Pacificon SF 2021 Report

         This year Pacificon was set to play in-person, but as covid-19 rates rose in the two months prior to the convention, the organizers continued but with the restriction that all participants had to show proof of complete vaccination and had to wear masks at all times. As a role-player, there were less than a dozen table RPG events, and only two LARP events. One RPG event was cancelled when the GM didn't show (a Paranoia game by Sam Wallis), and one larp couldn't run due to lack of players.

I also briefly tried the board games "Wingspan" and "Consumption: Food and Choices".


Roll Player: Monsters & Minions

This was an RPG-like board game run by PacifiCon Staff. Roll Player is by by Thunderworks Games. It mixes some D&D-like character generation mechanics with some card draw mechanics. The characters have six attributes (Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha) with spots for three six-sided dice in each. Each turn you add one six-sided die to your character, and later take one action. Once all players have 18 dice, they each attempt to defeat the villain monster. The winner is the one with the most victory points from various sources.

I picked a Construct as my template (bonus to Con, penalty to Wis and Cha), and added three cards: Warrior (with the ability to take a Con action for), along with a background and an alignment Guardian or something similar. In our play, it could take a long time for certain players to take their turn, while others would go more quickly. Even with only 5 players, it meant one could easily go to the bathroom or take some other break between turns. We mentioned the fiction a few times, but mostly it was rare. I won the game after defeating the vampire - so I did say it was appropriate that my construct character with no blood would win against the vampire. Most of my edge was from almost completing a suit of chain armor, though.

The game seemed reasonably balanced and had many interesting cards. However, from the one game, I suspected several weaknesses. The most crucial is "analysis paralysis". There are many pros and cons of each choice, which are difficult to calculate. Since there is little direct interaction between players, this can lead to being disengaged between turns. Also, the theme is very weakly connected to play.


When the Worm Turns

This was a pulp adventure by Joe Parzanese, using the Pulp Adventure system by Jeff A. Hatch and Joseph Parzanese. The description was "It is 1890-something and the Albion Society is invited to the US for a dedication of the inaugural ride of the Kingsburg Train. But a villain has other ideas."

I didn't play in this, but my son Milo did so I heard a fair bit about it.


Star Trek Catan

I played this board game by PacifiCon Staff. It has very nice components, and official license to the original series cast (with movie era art). However, the Catan mechanics really don't fit well to the setting of Star Trek - and the attempted theme addition is a peculiar mechanic of character cards that can be used twice each. So the series characters jump back and forth between players with each turn.


Dune: Imperium

This was a run by reuben lopez of the new board game published by Direwolf, with a license to material from the upcoming 2021 Dune movie. It is quite complex but still comprehensible - with a mix of many different tracks and resources (similar to Agricola), but also has a deck-building mechanic where each player has a personal deck of cards (like Dominion).

I played Paul Atreides, and did very well in collecting spice in the early stages of the game, but then stalled out and came in 3rd out of 4. The player of Baron Harkonnen won, coming in from behind.


The Secrets of Cats

I didn't play in this, but it was a game by Milo Kim using the FATE Core system and The Secret of Cats setting and adventure.


DUNE: The Gamel Resistance

This was an intriguing-seeming larp to be run by Zev Trubowitch, but unfortunately we only got 9 players and we needed at least 12 players out of the 18 player maximum.


Grimm Reunion

This was a pulp larp run by Rob Allard and Bill Howard. The description was "October, 1917, American has entered the Great War, treaties and mutual aid pacts are being signed and discarded almost weekly. Baron Sunday; the world’s greatest mastermind is missing; a meeting of the forces of the Secret World – extraordinary people who influence the globe - is called at hidden sanctum deep in the Carpathian Mountains to decide the fate of the world. A Team Volare Production."

There was some intriguing background for this, but I was disappointed in the play. I played Dr. Alistair Hellstrom, a magician/engineer, who was part of a secret society of steam-fitters. Unfortunately, it ended in a frustrating experience for me. I had been quietly open that I had invented zombie cyborgs as a way of allowing war without killing off most of the young men of the country. However, late in the game, we were attacked by zombie cyborgs, and two mercenaries in the group unceremoniously killed me by tossing me over the wall.


The Land Juggerpede

A D&D 5E game run by Craig Robertson, of the heist genre in an unusual post-apocalyptic setting. The description was "They say the Dwarven Juggerpede Landship is carrying an unusually valuable cargo on this run through the Ragnawold. Are you crafty/brave/crazy enough to steal it? 2nd level pre-gens provided."

I was skeptical for a while, but this turned out to be one of my favorite games of the convention. This was essentially a train heist done in a strange magitech fantasy world with dinosaur-riding halflings and dwarven constructs. The PCs were:

We were all level 2. Milo gave a very detailed write-up of the game. The short form was that we trekked through the wilderness, tried to ambush and rob a magitech train (the titular "juggerpede"), but another party tried to rob it at the same time. The climax was a hilarious face-off where two of our party were both in disguise as members of opposing sides (the train guards and the opposing party), and finally succeeded in our heist - then betrayed our employer, the ogre Jethro Tull.


Conclusion

After a year and a half of no in-person gaming because of the covid-19 pandemic, I was grateful to have any sort of in-person gaming. And a number of games were quite fun.