2005 - 2006

Beyonder: Rising Waves
GM: Simon

It's been over a year now since the island-empire of Aquellas and the continental empire of Issnak declared mutual war, and, as of yet, no progress has been made. The building death toll, however, and the strain on both nation's resources have started to tell -- in Aquellas, at least, discontent is rising, and rumors fly back and forth not only of new secret weapons which the Issnak enemy will employ to end the war once and for all, but also of rebels and secret resistance meetings. On the frontiers of Aquellas, however, there have been other rumors as well. Whole villages depopulated overnight, large groups of ships suddenly sinking in calm waters, and strange rumblings from the depths of the sea hint at a greater threat to the inhabitants of the islands than their own incompetent emperor or the armies of the continent. But with the political and military crises already at hand, it is doubtful whether anyone in power will notice these strange occurences, nevermind stop them. And all the while, the sea keeps rising...

Beyonder: Rising Waves is a fantasy adventure game, tinged with aspects of mystery and horror, for 3-5 players. The game takes place in and around the archipelago-empire of Aquellas, ruled by the Water Elves, which is beset internally by political crises and externally by war with the powerful Issnak empire, ruled by the half-snake Crawmen. The system is similar to D&D in terms of game mechanics, but choices for character class and race, as well as the system of character advancement, is different from and more varied than that system's.

Champions of the Munchkin Guild
GMs: Dan B.

Welcome to PERILTOWN, a moderate-sized little hamlet located deep in the Deathshroud Forest, but not far enough away from the Killblister Desert that it doesn't get the occasional raping by Purple Worms.

It's story is a strange, sad, and convoluted one.  Once it was a normal town, with normal people going about their daily lives in a normal fashion.  It had a stable economy, with steady trade going to Fortuneless City in the north and Plaguerat bay in the south.

Then came the adventurers.

In an otherwise stable, sane world, the adventurers were a total anomally.  The poor townsfolk were expected to maintain a normal, functioning society running shops and hospitals, making fine and beautiful treasures, and paying taxes, while Adventurers ran amok among them, taking whatever they wanted and acting as they liked laughtering and pillaging without care or constraint to further their quest for glory, prestige, and grotesque amounts of treasure. 

Despairing of ever forcing players to behave decently, the townsfolk of Periltown secretly pooled together their money to fund nearby monster hordes and evil Lich masterminds, equiping them with enough high-priced items to push them waaay over their regular challenge rating.  The plan worked--within a week, 90% of their adventurers were rotting in a pit with a goblin's +3 spear of wounding in their guts.

Sadly, the plan backfired.  Greedy monsters being greedy monsters, they began assaulting Periltown with ten times their original ferocity.  No longer content to send the occasional raiding party of 6 goblins to be easily mowed down by low-level adventurers or the town guard, they began to unleash a motherload of pain.

Periltown, reeling under blow after shameful blow, stooped to the ultimate possible disgrace.  Realizing there was no way normal folk could defeat such evil hordes, the townsfolk again pooled a fund to begin the soon-famed Munchin Guild, and sent heralds out to the four corners of the world to summon the greediest, vanest, most rapacious munchins to ever blemish the material realm...

Champions of the Munchin Guild is a game designed to fully exploit what most games try to contain--players being cheap munchkin bastards.  Players have 12 levels to build the most unfair character ever, using whatever source material they desire (Book of Vile Darkness and Exulted Deeds are good breaking-points to explore).  Silly things like Monster class levels are allowed.  Players are given 30 attribute points to distribute in the most min-maxed way imaginable.

Munchkins start out together on adventures.  It's unlikely they'll actually break into fights without a reason, but remember--each Munchkin is concerned foremost with his own fame, glory, and richness.  If an ally just happens to be clinging from a cliff edge, in need of a "hand", well, that might be the perfect time to remember the exotic bird in the tree a few hundred yards away.

After each succesful adventure, Munchkins parade around town discussing their various exploits.  The Munchkin Guild is quite a media event (Munchkins are the most adept boasters around, so if they live to 10th level they tend to have quite a fan following).  But it's a cutthroat business--at the end of each media event, the Munchkin who sold himself the least well gets voted out of Periltown by the crowd!

In general, this bitter Munchkin then seeks revenge on the others.  If he's smart, he might join with the next evil monster lord.  If not, he might just squat in a bush in an attempt to kill his former allies.

Champions of the Munchin Guild welcomes metagaming.  Walking into a room, not seeing anything, turning around, and proclaiming "Wait--I think I just failed a spot check!" is completely in-line.  Making a force-wall shield with a 2-inch opening at the bottom and casting fireballs through it untill all enemies are burning crisps is A-Okay.  Hulking Hurlers are right in there.

So enjoy screwing over your friends.  There can be only one... Champion of the Munchin Guild!

Elysium Limit
GM: Dave R.

COME EXPERIENCE ELYSIUM!

The world of Elysium is open for bold adventurers to explore! Join the ranks of the growing kingdoms as they explore and conquer the wilds of a new world. Defend them from the ancient evil of the Shadow Lords and their dark minions, and wage war against rival nations and tribes of savage orcs. Come become a warrior with flashing sword, a wizard of terrible and subtle power, or a cleric who calls upon the power of forces both Light and Dark.

Be a hero or a villain, a mastermind or a devoted follower. Do the things you've always dreamed of doing. Experience the thrill of combat and the power of magic with an immediacy you've never dreamt of before. Explore a fully-realized world as large as Earth! Only our breakthrough Stack Vee systems could deliver an experience this real.

('Elysium' and the Elysium logo, as well as the 'open door' logo, are trademarks of First Step Software, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Elysium Limit is an extended campaign inspired by .hack//SIGN and Tad Williams' 'Otherland' novel series, which will (hopefully) be starting sometime late this year. Players will take on the roles of people about twenty yearrs from now who are new players in a highly advanced virtual-reality MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) which is considerably more than it seems.

Everyone hates being kept after school. You didn't even do anything wrong - not really... But here you are, stuck with a bunch of weirdo kids under the baleful eye of Ms. Grisworth, pretending to do your required reading and keeping one eye on the clock. Wow, the fog is getting thick outside. You can barely make out the jungle gym, and maybe it's getting in through the windows or something, but even with the lights on it's almost too dark to read. Maybe there's something wrong with the electriity. And you couldn't concentrate on your reading anyway, what with that screeching, fingernail-scraping noise in the hall. You know it's only the janitor's cart, but it really sets your nerves on edge. Especially when he rattles the door like that as he goes by. Hey, where'd Ms. Grisworth go?

Forget Me Not is a few-shot inspired by the Silent Hill series, using the Echoes horror system. Players will be children trapped in an elementary school which is rapidly being consumed by nightmares. Participants will be provided with some details but will be allowed to flesh out the majority of their characters themselves. 2-4 sessions.

Fuel and Flame
GM: Santo

"Fuel and Flame" - a HeroQuest game set in Teshnos. Teshnos is a land of tropical delights. Vast temple cities, with elaborate spiritual hierarchies of nobles, priests, merchants and serfs lie nestled in a midst a fertile jungle. It is the land of holy fire, baked by the sun and blessed with many rivers. The Teshnans are a peaceful people surrounded by dangerous enemies - rapacious beast nomads lie to the west, the sinister draconic Kralori to the north, and barbaric amazon and Ashurtan raiders from the South. Despite these dangers, the Teshnans have managed to remain unconquered for most of History.* But will they manage to remain independent and uninvolved in the affairs of the greater world (which they consider impure and impious) with the beginning of the long prophecized Hero Wars?

"Fuel and Flame" will be a weekly game, running either on Monday or Wednesday nights (those being the evenings I, the GM, am available.) I am looking for 3-6 players. HeroQuest is an innovative narrative gaming system that I encourage everyone to try.

More about Teshnos can be found here:
HeroQuest - Voices for Teshnos
and here - This is a large file (2.5 Megs) containing all of the HeroQuest
Voices, and most notably, a Homeland writeup for Teshnos on page 68-69.

Something Wicked
GM: Ray

Hellions.

Devils.  Demons.  Dark spirts.  Manitous.  Fiends. 

You've been called many far worse things than this.  Regardless of which of these labels mortals choose to give to you, you've served the forces of darkness for the last several millenia.  You've relished in corrupting the hearts of the pure, eating the flesh of the innocent, and devouring the souls of the damned.  And the gift for your wickedness has been immortality and power.

But something is different now.  Call it guilt.  Call it a crisis of conscience.  Call it divine intervention.  Whatever it is, you no longer believe in the path of darkness.  So you have fled to the mortal world and begun to defy your evil masters.  And in doing so, you have lost some of your power and have become an enemy of Hell.  Unfortunately, you are still a Hellspawn by blood, so the forces of light wish you dead also.  After all, in spite of your "good" intentions, you have lived for thousands of years as a servant of evil, and are still not always clear on exactly how to be good. 

The mortal world is a bad place full of evil creatures and people.  The innocents need champions to defend them.  They need heroes.

Unfortunately, all they have is you.

============

"Something Wicked" is a dark superhero/antihero game using the soon to be released 2nd edition of the Mutants and Masterminds D20 system.  The PCs will be demons that escaped from Hell (though demons in general will be so varied in power and appearance that you could be any super concept you want).  They will begin at a low level and will grow in power through the course of the campaign.  Something mysterious will trigger a tiny bit of their angelic origins (i.e., their conscience), so now they fight against the other demons of Hell.  Because the PCs are demons too, however, they will have a skewed sense of morality (being good for a few days after thousands of years of being evil takes an adjustment period after all ;-P).  Likewise, the world will not be black and white.  No creature (celestial, demonic, human, or other) is perfect, so there will be many shades of gray as individual motivations skew the actions of NPC! s.  

Covenant

Covenant is a LARP set in the modern world. Most of the players take the part of Adepts - humans graced with an awareness of magical forces, and an ability to manipulate them.
  Such power does not come easily, however. Most of it flows from junctures called Nodes, which are not infinite in number. Like any limited resource, this inspires competition.
  To curb the excesses of this conflict, the Adept long ago entered into a Covenant, which sets out a series of "conventions" to which all Adepts are supposed to adhere. In the present day, there are five main Schools that are parties to the Covenant.
Chief inspiration: "X/1999"

Much more detailed information can be found at the Covenant website.

Three Heads are Better than One

A one-shot day-long LARP set in Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha (the
setting of RuneQuest and HeroQuest). Previously run at RuneQuest Con 2 and
RuneQuest Con 3, and now coming to Brown University in October, 2005.

- - - - -

The town of Knocksberry has an awful secret. Beneath its pleasant facade
lurks a temple to Thanatar, the Severed God, patron of headhunters and
thieves of Knowledge. And the High Holy Day of Thanatar draws nigh...

Come join the temple for a day of evil, scheming, and general mayhem.
Characters range from raving fanatic headhunters, to clever spies, to
hapless bystanders who just want to keep their heads on their shoulders.
There are templars, emissaries, prisoners, and horrible monsters.

- - - - -

This game includes a great deal of backstabbing, treachery and violence,
though not all characters will be deceitful. Some adult themes, including
gore, torture, and carnage, are present in the setting.

Though we have many slots available, you must fill out an application
ahead of time to join the LARP, so that we may best assign characters.
Those whose characters expire early in the LARP will have the option of
playing new characters and/or playing NPCs.

Halloween

Every year before Brown's midnight organ concert FGS puts on a spectacle on the Main Green in front of Sayles Hall. Whether it be a live chess match, a mad tea party, or a feast of temptation, there are always costumes, sweets for passers-by, and a chance to become involved with the strangeness and magic of Halloween. For more information contact fgs@brown.edu.

ProCon

FGS hosts a gaming convention every year in the spring. Events include two major costumed LARPs, a wide variety of one-shot tabletop games, movies and anime, and additional special events. For more information contact fgs@brown.edu.