Grogmeetish 2024
Not the real thing, but not 'arf bad!
Tradition dictates that face-to-face Grogmeet falls on the 2nd weekend in November each year, but for a number of reasons that hasn’t happened in 2024. However, Uncle Dirk the Dice offered a great alternative in its place: Grogmeetish, an online event in the mould of Virtual Grogmeet.
Grogmeetish last made an appearance in 2020 during the depths of the covid pandemic and was as welcome now as it was then. While we missed the social elements of face-to-face Grogmeet a fortune was saved in hotel, food and booze costs.
And there will still be a face-to-face Grogmeet in January 2025, although I don’t think I’ll be able to make it.
Call of Cthulhu: A Wee Dram of Danger
My first game was an Adventurer magazine Call of Cthulhu classic included in issue 5 from December 1986. GMd by @elevatedpachyderm.bsky.social, it was a two parter, running on the Friday and Sunday evenings.
Set in the remote Orkney Islands, our investigators respond to a letter from Dr Robert McLeish. As friends and relatives of the good doctor, the letter contains a cry for help and some cryptic clues - too great a mystery for our intrepid band to resist. I can’t say much more without spoilers, but I will say that from the off it was clear we were up against a challenge… and we were successful, although my character was lost along the way.
@elevatedpachyderm.bsky.social didn’t use a VTT, relying on a theatre of the mind approach and Discord for comms and dice rolling. It worked really well, with a good GM who can set the scene clearly and keep the players engaged.
Dragonbane: Dark Deeds in Last Hope
I stepped up to GM for the Saturday AM session, offering a Dragonbane conversion of “Dark Deeds in Last Hope”, a beginner level adventure for Shadows of the Demon Lord. While I like the Dragonbane adventures in the core set campaign, they are very dungeon-crawly and I wanted something a bit different for this one shot. Dark Deeds is a great intro adventure for any system, starting out in the frontier village of Last Hope, with a mystery kicking off with a bloody young man’s confrontation with a priest and a holy fingerbone.
It was my first attempt running Dragonbane (excluding a test run session) and I found the system delivered on all fronts, stepping in where needed, then quickly getting out of the way. I found the FoundryVTT Dragonbane system to be a great help, automating loads of the system gubbins (although DB is a light system anyway) and doing a grand job with maps and tokens to visualise the environment and open tactical options in combat.
The adventure is great for a one shot, I’d definitely run it again. It has a nice twist at the end, with plenty for the party to do besides combat.
Dragonbane: The God Wurm
I guess it shows how taken I am with Dragonbane that I signed up to play in @fenrisgames.com’s adventure. @fenrisgames.com is a huge Dragonbane fan and having played in his games before I knew this would be a good’un. The Role VTT was used along with PDF character sheets and either in system or roll your own for dice, and it worked really well.
We played as rangers of the Laird of Trollmark Castle, sent to investigate a missing Lindwurm in a nearby village. Turns out many villages have a mutually beneficial relationship with their Lindwurm and supply sacrifices for protection; it’s a common practice in the Stormlands (if you know the Trudvang Chronicles setting, you’ll recognise the Stormlands which @fenrisgames.com used as the setting for this).
I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I guess it goes without saying that nothing was as straightforward as we hoped. The one guarantee was that we’d be on a great adventure.
Yokai Hunters Society: Dākuhausu - The Dark House
The Saturday evening game was with GM @matthewbroome.bsky.social. I’ve not played in one of @matthewbroome.bsky.social’s games since a memorable Symbaroum game at UKGE 2018, so I was keen to get in on this.
As mask wearing Yokai Hunters (with no special skills or abilities, just ordinary folk in Meiji Japan) we would take on cases to deal with malevolent spirits and demons. Our client was a lovely old lady who’s son was imprisoned for murdering his wife (which she claims he would never do) and… well I won’t say any more to avoid spoilers.
I was really impressed with this game and thoroughly enjoyed the session. @matthewbroome.bsky.social introduced the game as Vaesen set in Japan and that wasn’t far off. The mechanics are super light (based on Tunnel Goons), so they get out of the way but give enough to drive the investigation forward. I’d definitely play this again and would highly recommend it.
Ben Aaronvitch Interview
The final piece of any Grognard Files gaming event is an industry related interview, this one with Ben Aaronvitch, author of the Rivers of London novels. The Rivers of London RPG closes the loop and brings it all back to gaming.
I’ve only read the first of the Rivers of London books, and it didn’t grab me the way it has others, but it was really interesting to hear Ben’s RPG background and approach to constructing a story. Definitely worth a listen when it comes out on the Grognard Files podcast.
Like all Grogmeet weekends it was all over too quickly. Huge thanks go out to @thegrognardfiles.bsky.social and @blythygrog.bsky.social for organising the event and pulling it all together, and the great players and GMs I gamed with across the weekend.
Roll on the next one!