Cauldron is a game convention focused on the OSR games, organised in Germany. The third edition of this event took place between friday 17th and sunday 19th of October 2025. I had the pleasure to attend the convention for the second time...
I take this opportunity to thank my travel companions Fred (aka Danger is Real), Walid and Julien whose conversation made the five hour travel more than bearable.
Now, a small report of my experience.
We arrived in the small village of Rosenthal last friday at 15:30, half an hour before the first gaming "block". Just enough time to receive a custom dice tray with the logo of the convention as welcoming gift, to settle in our rooms and make our beds, and to come back to the dining room where the organizers waited for us. They welcomed us warmly while giving us recommendations for the next 48 hours: food, beer and other beverages are available in this room, but we have to make sure the empty bottles get back to their own chest. Mixing beer bottles brings bad luck, and no one wants that... Someone will say that beer and coffee are "the two major food groups" in the convention.
First block: Friday 16:00 - 19:00
It's about time to settle around the first gaming table: a session of White Box DMed by my mate Julien. The module is "the sunken fort", quite difficult for first level characters (it is designed for level 1-4). We encounter a large number of animated armors in this dungeon and I loose my first character quite rapidly. My second character, the dwarf fighter Inbarshop, will luckily survive the experience, although he didn't got enough xp to level up...
Second block: Friday 21:00 - 01:00
After a pause for the supper, it is time to sit to my second gaming table. I select an Old School Essential Advanced game DMed by the enthousiastic Michele. I select randomly a level 3 barmaid illusionnist and join a team whose mission is to prevent an alliance between a notorious bandit and some unknown criminal party. Their meeting is taking place in an isolated villa in the mountains, so we mount an expedition in this direction. While traveling, we try to discuss some subtle plans in order to create friction between the two groups of bandits. I have a few spells that would allow such a scheme, but the temptation to use the fireball wand that was entrusted to us becomes too great when most of the bandits in the villa gather around their meal. The ensuing chaos allow us to defeat the rest of the ennemies without difficulty and we have just time to take a few precious items before we have to flee the burning villa.
Meanwhile, on the first floor of the convention, the traditional game of Chainmail takes place, opposing 4 players versus 4 players. We'll learn the morning after that the side of evil won the battle thanks to the summoning of an elemental that killed the high general of the armies of good...
Third Block: Saturday 09:00-13:00
As I had little drive to DM during the convention, I volunteered to help in the kitchen for two hours during this block. I also managed to make some speed painting. It was an opportunity to test the speed painting paints of Army Painter. It was fun, even if some details will have to be painted with traditional acrylic paint in order to finish the job.
Fourth Block: Saturday 15:00-19:00
It was the last opportunity to take part to this, so I choose the "Blackrazor Cup". It's a tournament module written by Jonathan Becker, aka bxblackrazor, that is played during the convention by different groups with the AD&D Rules. There are several criteria to judge who was the best party, but the main one is the loot: the party that brings back the most golden coins wins the tournament.
So here we are with our level 8 characters searching for treasures in a atypical dungeon. From the start, we have to choose from four different entrances: the main one, a tower on the left, a mine entrance on the right, and a big cave uphill... We choose to enter through the tower, and we have to fight a number of yetis who happens to be hardened adversaries. We then find a huge room with a black ice throne emitting an intense cold, from which we manage to get a few diamonds. Further ahead, some kind of golem blocks the way, but we manage to trick him and make him fall on the ground in order to weaken his posture. We'll finally get out of the dungeon with about 120.000 gold coins, not too bad, but not enough to win the cup. We have missed the main treasure room, which explains a lot. The winning team assembled more than 300.000 gold coins. Kuddos to them.
Auctions: Saturday 20:00-21:30
This time, 1h30 was devoted to the traiditonal auctions. About 40 items were auctioned this time, with the fourth printing of the original edition of Dungeon & Dragon (the famous white box) as last but not least auction.
Fifth block: Saturday 21:30 - 01:30
At this point, I was a little tired and I went to bed early in order to get a good night sleep.
Sixth block: dimanche 10:00 - 14:00
After a last breakfast and the announcement of the results of the tournament, it was already the time for the last game of this week-end. I selected an AD&D game DMed by Jonathan Becker. The game was about the exploration of a ruined octogonal tower. Inside, some owlbears, a cursed mirror and a strange demon with a fear aura... Kind of cool.
Conclusion
Cauldron remains the "OSR" reference of the european conventions where you actually play the game (as opposed to the commercial convention where you just buy something available in stores or online).
Nowhere else can you find so many fans of the oldest editions of Dungeon & Dragons, coming from all over the place.
An annual "rendez-vous" not to be missed.
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