[Olympia Campaign] Under the yoke of the Titans

Having run the blockade, the PCs head to a small village where they fought the forces of the Titans. These forces included hoplites and a mercenary mage. A rather impressive battle.

[Olympia Campaign] The Icy Plains of Athenion

The PCs returned to Athenion (from where they sailed at the start of the Campaign...). Finding the normally-busy city deserted, they chose to land away from the city proper. Learning the Titan army was besieging Athenion, they ran the blockade but they ran into a band of Cryoads, titanborn of cold, ice, and snow.

This resulted in a mix of ice mounds and palm trees!

[Olympia Campaign] The Temple of Xanthus

The party's destination, the temple of Xanthus, son of Apollo. There were stories. Somewhere within what turned out to be a tomb, was the secret location of their quest.

The PCs found a room with several petrified bodies and fought a Huge basilisk (which I made to be serpentine rather than lizardesque). A lot of abilities were spent to prevent his petrification. Inspiration, blessings, favors...Eventually, it was defeated.

[Olympia Campaign] Titans vs Ship

Large Titans stop the Good Vibes! This was another confrontation with the Titans. The grey woman in the center of the ship is Nausicaa herself, the cleric of the Titans who killed the Great Oracle and the main antagonist of the campaign.

Another challenging battle with two large giants AND a high-power cleric...

[Olympia Campaign] The shipwreck

The Party decides to investigate a shipwreck to find a potential magical treasure.

[Olympia Campaign] Devourer Titans!

The Titans attack the PCs' landing. These devourer Titans did some serious damage. Especially when they got on the ship!

[After Action Report] MidsouthCon 2025

This year would be an experience I hadn't had in a few years... As I would fly solo - without ActionMan (who now has a job).

Friday I left home a little before 11AM, and drove to Olive Branch MS (south of Memphis TN). A nice trip on a warm spring day. I good music playing and got there on-time to check in before my first panel. "Funny" story... I realized the character sheet for my two games stayed in my folder at home... So I had to scramble to find a printer. But, thanks to the staff of the Conference Center, they printed my sheet.

Situation saved!

I participated in a panel on "RPGs and History." with Logan and Keeley. It was a lively discussion that weaved different game systems: from D&D to Call of Cthulhu and Vampire.

Next, I sat in on a panel on Using AI for Writing and Creation. The panel was quite divided in the "Not any" to "Yeah, you can use it." My own position is somewhere in the middle. I have been using AI, mostly for reviewing, summarizing, and generating art.

My next panel was on Villains and how to make them good. I started with the following statement that drove the discussion for the next hour... Darth Maul does nothing evil during the Phantom Menace.

I went to the RPG room and joined a table of Monster of the Week. I was "Wilma" who that the creepy local goth 12 year old traveling with my "Uncle Scraggy" in his van. (Later, Grandman joined us.) We had a short, but fun adventure fighting a local creature rising from his grave. One of my highlights included me making the van's bumpers magical.

Saturday I offered two table of Ozaka: Sound of a Biwa Some of you with eagle eyes will say "JP, isn't that your Gencon adventure?"

Indeed.

My morning game did not go off, so I jumped into a game of Mission Accomplished. That is a story game where your mission was accomplished and you succeeded. The game takes place in a HR debriefing where the PCs have to blame/ cover your own rear end. In the end, someone gets a promotion and someone gets shot. This is a very funny game and a love letter to the TV show "Archer"

My next slot, I ran my adventure, playtesting it. A few things came up - paths I hadn't considered, making the adventure better overall - YAY!

For the evening, I was scheduled for my first game of Kult, but the GM never showed up! So I jumped to a game of Call of Cthulhu, ran by Keeley! It was an adventure I ran "way back" of which I only remembered the high-level details. Fun stuff. I survived by the skin of my teeth despite failing several important checks.

I will say this new edition removes the "charm" of the era in favor for an "Afternoon Special" version where people of Lovecraft Country look like modern day Los Angeles, being a mosaic of people. There is a charm of playing the 1920s, with its idiosyncracies - which includes sexism and racism. Thus playing a woman in the 1920s as an engineer SHOULD raise eyebrows, and this SHOULD be used for the game, forcing players to be creative to play AROUND these barriers.

Sunday I participated in a Pro Row. Then I jumped in the car and returned home.

The biggest lesson I take away is to make sure "5e" is in the title of the events.

Another lesson is to plan to join panels on Sunday in addition to Friday. Keep Pro-Row for Saturday morning or Friday evening.