Mepacon 50 Review

Let's be honest, Historicon is the pinnacle of conventions for me.  

But by golly, a well-run Mepacon is a close second. 

Even mid-afternoon on a Friday, the place is jumping!

As faithful readers of the blog have seen repeatedly, this past weekend for Mepacon (Originally the Mid-Eastern Pennsylvania Convention).  This year the convention remains outside of Allentown, PA off the PA Route 100 exit, a fine facility that can barely hold the majesty of the local convention.  

In addition to the four different events I was running, I had the pleasure of bringing my daughter, Maja, with me.  She drives now, so she drove down from Albany after work, with a surprise guest: her younger sister, Millie.  Millie games as well, but her plan was to spend a weekend of AAU basketball as a  spectator, watching her best friend play two levels up at 17U during a college coaches showcase.  

Friday

I took all of Friday off, and it was a good idea, as I was still formatting and printing off handouts for my games up until noon.   We finally ventured down the PA Turnpike, with no issues and arrived at the The Delta by Marriott Hotel with plenty of time to unload my stuff, let Maja figure out the compact arrangement of the convention, and for me to set up my afternoon Burning Plastic game. 

Burning Plastic, a game where green army guys represent robots on a futuristic landscape where 100% casualty rates aren't just acceptable... they're expected.  We started playing this at cons in the mid-90's, sold a few books along the way, and for the 50th (and nostalgia-fueled) Mepacon, it was a no brainer.  

I was placed within the "hallway" area, mixed within the solid Battletech contingent, although my request for a square/rectangular table was seized by the B'Tech boys for a layout that I never saw an actual game at.

Note to self: Specifically request Table #52 for Mepacon 51... all slots.

The infamous table 52....

I had the best of both world in my first game.  Two brand new players who slowly learned the twisted insanity of Burning Plastic... and two old buddies, Cyrus and George, who played the game back in the 90s.  

I have finally joined the internet trend of taking a picture with my players, post-game (and post-clean up!)

No matter your experience, when robots start self-destructing, and air strikes (chucked dice) make the men line up like it's a penalty kick, you can throw that right out the window.  

Friday night was supposed to be my Talislanta "The Crystle Dungeon" game.  This was my first ever convention game I GM'ed back at Lehicon IV in March of 1991.    The plot was the same, with lots of wiggle room, the characters still pulled off of the 1988 2nd edition rules (the classic heavily tattooed Thrall on the cover).   I was prepped for a classic, successful convention game, updated to more modern accoutrements and set-up. 

Despite the "Looking for Players" placard, I had none, and after 45 minutes or so, I packed that up and wandered the con.  

The silver lining?  The entire game is finally in a file folder, and two separate files digitally.  

Maja participated in an Improv seminar and played in a playtest promo of a fun game called Community Cats, which, when it becomes available, will end up at her house, to be gleefully played by her sister and mother. 

The one thing that always impresses me about the Mepacon is its history giving burgeoning game designers and companies a platform to show off their games, and playtest their new ideas.  There was quite literally a corner of the main ballroom labelled "Break My Game" were designers gleefully recruited players of all sorts to try out their concepts, some with simple mock-ups, others with more elaborate set-ups and specific artwork.  It's always full of players, but always looking for more.

I spent a good portion of the night waiting for Maja to finish the nightly LARP.  I can probably blame Carcosa Creations with Maja quitting basketball and focusing on drama and music more.  It's not a complete coincidence that the timelines converged after her first LARP experience at an earlier Mepacon back at the Bar with No Name at the (former) Holiday Inn off PA 512 in Bethlehem.  The only thing she asked about going to Mepacon was if there was a LARP.  She was in her glory when she found out there was one each night!

After midnight, we got in the car and drove over to my Mom's in Easton to crash for a few hours.

Saturday

Pure nostalgia for me, as we left my Mom's early and drove 2 1/2 blocks to the Palmer Diner for breakfast.  It's always been a little hole in the wall diner, with fond memories of the 80's, my sub-zero weekend deliveries of the newspapers, always had my Dad sitting in the truck, keeping the cab toasty, just in case I need a moment or two to get warm, then, as I finished the last paper on the top of Greenwood Ave and John St, we'd turn around and grab breakfast at the diner.  There's nothing particularly special about those memories, or perhaps that's what makes them special.

After a solid breakfast, we made record time back to Fogelsville and I set-up for round two of Burning Plastic.  This time I was away from the Battletech crew, and sort of shoved in  corner.  But if the corner involves the "cupcake ladies" aka Quigley's Cakes.  There have been professional geek-themed cupcakes at Mepacon for the better part of ten years, maybe more, and even if money is tight that weekend, there's a two cupcake minimum.  

At better yet, for my own health's sake, no random Burning Plastic airstrikes made their way over to take out the cupcake displays.

A low-key casual ViscountEric, sporting a Next Gen jersey.

The game was another rousing success, with my players pushing the limits of the ruleset (adding buildings to the table brings up new questions that a traditional empty expanse of microchip and hydraulic fluid death do not.  

Saturday afternoon was thwarted by the most adorable six-year old girl.  

Going for nostalgia, I went with running the older River Horse Press version of the My Little Pony RPG.  I ran plenty of two-hour sessions of it back in the day, and I thought I had the perfect set-up.  

A mom, a dad, and their simple brilliant and delightful six-year girl... and my 17 years old Maja, feeling nostalgic for the game.  We had made Ponies, we were two seconds from rolling some Rory's Story Cubes to set up the plot for the adventure, and the youngest lady had a "Code Brown (Upper)" that made quite a mess.  

Obviously, the game was scrapped, the parents could attend to her.  The con staff (as always) was super responsive and within twenty minutes the hotel staff had the area cleaned, sanitized, and a new tablecloth on the table.  

No pictures of the catastrophe, but here's an explosion on a SILENT DEATH (!) table.

6pm-8pm Auction Time:  For the times before Mepacon there has always been a two hour mandatory break, with no games.  Some grab food, some take a nap, but most show up in the ballroom for the raffle, the winners of the dice guess, and the costume and coloring contests, and the auction.  

I've ranted about the auction in my Mepacon 49 review.  It's a different time, a different economy, and with that, there was a lot of mid-range stuff that simply did not garner bids because the opening bids were too high.  Not the fault of the auction rules, just a newer group of folks trying to use the auction to make money.  

The most heartfelt part of the two hours and Katie Brad, the convention director, holding back just the right amount of tears to thank everyone who had helped the con achieve it's success over the last twenty-five years.  The same extended group of friends volunteer and operate the con in some capacity since 2001.  In fact, when Katie did ask for a number of showing of hands for the classic "Raise your hand if it's your first Mepacon... Raise your hand if you've only been at Mepacon at the Delta... or if you were at White Haven... Scranton, Clarks, Summit.. or even the lone con in Jersey."

When she got to Mepacon 1, she brought those folks up... Of that small contingent of less than a dozen, only my friend Scott and I were not wearing current con staff (Ed Leheman, who retired from con, is con director emeritus by default).

And then I remember I was auction director for that first con.. so Scott was just a normal paying attendee...

The back of this year's con t-shirt.  It's been a most unusual ride....

And since we're old enough to remember "the good old days," we realized afterwards that for genealogical sake, there are only a half-dozen of us who can trace our con lineage to Lehicon 2 or 3 in the early 90s.  

God I'm old. 

I ended Saturday night with another much-demanded event: TOON - Cthulhu Comes to Springfield. What was once multiple one-hour "episodes" has been shrunk down to a two-hour "very special episode" of "Krusty the Kultist."

The first hour, the Springfield kids worked hard to make their secret prize to Krusty's sleep-away camp a nuisance for the adults to find them.  In the end it was the heroic group of Marge Simpson, Grandpa Simpson, Principal Skinner, Groundskeeper Willie, and Duff-Man who may have saved most of the wee children.  There were heroic but gruesome deaths for Grandpa and Nelson... but the most sanity shredding was the complete murder of Maggie. 

I'm proud to say that there were a circle of at least four more old players of the scenario, playing at the adjacent tables. 

Maja's day was lounging about in the morning, hanging out between the Burning Plastic and the cupcake ladies, played a game of Rock-n-Roll Brouhaha, took a nap in the car before dinner with me, snagged a game of Penny Black from the board game library, and made me stay till midnight with the LARP.  After a Wawa stop, we were home by 1am.

Nothing like waiting for the LARP wrap-up (This was Friday).

SUNDAY

Unlike Mepacon 49, I did not go Sunday, preferring to clean out the car, and coordinate the return of the youngest child, Millie, from her friend's basketball tournament in Lancaster.  As it was my birthday, we had some ice cream cake, the girls got me some extremely practical minis from the local game store, and I got to hang out with them before they headed back to upstate New York.

SWAG:  I honestly tried to peruse the multiple vendors, but, in the end, I grabbed some Car Wars stuff from the Auction buyout.   

Maja, I realized, is the bloody demographic they're looking for with the vendors I would call "peripheral"  She bought crafts and book pouches, and even some stuff for her sister, coming back to dear old dad to fill up her coffers again. 

Let's not take my downplaying of the vendors fool you, there were some heavy hitters showing up for a 500 person con. 

Mepacon 51 will be back at the Delta, November 13-15, 2026 | Lehigh Valley, PA.  The theme will be sci-fi, so I'm thinking about claiming Table 52 early and running on-going Fistful of Lead, although I still have a contingent that wants to me to run more and more Burning Plastic.   I guess it will be time to set up another poll!

My Events for Mepacon 50! April 17-19, 2026 - Outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania

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). 

Saturday

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...)

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. 

(Magical Kitties Save the Day) "Thither" the Christmas Ice Dragon #CharacterCreationChallenge

There are always those minis that I paint up and then ask, "What am I going to do with this?" 

For a few of them I asked ChatGPT.  A lot of basic answers with generic systems, but the last one kickstarted my brain... and opened my wallet.

5. Magical Kitties Save the Day – Yes, really.

• Why it's great: This is a system about magical talking animals helping people while dealing with silly problems. It could easily be reskinned for a Tiny Christmas Dragon. Replace “Kitties” with “Miniature Winter Dragon,” give it a few powers (snow breath, twinkling wings, candy cane bite), and roll with it.

• Tone match: Kid-friendly, fun for quick storytelling.

Holy crap!  

A quick visit to Atlas Games netted me the pdf copy of the current rules, plus the fabulous 1st edition pdf for only five bucks more. 

"Thither"  - White Christmas Dragon

Tagline: "Let's sleigh this problem... then, hot cocoa. 

Attributes:

Cute:       1

Cunning: 3

Fierce:    2 

Kitty Type: Magical Creature

---

Powers:

1.  Snowball Barrage (Zap)

• You can throw little snowballs as a magical ranged attack.
• Can be used to attack, or knock small objects over.  Snowballs do melt normally with heat.
• Mechanically: You have a magical zap attack, 1 damage, can be used at range.

2.   Flight  (Flight)

• Thither can zoom through the air, usually unnoticed by the unsuspecting humans.
• Mechanically: Can carry as much flying as they can when moving on the ground.

3.   Snow Swirl (Frost Breath)

• Can exhale a blast of cold air, enough to move/knock over small items, or freeze liquid.
• Mechanically: Use to lift, push, or fight with super strength.

---

Talent:  "Can fly better than most birds!"

Thither not only flies, but their wings let them zip around the neighborhood rooftops and snowdrifts with style and agility far better than crawling/scurrying around.  Thither gets a bonus to movement or flight-based challenges.

---

Flaw:

"Gets distracted by shiny things and cocoa."
You're a tiny magical dragon, not a focused hero. If someone jingles a bell or makes cocoa… you're gone.

---

Human:

Ellie, 8, who thinks Thither is her Christmas Wish come true. Of course, no one else believes her that a tiny dragon is living on a ledge under the basement steps, but they humor her.  She's depressed that other kids in the neighborhood are bullies.  She's happy to stay inside inside and read, but Thither has other plans. 

---

Home: Thither's lair is a cozy shoebox-sized nest under the steps, perfectly concealed by the piles of junk her parents have stowed away and never look at.  It's decorated with stolen tinsel and ornaments, and some candy cane packaging.  

(Fistful of Lead) The 39th Annual Holiday Cat Wrangle

It's a weekend with the kids, so among their requests to see friends, sporting events, and their former classmates in the school musical, I did manage to get a quick holiday game in with them.  

I've got a host of cool holiday scenarios hiding in the dark recesses of the blog, but with the kids' love of animals, and my recent creation of cat objective markers, a good ol' fashioned cat wrangling using Fistful of Lead was set into place.  

I have a small bin of Christmas terrain I've accumulated over the years, and the kids put everything on the board. 

The girls picked from my Gnome Wars and Mousling figures and the objective was easy.  Wrangle up the cats and lock them in a building (or Taco Truck) so the outside trees could be safely decorated.  

1. During the cat initiative each feline would roll on the Cat Random Movement chart
2. If a cat was inside a building and the door opened each cat would escape on  1 or 2 on 1d6.
3. If cats do need to fight, they roll a d8.  All gnomes and mouslings roll d10.  

The chart was pure unadulterated chaos.  One gnome was inches away from the cat, only to have it bolt up the water tower, while on the same turn, a cat on a roof just gently dropped down a rubbed up against another gnome's trouser leg.    Another gnome ran to a cat, minding its own business, startling it, making it not only run off, but be a case of the zoomies for two rounds. until finally stopping in front of the Princess Gnome.

The cats were also collecting candy canes, we didn't determine victory conditions. 

Things seemed to be going quickly, with enough time to reset and playtest it against, until the evil creatures the cat was staring at finally emerged.    The evil mechanical beasts wrecked havoc (except for the one the cat tripped up), but were dispatched with great fanare.  

Cats were wrangled, cats were stolen, snowballs were thrown ineffectively (using Wiley Games Snowbrawl rules we played last year. 

It took me awhile to recognize my daughter Millie was wearing the perfect shirt for the game....

In all, Millie won, 4 cats to 2.  The evil mechanical creatures were vanquished.  We decided I should venture out for another six cat ornaments, at least, as well as setting them up further into the table.  

All of Millie's cat congregated at the tower (aka the Kitty Hotel)

Random Kitten Movement Chart (ChatGPT), with some adjustments and modified for random movement in inches.

1. Nap Curl – The kitten circles twice and flops down wherever it is. Does not move for several minutes.

2. Sudden Dash – Bolts 2d6 inches in a random direction, stops abruptly, looks offended.

3. Investigate That – Walks 1d6 inches toward the nearest small object, sniffs intensely.

4. Underfoot Menace – Weaves between the nearest creature’s legs; that creature must notice or risk stumbling.

5. Tail Chase – Spins in place, attacking its own tail. No meaningful movement.

6. Climb Attempt – Tries to climb the nearest vertical surface (leg, curtain, chair, pack).

7. Box Magnetism – Moves directly to the nearest box, crate, bag, or open container.

8. Freeze and Stare – Stops moving and stares at something no one else can see. (Second result for cat means that thing is real!)

9. Pounce Practice – Crouches, then hops 1-6 inches toward a shadow, dust mote, or imaginary prey. (Second result for cat means that thing is real!)

10. Affection Drift – Pads over to the warmest or friendliest creature nearby and leans against them.

11. Retreat to Safety – Moves 2d6 inches toward a familiar or sheltered spot.

12. Chaos Zoomies – Runs in a loose circle around the area for 1–2 rounds before collapsing.

Sweet Use of Fishing28

It's been a weird November, with no Fall-In!, actually attending Mepacon, and trying in general to get my life back on track.  

I've been doing a lot of fishing.  

Namely Fishing28, a fun non-combat minis game, that's been perfect excuse to use some recently painted gnomes:

The concept is simple.  It can be solitaire play: a man and his boat move across the water, adjusting to the current, and the random move of a fish.  Catch all five fish and get them on shore during your move, you win!  If the boat drifts off the board, hits a rock, lands on the beach during the drift, you lose your fish  and the game.  

It's a simple concept, can be expanded for more players, and the challenges (Embuggerances!) like rocks in the water, aggressive larger fish, and even a large bird to steal your catch, one by one.  

Solo play is definitely there.  Re-playability with the Embuggerances is there.  And quenching a desire to play with Swedish fish?  Absolutely.  

As a simple free rules set, I'll need some more testing, maybe add a rule or two (adding rules is one of the rules of the game, brilliant!).  

I've pondered it long and hard, and Fishing28 is good enough to earn the coveted Gaming with the Gnomies' five gnomes out of five rating.

Heck, we're almost 15 years since my Battle of Yellowstone game, where there was shooting and conflict (and gnomes), but a good portion of that were herding, and rustling, and controlling forest fires.  This is just in the same vein.  I'm not sure it has a place in our Tropical Gnome Mega Game for Historicon, but I could see this in a smaller game, as a side quest.  It worked for the guy herding sheep illegally in Yellowstone's borders, it could work for a island of not-all cannibal gnomes.

The link for the rules for Fishing28, and a host of other cool rulesets, can be found here.  

(Savage4) Tomb of the Serpent - #4.3 The Haunted Hall

There were more dreamers around the world, who dreamt of Egypt, who dreamt of ancient artifacts.  For one group, their dreams led them to Scottish Borders, through West Linton and Blyth Bridge, past Kirkurd Church and solemn gravestones, then down a narrow, tree-lined path to Fotherington Hall.  They recognized the building immediately.

I know there are some nice set-ups for Tomb of the Serpent, but my kids are more amused by building it out using Jenga blocks. 

Our Heroes

"Mango" Tangier, Dolores "El Dobbie" Gato (Wild Card) Diana "Dibby" Boyle (Wild Card) , and Aurelio Farmer

Dolores "El Dobbie" Gato was already on her third career.  Disgraced nobility, turn rooftop cat burgler, turned South American explorer, she only really trusted her right hand gal, Diana "Dibby" Boyle, a former nightclub singer known to go toe-to-toe with famous boxers who got a bit too frisky after the performance.   "Mango" Tangier was a seaplane pilot who needed to ditch his last plane (and very illegal cargo) into the Carribean, and Aurelio was a former reporter who fell in love with the concept of treasure hunting and adventure, but... just wasn't very good at it. 

TURN ONE:  Of course, the group split up in three directions.   Mango flew up the center hallway, kicking in doors, looking for anything they would help them find the relic.  

What he encountered was a strange robed individual... with no face! 

That person quickly had no pulse as Mango blasted him with his shotgun.  If anyone else was in the hall, they certainly knew they had visitors.

TURN TWO:  Dibby had a single-minded focus to reach the fireplace for some reason, but she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around when Aurelio's rifle went off.  A different dead cultist, with a giant knife, lay dead.

So far, so good.

More trouble was near, as the cultist with a tommy gun starting making too much noise in the darkness, the sound of metal clicking, and ... a dog barking?

Dolores had gone solo, and started to move a painting in the room... too many safes in walls from a past life.  The visage of a ghost appearing did surprise or hurt her all....  The faceless cultist who attacked her drew blood.   She needed to get rid of both of them, fast! 

Dolores drawing a LOT of attention. 

Mango had found a body of the maid at the end of the hall. Searching her uncovered a key that looked very old and important.    

TURN THREE:  

Mango didn't have much of a chance to think about it, as another cultist (with a hood, face status unknown) ran up and pistol-whipped him! 

Meanwhile, Dibby dodged a rain of bullets to get to the fireplace, and Dolores had her hands full with two cultists and a ghost, but held her own. 

TURN FOUR:   Gunfire was exchanged in the main room, the tommy gun finally silenced by Dibby.   Aurelio moved up carefully to investigate the barking.  

TURN FIVE:  Dibby pulled one of the wall sconces and she could hear a secret passage open... somewhere.  Aurelio found the source of the barking: a very scared old dog, properly belonging to the (probably deceased) master of the house.  He couldn't get the dog calmed down.  

TURN SIX:  Dibby wanted to explore more, but the sight of cultists running OUT of the building, rather than attacking signaled something was very wrong.  She starting moving out of the hall, firing at the escaping cultists.  Her shots were matched with Dolores' who had managed to compliment the faceless cultist with a headless one from her machete.  Grabbing her rifle, she was firing back at the cultists and ghost as she headed to the door.  

Mango couldn't take control the dog.  The rumbling floor gave the old canine a reason to run and it made it out okay.    Mango also grabbed the unlucky and unconscious Aurelio, a nice bump on his head.  

The explosion was deafening and the ensuing fire drove everyone out of the hall.  The cultists serving some evil master escape into the night, probably with the relic. 

When asked what to do now, Dolores answered calmly, "I've had other dreams,  I know where to go to next..."

I am converting the Temple of the Serpent campaign for Pulp Alley, into Savage Showdown (Savage World lite), the system, we've been using for our Pulp "Egypt" games for over a decade.  Episode 4.2 was a nail-biter until the end.  This one made me realized that there should be at least one more character in these crews.  I did find it amusing that the leader of each game thus far has been bogged down for most of the game, allowing the others to try and finish the scenario.  

After a decade of playing with the girls, I've learned to let them do their silly things, and I'll tweak things in the write-ups.  I had originally thought we would get Maja's gang up and running, but I was blessed with a lot more Millie time as I ran them back and forth from friends' houses.  Millie showed off her Gen Alpha energy, adding annoying phrases and number combinations in the names, but a simple request in ChatGPT gave us the names used in the scenario, as well as pretty elaborate back stories I toned down.  

Next: Episode 4.4 - The Thing in the Well

(Fistful of Gnomes) Attack of the Inflatable Mummies

I actually had the girls come down this weekend, and despite assuming my Uber-Dad persona, transporting them to sleepovers and early Halloween parties, we actually got some gaming and painting done!  

But we did get our Halloween game in, finally bringing the oversized Dollar General Mummies onto the table, a sequel to the Attack of the Inflatable Zombie Pirates.

After the Attack of the Inflatable Zombie Pirates, and the snowball fights getting out of hand last winter, Holidaytown is having more than just its seasonal identity crisis.   The permanent vendor structures were built on the village green for all the festivals, painted in a Christmas and MayDay Red.  In response, the Halloween committee blew their budget on inflatable lawn decorations, to overwhelm the vendor buildings... and the gingerbread building all decked out in October. 

A few of the more nefarious committee members wanted revenge on the town, and enchanting the generator and the new inflatable mummies in the middle of the festival was the fastest solution...

Lucky for the rest, there were six brave souls willing to fight back...

Our B-Team (Gnome, Vampire, and Sausage King) getting their picture taken, moments before it came to life.

The B and C Team (Nun, Ninja, Leprechaun)

The Mummies

Objective: Destroy!

d10 Melee

Only one wound

Can only move 6" per turn (the curse requires the generator to operate, but they may move anywhere, even if they pull their plug out.)

Soulless (Shaken results are ignored)

At the end of each round, so long as the generator is operational, roll for reinforcements.

1-2:  One Mummy

3:  Two Mummies

4: One Inflatable Pirate

5: Two Inflatable Pirate

6: Special (further results are Inflatable Pirates).

Our Heroes (Regardless of Costume)

Objective: Save the other townsfolk, stop the attack.  The Heroes must be in base to base contact with the generator and make two basic (4+) task rolls to disconnect the generator and deflate their enemies chance of winning. 

d10 Melee  (d10 Shooting if they have something they can throw)

No penalties for weaponless attacks, No bonuses for blunt force attacks. 

May make a double move. 

May take an action to yell at civilians to make them leave.  No roll necessary.  Civilians move an extra 6" towards a table edge. 

Civilians

Objective: No die and maybe escape.

d8 Melee 

No penalties for weaponless attacks, No bonuses for blunt force attacks. 

Will move 6" like a headless chicken (In a random direction) when the Civilian card is drawn.  They will not run directly at the Inflatables, but will attempt to "just get by them" no closer the 2" from them. 

The Cursed Generator is next to the church (upper left)

Turn One: 

Once the Roman Legionnaire snapped the picture of the three friends, the mummies came to life, two of them first thought it was some cool new decoration, but the Gnome noticed it wasn't plugged in anymore.   The Gnome hopped the fence, and impaled the monster with his pickaxe, deflating it. 

"We're in trouble, but they can be killed!"

The Sausage King rushed over and tells his Centurion friend to get out of Dodge.  The vampire,  seeing another mummy comes to life, runs over it and gets smacked around  and locked in the combat.  

Across the rest of the village green, screams erupted from the civilians as the mummies came to life. 

The mummies did not discriminate against the heroes or the civilians. It didn't matter if they were a ninja, Santa Claus, the Eldar cosplay, the guy running the pizza stand, or even the dude in the Inflatable Godzilla costume, whoever was closest would be targeted. 

Of course, the dude dressed as a Ninja thought they were the best, and charged one of the mummies, getting wounded in the process.  Lucky for them, the Nun was a paramedic and got the Ninja up and running, the Nuns target was the strange glowing generator by the church.  

At the end of the turn, a roar came from the church, a Giant Skeletal Dragon was climbing on top of the church roof...  like a guardian for the cursed generator. 

"I told you these giant skeletons were getting out of hand!"

Turn Two:
The Nun snuck around the statue, under the eyeless gaze of the skeletal dragon, inching closer to the generator.   It still gave the Nun a front row view as the Skeletal Dragon leapt from the roof and devoured the poor civilian dressed as Stargirl (Next time I am adding horror rolls.)

The Ninja dispatched his mummy and froze, trying to find another target.

The mummies advanced, although some villagers showed quite some resilience.  The Eldar cosplayer couldn't pop her mummy, but she did push it back.  She realized the sword was probably more effective without the protective foam around it, and once corrected, the mummy fell to the ground. 

The Gnome tried to run over and help his Vampire buddy, but even with the 2-on-1, that mummy knocked him out with ease.  

At the end of the turn, two inflatable zombie pirates entered the village green, one of them directly behind the Nun

"Not these guys again!!!"

Turn Three:

It looked like it was curtains for the Nun, but the Ninja strengthened by his previous victory dashed over the mailbox and deflated the zombie pirate!  That allowed the Nun to reach the generator and begin turning it off! 

A few more civilians staggered off the board, much thanks to the poor Leprechaun.  His shillelagh was completely ineffective against and evil pillow of air, and throughout the entire battle, he just kept getting battered by his mummy.  Finally getting a glancing hit in, he tossed himself over a fence for a little separation. 

The civilians were a bit more valiant than originally planned.

The Skeleton Dragon turns around and just scarfs  up the nearby Santa Claus that was trying to sneaker under its tail.   The remaining civilians were dropping like flies, a few taking the Sausage King's warnings at first, but completely wandering off the second his back was turned. 

Two more Inflatable Zombie Pirates appeared at the end of the turn.

Turn Four: 
The Nun stared down the Skeletal Dragon as she flipped the second switch, and the generator stops glowing and goes quiet.

The mummies do not deflate... 

It makes weird cinematic sense that the mummy fighting the Vampire, the one furthest away from the generator, was the next to fall.

Unsure of its own fate, the Skeletal Dragon ate the Nun in a sense of ornamental undead revenge.  No more that a few second later, the Ninja leapt upon the creature's back in a slew it with one hit!  

With the generator off, the reinforcements finally stop. 

Turn Five: 
One of the small children had turned  from safety and ran back into the arms of her mother.  The woman could only tell the child to ran as fast as they can... and they obeyed, not looking back to see her trip on a root and get pounced on by a deflating, but still very deadly, mummy.  

The Ninja, who certainly earned the right to wear his badass costume, killed a zombie pirate with a throwing star, and surveyed the damage.  He could only stand atop the ruins of the Skeletal Dragon, unable to stop the unfortunate demise of the Leprechaun and the dude in the Godzilla costume in the final moments before all the remaining deflatables went flat. 

Godzilla was a civilian, so that red wound token should have dropped him.

We weren't really keeping track of points, but the Heroes did stop the attack, with significant losses.

Seven civilians escaped.  

Seven perished.

Three Heroes survived,

Three perished.