If the end of winter is doing anything for me, it's unveiling blogging posts that are giving me some inspriation, which has been lacking for the last few weeks *cough* months *cough*
Lead Legionaires posted a great AAR for Critter Control's Shocking Encounter at the Trailer Park, using the solo rules of Majestic 13, an alien hunting game from Snarling Badger Studios. The game looks fun the shots were great, and the terrain board is simply outstanding.
After doing the #CharacterCreationChallenge for January, I anticipated catching up on a few posts, including a few quick wargaming AARs, a full return to the Gamma World actual plays, and, of course, fulling embracing the fun that is #ZineQuest.
And then NukeTown had to reference the #RPGCampaignTour Challenge early enough to catch up within February. Twenty-six of the prompts were answered, with me using AI to figure out topics I more preferred to write about. I chalk it up to as a success. It supplanted a very lackluster #ZineQuest, in my opinion, helped hammer out some details and ideas about my Gamma World campaign, and allowed for some great bonding time with my players as they reminisced about almost 130 episodes at the time.
At last we've finally reached the end with Day 28 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test". We end the challenge with another interview question directly to my players: Our imaginary tourists to the campaign asking, " Is there anything we should know before we head home?"
Collectively: "The longer you stay, the more you realize the atomic weapons of the ancients are far more prevalent than imagined!"
Gamma World (and the secondary sources I'm pulling for inspiration) more than suggests that nuclear war plunged the world into darkness and chaos, with wild transformation that would make Godzilla seem mundane. The number of times atomic/nuclear devices are used as a plot device as well makes the possibility of a second war... or at least a "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" ending is quite likely.
At least all of them have been partial or mini-bombs. Civilization still has a slim chance of moving into the next century
Day 27 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and the players were tasked away with answering the inquiry: "Do you have any amusing anecdotes from the campaign
Sonny and Pete recommend the Invisible Airlords from episode #95 - The Charcuterie Toll, which will be taken care of in a episode scheduled to be published later this year.
Lathar amusing anecdote is from the Stone Pavilion storyline, especially where the Children's Alchemical Laser turned his body into what would be best described as a Werther's Original. I'd start with episode #49 through 57, it's a quick read.
And Squiggles wants to talk about the secret underground worm orgies that happen during the Queen's Joust in Fair-Town, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
Day 26 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and again I turn to my players in an interview for "Are there any dramatic events from the campaign you can share?"
First Place: Sonny Saving Lathar
Lathar Bracken was a pure-strain human who had no such stringent requirements when it came to his women... or his liquor.
During a wintertime stop at Fair-Town, Lathar had gotten plenty drunk and began wandering the streets. Sonny, the groups educated mutant sunflower, was the only one awake to notice that he wasn't in his room, and he tried his best to follow his tracks.... It was a comedy of errors, including discovering that he had challenged his ex-girlfriend, the blue skinned Kirothian leader, Elona, to a duel! Thankfully she just called him an idiot and he wandered off, with a group called the Pathfinders. Upon finding this group and invited to a bonfire and drinking, Sonny learns that they've stripped the poor human naked, strapped him to the front of a side-by-side ATV and were about to drive him off as a sacrifice to something called the "Pathinfinder Run"
Runner Up - Squiggles, our Mutant Earthworm friend, still armed with a flintlock and a superscience weight belt used in warehouses, had suffered some grievous wounds while the group explored "Rho Facility." But, as luck would have it, the had also befriend a piece of Living Metal named RHA-9, obviously an artificial medic with all its syringes and liquids.
Squiggles was the most wounded so they let the Living Metal go to town. A few injections later, Squiggles suffered horrible bouts of screaming, but was miraculously healed.... and grew a layer of shaggy fur....
Day 25 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and the desire for commerce is there, "Where can I do some shopping."
In this world, the shopping bug might be quench by the Fair-Town Bug Mart.
The Bug Mart is simply a flea market, on the still fairly level macadam of an ancient schools. While the Queen's Joust is once a year, the bug mart is every week, folks bringing in crafts, but mainly the odd artifacts they've uncovered . Odd dishes, weird containers, a box of Western Pacific breakers? Definitely.
It's unlikely, but you might get your hands on something cool, like a glow suit, before the agents of the Restorationists sweep down and clean out the too valuable stuff.
Like I mentioned yesterday Day 24 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", is something that I wasn't prepared for, and, to be honest, I find somewhat boring, "What Are the Major Imports? "
And like yesterday, I plugged the rest of the challenge prompts into Chat GPT and asked for a new topic/question for Day 24.
It generated "Contraband and Chaos" and I must approve.
For a region that prides itself on peace and quiet first, and law and order second, the corridor hides a surprisingly vibrant shadow economy.
Riverbend’s Quiet Trades
Riverbend was a lot of artifacts go through the town, mostly through the doors of the Restorationists. Many times these Restorationists seem to lose said artifacts, or claims they never arrived at all. The question being begged? Where are these items going, who are they helping, or are they simply hoarding them in an undisclosed location.
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| A bunch of simple farmers with a knack of finding artifacts.... |
And then, of course, there are those dealing with artifacts that never end up in the hands of the Restorationist. Like Boson Higby, who runs a neighborhood over the hills from Riverbend prime. He handles a lot of commodities, and uses rarely trodden paths to move items from place to place. He knows more about the region (and what lies beyond) than most.
He may still have an odd suit of armor which fell from the sky in the past year, interesting markings and all.
There is only a community of farmers actively trying to breed different species for larger creatures to produce wool.
Fair Town’s Invisible Market
The Bug Mart is the most famous market, but "Invisible Market" is one exploiting the corruption of the bureaucracy.
Manipulated arbitration by town barristers
Selective enforcement contracts by officials
Caravan cargo misreporting
Quiet resale of confiscated goods
While knowledge is most valuable at KIA, The most valuable contraband in Fair Town is information — advance knowledge of tariffs, inspections, and rulings.
KIA Academy's Restricted Archives
The Academy appears to be the true protectors of knowledge. Their techniques and protocols appear to preserve knowledge responsibly.
The archives in the upper levels have great files on transportation technology. But there are some deeper and darker wings of the archive are sealed for good reason, possibly:
Weapons technology that has not been destroyed.
Political pamphlets and literature that could destabilized portions of the complex.
Gene-editing manuals from before regulatory collapse
Day 25 : Where can I do some shopping?
The De Facto Explorers have found a tribe of Hoppers, right next to an underground facility in the Glow Zone wilderness across the Big River. Death seems to have cursed this place long ago. Here's hoping it has not lingered all these years.
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Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend. He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters. Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust. Recently married Thunnelda Haycock.
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers. Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"
Sonny Helianthus: a nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places, and finding it often. He has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair. Recently gave birth to a pile of baby worms.
Luna of the Restorationists: Recent recruit of the Restorationists, who had uncovered artifacts across the River.
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Lathar hefted the massive slugthrower he had found. Not a round of ammunition, but if Sonny could concoct some, it could be mounted on the tripod reserved for the spear-hurler.
Squiggles peaked down around the far corner of the room, finding a very industrial, but fully enclosed elevator, but no access to call the car.
Pete snuck over the near side, finding a full room with dozens of selections, collected by a set of double doors. the same physically broken, burned damage on the bodies matched the damage to the doors.
Pete kicked around the remains, while Lathar upended the desk and terminals in the. Lathar spied the other door that led to the stairs. It was chained shut from this side, like the first door. Flipping the final desk, Lathar disappeared to the ground, only to pop up holder a slug-thrower with the barrel sawed down.... but no ammo... and no saw.
Pete is his searches fell upon a brown key card with a symbol matching some in the items in the facility,, some personal mining tools, and a single gold coin, which he slipped into his pocket.
Pete: "I assume we need to go through these doors."
Lathar: "The two large doors where a bunch of bodies piled up, trying to get through?"
Pete tried the doors, they were shut, but the new brown key card on the access pad made the inter-workings of the door *clang* and the doors opened out.
The walls to the passageway were machined squared, a dirt floor leading on.
The weasel worked his way down. Soon to two pieces of metal equidistant space between them, emerged out of the dirt a few inches. There were more skeletons and carts along the sides. There no signs of fighting, although these skeletons surely had a lot of gnaw marks on them.
"Let's but the cart on the track..." Lathar suggested. No one agreed except Luna, so he emptied a car and moved in onto the tracks. Luna went inside, Lathar pushed until it seemed to maintain a slow speed
Day 23 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and we finally hit our first road block. The question from the challenge, "What Are the Major Exports? " Let's be totally honest. Gamma World for me is a series of gonzo adventures with crazy character concepts. With few exceptions, there larges swaths of the world that are glossed over, politics, military, and economics are only fleshed out as needed.
So I plugged the other 26 questions into ChatGPT and asked for replacement questions for Day 23... and it's counterpart for tomorrow, Day 24 "What are the major imports."
Today is a similarly worded question, but one that sparks my interest more, "Arteries of Survival"
Because our three three towns along the Big River: Riverbend, Fair-Town, and KIA Academy, as technically independent of each other, but their is trade, political organization, and problems. And the one question my one player has essentially asked multiple times in varying ways, "How are these players still around in a dangerous world like Gamma World?"
The Roads:
One thing about the Big River, the area a few days journey downriver of KIA Academy, with places along its bank with dangerous names like "The Wildlands" and "The Wall" seem to have stifled traffic of any sort upriver... on both sides of the banks. While there is a stable but narrow path on the KIA side (old railroad tracks on phenomenal levee that survived the apocalypse and 500-year floods.
The truth of the matter is, transportation in this river valley starts at the Ancient technology softrock bridge crossing the Redline Creek, is extraordinary in KIA, transforms to a stable and maintains dirt track for traffic going back and forth, the road runs through Fair-Town, continues upriver to Riverbend, until is winnows out to a path through the wilderness at a second bend in the river, eight or nine miles upriver near an odd low spot that could be used to ford across in the Hisser lands. The path continues, and folks from places to Blackvale and The Catacombs do venture down from a long journey.
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| The Redline Bridge. |
The Big River:
The Big River is far more massive than anyone ever recalls. There are not even ruins of bridges in this region from the Ancients, and KIA probably has plans to construct a beautiful four lane softrock bridge to the other side... but there's nothing on the other sides. Perhaps the start of a road to the now-ruined town of Jainus? Not particularly appealing.
There is extremely limited fishing in the river. Certainly a mutant raccoon with a pole and some bait could catch fish of varying sizes, but the predators swimming within it as quiet and deadly. Someone could make a basic living fishing on the river... for a year or two, until disaster strikes.
The Capillaries of the Towns
The one thing I've failed to do is probably explain that these three towns are not bastions of civilization, surrounded by nothing but wastelands.
Riverbend is an agrarians town with farms upriver and downriver, but not going into the interior. Barley, root vegetables, and enough linen and wool-equivalent material for basic clothmaking. I would expect further beyond the town that there are trapper, hunters, and furriers bringing back their kills. They would make the true front line of defense against those creatures migrating from a land labelled on the maps only as "Nightmare Monsters"
Beyond the famous walls of famous are primitive farms, producing grains and vegetables. Beyond the walls are two functioning mills using water power from streams.
KIA Academy has the most obvious capillaries. Most of the population is situation within the complex, but until the recent worries of war encroaching their lands, KIA had different outside districts that resembled suburbs. Each district had departments operation out of stations for road work and other functions, and self-sustaining communities were beyond the direct protection of the academy.
Day 24 - Contraband and Catastrophe
Day 22 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and we're in Monster Manual territory with "Tell us about any notable flora and fauna."
Qualifer: A lot the "creatures" listed in Gamma World 4th Edition are humanoids with some level of civilization. Hissers, Hoppers, Orleans, Gren, etc are playable races, but they will interact with the player-characters, so we'll bring them up under other questions.
The group hasn't encountered a whole lot of post-apocalyptic wildlife that worried them.
They encountered a patch of wilderness run rampant by the Terleens, or "Tree Fish" their feathers are valuable and fashionable. Their bites are what best to be avoided.
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| Terleens |
Podogs can make great steeds, but there are a number of roving packs of the beasts, and if you're caught outside without defenses, you best climb a tree (and pray no Terleen are residing in it.
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| Podogs |
While many fear the Living Metal that fly amongst the clouds, belching smoke, most quickly forget of the Giant Golden Eagles that soar in the stratosphere. Almost everyone knows of a person, or a person's livestock, that have been subject the terror of these birds.
The most unique critter they've encountered, isn't even a mutated creature. It's Chambray, the loyal peacock of Lathar Bracken.
That most interesting flora is usually somewhat sentient plants that have just infiltrated certain areas you wouldn't expect. The De Facto Explorers dread any space in an Ancients facility that could be a closet... or a bathroom for that very reason.
I've really tried not to reshare or repurpose every blog post that catches my eye, but Jim Purky (Der Alte Fritze) painted up a new George Washington from his own Fife and Drum figures, and it's worthy enough to wish our first president a happy 294th birthday.
Day 21 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test", and we're finally back to questions that I can answer better as the GM: "What are the major organizations of the campaign"
Covering only the organizations/secret societies our party, the De Facto Explorers known about.
Restorationists: The dominant group of Restorationists is, of course, the large collective in Riverbend. They tend to keep the regular rhetoric the restoring the world to the way it was... before mutantkind, to a minimum, so they've recruited a much larger base of altered humans, plants, and animals. Their focus is so much the town of Riverbend but the caches of Ancient artifacts on the other side of the Big River.
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| Restorationists |
The Iron Society: The society of altered humans had a significant enclave across the Big River from Fair-Town. The town of Jainus and the facilities of their leader, the "Mutant Master" by Koto Dam focused on altered human superiority. It was destroyed by the help of devasting Ancient artifacts which may have poisoned the air and water
Brotherhood of Thought: There was a time awhile back that the Brotherhood of Thought, the mental mutants who wandered the wastelands keeping their own form of justice, stretched far behind the known borders. When the Iron Society fell in Jainus, their group took over to rebuild. But the poisoning of the air and water has devastated Jainus, and many in the Brotherhood have fled to the four winds.
The Knights of Genetic Purity - These Pure Strain humans who believe in the superiority of the unspoiled man and not hard to miss and usually don't last long in an area. Most Knight believe that mutants of all kinds will eventually die out and some are not adverse to enslaving them to getting all use out of them before they die. The Traditional KOGP? They will actively hunt altered humans to slaughter, and there are whispers that there are cities downriver run by the Knights.
KIA Academy: KIA should be a powerhouse, with their depth of knowledge of the ancients. but it's all about transportation, and spreading their roads and services simply invites more trouble. They are having their own issues keeping their populace in check, with the limited technology everyone is relying on day after day.
Brotherhood of the Magi: Rumors of actual wizards are whispered up and down the Big River. They seem to perform fabulous deeds, and have battled the Pharoah to a standstill.
The Pharoah: Rumored to be further downriver, the Pharoah's forces, bedecked in ancients power armor have attempted to make inroads . They can't seem to make a foothold beyond the river, but they are working their way up.
The Ranks of the Fit: A Zoopremicist group focusing on animals controlling everything. The actively engaged in might makes right, and a well organized military. Their kind populate the ranks of the Parr.
Next: Day 22 - Tell us about any notable Flora or Fauna.
Another quick and fun Kickstarter by Macrocosm, Monsters and Hunters is a small collection of monsters and some sci-fi hunters to track them down.
| Monsters |
| Hunters |
With delivery scheduled for April (and Macrocosm is great on their delivery dates), these might kick-off a continuation of our Death Planet Iota Fistful of Lead game.
| Swarm |
Day 20 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test" and I continue asking my players their interpretation of the question. They have a very good memory in remembering "Are there any mysteries as yet unsolved."
Squiggles the mutant earthworm was first, blurting out. "Finding out who [redacted] Squiggles!"
Our furry six-foot earthworm was hooking up with his former partner, Ubenda, when they were attacked and kidnapped. Their bodies were discarded outside the downriver gate of Fair-Town and there were no witnesses. Squiggles had considerable fluids removed from him, and barely made it through. Ubenda was not so lucky. There were rumor and nightmares of scary dogs and evil scientists. There has been little resolution 20 episodes later.
Sonny, the mutant sunflower: The aftermath of the destruction of the Mutant Master and the town of Jainus.....
The De Facto Explorers' first adventure culminated in the destruction of the "Mutant Master" and a mutant secret society hidden under Koto Dam. It did involve an atomic device, and the Explorers never returned to the region. They only heard poor rumors of the fate of the nearby town of Jainus, and the members of the Brotherhood of Thought who filled the power vacuum.
Sneaky Pete, mutant weasel: The dish not meant for cooking, and the intentions of Parr
The group investigated a Hisser community under the shadow a giant satellite dish atop a mesa, known as "Rho Base". It's chock full of technology, and rumors that the Hissers has allied with the animal confederation of Parr... and may have even abandoned their village after everything.
Lathar, the pure-strain human: What's really up with the Kirothians?
The blue-skinned Kirothians arrived mysteriously, and the surviving refugees have quickly adapted to Gamma World questions. Lathar has learned a lot about them.... some of it extremely intimate, but they are an unknown faction in the world... especially if more of them start showing up.
Back in July, I lamented the closure of Dragon Knight Games, a local game store just over a mile from my place. The sign on the door was a cryptic promise of moving to a new location. Time passed and I thought it was just another game store demise.
Awhile back, I was driving past the local movie theatre, and caught a Pokemon window cling in a door, and an open sign. It took a bit of time and some research, but it appears Time Walk Games is some semblance of the remains of Dragon Knight.
Location: The old Evolution Games/Sword in the Stone location was around the corner and parking there was questionable at best for a casual visit. The corner of E. Northampton and S Main in Wilkes-Barre is even worse, with limited storefront parking, paid parking lots and metered parking around the corner.
If you're a gamer attending Wilkes University and King's College? It's perfect.
Miniatures: A limited number of Games Workshop boxed set... I did pick up some nice flight bases during my visit.
RPGs: Nada
Accessories: Not a whole lot, the set of official D&D dice that stared at me at Dragon Knight resumed its staring when I walked in the door.
CCGs: The obvious bread and butter. They carry Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and noted Star Wars Unlimited and Lorcana there's a full case of singles.
Events: I believe there was a pretty full calendar, with Magic (Wizards Certified) and a host of other CCG and GW wargames. This is 100% their bread and butter.
Food: Drinks and snacks!
I'll be honest, it's pretty sparse, and I showed up on a lull day. But they circumvented my one pet peeve by saying hello when I walked through the door, so I'm going to root for them.
With inconvenient parking for an out-of-towner and a general lack of stock, I'm giving Time Walk Games one and a half Gnomes out of five Gnomes. If you're local, love playing in-store, and can fight against Wilkes-Barre parking, please try them out, and I hope you have fun!
Time Walk Games is located at 10 East Northampton St in Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
Day 19 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test" and like a bad internet survey, I asked my players "Any must-see sites?" for a tourist visiting Gamma World.
Lathar and Sonny - Fair-Town in general. They enjoy the concept of a town that was built on the premise of a Ren Faire.... (And I secretly now follow Ren Faires to see the rotation in on-site vendors, and change up businesses each time they visit).
Sneaky Pete: KIA Academy - The beacon of technology in this dark world, even if most of the technology they possess is oddly concentrated in road construction.
Situated along the Big River, this huge structure with 40 foot high walls the extend out for kilometers (unlike the AI pic I generated), something is keeping the people out of the wall, or is it keeping something in? We may find out soon enough.
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Those are the exact words used in the opening page of "An Adventurer's Guide to the Sapphire Island of Oliva" a travel gazetteer published by the esteemed half-elven writer. He goes on further to claim he composed these lines atop the Argent Spire during a lunar eclipse, although general consensus says it was during one of his long drunken stays in a Famarra winehall with whispering, becloaked nobles and two dwarven females of ill-repute.
The Kingdom of Oliva lies in the heart of the Mer Med a crossroads of culture, commerce, and conquest. Rich in history and steeped in magic, Olivia balances on the edge of diplomacy and danger. It has long acted as a maritime lynchpin between the Khemmet deserts, the merchant city-states of Ispatlia, and still in the shadow of Barthey, They were one of the early dominions to wrest independence from the Olivia, and with the help of propagandists like Caldrin, they may have done it the wisest. .
Oliva is a realm of gleaming vineyards, rune-carved cliffs, and perilous deepwater coves. Its nobility still duel over titles, its merchant lords war with coin, and its mystics read the stars for omens and advantage. Though small, and pulled from all sides from nations much more powerful they the island kingdom. The nobles of House Bolas knew that to maintain their independence and stability, they needed to pull something most countries craved, a haven of tourism, free trade (especially silk and spices from the East), and winter residences of powerful magi who would be quite put off if mere mortals wanted to start an inconvenient war.
Oliva a destination for the wealthy, and only a few olive groves, vineyards, and shrines were sacrificed to allow prime territory for the building of arcane towers. To bolster the purported power of the wizards, the nobles formed the Arcane Council. The council is largely ceremonial, drawing on the advice and council of the ex-patriate wizards they've recruited to promote an alleged show of solidarity and force for the royal family. No one has truly tested this shadow force within the government, but after the significant disasters of the Ispatlian-Emron and Senzar-Emron wars, no one has the appetite for it.
Beyond the clean beaches, worldly cuisine, and a veritable stockpile of wine to lure anyone with coin, Queen Arseline has established the Goldwreath Games, a collection athletic, artistic, and academic displays with awards granted. Done every year for the past 10 years, one the anniversary of the queen's coronation, it has begun to draw a variety of people, specifically from around the Mer Med.
Nicol – The capital. A fortified city of marble domes, scriptoriums, and subterranean councils. Here the Star-Court meets and the Astral Heralds plot beneath a dome of enchanted glass.
Famarra – Secretly, the wealthiest port on the Mer Med, where silk pavilions and elemental bazaars rival any mainland city. Famarra's banking houses are international forces, backing foreign wars, kingdom purchases, and arcane expeditions alike.
Limarion – Naval stronghold and base of the Corsair Brotherhood, where pirate lords and royal admirals hold grudging court.
Kyren Vale – Nestled in high cliffs, this mystic city is famed for its floating lantern towers, mirror pools, and vaults of lost lore.
Day 19 of the #RPGCampaignTour for my Gamma World campaign "This Is Not a Test" and a casual question asked by a tourist, "Forgot to ask, how do we get around?"
On foot. Largely on foot.
Our famed adventuring party out of Riverbend, has had the good fortune of having a loyal and intelligent Stagon, owned by Lathar, since the beginning.
The Stagon is a mutated whitetailed deer with six legs. It is a little larger and stronger than its ancestors, making it ideal as a riding animal and as a draft beast. Other animals are sometimes used as beasts of burden, such as the Rakoxen, Podog, and Centisteed,When not being used as a beast of burden, Lathar's Stagon, No-Name likes to joust and simply graze.
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| The De Facto Explorers, special character in a Fistful of Lead game, Historicon 2023 |
The Explorers have also been able to travel within the boundaries of KIA Academy with an electric fuel cell powered cart. Pretty slow, zero armor, but relatively silent, as golf carts go.
There have been occasions when something large is flying overhead, be it bird, lizard, dragon, or even things that look like living metal, but belching out an obnoxious quantity of smoke as they sail high in the sky...
Alright, party people, the events are getting posted fast and furious for Mepacon 50, this April 17-19, 2026, at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Allentown Lehigh Valley.
Since I was part of Mepacon 1 and 2, and a whole lot more as it bounced around mid-east and northeast Pennsylvania, I decided to do some of my "best of" convention games from Mepacon (and the decade of con games I ran prior to Mepacon's founding, the Antideluvian era of gaming that filled up Legions Halls, full of dollar auctions, TORG, impromptu swords fights, and a host of other things I'm not quite sure if the statute of limitations has run out.
I had set up a survey way back in November, and did get a few responses. So without further ado, here are my submitted events: (Edit: 2/23/2026 - My events are officially up on TabletopEvents after some minor corrections and some incredible logistical work by the convention staff.)
Friday
4pm - Burning Plastic "Polymers in Flames" 8+ players 4 hrs (Event #202 - Hallway 52)
Burning Plastic is the miniature game using green plastic army guys for mayhem and carnage. Tanks! Explosions! Air Strikes! Lots of d6's to chuck, rulers to measure, and no worry about chipping the GM's paint job! Children under 12 welcome with a playing adult (Don't worry parents, the kids will help you with the math...)
9pm - Talislanta 2nd Edition "The Crystle Dungeon" 6 players 3hrs (#212 - Table 32)
The classic Fantasy RPG known for it's ads in Dragon Magazine "No Elves..." Most of the Gnome-Kin Kingdom of Durne is underground, so why is your party investigating an above-ground outpost that hasn't responded in weeks... and what happened to the first two scouting parties they sent to check it out? (Originally run March 1991 at Lehicon IV).
10am - Burning Plastic "Polymers in Flames" 8+ players 4 hrs. (#203 - Hallway 57)
Burning Plastic is the miniature game using green plastic army guys for mayhem and carnage. Tanks! Explosions! Air Strikes! Lots of d6's to chuck, rulers to measure, and no worry about chipping the GM's paint job! Children under 12 welcome with a playing adult (Don't worry parents, the kids will help you with the math...)
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| Okay, no beer at the table at the con, but it is a "beer and pretzels" game... |
2pm - My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria "Tokens of Friendship" 5 players 2hrs. (#203 Table 23)
My Little Pony - Tails of Equestria (RiverHorse Press) is a role-playing game that's as magical as the power of friendship! Each session you can create your very own pony and share adventures with your friends in Ponyville, Canterlot, and beyond! Or bring back your pony from a previous session (or previous Mepacon) to play some more! Parents welcome to help their child or play alongside them.
4pm - My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria "Tokens of Friendship" 5 players 2hrs (#207 - Table 23)
My Little Pony - Tails of Equestria (RiverHorse Press) is a role-playing game that's as magical as the power of friendship! Each session you can create your very own pony and share adventures with your friends in Ponyville, Canterlot, and beyond! Or bring back your pony from a previous session (or previous Mepacon) to play some more! Parents welcome to help their child or play alongside them.8pm - Toon - "Krusty the Kultist" 8 players 2 hrs. (#218 - Table 33)
Cthulhu comes to Springfield! Classic Simpsons characters with a healthy mix of Lovecraft Something's amiss! Krusty is giving away trips to kids? That's Unpossible! Will the parents catch on and save the wee children, or will the kids have to do it themselves?
Nothing crazy, nothing wild... simply four of my most memorable games I've run in 35+ years of GM con games.
