Written by J Walton.
Partly inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s fantasy novel, The Tombs of Atuan (1971), this is a live-action game for 6-10 players, exploring sporadic events in the lives of a group of priestesses charged with serving dead spirits—spirits that are nameless, ancient, and often hostile.
The players will take turns portraying either the priestesses or the Nameless Dead in a series of scenes that are chronological but not clearly located in time. Moments, days, months, or years may pass between scenes. There is also no fixed ending to the game, so things continue in a cyclical pattern—even including characters dying or leaving the sisterhood and new characters being inducted as members—unless the characters themselves decide to break that pattern.
This is a ready to play game, and characters will be selected during the game. Recommended costume is "something black", and a black shawl or formless robe would be ideal (bring extras if you can). Markers for the dead will be provided.
A stack of one hundred greasy street-worn bills, American, takes up 6.89 cubic inches, or 112 milliliters. A paper bag, like the one you get your groceries packed in or like the one you are looking at right now, holds 1,428 cubic inches, or just north of 23 liters. That’s 207.25 stacks of cash if you filled it with mathematical perfection, which its previous owner clearly did not, but close enough. And if each stack was composed of 100 twenty dollar bills, the contents of the bag you are touching with such tender longing would be worth four hundred thousand of somebody else’s dollars, give or take. But there are some stacks of hundreds mixed in, and the bag you are holding lovingly in your arms isn’t full-full, so it all evens out at half a million dollars like somebody planned it.
Because somebody did. And chances are they are going to miss their grocery bag as much as you love it.
We will be playing this Fiasco Playset (by Jason Morningstar), adapted into a LARP format: a series of lovingly improvised scenes about people with lots of ambition and no impulse control in a high pressure situation. What could go wrong?
Written by Betsy Isaacson
Three mysterious travelers, all hailing from Victorian London, run into one another at a place of great power and mystery -- the famed Cave of Elixir. Within the cave there are six potions, which could perhaps grant their deepest desires, and they all seem heedless of any price they might have to pay.
Alexander Clay doesn't age and doesn't die -- he's as beautiful now as he was at twenty-five. This wicked immortal has spent heartless decades seducing and discarding a string of innocent lovers. What could he possibly want with a cave of potions and wishes? He already has eternal life at his fingertips, so what could be worth risking madness and destruction?
Vesper Von Eternity lives a life of danger and adventure on the edges of the empire. She's stared down tigers, tamed snakes, studied with mystics and riddled with rajahs. In more "civilized" climes, the public thrills to reprinted accounts of her exploits. But some tragedies can't be averted with fame or guts or brains, so Vesper is determined to claim the magic she needs before it's too late.
Edgar Eakins might have been celebrated for his genius in a more tolerant age, but his obsessions and eccentricities have left him on the outskirts of London society. This shabby, sunken, despised man is rumored to have wrought hellish wonders in his taboo scientific experiments. His true goals, however, remain unknown...
It is no coincidence that these three have come across one another. Now they must parley, and palaver, and gamble their fortunes, and risk their very lives -- and drink.
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Note Drink Me is only 1-hour long
Trigger warnings: Suicide; Sexuality
In the county of Mornshire recent taxes and grain shipments have not been coming from one out lying village, the merchants have been complaining and the local noble is displeased. There are rumors of people disappearing across the county, though there have been no witnesses to anything untoward. The last missive from a tax collector said the villagers claimed they were short due to the disappearances. The tax collector, had noted some peasants are getting overly superstitious as such tales spread. As this kind of behaviour can not be left to fester, the noble has tasked a small band of ‘overseers’ to set the village straight.
You know nothing about farming but you’ve seen a few things in your time, which you guess qualifies you to ‘oversee’ people and you do enjoy the idea of having a bit of power.
The High Uttvelt is a natural labyrinth of impossibly high cliff walls, cut with deep gullies. Long ago, a thriving monastery stood on its edge, guarding a sacred healing spring and sending groups of monks west to pay for fine goods with silver. But decades ago the monks stopped coming, and the area was overrun with Drakes. But maybe some of their silver is still there...
This is a Dungeon World starter, based on on one of the adventure starters in the Trilemma Adventures book.
This is a demo, so we’re going to move quickly through the first act of the adventure. Like any RPG, we’d normally play through a lot of this stuff, giving the players a chance to take action, explore, ask questions, and discover much of this information through play instead of exposition. But today we’re going to zip through it to get to the heart of the adventure.
You live in the Ninth World. Legend has it that there have been eight previous worlds, each of which built great civilizations that flourished for millennia, spoke to the stars, reengineered the earth, creatures, and themselves, and mastered form and essence. Some people call that magic, but the wise know that these were technologies of the ancients.
The Ninth World struggles through a dark age, even as you are surrounded by the ruined splendor of the prior worlds. These remains often contain wondrous discoveries for those brave enough to face their many dangers. The purposes of the ancients’ leftovers are inscrutable and their effects often downright weird, but they can be a boon to people and societies toiling through this age of ignorance.
You and your friends learned of an ancient treasure called the Kingdom Chalice, rumored to cure the ill, grant knowledge and wisdom, and bestow heroic powers on its holder. Perhaps you seek it to bring enlightenment to your home cities, to pursue greater knowledge, or to access the riches or power such an item would surely bring. The Kingdom Chalice rests in an ancient city reached via a landmark called the Mouth of the Sky. But in days of searching you found no mouth, no city, and no chalice.
You stopped in an isolated village to rest and resupply. While supping with the village elders, an aging farmer appeared with a message of despair. “The earth bleeds,” she explained. “Where this dark blood seeps from the ground, my crops wilt and my animals lie ill.”
You followed as the elders investigated, and after some hours of tramping the partially wooded landscape, discovered that this dark fluid isn’t seeping from the earth—it’s raining, in a rarefied mist, from the area of a strange portal. There, a literal hole appears in the air, about 40 feet or so up, with several strange objects hovering below it. Through the hole, looking in from below, the sky seems different, and vague structures loom overhead!
This is a demo, so we’re going to move quickly through the first act of the adventure. Like any RPG, we’d normally play through a lot of early stuff, giving the players a chance to take action, explore, ask questions, and discover much of this information through play instead of exposition. But today we’re going to zip through it to get to the heart of the adventure.
We’re basing this demo in part on our Predation campaign setting. We publish several settings for the Cypher System, but you can also use it to run almost any campaign you can imagine, from gothic horror to superheroes to sci-fi to conventional fantasy.
In Predation, you live in the late Cretaceous period. For decades, an organization called SATI sent “commuters” from the future back to the Creatceous for purposes of research and exploration. The commuters built labs, research centers, and even small towns, and travelled back and forth between their time and this time. But then, for unknown reasons, the time travel suddenly stopped working.
That was decades ago—before you were born. Grevakc—a world of technology and dinosaurs — is the only world you’ve known. There are tens of thousands of people living in the Cretaceous, but it’s mostly a dangerous wilderness.
You and your friends were hired to help a river merchant who runs between isolated jungle settlements. Deep into uncharted territory, you picked up a weak radio signal and recognized it as the beacon for a SATI time drop.
Have the SATI labs in the future somehow “fixed” time travel? Or has this drop been lost in the jungle for decades? Either way, it’s almost certainly a fortune in valuables, so you’ve disembarked and set out to discover it!
It's the end of the school year at Wannabe School, the starting place of all truly great adventurers in Isen. Which means it's time to showcase everything you've learnt this year in the school's Grand Tournament! Sign up for as many competitions, duels and challenges as you like, there's something for everyone. The giant Golden Trophy with it's gleaming ruby shining brightly at the top of it, has been placed on the trophy table and it towers over the smaller awards. Everyone wants to be crowned Tournament Champion. Everyone wants to take that trophy home. Will it be you? Play to find out!
Set in the homebrewed World of Isen, created by Brad Zimmerman. Session DM’d by Julz Burgisser who plays Marley Kraff in the D&D 5e actual play podcast ‘Fate of Isen’ available for download on iTunes, Spotify and all good podcasting apps. See www.fateofisen.com for more details on Isen.
‘The Grand Wannabe Adventurer School Tournament’ is a homebrewed one shot adventure created by Julz to teach people how to play and use their characters skills, while playing in a learning supportive environment, based in The World of Isen created by Brad Zimmerman. The one shot is played over 3.5 hours (can be altered to suit timeframes shorter or longer if needed) with pre-generated level 1 characters.
Warnings: This session is fairly fun and super welcoming of all ages, abilities and who folx are or want to be. Due to the game being set at Level 1, no D&D knowledge is needed. This game is designed to teach and as such I would ask players with more game knowledge that still want to attend, to roleplay along in the spirit of that. I like to keep my players safety in mind at all times and run a respectful table with safety tools to keep it that way. Any questions regarding this, please ask.
AVAILABLE PRE-GEN CHARACTERS Dwarf Barbarian, Gnome Druid, Human Bard, Half-Elf Ranger, Halfling Wizard, Tiefling Rogue
Arkvale Empire is crumbling after the Evil Empress was executed by Hero's and being an Arkvale soldier doesn't seem a good idea anymore. You've got a plan. You're going to head across the giant burning Dorekis Desert, surely you won't be followed and bought back. There's rumours of giant monstrous creatures seen all over the continent, but the desert has never been home to anything but sand, so you're not worried. All you have to do is make it across and you're free and you even have someone with you who knows the way! What could possibly go wrong? Play to find out!
Set in the homebrewed World of Isen, created by Brad Zimmerman. Session DM’d by Julz Burgisser who plays Marley Kraff in the D&D 5e actual play podcast ‘Fate of Isen’ available for download on iTunes, Spotify and all good podcasting apps. See www.fateofisen.com for more details on Isen.
‘Escape across the Desert’ is a homebrewed one shot basic monster encounter adventure created by Julz, based in The World of Isen created by Brad Zimmerman. The one shot is played over 3.5 hours (can be altered to suit timeframes shorter or longer if needed) with pre-generated level 10 characters.
Warnings: This session is fairly fun and super welcoming of all ages, and who folx are or want to be. Due to the game being set at Level 10, some basic D&D knowledge would be useful as the encounter is a little tricky, but I can assist those who really want to play. I like to keep my players safety in mind at all times and run a respectful table with safety tools to keep it that way. Any questions regarding this, please ask.
AVAILABLE PRE-GEN CHARACTERS Dwarf Barbarian, Gnome Druid, Human Bard, Half-Elf Ranger, Halfling Wizard, Tiefling Rogue
A shadow has been slipping across Pinebridge, leaving a trail of gruesome murder and bewildered towns behind. It seems that whatever is behind the gory deaths has made it to Mept, Capital City of Pinebridge as they find another victim. The local force, known colloquially as the Mept Muckers for their slogans about cleaning up the filth, are scratching their heads about the strange circumstances around the death and Mept is humming with gossip, even more than usual. Captain Bobby Horg, has reached out to the only Investigators that he thinks can save his beloved city before the death toll climbs. The Famous Wistal Whistles Mystery Solvers are on the case. Can they find this Slashing Serial Killer or will they too succumb to a grisly death? Play to find out!
Set in the homebrewed World of Isen, created by Brad Zimmerman. Session DM’d by Julz Burgisser who plays Marley Kraff in the D&D 5e actual play podcast ‘Fate of Isen’ available for download on iTunes, Spotify and all good podcasting apps. See www.fateofisen.com for more details on Isen.
‘The Pinebridge Slasher’ is a homebrewed one shot horror madness investigation adventure created by Julz, based in The World of Isen created by Brad Zimmerman. The one shot is played over 3.5 hours (can be altered to suit timeframes shorter or longer if needed) with pre-generated level 5 characters.
Warnings: This session is fairly fun and super welcoming of all ages, abilities and who folx are or want to be, there are one or two moments of scary. Just the usual monsters that make you go mad to gaze upon and gory death stuff but I like to be upfront and keep my players safety in mind at all times. Any questions regarding this, please ask.
AVAILABLE PRE-GEN CHARACTERS Dwarf Barbarian, Gnome Druid, Human Bard, Half-Elf Ranger, Halfling Wizard, Tiefling Rogue