Here's another of my... good lord, are these annual now?! I have got to get out more; anyway, yes, it's that time of year once again when I have just returned from the Contingency table top role-playing game convention (there must be a way to shorten all that...) and I'm ready to reflect on my experiences. Well, you lucky readers now get to share those reflections! Unless you're a vampire, in which case I assume you won't share reflections here, but enough filling up the first paragraph to make it look like I know how to write, let's get on with it.
Getting There is Half the Journey
Don't question the headers, just roll with it; my friends Dave and Lora drove up from Milton Keynes in Dave's car on Monday afteroon, enjoying a brisk if slightly damp 2+ hour drive, taking in the magnificent flatness of the Norfolk Fens on the way. Checking in at Searles was a breeze and we were unpacking in our lodge (after a brief life or death struggle over who got the room with ensuite) within 10 minutes of arrival.
Mondays are the quiet days of the con, when it begins and ends, so we didn't have much planned and that's exactly what we did: not much. Basically, we said hello to a few people, my hug counter started heading towards infinity and we ended the day with dinner at Smokey Jo's, then back to the lodge to relax and touch base with the outside world before the delirium consumed us all.
Mondays are the quiet days of the con, when it begins and ends, so we didn't have much planned and that's exactly what we did: not much. Basically, we said hello to a few people, my hug counter started heading towards infinity and we ended the day with dinner at Smokey Jo's, then back to the lodge to relax and touch base with the outside world before the delirium consumed us all.
Hunstanton: Closed on Tuesdays
Tuesday afternoon was occupied with tea time, with various friends dropping in to say hello and enjoy a cold collation of cured meats, creamy chesses, oregano crackers and endless tea & coffee. I must make this a more formally organised thing next year, because it was so nice to see everyone socially, rather than as part of a game, which is pretty much how I spent the rest of the convention seeing people. After some thought about accomodation and the increasing demand for tables in the main gaming area, I'd decided to run all my games at my lodge for this year, which undoubtedly lead to some friends thinking I was absent for this con. Note to self for next year: get out more.
Wednesday [Slots 1 to 3]
Foretold: In Its Shadow
So, a couple of notes about this game and the slot it ran in, which applies to all my morning game slots on all the main days of the convention:
- At the end of the con last year, I got talking to Alyssa Griffiths about gaming, as one does, and she said something so profoundly enlightnening that I went on to write, playtest and publish four narrative games once I got home. I would love to share her words of wisdom with you all here, but I can't for the life of me remember what she said. It was good, though!
- Since I was running all my games in my lodge this year, I thought it was only fair and prudent to give my lodge-mates a chance for a lie-in when required, instead of foisting a group of total strangers upon them at 9am every day. Hence my 10am start time for all my morning games, giving not only my lodge-mates a chance to ready themselves for the day ahead, but also the players who signed up for the games. This proved to be such an attractive strategy that I plan to repeat it next year!
All the Foretold games use an 'oracle' system, a list of prompts tied to a deck of ordinary playing cards; on your turn, you draw a card, read the prompt, repsond to it, then the other players can ask you to expand further if they want. In Its Shadow is a story of a group of Hunters in pursuit of The Beast, which in this case amounted to a team of corporate troubleshooters dropped onto a colony world to roust out the alien leader of a rebellion against their occupation. We were totally the bad guys in this, and while we mostly got what we deserved in the end, the collaterel included all other organic life on the planet, excluding the CEO who was safely inside an environment suit, so she ended up stranded and alone on a dead world.
Monsterhearts Gothic
Have you played Monsterhearts? I have, a lot, enough to be burned out on American high school student dramas and had a hankering for a different tone, so I hacked this together last summer. It's a version of the game set in a 19th Century European boarding school, with a Gothic angle, all scandalous intimacies, dark brooding and unrequited passions. The Beloved's boyfriend, a bestial Hybrid, kept trying to scare the Risen away, afraid of what might be going on behind his back, and the Risen could not have given less of a fig about the whole thing. This left the Ageless time to attempt a little corruption of the Beloved, which they were not completely averse to, but then matters came to a head as the Risen learned that the school librarian was the one who had returned them from the grave. This lead to a confrontation with the now undead librarian, who had brought the cold of the grave back from the dead with them, and the jolly school chums burned all evidence of the horrifically awful mudrer they committed.
Gentle & Extraordinary
A Leage of Extraordinary Gentlemen inspired hack of Lasers & Feelings, this saw a trio of brave
adventurers trying to overcome a cult utilizing zombies for their own nefarious reasons. Things did not go smoothly for the League however, as the sudden disappearance of their leader had lead to infighing over who should take control of the organisation, or indeed if anyone should. In between bouts of accusations, they managed to set up another cult as a fall guy for their plan to steal a zombie for themselves and found the bolt hole of their erstwhile leader. In the end, they thwarted the Prime Minister's plans to use a Thames Regatta as cover for a purge of the homeless and poor from the City of London, and completely forgot about the approach of an unknown planet between the orbits of Earth and Mars: it's easy to let little details like that slip your mind when your consciousness has been spread out over a few dozen undead host bodies.
adventurers trying to overcome a cult utilizing zombies for their own nefarious reasons. Things did not go smoothly for the League however, as the sudden disappearance of their leader had lead to infighing over who should take control of the organisation, or indeed if anyone should. In between bouts of accusations, they managed to set up another cult as a fall guy for their plan to steal a zombie for themselves and found the bolt hole of their erstwhile leader. In the end, they thwarted the Prime Minister's plans to use a Thames Regatta as cover for a purge of the homeless and poor from the City of London, and completely forgot about the approach of an unknown planet between the orbits of Earth and Mars: it's easy to let little details like that slip your mind when your consciousness has been spread out over a few dozen undead host bodies.
Thursday [Slots 4 to 6]
Foretold: Mile's End
Inspired loosely by The World's End, this is a pub crawl game in which a group of old friends come
back to the town they grew up in 10 or 20 years later and relive old glories, whilst also stirring up memories that are perhaps better left forgotten. It turned out we'd all had good lives, after a shaky start in our youths, and the change in fortune had something to do with the night where one character had been arrested for dealing in psychedelics, which another of the characters had tripped out on that night. A few more stops, and many drinks & a curry later, we started to suspect that all was not right within our group; in fact, we came to suspect that one of us was not who they said they were, but the more we tried to push at those memories, the more migraines and nose bleeds we suffered from. Ultimately, one of us returned to wherever they came from, after failing to fully integrate into human society, using the camouflage of a stolen identity, and the rest of us never saw 'them' again.
back to the town they grew up in 10 or 20 years later and relive old glories, whilst also stirring up memories that are perhaps better left forgotten. It turned out we'd all had good lives, after a shaky start in our youths, and the change in fortune had something to do with the night where one character had been arrested for dealing in psychedelics, which another of the characters had tripped out on that night. A few more stops, and many drinks & a curry later, we started to suspect that all was not right within our group; in fact, we came to suspect that one of us was not who they said they were, but the more we tried to push at those memories, the more migraines and nose bleeds we suffered from. Ultimately, one of us returned to wherever they came from, after failing to fully integrate into human society, using the camouflage of a stolen identity, and the rest of us never saw 'them' again.
Tithe Barn
One of the two creepy games I ran at this convention (well, deliberately creepy at least), this scenario uses Dead of Night to mash-up ideas from the Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter and the recent TV series Teacup. Six residents of a farm barely keeping itself solvent had to welcome a wedding party to their home and weather the storm of complaints and blundering about until night fell, at which point the monsters came out to torment them all. The PCs barely survived the ensuing onslaught, and there were a couple of times it seemed like the wedding party had died horribly, but as the sun rose, it became clear there had been only one fatality, and it hadn't been at the hands of the monsters. There were some rather more pressing revelations to be dealt with that morning however, including one that would change the PCs' lives forever, but I won't spoil all that here, as I definitely want to run this one again.
Fiasco
A nice quiet game to end the day with would have been a good idea, but I'd offered the chaos of Fiasco
instead and I was committed to it, as were some of the players as well I think. We picked the Home Invasion playset, but With Added Goose, so we wove together a tale of goose-like aliens attempting to create goose/human hybrids with limited success. Have you ever seen Mother Goose? We have and we deeply wish we'd been spared the sight. Anyway, after much shenanigans with genetic deficiencies, a lot of bodies buried under the lawn and the alien captain's very uncomfortable nest communicator (you don't want to know about the aerial) the aliens finally found the solution they were looking for and the single human PC took the fall for pretty much all the laws they'd broken, particularly all the murders.
instead and I was committed to it, as were some of the players as well I think. We picked the Home Invasion playset, but With Added Goose, so we wove together a tale of goose-like aliens attempting to create goose/human hybrids with limited success. Have you ever seen Mother Goose? We have and we deeply wish we'd been spared the sight. Anyway, after much shenanigans with genetic deficiencies, a lot of bodies buried under the lawn and the alien captain's very uncomfortable nest communicator (you don't want to know about the aerial) the aliens finally found the solution they were looking for and the single human PC took the fall for pretty much all the laws they'd broken, particularly all the murders.
Friday [Slots 7 to 9]
Foretold: From Earth
A game in three acts, which begins when the people of Earth (some of them, at least) receive a message from space and determine to build a spaceship to seek out the source.
- Act 1: we assembled a crew through some tense international alliances and funded construction of the vessel with some shady investors. One character already had such divided loyalties at this point that even she didn't know if she was a double agent or not.
- At the interval, our rivals got the drop on us and take off early in a hastily converted submarine!
- Act 2: the voyage began and tensions rose as the crew fought among themselves and plotted against each other, leading to a mutiny in which the privileged investor who came along for the ride was evicted from their luxurious private cabin, while other crew members became addicted to the hallucingenic effects of the engine emissions.
- Just before arriving at our destination, we received new orders, so now instead of exploiting the new world for resources, we had to implore the aliens to aid us against the invasion of a neighbouring country back on Earth.
- Act 3: all was not as it seems on this planet, with time istelf ebbing & flowing, causing years to pass by in moments and vice versa. With two of the crew totally compromised and metamorphosed into alien forms, the sole technician remaining sent a message back to Earth seeking to confirm that the data we had was complete. Due to the unstable nature of time on this world however, this ended up being the very message that drew us here in the first place!
Fellow Travellers
The second and some would say even creepier game I had planned for this con, it ended up being a lot
more disturbing than even I had in mind when it began! This game uses a ghost story-style PbtA game I've been playtesting and refining for the last few years on my personal Discord server, with a focus on the divides between us: gender, class, generation and even those gifted with the Sight and those without it. As six travellers shared a coach through the unseasonably cold woods, some saw that there were more than just six travellers aboard; as the apparitions made themselves known, a rash decision to encourage the coach to go faster resulted in a broken wheel and an altercation with a pagan cult who could steal the warmth from those they embraced. After narrowly escaping this, the coach had to stop at an inn overnight, so that the coachman could effect repairs; this was the cue for a lot of secrets to come out and confessions to be made, culiminating in a struggle over who would continue to their destination and who would go back to where they came from. While some were glad to reboard the coach and rest in the warmth at last, it came down to a battle of words between the preacher and the highwayman to see who would occupy the last seat.
more disturbing than even I had in mind when it began! This game uses a ghost story-style PbtA game I've been playtesting and refining for the last few years on my personal Discord server, with a focus on the divides between us: gender, class, generation and even those gifted with the Sight and those without it. As six travellers shared a coach through the unseasonably cold woods, some saw that there were more than just six travellers aboard; as the apparitions made themselves known, a rash decision to encourage the coach to go faster resulted in a broken wheel and an altercation with a pagan cult who could steal the warmth from those they embraced. After narrowly escaping this, the coach had to stop at an inn overnight, so that the coachman could effect repairs; this was the cue for a lot of secrets to come out and confessions to be made, culiminating in a struggle over who would continue to their destination and who would go back to where they came from. While some were glad to reboard the coach and rest in the warmth at last, it came down to a battle of words between the preacher and the highwayman to see who would occupy the last seat.
What Ho, World!
This is a very silly card-based RPG in the vein of a Jeeves & Wooster misadventure, as a foppish Gadabout had her heart set on winning a golf tournament with the help of a particularly ugly copy of the Mona Lisa. Her aunt somewhat disapproved of the whole thing and was rather more invested in interfering in the engagement of a noted artist to the son of a wealthy family, whle the aunt's capable maid became inveigled in the machinations of a high court judge who only wanted what was best for his Great Aunt Ermintrude. Ultimately, after several chaotic golf contests, the artist was married off to the judge, the latter promptly passing away in a portrait accident on their wedding day, leaving the artist free to have the marriage she'd wanted all long.
Saturday [Slots 10 to 12]
Foretold: The Mayor of Elphame
Perhaps this wasn't the best time to run a politically charged story game about prejudice against the
Other, but when, these days, is it a good time for a game like that? We did get a lot of perverse enjoyment from it though, as we found ways to integrate Fae society with 1920s New York, whilst also largely retaining our own traditions and identity. In the end, despite the efforts of the embodiment of Temperance to mediate between old tradionalists and forward looking oracles, it was the embodiment of Blood Sacrifice who proved to be the popular, centrist candidate for Mayor who could bridge the divide between us. It might have been their policy of butchering human criminals and selling them back to mortal society as a savoury meat delicacy that swung the vote.
Other, but when, these days, is it a good time for a game like that? We did get a lot of perverse enjoyment from it though, as we found ways to integrate Fae society with 1920s New York, whilst also largely retaining our own traditions and identity. In the end, despite the efforts of the embodiment of Temperance to mediate between old tradionalists and forward looking oracles, it was the embodiment of Blood Sacrifice who proved to be the popular, centrist candidate for Mayor who could bridge the divide between us. It might have been their policy of butchering human criminals and selling them back to mortal society as a savoury meat delicacy that swung the vote.
Down the Witches' Road
"Where's the tablet?"
"Don't know.""OK, where's the altar?"
"Don't know."
"Well, we're effed then."
Luckily, they did find the tablet, hidden under a tattoo on the ex-apprentice of one witch, who had grown jealous and wiped her mentor's memory, but at least they all managed to avert the end of the world. However, the Blood Witch had entered into a vow to kill her ex and her ex's new partner once the world was saved, but opted to spare her ex by making the new partner's death take as long as possible.
Wizards Aren't Gentlemen
By this point in the convention, I was barely aware that games even have rules, but that was a fine way
to wrap up, as we crashed our way through a convoluted tale of wizardly scheming. Our wheelings, dealings and back-stabbings were accompanied by a chorus of comical bandits, oversharing inanimate objects and a Philosophical Raven whose major contribution to the annals of reflective thought was that there were't enough eyeballs. I think we finally arrived at some kind of ending, possibly by stealing another wizard's apprentice away from them through a marriage proposal? It was the kind of game where it's hard to keep track of why things are happening even when the players aren't frazzled and running on fumes, but it certainly contained lots of big laughs, which is all you want from your final con game.
to wrap up, as we crashed our way through a convoluted tale of wizardly scheming. Our wheelings, dealings and back-stabbings were accompanied by a chorus of comical bandits, oversharing inanimate objects and a Philosophical Raven whose major contribution to the annals of reflective thought was that there were't enough eyeballs. I think we finally arrived at some kind of ending, possibly by stealing another wizard's apprentice away from them through a marriage proposal? It was the kind of game where it's hard to keep track of why things are happening even when the players aren't frazzled and running on fumes, but it certainly contained lots of big laughs, which is all you want from your final con game.
It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over
It's over.
Sunday morning was the last day at the con for myself, Lora and Dave, but we started as we ended, by having a bunch of friends come over to our lodge, though for brunch instead of tea. It was nice to just socialise at last, after almost four solid days of running games, sleeping and eating meals. It was also just lovely to share thoughts & feelings with old friends and new ones, with much thanks to Alyssa, Sarah, Lizzie, Andrew and of course Becca, who we could have made some serious coin off if we'd charged her rent for all the times she came over!
I'm back at home now, feeling those Post Con Blues a little bit, but at least I have a game to look forward to tonight, which will help a lot. I'm already considering what to do next year, not just in terms of games I run, but also how I schedule my time: for me, it's a tough balance between all the games I
want to share and all the people I want to hang out with, and in each slot you really only get to choose to do one or the other: everything else is just as the Fates' decree.
Sunday morning was the last day at the con for myself, Lora and Dave, but we started as we ended, by having a bunch of friends come over to our lodge, though for brunch instead of tea. It was nice to just socialise at last, after almost four solid days of running games, sleeping and eating meals. It was also just lovely to share thoughts & feelings with old friends and new ones, with much thanks to Alyssa, Sarah, Lizzie, Andrew and of course Becca, who we could have made some serious coin off if we'd charged her rent for all the times she came over!
I'm back at home now, feeling those Post Con Blues a little bit, but at least I have a game to look forward to tonight, which will help a lot. I'm already considering what to do next year, not just in terms of games I run, but also how I schedule my time: for me, it's a tough balance between all the games I
want to share and all the people I want to hang out with, and in each slot you really only get to choose to do one or the other: everything else is just as the Fates' decree.
It's been a blast again and I will sign off as usual by thanking our fantastic Wyrd Sisters and their army of volunteers, the amazing staff at Searles, all the GMs and players, the traders and everyone who supports the convention and also supports us, enabling us to take this week out of our regular lives to be fantastic with friends.
Same time again next year?
No comments:
Post a Comment