Game: The One Ring: A Tale from the Lone Lands!
System: The One Ring
GM: Morgan E.
Location: Upper Hall
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 2 – 5
Genre: Lord of the Rings Fantasy
Description: Jari the Wanderer, noted treasure-finder with a nose for gold, is looking for the buried treasure of his great-uncle Bori! Journey into the Lonelands near Bree in search of hidden treasures, though who knows what dangers lie in wait on the lonely edges of the wild.
Tags: Newbie Friendly, Prior setting / system knowledge useful
Warnings: Implied danger to children
Game: Never Tell Me the Odds
System: Dungeons & Dragons 5e
GM: Megan
Location: Upper Hall
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 4 -5
Genre: Fantasy
Description: A murder mystery one shot set at a gaming festival’s gladiator tournament: “While attending a gaming festival, the highlight of which is a gladiator tournament, the party finds themselves pulled into a murder mystery by the young son of the victim, the tournament’s reigning champion. To solve the mystery, the party must question everything, trust no one, and survive the arena’s infamous Wheel of Death and Fortune.”
Tags:
Warnings: Will discuss and declare safety tools at the beginning of the game, but should avoid any triggering subjects
Game: The Howling Twilight
System: 5e (homebrew)
GM: Louis Walker
Location: Upper Hall
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 3-4
Genre: Gritty Dark Fantasy
Description: The Howling Twilight is set during an invasion of a frontier town called Serenus. You will be playing as level 12 characters in a homebrew DND 5e system tasked with defending this town from unknown beings of hunger and bloodshed, controlled by a twisted divinity that seeks to bring this town to ruin. The playable characters are members and agents of the Expansionist’s Creed, a guild tasked with protecting new settlements during the period of their foundation. At the time of this adventure, the characters will have been stationed at Serenus for 3 years, and survived 2 similar events (known as Cullings in the setting). The adventure will start with the characters waking and preparing for the event, seeing the sky darken as the sun’s are eclipsed by the large gas giant that the planet orbits, casting the planet into a night, long and terrible. From across the lake, of which the town has settled upon, an iridescent bulb casts a mesmerizing light upon the shores of the lake and curses the people that stare into its tendrils with a hunger and blood-thirst that nothing can quench…
In this adventure, 4 developed characters are available to play, tailored towards the experience offered in this adventure, with custom character sheets! Other random, pre-generated characters will be available also, albeit without custom character sheets.
Monna (he/him), the frog-triton alchemist that is responsible for supplying the town guard and citizens of the city with medicine, elixirs and cures to diseases. He has a curios selection of small, alien-like pets and plants that he cares for in his spare time.
Purkor (she/her), the region’s infamous scout and assassin. Her case is tragic but inspiring. Cursed in the beginnings of her youth by devilish powers, she fought great monsters and survived through cunning and well-placed daggers in her enemies. She carries a locket with her brother, whom she plans to see again after the settlement is fully established.
Tamelin (he/they), a strange humanoid creature of bark and leaves. Tamelin boasts a homebrew heritage, the forest Verdura, and is a competent and wise circle of the forest druid. He is known to daydream and become distracted by elements of the natural environment around him, such as insects or clouds.
Lord Charrvhetor of glory is a gold Dragonborn, oath of glory paladin who seeks to overcome his definition of evil and tends to head first into the fray, fearful that someone else will take his glory and fame.
Please note there will also be some other pre-generated characters of the same level at the table for anyone that is uncomfortable playing these characters. Also, feel free to bring along your own level 12 character, as long as it fits with the vibes!
Safety tools will be at the table as well as an explicit list of content warnings to make sure everyone is fine with the content in the one-shot.
Tags:
Warnings: General grim dark themes, gore, existential horror, mind control
Game: The Marauders
System: Runesword RPG
GM: Greig Watson
Location: Upper Hall
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 3- 5
Genre: Gritty sword & sorcery
Description: Justice is coming!
Rural Gheeland was a peaceful place, a region of rolling farmland and quiet villages. That was, until Ironheart’s Marauders rode in. These vicious brigands have carved a trail of destruction across the land by fire and sword. No one has been able to stop them, until now.
A sizeable bounty sets the adventurers on the trail of Arnulf Ironheart and his men. As the outlaws’ atrocities mount and the bitter rains of autumn begin to fall, it’s a race against time to bring justice to these miscreants.
A gritty adventure on the frontiers of the civilised lands, this game is set in the low fantasy sword & sorcery world of Runesword RPG. The rules system is easy to pick up for new players, leading to fast-paced fantasy action with an old-school feel.
Tags: Rules Lite, GM’s Own System
Warnings: Generic fantasy violence and references to violent crimes.
Game: SOLSTICE
System: SOLSTICE
GM: Tanya Floaker
Location: Cheviot
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 4 -6
Genre: Folk Horror set in the late 90s
Description: For as long as any can remember, your home has held to the Old Ways. When the longest night draws near, everyone comes together by the bonfires to seek respite from the darkness. There is drinking, merriment, and fireworks. There is also intense peer pressure, ritualised confession, and human sacrifice.
Each player takes on the role of an eligible young adult, troubled yet pure, vying for the favour of those they grew up around. One person will be named The Chosen of the Solstice, selected to be burned alive inside a giant wicker man in order to bring back the sun!
Only The Chosen can keep this tradition alive, and only The Chosen can end it now. Which side of tradition are you on?
Tags: Rules Lite, Newbie Friendly
Warnings: Unavoidable themes in Winter’s Respite are bullying, coming of age narratives, family/peer/social pressure, friendship/betrayal, human sacrifice, interpersonal abuse, poverty, and tradition. Other serious themes (teen romance/pregnancy, abortion/miscarriage, substance misuse, death/grief/loss, queer closeting, etc) may be included or removed as part of an opening discussion (Lines & Veils) or at any point during play (X-Card).
Game: The Treasure of the Dread Pirate McTiernan
System: Dread
GM: Angus McEwing
Location: Cheviot
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 3 – 6
Genre: Pulp and slight Horror
Description: The Dread Pirate McTiernan, terror of the Spanish Maine, has recently passed away in (dis)honourable combat with the French navy. The inheritance of his vast horde of buried treasure is now an open question, seeing as how the Dread Pirate, never being fond of bookkeeping, declined to record a will and testament. The location of said treasure be known to you and your band of fellows on the good ship Terpsichore; a small, supposedly cursed island, in the Antilles chain. But it also be known to McTiernan’s other lieutenants and, as the unnamed island comes into view, so too do the black sails of your competitors on this treasure hunt.
But in the pirate’s race to lay claim to their retirement funds few stop to consider why this god-forsaken speck of land was chosen by McTiernan to be its final resting place. Nor indeed, why the locals and smugglers alike seem to sail a wide berth around its sandy shallows.
Tags: Rules Lite
Warnings: Horror, tension, pulp-action violence.
This game uses a modified Dread system which relies on a Jenga tower to resolve narrative conflicts. This creates a strong sense of player tension that mirrors the narrative, however, it would not be recommended for those with dexterity based disabilities.
Game: Dragon Gardens
System: Feng Shui 2
GM: Matthew Hambley
Location: Braid
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 3 – 6
Genre: East Asian action cinema
Description: An invitation to a garden party from that nice old man you know seems innocent enough. But then you live in the hyper-kinetic world of Hong-Kong action cinema and the island floats on a sea of triad gangs and violence.
Tags: Newbie Friendly
Warnings: Action cinema violence.
Game: Penny DREADful
System: Dread
GM: Craig Barnes
Location: Braid
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Players: 2 – 6
Genre: Comedic Horror
Description: In Dread a Jenga tower is used in places of dice. Death is always close and as the tower wobbles so do your chances at survival.
In Victorian England horror is cheap. A penny on a street corner gets you a long way. But now the stories seem a bit too real as a team of private investigators dig into the affairs of a small publishing company.
As stories circulate the streets talking of murder most foul we find out just how bad things can get when you dig too deep.
Tags: Rules Lite
Warnings: Horror, fair risk of character death
Game: The Tomb of Athmenlow
System: Shadowdark RPG
GM: Mark Palmer
Location: Munro
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 4 – 5
Genre: Classic Fantasy
Description: Stumbling across a tomb in the forest isn’t an everyday occurrence, but it’s probably an opportunity not to be missed. By the sounds of it though, someone has got there before you. Time to light your torches and proceed into the depths. The Shadowdark lies beneath.
The Tomb of Athmenlow is a classic dungeon crawl, intended as an introduction to the fantastic Shadowdark RPG. Pre-generated characters will be provided. A dungeon crawl for 3rd level Shadowdark characters.
Tags: Rules Lite, Newbie Friendly
Warnings: None
Game: Wild Goose Chase
System: The Black Hack (2E)
GM: Robbi
Location: Munro
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 3-6
Genre: Pulp fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously
Description: In the town of Sorrowset, a local merchant hires you and your band of adventurers to make the perilous trek to The Desolate Peaks. There you will find a giant castle, and within, a magic goose that lays golden eggs. And surely nothing else. He’ll pay you 200 coins each if you return with the bird.
Tags: Rules Lite, Newbie Friendly
Warnings: There are no content warnings. The scenario is inspired by a well-known fairy tale and relies on common fantasy RPG tropes, so it’s suitable for anyone old enough to play the world’s most famous fantasy role-playing game.
Game: Dr Who / Companion Zoo
System: Doctors and Daleks
GM: Adam Prior
Location: Lomond
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 3 – 6
Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy. Doctor Who. Escape
Description: You’ve been travelling with the Doctor for a while so you’re used to weird things, but this takes the cake. You’ve awoken in a room full of cages each containing various different people and things, even some alternative versions of yourself… there must be hundreds of them! They all say they’re companions of the Doctor too! You guess you should work together to find a way to get out of here and find out who’s behind all this.
Escaping from the Companion Zoo will require all of your physical, mental, and social skills, but don’t worry, you will have lots of friends to help you.
Doctors and Daleks is a system combining Dr Who and the D&D 5th ed rule set. Due to time constraints a cut down version of the ruleset will be used so don’t worry if you don’t have any experience.
Tags:
Warnings: Imprisonment
Game: Who watches them?
System: City of Zeroes
GM: Ciaran O’Sullivan
Location: Lomond
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 3 – 6
Genre: Superheroes
Description: City of Zeroes is a game about super powered people. But the players are not super-powered. They are just trying to get by while these powerful people dominate society.
The setting is one where the first Supers have manifested their powers, and society is learning to make a place for them. The players take the roles of ordinary citizens on the fringes of society making their way in the world. They might be low-level criminals adjusting to the new form of law enforcement, or they may even be actively resisting these newly created super enforcers.
City of Zeroes is set in the near future where Supers are emerging around the world. The players live in the recently resurgent city of New Las Vegas which has gained considerable importance with the establishment of Herotek – a large multinational focused on organising and supporting Supers in their growing industry. They now represent most of the heroes in the western world. Global warming and rising sea levels have also left many of the coastal cities devastated, resulting in a drastic shift of power towards inland cities.
The system is easy to dive into, and requires no prior knowledge. This version of Forged in the Dark is a playtest for me seeking to publish the full text in the next year. The content is all PG13 in nature, as it is about Superheroes, even if they might not be the good guys.
The game itself is very flexible and players can do a wide variety of things.
Tags: Newbie Friendly, GM’s Own System
Trigger Warnings: Comic Book Violence
Game: Winner’s Cup
System: Essence20
GM: Kay Gillespie
Location: Lomond
Age Rating: Child Friendly
Players: 3 – 6
Genre: Transformers (G1 flavour)
Description: Your team of Autobots has recently been activated on Earth. Having spent your time training to strategically attack Decepticon battlefronts as well as interact with humanity, you can’t wait to actually get out there to actually fight some Decepticons and see the local aliens for yourselves. Fortunately, Teletraan-1 has recently discovered a source of Energon in the Midwestern region of the United States and your team is top of the mission order. Unfortunately, it’s turned up in the most unlikely of places, and the Decepticons have their eyes on the prize as well! It will be a race to the finish line to keep it out of the hands of your enemy.
Tags: Prior setting / system knowledge useful
Warnings: Bomb threat
Game: Transformers: Winners Cup
System: Essence20
GM: Bruce Laing
Location: Craft
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Genre: Sci-fi, 80s Cartoon, Action, Robots (in disguise!)
Description: Teletraan-1 has discovered a source of Energon in the Midwestern region of the United States. Unfortunately, it has turned up in the most unlikely of places, and the Decepticons have their eyes on the prize as well! It will be a race to the finish line to keep it out of the hands of your enemy.
TRANSFORMERS RPG uses Essence20, a variant of the 5e system. Become Autobots as you attempt to stop the Decepticons.
Tags: Newbie Friendly
Trigger Warnings: Mild Peril
Game: Tumbledown
System: Cursed Be Our Name
GM: Chris Dean
Location: Craft
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 2 – 6
Genre: Post-apocalyptic super-powered fantasy
Description: “Cursed Be Our Name” is a “super-powered post-apocalyptic fantasy” RPG, set 200 years after the emergence of six Primordials beings, whose appearance, existence and deaths forever devastated and mutated the continent they arrived upon.
All of humanity, the creatures, and even locations and objects are Cursed, each possessed of an (often unnatural) physical Mark, and for the living, a Compulsion related to their Curse. Each Curse is defined by a word or phrase, and manifests in individuals differently. One human with the Curse of Gold may have shining golden hair, and kleptomania, for example, whilst another may have golden skin and deck themselves in the finest jewellery.
Player characters, however, are amongst the Transformed; they are possessed of Cursed Talents (mundane feats that they can achieve more easily due to their curse) and Power (a unique ability bestowed by their curse).The Curse of Gold might provide Talents when “searching for valuables, attracting attention, proving your value”, and give you a Power that lets you transform inanimate materials into gold.
Tags: Newbie Friendly, GM’s Own System
Warnings: Blood and gore, some pregens will be “morally flexible”
Game: The Superior Six!
System: The Comics Code
GM: Ian Muir
Location: Torridon
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 4 – 5
Genre: Lighthearted Superhero Adventure
Description: Ant-Man! Beetle! Boomerang! Machinesmith! Shocker! Speed Demon! Six ex-criminals who have turned over a new leaf and formed New York’s latest superhero team – the Superior Six!
Will our heroes rise to the challenge of a criminal breakout, an international incident, and the potential end of the world itself, or will they buckle under the pressure? Only YOU can say for sure!
Tags: Rules Lite, Newbie Friendly
Warnings: None
Game: Our Waking Nightmare
System: Powered by the Apocalypse hack
GM: Aaron Billingham
Location: Torridon
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 3 – 4
Genre: Heroic science-fantasy with a dark sense of humour, in which you’re trapped with people you don’t know if you can trust but on whom you must rely if you’re to survive.
Description: Play out your own episode of the 90s-2000s sci-fi TV show Farscape in a group storytelling game that uses a hack of the Powered by the Apocalypse system.
You don’t need to know Farscape to play. You can happily join in just knowing that Farscape was a somewhat crazy show that forced a group of mismatched heroes to balance their own survival with the fight for what they perceived to be right, in a universe that blended science with mysticism and that dealt with the grim nature of events with a dark sense of humour.
“Have we sent the ‘don’t shoot us, we’re pathetic’ transmission yet?” – John Crichton, Ep.209
The game opens with you all as prisoners of the hated Peacekeepers, having been used as test subjects for their scientists’ – at best, unethical – experiments. However, you see your chance to escape in a chaos that takes the science facility. You’ll need to work together to escape but each of you will also have your own agenda to pursue, defined by what’s most important to your character but which at crucial moments might encourage you to put the group’s survival second.
Play will then unfold using the system’s group-storytelling mechanics, giving everyone a say in what’s waiting in the shadows, how cruel the Peacekeepers have been and the weirdness of the alien species to be found trapped in the facility with you.
Oh, and swearing in alien languages will be encouraged, so, if you’ll forgive me: “Are you fahrbot? What the hezmana are we waiting for? Let’s get the frell out of here!”
Tags: Rules Lite, Newbie Friendly
Warnings: Hidden agendas with a trust / betrayal mechanic; the game is a thriller first and foremost but individual groups could choose to add a light horror element; swearing in alien languages
Game: The Riddermound
System: Dragonbane
GM: Paul
Location: Ochil
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 3 – 5
Genre: Fantasy
Description: Deep in the vast forests of the Misty Vale lies a burial mound called the Riddermound. It is a feared place, haunted by the spirit of a powerful knight in the dragon emperor’s service – but then it is also said to be watching over hidden treasures.
Dragonbane is a classic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game full of magic, mystery, and adventure. It is designed from the ground up to facilitate fast and furious play, with very little prep time and adventures that are a breeze to run. This is a game with room for laughs at the table, while still offering brutal challenges for the adventurers. Free League call this play-style “mirth and mayhem roleplaying” – great for long campaigns, but also perfect for a one-shot.
Tags: Newbie Friendly
Warnings: None
Game: Track Dogs open playtest
System: Track Dogs
GM: Alexa
Location: Ochil
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 3 – 5
Genre: Weird Science Fantasy Adventure, like Mortal Engines meets Sunless Sea/Fallen London
Description: A vast expanse of old-growth forest called the Cedar or Seven Cedars covers the Earth, filled with monsters, treasures, and mysterious clues to the world that came before. Above the tree canopy on the criss-cross of railways maintained by an inscrutable god-computer; you, the TRACK DOGS, wend your way between the settlements that poke above the treeline, in search of fame, fortune and glory.
TRACK DOGS is an in-development Powered By The Apocalypse game about post-apocalyptic train pirates. Players will be asked to provide feedback at the end of the session. The attendance and opinions of all levels of experience are welcome – a broad spectrum of perspectives is critical for further development.
Scenarios will be constructed communally during play, and have a broad range of possible themes. Will your crew get into an exciting train chase with the law? Descend into the horrifying depths of the subcedar, there to encounter monsters like the horrid soilshark and pistol shrimpman? Carry out a perfectly timed heist on a high-value target in port? It’s all up to you…
Tags: Newbie Friendly, GM’s Own System
Warnings: Some allusions to benthic/subaquatic horror (in a transplanted context)
Game: Blood on the Clocktower
System: Blood on the Clocktower
GM: Milo Mesdag and Jason Ebblewhite
Location: Highland
Age Rating: Teen (ages 12+)
Players: 7 – 15
Genre: Social deduction game
Description: Are you a fan of slicing through logical knots?
Enjoy lying through your teeth?
Wish Werewolf was actually good?
Well then try the hit social deduction game Blood on the Clocktower!
It’s townsfolk vs demonic forces in this game of betrayal and deceit, where the canny thrive and where death is far from the end.
Assigned either a townsfolk role or a demon role, you’ll either be trying to find the demonic infestation and purge it from your town, or you’ll be trying to hide your true nature and bring death and doom to all around you.
Each player has a unique role, meaning that everyone brings something important to the table: whether that’s the ability to know something of the true nature of your neighbours, the power to protect another from the touch of the demon, or the confusion of drunkenness (where you are led by the game masters to believe you are a role which you actually are not).
And, while the demon goes hunting every night, death is not the end.
Dead players continue as they were, communicating from beyond the veil just as clearly as they did while they were alive.
Some roles only come into their own after they have shuffled off their mortal coil.
Unlike some other social deduction games, every player is fully involved, from start to finish, whether they be dead or alive.
Tags: Newbie Friendly
Warnings: Death and persecution