Concrete Cow 09.5 games

The following games will be offered at the Concrete Cow 09½ convention on 19 September 2009. If you have something you'd like to offer, please email concrete-cow-owner@yahoogroups.com. See the Concrete Cow 09 games page for what was on offer last time.

Game Slots

To keep some sense of organisation about the day (ha!), this is the approximate timetable for the day.

Doors open	9.00am
Morning games	10.00am - 1.30pm
Afternoon games	2.30pm - 6.30pm
Evening games	7.30pm - 11.00pm
Close	11.00pm

At previous Concrete Cows, the morning slot often has an excess of games, the afternoon slot is OK, and the evening slot has very few. You may want to bear that in mind when you're deciding when to offer your game.

Allocating games to players is by sign-up sheets on the day, on a first-come-first-served basis.

Note that, depending on circumstances, not all of these games may run on the day.

Guest of Honour games

Simon Rogers, head honcho of Pelgrane Press, will be along as our Guest of Honour, so expect lots of Gumshoe games, such as Esoterrorists, Trail of Cthulhu, Fear Itself, and Mutant City Blues.

Graham Walmsley will be running three playtests of Trail of Cthulhu Purist adventures.

The Watchers In The Sky

There are things on the rooftops watching you.

The Dance In The Blood

You keep dreaming of performing a human sacrifice.

By The Time You Read This

This one isn't very Lovecraftian. It's more like a John Wyndham post-apocalyptic thing. It's rather fun.

More details when we have them!

Concrete Cowncil games

Maculate Conceptions (Spite: The Second Book of Pandemonium)

Former psychiatric patients are going missing from a local halfway house, snatched away by persons unknown in the night. Worse than that, some of them have started turning up again, but accompanied by horrors. They are just the first of many to come.

Only your cadre can make sense of what's happening, because only you know the truth: renegade angels have come to earth and are bringing their own twisted brand of judgement. You are all that stands between mankind and apocalypse. Happily you have guns, grenades, foul black sorcery and a restrained sense of decorum in your favour, but will that be enough when facing down the forces of Heaven?

Ichor, tentacles and loud explosions, for up to six players. Adults only.

Offered by Scott Dorward.

Victory Girls (Hot War)

It's late 1963, almost a year since the cold war turned hot. The bombs have destroyed much of the civilised world, and the eldritch horrors of the British and Soviet twisted technology weapons programmes are loose. London is the one of the last cities left, and is bursting with refugees from across Europe.

The British government is hanging on by a thread. The sudden and unexplained death of the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, is only making matters worse, as is the rumour that his death was decidedly unnatural. The Special Situations Group are being shut out by Special Branch, and the loyalties of their own agents are, at best, conflicted. In this atmosphere of betrayal and mistrust, can they root out the killer before the rest of the government starts falling?

Sex scandals, state secrets and otherworldly horrors, for four players. Adults only.

Offered by Scott Dorward.

Indie Game demos

If you haven't already, now's your chance to have a quick try of some of those newfangled hippie indie games. I'll be offering 15-minute demos of a few games in the cracks between the main gaming sessions. If you like what you see, you should be able to pick up the book from those nice people at the Leisure Games stall.

I should be able to offer demos of:

• Cold City (The Allies 'co-operate' in 1950 Berlin to clear up after the Nazi's twisted technology)
• Covenant (The Apocalypse your cult leader promised didn't happen. Now what?)
• Dogs in the Vineyard (almost-Mormon paladin gunslingers in a Wild West that never was)
• Don't Rest Your Head (surreal modern horror)
• Grey Ranks (child soldiers in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944)
• Spirit of the Century (1920s pulp)
• The Shadow of Yesterday (pulpy fantasy)
• Thou Art But A Warrior (Islamic warriors trying to prevent the Spanish Reconquista; a Polaris variant)

Offered by Neil Smith

Other games

If you have a game you'd like to offer, email us with the details and we'll post them here.

842 (Call of Cthulhu / Delta Green)

Tuesday 17 March 2009, The Guardian newspaper reports "British Library mislays 9,000 books". PISCES, the Paranormal Intelligence Section for Counter-intelligence, Espionage and Sabotage, has long had a somewhat parasitic relationship with the institution and contacts the library to find out exact what books they have mislaid. Something might come up on their radar they have an interest in. The kind of books only they should have. Communications break down and Sigma team is dispatched to talk with the library authorities face to face. That was yesterday. When the team goes missing completely, enter Gamma team to pick up where they left off...

A Call of Cthulhu game based in the Delta Green continuity for 4-6 players.

Offered by Matt Sanderson

Alien Disco Squad

Offered by Graham Walmsley

Evening slot

In(the)Spotlight

An updated version of the TV drama mod for InSpectres

For this session of the game, I'd like the play group to pick their own TV drama featuring a lead character supported by an ensemble cast; previous sessions have used Doctor Who and House as their basis. The group playing in this session will start by either choosing a TV series they wish to portray or making one up, in the style of Primetime Adventures.

For newcomers, the basis of the game is that each player (there is no GM in an ideal game) takes on the role of a character within the TV series, but the lead character is a resource shared by all. Spotlight dice are earned through actions taken as a supporting character, then spent to take authority over the central character: only the actions of the central character can ultimately resolve the plot of the episode.

A light TV drama game for 3 to 6 players (including me, so up to 5 slots are available).

Offered by James Mullen

Morning slot

Landston

Landston is a gritty dark fantasy RPG that is currently getting huge amounts of attention and acclaim at the southern conventions. The main emphasis of the game is on political intrigue and mystery rather than fighting monsters or raiding dungeons. Game sessions tend to be extremely focused on inter-character interaction and 'talky roleplaying' rather than rolling dice. Characters are very detailed with conflicting goals and ideals, which makes for a pretty 'intense' gameplay experience.

The game has attracted publisher interest and various deals have been done. It will be published as soon as I finish properly writing it up!

For Concrete Cow, I can run the game for 4, 5 or 6 people, as there are several scenarios to choose from.

Offered by Alex Helm

Lycanthropes and Labyrinths

Embark on an epic quest for gold, glory, fame and fortune! Play badass adventurers, travel a fantastical land, meet interesting creatures and kill them. They were evil anyway.

Probably…

Let humour be your hammer and chuckles your chainmail as you plunge into the alliteration addled world of L&L.

Rediscover the fun of no nonsense monster bashing!

Offered by Rich Stokes

A Matter of Percentages (GURPS Vorkosigan Saga)

Officially, Barrayaran ImpSec think that their new trainee analyst is imagining things. Just because the Vorrajinsky family's oh-so-unconventional offworld business operations are showing too much profit, doesn't mean that he should jump to conclusions. ImpSec has enough on its plate with known problems.

But if the new boy wants to go off-world with the young spare twig on the Vorrajinsky family tree, to look at the problem while he's on leave... ­well, perhaps that's his idea of his duty to the Emperor. Better assign him a bodyguard, even, just to make sure he doesn't get lost anywhere that an ImpSec analyst shouldn't go. After all, it's a dangerous universe out there.

Offered by Roger Burton West

Five players

Afternoon slot

The Mist (Dead of Night)

A pseudo-LARP inspired by the novella by Stephen King and the film adaptation by Frank Darabont, using the Dead of Night rules.

The mist has rolled over the world and you, like everyone else, has been caught in it unawares; you are trapped in the Old Bath House at Wolverton by the eldritch creatures lurking unseen outside.

• The people you are trapped inside with will do whatever it takes to survive.
• Some of them are already showing signs of cracking under the pressure.
• Staying here is a path to slow death; going outside is a gamble with a quick death; what will you do?

The game will be based in the basement room, hopefully, but players may want to roam anywhere in the building to conspire in private, stash supplies, look for tools and weapons or whatever else they like...

A survival horror game for 4 to 16 players (yes, that's right, 4 to 16).

Offered by James Mullen

Afternoon Slot

Noble Blood (Traveller)

As the fun loving retinue of a Playboy Noble you've greatly enjoyed spreading the imperial word through the Neutral Zone but something has come up. An old flame of the Baron is cut off and in trouble on a war torn planet and your good party loving souls are her only hope. No one mentioned joining a Merc unit however.

A military game that emphasises role play opportunities and uses figures and scenery.

Offered by Robin Firminger

Evening slot

The Open Veins of Middle Earth (Mouse Guard / Realm Guard)

"It wasn't meant to be like this. The Third Age that ended with the fall of Sauron was supposed to usher in the Age of Men. Instead, the Men of Middle Earth must suffer under the same ages-old Elven subjugation. The ranger Aragorn, raised by Elves to be their pawn, has ascended to the throne with the 'blessing' of Elrond the Elf. (Elrond makes much of the moniker 'Half Elven', but notice how his actions always favour the accursed Elves.) This is not change you can believe in. Heed not the fey lies of the official history: the supposed reforging of the shards of Narsil as 'Anduril' - too long have the Elves looted our lands of artefacts; and the convenient 'suicide' of our noble liege Denethor - in truth cruelly slain by the Elven wizard Mithrandir. Elessar and his sorcerous Elven wife are bent on refashioning Gondor such that it rivals the glory of ancient Numenor. Faramir, rightful Steward of Gondor, asks all true men of Gondor to join him! Let us together unseat the foul usurper Aragorn and throw off the yoke of Elven dominion once and for all!"

Realm Guard is a hack of the Mouse Guard RPG, set in the Fourth Age of Middle Earth. Players play Rangers of Ithilien in the service of Faramir, Steward of Gondor, in his valiant struggle against the usurper Aragorn.

A Realm Guard scenario for 3-4 players,

Offered by Rick Evans

Out of the Inkwell (Over the Edge)

The cult comic creator Wilbur Fields has been invited as guest of honour to a convention held on the Mediterranean island of Al Amarja. His agent is there with him to make a movie deal with the representative of a local company and the fans have turned up in force for the Q&A session. Some of the questions that will arise, however, are things that should never have been asked and no-one is going to like the answers...

An Over the Edge game for up to 8 players.

Offered by James Mullen

Evening slot

Pirates of the Black Isles (OpenQuest / Empires Rising)

The Black Isles are a notorious Pirate haven, attracting all the scum and villainy that sail the seas of Athennia. Rumours are rife that a long-dead infamous Pirate, Captain Xanbarer, left a map to his treasure horde hidden inside clay pot. Now this pot has mysteriously turned up in the possession of a one-eyed hermit living on one of the outer islands. Does this pot contains directions to Xanbarer's treasure, and lead to wealth and fortune to whoever finds it?

Offered by Nathan Baron

Morning slot

Six Bullets for Vengeance

A Bloody Ballad of Revenge for 4-6 players

"A woman rides into town, a shooter at her hip. In it are six bullets, one for each of her enemies. Six bullets for vengeance."

Six Bullets for Vengeance is a collaborative GMless story game, played chronologically backwards in six acts. We'll pick the setting, pencil in some characters, and be playing out a story of vengeance in minutes.

Offered by Rick Evans