KublaCon is one of my favorite gaming conventions. I last attended in 2019. Due to Covid fears, I stopped attending in-person conventions for 3 years. It's great to come back to an in-person convention. During the interim, I was playing in on-line conventions which had popped up like mushrooms on the internet.
This year, KublaCon got rid of the dreaded shuffler (I found out that it was gone last year too). It's now first-come first-served. As a GM, instead of priority slips, we were allowed to signup for games a week before everyone else. Basically, we were allowed an all-you-can-eat-menu. I got to play in 6 games and I ran 2 games. This filled up my schedule with lots of gaming goodness. I've never gotten into so many games in my whole life.
It was also great to meet and play with various friends I haven't seen in years.
I've finally run A Place for Wellness in all the conventions I go to. A separate blog post on the creative process and the build-out of the game is here. It's one of those games you can't run online and can only run in person.
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5/24, Friday Noon-6pm (6 hrs)
Best Leave Them Ghosts Alone
System: Old Gods of Appalachia
GM: Matt Steele
6 Players (1 no show): Abby S, Kris M, Demian VK, Jason P, Morgan Hua
Pre-gens provided.
Going to the funeral of a childhood friend's never an easy thing, but when it's the funeral of someone you accidentally killed and then brought back to life years ago, well . . . you all have owes, and this one's about to come due. A horror adventure set in a small town full of memories, ghosts, and promises unpaid.
Old Gods of Appalachia uses the Cypher system. I had never heard of Old Gods of Appalachia until Monte Cook announced a game based on the podcast. So, I immediately listened to a few episodes and liked it, but not enough to buy the game as I'm a bit lukewarm on the Cypher system.
I had previously played The Luthier's Folly (from the core book) and I thought the GM Intrusions (pre-set encounters) were a bit weak. And with my feelings about the Cypher system, this really didn't sell me on the game.
I still wanted to give the game a second chance. Matt Steele is a top notch GM, so I wanted to see what he can do with the system.
Matt told me this originally used to be a 4 hour GenCon scenario, but he extended the beginning to give the PCs more of a backstory and extended the game to 6 hours.
I really enjoyed the game, but more for the setting and plot than the mechanics. I still found the Cypher system a bit clunky. Matt did smooth out the system by having 1st Tier PCs which simplified PC choices and sped up game play.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
We start off as kids visiting a small town for the summer, shuffled off to relatives for an extended visit. We discover Rabbit Hollow, a glade with a stone formation that looks like a rabbit (another PC said it looked like a duck, which was pretty funny. See Rabbit-duck illusion). This became a running argument between my PC and the other. I declared myself King of Rabbit Hollow. The other PC said he was King of Duck Hollow, then I made myself President. Who voted for you? I did! (sticks out tongue).
We have a great summer, spending most of our days in the Rabbit Hollow, but on the last day of summer, the stone rabbit explodes into shards, and kills one of the kids. A terrifying giant rabbit made of multiple rabbits approached us, tells us it allowed us entry into its glade because it liked us, and offers to bring the kid back to life in return for a favor in the future. We all agree and the PC is brought back to life. (I did finally win the argument that it was a rabbit and NOT a duck.)
This is actually the point where the GenCon scenario actually starts.
Years later, when we're all grown up (echoes of Stephen King's IT), we suddenly find ourselves at the Rabbit Hollow with vague memories of attending the funeral of the adult version of kid who died. The giant rabbit (named Rabbit Rabbit) appears and asks us to fulfill our debt by finding a missing witch. The witch was stopping a dam from being built and flooding a valley, drowning all the homes and creatures that lived there. Once we agree, our dead friend is back with us.
We hop a railcar (a slightly dangerous adventure) and get close to our destination, then a trek overland and to the witch's cabin. During the trek we discover the adult-dead-kid is a ghost. We investigate, have some spooky encounters, track the missing witch to an old mine (through a field of poison mushrooms). Fight some ghost guards. Inside the mine, find the witch cocooned in swathes of skin like a mummy, free her, then we got into a big fight outside of the mine with a scary flesh wrapped thing (which a PC had vague visions of earlier). We win and are returned to the Rabbit Hollow. The giant rabbit is diminished and is on death's door. The adult-dead-kid volunteers to guard Rabbit Hollow and is transformed into a new rock formation.
Epilogues. The End.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/24, Friday 8pm-Midnight (4 hrs)
The Art of Madness
System: Call of Cthulhu
GM: Scott Hansen
5 Players +1: GM's son (art student and dishwasher for bartender), Brendan V (art student), Brooke C (outdoorsman), Brandon D (art student), Marty C (bartender/owner), Morgan Hua (dilettante)
Pre-gens provided.
Based on a Lovecraft original story "Pickman's Model". Become entangled in the darkest alleyways and sewers of Boston as you and fellow investigators look into strange grave robberies and the disappearances of three prominent local artists. Could these cases somehow be connected to a bizarre new school everyone is talking about?
I've never read Pickman's Model and I noticed Marty was playing in this game, so I decided to sign up for it. This game is actually a published scenario from the collection of scenarios in The House of R'yleh.
GM introduced a 6th Player as his son who was going to college next year. Two other Players were his regulars. Shannon told me that this same GM did the same thing to him at PacifiCon, adding an extra player, his son, to the table. And he let two other Players into his game, making it a table of 8, so Shannon left the game.
We pick pre-gens from a large stack. GM told us we were welcome to keep and reuse the same PCs in any future games with him.
The game starts and the GM just tells us to roll some investigation dice. I fail and the GM gives handouts to the other Players which was the hook for the whole investigation. I just sit there and do nothing. I ask the GM if I know the other PCs. The answer was no. So, I just sit there and wait. After a while, I just make up some excuse to butt into the PCs' conversation to get myself into the game.
The 6 PCs went in various directions and most of the game had 3 split parties. There was a lot of dead time as you waited for your turn.
There were a lot of dice rolls that I felt were a bit extraneous, and the die rolling got in the way of the game. I had issues with the GMing style. The GM did a great job tying together clue trails with the PC's backgrounds, but this game just didn't work for me.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
GM hands us hidden agendas; they were handwritten on the spot, customized for the PCs picked and mix of the party. This was actually a nice touch.
Art students and a professor have disappeared. The handouts were actually just newspaper articles about their disappearances. Why did we have to roll to get them? What if no one succeed? The GM should just hand them out to everyone and say, "You happen to read these newspaper articles."
At one point, I hire the bartender to get some toughs to take with me to the pawn shop to help protect me intimidate the pawn shop owner. The bartender takes the dishwasher with him. After being unable to convince the pawn shop owner to disclose where he got a pawned locket, I was able to bribe him by offering $200 for the $20 locket.
All trails led to an art patron. Following the patron led the PCs to a sewer entrance in the the worst part of town. Inside the sewers, we find the missing people painting portraits of a grotesque still life of an exhumed corpse which explains where the locket came from. The painters are being taught by Pickman, a ghoul.
The ghoul thinks we're new students and asks us to take seats behind some easels. Those that do had sights to see.
The bartender tries to kill the ghoul with a pointblank shotgun blast and blows most of it away, but it still lives. It grabs the bartender and almost kills him. The fight finally ended when the outdoorsman missed, hit the bartender (bad luck roll) killing him, and the bullet passes through and hits the ghoul, killing him too.
Other ghouls show up and we run for it (taking a few of the kidnapped students with us). We get away, leaving the bartender's body behind.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/25, Sat 9am-1pm (4 hrs)
A Place for Wellness
System: Cthulhu Dark
GM: Morgan Hua
6 Players (1 no show): CRO Magnon, Heather U-K, Marty C, Rod F, Miranda G
Pre-gens provided.
You will play various characters from movies such as Terminator, Halloween, Hellraiser, IT, Psycho, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All are new patients in an insane asylum. Patients suffer from various persecution complexes, delusions, paranoia, and some have violent tendencies. When not playing a Patient, you will play as Doctors in charge of evaluating patients, recommending therapies, and administering outdated therapies to the patients. The asylum is modern and similar in tone to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
This is a PvP game where the Patients are pitted against the Doctors and the system. This is a game about perceptions, observation, deception, and human cruelty.
Remember: The Institute for Wellness is here for your safety and well-being. Patience is a virtue and a patient is only released when they're ready to face the world.
I had a really good table of players. I really enjoyed watching the patient evaluations. Some of these doctors were really sneaky with their lawyerly questions.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Kirsty Cotton cut a deal with Pinhead and instructed him to kill everyone. She wound up being the Final Girl, the only survivor of the Hospital, yet again.
At one point, Pennywise killed the Joker because he was a poser and not a real clown.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/25, Sat 2pm-6pm (4 hrs)
A Place for Wellness
System: Cthulhu Dark
GM: Morgan Hua
6 Players (1 no show): Jason M, Kevin S, Brian S, John A, Ryan D
Pre-gens provided.
You will play various characters from movies such as Terminator, Halloween, Hellraiser, IT, Psycho, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All are new patients in an insane asylum. Patients suffer from various persecution complexes, delusions, paranoia, and some have violent tendencies. When not playing a Patient, you will play as Doctors in charge of evaluating patients, recommending therapies, and administering outdated therapies to the patients. The asylum is modern and similar in tone to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
This is a PvP game where the Patients are pitted against the Doctors and the system. This is a game about perceptions, observation, deception, and human cruelty.
Remember: The Institute for Wellness is here for your safety and well-being. Patience is a virtue and a patient is only released when they're ready to face the world.
This table wasn't as strong as the morning session, but the endgame was much more creative.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Group therapy with Hascome, McMurphy, and Cotton wasn't a good idea.
4 patients escaped. Hascome hid out in a laundry basket, waited until all the slaughtering ended and just walked out. Conner left via the roof.
Pinhead flayed Dr Cyphere and displayed his body in the lobby; Gave McMurphy and his inmate friends (other NPC patients who he freed) machine guns. Hascome turned the tables on Dr Spaulding using the hydro treatment meant for him, on the doctor. Once all this pain was set into motion, Pinhead decided his work was done and he returned to whence he came.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/25, Sat 7pm-1am (6 hrs)
The Walls We Build: A Vaesen Mystery
System: Vaesen
GM: John Lynch
5 Players: Shannon M (Bennan - scholar), Kevin S (Otto - soldier), Brian S (Lotti - socialite), Quinwar the Hapless (Hallgerd - occulist), Morgan Hua (Olaf Tempe - priest)
Pre-gens provided.
It is 1893, and the town of Foranger, Norway, is in great danger. During the winter, the waterfall above the town froze completely solid, and a massive glacial lake built up behind it. Now, as the spring thaw comes, government engineers are desperately trying to tunnel under the glacier to drain the lake from below, but they must hurry, as cracks are beginning to appear in the glacial dam. The party has been invited to town by a local who believes that something supernatural is at work and will destroy the town long before the engineers succeed. If the party does not solve the mystery before the dam breaks, then the whole town will be destroyed and many lives will be lost.
The GM brought a sound track. Simplified character sheets, items cards, standees, name stands. He gave us a talk about the tone of the game. We had a few character choices on equipment and we roleplayed a few character connections until we each had 2-4 connections.
The GM actually wrote this scenario and based some of it on real history.
How the clue trails fit together and how the GM set the mood really made this a very good game. I highly recommend it.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The PCs are in Bergen.
GM gave us 3 things to be interested in: Viking gold, new "high-tech" dam machinery, and strange dreams.
Socialite and Occultist picked the Viking gold. Scholar and Soldier picked the equipment. I, the Priest, picked the strange dreams. GM handed out a sketch of a piece of Viking gold that was found at Foranger. The glacial dam was being drilled at Foranger. I had nightmares of people screaming and bells ringing. One of the PCs noted that the Viking gold had Fae markings on it.
We receive a letter that says that Fae or Trolls are endangering Foranger and it needs our help.
At Foranger, an old lady greets us and tells us that a glacial dam would break and there wasn't much time. She had portentous dreams that were getting stronger and stronger. A massive flood would wipe out the town.
The scholar and priest went to the local museum to ask about the Viking gold. The others went to the glacier dam to check its condition.
The museum was more of a natural history museum to attract tourists. Mis-assembled hodgepodge skeletons of mammoths, dire wolves, and other creatures were on display. Questioning the attendant only brought out that he was afraid of the mayor. When we showed him the sketch of the Viking gold, he shut up.
At the glacier dam, new machinery was trying to drill through the ice and relieve the pressure by draining the water behind the ice dam (this is the bit based on real story), but everything was at a standstill as the machine was stopped (by fae sabatoge). Later, the scholar figured out how to restart the machine and used that as a way to get an audience with the fae.
We discovered that fae magic was used to create the glacier dam to punish Foranger for stealing the Viking gold (it looked like a small brooch, but it's a fae shield) from a fae prince's mound. The museum attendant and two of his cronies stole the gold and was trying to sell it, thus the drawings of the item in Bergen.
A cool scene was when we broke into the museum looking for the gold and ran into in-fighting between the thieves. The long dark shadows in the museum made the skeletons look frightening. During the fight, one of the thieves then another picked up the gold and animated the skeletons. Picking up the gold cursed you (my precious). We scooped it up into a box instead.
We cut a deal (it was a hard bargain) with the fae prince to NOT punish us or the town if we returned the gold. Originally, the fae only promised not to punish the scholar who was returning it, but we impressed upon the prince that we had already punished (slain) the ones who stole from him in the first place.
Once that was done, the drill punched through the glacier and started draining the water. Thus we saved Foranger.
In my epilogue, I snuck into the engineer's tent, stole all the maps that revealed where the fae mound was located and burned them.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/26, Sun 9am-1pm (4 hrs, we only took 2 hours)
Lightning in a Bottle
System: Star Trek Adventures: Lower Decks
GM: Tim Callender
5 Players: Kevin V, Sam H, Stephen P, Richard A, Morgan Hua
Pre-gens provided.
You are ensigns aboard the USS Burlingame, a California-class Starfleet vessel. Your ship has been dispatched to make second contact with quantum life forms living within a gravitational singularity. All you have to do is pilot a shuttle to the event horizon, hold position while extreme energies of unknown power batter your shuttle, and transport ambassadors of the quantum realm back to the Burlingame. You know how to fly a shuttle, don't you, Ensign. Well, don't you?!
"Lightning in a Bottle" is a module from the Modiphius Star Trek Adventures Lower Decks supplement. You don't need to be a super Trekkie to play; just have a basic understanding of the Star Trek universe, willingness to laugh, and tolerance for uptight command staff who take all this way too seriously. Pregen characters provided.
The GM brought the humor to the game and so did the other Players. Since we had good Players, we finished a lot sooner than expected.
I had fun.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Our PCs, all ensigns, were given orders to clean the holodeck, so it is presentable as quarters for the quantum life form ambassadors.
I had the brilliant idea of creating holo-janitors to do our work. I made all the janitors look like our captain. We got to order them around and also we got to spend quality time in the holodeck as we lounged on a beach and got served drinks.
Ten minutes to go and we turn off the holo-janitors and the holodeck returned to its scuzzy-self. Oops. Our engineer then programmed the holodeck to project a holodeck inside the holodeck. Just in case, we put another one inside the second layer also. We also set the program to end when the next shift started, so the next shift gets blamed for the mess.
For our hard work, we get rewarded. We get to take a shuttle to pickup the ambassadors.
Things go wrong and we wind up in the quantum realm. When we escape, we're back on the shuttle right before things go wrong. This time, we succeed in our mission. So, no Groundhog Day for us. I think that's why we finished this scenario in 2 hours. GM said other groups took longer.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/26, Sun 2-6pm (4 hrs)
The Lighthouse
System: Torn
GM: Steven Drouin
4 Players: Helen B, David B, Heather E, Morgan Hua
Characters created during play.
You awake at the Point Reyes Lighthouse, with no memory of who you were. Artifacts and documents will help you will learn who you were and then you will tear yourself apart to learn how you died. Torn is a new mystery/horror RPG system rooted heavily in media, character development, history, and narrative improvisation. No knowledge of the system is required, but willingness to role play is a must.
Steven runs great games. I was in his other Torn game, The University, at DundraCon 47 and loved it.
This game was less sandboxy than The University and more tight. Loads of props and clues that are all tied together. Definitely worth playing. Another great game.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
My PC (a retired naval officer who was in the merchant marines) found he had drowned near the Point Reyes Lighthouse and resided in Davy Jones's Locker. Helen (docent for the lighthouse) and David (lawyer) (in real life a husband and wife team) found they were doing adventure exploring of sea caves and died together. Heather (a lighthouse service person) discovered they were the first Point Reyes Lighthouse Keeper.
David and I actually played in The University together. He told his wife what a great game it was, so she signed up for both The Lighthouse and The University at KublaCon, but he had already told her about the surprise mechanism where you tear off a piece of yourself/soul (character sheet with your memories written down) to affect the real world.
During play, through unspoken agreement, we let the new Player, Heather find this out first. It's cool to see a new Player realize that you have to tear off a chunk of your character sheet.
At some point, David caught a hold of an NPC's piece of soul and taped those memories onto his character sheet. Helen gave up a memory (ripped it out) and recovered it (taped it back on), and at the finale gave it up again (tore it back off).
In the end, we found out that a mushroom spoor was infecting people and drawing them to the lighthouse. When they died, mushrooms sprouted from their bodies and their spirits got sucked into a gate.
This is where hard decisions were made. The gate was deep underground, much like the many layers of Hell in one of the Dante's Inferno pictures we found. The searing light from the lighthouse burned David when he put his hand in it. GM had earlier told me the light was very hot, I could feel it when I was near it. An image of heaven we had found had the Sun sending out rays just like the iconography of a lighthouse on a ring I found.
The gate needed 3 memories (pieces of soul) to complete a ritual, but we didn't know if it was good or bad. Evil whispers were coming out of the gate. Did completing the ritual open the gate or close it? In a spell book there was a ritual for opening a gate.
Touching the gate revealed that there were sections of good and bad memories.
In the end, we decided to sacrifice 3 good memories to the gate. That sealed the gate.
Epilogue: The three other PCs decided to stay and protect the gate and lighthouse. My PC went up to the lighthouse light, stood in the light and let the light burn away all my bad memories and what was left was lighter than a feather (The Book of the Dead - Weighing of the Heart) and was propelled by the light to heaven.
What makes this a great game is that it triggers and stretches your imagination. My epilogue I just made up on the spot. And it fit the game perfectly.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
5/26, Sun 7pm-Midnight (5 hrs)
The Night of Knives and Shadows
System: Alien RPG
GM: Sam Scott
6 Players: Jack Y, Saul M, Shannon M, Gennaro K, Brent M, Morgan Hua
Pre-gens provided.
Some say the trouble started when Hiroshi Nishida, leader on the Akagi-kai clan of the intergalactic Shin'uchū Yakuza, fell in love. After years building a reputation as one of the most ruthless Yakuza bosses in the galaxy, Nishida met Kimicho Kawakaza and everything changed.
Others say the trouble started when Nishida’s second in command, Renzo Kawanishi went mad. Five years ago, Kawanishi contracted a throw-away side hustle with some horrible gaijin conman. Everyone expected Kawanishi to double-cross and murder the revolting man when the deal was done, but, instead, the Kawanishi’s inner circle closed ranks in a wall of secrecy and Renzo himself pursued some “special project” with monomaniacal obsession.
Everyone agrees that the trouble came to a head on the night that came to be called “The Night of Knives and Shadows.” The leadership of the Akagi-kai had gathered at the famed Red Castle to confirm and honor the designation of Nishida’s son, Tenryu as future leader of the clan. Bosses travelled from around the sector to attend, bringing with them entourages of picked guards. It was to have been an event of honor and celebration of the power and longevity of the Akagi-kai.
What it ended up being, was something tragically and terrifyingly different.
(No experience necessary, scenario-specific characters provided)
The GM had lots of replacement PCs because this is Alien RPG, though we only needed two of them (Saul and I). The GM house ruled that you can only gain 2 Stress in one round during a Panic Cascade. He also took these dollar store spiral bound notepads and wrote in sequence 1-10 to be used as our Stress meters; this was very cool. You just flipped a page when your Stress went up. And it lays down flat, so everyone can see your current Stress.
Saul was one lucky dude, his PC was broken with 3 Crits, but he lived. I took a head hit and died.
Our table was all GMs and we knew each other. Jimmy who had signed up for the game was a no show, so we called in Jack to fill the empty seat.
Excellent, excellent game. Lots of fun.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
GM put up a sign listing the rules of the Yakuza: Be Loyal, Be Stylish, Be Badass.
The pregens were a variety of male and female portraits from various movies. We picked blind, just by the portraits. I took Gogo from Kill Bill.
First thing, no Signature Item. It's replaced by a Tattoo which serves the same purpose.
I went with a Koi pond with a giant goldfish in it and floating decapitated heads.
Second thing, your clan takes care of you. If you remove any part of yourself and suffer through the pain, that part will be replaced by a cybernetic part that gives you some sort of advantage or gimmick.
I went with a cybernetic arm that has a detachable hand connected by a chain, so I can launch my hand at someone and even grab things and return it to myself.
Brent went with scales of a dragon that was built in armor (2 Armor). Jack went with a built in acetylene torch in his arm. Saul and Gennaro, stronger arms (+2 STR). Shannon super hearing.
My replacement character had an eyepatch (character portrait), so I went with a cybernetic eye with infra, ultraviolet, night vision, and targeting system. +2 Range Combat and Observation.
Third thing, we're allowed one Slow-Mo sequence each Act. This reduces all participant's Stress by 2. Someone needs to describe a slow motion sequence; it could be a badass walk-up or action sequence in slow motion.
The game started with us relaxing in the onsen. Men on one side, women on the other, separated by a frosted glass partition showing The Great Wave. Kawanishi's people, strangely scared by puckered acid burns, show up carrying rolled towels. Their lieutenant counts down as if to music and when he gets to 0, they whip out tanto knives that were hidden in their towels and start slaughtering everyone. The game started with a bang.
In the end, I left a severed head floating in the pool. Signature move, baby!
2nd Act, we fight through parts of the castle and run into our first Alien. Saul's PC was continuously in danger of dying. At one point, he was standing by his lonesome in front of the Alien. I got up there and got the first hit on the Alien, cutting through its tough chitin, saving Saul's PC. Then a gout of its acid blood dissolved my head. We spent Act 2 saving Saul's PC, but he had lost an arm, leg, and punctured a lung, so we placed him in a secure spot and moved on. He took on Bang Bang as his replacement PC.
3rd Act, we link up with Nishida and we face Kanwanishi and his crew plus another Alien. Kanwanishi is now part Alien (surprise).
We save Nishida and the only dead PC was Gogo! The PCs were honored by the clan and they put up Gogo's photo.
This game also stretched my imagination, to come up with interesting visuals as we murdered our way through the game.
