Adventures at GenCon 2019: Day 2, Part II

So where was I... Oh yes! I completed several hours of booth service for Goodman Games then ran No Small Crimes in Lankhmar and by that time it would be around 7pm and I would have been up for over 12 hours at that point I believe.

Between the Lankhmar game and my next session I ate an 8 hour old cup of noodles. (Total noodle cup count would now be at 5? Anyways, I had a great talk with one of my players whilst I hungrily scarfed down my noodles. (Later that night he shared some find moonshine with me). Soon though it was time to play Sky ov Crimson Flame!

Sky ov Crimson Flame!

How many times have I ran this adventure? I mean... I know I wrote it, but jeez... Anyways, I never get tired of, because every since it's released I do something different, try new scenarios, invent new rooms, etc. Technically I count all this as "play-testing" for the eventually 2nd printing release, where I plan to go through a "George Lucas" the shit out of it. (Well maybe not as much as Lucas might, but you get the idea!).

This session was ran from 8pm-Midnight and only 3 of my 6 players showed up, which was kind of a bummer, but we made due as I provided the characters with extra cannon fodder, I mean... PCs. The adventure went down as it always does with the Death Stamp glowing red hot as I killed up characters left and right. 

When it came to the crossing of the Rocky Mount, the players chose to go left. In the book this means an attack from more Head-bats, which in retrospect I wish I would have changed. Instead I opted for an attack from a creature in the back of the module called the Cherub Spider, which entangled one of the PCs in its sticky intestinal webbing. It was a dire situation, but these players were smart and survived with a bit of brains and lucky rolls. 

Later they fault against the Corrupted Flesh which was an intense battle between the book shelves and causes quite a mess, allowing one PC to get utlra HD infra-vision, which unfortunately for them meant they could focus on every detail of this nasty flesh monster (including the swaying sagging ball sack!) which put them in a rage! In the end they over came the creature only to be stumped by the Soul Chamber, which is just a trap room, and killed off about 5 party members.

Later, as they headed up the sloping hall towards the courtyard of the keep, they encounter a Ghost Knight and some great role playing along with some good die rolls had the Ghost Knight joining their party!

The Crimson Witch at the top of the tower couldn't complete her ritual as one of the PCs (the one who controlled the ghost and now believed himself to be the King of the Keep) sacrificed himself by tackling the witch so fiercely that they both plummeted to the rocks below!

What a session! I had a blast, they had a blast, and those three people that didn't show up missed out on all the fun! Oh well!

More GenCon recaps to come!

Remember you can purchase Sky ov Crimson Flame right here!

Adventures at GenCon 2019: A Recap, Day 2

Day 2:

Day 2 began like the day before, waking up early and heading into the exhibitor hall a couple hours before it open to organize the grand selection of Appendix N tomes that were on display at the Goodman Games booth. This was followed by 4 or so hours of working the actual booth before heading into DCCRPG game room and Judging two games back to back! (As a side note I should mention that as of this point I had only been eating cups of noodles from a vendor near by and was determined to eat only noodles! Current cup count was at 4 cups over the day and half spent at the con thus far).

No Small Crimes in Lankhmar!

ATTENTION SPOILERS AHEAD:

This was my first game session for the day and first time actually running the new DCC Lankhmar rule set. If you're familiar with the module, all the PCs are shrunk in size and must venture through the house at a mere 5 inches, fighting hairy spiders, giant cats, and the rats from Lankhmar Below.

Fritz Leiber's  The Swords of Lankhmar is probably one of my favorites and so running this adventure that is obviously inspired by that story was a blast. I had a great group of players, some newbies, so not, but all were having a blast. We had a Wizard who was illiterate and so the player decided that the only way he could cast his spells was through limericks and actually wrote a limerick for each spell he had! Needless to say that blew me away and every time he recited his limerick I awarded him with fleeting luck!

In this adventure the cat is probably the biggest adversary, and threatened the party a couple of times, once from under a door and then again at the top of the stairwell. Unfortunately for me I was rolling low and they were rolling high! One of the PCs rolled a critical and mortally wounded the cat who was then fleeing down the stairwell when the wizard cast magic missile and blew him away!

The end of the adventure was probably the most fun as the wizard got stuck under a steel door. On the opposite side of that door stood a bronze automation. Before the automation could attack the wizard spell-burned a ton of points and summoned a gorilla into the room! The gorilla and automation fought, destroying the laboratory equipment and several bottles which would have helped the party grow to full size. Lucky for them there was another way and with the gorilla's help they managed to unlock a door and eventually undo the curse placed on them.

Check back for a continuation of Day 2 into Day 3!

Adventures at GenCon 2019: A Recap, Day 1

Ah yes... GenCon! The gathering of Nerdom from far and wide. Chaos reigns those 4 days and coins are tossed like so much fodder. Those of us who can make the journey wait for an entire year to spend 4 days and nights gaming and drinking in the best of company!

Day 1:

This day started off early with a trip to the DCC gaming room, followed by several hours of work at the Goodman Games booth. Afterwards I had two play-tests of my latest adventure Seekers ov the Other Worlds.

The 1st Play-Test

This was the first time anyone has played what I've written and the play-test was only 1/5 of this very long and epic world hopping adventure! I had 6 players, all of whom had some experience with DCC and some of whom I had the pleasure of playing with last year.

After showing off Stefan Poag's new cover art for the adventure (see above) we dove right into the thick of it. This Other World is heavily inspired by both Michael Moorcock and H. P. Lovecraft. It's a very dream like reality and is not the standard dungeon crawling experience. In retrospective though I believe I will need to reign in some of these ideas and add a tad bit more structure to the adventure.

One of the main goals for this session was to find a means of getting the "Bridge Machine" running again. This requires the PCs find the needed parts, putting them in the machine and then activating it so that a black rainbow bridge projects in the direction of the floating tower in the sky. (All of which may change once this adventure is finally published, but that's TBD). Anyhow the players did well and in the end defeated this incarnation of the Necromancer with no casualties (gotta amp those baddies up!). 

The 2nd Play-Test

After that session, I had an hour or more to kill before the next session starting at 8pm. In that time I study the mental notes I'd taken and prepared to try some new things. Again I had 6 players, several of which played with me last year! This session went smoother than the last (mostly in part to the fact I had some practice and knew what the hell I was doing).

One of the main segments that both play-test parties went through was a dinner party with a Minor Chaos Lord named the Duke of Yooh, a slime yellow blob with a hefty appetite. All the players had a blast and both parties manage to narrowly escape the party.

We had but one death in this session (I know, I know... I'm slacking). This occurred in a area called The Great White Void. The character had three chances to roll under their luck and failed all three! In the end they begin one with the void, never to be seen again.

In the end the Necromancer was again defeated and the PCs won! After the session had ended (around midnight) I was feeling quite drained, so of course I went over to the embassy suites to drink and hang out! 

So what did I take away from these play-tests?

More structure to the Other World, baddies may need to be amped up a bit, and certain area/ideas should either be combined or abandoned. That said it appeared that everyone was having a blast and dished out some great feedback. So if my play-testers are reading this, thanks for gaming with me and thanks for the support!

Check back later for Part II!