Con season has begun; Walt’s already been to Origins, I enjoyed my first Kublacon over Memorial Day weekend, and the big summer shows, GenCon and DragonCon, are still to come.

Summer can be a busy time for GMs, giving you even more sessions to prepare for than normal. (Hopefully, a con will offer you a chance to be a player, especially if you’re not getting to play regularly.) I got into Feng Shui at Kublacon, which I’ve long been interested in trying out. I had a great time; it does seem like a cool system.

Running Gnome… er, Man

After a lull, I’m currently preparing for and running 5 games! My groups are great and we do a great job of rotating GMing duties… but my enthusiasm got away from me.

For my home group, we’re currently about two-thirds of the way through Lost Mine of Phandelver; the players cleared out Cragmaw Castle last session and are off to Thundertree.

In alternate weeks, the home group is playing Primetime Adventures. (Many of you mentioned an interest; I see that Primetime Adventures is on sale now!) Our show is Peculiar, Missouri, a town where strange things go bump in the night. We finished the Pilot and three episodes… big secrets are coming out, and the city’s status apart from the world is unraveling. Last game, Isabela shut down a gate to Ickythid, but poor Kimmie seems to be transforming into a fish person. It’s a crazy place…

On Fridays I’ve been playing Primetime Adventures with a group that came together around the game, seeded by our local Indie Roleplaying club. With them, we’ve been playing Planetary Pioneers, a retro sci-fi style game. It’s been going tremendously… in fact, tonight is our series finale! Here are some of the final “Next Week Ons” that we’ll be fulfilling tonight.

  • Coburn holds Princess lowered at Dan’s back. “Mr. Anderson, you’ve been relieved of duty. Hand over your sidearm.”
  • Hank’s in an escape pod, alone; it’s very quiet. He’s breathing heavily, his hand hovers over a button, shaking.
  • The whole crew looks down at the mountain site, greatly altered. Trees without pollen or silver bugs now cluster at the edge of the site. A half-constructed ship is suspended in the trees, gleaming beside (in a zoom out) a worn version of the ship that brought you all here.

The game’s featured a number of twists and turns; the trees on this planet seem to be sentient, “Shadows” cause blackouts and awaken telepathy in humans, there’s weird alien crystal tech that our heroes are just starting to decode… it’s a great show that I’d certainly watch. (That last “next week on” looks like it’s a big flash forward… a crazy cool development that Kevin introduced and surprised us all.)

That’s Three… I thought you said five?

This weekend is Crazy Squirrel’s Roleplaying Minicon. I’m running a pair of Fate games for the con; somehow, I always want to play more Fate.

On Saturday, I’m running Mark Diaz Truman’s quick start adventure, Dark Star, from The Fate Codex, Vol 1, Issue 2. It looks like a great setting, and “troubled pilots on the edge of space” sounds like characters that players will “get” right away.

On Sunday, I’m running a custom Spirit of the Century scenario called Shaking the Pillars of Hercules. Criminal masterminds, ghouls, the Sahara itself… I’m looking forward to it!

A Season of Games

This weekend is the peak of my GMing; I’ll swiftly be returning to a normal load after the con and end of the Planetary Pioneers game. What does your summer look like? Did you bring a campaign to an end matching the school year? Do you have any fun summer games, con games, or just great home games planned?

Tell us about a game that you’re running, planning, or recently wrapped up. Are you playing old favorites or trying something new? I’m looking forward to reading about your Summer 2015 games!