Seven Hills

Seven Hills was probably the smallest of the Sheffield Garrison cons and it was always a treat to attend, but alas this was to be the last one after running from 2014 (with a year off for the pandemic). At least it all went off with smooth efficiency, organised by Guy Milner and Jag Goraya. The theme this year was Generations and it was interesting to see how people interpreted that!

I ran Tales of the Old West for my first slot, using the scenario Patience is a Virtue from the rule book. I created pre-gen characters using the life path system and then tied them together as a found family with old prospector Grampaw Pete, his daughter Clementine, her pardner Angel, and two youngsters - Lady Felicity (apparently an English heiress) and the Revd. Sam, a preacher with a dark secret. The players all leant into the brutality of the Wild West, with shoot outs, a hanging and a showdown at high noon - yee haw!

Saturday afternoon was the Laundry Files, a new system and setting for me, being urban fantasy where we were playing as members of an occult investigation division of the secret service. The hook was an unusual flash mob seen in Edinburgh with a crowd of people suddenly bursting into a perfectly synchronised highland reel, performed with such gusto that several of them were injured. Strange things were obviously afoot! My slacker occultist started off well, managing to shoot one of the bad guys in the head but things rapidly went downhill when I got on the wrong side of a suspicious Hebridean islander and then dropped a flash bang grenade at my feet when faced with a horde of Jacobite zombies. Ooops.

Sunday morning saw us boldly going into the Neutral Zone where we played a crew of Klingons on a mission to defuse a tricky diplomatic situation (because Klingons are noted for their tact and diplomacy). A junior Klingon Star Fleet officer had been accused of committing a dishonourable act by firing on a Klingon vessel and a faction of ultra-traditionalists were demanding that only Klingon justice would be sufficient. We proceeded at full warp to get there as quickly as possible, getting severely damaged in an ion storm on the way. I played the Captain who had to balance the demands of the engineer wanting to repair the ship, the bloodthirsty weapons officer wanting all power to photon torpedos and a helmsman deciding whether to chase our target into another ion storm. 

We were all itching for a battle, so when a Bird of Prey uncloaked behind us I immediately told their captain that his mother had a smooth forehead and all hell was let loose! Enormous fun with much growling of Klingon insults, thumping the table and demands for a duel to the death. In the end honour and glory were satisfied! Kudos to GM Remi for explaining a complicated system succinctly and getting us straight into the heart of the action.

After spending some money with All Rolled Up and enjoying a Sunday lunch (with a beer bought with a token that was included with our passes for the weekend), I settled down for the last game of the weekend - a Young Avengers scenario using the short lived but interesting looking Marvel Heroic Roleplaying system. I found the convoluted dice pool system a bit difficult to get my head around, with a combination of the warm sunshine (and the Garrison heating being on for some bizarre reason) and it being the last game of the weekend contributing to a muzzy head. I did finally manage to smash MODOK in his big, stupid face playing as Hulkling though! 

Farewell Seven Hills and onward to North Star!