There and back again - Reflections on a Grogmeet
Disclaimer – I am terrible with names, and with discord
resulting in everyone having two names, one of which is made up, i just get
confused even more. So, I have pretty
much omitted names or pseudonyms from this review. If you were there you know who you are! Feel
free to add detail and comment on the games if you were involved. Or, if I
talked to you during the event or in the bar on the Friday night and I owe you
a drink remember to remind me next year! (I was having to do family duties on
the Saturday night, so next year I’ll arrange things better so I can get fully ‘immersed’
in the bar room discussions). Anyway,
onto the review of Grogmee(a)t 2021…………
Well that was fun. My
first Grogmeat is over and I am already looking forward to the next one. Lockdown was a right pain but for me it did
result in two key changes to my TTRPG life, Discovery of the Grognard files and joining the very
welcoming community on RPG Nook. Since lockdown I have been thoroughly ‘out of
the freezer’ as the saying goes on the Grognard files.
I got my ticket for the meeting back in August, and
anticipation built from that point on.
Of course, the most stressful part was the day the game sign ups were
released. Fair play to Dirk and Blythy,
all were informed of the time and date and then you got on with it (FYI Dirk –
this is the fairest way!). I was lucky enough to not have to walk the dog, go
shopping or any other unimportant stuff, so come 9am on Saturday 6th
November I was ready logged in and waiting – I managed to sign up to The
Cthulhu Hack game on the Friday night and then Bushido RPG on Saturday morning,
ending with a Star Wars game on Saturday afternoon. The bonus round was attending a recorded discussion
for Frankenstein’s RPG with the Grogpod along with special guests on the
Sunday.
It was actually a pretty hectic week before Grogmeat
started….Sunday 7th I ran ‘The Blue’ Cthulhu scenario from
Blasphemous Tomes for players on RPG Nook, then on the 8th had a
game of Delta Green, then on the 9th helped to play test another
Chtulhu scenario with BudsRPGreview
(newsflash - he is not just a pair of hands!) which he was running at Grogmeat,
then Wednesday it was Ultramodern 4 (4th ed DnD clone), Thursday
night it was Badminton (actually playing not rolling dice to see who got the
shuttle over the net) and then its Friday – and we head up to a not to rainy
Manchester.
I highly recommend the Indian Tiffin restaurant
in Manchester, I just wish I had had more time to relax and enjoy the place as
it was close to 5pm when I got there and then had to get going at 5.30pm to get
to the venue where the games were being held - Fan Boy 3 (FB3) for the game of Cthulhu
Hack at 6pm. I had my trusty umbrella
with me just in case it started raining (you can never be too prepared when
visiting ‘The North’) and took the 15 min or so walk to FB3. It was a fantastic surprise to arrive at FB3
entrance and see huddled outside wating for the door to be opened none other
than Dirk and Blythy! After brief
‘hellos’ it became clear that Dirk was trying to get the attention of someone
inside to open the door. Dirk must have
failed his spot hidden roll as the staff member inside just indicated that it
could be pulled open. I hope they hadn’t
been waiting outside to long! Then in we
go, down into the basement gaming area and Grogmeet begins…………
Scenario: Creepshow 2: Demonic Boogaloo
System: The Cthulhu
Hack
Ref: Daily Dwarf
So here we go, the first game face to face I have played
since lockdown in 2020! I had never played Cthulhu Hack previously and didn’t
know the source material (Cabbalistics Inc), but there was no need to worry –
the ref gave us a brief overview and the system really is very intuitive and
easy to follow. The scenario was great fun and was set in a film studios in
Manchester. The tone was set when we
approached and an NPC ran out of the abandoned studios screaming ‘I’m free’
just before his head exploded. More
disturbing was the 80s shiny style suit that the corpse was wearing. What done this? And why wear a dodgy 80s shiny
suit? This wasn’t Liverpool you know.
Here Daily Dwarf then introduced us to the comic strip
concept – at key points we were presented with comic strip pictures that
reflected the current state of play.
These were then displayed on the wall behind us, and the story board
‘grew’ as we played. A very nice way to
present the scenario with the players.
Our PCs then progressed into an abandoned film studio to be transported to a post-apocalyptic setting and came across man / rabbit hybrids, James Mason (yes that one), then going to the London Underground and running into Richard Chamberlain (yes that one) and Kim Newman (critic and writer – although later he is killed by a Shoggoth), we managed to blow the shoggoth apart by exploding a fire extinguisher inside it (lucky 20 points of damage on d20 otherwise we were probably toast). Then going to what appeared to be a used car dealer in Albert Square London for a fight with ghouls in an underground dungeon, rescuing NPCs from a cage who were being readied to be dinner for the ghouls and finally ending the whole film by furiously hammering on the keys of a type writer in the library describing that the King Ghoul we were facing was actually shrunk so we could then kill it. Amazingly this worked. Now I know reading the above just sounds confusing but believe me if you get a chance to play the scenario with Daily Dwarf do so – it was really, really very good. Daily Dwarf even got to ‘Stick a shoggoth in it’.
Later in the pub I also found out that there were lots of
references to RPGs in the scenario that went above my head but it was really
interesting to hear them.
The pub….it was a nice packed bar and it was a real pleasure
to sit and talk with a group of grog heads about gaming for a few hours – no
other subject was even mentioned, so refreshing. It was cathartic to actually talk about gaming
in person in a pub all together, I strongly advise it on a regular basis! I think it was about 11pm and we were three
rounds in, I am sure mine was next when it was announced they were closing,
this was reinforced by the bouncer literally standing at our table and watching
us drink. I like to think we contested the intimidate check and our wise heads
decided to call it a night as we had a busy day on the Saturday. To the gang at the table - next year the first round is on me!
Saturday (am)
Scenario: Kwaidan - a Tale of Unquiet Spirits from the pages of White Dwarf
System: Bushido
Ref: Matthew B
In the words of a NFL commentator – this was my first draft
pick. I hadn’t played this game since
the 80s and although I have a copy of the rules they are written in that particular
way of the early days of gaming which make them pretty impenetrable and
slightly confusing. Also, there are
tables, not too many but just enough to ensure that those of us who like a bit
of crunch were very happy. The
excitement when it was announced there was not one, but two critical tables was
palpable around the table. That was the
kind of crowd we were – and we loved it!
Before the game I had tried to find any reference to playing
Bushido – what the rules were and how they worked in play, as I could not remember
them at all from all those years ago.
Anything to make the rule books I had comprehensible. There was one You Tube video which
done a pretty good summary of the rules so armed with this knowledge I sat at
the table, and trying to rectify the mistake of the previous night, actually
introduced myself and asked others their names.
Then it was swiftly onto PC choice – Matthew had based the characters on
those in Seven Samurai,
i chose Gorobie – an archer with an axe and a sense of humour who poked fun at
the groups leader. He was also a dab
hand at the tea ceremony.
The scenario is from an old edition of White Dwarf and
Matthew done a great job of bringing the scenes and the world of Nippon to
life. Our lord was worried about a
village where it appeared villagers were being terrorised by a spirit. So, he sent in the crack samurai squad to
escort a Buddhist monk to the area and find out what was going on and cleanse
it appropriately. In we went and the
first NPC we came across was the old samurai who was meant to be looking after
the village – he had gone raving mad and was screaming about the faceless
woman. So obviously with him in disarray
and looking like he hadn’t been looking after himself and maybe he was a bit
deranged, we helped him to regain his senses and self of worth and then
promptly ensured he committed ritual seppuku so he could die with honour. There then followed some encounters with
flying heads which we defeated.
Matthew then had a most excellent surprise – Japanese plum
wine was revealed – two bottles. We all
had a few small cups of this beautiful liquor – if you get the chance try
it! After three (or maybe it was four)
of these drinks I was ready for the next encounter……..One of the players also
produced some veggie sushi, although I couldn’t have it as even though no fish
was involved, I had been so ill on sushi in San Francisco in the 90s that even
hearing the word ‘sushi’ still makes my stomach tremble.
I don’t know if it was the wine, but my trusty metal D20
managed to keep rolling low and making hits on the various baddies or skill
checks we had to make. To put this in
perspective we were quite often having to roll 6 or less on a D20, sometimes even
a 4 or 3. Old school rules indeed…..
Anyway…..eventually we figured out that the old samurai lord
was restless as his grave was threatened by the erosion of the cliffs by the
sea and he hadn’t been buried with his armour.
So, all resolved? Not quite – there was the small matter of the Faceless
woman who we had incorrectly assumed was the Lords wife and wanted us to help
her to move his grave to a safer location.
As she approached it became clear that maybe she was here to cause
trouble rather than thank us. This was confirmed
when a fear type spell caused three of the five of us to run away. In the ensuing combat my character managed to
get a critical hit (the joy of the crit table!) and eventually we were victorious.
I think I am correct in saying that we all really, really,
really enjoyed this game. Matthew done a
marvellous job in summarising the rules and making it easy to understand. The story flowed, along with the plum wine
and the play and the end was satisfying in every way. Matthew – if you run a Bushido game again –
count me in.
Throughout the game something was niggling me though, I thought
I recognised one of the players voices but couldn’t for the life of me figure
it out…..more on that later.
Saturday (pm)
Scenario: These might be the droids you are looking for!
System: Star
Wars D6
Ref: Kris M.
After grabbing some of the pizza provided and a brief
sojourn to the pub next door with Andrew (good to make your acquaintance sir), I
returned to play the final game, a scenario in the Star Wars universe.
I had played Star Wars D6 system once before, I believe at Burritocon
(Dr. Mitch was the ref) and it was a blast so was looking forward to more swashbuckling
adventures. We chose PCs and I got the
young jedi – and with a quick check on the online jedi name generator I was
called Numa Elysar. The group were a
motely crue and our general informed us of the mission to retrieve or destroy two
droids, a protocol droid and a astromech from the clutches of the Empire. Yes those evil Empire types had started
rounding up droids on the planet Taanak (I am sure the spelling I am using is
incorrect, but I couldn’t read my hastily written notes easily!) like they were
going out of fashion. We had a YT 1300 freighter
(classic!) ship with modifications and advanced proton torpedoes and a Z95
strapped to the bottom which meant a bit of rearrangement resulting in the
cockpit being in the middle rather than on the side. Result was no escape pod.
So fast forward and we are on our way to the planet while trying
to figure out how to get onto the planet without attracting too much attention,
with some masterful flying skills we manage to land and before we know it the
port authority have clamped our vehicle as we weren’t sure about paying the landing
fees, a quite ridiculous 500 credits (I have no idea if this was a fair price or
not but it sounds a lot). The obvious
thing to do whenever you land on a planet you don’t know is go straight to the seediest
cantina you can find. Off we go and I end
up rather annoying a couple of bounty hunters on ‘Guild business’, we take our
leave but manage to find out that a load of droids were taken from the Grax
farm a few days previously. We
effectively bought a land speeder for a price of a bottle of grog and then hot
tailed it to the Grax farm. Sure enough
all the droids had been taken by the Empire. While on the farm we came across a NPC called
Lyra who also was trying to track down two droids that the Empire had stolen
from her. After a bit of toing and froing
it was agreed Lyra would join us to find and retrieve the droids. We also found out that the farm was
infiltrated by members of Crimson Dawn who were running a protection racket. So quickly we got out of dodge and headed to
the Imperial base a few hours ride away.
After hoodwinking two entry guards we got in and started the search of
the base. With some classic fire fights
and a bit of luck we manage to find the droids and then realise that Crimson
Dawn are attacking the base, leaving our get a way clear. Lyra and her droids go their way and we go
ours, back to our base. Our commander is
genuinely surprised we succeeded, and we were left with his thanks and gratitude
for serving the rebellion so well.
A nice contained scenario that helped to end the day on a
high. The only let down was myself for
leaving my umbrella behind – but fear not I managed to retrieve it the next day…………..
Sunday
The GROGNARD files meets Frankenstein's RPG Monster
Due to family duties I couldn’t go to The Fitzgerald after
the games finished on Saturday, oh well there is always next year. So I am bright eyed and bushy tailed on Sunday
morning, however a number of my fellow grognards seem a bit jaded, dare I say a
little hungover? It is then I realise I played
with Dave Paterson of Frankenstein’s RPG podcast in the Bushido game. That was why
during that game I had a feeling I knew Dave from somewhere but didn’t know why.
lol.
Well, I am new to all this so that’s my excuse! Also on the panel were Dirk, Blythy, Paul
Fricker and Ian Cooper.
That’s it, my reflections on Grogmeet. Just to end with a massive thanks to Dirk and
Blythy, the refs whose games I played in and lastly a huge grogardian thanks to
all the fellow grognards who I met. I
hope to meet more of you online in games, the book club and hopefully at
Grogmeet 2022. Remember, parrying is for
wimps.
Stef1885
Fantastic write up, bringing back the GrogMeat nostalgia, if you can get nostalgia in 96 hours. Thanks again! Jim (jwmuk)
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