Between Two Cons Retrospective

11 Jul, 2026

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Portland, Oregon for Between Two Cons, a "casual and inclusive convention dedicated to independent and old-school role-playing games" hosted by the team behind Between Two Cairns (Yochai Gal, Brad Kerr, and Skullboy). It was great.

When the organizers announced last year that they were planning a convention, I knew I wanted to be there. I live in France, but I already knew I would be in the US from July to December, so I pulled some strings to arrive a little bit earlier.

A few days before the con, I flew from Paris to Seattle, where I stayed with some old friends and did some much-needed work on my jetlag. The day before the con, I took the Amtrak down.

Day 0 (Thursday)

I arrived shortly before noon and checked into my hotel early—shoutout to the nice folks at the Eastside Lodge, Portland's finest motel. I reached out to some folks to see if anyone wanted to meet for lunch; Derek B was brave enough to meet up with a total stranger (me) at Dimo's Apizza to split a pie and talk shop. Both of us showed up wearing black Cairn t-shirts. (Super embarrassing—I begged him to go back to his hotel and change, but he refused.)

With full bellies and hearts, we hopped on a Trimet bus, where we made our first new friends of the con, Claire and John from Atlanta, who recognized us as B2C attendees thanks to our shirts (I decided it was no longer embarrassing). We all rolled up to Dark Future—definitely the best FLGS for OSR stuff I've ever been to. We ran into a few more folks there, including Andrew and Barnum Graves, with whom we got drinks at the bar downstairs, Black Water, a great vegan/dive/drag bar. Portland rules.

In the evening, I met up with an old friend to watch Paraguay play in the world cup, a game which was very inconveniently scheduled at the same time as the USA-Türkiye game. We tried four bars, getting inundated with cheers of "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!," before finally finding one that had the game on a single one of their 25 TV screens (shout out to Birdie Time Pub, I guess). It was a thrilling 0-0 draw.

A few hours later, I returned to Eastside Lodge and went to bed, my little heart abuzz with excitement and my big stomach abroil with burrito-induced indigestion. My body and mind were ready for Between Two Cons.

Day 1 (Friday)

I sprung out of bed at 6:30am, showered, and put on my finest non-Cairn shirt. I walked to Grendel's Coffee next door, a lovely local joint which ended up being the breakfast place to be for con-goers all weekend. When I arrived shortly after 7, the place was already crammed full of B2C attendees. I got to know a number of attendees that morning—including Richard, Martin, Michael, and Demi among many others!

After getting to know each other, a few of us walked over to Norse Hall, the venue for the weekend. A quick aside: the Norse Hall was an amazing venue. It was old and quirky, but it was comfortable and convenient, and its many rooms meant games were neither stuffy nor loud (at least in my experience). I found it very cozy and fun, unlike many of the more sterile con venues out there.

Anyway, we waited outside the doors like children outside the Wonka factory. When they finally creaked open, we waited in line for our badges—kudos to Sam for absolutely acing the design.

After walking around inside a bit, meeting a few more people, and grabbing a free donut (hell yeah), I wandered around the vendor hall. The con had a variety of awesome indie vendors—from medium-to-big names like The Arcane Library and PlusOneExp, to indie creators like Javier Loustanau or BoRyan Crumb, to makers of minis or synths. One of my regrets of this con is that I didn't get to spend enough time in the vendor hall, because there were some truly amazing vendors with a fantastic collection of zines, books, and other goodies.

Friday morning was also when I got to meet eeldip, the organizer of the con-exclusive broadsheet publication The Grotto, to which I contributed a map of the restaurants, coffee shops, and lodging around the convention! He was walking around the vendor hall like a paper boy (without the wool cap, unfortunately).

After perusing wares and getting to know a few more people, it was time for my first game of the con!

Game 1 (A Familiar Tower)

GM: Directsun (Chris M, also the author of this module!)

Game system: Don't Worry About It (Essentially an ultra-rules-light system by Chris that relies exclusively on occasional d20 or d6 rolls—perfect for puzzle dungeons!)

Players:

• Phil Zen, played by Patrick
• Go Ralt, played by Noah
• Roin of the Rowling Hills, played by Evan
• Hamez the Weird, played by Matt
• Boglen the Hairy, played by Colin
• Serbar the Dashing, played by me

Description: Ten years after the wizard Esmis Mer disappeared, his manse still hums with secrets, treasure, and exotic magic. Step inside his impossible tower and twist its logic to your advantage. Those who master its secrets may escape with wonders. Those who don’t… tend to hang around.

Each of us took a pre-generated character (they come with the module). While this is generally good practice for con games, I found it to be especially effective for this game since they are made specifically for this adventure. Each character has a short backstory with an adventure hook and an inventory with all sorts of strange objects. For example, this was my character (art by Skullboy):

Game summary (no spoilers): We did brief introductions and then Chris got right down to DMing. This game works great as a one-shot, and it would also work really well as a drop-in adventure to an existing campaign. Our party encountered a tower floating in the middle of a large body of water. Chaos ensued.

I'm going to just stop there, because I don't want to spoil anything about the adventure. In brief—this was the best module I've ever been a player in. I have already made plans to run it as a GM for multiple groups. It blew my mind, and I think I can speak for my fellow players when I say it blew theirs too. If you'd like to read my full play report, I'll be posting it soon right here on this blog! But if you haven't read it or played in it, and you might be a player in it some day, don't read it! Play it first!

Lunch, the Afternoon, and Volunteering

After the game, I had ramen with Mr. Puzzle Dungeon himself. It was great to pick his brain right after having played the dungeon. Then we hit Grendel's again for coffee, where we ran into Martin, and the three of us walked back to the venue and talked about adventure design.

Upon returning from lunch, I spent a bit of time in the vendor hall. Some of my favorite purchases included a 6" Drukk figure from Myconoid Minis, a miniature LED campfire from McKee's Micromancy and Morology, and The Secret of the Night Market... I also ran into Josiah Moore handing out prints. Josiah will forever be one of my OSR idols for being the singular force behind the RISO-printed masterpiece that is Tiny Fables.

Then I went to begin my volunteer shift (4–8). I mostly manned the convention's merch table, where I facilitated the sales of t-shirts, posters, and the official Between Two Cons tournament module T1: Weird Little Freaks (available for purchase here!), written by Brad and illustrated by Sam. Another of my regrets at the con was not running or playing in this game—according to all the players I talked to, it was hilarious, fun, and full of Wet Guys.

Volunteering was great—if you were on the fence about volunteering, I highly encourage you to do it next year (or at other cons)! Not only do you help out the organizers in a huge way, but you also usually get free admission or merch—and importantly, it gives you time to actually talk to people, the best part of cons. During my shift, I had long conversations with Sam about art and NY, and with Yochai about languages and the international side of our hobby—I also got to watch him read and react to Tony Vasinda's new genre-defining game, Betwixt Two Piles. (He said it wasn't mean enough.)

Afterparty

After my shift, around 8pm, it was time to bring my big bag of stuff acquired back to the motel and head to the afterparty, which was hosted by the aforementioned Black Water, the vegan bar with an OSR game store upstairs. I got to hang out with people I'd met during the week and also got to know lots of new folks. The party wrapped up at the reasonable hour of 11pm so everyone could get home and rest before a big day of gaming the next day.

Day 2 (Saturday)

Saturday morning means Grendel's for coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Then I rolled up to Norse Hall at 9 to meet up with my gaming crew for the morning: a session of Martin Orchard's new Mothership module, run for a group of Cairn Press writers and artists.

Game 2 (Blackout)

GM: Pointless Monument (Martin Orchard, also the author of this module!)

System: Mothership (with some very cool custom classes by Martin)

Players:

• Dibson, a Dealer (one of Martin's custom classes) played by Hilander (Jason)
• López, a Biologic (one of Martin's custom classes) played by Marissa
• Bunk Jablonski, an Android played by Matt Kelly
• Dylan Palmer, a Colonist (one of Martin's custom classes) played by me

Description: Firstdust is a colony on the planet Ovi-9. Earlier today, the entire colony lost power and was plunged into darkness and chaos. The energy grid of the colony being outdated, the blackout was traced to a single power failure in an old waste processing plant. A team was sent into the plant to restore power, but they have been down there for a while and are probably dead. Our job: restore power. Oh, and find the other team, I guess.

Game summary: Our characters were pregenerated, but we chose our names and backgrounds and rolled for our trinkets and patches. My character, Dylan Palmer, was a Colonist (one of Martin's custom classes) raised on a space tobacco farm. He chews space dip and wears high-viz overalls emblazoned with an "All out of fucks to give" patch.

We went down an elevator shaft and encountered some scary stuff. I won't spoil anything about the module here, so if you want the full play report, you can check it out soon on this blog! Dibson met an unfortunate demise immediately after his last words of "Mama's not gonna like this," and Bunk sadly powered down before the mission was over.

This game was awesome. It nailed the Mothership vibe better than other modules I've played, and it was the perfect length for a convention game. Spooky, scary, satisfying. Highly recommend for a oneshot.

Lunch

With only a short hour to grab lunch before our next games, the Blackout players (joined by the inimitable DedZeppelin) raced through an unexpected downpour to grab food nearby. We wolfed down some pies at Dimo's Apizza and rushed back to Norse Hall for our afternoon games.

Game 3 (Stag Lord's Sanctum)

GM: Naeolin (Derek B, also the author of this module!)

Game system: Cairn 2e

Players:

• Beauregard the Mountebank, played by Keyan
• Frost the Marchguard, played by Dibson (no relation to the Dibson character in Blackout)
• Woozy the Fungal Forager, played by Manny
• Jax the Jongleur, played by Greg
• Hestia the Aurifex, played by me

Description: Generations ago, the Stag Lord terrorized the land and its people. He made sport of both the humble and highborn, his magics twisting the human form into an amalgam of man and beast. He offered his victims a slim chance: evade capture for a day and a night and serve as his retainer rather than his trophy. Most died, some served, and the rare few that escaped existed as testament to his cruel purpose. No beast was safe from his bow or spared from his blade, and mortal hunters gathered to learn his methods and share in his spoils. He used fell sorceries to construct a sanctum deep within the Wood so that his burgeoning cult could flourish even after his own demise.

Upon his death, his acolytes fell silent and his many adherents abandoned their veneration. Yet when the moon waxes full, the ominous call of his hunting horn issues forth from deep within the Wood, and many a foolish and ignorant traveler are said to have been claimed by the specter of the Stag Lord. The Stag Lord’s Sanctum, nestled deep in the Wood, is avoided despite the many spoils it is said to contain.

Today, the game within the forest has grown thin and travelers within the Wood vanish even in daylight. Old folks mutter into their cups that the Stag Lord’s reign has come again.

Game summary: Our party was hired by the hamlet of Fallow to find a missing girl named Nettle, the teenage daughter of a family of truffle hunters. We arrived at a clearing in the woods, at the center of which stood an unnatural mound covered in fallen statues, presumably knocked over by a giant tree which had fallen into the clearing. We proceeded to find a way into an underground dungeon, and much chaos ensued...

I won't spoil anything about the adventure here, but you can read a full play report soon on this blog! It's a great, highly Cairn-y adventure. Our group of players got a little bit lost in the weeds, so we didn't see the whole dungeon, but it's a very flavorful setting with lots of great opportunities for poking and prodding. Eerie, a blast to explore, and perfectly suited for the Cairn 2e mechanics. Highly recommend for a one-to-two-shot. And stay tuned—this will be coming to Cairn Press in the next year!

Between Two Cairns Live Episode

At 6pm, what felt like half the congoers went upstairs to watch a live taping of Between Two Cairns. The hosts reviewed the module X6: Quagmire!, which I coincidentally almost bought at Dark Future on Thursday. Based on their review, I'm glad I didn't...

I won't bother summarizing their episode (you can listen to it on the podcast), but it was a blast. In addition to a question from the Mootsack and a thrilling round of America's favorite game show, So Hot, or So Not?, we were treated to a visual element: the hosts used a projector to show the PDF of the module, which was both very useful (for understanding what exactly they were talking about and for some pretty funny closeups:)

After the episode, the hosts raffled off a bunch of free adventures and books. There were lots of cool prizes, including Ultraviolet Grasslands 2e, Land of Eem, and Reach of the Roach God, as well as smaller zines from Lazy Litch and Exalted Funeral. I didn't win anything though, so that's something to fix for next year.

Evening

And then suddenly the con was over! After the live episode, we all broke down the convention center, put chairs away, rearranged tables, took out the trash, and packed the organizers' stuff into a van. We said our goodbyes and thank yous to one another and parted ways.

A group of us—including Derek, Barnum, Tony, and a few others went to Alchemy Cider, where we hung out and recapped the convention over baos, cider, and Piña Colada slushies. After a little bit, we were joined by Ryan Lynch of Perils and Princesses and Michael of NightNoon Games, and I got to know them a bit too. Lovely guys!

I went to sleep exhausted and hoarse from gaming, my stomach and heart full. The next morning, I checked out of my hotel and met up with a few more folks for a final breakfast at Grendel's. I was tired from the convention and a bit sad to be leaving Portland already, but I'm already looking forward to next year.

Thoughts

Between Two Cons fucking ruled. 10/10. This was only my second RPG convention, after Dragonmeet in November 2025—which was great, but quite different: much bigger, only one day, more focused on vending, and less focused on gaming. This blew that one out of the water—it was much more human and focused on community. Unlike Dragonmeet, I "knew" lots of B2C attendees from the B2C and Cairn Press discord servers, and getting to meet them all was the highlight of the con. I thought these people were pretty cool from our interactions online, and meeting them in person only confirmed that. This is a fantastic community of creators and gamers, and the hosts of Between Two Cairns deserve kudos for fostering that.

I am so grateful for my experience at B2C. If you're reading this, thanks for reading, and if I spoke to you even briefly at the con, thank you for sharing conversation with me and making me feel welcome! I have already made several friends and met many collaborators at this convention, and I look forward to seeing you all again next year. Please don't hesitate to write me on Bluesky or Discord. Hopefully, I can see you before next year's con—maybe even at ArcaneCon in Northampton, MA, which I'll be attending this October!

Thanks for reading. Keep rolling.