Outriders: the sequel

Just over a week ago, the second annual OUTRIDERS mini-con took place right here at Runehammer in North Philly. I wanted to take some time to recount the events, as this was no ordinary gamers' gathering... it was our latest effort at the next level.

The OUTRIDERS family photo, human version.

We had a few new riders this year, who we quickly assimilated into our shared universe.

1: Building a Better 'Con'

I have been working with many players and colleagues in the past three years to visualize, and actualize, a simply supreme RPG experience for all-weekender. This starts with the easy stuff: getting everyone together, providing food, cozy and inspiring spaces, and enjoying fellowship. Once these things are secure, it's time to face our mission: designing a truly continuous and holistic story experience for the player. My goal? Collaborate to create a continuous story from Thursday to Sunday, swapping tables, game systems, GMs, and play styles, such that everyone involved has a SHARED experience.

Our first step to achieving this lofty goal is the becoming. We become our characters. In the OUTRIDERS club, we call them personas... our characters in the fiction who also encapsulate our personal styles, loyalties, and quirks. We are the characters and they are us. Think of it as a callsign or secret handshake. This step is crucial to the vibes we strive for at this gathering. It starts with six months or more of Discord discussion, and culminates when we see each other in the halls of Runehammer. The good stuff.

There's no easy way to fully explain the story context of the OUTRIDERS... it is a vast quilt of loyalty, betrayal, struggle, courage and pain. It is a saga of our struggle to find freedom in a multiverse dominated by The Imperium. From the shadoy halls of dungeons, to the icy heights of dragon-guarded peaks, to the cramped interiors of space hulks and dead stars, we fight for our right to explore, to be free, and to hold true to one another.

The OUTRIDERS family photo, miniature version.

We all have our own hand-crafted miniatures of our persona. This ragtag band of warriors has seen

countless battles, terrors beyond the stars, and the gold of a ice cold ale.

2: The Sessions

With the esoteric behind us, it's time to hit the tables and play. The format of this gathering is the result of several iterations, including cabin cons, small hotel cons, and Green Dragon Fest in Knoxville. I've been totally focused on finding a formula that creates the deepest feels at the climax/conclusion. Here's the menu in short form:

Thursday night: War gaming. Split table first round, all players at unified table second round. Set starting conditions for role play sessions. The OUTRIDERS faced impossible odds, trying to reunite after fleeing the legions of the Imperium, loyal to a long-dead king.

Our Thursday war game culminates in a hair-raising struggle.

If you die here, you are raised again, but with the dreaded gene contagion affecting your decisions.

Our war table on Thursday. WAR | MAKER was our system, drawing force abilities at random.

"Get to the anvil station! Stay in stealth!"

Friday: All day role play sessions, play outcome of war games. Star-flung by the end of teh war game, the riders split into two groups, lose all their gear, and struggle on distant, desolate worlds. Here, they discover a new threat set to destroy their last homeworld.

I go full eagle mode describing the strange desert-monks of Kerakia.

On this distant, desolate planet, my group discovered the immense attack fleet bound for their home.

Trevor runs the other group through this jungle adventure.

On this primal world, the riders discover an effort to refine the gene contagion into pure mind control nanites.

Saturday: Daytime role play, switch tables, switch GMs, set up LARP conditions and events. The players fight to reunite, fidning their power gear and entering destructive firefights. Both groups find ways to return to their homeworld, only to find it already surrounded by a powerful fleet and the ominous 'gene contagion' changing loyalties.

As the two groups swap tables and GMs, the story continues.

Both teams discover ever-higher stakes, and face massive combat odds to reach their homeworld in time.

Saturday night: Tavern LARP conclusion, set up context for next year. Through a 3 hour live action role play, we argue out the big ending. Riders use their signet rings to evoke powerful moves, allegiances are tested, and with no way out, we decide to try and hide our homeworld from The Imperium. All this talk, all these speeches come down to a single card draw. High card wins. If Joe wins, the homeworld is safe. If the Imperium wins, our home is annihilated and the OUTRIDERS turn against each other, unleashing total chaos. total insanity. We win teh draw queen-to-2, and mugs are raised. The OUTRIDERS escape in a stolen grave ship... blasting off to find their hidden home in distant stars.

Clutch, Dread, and myself hear each other out as we LARP our impossible dilemma.

Do we yield to our enemies to save our home, stand defiant, or find some other path to victory?

With all the context of the weekend, and everyone's shared story, this is the LARP to end them all. Madness.

3: The Mayhem

The OUTRIDERS weekend isn't all continuous story thread gaming! With my homies coming from all over the country, it's also four days of friends and side-games. We had a birthday cake, too many beers, picnic table games, long walks and great food. Again, in the spirit of 'building a better con' it's imperative to share time together away from the table. There's a lot of catching up to do!

Late Thursday night, some of the gang rally at the "Air D&D" to play Baron's world-building game.

Playing outside is always awesome.

Nomad gives extra thought to starship positioning, playing in the morning before our sessions start.

The weather was great all weekend.

4: Dread's Hope, and the next chapter...

In the end, we managed to hide our home from destruction, but lost it in the depths of space. Teh OUTRIDERS take a stolen ship, renaming it 'Gold and Fire' or 'Dread's Hope' and blast into the void. This sets us up for next's years events, and cheers all around.

It's not easy getting 12 people together for four days! Food, lodging, table spaces, terrain, GM planning, character building, miniatures, travel arrangements! It's all a challenge compared to cruising to your local mega con and sitting in on a conference room game. I cannot candy coat the willpower and cooperation it takes to execute an event like OUTRIDERS. I am forever grateful for my battle brothers and their willingness to travel and give their time to this event.

Are shared-story mini-cons for everyone? I'm not sure. All I can say for certain is these are the role-playing experiences that drive me forward, make me reach for higher heights, and fill my heart with that feeling of rock solid friendship that has no substitute. Systems are pushed to their limit, role play is over the top, gravity is beyond the telling, and huge beyond the counting.

Never settle. Find your own path, and if you're like me... build a better con.

-B