Concrete Cow 18

The games below will be offered at the Concrete Cow 18 on 17 March 2018. 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 17.5 games page for what was on offer last time.

Game Slots

To keep some sense of organisation, this is the approximate timetable for the day.

Doors open	9.00am
Morning game sign up	9.40am	(ABCDEFGHIJ)
Morning games	10.00am – 1.30pm
Afternoon game sign up	2.10pm	(JIHGFEDCBA)
Afternoon games	2.30pm – 6.30pm
Raffle draw	6.30pm
Evening game sign up	7.10pm	(EFDGCHBIAJ)
Evening games	7.30pm – 11.00pm
Close	11.00pm

Sign-ups will be on the day only. You may want to learn more about our signup system.

Offering games

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.)

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!

Note for GMs

If your game has pre-generated characters, please take a look at their demographics. If the pre-gens are mostly straight white men, ask yourself why. If that's what's required by the scenario, fine. If not, please include more diversity in the characters.

If you game involves content that some people might find upsetting, please note that in the game blurb.

If you don't want someone at your table, you have every right to ask them to leave, at any time. You don't have to provide a reason, but please try to remain civil. Ask an organiser to step in if it's needed.

During a game, if you notice that one person's behaviour is making someone else uncomfortable, please don't ignore it. Do something about it. Take note of the harassment policy.

The GenCon Games on Demand advice and parts of How to Run Safer, Accessible, and Inclusive Game Conventions go into much more detail, even if it is rather US-centric.

The Games

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

Morning

The Bees of the Invisible

“We are the bees of the invisible. We madly gather the honey of the visible to store it in the great golden hive of the invisible.” -Rainer Maria Rilke

Five bookhounds and a dreamhound convene for an auction of unusual items at a Welsh country house.

They are:

Elspeth Cellan-Jones (Book Scout) Alun Cumming (Bookseller) Tuesday Adisa (Catalogue Agent) Rick the Red (Forger) The Divine Angela (Occultist) Rex Whistler (Artist)

6 pre-generated characters 6 core clues 6 pages from a lost grimoire

Who dares bid on the Lost Library of Ynys Môn?

Please be aware that this game contains mature themes.

GM: Matthew Downward

Players: 6

Call of Cthulhu: Islands in the Stream

South Pacific 1925. A National Geographic Team have to make some vital repairs to their yacht after a storm. They land on a small island to effect repairs and take on fresh water. A nice spot to take some pictures and research for the Magazine Article.

GM: Paul Eyles

Players: 6

Call of Cthulhu: A Light in the Darkness

June, 1945. The US and Allies continue to make progress in the Pacific against the forces of Imperial Japan. Heartened by the recent capitulation of Germany, hopes are high for a successful defeat of Japan. A group of Navy Seabees rush to repair a runway on a jungle island recently liberated from the Japanese. Exhausted from the hard work, they find themselves resting in the shade of a strange, native stone statue, watching the Marines make their way back to the USS Hutchins for deployment to the next island. But who is this VIP, codenamed 'Daybreak,' that just landed on the airstrip? And why did the MPs order you to make yourselves scarce while he landed?

A dark, fatal, survival horror scenario for mature players.

GM: Jonathan Powell

Players: 3-6

Kult: Divinity Lost - Pollero

On the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, there is a bar frequented by the criminal underworld. Tonight, the head of a local cartel has invited two groups of people there that have recently come to him for help. Two groups of seemingly ordinary people, although from very different walks of life, and different sides of the border. Their host says they might be able to help each other. Both groups are looking for something, and both know that the clock is ticking.

GM: Matt Sanderson

Players: 4-6

Paranoia: Operation [REDACTED]

Greetings, citizen, and congratulations on your promotion to the rank of Troubleshooter! You have been selected for a very special mission. Will it be difficult, you ask? Friend Computer would not have chosen you if it did not have complete confidence in your abilities. Do you doubt Friend Computer? Of course not. Will it be fun? Of course, citizen. Fun is mandatory!

GM: Amy Hewitt

Players: 4-6

Playtest Double Bill

Two small games for playtesting:

Godjobs: Destiny has a plan for all of us, with unlimited free texts and 50Gb of data. In this game, the player characters are fairly ordinary people who pick up gigs through an app on their phone, like one of those taxi or delivery service things but these gigs are usually carried out by mythological beings!

Relies on player input and creativity.

Uses a simple, narratively driven system and character playsheets.

Take on the jobs of the Grim Reaper, a Muse, Cupid, etc, and guide mortals to their destinies!

Safety in Numbers The world, or at least this part of it, is coming to an end! Alien invaders, giant ants, zombies, an erupting volcano... some big threat is about to wipe out the city, if not more. Many will struggle to survive; few will succeed.

An ensemble disaster movie emulator: think The Towering Inferno, Earthquake and more.

Control many characters with short life expectancies.

Fast, simple rules allow for a focus on setting scenes.

Make sacrifices to save other characters or push them over the edge to save yourself.

Sign-up for one and get both! Or just one, whatever, you don't have to play both if you don't want to: why not get a cup of tea, go shopping or prepare for games later in the day?

Un-GM: James Mullen

Players: 4 to 5

Pulp Cthulhu: The Gate of Bone

A band of heroes, experienced in battling eldritch evils, have gathered in Arkham to commemorate the anniversary of the fall of one of their comrades. The Old Arkham Graveyard holds secrets, however. What should be a simple memorial service soon leads to intrigue and horror, with nothing less than the sanity of the human race at stake.

A two-fisted, weird and macabre adventure filled with pulp action.

GM: Scott Dorward

Players: 4

Teen Detective

Teen Detective is an ultra-light ruleset for the teen detective genre embodied by Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew. Powered by Cthulhu Dark, Teen Detective similarly uses minimalist rules to engage the player with the mystery.

GM: Epistolary Richard

Players: 2-4

Uncharted Worlds : Generations Apart

Hundreds of years after departure from earth and well into the new era of FTL travel, the Generation ship Pasithea has been located. Lost in the black and with a genuine mystery around its fate, the race is now on to get to the ship and mount a rescue mission... or haul off as much salvage as possible. The secrets of the Pasithea are much darker of course. You are all crew aboard the science vessel Scylla's Tears who discover the ships location, each character from a radically different faction of the universe and all with their own motivations.

The scenario features a great deal of player generated content, as per the ideals of Uncharted Worlds, and uses the Emerging Horror scenario rules from Far Beyond Humanity. Nothing is set at the start of play.

GM: Robin Poole

Players: 3-4

Afternoon

Call of Cthulhu: On a Wild and Savage Hillside

The year is 1690, the setting, a farmhouse in rural Wales. The players take the role of family members, awaiting the birth of a child.

This is the opening chapter of the forthcoming campaign, A Poison Tree.

GM: Paul Fricker

Players: Up to 6

Call of Cthulhu: The Hero Affirmed

December 2017. Every Christmas, the Wayne State University donates hundreds of care packages to the growing homeless community in the city. Small groups of students, accompanied by their lecturers, head out to various homeless shelters across the city. Tonight, as temperatures fall well below zero, not just the homeless are coming in from the cold.

GM: Matt Sanderson

Players: 4-6

Cthulhu Dark: Annihilation

You are part of the Southern Reach’s ninth expedition into Area X, an expanding area of wilderness behind an ambiguous border. You've been conditioned by hypnosis, appearing fully equipped within the Area. You don’t know your teammates' names, only their functions. Your equipment is old, and your memories are unreliable; paper journals tell you where you have been. You are studying the landscape for clues and each other for signs of stress and collapse. All of you are looking for answers, and hoping you can get back without losing too much of yourself here.

GM: Ralph Lovegrove

Players: 4

Double Bill: Lizzy & Darcy and Kinda Shady, Morally Speaking

As these are shorter games, we will play both in the slot.

Lizzy & Darcy allows the players to create their own version of the central relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice. L&D is a structured freeform game similar to Witch: the Road to Lindisfarne and Hot Guys Making Out.

Kinda Shady, Morally Speaking is inspired by Breaking Bad's Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. The players are two partners who are in way over their heads. They set a code for themselves so they don't lose their souls in the process. The players then chart the partners' downward spiral and the events that lead them to betray each principle to protect what they value the most.

GM: Epistolary Richard

Players: 1-2

Dungeons & Dragons 5e: Rescue in Bard's Gate

The PCs are special investigators assigned to get to the bottom of a string of kidnappings. Explore the underside of the city of Bard's Gate in this fantasy game of intrigue.

GM: Edwin Nagy

Players: 3-5 (TBC)

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria - The Pet Predicament

Calling all Bronies and Pegasisters: the Mane Six need you!...to look after their pets while they go and save Equestria. You've been tasked with hosting a pet pampering party for six harmless animals for a few days. What could possibly go wrong? Create your own Pegasus, Unicorn or Earth Pony, and come and star in an episode of Friendship is Magic. Prior knowledge of the show not required!

GM: Gemma Bridges

Players: 4

Pulp Cthulhu: The Gate of Bone

A band of heroes, experienced in battling eldritch evils, have gathered in Arkham to commemorate the anniversary of the fall of one of their comrades. The Old Arkham Graveyard holds secrets, however. What should be a simple memorial service soon leads to intrigue and horror, with nothing less than the sanity of the human race at stake.

A two-fisted, weird and macabre adventure filled with pulp action.

GM: Scott Dorward

Players: 4

Seco Creek Vigilance Committee

Seco Creek Vigilance Committee is a game of JUSTICE, LAW, REVENGE and the difference between WHAT IS RIGHT & WHAT IS GOOD.

Three notorious outlaws sit in Seco Creek’s jail. The evidence against them for the current crime is scant. They’re probably not guilty—at least of this. But their reputation precedes them and the townsfolk have no intention of letting them make it to trial. You’re part of the posse that apprehended them and the fate of the three outlaws is tied to your actions. But so is your own. What will you do?

GM: Neil Smith

Players: 4–5

Shadows of Esteren: The Factors Fate

A factor on an errand for a merchant known to the characters has gone missing. The merchant writes to the characters and requests they investigate, and recover and if possible deliver the package the missing man was carrying.

GM: Mark (mist77)

Players: 6

Evening

Bluebeard's Bride

Bluebeard’s Bride is an investigatory horror game, based on the Bluebeard fairy tale.

The Bluebeard fairy tale is simple enough: A young bride is wed to an ugly but powerful man with a blue beard. On their wedding night he must attend to other urgent matters. He gives her the keys to every room, inviting her to explore… but one room in his house is forbidden. The bride eventually falls prey to her curiosity and opens it, discovering the gruesome sight of former brides who had been murdered… evidence that reveals her husband to be a killer of women.

When you play Bluebeard’s Bride, you aren’t repeating the dark events of that morbid tale. You’re following the skeleton of that story to tell a new one covered in your own bloody fingerprints. The Bride’s story is unpredictable and engaging, leading her down a dark path to an unknown future. Your fate, the terrible contents of the final room, may not yet be fixed, but every step you take moves you closer to your doom.

The players are the Sisters, different aspects of the Bride's personality. All can influence what the Bride does at each turn, but only one has direct control at a time; when she exercises that power, control moves to another Sister.

Investigate rooms, discover the truth of what happened, experience the nightmarish phantasmagoria of this broken place, and decide whether or not you are a faithful or disloyal bride.

GM: Neil Smith

Players: 2–4, including some female-of-centre

Unspecified

Board & Card Games...

...will be available should anyone be without a game