RPG a Day 2023: The 10th Anniversary Edition--Day 15 Favorite Con Module/One-Shot

 I've written about my times in the United Arab Emirates before in previous years, so I hope I'm not retelling too many stories. I taught out there for nine years at the same high school. I read a lot of PDFs and tried to introduce TTRPGs in my classroom. It was mixed success at best. At some point I did find the Gulf Roleplaying Community (GRC) which continues on to this very day. As I mentioned yesterday, there are big conventions out in the area much like the cons in the States, but the better thing was when GRC ran mini-cons. They were usually held on  Fridays only, but we played the whole day, so we could fit in two game sessions and a big lunch. 

My favorite con game was one I played at one of these sessions. It was a module from the original--as far as I know--version of Deadlands. I played as a gambler and I remember the module taking place on a train. I believe it was titled 'Ghost Train' because I distinctly remembered there being a poker game involved in the module and that my gambler had lots to do. I don't know if that module is actually an old one or not, but it was presented using the old system I remembered. The best thing about this system for me was the mechanics involving playing cards. In this game there were premade characters that we picked at random as if drawing from a deck of cards. We also had a few simple costume props provided by the marshal. They call the DM/GM the Marshal in this game to go along with the Western vibe. It made for a memorable experience. It didn't feel like a generic run of the mill session.

There are a lot of games coming out nowadays that also employ different gimmicks and I think that's the way it should be, and I welcome the return of such. For a long while there during the D20 system and 5E centric years, a lot of the different games were released under that banner and they lost a lot of their own originality and charm. Very few really have the time or inclination to learn dozens of new systems, but for me,  when I play Deadlands or any other classic, I want to play with the original mechanics. Of course, at the table YMMV and if you don't like a thing then just toss it and use house rules, but there comes a point when you throw out so many of the things that made a system special, that you're no longer playing an alternative ruleset/setting, but just reskinned D&D.