Game: Acting Up in Lankhmar
System: Dungeon Crawl Classics
GM: Robbi
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 8
Short Description: The party has been hired by an acting troupe whose latest show makes fun of a corrupt duke. The actors have received threats from the duke’s soldiers. Can you keep the peace during the troupe’s final performance?
Long Description: A local acting troupe has been enjoying great success with their latest show, The Fiascos of Duke Hogfat. But when the real-life duke who is clearly the subject of the play takes offence, his private guard threaten violence if the troupe goes through with their final performance. The city of Lankhmar couldn’t care less, so the troupe decides to hire protection in the shape of some low-level adventurers looking to increase their reputation (that’s you!).
Can you and your companions keep the duke’s guards at bay and keep the peace amongst an unruly and probably drunk audience? This is a combat-light scenario with lots of roleplaying opportunities.
Set in the Lankhmar setting, we will be using the Dungeon Crawl Classics system and pre-rolled characters of level 2-3.
Trigger Warnings: Apart from standard fantasy violence and some puerile humour, there’s nothing offensive or triggering to worry about in this adventure
Game: Companion Zoo
System: Doctors and Daleks
GM: Adam Prior
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: You travel with the Doctor so you’re used to weird things, but not this weird. You’ve awoken in a room full of cages containing various people and things, even other versions of you. They all say they’re companions of the Doctor too! Guess you should work together to get out.
Long Description: You’ve been traveling 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.
In honor of Dr Who’s 60th Anniversary players who pre book the game can choose any companion from the history of the series be they from TV, Book, Audio Drama, Comic, etc. Just include what companion you want to play in your booking as a comment and I will create a character for you. If multiple people want to play the same character thanks to timey-whimy-ness that isn’t a problem.
Trigger Warnings: Imprisonment, peril
Game: Dance of Dreams
System: Vaesen
GM: Paul
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 4
Short Description: An intriguing invitation to view a puppet show brings the members of the newly reformed Society to a remote crossroads on a stormy November’s night. What secrets lie beyond the door of the Witch Cat Inn, and how is this dilapidated old inn connected to your past!
Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilisation dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark.
Long Description: In dark forests, beyond the mountains, by black lakes in hidden groves. At your doorstep. In the shadows, something stirs. Strange beings. Twisted creatures, lurking at the edge of vision. Watching. Waiting. Unseen by most, but not by you. You see them for what they really are.
Vaesen.
Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark.
They know to fear it.
Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is based on the work of Swedish illustrator and author Johan Egerkrans, Vaesen presents a dark Gothic setting steeped in Nordic folklore and old myths of Scandinavia. The game mechanics use an adapted version of the award-winning Year Zero Engine.
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/vaesen/
An intriguing invitation to view a puppet show brings the members of the newly reformed Society to a remote crossroads on a stormy November’s night. What secrets lie beyond the door of the Witch Cat Inn, and how is this dilapidated old inn connected to your past!
Dance of Dreams is an introductory mystery suitable for players new to Vaesen.
Trigger Warnings: Horror, ghosts, domestic violence.
Game: Factory Settings
System: Retrospect
GM: Mark Corrigan
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: After walking into the aftermath of a bloody shootout in a roadside diner, the party are tasked with pursuing the perpetrators that have fled to a nearby factory with something of great value to one of the survivors. In the middle of nowhere, with no support or back-up on the way, the group must determine the best way of infiltrating the compound and retrieving the item. The band of thieves they are dealing with are linked to a notoriously dangerous gang, it seems. Certain actions have consequences for those who cross this gang’s path. And the consequence is usually death…
Long Description: “After walking into the aftermath of a bloody shootout in a roadside diner, the party are tasked with pursuing the perpetrators that have fled to a nearby factory with something of great value to one of the survivors. In the middle of nowhere, with no support or back-up on the way, the group must determine the best way of infiltrating the compound and retrieving the item. The band of thieves they are dealing with are linked to a notoriously dangerous gang, it seems. Certain actions have consequences for those who cross this gang’s path. And the consequence is usually death…”
This is the teaser for Retrospect, a brand new game from Sionnach Games. In fact, it is now in the play testing phase and ready for Compulsion!
It’s a 1980s’ retro-futurism themed RPG and GM Mark from Sionnach Games will be running this game to demonstrate it before it hits Kickstarter later this year!
Trigger Warnings: None
Game: Its Cold Outside
System: Custom PBTA
GM: Matthew Barrowcliffe
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Ice Station Helion B is an EU station for long term scientific research. Mainly the taking of ice cores, and weather and atmospheric readings. During summer it has a population of about two dozen scientists, as winter drops that reduces to only a half dozen or so.
The nearest other major station is four hundred kilometres away, during winter months atmospheric conditions make communication and travel difficult. The likelihood of rescue is low.
Long Description: Ice Station Helion B is an EU station for long term scientific research. Mainly the taking of ice cores, and weather and atmospheric readings. During summer it has a population of about two dozen scientists, as winter drops that reduces to only a half dozen or so.
The nearest other major station is four hundred kilometres away, during winter months atmospheric conditions make communication and travel difficult. The likelihood of rescue is low.
When things go wrong in the antartic they can go really wrong.
Trigger Warnings: Horror
Game: King of Isin
System: Leagues of Cthulhu
GM: Dan
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Gothic Horror with a Cthulhu twist
Long Description: A new Assaryian temple complex has been discovered and you have been invited to view a special exhibition held at the British Museum. Sir Aurthur Henry Layard who has made the discovery will give a lecture and explain more about the significance of his discovery, but things are not as they seem.
Trigger Warnings: Cosmic Horror, Historical time period
Game: Mausritter – Giant Snake is in the Sewer
System: Mausritter
GM: Jamie Prentice
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: When the Bone Gang rats stole a big pile of loot and hid it in the Sewers, they were unaware of the Giant Snake that lurked within. That snake is now terrorising nearby mice settlements, and somebody (i.e. you) needs to do something about it!
Long Description: When the Bone Gang rats stole a big pile of loot and hid it in the Sewers, they were unaware of the Giant Snake that lurked within. That snake is now terrorising nearby mice settlements, and somebody (i.e. you) needs to do something about it!
Mausritter is a rules-light fantasy adventure game where the players are mice, tiny creatures in a world of huge dangers.
Trigger Warnings: Creepy things in sewers, and unwary mice risk get eaten.
Game: Operation Oberon
System: Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20
GM: Bill Heron
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: 1944: A Little Trouble in Big Shanghai
Long Description: Shanghai, 1944. With rumours of the the Nazi Black Sun occultists investing heavily in the acquistion of occult lore and items, a team of Section M agents are despatched by the Allies to find out how these artifacts are being transported – and by who!
Trigger Warnings: Nazis, fire, Cthulhu
Game: Operation: Sunrise
System: Homebrew
GM: Craig Barnes
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Hunt through the ruins of a decimated star fleet to save the lives of eveyone in the solar system from an unstable warp bomb. Make some money, and just mabye survive.
Long Description: Humanity battles its way through the stars like it always has, fighting alien species from across the galaxy as she expands her borders. But rarely do her foes go down without a fight.
The Galactic Fleet is a massive war machine designed to destroy any resistance and carry on through the stars. And you make your living following it.
From the wreckage of the fleet’s battles you take what you can. Scrapping hulls and weapons or even alien tech. You follow the fleet like a pack of hyeenas would follow a lion. just waitng for scraps.
But today, in the wreckage of an enormus battle is an undetonated Warp Bomb. Your scans show that if it isnt disabled soon it will detonate, taking out half the solar system. Including the small inhabited planet thats orbit is bringing it straight into the blast zone.
You’ve looked around, and theres no other ship that can get to the bomb before it goes off. the lives of millions lie in your hands, can you save them?
Trigger Warnings: War, Mind Altering Effects, Suffication
Game: Raiders Of The Lost Crypt
System: Runesword RPG
GM: Greig Watson
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: A tip-off from a local thief sends the party of adventurers into the tunnels below the city of Valperza. Apparently a lost crypt from the time of the ancient First Empire has been discovered. Danger and treasure await for those brave enough to enter!
Long Description: The glittering trade city of Valperza has a distinctly seedy underbelly. Away from the opulent palaces and guild halls of the ruling nobility, thieves, smugglers and gangs lurk in the dingy alleys and disreputable taverns. All of these scoundrels dream of making it rich one day.
For one group of adventurers that day may have arrived. A tip-off from a local thief sends the party into the tunnels below the city. Apparently a lost crypt from the time of the ancient First Empire has been discovered. Danger and treasure await for those brave enough to enter!
This short adventure scenario introduces players to Runesword RPG, an indie fantasy game produced in Edinburgh by designer Greig Watson. Inspired by classic fantasy tales, the game evokes the spirit of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, Michael Moorcock’s Elric, and Robert E Howard’s Conan. Rules light, fast-paced, and easy to learn, Runesword RPG pitches players straight into a gritty world of swords & sorcery!
Defiantly old-school in tone, this game is suitable for veteran and newbie roleplayers alike.
Trigger Warnings: Possible violence against monstrous animals.
Game: Temple of the Huntress
System: DND 5th Edition
GM: Julian
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: A group of archeologists unearthed a temple in Chult, it’s believed to belong to the worship of the Huntress, goddess of survival in the inhospitable jungle. You and your group got this tip and are rushing to sneak and loot whatever is inside before it reaches a museum.
Long Description: A group of archeologists unearthed a temple in Chult, it’s believed to belong to the worship of the Huntress, goddess of survival in the inhospitable jungle. You and your group got this tip and are rushing to sneak and loot whatever is inside before it reaches a museum.
Trigger Warnings: Jungle, horror, temple, tomb.
Game: The Expanse RPG: Salvage Op
System: The Expanse RPG
GM: Dave Wright
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: The characters are working in The Belt when they encounter a small ship floating dead in space. Salvaging the ship and any cargo could be an opportunity for riches, but what danger awaits onboard? What happened to the crew, and why is it here?
Long Description: The characters are working in The Belt when they encounter a small ship floating dead in space. Salvaging the ship and any cargo could be an opportunity for riches, but what danger awaits onboard? What happened to the crew, and why is it here?
Some knowledge of either The Expanse TV show or novels would advantageous but not required to play.
The Expanse Roleplaying Game brings James S.A. Corey’s award-winning series of science fiction novels to the tabletop.
Using the Adventure Game Engine (AGE) rules that power Green Ronin’s Fantasy AGE, Blue Rose, and Modern AGE RPGs, The Expanse takes players to a far-future solar system where humanity is divided: Martians, Belters, and the people of old Earth struggle for political power and resources, but older, alien, forces are stirring in the universe, and human history is about to take an unexpected new turn.
Trigger Warnings: Working in a vacuum.
Game: The Great Martian Tripod Race
System: Manifold
GM: Martin Pickett
Age Rating: Child Friendly
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Get the first ever human tripod racer onto the start line, despite a hostile take-over and the Martian clans. A Steampunk adventure on Victorian Mars.
Long Description: Franklin is the first human competitor in tripod racing history. But with his sponsor Beauford-Montgomery Trading locked in a hostile takeover battle with the richest man on two planets, and the Martian tripod racing clan out to stop him, can you as his team even get him to the start line?
A game of Scientific Romance and Steampunk adventure, set on the Victorian colony of Mars.
Trigger Warnings: None
Game: The Hunt for Gorgarosh
System: Cursed Be Our Name
GM: Chris Dean
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: The Firestag Arena specialises in letting volunteer gladiators battle creatures with legendary reputations. Your crew of mercenaries have been sent to bring back (alive) Gorgorosh, a titanic beast with seven heads.
Long Description: The Firestag Arena specialises in letting volunteer gladiators battle creatures with legendary reputations. Your crew of mercenaries have been sent to bring back (alive) Gorgorosh, a titanic beast with seven heads.
Cursed Be Our Name is an in-development post-apocalyptic fantasy RPG by Psychic Cactus Games (me), publisher of I Love the Corps and Is it a Plane!?
All of humanity and the creatures of the world are Cursed – each possessed of an (often unnatural) physical Mark, and a Compulsion related to a concept of existence. Someone with the Curse of Gold may have golden hair, and be a kleptomaniac, for example. Player characters, however, are amongst the Transformed; cursed people with Cursed Talents (mundane feats that they can achieve more easily due to their curse) and Powers (unique abilities bestowed by their curse).
Cursed be Our Name is a highly descriptive game, where players have a lot of ability to alter the narrative and their environment.
The system uses d10 dice pools to try and create enough successful dice to gain positive Outcomes. However, the Difficulty of tasks can often begin with a negative number, and if it is not increased to 1 or higher after rolling, then a task can have mixed or negative results, and even an Outcome of 1 or higher might not be enough to accomplish what you wanted, depending on your intent.
The Transformed can use their Cursed Talents and Powers to spend points to improve their Difficulty and odds of success before they roll.
They can also deploy a second dice pool based on the best Advantage available, and if those dice succeed, Advantage points can be spent to buff an Outcome.
Trigger Warnings: There may be some gore, but this will depend on players and be scaled and moderated appropriately (I’ll ask about gore description preferences at the start of the game.)
Game: The Portal Under the Stars
System: Dungeon Crawl Classics
GM: Roz
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: A classic DCC funnel. Take control of 4 characters each on a treasure-hunting dungeon crawl! Hopefully one of them survives!
Long Description: You are peasants and farmers and nobodies, living in a cold and barren farming village nestled between the mountains. This year was particularly harsh the harvest was poor. Old Man Roberts found it particularly hard. While you all sat by his deathbed, listening to the stories of his past, he confided in you his biggest regret.
Fifty years ago, a strange star had risen, The Empty Star he called it. And when this star rose, it opened a portal by the old stone mounds. Through this portal he had seen glittering armour and jewels and fine steel spears. He wishes he’d had the courage as a younger man to take the chance at adventure that had been presented to him.
Now, that star rises again, and a portal to a strange realm lies open before you all. Staying in your village doesn’t guarantee safety anymore, with the wolves at the door and the stores depleted. Those of you who stand before the magical door have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking the step towards adventure and entering THE PORTAL UNDER THE STARS!
Trigger Warnings: Cosmic Horror, Snakes, Death
Game: They Came With Claws!
System: Storypath
GM: Phil Edwards
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: Shock! A US weapons research facility has gone dark, your team has been sent in to investigate. What happened? What where they doing? Why are there claw marks in the walls? Does this seaweed smell right to you? Expect 50s B Movie action! One liners! Flimsy sets! Bad acting!
Long Description: Shock! A US weapons research facility has gone dark, your team has been sent in to investigate. What happened? What where they doing? Why are there claw marks in the walls? Does this seaweed smell right to you? Expect 50s B Movie action! One liners! Flimsy sets! Bad acting!
Using They Came From Beneath the Sea! rules, this will be an action comedy game.
Trigger Warnings: Action, violence
Game: Wedding Song
System: Wise Women
GM: Aleksandra Brokman
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 4
Short Description: As the village of Lasanka is preparing for a wedding, social tensions increase and supernatural threats continue to lurk in the surrounding wilderness. A coven of witches has to navigate the social conflicts and keep their home safe.
Long Description: The village of Lasanka is preparing for a wedding. The groom has recently returned from the city, after many years of absence, and many villagers doubt his intentions and character. Others are jealous of the bride, longing to marry the worldly stranger themselves. The reasons for why he left in the first place remain unclear, but the bride doesn’t seem to mind. With a mystery at the heart of the upcoming wedding, social tensions increase in the village. At the same time, unity is crucial for the remote community, always threatened by supernatural creatures that lurk in the wilderness.
The coven of witches has to navigate the social tensions in their community, protect it from supernatural threats and keep their magical abilities hidden. Will they help ensure that nothing goes wrong in the run-up to the wedding? Or will they choose to use their power to pursue their own petty agendas?
Wise Women is a game in which players take on the roles of witches using plant magic to protect their community from supernatural threats, while having to navigate its social tensions and prejudice against magic. The game is based on Eastern European folklore.
Trigger Warnings: Drowning, antagonistic social relationships, loss of a loved one, enchantment, curses, mentions of attempted suicide