Proposed short-block games
This page is for games that are on offer for the next short block. The Proposed Long Block games are on a separate page. If ideas in here sound interesting to you, please contact the GM in question.
These are the proposed short block games for Block 5: 3 February – 17 February 2026. Because many short-block games are organised ad hoc on the night, this is necessarily incomplete.
Week 1
(Including pitches for the next long block.)
Card-based story games
There are a good few card-based story games out now. This is a chance to play a few. The games are zero-prep and collaborative story games
The games include:
- For the Queen
- Fedora Noir
- Women are Werewolves
- The Quiet Year
- Villagesong
- Our Mundane Supernatural Life
- Decaying Orbit
- Saltfish and Almanacs
Depending on who's around, we'd pick a game (or two) and see what happens!
- Proposed by: Neil Smith
- Players: 2-5
- Weeks: 1 and 3 (not 2)
Welcome to Gotham
The city of Gotham is a place of contradictions. Towering skyscrapers loom over crumbling tenements, neon signs flicker against the endless night, and every alley whispers secrets best left unspoken. Heroes and villains alike have carved their names into its streets: Batman, the Joker, Catwoman, and countless others. Gotham is a city defined by masks, by the choices people make when the world demands more than they can give.
And now, it’s your turn.
You are sixteen years old, freshly transferred to Gotham Academy, a prestigious school nestled between the gothic spires of old Wayne architecture and the ever-present hum of danger. However, you’re not just ordinary students. You carry powers, secrets, and the weight of expectations. Some of you may dream of living up to Gotham’s greatest heroes. Others may feel the pull of its villains, tempted by promises of freedom, chaos, or control. But all of you are caught in the same web: teenagers trying to survive high school while deciding what kind of heroes—or threats—you’ll become.
Masks the game
Masks is a superhero roleplaying game about teen heroes discovering who they are. If you’ve played D&D, think of it as shifting the focus from dungeon crawling and combat tactics to identity, relationships, and emotional choices. Instead of leveling up by slaying monsters, you grow by figuring out what kind of hero you want to be. Players will interact with both established and new characters in the DC comics setting.
- Proposed by: James J
- System: "Masks: A new generation"
- Players: 2-5
- Weeks 1-3
Draw Steel! The Fall of Blackbottom
Draw Steel is a modern RPG system based on the core tenets of "Tactical Cinematic Heroic Fantasy". To quote the introduction of the Heroes book: "This is a game about fighting monsters. About larger-than-life, extraordinary heroes plunging into battle against terrifying, monstrous enemies. "
Matt Colville does a much better job at describing the game system in broad strokes than me, so do check out his pitch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlDn0VcgTM
Adventure Background: Ajax the Invincible, also known as the Iron Saint, is the human leader of Vasloria - and a vainglorious conqueror who intends to subjugate the world and gain true sainthood. With the help of his lieutenant, a powerful mage named Mortum, he has waged war across Orden from a floating fortress known as the Crysopolis, conquering the world piece by piece. Lately, Ajax waged a years-long war against Khemhara, the Infinite Desert to the East of Vasloria - until a conspiracy drew his attention elsewhere...
Welcome to Blackbottom! The major deepwater port city of western Vasloria, the Free City of Blackbottom has been a city of trade outside the feudal structure of Vasloria since even before the coming of the Caelian Empire three thousand years ago. No duke, baron, or count of Aendrim rules or has any sway over the city. Instead, a small coalition of local nobles and merchant leaders make up the city council, the head of which is the lord mayor.
You are a party of First level Heroes, back from one of your early forays into Adventuring, about to take a well deserved break at the Drunken Fool. This tavern offers soft beds, steamy baths, hot food in abundance, and an opportunity to escape from the dangers of the wilderness and warring beyond the city walls. What could go wrong?
- Proposed by: Jonathon Witty
- Players: 3-6
- Weeks: 1,2,3
Cosmic Dark
Cosmic Dark is a rules-light game of weird space horror, exploring life, technology and reality.
Play as employees of Extracsa, a mining and resource conglomerate. You’ve been sent to the far reaches of the galaxy, a region dominated by the Glitch, an anomalous astronomical object like a golden wound. Your missions will change you, both physically and mentally, and there's no guarantee you'll make it back alive - but if you do, Extracsa is ready to patch you up and get you back out there.
We'll play the first mission from the book, Extraction, and if there's time, the second one, Time Murder.
18+ only. Contains body horror and other nasty space stuff.
- Proposed by: Sue S
- System: Cosmic Dark
- Players: 3-5
- Weeks: 1-3
3 Weeks of Mothership
Content Warning: Mothership is a game of Sci-Fi Horror. It includes depictions of financial horror; body horror; psychological horror and all manner of other horrors. This is a game that is suitable for ages 16+.
This a game good for beginners - simple rules, fast character generation, easy to drop in and out.
For those looking for a fun game of Science Fiction Horror, I'll be running over the next three weeks of the short-block some Mothership - Survive; Solve; Save, pick 1. Expect characters to be fast to make and faster to get killed - the answer is rarely on the character sheet.
We'll begin with "Year of the Rat"; where the crew simply has to grab a black box from a derelict casino spaceship to pay off their debts. Absolutely nothing can go wrong, and nothing on this Casino Ship is HUNGRY. (Claustrophobia, Violence, Being Eaten)
Mother Sleeps meanwhile takes a more... oceanic approach to the Horror and will see the party dealing with production slow-down the deep-sea research platform on Triton. C-Levels are not happy and the sooner the situation is resolved, the better. If all else fails, they can just nuke the site from orbit. (Claustrophobia, Body Horror, Transformation)
Finally, presuming neither of the above overruns, we'll wrap up with a relaxing incursion onto an abandoned pleasure dome, where we'll have a nice relaxing mission where the only danger is keeping a bunch of rich kids from hurting themselves. Should be a walk in the park after the last two missions. (Body Horror, Gore, Drug Use, Emotional Breakdowns.)
18+ only. Contains body horror and other nasty space stuff.
- Proposed by: Alex C
- System: Mothership 1e
- Players: 3-6
- Weeks: 1-3
Week 2
Welcome to Gotham
Continuing from Week 1.
Draw Steel! The fall of Blackbottom
Continuing from Week 1.
Cosmic Dark
Continuing from Week 1.
3 Weeks of Mothership
Might be a continuing game from Week 1.
Week 3
Card-based story games
Continuing from Week 1.
Welcome to Gotham
Continuing from Week 2.
Draw Steel! The fall of Blackbottom
Continuing from Week 2.
Cosmic Dark
Continuing from Week 2.
3 Weeks of Mothership
Might be a continuing game from Week 2.