Con Report - Grogmeet 2022
Convention season continued with a trip to Grogmeet in Manchester. The Grognard Files has been one of my favourite podcasts, sitting in my usual rotation since I started listening to it over the course of the COVID 19 pandemic. Grogmeet, the convention run by the show's host, Dirk the Dice, has always been mentioned on Twitter with fondness by those I follow and has been cast as one of the best places to go to meet like-minded roleplayers (often referred to as the 'Grogsquad') and indulge in some excellent, community spirited gaming. Touted as the friendliest of conventions, it was one that I had to add to my list to attend.
Taking place on Saturday 12th November, the day got off to an early start, with the train I was taking from Clitheroe, having cheekily crashed at my parents the night before, instead being a rail replacement bus service. Therefore, I had to set off an hour earlier than expected, changing at Bolton before arriving in Manchester around 9.40am. A quick trip to a coffee shop to helped me wake back up, after which I located where the event was taking place (spread between the Fitzgerald, a Jazz club, and Fanboy 3, Manchester's premiere gaming shop, located just next door). With the doors to the Fitzgerald (where all my games were taking place) opening a little earlier than the advertised 10.30am start time for the first game, I managed to squeeze a brief chat in with Bud from Bud's RPG Review, discussing their excellent VIRAL scenario for Call of Cthulhu, as well as future scenario plans that he and Alex Guillotte have (though Bud kept everything very very tight lipped!). I ran VIRAL for my Halloween game and it is an excellent example of Call of Cthulhu done right. You can read my review of the scenario here. I unfortunately didn't managed to get to talk to Bud further, and I regret not being able to get to chat a bit more later on in the day. However, games were calling!
Feng Shui 2
The first on the menu was Feng Shui 2, a game that I have owned since it came out in 2015. I never managed to grok the system properly, and so it sat on the shelf before eventually getting moved on (though I still have the PDF kicking around). The scenario, Hong Kong Halloween Haircut in Orchid Square, was written and masterfully run by Cris of Bonhomie Games who, despite coming out that they had over-prepared, still managed to keep everything moving smoothly, providing a hilariously fun time for everyone at the table. In return, we the players did our best to come up with various insane and inane ideas in an effort to truly represent the craziness of a Hong Kong action movie.
The game really shone in the action of the fight sequences, which, funnily enough, are called 'Sequences' in the game. The system is actually very simpleâyou roll 2d6, one red and one white (themed for the Chinese colours of luck and death), and take the white one away from the red. This give you your 'Swerve', which you add to the Action Value of the skill you're trying to use and compare that to a target number. Meet or beat that number and you succeed! Beat it by 4 or more and you get the added bonus of using a stunt too, which could be anything from disarming an opponent to throwing them into someone else! The fact that I managed to remember all this a week after the event is a testament to how well Cris explained the system too.
The scenario we found ourselves in started with our motley crew (a Two-fisted Archaeologist, a Gambler, a Karate Cop, a Full Metal Nutball, a Martial Artist and a Scrappy Kid) going for haircuts and finding out about odd goings on at the docks. After an intense tussle with members of the Snake Gang, in which forklift trucks were used as a mook clearing device, we managed to beat some information out of them, leading us to find out that a load of cybernetic devices had been stolen by this gang wearing masks of ex-US presidents. We were then picked up by a friendly guide in his tour boat and taken to their cousin's house for some excellent noodles and an excellent haircut, after which we did some digging and found out that a big cybernetics conference was taking place nearby and, curiously, several marmoset colonies had been kidnapped from the local zoo! Making our way over to the conference after securing some essentials to help us out (including several canisters of monkey pheromones), we arrived just as the top cybernetics research in Hong Kong was being kidnapped by the President Gang, who just so happened to be members of the New Simian Army, replete with some hilariously punny names. Cue another epic fight, which took place suspended in cable cars over a suitably terrifying drop. Chinese proverbs were spouted, laser beams fired, and marmoset drones (MarmoJets) activated. It was intense! But in the end, the forces of good won out, the kidnapped scientist was saved and the marmosets were returned to the zoo.
I really enjoyed playing Feng Shuiâit was a big leap from the usual games that I play, which often revolve around more serious horror and high drama, so a hilarious high action game was a refreshing change of pace. It's definitely a game I would like to run at some point in the future if I can find a group to run it for who will appreciate it. Huge thanks to Cris for running it, and to all the Robs, as well as Brendan and Kat who made the game with their antics!
Call of Cthulhu
After a brief dash over to Fanboy 3 to indulge in the pizza buffet put on for the convention, supplied by Ply (they were excellent pizzasâheartily recommended if you're ever out Manchester way), my next game was The Devil and the Drum, a scenario for Call of Cthulhu written and ably run by Craig Pay. No need to go over rules hereâCall of Cthulhu is my bread and butter! However, I'm usually a Keeper rather than a player, so being on the other side of the screen made a nice change! While I did fret a little about my ability to pick up on cluesâI am a bit crap as a player in this regard (as the recent Shadows of Esteren game I've been playing with my home group has shown!)âI needn't have worried, as, together with the other players at the table, we made for a great clue gathering team.
The scenario placed us in 1946, in the role of National Trust volunteers surveying the ruins of Buckland Abbey in Devon. Being familiar with Buckland, which I've personally visited before, and it's links to Francis Drake and his drum, I had a bit of an inkling as to what the theme of the scenario might be about and, as out investigation approached its climax, was proven right. However, Craig has ingeniously woven the legend of Drake's drum into the Cthulhu Mythos in his scenario, giving it just enough Lovecraftian tinge. The feelings of isolation and oppression were there, as well as a colourful NPC that falls into the bracket of the unreliable narratorâI was never quite sure if they were honest or false, or really the threat in disguise (and they were roleplayed excellently too!). The scenario had a lovely ominousness about it that eventually built to its final climax with some good Lovecraftian horrors appearing.
I'm not going to delve too much into the ins and outs of the scenario here, suffice to say that it was very well done and a great roleplaying experience at the table, as Craig is hoping to publish it on the Miskatonic Repository in due course. I'd heartily recommend picking it up when it does!
Drinks and interviews...
With the games over, I quickly nipped over to my hotel to check in, before coming back to the Fitzgerald and catching up with the Call of Cthulhu crew for a chat and a bite to eat from the Quarter Houseâwhich turned out to be one of the best burgers I've ever had. I don't know what the seasoning was they put on their fries, but it was mind-blowingly good.
From there we headed off to the Northern Monk bar a couple of blocks over for more beers and more conversation, though this was somewhat limited by the noise of a busy Saturday night filled with Mancunians out on the lash. Still, I got to congratulate Cris on an excellently run Feng Shui game, talk at length about Call of Cthulhu with Craig, received a rather strong Czech Pilsner from Mike that led to a rather strong hangover in the morning, and met Guy Milner of the Burn After Running blog, as well as many other Grogs who until then I'd only known through Twitter.
Given I wanted to attend the Grog Fringe interview with Chris McDowell on the Sunday morning, I tapped out of the pub slightly early and went back to my hotel, where I totally missed the fact the room thermostat was set to 24 degrees and ended up cooking myself overnight, which probably didn't help the bad head I had in the morning. Breakfast and coffee sorted that out, and I then headed out to Fanboy 3 to hear Chris speak about his design ethos behind such successes as Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland. There I learnt that the Odd actually stands for OD&D and that Chris comes up with a lot of this ideas for magic items by perusing the Screwfix catalogueâit's always amazing to see the strange places where inspiration can come from.
Agon
After Chris' interview, Grogmeet came to a close, but the games continued at Go Play Manchester, which I had planned to stick around for. I'd booked a slot on Blythy's The Centaur of Ophanos, a one-shot scenario for John Harper's Agon. This is a game I've been wanting to try for a long time, so this was the perfect opportunity and I can say that it didn't disappoint.
The rules for the game are simple enough. The GM rolls a number of dice for whatever the obstacle you're trying to overcome, which relate to the renown of it's name and any traits it might have (for example, the main opponent in the scenario we played, Kiklos, had a name die of a d10 and a stubbon trait at d8). They then take the highest roll and add 5, giving a target number. The players then decided as a group what domain they want the conflict to representâthis may be arts and oration if talking it out, for example, or blood and valour for combat. They then take their name die (e.g. my character, Phaidros, had a d6), their epithet die if applicable (in the case of Phaidros' Wise epithet, another d6), their domain die, plus a die for any bonds or favour of the gods they might which to spend. Bonds are burnt once used, so you must choose carefully when to use them. Favour of the gods is similarly used up, but the d4 is adds to your dice pool is special. Once your dice pool is assembled, you roll it and add the two highest numbers together, plus the highest result from any favour of the gods dice. If you beat the target number, you succeed!
Where the game comes into its own is with glory. You'll always get some glory whatever happens, but the amount varies for each player. The PC who succeeds with the highest result receives glory equal to target number they were trying to beat, while everyone else receives half that amount. Fail to succeed and you only get a measly one point of glory. This mechanic simulates the strength of the Greek epics, with whoever collects the most glory over the course of a scenario being the hero of that part of the tale. In campaign play, the person at the end with the most glory ends up being the equivalent of the Odysseus of your game.
The scenario we played had us arriving at the island of Ophanos, where the centaur Kiklos was having a bit of a rampage and disturbing the local settlement of dryads and satyrs. Once we had sent Kiklos on his way with some powerful oratory, we were approached by the dryad Hebe, who explained what was going onâKiklos, with the aid of Hermes, had stolen an amphora of the ambrosia of the gods, which Hebe had been tasked with guarding for Zeus. Now made invulnerable, the centaur saw himself as a god! Determined to put a stop to this, Hebe bade us visit the islands oracle for answers. They presented us with three possible paths to overcoming Kiklosâdefeating a Titan crab that lurked in the bay and using it's poisonous blood, venturing into the Underworld to create a mask using Hephaestus' forge that would allow Kiklos to win over his love, Laryssa, and one other possibility that escapes me right now...
We decided to go with travelling to the Underworld, with none of us really true warriorsâmore a rag tag bunch of sages, poets and craftsmen. It was my character, Phaidros the Wise, who managed to make it across the river Phlegethon and forge the mask, with my companions beaten back by the rivers noxious fumes. With the mask forged, we then approached Kiklos with our propositionâto trade the mask for the amphora. Kiklos' centaur companions were none to pleased with this outcome and decided to raid the dryad and satyr settlement, leading one of us to step in to protect them from further harm, while the rest of us pleaded our case with Kiklos. However, despite sacrifice to Aphrodite and calling upon the favour of the gods, our own masteries and all the resource we could muster, Kiklos was not to be swayed. The glory of the tale was Phaidros' but, in the end, it's telling was bitter sweet...
I had a great time playing Agon. It was run exceptionally well by Blythy and helped along by great characters developed by the other players around the table. Like Feng Shui, it's something I'd love to bring to my own table at some point in the future.
Overall thoughts?
So, what's the verdict? Will I be back for another Grogmeet in the future? I think the answer to that is a quite obvious and resounding yes. I had a fantastic time and packed a lot of gaming in with some of the best players I've had the opportunity to play with. I only hope that, if I attend again, I get more of an opportunity to sit down and have a good chat and meet a few more of the various grogs that I know through Twitter. Maybe next year I'll even consider running something