Proposed short-block games

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This page is for games that are on offer for the next short block. The Proposed Long Block games are on a separate page. If ideas in here sound interesting to you, please contact the GM in question.

These are the proposed short block games for Block 4: 26 November 2024 – 10 December 2024. Because many short-block games are organised ad hoc on the night, this is necessarily incomplete.

Week 1

(Including pitches for the next long block.)

The Rune Thief (Continued from previous short block)

Something terrible is about to subvert the order of things in Midgardr, threatening the true foundations of reality and knowledge.

Dare you face the Rune Thief?

Week 1: The Eye and the Wolf

Something terrible is about to subvert the order of things in Midgardr, threatening the true foundations of reality and knowledge. Dare you face the Rune Thief?

We pick up in the village of Varmfors, where the party has travelled to in order to seek out the High Priest of the Clan of the Icy Crows, who maybe able to help them with their plight. Yet upon arrival, the party members are caught in a hostile face off between two rival clans, 'Wolves of The Shadow' and 'Odhinn's Eye'. If they are not able to get the clans to resolve the hostilities, blood shall flow like rivers in spring...

Christmas Crime

MatronsOfMysteryCover.png

It's the most wonderful time of the year in your village. Fairy lights sparkle, carollers are singing, and every house smells of mince pies. But this vision is about to be shattered like a dropped bauble when the villagers find out there's a murderer in their midst.

The local police are way out of their depth, but fortunately the village has something even better: old ladies with time on their hands and a keen eye for solving crimes.

Play as a senior sleuth, solving crimes while enjoying your hobby and helping young people with their love life in three mysteries. Week 1: Oh No They Didn't

Matrons of Mystery is a cosy mystery RPG based on TV shows like Miss Marple, Midsomer Murders, and Rosemary and Thyme. It uses the Carved from Brindlewood mystery system where's no set answer to the mystery. Instead, the player characters investigate to find clues and secrets and use them to come up with a theory about whodunnit; the more clues they incorporate, the higher the chance they've solved the case.

Beginners D&D: A Tale of Two Cities!

What better way to break into D&D than with a group of fellow beginners.

Welcome to Baldur's Gate, a veritable nest of rats and vipers clinging to the rocky slopes overlooking the Chionthar River. Following the river farther east would eventually lead you to Elturel, capital of the holy land of Elturgard-or at least that was the case until a few days ago. The flood of refugees from Elturel has gotten worse since news first arrived that the city has fallen. Everyone is saying Baldur's Gate is next, but no one truly knows. A mercenary army called the Flaming Fist has been hired by the Patriars to protect their interests in Baldur's Gate, and by extension, the city itself. The Flaming Fist has gained even more power since their charismatic leader, Ulder Ravengard, claimed the title of Grand Duke a few years ago, but now Ravengard is missing. In his absence, the Flaming Fist has sealed the city's gates to staunch the flow of refugees. No one is allowed in or out, or almost no-one. A patrol of flaming fist guards conscripts anyone that looks capable with a weapon and drafting them to help defend the city. Your small group is has been selected, each of you handed a contract that you are told will grant you entry to the city and lodgings in the Flaming Fist barracks. Your orders are to speak to Captain Zodge at the Basilisk Gate. As you arrive you see Flaming Fist soldiers trying to control an angry mob of commoners eager to leave the city. Armed with only a vague description of Captain Zodge (a tall man with long black hair and a leather eye patch) you watch as fight breaks out between soldiers and commoners. Just another day in the City of Blood.

Week 1: This week will focus on character generation.
Week 2: The aim will be to complete an encounter.
Week 3: The adventure continues!

  • GM : Adrian
  • Game : D&D 5E
  • Level : 1
  • TL;DR : Entry Level D&D set in Baldur's Gate
  • Players : 5
  • Weeks : 1-3

The Alchemist’s Lantern and other Stories Season 2

Your rickety wagon trundles along a dirt road, through a forest as old as time itself. Gnarled branches, thick with autumn leaves, reach out for you like grasping hands within the ever-swirling mist. Up ahead light shines out from grimy windows beneath a creaking tavern sign. But the voices coming from the inn are subdued tonight. The Ghost has been seen again…

It is the year 1674 and the world is undergoing a magical industrial revolution. New clockwork technologies are spreading across the land, while magically powered cloudships fill the skies, and the cogs of industry turn ever onwards. In this age of enlightenment, magic is becoming a science, codified and quantified by a host of arcane artificers…

But there is more in heaven and earth than is dreamed of in their philosophies… You are travelling folklorists, peripatetic chroniclers, who wander from one small backwater to the next, trying to record the superstitions and practices of an age that is falling into myth… You know what lurks within the shadows: ghosts and demons, spirits and faeries, Dark curses, blood-stained histories, and the echoes of long forgotten pacts.

You know all too well that the old powers which the Church denies are just as dangerous as they ever were. They flourish amidst the disbelief of this less credulous age, for there are few now with the tools to face them…

This game will by and investigative game of gothic horror set in a fantasy world with an Eastern European aesthetic. It will draw inspiration from Slavic and Germanic folklore, casting the PCs in a role similar to that of the Brothers Grimm. This game might play out over a couple of consecutive short blocks. I have ideas for three or four mysteries and there is plenty of potential for more, but I don’t know whether each will be an evening, or two, or an entire block. Each little ghost story will be fairly stand alone, so players can drop in an out as the desire takes them.

There is a slight content warning for this one. Expect horror and mystery, harrowing ghost stories, grim fairy tales, and the shadows of transgressions both old and new… Ghosts arise from bloody events, so we won’t shy away from issues like murder, persecution, social injustice etc. I’ll provide some basic pre-gens which can be customised to suit the players.

I will be away for the last week of the short block, so this will be a two week game, but that worked quite well for season one, so should be good.

  • Proposed by: Alex Barrett
  • System: RP heavy, combat light D&D
  • Players: 2-6
  • Duration: 2 weeks
  • Location: In Person

Adventures in Eorzea

All races & classes are fanmade homebrew, we will not be using any of the published source material. This game isn't recommended for newcomers to Dungeons and Dragons, but is recommended for those willing to try something different and in the universe of the Final Fantasy XIV online game.

Starting at level 3 with pregens provided, or if you feel like making a custom character with the homebrew PDF you can.

You can probably expect some classic final fantasy archetypes, some voidsent (demons), and maybe a dragon or two.

You can check the homebrew PDF here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-O-yPNr4V4rHgpyJaKzM

  • Proposed by: Nikki A
  • System: 5e D&D Homebrew
  • Players: 3-6
  • Duration: 3 weeks
  • Location: In Person

Blood & Water

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

This is a storygame about supernatural housemates getting on with their unlives and walking the tightrope between the mortal life they can't let go of and the supernatural one they dare not embrace; it takes inspiration from the TV series Being Human and What We Do In The Shadows. A simple dice mechanic enforces your reliance on your housemates to help you out, but also makes you vulnerable to their screw-ups. Create your own monstrous mythologies and explore what they mean in the modern world.

  • Proposed by: James M.
  • System: Blood & Water
  • Players: 3 or 4
  • Duration: 3 weeks
  • Location: In Person
  • Content: Kitchen Sink Drama, Supernatural Horror, Dark Comedy

Players create the story through play, without a scenario, so it is important to be comfortable with improv storytelling

New GM workshop

A workshop / discussion for anyone who wants help proposing or running a game at the club. The focus will be to get you offering then running a game in the next long or short block.

We could go over rules, structures, techniques, soft skills, whatever you're interested in.

  • Proposed by: Neil Smith
  • Participants: 1–10?
  • Duration: 1–3 weeks, as required
  • Location: In Person

The Curse of Skeletal Point

Coral Town. A wretched hive of scum and villainy (but then, where isn't in the Dark Carribean?) located within the islet of Black Coral Bay. The crew of your ship have been marooned on this cursed island, where the dead rise again at moonlight (killing your dinner a second time at the meal is a common occurrence at the local pub.) The castle at Skeleton Point is a major no-go, but it's where the Governor's daughter has absconded herself, and the governor is paying a pretty shilling to get her back home safe and sound, enough to get your own ship. Will our crew of Pyrates, Low-lives, Troubled Souls, Aquatic Mutants and possible Sapient Animals (don't ask) and such be able to get their own ship? Or are they damned to be stuck on this cursed isle, consumed by the hot jungles, the undead and the mystery of the castle? We'll play to find out.

  • Proposed by: Alex Crossley
  • System: Pirate Borg.
  • Players: 4-6.
  • Duration: 1-3 weeks expected, but it can extend into another short block as desired by the players.
  • Content: Piracy, dungeon crawling, historical, supernatural horror.
  • Content Warning: Contains the unquiet dead; slavery present in the setting backstory, no "on-screen" sexual content by default; lots of ways to die or face a fate worse than death. (edit) - also, you're PIRATES - evil PCs allowed (but not team-killers unless the players agree to it)!
  • Safety Tools: X-card, lines and veils (we'll do this at character generation), debrief.
  • Note: Pirate Borg is a lethal system - don't get attached to your characters. Also takes 30 minutes to roll a character, and all the information is on the character sheet to do so. (edited)
  • Location: In person.

Week 2

The Rune Thief (Continued from week 1)

Week 2: With Bared Claws

Christmas Crime

Continuing from Week 1.

Week 2: Bake or Death

Beginners D&D: A Tale of Two Cities!

Continuing from Week 1.

The Alchemist’s Lantern and other Stories

Continuing from Week 1.

Adventures in Eorzea

Continuing from Week 1.

Blood & Water

Continuing from Week 1.

The Curse of Skeletal Point

Continuing from Week 1.

Week 3

The Rune Thief (Continued from week 2)

Week 3: Sails in Flames

Christmas Crime

Continuing from Week 2.

Week 3: Slay Ride

Beginners D&D: A Tale of Two Cities!

Continuing from Week 2.

The Alchemist’s Lantern and other Stories

Continuing from Week 2.

Adventures in Eorzea

Continuing from Week 2.

Blood & Water

Continuing from Week 2.

The Curse of Skeletal Point

Continuing from Week 1.

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