Morgan's Undead of Winter 2020 Adventures

 

This is the Annual Dead of Winter convention, but now virtual due to Covid concerns and lockdowns. The original idea was that DoW GMs would bring back to life an old game they had run before.

I played in 3 games and coincidentally, all three games were set in the 1990s.

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12/12 Sat 11am-5pm

The Witch of Bar Harbor

GM: Travis Smalley

Game System: FATE

Variations: The Secret World of Cats

Power Level: Low

Number of Players: 5 (Aaron V, Matt S, Shannon M, Tom I, Morgan Hua)

Characters Provided: Yes

Technology Involved: Discord and Maptools. Webcams preferred but not required.

Description: (game was changed last minute, so this description is mine, not Travis's) In the Secret World of Cats, we play sentient and magical cats, similar to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical Cats. The cats strive to protect humans from their follies. The game is set in 1990, Bar Harbor, ME.

The game starts with unexplained Rube Goldberg-like set of events which threaten a teenage girl.

I have a strong dislike for the FATE system as players tend to stack Aspects and then Invoke a pile of them to auto succeed. Players game the system too much and remove any sense of challenge or danger.

So, why did I sign up for this game? Well, Travis is a great GM and I haven't played a game with him for a long time. Also, Dovi A runs a great Star Wars FATE game, so not all FATE games suck. So, there are exceptions to the rule.

Travis limited the amount of Aspects available and only gave out Aspects with a free Invoke when a 5+ success occurred. With no free Aspects, PCs had to generate an Aspect first. This limited the amount of Aspect abuse. Travis was also very masterful in escalating and managing the end game.

Overall, I loved playing a cat and trying to navigate the everyday normal world from a cat's eye view. Travis delivered a really good game.

Other investigative cat games are: Cats of Catthulhu and Cathulhu (CoC 6th).

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The game started with a satellite dish threatening to crash down upon a teenage girl. Shannon's cat pushed her out of the way. Soon after, a spiky fragment of the dish was going to cause a flat on a truck barreling down on this girl and her boyfriend. Another cat magicked the spike flat.

After following the girl and her boyfriend, the cats break into the Bar Harbor Historical Museum and learn of a witch that was burned at the stake and the great cat slaughter that followed afterwards. The cats get into the attic after scaring the night watchman and encounter the ghost of the witch and find there's a missing cursed trinket that used to be warded by cat magic.

Meanwhile, outside the museum, another accident occurs and the girl is sent to the hospital. Cats follow her and also track the missing trinket using magic.

The cats wind up at the boyfriend's house and after another caper dealing with breaking in, sneaking around, stealing things, a house fire, and dogs, the cats get the trinket, but the ghost witch steals it from them.

The cats then track the trinket to a cemetery and defeat some undead cats and re-ward the cursed trinket the witch was trying to use to do something terrible.

In the end, we had to do at least 3 rounds of cat magic. Each magic round required participation by a different cat. During the round, the other cats had to work to defend the cat working the magic that round. Because the witch attacked at a really high plus, something like +12, all the cats had to work together to defend. In the end, Tom's cat suffered a serious injury, having his insides torn out and exposed.

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12/12 Sat 7pm-1am

Josie

GM: Matt Metcalfe-Armstrong

Game System: Home brew (rules light, roleplay heavy)

Variations: NA

Power Level: Normal people

Number of Players: 5-6 (Alicia H, Andrew W, Dani L, Honda C, Lis H, Morgan Hua)

Characters Provided: Yes, and developed as game proceeds 

Description: A group of high school gaming friends meet again every few years in observance of a morbid anniversary, and must cope with the long-term ramifications of the events in their life. 

A game in multiple acts, and following characters over the course of 20 years, from their high school graduation night to middle age. An untimely death changes the trajectory of their lives, and when they come together 20 years later, they try to make contact with the spirit of their lost friend.  

GM NOTES & GUIDANCE TO PLAYERS

TONE: Supernatural drama, players must be willing to invest in characters, and be willing to accept that their choices may lead to bad outcomes for their characters. Mix of dramatic memoir and ghost story.

This game reminds me of Montsegur 1244 in that it can be played very realistically and bring in very strong emotions, or played with less realism (being over the top) and have less impact, all depending on the mood of the table.

The game started in 1994 and ended in 2020, skipping about 5 years per act and then skipping about 20 years for the last act.

1994 is the senior year of high school. All of the PCs are friends of each other and Josie, an NPC who dies after graduation. We fill out an open ended questionnaire about our lives. We play out various prompts and resolve or invent some drama. Matt (GM), then reveals what happens in between acts. We fill out questionnaires again, rinse/repeat until the final act.

The only issue is that with such an open ended start, it was hard for the Players to latch onto something. So there was a bit of floundering at the start, but once we got Act 1 out of the way, things went a bit smoother. But there were times when I felt even though when the Act was done, people just filled in the empty space with small talk until Matt called End Scene, we probably needed a non-verbal signal that we were done.

I had a really good table of players. The game turned out very low key and realistic. The emotional content at the end turned out very good.

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Josie died of a drug overdose right after graduation. So, it was a mystery whether it was an accidental overdose or suicide. The game dealt with collective guilt over not saving Josie from herself and how that affects their lives. The ghost of Josie haunts the PCs, some more than others. The last scene happens after a 16 year gap, the PCs meet over zoom and do a computer séance and contact Josie. She finally tells the others that it was an accidental overdose and that her appearances were only to be with us, to peek into our lives, out of love, not out of hate or vengeance. This gave us closure.

Matt did the haunting very well with odd flashes of seeing Josie's ghost, smelling her cheap perfume, and photos of her and PCs that never happened suddenly showing up. The PCs did a séance before the final act and physical objects (a d20 and CD) showed up. My favorite parts were the last two acts, the camping séance (spontaneous event unprompted by GM) and the last virtual séance.

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12/13 Sun 11am-5pm

SKILLSHOT

GM: Andy Hull

Game System: Delta Green

Genre: Horror

Number of Players: 5 (Shannon M, Tom I, Dave S, Aaron V, Morgan Hua)

Characters Provided: Yes

Power Level: Recruits

Description:  It's 1992.

Unlikely companions search for treasured people who have faded from their lives. A filthy stranger promises them answers as long they keep their damn mouths shut.

Does this team have what it takes to penetrate a gnawing supernatural conspiracy, or will they become another necessary sacrifice in the grisly hunt for the truth?

Delta Green fights on.

GM Notes & Guidance to Players: 

Tone - An investigation with limited resources and rising stakes

Tags/Descriptors/Genre - Supernatural Horror, Mystery, Serious, Retro, Body Horror, Mature 

You will be expected to work together as a group with varied fields of expertise, and handle many clues presented as props.

I really enjoyed this game because it was 90% investigative. I love investigation games. Andy had tons of props and handouts to mull over and figure out.

It was a very hard mystery and without some help from the GM, I think we would have taken 8 hours to finish this. Given a time limit though, we did what we could. We did run into spending more time discussing what we should do vs just doing it because we thought we had a ticking clock and spent more real-time arguing about what to do than doing. Part of the problem was that all the PCs didn't know each other and were working together for the very first time.

Overall, if you like solving mysteries and reading handouts, check this game out.

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Criminal was played by Shannon, DEA Agent by Tom, Military Pilot by Dave, CDC Doctor by Aaron, Hacker by Morgan.

The PCs are strangers and get called by a mysterious handler to investigate a location. All of the PCs are searching for missing associates.

The first scene is in the middle of the Arizona desert where we find a half buried car in a ditch. Inside the trunk is a dead body and some clues. The clues are cryptic and incomplete.

We needed to use our contacts and some brain work to figure out the clue trails which lead us to a company which we have to break into. That then led to our final Act.

By then we knew there was a ticking clock as we were experiencing disturbing dreams and physical infestations and mutations. We also knew the handler was dangerous and was going to kill us as he had done the same to previous teams. The paranoid conspiracy and body horror were well done and the best parts of the game. Very Delta Green.

The final scene was at a religious encampment out in the desert where people abandoned their cars to reach enlightenment. In the end, DEA reached "enlightenment" on a magical school bus, CDC was shot in the head by the mysterious handler (who Hacker rammed with a dump truck), and Criminal, Hacker, and Pilot escaped right before a tactical nuke went off. 

In the end, Hacker escaped with the plans of a nuclear weapon. And to tie it into the time period, sold it to Pakistan.

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12/13 Sun 6pm-Midnight

Four Hours to Reno 

GM: Morgan Hua

Game System: Down Darker Trails - A setting for Call of Cthulhu—the American West of the late 19th century. The era of gold rushes, outlaws and lawmen, discovery and expansion.

Variations: Luck Spends to adjust most % rolls

Power Level: Purist

Number of Players: 4-6 (5-6 is ideal as this scenario is more action oriented) (Todd E, Felipe M, Badger M, Aaron T)

Characters Provided: Yes

Description: The Investigators are a deputized posse of civilians lead by US Marshal Eldridge Nash, returning on a train to Reno from Salt Lake City as they take in the remnants of the Hensley gang to be tried for cattle rustling and murder.  

GM NOTES & GUIDANCE TO PLAYERS

Tone: Yee Haw! Western. Them darn Hensley gang going to hang! Cthulhu? Pardon me mam, but here's a kerchief for your cold.

60% Root-em shoot-em action, 25% Investigation, 15% Horror.

Tags/Descriptors/Genre: Western/Supernatural Horror/Action/PG13 with some gross bodily fluids. Scenario will run for 4-5 hrs depending on the pace of the game table.

I was originally going to reanimate my Scooby-Doo game, but it would have required too much work to get it ready for an online game. Instead I ran this which I had prepared for GenCon. Also I picked the last slot on Sunday because I knew the game was only 4-5 hours long and no one would complain if I ran a shorter game after everyone had stayed up late the previous day and they would probably be dead tired by then. Also the scenario was more of an action set piece and would work when people are tired.

This game actually did run 5 hours even with just 4 players. Generally, a game runs faster with less players, especially combat heavy games.

I had a lot of fun running this game. I think this is the 6th time I've run this. I had a great table of players. There's a balance of roleplaying, advancing the plot, and just having fun. There were a lot of great moments brought by the masterful role players.

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Badger the Mountain Man was played by Badger, Angel the Farmer by Aaron, Leroy the midget Gunslinger by Todd, and Dirk the Cowboy by Felipe.

Fun moments:

Badger and Angel almost getting killed by Break Em Betty (NPC). Betty knocked Badger to 0 HP with punches and almost took Angel out before he killed her. Luckily Angel brought Wei Li (NPC murder suspect) with him who was able to stabilize Badger (who was dying).

Angel dominated by Abigail (NPC) and ordered to shoot Badger, does so, but shoots through Badger in order to hit Abigail also. Angel kills Badger and Abigail with both barrels of his shotgun.

Dirk sliding off the top of the train car and hitting the ground, then failing to pull himself up by a rope Leroy throws to him, finally getting back on the train using his whip as train cars whip by.

Leroy miraculously climbing up on top of the caboose and shooting Angel, now possessed by evil spirits, in the back as he tries to escape on the back of a flying Shantak.

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Morgan's ModCon 2020 Adventure

 

MODCon 2020 was held Dec 4-6, 2020. It was advertised as a How to GM convention. I watched most of the seminars for the first two days and attended one game.

Here's the panel schedule:

Each panel ran from the start time to 15 mins before the hour, so most panels were only 45 mins long. My issue was that the panels were all Q&A panels, where audience members texted in questions, so it wasn't a seminar per se, but random Q&A of questionable value.

Things I Wish I knew When I Started GMing / Mastering the Basics. Only good nugget of info I got from both seminars: have a list of NPC names ready and blank space, so you can check off those used and add notes as to who that NPC is when chosen. Seth uses one adjective like Angry Blacksmith to describe the NPC when chosen and activated. Other GMs used 3 descriptives. After the game, GM should write down in a notebook notable events and next steps (something I already do as a GM for multipart scenarios or campaigns).

The best panel was Next Step GM Techniques which talked about foreshadowing and improv. Basically, GMs can add foreshadowing / scenario seeds during play and hope that some of it sticks. Lloyd Gyan was a great panelist with amazing energy and great ideas.

The Star Trek Adventures (Special Behind the Scenes Game) was interesting as it broke down decisions the GM had to make on the fly.

How to GM 2d20, Dune 2d20: The Making Of, Modiphius: Coming in 2021 were of limited value.

All of the panels are here, divided by each day (videos are about 6 hrs each): https://www.twitch.tv/modiphius

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A small number of games were listed, about 10. I tried to get into a Dune and Star Trek game but failed and was only able to get into a Vampire (V5) game.

System: Vampire V5

Title: The In Crowd (scenario from the starter set, but game was originally listed as No Place Like London and was changed because Modiphius requested the GM to change the scenario).

GM: Louis Garcia 

Players: 4 (Brad, A D, Joshua G, Morgan Hua)

Duration: 4 hrs (6 - 10pm) 

Description: We were newly made Vampires and we all woke up in a meat locker with other newly made Vampires. (This did not match the original game description as we expected the London scenario.)

The players were all familiar with Vampire, but not with the published version of V5. I had play tested Beta V5 and ran the published version of V5 once. So, I wanted to see how the "published" version ran.

The published version is a lot simpler and cleaner than the beta version, toning down a lot of touches Ken Hite had added to the earlier beta version. The Discipline / Hunger / Frenzy cycle was played down a lot. A majority of Disciplines didn't require Hunger checks and were skills that were freely used without risk of losing control. All superficial damage can be healed with only one Rouse check.

I wanted to resist feeding and I ended the game with 2 Hunger boxes checked and it didn't really affect my character that much other than increasing the risk of a Messy Critical which happened once to my character.

How it works is you take your dice pool (Attribute + Skill) and replace a number of dice with Hunger dice equal to your Hunger. For example: 

Dex 2 + Athletics 2 = 4 dice pool

Hunger 1

Roll 1 Hunger die and 3 Regular dice = 4 dice pool.

You only lost control with a Messy Critical or Bestial Failure. Throughout the game, the PCs got a few Messy Criticals and only one Bestial Failure.

A Messy Critical happens if you roll multiple 10s and there's a 10 on any Hunger die. You succeed, but you lose control and over do what you were trying to do. I crumpled the meat locker door while trying to remove it's hinges. In our play, the GM only looked at the 10 on the Hunger die. I looked up the rule and we didn't do it correctly, so there should have been a lot less Messy Criticals.

A Bestial Failure happens if you failed in a task and rolled a 1 on a Hunger die. At one point, I rolled 2 Hunger dice and 2 Regular dice, and got a 1 on a Hunger die, but I got a success on my Regular die, so I didn't lose control. In our game, one of the PCs instead of running, turned and faced an unmarked van in defiance due to his Bestial Failure (The PC tried to run, but got a Bestial Failure which dictated that he face the danger head on).

Overall, the system was cleaner, but lost some of the earlier edginess where every time your Vampire acted out, there was a chance you'd lose control of your inner beast.

My PC, a newly made Vampire had a Persuade dice pool of 9. A bit overkill. Another PC with a Persuade of 7 actually convinced a Primogen Justicar to lend us some vampire foot soldiers (he gave us guns, but was reluctant to give us some manpower). So something seems a bit wrong here. I'll look into this later.

Overall, I enjoyed the game and the Starter Set scenario was a good introduction to the rules and the world of Vampire.