ConTingency 2021

 "Sure, a lot of 2020 conventions will have to go online, but we'll be back to normal by 2021 right?"

Ahh well.  So, ConTingency Online then.  I was initially planning on pitching some games, but ultimately decided to give myself a weekend off and just play for a change.

Game 1: Tales from the Loop

9am is not my ideal time to start gaming, but there we were, choosing our characters.  Having previously played a bookworm, I decided to go for the computer geek this time and spent a happy time reprogramming robots with the aid of my trusty calculator in order to rescue one of my favourite Grange Hill characters.

I'd previously played Alien with the same GM, and he really knows his stuff with Fria Ligan games.  I stopped myself signing up for another of his 9am games on the Saturday, but it sounds like that group had as much 80s fun as we did.

Game 2: Casting The Runes

While me and Gumshoe aren't friends, I was willing to put up with it for the chance to play this M R James inspired game.  And given what I new of the GM, I figured I'd enjoy the story enough to overlook the rules.  This was, in fact, the case.

Having the book on hand was useful though, as while the GM made our characters for us, he was also taking requests.  So I asked for a lady author of detective novels who wrote under a pseudonym, and we worked out a few connections between our characters beforehand.

We were plunged into a tale of lost love, black magic and the walking dead, accompanied by some utterly hideous NPCs and some Just William references thrown in for good measure.  While perhaps the more comedy aspects weren't quite so Jamesian (although James had an absolutely biting wit when he cared to show it off) the main plot was solid and I can see myself running something similar.

Although I'd run it with Cthulhu Dark, not Casting The Runes itself, because while this was one of my better experiences playing a Gumshoe game, it's still not the system for me.

Game 3: Call of Cthulhu

My final game was with the same GM as my second game, and this time we were a family of sisters in the Regency period on a visit to Cheltenham Spa in the hope of attending a ball and finding suitable husbands.  This required maintaining dignity and respectability at all times, as the slightest hint of a scandal could mean we were all going to end up becoming governesses.

This was in no way a horror game, nor was I expecting it to be from the game description.  What it was was the most I've ever laughed in a CoC game, as we moved from one potentially scandalous situation to another, embarrassing secrets were spilled and eligible young men endeavoured to make our aquaintence.

It was a Call of Cthulhu game, however, and the sisters did find themselves having to take on evil cultists and occult forces, while still attempting to maintain respectability.  After all, as my character said, "What's the point of saving the world if our reputations are ruined?"  This was shortly before I rolled a critical failure and she dropped the shinining trapezohedron down her cleavage.

This is a game I'm going to remember for a long time.

Reflections

My first ConTingency.  It's clear this in no way replicated the experience of past events.  But it's certain made me keen to attend, at whatever point in the distant future when it's actually safe to gather a large group of nerds in one place again.  I'm sure a lot of new friends are waiting for me there.