Gamer

Session name:The Darkest Night
Session type:Con one-off
Game system:Call of Cthulhu
Number of players: 5+GM
Play resumè:The backstory: Our heroes are actors in a TV show called The Darkest Night. The lead role is Roman Drazyc, a vampire now working in service of the cause of good. Along with four helpers he travels the world saving the day. The show is in its third season, and the producer has a great idea for the season finale. A childhood friend of his owns an island with a old castle that has recently been refurbished and restored to serve as a hotel.

At the hotel, the cast will perform a ritual to bring a close friend of Roman's back to life, after he was murdered in the second to last show of the season. The result of the ritual is slated to be the first episode of season four.

The protagonists arrive at the island after a two-hour boatride and are taken to the hotel which is at the top of a cliff. The producer introduces them to Steven McKinley, the manager and owner of the hotel. They have lunch, after which the producer says that he and the crew need to prepare for the ritual scene, and that they should all meet in the hall at five o'clock.

At five o'clock, they meet in the hall, from where they are taken down to the basement. They arrive in a room which is dimly lit, with a lot of candles and a few spotlights so that there is enough light for the cameras. On the floor a pentagram with a lot of occult symbols is painted in blood, and the actors are given knives and latex fingertips filled with blood to pierce at the appropriate time in the ritual.

They perform the ritual, and when they cut their fingers, the knives prove to be a lot sharper than anticipated, and the protagonists pierce their skin, drawing blood. When the drops of blood hit the floor, a gust of wind blows through the room, extinguishing the lights. The spotlights go out for a moment, and when they come back on, the producer, Harry, smiles happily.

He seems very happy with the performance, and says that he and his wife, Diana, look forward to seeing them all at dinner at seven. When they meet for dinner, Diana isn't there, and Harry says that she isn't feeling well. One of the cameraguys is unwell as well, but everyone else is there. Dinner is uneventful, other than the fact that the soundguy retires with a queasy stomach about halfway through.

During the course of the night, a storm starts blowing, and keeps blowing throughout the rest of the adventure.

The next morning, the only ones showing up for breakfast are Harry and four of the actors. The rest of the crew are ill. Harry laughs nervously, but assures them that everything is well. Due to the weather, they are unable to step outside the hotel, and retire to their rooms. When they meet for lunch, Harry is missing too, and no-one answers the door.

Robert, who plays Roman, decides to see if the hotel shop has anything useful. The door being locked, he decides to crash through it with his shoulder, with the result that he pinches a nerve, leaving his right arm useless for the remainder of the adventure.

Robert seeks out the rest of the party, and they decide to go to the manager's office. On the way, Luc, who plays the beefcake of the show, grabs a halberd, and tosses a sword to Robert. When they pass Harry and Diana's room, the door creak open, showing Diana gnawing on her husband's innards. She looks up at them, and attacks with impressive speed.

After a brief scuffle, the party overpowers Diana, and continues towards the manager's office. On the way, they encounter Megan, their colleague who didn't show up for breakfast. She attacks them, but and pushes them almost all the way back to Harry and Diana's room before they overpower her too.

In the manager's office, they find a book, telling the story of the island. It turns out that the last lord of the island was called Azaol. He lived in the 16th century, and had a reputation for having a hankering for the occult. Rumours had it that he made a deal with the devil to get more power. At any rate, he terrorised the village, and after a while, the villagers tire.

The villagers attack the castle, kill Azaol and bury him in the basement. Even so, their troubles continue, and after three failed harvests in a row, they abandon the island. In the back cover of the book, they find a hidden document, detailing how to stop Azaol.

On the manager's computer, they find a file called Azaol, which details the ritual, though with a different translation than the script they were given had.

They head to the basement, where they find the manager, who looks at them with empty eye sockets. He stands in the middle of the pentagram, which looks like it's shining. After attacking him a few times, they pour liqour on the floor, lighting it on fire. The fire blazes for a little while, and then a gust of wind pushes the flames out of the room, into the hallway where the protagonists are standing, dealing damage to all of them.

Robert freaks out and runs up the stairs, only to be met by one of the crew, who attacks him, killing him instantly. At this point, Luc sacrifices himself, to stop Azaol and save the others.

Luckily for the two remaining actors, Heather and George, he succeeds, and they survive without further incident.

Jeg har planer om å starte en GURPS-kampanje, satt i den klassiske D&D-settingen Dragonlance.

Grunnplanene er i farta, og jeg tror det kan bli moro.

This list comes from Tyler at Held Action.

1. Half a footprint leads into the wall.
2. A loose brick with no mortar holding it in place.
3. A wall sconce is slightly askew of true.
4. An innocuous, if out of place, drain in the floor conceals the opening mechanism.
5. A semicircle drawn in the dust from by the dragging corner of a revolving panel.
6. A loose baseboard panel covers a latch.
7. The corner of a tapestry pokes out of the door frame.
8. Liquid or another fluid substance — i.e., melted wax, runs under the frame.
9. A fine coat of plaster dust signals a door to mocked up match the masonry.
10. The torch flame flickers, indicating a draft passing between stones in the wall.
11. The tip of some unlucky adventurer’s blade is wedged between the door and jamb — this secret door also only opens inward; it’ll take some shoving to move the last fellow’s body.
12. Scratches in the paint indicate the nearby bust’s nose rotates.
13. The chandelier overhead droops lower than the rest, as the gear to which it is attached has begun to slip through wear.
14. Light rapping suggests this section of wall is significantly less thick than that on either side.
15. The mural in which it is concealed shows the outline in the flaking in the pigment.
16. A rat hole at floor level leads into what should be sheer bedrock, by the map’s reckoning.
17. The halberd held by the decorative suit of armor resists being bumped a little too strongly, being attached to a pull chain in the floor.
18. The fountain built into the wall shows no sign of running water’s effect on its basin.
19. The wardrobe has no rear panel.
20. The gargoyle’s slightly wider left eye allows an adult-sized finger to push the catch hidden within.

Etter å ha gjort ingenting med L'esprit D'escalier på noen måneder, hadde jeg det med meg på Holmcon 6d6. Jeg var heldig nok å få med meg fire stykker som hadde lyst til å se hva jeg hadde fått til med konseptet. Etter å ha forklart konseptet, spilte vi en scene, så fikk jeg litt innspill, og så diskuterte vi litt frem og tilbake.

Det ble spilt en del scener, og vi kom fram til endel gode grep i spillmekanikken som gjør det bedre spillbart. I tillegg har jeg fått inn noen scener, og den delen av det hele er også på gang nå.

Siden jeg kom hjem har jeg skrevet tolv nye sider med innhold til spillet, og begynner å få en god følelse for det hele. Ny spilltestutgave er laget, og det hele begynner å se enda bedre ut enn før.

Tomas Mørkrid hadde med seg sitt nye konsept, lykke, der man spiller en rolle fra sen ungdomstid til den ene av dem dør. Med predefinerte roller og ingen spilleder satte vi i gang med å spille oss gjennom det som skulle bli en sterk historie om vennskap, kjærlighet, liv og død.

Hver omgang kastet den som styrte runden to d6, og antallet øyne bestemte hvor mange år eldre man ble. Så kunne man sette enten en stor scene, eller mange små. Fra tjue-årige fotballspillere og kompiser, til middelaldrende menn som fikk barn, til dødsleie til en av oss, spilte vi de store linjene, og noen av de små, som bygde opp våre liv.

Den siste scenen utspilte seg når en av oss kastet terningene så vi ble mer enn 60 år gamle. Martin valgte selv å være den som døde, og en var stund ved hans rolles dødsleie føltes både virkelig og sorgfylt.

Alt i alt var lykke et morsomt og interessant bekjentskap, og et jeg nok ikke sier nei til å stifte igjen ved en senere anledning.

Etter å ha spilt Drømmerenes Selskab på Hexcon, hadde jeg lyst til å se hva Matthijs hadde gjort av endringer siden den gang. En av de tingene jeg likte best var bruken av et slags Oujia-brett for å bestemme hva slags scene som skulle spilles ut. At vi lagde alternativer til rollene selv var også med på å skape eierskap til rollene på en helt annerledes måte.

Som gruppe var vi også i et annet mindset enn hva gruppen jeg spilte med på Hexcon var, og atmosfæren ble etterhvert svært ladet. Spesielt under Drømmedykket var spenningen til å ta og føle på.

Hele veien skapte vi historien sammen, og alle innspill ble vevet inn i vår felles oppfatning av verden. Den kollektive historiefortellingen ble dynamisk, spennende og morsom.

Drømmerenes Selskab var et artig bekjentskap for annen gang, og jeg gleder meg til tredje gang!

One world, one love.

One of the truly amazing things about human beings, is our endless capacity for compassion. We feel the pain when someone else are experiencing horrors such as the Haiti earthquake. For that alone, I knew I wanted to give money.

Add to that the fact that this bundle is going to be the best value for money item you will ever see, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do this.

Here's the thing, for the low, low price of $20 (which, incidentally, is doubled by DTRPG), you get more than $1400 worth of stuff, including 3:16, Dork Tower (Dork Convenant) and loads of other goodies.

The only thing that keeps this from getting top grades is the fact that although bought as a bundle, there's no way to download everything at once, as a single zip-file.

DriveThruRPG has the following offer. I've taken it, I suggest you do too!

Gamers, Let's band together and see how much we can raise to help the people of Haiti.

Donate $20 and get a coupon for over a thousand dollars in RPG titles. After you make the donation, you will receive the coupon code in your email. It will also be available in your order history.

A listing of the free products available with this coupon can be found on our Gamers Help Haiti page .

Add any of the products to your cart, and use the coupon on checkout. Any products that are part of the Haiti relief package will be discounted to $0.00.

Unfortunately the overwhelming generosity of the gaming community is hampering our ability to deliver the orders purchased with the bundle coupon to you. Your products will be safe in your order history, so if you could wait a day or two before downloading them, it would be much appreciated. Please contact us if you have any questions.

If each of us gave just $20, think of what kind of an impact we could make.

Funds raised will go to Doctors Without Borders Haiti Earthquake Response. Please see our homepage to watch our donation total as it rises in support of the Haitian people and their community.

Help us spread the word on Facebook and Twitter! If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, post the following: Gamers Help Haiti! Join with other gamers & donate now: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_info.php?products_id=78023&it=1

For more information about the earthquake and Doctors Without Borders, visit:
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

2009 saw me playing a lot of fun RPG sessions. Here are my five favorites:

1. Dogs in the Vineyard at Hexcon 2009
2. Vi hadde navn at Dialogtreff 2009
3. Call of Cthulhu - Rachel West's Vengeance at Arcon 2009
4. Orcs and Cowboys, a campaign I'm playing
5. The Extra-Ordinary Adventures of Baron von Munchhausen at LG2's Annual meeting

Here's the introduction I have written up for my character Francis Brown, in Cowboys and Orcs

---

M'name's Francis, but everyone calls me Frankie. I've spent most of my life in the backwater town known as Hillgrove. About fifteen years ago, my pa was shot and crippled by a no-good ruttin sumbitch bastard. On'y way we've survived, my pa, my ma and me, is 'cause we had some money saved up, an' my ma's real handy with a needle. She'll sow you up anything you want, as neat as you could wish for, an' quality too!

Now, my pa, he was a farmhand, an' I reckon I'd be one too, if'n he hadn't got hisself shot. I mean, when you see your pa shot so's he can never again do an honest day's work in the fields, well, I reckon it'll take summat outta yeh. Sure did me. Seems to have put summat in aswell though, cos', as luck would have it, shootin' jes' seemed to came nat'rally to me, y'know what I mean? Guns, well, I jes' always knew how to handle'em, an' myself in a gunfight, come to tha'. Have done, on more'n one occasion as well.

I's got two revolvers, real beauties, one called Jessica, the other'n Jennifer. Then I's got my rifle, a real nifty li'l thing I call Elizabeth. I always carry at least two knives, a dagger and a largeish huntin' knife. The huntin' knife's got a notch on the handle for each man I's taken down. It's coming up on a fair few now. Never started the fight, mind, an' the law's always come down in my support, so don't you go gettin' no ideas now.

A while back, my buddy from way back, Jochen came back to town. I was outta town on business, and came back jes' in time fer 'is funeral. They say the guy's got'im 'ad a huge tumble-barreled gun. He was taken down tho, but a goblin wi' a freakish four-barrelled rifle was in the guy's posse. I reckon that if'n I ever lay eyes on'im, I'll 'ave ter avne ... avern ... get my own back from'im.