Sunday, August 22, 2021

Morgan's A Weekend with Good Friends Aug 2021 Most Excellent Adventures

 


The return of one of the best Call of Cthulhu online conventions around. And it's FREE!

This year, it's the new and improved shuffler. Initially, I got into three Tales from the Loop games, one Eclipse Phase, and one CoC game. The Eclipse Phase game got cancelled. Then as people dropped out during the week before and during the convention, I got in more games and the final tally was five CoC games and three Tales from the Loop games. Wow!

AWWGF brings the best role players and GMs. Consistent, high quality. 

I hide spoiler sections with JavaScript. If you have JavaScript turned off, you can skip the spoiler sections I have marked.


Slot 1: Thursday 8/19, 5:30pm - 9:30pm (4 hrs)

Penguin One for Call of Cthulhu
GM: doctorkreiner
For 4-8 players, ages 16 and older. This game is beginner friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, CD, seanpp, staffantj, bilgepump, Bill P

1958. An aircraft on a top secret mission near the north pole. A hastily assembled rescue team. The Cold War meets the Cthulhu mythos in a race across the top of the world. What secrets was the Army trying to understand? What happens if the Russians get there first? And can you really trust your team, or could one of them be a communist spy?

Content Warnings: Body horror, cosmic horror, blood, gore
Additional Safety Tools: Pre-game discussion

DoctorKreiner is the same GM as the The Victim's Ball in Jan 2021's A Weekend with Good Friends. He changed discord handles between games. Now I know, avoid games with 8 players.

This game was better in play than The Victim's Ball, but story-wise less interesting. There were 6 Players, and we only split up into two groups for a short time, so we had more total screen time. Since we were in the Arctic wastes, there weren't many NPCs to interact with, so we had a little bit more roleplaying between the PCs.

I feel some GMs are frustrated novelists who impose their will upon a game trying to make the game the Great American novel.

GMs need to understand that there are big paint brushes and small detail brushes and when to use them effectively. From my writing courses, I learned that the usage of words should be proportional to the importance of it. Gloss over unimportant things and only go into detail on important things.

At one point, the GM was arguing with a Player about landing gears and fuel dumping from an airplane. The details didn't really matter that much and was really inconsequential. They really got into the weeds and wasted time. The Player was trying to rationalize some details as normal, but the GM kept on insisting that it was abnormal. I doubt any of the participants were that knowledgeable about airplane crash forensics and were just arguing about stuff they weren't experts in (in real life).

Overall, I felt I didn't make that many choices and it was an ok game.






Slot 4: Friday 8/20, 8am-12pm (4 hrs)

The Space Between for Call of Cthulhu
GM: Hilmar
For 3-4 players, ages 18 and older. This game is beginner friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, [Leo], Saccharine Choking Hazard, Yajster (Andy)

Four members of the "Church of Sunyata" meet at a half-deserted film set in modern day Hollywood. Mind you, this Church is not a cult. It has excellent contacts in Hollywood, and is producing this feature film to present their beliefs to the public. The filming is in trouble, though: the leading lady has vanished, the director has retreated from the world, and the second lead actress hasn't even been cast.
Enter the investigators: You will play the Church's PR guru, its fearsome fixer, the director's personal assistant and a young actor getting entangled in a web of deceits. You movie for tonight: "The Space between".
This is, of course, a scenario by Scott himself, and I am aware of the chutzpah to run it at his own convention ;) But I have run this 10+ times and I bring in my own props and extensions. It's always been a blast.
This game will be run using voice and video over Zoom. Please make sure your internet connection and camera gear hold up to this. Voice-only gamers will not be accepted.

Content Warnings: Extreme violence, religion, body horror.
Additional Safety Tools: X-Card

Hilmar wears multiple hats (literally) when he plays different NPCs and his enthusiasm for running this scenario shows. When the party is split up, he does like to do a scene cut at a cliff hanger. Hilmar did several things to make the game as cinematic possible, thus the requirements for video.

Players also leaned heavily into being loyal cult members of the Church.

This was an excellent game, loads of fun, and highly recommended.






Slot 6: Friday 8/20, 5:30pm-9:30pm (4 hrs)

Our Friends the Machines for Tales From the Loop
GM: your friend nate
For 2-5 players, no minimum age. This game is beginner friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, julian33, fieryangel, Brent (he/him), seanpp

Springtime. It's the afternoon of March 30th, the Wednesday before Easter. The weather is still a little cold but the snow is gone. Tomorrow, on Thursday, the new line of robot toys, Our Friends the Machines, arrives in the local toy shop Toy Corner, as promised. This is as expected because the launch was preceded by a massive campaign with interviews in the newspapers and flooded with advertisements in the toy catalogs everywhere. Since it's a local trial launch, the focus has also been that this is a unique honor for Boulder City and its surroundings - the little town will be the first to see the new toys!
You and your friends have agreed to meet up tomorrow and try to get your hands on the newest craze. Maybe you're getting a little too old for toys... or maybe you're just right. Should be fun!
--
Tales from the Loop is a collaborative storytelling mystery RPG set in a 1980's that never was Playing as teenagers, you'll explore a dangerous mystery, and maybe change the world - or wake up in a hospital, jail cell, or worse. It's up to us.
The six principles of the Loop are:
1. Your home town is full of fantastic things.
2. Everyday life is dull and unforgiving.
3. Adults are out of reach and out of touch.
4. Mysteries are dangerous but Kids will not die.
5. The game is played scene by scene.
6. The world is described collaboratively.

Content Warnings: Body horror, child endangerment (as you are playing as teenagers), but principle 4 is key: Mysteries are dangerous, but Kids will not die.
No Additional Safety Tools.

I'm a fan of Tales of the Loop except for the end game mechanics. The game is procedural until the very end and then suddenly, everybody rolls dice, you add up the number of successes and compare it to some number and if you get enough successes the kids succeed; if not, then they get a partial success or failure.

Well, in this game, we were running short on time, so it does summarize the ending very well, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth because what happens is the PCs do some crazy plan, outline it as to who does what. Then we roll. We made it! Then the GM again summarizes what had happened. Um, it's like déjà vu all over again. I'm still trying to figure out how to house rule this so the end game works in a better way.

This game was fun with some great roleplaying by fieryangel and Sean P.





Slot 9: Sat 8/21, 8am-12pm (4 hrs)

The Great Trap for Call of Cthulhu
GM: GMDante
For 3-4 players, ages 18 and older. This game is not beginner
friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, Leland T, julian33, JeremyE

The year is 1927, and a letter arrives from a Professor Adhemar Osterman. The letter beseeches you to travel to an observatory on the banks of Lake Geneva, and there recover an experimental device stolen from Osterman's possession.
The letter is dated almost thirty years earlier. Though it bears your signature, you do not remember signing the letter; nor could you have - you were not yet born. For that matter, neither could Osterman have sent it, for he is dead.
In the days following the letter's receipt, you experience strange dreams. Dreams of signing the letter in the company of a man once a friend, now a stranger; of running from the shrill whistling of an invisible assailant; and of walking towards the trumpet sounds of a dying alien race.
Visions of what was, what is, and what may yet come to pass.
"The Great Trap" is a stand-alone scenario for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition written by Heinrich Moore and published via the Miskatonic Repository. The scenario examines human concepts and experiences through the unknowable Cthulhu Mythos. The investigators will explore themes of regret, obsession, and revenge, and be challenged to question who they are, what they might do, and how the answers to those questions could change if only history played out a little differently.
This scenario is also an homage to Dungeons & Dragons scenarios of yesteryear. 

Content Warnings: Scenes of graphic violence and alien horror.
Additional Safety Tools: X-Card

Another really fun game. And an excellent interpretation of the Chase Rules. The GM was an expert in managing the chaos inherent in the scenario.

I really enjoyed the surprises and will run this scenario for my own RPG groups (yes, plural).





Slot 10: Sat 8/21, 1pm-5pm (4 hrs)

The Kolakalee Thunderbird for Call of Cthulhu
GM: GM Bill
For 3-6 players, ages 16 and older. This game is beginner friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, sodmikail, hlynurjokull, fieryangel, Recalibrated, TR

When a strange, giant bird is seen hovering ominously over the Kolakalee Springs Family Fun Park, the cast of "Haunt Hunters: Coast 2 Coast," the fourth-most popular paranormal investigation show in their timeslot, are called in to film an episode about it.
Having faked all the "evidence" they've found over the course of three seasons, the cast is confident they can spin a compelling episode out of a few grainy YouTube clips, some interviews and atmospheric footage of the nearby Everglades. But there's just one little problem...something did kill one of the Family Fun Park's prize petting zoo attractions last night.

No Content Warnings
Additional Safety Tools: X-Card

We're modern characters who've worked together for 3 seasons on a shoestring cable TV show. We've internal issues and don't necessarily like each other. Nor are our scripted TV personalities are the same as our real personalities or beliefs. The Players brought to life all these different layers through our actions and arguments. Another really fun game due to the roleplaying.

The GM has three scenarios using these same characters.

Exceptional roleplaying by fieryangel and TR. Everyone else was really good too.





Slot 11: Sat 8/21, 5:30pm-9:30pm (4 hrs)

The Recycled Boy for Tales from the Loop
GM: your friend nate
For 3-5 players, ages 16 and older. This game is beginner friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, frieze55, bilgepump, diesel680, Nicky

What if your friend suddenly isn't himself anymore? What if he disappears, and strange things start to happen all around you?
What would you do?
Tales from the Loop is a collaborative sci-fi storytelling RPG where your characters, teenagers living in the desert town of Boulder City, Colorado, encounter mysteries set in a 1980s that never was. Six principles guide the play:
1. Your home town is full of fantastic things.
2. Everyday life is dull and unforgiving.
3. Adults are out of reach and out of touch.
4. Mysteries are dangerous but Kids will not die.
5. The game is played scene by scene.
6. The world is described collaboratively.

Content Warnings: Child endangerment (as you are playing as teenagers), but principle 4 is key: Mysteries are dangerous, but Kids will not die.
Additional Safety Tools: Pre-game discussion

Back for my second Tales from the Loop game with GM nate. When we were picking characters, I wanted to use the same character in both games, so I'm back with Isabella, unfortunately, none of the other Players were the same as the last game and some picked different names. Tales from the Loop offer American and alternative Swedish names for the pregens.

Another good game. This time, I had looked at the rules again because I felt the earlier game was too easy, too many allowed pushes and luck spends. This time I told the GM about what I found, so we used the more restrictive rules. And we succeeded, but barely (we got the exact number of successes needed, 20) without gaining new conditions.

Extended Trouble Rules:
  • Luck can only be used once per die roll.
  • If you gain a new condition via pushing (for additional rerolls), the extended challenge will still be considered a partial success, even if you hit the required number of successes.
  • Lead rolls can only be used to add dice to PC die rolls, but does not add to the success pool.
We also didn't do the planning, die rolls, and recap cycle. We talked about what we wanted to do, the planning. Figured out who was doing what and in what order. Then we rolled in order and totaled the number of successes. Ta-da! Done, without having to narrate our actions 3 times.

Overall, I think Our Friends the Machines was a better game story-wise and roleplaying-wise. But I now have a better feel as to how to run the end game properly.





Slot 14: Sun 8/22, 8am-12pm (4 hrs)

Snow Day for Tales from the Loop
GM: Mouse
For 3-5 players, no minimum age. This game is beginner friendly.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Players: Morgan Hua, jwmuk, panickedsheep (James), The Liar from Beyond, Michael Drueen

School has been cancelled due to snow, but stranger things are afoot in Boulder City, Nevada. Pets and people are going missing, and there are rumors of a wolf pack roaming the outskirts of town. Can a rag-tag group of kids figure out what's going on before it's too late?

Some good roleplaying by The Liar from Beyond and Michael who hammed it up.

Overall, a fun game due to the character interactions. Part way though the game, I realized I had run this game before. The scenario was in the core book. The GM had changed the title because the title was a spoiler.





Slot 15: Sun 8/22, 1pm-5pm

Project P.A.W. for Call of Cthulhu
GM: Bridgett/Symphony
For 3-5 players, ages 18 and older. This game is beginner friendly.
You are genetically enhanced, technologically advanced, and highly modified canines. You were bred and created to save lives. However, things go awry when you discover your geneticist’s true reason for building you.
Pre-generated characters will be provided.
Content Warnings: None
Additional Safety Tools: Pre-game Discussion

This was a lot of fun and all the Players brought their inner dog. We did butt sniffing, territory marking, barking, howling, licking, self-licking, and all manner of awesome super-dog stuff.

The GM has a super energetic voice, I'm super impressed as this is the last slot of the convention. In most conventions, everybody by this time is normally tired and collapsing from lack of sleep.



No comments: