After having such a fine time at the Cauldron convention 2024, I’ve decided to try and attend more such gatherings and attempt to spread my bristling love for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e.

My first such adventure of 2025 was Grogmeet, a meeting of – as the name suggests – a bunch of grognards. I’d like start my documentation of Grogmeet by giving a shout out to James Knight, who brought this fine and genteel meeting of minds to my attention. Cheers James! 

Grogmeet is self described as a casual meet-up for fans of the entertaining Grognard Files Podcast, and not really a gaming convention in the purest sense. However, with over twenty games on offer over a long weekend, with many different game systems being played, I will go so far as to say that it was indeed a convention, and a fine one.  

I booked my ticket in December and as a GM this cost me £5. Not bad. I decided to run the most recent dungeon, to give it a good play test with some fresh eyes. This dungeon is called the Haunted Bordello, and I hope to release it as a module later this year. I soon realised that I needed to whip up some sort of advertisement art for sign-ups. So with a hurried ten minutes, lo and behold, witness my last minute poster for the game. Marvel at its wonky aspect ratio:

The Manchester based event took place across two lovely locations: Whitworth Locke (a fancy hotel), and Fan Boy Three (a very nice hobby shop I have visited once before). I grabbed my dice, books, and binder and headed out on my three hour train journey Friday morning. 

Friday

When I arrived there was already a tournament style game of Call of Cthulhu unfolding. Unfortunately this game was already sold out when I signed up, and during my arrival I soon became aware why. I witnessed several tables of grognards playing a massive combined scenario designed by Call of the Cthulhu 7th Edition designer Paul Fricker. All manner of chaos was unfolding before me; players were being dragged off to one side and given secret notes, then returned to different tables. From my observations, it seemed like there was some sort of mind swap invasion going on by the Great Race of Yith. It looked like heaps of fun, and I was more than a little disappointed I couldn’t get involved. But there is always next time! 

Later that evening I played in a Delta Green game ran by a nice guy named Wid. I believe the scenario is something published by a third party and Wid had altered it. Us player characters were all trapped in a snowed in gas station somewhere in rural America. There was a corpse in the bathroom, and some sort of computer next to the cash register running streams of random numbers. If you’ve not played Delta Green before, it’s basically Call of Cthulhu meets the X-Files, and sure enough, soon after the game started, shit started getting spooky fast. Over the course of the game we found ourselves trapped in the gas station with laser sights trailing us from beyond the road. Corpses started animating and spinning in the air. One of our team soon became mind controlled by the incessant numbers on every communication device. We had to solve the bizarre download coming in from beyond Sirius, before we all kicked the bucket. We did so, and somehow with not one of us dying. Huzzah! 

This game was a lot of fun and it reminded me why I enjoy horror games as one shots.

Later that night there was much boozing and chatting at a local pub, and I got acquainted with some great guys. I got talking with a few guys who run a long term Tunnels and Trolls game that I’d love to play at the next event. The socialising was definitely a highlight of the weekend. The only down side to these events is that there is never enough time. You can’t play all the games on offer.

Saturday

Saturday morning I woke up with only a slight hangover and mooched my way over to Fan Boy Three for my first game of the day; A new Call of Cthulhu Gaslight scenario GM’d by Paul Fricker. Paul asked us not to talk too much about the scenario, as it was a play-test for a future book. What I will say is that it was a great distraction from my hangover. There was much sawing off of shotguns and chairs thrown as improvised weapons. I will apparently get a play-test credit on the document when it is released, which is always nice. 

Come midday I had to rush across the freezing gulf of the city for the start of my own game. I grabbed a sandwich and a snickers bar and managed to scoff these down with not a moment to spare. I set up my table and my players began filtering in. I handed out my nifty fake golden rod character sheets and we all introduced ourselves. I gave out a few hooks to the location and we were off. Playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

The Haunted Bordello

There was Malitar Kreen, a half-orc fighter/assassin. Eljas Tammi, a human fighter armed with a glaive. Helmut Scond, a lithe half-elf thief. Then cunning Fulrad Falk, a human illusionist. Finally there was the human cleric Isto Jantuten, worshiper of Ilmatar the Mother Goddess.

The characters arrived at the wailing wood after travelling across the vale of Tarn. They soon heard in the distance some strange barking wails they had heard rumours about. Ghosts? Who knows. They marched through a woodland trail and soon discovered a bluff with an old ruin atop it. The half elf thief climbed up alone and stole a gander. He returned with news that a few rough looking men were sat in the round tower at leisure. The party climbed up and surrounded these fellows. After the illusionist tried to hail them, the party lost their edge of surprise and the bandits nocked a few arrows. Charges were made. Arrows were loosed. The party slew two of them outright. The other one fled down a trap door and into a nasty arrow trap. 

After some searching on the ground level they found a second entrance into the dungeon. A coal shaft of some kind. The thief tried to descend it but slipped in the rough soil, and tumbled down the slide and into the nest of three nasty badgers! With his weekly rations thrown to the ground he managed to get out without so much of a nip. The party then went down into the dungeons proper.  They found the pleasure rooms of a sinister Bordello, long abandoned. After a bit of snooping around they found a secret door in a wash room. Beyond this there was a viewing room with many one way mirrors overlooking several boudoir. Inside was a shadowy figure of pure malice. After watching him for a while they learned he roamed from mirror to mirror. The thief took a chance, sneaking past him. He managed to steal a scroll from a shelf at the far end of the room. And narrowly avoided contact with the apparition. The party went on exploring the rooms. Unfortunately, a turn undead attempt in one of the bedrooms caused the shadow to attack through the mirror, slaying the offending cleric.

They continued on a little, killing a squad of goblin guards and two orcs fighting over a halberd. Falling into a pit trap sent them back to town for a few days rest. Later they returned to the Haunted Bordello with a new companion; an elf fighter/magic user. They had an interesting encounter with a complex portcullis trap that took the life of their illusionist. Finally they found a fine throne room, and broke the chair from the floor only to be attacked by a mess of giant rats. No match for their power, the party slew the rats and carried their treasures back to town. And glory to them says I! 

It was great sharing my enthusiasm for 1st edition. Some of the players had played the system as kids, and it was like a hit of nostalgia for them. Some had never played the game before. And others were regular AD&D enjoyers. Some of the players expressed excitement that we actually got to use the grappling table and the lift gates percentiles, which made me chuckle. I also now have a real appreciation for the golden rod character sheets. Using them to roll up the pre-gens forced me to take closer looks at carry capacity and non-lethal combat rules. Good stuff.

After my game I went back to the station for the long journey home. There were so many interesting games on display at the event, that I can’t wait to go for the next one to try out something new. The verdict is in, Grogmeet is a hell of a lot of fun and stocked with great people. I look forward to the next one!