Monday, December 13, 2021

Morgan's Dead of Winter 2021 Adventures



16 RPG games run over two days. Unfortunately, a few ran from 7pm to 1am, way past my bedtime. I found out the hard way that I'll suffer for the next couple of days if I did stay up past my bedtime. Tempting, but not worth it. So, I only signed up for games that ended by 11pm.
"A man's got to know his limitations." - Harry Callahan
I attended the Friday night Zoom party and stayed up way past my bed time, I think I didn't get to sleep till 1am. I normally go to bed by 10am. It was fun catching up with old friends who have a similar love for RPGs. I did suffer a little bit on Saturday.

There were some lively discussions about trigger warnings and whether we should approach RPGs as Art vs Entertainment. If it is truly Art, then we should push the envelope and Trigger Warnings are spoilers and counter productive, the artist should determine what is presented; audience beware. If it is Entertainment, then the audience's sensitivities should be taken into consideration. Verdict? There were strong opinions and no agreement was reached.

I personally feel that the audience must be taken into consideration and various efforts must be made to at least tell the participants what they will be in for, but without giving out spoilers. Certain expectations should be stated in the game description so that there aren't major unexpected, unpleasant surprises. I do think in story telling games, where the Players can make up anything, there is no reason to list the kitchen sink of warnings because the GM is not responsible for what other Players bring to the table, but it is part of the GM's responsibility to list the major themes and tone, and for table control if the game spirals way past what was expected.

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HOPE'S LAST DAY

Saturday, December 11, 2021, 11:05 AM-3:05 PM
GAME SYSTEM: ALIEN RPG
GENRE: SCI-FI HORROR
GM: MORGAN HUA
VARIATIONS: NONE
POWER LEVEL: SPACE TRUCKERS
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 5 (Luke M, Michael R, Felipe M, Frank F, Honda C)
CHARACTERS PROVIDED: YES

TONE: PG-13. Alien body horror. Serious survival horror, joke references and dialog call backs to Alien movie franchise acceptable and expected. 

DESCRIPTION: Introductory scenario from the core book. It's 2 weeks before Ripley and the Colonial Marines arrive on Hadley's Hope for the movie Aliens. You are colonists terraforming Hadley's Hope. Rumors of an inspection team from corporate and one or two people infected by snake-like parasites swirl around Hadley's Hope. Your maintenance crew hoofs it back to the shake and bake colony after your transport breaks down.

I've run this 4 to 5 times and this is a great cinematic game. It delivers the Alien experience in spades. The outcome has been different every time and PC choices are always different and varied. I love this scenario.




MURDER, THE MUSICAL

Sunday, December 12, 2021, 11:00 AM-5:00 PM
GAME SYSTEM: MONSTER OF THE WEEK
GENRE: HORROR, ACTION, ROCK OPERA 
GM: BRYANNA HITCHCOCK
VARIATIONS: CUSTOM PLAYBOOKS
POWER LEVEL: NIGH IMMORTAL AVATARS OF VENGEANCE
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 5-6 (Jason M, Dani L, Honda C, Travis S, Morgan Hua)
CHARACTERS PROVIDED: YES
TONE: Violent, Bloody, Satirical, Dunny
TAGS: Graphic violence, Supernatural horror, Helplessness, Dark humor

DESCRIPTION: Many music scenes are brutal, but nothing compares to Detroit where even murdering a whole band is on the table. The Ravens were ready to hit the big time, until the competition took them out in spectacular fashion. What the scene didn't expect is for The Ravens to launch a deadly comeback. It's the Crow meets The Warriors in a gothic, metal-infused showdown on the dark streets of the Motor City. (No singing required.)

This is Bry's take on one of Matt Steele's games based on The Crow. I had fun in this game, though I felt the pacing could have been amped up a little bit more in some spots (a minor quibble).




THE CELEBRATORY HUNT

Sunday, December 12, 2021, 7:05 PM-11:05 PM
GAME SYSTEM: KING ARTHUR PENDRAGON 5.2
GENRE: ARTHURIAN MYTHOLOGY
GM: SHANNON MAC
VARIATIONS: VERY MINOR
POWER LEVEL: ANTI-D&D
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 (Aaron T, Marty C, Matt R, Morgan Hua)
CHARACTERS PROVIDED: YES
TONE: Mature themes but not gross themes. Pre-tabletop discussion.

DESCRIPTION: You are attending a celebratory feast for your friend, Squire Ruhn, who is soon to become a knight. A celebratory hunt will follow thereafter. 

Pendragon is a game focused on the high ideals amidst the brutality of a cruel world. As combat is "Cthulhu dangerous" it is recommended players find non-combat solutions as often as possible. This scenario will have some horror to it at the end. Surprise!

Introductory game to Pendragon. We got a good tour of the world and system. Shannon's depth of knowledge helped bring the world to life, though for me the description of some aspects went on for a bit too long (minor quibble as I know the system and world very well already). Going over the PCs and world took about one hour before the game started.

I did have fun though.


1 comment:

MrGazz said...

I just found your blog. Really interesting thoughts on Savage World, Delta Green and Call or Cthulhu. Seems to have gone a bit quiet this year. As inspiration, I've been playing a lot of Blades in the Dark recently which is a really well balanced world and system. It is one that might appeal to you. https://tinyurl.com/2p9ymbea