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Games played in 2021

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Block 5: 14 December 2021 – 8 February 2022

See you Space Cowboy

  • Influences - Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, Spaghetti Westerns, Space Truckers, Cyberpunk, Solo

The galaxy is a chaotic group of star systems, Corporations, Governments, Dictatorships and other factions compete for dominance and the law is rarely respected. Within this ecosystem, bounty hunters and mercenaries thrive in bringing down or bringing in whoever makes it onto the official or black market bounty boards.

YOU are one such group of go-getting intensely dangerous or stupid vagabonds, with your own semi-functioning starship and the death sentence in only a handful of systems. You operate barely inside the law and carry out missions of your choice.

As part of this game you will

  • Design your own highly skilled space hunter (or dysfunctional alien weirdo)
  • Cooperate to create a ship tailored to your characters specialties
  • Explore a strange galaxy of humans and aliens with a dangerous frontier attitude
  • Deal with or exacerbate the problems of folks you encounter.

Game details

Odyssey of the Dragonlords (continued)

Thylea is a foreign land, set across a great expanse of ocean.

Great Beasts wander her plains, and fey creatures haunt her woods. Centaur tribes war for control on the steppes, and reptilian savages battle across her islands.

Settlers have struggled to survive on this land at the beginning, forever having to choose between appeasing the cruel Twin Titans or fighting a losing battle against the land’s natives.

In time on Thylean shores arrived great champions of the old world, the Dragonlords! They heralded an upheaval and overthrew the Titans, and thus the Oath of Peace was forged. Then followed 500 years of peace.

The Oath of Peace is now coming undone and the Titans once again tightens their grip upon the mortals…

  • NOTE: The game will follow the pre-published modules with homebrew elements and stories mixed. Playable classes and races from other D&D publications welcome!

Game details

  • Continuing Game - Returning players have priority
  • Proposed by: Dev D
  • System: D&D 5e
  • Players: 4–6
  • Level: 5-6
  • In Person

Expedition to Undermountain (Continued)

"Day, night, I can no longer tell. Gargoyles carried off the wizard while we were roping our way down Belkram’s Fall. Evendur the paladin fell beneath the axe of a blood-maddened minotaur two rests later, then Ironhewer stumbled into a magical portal and vanished screaming. We dared not follow him. It is said that these halls hide treasure beyond imagining, but even if we found Halaster’s hoard in the next chamber, we are so hopelessly lost that I doubt I would live to spend a copper of it."

No one knows what lurks in the depths of the mad archmage’s halls... but you’re about to find out.

This adventure presents the vastest, deepest, most legendary dungeon of them all — Undermountain, the domain of the mad archmage Halaster. Below the streets of the city lie more than twenty levels and sublevels, some miles in extent. Ruined fortresses, secret shrines, subterranean rivers, forgotten crypts, and monsters of every description lurk in the darkness below.

Things you should know:

  • This is D&D 3.5. If you're used to 5E it will be a little different
  • It is designed to take characters from level 1-10, although there is scope for further levelling
  • Because of this it is likely to run over a number of blocks, but being D&D it will be easy enough for players to drop in or out.
  • I am limiting characters to base races/classes from the PHB, but we can go through that at character generation (you won't need the PHB, there are ample online resources)

Game details

  • Proposed by: Amy Hewitt
  • System: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5E
  • Players: 4-7. Returning players have priority
  • Online or in-person: in person

The Three (Thirsty) Musketeers

Anne, the Queen Consort of France, is in a desperate situation. Her wife, Queen Louise XIII, gifted Anne a priceless diamond necklace. Anne has given the necklace to her lover, the Duchess of Buckingham. And now Cardinal Richelieu has put it into Louise's head that Anne really should wear that necklace at the royal ball in a few days. If Anne isn't wearing it, the scandal of her affair will destroy her.

Anne has turned to you, her loyal (and thirsty) Musketeers, to retrieve the necklace and save her neck. How could you refuse your Queen?

One for all, and all for one!

  • NB: Alongside the swashbuckling, I'm expecting lots of love, romance, and affairs of the heart. Things will likely be consummated, but behind closed doors. I'm aiming for a "15" certificate game.

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 occasional story bits when they make certain kinds of rolls, subject to group approval. Other contributions welcomed throughout play
  • The rules (including agreed house 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. But, don't hurt my character without warning. Tell me what the consequences of failure could be and let me back out if I don't like it.
  • 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

Star Wars, the Galaxy is Yours (Continued)

Welcome to the Star Wars Universe! As a gang of thugs, explorers and agents you will do what you can in a wide-open world! You will have a quick opening adventure and then be left to the open universe! You will have a ship and your gear and lots of fun!

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? GM has a few hooks but mainly the characters
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus some plot hooks based on them.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: followed, come what may.
  • Player characters are: Expected to work together.
  • How brutal is the game? Not Very
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: Will help, but dont forget rule of cool!
  • After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: Likely going to end in your death or enslavement

Game details

Rattlesnake Pass: Edge of the Map

The lights in the saloon were burning low, but the old prospector kept nursing his drink. He was a withered old dwarf, with white flecking the ends of his bushy whiskers. His ten gallon hat was pulled low over his brow, throwing his eyes into shadow. Normally no one would have looked twice at the bedraggled old man, but he’d paid for his drink with a solid gold nugget. The clink it had made as he placed it on the bar had gotten the attention of every person in the parlour. “What did you find out there?” a young skytrader asked at last. “Up there, in the pass? Is there really gold in every river? Can a man make his fortune if he can brave the storm?” “Forget all that!” the old man spat. “I barely made it out alive, most of my crew weren’t so lucky!” “What happened?” the barman asked. The prospector grimaced, swilling his drink. It took a long time before he answered, and when he did, there was venom in his words. “The be gnolls in them there hills”

This is a steampunk D&D game with a western vibe. You are a band of hired guns, frontiersmen and soldiers of fortune. You have been hired to escort a wagon train full of prospectors and pioneers up into the wild lands beyond the Rattlesnake Pass. The expedition will be long and dangerous, taking many months of travel and needing careful planning. They say that you can make your fortune in the high cascades, but most find only death. Now you have 100 people in your charge, as well as all their wares and livestock. If you are to see them safely to their destination it will take all your courage, wit, grit and a quick draw to survive the perils of the trail. Perhaps you are brave explorers who have faced the pass before, down and out adventurers seeking your fortunes, or outlaws with nowhere else to run. Either way, adventure awaits you beyond the Rattlesnake Pass. The game will have a similar format to my Terra Incognita adventure from a couple of years back, albeit with a “wagon train” genre rather than a nautical one. The party have to manage resources, solve problems and keep their people alive. You will be taking charge of subordinates, and making decisions that will affect the lives of the NPCs in your charge. I expect the game to take a couple of blocks to play out. It is set in the same world and era as my other Steampunk D&D games, but is a new story.

Game details

  • GM: Alex Barrett
  • System: D&D 5e
  • Players 2-6
  • In Person

Block 4: 28 September 2021 - 16 November 2021

Odyssey of the Dragonlords (continued)

Thylea is a foreign land, set across a great expanse of ocean.

Great Beasts wander her plains, and fey creatures haunt her woods. Centaur tribes war for control on the steppes, and reptilian savages battle across her islands.

Settlers have struggled to survive on this land at the beginning, forever having to choose between appeasing the cruel Twin Titans or fighting a losing battle against the land’s natives.

In time on Thylean shores arrived great champions of the old world, the Dragonlords! They heralded an upheaval and overthrew the Titans, and thus the Oath of Peace was forged. Then followed 500 years of peace.

The Oath of Peace is now coming undone and the Titans once again tightens their grip upon the mortals…

Game details

  • Continuing Game - Returning players have priority
  • Proposed by: Dev D
  • System: D&D 5e
  • Players: 4–6
  • Level: 5
  • Online or in-person: Online
  • NOTE: The game will follow the pre-published modules with homebrew elements and stories mixed. Playable classes and races from other D&D publications welcome!

Expedition to Undermountain

"Day, night, I can no longer tell. Gargoyles carried off the wizard while we were roping our way down Belkram’s Fall. Evendur the paladin fell beneath the axe of a blood-maddened minotaur two rests later, then Ironhewer stumbled into a magical portal and vanished screaming. We dared not follow him. It is said that these halls hide treasure beyond imagining, but even if we found Halaster’s hoard in the next chamber, we are so hopelessly lost that I doubt I would live to spend a copper of it."

No one knows what lurks in the depths of the mad archmage’s halls... but you’re about to find out.

This adventure presents the vastest, deepest, most legendary dungeon of them all — Undermountain, the domain of the mad archmage Halaster. Below the streets of the city lie more than twenty levels and sublevels, some miles in extent. Ruined fortresses, secret shrines, subterranean rivers, forgotten crypts, and monsters of every description lurk in the darkness below.

Things you should know:

  • This is D&D 3.5. If you're used to 5E it will be a little different
  • It is designed to take characters from level 1-10, although there is scope for further levelling
  • Because of this it is likely to run over a number of blocks, but being D&D it will be easy enough for players to drop in or out
  • I am limiting characters to base races/classes from the PHB, but we can go through that at character generation (you won't need the PHB, there are ample online resources)

Game details

  • Proposed by: Amy Hewitt
  • System: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5E
  • Players: 4-6
  • Online or in-person: planning on trialling a 'hybrid' game, with up to two virtual players

Demon Hunters II : This Time It's Personnel

You are Demon Hunters, members of an ancient order tasked by Heaven with defending the world from the Forces of Evil™ and Darkness™. It's your job to track down the things that go bump in the night and then bump back with extreme prejudice. Amongst your weaponry is magic, guns, ninja skills, guns, mad science, movie trivia, guns, baking skills, ancient artifacts, guns, and - surprisingly often - obscenely large quantities of military grade high explosives. Oh, and guns.

You and your fellow hunters are a chapter of the ancient Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch, and you are Earth's last - OK, only - line of defence against the supernatural threat of Devils, Demons, Malevolent Fae, Ancient Warlocks, Werewolves, Vampires, Extra-dimensional non-Euclidean Entities, Boogeymen, Imps, and a whole bunch of other supernatural assholes.

Well, that's the theory. Actually, you are members of the rather low-ranking chapter Omega 3 (we've all heard the jokes, so stop it). Omega 3's last claim to fame was when they narrowly averted a plot to conquer the world using a herd of concrete cows, masterminded by an impressively evil and devious brownie called Colin. Since then, other missions have gone about as well.

Head Office are not impressed, and are muttering darkly about year-end reviews. They want to see change come about. New faces. New thoughts. New ways to file timesheets. New plans. New business models.

More importantly, almost certainly new and exciting ways to get blown up.

There is definitely a plot, if you squint hard enough. It's even possible it may make some degree of sense, although probably not too much.

Look, just shoot things, OK? Blow things up. Wear sunglasses and try to look cool as you save the world. Bust out a nifty new catchphrase, if you like. Whatever you do, though, definitely don't think about why such a bunch of screw-ups have been given a task that involves the fate of the world. That way leads madness.

Important Note: If the above hasn't given it away already, this game might not take itself too seriously. Be warned: There is no - repeat, no - spelling mistake in the title. Viewer discretion is advised.

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? The GM prepares the overall shape of the story, which the players will likely ignore and go off and blow up a major monument or something. The GM gives subtle hints to provide direction, and then quietly weeps as those directions are largely ignored.
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Pretty much anything they want as long as it's sufficiently awesome.
  • The rules will be: followed, pretty much, but the rule of cool is in effect.
  • Player characters are: expected to work together. You're the good guys, damn it!
  • How brutal is the game? Don't hurt my character without warning. Tell me what the consequences of failure could be and let me back out if I don't like it. But after all that don't blame me if somebody shoots you with a bazooka, you can't say you weren't warned.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: ... seriously? You're a Demon Hunter. If survival were your number one priority you'd never have signed up for this gig.
  • After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: Hooking up with the forces of Evil™? Are you being mind-controlled? Never fear! Your fellow Demon Hunters will do their utmost to save you. Or shoot you. Or possibly both.

Game details

Out of the Abyss

The world of the underdark is becoming even more twisted, demons are running through the dark tunnels, and the crystals are warping the minds of its citizens.

However, you are not concerned about this, you have all been taken hostage by the drow.

Take the opportunity to play one of 5th edition's best modules?

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? Pre-written adventure with some twists by the GM
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus control of some friendly NPCs!
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: followed, come what may.
  • Player characters are: Expected to work together.
  • How brutal is the game? Very Brutal, expect to have a scroll or 2 of raise dead.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: will be much better for the group.
  • After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: Likely going to end in your death or enslavement

Game details

  • Proposed by: Will Morris
  • System: DnD 5e
  • Players: 4–5
  • Online or in-person: in person

Cthulhu: Berlin, the Wicked City

What is it? Horror in the 1920s, tumultuous time of the Weimar Republic, taking scenarios from the source book and potentially some other ideas

Players: 3-5, online (Foundry VTT)

Timings - I'd propose a slightly earlier start and finish time 19:30 to 22:30, but this is to be agreed among the players.

System & experience: although the source book is for Call of Cthulhu, I'd like to try out the gumshoe system, so am looking at Trail of Cthulhu instead with a good focus on character interaction.

This being a Horror game, there will be adult topics including body horror, drugs, prostitution, crime including murder. This setting also features a society that is sexist and racist - although Berlin is a very open and tolerant place, not all the people there are. We can discuss lines in session 0, but as a starter, I would not expect player characters to hold extreme views.

The group should decide on the group concept / campaign framework, some ideas may be

  • Based around a social book and antiquities shop (book hounds)
  • Centred around a film studio
  • A group of "irregulars" supporting a detective
  • Private investigators
  • An organisation sworn to combat evil

Rules: Trail of Cthulhu / Gumshoe is light on rules, so I have a chance to remember them. I usually see rules a guidelines - story and the rule of cool take precedence. Dice rolling usually on foundry, but if you prefer physical dice, all you need is a d6.

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? The GM, based on the sourcebook and some other ideas.
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus story bits when they win narration rights in a conflict.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: mostly followed, as long as I remember them.
  • Player characters are: largely working together, but some "fringe" PCs may very well follow their own agendas.
  • How brutal is the game? Not brutal as such, but there is the brutal truth of the world and the horror elements.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: means little - you are likely to go mad at some point!
  • 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

  • Proposed by: Frank G
  • System: Trail of Cthulhu
  • Players: 3–5
  • Online or in-person: Online, Foundry

Block 3: 13 July 2021 – 31 August 2021

Odyssey of the Dragonlords (continued)

Thylea is a foreign land, set across a great expanse of ocean.

Great Beasts wander her plains, and fey creatures haunt her woods. Centaur tribes war for control on the steppes, and reptilian savages battle across her islands.

Settlers have struggled to survive on this land at the beginning, forever having to choose between appeasing the cruel Twin Titans or fighting a losing battle against the land’s natives.

In time on Thylean shores arrived great champions of the old world, the Dragonlords! They heralded an upheaval and overthrew the Titans, and thus the Oath of Peace was forged. Then followed 500 years of peace.

The Oath of Peace is now coming undone and the Titans once again tightens their grip upon the mortals…

Game details

  • Continuing Game - Returning players have priority
  • Proposed by: Dev D
  • System: D&D 5e
  • Players: 4–6
  • Level: 5
  • Online or in-person: Hybrid (online+in person simultaneously) trial for 2-3 weeks. Online for the rest.
  • NOTE: The game will follow the pre-published modules with homebrew elements and stories mixed. Playable classes and races from other D&D publications welcome!

Expedition to Undermountain

"Day, night, I can no longer tell. Gargoyles carried off the wizard while we were roping our way down Belkram’s Fall. Evendur the paladin fell beneath the axe of a blood-maddened minotaur two rests later, then Ironhewer stumbled into a magical portal and vanished screaming. We dared not follow him. It is said that these halls hide treasure beyond imagining, but even if we found Halaster’s hoard in the next chamber, we are so hopelessly lost that I doubt I would live to spend a copper of it."

No one knows what lurks in the depths of the mad archmage’s halls... but you’re about to find out.

This adventure presents the vastest, deepest, most legendary dungeon of them all — Undermountain, the domain of the mad archmage Halaster. Below the streets of the city lie more than twenty levels and sublevels, some miles in extent. Ruined fortresses, secret shrines, subterranean rivers, forgotten crypts, and monsters of every description lurk in the darkness below.

Things you should know:

  • This is D&D 3.5. If you're used to 5E it will be a little different
  • It is designed to take characters from level 1-10, although there is scope for further levelling
  • Because of this it is likely to run over a number of blocks, but being D&D it will be easy enough for players to drop in or out
  • I am limiting characters to base races/classes from the PHB, but we can go through that at character generation (you won't need the PHB, there are ample online resources)

Game details

  • Proposed by: Amy Hewitt
  • System: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5E
  • Players: 4-6
  • Online or in-person: planning on trialling a 'hybrid' game, with up to two virtual players

Salisbury ERT

The Endeavor Islands are a barely-settled region of the colonial water world of Poseidon. But there are some people there. The GEO colony town of Salisbury has a few hundred people, setting up a base of humanity on the new frontier. That's a base for a few intrepid Long John prospectors, a long way off the beaten track, looking for riches. A small group from HIST are a roving scientific survey team. There are a few Natives, Deep Blues, who rejected all forms of modernity generations ago during the Abandonment. And there are persistent rumours of things that go "splash" in the night; stories of strange goings-on with nereids.

And all these people get into trouble, far from anywhere. That's where you come in. You're members of the Salisbury Emergency Response Team (ERT), a combination of search-and-rescue team, paramedics, and flying doctors. When things go wrong, you're the ones people call on to help them out of their desperate situation. You've got a huge patch with people scatered all over. Being in the back end of nowhere, you're always the last to get spare parts and resupplies. And the nearest help is 20,000km away…

Blue Planet is a near-future hard-ish SF setting of colonising a tropical island waterworld. There are plenty of storygame elements in this edition. The game will be a combination of set-piece rescue events and some drama around what that does to the rescuers and how they relate to their friends and family. This is a playtest of the campaign frame that may see publication in some form.

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? The GM prepares some set-piece incidents to attend. The players prepare long-term issues for their characters. The two merge to produce a game of procedural drama
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus story bits when they win narration rights in a conflict.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: followed, come what may.
  • Player characters are: expected to work together. Major conflicts might erupt but you'll patch them up given some time.
  • How brutal is the game? Don't hurt my character without warning. Tell me what the consequences of failure could be and let me back out if I don't like it.
  • 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: probably not going to happen, as you won't have "enemies" per se.

Game details

Out of the Abyss

The world of the underdark is becoming even more twisted, demons are running through the dark tunnels, and the crystals are warping the minds of its citizens.

However, you are not concerned about this, you have all been taken hostage by the drow.

Take the opportunity to play one of 5th edition's best modules?

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? Pre-written adventure with some twists by the GM
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus control of some friendly NPCs!
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: followed, come what may.
  • Player characters are: Expected to work together.
  • How brutal is the game? Very Brutal, expect to have a scroll or 2 of raise dead.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: will be much better for the group.
  • After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is: Likely going to end in your death or enslavement

Game details

  • Proposed by: Will Morris
  • System: DnD 5e
  • Players: 4–5
  • Online or in-person: in person

Coriolis: Emissary Lost Part 2: The Kuan Connection (Continued)

Unrest has come to Coriolis. Mystics have been abducted and just before the Cyclade celebrations, the Emissary Nabi, hailed as incarnation of the Messenger Icon, disappeared.

Having built their reputation through their heroic actions of the Ghazali rescue, an Abjudicator contacts the heroes on the sly to help with the investigation as a party not embroiled in Coriolis' political factions. Through diligent and inventive research, they pick up the traces of a nefarious plot by the Order of the Pariah, who kidnap mystics and take them to a secret base in the Cellar of the station. After a long and hazardous descent, our heroes attack the base and manage to overwhelm the Zalosians, although their leader manages to escape. When the dust settles, what is left behind shows that the abducted mystics have been loaded onto drop pods and sent to Kua, the jungle planet beneath the station.

Now our heroes need to make their way into the verdant jungles of Kua to find the root of what is going on. Will they be able to rescue their friend Noor (one of the abducted) and the Emissary?

Five players max but returning players have priority

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? The GM, based on the "big" official campaign Emissary Lost. There is plenty of scope to influence the story as this part is less rail-roady than the first part.
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus story bits when they win narration rights in a conflict.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: mostly followed, as long as I remember them.
  • Player characters are: largely work together, but some "fringe" PCs may very well follow their own agendas.
  • How brutal is the game? Not brutal as such, but death or dismemberment may happen on both sides. So far, one character has lost an arm.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: means not rushing into conflicts without thinking.
  • 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

  • Proposed by: Frank G
  • System: Coriolis
  • Players: 4–5
  • Online or in-person: online

Block 2: 27 April 2021 - 15 June 2021

Odyssey of the Dragonlords (continued)

Thylea is a foreign land, set across a great expanse of ocean.

Great Beasts wander her plains, and fey creatures haunt her woods. Centaur tribes war for control on the steppes, and reptilian savages battle across her islands.

Settlers have struggled to survive on this land at the beginning, forever having to choose between appeasing the cruel Twin Titans or fighting a losing battle against the land’s natives.

In time on Thylean shores arrived great champions of the old world, the Dragonlords! They heralded an upheaval and overthrew the Titans, and thus the Oath of Peace was forged. Then followed 500 years of peace.

The Oath of Peace is now coming undone and the Titans once again tightens their grip upon the mortals…

Game details

  • Continuing Game - Returning players have priority
  • Proposed by: Dev D
  • System: D&D 5e
  • Players: 4–6
  • Level: 3-4
  • NOTE: The game will follow the pre-published modules with homebrew elements and stories mixed. Playable classes and races from other D&D publications welcome!

Box! Box! Box!

It's the 2022 Formula 1 racing season. You're all members of Panther Racing, a mid-field team. For you all, and for the team, this is your chance to succeed at the pinnacle of motor sport. As well as the racing, there's the glamour, big money, rivalries with other teams, and the unrelenting pressure to succeed at almost all costs. And the biggest rivals are the ones in the other half of the garage.

Characters could be drivers, engineers, the team principal, designers and support staff, investors and sponsors who demand to see a return, or the glamorous partners of any of the above. Characters could be the young, talented one, hungry for recognition and promotion to the front runners; or old, experienced types in the twilights of their careers.

  • How much Formula 1 knowledge do I need to play this game?
Engines go "Vroom vroom." Cars go "Neee-oowww!". There are things called "races." We'll make up the rest.
  • About Primetime Adventures
PTA is the game of creating the greatest TV show there never was. Characters have a central Issue and play revolves around the complications this brings up. Issues could be things like "Ambition," "Guilt," or "Doubt." The most important statistic is Screen presence, which varies across the series; every character will have a spotlight episode where they get to shine (or not).

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? The players prepare long-term Issues for their characters. The GM is expected to shape everything else around the exploration of those Issues.
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus story bits when they win narration rights in a conflict.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: followed, come what may.
  • Player characters are: pursuing their own agendas. They might work together, they might work against each other.
  • How brutal is the game? Don't hurt my character without warning. Tell me what the consequences of failure could be and let me back out if I don't like it.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: isn't even a concern or focus for this game. (But your future in F1? That's totally up for grabs.)
  • 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

Spaghetti Fantasy: For a Few Coppers More

Brancalonia-boss.png

Enter Brancalonia, a land full of pitfalls and money-making opportunities, in the most incredible and roguish Italian role-playing game you have ever participated in! Create your own band of Knaves, enlist in a free company, get yourself some well-paid jobs, deliver a fist-and-knife buffet to those who have it coming. Once you have collected a tidy sum and somewhat climbed the ranks of your company, you’ll be ready to try your luck in that final job that could enable you to go out in a blaze of glory…

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

It seems this great job is finally here! A dark shadow has raised itself over the land, and people expect you to sort it out. Everyone thinks your band of Knaves are the only ones who can secure the fate of the world. Dio Santo!

Fellowship is a player driven game with the GM taking over the role and lore for the Overlord, a diabolical menace on the level of Dio from JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, or Sauron from Lord of the Rings. The players are responsible for all things concerning their own race and define a great deal about both the setup and the journeys and conflicts throughout the game.

Additional Reading: Italian swear words and expletives.

Game details

Coriolis: Emissary Lost Part 2: The Kuan Connection

Unrest has come to Coriolis. Mystics have been abducted and just before the Cyclade celebrations, the Emissary Nabi, hailed as incarnation of the Messenger Icon, disappeared.

Having built their reputation through their heroic actions of the Ghazali rescue, an Abjudicator contacts the heroes on the sly to help with the investigation as a party not embroiled in Coriolis' political factions. Through diligent and inventive research, they pick up the traces of a nefarious plot by the Order of the Pariah, who kidnap mystics and take them to a secret base in the Cellar of the station. After a long and hazardous descent, our heroes attack the base and manage to overwhelm the Zalosians, although their leader manages to escape. When the dust settles, what is left behind shows that the abducted mystics have been loaded onto drop pods and sent to Kua, the jungle planet beneath the station.

Now our heroes need to make their way into the verdant jungles of Kua to find the root of what is going on. Will they be able to rescue their friend Noor (one of the abducted) and the Emissary?

  • Joining as a new Crew Member
We are at a "join" in the story, so it is possible to join the game in progress, probably as a mercenary or "consultant" added to the group by their sponsor, the Abjudicator.

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? The GM, based on the "big" official campaign Emissary Lost. There is plenty of scope to influence the story as this part is less rail-roady than the first part.
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Their character's thoughts, actions, and backstory, plus story bits when they win narration rights in a conflict.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: mostly followed, as long as I remember them.
  • Player characters are: largely work together, but some "fringe" PCs may very well follow their own agendas.
  • How brutal is the game? Not brutal as such, but death or dismemberment may happen on both sides. So far, one character has lost an arm.
  • Doing the smartest thing for your character's survival: means not rushing into conflicts without thinking.
  • 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.

Scorched Earth: Pirates of the Great Mist Sea

Welcome to a world where the sun never sets. To one side stand the shadowed lands, where the world is locked in ice and snow, and the frozen winds howl out of the perpetual darkness. To the other lies the charred desert of the Scorched Earth, a land of relentless heat, where rivers boil away to steam and nothing can long survive. They say that once upon a time the world was green, and the Moon chased the Sun across the sky. They say that in those far gone days, before the fall, Day was a time, and not a place.

You don’t know whether any of that is true, or whether the world has always been like this. The world you know is a post apocalyptic wasteland. Impoverished communities lie scattered along the few temperate valleys, barely eking out a living from the barren world. Most such communities owe fealty to the Empire, they pay ruinous tithes in soldiers and gold, in exchange for supplies from other lands. Those who do not serve the Empire have no recourse but to travel endlessly, in search of greener pastures they may never find. When times get tough, they starve.

Whether through choice or happenstance, you fall into the latter category. You are hardy scavengers, nomadic wanderers, or swords for hire, looking for your next job. You’ve occasionally seen the ships of the Empire, sailing up and down the feeble rivers that run from the shores of the Great Mist Sea, down to the Steamfalls where they boil. You’ve never seen a ship fall from the sky before though.

Now a ragged captain comes crashing into your encampment, looking for supplies to fix his vessel, and a daring crew of near-do-wells willing to chance everything on a very dangerous job; stealing a ship full of treasure headed for the Empire’s vaults…

The original Scorched Earth campaign began in 2014, and ran for three years on and off, over the course of a long block and five short blocks. I really should have pitched the last game as a long block, as we ran out of time, and then a few players left the club before we could pick up the story.

So… now it’s time for a new crew to pick up the mantle, and see if they can succeed where others failed and capture a fortune in gold. The clock is ticking though, as the previous game remains canon, so the Empire now knows that their ship is in danger due to your predecessor’s misadventures!

This should thus be a good jumping on point for new players who have never set foot on the Scorched Earth before. I can also work in characters from any of the phases of the 2014-2016 series if any of the folks who are still around from then fancy reprising their roles. The original game used pathfinder 1e, but we switched to 5e D&D for season 2. I am happy to use either for this game, so if you have a preference then let me know. The game will be for 7th level characters.

Game details

  • Proposed by: Alex Barrett
  • System: D&D
  • Players: 5 (returning player priority)

Block 1: 09 February - 30 March 2021

Oathbreakers

You play as an arcanist, one who breathes and harnesses magic. You are part of a secret magical community. You can see what the mundanes cannot: there are more worlds than this one. There is the world beyond, where beings of pure magic, familiars, and fae creatures dwell in between dimensions. There is the underworld, where demons, werewolves, and vampires stalk the night and mingle in night clubs.

But above all these worlds, is the world of magic. Your world. You and your fellow arcanists rewrite reality, perform your rituals, revel in your magic.



But then, there is the Conspiracy, a shadowy organization of arcanists who seek to manipulate, control, and bleed magic and those who use it. And you have angered them. You have been cast out, declared Oathbreakers, by those too foolish and prideful to see the Conspiracy for what it is.



No one will believe you. You only have each other. Together, you must gather enough clues to destroy the Conspiracy. You must break the Conspiracy before it will break you.

This is a narrative-heavy storygame take on something like Mage. Session Zero will be us collaboratively creating a setting and situation.

  • This will be a GM-ful game, where we all share the tasks traditionally performed by a GM. Ideal for people new to GMing, as the load will be shared among all of us.

The game is still in a beta version, so it's fully playable but not polished.

We might use the Session Zero toolkit to get started.

Same page description

  • Who prepares the story? Everyone's a GM. We work together to make interesting stories. The rules and the system coordinate it all.
  • What can players contribute to the story/setting? Whatever they want, subject to the group's approval, which should adhere to our shared, agreed aesthetic.
  • The rules (including agreed house rules) will be: followed, come what may.
  • Player characters are: pursuing their own agendas. They might work together, they might work against each other.
  • How brutal is the game? Don't hurt my character without warning. Tell me what the consequences of failure could be and let me back out if I don't like it.
  • 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 perfectly valid choice and no big deal.

Game details

  • Proposed by: Neil Smith
  • System: The Oathbreakers, based on the Belonging Outside Belonging system
  • Players: 3–6 (adult themes likely)

Odyssey of the Dragonlords (continued)

Thylea is a foreign land, set across a great expanse of ocean.

Great Beasts wander her plains, and fey creatures haunt her woods. Centaur tribes war for control on the steppes, and reptilian savages battle across her islands.

Settlers have struggled to survive on this land at the beginning, forever having to choose between appeasing the cruel Twin Titans or fighting a losing battle against the land’s natives.

In time on Thylean shores arrived great champions of the old world, the Dragonlords! They heralded an upheaval and overthrew the Titans, and thus the Oath of Peace was forged. Then followed 500 years of peace.

The Oath of Peace is now coming undone and the Titans once again tightens their grip upon the mortals…

Game details

  • Continuing Game - Returning players have priority
  • Proposed by: Dev D
  • System: D&D 5e
  • Players: 4–6
  • Level: 2-3
  • NOTE: The game will follow the pre-published modules with homebrew elements and stories mixed. Playable classes and races from other D&D publications welcome!

STAR TREK : These are the Voyages ...

The Shackleton Expanse is a large region in the Beta Quadrant, beyond Federation space and proximate to the borders of Klingon and Romulan space. Named after the the 20th century arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, the expanse is home to substantial gravitational eddies, bizarre spacial anomalies, and other stellar phenomena. The expanse is a dangerous and largely unexplored place.

The year is 2371, shortly before the war with the Dominion. The players are the senior crew of the Starship Excalibur. Newly assigned to Narendra Station, a joint Klingon/Starfleet starbase on the edge of the Shackleton Expanse, the Excalibur is enroute to its new assignment when it receives a priority message from Starfleet Command ...

The USS Alcubierre, a small science vessel testing a new experimental faster-than-light drive, has missed its last few scheduled check-ins with Starfleet and is assumed to be in distress. The Excalibur, as the nearest ship in the sector, has been tasked with search and rescue. Can the Excalibur determine what happened to the Alcubierre and its crew?

Unbeknownst to the crew, the disappearance of the Alcubierre leads to the discovery of a major threat to the United Federation of Planets from an unexpected direction. Can our heroes thwart the plans of a classic Star Trek villain?

Game details

  • Proposed by: Martin Goodson
  • System: Star Trek Adventures
  • Players: 4–6

Twilight 2000

The command and supply chains broke down back in ‘98, when the US and Soviet naval forces obliterated each other on the high seas of the North Atlantic and the air resupply collapsed. After that, our forces over here in Europe were stranded. Living off the land. Falling apart. The order was to link up with other US forces under III Corps and push our way to Warsaw, or what’s left of it. We weren’t told why. Some said it was a last hurrah, a final try to save the world as we knew it. We didn’t care. We just knew it was a Hail Mary, a desperate gamble in the most desperate of times. It was no surprise that it went to hell. The Final words from division HQ, before they signed off for good, left little doubt. “You’re on your own now.” Find your way home, or stay and do what you can for other survivors, take on soviet stragglers, bandits and hunger, scavenge your way home

Game details

  • Proposed by: Will M
  • System: Twilight 2000 3e (Alpha)
  • Players: 3-5
  • NOTE: Playtest rules, not for the fainthearted.
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