Grogmeet 22 Thoughts

So my 7th Grogmeet rolled round for the trip to mordor and fanboy3 and environs for a weekend of quality gaming and chat.

Grogmania

This years GM speed dating event was as mega city one perps committing mayhem in 30 minute bursts with different GMs. We got to fix fatty eating competitions, loot sugar, smuggle stookies, boinged into the wally squad, discover mo-pads are made of tissue and surfed power boards stealing umpty candy.

Stookie escape

Tremendous fun but the audio comfort levels of Fanboy3’s basement were a little stretched by the numbers and volume. It’s still great stuff – the Mothership system worked but was noticeable in the different interpretations each GM had of certain rules – almost like a social experiment for the ‘rules as written crowd.’

Vehicle of tissue !

The rotating GM factor acts as good ice breaker on the first day and i think helps get everyone in the right mood. It was also intriguing say seeing the GMs who i know have more of a wargame background (or just think about structure) have put more of a structure on the encounter to manage a 30 minute session as opposed to those that were more traditional roleplay sessions.

Boing!

I did enjoy playing Crazy Carlos with his ‘little friend’ (flamer.)

Fatties !

Grandmothers of Glorantha – Who killed Duck Cowie ?

No photos of this one but this was a game of Matrons of Mystery but set in Greg Stafford’s Glorantha. In Nochet, a city teaming with refugees and locked in a dry frozen winter by the magical machinations of the Lunar Empire four Grandmothers try and solve the murder of a dodgy duck without sparking a civil war.

Martin ran the game with a deft touch i’m a glorantha curious but not well versed and he covered the setting well. The political minefield we navigated which was analogous to say 1970s Jordan or Lebanon was really well sketched.

He had printouts for suspects and clues which supported note making and us organising our thoughts. That’s important because in Matrons you ‘pitch’ the solution and roll to see if your right based on clues and suspects. I think the consequences element of partially failed rolls got lost a bit and think if i ran Matrons i’ll assemble a list of consequences prompts or even a table to help.

We had a great bunch of players and i enjoyed playing my ‘blanche’ from the golden girls type flirty granny a lot.

Liminal – The Day the Music Died

Hats off this was my favourite game of the weekend !

In an alternate 80s Manchester dominated by prog rock we played various icons of Manchester post punk who had adopted humble dreams and suburban jobs.

Drag Queen froo froo showed us our true selves thst should have been and through the liminal system Peter Hook (me), Mark E Smith and others looked to restore music to Manchester through defeating the Crimson Tull.

Crimson Tull

We got to steal Doktor Avalanche from a vampiric Andrew Eldritch, beat up double denim wearing Endid Tractor , jam in a transit (hence our band name INTRANSit) , rescue magic kaftans from the wrong side of Wythenshawe and meet the fae king of Piccadilly.

It was excellent stuff – i’m not up on this area of manchester music but the GM’s passion flowed through and i was struck with the similarities to the Merseyside scene of the same era (the cross over with gay sub culture.) The use of liminal as the system for a magical realist version of Manchester was really well done and the final battle of the bands mechanically elegant and tense ending with our manager smacking down Ginger Baker before he could release a drum solo.

Marvellous stuff.

VBCW 1938 Operation Broadsword : Shuttlecock Heroes

Ok to my game various factions from an alternate Britain and alternate 1938 where Edward VIII didn’t abdicate but chose Mosley as his Prime Minister plunging Britain into civil war.

slowly and surely the drew their plans

Using this fan made background published by Solway Minatures i’ve run two earlier Grogmeet games

• The Liverbird has Landed rescuing secret agent George Formby from imprisonment in Peckfortom Castle. Ran in 2017.
• Cross of Irn Bru. my 2019 con game where pilots protected the Isle of Msn from RAF attack to keep supply lines open to the resistance.

heroes of the resistance

In this new scenario following the defeat of the RAF further intelligence from George Formby shows Edward VIII is meeting Hitler in Heligoland to try and get more support. The resistance led by the Liverpool Free State try and kidnap him to end the war.

Kaiju GM says ‘what do you do next ?’

The first hour players where planners they had cards with equipment etc to help planning and four agents they could volunteer. Each faction could only supply one agent as they didn’t trust each other (rightly as factions had secret victory conditions.) The factions being Celts , Labour/Trade unions , Anglicans / Albertines and far left socialists & anarchists.

smooth under pressure

I didn’t quite land the introduction right but helped by one of the players ‘Pookie’ taking charge and chairing the planning. The prepping to improvise in form of cards did work well so i’m glad of that.

things i do for my art

Actual play of the misson went really well – with frills , spills , betrayals, chances to play over the top NPCs (Mrs Simpson PLEEEEASE!) , an entertaining fumble, butchery and bolting.

As ever reflections haunt one’s running experience – a bigger table, a nudge here and nuance here could have improved the experience. However the players enjoyed themselves and it leaves everything poised for the fourth and final entry in this series – a peace conference.

Go Play Manc – Agon

Esteemed co organiser of Grogmeet Blythy ran this evil hat games RPG of mythic Greek heroism.

heroes not triumphant – and one gone for his plane

I really liked the system it had a competitive element between the heroes with the glory system, the way it called in characters ancestry, epithets and divine favour in a dice pool was lovely. My fellow players really entered into the spirit of things and i enjoyed playing Koumaris the Fleet Footed, himbo son of Hermes.

Final reflections

Overall I had a magnificent time as well as the gaming the conversation, food and drink was excellent. Much learnt enjoyed and reflected on – love live Grogmeet !

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