VENGER CON Aftermath [convention report, part 2]

 

Ok, before jumping into my own sessions, I want to acknowledge the official VENGER CON mascot... Zeema'ar the game-thirsty demon.  He was crouching in the main convention room, casting his infernal gaze upon proceedings, watching over us, and protecting the structural integrity of whatever dark reality we were attempting to convey.

One of the ways I was able to talk myself into purchasing something as extravagant and ultra-utilitarian as a 22" inch gong is that I kept telling myself how awesome it would be to bang the gong at VENGER CON.  And bang the gong I did, every morning.  And the reverberations were also heard a few more times throughout the convention by eager GMs who needed a little extra ancient Tibetan gravitas during their game.

After the first hour of meet and greet, there was only myself and six players, perfect for a rip roaring session of Cha'alt.  We retired to my private room and started with character creation.  Using Crimson Dragon Slayer D20, it only took about 10 minutes to manifest an entire 3rd level party of adventurers...

The droid-thief STK1, human warrior Vaca'al-Mar, human priest Ether, human warrior Zippy G, crystalline sorcerer Lowbar, and demon cleric Narva'al.

Like when Luke Skywalker decided to put his targeting computer away, trust the force, and "we'll do it live!", I decided to run this session like one of my 90-minute, Roll20 one-shots.  I started with a basic premise, the PCs wandering the desert, and winged-it as they discovered a cave entrance that soon led to numerous encounters with strange humanoids and creatures.  Of course, I had all my Cha'alt books and plenty of ideas, but the structure was loose and free-flowing.

We broke for lunch after a couple hours, I ordered pizza and mountain dew for everybody (from Pappa Johns about a 5 or 6 minute drive from the hotel), and we continued on for a total of nearly six hours. I'll bullet-point the highlights of that session (events and quotable lines) since there's so much gaming content to get through...

But first, I got to test out the moon dice mechanic.  It worked pretty much how I wanted, though most players were hesitant to use it, given that the bonus was relatively small (potentially) with a 1 in 6 chance of a demon moon-god claiming a shard of one's soul.  

After three playtests, I have a better idea of how I want to implement the moon dice and showcase a memorable epic and mighty deed - will be updating Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 next week to reflect the change.

• The PCs interrupted an infernal ritual to summon a god-like demon worm.  They killed several demons, stopping the ceremony, and looted their supplies.
• They realized there were factions they could exploit, and exploit them they did... the wa'agasi and yuza'ak, specifically.  
• A powerful artifact was at the center of the humanoids' conflict.  The PCs eventually acquired a super-magical glaive (like in the movie Krull) that went to the demon cleric, as he was the only one brave and foolish enough to dive into a pool of zoth, become mutated, insane, and corrupted to wield A'azkulek!
• A trio of demons were guarding a cave of memory crystals, and the PCs were able to see a bit of Cha'alt's history just by touching them.  Unexpectedly, the crystalline sorcerer decided to absorb one of the crystals - I allowed him to gain and extra (and permanent) point of HP.  A gold-skinned demon wielded a magical two-handed sword, that went to Zippy G after he'd been dispatched. 
• That sword was later used to slice into reality itself, creating an In the Mouth of Madness "flappy hole" leading into the unquiet void of unutterable blackness.  The PCs peered in and saw a tentacled monstrosity that beckoned.  Narva'al made some kind of connection with it and later tried to free that Lovecraftian godling.
• Then, the party freed a beautiful woman sleeping within a glass sarcophagus.  Specifically, Zippy G smashed the glass, freeing Destiny and was rewarded by the tasting of her nubile flesh... "Get out the zoth-based lube."
• Demons wielding scimitars, a weapon that STK1 or "The Saint" despised became a running joke throughout the convention (the droid thief, played by Judd, appeared prominently in both of my Cha'alt scenarios).  We discovered that brunch is the scimitar of meals, making willing participants not worth the air they breathed.  
• ""She has an only-Cha'alt account."
• "You can take a bird out of the saw clan..."
• "Venger, you need to come up with a circle of protection from 'stupid gonzo'... just for RPG Pundit's sake."
• While Narva'al was playing mid-wife with the tentacled entity from beyond, the others were busy investigating a golden pylon in a nearby cave.  With no way in, their investigation stopped short.  However, the cave next door contained an orgy of humanoids using a pyramidal "pylon key" as a sexual aid.  Lowbar noticed a massive purple crystal sitting upon a pillow of the same hue in the orgy cave.  He immediately tried to absorb it into himself.  While he gained one or more extra HP, the crystalline sorcerer also suddenly disappeared, finding himself wandering the purple maze... as sorcerers occasionally do in my Cha'alt games.
• The remaining PCs went into the pylon as STK1 began touching crystals on the central matrix table.  They took a little trip just outside The Black Pyramid of Cha'alt.  Meanwhile, Narva'al had released the Lovecraftian godling who was busy melting reality and acquiring worshipers.  Lowbar came upon something in the purple maze and decided to cast wish in order to bring himself back to the real world of Cha'alt, I allowed him to choose between two universes - one containing the demon priest's new god who was devouring reality itself, and the other was a similar timeline but without that tear in the fabric of time and space.  He chose the latter.
• Seemed like a suitable place to end the nearly six-hour session, so I did.  

By then, another half-dozen attendees showed up and other games were run.  I know that throughout the convention (other than the games I played in) there was a Lamentations of the Flame Princess session, a Dungeon Crawl Classics session, Conan, and ShadowDark.

I wanted to hang-out, schmooze, and drink with my fellow gamers each night, but I'm old and each day I was pretty wore out, leaving by 11:00pm to go home and sleep.  At least I felt refreshed each morning when I arrived at 9am to open the gates (literally and figuratively) to get things going.

This session report is already pretty long, so I'll try to get part 3 up tomorrow.  Aside from Pappa John's, I (and many other attendees) ate at the nearby Popeye's chicken and biscuit fast-food establishment, Red Lobster, and had a rather mediocre sub from Potbelly's.  I wanted to each at Chili's, as well, but didn't want to take the extra time and risk being late for Griff's Tonnisborg game on the day when it would have been possible.

Two of the three Cha'alt zines were freely available for folks who snapped up the complimentary copies... The Skeevatier and Zoth-Laced Worm Trails.  Grab them because both have awesome Cha'altian goodness (and a little something contributed by yours truly)!

The third and final Cha'alt zine will soon be ready for prime-time...

Yes, there will be a 3rd VENGER CON next July, but I want to get something in writing from the hotel before providing an exact date.

Ok, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback between now and part 3 (most likely tomorrow), let me know below, hoss!

VS

p.s. Here is part one of my convention report.  BTW, I'm still locked into Twitter appeal Hell for giving good advice to climate activists who think it's a good idea to protest in the middle of the road.  Please, continue to nag anyone behind the scenes over at Twitter to finalize my appeal favorably so I can get back to promoting shit, trolling idiots, and letting people know what movies I'm watching at night.  Thanks!