Grogmeet 2025 pt2 – the Blacksat strikes back and it’s a load of old (Dragonbane) Trolls…..(Spoilers, spoilers and more spoilers)

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 to help to identify the weak points, the pacing and helps to develop the pregens the players play. So, by the time I ran the scenario at Grogmeet face to face I was confident that I’d be able to get the pace right to fit into the 3 – 4 hours and enjoy providing a coherent narrative for the players to explore.

Changes to the flight plan….

After two run throughs the feedback from the players resulted in me making some changes to the scenario, particularly when using it as a one shot:

The scenario provides five pregens. There is some background for each one provided but I found the provided pre gen backgrounds a bit naff. There was a whole love triangle thing and some other information that I didn’t think would transfer itself well to the table. So, I rewrote the backgrounds and included more information on bonds.

The first section of the scenario is all about the PCs training up two obviously out of shape and not fit for space flight civilians. Players can find out various interesting bits of information on the NPCs and their ‘hidden’ backgrounds, there is a medical run through and then some crash course training in the pool to simulate zero G. The first time I ran this it all took too long (probably about 90mins) and in the end the information obtained by the players had no real bearing on the story as the scenario unfolded. For this reason on the 2^nd running I kept these scenes tight and amended the information provided so that they at least foreshadowed some events in the future – emphasising that the maths ‘attract’ energy and matter, that the mission wasn’t all it was supposed to be etc etc. By amending the player backgrounds, I introduced a ‘always follow orders’ type against another player that is more ‘order are guidelines not hard and fast rules’. This made for some great roleplaying between the players, resulting in paranoia and splits in the crew when the panic started rising and the cosmic horror appeared.

I wanted to introduce the cosmic horror (a being called a Derivative) earlier than as written in the scenario to introduce a change of pace and give the players something to think about as they knew all was not as it should be. To this end the NPC (Weintraub) who is meant to die during the launch in the scenario as written, survives in my version but he is effectively in a coma. The Derivative then makes a brief appearance – infiltrating the shuttle and killing Weintraub before leaving, by effectively turning him into blood and flesh soup in his astronaut suit. Lovely. This freaks out the players and leads to some interesting conversations with the surviving civilian who is now the only hope the shuttle crew have left of having a successful mission.

The last major change I made was that the satellite had to be destroyed as otherwise the artefact at the heart of it would create a space time distortion that would rip a hole in reality and lead to the end of the universe. The ritual that the civilian has to cast while on the space walk near the satellite needs a human sacrifice to work, and eventually the crew find out and have to identify who will be the sacrifice, or the world ends due ot the satellite causing a tera in the space time continuum. As another space farer once said ‘the needs of the many outweigh those of the few’.

Of course, you rely on dice rolls to help with the narrative and certainly when I ran the scenario at Grogmeet we had a particularly well placed fumble that resulted in some great roleplaying. By the end of it the crew was paranoid, not trusting each other and confused by what the hell was happening. Basically exactly what you want from a Delta Green scenario. 

Dragonbane RPG – a whole lotta love…

Being somewhat prepared from previous Grogmeets, I had chosen the Saturday morning slot to run a scenario and then the afternoon slot to play. This was mainly because I knew I’d feel a little bit worse for wear after the Friday night (thanks a lot 2am club - see pt 1 for details) and my energy levels would be in my boots in the afternoon. Frankly its easier to play than run games in the afternoon as the inevitable tiredness from the Friday night creeps up on me during the day….

I had heard a lot about Dragonbane RPG – one of the many offerings from Free League publishing. On my shelves of shame I have Blade Runner (beautiful but never ran it), Tales From the Loop (beautiful but never run it), Vaesen (beautiful but never run it), The One Ring (beautiful but never run it) and Twilight 2000 (I actually run this in an ongoing campaign!). So, there is a bit of a theme with my Free League games buying, so I had resisted buying Dragonbane, as I didn’t want it to turn into another game that sat on the shelf. Of course that resistance was not to last……

I played in a game called The God Wurm. Our crew had to find out why a villages God Wurm had turned bad. After a brief overview of the system and rules it was off to work we go. One great thing was the A3 character sheets – Ian (the ref) explained that due to the ageing process his own and his mates eyesight wasn’t quite what it used to be so using A3 sheets benefited everyone! A definite tip to consider for my games! The work printers will be groaning in the future…..

The game itself is a simple D20 game where you need to roll under a target number to succeed. The use of Willpower and Hit Points in the game is well done and makes for what feels like a game of high stakes, with mechanics that never get in the way of the story. I have no need to play Dungeons and Dragons, but I do need to play more Dragonbane. So being the responsible adult I am I waited till payday and then went and bought the core set……………………….

Apparently we were the only group that managed to defeat the Trolls that were at the centre of all the shenanigans, but even then it was a close thing with my wizard having one hit point left. One particular moment seemed to sum up the game – our stealthy type PC leapt 20 metres from a tree, made a critical roll on the landing (with an obligatory superhero landing of course) and then ran up behind one of the Trolls, pulled out their two swords to kill it in a surprise attack, fumbled, fell on their own swords and ended up getting absolutely pummelled by the Troll. And they all lived happily ever after…..

Ian @ Fenris games ran a brilliant game and should probably get some sort of commission from Free League for enticing unsuspecting gamers into buying Dragonbane….

After the gaming came the socialising and the heart of Grogmeet – lots of chat about games, the world, music and plenty of laughter. The beers not bad either….

What is the first rule of 2am club………??

It’s not actually to not talk about it, its to extend it so that it becomes the 3am club………all I can say is I was led astray by the usual grogs and ended up having much fun and banter till the early hours. When Jonathan, glanced at his watch and said – ‘it's nearly 3am’ – I think we all were a bit shocked and quite sensibly decided to head back to our rooms and contemplate the choices we all made…………….

Sunday, Sunday……

Sunday morning it was breakfast and then off to FanBoy 3 for the interview by Dirk with Paul Baldowski. Very interesting and good to hear about an old school revival of Gary Gygax’s Dangerous Journeys. Every time I attend Grogmeet I always learn some new piece of RPG lore that I had no idea existed. Thanks Dirk and all the Grogs.

Getting home and all that….

Not particularly exciting part of the journey, but thanks to Avanti West Coast and the potential chaos of a strike that was on and then called off on the Sunday, I must extend a heartfelt thanks to Alistair who due to previous train issues had driven up to Grogmeet and gave me a lift down the motorway with DailyDwarf who was also stranded due to train issues. Alistair - you sir are a scholar and a gentleman! Many thanks.

Then it was home time, and by 8pm I was snuggled up in bed like a halfling after a large meal, some ale and a pipe full of pipeweed……….

Until next time remember Parrying Is For Wimps….