RPG Events: NEON Retrofuturism Festival 2018

Last week, I attended the inaugural NEON Retrofuturism Festival!

NEON is, in the organizers' own words, "a celebration of Retrofuturism from the late 20th century."  As a love letter to that period's technology and pop culture, this celebration featured synthwave artists, obsolete tech, hard video games, and tons of So Bad, It's Good movies from yesteryear!  For example, Ninja III: The Domination!

A notable part of this convention was a huge arcade consisting of original restored cabinet games, including Pac-Man, Tapper, Dig Dug and Spy Hunter, only this time they were all free to play, so no need to keep begging Mom for more quarters!

The fun also included a massive selection of 80s and 90s game consoles, including relatively obscure platforms like the Vectrex:

I was amused that I still remembered a bunch of the secret treasure locations for Castlevania!

And, I had the opportunity to run the rules set I'm working on, Sorcery & Steel, for a bunch of strangers!  Specifically, I ran Ravenloft of Cthulhu, a reimagining of the classic AD&D gothic horror module with a bunch of Lovecraftian twists (e.g., Strahd is an eldritch horror rather than a vampire).

I changed a number of things so that even someone who had played and DM'd I6 many times before said he could see where certain things came from but the end results were quite different.  For example, I emphasized Lovecraftian horror rather than gothic horror, so there were no romance elements and Strahd was much more inhuman and unsympathetic.

Much fun was had, and I was happy that the session went smoothly and the game's mechanics were easily understandable by newcomers.  As a bonus, I also found a number of places to further refine the rules set.

A reboot of TempleCon, NEON still has a way to go to fill the shoes of its predecessor.  However, this year was definitely a good start.  If you're a fan of the 80s or a fan of things that love the 80s (e.g., Stranger Things), you should check it out!

RPG Events: Roll20Con 2018

Like last year, I again attended this year's Roll20Con!

FYI, Roll20 is a website that hosts a bunch of tabletop role-playing games that are played online (a ka virtual tabletop).  Roll20 is notable because it provides a set of tools (e.g., online dice roller, text chat, dynamic character sheets, automated  shared maps with character and enemy tokens, triggered sound effects, etc.)

The Roll20 interface also includes integrated voice chat and video chat, but, frankly, their implementation is pretty pants, and in every game I've played on Roll20 (including Roll20Con 2017 and 2018), we used Discord instead for voice chat.

Compared to last year, Roll20Con 2018 was poorly managed (after an initial notification a few months ago, Roll20Con didn't follow up with potential GMs until a few weeks ago.  Consequently, there were far fewer games.  Nevertheless, I did manage to get into some interesting games, most notably "Forget Me Not".

"Forget Me Not" is a one-shot modern scenario for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition from the 'The Things We Leave Behind' anthology published by Stygian Press.  This book is labelled "mature content" and boy is that an understatement!

Without getting into any spoilers, let's just say that "Forget Me Not" is really dark, even by Call of Cthulhu standards.  It was interesting to play but it's also helpful to remember that, with scenarios like these, gameplay is more about the journey than the destination.

RPG Events: TotalCon 2018

Like last year, I again attended this year's TotalCon!

And again, for the most part, much fun was had, although there were a couple notable hiccups this time:

Firstly, there was an enormous line to receive my con documents, since a bunch of people showed up during lunchtime and there was only one person processing attendees (there are a second person at the door to the registration room who basically wasn't doing anything very productive and apparently wasn't able to also process attendees), so it took an inordinate amount of time and I nearly missed a game.

Secondly, I did unfortunately have a game during the con that featured my two biggest RPG pet peeves: 1) railroading, and 2) player v. player, better known as PvP (which led to a TPK)!  Some people may enjoy those, but not me.

Particularly, the PvP was in the form of a plant among the players who had his own agenda.  This, IMHO, is especially unfair in a convention setting because, even if one suspects something is going on, does one act?  What if you are wrong and you kill the PC?  Will that ruin the game for someone who paid attendance?

Another thing that was somewhat negative was that, during my Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game, once again  I called out the "twist" that the hidden enemy were Snake Men.  But, at least the scenario wasn't a poorly done rip off of RE Howard's classic Conan yarn "Shadows in Zamboula"!


Nevertheless, overall, I thought TotalCon 2018 was quite a good time.


I did have the chance to play the Legend of the Five Rings RPG for the first time, which was interesting.

Legend of the Five Rings (usually abbreviated L5R) began as a card game.  The RPG uses a "roll and keep" dice pool mechanic (like Exalted, only d10s) where the player seeks to roll over a target number (unlike Exalted, in which the player counts successes).  There's an interesting "raise" mechanic, where the player can voluntarily increase the target number in exchange for greater success.

L5R is set in the fictional empire of Rokugan, which is a faux feudal Japan with a smattering of other influences.  The background is quite detailed and really adds a lot to the experience by providing deeper character immersion.


I also got a chance to get in a bunch of Old School play with my old AD&D DM, who linked the ends of the classic modules B4: The Lost City and X1: The Isle of Dread!

B4: The Lost City by Tom Moldvay is a dungeon crawl cum mini-setting.  Clearly inspired by RE Howard's classic Conan yarns "Xuthal of the Dusk" and "Red Nails," B4 also has a lost, stagnant, drug-addled and dying culture, and the PCs are able to play off/against various native factions.

X1: The Isle of Dread by David "Zeb" Cook and Tom Moldvay is among the most widely played of all Dungeons & Dragons modules, since it was included with the D&D Expert Set.  Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lost World," "King Kong," and other elements, X1 is an excellent wilderness hex crawl.

RPG Events: TotalCon 2017

Last week, I attended this year's TotalCon!

Short for "Total Confusion," TotalCon is New England's largest game convention, with hundreds of scheduled events over four days, including role-playing games, live action role-playing, miniature games and board games.  After a long period in Mansfield, MA, this year's convention was held in Marlborough, MA, but it was still a great time!  Some of the highlights for me included:

• Playing B1 In Search of the Unknown!

B1 In Search of the Unknown is both the original teaching module and is one of the most widely played RPG adventures of all time, being included in a number of printings of both the Holmes and Moldvay Basic D&D Sets.  Written for introductory DMs and players, B1 is a traditional dungeon crawl filled with tricks and traps to spur the minds of beginners.  A number of the rooms are deliberately left blank by Mike Carr, the author, to encourage DMs to think about dungeon design.  Whether this DYI approach is a feature or bug depends on your point of view.

While I've owned B1 for years, this was my first opportunity to actually play the module.  As an  exploration of a dangerous and weird locale, B1 is fun and still a challenge even for veteran players on the lookout for trouble.  Also, while not a meat grinder per se, a few of the PCs still died in the name of loot!

Old School!

• Playing with Frank Mentzer!

I started with the Mentzer Basic D&D Set and so it was awesome for me to actually play in a game with Messr Mentzer himself as DM.  He was kind, warm and gracious but he did, however, put a quick end to the hero worship stuff ("Just call me Frank").

The Mentzer Basic D&D Set is even more clearly written and even easier to understand than the Holmes and Moldvay Basic D&D Sets, making it ideal for younger audiences, such as myself back in the day.  Consequently, the Mentzer Basic D&D Set is still one of the best introductions to role-playing.  In fact, there was a player at our game who'd never done any role-playing before and Frank was able to get her up to speed in a flash!

I told Frank I spent quite of bit of time in the intro adventure to his Basic Set trying to save poor Aleena the Cleric, to no avail.  He replied that it was a deliberate design decision to bring home the point that 1) adventuring is dangerous business and 2) that RPGs are fantasy (not real life).

The adventure itself was a hugely fun time, a riff on  L. Frank Baum's Oz stories (not just the Wizard of Oz, but the later tales as well).  Frank also filled the session with many great stories about the early games of gaming and of TSR!


So, if you ever find yourself in Massachusetts at the end of February and have the urge to game, you should make time to come to TotalCon!  After 31 years, they are still going strong.  This is a well organized and run convention, with friendly and helpful staff, and it's always a blast to attend.  Plus, it's relatively inexpensive, so you get a lot for your $$.

Subject to unforeseen circumstances, I'll be there again next year!