Ottocon, 2024

A Headless Body Production

Venue: In an undisclosed basement, somewhere in Carlisle, Pennsylvannia
Event: OttoCon!*
Players: Various
Game System: Various

A HOTT** Time in Old Barsoom (pun intended)

GM Eric Ackermann

*NOT to be confused with the younger, but better promoted, Ottocon of Hudson Valley, just a week earlier on June 8th. A link to their web page...

 ** Hoards of the Things.

First game of the day. In the sky's over Barsoom.

It's a classic forces of evil v good. The cities of Yars (yeah!) and Taros(boo!!!), in a desperate for a mythical artifact yet to be uncovered in a recently discovered ruin.

The Yarsanian (Yari? Yarsoomian? Yarphas?) flying high on their imported Yaris's.

But the malicious and unkind Tarosians (Tari? Tarsoomian?, Tarocs?) also have their flying Taurus's

The most valuable unit in the Yars line (+6 v all), stands read in the rearmost position of the line.

Tarok, the great general of Taros, plants his banner in the middle of the line.

Near the inland sea of Balkania, the mysterious ruins of Yarboaryon hold mysteries yet to be revealed.

The actual preview of the game.

The rules are just H.O.T.T**

Just to pages of rules. And half of the landscape is charts!

There was some aerial action earlier, but in the end, it's just a scrum down the line.

Where the evil and vile men of Taros (Tari? Tarsoomian?, Tarocs?) heavily disorder the Yars line.

A Yars Yaris is flanked and force to turn.

and subsequently crashes to the ground.

The forces of good perform a "reorganize the lines" tactic. AKA, "Run away".

The Tarosian hero (Boo!!!), may his naval lint fester, advances to support their flying Taurus's

But with redoubled effort, the great hero of Yars (Yeah!!!) advances and smites the villian!

The Villains however, sneak their small aerial Sma' t' vehicle, ambushing the our hero.

The distraction was enough to bring another Yaris flying car to the ground.

But their win had came at a price, as the Sma' t' car is punctured and ruined.

Now, our hero is surrounded, and pounded from the air. He rises back once, then twice, before collapsing to the ground.

With his final breath, was the utterance, "save yourselves". And with that began the great retreat to Yars.

Meeting Engagement, Tuesday, 1943, Robert Ricigliano

Meanwhile, on another world, one where the men with theodolites are held in high regard, a German Panzer Battalion, Pz III's, supported by STG IV's (count the road wheels) and mechanized infantry, begin to advance.

I am guessing KV-1's in the lower half, and Model 1941 T-34s in the upper half.

WWII very small scale action standing by.

This segment of OttoCon is brought to you by Leninade. If you're thirsty, and don't care about the flavor, reach for Leninade. It may not quench your thirst, but it won't leave you wanting more!

Solomon Kane and the Devil of Arnescote

Tough choice for 2PM. Space battles or Solomon Kane RPG?

GM: Jeff Wasileski

Description:Puritan hero investigates devilry in a Royalist stronghold.

(Investigate: verb, "to commit justice")

The recently taken castle of Arnescote. What mysteries lay in the ruined church near by.

The Battle of the Nile, with great effects.

Arnescote has been recently been taken by Parliamentary forces. It's lord lies in state in the ruined church.

A small garrison of Parliament soldiers have been left behind.

Product placement of Leninade.

The question was never answered. WHO's "small cloths" are those?

The inner details of Castle Arnescote was amazing. Including pewter plates.

We held a meeting with the caretaker of Arnescote. He was mentally out of it.

 Also noticed were strong hints of vampyre.

 We are playing a party led by the famous adventurer, Solomon Cane in an effort to solve disappearances in the village of Arnescote after Parliment took control of the village towards the end of the English Civil War. 

Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late-16th-to-early-17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back. 

Other characters were Jack Helmnsey, another adventure and monster hunter, N'Longa, and African Shaman and close ally to Solomon. A mysterious Mohawk, and one other monster hunter.

The game is a series of scenes. Some are narrative only, some are action. Scene two has us investigating the hanging hill. unsanctified land suitable for the burial of witches. Our investigation led to the discovery of several interesting artifacts. And an attack by wolves. Jack was fortunate to not be a target of a wolf, and was able to lend his sword to saving N'longa from a frantic attack.

This was an amazing layout for a grave yard.

Jack was disinterring the previous lord of Arnescote in the church when hoards of rats attacked the graveyard. Racing to the north corner, he saved the Mohawk and a couple of villagers we recruited. Then plugged one of the holes the rats were exuding from.

In the south, with the great hero Solomon, and two other characters, it looked like all was well in hand.

But the dice were fickle, and the rats proved to be very slippery and difficult to disperse. In the end, Jack grabbed a cracked tombstone, raced (this is a feat he had) across the yard, dispersed the rats and smashed the spawn point.

His personal count of saving other characters was now 3. Only Solomon Cane, remember Solomon Cane? This is a story about Solomon Cane, remained as a character not needing saving.

With the clues we had, we were sure there was a vampyre in the castle. But how to handle this. We had acquired a number of NPC's.
 

But somehow, a frontal assault seemed a bad idea.

As luck would have it, there was an impromptu witch hanging being organized. The victim to be was the chief cook if the castle.

Taking advantage of the shadow skills of the Shaman N'longa, we managed to spirit away the hapless cook. Which had two effects. One) and doubts she was a witch have been removed! Two) we now know about the not-so-secret underground passage into the castle.

 We split into two groups.

One party, lead by Solomon, sneaked into the recently renovated torture chamber in the basement.

 Where Solomon committed justice on a number of miscreants.

Jack, and one other adventurer (sorry, I don't know the name), and a couple of villagers take the canon.

Mayhem ensued. Armored warriors responded, but were caught in transit by N'Longa's electric spells, and literally poured out of the tower windows.

 Observing the pile of bodies, Jack stared at the captured gunners, "This is when you run away". 

And skedaddle they did.

As Solomon and company finished off the remaining guards, Jack used his running feat again to go past them. Throwing a grenade ahead of him, the managed to surprised the shocked caretaker. Disarmed him, and gained valuable information on the final Boss of the level.

It was a lady vampyre.

By this time we were all double armed with loaded pistols, and place a number of holes in her bustier. But did not inconvenience her over much.

Solomon went to work. With the last of N'Longa's magic, he was buffed and committed justice on her with his temporarily enhanced rapier.

It was a damaging attack, but not enough. Jack had one last feat as well, "Flourish", which did no damage, but force the vampyre back so that Solomon (aka, the hero), would not be attacked in turn. This completed his bucket list of personally saving every character on the board!

Having an extra action, Jack managed to put another cut on the lady. Followed up by the Mohawk, who had acquired a huge hammer in scene two, which pulped her head for the finish.

This was a great layout, and Jeff Wasileski did a great job of adjudicating, and frankly I couldn't have asked for a better group of players. With no experience in this game, who really didn't know each other. We pulled together in a loose team and had a great time.

We never got the story about the crucified skeleton either.

What is this? It is going to be futuristic terrain.

On Friday night we MST'd or Riff Tracked, the movie To the Shores of Tripoli. All of us having military experience, or wives that have decades of understanding, it was fun making commentary that did not require explanation.

High points include Maureen O'Hara giving the camera the same look she probably gave the producer when told she would do a (bad) belly dance. And the marines, despite having ample mules and wagons, still riding horses with their packs.

Saturday night was "Space Probe Taurus". Of which, the less said, the better. Best riff was during the credits. "Is that it, that's all?"

"You wanted more? You should be grateful it's over."

Purple hearts to be awarded to Tracy and Eric. Who sat through the movie twice. (shudder)

Putting this one on my Worst Movies Ever list.  See here...