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 Filespodcast. 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 Friday
morning I bumped into one of the Good friends of Jackson Elias and we had a
good chat about gaming, how to get away with murder and unlawful killings (don’t
worry this was all academic talk not practicable solutions…)….we also met a
newbie Grognard who was on his way to his first Grogmeet. This resulted in two
things, the journey passed quickly and any last minute prep for the game I was
running on the Saturday afternoon was kyboshed. After arrival at Manchester
Piccadilly I must have fumbled by navigation role as both of my travelling
companions went AWOL so I made my way to my hotel. Then it was off to Fanboy 3
for a game I have been looking forward to playing for a while….
The games on offer at Grogmeet cover a wide range, Sci fi,
fantasy, pulp, heroes, horror, just about every genre of game is on offer, and
you know the quality of the ref, players and experience will always be very
high. So, it’s always with some trepidation that I run a game at this event,
you feel like it needs to be something special that stands out and provides a
good gaming experience. This year I chose one of the games that I had purchased
via Kickstarter during my KS addiction year – a nice indie game called HellNight. It’s described as an 80s Doom Biker RPG – what’s not to like! The effort
that has gone into making this game book is on another level, think Mork Borg
but even better. Luckily you get a text version of the rules along with the
actual game book, so you can actually read the damn thing! I ran the scenario
that came with the book. For preparation and going back to the point about
wanting to make it a bit of an event I invested in various 80s glam metal wigs
(some of the grognards are follicley challenged) and some studded bracelets and
a bottle of Jagermiester….bit of over the top 80s hells angels and demons,
along with a bit of dressing up and a bit of Jager, seemed like a good way to
end the games session to me.
Before the start of the games a message of support and
wishing us all the best for the weekend from Dave of the Frankenstein’s RPGpodcast was read out to provide us all with a nice warm fuzzy feeling. Unfortunately
Dave couldn’t make Grogmeet this year, but his warm and heartfelt words helped
to inspire us all throughout the excellent gaming and drinking that weekend. We’ll
see Dave next year where I hope his inspirational words will become the official
start to all future Grogmeet events…..
I played in three games – the first was a Golden Heroes game,
and it was fantastic. I hadn’t played this since the late 80s so it was great
to revisit the game and play through. I played a ‘brick’ character who had tough
skin and was a princess who could help to pull strings – which came in handy
when the superhero group needed to get a helicopter to make a fast exit from
London to Portsmouth. I named my hero – ‘Madam Muscle’ and was part of a group
with Hellboy (yes that one), Iron Chang, Komet and Socialist Worker….the
scenario was one from White Dwarf called The American Dream and it deffo showed
how brutal the 80s were in terms of gameplay and risks to player characters!
Also the sanity of the Ref was pushed to the limit when he had to do a round of
combat when he had about 20 supervillains to use and attack us with..suffice to
say the next round was hand waved to ensure the ref could finish the gaming
session! The heroic climax at the end saw us saving the world of course…………It
was great getting back to Hits to Kill and Hits to Coma, I’ll have to pull my
old GH box set off of the shelf..
Next up was Screaming Bloody Carnage on Death Plant Chronos
ran by @Dailydwarf. The story involved a crash landing on planet Chronos followed
by much hilarity when Zombo was released to help with the locals all of whom
appear to have been revived after also crash landing on the planet. As ever the
scenario played along with the comic strip it was based on and as we progressed
the panels from the comic were pinned up on the wall to show us our ‘progress’.
We were using the savage worlds system so we had bennies to spend! My character
was Agent Yang who had access to Zombo via the key fob that opened his casket.
A particular highlight was meeting Buddy Noel who was busy creating a Xmas
based music video while we tried to escape off of the planet. As you can imagine
this didn’t go well. Eventually we got to a spacecraft and with our glorious
Trump leader (yep 2000AD predicted this before it actually happened – the mind
boggles…) made off of the planet, back to Epsilon 6 Orbital Station, only to be
condemned on arrival……such is the fate of those playing in a Daily Dwarf game –
you have been warned for next year!
After this it was off to the pub where we all had a chance
to natter and catch up with many grogheads. The lure of the hotel bar caught me
and a few others, so after three bedtime cheeky drinks in the hotel bar it was
off to bed about 2am………..damn those hotel bars and their enticing lights and
alcohol!
Next day after a breakfast it was back to Fanboy 3 for a
10.30 start and a game of Marvel Super Heroes. Another great game from the 80s
that I played quite a lot, me and my friends even still use ‘Shift X’ as a way
to express how great something is!
At 11am we all observed the 2 minute silence and paid
tribute to real heroes.
We played a scenario based on Days of Future Past. I thank
the other players for pointing out to me that my first choice of X-man to play,
Angel, was actually a bit crap. So I swapped to Cyclops which was way more fun!
We managed to get our message to our past selves, persuade our past selves to
take action and save Senator Robert Kelly and Prof. X at the hearings on
mutants held in our past. With a cunning plan we managed to foil the mutants
from assassinating the senator and Prof X, we even managed to stop The Blob! It
was a really satisfying scenario and Matt reffed it expertly. I was humbled by
the knowledge of all things superheroes that was on display at the table!
Next up I had to have a short walk over to the Whitworth Locke
to prepare for my game of Hell Night. Part of the joy of this game is in the
character generation, which is quick but also ensures the players can really
get their over the top 80s demonic roleplaying chops out. Before the game I had
asked the players to watch the 80s film Trick Or Treat and listen to the HellNight playlist on Spotify. I also printed a number of the pages from the
rulebook onto A4 and then put them together in a collage that I covered the
table with. To ensure the players could really get into the ‘mood’ I handed out
the wigs and accessories, the results of which were pretty damn METAL \m/. Then
the game could start and we flew through some encounters and had as many crazy
stunts and over the top action scenes a we could fit in. Eventually the players
succeeded in capturing the rogue demon who was playing havoc on earth and took
him back to hell. The game was fast paced, hectic, chaotic, murderous and was
ended with a shot of Jägermeister to celebrate! All in all a good way to finish
off the gaming of the weekend.
Next morning and feeling a bit groggy, it was time for a big
breakfast and back to Fanboy 3 for the Sunday recording of the Grogpod live
with the Grogsquad in attendance. A most excellent discussion between Dirk and
Mike Mason which you’ll be able to catch yourselves on the Gorgnards pod when
it is released.
Then finally it was time to say goodbye multiple times to
multiple people and slowly head off to Manchester Piccadilly in the rain and
make my way back home. I was already thinking about the Cthulhu session I had
to run the next night at my local club as well as the Delta Green scenario I was
running the following Saturday, then I have to still sort out my Twilight 2000
game….now where were those Foundry codes I had somewhere…………………….
See you next year and remember Parring Is For Wimps!
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