Summer StabCon 2018

This weekend brought a choice of two conventions.

The first of these was the excellent LongCon. This is a weekend where you can play one game that lasts the whole weekend. An excellent concept and a great alternative  to the usual 4 hour slots of most events. Held at the almost ubiquitous Garrison Hotel in Sheffield, it should be an essential.

BUT the alternative is the long running StabCon in Stockport. Though primarily a board gaming convention, StabCon has strong RPG element. Once you're acclimatised to it, it's like being a member of a family. I couldn't not go.

Friday night I always play in an ongoing Savage World's campaign, currently a pulp/Dieselpunk just prior to WW2 series of adventures. The wonderful inventive Referee always tries to start at 7pm and always fails.  We finally got going sometime after 8 and had some great espionage in pre-War Vienna. However, we were all tired and it was very hot, so we wrapped it up before a fight scene, rather than playing into the early hours. You can do this sort of thing  in ongoing campaigns at a twice yearly convention like StabCon.

Saturday morning I tired to kill two birds with one stone - playtest my "d6 Hack" rules (D&D using just 3d6, for new players, for inclusion in the Comic Relief book) using an investigative scenario from an old White Dwarf I'd always wanted to play. We had the full suite of 4 character classes (two warriors).

I dropped the adventure down from mid to low level. But this proved a bridge too far. A more straightforward scenario would have suited the players' style and we had virtually a TPK.

But the rules worked - well, according to the players.

I now need to decide if I'm going to continue to offer this particular scenario at Continuum. I reckon if I give the characters an extra level, the more experienced demographic of that convention should cope. I hope.

Straight into my version of "The Orville" TV series. This was a romp from the get-go, using the Manifold rules naturally. Original characters created. The intrepid security chief and the grizzled old space hand were Human . The Engineer, Doctor and Captain were all different sorts of lizard humanoid. And the security officer looked just like the Devil. The Captain was brilliant. A kindly creature seeking consensus from her crew before proceeding. The old space hand - lots of experience very little talent - was in the pilot's chair. They were soon on to run from the Krill with their ship in tatters. After much fun and insanity, involving the energy barrier at the edge of the Galaxy (6 times), a Mirror Universe, a God, Demigods and Madness, the last two sane characters fled the ship in escape pods before it disappeared into the Spacial
Manifold. Technically close to another TPK but everyone was just laughing at the insanity, so I went with it.

In the Saturday evening at Stabcon I've sort of defaulted to running Manifold horror games. But my ideas for horror are few and far between. At the last minute I decided to run an scenario from the award winning "Three Faces of the Wendigo" which Paul Baldowski had kindly given me at Expo. I used Paul's own entry in the book because it was the best one and he is one sick puppy. I used Manifold rather than TCH (sorry Paul). I had virtually the same table of players as for the Orville game and they got to see the same rules used completely differently. Oddly only one character fatality this time.

I may stop forcing myself to offer horror at StabCon and only go for it if I'm in the right mood.

Apart from my games, there were loads of Board Games being played, naturally,  and several RPGs in each slot. I really should look at these so I can report them. I know Dr Bob was running some military Sci Fi, but there were plenty of other RPGs being played.

Roll on Sunday!