Frog in a Bog

ArcaneCon 2026

Game Hall

Last weekend, I went to my first ArcaneCon. It ripped.

Thursday morning, I drove to Corning, NY to meet up with my buddy (and sort-of-neighbor) Matt Kelly, famed creator of supplements for domain-level Cairn play. From there, we drove 4.5 hrs to Massachussets together. ("Together" is a strong word, because Matt is too nice a guy and didn't let me drive at all—I highly recommend "carpooling" with him if you get the chance.) The drive included lots of nerd talk, chocolate-covered coffee beans, and one of the saddest gas-station-Subway footlongs I've ever purchased. It was still pretty good. The drive was beautiful; it was peak autumn. These pictures don't do it justice!

Autumn in NY

By mid-afternoon, we rolled up to Northampton and dropped off our stuff. We walked to the venue and helped set up the Cairn Press booth. This was ArcaneCon's third year but its first in a new, larger venue: the Northampton Center for the Arts. You'll hear more about it later, but in brief: it was a fabulous venue. No notes!

Then we went to Daily Operation to meet up with other Cairn Pressers: Richard (TheGeekChef, of Hellspawn fame) and Karly and Kayleigh (if you don't already know who those two are, you need to check out Cairn Press's most recent kickstarter, the incredible A Sliver of Evidence!). A good meal and good time were had by all. After some drinks at a great local bar, Dirty Truth, we all turned in for a good night of beauty sleep before the big day.

Friday

It was a dark and stormy morning. Matt and I walked in the rain to grab breakfast sandwiches, where we ran into Skullboy, who kindly gave me a dry ride to the con. Then we pulled up to the con. I grabbed my ArcaneCon sweatshirt and badge and began to walk the floor.

I left my Friday AM open (no games, no volunteering) to wander around. I think it was the right call. I got most of my spending out of the way early on and caught up with friends. Here's most of my haul.

haul

Not pictured:

Game sign-ups

At noon, I signed up for my first game. A note on ArcaneCon organizing: the organizers made it so all games had 25% of their seats left open for in-person signups. (In-person signups for each game opened one hour before the game's start time.) I don't know if this was a new thing this year, or something carried over from previous years, but I thought it worked out great. I signed up for ArcaneCon late, so by the time I was sure I was going, most of the games I was interested in playing in were full. This design made it so I was still able to play in most of the games I wanted to! Thanks, organizing team <3

After hanging out, buying stuff, and signing up for games, we broke for lunch. A bunch of us went to T Roots. Delicious Taiwanese food. Very fast, very lovingly prepared. Do stop by if you ever go to Northampton! Then Karly, Kayleigh, and I rushed back to the venue for our first game of the con: Wildendrem, Saintly Hollows.

Game 1: Ærthurian Art Sellers

Game1

Warden: Andy Players: Karly, Kayleigh, Dano, Courtney

I was able to snag the last spot in Andrew McAlpine's game of Wildendrem: The Saintly Hollows. If you don't know about Wildendrem, go check it out. It's so great. Volume 1 has been out for a couple years, its praises sung throughout the OSR, and Volume 2 is on the way. Andy is one of the authors, and it was great to meet him in person and pick his brain.

I won't spoil much about this game. See it for yourself when you read/run/play Saintly Hollows. Our adventure took place on an overly empathetic island, involved trying to sell a painting, and ended with a haunting, wet dungeon crawl. I played a Relic Hunter named Vornikek Hexmill. It was SO fun!

Game 2: Witchy Wanderers

Game2

Warden: Richard (TheGeekChef) Players: Me, Karly, Kayleigh, Kyrie, Jamie

Richard ran the "starter" adventure in his upcoming Cairn Press adventure-setting, the witchy world of Widdershins Hollow. This setting is exceedingly cozy and sweet—but it's not without darkness and fright. I got to contribute a drawing to this book and had the special pleasure of finally meeting my subject (King Rah'Raph'Bleph) in person! I can't wait to see this thing in print.

Our adventure involved re-lighting sputtering lanterns at the edge of the wood. It was musical, spooky, and perfect for Halloween. Karly's character had major beef with my character for some reason. Richard is unlike any GM I've had before. His voices and character performances are hilarious and immersive—you should play in one of his games if you get the chance!

After the session, close to 10pm, we were all exhausted from 12+ hours of gaming and socializing. I walked home in the dark, but I needed a piece of pizza first. And who else did I find at the pizzeria but Karly and Kayleigh? Karly and I decided to leave our characters' beef behind us, and we all recapped our day over some huge slices of pretty bad pizza. Then I said good night, crawled off to my bed, and slept like a pile of rocks.

Bad Pizza

Saturday

Cairn Press Booth 2

Saturday morning was my volunteer shift at the Cairn Press booth. I said this about Between Two Cons, too, but if you get the chance to volunteer at a convention, you should do it! It's a great way to help out, get free entry or some merch, and talk to a bunch of people about games. It was lovely getting to know fellow nerds, trading zines, and—most importantly—making sales for Cairn Press. Volunteering was great. It flew by.

After my shift, my friends and I grabbed some delicious sushi for lunch at Moshi Moshi. I've been living in the woods for several months, and sushi is not an option chez moi. This was my chance to get some, and it was damn good sushi.

Moshi Moshi

Game 3: Kobold Finders

Game 3

Warden: Yossi Players: Me, Matt, Mike, Dan, Jamie

I was really excited to play in one of Yossi's games. You have probably seen Yossi's name on a ton of OSR products as copyeditor, but he also writes great little adventures. I have been talking to Yossi on Discord for a long time, but this was the first time I got to meet him in the flesh. I'm pleased to say he's even nicer and funnier in person.

Yossi has done some copyediting work for me, and I've done some illustration and design for some of his games that are yet to be published (nudge-nudge). This game, Cry of the Kobold, is actually one of the adventures I'm supposed to do the cover for, but I haven't actually read it yet, so I jumped at the occasion to play it.

The game was fast-paced and very creative. I can't say much about it without giving it away, but I can't wait to see it in print. Our group of players was very fun and very goofy. We were laughing the whole time as our PCs did crazy stunts I didn't know were possible in Cairn.

Goodbyes

Cairn Pressers

After our game, it was time to hang out by the booth with my friends, help close down the Cairn Press booth, and say goodbye to everyone. I didn't have an evening game in me. After we said our goodbyes, Matt, Richard, and I went to a local pub, Packard's, where we enjoyed some delicious corn fritters and talked about the weekend.

Sunday

Matt, Richard, and I met up for morning coffee at Familiars Coffee & Tea, another lovely local joint (but they had nothing on you, Tunic!). Then Matt and I hit the road back to western NY! I was a bit fried from the weekend, so I was quieter on the ride home, but Matt is the best car buddy. We had some great conversations about upcoming projects we're working on. Thank you for everything, Matt!

General Notes

Anybody who went to ArcaneCon this year can tell you that there were two stars of the show:

One was the organizing team—Bryan Larkin, his goblins, and all their amazing volunteers. Thank you for putting together such a spectacular event without any hiccups!

The other star was Tunic Coffee, a local café with fantastic coffee and a small library of OSR books and other nerd paraphernalia. Tunic had a "table" at ArcaneCon—in fact, it had the best table in the house (right next to Cairn Press). Tunic has a beautiful visual identity and great vibes (some of their specialty drinks included Night in the Woods, like the video game, and The Pumpking). The two folks working the booth, Josh and Dan, were incredibly kind and patient with the constant stream of nerds. Tunic also did something genius: QR-code table service! Each of the 20 gaming tables at the con had a unique QR code which you could scan to order and pay for a drink. Then Josh or Dan would hand deliver it to you. It was sorcery. I got like 6 drinks over the weekend. Can't say enough nice things about Josh, Dan, their organization, or their coffee. Thank you guys!

Josh Tunic

Conclusion

Fall in Northampton

ArcaneCon was a blast. Northampton was a lovely little town—a perfect mid-October setting. This was only my third-ever RPG con, after Dragonmeet and Between Two Cons, but it really reminded me a lot of the latter: not too big, very welcoming, fairly diverse. I would love to come back next year! I really don't have any criticisms—everything went very smoothly. The venue was great, modern, well-ventilated, not too noisy, and clean.

Everyone I spoke to at ArcaneCon was kind and welcoming. I met lots of wonderful people; some were old friends like Matt and Richard—we go back as far as June (Between Two Cons)—while others were new friends like Karly, Kayleigh, Anthony, and Courtney. You were all such a blast to hang out with and I'm so glad to know you!

For anyone going to PAX Unplugged in six short weeks—I'll see you there! I'll only be around on Saturday, but please say hi. A bunch of other Cairn Press people will be there all weekend.

In the meantime, stay tuned for another blogpost this week (!) about running Halloween games in Cairn.

Maxim