KublaCon 2018 – A Convention Report From Scott Woodard

Greetings fellow Savages!

Scott Woodard here and I thought I would give you a brief report from the trenches about my experiences at KublaCon 2018.

For those unfamiliar with the event, KublaCon is a West Coast gaming convention held over Memorial Day Weekend in Burlingame, California, just a few miles from the heart of San Francisco. Since my very first KublaCon back in the early ’00s, this convention has grown quite a lot, increasing significantly in attendance and now offering events spread over three hotels. This year, I had two Savage Worlds games on the schedule for The Sixth Gun RPG and The Savage World of Flash Gordon™.

Friday afternoon the posse, on assignment from the Sword of Abraham, ventured into the New Mexico Bootheel in search of a mysterious “seeing stone” believed to be hidden somewhere near the Alamo Hueco Mountains. Of that group of players, few had previous experience with Savage Worlds and only one had read any of the terrific Sixth Gun comics from Oni Press, but despite that, they all embraced their characters and their unique abilities, and had a fantastic time facing the horrors of Mimihqueh: Temple of the Dead.

Sunday morning it was off to the planet Mongo for six other players, and while this enthusiastic group all had experience with Savage Worlds (allowing me to skip the brief explanation of the core mechanics), most really only knew of Flash Gordon™ from the 1980 movie. After opening the game by playing Queen’s unforgettable theme, the heroes were soon piloting rocket ships, investigating a rash of mysterious deaths in the kingdom of Valkr, and battling a terrifying, prehistoric beast in a cavern deep within Mount Dominance. This may well have been one of the most energetic sessions I’ve run in a long time and everyone had an absolute blast uncovering the secret of… The Deadly Dust!

Finally, Sunday afternoon had me on a panel titled Writing Professionally for the RPG Industry. An engaged audience gathered to listen to Pete Sauber of Savage Worlds licensee Ravendesk Games and myself chat about our backgrounds, experiences, and methodologies. As Ravendesk has published a Savage Setting of their own (Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla), it was quite the Savage hour!

If you’re a fan of RPGs, boardgames, miniatures, card games, LARPs, and more, I highly recommend the KublaCon Game Convention. I’ll see you all there in 2019!

“Kublaaaaa!!!”