Delta Green. The system is easy, but you have to understand the nuances, on both sides of the screen. I wonder how many Handlers are stuck in "give me a roll" mode due to baggage from other systems, versus actually knowing what competency means in a skill based percentile system.
To be fair, most skill-based percentile systems don't offer the guidance that games like Delta Green and Mothership do. It's easy to form bad habits when A) the games don't really tell you how to model competency (and not continually call for skill rolls), and B) you learn from others with those bad habits.
Still. Those of us who have learned -- most of that has been through paying careful attention at the table. Watching how things flow, noting how players feel when they *constantly* fail, understanding what a failure might mean in a given situation, especially if you're running something published and the clue is locked behind a skill roll. This is one of the reasons why I recommend GMs -play- in other folks games -- to get that breadth of experience and really see different ways to handle what can be pretty gnarly issues.
I think that penultimate paragraph was for me. I guess I never introduce myself either, you make a good point. And while when I'm running a game, I don't ask what people what they are expecting, I feel like I set reasonable expectations (I don't run everything RAW, we're fast-and-loose, I roll in the open, I don't use grids and barely use a map, we're taking a break around the 2 hour mark), but I should be better about safety features.
It's not the end of the world, but I've seen plenty of games get off to weird and shaky starts because people don't know one another, it's not clear who knows the game's system or setting, etc. I just think a few minutes of stage-setting and intros is worth it's weight in gold. But you've met me, and that probably doesn't come as a surprise since I'm someone who makes a habit of trying to meet gamers in person that I've only met online.
Great write up as usual Harrigan. I have similar feelings on the con as a whole. I’m thinking this is my last Tacticon or at least until I can get a Bolt Action army painted. The DCC game sounded like a lot of fun. I’ve only played Lankhmar once. Im a big DCC fan and would love to play more.
I guess I don’t have a real interest in Dune but it sounds like this was the most memorable game of the con for you. Your description of your GM sounded a lot like the Twilight 2000 game I was in and was also my highlight of Tacticon. The GM, Joe Thomas did an excellent job. He’s been running this ongoing campaign at cons since 2017. His game is loosely based on “Gateway to the Spanish Main” a 1e TW scenario. His campaign really just shares the premise of the published scenario it has since morphed into its own thing. The 4e mechanics really didn’t get touched on until the 2nd half of the game. His first hour was spent going over what has transpired from the start of the war up until the start of our scenario. Complete with character introductions, major NPC’s, political climate, and the recent events. Our objective was to take out a group of 300 pirates on the South Caicos Island. The next hour was spent role playing on a high level equivalent to the “Architect” level you previously described. We did some recon and I got to do some interrogation on a few captured pirates. The next hour was spent on planning out an assault on an old fort where the pirates were held up at. It wasn’t unto the last 1/4 of the game did we zoom in to the squad level that I was expecting. Again Joe was an amazing storyteller. Our table was a mix of military vets and civilians. I really appreciated how he would stop and explain some of the military jargon used. I couldn’t recommend playing in his game enough. I’ll definitely be on the lookout when he’s anything.
The games I ran MoSH Ypsilon 14 and CoC were mixed. MoSH was fun to run and I just leaned into the alien troupes. Only 2 survivors. The group did a good job of separating and having lone pc’s for the creature to attack. Fun time by all. The CoC was just ok. The module does a good job of laying out character motivations interpersonal relationships which I was hoping would kickstart the roleplaying. I previously ran this the week before with some rondo’s on a CoC discord server. Know your audience. Lesson learned. The online run through was fantastic. The role-playing was better than I had hoped. So my expectations were high for the con version.
Finally I feel for the DG handler. I knew he was new as he was a firs time player in my Last Things Last scenario I ran at LGS just last month. He even had the dossier I gave out during my game. I think he has potential. I just wished he picked an easier scenario to run. I think I agree with you DG is not a good con game. Sorry for rambling. I wish I could have talked to you on Sunday.
Thanks for sharing all those thoughts, Dwayne -- it's like a blogpost within a blogpost!
I *have* noticed there's always a Bolt Action room going... but that type of play isn't something I've meddled in. I have a deep obsession with WWII and all the WWII kit that goes with it that goes straight back to my childhood. Just thinking about it makes me want to run Operation White Box -- like right now.
Dune and Lankhmar were far and away the best games of the con for me, yep, and it sounds like I need to get into one of Joe's T2K games. Perhaps if he runs at Genghis Con in February.
Bummer that CoC wasn't rockin' -- you had all those cool handouts and everything! I'll definitely try to get into a game of yours next time, and maybe I'll be running one.
We'll see. And I too think the DG Handler we both played under has promise. He just needs some miles on the tread and maybe a drink and good conversation at the bar...
Great write-up! Sounds like that DCC Lankhmar would have been right up my alley. Glad I at least got to do some gaming with you on Sunday, even if one of those was the Delta Green game... ;)
It was lots of fun, but also a stretch for me — was during a period when I was playing anything and everything, trying to see how games and the GM craft had evolved during the years that I’d been focused on PBEM and PbP play…
Haven't played Lankhmar yet, but those spell stipulations sound like they take existing DCC spell casting to the next level.
I'm playing in a Dune game over on GP with Q running things. It's my first 2d20 game, and I'm enjoying it, though a lot of that might be how Q runs things and the group I'm with. Totally get what you mean by Architect vs Agent, and I agree that it might not be for everyone, but it works for me.
And thanks for sharing your experiences at the con!
I remember when Qralloq fired that Dune game up -- glad to hear it's still running!
And yeah... perhaps sacrilegiously, I believe DCC would benefit greatly from a mild revamp and a bit of editing / smoothing. The Lankhmar rules aren't exactly that, but they do remove a bit of complexity (clerics and their interactions with the gods, classic patrons, spell duels, elves, dwarves, halflings, etc.) and inject some really genre-appropriate DNA for those who want that Fritz Leiber experience. Good stuff.
Yep. I hadn’t seen the Lankhmar Patron system put to use previously; I really enjoyed it. The way the die escalates, meaning the help they offer lessens if you keep asking for it — pretty damned cool.
And yeah. GMing isn’t easy in the best of times… now quick, throw in strangers and a hard time limit!
Delta Green. The system is easy, but you have to understand the nuances, on both sides of the screen. I wonder how many Handlers are stuck in "give me a roll" mode due to baggage from other systems, versus actually knowing what competency means in a skill based percentile system.
To be fair, most skill-based percentile systems don't offer the guidance that games like Delta Green and Mothership do. It's easy to form bad habits when A) the games don't really tell you how to model competency (and not continually call for skill rolls), and B) you learn from others with those bad habits.
Still. Those of us who have learned -- most of that has been through paying careful attention at the table. Watching how things flow, noting how players feel when they *constantly* fail, understanding what a failure might mean in a given situation, especially if you're running something published and the clue is locked behind a skill roll. This is one of the reasons why I recommend GMs -play- in other folks games -- to get that breadth of experience and really see different ways to handle what can be pretty gnarly issues.
I think that penultimate paragraph was for me. I guess I never introduce myself either, you make a good point. And while when I'm running a game, I don't ask what people what they are expecting, I feel like I set reasonable expectations (I don't run everything RAW, we're fast-and-loose, I roll in the open, I don't use grids and barely use a map, we're taking a break around the 2 hour mark), but I should be better about safety features.
It's not the end of the world, but I've seen plenty of games get off to weird and shaky starts because people don't know one another, it's not clear who knows the game's system or setting, etc. I just think a few minutes of stage-setting and intros is worth it's weight in gold. But you've met me, and that probably doesn't come as a surprise since I'm someone who makes a habit of trying to meet gamers in person that I've only met online.
Yeah, and that's where I'm appreciating this. I've taken for granted that at Con games I tend to just go with:
Everyone has a name tag.
My adventures are generic fantasy setting.
No one needs the system, because I'm filling in rules-as-we-go.
So, I appreciate the re-calibration on this.
Great write up as usual Harrigan. I have similar feelings on the con as a whole. I’m thinking this is my last Tacticon or at least until I can get a Bolt Action army painted. The DCC game sounded like a lot of fun. I’ve only played Lankhmar once. Im a big DCC fan and would love to play more.
I guess I don’t have a real interest in Dune but it sounds like this was the most memorable game of the con for you. Your description of your GM sounded a lot like the Twilight 2000 game I was in and was also my highlight of Tacticon. The GM, Joe Thomas did an excellent job. He’s been running this ongoing campaign at cons since 2017. His game is loosely based on “Gateway to the Spanish Main” a 1e TW scenario. His campaign really just shares the premise of the published scenario it has since morphed into its own thing. The 4e mechanics really didn’t get touched on until the 2nd half of the game. His first hour was spent going over what has transpired from the start of the war up until the start of our scenario. Complete with character introductions, major NPC’s, political climate, and the recent events. Our objective was to take out a group of 300 pirates on the South Caicos Island. The next hour was spent role playing on a high level equivalent to the “Architect” level you previously described. We did some recon and I got to do some interrogation on a few captured pirates. The next hour was spent on planning out an assault on an old fort where the pirates were held up at. It wasn’t unto the last 1/4 of the game did we zoom in to the squad level that I was expecting. Again Joe was an amazing storyteller. Our table was a mix of military vets and civilians. I really appreciated how he would stop and explain some of the military jargon used. I couldn’t recommend playing in his game enough. I’ll definitely be on the lookout when he’s anything.
The games I ran MoSH Ypsilon 14 and CoC were mixed. MoSH was fun to run and I just leaned into the alien troupes. Only 2 survivors. The group did a good job of separating and having lone pc’s for the creature to attack. Fun time by all. The CoC was just ok. The module does a good job of laying out character motivations interpersonal relationships which I was hoping would kickstart the roleplaying. I previously ran this the week before with some rondo’s on a CoC discord server. Know your audience. Lesson learned. The online run through was fantastic. The role-playing was better than I had hoped. So my expectations were high for the con version.
Finally I feel for the DG handler. I knew he was new as he was a firs time player in my Last Things Last scenario I ran at LGS just last month. He even had the dossier I gave out during my game. I think he has potential. I just wished he picked an easier scenario to run. I think I agree with you DG is not a good con game. Sorry for rambling. I wish I could have talked to you on Sunday.
Thanks for sharing all those thoughts, Dwayne -- it's like a blogpost within a blogpost!
I *have* noticed there's always a Bolt Action room going... but that type of play isn't something I've meddled in. I have a deep obsession with WWII and all the WWII kit that goes with it that goes straight back to my childhood. Just thinking about it makes me want to run Operation White Box -- like right now.
Dune and Lankhmar were far and away the best games of the con for me, yep, and it sounds like I need to get into one of Joe's T2K games. Perhaps if he runs at Genghis Con in February.
Bummer that CoC wasn't rockin' -- you had all those cool handouts and everything! I'll definitely try to get into a game of yours next time, and maybe I'll be running one.
We'll see. And I too think the DG Handler we both played under has promise. He just needs some miles on the tread and maybe a drink and good conversation at the bar...
Great write-up! Sounds like that DCC Lankhmar would have been right up my alley. Glad I at least got to do some gaming with you on Sunday, even if one of those was the Delta Green game... ;)
The more I think about it -- DG is a tough sell for a one-shot. Better to let it breathe a bit. DCC Lankhmar and Dune were *excellent* as one-shots...
I so want to play in a Good Societies game.
It was lots of fun, but also a stretch for me — was during a period when I was playing anything and everything, trying to see how games and the GM craft had evolved during the years that I’d been focused on PBEM and PbP play…
Haven't played Lankhmar yet, but those spell stipulations sound like they take existing DCC spell casting to the next level.
I'm playing in a Dune game over on GP with Q running things. It's my first 2d20 game, and I'm enjoying it, though a lot of that might be how Q runs things and the group I'm with. Totally get what you mean by Architect vs Agent, and I agree that it might not be for everyone, but it works for me.
And thanks for sharing your experiences at the con!
I remember when Qralloq fired that Dune game up -- glad to hear it's still running!
And yeah... perhaps sacrilegiously, I believe DCC would benefit greatly from a mild revamp and a bit of editing / smoothing. The Lankhmar rules aren't exactly that, but they do remove a bit of complexity (clerics and their interactions with the gods, classic patrons, spell duels, elves, dwarves, halflings, etc.) and inject some really genre-appropriate DNA for those who want that Fritz Leiber experience. Good stuff.
Great write-up! Your thoughts on Lankhmar are my own, my favorite DCC iteration! I empathize with con GMs... It's a lot.
Yep. I hadn’t seen the Lankhmar Patron system put to use previously; I really enjoyed it. The way the die escalates, meaning the help they offer lessens if you keep asking for it — pretty damned cool.
And yeah. GMing isn’t easy in the best of times… now quick, throw in strangers and a hard time limit!