Saturday
Just northwest of Atlanta, Dice+Diversions set up for its second year. My playgroup had heard decent things about how well things went in Year 1, so we decided to check it out. Due to life commitments, I could only participate in one of its three days, but we tried to squeeze as much gaming as we could in the time we had.
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RagnaBorg
A Vikings themed game using the MorkBorg rules, we actually got to have our game run by one of the game designers, Erica Love. It was a 2 hour session which was just enough time to get into the flavor of things. The adventure itself (and the overall setting I believe) was set at a time when Ragnarock has begun, the world has been thrown into disarray, and those tribes who have survived now face a world in its final death throws. Our group, the select few of our tribe, were tasked with journeying to a sacred place of bones where we would get our future revealed to us (and the future of our tribe).
Having played MorkBorg before, I knew that it can be extremely dangerous to a character’s life. However, we actually managed to do fairly well in the combats to the point only one player ever actually reached 1 hit point. The odd thing about that was the Players went last in Initiative for every battle (never let it be said we wanted to do things the easy way). We managed to roll a handful of natural 20s which allowed us to shout “Yay Violence!” and roll on that special table which offered all sorts of extra flavor for battles. A couple of clever moves from players also helped us deal with a horde of Undead. Finally, we managed to get our future revealed… and due to us inadvertantly lying to the Fates, they did not offer us much to look forward to.
I definitely could see how you could play a cool campaign against this backdrop where the gods are dead/dying and your tribe is sturggling to survive. Perhaps you could find salvation in a new land across the seas?
You can find the game here and on DrivethruRPG here.
Eldritch Automata
Horrorific monsters. Post apocolyptic world (apparently this was the day for such games). Damaged humans. Mechs!
In a world where the Eldritch Beings have broken through the barriers between worlds, humanity’s last chance lies in those who have managed to wield Mechs. Though, not everyone is convinced they are the saviors, and perhaps we are exchanging one horror for another.
Eldritch Automata takes the Year Zero system (Aliens, Tales from the Loop) and applies it here. In addition, you have different stats whether you are in a Mech or out of a Mech. Inside your metal giant, you are on par with the Horrors and can defeat them with decent tatics and some good luck. Outside that shell, you are little more than a meat bag waiting to get broken in two.
Overall, I’m not sure this system is the best one for such a game. Yes, you end up rolling a TON of dice (which is always fun), but because of the stark difference between your two modes… it made it so we were abusing the Stress systems in order to get more and more dice so that our damage could get through when we were outside our Mechs. In other Year Zero games, Stress was really a no-no for the games we played, with serious roleplaying needed to help bring your character back from breaking. This game almost encouraged pushing as hard as you could. And in fairness, it was a 1 time convention game, so there is little reason not to go to extremes.
You can find the game here and on DrivethruRPG here.
Rhapsody of Blood
I grew up playing the various early Castlevania games (my personal favorite was Simon’s Quest because it was such a departure from the first). So the opportunity to play something “similar” hit all the right feels. Set up as a part of the Powered By the Apocolypse Legacy style of game play, I was intrigued by exactly what that might mean. Effectively the game begins with an evil within a Castle and the heroes must defeat the Big Bad and cleanse the realm.
The twist comes from the Legacy aspect. That first battle is merely the beginning of your own Bloodline. The war will continue through the ages with each generation having to deal with a new Horror. What’s interesting about that is each one should (hopefully) build upon the previous generation. There are mechanics which will grant your offspring additional powers, relics, etc… but from a roleplaying standpoint, the story should continually build upon what came before.
From our game at the convention would have resulted in a great next generation, as one of the characters claimed the power of the castle for themselves in an attempt to clean their taint and raise a new church for one of the other characters. However, this betrayal could have set up future grudges between bloodlines, or made a whole religion spring up for the exact wrong reason.
The possibilites were just one reason why I enjoyed this one the most of any of our games on the day.
You can find it on Itch here and on DrivethruRPG here.
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Overall, I had a great time at this small convention and am looking forward to seeing it only grow from here! You can find more information about Dice+Diversions here.
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John McGuire is the writer of the sci-fi novel: The Echo Effect.
He is also the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!
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His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow Empire, Tales from Vigilante City, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.
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