Convention: Cauldron 2026 Reflections
Last week I spent four days (October 8–11) playing old-school Dungeons & Dragons at Cauldron, “an OSR Euro Con.” Once again, organisers did an absolutely stellar job.
I know they call it a con, but that label does not fully do them justice. This is more like a really large club of hundred people, who have gathered to play in a rather intimate atmosphere. The food is home cooked, labour is volunteer-based, we all tend to the venue, we sleep together, and we game together.
In this post I share a bit more about my experience. See this post for reports on games I either played or hosted; and this post for how I prepared.
Arrival
Don't change a winning strategy. Or something like that. I took a night bus to Frankfurt, slept most of the way, arrived in the morning, had a walk, and then boarded a train to Marburg. Shuttle picked me up there and took me to Hofraithe Rosenthal.
I arrived too early to check in to the room, so I went for a walk around the village, returned to have some cake, and contemplated about games to follow. By the time check-in was open, roughly two thirds of participants had arrived. As last year, the first thing I did was make my bed, so I can crash into it after midnight.
Thursday
Since Thursday was also the arrival day, there were only two games, with the first being so called “Temple of Doom Sidekick” block. Regular blocks are four hours, night blocks are, in theory, unlimited, and this one was just three hours.
The first game I played was hosted by EOTB. The table was packed with talented players, pregenerated characters were distributed, and we went to work. EOTB ran a tight game, with quick answers and no-nonsense approach. I loved it. The map was exciting, with verticality, secret doors and passageways, and just enough things to interact with and get into trouble. I expected no less, since he did mention he would use a map from the Twisting Stair zine. As we ran out of time, I asked other players to take their characters outside of the current chamber so I can just grab the treasure, screw traps. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but most stayed inside. We got the treasure, I triggered all the traps, three characters had died. Great success.
Lunch was lovely. I did my best to avoid snacks and sodas, since I had a game to run. It was great to see so many friends and acquaintances, as well as to meet people whom I had been chatting with over the years via discord and forums.
I hosted my game in the night slot. I like those the most since they are open ended. I was assigned the same room as last time, Linde, but this time they limited it to two games instead of four. Same chunky tables as last time, same immovable pillars. I rearranged the tables to form a large square, with me taking the side by the wall. This left three sides for eleven people to sit relatively comfortably, and up to eight more in the second row.
The module I ran was Halls of Viridian Mist, a megadungeon level I had written for the Jennell Jaquays Memorial Game Jam, published in the Return to Perinthos. Ten players joined, and it was an adrenaline rush from the beginning to the end. I am continuously amazed with how players adapt and adjust to the unfolding situation. In this case within few turns everything goes tits up, and rest of the session is a mad dash for survival. One character is lost to the ghouls, one sacrifices himself so others can flee, and one retires after the adventure, having lost both of their hands.
I don't remember how long it took us, but I think we were done by midnight. I took a walk around the dining hall where Chainmail battles were raging. My good friend Dreadlord was playing, playing to win! Joking aside, it was fascinating to watch, witness Settembrini ruling, and see Sarisa in action.
Friday
Nothing like a good morning game hosted by yours truly! I ran Abattoir of The Impotent Idolater, a location from our Conquering the Barbarian Altanis campaign, now also published in the Beneath the Black Pyramid con zine. We ran the game in the dining room, which was this year used as a game room as well. Last year I had to use it for one of my sessions that attracted 17 people.
That also meant we had to wait until breakfast was over, and that we had to finish a bit before the time, so the room can be prepared for lunch. That was no problem. Eleven players joined, got the main, hook and begun planning. This site depends on the time of day. Once they told me they approach at day, I rolled to determine where are the key monsters. Horrible abomination was determined to be hunting outside, to return in three hours (18 turns).
Players decided not to enter the cave, but fall back, make camp, and observe. I handed them the battle map and asked them to position the horses, their characters, so on and so forth. I gave them a timer of ten minutes—when time runs out is is what it is.
I cannot stress how important the timers are to maintain the pace. Most relevant ideas will surface within first few minutes, everything after that is just spinning the wheels. The timer's main purpose is to allow space for those good ideas to bubble up, and for everyone, or most of the players, to articulate and internalise them.
Of course, the monster returns by trampling the camp, killing men-at-arms, two player characters, and causing mess in general. Players adjust their goal to seeking revenge instead of looking for what they were paid to find.
When I design sites, especially natural ones like caverns and similar, I love playing with elevations and light. They go deep into the cave, constantly down (they have dwarves so I give them lengths, angles, everything). But they never attempt to look beyond their own light. Another thing I often play with are rooms that are mostly empty, and depend on a wandering monster. In this case, the harpies were one of the factions, which are mostly not present because they wander around. But, if they are, then they have a special place or tactic.
Either way, the players pursued the monster, slain it, and then were charmed by the harpies. Well, technically, not charmed yet, but beckoned to come to them, so they can claw and charm them. Just four character make their save, but I leave it up to the beckoned players to control how they attempt to approach their most desired targets.
I have said it before, and I will say it again—player skill at Cauldron is very, very high. The amount of intelligent malicious compliance was just insane. For example, Tamás had their hobbit attempt to gift their sentient sword to the harpy. This is perfectly aligned with the in-game logic—the harpies desire wealth, treasure, and adoration—and adventurer gives his most treasured belonging. But the player knows that grabing sentient swords causes damage to creatures of different alignment. His character is lawful. The harpy is not.
The players work their way out of it, recover the object they were hired to find, and then nearly lose it as another pack of harpies sings to them. Now another player with a sentient sword pulls off a stunning manoeuvre by asking his sword to teleport it right next to the harpy. Teleporation is an insanely dangerous spell, but here, within sight, it was all but guaranteed to work.
We finished on time for lunch, with most of the characters alive.
After having some hearty food, I played in an awesome game hosted by Gabor Lux. He ran three consecutive sessions of the Palace of the Eternal Autocrat, with each group exploring a portion of the complex. We were the second group, with one character from the first group joining us. He brought a map with him. It was useless.
Photo by Gabor Lux.
To clarify, not because of him, but because we decided to step through the above ground teleporter so we get into real action. I already mentioned the player skill. What I want to add is that players at Cauldron are quite proactive as well. They establish their own goals, they pursue them aggressively, and they are not afraid to take risks.
This game was no different in that regards. Gabor's adventuring locations are always a blast to play, and he is such a fun fellow himself. This was an enjoyable romp with an unexpected ending. Ignatius Umlaut, editor of the Fight On! zine, decided to gate us all into none other than Attronarch's Barbarian Altanis! A dozen adventures, loaded with treasure, and a burning desire to live.
Next up was suckling pig and sauerkraut for dinner, followed by a high level adventure by Ignatius himself. This was a continuation of an adventure that he ran for the Hungarians years ago. Apparently, one of the player characters had betrayed them, stolen some artefact, and then teleported away. Now he was rumoured to be a lich.
There was eleven of us, and Ignatius ran a very entertaining game. Night dragons, dark trolls, dinosaurs, it had it fucking all. I recognised the area from the legendary Darkness Beneath megadungeon, but luckily I did not remember the specifics. I was thoroughly impressed with how Ignatius managed all the moving parts, especially since we were in essence doing an underworld wilderness adventure.
During the day a word reached me that Jan, one of the players in our ongoing Wilderlands campaign, is actively lobbying people to stage an assault on the Wizard-King Racoba. He also approached me to check if that is OK, worried for what I had prepared for the session. As usual, I told him, and everyone whom had asked, to decide as they wish. I shall be ready.
Saturday
This was the day. At night slot I would run the Conquering the Barbarian Altanis session in the night slot. Last year I had seventeen people, over the span of six or seven hours. But this year everyone was talking about it. I was unsure how many people would join. Either way, I was committed to run for whatever number of people does show up.
But first I had some games to play in! Keith Sloan ran an awesome game. He had this relaxed style which lulls you in, and then he blasts the whole party with fire trap, slaps you with eight ghouls, and throws you down the pit.
What I especially appreciated it how he crafted the adventuring location. He told us it is a gnoll temple. We are playing AD&D 1e. Gnolls are described as lazy, as using slaves, as worshipping a deity which is also worshipped by ghouls, so on and so forth. By paying attention to cues, based on the knowledge of not just the rules but also the implied setting, we were able to make informed guesses on what to do next. More often than not, our assumptions had proven to be correct. That felt immensely rewarding! Keith gifted us an elegant dice for winning at D&D.
Next game I joined was by Ignatius Umlaut again. In retrospect, I realise I had mostly prioritised Americans—EOTB, Ignatius, and Keith—since they might not attend every year. Ignatius ran another high-level game, and I brought my character from the previous night. We fought and defeated Satan's minions, and won D&D for the second time that day. No really, it was a crazy adventure, go read the report.
Dinner and auction followed. I skipped the latter, opting to go for a walk, drink some tea, and mentally prepare for what is to follow.
Photo by James Knight.
Since our big game was in the dining hall, we had to wait for the for the organisers to complete all the transactions. I already had a whole set-up on my mind, given experience last year, and an experiment I suggested to Ignatius earlier in the day. Players jumped in and helped me arrange everything.
We had 13 tables in total, which was still not enough to have everyone sit by the table. So we had a second row of sitting too. I think we took around 3/5 of the dining hall. Twenty three people sat down to play. Some people later told me they gave up because the game filled up really fast during the sign up. I would have welcomed them!
Photo by James Knight.
Despite size of the set-up, one side was just for me. Not to power trip, but because that way I keep everyone within eyesight, and everyone can see and hear me best. I went around table handing out pregenerated characters, taking down names, and admin detail I need to ran a game at a furious pace.
Once we had that I divided the players into four teams, and asked them to nominate the caller. Table layout works its magic, and we had four teams of nearly identical sizes (6-5-6-6). Two teams gave me a name, while two teams gave me a colour. I guess I need to work on my pronunciation.
With teams and callers in place we were ready to begin! I presented the in-game information, where most of the adventurers currently are (Ironburg), and what intelligence about adventuring sites they have (Castle Yukanthur, Midnight Goddess Hills, Spire of the Divine Grape, The Black Monastery, Tomb of Ochandra the Earthshaker). Then it was up to the teams to discuss which of the options (or alternative) they would like to pursue.
To clarify, I ran this as a usual session of our open-ended sandbox campaign. There would be no teleporting back and forth. Anything is on the table, as long as the majority commits to it. All the options I offered were from the game, and I did my best to present them neutrally. Regular players that joined were free to share information as they see fit.
First round ends up with a draw between the tomb and monastery. Second round ends up with a draw again, but different teams. Some call for a roll. As I throw the dice, one time changes their vote to the monastery.
In less than thirty minutes, twenty three people agreed on where to go, what to do, and with which characters.
From Judging perspective, the Black Monastery was by far the worst out of the available options. Super-complex map with mapper that loves angles, eighty pages of two column 8 pt. font of dense paragraphs, with bad editing and crucial information hidden in all the wrong places (e.g. a four paragraph description of a bedroom, with third to last sentence being that here is an 10HD shadow waiting to ambush those entering; thanks).
I prepared the map on a separate page; this is a challenge for players not me. Keys I printed two pages on a single landscape page, to have four columns at glance. In general, I knew I had time to look them up whenever players ask for discussion time.
I am repeating myself with the player skill, but they did all the right things initially: scout the environment, use magic to fly over and take a look inside the monastery. They hesitated a bit to enter it proper, but once they were in, we started rolling.
Photo by Alex.
It was mostly cautious exploration, with me tormenting the team mappers with my descriptions, sizes, angles, points of reference and similar. A single fire elemental scared off the whole company, and they fled into a tight secret space, triggered a trap, and wiped out half of the characters.
Luckily, I had prepared seventy characters for the con, but now I was running dangerously low. That meant that clerics and hobbits began entering the game en masse. Exploration continued with brisk pace, with me giving specific timings, switching between asking callers and asking everyone what their characters are doing.
This switching is an important attention-resetting technique, because it was already midnight, and a third day of intense gaming. Mind wants to play, but body wants to sleep. So to keep it playing we need to give it something to do.
One thing I noticed was that the attendance was different compared to the last year. Then we had people coming and going as they became too tired, or they lost a character. This time 2/3 of the players had played until the very end!
The pace, and complexity, exploded once Titan of the Black Monastery came to life. It began wrecking the monastery and players. Two things I wish to point out here. OD&D (lbbs) worked brilliantly once more. Since its charts top at 10+ HD, this 20 HD titan still had 25% chance of missing heavily armoured characters. Second, Toby, the youngest player at the table, played with absolute balls of steel, leading the charge on the titan.
“What do you do?” I ask him.
“Charge the titan!” he answers without any hesitation whatsoever.
His character proceeds then to actually deliver the killing blow as well, which causes a spontaneous applause around the table. This raw, genuine, kind energy is absolutely awesome, and part of the Cauldron magic.
Judging-wise, from then on, I basically had to track four different parties. Since characters were all over the place, callers could not help. But players congregated physically, and we were able to rapidly resolve the combat rounds, even when close to two hundred zombies joined the fray.
Photo by Alex.
In this type of game players set their own goals. After their first wipeout, they found the safest place they could, organised around it, worked on questions for the commune spell, asked about the closest treasure hoard, and then just went for it. Once they had it, they went out.
We finished around 02:30 in the morning. Alas, I forgot to take a picture of those who stood until the very end. What I can say, without a trace of doubt, is that every single player contributed, and that every character mattered.
And, of course, I greatly appreciate them opening a portal to the Black Monastery, right next to Ironburg, at the border of the kingdom.
Special call outs go to Toby for his courage; Mike and Jan for enduring and surviving their second Wilderlands big group marathon; to Prince for controlling four (!) characters that others have given him after retreating to bed; and to Dreadlord for opening a portal to the Black Monastery, right next to Ironburg, at the border of the kingdom.
After the game I was too excited to go to sleep, but had to force myself to get to bed around 04:00. I still had one more game to run.
Sunday
Morning was all about awards and celebrations—the best Judge, best players, best tournament team, so on and so forth. It is a great way to wrap up by expressing gratitude to each other.
Since it was the last day, I wanted to run something a bit more light-hearted. Back to Linde, two-table square, eleven players, and Darkness Beneath megadungeon! I gave players the map, last remaining characters (only human clerics, hobbit fighting-men, and elf magic-users), and we went to town with it. They played so well, and we had fun messing with gods and fire balls. Frankly, they were more likely to kill themselves than anything else in the caves.
I don't know how many litres of tea I had drunk, but my throat was still functional enough to speak and say farewells to everyone.
A brief look at the pregenerated characters. 59 (~85%) out of 70 were taken, and 37 (~60%) survived. Not bad. Fighting-men and magic-users were exhausted first, followed by dwarves, elves, and hobbits. Clerics were almost exclusively taken as a second character after the first one die, and in the Sunday game because they were the last human option.
Summation
There is nothing else like Cauldron. If you are want to experience old-school Dungeons & Dragons, with people who love and play the game, then this is the con to visit. Everyone is supportive, open, and inclusive. Awesome people, awesome games.
Next Cauldron will be from October 14th to 17th 2027.
See you there?
Cauldron 2026 posts
All posts for the Cauldron 2026 convention:
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