Author: bringerofpeace

  • Monsterhearts Episode One

    I’m MCing Monsterhearts 2 for my gaming group right now, so figured I might as well post the updates to this blog. Here’s the first one!

    Characters: 

    Nix, the Hollow, a magical construct possibly created by a government agency

    Tien, the Ghost of a teenage boy who died when forgotten in the cold by his friends, many of the current students of Seattle High

    Morrigan, the Ghoul, died in a car wreck with a friend, but was resurrected, possibly by a secret government experiment 

    Homeroom is abuzz with gossip when the police arrive to question Ms. Waterkin about the disappearance of Jamie Tyler, a student at Seattle High. The other major subject of discussion is tonight’s party at Sandy’s house, the rich and popular girl who lives in Blue Ridge; “everyone who’s anyone” will be there, which excludes our main characters who were not invited. 

    During gym and lunch, we discover that Lucas (NPC) is into Nix, who is dramatically uninterested in him. Tien has a crush on Odessa, who unfortunately is hanging around Harvey, the mean jock. Tien gets intimidated by Harvey, but is able to shut him down and embarrass him in turn. Meanwhile Lucas invites Nix to Sandy’s party, who accepts, but then plans to bring Morrigan along. Tien approaches Odessa about the party, but discovers she doesn’t really want to go – she’s worried about Jamie, and wants to help look for her. Based on a clue that Jamie was last seen headed to Discovery Park, they decide to go there to search.

    Nix and Morrigan ambush Lucas and he reluctantly drives them both to the party. Sandy is perturbed to see Morrigan, who she deliberately said wasn’t welcome, but she doesn’t stop them from entering. The party is in full force with loud music, flashing lights, kegs and people doing kegstands, dancing, and teenagers diving into the outdoor pool. Nix notices that a small crowd has gathered around an exotic and beautiful dark-haired girl, who Lucas calls Lyra. She senses there’s something different about Lyra, and Lucas takes Nix through the crowd to meet her, with Morrigan pushing along behind. Very quickly Nix concludes that Lyra is a vampire, and so does Morrigan. When her eyes fall on Nix, Lyra’s eyes widen. She dismisses her hangers-on and drags Nix into an empty bedroom, where she questions her closely. Nix doesn’t reveal much, but gets the impression Lyra knows she’s not human, and is concerned she might be a construct made by one of her enemies. Lyra tries to seductively bite Nix on the neck, but Nix flings her off. The vampire smiles, then quickly vanishes. In the meantime, Morrigan tries to goad people into dangerous stunts, like jumping off the roof into the pool. She winds up on the roof of the house with Nix.

    At night in Discovery Park, Odessa and Tien search for a hidden grove that Jamie used to go to with some weird friends of hers. They find the grove, but hear a twig snap nearby, and a red light dances around the clearing. Tien tells Odessa to stay quiet and not move, then moves towards the red light. It turns out to be Harvey, who is also out looking for Jamie. Tien and Harvey have words, then Tien calls out for Odessa that it’s safe to come out – but she doesn’t reply.

    Meanwhile, Nix refuses Morrigan’s temptation to jump off the roof, and climbs back onto the third floor through a window. She’s alarmed to see an apparently stoned and distraught teenage boy inside, who says, “I don’t want to do it… I don’t!” Nix asks him what’s wrong, and he says, “I don’t want to kill you!” as he draws a gun and levels it at her. She tries to persuade him to drop the gun, but he just starts crying, and pulls the hammer back. Morrigan hears this and bursts into the hallway, and rushes the boy, grabbing for the gun. She misjudges and the gun goes off, hitting her in the shoulder. In the ensuing struggle, the boy loses the gun but slashes Morrigan with a knife, who falls down a flight of stairs. He turns to attack Nix, sobbing about how he’s sorry but he has to kill her.

    Back in the park, Tien is horrified to see Odessa up high at the furthest reaches of a tall Douglas Fir, in the cold embrace of Lyra. He flies up to meet them and pleads with the vampire to let Odessa go. Stroking Odessa’s hair lovingly, Lyra says she’s pleased to meet Tien, and offers to make an alliance with him. In return for Tien’s help against her enemies, she promises to give him what he’s wanted for so long – vengeance against all those friends who left him to die in the cold. She will even release Odessa to him, unharmed. The vampire asks for a sign of his sincerity – subdue Harvey, who is still cluelessly wandering around the grove, and bring him to her.

    At the party, Nix jumps out the window and climbs down a drainpipe to the ground. Knife-wielding boy pushes his way through the gyrating bodies on the first floor with little notice, except for some snickers from a couple of stoners. Outside, he finds Nix and attacks her, crying about how “she” is making him attack. Nix falls to the ground as they grapple, and is cut in the arm; sand spills out of it. Morrigan, badly wounded but still functional, stumbles towards them.

    Meanwhile at Discovery, Tien subdues Harvey, and flies with his body towards Lyra and Odessa. Lyra smiles in triumph when she sees him, but Tien flings Harvey at her with all his strength. She cries out and is stunned by the blow: she manages to hold on to Odessa, but no longer has her in a tight embrace. Harvey’s unconscious body bounces off her and falls through the trees, breaking multiple branches on the way down to the hard ground.

    To be continued…

  • And Now For Something Completely Different

    There were some cool ideas flowing on the Story Games forum, so I stole one of them and came up with this: A Truly Silly Dungeon Crawl. Just for the pure fun of it. Let me know what you think of it, and if you actually play it let me know how it goes.

    It’s copyleft attribution non-commercial share-alike, which basically means you can copy it, distribute it, and change it how you like, but don’t sell it.

  • My Entry for Game Chef 2015

    Well, here it is: https://drive.google.com/open?id=15IgHOU4i958Q0xailWjzu2-fMHIFwHIOvtt2M7od408

    If I did it right that should be a Google Doc that anyone can open, read, and add comments to if they wish.

    It turns out that I had a very busy week so only really had a day and a half to work on it.  I think that I was able to put together a playable game though, one I’d actually like to try out in real life.  I couldn’t make it fancy-looking with art and graphics, but such is life.

    The theme this year was A Different Audience, and the ingredients included Dragonfly, Abandoned, Stillness, and Dream.  I interpreted the theme metaphorically and made it part of the setting; the ingredients I chose were Stillness, Abandoned, and Dragonfly.  The Dragonfly became a ship sailing on the seas of a fantasy world, where the characters aboard are on a quest for inner peace (Stillness) and risk being Abandoned by the gods.

    It’s designed for a one-shot session, where by the end of it the final fates of the characters will be discovered.  I hope you enjoy reading it, and please leave me feedback on the game below.

  • Edited Cry of the Wilders Post

    I put a shorter version of the audio drama up and explained a bit more of what I was aiming for with the game.  If anyone tries the game or just has any impression or feedback, let me know!  I’d love to hear from you

  • Cry of the Wilders: My Game for Game Chef 2014

    The theme for 2014 was “There is No Book”, so I used the opportunity to explore the use of audio to explain a game. I wanted to emulate what happens in actual face-to-face sessions – usually only one person has read the game’s book, and then they teach it to the other players. So why not skip the book entirely and get to that core stuff?  That’s what my humble attempt here was about.

    The game comes in three files, one audio drama that presents the game’s setting, one play sheet with a summary of the rules, and another audio file of me explaining the rules to some friends.  Here are the links:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Pwq-FbdThtYWFCeTJ0U0ZoRW8/view?usp=sharing – this is a shorter version of the audio drama that introduces the setting of the game.  Yes, it’s a bit choppy and amateurish, but it was all a labor of love done under a short time constraint; it gets the job done, I hope.  Everyone who acted in it volunteered and gave generously of their time, my deep gratitude to them.

    (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Pwq-FbdThtNUM4Q3phM0ZBWWs/edit?usp=sharing – this is the longer audio intro; skip it, it’s a bit too long)

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Pwq-FbdThtRlU4MzkwdzBRRHc/edit?usp=sharing – two-sided play sheet with a summary of the rules

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Pwq-FbdThtek9meDNMQ1NFQms/view?usp=sharing – audio explanation of the rules with Q&A from my play group. Listen to this while looking at the play summary sheet, above.

    The audio files are mp3s, the play sheet is a Word document.  Let me know your impressions – do you like the setting? Does the game system seem like something you’d like to try? I’d love to hear whatever you’d like to share!

  • Game Chef 2013

    I’ve submitted a game, called Finding Haven, here, for Game Chef 2013.  It’s a sci-fi role-playing game inspired by stories like Logan’s Run and alien invasions like V combined.  I’m grateful for any feedback you have, please leave a comment here or on Praxis.  Thanks!