This weekend saw the seventh (!) run of our Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark themed roleplaying game convention, Revelation. As usual, it was held at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield.
The run up was relatively smooth, but we did have to give a nudge to get the player numbers to the right place (people seem to be committing a bit later post-pandemic) and a harder nudge to get the number of games offered to the right levels. That included lifting the usual restriction of two games per GM that we operate with. As a result I found myself preparing and offering three games rather than the usual two.
I drove up on the morning, to find that Graham and Elaine had set up bar the signs and the badges that I brought with me. With little hesitation, we were off.
The main challenge that we had with the convention was ill-health. We’ve noticed that post-pandemic people have changed; if they aren’t well, they’ll tend not to come to the convention to avoid spreading ill-health and illness amongst the attendees. We had a drop out rate of over 25% this time, which was worse than the great plague year at Furnace (which disproportionately hit GMs) but managed calmly and effectively by Elaine. As the convention is fully pre-booked, we knew which games had spaces and could direct people in the right way.
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| Kult - first slot |
My first slot was in a game of Kult. This is a setting and system that has intrigued me for a while. I know that there is some kind of cosmic horror behind it with our reality separating us from it in some way. I saw a session from a GM that I rate and signed up. We played broken individuals who were on a fifty mile hike through the Peak District. Two of us were ex-SAS, along with an ex-Army Medic and one of the SAS veteran’s siblings (a model). The game started off well, with people getting into character pretty well; the pre-generated characters had some great hooks. There were some wonderful props, which added to the atmosphere. Needless to say, it didn’t go well for us. Although Kult isn’t folk horror, the scenario had that vibe, right up to the reveal at the end. My character died horribly, but it tied off his backstory nicely.
Kult is Powered by the Apocalypse, but uses 2d10. It seems a decent iteration of the engine, although I do wonder how it will work in a shorter campaign as it felt that you could spiral into a breakdown really easily. I don’t think it has hooked me enough to buy a copy, but I would definitely try it again.
Lunch was a salad from the limited selection at the local Morrisons. Limited because two of their fridge units were down.
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| Behind the City of Mist Screen |
The afternoon saw my first City of Mist scenario, “Beating Hearts”. City of Mist is now my most run convention system and probably my most run PbtA game engine. I have all the bling and I intend to use it. It’s set in ‘the City’, a metropolis not unlike New York where Rifts walk the streets manifesting mythical powers, hidden by a magical mist. The feel is very much Netflix Marvel; lower powered heroes in a noir-like setting. The players picked a good variety of options; three of the them had signed up for both sessions I was running, so it gave a degree of continuity. The scenario itself went reasonably well; I’d picked it up from the City of Mist Garage on DrivethruRPG and it was the first non-official one that I’ve brought to the table. Overall, I think it went well, but there were some areas of the scenario which were a little bit inconsistent and it did expect a certain route to resolution. In the end, we finished earlier, with the crew taking down a local mobster and the rift controlling her in a warehouse by the river. It felt an apt conclusion, albeit a bit rushed. Both Elaine (who was playing) and I thought the slot finished at 1830, but in fact it was 1800. Oops!
Traditional trip to KFC with Keary for a good natter for dinner.
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| The Amnesia Town Crew. |
The evening brought my second City of Mist scenario, “Amnesia Town”. This is quite a different scenario to the ones that I have run before, as it introduces the Gatekeepers, an organisation which uses the Mist to suppress knowledge of Rift activity. They’re a big player in the overall setting, but sit in the background. The scenario aims for a 1950s dystopian feel, with government agents suppressing knowledge in a conspiracy. The scenario delivered in spades, especially when I started to hit characters with impediments to their memories as they started get in the Gatekeeper’s way. All the way through, the Gatekeepers were referred to as the ‘Federal Bureau of Weather’ (because they deal with the Mist) and they really rubbed the players up the wrong way (which is part of the scenario’s aim).
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| A lesser spotted picture with me on. |
As well as the memory issue, there was look of horror from one of the characters when I burnt out some of their mythos power tags as they threatened an Agent. In the end, the characters saved the day by working with the Agents. It seemed to down well.
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| Ready to play a|state |
Sunday morning saw we trying to pin the slipperiness that is Forged in the Dark into my brain, ready for a|state in the afternoon. As part of that preparation, I signed up for Graham’s run of the same game that morning. He was using ‘The Machine’ as a basis, whereas I’d gone with ‘Gone to the Dogs’. He gave a masterclass in energy and characterisation. We stumbled through a bureaucratic nightmare, becoming activists working against a corrupt planning decision that had our whole neighbourhood under threat. It was very Dickensian and very British in feel. We secured a good initial win, but ran out of time to bring the full case to closure.
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| Clocks Galore |
Both Graham and I had been nervous about running the system, but I don’t think he needed to be, as he showed how clocks should be used and kept us on our toes. Mission broke out and were resolved during the session, as we moved from free-play to mission to downtime.
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| All set up but illness wins… |
I set up for my game of a|state, only to find I would be down to two players which wouldn’t be viable. Tiredness and lurgy had struck again. I may take some of the learnings I got from Graham and tweak the material I’ve prepared and use the scenario at North Star as it is dystopian SF at heart. I found one of the player’s another berth via Elaine, and made my goodbyes, leaving a Garricon early for the first time I recall.
Overall, I enjoyed the convention a lot; the mix of players is always different at Revelation and the games have a slightly different style. All in all, good stuff and I hope we’ll run another next year. Thanks to all the attendees and my fellow convention organisers.
14 February 2023
