Games played in 2009

From November 17th 2009 to January 12th 2010.

Oils well that ends well

• Remember Dallas?
• Dynasty?
• Who shot JR?

Well forget all that. This game is based around the world today with all of it's social and economic issues. You are part of a large multi-national oil company. But like many of these things corruption and greed have played their part. Who knows, incompetence and shortsightedness may also have had a part to play.

Using the trust and faction system of Hot War you will be dealing with the big issue. What do you do when the oil runs out? This will be a no fantasy real world story. Sort of a cross between PrimeTime Adventures and Hot War.

• Proposed by David Arthur

Gene-X: Origins

At 14:00 GMT on February 29th 2004 the Earth was briefly plunged into total darkness. Artificial and natural light sources alike, even the sun, inexplicably went dark for three seconds. No conclusive explanation was ever found, though many theories (some more plausible than others) exist.

The rumours started only a few months later: stories of flying men and mind-readers and other freaks of nature, tales of government conspiracies, and dark whisperings of agencies that will do anything to cover-up the Truth.

On a world much like our own a secret war is being fought: a war between super-humans and the governments that are trying to suppress and control them as they deny their very existence. But what's worse ... an existence cloaked in shadows and secrecy, or revealing your existence to a population that may come to fear and hate you?

There will be killer robots, government conspiracies, super-villains, large-scale explosions, and almost certainly massive property damage to one or more national monuments.

Gene-X: Origins is a Mutants & Masterminds game for 3-5 players. I envisage it as an early/classic X-Men style mini-series, though set in the slightly more 'realistic' world of the X-Men movies with perhaps a little X-Files and Heroes for good measure.

• Proposed by Martin Goodson

A Murder of Angels

(Spite: The Second Book of Pandemonium)

Yesterday, seventeen people sat in a loose circle in the middle of a park, held hands in prayer, then doused themselves with petrol and burned as one. Witnesses reported that none of them screamed, but that it sounded like they were trying to sing a hymn as the oxygen was sucked from their lungs. When the fire was eventually doused, the flesh and bones of their hands were fused together, and cutting tools had to be employed to separate the corpses for transport.

Today, a young nursing assistant poisoned the milk on the paediatric ward of the local hospital. Swift action meant that only three of the children died. The nurse told police that it was an act of mercy, and she only wanted to spare the children what was coming. She tore her own throat out with a shard of a coffee cup before police could get a full statement. She was still smiling.

The murder and suicide rates in town are rising on a daily basis, and everyone can hear the whispers inside their heads at night. Something is coming. Something big.

You know that the forces of heaven walk the earth, bringing judgement against those they see as sinners. They tried to judge you once, but you survived. Now you're part of the fight back, armed with guns, bombs, foul black sorcery and a complete lack of decorum. The fight is escalating, though, and you may be standing in the next Sodom or Gomorrah. Time to raise your game.

• Proposed by Scott Dorward

Walker in the Wastes

• Proposed by Paul Fricker

From September 1st to October 20th 2009.

The Wicked Gaze

A game using the setting of The Edge of Midnight but with a tweaked version of the system; in fact, you can check out how I intend to shave the monkey.

There's a million stories in the naked city.

One of them just melted your car.

The Edge of Midnight is a game of mean streets and madness, of gumshoes and gun molls, of noir drama and dark horror. It mingles the worlds of Chandler and Spillane with the arcane and myserious: set in an uncertain world that is much like our own was in the late 1940s, the player characters try to eke out their lives in the underbelly of a city turned rotten. Mobsters & magic rub shoulders in the sleazy bars and dark alleys.

This will be a largely character driven game; a murder has taken place and each character is involved somehow, but I'll leave it up to the players to decide who has been killed and why their characters care. The first clue is that the murderer took their victim's right eye...

In addition, the backstory of the game and its setting is a new one of my own devising, so if you've played The Edge of Midnight before and uncovered the underlying mystery... well, all I'll say is, it's not that.

After proposing this game, I was doing some background reading on the internet and was mildly surprised to discover there was already a pulp novel by that name, although sadly long out-of-print. The only thing that seems to have suvived is this copy of the cover, so I thought I would use it as an emblem for this game.

• Proposed by James Mullen

STAR TREK : Strange New Worlds

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starfleet Runabout Wyvern. Its ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations ... to avoid exploding while boldly going where no-one has gone before."

Season two of Strange New Worlds continues the adventures of the crew of the USS Wyvern, a rag-tag crew of misfits, ne'er-do-wells and no-hopers that nonetheless have, implausibly enough, managed to save the galaxy a couple of times.

With Starfleet deciding that the Drakaera Sector just isn't safe with the Wyvern anywhere near it, and the Wyvern crew weary of the ludicrously over-the-top hero worship of the Drakaeran Imperium, season two begins a new mission for the Wyvern and her intrepid crew.

The USS Endeavour is about to commence a deep-space exploration mission in the Va'Kessa Expanse, an uncharted section of space on the very edge of Federation territory. The Wyvern, and crew, have been assigned to the Endeavour as pathfinders.

Starfleet will almost certainly come to regret that decision.

An episodic drama for 3-6 players, using the STAR TREK : The Next Generation RPG by Last Unicorn Games.

• Proposed by Martin Goodson

Masks of Nyarlathotep

I will be offering this Call of Cthulhu Campaign It may need to run over two blocks but we could have a break in-between.

You receive a Mysterious wire from your friend the author Jackson Elias. He says he has information concerning the Carlyle expedition that disappeared several years ago and can you meet him at his hotel room in New York in a few days.

Set in 1925 this is a world spanning campaign Taking in New York, London, Egypt, Kenya, Australia and Shanghi

• Proposed by Matt Nott

From June 16th to August 4th 2009

Spirit of the Century: The Treasure of the Tipoo Sultan

I've got a yearning to run some Spirit of the Century, the two-fisted game of pulp adventure. Anyone interested?

I'd prefer to do something set in the heyday of the British Empire, the mid 19th Century. (Inspiration from Kipling and Flashman, but having the PCs being the good guys.) I could be persuaded to do a 'default' SotC, set in 1920s Europe, if that's more interesting for people.

If we go for the 'Empire' setting, I'd like to have it cleave pretty close to historical plausibility. So no Weird Science, no steampunk, and only the occasional, low-key magical stuff from mysterious Oriental fakirs.

My preference would be for having at least some of the action in 1840s India, what with John Company coming to an end, various Indian states chafing under their British dominance, corrupt British making personal fortunes, French mercenaries and Russian agents intent on shaking things up, and the steady spread of the white man's 'civilisation'. The 1840s also gives us the chaos of the 1848 European revolutions and all of that malarkey.

(The system is based on the FATE variant of Fudge, and is freely available online.)

• Proposed by Neil Smith

Star Wars: Legacy

This is not your Father's Star Wars

All you need to know about the Star Wars storyline is:

• This story is set 130 years after Return of the Jedi
• 127 ABY: The Galactic Alliance (formerly known as the Rebellion) and the Jedi Order form an alliance with a race of aliens known as Yuuzhan Vong and the Sith sabotage it.
• After three years of fighting, the Alliance is defeated at Coruscant and its remaining territories are absorbed by the Empire which becomes the new galactic government. The Jedi Order is nearly destroyed during a massacre at the Jedi Temple at Ossus.
• The new Sith Order turns against Emperor Roan Fel and his Imperial Knights. Darth Krayt usurps the Imperial throne, though some parts of the Empire remain loyal to Fel.

So there are now three factions fighting each other to control the galaxy. You, however, are part of the crew of the space freighter Katsulas just trying to make a living. You are approached by a Twi'Lek Xeno-archaeologist who hires you to be her chaperones on a dig to find the Kaiburr Crystal. She believes it to be alien tech left behind by a benevolent race of aliens in order to aid us in our evolution. The crystal is capable of healing mortal wounds. The university she represents will pay the team’s expenses and fuel costs. She also believes it could lead to other discoveries from these elder aliens.

Also if you're thinking of playing a Jedi Knight, please be aware that every Jedi has a price on their head. This will be run using the SAGA version of Star Wars the Role-playing game.

• Proposed by James Hollywood

Earthdawn

Continuing on from/with the Earthdawn: The Lost Legion game ... further plot details to follow?

This is a game using the Earthdawn system aimed at 3-5 players. Fantasy adventure in a magically charged post apocalyptic world of legend.

• Proposed by Sam Thompson

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition

I've a craving for some good old-fashioned dungeon-crawling fun! It's time to kill some monsters, swing some swords, hurl some spells, and throw some dice. And, possibly, rescue the princess. Or slay a malignant wizard. Or, y'know, something like that. Something that will lead bards throughout the land to sing of your noble deeds, and for evildoers to grit their teeth and swear eternal enmity.

Looking for 3-6 courageous adventurers to thwart (and/or smite) evil where ere it may lie.

• Proposed by Martin Goodson

Masks of Nyarlathotep

I will be offering this Call of Cthulhu Campaign It may need to run over two blocks but we could have a break in-between.

You receive a Mysterious wire from your friend the author Jackson Elias. He says he has information concerning the Carlyle expedition that disappeared several years ago and can you meet him at his hotel room in New York in a few days.

Set in 1925 this is a world spanning campaign Taking in New York, London, Egypt, Kenya, Australia and Shanghi

• Proposed by Matt Nott

From March 31st to June 2nd 2009.

STAR TREK : Strange New Worlds

Ever since Starfleet encountered the Drakaeran Imperium ninety years ago, and discovered them to be strict isolationists with absolutely no interest in maintaining any kind of relations with the Federation, the Drakaera sector has been quiet. With little strategic value, even the Dominion War passed it by.

Life on Watchtower 12, Starfleet's sole presence in the sector, is pretty dull and uninteresting. Boring, even.

That state of affairs may be about to change. From the few merchants allowed in Drakaeran space come rumours of discontent within the Imperium, rumours of violent protests, even rumours of imminent civil war. Nonetheless, regardless of their (presumed) recent political problems, the Imperium has remained silent.

Until now.

On Stardate 56850 Starfleet Command received a transmission from the Drakaeran Imperium, breaking over 85 years of silence. It was simple, concise, and to the point:

ONE OF YOUR SHIPS HAS INTRUDED IN OUR SPACE.
IT HAS TAKEN ORBIT AROUND ONE OF OUR WORLDS.
ITS PRESENCE OFFENDS US.
YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO REMOVE IT.

An image of the intruder, and a set of co-ordinates, was transmitted along with the message.

The CO of Watchtower 12 was surprised to receive a coded priority one message from Starfleet Command instructing him to send a team deep into Drakaeran space to retrieve the USS Defiant, lost over a century previously ...

This will be a game for 3-6 players, and I'll be using the ICON ruleset from Last Unicorn Games. Players play junior Starfleet officers assigned to retrieve a ghost ship from a mysterious and politically unstable region of space. What could possibly go horribly wrong with such a simple mission?

• Proposed by Martin Goodson

Mad Love: A Scientific Romance

Mad scientists need love too.

Sure, you can create an army of cloned newt/human hybrids and conquer Belgium. Or maybe you can build a giant steam-powered exoskeleton that can crush tanks in its huge metal hands. The effervescent synaptic-regulation formulation you added to the reservoir has the residents of your home town chanting glory to your name with every step they take. But does any of this make you truly happy?

The more the voices in your head drive you to greater and more terrible glory, the more you are aware of the dark, cold hole where your heart should be. You're missing someone to complete you, someone who can fill the emptiness and still the voices, someone who can slow the march to your otherwise-inevitable self-destruction. And maybe this time you won't have to drill a tiny hole in their head to make it work.

A tale of madness, horror and romantic love, using the Sorcerer system.

Earthdawn: The Lost Legion

The heroes of Lendan have succeeded in opening the ancient trade route between Jerris and the mighty dwarven city of Throal, freeing Darkpeak kaer from the grip of the horror Artificier and foiling the plots of a diabolical Theran agent, but the timing could have been… better…

Throal stands on the brink of war with a resurgent Theran Empire. It is unbalanced by the recent loss of it’s king in dubious circumstances and beset by the intrigues of those who would use Throalic power for their own ends or who wish the return of the old Theran masters. But who thinks about the little people? The day-to-day inhabitants of Throal still face danger and uncertainty. Their normal protectors are engaged and distracted by the call to war. Therefore it is to the lesser known heroes that those in need must turn.

The council of Inhellan seek heroes to solve a problem too big for their constables to deal with. A wave of fires has swept through one of the underground cities with no obvious cause, motive or perpetrator. Perplexed, the council has put out a call for aid – a call the heroes of Barsaive cannot surely ignore and a call which will ultimately lead to the newly ‘remembered’ city of Parlainth and it’s long lost secrets…

Unsurprisingly, this is a game using the Earthdawn system aimed at 3-5 players. Fantasy adventure in a magically charged post apocalyptic world of legend.

• Proposed by Sam Thompson

Masks of Nyarlathotep

I will be offering this Call of Cthulhu Campaign It may need to run over two blocks but we could have a break in-between.

You receive a Mysterious wire from your friend the author Jackson Elias. He says he has information concerning the Carlyle expedition that disappeared several years ago and can you meet him at his hotel room in New York in a few days.

Set in 1925 this is a world spanning campaign Taking in New York, London, Egypt, Kenya, Australia and Shanghi

• Proposed by Matt Nott

From January 13th to March 3rd 2009

Highlander: Vendetta

After the success of Highlander: Cold City, I've decided to run a long block Highlander game. 300 years ago you were part of a group of immortals who lived and worked together on holy ground. An Asian Immortal call Temujin trained you all in the ways of the immortal as well as how to be human and everything was good. Until you came home and found Temujin beheaded and his Quickening taken. Flash forward to the modern age and someone is killing immortals on holy ground again, and there M.O. is the same as the one who killed your master.

Can a group of immortals work together to solve and remove this threat to immortality or, as the gathering approaches, will they remember that in the end, there can be only one?

This game will run on Unisystem rules, with thanks to Jason Vey and is ideal for two-five players.

• Proposed by James Hollywood

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Ed.: The Shroud

• Proposed by Scott Dorward

The campaign is based on One Bad Egg's Worldseed, The Shroud. Details of the main background can be found by visiting their site.

Masks of Nyarlathotep

I will be offering this Call of Cthulhu Campaign It may need to run over two blocks but we could have a break in-between.

You receive a Mysterious wire from your friend the author Jackson Elias. He says he has information concerning the Carlyle expedition that disappeared several years ago and can you meet him at his hotel room in New York in a few days.

Set in 1925 this is a world spanning campaign Taking in New York, London, Egypt, Kenya, Australia and Shanghi

• Proposed by Matt Nott