Big Bad Con Games!
Big Bad Con 2022 Wrap-Up (Part 2 of 2)
Big Bad Con is a Bay Area-based, story and indie game-focused tabletop roleplaying convention (with a healthy dose of LARPs and board games). You can read the first part of my Big Bad Con Wrap-Up, where I shared notes and advice from the panels I attended, here. This post covers what I played at the con.
Ahadi: Guns Blazing
Basheer Ghouse (@BasheerGhouse)
“Guns Blazing!” is the TTRPG equivalent of a tactical shooter, mixed with a diesel-punk alternative history 1920s. Magic is real, but we’re not talking elves and wizards, rather, empires controlled by djinn and the radioactive tech of the Atom Unborn.
The particular scenario I played focused on skirmishes against the VOC (Dutch East India Company) in modern-day Indonesia. There was a djinn and ifrit in the party. Colonialism was represented by these infected, fungi-dog creatures that were working with the Dutch. We were a band of international freedom fighters. The setting was visceral and distinctive. I was taught “standard-fare” US-centric world history growing up, so the dynamics and topics felt new (to me at least).
The gameplay was war-gaming epitomized, employing a full set of minis and a 3D battle map. The combat system focused on bloody action sequences and fast-paced tactical gun fighting.
Where to get it: You can follow the Kickstarter for “Guns Blazing!” here.
The Magical Repair Shop
Ash Can Games (@ashcangames) and Glaive-Guisarmier (@glaiveguisarme)
By Sunday of the Big Bad my brain was noodle soup (it didn’t help that I joined Wolf Run, the 7 am “actual running” LARP the last day of the con). I’d signed up for “The Magical Repair Shop,” my first foray into “cozy-core” TTRPGs. Here, the focus is less on monsters and melodrama, and more on tea, comfiness, and slice of life.
Enter the Magical Repair Shop, a TTRPG by Ash Cheshire and Lara Turner which is based on an actual British TV show (The Repair Shop), about a group of professional artisans, working from a barn, restoring family heirlooms. In the ~magical~ version, everyone is a flavor of mystical craftsperson, who draws their mending magic from a different source. My fellow players and the GM (Ash, one of the co-creators) were awesome. Everyone had a unique take on a repair shop wizard, from a deadpan necromancer who worked exclusively with “locally” harvested animal parts to a mystical auto-body mechanic that repaired a “biker gang”-flavored witch’s broom.
Also, the character sheet was on this little foldable cootie catcher-esque object called a Victorian puzzle purse:
I had this weird moment, spurred on by massive sleep debt and the vibes of the game, where I went into a trance and monologued this deep and dark restoration of a beaded dress under the stars. This was possibly my roleplaying highlight of the con; big recommend!
Where to get it: You can buy a pdf for “The Magical Repair Shop” here.
The Racket
Saturday night, after a day of networking, I played “The Racket”: a large, hidden role parlor game. You had a secret character and the goal was to make the most money throughout the night. There were a bunch of different items and assets in the game (such as “Weapons” and “Contraband”) and you had to collect different combinations of these to complete “Capers,” which usually gave a cash reward. All the while, people could murder each by discretely clipping a clothespin to them.
This game wins the award for the best pin of the con; I came in second place due to the dumb luck of witnessing a large weapons deal (i.e. one person passing 10 clothespins to another). For my “hard” labor, I got a f***ing medal:
It was a blast. Pro tip: don’t wear a loose jacket.
Where to get it: HOAX runs “The Racket” at parties, conventions, corporate events, and other large gatherings (they are Bay Area–based). You can reach out to them here if you want to hire them to run a game. They also have ticketed events and you can sign up to be notified about them here.
Jukebox: A Karaoke Musical Roleplaying Game
Me! (aka Jar of Eyes) (@ceruleanotter)
So I ran a game for the first time at a convention; what’s more, it was a playtest of my own game, “Jukebox.” I’m working on a version 2 which I might do a small Kickstarter for next year. The “playbill” style rulebook was designed to be printed and it’d be cool to be able to hold one of my games.
As for the playtest, the group sang an Ocean’s 11-style casino space heist. The opening number was the karaoke classic “Don’t Stop Believing.” Other memorable moments:
The hacker/lockpicker singing The Greatest Show before tragically blowing themselves up to get into the final safe.
Heartbreak Hotel during a slo-mo boxing match between two bitter rivals.
A rendition of “You Will, You Won’t” as the con artist debated whether to stay and wait for her friends or take the escape pod and run (she left without them 😭)
The playbill for the game shows the full setlist:
I’ll take half a second to revel in the fact that it went well; here’s a tweet from one of the playtesters:
Where to get it: You can purchase version one of Jukebox on my itch.io page. Use this link to get 25% off (and thank you for reading!). I’m happy to give early access to version two of Jukebox to anyone who’s supporting my work; feel free to reach out to me at jarofeyesgames(at)gmail.com!
Heroes of the Hearth
Pelgrane Press specifically Stiainín Jackson
This game was part of an anthology called Seven Wonders and I played it at Games on Demand. “Heroes of the Hearth” is all about the lovers, friends, and family members that get left behind when the heroes go off to save the day. It has deep melancholic vibes, supported by a complex web of relationships and a letter-writing mechanic.
The game was GM-less and involved short vignettes. Our group told a poignant story about arguing over isolationism and faith. In the background, our hero relatives fought mermaids and an impending climate disaster.
Where to get it: You can purchase the whole Seven Wonders anthology here.
Roll for Shoes
This one was another game I played at Games on Demand. It’s an extremely rules-light (1-page) microsystem of a game, where the gimmick is that you start basically useless (i.e. needing to roll to even put shoes on) and slowly get better, through failure, at doing mundane and less mundane tasks.
The scenario that the GM came up with was perfect for the game: we woke up in stasis pods on a spaceship, with the emergency signals going full blast and smoke filling the room. It made complete story sense that we spent the first thirty minutes of the game blindly fumbling to get out of our pods and crawl around. It turned into a funny little wacky game session.
Where to get it: It’s free and one page; you can find it here.
In closing…
Not mentioned above, but I also played a yet-to-be-announced game by Misha Grifka. You can take a look at his published work here. I also picked up some awesome-looking graphic novels from Difference Engine (Bearing Witness and A Drip. A Drop. A Deluge: A Period Tragicomedy), a book from Metal Weave Games about interviewing game designers called “No Way to Make a Living,” and a game called The Price of Coal (by Jennifer Adcock) which I hope to play soon. If you’re interested in learning more about any of those, let me know in the comments 😉.
Hope my readers in the States are recovering from turkey season. My next planned newsletter series will be tips and reflections on project managing a multi-person TTRPG project, based on my experience with leading Encounters in the Radiant Citadel.
This free newsletter is a mix of game design thoughts, inspirational TTRPGs, and updates on what I’m working on. If you’re not already a subscriber, here’s a handy button:
Over and Out,
- 🫙 👁️ 👁️