Gencon 2025 Recap: Pickup Games

I ran two pickup games at Gencon 2025 for some friends. One was a familiar game and scenario, one I had never run before.

BENEATH HANGMAN'S HILL (His Majesty The Worm)

Mumbletooth Hoppbiter and his partner in crime Billith were drinking in the Kick at the Clouds, a tavern on Hangman's Hill, when they received terrible news from the Troll barkeep Witte Boiledsyrup. The basement of the tavern had been taken over by a mercenary company. The Red Claw gang had hoarded all the drink in the cellar for themselves. Until they were dealt with there would be no refills. The Dwarf hoodlums didn't have to be told twice. They pounded their drinks and went into the basement to solve the problem.

The Dwarves stumbled around picking up trinkets and trash and looking for threats. Billith went down a flight of stairs and hopped daintily over the wine bottles arranged there as a makeshift alarm system. A group of armed Goblins played cards in the next room. Mumbletooth swaggered up to the table and joined the game with such confidence that the Goblins had to let him play. He courteously lost enough money to ingratiate himself, and learned that the Goblins were acting as sentries for the Orcs of the Red Claw gang, who were encamped on the level below. The last raid on the Giant Conclave was a success and everyone was celebrating. The Dwarves wandered around the second level of the basement, picking up gross corpse parts that the sorcerously inclined Mumbletooth could use to cast spells of the Wastes.

Though they could probably take the Goblins in a straight fight, raising the alarm was probably a bad idea. The Dwarves checked their map and decided to infiltrate through the collapsed floor of the cistern. Billith climbed a heap of empty wine barrels in the barrel vaulted cellar and promptly got stuck in a drainage pipe. He forced himself forward and found the pipe was greased, sliding down and falling through a the hole in the cistern floor. He just barely avoided landing on his head and made a lot of noise doing it. 

Billith hid behind a stalagmite when Montserrat the Red Orc Sergeant came to investigate the noise. He was annoyed that the Goblins were throwing trash down the cistern instead of the trash chute again. Enough that he went upstairs and literally went berserk on the little sentries, smashing up their card game and killing one with his ax. Mumbletooth sprang from cover and attacked with his mace, and battle was joined. Montserrat refused to back down, no matter what entreaties the Dwarf threw at him. He was berserk and the fight only ended when Billith snuck up and tripped him from behind, sending him tumbling down the stairs to his death. Montserrat's violent rage chased off the Goblins and nobody downstairs showed up to investigate the fight, leaving the Dwarf duo in peace for the moment.

Mumbletooth drew sigils on the floor using the necromantic ink he found in the hobby ossuary and raised the Red Orc as a zombie. He told it to keep watch while he and Billith rested. The stealthy Dwarf went downstairs to inspect the wood floored chamber he saw on the map. He found paintings on the walls, a prostitute asleep on a futon on the floor, and the sound of drunken song from the next room. He reported back to Mumbletooth and they hatched a plan.

The Dwarves went downstairs, through the cave where Billith fell and into the room with the painting. The hooker woke up and asked if they knew where Montserrat went. He was her favorite client and he still had money. Mumbletooth peered through the door into the ritual chamber where six Green Orcs drank and enjoyed themselves with two more hookers. He used Dwimmercraft to telekinetically steal all their weapons one by one while they partied. He got all their hardware before the zombified Montserrat stumbled into the painting gallery, provoking a scream from his lady of the evening and alerting the Orcs.

The Dwarves sent the zombie forward to buy time. The Orcs grabbed improvised weapons and clubbed their lost leader to death with bottles and cutlery, giving the Dwarves a chance to prepare their defenses. Billith shot into the crowd with his bow as the Green Men shrugged on mail and grabbed shields. Mumbletooth cast stinking cloud to stun the mob and waited until a couple were through the door before slamming it behind them. Cut off from the group, the ones who made it through were cut to pieces by the Dwarves.

The rest of the Red Claw mercenaries went the long way around to link up with their trapped comrades. Billith shot them with arrows but the prostitutes shouted a warning, allowing the warriors to raise their shields in time. Mumbletooth pushed the cloud along with his mind, keeping the Orcs disoriented and sickened. Two Green Men got close enough that the mage couldn't drop the cloud on them without gassing himself, the rest went down. The Dwarf raised his mace and told them to grab their wounded and get the fuck out. He pushed the cloud out of the way, offering them an escape to the surface. They took it.

The Dwarves looted the basement. They took paintings from the gallery and offerings piled in front of the disturbing bird statue, which vomited an owl pellet full of trash and treasure when blood was spilled in its temple. The true prize was the booze. Kegs and barrels and bottles of the stuff. The Dwarves rolled it upstairs, barely able to contain their excitement.

In the tavern, Witte the Troll congratulated the hired goons on a job well done. He tapped a cask of the good stuff to celebrate. They all took a celebratory pull and immediately spit it out, nauseated by the taste of the reeking cloud that had permeated the brew.

(We played this one with miniatures we painted. I didn't know what miniatures people would pick from the pile so I went with character creation in play rather than making pregens. I chose a dungeon area from the Pile of Blades campaign. I thought about bringing all my little orcs and goblins but I'm glad I didn't. The last thing I needed at Gencon was a bunch of fragile painted metal taking up weight and space in a suitcase.

This was probably the most lopsided battle I've run in His Majesty The Worm, with two characters vastly outnumbered by monsters who could deal serious damage if they all ganged up. The players rose to the challenge. I also forgot a few mechanics, like testing for miscasts every time the mage took damage with a concentration spell up. Even if I remembered I wouldn't have done anything about it, I deliberately left all my hardcovers at home.)

THE GREAT GLASS MOUNTAIN (Mythic Bastionland)
The Salt Knight Tiber rode his scaly steed out of the surf, followed closely by his squire Reme aboard a not-so-scaly pony. Their mission: present themselves to the ruler of the realm in his citadel at the center of the map. 

 

The ocean rose to the horizon line behind them like a gray wall. Up ahead the beach gave way to coastal dunes and grasslands. There was the wreck of an enormous ship, beached and squashed by its own weight. By the time Tiber realized what he was looking at Reme was already urging his pony forward. The interior of the structure was full of enormous tide pools, sea anemones and crabs splashing in the flooded compartments. An enormous statue lay smashed, fallen through the decks when the ship was beached Reme pointed to a sand dune piled against one side of the wreck by the blowing wind, forming a ramp up to the top of the structure. He warned the Knight that the wood was unstable. Tiber dismounted the scaly steed and went to the peak to survey his surroundings.

From the apex, the Salt Knight could see a small port town one day's ride away. A handful of dwellings and markets clustered around an enormous stone dome, partially collapsed, with a pier leading out into a cove that sheltered the boats from the ocean.

Something shone in the mountains to the north of the wreck. Like the sun catching a white feather as it fell.

Tiber decided to head for the holding on the coast. It was on the way to the seat of power and a good place to gather information about everything he'd seen. The fastest way was to travel inland, out of the dunes and into the rolling hills surrounding the cove. After a watch spent riding through the endless mounds they all looked identical. As the sun sank in the evening the Knight had to wipe his salt rimmed eyes to make sure what he saw was real: one of the hills shone with a light of its own. He drew closer and found it was no hill, but a stone arch. Reme's pony would draw no closer to the glowing entrance, but Tiber had no such reservations. The light dimmed until it was merely a pinprick, one of many in a field of stars visible through the gate. A white raven flew from one of the ugly trees dotting the hillocks, receding into the black field until it joined the tiny shining dots.

The stars dimmed as Tiber dismounted and grew closer. By the time he reached the entrance they were gone, leaving only the stonework behind. A shallow cave cut into the hillside in the shape of an open mouth. The stone floor was scorched as though by ancient burnt offerings. On the back wall was engraved a stone image of three hooded figures, taller than a man could reach, carrying lanterns.

Reme reached and knocked sour apples from a sad looking tree. His pony ate one and the Scaly Steed bullied the smaller equine aside to eat the rest. Tiber asked if Reme had seen the bird disappear into the opening and the Squire acknowledge that it was so.

The rock dome on the cove had a sluice at the base, allowing water from the cove to fill an interior space. The beaches were covered with glass in every color of the rainbow, worn smooth by time and washed ashore from some ancient flooded ruin from a past age. Tiber announced himself to the sentries outside the castle and the lord of the manor burst out of the doors to greet him. The Pearl Knight, a hard man in a beautiful surcoat studded with pearls. He was delighted to entertain a fellow Knight and invited Tiber inside, assuring him that Reme and the horses would be well cared for. Tiber insisted that his Squire accompany him inside. The host's face darkened for a moment, then he grinned and invited them both inside.

The inside of the dome was a flooded garden. The "rooms" of the Pearl Knight's estate were platforms connected by bridges. The roof of the dome was partially collapsed, granting inhabitants the clouds and moon and stars. The Knight offered his guests a gift: a pearl for each of them, removed from his doublet and handed over like they were pieces of beach glass. He was delighted to hear they were on their way to the citadel to pledge their service to the Glass Knight. He had been the man's squire (one of several...) and knew no man better fit to lead the kingdom. 

The Pearl Knight's wife had caught dinner enough for two extra guests: an enormous marlin, reeled in and speared and now grilled over an open flame. She was large and young and healthy but her hands shook when Tiber described the omen he had seen. The gate to the stars and then the dark. She told him he sounded like her dad, the Glass Knight. He was always talking about myths and omens and at least one of them had come true. There was a reason the realm wasn't infested with Wyverns anymore. The Pearl Knight had heard stories of things coming out of the earth to the north. He didn't know anything about the mountains, though Reme suspected he was lying. His wife suggested the big ship was a great place to fish for the enormous crustaceans that lived in the wreck.

The fish was delicious, the bread and vegetables had a taste Tiber couldn't identify. The Pearl Knight explained it was all part of his experiments. He was breeding crops that could live on seawater, which would open up the salt marshes around the dome to cultivation. When asked, he speculated that the dome had some astrological or religious function by its original creators, but clearly had no idea what he was talking about. 

At night the domed roof carried conversation from the other side. A pair of gardener-fishermen struggling to keep something contained in its flooded pen. Tiber stood immobile, hand outstretched. The horizon rose and fell, then grew large and filled his vision. Something beneath his feet broke and he fell down to shatter. He woke up with his arm extended. Reme asked why he was making the same pose as the statue from the ship.

Reme waited until they were well away from the domed settlement before he removed the pearl from his belt pouch. He rolled it in his fingers and, as though he didn't realize what he was doing, let it drop. The Salt Knight noticed this and pulled his own from his surcoat. Reme acted like he didn't see it and made a tossing motion over his shoulder. Tiber dropped his own pearl into the muck. When they had rode a chain or two he asked for an explanation. Reme strongly suspected that the Pearl Knight could see out of the gems. It was how he knew they had arrived before they were announced. All his men at arms wore them.

He hadn't told them about the pearls, and their host had also probably lied about not knowing what was in the mountains. Tiber led his Squire out of the marsh and into the foothills below the peak, hoping to find something that would shed light on what he had seen. The wooded slopes led up to a talus pile against a cliffside. A woman in armor stumbled down from the summit, dislodging loose rocks. A Knight. She was on the run from something and the Salt Knight offered his aid in fighting off her pursuers. She told him she had been far away. She couldn't remember where.

A shadow emerged from the rock face. It raised a shining lantern and stepped toward the lost Knight. She fled down the hill. The Salt Knight challenged the fiend to face him and spurred the Scaly Steed up the rock pile, Squire close behind. Tiber slashed with his sword and stabbed with his javelin. Reme struck with ax and dagger. The shadow swept a hand from the membrane of its cloak and struck Tiber with a cold blade that passed through his armor without a sound. Summoning all his courage the Knight fought through his fear and smote the shadow.

The phantom's lantern fell and burst on the rocks, forming a pool of white flame. 

Two shadows oozed out of the flame and rose to face the Knight.

Tiber and Reme turned and fled back toward the wood. Tiber reached out to scoop the lost Knight into the saddle as she fled the spirits. He fell off his horse and sent them both tumbling down the hill, into the undergrowth and away from their pursuers.

(I ran this for one player at the airport while we waited at the gate. I brought the realm I created with the PDF book and picked up the hardback at the convention. I had to steer the action away from the ruined ship because I didn't have the dungeon prepared, yet. The first session was encouraging. Mythic Bastionland may be the first game where low ability scores are actually the "fun roleplaying challenge" everyone insists they are, because the battle system ensures that every player character has a chance to contribute no matter how bad they rolled. I forgot that the Salt Knight should have gotten a scar by dropping to exactly 0 Guard after Denying the phantom's highest damage die. We haven't seen the last of Mythic Bastionland).