Our last convention was Momocon 2019, and with the kiddo now vaccinated, hitting a con has been on the House Dok to-do list. Over President’s day weekend the Bay Area held DunDraCon 46. Living in the Bay Area these days we decided to attend. Founded in 1975, DunDraCon has been going strong for over 40 years, with a brief Covid break in 2021. Following said Covid break DunDraCon returned with a mandatory vaccination and mask policy. We were in.
DunDraCon’s focus is on games: tabletop RPGs, miniatures, and board games in particular. There were some martial arts demos, and a few other events as well, but games were where it was at. This worked out well for us, as we were there to do some gaming!
Metahumans Rising at DunDraCon
Because we are an indie game and not more well known, I like to have a few options at cons. With the convention coming on the heels of Valentines we brought four options. a pair of Chimera tales, a globe trotting adventure, and a story of love conquering over death. Well, stripping the city of their good will to fuel a spell to rip a soul from the depths of hell, but you get the idea.
We ran games over three days, one each day, and there were a few return players. One person joined all three sessions, requesting Nox each time. In addition to enjoying the games, he commented on how different each story played out. This of course, filled us with the urge to run one last session so we could sneak in Gene Jackers, the only adventure we didn’t play, because it is so different from the other stories, and I wanted to see things end with everyone getting a pizza party at an amusement park.
In the Valentine in Red & Black session there was a mother-daughter pair in our Valentine’s adventure, and I found myself unconsciously editing the story as we went even though we discussed the tone of the story before we started. The child was a bit younger, so I was nervous to bring up some of the horror filled elements. Although, people did seem to enjoy this take on Elizabeth Báthory. While this might not have been their first RPG, I hope the child had a good time and has a long gaming career in their future.
Saturday we were scheduled for a demo. Typically, this is where people can sit down and play short pick up games. However, DunDraCon’s setup felt more like an information booth. It took a while for me to find that old con patter, but by the third or fourth person, we eased into a familiar rhythm.
Gaming At the Gaming Con
Of course, I was there to play some games as well, not just show off Metahumans Rising, and play games we did. The set up for open gaming at DunDraCon is a little different, and so the first day I found myself lured into a game of Battletech, memories of long High School weekends filling my brain. Unfortunately, Battletech being Battletech, and me having only about an hour, the best we were able to do was move some mechs into the action, and verify indirect fire was a go. Nevertheless, we had a fun time. Little did I know this would set a precedent for me at the convention.
When I sit down at a table, I want to finish a game. Sadly, the only game I was able to play from start to end was a pick up hand of Splendor. We did get to try Sushi Go as well but as we said, sadly, were not able to finish the game. This was a fun card game where you build the best meal possible as you pass the food around the table, and a game I’d like to try again. Let’s talk other RPGs though.
Morrow Project
Over the con we had the good fortune to play in two games. The first was an updated Morrow Project, which, to my surprise, used 5th Edition D&D rules (why the link is to the wiki, as I’m not sure what version to send up). This may have been a fan project over the 4th Edition rules released in 2013, as the GM had a copy of this edition of the book but seemed to be working extensively from notes and a few typos on the character sheets pointing to a reskinned D&D. overall the story was a fun romp, with some western vibes.
While I had a bit of an issue with the lethality, or lack thereof when it came to gun play, this may be more of a personal preference. Sadly, as we were reaching the climax of the adventure, I found myself fading and needed to duck away to make the drive home. That said, I did catch up with the GM the next day, just to make sure that a corrupt sheriff got their comeuppance after I was gone.
Nuovarden
The other game we got into was something actively in development: Nuovarden, a high fantasy exploration RPG. The premise of the game is that reality fractures after a new species finds their way into a dimension. Fractures might not be the right word, but reconfigures itself to adapt to the new people within the dimension. Each species in the setting has the ability to control or manipulate some aspect of reality, from psychic powers, to elemental manipulation, or technology. Characters have a list of suggested abilities, but can get as creative as they want.
Finding myself being offered trade from a merchant while playing a being of pure mental energy, I asked for their ability to negotiate instead of any items. This request was both well received by the GM, and easily accommodated. If I had been able to play longer, I would have liked to have seen if this could be traded later on, but it was a fun interaction that alluded to the weird hijinks one could get into in this game.
Final Thoughts
This was a great gateway con in the wake of Covid-19. They made sure to check vaccine cards at registration, and this made things a lot more comfortable when people took down their masks. That said, staff members were able to politely ask those they saw to put their masks back on and no one seemed to mind. All of our tables were full, later sessions even having some crashers, thankfully I brought extra characters. This does speak to an issue some people had with scheduling, as some games had forty or more applicants. Guess you could say it was a GMs market, or more accurately, that there is room for DunDraCon to continue to expand.
Everyone was friendly, and when games were open, extremely inviting. While it’s not the biggest convention, if you are in the area, I would highly recommend checking it out.
