[Gencon 2025] After Action Report Part 7

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Conclusions

This year's Gencon was an overall success.

• There were a few bumps, which I addressed after the con (once I slept) to make sure everything was fine.
• Gencon is always trying and every year, I try to get the "regular/daytime" adventures to the GMs by Memorial Day (last Monday of May) and the specials by July 4th. This year... I was late on the specials. I could say "Well JP, you did write a 110k word novel" but that doesn't change the fact... I procrastinated too much before reaching out for help.
• I was lucky to have added three good GMs to the FOE team. Welcome Clay, Joe, and Josh.
• Thor and I have very different perspectives on things, creating a very vibrant and dynamic conversation with points/counterpoints made. Only problem... we need to shut our traps and sleep! After I got in a touch late on Friday morning, we both agreed. "No talking"
• The feedback for Tarsyn was overwhelmingly positive.
• I painted hundred of miniatures for the GMs (you can see them in parts 2 thru 4) but did not take pictures of everything...

Yes, I plan on being back next year. As I say... "Gencon begins in September!"

JP Out

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

[Gencon 2025] After Action Report Part 6

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7

Ozaka

Following the events of last year, I decided that Ozaka would be isolated for this year and not participate in the global events as a while. In many ways, this simplified how to integrate everything together, BUT I was asked about if there would be an Ozaka special. Player was sad to hear my "not this year." But this is a temporary situation...

Next year, maybe...?

Safe inside my home By Chris Ketchum. Here, the PCs are sent to track down a missing patrol along the border.

This is Chris' first formally-written adventure.

• The duelist Nito has gone away to other pastures.
• The men of Yamane were rescued from the clutches of the Kobochi forces

Sound of a Biwa By JP Chapleau. The PCs are sent to deliver a scroll to a shugenja in the village of Akemizu. When they arrive there, things are not quite as they first appear.

• Kaito Hoichi remained in Yomi.
• Lord Taira was destroyed.

Tarsyn

FOE's new setting, Tarsyn, merges elements of Arthurian Legends and the Crusades. Gencon 2025 was the first time the campaign was played for the public. The combination creates a rather unique combination of influences.

This setting was written by Rebecca and I as we traded ideas. For Gencon, we decided to use different parts of the setting and produce a different adventure style. She took the "city adventure" and I took the "wilderness adventure" to expand and present different elements of the setting. From the feedback, the setting was well-received.

Hunt for the Lady's Bowl By Rebecca Price. A researcher sends the PCs to find an artifact hidden somewhere in Tarsyn. Finding the location of the Lady's Bowl reveals the layers of Tarsynian society and its complexities.

This is Rebecca's second adventure for FOE at Gencon.

• PCs kept the map to the Lady's Bowl.
• The Leper Knight were involved in the Hunt.

White Doe By JP Chapleau. The PCs are sent to deliver a wagon of supplies to the Leper Knight on the borders of Tarsyn. However, the appearance of a dying man may change their destination.

• Werewolves were defeated.
• Sir Hubert was brought back to Auriville.

All Together (with Skytorn)

Frozen Dreams By Brandon Alspach with JP Chapleau. Prophetics dreams and visions. The PCs visited a series of dream islands, each "not-quite-right" based on Akhamet, Olympia, Ozaka, Skytorn and Tarsyn. Yet in none of them all together... An oniric adventure that takes the PCs to a dream-realm where something wishes to get access to the Prime Material.

This is Brandon's first formally-written adventure and the first special not to be written by JP.

• The Architect came thru in Akhamet and Olympia

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7

[Gencon 2025] After Action Report Part 5

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7

Olympia

The main situation in Olympia continues to be the war between the Titans and the gods, focusing on the Island of Mytenia. War is always a prolific ground for adventure.

Lexos Job by Bill Church. Following the events of last year's Through the Fire and Flame where the Mytenia army was enchanted into attacking Lexos, only to break free before completely burning the city down. Queen Kreomene sends a band of heroes to kidnap Queen Aria of Lexos before her Spartians turn on her.

I had this idea for an adventure trotting around in my mind and thought this would be a major plot point moving forward. So I approached Bill with the idea. He found this to be quite a challenge, but one I can say he nailed from listening to the games he ran. I may have another challenge for him for next year! He nailed this one...

• Queen Aria has turned herself in to the Mytenian authorities
• A Spartian military dictatorship has been installed in Lexos after the queen was kidnapped by forces loyal to Mytenia.

Damsels in Distress by JP Chapleau. After last year's Of Laurels and Secrets, the PCs obtained assistance from Amazonia for Mytenia. Here, the PCs get involved in this greater plot through the machinations of Hermes...

My original draft ballooned into something so massive that I had to cut it into two parts, the second part I reworked into Parting Shot to limit the scope and allow the narrative to breathe. I really like this one. It has several fun things to do as a GM and the PCs feel heroic in what they do. Heroic in an homeric/ancient Greek way...

• Amazon warriors were rescued.
• Naya never reported to the authorities and is reported missing.
• Is Amazonia an ally?

Parting Shot by JP Chapleau, with help from Brandon-A, Rebecca-P, and Will-M. The Titans relocated some of their forces to the island of Mytenia from outposts out at sea. Queen Kreomene sent heroes to buy off forces that may not be loyal to the Titans, spending large amounts to give the heroes funds to buy off these forces as leverage. The heroes discovered the location of the Titans' island base where they kept the captured nymphs and amazons.

General Baerius came up with a plan to attack the island and free the prisoners. Mounted on pegasi, the heroes defeated the garrisons of the island only to discover the prisoners were kept in a large cave below the island. The PCs descended into the depths of the earth. And that's where things took a turn for the worse. Something happened and the cavern came crashing down, leading to a panicked escape...

This adventure started off completely different, with element taken out of what would become Damsels in Distress. Limiting the scope of the latter made this one feel bigger, more epic. My original idea had more fantasy elements, but the narrative flow didn't work. Changing the location of the jail made it all possible. Big thanks to the gang who listened to my whining about "this doesn't work" and provided me with solution on how "this can work..."

• Because merchants know the government minted coins, they raised their prices up to quadruple the usual price.
• Centaurs scattered with the defeat of Aretion of the Redmane clan.
• Farsian Mercenaries took the money and changed their allegiance to Mytenia.
• Harpies bought by selling a portion of Mytenian coastlines.
• Pegasus fowl were rescued and the pegasi abandoned the Titans, joining the forces of Mytenia.
• The ancient black dragon Zarnokleia was released from her bonds and escaped the island on her own.
• Yamoru Three-Fingers, an odd Ozakan mage teleported away.
• Lady Suzuka, a ronin from Ozaka was rescued during the operation.
• Most of the amazons and nymphs escaped from the island prison.
• General Baerius, the Queen's lover, switched his allegiance to the Titans and trying to bury
• Two heroes: the princess Petunia and Solon of Athenion died trying to escape the destruction of the island.

Battle of Emessos

• Heroes chose to obtain the assistance of Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, and Hades
• Leviathos captured
• Queen Kreomene rescued
• Emessos still under the control of forces loyalto the Titans.
• Nerissa the titanborn Enchantress escaped
• The enemy war chest was not taken and is still under the control of Decimus Aelius.

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7

[Gencon 2025] After Action Report Part 4

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7

Akhamet

This year Akhamet focused on its own problems again as the situation with Pharaoh. Several people search ancient archives and documents for a way to cure Him of His condition...

Though no definitive discovery or final breakthrough was accomplished, our heroes found serious leads that may yield a breakthrough.

Children of Anum By Rees. The PCs went to meet with the Children of Anum, three unique children of Pharaoh who may have information that could help Akhamet with its current predicament.

This is Rees' first formally-written adventure.

• The Prophecy was spoken, making it real.
• The PCs turned it over to Saggakara

What ails Pharaoh is linked to the Horyrehmet. And there are only two known remedies: remove their influence or have him befriend another one to counteract the effects. Neither of these will be easy, and both will require great sacrifice

Forbidden Lore by JP Chapleau. A tribe of mesaru discovered a strange complex long hidden by the sands.

• Heshaba the Sand-Eater was released from his goal.

Cat Fight by JP Chapleau. Pharaoh's Harem arranged for the Festival of the Glorious Sun, a celebration of all things Akhamet. However, the festival quickly turned into a popularity contest between His Wives. As different factions vied for control of the Harem or draw the support for their own sides. The festivities promoted many exchange between people of different kingdoms and worlds. The festival was interrupted by a group of blemmyes, monstrosities without heads whose face are on their chests. They command and create undead.

• By a narrow margin, Sebtet chosen as leader of the Harem
• Foreigners supported Saggakara in large numbers
• Final "scores" were Sebtet 9 and Saggakara 8. It doesn't get closer than that!
• Two of His wives, Meritset and Minaset, were killed by the blemmyes.

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7

[Gencon 2025] After Action Report Part 3

Parts 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Saturday

Whenever Saturday comes, we're now in the groove, like we've done this for a long time. It's difficult to explain until you are there. A clear feeling that you've made it through the toughest part of Gencon. But that's a fake feeling. There is so much more left to do.

For some reason that wasn't clear to me at the time, our sales for the Saturday afternoon slot were very low. It allowed me to give Bill a chance to play something else. In this case, he became a knight of Tarsyn. I later learned that this slot also had the Critical Role announcements. No matter... We had a great time and the FOE gang delivered.

As a testament to the awesome work of the FOE GMs is that I had 7 players with Generic tickets waiting to play. At the last minute, EVERYONE with a full ticket showed up and I had to turn these guys away. That's always bittersweet to do, but I value the experience more than cramming more players at the tables. I've yet to play a table of 7 with a positive outcome, so I keep FOE tables to a strict maximum of 6.

The evening's Battle of Emessos turned out to be quite a challenge. The encounters flowed into each other with multiple groups failing the goal. Now mind you, it was designed to be challenging and combat-heavy.

The adventure delivered.

The GMs delivered.

Sunday

Sundays are always tough. Fatigue takes over and willpower is the only thing dragging you forward. Even if tickets are sold, whoever shows up is different set of people. This was the first special created by Brandon-A, making this special a collaboration between FOE and Player Hater Gaming. Last year, Brandon ran an adventure in Skytorn...

A rather oniric adventure...

The drive down was quick and without incident. I sat, ate dinner with my wife, then slept until Monday, then took three naps during that day...

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the return drive is that Thor and I talked about some of the low-budget indi movies I've been watching on Tubi... As an exercise to keep our minds awake, we began taking apart one of the plot and reconstruct it as a DND adventure. The original idea (and movie) was set in Rome, so we moved it to Olympia. But as we discussed and ironed out the kinks, it felt more like Ozaka to the both of us. It blends supernatural horror and real-life elements that makes for a compelling samurai drama.

So... It looks like we may have an adventure for next year already in the works.

Yes, before I forgot everything, I opened a Word document and put the outline in there with as much detail as I could. I'm excited to return to it.

Parts 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

[Gencon 2025] After Action Report Part 2

Parts 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Thursday

Thursday started early as I had to carry everything a mile and a half to the stadium. It was quite a long haul. I had so many things to carry. Lucky for me, I split the miniatures for the specials into "what I need Thursday" and "Later," with the size of the two sets being roughly the same.

Before that first slot is always a worry... Will ALL the GMs show up? What will people think? Will everyone show up? Will we be able to seat everyone with a generic? What will the overall vibe be?

Well... All this worry turned out for naught. Everyone showed up and the morning was off to a roaring start.

Now a fun thing... Mike-B showed up at the doors of the stadium for his badge and I waited for him at the tunnel. Then, to our devices stopped connecting: no text, no calls, no messenger... Lucky Steve-E was there to save the day!

The evening slot was lighter in ticket sales. A mixed blessing. However, since the adventure had a lot of social interaction, this turned out to be a blessing because it allowed everyone to get more involved in the adventure, as each table got to do more things. There were SO many things to do.

When GMs asked "How can they do it all?" The answer was a simple "They can't."

Players have a way of surprising me when I write these types of epics. They make choices that, at first leave you perplexed, but after a moment stir the creative juices going and push the setting into new and excitig directions. This is one thing I love about writing these epics specials...

Then bed and sleep.

I survived Day 1.

Friday

Day 2 started somewhat differently as I got a later start and miscalculated the time it would take me to reach the room... A late start put me on the back foot to get everything ready.

But once everything got rolling, I settled down and slept on a chair.

The afternoon and evening came by without much to report...

EXCEPT.

During the evening's Parting Shot, there was a moment when I had an NPC betray the PCs in a very opportune moment. I was both worried and stoked for this secret reveal.

As the discovery happened, two people reacted aloud with "Oh fucker!"

That filled me with dark, morbid joy.

Parts 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7