The 2025 Busan Tabletop Gaming Con Was a Success

Last Sunday, November 30, was our first game con. I picked up Justin around 9am, and we arrived at the cafe just a little before 9:30. Richard was already waiting, as well as Jonathan (Kojaq) who I only had interacted with online before this. We got everything set up, and most players, and Peter the other morning GM, made it there by 10am when we were scheduled to start. But Kurt, the cafe owner, didn't show up until around 11 so we had to make due with water or drinks people brought in from outside for a bit. Kurt had given me the door code so we could get in early, if you're wondering. 

In the morning session, I ran Classic D&D, using the same dungeon from the previous Online Summer Con arranged by Amae's Seoul group. This party followed the same route at first, but had a TPK in their first encounter. Four carrion crawlers took out a party of five 6th to 8th level PCs. As they can, especially if the party only has a cleric as a caster. The players got new PCs from the pre-gen pile and set out again in a different route. They didn't have time to make it to the dragon, but they had a great time anyway. 

Just before the thief misses on a backstab and everyone fails their saves (the Dwarf is already down).

Richard's Call of Cthulhu game only had one character death, but that PC died, was brought back, and died again. 

Richard brought his King in Yellow robes.

 

I didn't hear of any PC deaths in Peter's Black Sword Hack game, but everyone said they had a great game. 

Justin's BSH character sheet

We took a lunch break, and more people arrived for the afternoon games. A couple of people also went home (or elsewhere, anyway) after the morning games. I was a player in Keith's Cyberpunk Red game, which was a lot of fun. I got to play the Solo (combat character), which is always nice. But our new player David (who played his first RPG ever in my morning D&D game) was the star of the show. Of course, Richard's PC managed to shoot Peter's PC in the back...twice! None of us died, though several gang-bangers and scumbags died at our hands. 

The start of the game, in our gang's alley base, dealing with druggies

Jonathan's Mothership game was really good, too, from what I heard. There were definitely some PC deaths as well. 

An alien gestated inside one of the PCs. You'll never believe what happened next~!

Both Scott's 5E game and Elyse's Pathfinder game went over time, but this is something they'd planned for, and the players were aware of this. Scott did have one PC death. Elyse runs a more story-forward sort of game, so no PC deaths in her game. She did a think where players started with blank, or nearly blank character sheets, and had to discover who their PCs were as they played. 

Scott's got a lot of style when he runs a game. We could hear lots of laughing and some shouting from them.

Elyse's players were all really intent on the story that unfolded. 

Then it was the dinner break time. Most folks went home (or elsewhere), but a stalwart few soldiered on through into the night. Peter, Richard, Elyse, Jada, Justin, and I were there the whole day. Keith and his partner CC stayed for evening games, too, but they weren't here for the morning session. 
 

Justin had his group (Jada, CC, Elyse) play board games including Whitehall Mysteries. They also played a few smaller games. Justin had planned to play 1775, a tactical wargame of the Revolutionary War, but I guess they never broke that one out. 

London was scoured for clues.

 

My evening game was Gamma World. Richard, Keith and Peter chose their mutants and set off to explore a ruined tower. They dealt with crumbling infrastructure, hungry mutants, friendly mutants, and at the top of the tower androids intent on capturing Richard's mutated ape PC. Keith dropped to negative HP twice, and Peter once. At the end of the game, Richard escaped with his companions' bodies, evading the androids to survive the horrors of Gamma Terra. We had a blast. 

Peter's altered human scout is down thanks to poisonous two-headed bat mutants. The espers are about to meet the androids. 

It was a long day, but very much worth it. And we plan to do it again sometime soon. Scott wants to do the next event in May. I'll be back home for my son's high school graduation that weekend, but I'll probably help with the organizational side of things as best I can. 
 

 

 

Prepared

The 2025 Busan Tabletop Gaming Con is in a few days (Sunday). I'm ready for the game. I'm running D&D in the morning, playing Cyberpunk RED in the afternoon, then running Gamma World in the evening. It's gonna be a full day. Luckily, my Monday schedule will be light on Dec. 1st. 

We're ready for the event. The cafe is prepared for us. I've got all the schedules and games sorted. Justin bought some supplies (name tags, extra pencils/paper/etc.).  I guess I could make a sign-in sheet to make things feel more official. But with fewer than 25 people involved, I don't think that's completely necessary. 

I ordered dice sets online, planning to give a set to each GM as a thank you gift or as a reward to their MVP player, whichever they chose. The listing said it was seven sets (49 pieces) and we originally had 14 games people were prepared to run, so I ordered two. They arrived yesterday and to my happy surprise, there were ten sets of dice in each pack. And we're down to only 9 game sessions, two of which I'm running. So enough for me to give each GM a thank you set and an MVP player prize set. And I'll have some sets left over to keep for another time. 

For my games, I've got a dry erase mat, some board markers, minis for the creatures in both my D&D and Gamma World games (close enough on the GW side) organized, adventures and pre-gen PCs printed. I tried to write up the adventures so I'd have minimal book references during the games, but I'll bring the rulebooks anyway. 

I'm ready for the first (hopefully annual) BTGC!  

On Track

 After a frustrating at times past 24 hours, we have our table rosters set for the 2025 Busan Tabletop Game Con. Nine tables open, and around 23 total participants. Small, but close to what we were shooting for. We had hoped for around 30 people to participate. Close. [I need to update the webpage game rosters, we had a few changes/additions during the day.]

Next Sunday, we'll be gaming it up. I'm running Classic D&D and Gamma World (4th). I was going to play in the Mothership game in the afternoon, but John M. didn't get anyone signing up for his evening board game, and we got a request from John D. to also join that game. I was gonna hop over into Cyberpunk Red, but then the last guy to sign up on the official form before I closed it wanted that spot, so I'll be free in the middle of the con. That's actually alright with me. I can troubleshoot any problems, take pictures to document the event (I'll probably do a write-up for the local expat scene mag Busan HAPS), and just get a bit of rest between my games. 

We're using the Discord server used for last summer's Daegu One-shot Extravaganza and also for the Online Summer Con. That ended up being a bit of a headache, because Rowan, who owns the server, and Scott, who is an admin, both know Discord functions way more than Justin and I. So they kept hinting at things we needed to do, saying it was simple - just watch/read a tutorial, and then letting us fumble through things until they had to step in and fix our mess. [Hence the past 24 hours' frustrations.] But we've got it done. We've got players all sorted with their GMs, and everyone has both a Discord channel on the server and a KakaoTalk (Korean version of What'sApp) group chat for their games. 

All my pre-gens for both Classic D&D and Gamma World are on my work computer, so I'll be posting them for players to look over and discuss over the next week. I also (on Friday) sorted through minis to get some suitable ones ready for Gamma World. Not all of them are the right fit, but close enough. Various D&D minis, cheap-o toys from Japan and the U.S., old MUSCLE wrestlers and Battle Beast toys... I think I will sort out minis for the D&D game as well. 

After all the organizing was done (and a few family errands), I sat down to consider my OSR Modern game design. I'm still tinkering with the Starting Occupations and class Talents, but I think I'm getting closer. I also made a list of things that probably need rules for resolution in the game (and could potentially be used to earn XP). Here's the list so far: 

What do people do in this game that require mechanics (and might earn XP)?

Movement (jump, run, swim, drive, climb)

Investigate/Gather information

Socialize/Intimidate/Bluff

Get permission/authorization/shopping

Sneak/infiltrate/avoid ambush

Drive/Travel

Hack Computers

Fist Fight/Sword Fight

Gun Fight

Car Fight

Chase/Escape

Sabotage/Destroy

Repair/Build

Heal/Treat Illness

 I plan to implement a set of Challenge Awards in addition to XP for combat. Since it's a modern setting, I want it to be able to implement genres where fist fights or car chases are more prominent than gun fights just as easily as those that do feature prominent gun fights/explosions. For Challenge Awards, I'm thinking 5% or 10% of the amount needed to gain a level for small goals, and 25% for large goals. 

And speaking of genres, I've got a list of adventure/encounter types that I want to give examples of in the book: 

Encounter/Adventure Types

Wandering Do-Gooders

Cops & Robbers

Special Forces

Hot Rodders

The Big Heist

Investigators

Explorers

On the Run

Home for Christmas

X-Treme Action

From Sea to Shining Sea

Out for Vengeance

The Conspiracy

All in “The Family”

 And while I mainly plan to keep things mundane (well, Action Movie heightened reality), I will have some notes on adding some fantasy/sci-fi to the game: 

Mundane, Paranormal, Supernatural, Sci-Fi

Setting the campaign tone. PCs are all normal (heightened reality) characters, but the world also contains: 

Mundane: heightened realism, but otherwise normal (Die Hard, Rambo, Dirty Harry, A-Team, MacGuyver, Cannonball Run, Murder She Wrote, Goodfellas, The Goonies)

Paranormal: cryptids, psychics, ghosts, aliens (X-Files, Lost, The Shining, Scanners, E.T.)

Supernatural: magic, monsters, demons, other realms (Interview with the Vampire, Stranger Things, Indiana Jones, Nightmare on Elm Street)

Sci-Fi: clones, aliens, high tech, superscience (Knight Rider, Blade Runner, Predator, V, Terminator, The Island, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure)

 This should give everyone an idea of where I'm going with this idea. 

 

 

 

 

Arrangements

It's happening. After years of me considering whether to do something like this or not, Justin and I, with help from Scott and Rowan, are finally hosting the first (hopefully annual) Busan Tabletop Gaming Convention. 

The date is Sunday, Nov. 30, at Cafe With, a privately owned cafe with a really cool owner.  It's not a big event, but in just one day we have a bunch of games planned. 

In the morning (10am to 1pm), we have six games, including Call of Cthulhu (Richard), Tales of the Arabian Nights (board game, run by Justin), Black Sword Hack (Peter), Perils & Princesses (Jenifer), Despair (Shane - read about my playtest experience here), and Classic D&D (me). 

In the afternoon (2:30 to 5:30), we have five games (plus Shane's Despair game is expected to go long): Dread (Justin), Cyberpunk Red (Keith), D&D 5E 2024 (Scott), Pathfinder 2E (Elyse -- maybe, she's been ignoring my request to detail her game), and Mothership (Jonathan). 

Finally, in the evening (7 to 10), we have three games: Gamma World (me), Whitehall Mystery/1775  (board games run by Justin), and Clank! Catacombs (board game run by John). Scott's 5E game may also go long into this time slot. 

Unfortunately, the cafe couldn't fit us in on a Saturday, because they have other events planned. And the later Sunday games may not get many players because some people are coming in from out of town, and even people in the city taking public transportation may take a while to get home. And most of us have to work the next day. 

Still, I'm excited to see how many players we recruit. I'll be sending out that pitch this weekend. Hopefully Elyse gets her info to me on time.  

The Past Week

In addition to Trunk-or-Treat last Sunday, and some Halloween events today (Saturday, Nov 1st, but it's Korea so...yeah), I've spent the past week working on the OSR Modern idea I posted about. 

Oh, for Trunk-or-Treat, Steven was a Luigi mashup (green hat, black hoodie, airsoft gun). His idea. I was Dr. Doom. I'll be donning the Dr. Doom outfit again tonight for an adult Halloween party. 

Anyway, back to gaming stuff. I started out writing down some Design Goals. Then I took the d20 MSRD and started fiddling. So far, I've got Starting Occupations, Classes, a revised Wealth System (which Steven says I should drop for tracking cash...and I may), and Equipment including vehicles. I've been editing the Design Goals as I work on them. Here's what I've got so far: 

Design Goals

Simplify d20 Modern to OSR levels of complexity for easier game play, but retain the character customization to allow for a variety of tropes/character types. 

Integrate skills as part of Occupations or Class Talents/Abilities

Keep the 6 Ability-Keyed Basic Classes. Advanced classes yes or no? Maybe higher level talents can replace advanced classes. 

Keep single advancement chart, to allow multiclassing as is, but rework XP amounts to be more in line with TS&R (and other OSR games). 

Keep Wealth abstract? Probably a good idea, but need to consider how, as the original system is clunky and weird. Maybe assign a “wealth level” (destitute, poor, working class, middle class, affluent, wealthy, rich, 1%?) and set % chances to purchase something at or above that wealth level, and % chance to improve level based on rewards received. Items have a Value Level (numerical? Or categorical, like wealth levels?), characters can automatically buy items under their wealth level. 

Roll 3d6 for starting wealth level, with bonus/penalty to roll from Occupation. 

Resolution Systems: d20 based combat, d6 or % based skills/abilities

Ability Scores: 3 to 18, modifiers per BX (no PR bonuses to XP though)

Saving Throws: Keep Fort/Ref/Will? Or BX style? If FRW, set target numbers by class? Or have a Good/Average/Poor save number chart for each level? Because of multiclassing, this might be better. Multiclass takes best number available.

Defense Bonus: Keep a level-based bonus? Maybe the bonus doesn’t apply if wearing armor. 

Ability Score Increase: Set to certain class levels? Only the Basic Class ability can be raised, by a set amount (+1 or +2, maybe depending on current level?)? Or just drop it, and have improvements from skill increases with level and new Talents only. 

Allegiances: No need

Reputation: No need

Weapons: Simplify. No need for 17 types of handgun. Revolver and Semiauto are enough. Players can describe it as whatever make/model they prefer.

Proficiency: Allows use of weapons, armor, vehicles, etc. A PC may select a new proficiency instead of a talent: Brawl, Martial Arts, Personal Firearms, Archaic Weapons, Advanced Firearms, Exotic Weapons, Armor, Vehicles (land, water, air, space), Computers, Language, Riding, Demolitions, Tools (thieves, electronics, mechanics, medical, forensic)

Ability Scores

To determine Ability Scores, roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die six times. Players can assign these scores as they like among their ability scores. High scores grant bonuses, while low scores give penalties as described here: 

STRENGTH (STR): Modifies melee attacks and damage rolls.

DEXTERITY (DEX): Modifies ranged attacks and Armor Class, plus modifies Reflex Saves.

CONSTITUTION (CON): Modifies hit points at each level, plus modifies Fortitude Saves.

INTELLIGENCE (INT): Modifies linguistic abilities. Low scores make reading/writing and speaking difficult, high scores allow for additional languages known. 

WISDOM (WIS): Positive modifier grants bonus proficiencies, plus modifies Will Saves.

CHARISMA (CHA): Modifies NPC reaction rolls (using a different scale from other scores).

Levels and Multiclassing

Characters have a total character level, which is the sum of all of their class levels. The PC’s character level determines how many XP are needed to gain a new level. Whenever a PC gains a level, they may add a level of a class they already possess class levels in, or may multiclass into a new one. At every third character level, regardless of multiclassing or not, a PC gains a new Proficiency. Every time a PC gains a level, they may roll 3d6 modified by Occupation. If they roll above their current wealth level, they move up one step of Wealth. 

Character Level	XP	Proficiency
1	0
2	1000
3	2500	+1
4	5000
5	10,000
6	15,000	+1
7	20,000
8	30,000
9	40,000	+1
10	50,000
11	60,000
12	80,000	+1
13	100,000
14	120,000
15	140,000	+1
16	160,000
17	180,000
18	200,000	+1
19	250,000
20	300,000

Multiclassing

Any time a PC gains a level in a class other than their starting 1st level class, they have multiclassed. Each class has levels independent of each other, and their sum is the PC’s character level. For example, Gemma Lovelace starts play as a 1st level Charismatic Hero. Once she earns 1000 XP, she could take the second level of Charismatic Hero, or take a level in one of the other five classes. She decides to go with Fast Hero. Her Character Level is 2, while she is Level 1 Charismatic and Level 1 Fast. When she earns 2500 XP and earns her 3rd Character Level, she could raise either Charismatic or Fast to class level 2, or she could gain the 1st class level in a third class. 

When Multiclassing: 

Scores: Do not raise scores. This bonus is only gained at character creation.

Hit Dice: Roll the appropriate die type for the newly gained class level and add it to the total. At 1st Character level, Gemma has 7 hit points (6 from the maximum of Charismatic Hero, +1 for her Constitution modifier). At 2nd Character Level, she rolls 1d8+1 for her level of Fast Hero plus her Constitution modifier. She rolls 3, so adds 4 hit points for a new total of 11 hit points.

BAB: Add the BAB of all classes together to get the total BAB. Gemma starts with a BAB of +0. The Fast Hero also starts with +0 BAB, so her BAB does not change at Character Level 2. She will need to raise one of her two classes to 2nd level, or take a level of Strong Hero to improve her BAB at 3rd character level. 

Saves: Take the best score of any class/level available. As a 1st level Charismatic Hero, each of Gemma’s saving throws are 15. At 2nd level, when she adds Fast Hero, her Reflex save improves to 13. The Fortitude and Will saves do not change. 

Proficiency: Do not add starting proficiencies. These are only gained at character creation. Characters may add new proficiencies at every third Character Level. 

Talents: Add talents based on class levels. At 2nd Character Level, Gemma has both one Charismatic Talent and one Fast Talent. 

Wealth

Wealth is an abstract concept in the game. Rather than dealing with hard numbers for currency (and dealing with rent, utilities, loan payments, investment dividends, insurance, and other unfun factors of modern life), each PC has an abstract level of wealth. Items and services are given an abstract Value level. If a PC wishes to purchase something with a Value level lower than their Wealth level, they may do so without question (although for large purchases, this may take some time in game). If the Value level is equal or higher than the Wealth level, the character must make a check to see if they have enough cash or credit on hand to manage the purchase. Starting characters roll 3d6, modified by their Occupation, to determine their starting wealth level. When they gain a level, they may have a chance to improve their financial standing based on payment and rewards gained, or their out-of-game business dealings. 

Roll	Wealth Level	Value Level
2-3	Destitute	Insignificant
4-5	Poor	Cheap
6-8	Working Class	Minor
9-12	Middle Class	Major
13-15	Affluent	Significant
16-17	Wealthy	Luxurious
18	Rich	Extravagant
19-20	1%	Exorbitant