Games Played in 2015

Block 5: 15th December to 2nd February

Blades in the Dark

You're in the office of the Lampblack's leader, Bazso Baz. He wants your answer. Are you with them, or against them? What do you say? Will you side with the Lampblacks? Will you just pretend to? (Good luck, Bazso is very sharp.) Will you tell him to fuck off?

Are you actually here to kill him for the Red Sashes? (If so, do a flashback and pick a plan for the assassination.)

Blades in the Dark is a game about a group of daring scoundrels building a criminal enterprise on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, escapes, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, deceptions, betrayals, victories, and deaths.

We’ll play to find out if the fledgling crew can thrive amidst the teeming threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the bluecoats of the City Watch, and the siren song of the scoundrel’s own vices.

This is a semi-playtest of the draft rules for the game, obtained via Kickstarter. The rules may change during the game, if there's an update!

Same page description

• Who prepares the story? No-one plans anything. PCs and NPCs just do what seems right at that moment. This might or might not lead to a good story.
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus story bits when the rules call for it.
• The rules will be followed, come what may.
• Player characters are expected to work together. Major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation.
• How brutal is the game? Whenever I miss a roll – and sometimes even when I make it – I want the situation to escalate.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival sometimes isn't as important as other choices.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.

Game details

• System: Blades in the Dark
• Number of Players: 3–5
• Proposed by: Neil Smith

Shadow of the Black Throne Season 3: The Fountain's Call

The world is out of balance, desert lands are wracked by rain and storms. The powerful forces that the Rakshasa Sorcerer Karaz unleashed at the Mountain of Skulls are spiraling out of control, and very soon might drown the world beneath another flood. Can the secrets of lost Atlantis be found, and can balance be restored. This is a continuation of my bronze age D&D campaign.It will pick up shortly after the end of the second season. Probably at around level eight.

Game details

• System:Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.
• Number of Players: up to seven (returning players will have priority)
• Proposed by: Alex Barrett

Monsterhearts

Brad promised to take you to the homecoming dance. Now Brad is lying in your bed, naked, with his throat ripped out. You’re pretty sure he’s dead. If you’re lucky, he’ll stay that way.

One of your friends might help you dispose of the body. You've done the same for them often enough. Maybe Tyler can use the corpse in one of those creepy-ass rituals of his. On second thoughts, you remember what happened last time. Why is nothing ever simple?

But of course your real problem is: who’s going to take you to the dance now that you've eaten your boyfriend?

The game of teenage monsters and their messy lives.

Game details

• System: Monsterhearts
• Number of Players: 3-6
• Proposed by: Scott Dorward

Heaven & Earth: Welcome to Potter's Lake

Potter's Lake, Kansas. This quirky little community, surrounded by forests and sat beside a picturesque lake, is expanding. A new development of affordable housing is being built on the outskirts of town, attracting new residents away from the tiring, fast-paced life of the big city.

The player characters are new arrivals in town (either a single family unit, or neighbours living on the same street).

Heaven & Earth has been described as "Twin Peaks: the RPG". Things are not what they seem in this little slice of paradise. There will be a healthy dose of weirdness, horror and some damn fine cherry pie.

Game Details

• System: Heaven & Earth (3rd Edition)
• Number of Players: 4-6
• Proposed by Matt Sanderson

Block 4: 29th September to 17th November 2015

Monster of the Week!

Fight the forces of evil in your moms basement or jet set around the world staking unspeakable horrors in every corner of the globe. Monster of the week is a fast paced action oriented game which emulates the classic tv shows of the monster hunting genre. With character archetypes from Luchadors to Shady Government agents, Meddling Kids to an Angel cast down from heaven you get to design the perfect or imperfect monster slaying team. Save the world with maximum collateral damage.

The game takes concepts from shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, The X-Files, The Real Ghostbusters, Scooby Doo and more to create a fairly comprehensive set of character types, each with extremely powerful special abilities. In addition any character can perform magic, usually with hilarious consequences.

Downloads of the various playsheets and the character templates are available here if you want to take a look.

The Truth is Out There - and has big nasty teeth!

Game details

• System: Monster of the Week
• Number of Players: 3-5
• Proposed by: Robin Poole

A Red and Pleasant Land

Some women, some men and most children know that dreams leak. A lifetime of thinking it that way in your sleep can make a drawer on a drafting table three or four inches wider on a side. But there are longer lives than ours. And longer dreams.

There is a Red King, and he is terrible and he is tall. He wears a red crown. The long red years have made him strange and he hides from the sun, sleeping, his strange dreams making unseen days stranger. Sleeping, he dreams of ruin and of distortion— of an Antiland, reversed and red. When he opens his red eyes in the red night there is his red land: it is inverted, rigid, and wrong.

There is a cruel Heart Queen: she is in a different castle and she is on a different mountain and she sleeps in a different wooden box but she is also hiding and dreaming. She dreams into being a world unending, unbeginning, with wonder and murder, disruption and unreason. And melancholy green gardens. And it is there now. And hers.

Their home is called Voivodja but it has other names now: The Land the Gods Refuse To See. Zeu Orb. Orb Dumnezeu. Isten Vak. The Place of Unreason.

Players will have the chance to explore the Place of Unreason, deciding their own fates within Voivodja. The setting borrows heavily from the madness of Alice in Wonderland, twisted in its logic and sanity - this is not your typical fantasy mythical-europe setting. We will be using Lamentations of the Flame Princess for the system with one or two additional house rules in place. LotFP is an OSR title and as such the system is very easy to pick up - no previous experience required.

WARNING: The likelyhood is that things will get quite gonzo and bloody if the last LotFP campaign is anything to go by. Good fun is sure to be had.

Game details

• System: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
• Number of Players: 3-5
• Proposed by: Oli Palmer

Shadow of the Black Throne, Season 2

“A bright light shone upon the summit of one ziggurat, and the people of the wilderness flocked to it. Morg stood upon its heights and gazed out over the ruins of the world, crushed beneath the thrashings as a serpent and a tiger fought over the world. The people of the stone looked out in fear as a dark sea crashed about the base of the ziggurat, kept at bay only by the light that shone from high above." - From the Prophecy of Morg

Swords and Sorcery clash amidst the desert sands of an ancient world. Can the heroes prevail, or will darkness descend upon the rebel city of Arasat once more? This will be the second season of the Shadow of the Black Throne campaign for fifth edition D&D. It will pick up where the present long block leaves off, but there shouldn’t be any barrier to new players coming on board. The setting is a Bronze Age world, drawing upon ancient mythology and pulp sword and sorcery. I’m going to an Indo-Mesopotamian aesthetic. I’ll post a full pitch once this long block concludes.

Game details

• System: Dungeons and Dragons (5th edition)
• Number of Players: 2 < x < ∞
• Proposed by: Alex Barrett

Cthulhu By Gaslight

IN THE 1890s, Cthulhu and his minions share the globe with the mighty British Empire. But they owe allegiance to an empire of their own -- a dark and cruel design on ownership of the world and on the dreams of humanity. Even among the green fields of rural England, only thoughtful and energetic intervention keeps the shadows at bay.

Cthulhu Mysteries in Victorian England. What more do I needs to be said :-)

Game details

• System: Call of cthulhu 7th edition)
• Number of Players: 4 to 6
• Proposed by: Matt Nott

Block 3: 14th July to 1st September 2015

It's Illegal, but at least it's Honest Work.

(If you're not up to speed on Firefly : it's by Joss Whedon, and it's a Western in space. Kinda. See Wikipedia for the full info, and then go watch it.)

2517AD

Here's the way of things: Earth-That-Was got used up, so we found a whole new system. Dozens of new Earths were terraformed and colonized, some rich and flush with the latest technologies while the others ... not so much.

The Central Planets, them that formed the Alliance, decided all the planets would unite under their benevolent and civilizin' rule.

Turns out there was a lot of disagreement as to that point.

After the Unification War many of the Independents who had fought and lost kinda drifted to the far edges of the system, hopin' to make a life stayin' just under the Alliance radar. Back on the central planets most don't want for much, but out on the rim life's a whole lot tougher. Folk struggle to get by with limited resources, limited supplies, and limited tech. A ship brings work, a gun helps you keep it.

Out here, a captain's goal's pretty simple:

Find a crew.

Find a job (most folk don't much care what it is so long as it pays)).

Keep flyin'.

Eight weeks in the Firefly 'Verse being shiny and awesome and generally being Big Damn Heroes.

Also, crime. After all, even naughty folk with sometime aspirations of heroism gotta eat. You've been down on your luck lately, fuel's down to the fumes, but all that's about to change. An old war buddy of yours has a job for you, just a mite of smugglin'. Money ain't all that but it's enough to keep you flyin', and that's what matters.

What could possibly go wrong with such a simple job? Well, there's some as say things in the 'Verse ain't never gonna run smooth ...

Same page description

• Who prepares the story? The GM prepares the overall shape of the story, linear or branching. Players run their characters through these events. The GM gives hints to provide direction.
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus occasional story bits when they spend a resource (such as whimsy cards or hero points) or make certain kinds of rolls, subject to GM's approval.
• The rules will be followed, come what may.
• Player characters are expected to work together. Major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation.
• How brutal is the game? Whenever I miss a roll – and sometimes even when I make it – I want the situation to escalate.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival sometimes isn't as important as other choices.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.

Game details

• System: FIREFLY Cortex Plus
• Number of Players: 3–6
• Proposed by: Martin Goodson

William Shakespeare's The King in Yellow

Black stars rise over Southwark...

William Shakespeare is dead. Some years after his passing, a group of his friends have pieced together the First Folio, collecting Shakespeare's plays for the first time. In doing so, they found a previously unperformed tragedy set in the lost city of Carcosa.

Following the play's first performance, London is becoming an even stranger place than normal. Unnatural mists haunt the streets, bringing music, laughter and horrors with them. People are going missing or being changed in disquieting ways. Rumours are circulating of doorways leading to strange landscapes, masked figures walking off the pages of manuscripts and people gaining the powers of the gods themselves. Everyone from the lowliest beggar to King James himself will be touched by the tatters of the King.

Maybe London needs to be saved, or maybe this is simply the start of its transformation into a new world of wonders. Either way, a clever individual who is willing to take risks with his or her life, soul and very identity has much to gain, and at least as much to lose.

This is a playtest of an upcoming supplement for the weird fantasy RPG, Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Being a playtest, it may be a bit chaotic and unformed in places.

Same page description

• Who prepares the story? The GM preps a map with NPCs and/or monsters. The players have their characters travel anywhere they can reach on the map, according to their own goals.
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory; everything else is owned by the GM.
• The rules will be followed, come what may.
• Player characters are expected to work together. Major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation.
• How brutal is the game? If you do dumb things, you character will die quickly.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival sometimes isn't as important as other choices.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.
• How much comedy/wacky/silliness should there be? Some. When comedy emerges from situations in play that's great, but let's not turn our epic fantasy into an episode of Xena.

Game details

• System: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
• Number of Players: 3–5
• Proposed by: Scott Dorward

Shadow of the Black Throne

Since the day Atlantis sank beneath the waves the world has fallen into a dark and tumultuous age. It is an age of barbarism and chaos. The great cities of the last age still stand but they are points of light amidst the darkness. The city states of the east are ruled by Warlock Kings. They sit their ziggurat thrones contemplating things that man was not meant to know, while legions of slaves raise monuments to their aggrandisement beneath the desert sun.

The prophets of a dozen gods lead their tribes through the wilderness in search of promised lands, while the southern wastes echo with the clatter of barbarian chariots. And amidst the steaming jungles of the north stand strange ruins from an earlier age, where the followers of dark gods heap sacrifices upon their graven altars.

You are soldiers of fortune, swords for hire who have become caught up in the revolution that has turned the ancient city of Arasat into a republic. But all is not well. The Tyrant has vanished on the eve of his execution, and Arun Sarados, the legendary swordsman who led the revolution is nowhere to be found. If the tyrant has escaped he will return with a new army, and if the people learn that their savoir is missing or dead then their resolve will likely falter.

This will be a D&D 5e game set in a Bronze Age world drawing on ancient mythology and pulp sword and sorcery. It will probably start at around fourth level. The setting pdf can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0rth47d67pybkig/Age%20Before%20Ages%20Campaign%20Guide.pdf?dl=0

Same page description

• Who prepares the story? The GM creates a world for the players to explore and interact with. Events will unfold, with or without the players, but sooner or later they will need to step up and become heroes.
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? The actions of the players will shape the setting going forwards, they might direct or create organisations, decide the fate of kingdoms, or invent things. Their actions may become legends that will echo down the ages and will have a dramatic impact on this and other games in the setting.
• Player characters are expected to work together. Major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation.
• How brutal is the game? The world will not be tailored to “provide challenging encounters” for characters of the party’s level. Some things are far tougher than the characters. However this is not a combat heavy game. Expect to use guile and fast talking to escape situations which would not be winnable by sword and spell.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival Is probably your characters top priority, but players may well feel differently.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.

Game details

• System: Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition
• Number of Players: some
• Proposed by: Alex Barrett

Escape from Innsmouth

Continuation of this classic Call of Cthulhu campaign. Set in Arkham and Innsmouth Massachusetts during the twenties. The group is starting to uncover some of the secrets of shadowed Innsmouth.

Returning and new players welcome

A century ago Innsmouth was a thriving community on the Massachusetts coast. Then a shadow fell over Innsmouth. There were whispered rumours of heathen religions and blasphemous pacts. Now Innsmouth lies rotting, its harbour choked with sand, the town itself nearly engulfed by salt marshes. Outsiders shun Innsmouth and its sullen, deformed inhabitants. But the secret is still there. Hiding. Festering. Growing. Waiting.

Game details

• System: Call of Cthulhu 7th edition
• Number of Players: 4+
• Proposed by: Matt Nott

Ryuutama

Ryuutama calls itself a “Natural Fantasy RPG”. It is a fantasy role-playing game set in a western medieval-style setting. The conceit of this setting is that at one point, in everyone’s lives, people get this intense feeling of wanderlust. They put their daily lives on hold and travel the world with new-found companions. They find out more about the world, and at the same time learn about themselves.

Ryuutama emphasizes travel, exploration, community, friendship, harmony and growth. There is also a “Console RPG-like” combat system: But while combat certainly happens, it’s not the central focus of the game. Adventures usually involve traveling from one town to another, packing gear, crafting items, cooking and sharing along the way; getting lost, meeting people and (sometimes cute) monsters along the way; braving the elements and trying to set camp properly.

Ryuutama is a game that gives off a “feelgood”, or in Japanese, “Honobono” feel. The feeling of the game is like a Hayao Miyazaki anime: While there is adventure and excitement, there is also a warm sense of wonder, exploration, and companionship (versus an emphasis on violence and extreme action).

Same page description

• Who prepares the story? Everyone collaboratively preps a map with NPCs and/or monsters. The players have their characters travel anywhere they can reach on the map, according to their own goals.
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory; everything else is owned by the GM.
• The rules (including agreed house rules) will be ignored when they conflict with what would be good for the story.
• Player characters are expected to work together. (Not that) major conflicts might erupt but you'll patch them up given some time.
• How brutal is the game? Not at all.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival isn't even a concern or focus for this game.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: kind of a non-question. Enemies aren't big-E Evil, though there may be people who are misunderstood or working at cross purposes.

Game details

• System: Ryuutama
• Number of Players: 3–5
• Proposed by: Neil Smith

Block 2: 28th April to June 16th 2015

Skyrealms of Jorune : Children of the Steership

Continued from block 1

An Ars Magica game set in the Skyrealms of Jorune .

A tale of how apprentices become magi in an alien world.

Its tough coming to a new place when you're only 8 years old and the people looking after you are strangers. Its even tougher when your new home is a strange tower miles away from everything else and you have few people to talk to apart from your fellow classmates and the odd servant (and some of them are very odd).

There will be a day, your master promises, when you will inherit the tower and join the council that runs your little holding ; one day you will be a member of the Hermetic Order, a master magician. Yeah, right - like you really believe you'll be able to throw fire from your fingertips or fly from the top of the tower.

In the meantime you have to clean out the stables, deliver breakfast to that Thriddle merchant, make sure the beagre haven't been at the corn supplies again. Oh, and keep an eye out for the Crugar while you're up on the roof, I hear they've a new warlord who would just love to burn this entire place to the ground....

This game will probably be a bit of a slow burn ; the idea is to introduce the game system slowly over a number of weeks, so the players learn the system (and generate their characters) as their characters grow up to be magi and then take over their own settlement - and possibly expand it into a kingdom of their own. While there are various plots and subplots, there is also space for player driven agendas (and improvisation)later in the game once the characters are adults.

Its likely to suit those who like fantasy games,and would enjoy the ability to run their own settlement in a world where the creatures are different from your traditional fantasy fare.

However, be warned, it won't suit those who just want to hit things. While there will be adventure, combat, and intrigue, there is also a strategic world building element and lot of potential scope for building relationships with NPCs. Every decision has consequences... and a sword will often be the weakest part of your arsenal.

Also, due to the way we'll be generating characters over a course of several weeks, sadly I can only accept players if they can attend reasonably regularly. Sorry.

• System: Ars Magica
• Approximate length of two blocks. The first 4 weeks or so will likely be the characters lives as apprentices.
• Number of Players: 4-6
• Proposed by: Andrew Nicholson

Rebellion Rising!

Opening Crawl

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

The war is far from over however, as dreaded Imperial agents scour the galaxy, finding and killing Rebels and those who would help them.

Driven from their outpost by the pursuing Imperial forces, one group of Rebels are forced to fight for their lives...

Setting

Players will assume the role of Rebellion agents fleeing from the fearsome and evil Galactic Empire. Whether Human, Bothan, Twilek, Droid, or otherwise, this band of Rebels have come together with the hope of one day overthrowing the Empire and restoring peace to the galaxy.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire is a game balanced between skill and narrative, with a unique dice system that encourages thinking outside the box.

Game Details

• System: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire
• Number of Players: 3–5
• Proposed by: Anthony Edmonds

The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence

You've heard of a strange collection of islands to the west; a place where the face of God can be seen, where strange silver men shoot at the innocent with red beams of destructive light, where a large purple manta-ray floats overhead with thousands of mouths and tentacles, where - most importantly - untold riches await. Its a place so far removed from the civilisation you've come to appreciate, a place where its rumoured that there is no law or civility.

Whatever your interests in the island, you find yourself on a schooner with strangers from all walks of life, cutting through the ocean to your destiny.

There exists numerous plots running through the islands so the direction the campaign takes will be largely based on how the players respond. Its a sandbox hex-crawl so there should be no shortage of things to do, though the environment is quite deadly - stupid mistakes will result in short-lived characters. The expectation is for players to be able to fully throw themselves into the spirit of role playing but an understanding of the rules is not required (all will be explained through play).

A few additional house rules/tables will be in effect beyond the standard LotFP system.

WARNING: The content of this game is classified as "Mature". The style of the game is "Conan the barbarian sprinkled with sci-fi elements"; expect things like lots of bloody scenes, buxom maidens in distress that need saved, repulsive snake men, aliens, lots of tentacles, and purple evilness. It's in general a mish-mash of over-the-top gonzo science-fantasy action, as a hex-crawl in a sandbox setting.

WARNING WARNING: LotFP is quite a deadly game; characters that do stupid actions will die stupid deaths. Stupid actions in this example consist of things like not checking a room out for traps, insulting an NPC, or not saying "Forgive me oh Purple one" after sneezing. The progression of your character is linked to your acquisition of gold from dangerous places - the clever character gets the gold, the rash character gets the trap.

Game details

• System: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
• Number of Players: 3–5
• Proposed by: Oli Palmer

Escape from Innsmouth

By request I’m offering this classic Call of Cthulhu campaign. Set in Arkham, Massachusetts during the twenties. The adventure starts off with a kidnapping.

A century ago Innsmouth was a thriving community on the Massachusetts coast. Then a shadow fell over Innsmouth. There were whispered rumours of heathen religions and blasphemous pacts. Now Innsmouth lies rotting, its harbour choked with sand, the town itself nearly engulfed by salt marshes. Outsiders shun Innsmouth and its sullen, deformed inhabitants. But the secret is still there. Hiding. Festering. Growing. Waiting.

• System: Call of Cthulhu 7th edition
• Number of Players: 4+
• Proposed by: Matt Nott

The Glittering Trumpet of Kutaraja

So there I am, curled up in the crawlspace between the two private drinking rooms, trying not to breathe too loudly.

In the room on my right is Cut Nyak Dhien, conspiring with her nationalist friends on how to hijack the airships of the Achehnese fleet once the Dutch attack. In the room on my left, Suraphan Phisut, the Thai ambassador, is meeting with who-the-hell knows, detailing his plan to get into the royal treasury once the Dutch blockade turns back into an invasion force.

And of course it’s all I can do to keep General Koëler pinned and quiet. What is it about Dutch military men that they can’t hold their liquor? The man had no idea what kind of danger he was in.

Of course, neither did I...

Kutaraja, capital city of the Sultanate of Aceh, has lived under siege by Dutch invaders for five years. Something is about to break, and it's no coincidence the picaros have just arrived in town. The Court of Kutaraja features daring heists and bold thievery, the messy politics of monarchy and imperialism, and courageous hope in the face of certain doom.

Airships, steamworks, sorcery, skullduggery. Politics, crime, espionage, and the occasional good deed. Renegade Jennys and Boilerplate Jacks is a game of outcasts surviving in an unhinged, steam-powered world. Taking its cues from Firefly, Blake's 7, and Farscape, this roleplaying game invites you to play disreputable steampunk heroes in a world that's already tried once to throw them away.

The game may start in the Sultanate of Aceh, but expect it to also visit the ruins of Angkor Wat, the ancient city of Samarkand, the Princely State of Hyderabad, and, perhaps, the ruins of lost Atlantis itself.

The game is deliberately non-Eurocentric and non-colonialist. A lot of it covers the fun bits of the 19th century world that the Europeans either didn't pay much attention to, either because they didn't have much influence or what was there didn't fit with their worldview. (The irony of the game being written by one white Western man and run by another hasn't escaped me.) This is also a playtest of the rules, so there may be playtest credits for players in this game. The game is written by Josh Roby, whose credits include Smallville, Full Light, Full Steam, and Tribe 8.

Same page Description

• Who prepares the story? The GM preps a situation with NPCs and interesting hooks. PCs and NPCs just do what seems right at that moment. This might or might not lead to a good story.
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus occasional story bits when they spend a resource (such as whimsy cards or hero points) or make certain kinds of rolls, subject to GM's approval.
• The rules will be followed come what may (it's a playtest as well as hopefully a fun game).
• Player characters are expected to work together. Major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation.
• How brutal is the game? Whenever I miss a roll – and sometimes even when I make it – I want the situation to escalate.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival sometimes isn't as important as other choices.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.

Game details

• System: Renegade Jennys and Boilerplate Jacks
• Number of Players: 3–5
• Proposed by: Neil Smith

Block 1: 10th February to 31st March 2015

Skyrealms of Jorune : Children of the Steership

An Ars Magica game set in the Skyrealms of Jorune .

A tale of how apprentices become magi in an alien world.

Its tough coming to a new place when you're only 8 years old and the people looking after you are strangers. Its even tougher when your new home is a strange tower miles away from everything else and you have few people to talk to apart from your fellow classmates and the odd servant (and some of them are very odd).

There will be a day, your master promises, when you will inherit the tower and join the council that runs your little holding ; one day you will be a member of the Hermetic Order, a master magician. Yeah, right - like you really believe you'll be able to throw fire from your fingertips or fly from the top of the tower.

In the meantime you have to clean out the stables, deliver breakfast to that Thriddle merchant, make sure the beagre haven't been at the corn supplies again. Oh, and keep an eye out for the Crugar while you're up on the roof, I hear they've a new warlord who would just love to burn this entire place to the ground....

This game will probably be a bit of a slow burn ; the idea is to introduce the game system slowly over a number of weeks, so the players learn the system (and generate their characters) as their characters grow up to be magi and then take over their own settlement - and possibly expand it into a kingdom of their own. While there are various plots and subplots, there is also space for player driven agendas (and improvisation)later in the game once the characters are adults.

Its likely to suit those who like fantasy games,and would enjoy the ability to run their own settlement in a world where the creatures are different from your traditional fantasy fare.

However, be warned, it won't suit those who just want to hit things. While there will be adventure, combat, and intrigue, there is also a strategic world building element and lot of potential scope for building relationships with NPCs. Every decision has consequences... and a sword will often be the weakest part of your arsenal.

Also, due to the way we'll be generating characters over a course of several weeks, sadly I can only accept players if they can attend reasonably regularly. Sorry.

• System: Ars Magica
• Approximate length of two blocks. The first 4 weeks or so will likely be the characters lives as apprentices.
• Number of Players: 4-6
• Proposed by: Andrew Nicholson

Till Human Voices Wake Us

You were a sickly child. Most of your early memories involve your mother crying or visits to doctors with serious faces who spoke about you instead of to you. Then you were taken to St Hugh's Hospital in east London where there were other kids as sick as you. That was your first encounter with death. You were one of the ones who lived. Afterwards everything seemed brighter, sharper and more real, somehow. Life is full of magic.

You've been on a strange journey since those days of fear and pain, learning some of the weird truths that underlie the world. You can do things that defy sanity, secret things, bending reality to your will. There are always prices to pay, but isn't that always the case with power?

Now it's over twenty years since you left St Hugh's. You've seen a news report that the hospital is to be demolished, and something is compelling you to say goodbye. Why is it that the other children from your ward have felt the same pull? And can there really be an innocuous reason why they've all turned out as strangely as you?

The surface of the world is about to turn to quicksand. Chaos and existential horror await.

Game details

• System: Unknown Armies
• Number of Players: 3-5
• Proposed by: Scott Dorward

Bad Moon Rising

Classic retro call of cthulhu scenario. Cant say much about it without ruining the scenario but shall we say has a very unusual location.

Same page Description

• Who prepares the story? The GM :-)
• What can players contribute to the story/setting? Themselves and thier actions.
• The rules will be 7th edition call of cthulhu.
• Player characters are English and academic or adventurer types with mythos experience.
• How brutal is the game? Its call of cthulhu so insanity and death are common.
• Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival is running away.
• After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: dependant on how insane you are.

Game details

• System: COC 7th edtion
• Number of Players: 3-4
• Proposed by: Matt Nott