They Met at a Hilton ... or... Dragonflight Con Wrap-up

Greetings, neighbors.

Completed another Dragonflight game con, with varying amounts of success. No Con Crud(tm) at least.

Ran a total of six games, of which brief wrap-ups follow (No one wants to hear my knock-down-drag-out descriptions...) Also, went through former con reports and one-shots to eliminate a few adventures and get new stuff to the table as much as possible.

Day 1: Friday, August 20

Morning Session: B/X-OSE "Foxtail Grotto"

Full table for this one, including at least 3-4 familiar faces. So I knew what type of chaos I was in for. Naturally, we set the scenario with determining why the party had to leave town quickly (Illegal performance-enhancing herbs for those who are curious). Set them up to help the local constabulary hunt down the pirates, and provided them with a local coastal patrol boat. 

They found the grotto without too much problem, then the surviving, raving, pirate. The claims of giant creatures were ignored. The party found the secret back entrance to the pirate HQ, and got to looting. They were set upon by undead pirates of various flavors, and took some wounds, but not without any losses. Loot was gained. A thief failed a check, and got singed by a fire-trapped chest. As they wrapped up looting, something was heard outside. Probably nothing. The party exited through both the main and secret entrances, hoping to get a drop on the threat. 

Oops

Well, that was only moderately telegraphed... Damnit. The dwarf charged in and got a good blow, but also took poison damage from the dragon's miasma of leaking breath. Fire and missiles from all directions, as the dragon laid about, knocking PCs back and being a threat. Finally, it was re-deaded. Unfortunately, at the cost of the dwarf.

His fault for melee-ing within the radius of the poison cloud, while everyone else had the sense to stay back...

The party began to load loot on their longboat, when the dwarf shows back up. Undead and all. Giving his player a chance to keep on keeping on. Damnit. More stabbing, and he's back to being dead. He's buried and marked with a very large "emotional support rock." Everyone else departs, victorious.

I've run this one a few times now, and between random events and player choices, it always has a few surprises.

Afternoon Session: Shadowdark Funnel Playtest "Sewer Patrol" 

Five players joined with their sheafs of 1-4hp mooks. Without other employment options, they hired on with the Sewer Patrol, keeping the City's sanitation infrastructure safe.

Scenario 1: Killing Rats. The hapless heroes went on search for a minor plague of rats that had been infesting the sewers. After some sidetracks and threats (And a couple of personnel replacements), they found the rats under the control of some madman with a ceramic rat's head mask. They charged while being swamped by rats (Game quote, "Are you trying to crowd surf the rats?"). A couple of lucky shots, and the "master" was slain, allowing them to take the mask and control the rats long enough to finish off the swarm. 

Rattus Maskus

Scenario 2: Fix the Collapse. With time remaining, and the players confirming that the mechanic of the funnel as written didn't suck, we "retired" their surviving sewer workers and picked the next extras on the lists. Off to repair some broken masonry. Unfortunately, either the giant bat or Dire Mole killed off the party's dwarf, so masonry knowledge would be limited. Finding the collapse, a chamber beckoned beyond. Of course, it was a tomb, occupied by a grumpy mummy and his equally grumpy mummy cats. The mummy was successfully immolated, and the cats crushed under a sarcophagus lid (Nat 20).

poor kitties

It was a good stress-test of my draft, and I got some positive feedback. As a "mapless" scenario, I used hexflowers to determine the party's location and the sewer environment. It worked pretty well, but I think I need to go back to the drawing board, as even a hexflower can vary from 10-50 rolls to get to the objective. Probably something more constrained, with a simpler add-subtract timeline to get to the objective. Otherwise, the environment and encounter rolling worked well enough. I was able to keep the narrative going, and explain away any oddness of the rolls, but it's my work, and I can roll with my rolls. I'd like to make it into something that anyone can use and abuse.

Day 2: Saturday, August 21

Morning Session: Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells "Salvage-Hunt on Tanandru II"

I'd been wanting to run something new for a while, and chose this SF RPG. I'd played in a campaign a number of years back, and after some review, figured its relatively clean roll-under mechanic would be approachable. Had a full table of likewise curious folks (including two from the previous funnel session). 

The gang got intel from a salvage broker on an abandoned rebel base that may have some valuables. They took off to the frozen planet of Tanandru II to find this alleged trove. En route, they encountered a Cosmic Shark, one of the creatures spawned from the "Void" of SB&CS. With some good piloting and shooting, they dissuaded it from eating their ship. They landed and got to work. Some local fauna was slain, and the party entered the complex. Exploration found a damaged reactor, a number of barracks, a couple of armories with a few goodies, some still-functioning and aggressive security bots, and finally the environmental controls to the complex, allowing them to turn on the lights and heat.

Unfortunately, the heat also woke/alerted Something in the Air Ducts. 

A wraith is a wraith...

This materialized and started to lay into them, as well as animating several deceased former rebels, White Wallker-style. Very annoying. With some improvised weaponry and a critical success, they put this Void creature down. More exploration, and they hauled off a small portable reactor.

On their way to the ship, the party was ambushed by ground attack craft from a rival salvage crew. They escaped, and managed to down both the craft. Run or find the ship? Oh, we're going to kill them. Got it. Final tally: weapons, a small portable reactor, and a spare ship. Oh, and a slew of ice-based puns. 

Not the smoothest run. I'd been crunching on rule review for a couple of weeks, but had other prep and obligations the week before the con. Forgot several procedures, most importantly ship combat and enemy actions (system is player facing rolls only). Improvised through, but I could tell there was some frustration at the table. I'll definitely revisit this game and hopefully get more opportunities to practice. A good system for people interested in running a Traveller or Firefly style game, with a built-in setting. 

Afternoon Session: Shadowdark "The Tomb of Spear and Smoke"

Another full table, including a repeat victim from the morning session, and a youngster with her parents. I wrote this thing years ago, and it's been sitting in my folder, moldering. Let's do it. 

Picked a PC who knew about the place, gave the party several totally reliable and true rumors, and put them at the front door. Down they went. Firstly, right into the "capstan trap" punching holes in a pair of PCs. Adolescent thief disarms, and they find the tomb of the Good Guy, along with hints as to where his relic weapon lies. Next door, and they work their way into a cavern. Large party, so they get Extra Spiders (tm). Then the Giant Otters. Thief sent across water to retrieve the relic (spear). Fighter with weapon mastery got it. 

reenactment

Which allowed them thru the Hall of the Deadly Fire Trap without issue. Some more exploration and reward loot, and they encountered "lost pilgrims." Heavily armed lost pilgrims. Things quickly degenerated, and it was on, with the opponent priest making good use of both offensive and protective spells. His fellow spellcaster debilitated another warrior, and charmed magic spear guy, who spent most of the rest of the battle attempting to protect her. The baddies were slain/surrendered, with the exception of charming mage, who turned invisible and fled, attempting to free the Undead Horrors (tm). 

The party caught up with her and managed to stop the process. An attempted bless failed to reconsecrate the seals on the Undead Horrors. I chose not to release the horrors upon the world, as the session timer was up...

Was psyched that the adventure played well. Had a good crew of players who took roles (and rolls) in stride. Wee thief had a good time (pushed some prompts towards her, which she often took with an evil smile). One player grabbed the adventure off Itch.io for later reference.

Day 3: Sinday August 22

Morning Session: B/X-OSE "The Shrine of Qriarae"

Showed up to a blank sign-up sheet. Shorter Half and I sat with hands folded a bit. I pinged the con Discord LFG. About 15 after, I started to fold things up when two folks walked in. Excellent. Sit down and grab character sheets. Two fighters and an elf. 

Off to pay their respects at the shrine, when things were found to be amiss. They found a barricaded priest, who guided them in search of the looters. Looters were found and neutralized, with news of the burrowing beetles. Might as well exterminate. Immature beetles were found and dispatched, followed by Mom Beetle breaking in Kool-Aid Man style. Big fight, and Seana's fighter experienced the beetle's "sever" ability... oops. With the beetle dead and the fighter stabilized, the remainder of the party decided to smoke out any remaining beetles. The storeroom was set ablaze. Smoke from another room indicated a connecting passage, and more beetles were slain. The nest was irradicated. 

bitey

Closed with a local patrol hauling off the brigands, and some fellow pilgrims assisting in collapsing the beetle burrows and repairing the shrine. 

A good run with this little adventure, with a pair of good players who got into the scenario, asked questions, and problem solved. Always appreciated.

Afternoon Session: Shadowdark "Dwarves Behaving Badly"

Con winding down, and a full house. Last blast/gasp/whatever. 

Distributed PCs and we were off, with the party priest dragging everyone to check out this cool shrine... Oops, abandoned and disturbed? Entry and poke around. Find signs of entry and activity. Thankfully, they were able to convince the simple minded guardian rust golem that they belonged there. It pointed them to the other people who were also interested in the shrine.

And they disturbed a bunch of dwarves doing normal dwarf stuff. Digging, drawing protective rune circles, casting spells. Chaos ensued, with the enemy dwarf caster again making good use of spells to debilitate the party, aided by some poor rolls. Surprisingly, the three dwarves held on against the party for a number of rounds. Long enough for Something Bad to Happen. 

At which point, the lead dwarf escaped into the depths of the shrine. The party pursued, hampered by a pair of dwarf mooks. The party Ras Godai finally collared the priest, but he pushed himself onto her blade, his deed done.

Which was to allow the nasty tentacle demon to escape its sealed prison. Both party members and the GM resisted hentai jokes.

The party was able to avoid the demon's attacks, other than some damage. It wasn't able to take advantage of its powers before a couple of party members figured out its weaknesses and gang-tackled it. Do we want to excavate down and see where it came from? Probably not (we're at time). Best to retreat with some loot and leave the place for others to explore/seal.

A good, chaotic session. Kept things moving, and I think everyone got a whack in. The mage burned through spells with failures, so was a bit frustrated by that. A few folks are in the neighborhood, so might see them at a brewery game. Talked OSR and campaign mechanics with a younger gentleman who was excited to get a bit of grognard wisdom, or whatever it is that I provide... 

Good con, reports say over a thousand attendees. There were enough games of different flavors and genres that the organizers had to halt game submissions to adjust the schedule. I didn't take the opportunity to play anything with my limited schedule and other obligations. Besides, my M.O. is to run two games, go home, take an hour nap. 

Until next year. 

Need to write up last brewery session. Next game in 2 weeks, as I have a reunion event next Sunday. The Lost City beckons...