So, we get to our seventeenth outing! Furnace and The Garrison Hotel have become a part of my life, and perhaps yours? Everything from the long standing staff, familar layout of the rooms, to the TV welcome tune when you put in the key made me feel at home away from home. The Garricons form frequent islands of relaxed and convivial roleplay game actual play with the gaming family, and very welcome too. Not to be complacent though. The format is well established and delivers a good weekend, but we are always on the lookout for small incremental changes that might make it all pass just that bit more smoothly. This time around we had a few things:
Fully pre-booked. This extended the system we usually use, but stretched to more people and brought increased complexity. The timetable, a glistening marvel, moulded by the furrowed effort of our Tsarina was very tricky to get into a shape that optimised to as many of the player choices as possible. It was great to have such a rich array of top quality games from our GMs, once again. The games are the absolute core of the weekend. We will look at some possible tweaks to the system to enable fully pre-booked again next year.
Room dividers. Dom and I were constructing them on the Friday night, benefiting both from Dom’s Engineering and my Biblical Studies; hard nosed process expertise and arcane rites from a lost age. They stayed up, though embraced their price point, with a flimsy aether sail lightness. I’d welcome thoughts from you as to whether they made any difference to the play experience in the Cell and Armoury? Might be hard to tell, and we know how echoey the Armoury can be.
Saturday Dinner Sign Up by Location. The sign up sheets now have the location that you want to eat in at the top. Hopefully that’s helped getting food to people with less disruption and uncertainty? I’ll be checking in with the Hiotel to see how it was for the staff.
In the words of Timetable Sheet12, “We Survived, Furnace 2022 – The Revenge of PlagueCon!”. I have now lost track of the number that fell away before, during and after, with either COVID or shivvery nastiness. It made for a lot of fevered last minute juggling, squeezing and perhaps a bit of swearing. We really welcomed the offers of additional games from our flexible and capable GMs. The show went on, and most people got games in most slots. The attendee write-ups I have seen have been positive. I take particular delight in first timers attesting to the friendly and welcoming atmosphere, whilst bringing the gaming fun. If we have that, then we have everything.
On Friday night I managed to grab some drinks and some chat at the bar. With room/table setup complete, I could get on and enjoy the convention and the games to come…
Saturday Daytime – Bladerunner – Remi
A double session of Bladerunner, run by Rem, very abely guiding our disparate LAPD officers on a deep investigation that could have intense ramifications to the current tenuous social contract. Many a time, me as a player, imagined the opportunity to live again, in some over-hyped off-world colony idyll. The neon washed streets beckoned however, and my character had to work with supposedly ‘prefect’ Nexus 9 models, with a handful of years of life experience between them. Tension mounted throughout the sessions and flared into violence between the team and then for a dramatic denoument. Great group, atmospheric soundtrack, great map, tablet and image use by Remi as he took us through the investigation with just the right input. This take on the YZ0 Free League system was really effective. It may run with the same probabilities, but it fe lt a lot less whiffy. My main takeaway from the game was that this adventure proved to me that there was plenty going on in the Bladerunner universe, and that there are long form possibilities. Free League’s supporting material, particularly the room pictures for you to find clues were top notch. I’m pretty sure that if I ever run some of this game I will use the pre-generated scenarios.
Saturday Evening – Trudvang Chronicles – Me
I was looking forward to running this one, though the combat system is sufficiently complex looking, that it is difficult to explain. Characters are setup with prepared combat combos that can be used wholesale or adapted quickly. The scenario has a nice mix of culture, social interactions and action. A good session overall and nice to get Trudvang to the table. Tom in particular was grokking the system and enjoying the resonances with various BRP iterations and infusion of Trudvang culture. Commercially, the game itself is over. Riotminds have divested themselves of the Drakkar och Demoner engine to Free League and Trudvang setting to CMON. I am glad I have the game and even more glad to get some actual play out of it. Maybe some more play online next year?
Sunday Morning – Dragonbane – Me
Speaking of Drakkar och Demoner, Free League have taken the venerable Swedish RPG and produced Dragonbane, the English speaking translated title. It’s a light, bouncy version of the game with lots of flourishes, including card initiative with swaps dynamic during a round, advantage and disadvantage, conditions, and profession/kin abilities. The light and intuitive ruleset was probably well placed for a Sunday morning game. My crew of players jumped in and rolled with it very well, picking up the game and the deadly situation with experienced aplomb. After some explosive larceny, they sensibly decided to ‘do a runner’ and legged it. I like the system and look forward to the fuller game that will come in electronic form to backers in time for Christmas.
Sunday Afternoon – Timeout
A pacey raffle and some game slot wrangling concluded my official duties and left no more than a gentle wind down to the convention. Some checks of the rooms, and an email to the hotel about sttoring the room divider screens and that was about a wrap for me. Had a few moments to appreciate the gamer chat burble and catch up with Jim.
There will be a few aspects that we will look at in time for next year. Overall, it was another really nice weekend of gaming, that we navigated together as gaming friends fell around us. I feel OK, but may take a COVID test tomorrow!
Rock on for 2023!