Lajconik – four RPG sessions in two days

I already stated before how much I like Lajconik. It is a wonderful small convention where I can play RPG both with people I know and those who I haven’t met before. This year it was kind of special to me as I am chairing the SFF club that organizes it. Despite this I was a regular attendee and not staff member, even though I had participated in some staff meetings in order to offer my help (that wasn’t really needed).

It is difficult to write about Lajconik

Maybe I should say that what happens at Lajconik, stays at Lajconik… but this won’t be true. Still, the issue is that it is very difficult to write a lot about this con. For me (and probably for many other members) Lajconik is mainly/purely a convention devoted to playing RPG sessions. And this meant that during the whole weekend I participated in just four programme items and I was not even walking around the con. I was simply spending most of my time in a room, playing.

Picture was taken on above and depicts a queue. Woman and two men in the center are looking up. Registration queue

What RPG systems did I play?

The first session I played was Coriolis. A friend of mine had a plan of GMing four Coriolis sessions with different players. All of them were connected and they made up a small campaign. It was nice and for me it seems that this system has a potential.

In the center of the picture there is a table with book and papers on it. Around the table there are three men (one standing and two sitting) and woman. Coriolis session

In the evening, my other friend was a Game Master and we played Delta Green. It is a system where you are a federal agent fighting strange monsters and ghosts. From what he said, it was a mix of Cthulhu with the X-files. The session we played was a ghost story. I only regret we didn’t have enough time and we had to really speed up at the end to be able to finish the session. Still, it was an interesting experience.

Three man and woman sitting around the table. Behinf them there are some musical instruments. Tavle is covered with some papers, sweets and dice. Delta Green played in a music room

I didn’t really like the next session. We were playing The Lamentations of the Flame Princess. This system is based on the original Dungeons & Dragons. I am not a great fan of typical dungeon crawls but last year I really enjoyed traditional RPG – Tunnels & Trolls and Metamorphosis Alpha so I was hoping it would also be good. I like the music that the GM had chosen for this session. It evoked a proper atmosphere of weirdness and all things uncanny. Yet, the adventure was a little bit too boring. Mainly, we had to fight with moving statues, which is ok, but when it is repeated multiple times, it is becoming quite dull.

Woman sitting behind the table smiling. There is a cup, papers and dice on the table. One of my co-players during Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

And the last game is…

In the last session, the Game Master was also the creator of the game. We played Legacy of the Empire. The introduction and character creation was too long. It took us two hours out of four hour slot, which is not the best solution. I was quite disappointed by this, but what choice did I have at this time? I played. And I really, really enjoyed remaining two hours. I cannot say that I really understood the game mechanics or the world. We spent the whole session in a secluded village in the mountains. We played highlanders whose culture was based on both Irish and Scottish roots. Still, the interactions with other players’ characters was awesome and the atmosphere we created was simply enjoyable.

Two men and one woman sitting by the table. There are some papers on table. Legacy of the empire

What is interesting, is the fact that GM told us that the sessions from Lajconik (and also other sessions they are having as part of the game promotion) will become a part of the official timeline of the game. I am not sure if it is really good choice as I know that sometimes players tend to make a total mess during the sessions and not all of the ideas should then become a canon. Yet opportunity to shape the world was thrilling.

Non playing time spiced Lajconik up a bit

As I wrote before, I had been playing almost for the whole duration of the convention. The breaks between sessions were used to eat lunch. I spent the remaining time talking to people and taking pictures, so I really cannot describe what else had been happening. Some people played board games. There was also a lecture Road to the stars that was given by Bartosz Postulka (founder of AGH Space Systems Academic Circle and one of the winners of NASA CanSat Competition in 2015). I really regret I didn’t make it to this lecture but… I had been playing.

In the evening between Saturday and Sunday there was an “official” pub meeting with traditional karaoke. I went there but it was too loud to chat so I left after one or maybe two hours. Still, the evening was quite nice.

Bearded man in a pub Evening party

The Lajconik’s closing ceremony is usually short. It consists of a “thank you” speech and a small competition during which randomly selected GMs and players receive awards. Badges from the volunteering members are collected and winners are chosen by taking a few badges out of a box. It is a nice tradition. I almost won something myself. Well, in fact I won an issue of the Smokopolitan fanzine, but as I already had it, I asked the jury to choose someone else instead.

Man shaking hand with woman. One of the lucky winners

And that is it. As usual, Lajconik was nice and I am really happy I was able to participate in it. The convention itself was actually quite big, as there were over 200 people there (including volunteers and staff). The convention inspired me to write something about RPG and hopefully I will publish my article in one of the Polish fanzines (unfortunately, it will be in Polish, but maybe I should think about translating it?). Now I have to wait for the next year to attend Lajconik again 🙂

You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.

My next post will be about KONgres 2018 convention and will be published on April 6th.

Content not available.
Please allow cookies by clicking Accept on the banner

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies and to our privacy policy. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close