Freeform Serenity: Showboat

My good friend Simon has written another Serenity freegame for 32 players that we will run at Tentacles Omega convention that takes place in a castle above the Rhine Valley in Germany this weekend.

I have assisted with the writing, along with Colin, as well as producing of some of the props and items for the game.
Trouble is Simon has just out-classed us all with those masks below that he has made today!

Here is the blurb for the game:
Serenity/Firefly: Showboat!
by Simon Bray, Darran Sims and Colin Driver

In the inky dark of the Black a small transport ship drifts into view alongside a huge cruise ship bound for the Rim.
"Out in the black it's not all broken down boats, Reavers and space dust, hell that's only half of any story. Not all the high and mighty Core dwellers stay at home you know, some come out here into the Rim, looking for adventure and beauty away from the sterility that the Alliance has to offer. All aboard their fine showboats and cruise ships they ride out in the lap of luxury. They bring with them shiny purses full of credits, cases full of fancy medicines and a might of other secrets to. Of course such a pretty little box of goodies comes with a lock or two, all as you need is the right key," said the Captain. He grinned at the beautiful courtesan at his side who returned his smile with a petulant sneer.
"I would expect no less from you, this is my business, not yours," she gracefully snarled as she stormed from the room.
"Then again some boxes are just pure trouble when they are opened, just look at that one of Pandora's. I would say that a ship full of tourists, parliamentary lobbyists, alliance guards and such forth, looks like a mighty box of trouble," said the older man from the doorway clutching his chest; the Doctor stood looking worried as usual at his side.
The Captain just smiled his boyish grin, "You know how much I was hoping you would say that old friend?"
"Are we there yet? I thought you said you could get me there on time," said the passenger from the top of the gantry. "I have very important business, and must not be late. Also I want to discuss a refund, this ship is infested if you ask me."
"Cleanest ship in the Verse!" snapped the Captain defensively "Tell him Doc!"
"We're just *cough!* about to dock *cough!* sir," choked the pilot.
All aboard the luxury cruise ship "Venturer", where the rich, famous and fortunate live like kings in the height of luxury. On this very ship the Alliance is conducting a passionate debate to decide the future of the Verse. But riches and politics attract less wholesome folks like flies around honey.

Play a space rogue, courtesan, politician, special agent or valiant captain in this game of daring exploits, devious politics and deadly secrets. This is a game of good role-playing; newcomers are always welcome but only if they are coming to chew scenery and make this game go with a bang. Costuming a necessity and turning up on the day even more so



Reaver Masks by Simon Bray

Nice!
Hopefully it will not give too much plot away by showing these!

Midweek Character - Ruby

o I haven't posted for a while due to being away on holiday so here is a tasty character to play.

Ruby is a fantastic character in the Supernatural TV series, a wicked character with a possible heart of gold. She is also one of the player characters in my Supernatural HeroQuest game that takes place at Tentacles Omega 2009.
She is a suitable foil for the Winchester brothers and should be able to hold her own in the game even though she is almost an antagonist.

Ruby's Story

"Anyone got a breath mint? Some guts splashed in my mouth while I was killing my way in here..."

"Well... they killed your precious little virgin too! Next time... we do MY plan"

Ruby, a feisty blonde, is a demon with demonic abilities such as enhanced strength and inhuman durability; however she is vulnerable to most weaknesses of demons.

Ruby is a skilled fighter, forgoing telekinesis that other demons use, she tends to rely on martial arts.

During her time as a witch, she gained extraordinary knowledge of magic. She knows how to nullify the effects of hex bags, as well as how to create them to hide her presence from supernatural beings. She knows a spell capable of wiping out all demons - including herself - within a mile radius.

Ruby possesses a mysterious and magical "demon-killing" knife.

107 words

KeyWords

Demon Possessed Female

Witch

Flaws

Vulnerable To Weaknesses of Demons

Distrusted

Enemy To All Demons

Once Human

Personality

Feisty

Forgo Easy Way

Mysterious

Rely On Mundane Way

Relationships

Distrusts Dean

Hated By Other Demons

Mentor to Sammy

Rival of Bela Talbot

Suspicious of Bobby Singer

Abilities

Create Hex Bags

Demonic Abilities

Demonology

Enhanced Strength

Extraordinary Knowledge of Magic

Extensive Knowledge of Supernatural

Feisty Blonde

Gain Magic

Hide Presence From Supernatural Beings

Inhuman Durability

Knows Martial Arts

Knows Spells

Nullify Hex Bags

Nullify Magical Effects

Possesses Magical Artefacts

Skilled Fighter

Telekinesis

Wipe Out All Demons Within A Mile

Items

Arcane Paraphernalia

Demon Killing Knife

My HeroQuest 2.0 games I am running at Tentacles Omega.

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?"

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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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"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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Tentacles 2009 to be the last

Tentacles is such a fantastic RPG convention held every in a beautiful castle above the Rhine. Dedicated to Chaosium and Issaries publications it has been running for over ten years and goes from strength to strength each time.

Unfortunately it looks like the 2009 event will be the last.

"Hey Everybody,

if you attended the Rune Quest society on Essen's toy trade show you will already know. I just talked to a guy who is on the board. Next year's Tentacles will be the last as Fabian doesn't want to run anymore. He didn't like that too many people were just meeting up and drinking instead of really playing. Also, less and less Germans attended the con.
There will probably be some kind of follow-up in a different place in a different style, but the details are still unclear. He said they wanted to keep the guests of honour, but when I asked about Simon's English freeforms, among other things, the person I asked didn't know how that would work out.
What a shame and let's hope next year is going to rock like hell! "

There is a detailed discussion over at the Tavern here.
 
 
 

More photos on my Flickr site.

Tentacles 2008 photos

I have uploaded my photos from Tentacles 2008 up on my Flickr site.

Flickr: Darran!'s Photostream

There's 278 of them to go through!

Tentacles Webcam

You can see the last day of the Tentacles webcam as a quick film on YouTube





It is funny to see go by so quick, though after the event it is hard to remember everything!

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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Tentacles Untapped Con Report

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/

My HeroQuest games at Tentacles Untapped

Here are my games I’ll be running at Tentacles Untapped.

0 Tentacles Untapped. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.
Friday 25th - Monday 28th May 2007.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/

Serenity/Firefly:HeroQuest.
I am running a game 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. The first game, 'Echoes in the Black', has been ran sixteen times now at various conventions and has always been over-subscribed. The sequel, 'The Quick and the Dead', has only been ran six times and has now been extended with extra dilemmas especially for tentacles Untapped. '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 three 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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'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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'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?"

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'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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Gloranthan HeroQuest.
Here is another game I will be running at Tentacles Untapped. A HeroQuest game set in Glorantha, a first for me in two years at a convention.

'Winters Warriors' written & narrated by Darran Sims.
HeroQuest adventure for up to 6 players.

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 magnified 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?