VENGER CON III (the post-convention write-up, part 2)

 

Let's start at the end...

The last session of the con (that I participated in) was an investigative horror scenario that I wrote last October as a between Cha'alt campaigns break.  

This was my 3rd time running it.  Even though it was all typed up nice and neat, my organization strategy was abysmal.  I was flipping pages all over the place, and it was only about 7 pages long.

Nevertheless, I think it was successful.  More than any other type of scenario, investigative horror separates the active players from the passive players.  There isn't much call for GMs to ask quieter PCs, "So, what's your opinion of the new gods?" or "You see a sexy elf barmaid straining to pick up a heavy barrel of ale, what do you do?"

But now that I think about it, sure, I could have done more to rope the wallflowers (and I use that term affectionately... at certain times, I used to be more of a wallflower player) in.  But the post-lunch malaise was also a thing, and overall I think all the players managed to get their roleplaying beak wet.

I suppose it's because investigative horror is more goal-oriented?  Of course, that's the trouble (if you can call it that) with pretty much every convention game.  It's very rarely about meandering around, seeing what's happing, and occasionally getting into trouble.  And when it is, some players complain.  Haha, there's no winning.

Anyway, I like the scenario and finally remembered to break-out the sanity rules - 3rd time's the charm!  Nothing says you've entered a weird dimension of cosmic horror like magenta gloom, dark ambient (thanks, Lull) playing in the background, and the roll of sanity saving throws.

Roger's Sunday morning game was a lot of fun.  Judd and I played that, just the two of us.  It was like a buddy cop movie.  We were partners in crime, mercenaries under a fuchsia sky, just trying to make their way through Cha'alt.  The fact that Judd and I have gamed quite a bit with each other over the years (mostly in Cha'alt), and that we're both on the same page, RPG-wise, made it remarkably easy.

Also, getting to play in Cha'alt again was a lot of fun.  I was all juiced up from Judd's Alpha Blue session the night before, I guess, because once we got to that Chucky Cheese type restaurant, my character was hyper focused on getting a sexy waitress in the ball-pit!

As Roger correctly pointed out, and Judd confirmed, getting to play the game with the actual creator means that certain aspects and avenues of the game, which might be ignored under different circumstances, rise to the top.  

Having sex in the ball-pit (don't worry, I kept yelling for the kids to get the fuck outta here while doing it under the cover of colorful squishy balls) was Hetch's main concern, but getting that sweet, sweet +5 bonus to saves, skill-checks, and hit-points for the next 5 hours (that's why it's called Sleaze Factor-5) wasn't bad, either.  Hetch gave new meaning to the phrase "balls deep."

Torvak was Hetch's companion.  I was a blue velvet-elf sorcerer and Torvak a half-orc warrior.  Roger started us out at 3rd level with max HP (which is what I always do), and allowed us to choose a special ability from Cha'alt Ascended.  I forgot how awesome that is.  Sorry for lubricating my own tentacle, but I had forgotten over half of those 60+ options.  I kept running across feats that I would really like to have, both in a one-shot and campaign.  Will definitely utilize that PDF more going forward...

The three of us came up with some cool stuff in that adventure, some bits of lore that will probably carry over into CHA'ALT PRIME... whatever that is.  I'm thinking a kind of greater repository for Cha'alt related stuff that just becomes part of the overall eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse culture.  

Speaking of which, from now on - and this goes for everybody in the RPG hobby, industry, community, or whatever - when you narrate something that should have (or could have, let's not get presumptive) come earlier, don't call it a ret-con.  What we're doing is presenting a flashback or analepsis of what happened earlier.

Ret-con implies that we're stopping the narrative flow to go back and fix something that's broken in order for the rest of the story to continue unabated.  A flashback or analepsis is a non-chronological event that's necessary to the narrative.  

For me personally, the word "flashback" conjures something else to mind... either frequent LSD use or a momentary remembrance of an event that has already been experienced; roleplayed.  And no one knows what the fuck "analepsis" means, so what I would do is call it an out-of-sequence cut-scene, letting people know that what's happening now actually took place earlier (or later). 

Between singing and dancing lizard-bears, bantha jawbone weapons, klikna'ars as a unit of distance, ziggurat schemes, and words of wisdom like "They don't fuck you at the drive-thru," we had a great time.

Last but not least, let me tell you about Judd's Alpha Blue game Saturday night.  It both seemed completely off-the-cuff, spontaneously improvised and also like something he'd been diligently working on for weeks.  I didn't want to ask, as a magician should preserve his magic whenever possible.  

Not being super familiar with the system, he asked me to help everybody with character creation, which I did.  Probably the best way of doing it since I've done that dozens of times over the years and each time it gets a bit easier.  The only thing I wish I'd done differently is that I neglected to mention the advantages (other than starting life as a typewriter, of course) of being a droid.

However, before long we were off and running.  I think we had 6 players or so, and everyone was in the mood for humor, sleaze, and retro-futurism.  Basically, the entire adventure was one massive pun broken-up into 37 bite-sized pieces.  

I played Bashir, an alien (crystalline) pimp.  It wasn't until well after the session that I realized I never used the alienisms I rolled on the d100 table.  Next time I run it, I'm going to offer players a point of Divine Favor... Blue Favor(?) to those whose character actually roleplays the stuff they rolled at character creation.

BBQ is the universe's second oldest profession.  The Baron Hard's conys (that's colloquial slang for coney-dog - a chili-dog you'd find at Coney Island - in certain parts of the country) versus Duke Tradee's delicious BBQ.  The spices must flow as the entire galaxy holds its collective breath to see who will win the culinary guild's cookoff competition.  

We took our Federation ice-cream delivery shuttle to the planet Dude in search of Duke Tradee's son and side-piece.  Half the session I was laughing, the other half trying to piece together the mystery of who was trying to grease the wheels within wheels with delicious mesquite-flavored pork juice.  Oh, and my character had sex with a uniformed woman at the Alpha Blue food court.  Getting an in-game bonus was so far away from my mind, that I only now realized I could have rolled for extra hit-points.

I might not get to play in an RPG until next VENGER CON, so I take my pleasures where I can.  ;)

Here's some funny stuff heard around the table...

• "The Huffle Puff in him dies a little inside."
• "Put your penis in the box."
• "I should really create a random prophecy generator." 
• "I don't judge, I just hashtag."
• Many, many things having to do with the cult of Ron Jeremy.
• "The Potter boy?  That lightning-scarred trollop!"
• "Never trust a girl that went to a bene gesserit high school."

By the time 10pm rolled around, I was beat.  However, I stopped by the convention's main room to see what was shakin'.  All the games were over, and people were drinking beer, talking, and partying.  I drove 10 minutes home shortly after that.

For those who attended, here's the $437,000 question... did you experience PSYCHOCOSM?  In layman's terms, did you momentarily feel like you were really there, in that make-believe world?  Like you were someone else, that your character's actions were your own?  At the end of the day... or convention, in this case, immersion should be our primary concern. 

Really, the entire weekend was beyond fun... and can't wait to do it again next year!  Still waiting on confirmation of availability.  Stay tuned!

Thanks,

VS

p.s. If you still don't have your hardcover Cha'alt books, order now!!!