Game: Captain’s Log (Playtest)
System: Descended from the Queen
GM: David N. Ross
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Test out this experimental GMless card-based storytelling game that stations you onboard a starship on a vital mission of peace.
Long Description: Players answer questions to cooperatively tell the story of a starship crew in a space opera. Decide what your mission is, who the important characters are, and what happens along the way by answering questions determined by drawing cards. This game is new and still being tested; a designer will introduce the game and be available to play or answer questions about it.
Trigger Warnings: N/A
Game: Coriolis: The Siren
System: Coriolis
GM: Biv
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: Sci-fi meets Arabian Nights meets Cthulhu in this mystical high-stakes dice pool system from Free League. For this adventure, inmates of a prison colony on a frozen moon have been tasked with returning a mysterious alien object to an ancient temple located high on a stranded glacier. What could go wrong?
Long Description: This game is perfect for those who are curious about Coriolis, as well as those who’ve never heard of it but are excited by the prospect of a sci-fi game that combines the fantastical atmosphere of A Thousand Arabian Nights with the character drama of Firefly and political intrigue of The Expanse.
Coriolis – The Third Horizon is a science fiction role playing game set in a remote cluster of star systems called The Third Horizon. It is a place ravaged by conflicts and war, but also home to proud civilisations, both new and old. Here, the so-called Firstcome colonists of old worship the Icons, while the newly arrived Zenithians pursue an aggressive imperialistic agenda through trade and military power. It is amongst these star clusters rich with mysticism, conflict, and opportunity that the player characters find themselves.
Coriolis uses the Year Zero Engine, a D6 dice pool system from Free League, to tell a tense story of exploration and character conflict. The setting is rich with a myriad of cultures, with worship of the nine Icons permeating each facet of life. The setting is huge and full of mystery, but today’s adventure narrows in a little to a small penal colony surviving on a frigid moon at the edge of a lonely star system. Tasked by the elderly leader of their community with returning an artefact to a rarely accessible ancient temple high in glacier country, the team will face a variety of threats and challenges that will introduce them to Year Zero Engine dice rolling, the power of prayer, and other aspects of playing in the Third Horizon.
Over the course of the adventure, players will have the opportunity to explore alien ruins left behind by mysterious forebears, and discover secrets which threaten their very survival. Each prisoner has a story, and a motive all of their own. Expect drama and mystery, with the threat of cosmic horror hanging over you as the unknowable Darkness Between The Stars attempts to thwart you.
The mechanics serve to elevate the atmosphere of the world and give ample opportunity for roleplay. Dice rolls can be difficult to win, and will only come up when failure has real consequences. Survival is not guaranteed, and death or worse may await unlucky characters; however, the stakes of the adventure promise the enactment of real change in the world should they succeed on their mission.
Coriolis is a system which can create cinematic serial campaigns that go on for years. In the span of a few hours, this short scenario hopes to give curious minds a taste of the wonderful adventures that await all who enter the Third Horizon! No prior knowledge of the system is required, and dice will be provided (although you are very welcome to bring lucky d6s of your own).
For more information, you can find the game’s trailer here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yRm-KSeYHo&ab_channel=FreeLeaguePublishing) and details on the Free League website (https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/coriolis-2/).
Trigger Warnings: Potentially On Screen: Cosmic horror (hypnosis/mind control, humanoid monsters, evil forces/auras), penal colony, hypothermia.
Game: Gift of the Sea
System: Trophy Dark
GM: Lisa
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 3
Short Description: Have you heard of the rites of Greentide, treasure hunter? Every spring the ocean demands gifts of gold, glittering jewels, and the finest of crafts. Rumours speak of a lost cove where the riches end up, piled up like a dragon’s hoard. Nobody who’s searched for it ever returned the same…
Long Description: “Who knows what secrets dwell beneath the ocean vast and wide Or what became of those who tried to fight the turning tide
The night is dark, the storm is fierce, but nothing should we fear
Come ‘round and light the candles bright, for Spring is almost here”
A quaint seaside village readies for the annual Greentide ceremony. Folk gather to give their prayers and offerings to the Queen of Tides, hoping to be blessed by Her for the year to come.
“We bind the saplings, wreathed in green, as folk did long before
We crown a maiden as our Queen, and cast her from the shore
For as the land gives gifts to those who sow and reap the grain
The sea in turn must have its due, when Greentide comes again”
You and your loyal companions caught whispers of a lonely cove near this village, just visible as the tide ebbs away, that supposedly holds riches from both shipwrecks and Greentide for centuries back. It would be more than enough to finally achieve that dream of yours. No longer would it be just out of reach, tantalising.
“Oh Mother of the Endless Tides, Oh Queen of Depths Unseen,
Accept these humble gifts we bring, upon your mantle green
Fill up our nets with gleaming fish, and spare our sailors brave
For all the rest, take what you must, beneath the rolling wave”
However, this will not be an easy journey. The waters are cruel, cold, unforgiving. Tales of monstrosities from the deep replay in your mind, of failed travellers who returned with both mind and body irreversibly changed. The ocean serves only itself, and only acts upon its selfish whims.
Though, they are only rumours.
You need this.
———————-
This is a story about doomed treasure hunters that are too big for their boots. It won’t end well for anybody, even for the survivors. If you aren’t willing to let your character die then unfortunately this game isn’t for you, as the premise relies on that as an almost undeniable fact. You aren’t protagonists, you are the ones that failed before they came along. But don’t let it scare you! Use it as an opportunity to play to make the story *fun*.
The tone is dark, tragic, and horrific. Of course, I will make sure that the story doesn’t go too far for anybody. Player betrayal is a mechanic in this game, though we will discuss exactly how betrayal works. This is a collaborative system, meaning that we will work together to weave a tale that is most entertaining for everyone involved. If you think of something cool you want to throw into the story, I will do my best to put it in there. Everyone is free to throw in their ideas.
Happy Conpulsion!
Trigger Warnings: Body Horror, Drowning, Human Sacrifice, Religion, Sharks, Shipwrecks, Storms, Character Betrayal, Character Death
Game: LaGrange
System: Homebrew
GM: Phil Harris
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: A space station located at the LaGrange Point between a binary star appears dead. Ideal for salvage.
Long Description: It was by chance that they spotted it. A slight glint, perfectly obscured from the sensors by its placement between the two stars. Automatic systems constantly maintaining its position in the LaGrange Point between the stars.
The probe got right to the surface of the alien station and couldn’t read any life signs, so the whole station is free to be salvaged, and this is a simple in and out mission.
Trigger Warnings: Psychological Horror
Game: Mausritter – Song of the Frogacle
System: Mausritter
GM: Jamie Prentice
Age Rating: Child Friendly
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: You are mice, volunteering to take part in a thrilling annual boat race against other mouse teams from around the Estate to win the prize of being the first to hear the Frogacle’s Song of Spring, a much sought-after blessing for your community.
Unfortunately not all the other teams have quite the same community spirit, and will do anything to come first!
Long Description: You are mice, volunteering to take part in a thrilling annual boat race against other mouse teams from around the Estate to win the prize of being the first to hear the Frogacle’s Song of Spring, a much sought-after blessing for your community.
Unfortunately not all the other teams have quite the same community spirit, and will do anything to come first!
Mausritter is a rules-light fantasy adventure game where the players are mice, tiny creatures in a world of huge dangers.
Trigger Warnings: Nothing that should be a problem.
Game: Mr Men Noir
System: I’ve Got Your Number
GM: Chris Dean
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Little Miss Bad has come to Nosy and Strong Investigations because she believes she is being followed. And then a Mr Man turns up dead outside their office. Can Nosy, Strong and allies solve the case before more turn up dead?
Long Description: Little Miss Bad has come to Nosy and Strong Investigations because she believes she is being followed. And then a Mr Man turns up dead outside their office. Can Nosy, Strong and allies solve the case before more turn up dead?
Yes, this is Mr Men (and Little Misses) but instead of Mr Men Town, we explore the dark depths of Mr Men City. Prepare to have your childhood ruined by noir trope twists. And also expect a lot of silliness. Oh, and the longer you take to solve the case, the more Misters and Misses will die.
I’VE GOT YOUR NUMBER is a new in-development micro-RPG by Psychic Cactus Games (me), publisher of I Love the Corps and Is It a Plane!?
The game eschews dice for a simple mechanic where the GM thinks of a number between 1 to 10 based on how difficult they think a task is, and depending on what number you produce determines one of five possible results. Each character has 4 Focusses to shape them, and if you stick to them, a lot of the time, you can just accomplish what you describe.
Trigger Warnings: One of the potential PCs is (implied) as a prostitute, and there will be a lot of bloody (albeit comical and cartoony) murder.
Game: Quis Custodiet?
System: OSR/Black Hack/Vigilante Hack
GM: Stephen L McMorland
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Light weight version of Old School D and D but you are playing in the Watchmen universe – Batman with Advantage die and Saving Throws
Long Description: Ten years after the Tithraki War which saw all super powered heroes wiped out, except for The Champion, earth’s Mightiest hero, ( who was broken and fled the solar system) the only thing standing between the innocent and the criminal scum that would prey on them are people of extraordinary skill, courage and willpower, they cannot shoot lasers out of their eyes, run faster than a bullet or survive falling from the top of the Empire State Building, but they are needed, because frankly the cops are either in the pockets of the bad guys or are too strung up on red tape and procedure to do much good. This is where you come in, you are brooding, gadget wielding bad asses, ferocious, vicious experts in combat , driven, wrathful and quite possibly unhinged but the people need you, criminals are a superstitious lot and You are what they fear!
Inspired by Watchmen movie and graphic novels and TV series but set in my own world, come, Kick butt and chew gum ( I’m all out of gum)
Trigger Warnings: I won’t push it too far, but there will likely be veiled comic book style violence, I don’t do gore and it will be set by player consensus, this is a grim, gritty game about not entirely sane people taking the law into their own hands, there will be NO children permitted at the table for this reason. As ever we will set lines and veils at the beginning, we are here to have fun and I want this to be dramatic, not horrible
Game: The Big Steal
System: Stealing Stories for the Devil
GM: Simon Proctor
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: Some people tell lies to others, you tell Lies to reality. It’s a useful skill you’re going to need to pull of your heist.
Long Description: A Zero Prep game about heists where your characters can lie to reality. No knowledge required, we’ll make it up as we go along.
Trigger Warnings: None.
Game: The Black Lotus
System: Avatar: Legends
GM: Pooka
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 4
Short Description: Welcome to the crew of The Black Lotus! Yes, she’s the fastest ship on the seas, able to outmaneuver and run rings around a Fire Nation Ironclad any day of the week. But this time, General Xian is in hot pursuit – can our heroes escape his clutches?
Long Description: In the latter half of the 100 Year War, a group of elite sailors, pirates, and privateers was assembled. Their job was to smuggle goods and people to and from the Fire Nation, and to frustrate and engage the Fire Nation Navy at every opportunity. The ship that bore these legendary ruffians-turned-heroes was known as The Black Lotus, a unique design that was the fastest and most agile ship on the seas by a wide margin. Over time, and after repeated failures at affecting their capture, Admiral Xian took matters into his own hands. Will Xian triumph, the legends of The Black Lotus merely be a cautionary tale, or will your crew spark hope around the four kingdoms?
Trigger Warnings: Cartoon Violence
Game: The Ghosts of Alexandria
System: Doctor Who RPG
GM: Ian Muir
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 4
Short Description: Landing in the Egyptian city of Alexandra, our time travellers are hoping to explore some of the wonders of the ancient world. But Alexandria is a city under siege, death stalks the streets, and it seems our heroes may not be the ONLY time travellers visiting the city.
Player Requirements: Dice, courage, sonic screwdriver. Pre-generated characters will be provided. Time machine optional.
Long Description: Landing in the Egyptian city of Alexandra, our time travellers are hoping to explore some of the wonders of the ancient world. But Alexandria is a city under siege, death stalks the streets, and it seems our heroes may not be the ONLY time travellers visiting the city.
This adventure does not feature the Doctor and their companions from the TV show. But don’t worry, I’m sure your TARDIS crew will be up to the task.
Trigger Warnings: None
Game: The Graveyard of the Robots
System: Manifold
GM: Martin Pickett
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: The robots have risen and driven humanity underground. Venture out to find the legendary graveyard of the robots and save your settlement!
Long Description: In the far future, on a distant planet, the robots have risen and driven human civilization underground. For longer than anyone can remember, there has only been the Settlement, and the Surface. Only the mad and desperate leave the Settlement for the Surface, where the killer machines prowl. But the Settlement is failing, the massive air purifiers are breaking down, and manufacture of spares is beyond your capabilities. The only hope is to scavenge parts from the robots on the Surface. Explorers tell of a graveyard, where the machines go to wait to be recycled. If you can reach it, perhaps there is hope for the Settlement.
A post apocalyptic game of cooperation and survival.
Trigger Warnings: None
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: The Tale of the Troublesome Talisman
System: Coriolis variant
GM: Aaron Billingham
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: Space opera in an Arabian-inspired background. Stop the conflict between two previously-peaceful settlements.
Long Description: The First-come and Zenithian peoples have never seen eye to eye. Despite their differences though, on Awadhi B-3, a village of First-come salvagers and a Zenithian archaeology colony had managed to work together peacefully for years… until someone stumbled across a blessed talisman in the rubble of an abandoned city. You have been hired to investigate their conflict. Perhaps you want a cut of the Zenithians’ profits or perhaps you want to stop the First-come villagers being taken advantage of. Either way, your mission is to re-establish peace between the two peoples.
Coriolis is a space-opera game set in an Arabian-inspired background. I’m running a variant that is recognisably Coriolis but has altered skills and new character elements that lean into the setting’s cultures and an importance of story in everyday life.
Trigger Warnings: Religion, social classes, culture clash
Game: The Tomb of the Fallen Gods
System: D&D 5e
GM: Matt
Age Rating: Adult Only (ages 16+)
Maximum Players: 5
Short Description: A challenging “old-school” style adventure where your wits and ingenuity as players will determine your survival, as you will be playing 0-level characters – cartwrights, brewers, cooks and gong-farmers!
Long Description: They came in the night, scores of cutthroat brigands with clubs and manacles and with them hideous ogres that bellowed in glee as they pulverised any who dared defy them. Last Harbour was emptied of all its souls as men, women and children trudged in chains through the rocky passes and the autumnal winds sung a dirge. Gods protect us, folk would go missing up in the high meadows on occasion but never anything like this!
Deep in the mountains you arrive at Castle Ember, a solitary ruin overlooking a valley with a stinking mire below and you are set to work gathering firewood, carrying water, herding goats, scrubbing floors & hauling stone to shore up the crumbling towers of the ruin. The human slavers keep a keen eye on you but you notice they scan the skies fearfully and when the alarm gong is rung twice everyone scrambles for cover from some great winged beast that circles above. One of you glimpsed it once, like a massive lion it seemed apart from its face like that of a man’s but with a great maw of jagged teeth and eyes gleaming with malice.
Whilst the slavers are unrelentingly cruel, the ogres are just terrifyingly violent but there is the witch Vyk whose cunning stare unnerves you even more. From your dungeon prison you sometimes hear his voice lifted to some dire spirit as he performs his blasphemous rituals atop the pillar of rock across the chasm. When you murmur a prayer to the Gods of the Vale he laughs and says, the Gods have no power here, this is Urdagog’s realm.
Each passing day your numbers slowly dwindle and the pile of cracked bones outside the kitchen tower of the ogre matron grows. You overhear the slaver leader Uncinus say they should pay the tribute before the ogres eat everyone and shortly afterwards half your numbers are led into the mountains and never seen again.
As winter starts to bite, your threadbare clothes doing nothing to keep out its chill fingers you are marched far down the valley to a camp on a cliff-top bluff and there you are set to work. Slithering down a hole worn by an icy stream you are led into an ancient tomb, the light of your torches gleam off a great bas-relief of beaten gold that the slavers direct you to hack up and haul away. As you labour under the earth you hear a commotion among the guards and with alarmed expressions they hurry off to another part of the tomb leaving you alone in the darkness…
Trigger Warnings: Violence, death & slavery
Game: Triad Alligator
System: Feng Shui 2
GM: Matthew Hambley
Age Rating: Neutral (ages 12+)
Maximum Players: 6
Short Description: Hong-Kong, a city of a million people in enough space for a hundred thousand. The streets lousy with Triad gangs run amok.
Long Description: Brought together by their need to clean up these streets a disparate group of heroes find themselves visiting a museum.But what are the Triad here to steal and why?
Trigger Warnings: Action cinema.