Concrete Cow 14.5 games

The games below will be offered at the Concrete Cow 14½ convention on 13 September 2014. If you have something you'd like to offer, please drop us a line via the UK Roleplayers forum or any of the other places where we publicise Concrete Cow. See the Concrete Cow 14 games page for what was on offer last time.

The Bit.ly link for this page is http://bit.ly/eiw4wQ.

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

Allocating games to players is by sign-up sheets on the day, on a first-come-first-served basis. You can download blank sign-up sheets as sign-up sheet (MS Word) or sign-up sheet (PDF). (If you're offering a game, please note that you're still responsible for writing your own sign-up sheet; we don't create them for you.)

No sign-up sheets will go out before 9.30, so that people who aren't there at the crack of dawn still have a fair chance at getting in the games they want.

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

Send us your game blurbs via the UK Roleplayers forum or any of the other places where we publicise Concrete Cow and we'll put them here!

(Please add games in alphabetical order)

Apocalypse World — Dark Ages (playtest)

The Empire of Eagles, fell, withdrew and abandoned us to fate. In its absence, lawlessness, chaos; a resurgence of old ways in conflict with an inrushing of new.

R. Vincent Baker is currently playtesting the thematic sequel to his cult hit Apocalypse World in which we explore the lives of the members of a community struggling to survive after the fall of the Roman Empire. So this will be a bit of an experiment, which might work out horribly (although I have already tried it once and have some ideas to make it run more smoothly than otherwise).

GM: James Graham

Players: 4

Barbarians of Lemuria

Blood for the Fallen of Steadfast Dale

Aga’s Knaves may not have been the most successful or honourable of sellsword companies, but it was yours. Now, every ne'er-do-well you called brother or sister lies slain, betrayed from within and left to rot in Steadfast Dale. The warlord, Tillik Eye Splitter, and her barbarian horde closes on your home of Felsa, the City of Poisoned Kisses, with its armies misdirected to the south. Tillik must be stopped and vengeance seized!

And gold too, of course, for vengeance won’t pay for the charms of Felsa’s inns and whores when you return as the rescuing heroes!

GM: Tom Pleasant

Players: 2–4

Setting: Homebrew sword & sorcery

Blood & Water

The storygame of Being Human: players create a set of supernatural housemates and their residence within the first hour of play, then explore the consequences of their choices in the remaining time.

Our House

"There’s this werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who share a house... but this is no joke. As it turns out, death is not the end for everybody, though it usually puts an end to your social life. Somewhere between being human and being a monster you’ll find the characters in this game: people who cannot return to the family they knew but aren’t ready to embrace the thing they have become. They say that blood is thicker than water, but when your own blood turns against you, you have to find a new kind of family, one who will accept you for what you are."

This is a straight run of James Mullen's game which emulates the kind of supernatural domestic arrangement portrayed in the TV show Being Human. You've got monsters with human ambitions but supernatural problems.

GM: Nick Reynolds

Players: 4

Plymouth

The year is 1650 and the place is Plymouth, Massachusetts: the pilgrims have settled in this new world for the past 30 years, but amongst them are some who have their own private reasons for wanting to leave the civilised world behind them. The monsters trying to live quietly within the community are finding that this New World has a lore & supernature of it's own and they might be best placed to deal with it if they want the colony to survive.

Think Being Human crossed with The Scarlet Letter and maybe a touch of Sleepy Hollow: because superstition is such a part of life, NPCs are more likely to believe that the supernatural can occur and less likely to dismiss the idea of ghosts, vampires, etc. I'm thinking a confrontation between the monsters of Europe and the monsters of North America might be interesting and yes, as it's New England, the Cthulhu Mythos is allowed too.

GM: James Mullen

Players: 3 or 4

Slot: Morning

Call of Cthulhu

Penetralia

Arkham, present day.

Your friend Tina has been researching strange rumours among the homeless population of Arkham, stories of doors that open to Hell and creatures of nightmare that walk the dark corners of the town. No one took it seriously, including Tina. Now Tina is late for her dinner with you, and her phone is going straight through to voicemail.

Finding Tina again will take you places no sane mind was ever meant to see – hidden places where sanity is a dim memory and the way home is filled with monsters. If you get lost in madness as well, will anyone be able to save you?

GM: Scott Dorward

Players: 4 (Adults Only)

Slot: Evening

The Code of the Space Lanes

An ultra-lite Sci-Fi RPG in the same veins as Simon Burley's COMICS CODE rules. ie. 5 min character gen, 10 min combat. Just 2d6 etc etc.

The Last of the Deep Space Stations

A rusty/Terran/alien/ancient/unreliable/cutting-edge (delete as appropriate) space station in deep space/orbiting a dead world/guarding an alien planet (delete as appropriate).

You're a team of Earthers/natives/aliens/robots (delete as appropriate) charged with handing it over/taking it over/scuttling it/repairing it (delete as appropriate).

But as ancient forces/political factions/hostile aliens (delete as appropriate) unexpectedly come into play, suddenly you're at the epicentre of an epic struggle which could change the future of the entire galaxy. (No alternatives on offer).

I'm going to come along with LOADS of plot fully prepared to rip it up in favour of what the players come up with. The only things I'll not allow on the table are peace and safety.

Slot: Afternoon

GM: Simon Burley

Players: 2–6 (3–5 preferred)

Plague Ship

Lured by its exotic gems, the space trader Solar Queen lands on the little-known planet of Sargol, only to find the ruthless Inter-Solar Company there ahead of them. Adapting quickly to the culture of Sargol’s feline inhabitants, the crew of the Queen beat out their rivals and successfully make a deal with the natives. But soon after takeoff, the Queen’s crew is stricken with a plague, and they are now banned from landing on any inhabited planet. Will the Queen’s crew save themselves, or be condemned to drift forever through space?

Andre Norton (1912–2005)

In other words I intend to use my new ultra-light Code of the Space-lanes rules to play through an entire classic Andre Norton novel in a single session. The above is the blurb from the original book. The game won't be as railroaded as it might sound - there's no way you're going to have the same last scene as the book. You might not even GET the plague! I ran this at the World Sci-Fi convention and it's tons of fun.

Slot: Morning

GM: Simon Burley

Players: 2–6 (3–5 preferred)

Dead of Night

The Villa

Players are a group of affluent thirtysomethings on the ultimate getaway for those who can afford it: rent a whole island with its own luxury villa, beaches and walks. No internet, no TV, no reminders of your day job — just you and an island to explore for a whole week, away from civilisation. What could go wrong?

Map of the island

GM: smiorgan

Players: up to 6

Discworld Roleplaying Game

A preview of the forthcoming new edition of the game, and notably of the magic system.

Academic Exorcise

It has come to the attention of the governments of various cities that other cities besides Ankh-Morpork have recently acquired colleges of magic, and this is being tolerated. Therefore, it has become desirable. Therefore, the Sto Kerrig College of Agriculture has just been re-established as the Sto Kerrig College of Thaumaturgical Arts. Of course, it needs a properly qualified faculty. That’s where you come in. It also needs better facilities than a cabbage farm. That’s where this scenario comes in.

GM: Phil Masters

Players: 3–6

Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space

The Tendrils of Neox

In the middle of the 20th Century, the Neox Corporation is building The Golden Promise, a spaceship that will save the Earth. By focussing the Sun’s rays, it will revolutionise British agriculture, providing enough food to feed humans for centuries. By bringing the Earth’s nations together, it will introduce a new era of peace.

Except it won’t. It is an empty promise. The spaceship is a monument to human greed, with one of the Doctor’s deadliest foes on board.

This is an adventure for Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space featuring the Third Doctor and his companions.

GM: Graham Walmsley

Slot: It depends on what else is running when

First Issue

First Issue is a simple superhero comic game, using coins and a lot of imagination to tell the story of a typical adventure. Pick a playbook and you're off, ready for adventure, excitement, drama and tough moral choices, knowing that somehow, someway, you will save the day once again![

GM: James Mullen

Players: 3 or 4

Slot: Afternoon

Hot War

Of the Blood

The Louisiana bayous, 1963.

A small colony of deep ones, refugees from the fall of Innsmouth, have been resident in the bayous for over 30 years. The local humans have shunned them, despite their shared worship of the old gods. Maybe this is because they fear attention being drawn to the area, having suffered their own raids and persecution, or maybe it is simple revulsion at their inhuman neighbours.

Both communities are becoming polarised between those who want to see the others driven out and those who would heal the divisions. Events are conspiring to bring this tension to a head. Are the communities doomed to tear themselves and each other apart, or is the time right for change?

Note: This uses a modified version of the Hot War mechanics and an alternate setting.

GM: Scott Dorward

Players: 4 (Adults Only)

Slot: Morning

Microscope Chronicle

Microscope was one of the most innovative rpgs to be released in the last five years. Now, the author has written several expansions to the original. This one, Microscope Chronicle, explores the history of a single thing. You could play a struggling colony, that spooky old house on the hill, a radical art movement, or a fabled sword that unites the land…

This game is part of the official Microscope Chronicle playtest and your feedback will go to influence the final form of the game.

Slot: Evening 7pm–9:30pm

UnGM: Epistolary Richard

Players: 2–5

A Midsummer Night

Five friends spend a night in the woods and become the inadvertent test subjects for a group of fae looking to answer a question about mortal love. Each player plays both a mortal and a fae, switching between the two to explore better what is true and what is false in the course of love. When the morning comes, the magic disappears and the friends are left to deal with the consequences of what they have done. Will their old loves and rivalry remain or will they forge a new path from their enchanted night.

Inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, this is a GMless structured freeform game similar to Witch: the Road to Lindisfarne.

Slot: Morning 10am–1:30pm

UnGM: Epistolary Richard

Additional Players: 4–5

Monsterhearts

Dark Dungeons

Debbie is a good Christian girl, looking to make friends and save souls in her first year at college. But there she encounters the dark and mystical world of roleplaying games and the terrifying yet seductive Dungeon Master Ms. Frost.

This game of Monsterhearts is inspired by the recent release of the movie Dark Dungeons . We'll start with a similar premise, but then see where the adventure leads from there. Fair warning: this scenario will restrict skin and move choice to mimic the flavour of the movie as well as adding moves to allow the player characters to roleplay within the game. We will hope to stay true to the spirit of the source material and its warning of the evil influence of roleplaying games.

Slot: Afternoon 2:30pm–6:30pm

GM: Epistolary Richard

Players: 3–5

Pulp Cthulhu

A New Age of Wonders!

Vermont, 1937.

The acclaimed (and somewhat self-aggrandising) inventor, Cicero Mordaunt, claims to have succeeded where lesser minds, such as Nikola Tesla, have failed. He has mastered the secret of transmitting energy over distance without the need for wires, and this is only the beginning of the new age he will usher in.

But how did Mordaunt make this breakthrough? What Faustian bargain has he made, and who will ultimately pay the price?

You are one of the guests at Mordaunt’s New Year’s Eve party, where he will demonstrate his creation for the first time. If nothing else, it will be a night to remember, assuming anyone survives to do so!

GM: Scott Dorward

Players: 4 (Adults Only)

Slot: Afternoon

Squadron UK (Quickstart)

The Long Minute

Help me out here. The one item I DO want to playtest at Concrete Cow is my new QuickStart pack for Squadron UK. Ideally I want four people who have never played Squadron UK before. However, if you've played the game before you're welcome as long as you haven't played The Long Minute scenario with me at a convention before.

Four new heroes (pregens provided) are faced with a city-wide mystery where even time itself seems to be against them. This may be a quick-start but it is also the deadliest scenario I've ever run at a convention - the Heroes don't always win this one and there are often fatalities. You might be new to the system but bring your A- game regardless.

It's under 3 hours long because I have to run to catch the last train to Birmingham

Slot: Evening

GM: Simon Burley

Players: 2–6 (3–5 preferred)

Torchbearer

The Purple Robber Pits Of Queen Manzicore

Guy Trouthome lies dead, devoured by a Creeping Mangle! Sebastopol the Magician is entombed 6 miles beneath the earth in a Hollow of Forlorn Encystment! Harpham Cleverlugs was last seen being blasted by the Seventeen Black Tentacles of Shahoguin-Norri!

Only four adventurers remain... will they too die in a bog with only their pox-ridden, horse-faced mothers to mourn them? Or will at least one emerge from The Purple Robber Pits Of Queen Manzicore, hands clasped around a ruby fat as a hen's egg, mind and ass blasted by things no Dwarf was meant to see?!?

Torchbearer is one dungeon of deathtraps, two lashings of space aliens, three fistfuls of #grimupnorth, and four mean murderhobos of pure awesome old school dungeon crawling.

GM: Indie Pete

Players: 4

The Stellarium of the Vinteralf and the Great Ordeal

The Emperor is marching North to the dread stronghold of Golgotterath in what has become known as the Emperor's Great Ordeal.

This presents an opportunity to you. Normally the path to the long forgotten Stellarium of the Vinteralf would be an impassible journey, but as the forces of darkness head to face off with the Great Ordeal, the route will presumably be clear!

You are a small group of adventurers heading off into the unknown. Your quest will take its toll on all of you. But you could return as the wealthy as the old royalty! Surely that would outweigh the suffering this journey would have you endure.

GM: Guy MacDonnell

Players: 3–4

Trail of Cthulhu

In the Republic of the Savior

It is 1985. You are a soldier of fortune. You don't care where the money comes from, and you don't care what you have to do in order to get it. However, this job has made you question that philosophy. A contact in the CIA who has hired you before has a job for you in El Salvador, where a terrible civil war is being fought. In a land drenched with the blood of innocents by the thousands, a miracle has occurred. The unconfirmed reports state that a young girl has brought a man back from the dead - and the CIA believe she could be a "threat". They want you to find out the truth. If she is something more than a miracle worker, they want you do deal with the "threat". Can you bring yourself to murder a child?

GM: Matt Sanderson

Players: 4–6

Slot: Morning

WaRP

[we are]

[they are] the Institute

[this is] their experiment

[you are] powerful, frightening, special.

Comply with the experiment, or attempt to escape; it’s your choice.

This is a modern fantasy/horror game where players are humans burdened with supernatural powers, but with a twist: the hunters have caught you, and taken you to a place where they can observe you. Based on the WaRP OGL, playtest.

GM: smiorgan

Players: up to 4

World War Cthulhu

Midnight Sunrise

London. September 1940. You were woken by a call in the dead of night from an old friend, Teresa Hughes. Distraught, she asked for your help, and requested that you come to her house in Charlton the next morning. You agreed. Someone is watching her house after dark, testing the doors, trying to get in. They have been doing this for weeks, but now she's at her wits end. The police won't help as no-one else has seen them. Hopefully with you in the house, if they try this again, you'll be ready for them. Who are they? What do they want? What will you do to them if they comeback?

System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition

GM: Matt Sanderson

Players: 4–6

Slot: Afternoon

Yggdrasil—the Lands of the North

The heroes arrive for a relaxing few days at the hall of their Jarl's brother to discover his son is missing. Guess who 'volunteered' to find the missing lad? Yep, got it in one: you.

Mystery and the insipration of the gods awaits.

GM: Mist77