Bob Buehler and I have known each other since the fall of 1976, and our friendship has been marked by many multi-hour meandering conversations about anything and everything, with religion and politics at the top of the list. We spent a few days flogging the dead horse in December of 2012, but a single extended brunch on the occasion of a friend’s funeral last year barely qualified as a booster shot, so we were due. I proposed a get-together in Cleveland, which was almost exactly between our two homes. Also, I had friends in Cleveland, one of whom ran a game store, so there were reasonable options for alternatives to conversation if we wanted them.

The meet up lasted from Wednesday evening until Saturday morning, and the usual hyperbolic conversation took place. There were also two gaming sessions: We crashed the weekly “Dungeon Crawl Classics” game at Weird Realms, under the auspices of propritor and game master Beckett W. on Thursday, and then went back on Friday and played a game of “Spaces” under long time friend Tom L. on Friday. There were also a couple of conversational meals with Tom and Robin the Peryton.

The DCC game was huge, 14 players and 29 characters. No planned activities took place; the interlopers (five players with 20 characters) attacked the established group (9 players with one character each), and were slaughtered in humiliating ways. Apparently this is the way DCC is supposed to work.

The “Spacers” game was a different kettle of fish. Four players, four characters, and an SF ruleset based on the venerable and almost infinitely variable Tunnels & Trolls engine. There was no combat at all; a mapping expedition turned into a first contact situation, and our crew escaped with no casualties, and may not have started a war. Probably. It was one of the best RPG sessions I have ever experienced; we played the game hard and seriously, AND managed to keep the usual off the wall table talk going simultaneously. REALLY good times.

Uncle Hyena