I really can’t believe it’s a year since OBaWS 2025, that event is still fresh in my mind. And just a few months ago I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to attend this year - I was waiting on a date for my 2nd hip operation in 2026. If it came in too late, I wouldn’t have enough time to recover for the drive and walking the weekend requires.
Luckily I had the op at the end of June which gave me over 2 months to recover so I was quite capable, and I really enjoyed being able to walk without hip pain!
This year accommodation was a little different as I was sharing an AirBnB with some good friends, and that turned out very well. We were quite central and a 10 minute walk from the gaming venue, plus we had a great laugh in the house.
Socialising
It wouldn’t be a proper gaming weekend without eating and drinking in good company and there was plenty of that with the traditional Friday visit to the Royal Pug and Saturday night spent in the White Horse. As always @matthewbroome.bsky.social did an amazing job with supplies at St Patrick’s, the gaming venue, with tea, coffee, biscuits and a ton of samosas and onion bhajis for lunch.
Friday
I decided to run my game on the Friday afternoon session while I was still fresh and not slowed down with excessive beer and curry. Any GM knows that selecting a game to run for a con is a big deal, getting the right combination of system and adventure. I settled on Shadowdark which I felt would be popular, and the Wavestone Monolith adventure which is a 2 page dungeon from a collection of small dungeons that can be picked up for a few quid from the Arcane Library. While the core of the adventure was solid, I padded out the hook and added an additional early encounter get the players involved in the adventure early on.
I guess one of the challenges of running a dungeon within a time limit is the more open nature could mean the party explore parts of the dungeon that don’t necessarily lead to the big bad, but in this case the players made all the right decisions. The final combat was longer than I hoped and with 6 players it was harder to keep them all engaged throughout, but I reckon I pulled it off.
A TPK eluded me (not that it was an objective!) and I think that was down to Shadowdark’s more forgiving death rules compared to Old School Essentials (at 0 HP a PC has 1d4 rounds before they expire), we had a few players go down then be revived. I think for future cons I may look at systems that are lighter yet with faster combats - Cairn 2e might be a good choice.
Overall I really enjoyed the session and I think the players did too.
Saturday
I’ve played in a few of @dailydwarf.eurosky.social’s Savage Worlds 2000AD adventures, so I was looking forward to playing in Angels with Dirty Kneepads featuring the Angel Gang, a notorious family of villains that had recurring run-ins with Judge Dredd over the years. These were a nasty mob and it was great fun to play them.
Each of these unsociable specimens had an array of deadly skills, and I played Mean Machine who had one simple game mechanic - he could turn up the dial on his forehead by spending BOK points which allowed him to do a good bit more damage. He was a great character to play, not particularly sophisticated or intelligent and often seeking the approval of Pa Angel, the gang leader.
The adventure had all of the craziness and humour of 2000AD, enhanced by @dailydwarf.eurosky.social’s use of art from the comics which build up into a comic strip on a nearby wall. I’d highly recommend giving this a go if you get the chance.
After eating my fill of samosas and onion bhajis, it was time for The One Ring with @burnafterrunning.bsky.social. After playing The One Ring 1e and 2e long form of the years, I was keen to try it out his one shot, The Three Towers.
The system has procedures for councils and journeys, while combat is uniquely structured and abstract. @burnafterrunning.bsky.social set the adventure up really well with a clear objective tied to the setting and made great use of each of the core systems of the game with us journeying from Bree to the Tower Hills just west of The Shire. There were some great thematic touch points that ended with an exciting climatic fight. This session just reinforced what a fantastic game The One Ring is.
Sunday
While I’ve played a fair bit of WFRP on and off, I’d not played Zweihander, a game built from a WFRP 2e chassis. Seeing @firstage.bsky.social offering Zweihander Reforged was a great opportunity to give the game a shot.
I found the system intuitive to play - while it had clear WFRP DNA, it felt quite different - the PCs were far more capable from the off and the character roles were customised to fit the world. The adventure had a great setup and lots of grim content which I really enjoyed. I suspect there was a bit too much to wrap up in a 3.5 hour session, but we did get to an epic climax and a great boss fight.
Overall I enjoyed the system and would definitely play it again.
And then that was it, with so much anticipation and expectation the weekend was over. But I came away having had a fantastic time and with some great memories. Thanks once again to @matthewbroome.bsky.social for all his hard work in bringing OBaWS together, he makes is seem so effortless! And thanks everyone involved in games, arranging accommodation and curries, you know who you are, heroes one and all.
Roll on OBaWS 2027…
Great write-up, Neil. Glad to hear you are back on two legs, and many thanks again for the Bearcats material. I'll let you know how it goes in Oct.