A trip to any other country and you could be forgiven for letting the travelogue slip for one’s last couple of days. But this is Germany. You’ve got to be methodical.

Tuesday — Wind down day for the con organizers. As the catered lunch is prepared, I see what seem to be little white pills laid out on each plate. For a moment I think I have found the secret — the supplement Germans consume to counteract all that fatty cheese and salty mineral water, so they don’t drop like flies from heart disease and hypertension.



Nope. They’re Uncle Oinker’s Bacon Flavored Mints, the remaining supply of a tin brought to the show by Charlie Krank.

I’m happy to oblige a request to run a game for the team. Con runners deserve a chance to play, too. Here’s the challenge — Fabian has requested a game set in the world of the American Empire series, which he knows from this blog. American Empire wasn’t designed for a one-shot; it had a huge chunk of introductory exposition. It begins with considerable player frustration and confusion as the players struggle to understand the alien culture their cybersoldier PCs are required to interact with. A few minutes in I realize I’m overdoing it by having the aliens speak semi-incomprehensibly, as they did in the original campaign. There’s enough verbal confusion with a group playing in a second language. Due to the compressed time scale, the aliens were a little more Vancian this time.

The soldiers are sent to train a tank battalion in the boondocks, only to realize that the trainees are absurdly ill-motivated and reluctant to actually use the tanks. After successfully forging an optimistic Power Point presentation to headquarters, covering their asses no matter what they do, the characters are left at loose ends. After an ill-fated intimidation run against the local villagers, it somehow all winds up in a climactic fight with a six-headed alien dragon. It’s fun to watch the players used to more traditional games as they discover the open-ended possibilities of the new HeroQuest system. Afterwards I discover this is the first tabletop experience ever for one of the players, who until now has been a freeformer only. How daunting.

All in all I found it interestingly odd to do a sequel to a completed series for a new group of players. The material developed during the original certainly made me prepared to be spontaneous for this unexpected revival.



That evening I get a walking tour of downtown Frankfurt. We check out the ruins of a Roman bath in its museum district. I’m struck by the time machine vibe of the commercial graphic design. Although there are some very modern storefront designs, much of the signage recalls the late fifties or early sixties. Not only do they still have Woolworth’s, but the sign design looks like it might have been in place when John F. Kennedy came to the country to declare himself a donut.

Wednesday — For sightseeing day, Fabian has chosen a secret destination — a day trip to the city of Speyer. It’s famed for its imposing Romanesque cathedral and as the place where the great schism was officially declared.




Cathedral wall detail provides further evidence of Deep One infestation.

The cathedral, with its crypt full of emperors and kings, is impressive, but it’s not German history Fabian’s after—the history museum has a special samurai exhibition. The accompanying text is in Deutsch only, but I know the subject matter so that’s not a problem. It reduces the temptation to spend the bulk of my time reading the text and not enough looking at the pieces themselves. And the objects are first rate & plentiful. Lots of armor sets. A room of heavily ornamented helmets, bearing motifs ranging from seashells to dragons, shows the samurai truly understood the concept of kewl. Several of the Kuniyoshi woodblock prints on display could easily be illustrations from a 19th century samurai roleplaying book. The gunner holding the enormous freaking gun behind a glowering skull banner is totally Games Workshop gone kabuki.



One of the great things about seeing other countries as a convention guest is hanging out with the locals and seeing the little details of daily life. A trip to the grocery store can tell you more than a circuit of tourist spots. Less familiar to me than a samurai exhibit is that special German institution, the drink store. There you buy beverages by the case (or singly, if you prefer), whether you’re talking soda pop, bottled water, wine, or beer. It makes at least as much sense as Ontario’s division of these products between three separate institutions—the grocery store for non-alcoholic beverages, the liquor store for wine and spirits and the Beer Store, appositely enough, for beer.

It all ends with a lovely quiet dinner with Fabian and his girlfriend Claudia. In a touching display of international trust, I am encouraged to make the salad dressing.

Thanks not only to Fabian but to all the Tentacles team for treating me so well during my stay. Tentacles is the perfect tiny handcrafted gaming event and I’m grateful to have been invited.

Thursday — Finally home. Time to collapse.

Tags: gaming hut, heroquest, museums, on the road

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