Busan Con 2026 Day 2

 The second day of the 2026 Busan Con was yesterday (Sunday), and I had a full day. 

The first games started at 9:30. I was in an indie game called Goblin Quest. Matt was the GM (although the game says it can be played GM-less) and guided us through making our five goblins each, creating the quest we would go on, and then adjudicating the wacky hijinx we got into on the way. None of my goblins survived, but we managed to complete the quest just slightly over the time limit, and had a lot of laughs along the way. It's obviously a very narrative first/improv RPG, with lots of stuff decided on the fly and super simple rules. 

Fellow players included Elyse (my friend, who plays CoC and sometimes D&D with us), McKayla (who played in M&M the day before), Leo (who I'd met the day before and said M&M was a good idea to fill the niche of modern-era non-horror RPGs), and another guy whose name I've already forgotten but who only lost one goblin the whole adventure. 

After a too short lunch break, it was time for my Star Wars d6 game. Charles (one of my regulars), Ling (who played in my Classic D&D game last Fall), Jacob and Cindy (a couple who I just met) were my players. Rowan, one of the organizers of the con, was scheduled to play, but she was exhausted and over-stimulated so bowed out that the last minute, and I don't blame her.  

The adventure was the Coruscant Grand Ball, an adventure I'd originally run four years ago with my regular group. Charles hadn't joined us yet, so it was OK for him to play. He'd wanted to play in my M&M game on Saturday, but he'd just run through that one two weeks or so ago. 

The adventure played out pretty differently from the first go around. I made a few changes, as well. Instead of "social combat" I made a chart of the three suitors' attitudes towards the five debutantes, and their pre-scripted interactions were set, but then PC actions could countermand or enhance the effects of the events that were scripted to play out. 

This group of players actually spent a lot more time BEFORE the event, trying to tarnish the reputation of the other debutantes or learn what might help endear Marjon the Hutt to the other suitors. I had to shorten the interactions of the Ball itself in order to fit into the time slot. I also dropped the Zygerian slaver attack, although I had that waiting in the wings. 

In the end, everyone had a good time (and too much Tattooine Spice), and we never had a combat. Also, yes, they got Marjon to dance with the hunky Togruta playboy, rather than the nerdy Bith artist or the biz-bro Arcona exec's son. 

We had a bit more break time before the evening game, so I went to a nice Japanese restaurant nearby. Rowan and two of her friends dropped in when I was halfway through my gyudon, so I joined them and we discussed Stranger Things Season 5 as we ate. They had very different takes on the season than me, mainly stemming from the lazy writing (which I agreed with) and their disappointment with the teased Will-Mike romance never happening (something I didn't think the writers were actually teasing, but that's my straight perspective vs their LBGTQ+ perspectives). Despite the disagreements, we had a civil discussion. 

Anyway, on to the final game. Richard (our usual Keeper) ran Call of Cthulhu. I pulled up one of my old characters who'd survived and not gone mad, the rum-runner Monte Perrineau. Fellow players included Rowan, Chris (who works at the same uni as me, but we've strangely never played an RPG together until last night), Keith (who ran Cyberpunk for me last fall and in Daegu last year for Flynn) and his girlfriend Cray (who was also in the Cyberpunk game), and Alan (who I've been acquainted with through Halloween events for quite a few years, and who delivered a big box of 1/72 miniature knights and a castle to me on Saturday so we can maybe play some Chainmail at a future event). 

We all did our best to stay in character, using our funny voices. I was exhausted from the long day, and still a bit jet lagged from our recent trip to the USA, so I struggled a bit, but managed to stay awake through the whole game. Rowan was also yawning a lot at the end. But we managed to "solve" the mystery, rescue Rowan's character's friend, and only Alan's doctor went a little crazy. It was a good time, but it finished at 11pm. Long day. 

Scott and Shane had been giving out tokens all through the two days, and had prizes that could be purchased. I had one after the CoC game, and got a capsule with a bunch more tokens. That got me an RPG setting book I'll probably never use (for 5E) and a set of mini dice. 

And that's about it for the con. A successful event, and much bigger than the one Justin and I put on last fall.  

Success!

 Day 1 of the 2026 Busan Con has come to a close. I didn't have any games in the morning, because I was thinking I'd either be too tired from my trip to the USA, or I'd want to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu. Well, M&G doesn't open until next Wednesday in Korea, but I was kinda tired. So it's a good thing I didn't sign up for any morning games.  

I did show up early, and talked to some fellow gamers. After lunch, and a bit more chatting, my Missions & Mayhem game started. I had three players: Jonathan (who also goes by JB, but not the BX Blackrazor JB), McKayla, and Sterling. Sterling was playing his second ever session of an RPG, after his first during the morning session. I'd met Jonathan last fall and knew McKayla was there although I didn't get to talk to her then.  

I'd sent them five pre-gen characters to choose from, and they all had one they liked decided. We spent some time going over the basics of the game, and they had some questions (including some that suggest improvements I could make to the game). When they were ready, I gave them the premise of the scenario I'd prepared (they were all psychics trapped in a government research facility, and suddenly their power-dampening collars all switched off -- Go!). 

It played out very differently than when I ran the adventure with my regular group, which is no surprise. It's not a railroad adventure. Sterling, after it was done, even commented that it was a lot more open and less structured (narratively) than his morning game. There was investigation, there were crazy schemes, there was a bit of combat, there were attempts to manipulate, and of course plenty of use of the psychic powers. 

The players weren't really in a situation where they could use the I Know a Guy rule (although they loved the concept!), but they did use the Gamble mechanic a lot. McKayla used five out of six ability scores to gamble along the way, and Jonathan and Sterling each used three (I think). 

The psychic powers were useful, but definitely not overpowered at low level. They only had 2d4 rolls for activation, so only the lower two tiers of effect were possible without a gamble and a lucky throw...although McKayla pulled that one off. 

The combat was also fun, as they didn't only swing and do damage. They used a combination of normal attacks, subdual unarmed strikes, psychic powers, and special maneuvers during the fight. That shows me the game can be dynamic in combat, not just roll to hit, roll for damage ad nauseam.  

They did not escape from Facility 826 in the end, but the ending to the adventure they did get was satisfying (the 'bad guy' trying to recruit them into his psychic strike force), and the twist [no, not gonna tell you what it is] was a surprise but also made other things make sense to them. So that also went well. 

The feedback from the players was positive. They thought the game was simple to explain, easy to understand the mechanics - especially after they started playing, and they liked how it fit together. They also liked how the mechanics seem to fit the mood of an action flick. Before the game started, talking to some other gamers, one guy mentioned that he didn't know of many modern era RPGs that weren't supernatural or zombie themed. He thought this was a good niche to fill. 

I've got some good notes for more changes (streamlining) and I'll hopefully get those into the playtest document soon. 

In-Flight Movie Capsule Reviews

 I just returned from the USA. Flynn graduated high school. It was a good trip home, and it was great to see a lot of friends and family while we were back. 

I watched four films I hadn't seen before and one rewatch during both long-haul trans-Pacific flights. Here are a few thoughts. And no, not all of these movies are brand new, but they're ones I hadn't seen before. 

Also, the films were edited for content so curse words were removed from the films. No comment on how dirty the films' language gets unedited. 

On the flight to the US: 

Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants (Tsui Hark, 2025)

Any surprise that this type of movie would be my first choice? Probably not. This was a fun wuxia action movie, with some well done stunts, CGI, and fight sequences. The story felt a bit jumbled or rushed at first, and sometimes it wasn't clear what was flashback and what was the current narrative. But once the protagonist Guo Jing and his love interest Huang Rong were introduced and the stakes were set, we get a pretty good martial arts/love triangle/political/war movie. 

I suspect the English subtitles of the version I watched were AI translations, due to inconsistent usage and a few other clues. That may have contributed to the disjointed feeling of the beginning.  Otherwise, a fun watch...but a little long, around 2.5 hours. Not bad if you're on a 13 hour flight. 

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017)

One I'd been wanting to watch for almost a decade now, but just never found the time to sit down and watch. Well, after a considerable nap following Condor Heroes, I cued it up. I really enjoyed it. There was less action that what I had been expecting, but the mystery that the replicant detective Joe follows was compelling and made for a fitting continuation of the themes of the original film. Some great acting, moody set pieces, and just the right tone. 

On the return flight to Korea: 

The Naked Gun (Akiva Shafer, 2025)

A sequel/reboot of the classic Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedy franchise. It was pretty funny, I'm not gonna lie, and I think Liam Neeson was a good choice for Frank Drebin Jr. But honestly, the writing wasn't quite as sharp as I remember the originals [although it has been many years since I've seen them], or maybe Neeson's comedic timing just isn't as sharp as Leslie Nielson's was. I enjoyed it, but I think there could have been a bit more silliness and a bit tighter editing/pacing of the non-sequiturs may have improved it. 

Tomorrowland (Brad Bird, 2015)

This one completely passed me by when it was released a decade ago. I didn't know anything about it other than the blurb on the in-flight menu [Something along the lines of "Older disgruntled scientist and optimistic teen team up to save a world outside time and space."] It's obviously inspired more or less in name only by the Tomorrowland Disney attraction, like the Pirates of the Caribbean films. And while it's a pretty typical Disney family-friendly feel-good movie, it was fun to watch and had some good character development. Bird is the creative mind behind The Incredibles, after all. I liked it, and the ending made me reminiscent of watching Disney stuff as a kid and feeling hopeful for the future. 

Superman (James Gunn, 2025)

 No notes. Go read my original review of the film for my thoughts. 

Busan Con 2026 is coming up

The next game con is right around the corner. 

I'm heading back to the USA in two days, for my son's high school graduation. I'll get back the following Thursday evening, and the con is on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't sign up for any Saturday morning games just in case a) I'm still jet lagged and b) I don't feel up to seeing The Mandalorian and Grogu on Friday. If I'm too jet lagged on Friday to see the movie, I'll rest up and see it Saturday morning. If I can see it on Friday, I'll ease into gaming on Saturday. 

Oh, if anyone's curious about the variety of games and workshops on offer this time, here's the website. 

 This event is being organized by Scott and Rowan, who organized the Daegu One-Shot Extravaganza last year, and gave Justin and I some assists last fall with our own con. 

I'm running Star Wars d6 and Missions & Mayhem. I just finished up the M&M pre-gens this afternoon. The adventures for both are also ready.  I'll be playing in a game called Goblin Quest, which sounds silly and similar in premise to Kobolds Ate My Baby, and also in Richard's Call of Cthulhu game. 

 There are quite a few games on offer that I'd like to try out, but most of them are at the same time as the games I'm running. Next fall, if Justin and I run another con (we probably will) I may limit myself to just one game as GM so I can play a bit more. And that game may be an Arneson-inspired Chainmail tabletop game (more competitive adventure than wargame?) as one of the new folks (well, I know him from Trunk-or-Treat events) is interested in some wargaming, and I know Peter and Justin are as well.  

Rebuilding Chesterton's Fence

 There's been a lot of discussion lately in various (mainly political/economic) news & commentary that I consume lately. If you don't know, Chesterton's Fence is the idea that you don't tear down a fence unless you understand why that fence was put up in the first place. I'll let you draw your own conclusions to what self-styled super-genius's actions the media I was consuming was referencing to (there's more than one, to be honest). 

In terms of D&D and other RPGs, this is solid advice. We often, especially those of us in the OSR and the weird confluence of OSR and indie/narrative/story-first gaming circles, tell new GMs to "homebrew to make it your own game" or roll out adages like "rulings over rules." But if you don't know why those rules were there in the first place, you're likely to do more damage than improvement. 

I watched this video about improving 5E play earlier today. I'm still involved in two play-by-post 5E games (same GM), but I don't have much interest in the game itself these days. Still haven't bothered to look at the 5.5E rules yet. But at the same time, it's good to have some idea of that play culture. Especially in light of the (now cancelled, unfortunately) GM workshop I was preparing for.  

If you don't want to watch, he's talking about how the 5E "long rest" mechanic takes away tension and resource management, and ways to bring those back by limiting or putting conditions on the long rests. No arguments, no notes. He's right. If you want to play 5E, those are good things to do. 

While watching the video, I couldn't stop thinking of how WotC tore down Chesterton's Fence when they made 3E D&D and their subsequent versions either because they just didn't know what they were doing, or because there was pressure from players to take out the "suck" from the game. Actually, this may have started with TSR people in the late 80s/early 90s, around the time of 2E AD&D now that I think of it. I guess there's just been an accumulation of Chesterton's Fences being kicked down in the game over the decades.

And now, the younger generation is rebuilding some of those fences. It makes me happy to see that. Gygax and Arneson, for all their faults, ended up designing a great little game. And a lot of the decisions they made way back in the early 70s were integral to good game play. Resource management (including rests) may be boring and sometimes tedious, and it may not be something that emulates the heroic fantasy fiction that inspires our games. But without it, where's the game? 

A Game-Full Weekend (plus!)

 It is Tuesday, May 5th. Cinco de Mayo, but also Children's Day in Korea and Japan. A public holiday. Yesterday (May the Fourth) I had to work, but today was a day off. And we just finished up a really fun Star Wars d6 session a couple of hours ago. 

But before I get to that, I got a lot of writing done on Missions & Mayhem over the weekend.  I did a little bit of editing of the main rules, but mainly I was working on the next campaign module, Bughunts & Bedlam which covers military-adjacent, horror-adjacent sci fi like the Alien series, Starship Troopers, the Ender books (and movie), and games like Contra, Doom, Xenophobe (remember that one?), Halo, and countless others. I finished up the advanced classes (Agent, Cosmosoldier, Planetologist, Space Cowboy, and Xenologist), got started on weapons and gear, and wrote rules for androids. 

On Sunday, Justin, Steven and I joined Peter for a game of BattleTech: Alpha Strike.  None of us had played before, so we stuck to the quickstart rules. It was pretty easy to get into, and not overly complex like the full BattleTech game is (or so I've heard). I ended up winning by getting both of my objective tokens off the board first, but it was close. The mech with the second token was drawing lots of fire, and all its armor was gone. It had three points of body integrity left, and Justin failed to kill me in the second to last round. I failed initiative every round, meaning I got to go first (there's advantage to move after everyone else has) and get my damaged mech off the board. Justin shared some pictures: 

 It was fun, and hopefully we can play it again. But we also want to play more Mutant Year Zero Zone Wars, and more Stargrave. And Peter suggested trying Bolt Action next time. 

 In a related note, yesterday I was chatting with an acquaintance about the upcoming Busan Con (May 23-24). He was asking if there were any wargames scheduled. I said I was thinking about running some Chainmail next time (next Fall, probably), and he said he has over 300 1/72 scale Medieval knights/warriors we could use. I've got plenty of 1/72 scale warriors, wizards, and monsters, so we may make something of this. 

And finally, today's Star Wars d6 game (It is Revenge of the Fifth, today!).  The timeline is now shortly after the Battle of Endor. The last time we played (quite a long time ago), the guys suggested that going after the Imperial Remnant would be fun. So I made an adventure where a mysterious Alliance spy named Fulcrum* sent them on a mission to recover a Jedi Holocron from a remote Imperial base that has been understaffed due to the losses at Endor. 

They came up with a good enough plan to get in, but then came up with (and a lucky die roll improved) a second plan, which they implemented to get in easily. Once in, Michel the Jedi (Steven's character) sensed the holocron in the center of the structure. They managed to sneak in easily enough, avoiding security, then found out the holocron was guarded by a rancor! 

After quite a few useless blaster and slugthrower shots, Michel the Jedi got a lucky roll (and an unlucky damage resistance roll by the rancor) and slew the beast with a single stroke of his lightsaber! He had a 6 on the wild die for the damage roll, I got a 1 on the wild die for the resistance roll. And my other dice were low. They had tripped an alarm, so had to fight a few battles with stormtroopers (stun grenades made it pretty easy), and managed to get away. 

Now they're deciding if they want to keep the holocron or turn it over to Fulcrum.

Peter joined us for this game, and Jada was playing d6 Star Wars for the first time (she's not really into SW, but she's seen a few movies). They both got the rules easily, and enjoyed the game. And both of them came up with some good ideas during the game that definitely helped. 

Back to work tomorrow, but it's been a fun and game-filled weekend and a day.  

 

 

*Yes, if you've watched Rebels, that Fulcrum!