Parrying is for wimps!

To paraphrase from Jacksons LOTR films ‘Space seems to be back on the menu boys’, so for a few months I have been considering how to bring the Delta Green scenario ‘ Blacksat ’ to the table. It is one of those scenarios that when I first read it, I thought interesting idea – but how can you make it work at the table? Let’s be honest – the Delta Green scenarios tend to require the Handler to do a lot of heavy lifting to make the key ideas in the scenario work, which isn’t a problem – working out the finer details is often the fun bit. Blacksat is the first scenario in a series included in the ‘Control Group’ book. The idea being that it can be played as a linked campaign with the subsequent scenarios in that book. The players take on the roles of a space shuttle crew in 2010 assigned to repair a top secret satellite or ‘deniable anti satellite weapon platform’. Of course not all is as it seems…. Before Grogmeet I ran it twice online. I find running a scenario at least two times tends...

  Where to begin with Grogmeet? Do you begin with the excitement as the tickets are made available? The excitement of submitting a game? The excitement of seeing the games offered and signing up? The excitement of using the Birtish railway system never knowing if you’ll reach your destination? Whenever the excitement starts it gradually builds and before you know it, you are walking into Whitworth Locke venue in Manchester and play gets underway. Although in my case, the train I was due to get was cancelled so I made it into the Whitworth with about 10mins to spare…….. Gatsby and the great race – Call of Cthulhu, Friday 17 th January… The first game I was involved with was the rather legendary ‘Gatsby and the great race’ written by Paul Fricker. I had heard of this scenario over the years. For those not familiar it is a multi-table scenario with several Keepers each running their own table. For ‘reasons’, players get to change tables during the scenario. This makes for a great...

 Grogmeet 2023 has finished and already I am looking forward to 2024. This year was my third year attending (second full weekender) and it didn’t disappoint. For those who don’t know, Grogmeet is (not) a gaming (convention) weekend and is organised by Dirk the Dice and Blythy from the Grognard Filespodcas t. This year they had really pushed the limits of their organisational skill set and we had three venues to navigate between for games – Fanboy3 , The NorthernMonk and the Whitworth Locke and a pilgrimage to the hallowed place where Dirk and Blythy sometimes record the podcast – otherwise known as The Lass O Gowrie . This is all in Manchester btw. I stayed in the same hotel I was in last year….or so I thought…..it is a very complicated story not worthy of space here, but suffice to say Dirk was right and I was wrong about the location we stayed in last year. There, I said it and am publicly shamed. Anyway quickly moving on…………. On the train up from darkest Milton Keynes on the...

 Ah yes, Innsmouth, kind of like Skegness but with even more buggy eyed people (don’t shoot the messenger :>), or maybe Blackpool but without the stags and hens, more fish and squid. Either way something fishy is going on when we consider Innsmouth. Luckily for me I didn’t have to travel to remote parts of Massachusetts to experience it as The Innsmouth LiteraryFestival was being held up the road from where I live in deepest darkest Bedfordshire. It was remarkable really, you go years without a sniff and everything being in ‘that there London’, and all of sudden this festival pops up. I got in touch with the organisers ( Innsmouth Gold ) a few months ago and said if they needed any help I’d be happy to lend my time (not sanity of course). Turns out one of the duo that is Innsmouth Gold plays RPGs and so I invited him to the gaming club I attend (Bedford Gladiators) on a Monday night, and before you know it his character was confronting the mythos before you could say ‘cthulhu...

 It’s been a crazy few weeks – three weeks ago the household was laid up with a ‘virus of unknown origin (yeah right…)’, two weeks ago I watched Luton Town Football Club achieve the impossible by gaining entry into the Premier league via the Play Off finals at Wembley, then the weekend after I attended UK Games Expo at the Birmingham NEC.  I had no idea what to expect as I had only visited Expo once before for a day trip quite a few years ago with the family. This time I was in for the entire weekend.  My Expo buddy was Jon who I play Delta Green with so at least I wouldn’t be Billy no mates. The Expo gods were watching out for me so despite rail strikes and a slight panic about the hotel I walked into the Expo halls and wandered around on the Friday afternoon, my wallet fearing what may be coming its way as a number of items caught the eye.  I had meant to be playing in a Cthulhu game on the Friday afternoon, but it had got cancelled earlier in the week, which was a...

The Beatles were truly extraordinary – I don’t know much about their history but their influences continue to pulsate like tentacles through the decades.  Everyone will know a Beatles song, or at least part of one, everyone (and I mean everyone) will be able to name at least one of The Beatles and most people will be able to name all four of them (was there a fifth one early on??).  So, it is with trepidation that I disagree with them about ‘All you need is love’ – obviously this is not true – you need food and drink (preferably tea and beer) for a start.  Then there are the vagaries of having your heart broken, getting physically hurt and other issues that occur to all of us at some point to varying degrees – you may think these are not all you need, but they are part of what a human needs generally if we are to grow and become better humans during our lifetimes.  Risk and risk taking, being offended, arguing and seeing issues from other individuals stand points wh...