As those of you who’ve been around my social media of late may know, I’m attending Can*Con again this year (it’s a favourite convention, and the fact it happens in my back yard is sort of the best thing ever), and I should probably note where I’ll be (and when)!

Can*Con is Ottawa’s Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Literature Convention, and it’s one I’ve had the joy of going to for many years now, and I should note that as a writer who is as often in the romance and YA world as the speculative, the convention is super welcoming to those who write anywhere across the various genres, and has a vibe you don’t often get at conventions, which is to say it’s fun.

Now, that doesn’t mean the topics don’t get serious, or the discussions shy away from complexities—I mean, look at the panels I’m a part of over there to the right—but the general vibe at Can*Con tends to be “we’re all in this together, the world’s on fire, want to borrow my fire extinguisher?”

Perhaps that sounds more dire than I intend, but I mean that in the best possible way.

Now, on the basis of the awesome schedule and great panels alone—not to mention the guests, speakers, and chance to hang out with awesome fellow nerds—Can*Con is worth it. But this year I’m also going to test run something I’ve wanted to try for a while now: a Convention game.

Report to the USS Ottawa, NCC-61325

If you’ve been around here much at all, you’ve also heard me wax poetic about Star Trek Adventures, the tabletop role playing game put out by Modiphius, and how much I love running the two campaigns I’ve currently got going. I’ve perhaps mentioned Captain’s Log a little less often, but that’s the solo role-playing game version of Star Trek Adventures, and it struck me that the framework for Captain’s Log might work perfectly for a little narrative game to unfold throughout Can*Con.

So that’s what I’m going to test-run this Can*Con. Now, to be 100% clear, this isn’t something Can*Con is officially putting on or anything—though they’re being kind enough to let me try my weird thing throughout the three days—and it’s more like a Choose Your Own Adventure (remember those?) than anything else, though there will be dice-rolling, and some face-to-face interactions throughout the weekend (if you want, those are optional).

Also, because as far as I can tell, this will work just as well here remotely on the blog as anywhere else, I’m going to schedule blog posts so those of you who can’t come to Can*Con can also give this a try if you’d like.

So, with all those caveats, how do you take part?

Can Con 2025 Character SheetDownload

All you really need are two twenty-sided dice (or some device that will let you generate two random numbers between 1 and 20), a pencil, and this modified character sheet (I’m also going to print some to have them on-hand at the event itself, and if you’d like me to make sure I save one for you, let me know). This isn’t a typical Captain’s Log character sheet—if you play Captain’s Log, you’ll notice I’ve made something that uses some (most?) of the mechanics, but not all of them—I skipped Complications, dropped Values this time out, and simplified Advantages—and even then the whole document ended up being more than 35k words (of which each player will end up receiving about a quarter of them, because of the branching narrative—it’ll be a short story, not a novella). Again, this is a Beta test of an idea, and I wanted to keep it somewhat simple the first time out.

With that sheet, you should have everything you need to make a character and get ready for the story.

Okay, but how do I play? Captain’s Log, from Modiphius.

That character sheet, a pencil and two twenty-sided dice is all you need to get ready, and it’ll also be all you need to play throughout the weekend. I’ve done what I hope is a thorough job to make the instructions clear as the events roll out, but there will be three parts for Friday, three parts for Saturday, and three parts for Sunday, and then a Conclusion. Each of the parts will have you making one of two choices for what your lieutenant intends to do, and depending on how it goes, you’ll end up with one of three endings.

The current plan is for those three updates to the story—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—to be available both here on the blog and at the Registration Desk. While Friday is an odd day for many (a lot of people don’t arrive until Saturday, and that’s fine), you can also easily catch up if that’s you. I’m intending to have all three Saturday and Sunday parts in place by lunchtime on those days (and, again, here on my blog), so that the Conclusion is available before people have to catch their rides home Sunday afternoon when things wrap up.

For the introverts among you, this can be a completely self-guided process (I see you from my ambivert tower). You don’t have to talk to anyone else, there is some “bonus” content where you can come chat with me (I’m playing the role of the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Ottawa) and some other brave volunteers throughout the weekend for some extra opportunities to shape your story.

If you also keep an eye on my Bluesky feed and/or this blog, I’ll make sure to post links and reminders as best I can.

Does this story have a title?

Yeah, about that. If you’ve been around here throughout my publishing history, you’ll probably have heard me talk about how lousy I am at titles, and how more than half the things I’ve professionally published came back with editor feedback that said, “So, about your working title…” with a few suggestions for, uh, let’s just call it improvement.

But Captain’s Log is a game meant for you to tell a story your way, so… let’s pretend I always intended everyone to come up with their own title.

Yeah. That.