Did you miss out on the cosmic horror and community vibes at Chaosium Con in Ann Arbor, Michigan? This week on Good GMs, James and Chuckie sit down to recap Chuckie’s weekend at this uniquely intimate tabletop gaming convention. Boasting a comfortable crowd of around 450 attendees, Chaosium Con is the ultimate space to skip the massive stadium crowds of Gen Con and actually rub shoulders with industry legends, swap horror stories with fellow Keepers, and level up your skills as a Game Master.

• Convention Etiquette & Bad GMs: The critical importance of showing up early and knowing your rules. When a neighboring GM flaked out on their players, our friend "Big Stompy Robot" from the Savage Sessions RPG Podcast stepped up to absorb the players and save their hard-earned vacation time.
• Propping Up Your Con Game: Why presentation is everything. Chuckie talks about laminating massive custom maps, while James details packing an entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles session inside pizza boxes (complete with colored eye masks and custom dice trays) to turn a regular game into an unforgettable show.
• The Campfire Tales Leak: A look at Chaosium's upcoming Call of Cthulhu book Campfire Tales (focusing on scouting themes) and how modern safety mechanics stop horror GMs from becoming actual "monsters" when running high-terror games involving younger characters.
• A Brush with Chaosium Royalty: Chuckie shares a hilarious story about running The Haunting, navigating a wagon full of oversized props, and unknowingly talking shop with Chaosium's Vice President and Creative Director, Jeff Richard, and his multi-table-running wife!

Resources in This Episode:

• Pick up community-made sourcebooks or publish your own gaming content over on DriveThruRPG.
• Listen to Bridgett Jeffries over at the Miskatonic University Podcast.
• Watch incredible, system-agnostic GM advice from Seth Skorkowsky on YouTube.
• Check out Chuckie's Live Play show, featuring E.E. Morris, our producer, Rainey, and our buddy Big Stompy Robot at the Savage Sessions RPG Podcast
• Organize your TTRPG worlds, NPCs, and hyperlinked lore sheets with Kanka Campaign Manager.
• Download the free Call of Cthulhu starter scenarios mentioned in the show: The Haunting Quickstart and What's in the Cellar?

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