game, EASILY, if only we'd had the time. Hmmm.... maybe next year I should look at running dual-slot games? To really be able to get through games which need longer forms (like IAWA and 10-Rep Contenders)? Sorry if the ending was rushed--I thought we could totally wrap without having to reduce the Final Card to a bunch of dice-offs, but things just take longer than one expects, once you get into narrating and so-forth.

Still, though, your story definitely had legs and made an impact. I kinda felt like my guy's "plight" (white collar crime, can't keep his daughter in prep school or pay his mortgage on his McMansion) was weak in comparison to both yours and Homeless Mike's. But "Pretty Paul" just jumped out at me, during creation; and I thought I could find more pathos in the notion of a father trying to shield his daughter from his woes, so that she can grow up in a privileged life. But by the Epilogue, when I narrate her having nothing to do with him because of his failure to keep her in the manner to which she's grown accustomed--even EMBARRASSING her by getting on the news!--well, she ended up a shallow, Prima Donna stereotype, and him just another wannabee rebel, beat down in EVERY SINGLE FUCKING FIGHT. Ah, well.. someone's gotta be the asshole in such movies, I reckon.

Posted By: forlorn1Saturday night I played Fiasco with Remi. We chose "The Ice" as our setting, small people stuck in Antartica. Our initial dice meant we had a ton of crime in the initial relationships. We were bad, bad people even before the Tilt. In the end my cook deep fried an endangered species, fed a danish laced with Draino to the town sheriff, scammed prescription drugs, and ran over someone on the ice road. And I had one of the smaller crime lists. The game works wonderfully to generate a pear shaped situation. Jason really has something there.

Again, I TOTALLY concur. I want to play this again and again; I hope it comes with about ten play sets (and the community makes up hundreds more!). It totally scratches the improv itch without bringing in the kitchen sink or leaving you adrift, wondering what should happen next. A perfect "couch game," too, because of its limited handling elements. I could sell this to my parents and their golfer-buddy friends, I bet.

Posted By: tomgThanks Dave for joining the game. You are one super creative person. I hope I can game with both of you again soon.

*blush* Well, I live in Durham, and I'm up for a regular game night if it's not too far afield. I'm glad I was on form enough to be fun without going TOO far with my tendency to get excited and try to drive too much of the play/plot. (I catch myself doing this too often, sadly.) I really, really dug the premise of a banking crisis that wasn't contained, America-as-Mogadishu, and the theme of normal folks volunteering to do the things once handled by city government and high-paid professionals. I wish we'd named it (though I still like my "All Fall Down" or the ironic "Homeland Security"--the latter, in particular, witht he racial tension themes). it would knock at least ONE of the damned CSI shows off the air, I bet! :D

Sorry so long, but I just have to gush. I've never had as much fun at MACE as I did this weekend, and it can only be attributed to the brilliance of the folks with whom I played and the games which brought forth that light. And I've no doubt our ranks have been swelled by at least a handful of new players... Konverts to the New Skool, so to speak. 8)

That'll do... that'll do. (Web Comic Model, there, a bit?)

I couldn't help noticing, conversely, that it's got great marketability. Many games can be mastered (procedurally) in a session or two, which can hurt sales. but Fiasco's play sets means that, even while the system might be structured freeform, one needs the "module" content. Releasing for free each month is nice and all, but I hope you also intend to (say) do an Annual with all the freebies AND a few extras, POD. A PDF is nice, and I sure can print one out... but I would like you monetizing where you can! Even if only $5 or $10 over printing costs.

And "Small People with Big Dreams and Low Impulse Control" T-shirts.

Posted By: David Artman
And "Small People with Big Dreams and Low Impulse Control" T-shirts.

WANT!!!

Definitely. or just one that says

Big Dreams
Low Impulse Control

on the front with a Fiasco logo of some kind on the back. Since you do play the small people.

Like THIS:

Brutally Honest MACE Post, here we go!

So for the total of the weekend, I spent about $110: That includes two nights at the hotel, con registration, food and gas.

In general, I like MACE a lot. Conceptually. It's a local con, the organizer Ron is awesome, creative and accommodating ("Hey I'd like to run this bizarre event!" "...ok!" etc), they are down with new activities, etc. I'm kinda waffling on attending next year, though (the big decider will be "how many folks from far away are coming?", and it might result in me coming early and leaving late on Saturday instead of staying at the Con for more than one day: But hey, that too might be worth it ($25 + gas, bring a bag lunch).

The Venue: The hotel is (compared to like other places in the area, not "off Vegas" or anything) kind of a shithole. I've got some friends that won't attend MACE because of bad experiences with the hotel, to which I was like, "What? What's the big deal?" Anyway, this year it all started to settle in, maybe it has something with the ownership changing from Sheraton to Best Western: Stains everywhere, tight and cramped, despite signs on the elevators saying "use stairs in case of fire", there are no stairs anywhere, so to get to events from the first to the second floor you often have to wait in line for the Elevator 3-4 "groups" deep, like it was Space Mountain or something. I imagine they're cheap and centrally located, but I'm really not that interested in staying there again, and not quite as interested in gaming there again (see Environment, below) but if it's all we got, then I can deal.

Oh, I went out to the diner down the road for breakfasts, so I didn't have to deal with it, but apparently everyone who did the breakfast buffet at the con complained: Unclean plates/silverware (and no replacements apparently?), no table bussing, etc.

The Con Staff: Very helpful, very awesome. No complaints. They even set up a food network that worked well with little overhead: Sandiches from Jimmy Johns and very little markup (enough to cover delivery, there was no "profit"), $2 chilli that I was suspicious of but turned out to be rather delicious (typical chili == delicious chili, but still it was warming and delicious). Speaking of warming...

The Environment: Fucking cold. I noticed that a lot of folks were catching colds on Sunday AM. Of the three RPG rooms, one (the prog rock room, "2") was freezing, "1" waffled between freezing and acceptable, and the 2nd floor ballroom/meeting room was nice and comfortable (but I had no events there). Apparently a lot of people asked for the heat to be turned up the entire weekend, but it could never quite get above "a thick coat, maybe even hat/gloves". It wasn't even the traffic from the doorway down the hall (used often as the doorway for the smokers to go outside): The hallway where that door was wasn't even that bad. Maybe the prog rock guy's 30-gallon containers he had scattered around the room were filled with dry ice that he meant to bust out for the con finale or something...

Oh, prog rock guy: Hmmmm. So he's a fixture of MACE, with his realistic armor, sword rack, bazooka and bunny ears (and large but well kept - so I'll give him props - beard) running HarnMaster from one table the entire con, but it seems that every year it becomes a little more His Living Room. This year he had a boom box playing prog rock the whole time. The room was already loud enough... Problem was that he didn't blast it loud enough to cause a nuisance to others wehre we would stand up and ask him to turn it down/off, but it was just enough in the background to be kinda distracting. However, since none of us did anything about it, I'll file this one under "It was more our fault for not saying anything; but still an interesting occurance".

Local Food: Americana, but rather delicious. Nothing within walking distance but a small diner, but it happened that that diner was damned delicious, and not crowded. So there was truly no want for anything.

Next: The Events

-Andy

Oh, and my conclusion when driving home was basically:

1) If I do MACE again, it'll probably be for a Saturday Only: Drive up in the AM, game all day, drive back in the PM (2AM or thereabouts, on coffee and ephedrin). And mostly to see friends. I totally want to do some Savage Worlds with Eloy and Ron.

2) It got me thinking, "if I paid $25 for the weekend, 55 for the hotel and 30-something for food, what could me and my friends do *within the Triangle* for like $30?" I'm thinking a housecon kinda like Ice Station Nerdly, but bigger (maybe like the step between "A Housecon" and "Forge Midwest"): Basically we rent one local hotel con room or local business-commune office for a Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun weekend (personally, I'd be much more up for Fri-Sat and take a day off of work and keep my Sunday, than to do a Sat-Sun and blow through my weekend) that has decent places to eat around it. All would be welcome, and some core of people would make house arrangements: Guests stay in guest bedrooms and the like of area gamers. If Jason and Shane are comfortable for a weekend on a concrete hotel floor, I imagine folks would be comfortable on the carpeted floor and heated room of a living room, guest bedroom, study etc for one evening. Or the folks who want to could also crash at inexpensive local hotels if they really really wanted to.

3) And I want to do more NC Gamedays. It just so happened that all of the ones scheduled for last year were days where I already had plans. Will see about this next year.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

-Andy

I agree the hotel is run down. Its consistently gotten worse every year. I suspect that is why they are no longer a Raddison, and have gone with a BW franchise. I believe Ron is looking to move to a bigger better hotel, but I have no idea whats available.

And as the gaming gets fuller it becomes harder to hear (this year was the worst that I remember and I've been going to MACE for 5 or 6 years now.)
I had enough folks to run a pick up game of SotC but no table on Saturday, so we did it in the lobby (which was probably quieter anyhow).

My friend Mark attended MACE as his first Con after becoming wheelchair bound. He really enjoyed it, but it was barley handicap accessible, and the handicap room we got was not ADA compliant in the least. We made do, and its not a general populous problem, but it was somewhat annoying.

I swear the WarBunny is kin to the security Nazi from Dreamation/Dexcon. I still want to know how he manages to consistently fill tables for Harn. I'm going with blotter paper character sheets.

There was some crossover with the SW guys. I had a few players who were there to mostly play SW, but also pick up a new indie game or two. That was the entire compliment of my pick up SotC game. The RPGA folks I never saw. I wondered if the RPGA was even there this year. freaking D&D ninjas.
Pinnacle is very fan supportive of SW, and there are alot of SW folks who live in the carolinas. So I'd expect that to grow. It was big at ConCarolinas in May, and seemed bigger still at MACE.

I think we'd loose if we tried to throw our collective indie weight around with Ron (who organizes the games). Indie turnout this year was the best I've ever seen it, but its too variable. A couple of years ago there were only about 6 indie sessions for the whole con.

Wow, lots to digest, here, lads. Brace for wall of text (I'll try to be concise).

Hotel Woes - Tell Ron and Jeff. All of you. Especially those who bought rooms--that's what drives a con, typically (room rentals in exchange for free meeting space) and if you really wouldn't stay there again, then they need to know so they can start to look for a new venue. It's not like there isn't a bajillion hotels in that size and price range, throughout the Triad (and Triangle, but I doubt they'll move that "far" from Charlotte). But BE VOCAL. Ron, in particular, knows that the bread is buttered by avid, adult gamers like us; and if we all bitch up a storm about the hotel, he will take it very seriously. Are you guys on CGA_ConGaming@yahoogroups.com?

The War Bunny - (Actual "title.") Yeah, he's a unique and special butterfly, no? But I can virtually guarantee that if you'd just said, "Hey, man, kill the tunes--there's thirty of us in here trying to talk" then he would have. If it's any consolation, he lost his voice Sunday. :(

The Games - Again, I'm flattered that I was fun to play with (you know what I mean!) in both IAWA and PTA. I REALLY worry that I tend to overbear or dominate games when I get all jazzed. And, yeah, that "octopus wrestling match" of an IAWA conflict was... not smooth. I went from, like, "OK, here's a simple conflict and how it works" to "shit, wait... WHOSE aimed at who?" Clusterfuck... but worth trying, I reckon, if only to stress-test the system: sometimes, a lot of folks want to smack each other, and it's not easy to just take sides or pair off. But, yeah... making it all intent/binary strained the IAWA magic too much.

"Identity" - (For lack of a better term) My idea for putting ISG--Independent Story Games--on our events was precisely to create a brand and show as a "bloc." I intend to contact Ron about adding it as an actual "affiliation," presented as such in con literature and on the site. RPGA without the fees, basically: if you write, run, or tend to primarily play "this thing of ours," then you're an ISG Affiliate. We've steadily increased numbers over the past few years, and I wouldn't be surprised if we can be influential in how rooms get arranged or what-not. Whether we would really WANT our own space, like RPGA, is an other question entirely--exposure is important to ISGs, which means not being segregated, I reckon. But we can become a bloc by just saying we are, listing who we are, and approaching the con committee as such (probably through a single spokesperson).

Fan Con - (Working title) I think the notion of fan-planned and -run con is great! After all, most cons START that way, right? :) It's worthy of its own thread, really; but a brief overview here won't hurt:
* Space - Libraries can be great sources of meeting space, often for free. Weekend scheduling conflicts could crop up, but all day Friday shouldn't be tough to swing. Alternately, look at miniMACE: they basically take over a wing of a Golden Corral (or similar, open-all-day establishment) and game and eat and what-not, without too much stress on the mundanes and staff. Just tip REAL well, and maybe we'd have to buy in for two meals a day (which ain't all that cheap--like, $20 each), but it's all you can eat and game from 10 to 10(ish). Alternate venues could be considered as well (large pubs like Carolina Ale House, university or college facilities, etc). But there's almost no reason to try to deal with a hotel: "rental" of meeting space, if it's even an option, would be prohibitively expensive because they want to get, like, 50 nights' stay out of an exhibition hall, and you have to meet that profit with straight cash.
* Accommodations - I dig the idea of folks couch-diving, and if it's anywhere near downtown Durham (i.e. RTP, Durham, Hillsboro) then I have a convertible couch and enough floor for three or four folks with sleeping bags.
* Promotion - I am guessing you're not thinking of a true "open" con, but more of a small-scale, private thing. If so, then the web would likely be promotion enough, with maybe hitting a few mailing lists. Not a major deal, unless you want to go more public.

Hotel Woes, it was too cold and dry. I have been sick this week.

Nano Con, or a House Con. I'm all up for one. As long as I can crash, or steal some floor space.

Sounds like a good new thread. If we're thinking of, say, February, it's good to start planning now, in particular: venue ideas, which would be a factor of central location to most attendees. I think you could make a Google map with markers for folks' home addresses, to get a feel for whether RTP, airport area, or what-not is closest.

I'd just want to be sure not to conflict with ANY holidays or cons that might draw folks. Which leaves mainly winter and early spring as options, because Stellarcon is the local start of con season.

Anyhow... yeah, I think it's worth a new thread.

Posted By: AndyI think I said "Huh, this isn't a roleplaying game", which is a sentence that usually tweaks me when spoken by others.

Heh. I'll point out that the phase "roleplaying game" never appears in the book, because I have much the same opinion.

Posted By: Ron BlessingI agree with Andy that it's certainly the Tsuro of RPGs, but I definitely had fun.

Now I'm intrigued. Explain.

--Paul