Darran Sims

This is where my Supernatual HeroQuest games takes place tomorrow at Dragonmeet 2009.
I am in the Upper Foyer right near the lifts.
The game runs from 14:30 until 18:00.

Just who will survive at the end?
The Winchester Brothers? Bobby? Will Ruby get dusted? Will Bela get the loot?

0 Dragonmeet 2009. Kensington Town Hall, London, UK.
Saturday 28th November 2009.
http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/

This is the HeroQuest game I am running at Dragonmeet 2009.



'Cropcircles and Lights Out' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Supernatural: HeroQuest 2.0 adventure for 5 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.
Based on the TV series.

"Police reports are coming in from Fulton County, Georgia of cars driving at night without their headlights on. When helpful members of the public flash their lights in courtesy to warn the drivers they become victims to the drivers.
All that seems to be left are the abandoned cars with their headlights smashed out. No trace of the occupants have been found. Forensic reports do confirm that the blood found in the broken headlights is canine, not human.
Are these incidents related to the gang tags found in the recent spate of crop circles that also plague the area?"

So I have designed some character sheets for my up coming Supernatural HeroQuest game.
I went for a police report look, finding a real letterhead for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation plus Georgia court stamps on the web was good.
The mug-shots were hard to do as I had to make up the ones for Bobby, Ruby and Bela, photoshopping the height chart behind them.
Getting the information for the police report was hard as well - date of births for the two main characters of the show was available but it was harder to get info on the others. Some I just had to make up but most info was from the actors themselves.
I then added some more polaroids of items tied to the characters for more genre flavour.

The final touch was using a pentagram symbol in place of the mastery rune - again very genre specific that I thinks adds to the game.


Sam Winchester




( See more Supernatural Character sheets... )

0 Furnace 2009. The Garrison Hotel, Sheffield. UK
Saturday 10th - Sunday 11th October 2009.
http://www.rpgfurnace.com/

Here are my HeroQuest games I am running at Furnace 2009 later this year.

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'Street Urchins of Ancient Pavis' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Mythic Glorantha: HeroQuest 2.0 adventure for up to 6 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Abandoned by Family, Ancestors and the City itself, the street urchins have a very hard existence in the shattered remains of Ancient Pavis. They live on the discarded scraps from the city dwellers and *other* denizens of the Rubble, a place where life is very, very cheap.
The only future they have to look forward to is a quick death somewhere in the unforgiving ruins of this once splendid city.
The River Flock has a nice hidey-hole under the Sculpture Garden, a safe haven in this deadly world. Yet many of the street urchins are turning up dead, their bodies discarded.
Now a stranger in red is poking around the upper entrance.
Just what is he after and is he responsible for the deaths of the other urchins?"

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'Cropcircles and Lights Out' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Supernatural: HeroQuest 2.0 adventure for 5 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Police reports are coming in from Fulton County, Georgia of cars driving at night without their headlights on. When helpful members of the public flash their lights in courtesy to warn the drivers they become victims to the drivers.
All that seems to be left are the abandoned cars with their headlights smashed out. No trace of the occupants have been found. Forensic reports do confirm that the blood found in the broken headlights is canine, not human.
Are these incidents related to the gang tags found in the recent spate of crop circles that also plague the area?"

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Posted from the Moon Design Development Blog, vingkot .


Moon Design is proud to announce that the HeroQuest Core Rules are now available for sale from www.glorantha.com or www.heroquest-rpg.com!

You can directly order copies of the new HeroQuest Core Rules book and download pdfs from the website. We regret to inform you that our current eCommerce vendors do not support bundles of books and pdfs. We are exploring options to fix that in the future but until then, comfort yourself with the knowledge that the money will be going to make sure we have more money to pay for art and writers!

BTW, we are still working out the kinks with Plimus (our PDF vendor). If it takes a little while for you to get an email with the download link - be patient. They are still checking to make sure that we aren't some sort of nefarious international outfit! The first dozen or so PDF downloaders are likely to get some initial weirdness (for example, you may get a phone call from Plimus just to make sure that you really ordered the PDF). Just be patient and we will make sure that you will get your PDF!

But without any further ado:

Anything you can imagine, you can play…

HeroQuest is the innovative, dynamic, and flexible rules engine by Robin Laws, suitable for play in any genre or setting. It present a simple and flexible system that allows Game Masters to make decisions the way authors and screenwriters do when creating novels, TV episodes and movies. HeroQuest encourages creative input from your players, resulting in an exciting, unpredictable narrative created through group collaboration. Its resolution methods and scalable character levels make it equally suited for any genre, from epic fantasy to satirical soap opera. Whether your next game idea draws on horror, war, westerns, martial arts, pulps, cyberpunk, cliff-hangers, giant robots, super-powered heroes, space opera, cop action, corporate intrigue, furry animals, swashbuckling adventure, Greek tragedy or even drawing room comedy, HeroQuest can handle it! You can even use HeroQuest to emulate a musical – although it won’t do the singing or dancing for you.

Completely rewritten by the Robin Laws, this new edition opens and details running the core system for any genre.

What’s in this book?

This book contains everything needed for play:

• Character Creation – describe your character and get playing in minutes.
• Overcoming Obstacles – handling conflict, be it with swords, words, magic, superpowers, guns or armies.
• Playing Stories – how to vividly run your adventures in engaging and creative ways.
• Narrating - the secrets for balancing the give and take between narrators and players.
• Followers and Support – how your sidekick, followers, horde, army or community help you.
• Creating Genres – details for creating and detailing your game world.
• Gaming in Glorantha - a separate section on applying this system to Glorantha.
• Quick Reference – so you don’t have to hunt for the information you really need.

However, the new HeroQuest Core Rules are not the only new thing for sale on the new and upgraded glorantha.com website! We will have much of the Stafford Library up and for sale in both book form and as downloadable pdfs, including:

• Glorious Reascent of Yelm - THE Dara Happan background book
• Arcane Lore - Greg's notes on the development of his thoughts concerning heroquesting and Gloranthan magic
• The Middle Sea Empire - THE background book for the God Learners and the Jrusteli Empire
• History of the Heortling Peoples - THE background book for the Orlanthi of Sartar and Heortland, as well as the Arkat Wars, Harmast and the EWF

We will also have a number of older books back in print and for sale in both book form and as downloadable pdfs, including:

• Dragon Pass: Gazetteer of Kerofinela
  
• Imperial Lunar Handbook, volumes 1 and 2
  
• Blood Over Gold
  
• Men of the Sea
  
• Masters of Luck and Death
  

With the exception of Dragon Pass: Gazetteer of Kerofinela (which is statless), these books were written for First Edition HeroQuest but can easily be retrofitted for the new HeroQuest Core Rules.

Check out the website and maybe buy yourself a book or download. Or two. Or three (or four, five, six or more!)

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of heavy game criticism,
Or to take arms against a sea of system backlash,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
Of a lack of players, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream of a great home group: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of no games to GM what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off to a convention for games?

So I am having a little bit of a crisis at the moment as far as my GMing games goes. I seem to have lost faith with my ability to GM at conventions as I have fallen under some heavy criticism

I am really struggling to keep my home group together. I have had some excellent players join over the last couple of years yet they seem to find excuses when to next session is scheduled not to come.
Now I am a good host – I provide a cooked meal and snacks as well as a full fridge of drinks [beer and soft drinks], I run a reasonable game with a good story, I am well organised with nice maps and handouts. The setting is fairly cool though I do know that many people do have an issue with Glorantha as a setting.

I do also know that many people dislike the HeroQuest system, but I didn’t expect it to the point that several people have condemned my games on the RPG con circuit here in the UK. This is just not an attack on HeroQuest but my games in general. Now it could be just rumours but having heard this from two different sources is troubling. Bad-mouthing my games seems a little bit cruel and vindictive and the rumours are appearing to spread by word-of-mouth.

It is now getting to the point that I may have to give up GMing games at conventions all together.
I plan to run a few HeroQuest games at Tentacles Omega, a RPG convention that takes place in Germany at the end of May this year, and get some detailed feedback from those games.

I may just attend less RPG conventions in future; I’ll just concentrate on help organising some conventions that I am involved with instead.
At Furnace I'll not run any games for instance.

I am just not sure what else to do?

0 Tentacles Omega 2009. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.
Friday 28th May - Monday 1st June 2009.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/


Here are my games that I'll be running at Tentacles Omega.

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'Street Urchins of Ancient Pavis' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Mythic Glorantha: HeroQuest 2.0 adventure for up to 6 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Abandoned by Family, Ancestors and the City itself, the street urchins have a very hard existence in the shattered remains of Ancient Pavis. They live on the discarded scraps from the city dwellers and *other* denizens of the Rubble, a place where life is very, very cheap.
The only future they have to look forward to is a quick death somewhere in the unforgiving ruins of this once splendid city.
The River Flock has a nice hidey-hole under the Sculpture Garden, a safe haven in this deadly world. Yet many of the street urchins are turning up dead, their bodies discarded.
Now a stranger in red is poking around the upper entrance.
Just what is he after and is he responsible for the deaths of the other urchins?"

+



'Cropcircles and Lights Out' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Supernatural: HeroQuest 2.0 adventure for 5 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Police reports are coming in from Fulton County, Georgia of cars driving at night without their headlights on. When helpful members of the public flash their lights in courtesy to warn the drivers they become victims to the drivers.
All that seems to be left are the abandoned cars with their headlights smashed out. No trace of the occupants have been found. Forensic reports do confirm that the blood found in the broken headlights is canine, not human.
Are these incidents related to the gang tags found in the recent spate of crop circles that also plague the area?"

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"Winters Warriors" by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Mythic Glorantha: HeroQuest 2.0 adventure for up to 6 players.
Newcomers Welcome.

"As initiates of Inora, Goddess of the Mountain Snow, normally you are on the fringes of society as solitary hunters or warriors of the mountains. But now Orlanth is Dead! The land is locked in winter. Suddenly the 'Winter Warriors' are require to save the clan and its tula in the mountains. The dangers of winter are magnifed as ice demons roam the peaks, snowfall cuts off all the lodges and the food stocks are running low. On top of that vast columns of smoke rise from the flat lands and they are getting closer and closer. Villages are being burnt down and destroyed.
Are the Lunars responsible?
Can the winter warriors stop their advance?"

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Con Gaming Advice

First off running games at conventions is a massive challenge. With the players who sign-up for your game you do not know who you’ll get, if you get any players at all. However it is also the most rewarding and most enjoyable way of running games in my opinion. I run games [almost non-stop] at six RPG conventions a year and I can safely say I have run games for the cream of UK role-players.

( Read more advice... )

 0 Conception 2009. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK. 
Wednesday 28th January - Sunday 1st February 2009. 
http://www.conception...

Here are my games that I'll be running at Conception 2009.

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Thursday 09:00 – 13:00 Slot 2
'Street Urchins of Ancient Pavis' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims. 
Glorantha: HeroQuest adventure for 6 players. 
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred. 

"Abandoned by Family, Ancestors and the City itself, the street urchins have a very hard existence in the shattered remains of Ancient Pavis. They live on the discarded scraps from the city dwellers and *other* denizens of the Rubble, a place where life is very, very cheap. 
The only future they have to look forward to is a quick death somewhere in the unforgiving ruins of this once splendid city. 
The River Flock has a nice hidey-hole under the Sculpture Garden, a safe haven in this deadly world. Yet many of the street urchins are turning up dead, their bodies discarded.
Now a stranger in red is poking around the upper entrance. 
Just what is he after and is he responsible for the deaths of the other urchins?"

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Friday 19:00 – 23:00 Slot 7
'Cropcircles and Lights Out' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims. 
Supernatural: HeroQuest adventure for 5 players. 
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred. 

"Police reports are coming in from Fulton County, Georgia of cars driving at night without their headlights on. When helpful members of the public flash their lights in courtesy to warn the drivers they become victims to the drivers.
All that seems to be left are the abandoned cars with their headlights smashed out. No trace of the occupants have been found. Forensic reports do confirm that the blood found in the broken headlights is canine, not human.
Are these incidents related to the gang tags found in the recent spate of crop circles that also plague the area?"

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Saturday 09:00 - 13:00 Slot 8
'Rocks and Hard Places' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims. 
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players. 
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred. 

"Why do my gorram jobs never go smooth? 
So we’re on a scavenger hunt in the biggest scrap yard in the ‘verse.
Gettin’ to the place was slow and troublesome, gettin’ past the guards was a flip and findin’ the needle in the haystack was shiny.
The trouble is we have competition for our prize and our rivals ain’t playing fair. 
Also the boss, a particular Crime Lord with his own Skyplex and a very nasty rep, ain’t happy with us either.
To top that there seems to be another bunch of Feds on our tail and we’re stuck - a certain turn of phase come to mind."

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Sunday 15:00 – 19:00 Slot 12
'We are the Boys...' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims. 
Dad's Army: HeroQuest adventure for 6 players. 
Newcomers very welcome. [im-]Maturity preferred. 

"Excuse me, er, attention men. If you kindly all fall in, that would be rather nice. Thank you."
"Right men, GHQ has organised a series of military exercises, under the watchful eyes of Colonel Pritchard, to test the Walmington-on-Sea platoon’s ‘fighting fitness’ and to see if we can use diverse tactics and strategies in the field. 
"Well, that is a given of course with my experience, but there is a little nuisance in that we are paired off against the Eastgate platoon. We must deal with their Colonel Blimp mentality..."
"His name is Captain Square, a Rotarian you know?"
"Thank you Wilson!
"Well men, I think that you will not let me down? Corporal Jones get the platoon to fall out. Wilson, WILSON come with me!"

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I have just undergone a small crisis recently with some players of my group not happy with the game system I am running. Now I must admit that I do *really* like HeroQuest, and the new version of the rules for the most part have improved the game to me no end.
I did go through a bit of self examination but by the end of it I was still happy with what I am doing though I have taken some steps to see if I can improve my GMing techniques. I think that I have to be a bit harsher and put the PCs at risk a lot more.

The best thing for me was to run another good game - I did that yesterday and not only did I have a good time but my players were very happy.

 

I ran my 'Winter Warriors' HeroQuest 2.0 playtest game for my brother, my sister and even my wife joined in.
I usually get the players to create their own characters for this game as art of the playtest but as our time was a little bit limited I allowed them to pick from the characters already created in previous playtests. Most of them are excellent characters and offer great opportunity for role-playing.
They picked their characters and got playing, enjoying the setting of the Fimblewinter and stepping up to be the BIG heroes.
It went very well as all the players were trying to work out what was going on and my wife got quite blood-thirsty attacking the Lunar Sorcerer with gusto!

So I am feeling much better about myself and my games and look forward to running a new Firefly game at Dragonmeet 2008 and getting a load of games ready for Conception 2009.

0 Dragonmeet 2008. Kensington Town Hall, London, UK.
Saturday 29th November 2008.
http://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/

He's my game that might run depending on the Seminar timetable:



'Rocks and Hard Places' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Why do my gorram jobs never go smooth?
So we’re on a scavenger hunt in the biggest scrap yard in the ‘verse.
Gettin’ to the place was slow and troublesome, gettin’ past the guards was a flip and findin’ the needle in the haystack was shiny.
The trouble is we have competition for our prize and our rivals ain’t playing fair.
Also the boss, a particular Crime Lord with his own Skyplex and a very nasty rep, ain’t happy with us either.
To top that there seems to be another bunch of Feds on our tail and we’re stuck - a certain turn of phase come to mind."

So I have been playing and running HeroQuest [and Hero Wars before it] since the turn of the century. 
I have ran it at home, at clubs, at game meets and at RPG Conventions and not just set in Glorantha [the default setting at the moment] but also converted to Firefly, Dad's Army, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes.

I am a one system kinda guy.
I am very happy with HeroQuest, I can run it fairly well and I just love the way it allows me to convert to different settings yet keep the flavour of the setting intact. 
I also love non-stat characters. I like being able to make up characters as they are without any compromises to the concept.  

Trouble is two of my players in my home group have just let me know that they do not like it, nor the setting of Glorantha.
They like my GM style and would like to have me run games for them - just not with HeroQuest.
I had to cancel my last session as no one could make it though normally my brother and sister are able to. I also have a few players out of town that would love to join my games and sometimes they can make it. My last session was a complete blast as I had to run the game in two sittings as I had too many players.


So is there another game system out there that would suit me and the two players?

Should I try to run something new or should I stick with what I use and say good-bye to the two players and keep the others players still?

So I ran the next instalment of my Air & Motion campaign yesterday using the new HeroQuest 2.0 rules.

Most of my regular players were unable to attend this time due to Real Life getting in the way, which is a shame, but fortunately my brother Russell was able to attend still and I got two brand new players to corrupt!
The first new player is Rob, who knows the setting of Glorantha well having played RuneQuest in the past, attended past Convulsions/Continuum conventions as well as having GMed Hero Wars back when it first came out. He read all my background notes I have posted up on the internet and wrote out his 100 words for my in advance for his character. Marvellous!
The second new player is my baby sister Amy [not that much of a baby as she has a child of her own], and she hasn’t even played a role-playing game before, never mind HeroQuest.
So all three of my players are new to the latest system, though two have some experience of Glorantha.



The players Rob, Amy and Russell.


I had updated Russell’s character sheet by removing all abilities associated with keywords out so he was just left with keywords as direct abilities [occupation, homeland, clan, and religion], abilities derived from his 100 words and any abilities he brought or spent points on during play. Magic wise, he still had his three Rune Affinities derived from his Yinkin religion keyword as I removed all listed feats. The character was a devotee at the start of the campaign but has now been demoted to an initiate [barely as well!].

Making Rob’s character was a little bit easier as he had a good solid 100 words written. Again I gave him his keywords as direct abilities so he had his homeland, clan, occupation, and religion down. I managed to pull quite a few abilities out of his 100 words so he had plenty to draw on. His character wanted to become a Devotee of Orlanth; it was part of his 100 words and a good clear goal as well as being a direct ability. Note this is to worship Orlanth directly, no minor sub-cults getting in the way. I gave him the Runes of Storm, Mobility and Hunting; Storm because he is an Orlanthi male and they get that automatically, Mobility due to him wanting to worship Orlanth at a higher level and Hunting as his occupation is a hunter anyway. Rob was happy with them even though I did give him the choice of changing them.

I was toying with the idea of giving Amy a pre-generated character but I decided against it with it being her first role-play experience. Instead I went for ‘As-You-Go’ character generation, as that would allow Amy to have her own character as well as keeping it simple for her without piling on all the information at once. It would also allow us all to start the game without having to wait to do all the character generation first.

First I wanted her to think of a character concept, something simple but with enough to build on with more detail later. I gave her a few examples and then got Russell and Rob to introduce their characters to give Amy an idea what she could do. Amy wanted to have her character to be a witch, to be a magic user. I asked if she wanted to evoke spirits or to emulate the acts of a goddess directly? “Oh emulating the goddess directly please!”
So I tried to think of an Earth Goddess that would be suitable. “Could I make earthquakes and throw rocks about?” asked Amy. Maran Gor it is then!
I was a little bit shocked as Amy didn’t know anything about Glorantha at all and yet picked quite a dark goddess, one that isn’t normally one worshipped by player characters. I thought, hell lets run with it as that might be fun and would certainly be something different, a Maran Gor worshipping player character would be fun.
I gave Amy a list of runes with descriptions; I said her first rune would have to an Earth Rune anyway as the character was a female from Orlanthi society and they always have the Earth Rune. However she could pick her other two runes. With a little help from the others she picked the Disorder Rune and the Magic Rune.
With that we came up with her character’s name, Platonia Earthshaker based on the plate tectonics of earthquakes. Good eh?
Everything else about her character would be added later.

With that we were good to go and start the game.


Me in action!



I started slowly to ease the new players into it and started with a murder mystery. After that it changed genre and moved to a CSI investigation, then a black comedy, a soap opera, a farce, a tactical battle, a gritty horror and then back again! A nice spread and a good game.

One of the better aspects of the game was the quicker augments. No bean counting and shopping lists of augments now that slow down the game. Also the new extended contest work well. They are a lot quicker and there is not that strange shift into a gambling system that brings the game to a halt that the old system had.

All the players had a great time, it’s good that the new player enjoyed the game, Amy even sent me a text this morning to say what a fun game and “when are we playing again?”
A new convert me thinks?

What scares me though is that me and my brother have been role-playing for over twenty-seven years, longer than my sister has been around.



I hope to get the podcast up soon so you’ll be able to hear how it went.

Here is the home settlement of the White Rams Clan, called Swiny, the player characters home base.



It is quite unusual, as it has round houses based of the Storm Rune instead of the common square or rectangle long-houses the Orlanthi normally have. Only the Loom House, the main domain of the clan's women is built the more common way.
The large roundhouse is the chief's hall and in the centre is a local spring, the main source of water for the settlement.
The defences are the cliff on the western side, eight foot high dry stone walls, a steep walkway, gate tower and watch tower. Earthworks are raised further out from the settlement in two rings, the inner ring protects the settlement itself and the outer ring protects the farmland and is topped by a palisade wall.

We, as a committee are proud to announce an exclusive limited edition for Continuum 2008 of the boardgame game 'Trollball: This is NOT a Fair Game!'.

Lovingly crafted by Grégory Privat, with some fantastic illustrations by Rolland Barthelemy, this is the beautiful game.

There will be a very limited number on sale at the convention only so check out the Continuum trade stand.

Hey ! This is CONTINUUM 2008 ! And this is the second edition of the game... already ! I was so surprised when the CONTINUUM team asked me to make this new edition that I tried to temper their enthusiasm : I failed.
This edition features two new teams : The Committee and The Guests. Colin Driver has worked with me on their statistics.
So here we are : It’s a convention game. Conceived at Continuum, born at Tentacles, raised at Chimeriade, released at Tentacles and now released again at Continuum !
Now : go play !
Grégory Privat

This is NOT a Fair Game!

THE GLORANTHAN ARMY is proud to release Trollball—"This is NOT a fair game", the Second Edition Continuum 2008 Convention fund-raiser boardgame!

Trollball is a game much like American football—the goal is to get the (live) portion of the ball (a trollkin) across the goal line. The athletes are allowed Weapons and giants act as referees, literally kicking players out of the game.

Each game is numbered. Quantities are limited.

The game is based on the original Trollball rules found in the Trollpack role-playing supplement for Glorantha. It uses the rules system developed for the Tentacles 2007 Trollball Worldcup.

Designed by Gregory Privat, illustrated by Rolland Barthelemy.
Components: 1 full colour rule book, 1 HUGE game board (a bit more than 60 cm by 120 cm), colour cardboard miniatures depicting the eight teams plus the two bonus teams in the game, colour counters, players sheets.
Price: TBC.

 

0 Continuum 2008. John Foster Hall, Leicester University. UK.
Friday 1st - Monday 4th August 2008.
http://www.continuum.uk.net


To all freeform fans,

The Continuum Freeform sign up has gone live today 24th June 2008.
There are six games (one running twice) for you to play in.

http://grahamrobinson.com/freeforms

1) BEST OF THE WURST
"It is Friday the 13th of November 1942. You are in Occupied Brittany, in the sleepy town of Quimper, near Brest.

In the Castle Quimper Hotel, a Sausage-tasting competition is being arranged, ably supported by eminent Charcutières and the hotel staff.
There is a buzz in the air, as a very important guest is anticipated by all present."

BASIC INFORMATION
A Game for 9 Players
Saturday 10am-12pm
Entrance Fee £2.00

2) CARRY ON AT CAMP DAVID
Carry on at Camp David is set at Camp David, the US President's official rural retreat. President David Nixody has broken off trade negotiations to hold a reception in honour of astronaut Buzz Leapyear who is to be presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is a relaxed, informal occasion, and the speeches are expected to be kept short.

BASIC INFORMATION
Number of players: 18 (5 female, 11 male, 2 gender-neutral)
Saturday 8pm-11pm
Entrance Fee £2.00

3) DIAMOND GEEZERS
"The Millennium Dome was raided earlier today by an intrepid armed gang, who used a JCB to break in and steal the De Beers diamonds worth an estimated 220 million pounds. They escaped by speedboat up the Thames."

"If you have any information as to their whereabouts call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."

The governor Mr Jackson told you to come to meet him early at the lock up, because you're the only one he trusts, but when you got there he was brown bread. Who killed him, who will take over the gang, and most importantly where's the bloody loot?

From the same stable as Farewell Father Ted this short and potentially rather silly game gives you the chance to release your inner East London Gangster.

Game Duration 1 and 1/2 hours, a must for people wishing to try this hobby.

BASIC INFORMATION
This game requires 6 Males and 3 Female players
Sunday 10am-12pm
Entrance Fee £2

4) EVIL HIGH PRIEST II
Tired of goody-two-shoes investigators thwarting your plans to bring on a New Dark Age? Get annoyed when smarmy so-called "heroes" break up your sacrificial rites? No more! Because it's time for EVIL HIGH PRIEST – the LARP where you are the enemy! The stars are right! The spheres clash as horror looms. Humanity is doomed.

All players are awful horrible villains attending the final Grand Conventicle to determine Earth's fate. Play Wilbur Whateley, the High Priest of Leng, the Shoggoth, or Great Cthulhu himself in a darkly humorous game of the Old One's final triumph!

A Game for 31 Players
Duration 6 Hours
1-7pm on Saturday
Entrance Fee £5.00

5) MURDER AT THE GREYDOG INN
The Greydog Inn is heaving. Couples flirt, warriors boast, merchants barter, Lunars and Orlanthi glower at each other over their mead.
Just another typical night. But death walks the darkness, and foul murder is uncovered. The clan honour has been tarnished, and the guilty must be found before the killer strikes again...

"Murder at the Greydog Inn" is a 16 player, 3 hour freeform for 16 players. Written by Graham Robinson.

This event is running twice.
Saturday 9am-12pm
Sunday 9.30am-12.30pm
Entrance Fee £2

6) SURVIVORS OF THE NARONIC
February 11, 1893. In the freezing waters of the mid-Atlantic, the survivors of the SS Naronic await their fate. Despite its being less than a year old, their vessel has sunk in mysterious circumstances. The occupants of its lifeboats have little chance of lasting the night.

The survivors will be rescued, but by a craft thought destroyed and a Captain believed dead. The legend who claims to be 'no man' has saved them for now, but has set course for an erupting volcano.

Sped beneath the seas in a marvel of modern engineering, the SS Naronic's passengers and crew will find themselves in an extraordinary adventure that takes them to an outpost of a vanished civilisation...and perhaps beyond.

Survivors of the Naronic is a rip-roaring game of Victorian adventure and intrigue set in a universe slightly more interesting than our own. The game is inspired by the works of Jules Verne, Maurice Leblanc and others.

In our more mundane world, the Naronic was carrying a crew of cattlemen. In this reality, however, its passengers are European luminaries: Scientists, Celebrities, Scoundrels and Heroes. All have their secret goals and agendas. There will be Bartitsu.

The game last 3-4 Hours approximately.
24 Players
Sunday 2pm-6pm
Entrance Fee £5

All games can be signed up at http://grahamrobinson.com/freeforms

Please note GM's will inform you of receipt of your sign up. They will be casting in a couple of weeks, you will be notified if you are in a game at that point. Only people who have registered to come to the Convention can sign up for Freeforms, please do not waste time registering for games if you are not registered.

Fees are payable on arrival at Continuum and will be added to you bill.

Wild,Wild,Wild,Wild West Freeform

Please note this is a closed game, invitation only which has been sanctioned as by the Committee as part of the wedding celebrations of Jeff Richard and Claudia Loroff. All invites have been issued. There are no places remaining. Please do not contact Jeff or the Committee about this event, unless you have a personal invite. We know this may annoy some guests, but these are special circumstances agreed by committee.

The third part is now up on the site!

Air & Motion HeroQuest Campaign Part 3

So I am only playing one game at Continuum 2008, "It's a Wild, Wild, Wild, Wild West", as I will be too busy to do anything else as I will be helping running the convention.


Brad Dourif as Doc Cochran.


Me as Doc Cochran.


Full Length pic.

The second part is now uploaded to my website at One Man and his Dice HeroQuest: Air & Motion Campaign

0 Continuum 2008. John Foster Hall [also known as New Hall], Leicester University. UK.
Friday 1st - Monday 4th August 2008.
http://www.continuum.uk.net

Continuum 2008 is a three day convention for 250+ attendees held in a modern conference centre at the University of Leicester Halls of Residence, Oadby, Leicester, UK.
Freeforms, Call of Cthulhu, HeroQuest, RuneQuest, BRP, Savage Worlds, Indie games, and plenty of other game systems will be played at this convention.

A colour Convention Book will be produced and given free to all attendees on arrival.
As well as information on the convention, venue and games programmes there will be articles on gaming and role-playing.

We are looking for contributions for this year's Convention Book, whether it is artwork, maps, articles, non-player characters, scenarios, encounters, gaming or GMing advice, settings, stories or anything else you can think of.

We can not pay you but all contributors will receive the heartfelt thanks from the Continuum Committee, the joy of seeing their work in print and a free copy of the Con Book.

All copyright of any material we use in the book remains the authors or artists, so you can use it again elsewhere.

If you can send all submissions to darransims AT googlemail DOT com.

Thank you for your time.

Here are my games that I’ll be running at Tentacles Déjà Vu, Catle Stahleck, Germany on Friday 9th - Monday 12th May 2008.

A centrepiece part of the convention in the form of a multi-player Freeform game as well as three different HeroQuest games – one Gloranthan, one a Firefly plus Alien: Resurrection hybrid and one based on the Sit-Com Dad’s Army  [the HeroQuest games are under the cut].

 

Gloranthan Freeform

This game draws upon one of the oldest stories of the Holy Country and an on going theme of Gloranthan mythos , the Tournamet of Luck and Death. Even before the game RuneQuest, there has always been the Masters of Luck and Death, mooted as a boardgame, It has also been the title of TWO Gloranthan supplements and the official name for the HeroQuest demonstration team.

Now it is back, using Greg Stafford’s original notes as reference as well as a strong hint of <<cough!>> X Factor.

I am really looking forward to running this with Simon and Colin though this is only the second time I have ran a freeform game. Freeforms seem to run very well in Germany. It most be the fact we actually play inside A CASTLE!

 

 

+

 

'The Masters of Luck and Death'

by Simon Bray, Colin Driver and Darran Sims

A Gloranthan Freeform Game.

 

The God-King is dying, his corporeal body falls into decay, but do not fear - instead rejoice!

From across the Holy Country come the greatest heroes of the land, fiery warriors from Caladraland, wise earth-women of Esrolia, stormy and passionate Heortlings, sea-blessed islanders of Pelaskos, the soulless sorcerers of God Forgot and the dark and brooding trolls of the Shadow Plateau. Each comes to take part in the greatest challenge in all Glorantha, a series of contests, trials and quests that stretch across this blessed land. They shall be watched by the God-King's fearsome judges and tested by their gods, friends and enemies alike. The victor will receive ascension to the hero plane - they will be worshipped and loved, whilst their useless flesh shall give the glorious God-King new life. So come one, come all to the Masters of Luck and Death!

 

( HeroQuest games under the Cut... )

 

 

 

 Serenity/Firefly:HeroQuest game on Saturday 8th March 2008

As part of The East Midlands Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group March Monthly Meeting I will be running one of my Serenity:HeroQuest games as detailed below. The meet up starts at 13:00 on Saturday 8th March 2008 at the Brunswick Inn, right next to the Derby Railway Station.
Anyone interested should reply or PM me.

The Brunswick Inn
1 Railway Terrace, Derby, DE1 2RU.


“Money, money, money!”


“I got the Gatling gun!”


Serenity/Firefly:HeroQuest.
The game is based on the series FireFly and the film Serenity by Buffy's Joss Whedon. The crew will be the crew of The Betty from Alien: Resurrection; Joss Whedon's first stab at a misfit crew of smugglers onboard an old, broken-down ship. Each game is a one shot with pre-gen characters. There are seven player characters and the game should last four hours.





+

Saturday 8th March 2008 @ 14:00.
'Dead Reckoning' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Feh Feh Pi Goh! This job should have been shiny!
Here we are floating in the black about to make a move on the 'verse's easiest mark, a Research & Rescue vessel doing 'science' well away from civilisation. The Guay Tuh Guay Nown patron said it would be like taking candy from a baby.
"Just don't use sensors as you approach," he said, "use dead reckoning to get in close."
Not only have we just seen what they are actually doing the 'science' on but we have just learnt who the Lao Buhn is who is bankrolling this caper.
A certain Crime Lord with his own Skyplex and a very nasty rep.
Dead Reckoning indeed!"

+

Past reports of the other games

For a report on August's game click here and and for September's game click here for details of this months game and RSPV click here.
_________________

0 Conception 2008. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK.
Wednesday 30th January - Sunday 3rd February 2008.
http://www.conceptionuk.org/

These are my games that I am running at Conception 2008.

HeroQuest:Heroes
Using some of the cast of the TV show Heroes as player characters set right after where season 1 ends this game debuts at Conception 2008. This setting was voted the winner in a poll here, beating Ultraviolet [the Channel 4 TV Series], The Shield [The channel 5 TV series], Battlestar Galactica [the new TV series], More and newer episodes of Sereinty/Firefly, and some old fashioned Glorantha gaming.




Slot 3 - Thursday 10:00 - 14:00
'Double Ascension' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
A Heroes HeroQuest adventure for 5 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

With Nathan’s self sacrifice to save the city, Peter gone for good and Matt taken to hospital in an ambulance; the survivors look to one another amongst the aftermath of Kirby Plaza. With the remnants of the nuclear explosion drifting down on New York City, in the sudden dark after the brightness of day, there hangs a question.
A blood trail leads to an open manhole cover and the body of the boogeyman is missing.
All that is left in the wake are a few scribbled sketches of what has past, what is and what is yet to come.
So why does everybody feel that they are being watched?

+


Serenity/FireFly: HeroQuest
These are games based on the series FireFly and the film Serenity by Buffy's Joss Whedon. The player characters will be the crew of The Betty from Alien: Resurrection; Joss Whedon's first stab at a misfit crew of smugglers onboard an old, broken-down ship.



The first game, 'Echoes in the Black', has been run twenty times now at various conventions and has always been over-subscribed.

The sequel, 'The Quick and the Dead', has only been run seven times and has now been extended with extra dilemmas.

The second sequel [or is that threequel?] debuted at Conception 2007 and has only been ran once more at Dragonmeet 2007. I am running it again especially for Conception 2008. 'Dead Reckoning' is the third in the series of Serenity:HeroQuest games and is completely brand new [though certain parts of the plot my be similar to the other games!]. It still uses the crew of The Betty but puts them in more perilous and immoral situations. Included with more silly props!

Debuted at Furnace 2007 and only ran once so is completely new is the fourth in the series called 'No Power in the 'verse'. This is payback time and the Alliance and Blue Sun will suffer when the crew of The Betty discover the darkest secret yet and will try to bring an end to their evil plots.

Due to the popular demand of these games a seventh player character has been added to all games. The games can be played in order to experience the full epic narrative arc but each game is also complete in itself and can be played as a one-off.

+

Slot 6 - Friday 10:00 - 14:00
'Dead Reckoning' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Feh Feh Pi Goh! This job should have been shiny!
Here we are floating in the black about to make a move on the 'verse's easiest mark, a Research & Rescue vessel doing 'science' well away from civilisation. The Guay Tuh Guay Nown patron said it would be like taking candy from a baby. "Just don't use sensors as you approach," he said, "use dead reckoning to get in close."
Not only have we just seen what they are actually doing the 'science' on but we have just learnt who the Lao Buhn is who is bankrolling this caper.
A certain Crime Lord with his own Skyplex and a very nasty rep.
Dead Reckoning indeed!"

+

Slot 12 - Sunday 10:00 - 14:00
'No Power in the 'verse' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Well, they have hurt me jobs, hurt my pay, hurt my ship, hurt my crew and now they are hurting my head.
Well I say 'no more!'
I ain't sitting back on this one, no sir. I am goin' to take it to them. Hurt them hard. See how they like that! I coming at them straight and true.
No power in the 'verse can stop me!"

+

'We are the Boys...'
This is a new game based on a very popular TV series in the UK. This will not only stretch my scenario writing ability and my GM style but the HeroQuest games mechanic as well. Very much a 'beer & pretzel' game played for some laughs. I hope that it goes well.



+

Slot 9 - Saturday 10:00 - 14:00
'We are the Boys...' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
HeroQuest adventure for 6 players.
Newcomers very welcome. [im-]Maturity preferred.

It is the dark summer of 1940 and the storm clouds of war still hang over Europe. Nazi Germany is poised to do Hitler's bidding and invade this green and pleasant land. The Local Defence Volunteers will be the last bastion of England when the invasion comes; if they fail then the country will be under the Nazi jackboot and all freedom lost.
And where will the Nazi vanguard attack?
Walmington-on-Sea!

+

0 Dragonmeet 2007. Kensington Town Hall, London, UK.
Saturday 1st December 2007.
http://dragonmeet.co.uk

These are my games that I am running at Dragonmeet 2007.

Serenity/FireFly: HeroQuest
These are games based on the series FireFly and the film Serenity by
Buffy's Joss Whedon. The player characters will be the crew of The
Betty from Alien: Resurrection; Joss Whedon's first stab at a misfit
crew of smugglers onboard an old, broken-down ship.



The first game, 'Echoes in the Black', has been run twenty times now
at various conventions and has always been over-subscribed.

The sequel, 'The Quick and the Dead', has only been run six times and
has now been extended with extra dilemmas.

The second sequel [or is that threequel?] debuted at Conception 2007
and has only been ran once. I am running it again especially for
Dragonmeet 2007. 'Dead Reckoning' is the third in the series of
Serenity:HeroQuest games and is completely brand new [though certain
parts of the plot my be similar to the other games!]. It still uses
the crew of The Betty but puts them in more perilous and immoral
situations. Included with more silly props!

Due to the popular demand of these games a seventh player character
has been added to all games. The games can be played in order to
experience the full epic narrative arc but each game is also complete
in itself and can be played as a one-off.

+

Saturday 10:00 - 14:00
'Dead Reckoning' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Feh Feh Pi Goh! This job should have been shiny!
Here we are floating in the black about to make a move on the 'verse's
easiest mark, a Research & Rescue vessel doing 'science' well away
from civilisation. The Guay Tuh Guay Nown patron said it would be like
taking candy from a baby. "Just don't use sensors as you approach," he
said, "use dead reckoning to get in close."
Not only have we just seen what they are actually doing the 'science'
on but we have just learnt who the Lao Buhn is who is bankrolling this
caper.
A certain Crime Lord with his own Skyplex and a very nasty rep.
Dead Reckoning indeed!"

+

'We are the Boys?'
This is a new game based on a very popular TV series in the UK. This
will not only stretch my scenario writing ability and my GM style but
the HeroQuest games mechanic as well. Very much a 'beer & pretzel'
game played for some laughs. I hope that it goes well.



+

Saturday 14:00 - 17:00
'We are the Boys?' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
HeroQuest adventure for 6 players.
Newcomers very welcome. [im-]Maturity preferred.

It is the dark summer of 1940 and the storm clouds of war still hang
over Europe. Nazi Germany is poised to do Hitler's bidding and invade
this green and pleasant land. The Local Defence Volunteers will be the
last bastion of England when the invasion comes; if they fail then the
country will be under the Nazi jackboot and all freedom lost.
And where will the Nazi vanguard attack?
Walmington-on-Sea!

+

September's EMD&DMUG Monthly Meet Up Report.


The East Midlands Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group September Monthly Meeting
Saturday 8th September 2007
The Brunswick Inn
1 Railway Terrace, Derby, DE1 2RU.

So this was just my second meet of the EMD&DMUG monthly meets and again I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

A few problems at the start as traffic coming into Derby was all snarled up so quite a few people were late arriving, though strangely enough the centre of Derby was very quiet. During my walk from the Assembly Rooms to the Brunswick through the city centre I noticed that there was hardly anyone around on that Saturday afternoon so most of the trouble would have been outside the city.
At the Brunswick we were told that the upstairs room would be used for showing the England football match at 5pm, so we all hightailed it to the Family Parlour before anyone else got in.

As we were still waiting on the GMs of the other games to turn up by half past two I decided to start my game and rope-in some of the players waiting around. I managed to get six players [though I can take a total of seven], more than enough for my games.

 
The players of the HeroQuest Serenity games ‘The Quick & the Dead’.


A great game with some great players!


More photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darran/sets/72157601417033593/

And
http://dnd.meetup.com/700/photos/?photoAlbumId=213265 

As part of The East Midlands Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group September Monthly Meeting I will be running one of my Serenity:HeroQuest games as detailed below. The meet up starts at 13:00 on Saturday 8th September 2007 at the Brunswick Inn, right next to the Derby Railway Station.
Anyone interested should reply to me.

The Brunswick Inn
1 Railway Terrace, Derby, DE1 2RU.

Serenity/Firefly:HeroQuest.
The game is based on the series FireFly and the film Serenity by Buffy's Joss Whedon. The crew will be the crew of The Betty from Alien: Resurrection; Joss Whedon's first stab at a misfit crew of smugglers onboard an old, broken-down ship. Each game is a one shot with pre-gen characters. There are seven player characters and the game should last four hours.
 


Saturday 8th September 2007 14:00 – 18:00.
'The Quick and the Dead' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Emergency! Emergency! This is the Passenger Liner 'BHS Orisis'. We have lost all power, our engineering team is incapacitated and we are adrift in space. Any available craft please respond. Emergency! Emergency! This is the Passenger Liner 'BHS Orisis' ... ... ..."
<Sometime later>
"Oh thank the gods! How shiny you look. Civilian vessel, ... err? ... 'The Betty' please dock in our main hanger deck, you may be able to assist us in restoring power to our engines. Do you have an engineer on board?
"It is fortunate that you are in this empty, quiet sector of the black, we thought we were lost for good. Hello? Hello? Are you there?"

+

For a report on August's game click here and for details of this months game and RSPV click here.

 

So here are the games I will be running at Furnace 2007. There are a couple of new games that are debuting at Furnace plus one game that hasn't been played too often. If there is time and demand I may run one of my other Serenity games as well.

'We are the Boys…'
This is a new game based on a very popular TV series in the UK. This will not only stretch my scenario writing ability and my GM style but the HeroQuest games mechanic as well. Very much a 'beer & pretzel' game played for some laughs. I hope that it goes well.

+

'We are the Boys…' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
HeroQuest adventure for 6 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

It is the dark summer of 1940 and the storm clouds of war still hang over Europe. Nazi Germany is poised to do Hitler's bidding and invade this green and pleasant land. The Local Defence Volunteers will be the last bastion of England when the invasion comes; if they fail then the country will be under the Nazi jackboot and all freedom lost.
And where will the Nazi vanguard attack?
Walmington-on-Sea!

+

Serenity/FireFly: HeroQuest
These are games based on the series FireFly and the film Serenity by Buffy's Joss Whedon. The player characters will be the crew of The Betty from Alien: Resurrection; Joss Whedon's first stab at a misfit crew of smugglers onboard an old, broken-down ship.

The first game, 'Echoes in the Black', has been run nineteen times now at various conventions and has always been over-subscribed.
The sequel, 'The Quick and the Dead', has only been run six times and has now been extended with extra dilemmas.
The second sequel [or is that threequel?] debuted at Conception 2007 and has only been ran once. I am running it again especially for Furnace 2007. 'Dead Reckoning' is the third in the series of Serenity:HeroQuest games and is completely brand new [though certain parts of the plot my be similar to the other games!]. It still uses the crew of The Betty but puts them in more perilous and immoral situations. Included with more silly props!
Debuting at Furnace 2007 is the fourth in the series called 'No Power in the 'verse'. This is payback time and the Alliance and Blue Sun will suffer when the crew of The Betty discover the darkest secret yet and will try to bring an end to their evil plots.
Due to the popular demand of these games a seventh player character has been added to all games. The games can be played in order to experience the full epic narrative arc but each game is also complete in itself and can be played as a one-off. 

+

'Dead Reckoning' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Feh Feh Pi Goh! This job should have been shiny!
Here we are floating in the black about to make a move on the 'verse's easiest mark, a Research & Rescue vessel doing 'science' well away from civilisation. The Guay Tuh Guay Nown patron said it would be like taking candy from a baby. "Just don't use sensors as you approach," he said, "use dead reckoning to get in close."
Not only have we just seen what they are actually doing the 'science' on but we have just learnt who the Lao Buhn is who is bankrolling this caper.
A certain Crime Lord with his own Skyplex and a very nasty rep.
Dead Reckoning indeed!"

+

'No Power in the 'verse' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Well, they have hurt me jobs, hurt my pay, hurt my ship, hurt my crew and now they are hurting my head.
Well I say 'no more!'
I ain't sitting back on this one, no sir. I am goin' to take it to them. Hurt them hard. See how they like that! I coming at them straight and true.
No power in the 'verse can stop me!"

+

I’ll take you through the way I have used the cards at my last game to see if that sheds any light. Now I wanted a way to use the more unique weapons and equipment that we have seen in the Firefly setting, Mal has his special pistol, Zoë has her Mare’s Leg rifle and Jayne has his major gun fetish. Also in other Sci-Fi settings there is a focus on the ‘big guns’ that they use. Another problem I had was the weapons are listed on the character sheets but they had no further details about them. Also at points during some of the scenarios the characters are meant to hand over their guns [or try to smuggle them in]; or swap them between themselves, and with seven PCs that gets difficult to keep track of. My solution was to make Gun Cards, the size of credit cards nicely laminated, and hand them out to the players along with their character sheets. The games I run are fairly prop heavy anyway with printed money, Multipass name badges, full colour character sheets, computer screen handouts, and the like. 

 
The M41A Pulse Rifle as seen from Aliens. 

 
The Newtech Assault Rifle as seen from Alien:Resurrection. 





More will follow!

 The East Midlands Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group August Monthly Meeting
Sunday 12th August 2007 
The Brunswick Inn
1 Railway Terrace, Derby, DE1 2RU.


So this was my first East Midlands D&D Meetup Group monthly meet and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I know the Brunswick Inn well, having spent my last night of freedom before my wedding there, though I have never played a game or knew that people meet up there for games.

There were a few problems with the original date as it clashed with Derby County’s first match of the season; the pub is one of the closest to the stadium and the railway station and was packed with football supporters. This would have made it very difficult to play games!
I did try to snag one of the small meeting rooms in the Assembly Rooms on the same day but was denied by The Powers That Be. So it was moved to the Sunday instead; nice and quiet but unfortunately the kitchen is closed on Sundays so people had to buy their food from the very expensive café at the railway station.

So I arrived at one o’ clock and sorted out my membership card and handed over my donation to the group of thirty-five badge-holders with neck chains. The membership cards double as name badges having a mug shot as well as the on-line avatar of the wearer – nice touch!
I then set up the table ready for my game in the far corner of the room. Sorting out all the money and other props.

I did have three people pre-booked for the game at the EMD&DMU website but I also managed to rope in four more players for the game, giving me a full set of players.
After checking that they all were familiar with the setting of Firefly/Serenity [they were!] I started off telling them that given a choice between doing something sensible but boring or doing something risky and fun always go for the risky option!


The whole group of gamers playing Serenity:HeroQuest.

The players picked their characters; all choosing characters that suited them well and I handed out the small stacks of money to each of them [except Call who only gets a ripped 1 Cred note!] along with their Gun Cards.

The money is used to show how rich [or poor] the characters were and they could use it to buy extra equipment or supplies with it. One player, Chris asked what else it was used for. I told him that you could earn or steal more and I would take some off you if you walked into a bar, brought fuel, weapons or ammo or pay your docking fees. It is part of the Firefly setting – ‘Get a job, get paid, keep flying’.
“Pay Bills? I play these games to get away for paying bills and direct debts and the like!” He stated incredulously. Nice moment that.

The gun cards are a new thing I have introduced to my games. I wanted to give the players more ‘flavour’ for the setting by allowing them to see picture of the weapons they will be using along with the associated abilities and capabilities of those weapons. Also it allows me to take them off them should they lose them or hand them over to someone else or they can trade them between each other. The Captain has the most and he can choose to give them to the other players or not.

More photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darran/sets/72157601417033593/
 
And
http://dnd.meetup.com/700/photos/?photoAlbumId=199663&photoId=1886068
 


So in all a very good afternoon and a very good game, probably made better by washing down pints of ‘White Feather’ ale.
It is a shame I could stay on after my game and play Paranoia with the rest of the group but I had to get back to wife who was feeling a little neglected.
All being well I will run the sequel ‘The Quick and the Dead’ Serenity:HeroQuest at September’s EMD&DMU monthly meet up.

Over on the MoLaD forum on this thread, I was talking about giving key or special items of equipment abilities. This would to some degree follow the sidekick rules.

Well I have decided to follow this up and make some equipment cards [mainly weapons] up ready for my Serenity:HeroQuest game this coming Sunday.


I have used pictures of the weapons along with some brief information like range, weight, nuber of loaded bullets, rate of fire, etc.




I have made a few more up than this and I have a few more to go as well so expect further postings.

Thoughts and comments?

As part of The East Midlands Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group August Monthly Meeting I will be running one of my Serenity:HeroQuest games as detailed below. The meet up starts at 13:00 on Sunday 12th August 2007 at the Brunswick Inn, right next to the Derby Railway Station.
Anyone interested should reply to me.

The Brunswick Inn
1 Railway Terrace, Derby, DE1 2RU.

Serenity/Firefly:HeroQuest.
The game is based on the series FireFly and the film Serenity by Buffy's Joss Whedon. The crew will be the crew of The Betty from Alien: Resurrection; Joss Whedon's first stab at a misfit crew of smugglers onboard an old, broken-down ship. Each game is a one shot with pre-gen characters. There are seven player characters and the game should last four hours.
 


Sunday 12th August 2007 14:00 – 18:00.
'The Quick and the Dead' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Emergency! Emergency! This is the Passenger Liner 'BHS Orisis'. We have lost all power, our engineering team is incapacitated and we are adrift in space. Any available craft please respond. Emergency! Emergency! This is the Passenger Liner 'BHS Orisis' ... ... ..."
<Sometime later>
"Oh thank the gods! How shiny you look. Civilian vessel, ... err? ... 'The Betty' please dock in our main hanger deck, you may be able to assist us in restoring power to our engines. Do you have an engineer on board?
"It is fortunate that you are in this empty, quiet sector of the black, we thought we were lost for good. Hello? Hello? Are you there?"

Con Gaming Advice

First off running games at conventions is a massive challenge. With the players who sign-up for your game you do not know who you’ll get, if you get any players at all. However it is also the most rewarding and most enjoyable way of running games in my opinion. I run games [almost non-stop] at six RPG conventions a year and I can safely say I have run games for the cream of UK role-players.

- background for thirteenth century Europe
- rules for Christian and Muslim Characters
- Knights Templars
- Monks and Friars
- sorcery-using character generation
- creatures from medieval folklore (angels, devils, djinni, incubi)
- some new skills and spells
- advanced rules for languages and literacy
- pre-generated characters
- two ready-to-play scenarios

Nicely modelled by Simon Bray and Loz Whittaker at Tentacles Untapped 2007.
http://www.stupormundi-rpg.com/

This is the Bhutanese 5 ngultrum note.

This is the note I started with before doing my Adobe Photoshop magic on it.
The money from the Firefly series and the Serenity film was based on the 1 and 2 ngultrum notes. They added the golden globes and the Alliance logo in the centre as well as re-colouring the note.


My version of the 1 Cred Note.

First off I cut and pasted the serial numbers out and extended the circle sections in the corners by coping the trim so that the original numbers were hidden.
I re-coloured the 5 ngultrum note I was using and added the features that had been used for the prop money. I went with a very dark red for the 1 cred note and green for the 10 cred note; I was thinking that the 10 Cred note would be used more as the 'basic' currency while the 1 Cred note would be very 'small change' hence the colours.

I used the Alliance logo out of the Serenity film and made up a planet to fill in the centre of the note. Most of the rest of the note is the original Bhutanese, it looked so cool I didn't change it much.

The new numbers were added using the Batman Forever font as that looks very futuristic.

I printed the notes on normal 80g/m2 printer paper. When I cut the notes out I gave them to my grandkids to play with so they got crumpled up nicely!
The texture of the notes feels very authentic now and I even folded some up and kept them in my wallet for a while. I was a little worried though that I might try to spend them by accident!


My version of the 10 Cred Note.

( The Furnace logo )

0 Furnace 2007. The Garrison Hotel, Sheffield. UK.
Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st October 2007.
http://www.rpgfurnace.com/ 


( To read more and see some photos of the event )

Signup here: http://www.rpgfurnace.com/?page_id=13

To see photos of the venue and last year's event:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/furnace/pool/

Tentacles Untapped 2007 Con Report.

0 Tentacles Untapped. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.

Friday 25th - Monday 28th May 2007.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/

Well I had a complete blast!

What a fantastic con. And the usual problems that have plagued this con in the past [things not under the control of the convention organisers] have been resolved.

All the guests were approachable and very talkative, the freeforms just looked amazing with almost every player being in costume, and all the games I ran had international players of very high standard.

The Friday went well and did seem to start earlier with the Opening Ceremony going well. The Moon Design Seminar was good, Rick Meints and Simon Bray explained about the new products and about the completed manuscripts they have lined up. Authors Greg Stafford and Jeff Richards also added further insight.



There was plenty of new product released at Tentacles, ‘Blood over Gold’ the 154 page trader princes campaign book, ‘Champions of the Reaching Moon’ the Lunar Hero/Hero Band book and ‘History of the Heortling Peoples’ one of the Stafford Library unfinished works. All look fantastic and it is good to know that Rick will stick to doing the larger page counts rather than splitting books down that has been done in the past.
Interesting to hear that they have a number more books in the pipeline, an Elf Book, a Prax pack, two books about the West, the Great Argrath Campaign by Greg Stafford, and of course the new setting-less HeroQuest core rule book.Though there are plenty of works ready to come out there was a call for more.
Any idea will be considered though there will be a contract issued with deadlines and a project leader will be required – any interest contact Mark Galeotti.

The rest of the evening was more of a social gathering, drinking beer and chatting with friends new and old. Also had a good talk with the 'Smart Party', a group of players from Nottingham who were Tentacles Virgins though regular convention goers. We even played the pub quiz as one of the teams and didn't do too badly considering the other teams had the creators and writers of the games we were being asked questions on!



All day Saturday I ran my Serenity:HeroQuest games for 12 hours and had a good time. The first game was with the Smart Party and a couple of others joined in as well. A very good game though I did have problems putting on the blue rubber glove under the table, which spoiled the surprise some what. The players managed to get me in a fit of giggles at one point. I was annoyed with myself that I didn’t take a photograph of the group though.
The second game was also a hoot with the players really got into the characters and hammed it up a little even though some did not know the setting that well. All the players were surprised by the big reveal at the end.



The last game ended up being a player verses player as the player of Johner accepted the bride and turned on the rest of the team. All the players were up for this, all played like they weren't expecting the double cross and we did run with it; putting us all on the spot as I had to make it up as we went along.



One thing I do love about running games at Tentacles are the international players. I had English, German, Dutch, French and American players in my games and was a nice mix to have. I am just sorry they had to struggle with my Derby mumble.

On the Sunday there was a little mix up with where the group photo would be taken due to the rain. The tried to fit everyone into the main hall but due to sheer numbers they wouldn’t all fit in! Luckily the rain had stopped in time for us all to file out and get into position. I wore my silly Jayne hat that is bright orange so that I would be stopped easily. The mess about with the group photo delayed the set up for the freeform so that ended up starting a little later than hoped.

The Serenity/Firefly freeform 'You Can't Take the Sky from Me!' that I helped to write and run went very well. I was very nervous as this was the first freeform/Larp I had run and GMed and I wasn't sure if it would go well. Once we started the game none of the GMs were need for about the first hour; all the players just carried on playing and staying in character, getting twisted deeper and deeper into their plots. So good to see.
I think part of the reason it went well was the support of Simon, Colin Driver and Bazz Hoftijzer as the GMs and the quality of the players.
I think I will do another again now that I have caught the bug!







Sunday ended with sitting in the auction and the closing ceremony where I had won a prize [and a cool tentacles badge] for running games. It is good to have a convention that rewards the GMs.
I did witness the ‘Daughters of Darkness’ book burning that I am always in two minds about though it was funny to see Daniel Fahey spill a drop of his drink on the burning ashes to see them explodes in a great gout of flame! 



 

So the highlights were winning a set of duck miniatures on the tombola, being declared having the loudest snore, getting excellent players in all my games, laughing so much over the whole weekend and meeting old friends and making new ones. The lowlights were being declared having the loudest snore, going up and down the stairs of the castle and the fact that the weekend is over.

So special thanks to Fabian and all his team for organising such a fantastic convention. I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into running a convention from my experience with Continuum and Furnace but I do not think that I could do it each year!





Cheers and here’s to Tentacles 2008, Friday 9th to Monday 12th May 2008.

To see photos of this year’s Tentacles go to my Flickr Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darran/

Tentacles Untapped photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darran/sets/72157600285540891/

Nick's Tentacles Untapped Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23016277@N00/