August 22, 2019: Providence, Rhode Island

*I wish I took more photos of the interior*

A strange eldritch force begins to rise and take shape in Downtown…

My journey to the convention started as most road trips do (or in this case, a 2 and a half-hour drive), with heavy traffic and road construction. My wife and I enjoyed each others company through the stop-and-go, and made it the Biltmore garage to park the car, stretch our legs and finally wander around the block aimlessly hoping the Graduate Hotel entrance finds us. With some consulting to the all knowing one, “Yog-SogGoogle” we made it inside. After checking in with the event staff and acquiring our passes, My wife and I checked the local area out, and proceeded to check into our AirBnB.

Between working a full shift at work Thursday morning and driving in Massachusetts traffic, I was exhausted so my wife and I ordered some deep dish pizza and had early night for we both had to be back at the convention early the next morning for our “Minioning”. Friday morning the we arrived in the gaming hall, which was located on the 18th floor of the Graduate, overlooking the Omni Hotel where the vendor hall was, and the rest of Downtown. Right when we walked in, multiple RPG games were already underway and the Extra Life Raffle was set up which had some really great prizes donated by artists, publishers and stores. walking past the dozen or so tables of Agents, Investigators, Handlers and Keepers the board game hall was neatly tucked past the chattering of dozens of gamers. This is where my wife and I spent our time at the convention. I ran 2 groups through the intro scenario for the Arkham LCG, “The Gathering”. The first group was a 4 player group of close friends hellbent on “griefing” each other for their collective amusement. Questions such as these came up during their session?

“Can I use this dynamite blast to damage my friends?”
Skids then proceeded to use his first action to play said card in the study…
“So I can spend my entire turn trying to “heal” my teammate with Medical Texts?”
Daisy proceeds to draw the -4 and the Auto-fail tokens trying to bandage Roland up.
“What happens if I fail an attack while an enemy is engaged with another player?” You damage them instead
Oh good! This’ll be payback for that Dynamite earlier, you ****!

Surprisingly enough, They managed to defeat the Ghoul Priest, with a solid Barrier and Agnes stabbing him with Lita’s help. Hilarious. The second group of the day was a 3 player group who had what I would call a more normal experience, and came out on top with Skids and Roland sacrificing themselves to hurl dynamite at the Priest. Both groups seemed to have a great time playing and wanted to know what happened next in the campaign. Players enjoyed the narrative driven game play and appreciated the RPG aspects of the Arkham LCG. My groups Saturday also had a great time playing and learning the game! my first group that day was 2 players, one of whom received the game as gift from his wife but never had the chance to play it until then. The last group I ran was with fellow podcaster, Brian Murphy of the "Miskatonic University Podcast and a couple of his friends, who picked the game up quickly.

The look of dread on people’s faces when they draw their first auto-fail on a big test is good fun when it’s not you! Watching people as they experience the game for the first time was a treat to see and an honor to be a part of a great (old ones) gaming experience for those involved.

I did manage to sneak a couple trips to vendor hall to scoop up some souvenirs. There was TONS of cool mythos related stuff, ranging from games, books, art, film, jewelry, apparel. Part of me is glad I didn’t spend too long in there, so I wasn’t tempted to empty my bank account. But that’s not to say I didn’t buy things, of course I did! While wandering the halls this piece of art called to me…

While at the booth purchasing this print, I had a chance to chat with Clark Huggins, (who you should follow on social media) and we agreed that he had to come onto the podcast for an interview! We also agreed that we couldn’t just let a great art print go to waste, so we’ll be giving one of these away to a lucky listener (which could be you!) so be sure to stay tuned for that! I also had the chance to meet Shane and Rachel Ivey of Arc Dream Publishing and pick up a copy of Annotated King in Yellow (which i did a review of by the way!). Man is this book pretty!

With so much to do and see, there was no way anybody would be able to do everything they wanted to at NecronomiCon. What a problem to have huh?! I wasn’t able to stay all four days but the time I spent there was truly wonderful. The staff and convention goers were all super friendly. Even my wife, who isn’t a gamer, or big fan of this stuff (like I’m sure you are) found something to enjoy! We made new friends and walked away with big pile of books, and a mystery to solve! What Mystery you ask? Why, the mystery inside the “Necronomnomnom”, of course! NecronomiCON is truly a unique convention ran by an excellent staff in a remarkable venue. Do yourself a favor, and meet me there in 2021! I’ll be sure to bring “The Great Old Buns”.