This is part 2 of my Conglomeration 2018 AAR. Here is a link to Part 1 posted yesterday.
Sunday
This morning, I had little room to play here. It was time to check out, get the three kiddos ready, pack everything, feed them ANND get ready for an 8:30 game (after whining a lot to Derek, I got my start time moved up from 7:30)...
This was accomplished and that is when I realized how much three munchkins can eat. They wolfed down nearly all the McMuffins/McGriddles (for those who don't know they are McDonald's breakfast sandwiches) BEFORE I got to eat one. Now granted, I can survived for weeks on my accumulated reserved, but still I do want to have some food in the morning.
This morning was the Conglomeration Sunday morning special, a tradition going back three or four years. I use that time slot to run something special and new. Last year, I ran Black Sails, a pirate-themed adventure set in Rhym. Two years before, was the selection of ArchDespot Hellebora to the crown of Faremh.
This year was something new. As discussed in my previous teaser post (read all about it here), I prepared a big showcase piece of terrain to use.
What I did not tease was that one of my ideas for the adventure itself was that I planned to allow people to select any one of our nineteen iconics. You read this right: NINETEEN! Now there are seven for Saggakar, and six each for Rhym and Akhamet, complete with art and specially-made miniature. After selection, I had three Akhamet characters, one from Rhym, and one from Saggakar.
So how to get all these nice people together in one place and get them to do something? Using the artifice of the Mist, the PCs woke up "somewhere" and each found on their person a note telling them they were on a quest to find something. Each world had something different they were secretly looking for. How these will affect the storyline of their world? You will have to wait and play some more.
Followed exploration and combat with various creatures, traps, and devious schemes. I think the whole story worked well enough, bringing together elements from all three of FOE's settings.
I have to declare myself extremely satisfied with the game. It went much smoother than I expected. One thing I notice is that 5e allows you to run more encounters than Pathfinder in the same amount of time, while keeping the feeling of something epic. Proof is, there were at least 10 combats in a 5ish hour game (we were interrupted a lot with checkouts and con-events). Since it was a dungeoncrawl, that was fine.
The game over, we left and returned to Nashville. I will say that I was tired. Speedway coffee helped me make the trip back as ActionMan did not see I-65 at all (we have it's a 180 miles or so on it). He did wake up on the final leg, on I-24. Jojo slept a little too.
The Review
Just for fun, I went back and reviewed my highlights and evaluations of the 2014, 2016, and 2017 conventions, looking for trends on how things are going.
What I will post here seems to continue some of the trends I found in previous years.
The Good
Smoothness of operation As a GM, all I had to do was show up, set up and run my games. That is always something I appreciate. This year, the guys did something new I though went really well: they had binders with the games inside, separate by game type, and day. So all the Saturday stuff was in one binder, then you chose to go to Pathfinder/Starfinder, 5e, Shadowrun, Cthulhu, etc.. That was absolutely great. It was simple and everyone could find what they want. It did create something of a choke point, but people were cool and after a few moments, you could sign up. Nice one!
Con Suite Now I know I ranted a lot about this one over the years, esp comparing it to MidSouthCon. MSC is still better. However, they now moved the suite to a room up in the hotel tower. Good: more room for people (the suite is big) and food is readily available. Both good things. On the down side, it is still far from where the con happens and requires an elevator trip. But, after griping about it for years, I have to put this in the good because of its improved state.
None of this would happen without the many Players (as I spent my time in the gaming section...) who attended and participated. I met a lot of new people I look forward to seeing again. Ah yes, some older ones too! Having young children with me and playing with them always makes me a little nervous because some people are less welcoming. Not the case here. I said it before (and in previous reviews) but you guys in Kentucky are great, and you proved my statement.
This year, I noticed there were quite a few other local GMs and game designers, include one guy whose name escapes me has a game called 3rd Age that seemed pretty interesting. I didn't get to play, but a lot of people did and they seemed to have a great time of it. Archie ran more of his stuff, he really likes non-traditional characters.
It seemed to me that the attendance was up for the con. At least in the gaming room and that was great to see. The place had a nice vibe from Friday night to Sunday.
The Bad
I griped about this one for a while... Firm RPG slots should be defined and adhered to by all GMs. As it was most RPGs were on one schedule: 9-2, 2-6, 7-12 (IIRC) but there were a few who were on odd schedules with games starting at 10-3, 5-9 9-1... Tightening would ensure everyone could have a game. Now I lucked out and had full or almost-full tables each slot.
One of the issue this created was that some players would come in and bounce during the game. That annoys me greatly.
The GM badge system is still a tad wonky, but I know the guys are working to improve it, so I'll put it here until it can become one of the strong point.
Conclusion
Conglomeration is one of those conventions I enjoy. It is one of those events where organized play is not present. I knew there would be no Pathfinder Society, but I was somewhat surprised not to see any Adventure League.
It was an opportunity to meet and catch up with old faces: JD, Archie, Jeff-D, Derek-M, Chuck, Derek-M, Sage, Jake, Randy-P, to name but a few and many more I forget. I missed Allison-R and Karen-J but that is the crazy wackiness of a con.
I'm pretty sure you can guess but YES, I am planning to come back to Conglomeration 2019 with my cohort of monsters.
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