Morgan's Good Little Con 2025 Excellent Adventures

 

Bay C decided to run a small invite-only RPG convention to replace BigBadCon (which didn't happen this year). He went all out: T-shirts (provided by Sean M), wooden name tags (provided by Kim F), lunch and dinner (provided by Bay), gorgeous modern venue (provided by Bay).

T-shirt & Name Tag

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Sat Dec 6, 10am-2:30pm (4 hrs excluding 1/2 hr for lunch)

The Haunting of Ypsilon 14

System: Mothership

GM: Sean M

3 Players: Josh H (teamster), Kim F (scientist), Morgan Hua (Manson - marine)

During a routine cargo job on a remote asteroid mining base the crew learns that one of the miners has disappeared.  No blood, no body, no record of the airlock opening.  Just gone.

Mothership is the Alien RPG that came out before Free League licensed the rights to the Alien IP (Intellectual Property) and created the Alien RPG. It uses a d100 system with other polyhedral dice.

The good news is that since it's not tied to the Alien IP, whatever horrors you run into can be anything and it gives you surprises.

I enjoyed the game and had a good time. My Marine rolled great on save throws and horribly on attacks which was bad for everyone as we TPKed and then had to use backup characters.

Sean did tell us the scenarios are very OSR, lightly described, and the GM has to do a lot of heavy lifting to figure out what's going on and to make their own connections and conclusions. If you look at the published scenario, you'll notice it's a double-sided single-sheet of paper, tri-folded, to look like a pamphlet. That's it. 

I still like Alien RPG more than Mothership, but I might run Mothership scenarios using the Alien RPG system.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

We started off looking for a missing Mining Engineer, Mike. Clues pointed to a yellow slime found on the mining asteroid and Mike entering the mine (missing vac suit). Attached to the asteroid was our ship (a freighter) and a science ship. 

We discover the head scientist, Dr Giovanni, who had gotten a sample of the yellow slime was isolating himself, so Kim's PC used bureaucracy to force the ship's captain to open up the lab doors. Dr Giovanni's at the door and he opens his mouth and a stream of yellow slime comes pouring out. I open fire and miss. We finally take down Dr Giovanni. We find his lab notes.

Another miner is devoured/crushed by something invisible in the mine.

We take the 10-minute elevator into the mine. Use squirt bottles to spray a water mist ahead of us, to see if there's gravity anomalies or something invisible. Go to where Mike found the slime, entered a crevasse, and found a computer setup, more slime, and a large alien fleshy pod. While looking around, the invisible thing attacks. I missed all my shots at it (4d10 damage) whereas Josh's PC did damage it, but not enough. It kills us all. One funny bit is my Marine is the last one standing and Sean had that GM look of "I think you should run," but I took one more shot at the thing, missed yet again, and died.

We take over a few NPCs as replacement PCs and Kim is now playing Sonya, the mining operations team leader and orders all of us to arm up and to go down into the mine. Josh takes the android. I take the captain of the science ship.

We find Mike's vac suit (filled with slime), rescue Josh's PC (was unconscious but we hit him with a Stimpak) who tells us what's happened. Two NPCs take him back to the freighter's medical facilities. Meanwhile, the invisible creature attacks. PCs retreat, send mining robots down the main hallway to buy us some time as we wait for the elevator.

After Josh's PC enters the code to the freighter ship and opens the airlock, the two NPCs drop him and run into the ship. Josh crawls after them, dripping yellow slime from his injured ankle.

The elevator arrives downstairs, and Sonya gets on the elevator. My PC, the last one standing is trying to kill the creature and is being swallowed, and I'm attacking it from the inside. Sonya hits the up button. My PC crits the creature, but rolls the weakest crit possible. My PC dies.

Josh decides to sabotage the freighter as he's going to die and wants vengeance against two NPCs who abandoned him.

Sonya gets on the science ship and abandons the asteroid. In the distance she sees the freighter self-destruct, taking out the asteroid.

THE END.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Sat Dec 6, between games, about 1 hr

Ghost Court

Players: Bay C (Judge), Kaui D, Saul M, Jolene M, Hannah G, Josh H, Morgan Hua

It's a game modeled on People's Court, but ghosts vs living or vice-versa. This was pretty funny. Bay got a gavel, long black robes, and a wig of long curly white hair. We played plaintiffs and defendants in ghost court. Cards were handed out for various cases. I thought it was a cute idea, but the cases weren't pushed as far or as funny as they could have been. I thought the cases were "friendly" and a bit too cleansed for general consumption. If the cases were more twisted or outrageous like People's Court, it would have been a lot more funnier. It was still a fun party game of improv.

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Sat Dec 6, 4-8:30pm (4 hrs excluding 1/2 hr for dinner)

Back to Bodie

System: Feng Shui

GM: Kim F

5 Players: Chris F (Shawn Cho - Sorcerer), Hannah G (Liam Cheung - Exorcist Monk), Jolene M (Kellie Jones - 2-Fisted Archaeologist), Saul M (Shellie - Martial Artist), Morgan Hua (Max Hunter - Magic Cop).

Martial arts heroes take on fiendish foes in a Hong Kong action cinema style.

In a flash of blue light, two influencers go missing in Bodie in the middle of a video streaming broadcast.

This is set in California vs the default Hong Kong setting. Overall, a fun game.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

Jennie May and Steve Stubbins are the influencers. Watching the video, Max knows the blue flash is a nexus gate. The influencers were outside of a western style saloon.

We get to Bodie, a historic state park, a gold mining ghost town, preserved by the climate. In the parking lot is Steve's car (I ran the plates). The entrance booth is manned by a shifty park ranger. I notice a Mason pin on his lapel. He tells us we can't enter at night, it's closed. I give him the hidden Mason handshake and he lets us in, but warns me to take everyone's cellphone. I don't do that.

We notice new powerlines running from the mines to the cemetery with glass insulators. Shawn senses Chi power flowing from the shutdown mine.

PCs hear piano playing at the saloon right near where the two influencers vanished. We find Rosa May playing the piano. Questioning her, we find she's from the past, Lincoln was president at her time. We tell her to stay put and we'll get her home.

PCs split up. One group heads to the Mason building (Shawn, Liam, and Shellie). One group heads to the cemetery (Max and Kellie).

At the Mason building, Shawn finds an old Mason tome on an altar, the owner is Solomon Stubbins with his death date continuously crossed out. Shawn has a vision of a calamity and is thrown back.

Before getting to the cemetery, Max and Kellie hear horse hooves and a posse rides up. They try to hide, but fail. It's the park ranger demanding their cellphones. I give him my phone, but I try to shoot him with my shotgun (hidden in a plain case), and miss. Combat ensues, but the others hear the shotgun blast.

PCs defeat the posse, and capture one of the Mooks. He tells them he works for the park ranger who actually is their mine foreman, but he dislikes Solomon Stubbins.

PCs go to the cemetery to check out the gravestones and Solomon Stubbins's tombstone. There's a glowing marker at it's base. Shawn tells us he knows what to do and messes with it. It goes off and we sucked back into the past.

We find the saloon and talk to Rosa May and she tells us that she's seen both Jennie and Steve. That Steve's been working for Solomon, upgrading the electric lines.

Shawn and Liam climb to the roof of the Mason building (people chanting inside), peer in a window on the 2nd floor and see Jennie. They rescue Jennie (out the window) and she tells us that she and Steve had a falling out and that Steve was helping Solomon. 

PCs go to the mine (now open). There's Solomon doing some ritual with acolytes. PCs convince Steve to shut the power down. There's a black out and Solomon comes out to find out what's going on. Fight breaks out. Solomon shows that he's a powerful sorcerer with time abilities. During the fight, Kellie uses her whip to grab the amulet around Solomon's neck and crushes it as she pulls it off (rolled some massive number). There's an explosion at the cemetery. We finally beat Solomon (Kellie does the killing blow after I shot him in the back).

We go to the cemetery, the marker is still there, glowing. Shawn messes with it, it goes off and we're Back to the Future. We see Rosa's gravestone at the outskirts of the cemetery with an appropriate death date. Rosa's not in the saloon and we find a time capsule (plaque marker to be opened 2025 that wasn't there before) containing a thank you letter from Rosa.

There's probably a few loose ends which we didn't quite seal the loop on, but overall we fixed it.

I'm always a sucker for time travel stories, movies, and games. So, lots to enjoy.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Sun Dec 8, 10am-2:30pm (3 hrs excluding 1/2 hr for lunch)

The Green Knight

System: The Green Knight

GM: Morgan Hua

3 Players: Aaron R (Noble), Josh H (Hunter), Shannon M (Knight)

Characters travel to meet their fateful end with the Green Knight after a year. Moral choices as they encounter situations on their travels. 1d20 roll above/below your morality to succeed.

I played this at BigBadCon 2023 and really enjoyed this. I wouldn't pay the full retail price for this ($35), but I found a copy on eBay for $18 (included tax and shipping).

One rule is that PCs automatically take 1 Dishonor when they encounter something on the road (it's a distraction) and if they interact with the encounter, it'll cost them another Dishonor before they can disengage with it. So basically, every encounter will cost them 2 Dishonor. And the resolution of the encounter will award honor/dishonor based on what they do.

Every failed die roll also costs 1 Dishonor.

PCs TPKed at the beginning of the 2nd encounter. Not really a TPK, but when a PC reaches 20 dishonor, they give up the quest and it's the end of the scenario if all the PCs hit 20 dishonor. Boy did they have really bad die rolls.

So, they opted to reuse the PCs, I set their Dishonor back at 10 and started them at the 2nd encounter. This time around, they made it to the end.

I normally adlib boxed text for RPGs, but in this case, the boxed text is so well written that I actually read to the Players the boxed text.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

The first encounter, Act 1, is with toll takers and this is where the PCs had really bad rolls and they made a bad decision. So, at the end, they were at 17-19 dishonor. At the next encounter, they each fell to 20 dishonor easily and ended their quest at the very start of Act 2. Also when your dishonor is high, what you need to roll to succeed gets harder and harder, so it's a death spiral.

1st encounter: the PCs handed the peasant to the toll takers and took the mace that was offered them.

2nd encounter: the PCs let the fox go.

3rd encounter: the PCs recovered the skull and put the ghost to rest.

The Green Chapel: The Knight got his head chopped off. The Hunter got cut down by the Green Knight during combat. The Noble fled.

What I enjoyed is that the scenarios are not exactly as they seem and even the ending is a big surprise. If you approach the encounters in stereotypical D&D murder hobo fashion, it'll quickly lead to dishonor. Remember, this is King Arthur, not D&D. This is a morality tale.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Sun Dec 7, between games, about 1 hr

Action Castle

System: Action Castle
GM: Bay C

Players: Kim F, Kaui D, Arron R, Josh H, Shannon M, Hannah G, Morgan Hua

It's a party game, much like classic text adventures of old, but played with a human acting as parser and players issuing commands in order.

We start off in a cottage and the only thing we see is a fishing rod and an exit. It's pretty amusing as we navigate the text adventure and memorize the steps we've taken. We died twice, eaten by a Troll and jumping out of a tree. But we solved the game. It's good to be king!

Aaron wrote a book on classic text adventures and he definitely remembered various commands such as inventory. Aaron's book: 50 Years of Text Games.

The collective brains of 7 people definitely helped us solve the puzzle. It was amusing as we made mistakes (like jumping out of a tree) or when we got lost. Each Player could only "type in" one command before the next Player got their turn. An interesting and fun party game. Well, maybe for nerds.

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Sun Dec 7, 4-8:30pm (4 hrs excluding 1/2 hr for dinner)

The Long Dark Teatime of the Soulless

System: Brindlewood Bay

GM: Bay C

3 Players: Josh H (sweater knitter), Shannon M (painter and socialite), Morgan Hua (Hya-cinth - plumber, widow of highly decorated marine)

Murder She Wrote. Play a group of elderly women solving murders with a unique mystery resolution mechanic.

We're invited to meet a friend for tea at a B&B.

We first created PCs. Sample names included Hya-cinth, so I took the name and included the hyphenation and my nickname is Hi-ya. 

We had to create our backstories including our dead husbands. I decided mine was Moe, an ex-marine. Children: Able, Baker, Charlie, Dehlia (I got to name the girl). Pets: Dog, Cat, Parrot (yes, Moe named them that). My job was a town plumber. My hobbies was cooking. Style: Speed Walkin'. Maven Move: Angus MacGyver (can build a crazy device). Other players created things in my Cozy Place: a grenade (thanks Bay), Extensive Spice Collection (Josh), My husband's skull that babbles, but 10% of the time gives sage advice (Shannon), I added it wears a helmet.

Josh's maven knits all types of sweaters and wins awards (Shannon). I gave her a life-sized knitted award winning Sasquatch. Can't remember what Bay gave her. Her husband was a butcher.

Shannon's maven paints and is always well dressed. I gave her multiple giant backdrop sceneries that can be scrolled up and down for portrait paintings. Her cat wears a cat-cam on the collar with livestream upload (Josh). Again, I'm drawing a blank on Bay's contribution.

Then we had to introduce our PCs with a short day in the life.

I decided Hya was cooking a recipe from 1001 Dishes from Around the World. Under roast pig, it said to burn off the bristles, so in the backyard is a pig on a spit, but Hya uses a flamethrower to burn off the hair.

There was a lot of hijinks. Too bad we never got to use our items from A Cozy Little Place as we were mainly at the B&B.

The game is fun, but it still lacks the full rush of an Aha! moment when you really figure out a mystery vs making up a solution that happens to fit.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

Shannon's PC's friend has invited us to high tea at the Snowdrop House B&B. We got to add something creepy. Outside the picture windows are the veal slaughter pens (Josh). The gleaming decorations hanging above the tables that look like snow flakes are made of ice picks (mine). The soot on the fireplace momentarily looks like a leering face (Shannon).

Shannon's friend shows up and tells us that there's something she's looking into (she's a journalist). And she immediately falls down dead, knocking over our tower of high tea samplers, and an ice pick drops from above onto the table.

Some of the highlights from the game:

Percy (NPC), a quick change artist, who cos-played as cook, waiter, maid, bellhop, Sherlock Holmes, masseuse. He might have a split personality or was seeped in method acting as he graduated from the Brindlewood Bay Community College, majoring in drama.

Josh and I continuously referencing the Snowdrop House as the Stockton Slaughterhouse (that's what it used to be) to the chagrin of the new owners.

Shannon choosing not to be shot in the back by an unknown person holding a silenced pistol.

Shannon always digging through bodies looking for clues. At one point, the sheriff shows up and catches her red handed. Hey, there's nothing there I haven't seen before!

Lady Carfax warning me to not look under the rugs, but I do it anyway; later my back goes out, requiring a masseuse.

We started the game claiming we've solved 5 murders already, so this is our 6th and 7th solved murders.

We got 9 clues and tied them together.

1. Little glass of welcome pomegranate juice was poisoned.
2. Bus ticket out of town at 4:10am
3. Notebook with shorthand and an article about a Big Pharma in NY where diet pills were killing people, CEO was Pheonix Cole, the co-owner of Snowdrop House.
4. A scarecrow suddenly showed up outside. It wasn't a scarecrow, but a dead body with its face skinned off.
5. A man lifted up rugs when no one else would have noticed him. We later figured out it was Mr Swallow and under one of the rugs was a secret compartment with ancient land deeds which included this B&B.
6. A wad of paper was in the pocket of the scarecrow. They were pages torn out of the Guest Registry from the past week.
7. In Mr Swallow's room, there's a handcuff attached to the bathroom pipe.
8. In Mr Swallow's room, there's a mortar and pestle with red plant material residue in it.
9. Cole's residence, there's a envelope of compromising photos of guests hidden behind the stove.

Our solution:
Mr Swallow isn't a real estate agent (#5* see below), he's a hit man. He had kidnapped (#7) a source that the journalist was supposed to meet at the B&B and tortured him (#9, involuntary S&M). He then killed him (#4). Mr Stockton (this land used to be his) put the body out there with the Guest Registry pages for us to find (#4 & #6). Mr Swallow poisoned the drink (#8 & #1). The bus ticket is the scarecrow's (#2). Pheonix Cole hired the hitman (#3) because the journalist was going to reveal something criminal about the diet pill scandal and needed the hitman to get rid of the evidence. The diet pill scandal had disgraced Mr Cole, but this new info would put him in prison. Mr Swallow pretended to be a real estate agent, but when he had found the deeds while he was looking for something else, he left them, proving that he wasn't really a real estate wheeler/dealer (if he was, he would have taken them), but he was something else (#5*). Mr Swallow also wasn't perturbed when he first saw the poisoned journalist (#1). Mr Swallow was probably looking for the scarecrow's evidence (#5) that incriminated Mr Cole. The Guest Registery pages (#6) has the name of the scarecrow who had checked-in earlier in the week. The pages were probably torn out by Mr Swallow. Mr Swallow probably found the evidence and had given it to Mr Cole who destroyed it. When Shannon's PC had a gun to her back, after the gunman left, she immediately ran into Mr Swallow which completely makes sense if the gunman and Mr Swallow were one and the same.

We also roll 12+ (natural 12 and +3) on the resolution, so we also found out that spooky old lady Carfax (plays checkers by herself, and makes dark pronouncements) and Mr Stockton (who had a habit of popping out of the bushes) were in league with each other, some sort of dark secret society.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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