Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Morgan's KublaCon 2024 Excellent Adventures

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.




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. 




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.




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.




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.




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.




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.




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.




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