Saturday 21st October 2017.
Geek Retreat, Priory Queensway, Birmingham.
https://spaghetticonjunction.wordpress.com
So a bit of a rush to get to Birmingham yet I managed to arrive in plenty of time. A good friendly welcome and some very familiar faces to be greeted by.
A smaller attendance for the second event this year compared to the first one but a very keen crowd nonetheless. Both my games ran with five players each. A good staggered game sign up system ensured all players had a good crack at the game sign-up sheets.
I ran my Supernatural/Grimm/Sleepy Hollow mash up Cortex+ game in the morning with the players picking Sam and Dean Winchester, Ichabod Crane, Abbie Mills, and Nick Burkhardt. From the get go, with the initial news report and the characters establishing whom had the legitimate claim to FBI leadership, the game was full on alpha dog showdown. All the players captured their character moments very well with aplomb with witty commentary and put downs.
There was lots of ‘propage’ with the NPC cards, maps, location guides, and the handouts that helped keep the players informed (and over-indulged with options) and illustrate the setting. Clues sorted and research conducted to the point they worked out the machinations of the baddies and broke the code of the puzzle quite easily. Some combat and creative solutions ensued to the final showdown with a satisfactory conclusion.
The game overran a little but with the table service for food and refreshments it didn’t impact the pace at all running through into the lunchtime.
I had a nice chat with the players afterwards as we went into the afternoon slot. First there was the prize draw then the game sign-up in reverse order.
I ran Tales from the Loop to the five players (two from this morning’s game) and it was the first time I had managed to actually run it.
I issued out ‘X’ cards to the players as I described that the were going to be playing kids in an alternate 1980’s UK setting solving weird technological mysteries whilst dealing with a mundane (and almost tragic) home life. I was concerned that we may inadvertently stumble onto sensitive topics during play but in hindsight it wasn’t necessary.
I had the ‘Principals of the Loop’ set in a display sign which really help to start the game in the right frame of mind and we started the char-gen. The players came up with some cracking characters; we had a set of twins with sibling rivalry, brother and sister, who were sharp minded yet missing their deceased father, an ever-growing tinkerer of machines whose clumsy attempts to connect with others was always thwarted, a well-liked, ghetto-blaster carrying kid who wished to be left alone, and a music lover whose parents were going through a divorce. Their hideout was an old allotment shed with mains power, a fridge, jars of screws, nuts and bolts, and a home brew beer kit.
The game was set in 1984, in Derby, with the Facility having it’s own particle accelerator. Not in a crude giant circle, but in an electro-magnetic curved helix loop under the River Derwent.
The kids were excited to go to the local county fair to see an actual, full sized Bigtrax tank on display at Elvaston Castle.
Of course we played out the opening scenes at each of the Kids’ homes to catch a glimpse of their home life before the adventure began.
I had followed the advice of some of the actual plays I had seen online and made the mystery fairly simple in nature. But in hindsight it was a little too short and over a little quicker then I had hoped (I’ll have to expand it out when I next run the game). They had done some great things; dealing with jumped-up bullies given authority, thwarted a plan by the TV magician Doug Henry to steal the Bigtrax tank under the very noses of the Special Guard Service, rescued the said tank from spies, caused a little mayhem, and got given ice cream at the end of it all. Some great role playing moments throughout.
Yet the most poignant part was the final scenes at home when we were all snapped back into the mundane after the adventure. Those scenes that came so naturally yet were in complete contrast to what happened before with such melancholy and pathos. I was physically moved emotionally by them, as was everybody else at the table. I have never felt like that after a game.
With that ending we stayed at the table a chatted and reminisced about our past and games for over an hour and a half.
With that my time at Spaghetti Conjunction 1B was over and a fast train home.
My Supernatural/Grimm/Sleepy Hollow game in action.
My Tales from the Loop game in action.
#Supernatural
#Grimm
#SleepyHollow
#Cortex+
#TalesfromtheLoop
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