Opening Credits for my Firefly/Serenity game

So I have put together some opening credits for my Firefly HeroQuest game, just like as if it were a real TV series. The player characters are the crew of The Betty from Alien: Resurrection, they are the better part of that film. It was written by Joss Whedon so there does seem to be a darker echo of the Serenity crew.




The music is the theme from the Black Hole by John Barry.


'Echoes in the Black' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Firefly: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.

"Ta Ma Duh! Why can't we stick to the gorram plan!
I wanted simple, in and out and everything shiny.
The job was good, the idents were perfect and the feds were away from the Skyplex.
Then everything has gone south.
Something has been following The Betty.
They are keeping their distance, so they aint purple bellies and everytime time we avert course they disappear like echoes in the black. The question is who are they, what do they want and why are they messing up my gorram job?"

My HeroQuest games at Conception 2010

Conception 2010. Naish Holiday Village, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset, UK.
Wednesday 27th January - Sunday 31st January 2009.
http://www.conceptionuk.org/


Here are my games that I'll be running at Conception 2010.

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Thursday 19:00 - 23:00 Slot 4
'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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Friday 19:00 – 23:00 Slot 7
'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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Saturday 19:00 – 23:00 Slot 10
'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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Sunday 19:00 - 23:00 Slot 13
'Echoes in the Black' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.
Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 7 players.
Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Ta Ma Duh! Why can't we stick to the gorram plan!
I wanted simple, in and out and everything shiny.
The job was good, the idents were perfect and the feds were away from the Skyplex.
Then everything has gone south.
Something has been following The Betty.
They are keeping their distance, so they aint purple bellies and everytime time we avert course they disappear like echoes in the black. The question is who are they, what do they want and why are they messing up my gorram job?"

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Midweek Character - Captain Mainwaring

So I thought I would start up my Midweek Character posts again.
Here is another great player character, this one is from the greatest TV sitcom of all time, Dad's Army.
The few games I have run have been very intense role playing experiences though very funny at the same time.



Captain George Mainwaring.
"Just testing you, Wilson."
"There's no chip on my shoulder. I'll tell you what there is though, three pips and don't you forget it."
George Mainwaring is Captain of the Walmington-on-Sea platoon as well as manager of Shallows Bank, Rotarian, and pillar of the community.
Considered pompous and overbearing by many, even referred to as ‘Napoleon’, he is a stickler for protocol. He wants things done his way but gets irritated with any hold-ups to his plans.
His wife Elizabeth constantly plagues him on the phone, he fears her more than the imminent Nazi invasion, though he will not let his men know that!
It is a bone of contention that Sergeant Wilson had the benefit of a private education though it is often Pike that gets his umbrage, "Stupid Boy!"
107 words

Goals
Keep men in-line and disciplined.
Win one over on Wilson
Earn the respect of the men
Maintain dignity in all situations
Impress the Top Brass with the Platoon

KeyWords
Captain 15M
Bank Manager 10M

Abilities
Bone of Contention 17
Constant Phone Calls 13
Cover Up Mistakes 13
Detests being Referred to as ‘Napoleon’ 15
Do It My Way 1M
Easily Irritated 17
Fears Elizabeth’s Scolding 5M
Fears Imminent Nazi Invasion 10M
Feels Under-Privileged 17
Hates Hold Ups & Delays 14
Hides Fear from Men 16
Jealous of Wilson 1M
Likes to Plan 17
Natural Leader of Men 19
Over Bearing 17
Pillar of the Community 19
Plagued by Elizabeth 5M
Pompous 5M
Rotarian 13
Stickler for Protocol 3M
Unleash Umbridge 15
"Stupid Boy!" 10M

'Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes' preview

Here is a small Youtube presentation of the 'Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes'.

My game location at Dragonmeet 2009

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?

My HeroQuest game I am running at Dragonmeet 2009

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?"

Midweek Character - Furnit Many-Feather

This is one of my player characters when I took part in a HeroQuest playtest last year.
No 100 words but rather a quick character generation system that allows the players to get into play straight away.

He is a Sartarite Hunter in Pavis - set in Glorantha and a worshipper of the lightning aspect of Orlanth.

No a bad character actually and I had fun playing him even though I am not keen on being a player as I would rather GM.



Furnit Many-Feather
Sartarite Hunter – Zavor initiate Rubble explorer and Gorp killer/fryer.

Keywords
Sartarite 13
Hunter 13
Zavor Initiate 17

Goal
Fry Gorp

Flaws
Can’t kill anything but Gorp 5M
Big Bar Tab 13

Interviewed for a special scroll on Gorps by Gorgoria [PC]

Abilities
Burning Lighting 5M
Married to Doug & Dinsdale’s Sister 14
Hates Grita Many-Need [wife] Golden Arches 14
Lightning Bow of Gorp Kill 18
Flirts with Yolanta 14
Shiny Metal Armour 13
Light Darkness 19

Reaching Moon Missionaries - HeroQuest Demo Team

Reaching Moon Missionaries

Reaching Moon Missionaries is the official organisation sponsored by Moon Designs for HeroQuest Core Rules demonstration narrators and game masters.
The volunteer game masters will help promote HeroQuest Core Rules and other Moon Designs products at conventions, game shops, game meets, etc, by running games and talking about HeroQuest.



Reaching Moon Missionaries will be a global organisation and will provide help, support and encouragement for its members, whether experienced veterans or new to the game.
Benefits will include a points awards scheme to reward the members that will give discount on Moon Designs products and to get new play-test material and sneak-peeks at works in progress.

Interested HeroQuest game masters should contact Darran Sims
darransims AT gmail DOT com

Or visit the website:
http://heroquestdemos.ning.com/

The new HeroQuest Core Rules are now available!

Posted from the Moon Design Development Blog, .


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!)

[Actual Play] Getting my wife to play role-playing games.

I couple of years ago, after much convincing and demonstration, I got my wife Jenny to play in one of my role-playing games. She had expressed her displeasure about role-playing games before but on seeing that my friends from my hobby were more reliable and were ‘better’ friends than other acquaintances I have she relented. I did write this report at the time but didn’t post it anywhere as I didn’t have my blog up and running at the time.
Unfortunately the group at the time finished due to illness so that was the last session. When I restarted the campaign with a new group, Jenny was a little bit reluctant to join in from the start but for the last session she has now rejoined.

 

From September 2007

I had planned that HeroQuest session at the time, to take place with my home group, to be a skirmish-type game based on the Battle Of Dwarf Ford. However, my wife Jenny expressed an interest in taking part, something she had normally refused to do in the past. On the few occasions I had asked her to play or even if she was interested in learning what it was all about, she had said no. I hadn’t really pushed the issue; she had come with me to a few RPG conventions but looked on them as a trip away rather than joining in with the hobby itself. I had a smaller group for this session so Jenny did feel a little more comfortable with that for her first time. Jenny joined the other two players, my brother Russell and our friend Mick, people that she knew very well.

 

 

I spoke with her about what kind of character she wanted. She didn’t want anything from any of the HQ books as she hadn’t read up on them and thought that she would be at a disadvantage. She preferred just to come up with the name of her character and make the rest up as the game went along.
The as-you-go-method, perfect!

Her character was ‘Tristina the Mystic’, a woman with ‘hidden powers’. I quickly cobbled together a ‘Mystic’ keyword for her and allotted her thirty points to spend on nine more abilities, skills, followers, or items.

So instead of the skirmish scenario I had planned for the session I decided to go with a less-martial episode instead. I had the player characters escorting one of the Earth-priestesses to an inter-tribal Spring Festival that included a scared ceremony to awaken Voria and end the winter. Each of the local tribes put forth a candidate to participate in several contests to win the honour of becoming the ‘Maiden of the Flowers’ and hopefully successfully conclude the ceremony and end the icy grip of winter for another year. As this was going to be a big meeting with a festival atmosphere it was also hoped that the heroes could pin down some of the tribal leaders and get them to commit to help with the up coming battle with the Lunars.

They travelled to the site in the Colymar lands without any problems, picking up a fellow traveller, Thargan who helped them learn the finer points of Colymar treachery. Jenny seemed fine talking to this character played by me as her character, though she did talk in the third person. It was at her invitation that Thargan joined them on the journey though it was the other players that pointed out that he might not be trustworthy so to keep a watch on him.

They arrived without incident at the site of the ceremony, a large meadow located on a small hill near Apple Lane. They set up camp in the last available spot, next to the Balmyr tribe and the Colymar tribe. The other local tribes’ camps where situated around the edge of the meadow, only the contestants were allowed to set foot on the meadow during the festival. What shocked the heroes were the presence of not only the Telmori, the wolf runners but also a small delegation of Lunars! They had a small enclosure, heavily guarded, next to the Colymari camp. The Colymar and the Lunars had made a temporary peace treaty and as hosts to the festival had invited the Lunars to join in. This had obviously caused some resentment within the other visiting tribes, so much so that some of the northern tribes were noted for their absence. Those that did attend cast dark looks towards the Lunar camp; the mood was ugly.

However the festival was started by a small blessing ceremony by the Colymari hosts. Once this ‘Time of the Blessing’ commenced no blood could be spilt on the ground. Everyone at the festival was bound by this blessing while at the sacred site. If any blood was to fall upon the earth then not only would the spring ceremony fail but everybody’s’ land would stay in the icy grip of winter.

The following day each of the contestants was presented to the ensemble, each of the tribes had one ‘champion’ each. Though the heroes had escorted the Ilmori’s contender, Tristina also decided to enter the contest to be ‘Maiden of the Flowers’. Jenny didn’t need asking if she could enter her character in the contest, she just thought it would be a good thing to do.

The local champion of the Colymari, and the one tipped to win the contest, was Apple Blossom. The other major contenders were Snow Drop from the Malani Tribe, Wolf Thistle from the Telmori, Sunflower from the Alda-Churi, Wild Thorn of the Culbrea, Dark Flower of the Torkani, Wind Bloom from the Balmyr, and Blue Bell from the PCs clan, the Ilmori. To keep the ‘flower’ theme going in the names Tristina went with the name Mystic Rose.

Of course things turned bad when the Lunars showed up and camped on the site as well - apparently at the invitation of the Colymari hosts [remember that this is set in 1565, way before the lunar invasion of Sartar]. They also put in a contender, called Moon Orchid, into the competition.
Now Jenny was aware that the Lunars are the 'bad guys' of the campaign and also that one of the reasons of the trip down to the festival was to get help for the battle against the Lunars. She was a little bit shocked that they had turned up and was also beginning to be a bit wary of the Colymari.

The rest of the game dealt with the three days of contests, one contest per day. The first contest is singing, the second dance and the third is beauty. One of the other player characters, Russell's Edgewed, was chosen to be one of the judges so he was fairly busy and Mick's character Stefan, was looking into the plots and schemes of the Colymar, the Lunars and the rest of the tribes.

In the end the contest had three main contenders at the end: Mystic Rose, Blue Bell and Sunflower. Apple Blossom and Moon Orchid were cast out of the competition due to cheating as uncovered by the PCs.

Jenny decided to help Blue Bell, who was from her own tribe, instead of taking the crown for herself. That meant the final ceremony went very well and spring returned with a vengeance. Voria appeared and blessed the lands of the Ilmori and the other tribes that still had contestants in the contest.
Also the PCs were able to get many of the tribes on their side after meeting the leaders in a secret summit so the session ended well.

 

 

 

Jenny did seem to play well though did need some prompting to contribute to the story. She later told me she wasn't sure whether she could interrupt me or the others while they were talking. She was happy to play her role and was content to take part in the decision-making parts of the story.

With the change of the campaign and the restart of it she wasn't confident in joining the game. But now I have my kid sister, Amy join in on the new campaign my wife Jenny has also joined in the game again. 

Painting Gloranthan Peoples

So I have set myself a little art project to do.

Produce colour pictures of the different people in the setting of Glorantha in the style of the Osprey Soldier type paintings.

This one is my first, a Yelmalion warrior in Dragon Pass.

Based on a Greek hoplite with Sun and Yelmalio runes on his armour and shield. Out of the people in Dragon Pass the Yelmalions as a group are going to be the most heavily armed and armoured.

The painting itself was coloured in Adobe Photoshop but I am not quite happy with it. I I may do it again with ArtRage once I get more time after Continuum.
This is in the SOLAR Book that will be sold at Continuum 2008.

The next one?

Probably the player characters in my home game so Orlanthi or Yinkini.

Cover of 'Hearts In Glorantha' Issue 1.

So this is the cover I have done for Newt for the first issue of 'Hearts In Glorantha'.

I am pleased with it, especially the letters in the main title as they are my own design from many years ago. I hope to make them into a proper font once I have found a font making software package for the mac.



I am by the way the un-official Art Director for HiG so I will be producing more artwork and trying to source new artists for the future issues.

Contributions sought for Continuum 2008 Programme Book?

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.
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.

[Actual Play]HeroQuest: Air & Motion podcast

I have recorded my HeroQuest Air & Motion game from Sunday 27th April 2008.

The first part of that session is up on my website in the form of a podcast.

HeroQuest: Air & Motion Session 1 part 1

Worth having a listen?

Part 2 will be posted up about this time next week.

[Actual Play] HeroQuest: Into the Puzzle Canal

Here are the links to a Podcast of an Actual Play that took place at Tentacles 2008.

The game is HeroQuest 2.0, the yet unreleased new edition of HeroQuest. The setting is Pavis in Glorantha.
There were eleven players, some of the big movers and shakers of the Glorantha publishing and gaming.
It does get a little noisy especially when all the beer bottles are opened!

Jeff's Huge Gloranthan HeroQuest Game part 1

Jeff's Huge Gloranthan HeroQuest Game part 2

Jeff's Huge Gloranthan HeroQuest Game part 3

Character Sheets

My Games at Tentacles Déjà Vu.

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.

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!

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'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!

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[HeroQuest] Serenity / Firefly

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.

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'Echoes in the Black' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.

Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 6 players.

Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

"Ta Ma Duh! Why can't we stick to the gorram plan!

I wanted simple, in and out and everything shiny.

The job was good, the idents were perfect and the feds were away from the Skyplex.

Then everything has gone south.

Something has been following The Betty.

They are keeping their distance, so they aint purple bellies and everytime time we avert course they disappear like echoes in the black. The question is who are they, what do they want and why are they messing up my gorram job?"

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'[HeroQuest] Dad’s Army.'

This is a new game based on a very popular TV series in the UK. A role-play heavy game though very much a 'beer & pretzel' game played for some laughs. The session will involve recreating an actual episode of Britain’s best ever Sit-Com.

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'We are the Boys...' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.

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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[HeroQuest] Glorantha

The return of some of my Gloranthan games to the convention scene.

Lots of Orlanthi themes to run with as there are raids, counter raids, clan moots and clan rituals to contend with. Though ‘Raid upon Hellbreak’ has some strong martial elements there is plenty of mystery and dilemma to this story as well.

This episode is an old favourite of mine due to the fact that most players panic near the end of the dilemma and do not know what to do.

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'Raid upon Hellbreak' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims.

HeroQuest adventure for up to 7 players.

Newcomers very welcome. Maturity preferred.

Having been constantly attacked and raided by the Hruling clan the Elders of the White Ram clan now seek vengeance and gather their warriors to launch a counter-raid. The sacred village of 'Hellbreak' is the chosen target and the brave band of raiders set off to deliver retribution, however things do not go as planned.

They have to deal with roving guards, an Iphara mist and the enigmatic Lord in the Tower before even getting to the village.

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The East Midlands D&D Meet UP Groups' March Monthly Meet

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.





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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!"

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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.
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Darran's Games at Dragonmeet 2007.

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.

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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!"

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'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.



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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!

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Player Characters for my 'We are the Boys...' Game

I have now finished writing up my 100 words for the player characters of my new HeroQuest game. I am quite pleased with them as it has taken me a while to capture their characters. I will be using the 100 words to get most of their abilities as I will just use the keywords of rank as a broad ability rather than break them down into lots of related abilities.


'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!




Captain George Mainwaring.
George Mainwaring is Captain of the Walmington-on-Sea platoon as well as manager of Shallows bank, Rotarian, and pillar of the community.
Considered pompous and overbearing by many, even referred to as ‘Napoleon’, he is a stickler for protocol. He wants things done his way but gets irritated with any hold-ups to his plans.
His wife Elizabeth constantly plagues him on the phone, he fears her more than the imminent Nazi invasion, though he will not let his men know that!
It is a bone of contention that Sergeant Wilson had the benefit of a private education though it is often Pike that gets his umbrage, "Stupid Boy!"
107 words.



Sergeant Arthur Wilson.
A diffident, upper-class bank clerk who quietly questions Mainwaring's judgement "Do you think that's wise?" Wilson is nonetheless Mainwaring’s subordinate in the bank and on parade; his suave, understated social superiority, public school education and handsome looks lead to jealousy on Mainwaring’s part.
His effect on women is magnetic; he treats them with utmost courtesy and gives them his full attention. Wilson's approach to discipline is much the same. He offers his men to "kindly fall in", and when they do it is "thank you so much."
‘Uncle Arthur’ is beleaguered by Mavis Pike due to the perceived rough treatment of her son, Frank Pike by Mainwaring.
107 words.



Lance Corporal Jack Jones.
A veteran soldier, with many years service (and medals) to his name, Jack Jones is loaded with ‘long’ stories of adventure and heroism. He served with General Gordon and Lord Kitchener becoming very fond of the cold steel bayonet; "they don't like it up 'em".
Jones runs the local butchers shop and he converted his butchers van as troop transport though as the Captain says "his experience will stand us in good steak er... stead".
Loyal to the Captain he will volunteer for every mission. When things go wrong he gets in a flap "Don’t Panic Mr Mainwaring!"
His ambition in life? - to marry Mrs Fox.
107 words.



Private James Frazer.
Every town has a purveyor of calamity and gloom. Everything, according to him, will turn into a disaster "We’re doomed!" As the local undertaker he sees the world through different eyes.
He spent his youth on the wild Isle of Barra off the coast of Scotland. It was a hard life. He served in the Royal Navy, reaching the position of Chief Petty Officer. He often criticises Captain Mainwaring’s plans and chuffs at the bit when Jones does well.
James Frazer has a wealth of stories to tell of exotic lands with strange and supernatural happenings. The whole platoon listens in awe when Frazer spins his yarn...
107 words.



Private Joe Walker.
If you need anything from whiskey to knicker elastic, watches or even black-market weapons, Joe Walker will get them for you. "Mind you, as its war-time it will cost you, 'cos you can't get 'em". Joe is a typical cockney spiv, making his way through life ducking and diving, trying to avoid the law.
Luckily for him, he is allergic to corned beef, which invalided him out of the army.
Walker rarely deals with money, relying on the bartering system to do business, and occasionally doing a little work for ‘charity’.
One of the cleverest in the platoon, others turn to him for inspiration in tricky situations.
107 words.



Private Frank Pike.
Private Frank Pike works in the daytime as a clerk at the bank. By far the youngest member of the platoon at 17, Frank was too young to enlist in the services, but jumped at the change of belonging to the Home Guard, much to his mother's displeasure that spread to Arthur Wilson, or Uncle Arthur, as Frank would usually address him.
He is very proud of the fact that he carries the Tommy gun. He takes it with him everywhere.
Frank Pike usually ends up volunteered in the platoon’s escapades because he is the youngest, despite his protests about suffering from vertigo, croup or hay fever.
107 words.



So what do you think?

September's EMD&DMUG Monthly Meet Up Report.

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’.

I let the players choose their characters and handed out the [little bit of] money and their gun cards. I also explained the HeroQuest rules very briefly and took them through the character sheets.
Most of the players were aware of Firefly or Serenity or Alien: Resurrection and one had played ‘Echoes in the Black’ before so was well aware of my play style and the way I had twisted the ‘verse.
Happy with that I began the scenario.


Christie’s Mini pistols that are hidden up his sleeves.


Johner’s Gun-in-a-Thermos.


The 1 Cred note.

‘The Quick and the Dead’ is the sequel to my other game though can very easily be played as a one off. I start straight after the action of the first scenario where they have successfully pulled off a massive heist.
I then physically dropped, right into the middle of the gaming table, a copious stack of 1000 Cred notes!
BHAM!!!
“This is what you have got!” I said, “lots of money. You emptied a whole bank vault and you have made it into the big time!”
“You have enough money here to buy yourselves a small moon if you so desired or buy each of you all a brand new ship each.”
The players all beam up at me, happy that they start on a high note.


One of the 1000 Cred notes. Shiny!

“However,” I begin to quash their hopes, “this money is hot. Very hot in more ways than one. Not only is this money easily traced, so trying to spend this money is going to be very difficult, but it is also radioactive, its readings go off the scale on a Geiger counter.”
The players sat there dumbfounded.
“You are also wanted by the Alliance for doing the heist in the first place, a wave has gone out all over the cortex describing you as the culprits. Spending this money anywhere will get you spaced, a common punishment for this kind of thing.”
A collective “Oh!”
“Now you need to get this money uncontaminated, laundered by some organised crime syndicate so that you can spend it. You need to find a well connected fence to do this for you. The trouble is you are currently cut off from any of the boarder worlds where you would normally ‘remove this heat’ so you need to find someone new.”

One of your contacts has pointed out there are two fences capable of dealing with this kinda heat in Nightlife City on Thucydides. He doesn’t know their names but you should be able to find them easy enough as Nightlife City is quite small.


Thucydides. Note the city in the large crater at the terminator between night & day.

Now Thucydides is a tidal-locked planetoid, it doesn’t rotate about its axis [apart from very, very imperceptibly] so one side is always facing the burning sun and the other is eternally night. Right on the terminator is a huge crater that is cast in deep shadow. In the crater is Nightlife City, once a mining colony it has been transformed into a tourist attraction with the bright lights of casinos and all-night clubs. Visitors from all walks of life but especially those from the core worlds come here because of its ‘rough & ready’ reputation; it’s a little bit naughty to come here and try to win some money and do the things they can’t do back at home.
The casinos run the city and nothing happens in the casino’s district, called the Tourist Trap or more simply ‘The Trap’, without their say so. They keep the Alliance law enforcement out but also ensure that every tourist is kept safe. It is also a good place to launder money if you find the right people.
Now Nightlife City is under a death sentence. In ten years time Thucydides would have rotated enough that the sunlight would stream over the crater wall and burn the city up. Hence everybody parties like it’s the end of the world [it will be!] so all and sundry turns a blind eye to some of the more dubious deals that carry on. Already part of the city has been evacuated, and is now a slum area, as the sunlight has crept over the crater wall and burnt the top of the towers there.

The crew of the Betty decide to give it a go and get their money cleaned up.
They land on the sunny side of Thucydides, bypassing the customs checks they would have had to go through if they landed in The Trap. They then walk across the burning desert in their spacesuits heading for a tunnel in the crater wall. Inside the cool tunnel they stow their spacesuits and meet with the guard who was under the employ of their contact. He quizzed them on who they were, my little trick to get the players to introduce their characters to each other, and to issue them their Idents.

So they head out into Nightlife City, through its suburbs. They see the top of the towers burning in the sunlight and the rest of the area looks derelict; for the most part it is desolate and deserted. They can see the bright lights of the Trap in the distance so head that way down one of the main thoroughfares. They see signs of battle damage to some of the buildings and grenade craters in the road. There has been a fire fight here, though by the looks of it, it was some time ago.

As they travel deeper into the slums they notice more and more signs of past conflicts, usually at intersections. They also notice more and more graffiti; different gang tags that have been ‘erased’ and covered by just one gang’s tag; the Black Panthers!
There must have been a large gang war and the victor, the Black Panthers, has seized all the territory.

As the players realise this they notice that they are being shadowed by two people following them. One is a little eight year old girl skipping along and the other is an old lady pushing a decrepit shopping trolley.

The players duck into alleyways and catch the two shadows following them to see who sent them. They reveal ‘the Boss’ has sent them to watch over them to make sure they are not up to no good. It also keeps them safe from the over-zealous patrols that wander the streets. Elgyn is incensed that they are being followed by just a little girl and an old lady. He wants to be followed by ‘proper’ gang members as benefits their status as wanted criminals!
He spanks the little girl while Johner struggles to avoid being chatted up by the old lady.

This brings them to the attention of a patrol of Black Panthers, toting submachine guns. Call ducks into a doorway for cover and Elgyn insists that they take them now to see the Boss. Obligingly and under gunpoint the Black Panthers escort them all to the Boss’s tower near the Trap, shadowed by Call keeping an eye on them.

As they get to the Boss’s tower they see an identical one across the road opposite, patrolled by different gang whose colours where primary red. Each side of the street was mirrored on the other, the Black Panthers on one side and as one of their escorts revealed, the Red Lotuses on the other side. The only people to cross the road where the tourists; oblivious to what was going on.


Nightlife City, Thucydides.

The players are escorted up to see the Boss, with Call crawling through the air ventilation system to check on the Boss’s cronies.
The Boss offers to launder their money for them for the fantastic price of 4 cents to the dollar. All the players protest loudly and try to push up the percentage.
The Boss then offers 8% but only if they carry out a little job for him.
A job that involves a certain luxury liner called BHS Orisis and the removal of six attaché cases from its vault. He also offers to pay them 8% of any money they take from that vault, a very fair price, no? No one else can offer a better deal in the ‘verse.


The BHS Orisis as compared to The Betty.

Call in the mean time has discovered that the Boss’s men are getting their weapons ready to burst in on the players if they reject the Boss’s offer. Call manages to lock them in and warns the rest of the crew via their hidden comms link.

They mull it over but decide to take the job, though they expect a double cross somewhere down the line. The Boss is pleased and explains that all the planning for the job has already been done; all that The Betty’s crew have to do is play their part, walk in and pick up the goods. Easy in, easy out as they say.
The Boss explains that he was going to use his own boys to do the job but he is worried that his rival may notice them missing and his ship whilst on the job. The Betty’s crew will be so much better.


Side view of the BHS Orisis.

“The BHS Orisis, a 20,000 capacity luxury liner, will be travelling towards the Spectrum Corridor in the Major Asteroid Belt. The Spectrum Corridor is a clear path through the belt, originally done for the space miners but is a chosen destination of the liners as the tourists love the play of the rainbow colours in the dust cloud of the belt. The corridor itself is kept clear of all hazards to navigation by two unmanned stations at either end. You will dock The Betty with the Beta Station and you will pose as maintenance workers checking out the station.”
“Right on cue the BHS Orisis will develop engine problems when about halfway through the corridor. Also by clever ‘coincidence’ all the engineers on board will be incapacitated by a stomach bug, both shifts, so there will be no one else to fix the problems. They will call for help and you will negotiate with them for a good price to come over and fix their engines as if you were a real maintenance crew. You will then go over, fix their engines and at the same time empty their vault!”
“The engine problems will just be their compressor coils, they have the same ones on the station, so it will be just like changing a light. You can control all the ships systems from engineering so you should be able to open the vault and disable the security systems. However there is a secondary security system in the vault with its own power source. You will have to disable that as well but I haven’t got any information on it so you will have to sort that out in situ so to speak. Shouldn’t be a problem for you lot with your experience now should it?”


The deck plans of the Engineering Section of the BHS Orisis.

“I’ll give you the coordinates of BHS Orisis, blueprints of the engineering deck, the access codes for the stations in Spectrum Corridor, the spare parts including the compressor coils, boxes of tools, the paperwork for the maintenance crew, six attaché cases identical to the ones you are going to steal, and even the proper hazmat suits the maintenance crew wear.”

So they took the job, got into position and waited for the BHS Orisis to arrive and for its engines to fail.
They got on board and carried out the heist [and the repairs!]. I hit them with several dilemmas at once that had all the player squirming in their seats as well as hitting them with the shocking ending.

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