GrogLove 2024
GrogLove 2024
GrogLove/Law comes around quicker than you think, but is now a UK con that is a regular for me, usually running twice a year in Feb and Oct, it's the hard work and inspiration of Jim Jim, DaveP and Alex. It's also a tribute to them that this small London con is always so full of variety and enthusiasm as well as being brilliantly organised AND on my doorstep.
I'd left home in plenty of time, aiming to get to The Marquis Cornwallis for 10am. Unfortunately, a distraction looking for the latest 2000AD and Doctor Who Collection at a rammed Euston (nerd credentials confirmed!) and then a Discord PbtA point of order got me distracted, so I arrived around 10.15, sat at the wrong table like someone's discombobulated grandpa, before being gently led to my gaming table and Game 1...
Swords of the Serpentine - A Conundrum in Constantinople
Run by Martin Cookson, it was a hack of a game I love already, but supplanted into 1450s Constantinople. I played an officious tax collector, Leo who bumped into the other players, during a frantic street chase that led us into conflict with the city guard. These few scenes introduced the mechanics and the setting and gave us a hint of the mystery to come.
Time shifted but we came back together at the request of a master detective, presented with two cells and two dead bodies! Some excellent investigation set pieces, then those clues led us across the city, unpeeling the onion, until a showdown where the priest and my tax collector came into their own in the face of the unspeakable.
A brilliant start to the day, a lovely bunch of players and Martin, with his various props, runs a Byzantine mystery not to be missed!
A few chats, a burger wolfed down and a pint I shouldn't have had, as I remember too late I'm on meds. It's time for Game 2...
Mythic Bastionland - The Shadowlands of Baccatis
I'd run this before, so felt I had a good handle on how it works, but ended up running a totally different game, centered on one hex. That's the beauty of this game, it's procedurally generated, so every time is different, as it turns out I leveraged previous games, using characters, locations that had come up before.
The company of Knights arrived in Baccatis, moving swiftly across the barren plains, visions of a Timotei advert as they slo motion shook their impressive hair. Their passage was unceremoniously blocked as they came up against the crystal mountains, I'd really wanted them to visit the Seer and as there was a barrier on the map, I improvised a little scene that freaked them out and sent them scurrying back. I'd also rolled a myth during their travel, The Plague, and I produced this now, Arryn the Pustulent became their constant companion.
The knights carried on, fighting plague carriers, finding suspect sources of water and eventually meeting the Rotting Seer.
Many encounters later, including a sly, smirking fox they faced off in a final fight against the Purging Knights and being victorious they completed The Hundred Days of Suffering and Corruption, banishing The Plague.
This act saw Will, James, Kevin and Alistair "rewarded" by accompanying the newly "born" acolytes to meet Talyon, the lord of Baccatis, who is without wisdom.
So we end there, a great game with wonderful players and GrogLove is over, hopefully to return in GrogLaw form in six months, a wonderful, friendly con highly recommended.