Past Game Books – TirCon 2021

Tir-Na Nog’Th 2021

Thursday

Thursday

SLOT Pre-Con

(7pm – Midnight BST/GMT+1) (6pm – 11pm GMT) (2pm – 7pm EDT/GMT-4) (11am – 4pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Th-Pr/1: Rivers of Glass

GM: Matthew B
On: Zoom (Backup on Discord)
Cast: 3-5
System: ADRPG
Setting: Eric’s Rule (Low Powered)

Description:

With Eric crowned and Corwin’s curse threatening Amber, with the creation of the Black Road, and the admittance of the loss of the old King Oberon, The City of Amber is dangerous place. But then to you, a member of the guard it has always been a dangerous place. Be you born noble, born poor, a refugee or a second generation member, being in the guard has always been a rough and tumble life. One of dealing with crime, while avoiding upsetting the intrigues of the family, and nothing has really changed. You aren’t like those ceremonial toffs who guard the castle, and you’re not like the “dedicated” and “loyal” soldiers who live and work in the Elders service. You are a guard, a member of the Polis, and you are hear to solve crimes and keep the peace.

Characters:

10pts. No powers. Item and pet limit maximum 4pts. Rank in the guard will be based on background and stats and assigned by the GM.

Players:

  1. Matthew B (GM)
  2. Alan W
  3. Amber B
  4. Dave C
  5. Richard D
  6. Simone P

Game Th-Pr/2: Alice is Missing

GM: Marieke K
Cast: 4
System: Alice is Missing (non-Amber)

Description:

ALICE IS MISSING

An immersive RPG played entirely via (text message) Discord.
Alice is Missing is a silent role-playing game about the disappearance of Alice Briarwood, a high school junior in the small town of Silent Falls.

The game is played live and without verbal communication. Players inhabit their character for the entirety of the 90-minute play session, and instead of speaking, send text messages back and forth to the other characters in a group chat, as well as individually, as though they aren’t in the same place together.

Haunting beautiful, deeply personal, and highly innovative, Alice is Missing puts a strong focus on the emotional engagement between players, immersing them in a tense, dramatic mystery that unfolds organically through the text messages they send to one another.

Alice Is Missing runs over a single session of 3-4 hours, with 3-5 players. In the first two hours, players create their characters, their relationships to Alice, and their ties with each other. The next 90 minutes are spent uncovering secrets and unearthing clues in an attempt to discover where Alice is, and who is behind her disappearance.

Though text messages seem to be the most common mode of communication in our modern era, they are rarely utilized as a storytelling medium. The integration of texting (in this instance via Discord) into the gameplay unlocks a brand new way to play RPGs that is unlike anything you’ve likely experienced before. It’s personal, immersive, and perfect for remote play.

Fair warning; This game has nothing to do with Amber. Instead, you’ll be playing the friends of Alice Briarwood, a missing 16 year old, who try to find out what happened to her. After creating the characters, within certain templates, the game itself is played in silence, as if you’re teenagers communicating via text message. Once the game is over, we can talk to each other again and have a little debrief.

For more information, see https://www.huntersentertainment.com/alice-is-missing and https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/huntersbooks/alice-is-missing-a-silent-role-playing-game?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=alice%20is%20missing .

Characters:

Characters are generated within given templates during the first half of the game. No player preparation needed!

Players:

  1. Marieke K (GM)
  2. Amber D
  3. Ari M
  4. CJ J
  5. Edith B

Game Th-Pr/3: Aurellis (Thursday)

GM: Tim H
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG with Modifications

Description:

Aurellis is a continuing campaign, first started at ACUK around 2001, and played at many other cons since, online on email, and now on Discord too. It’s set in a multiverse that has an Amber, a Chaos, and a whole bunch of other places too.

Most characters start out on a version of Earth, currently in late 2011. Except it’s not completely the same. For instance, President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet is just coming to the end of his second term as US president. Little changes.

Most people in the real world don’t know that there is weird stuff. Alternate realities. Magic. Super-Science!. Player characters get caught up in the weird. You guys do what it takes to let the rest of the population sleep safely at night, unenlightened, and happy.

Characters:

Returning players (no matter where played Aurellis before) are always welcome.

New players – character construction starts out with a quiz. That lets me assign skills, Powers and attribute points. After that, it’s what you do. Role play, not Rule play. You don’t know how many points you have in real life, right?

Aurellis has it’s own Discord server, and the game will be run on there, so that the text chats remain part of the Aurellis archive.

Players:

  1. Tim H (GM)
  2. Darrell H
  3. Jason P
  4. Jeremy F
  5. Kenneth M
  6. Rain D
  7. Trish H

Game Th-Pr/4: Juman-ADRPG (De-Scheduled)

GM: Anna J
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: None

Description:

You were walking home and saw it in a charity shop window, a pristine copy of a board game so rare it was thought to be only a rumour: The Princes of Amber. At £2.50 you can hardly believe your luck – you buy it at once and take it home to brag about to your friends. You can’t resist opening it when you get home and rolling one of the dice. Suddenly the world starts spinning and everything goes black. When you wake up you know instantly that something is wrong. You’re not at home and your body feels strange. You look down at your hands and recoil – those aren’t your hands, this isn’t your body. Why are you carrying a sword? You realise that somehow you are inside the game – how will you survive and how on earth can you get home?

Characters:

Please give me a character background for your ‘real-life’ character (i.e. the one that bought the game and took it home). This should cover 1) who you are, 2) who you care about, 3) who will miss you if you don’t get back and 4) why you want/need to get back home.

Game Th-Pr/5: Magical Kitties save Amber

GM: Andy R
On: Discord
Cast: 3-5
System: Magical Kitties Save the Day (set in Amber)

Description:

Deep in the cellars and dungeons of Amber there is something stirring, something that doesn’t belong, but only the cats of Amber are aware of it….

This game will use a slightly tweaked version of the Magical Kitties Save the Day rules (https://atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG3110) instead of the the ADRPG rules. It is a lightweight and easy system to learn so no advanced knowledge of the rules is required but as a warning to you diceless fanatics the rules do use a very light weight dice mechanic.

Characters:

Despite the grandeur of Amber and the power of the Royal family, Castle Amber is a Medieval Castle and like any castle has a rodent problem. The traditional way to deal with rodents are cats and Amber is no exception.

Player characters are all magical kitties living in Castle Amber. Full details of kitty creation will be provided after game allocations have been finalised, but pregen kitties will be available if players don’t want to create their own.

Players:

  1. Andy R (GM)
  2. Esther vR
  3. Guy A
  4. Laura B
  5. Stephen Q

Game Th-Pr/6: Five Go Mad in Chaos

GM: Mel M
On: Discord
Cast: 6-7
System: ADRPG

Description:

The Jewel of Judgement is missing! And the grownups seem surprisingly reluctant to do anything about it. But it’s the beginning of the hols, and the Five are set to go camping, riding their bikes and having high tea in farmhouses with lashings of ginger beer. What if their route should take them close to the mysterious Courts of Chaos?

This game is set in the world of Enid Blyton, with five specific Amberites as young teenagers. Eric = Julian (who talks down to the police). Deirdre = George, the tomboy. Flora = Anne, who likes to be good and a proper little housewife. Gerard = Dick and Corwin, devoted to Deirdre, = Timmy. They may encounter a couple of the Brownites – namely William Brown (aka Mandor) and Violet Elizabeth Bott (aka Dara).

Characters:

This is intended to be a fun game for all ages. Some knowledge of Enid Blyton and the Just Williams books would be helpful. The range of characters is limited but I am open to accept substitutions if players have awesome alternative concepts (i.e. if someone would like to play Julian as Dick and convince me this would work).

This game will be played on Discord, unless all the players are happy to use Second Life (in which case, bicycles and picnics will be provided).

Characters will be built with 50 points.

Players:

  1. Mel M (GM)
  2. Anna J
  3. Claire M
  4. George K
  5. Karen H
  6. Kevin D

Friday

SLOT 1

(10am – 5pm BST/GMT+1) (9am – 4pm GMT) (5am – Midday EDT/GMT-4) (2am – 9am PST/GMT-7)

Game Fr-1/1: Fall of the House of Amber: The Darkening Mist

GM: Matthew B
On: Zoom (Backup on Discord)
Cast: 3-5
System: ADRPG
Setting: Raft (Apocalypse)

Description:

You were trapped in a trump card. While you were trapped the worlds fell. Amber fell. Chaos was breached and the universe died. While you were trapped everything was lost. You may have been trapped for hundreds or thousands of years.

When the power behind the trump trap faded you were freed, from one moment of time to another. From a powerful and joyous past to a broken future. A future with thousands of worlds destroyed and shattered, tied together through a curdled shadow of fragments of worlds. A world fading and dying where too strong a will can shatter what remains.

What powers you have left are mere echoes, to be used cautiously, drawing from the world around them and your own soul and strength.

You are not the only person out of time. There are others. Some are creatures that have survived the breaking of their powers and exist as maddened versions of themselves and some, like you, were trapped. There is a plan: to find fragments of old powers, steal them, bring them together and make a sanctuary shadow – a lifeboat to survive the end of the world.

There are two trees of Yggdrasil one is the tree planted by Oberon, the other the tree planted by Corwin. It is unknown what the state of his pattern and its worlds are, but if energy can be drawn from them then the raft needs it, and if the worlds of Corwin are still whole then they may accept refugees.

Characters:

All characters are based on 200 points, ADRPG rules both main rules and Shadow Knight. Any items or creatures over 6 points will have been sacrificed by you already to make the Raft. Shadows can be bought but I will rewrite them to match the current world, and you have not yet managed to get back to them.  (This game may be running twice, if you want to be in both sessions you will need two separate characters). No bonuses for contributions.

Players:

  1. Matthew B (GM)
  2. Keith P
  3. Tym N
  4. Alan W
  5. Amber B
  6. Claire M

Game Fr-1/2: A Brand New Day

GM: Esther vR
On: Discord
Cast: 4-5
System: ADRPG

Description:

All is well in Amber.

Random is King and everyone has her or his own tasks. It is a time of peace, or so it seems. No arguing siblings, no new throne war, no invasions, no…, no, this is everything but normal. It is kind of boring actually.

Then, out of nowhere, there is turmoil in the great city of Amber. The citizens are tearing apart the Main Road. It appears that the cobblestones of the road are turning into gold one by one and they are frantically removed by everyone that can get their hands on them.

The guards managed to keep the people away from the Main Road but no-one has a clue what is happening and why.
This is where the game starts. The King has summoned you to an audience together with a number of other people to assemble a taskforce. Clean and simple.

Depending on character descriptions and backgrounds I will create a reason for the characters to get involved.

Characters:

Adrpg rules, no Shadowknight. 50 pts characters. Go wild, and please keep in mind that as a GM I value a good story more than a clever character design.

Players:

  1. Esther vR (GM)
  2. Ivo K
  3. Monique C
  4. Pete M
  5. Rachel W
  6. Stephen Q

Game Fr-1/3: Princes of the Universe

GM: Simone PM
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG

Description:

Oberon lied. Not just about the little things. You only found out the truth when you walked the Pattern. Yes, the Pattern can only be walked by one of your blood, and is fatal to everyone else, but it doesn’t grant the immortality and other powers that Oberon has always claimed. Sure, you’re tough, strong, and good in a fight. Mostly due to good nutrition and excellent training from an early age. And Oberon made sure to choose good breeding stock. It’s not a bad life though, if you can ignore the punishing training regime you grew up with, and you can fake the special powers with magic.

Then suddenly Oberon is gone and all his lies come back to haunt you.

Characters:

Pre-generated elders. List your 3 favourites. Costumes, props and swaggering encouraged.

Note: This game was previously run at AmberCon UK 2011

Players:

  1. Simone PM (GM)
  2. Ari M
  3. Jason P
  4. Kenneth M
  5. Guy A
  6. George K
  7. Karen H

Game Fr-1/4: St Mary’s: A Stitch In Time

GM: Anna J
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: No points, no system, but lots of tea and biscuits.

Description:

The remnants of St Mary’s and the Time Police have made their new base of operations in ancient Santorini ready to begin their new work of leaping from time period to time period, striving to put right what once went wrong. First up, members of the team are encouraged to submit their ideas of historic events to revisit and adjust. The existing time line with all its horrors (a drugged and subservient populace with irreversible population decline due to side-effects from the drug) already deviates from the one you grew up remembering due to the incident with sweating sickness, the idea of quarantine and Prince (subsequently King) Arthur. The trick to making changes appears to be in subtlety and nudging and advising rather than trying to directly intervene so suggestions will need to bear this in mind.

Characters:

Returning and new characters are welcome. For new characters I need to know if you were a) one of the few surviving time police, b) from the old St Mary’s and on a mission pre-mid 15th century when the timeline changed. For all characters, I need to know your idea of a historical incident you would like to revisit and change the outcome to make the timeline better and why.

Players:

  1. Anna J (GM)
  2. Simon C
  3. Vivek D
  4. Marieke K
  5. Trish H
  6. Kevin D
  7. Mel M

SLOT 2

(7pm – Midnight BST/GMT+1) (6pm – 11pm GMT) (2pm – 7pm EDT/GMT-4) (11am – 4pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Fr-2/1: The Return of The Man from A.M.B.E.R – The Broken Trump Affair

GM: Jason P
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: Modified ADRPG

Description:

A telephone rings on a desk in a well-appointed office somewhere. An elderly stern-faced gentleman picks up the receiver. “Waverley, here – what is the situation, Mr. Kuryakin?” “Just as we suspected, Sir” a blond-headed soberly dressed man replies, speaking into an odd-looking pen. He stands in the badly trashed Laboratory in a Shadow far away. “Professor Harrison is missing, presumably kidnapped.” “And the agent we had with him?” “He didn’t survive sir.” Kuryakin moves to inspect an unmoving form on the floor, raising an arm of the body before letting it drop. “I understand. Given the situation I want you to wait there, Mr. Kuryakin, and I shall send a team to help you.”

Characters:

Players are all recruited agents for a certain semi-covert agency charged with protecting Amber and the integrity of Shadow from the agents of KAOS and other threats. Modified character generation will apply – I will contact players with details.

Players:

  1. Jason P (GM)
  2. Ginger S
  3. Joe S
  4. Richard D
  5. Stephen Q
  6. George K
  7. Simon C

Game Fr-2/2: Splintered Loyalties – TPK

GM: Dave C
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: LoGaS

Description:

You work for the good guys. You know this to be true, you know the truth. They call you terrorists, murderers, butchers, liberals even but they would wouldn’t they? They control the media and perpetuate the myths of the petit bourgeoisie and their capitalist running dog masters and worst of all the Lords of Gossamer. You though, you work for the Enlightened One, Mahasamatman, The Binder of Demons, or just Sam.

All you know is something went wrong, there must have been a fifth columnist in your cell and now you’re caught in some crossfire, pinned down by the forces of Luke, the Master of Perdition. But you’re not alone, you can see others similarly positioned as you are and one of them has a call sign you used some weeks ago. It’s pushing it maybe but perhaps they could be on your side….

Characters:

10 pt character no more than 10 points in artefacts total. Please may I have a brief character with a rough idea of what sort freedom fighter/ counter-revolutionary/ revolutionary/liberating/ enlightening or just plain colonial, imperialist (benign) group you are a member of and what you’re fighting for.

Players:

  1. Dave C (GM)
  2. Tym N
  3. Guy A
  4. CJ J
  5. Keith P
  6. Kevin D

Game Fr-2/3: No nuts in the Nuthouse!

GM: Amber B
On: Discord
Cast: 4
System: ADRPG

Description:

You can’t remember how long it has been but you have been on this ward for ages. Everyday the same routine, everyday the same people. The meds help they make you calm. They say that is what it is suppose to do.
But is this how you should feel. There is a sense of something missing. A sense of something wrong.

Note: I would like to add that this could be a sensitive/triggering game as things about current mental institutions will be brought up and mental health.

Characters:

What I need from you for your character is:

  • what is your diagnosis?
  • Why are you admitted? (what is on file)
  • Name, age, gender
  • what is your favourite part of the day in the clinic?

Players:

  1. Amber B (GM)
  2. Amber D
  3. Edith B
  4. Matthew B
  5. Rachel W

Game Fr-2/4: The Sable Game

GM: Trish H
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: ADRPG with Modifications

Description:

The PCs are talented mortals who are the trusted agents of the King of Sable, chosen to help in the smooth running of the Kingdom, and to thwart the plans of Sable’s age-old enemy, the Reich, as well as those of newer enemies who have come on the scene in recent years, such as the Brotherhood of the Martyr and the Machine, and any other threats to the Kingdom which might arise. Preference will be given to returning characters from any iteration of the Sable Game.

The game is set in a Pattern-based world, but the setting and NPCs are specific to the Sable Game. Full details are available on the game website at: http://www.sable.org.uk/. With Tim’s help, Sable set up on the Aurellis-Sable Discord server. Invites will be sent to those players who are in the game (or are just interested!)

Characters:

Character generation is based on 85 points starting at Chaos stats, and only limited powers are available to players. Players must have email access, as I’m not willing to do character creation at the con.

Players:

  1. Trish H (GM)
  2. Darrell H
  3. Kenneth M
  4. Marieke K
  5. Pete M
  6. Rain D
  7. Tim H

Game 2/5: Burning Coal

GM: Vivek D
Cast: 4-6
System: Cinematic Diceless, explained in game summary

Description:

It is the turn of the 19th century: The great imperial powers vie for dominance, fuelled by coal and steered by the industrial combines and their brass-and-steel difference engines:

But not all their conflicts are played out in the open, by displays of military might or commercial conflicts – there are other, more shadowy arenas where the Great Game is also played.

At the heart of the British Empire we find The Ministry (it has a name, officially, on paper – but never speak it. It is always just The Ministry).

Home to the freak, the monster, the superhuman, the undead, the spy, the assassin and the mad scientist* and those simply… less trammeled by ordinary moral considerations.

This means you.

* The Society of Hypercognisant Artisans and Master Engineers prefers “Enlightened Engineer” over the vulgar and somewhat pejorative “Mad Scientist”.

Characters:

Players should pick an archetype or template to build their character on – Mad Scientist*, Monster, Super-spy, Werewolf, Golem, Demon-ridden Sorceress – feel free to plunder any and all of Pulp, Sci-Fi, Fantasy for an idea (or even come up with your own).

That’s who your character is. In addition there should be

  • a reason the ministry would want to employ you
    • some extraordinary ability, power or skill-set.
  • a reason you work for the ministry:
    • They might have stayed your execution for a crime (real or framed)
    • Maybe they pay you vast sums of money.
    • Perhaps they are the only source of a drug you need.
    • Possibly you’re just the right mix of patriotic and amoral that you want to.
  • One superhumanly strong stat or trait, eg:
    • Strong / Agile / Dextrous / Strong-willed / Perceptive / etc
  • 0 or more _additional_ strengths, each balanced by a weakness, eg:
    • Weak / Aged / Clumsy / Weak-willed / Vulnerable to iron / Berserk / etc

To be clear – your first strength is free. Only additional ones must be paid for.

Players:

  1. Vivek D (GM)
  2. Andy R
  3. Ari M
  4. Chris L
  5. Ray H
  6. Stephanie I
  7. Tom M

Game Fr-2/7: Eloise

GM: Michael K
On: Discord
Cast: 6
System: ADRPG

Description:

You are in an American Midwest 1870s mental institution, and each of you have come to the realization that you don’t think you (at least) don’t belong in Eloise.

Characters:

Characters will be provided after players fill out a questionnaire.

Players:

  1. Michael K (GM)
  2. Esther vR
  3. Laura B
  4. Monique C

Game Fr-2/8: Dark Dealings in Carnival Row

GM: Mel M
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: Set in the Carnival Row Universe, this game will be Bespoke Diceless. You should download information about the Carnival Row setting here: https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Carnival-Row-RPG.pdf, and/or watch the TV series on Amazon Prime. NB This is for background ONLY – I will supply simplified character creation rules.

Description:

Carnival Row offers a dark, fantastic world that calls back to the styles and social graces of Edwardian London, in a society still shakily recovering from a conflict that resembles European colonial wars — but with industrialized destruction that resembles World War I.

A recent murder was committed in Carnival Row and (rather surprisingly) solved. But things have not settled down. A long-established group, Citizens of The Burgue for the Protection of Virtue, have suddenly become a great deal more active – and the chief target of their ire seems to be the Tetterby Hotal – run by the faerie Madame Moira, who has recently turned the place into an upmarket place for salacious entertainment of many kinds. And their campaigning seems to be attracting attention in some high – and low – places. Things come to a head when another murder is committed …

Characters:

This game is a re-run of the game played at Amnercon NI earlier this year. Several returners weren’t able to play, sadly, so I’m running it again.

You are someone caught up in the murder investigation. You can be police, member of the Citizens of The Burgue for the Protection of Virtue, witness or suspect (and if you are a Faerish witness, you are also likely to be a suspect). You can be human (not necessarily from The Burgue) or Faerish. Come up with a proposal, and I’ll help you shape it. Returning and new players welcome.

We will probably be using Zoom or Discord to play this.

Players:

  1. Mel M (GM)
  2. Alan W
  3. Anna J
  4. Karen H
  5. Simone P
  6. UAJ vL

SLOT 3

1am till 6am BST

(1am – 6am BST/GMT+1 Sat) (12am – 5am GMT Sat) (8pm – 1am EDT/GMT-4 Fri/Sat) (5pm – 10pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Fr-3/1: In Her Shoes

GM: Richard D and Amber D
On: Discord
Cast: 5-6
System: ADRPG

Description:

It has been quiet in Amber lately. Trade is going well. The borders of Arden and Chaos are peaceful. To be honest, the family was starting to get a bit bored. No doubt that’s why everyone latched onto the contest. You see Caine was showing off what he brought back on his latest trip and Bleys scoffed that he brings back better things by accident. Next thing you know, the contest is set: in six-months time Amber relative, come back with the most amazing thing from shadow with valuable bragging rights at stake. Most of the Family left that evening for Shadow except for Prince Gerard who drew the short straw and had to be Regent because King Random was not going to pass this chance up.

Tomorrow is the deadline and you find yourself at the castle that night. Maybe you’ve arrived early with your entry for the contest. Maybe you drifted home in hopes of seeing all the wonders or the inevitable Family drama. Possibly you never left. However, you came to be there, the contest will soon be beside the point. Secrets long hidden will be revealed and at the end, you will not look at your Family in quite the same way again.

Characters:

100 point characters, no Logrus, all Elders are available for parentage. Partial powers allowed, weird character abilities negotiable. If you have come back with a wonderful find for the contest, provide a description of your wonder with your character description. Also for sale are secrets about the castle and staff. 5 points will get you a minor secret, 10 points for a major secret. One secret limit.

Players:

  1. Richard D (GM)
  2. Amber D (GM)
  3. Larry B
  4. Michael C
  5. Randal T
  6. Ginger S
  7. Darrell H
  8. Rain D

Game Fr-3/2: Neverland: The Ticking Crocodile (De-Scheduled)

GM: Michael C and Ginger S
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: Everway + Amberway extensions

Description:

Once upon a time, a group of children who were very likely unlikely heroes foiled the plans of their wicked uncle, rescued their kidnapped school teacher, and sank the Pirate ship “Revenge” to the bottom of Mermaid Lagoon. The next day, they had to go back to school.

But Adventure! is never far away in Neverland, where everything and nothing is as it seems. And the children of Amber’s royal family had been sent here “for safety”, but it hadn’t turned out to be very safe.

Tick tock, tick tock.

A standalone shadow adventure for 3-6 adolescent princes and princesses, set a handful of years after Random’s coronation (first series canon) and played using Everway (http://everway.com). New or returning characters welcome!

“I suppose it’s like the ticking crocodile, isn’t it? Time is chasing after all of us.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Characters:

Welcome to those who have played with us in the past and those who are first timers. The system is light and is mostly to help inspire you to make creative trade-offs about your characters and to help us make quick but fair calls about what you can do. We want everyone to have a good time. Welcome to Neverland, where all the adventures of childhood can take place every day. The islands of Neverland are all paradises, each different from the last, and full of mystery, danger, and challenges. We are asking players to submit a character via email in advance following the rules here. It’s a one-page document, so hopefully it’ll be easy. If you have any questions or issues, or just get stuck, email us. They’re a shortened variant of Everway, adapted to Amber and Neverland and adolescent characters.

Game Fr-3/3: Alice is Missing

GM: Jeremy Z
On: Discord
Cast: 2-4
System: Alice is Missing

Description:

From the game description:

Alice is Missing is a silent role-playing game about the disappearance of Alice Briarwood, a high school junior in the small town of Silent Falls.

The game is played live and without verbal communication. Players inhabit their character for the entirety of the 90-minute play session, and instead of speaking, send text messages back and forth to the other characters in a group chat, as well as individually, as though they aren’t in the same place together.

Haunting beautiful, deeply personal, and highly innovative, Alice is Missing puts a strong focus on the emotional engagement between players, immersing them in a tense, dramatic mystery that unfolds organically through the text messages they send to one another.

Characters:

We will need to do a little bit of pre-con discussion just to work out some logistics. At the very least you will need to have an account on Roll20, and we can decide if we want to use Zoom or Discord.

Players:

  1. Jeremy Z (GM)
  2. Dawn V
  3. Drew W
  4. Klil H
  5. Orion L

Game Fr-3/4: Galaxy Quest vs. the Martians

GM: Chris L
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: Simple homebrew system with d10 for flavour

Description:

It’s 1999 and Galaxy Quest: the Journey Continues, a revival of the old cult TV series, is about to hit the airwaves. As a cast member you know there’s more to the story than anyone suspects. Months ago you had a real-life space adventure on a real starship, built by aliens who thought the TV show was real. Together you managed to defeat an interstellar enemy and save their race from extinction. And as a bonus, you’re working again.

But now humans have exposed themselves (so to speak) on the galactic stage. The Earth is about to get some…unwelcome attention…so get ready for your deadliest curtain call ever. This time the very future of humanity is at stake!

Never give up, never surrender!

Characters:

Players should have some familiarity with Galaxy Quest (1999). Characters are pre-generated based on characters from the movie:

*Jason Nesmith starring as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, the captain of the NSEA Protector and the main character of the original series
*Gwen DeMarco starring as Lieutenant Tawny Madison, communications officer and expert in computer languages (only she could talk to the computer in the original series)
*Sir Alexander Dane starring as Dr. Lazarus, science officer and Mak’tar, aliens known for their super intelligence and warrior code
*Fred Kwan starring as Tech Sergeant Chen, the NSEA Protector’s unflappable chief engineer
*Tommy Webber starring as Lieutenant Laredo, former child prodigy and pilot of the NSEA Protector
*Guy Fleegman starring as Security Chief “Roc” Ingersol, as suave as he is handsome
*Laliari (for reals an alien) starring as Laliari, a mysterious Thermian crew-member on the engineering staff

I’ll do character assignments based on your top three choices on the Discord channel. Or you can pick from an available character at the start of the game. System is home-brewed with three basic attributes used both on-camera and off: “Know your lines,” “Chew the scenery,” and “I do my own stunts.” By Grabthar’s Hammer, you will roll some dice! (1 to 5 d10 for difficult tasks.) This is the same game run at AmberCon Northwest 2019.

If someone volunteers their paid account and all players agree, we can use Zoom for video.

Players:

  1. Chris L (GM)
  2. Ian N
  3. Rob W
  4. CJ J
  5. Laura B

Saturday

SLOT 4

(10am – 5pm BST/GMT+1) (9am – 4pm GMT) (5am – Midday EDT/GMT-4) (2am – 9am PST/GMT-7)

Game Sa-4/1: Fall of the House of Amber: Of Decaying Blood

GM: Matthew B
On: Zoom (Backup on Discord)
Cast: 3-5
System: ADRPG
Setting: Raft (Apocalypse)

Description:

You were trapped in a trump card. While you were trapped the worlds fell. Amber fell. Chaos was breached and the universe died. While you were trapped everything was lost. You may have been trapped for hundreds or thousands of years.

When the power behind the trump trap faded you were freed, from one moment of time to another. From a powerful and joyous past to a broken future. A future with thousands of worlds destroyed and shattered, tied together through a curdled shadow of fragments of worlds. A world fading and dying where too strong a will can shatter what remains.

What powers you have left are mere echoes, to be used cautiously, drawing from the world around them and your own soul and strength.

You are not the only person out of time. There are others. Some are creatures that have survived the breaking of their powers and exist as maddened versions of themselves and some, like you, were trapped. There is a plan: to find fragments of old powers, steal them, bring them together and make a sanctuary shadow – a lifeboat to survive the end of the world.

With the raft at rest, and children off it experiencing time properly again, patrols have to go out and check the surrounds. If the raft has to move again it will take too much time to bring people back on board, hazards need to be scouted, enemies and dangers stopped.

Characters:

All characters are based on 200 points, ADRPG rules both main rules and Shadow Knight. Any items or creatures over 6 points will have been sacrificed by you already to make the Raft. Shadows can be bought but I will rewrite them to match the current world, and you have not yet managed to get back to them.  (This game may be running twice, if you want to be in both sessions you will need two separate characters). No bonuses for contributions.

Players:

  1. Matthew B (GM)
  2. George K
  3. Alan W
  4. Simone P
  5. UAJ vL

Game Sa-4/2: The Clock Strikes Thirteen

GM: Jason P
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG with a few tweaks

Description:

Benedict, the oldest surviving child of Oberon, the sworn defender to the Throne of Amber, and one of the best warriors in the entirety of the Shadow and beyond, so appalled by the constant bickering and schemes of his younger siblings and how they kept risking the Throne itself, one day he simply lost patience with every one of them. He would do something that he had sworn he would never do, take control of Amber.

Being a man of few words, he announced his coup when he took Random’s head off in front of a packed throne room. Then with frightening military efficiency, Benedict’s forces soon took control of the Castle, the City, the Golden Circle and beyond and now, he rules with a cold logic and ruthlessness worthy of any military dictator.

Only in the days of Benedict’s coup, was the true strength and extent of his forces realised and among them are the feared Order of the Unicorn, his elite and highly trained troops with whose goal is to root out and destroy any resistance, and this includes you.

While recently your group has managed to recover to score some notable successes against Benedict’s aims and gathered some allies to assist in the conflict, still much needs to be done.

The game takes place after the events of the Merlin Series. Those believed dead at the end of the series are still persisting to give that impression.

Characters:

Characters are on the side of those who oppose Benedict and his regime, whether they are from the Court of Chaos, Corwin’s Parys, or children of Elder Amberites either looking for answers or revenge. This is a continuation to the ‘Big Brother is watching you’ game run at last year’s TirCon. Returning player will be given priority but new players are always welcome.

Players:

  1. Jason P (GM)
  2. Keith P
  3. Kevin D
  4. Marieke K
  5. Pete M
  6. Vivek D

Game Sa-4/3: The Institute (De-Scheduled)

GM: Esther vR
On: Discord
Cast: 4-5
System: ADRPG

Description:

The Krüger Institute is looking for PhD students, post docs, bio technicians and financial or HR managers for the BIRB project.

Project:

A 3-year project on Balanced and Ideal methods for Reproductivity and Biodiversity (the BIRB project) within the Biology & Genetics Department at the Krüger Institute, Düsseldorf, Germany, is looking for several motivated participants. The department is led by Simon Erben, co-discoverer Xz-Hegdehog, the first gene to be implicated in a adaptive brain disorder. The Institute adopts the latest innovations in molecular methods to discover how the genome helps a species to adapt to environmental changes, identifying genes that are important for development of structural adaptive capacity, behavioural modifications , and using those genes as a base to strengthen existing (endangered) species, as well as investigating evolutionary foundations. This involves interdisciplinary research at multiple levels, from determining molecular interactions and functional roles in embryonic cell models to assessing effects on structure and activity. We work together with leading researchers at the Mendell Institute for Evolution, Extinction and Adaptation and the University Medical Center in Berlin, and with extensive networks of expert collaborators around the world.

Job descriptions:

Scientific:
Through whole genome DNA sequencing, we have identified rare gene disruptions that cause morphological and structural impairments in several DNA samples of endangered or in species that are extinct. The successful candidates will lead specific projects within an ongoing research programme that investigates the bio evolutionary consequences of such gene disruptions (in Xz-Hedgehog, HIF1a, HIF2 among other genes). This programme adopts the latest cell-culture techniques (stem-cell derived 2D and 3D models), CRISPR/Cas-based gene editing, single-cell RNA sequencing, and other state-of-the-art methods. The work is carried out in a custom-built molecular biology laboratory at the Krüger Institute, which has its own cell-culture facilities, an advanced microfluidics system for high-throughput single-cell analyses, and dedicated histology and microscopy suites, including a confocal microscope with live cell-imaging capabilities. These resources are complemented by bioinformatic experts within the department, excellent in-house infrastructure for data analysis supported by a central technical group.

Administrative:
As HR manager you are responsible for the well-being of our personnel within the BIRB project.
As financial manager you are responsible for the money flow within the project.

Characters:

You were an applicant to this job offer and with success. You have been working there now for 6 months. I will need a description of your function and your background. Additionally I will ask you questions. Before the game I will introduce you to each other on Discord, since you are co-workers and you know one another.

Game Sa-4/4: The Office

GM: Rachel W
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: Diceless

Description:

It’s just another normal, boring day at the grindstone for the staff at the East Coast regional office of Merle Corey’s computer tech company. That is, until weird shit starts to happen and you’re the ones who have to deal with it. As you wrestle with magical forces and chaotic influences, one important question comes to mind. Are you going to get paid overtime for this?

Characters:

Characters are normal humans, with skills/powers based on the department they work in (i.e. HR, Sales and Marketing, IT, Finance etc.). It’d be best if everyone picks a different department, so we’ll sort that out as soon as the player list is available.

Players:

  1. Rachel W (GM)
  2. Ivo K
  3. Stephen Q
  4. Tym N
  5. Andy R
  6. Esther vR

Game Sa-4/5: A quiet little village murder

GM: Ray H
On: Discord
Cast: 2-5
System: Legends walk dice light. Mythogical action adventures.

Description:

There is a world beneath the one you know. A world of gods and mystery, a world of scions and titan spawn. A world where picking up the wrong sword can cause untold misery or profound joy and excitement.

You all work for Section 13 of SATT who regulate the secrets of the otherworld and keep the mortals from finding out just who lives next door. And your boss…. well he appears in most history books but won’t tell you his real name. And he has a mission for you. Find out why a supposedly unkillable Scion of Aphrodite has been reported as dead to the mortal authorities in the sleepy village of Tolding.

Characters:

All players welcome new and old.

Character creation I will send out an email with examples of characters to all players, but the basics are that you choose a word or phrase to act as a stat that shows how good you are at x y or z.


You get 4 of those and then you choose a negative phrase as well.

So someone might be ‘Skilled with any blade they can lay their hand on’, ‘a blacksmith of notoriety’ and ‘has a glass jaw’


You also will need to choose which Goddess or God is your sponsor to work with SATT. They can be your parent or your patron and I will need a few sentences explaining their relationship to you.

For example
My mother is Hathor, and she doesn’t trust that Lancelot du Lac will not start another war with the Titans if he sees them doing something wrong and she has sent me to work for SATT so that I can be a peace maker.

Shouldn’t hit many dark themes but may have discussions of war, murder, assassination in a mythological context.

Players:

  1. Ray H (GM)
  2. Thom d
  3. Edith B
  4. Kenneth M
  5. Mel M

Game Sa-4/6: Invisible Library: The First Folio

GM: Anna J
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: No system – not even Dewey Decimal

Description:

It is a highlight of the year – the annual book-exchange festival on C-451 – one of the Fae worlds which opens to the library and where dragons, Fae and librarians can barter and sell rare books and get hold of books which only occur on worlds which are otherwise inaccessible to them. As always a large contingent of librarians and even some trainees will be present to see what rare volumes they might acquire from the more extreme Fae and dragon worlds. This is the first festival since the signing of the treaty, but since there was a generally agreed truce for the festival it seems highly unlikely that there will be any trouble and it promises to be a fun fortnight for those attending.

Characters:

This is in the same universe but not directly linked with the Moving Finger or The Silk Slipper. Players can be librarians or trainees. To play a librarian you must have read The Invisible Library.

Players:

  1. Anna J (GM)
  2. Claire M
  3. Guy A
  4. Trish H
  5. Ari M
  6. Karen H

SLOT 5

(7pm – Midnight BST/GMT+1) (6pm – 11pm GMT) (2pm – 7pm EDT/GMT-4) (11am – 4pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Sa-5/1: No roads lead to the Flaw!

GM: Arref M
On: Discord
Cast: 5
System: ADRPG/LoGaS
Slot: Sat Evening (US Morning)

Description:

Dire misfortune falls upon Explorers’ Club and Shaman Niko Dance asks the help of the Family Elders. Of course, whenever Evil seeks to thwart Nobility, the Family shall respond. The Elders have contacted you out among the Shattered Limbs of the World Tree and dispatched you to serve the Family Honor. Help the Shaman and put things aright.

‘Laeti vescimur nos subacturis’

(We gladly feast upon those who would subdue us)

This is a game of Dark Wit, Dashing Style, and Romance. You play a young Addams with the Flaw guiding you in an adverse infinity of Shattered Limbs. The PCs are all Cousins/Sibs who respect Passion and Family. Per the original TV series, this genre is tilted to demonstrate that Bad Stuff is overcome by Family Nobility.

Characters:

Build your PC for 50 points, use the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow ruleset. Player PCs not approved by the GM at least 2 weeks before Ambercon will be given a 40 point Pregen PC at the Convention game. PCs have the Flaw, one Passion, and Ooky Theme for no points.

The Flaw! (broken Pattern in this game comes with 5pts Bad Stuff. Players may choose to buy up to Zero Stuff with their points)

Ooky! (visualize your PC around a monsterix or aberration of mundane human myths—there are minor narrative sfx the GM shall assign with Ooky)

Passion! (Addams are known for their Passions, these inspirations add a rank to your Attributes in narrow situations. Examples: Dangerous Plants, Swordplay, Poisons, Explosives, Law, Finance, Graveyards, MadScience, Spouse, Child, Lover, Muse, etcetera!

You get the idea. You may purchase added Passions for 2 points each. Passions should lean into a single Attribute (Endurance/Psyche/Strength/Warfare). Therefore Explosives/Endurance and Explosives/Warfare are two distinct Passions.

Players:

  1. Arref M (GM)
  2. Michael C
  3. Randal T
  4. Richard D
  5. Amber D
  6. Jeremy Z

Game Sa-5/2: When the Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

GM: Dave C
On: Discord
Cast: 4-5
System: LoGaS
Setting: London Folly

Description:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

Somewhere a Raven went missing and now there is a payment due. London is held in the grip of a hot summer with rising anger all around and not even the cool waters of streams or rivers can calm things down. The thin line between other and us is pushed to breaking point and it is for those from the Folly to fix things.

Characters:

Returning players welcome, 10pt characters no more than 4pts on any artefact. All characters have to be linked to the Folly or something similar. Brief character description would be nice. All powers available at reduced costs (minimum 10pt spend) talk to me before game for details.

Players:

  1. Dave C (GM)
  2. Joe S
  3. Ginger S
  4. Laura B
  5. Edith B
  6. Mel M
  7. Trish H

Game Sa-5/3: Amber Gothic

GM: Alan W
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG

Description:

“And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.”

From the desk of Corey & Roth

It is my great pleasure to tell you that owing to the gracious generosity of your distant cousin Lord J. Corwin Barimen, you are entitled to claim a substantial sum from his estate. We are glad to offer you transport to the ancestral home of the deceased where his brother will be honoured to welcome you. No formal attire is required, but we ask you to respect the rules of the house.

Characters:

Characters are Human level with some special abilities. Further details available from the GM.

Players:

  1. Alan W (GM)
  2. Monique C
  3. Klil H
  4. Simone P
  5. Keith P
  6. Ivo K
  7. Esther vR

Game Sa-5/4: Aurellis (Saturday)

GM: Tim H
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG with Modifications

Description:

Aurellis is a continuing campaign, first started at ACUK around 2001, and played at many other cons since, online on email, and now on Discord too. It’s set in a multiverse that has an Amber, a Chaos, and a whole bunch of other places too.

Most characters start out on a version of Earth, currently in late 2011. Except it’s not completely the same. For instance, President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet is just coming to the end of his second term as US president. Little changes.

Most people in the real world don’t know that there is weird stuff. Alternate realities. Magic. Super-Science!. Player characters get caught up in the weird. You guys do what it takes to let the rest of the population sleep safely at night, unenlightened, and happy.

Characters:

Returning players (no matter where played Aurellis before) are always welcome.

New players – character construction starts out with a quiz. That lets me assign skills, Powers and attribute points. After that, it’s what you do. Role play, not Rule play. You don’t know how many points you have in real life, right?

Aurellis has it’s own Discord server, and the game will be run on there, so that the text chats remain part of the Aurellis archive.

Players:

  1. Tim H (GM)
  2. Darrell H
  3. Rain D
  4. Drew W
  5. Marieke K
  6. Kenneth M
  7. Karen H

Game Sa-5/5: Death Mass of St. Claire: a Dresden Universe adventure

GM: Michael K
On: Discord
Cast: 5
System: ADRP and spells from the Palladium RPG Book

Description:

The year is 2006 wizards are at war with the Vampires, you are a young blood hot shot wizard being send on a special mission by Ebenezar McCoy, The Blackstaff.

Characters:

Contact GM for character creation specs and to get approval on the character they generate

Players:

  1. Michael K (GM)
  2. Simon C
  3. Tom M
  4. Rob W
  5. Ray H

Game Sa-5/6: Once upon a time in London

GM: Pete M
On: Discord
Cast: 5-6
System: Pre-gen Characters More or less Amber rules (probably less)

Description:

It is July 1909 and your character has some reason to be somewhere in the Tottenham area (Actually the same street, I just haven’t decided which one, which probably means I’ll make that up on the day). For various reasons each of you have some reason to be here, ranging from gaining an artifact of unspeakable power, (actually quite speak-able) to sheer curiosity.

Game will probably veer to the comedic at times, ah well.

Characters:

As the chars are pre-genned select from
1) Upper class British officer (Captain),
2) CSM of the said Captain’s company
3) Colonial Administrator (Upper class as well)
4) Wife of said Colonial Administrator (who is none of English, upper class or sound!)
5) Medical practitioner (Mostly to the upper-class)
6 Metropolitan Police Inspector
7) no-Gentleman Adventurer

All the chars have some sort of mystical power, except for one who is just normal (I.e. lots of stats, no powers)

Characters assigned in order of receipt (or most imaginative bribe!)

Players:

  1. Pete M (GM)
  2. Stephanie I
  3. Jason P
  4. Stephen Q
  5. Tym N
  6. Anna J

Game Sa-5/7: The Unbound Academy

GM: Dawn V
On: Zoom (Link will be provided by the GM)
Cast: 3-6
System: Freeform

Description:

Young witches of any gender are welcome at the Unbound Academy, one of the best institutions for magical learning. Nestled in the wooded lands near Salem, Massachusetts, the Unbound Academy is home to some unusual happenings, but don’t let that deter you from becoming one of our incoming students!

Characters:

You are a student newly arrived at The Unbound Academy, a school for young witches of any gender. New students are generally high school aged (15-18), but can be older or younger. You get to choose your character’s house based on the type of magic they specialize in and/or the personality traits that stem from witches of that specialty, though students take classes in all four Houses’ preferred subjects and other areas. House of Deluge (water, movement, crossroads, doorways) House of Shadows (fire, light, darkness) House of Vines (earth, plants, poisons) House of Mists (air, ghosts, necromancy) The game will be mostly freeform, with some details of your character determined ahead of the game. (Game will likely be run on Zoom; link to be provided by the GM.)

Players:

  1. Dawn V (GM)
  2. CJ J
  3. Kevin D
  4. Guy A
  5. Ari M

Game Sa-5/8: Star Wars: Jedi of the Outer Rim

GM: James A
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: Key RPG

Description:

Far from the shadows of Coruscant’s skyscrapers lies the dangerous Outer Rim. Far from the heart of the Empire, even the Jedi can remain hidden from those that would exterminate them. The monks of the Narma Uktal temple have done just that. On a planet far from the busier spaceways, they continue a path of the Jedi that many other sects have forgotten and they have stayed hidden by not getting involved. However, sometimes the hardest thing is to do nothing and sometimes walking the path of the Jedi means walking towards danger.

Characters:

This game is set in the more lawless areas of the Star Wars universe during the Rebellion period. The game will use the KEY RPG System, my own homebrew. Pregens will be provided. This is a different scenario with the same pregens as was run this year at Ambercon US, so if you played in that you are welcome to play again.

Players:

  1. James A (GM)
  2. Ian N
  3. George K
  4. Vivek D
  5. Andy R

SLOT 6

1am till 6am BST

(1am – 6am BST/GMT+1 Sat) (12am – 5am GMT Sat) (8pm – 1am EDT/GMT-4 Fri/Sat) (5pm – 10pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Sa-6/1: The Urchins of Baker Street

GM: Dawn V
On: Zoom (Link will be provided by the GM)
Cast: 3-6
System: Masks (PbtA – Powered by the Apocalypse)

Description:

London, Victorian era. You and your friends have been living on your own for a while. And now you’ve got someone willing to pay you money to investigate things for them. Surely there can’t be a catch or anything, and you won’t be in any danger. Definitely.

Characters:

You’ll be playing a teenage character (anywhere from 13-19) living in a shared damp basement apartment on Baker Street with your friends. We’ll create the characters using the Masks system (with some tweaks to make things work in the time period) at the beginning of the game, but if you are familiar with the system and have any ideas, feel free to discuss ahead of time. This game is inspired by The Nevers and The Irregulars. You won’t need to have seen either to play. Just think gritty, street-level, mildly anachronistic Sherlock Holmes mashed up with superheroes. Voila.

Players:

  1. Dawn V (GM)
  2. Orion L
  3. Randal T
  4. Laura B
  5. Rain D
  6. CJ J

Game Sa-6/2: Orphans on a Train

GM: Drew W
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: None

Description:

The Cities of the East are dirty, dangerous, and teeming with people, especially poor people, and most tragically poor children without parents. Luckily, the West is open, sparsely populated, and rich with healthy air! The benevolent powers that be have arranged for scores of orphans to be transported from the filthy cities of the East, to the wide open West and the promise of a new, abundant life! You are one of these children, on a train, leaving everything and everyone you know to start a new life. What wonders await?

Characters:

This game will touch upon topics such like unthinking well intentioned people, child abandonment, and poverty. There will also be elements of violence, and danger. Characters will be developed by a few simple paragraphs of description and answers to a few questions from the GM. I will also have a few pre-made characters available. This game is ostensibly set in turn of the 20th Century United States.

Players:

  1. Drew W (GM)
  2. Larry B
  3. Chris L
  4. Jeremy Z
  5. Rob W

Game Sa-6/3: The Great Amber Bake Off!

GM: Rich D
On: Discord
Cast: 6
System: Amberway/Comic

Description:

Let the four corners of creation rejoice! Lady Belinda, the only daughter of Princess Florimel, is getting married! Princess Flora has taken the wedding preparations in hand and Everything Must Be Perfect!

All with the ability to search shadow have been pressed into service to find only the best for the celebrations and you are one of the lucky few that have earned the right to even be considered for the sacred duty of preparing the wedding cake of which all others are but shadows.

Unable to come to a decision, Princess Flora has elected to settle the decision with a contest popular in her adopted Shadow, Earth. After all, good sportsmanship, comradery and engaging character are as prized as baking prowess. Face the trials and tribulations of the tent as the bakers tackle the challenges set by the Princess Flora. One Signature, one Technical and one Showstopper are all that stand between you and becoming the ultimate Star Baker in all creation.

Characters:

Bring a character from anywhere in Amber, Shadow or Chaos that would be at home within the Tent of the Great British Baking Show. Like in the show, you are not a baker by trade but somehow seeking out the heart’s desire of the best baker alive has found you. Anything is fair game: a warrior queen that celebrates her victories with homemade scones, a wizard who specializes in pie-romancy, or a sci-fi crewmember that sets to prove they can beat any replomat.

Character creation details and the nature of the first and third challenges will be sent out when players are assigned.

Players:

  1. Rich D (GM)
  2. Michael C
  3. Amber D
  4. Ginger S
  5. Klil H
  6. Stephanie I

Game Sa-6/4: A Mook’s Life (De-Scheduled)

GM: Chris L
On: Zoom/Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: Diceless (Similar to ADRPG) – Comedy/Spoof

Description:

It’s a hard life, but you’re good at it. You’ve been punched, kicked, and mangled in service of the most brilliant criminal minds ever, from Lex Luthor to Ernst Blofeld, and an ER full of famous Doctors, from Doom to Horrible. Many of your former bosses are dead or in jail, but you’re still plying your trade. Henchman, minion, mook – it doesn’t matter what they call you as long as you collect your paycheck.

Now this villain known as Master Plan has hired you to protect his lair. (An uncharted volcanic island, of course.) He’s had so many unfinished schemes over the years that you doubt he’ll ever pull one off. Still, the base has free Starbucks, and the gig comes with dental, so things could be worse. Then comes the alarm: a trio of heroes are storming the base. It’s time to suit up and take – I mean dish out – some punishment. Surely you’re up for it, right? The heroes can’t win every time, can they?

Characters:

You’ll be playing that staple of superhero, spy, and adventure movies: the mook. No prep is required before the convention. Characters will be chosen at the start of the game from one of six templates: the Brick, the Hard Case, the Psycho, the Specialist, the Stud, and the Weasel. We’ll flesh out character backgrounds with a mad-lib. The system is diceless with four attributes (Smarts, Brawn, Grit, and Fight) and a special knack for each character based on their template.

We’ll be using Discord for everything unless someone offers a paid Zoom account. In that case we’ll use Zoom for A/V and Discord for chat.

Sunday

SLOT 7

(10am – 5pm BST/GMT+1) (9am – 4pm GMT) (5am – Midday EDT/GMT-4) (2am – 9am PST/GMT-7)

Game Su-7/1: Saving Princess Eutheria

GM: Matthew B
On: Zoom (Backup on Discord)
Cast: 3-5
System: ADRPG
Setting: Vialle 2.0 (Post Books)

Description:

Princess Eutheria of the Geirmund League is fighting in the latest in the Golden Circle Kingdoms clashes. A battle happening around Xahn between the Clotheringer Empire and the Geirmund League. What is unknown to her is her mother is ill and three of her siblings have already died, one in the latest war and the other two in a failed attack by the Farnese against Drust. If both the mother and the daughter die it will cause the Geirmund League to be weakened by internal conflicts and they are on the route of an expected attack by chaosian rebels in a few months time. Random would like some individuals to go and make sure that Eutheria survives the war and returns home, for various reasons Amber cannot be seen to be involved in Golden Circle Conflicts.

Characters:

100 pts, no shadow knights weirdness, max bad/good stuff 10pts. Basic Pattern is free. All characters are prisoners of amber or wishing to prove themselves to the court. If you have a returning character (not required at all) please submit a copy.

Players:

  1. Matthew B (GM)
  2. Amber B
  3. Keith P
  4. Stephen Q

Game Su-7/2: Welcome to Camp Chinawaka

GM: Kevin D
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: ADRPG

Description:

Welcome to Camp Chinawaka! Your summer will never quite be the same after attending the truly AWESOME camping experience in this!

Why were you sent here? Who knows but mum/dad decided it was time that you made some friends/got out into the sun/met a girl or guy/took a break from your tablet or phone etc etc.

But don’t worry, even if you try and escape, it’s miles to the nearest town so you’re here for the duration.

What will you make of it? Now that… is up to you.

Characters:

You’re from Shadow Earth in the 2020s and between 11 and 16 years old. You’re in school either in the US or indeed anywhere in the world – and yes, your parents/guardians would have thought that travelling to America to go to this remote camp was the most AWESOME idea of the year and no matter what you said or did, they were set on it! Tell me a little about yourself and why you’ve been sent to Camp Chinawaka for the experience of your lifetime.

Mechanically you character will be created using 10pts and have two abilities that are ‘Unique’ to you and you alone. Things you’ve always been able to do and that you’ve either kept to yourself of been advised by your parents to keep hidden. These abilities shouldn’t mimic ADRPG powers please. I’ll balance them across the group.

As always, this GM is easily bribed with a suitable trump image for your character (+3), suitable camp images (+2), a suitable event you’re dreading (+2) and finally a bit of a background (2-3 paragraphs) explaining why you really really don’t want to be here! (+3)

Players:

  1. Kevin D (GM)
  2. Thom d
  3. Esther vR
  4. Ari M

Game Su-7/3: Aurellis (Sunday)

GM: Tim H
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG with Modifications

Description:

Aurellis is a continuing campaign, first started at ACUK around 2001, and played at many other cons since, online on email, and now on Discord too. It’s set in a multiverse that has an Amber, a Chaos, and a whole bunch of other places too.

Most characters start out on a version of Earth, currently in late 2011. Except it’s not completely the same. For instance, President Josiah (Jed) Bartlet is just coming to the end of his second term as US president. Little changes.

Most people in the real world don’t know that there is weird stuff. Alternate realities. Magic. Super-Science!. Player characters get caught up in the weird. You guys do what it takes to let the rest of the population sleep safely at night, unenlightened, and happy.

Characters:

Returning players (no matter where played Aurellis before) are always welcome.

New players – character construction starts out with a quiz. That lets me assign skills, Powers and attribute points. After that, it’s what you do. Role play, not Rule play. You don’t know how many points you have in real life, right?

Aurellis has it’s own Discord server, and the game will be run on there, so that the text chats remain part of the Aurellis archive.

Players:

  1. Tim H (GM)
  2. UAJ vL
  3. Trish H
  4. Darrell H
  5. Marieke K
  6. Kenneth M
  7. Pete M

Game Su-7/4: Beyond the Spires of Night

GM: Edith B
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: ADRPG

Description:

Family tradition holds that insights are to be found along the silver paths of Tir-na Nog’th. No matter what one may think of such revelations, many have found reason to climb the stairs above Kolvir. Recently you did so yourself, but since your return you’ve become increasingly aware that things seem to have subtly changed in Amber. All is not quite as it should be. What happened that night? And why?

Characters:

The game is set at the end of the first five books. Random is not long on the throne. Eric, Oberon, Brand and Deirdre are dead. Corwin is missing. You are all playing next generation Amberites – ie grandchildren of Oberon. You have 100pts to spend as you choose, with Pattern Imprint for free. You may use the ADRPG Main Rulebook and/or Shadowknight with the exception that I will not allow Compelling.

Please note that I’ll be interpreting stats rather differently from the norm. Warfare covers tactics, strategy and defensive fighting, while Strength is used for attacking, and physical capabilities such as balance and co-ordination as well as brute force.

Stuff is limited to 5 points either way.

Players:

  1. Edith B (GM)
  2. Rachel W
  3. Dave C
  4. Simone P
  5. Karen H
  6. George K
  7. Andy R

Game Su-7/5: Blandings in Red Velvet

GM: Mel M and Claire McK
On: This game will be played in a private library in Second Life. Tea and cake will be virtually provided. All players are expected to have at least one (real) cupcake to hand.
Cast: 6-7
System: Amber/Blandings crossover – special rules (a variant of the Gentlemen and Players rules, created by Timothy Ferguson) which will be provided.

Description:

A new bakery has opened in the village of Blandings Parva (close to the gates of Blandings Castle). The peerless Anatole (head chef at Blandings Castle) and Mandor Baxter (owner of the high class restaurant Mandor’s in the village) are not amused. But the cupcakes on sale in the bakery are … delicious. Moreish. One might even call them … addictive. Strange things are starting to happen. Flora is appearing to be … gaining weight. And Miss Bale seems to be losing control over the boy scouts who are spending all their money on cupcakes, threatening to put their usual tuckshop out of business.

Characters:

100 point characters. Stats are Eccentricity, Sport, Tenacity and Money – all will be explained. The characters are children of the Blandings version of Amberites (except that Fiona and Flora are Aunts). Mirelle and Random Threepwood are too young to have adult children, so also out. Players will also have a special free skill for this game.

Players:

  1. Mel M (GM)
  2. Claire M (GM)
  3. Alan W
  4. Tom M
  5. Jason P
  6. Anna J
  7. Vivek D
  8. Stephanie I

Game Su-7/6: Mercenary Maladies! Gerard’s Rutter (De-Scheduled)

GM: Andy R
On: Discord
Cast: 3-5
System: ADRPGish

Description:

“He was a mercenary, a Robin Hood figure out of Eregnor, and a sworn enemy of Amber.” — Merlin about Dalt in Prince of Chaos.

As a member of Dalt’s elite mercenary unit (the most successful mercenaries in living memory) life can be pretty good. Then again it can also be pretty dangerous especially when Dalt assigns you one of his “special” projects.

Likely set in the Golden circle around Amber rather than Amber itself (though that is to a degree up to the players). Post Patternfall, Random is King, none of the events of the second series have happened yet.

This is a repeat of the game I ran at vACNW 20, if you played in the game there please do not sign up for it again.

Characters:

Characters are all Shadowfolk who are highly trained mercenaries. That doesn’t just mean “muscle”, you might be an engineer or a scout or a “security” mage, but ultimately you are all loyal and trusted members of an elite military unit.
However characters are definitely not of royal blood, Pattern and Logrus will not be available.
Full character creation details are at: https://tir.thelbane.net/MercenaryMaladiesCharGen.pdf

SLOT 8

(7pm – Midnight BST/GMT+1) (6pm – 11pm GMT) (2pm – 7pm EDT/GMT-4) (11am – 4pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Su-8/1: Hillhurst Hotel

GM: Esther vR
On: Discord
Cast: 4-5
System: DRPG

Description:

Welcome to the Hillhurst Hotel.

We hope you enjoy your stay with us. This beautiful hotel was a former castle which has been renovated without losing its original character. It is located on top of a mountain and has an amazing view over the ocean. Beach and thick forestry are within walking distance for both romantic and adventurous walks.

  • One Michelin star restaurant and tropical rum bar located on the premises with regular live entertainment.
  • Free WIFI and parking.
  • Nicely stacked minibar with fridge.
  • Flat screen TV with pay-per-view
  • Every room has a luxurious bath and a convenient shower. Fresh towels daily.
  • Bikes for rent at the service desk
  • Several tours can be booked at the service desk as well.

Characters:

You are at Hillhurst hotel. You may think of your own reason why you stay in this hotel. Could be bussiness, pleasure or you can work there. You feel something is off. Things seem to be moving around, things go bump in the night, and sometimes it even seems that rooms and corridors are relocated. Nobody seems to notice you think, at least they act like everything is normal.

You play a human character in the modern world. Choose a profession. If you have a good idea, let me know and we can work it into a working concept.

Note: This is a rerun of the game played run ACNI21

Players:

  1. Esther vR (GM)
  2. Laura B
  3. Kenneth M
  4. Karen H
  5. Jason P

Game Su-8/2: Brand Mismanagement

GM: Dave C
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: ADRPG

Description:

Prince of the Blood, master of all you survey, binder and commander of the Jewel of Judgement and in the end turned into a fucking pincushion by your brother. What’s worse of course is that you didn’t die, no you were clever you’d had an escape plan. All went well until the Abyssal Demons and Universal Forces joined up and sent you somewhere worse.

Hell they say is other people, that may be true but for pure evil you need to look into the Stygian domain of the Corporate Meeting. To those places where Learnings and 360 paradigm shifts or out of the box and blue sky thinking are not so much ideas as an abuse of the languages created by sentient species.

That’s where you are now, and you’re not alone. Like all good Corporate Hellscapes there can only be one person in charge and so far you’ve met two more of yourself and that’s two too many.

* Title from the disturbed and disturbing mind of Vivek D of the Burning Coals

Characters:

Players to build with 150 points the Brand, Branwen or whatever variant of everyone’s favourite redhead they fancy. Pattern for free, Advanced pattern banned, no artefacts, talk to me about Shadow Knight if you really feel the urge. NB this is intended to not in any way, shape or form to be a serious game.

Players:

  1. Dave C (GM)
  2. Richard D
  3. Kevin D
  4. George K
  5. Alan W
  6. Stephanie I

Game Su-8/3: All go a bit insane at the time, and gods will laugh (De-Scheduled)

GM: Amber B
On: Discord
Cast: 4
System: ADRPG

Description:

Florimel is busy with negotiations and other political business. She has a favour to ask. Something is wrong with her favourite shadow.

Shadow earth. “Be a dear and could you go look into it for me?” There is talk of a new big power influencing the people in the shadow.

This story has influences of horror and has violence and 18+ content.

Characters:

100pts no Shadow Knight. Limit bad/good stuff 10 pts.

Game Su-8/4: Burning Coal

GM: Vivek D
Cast: 4-6
System: Cinematic Diceless, explained in game summary

Description:

It is the turn of the 19th century: The great imperial powers vie for dominance, fuelled by coal and steered by the industrial combines and their brass-and-steel difference engines:

But not all their conflicts are played out in the open, by displays of military might or commercial conflicts – there are other, more shadowy arenas where the Great Game is also played.

At the heart of the British Empire we find The Ministry (it has a name, officially, on paper – but never speak it. It is always just The Ministry).

Home to the freak, the monster, the superhuman, the undead, the spy, the assassin and the mad scientist* and those simply… less trammeled by ordinary moral considerations.

This means you.

* The Society of Hypercognisant Artisans and Master Engineers prefers “Enlightened Engineer” over the vulgar and somewhat pejorative “Mad Scientist”.

Characters:

Players should pick an archetype or template to build their character on – Mad Scientist*, Monster, Super-spy, Werewolf, Golem, Demon-ridden Sorceress – feel free to plunder any and all of Pulp, Sci-Fi, Fantasy for an idea (or even come up with your own).

That’s who your character is. In addition there should be

  • a reason the ministry would want to employ you
    • some extraordinary ability, power or skill-set.
  • a reason you work for the ministry:
    • They might have stayed your execution for a crime (real or framed)
    • Maybe they pay you vast sums of money.
    • Perhaps they are the only source of a drug you need.
    • Possibly you’re just the right mix of patriotic and amoral that you want to.
  • One superhumanly strong stat or trait, eg:
    • Strong / Agile / Dextrous / Strong-willed / Perceptive / etc
  • 0 or more _additional_ strengths, each balanced by a weakness, eg:
    • Weak / Aged / Clumsy / Weak-willed / Vulnerable to iron / Berserk / etc

To be clear – your first strength is free. Only additional ones must be paid for.

Players:

  1. Vivek D (GM)
  2. Marieke K
  3. Edith B
  4. Simone P
  5. Mel M
  6. Anna J

Game Su-8/5: RTE

GM: Toine S
On: Discord
Cast: Exactly 4
System: ADRPG

Description:

Winds of change, a new threat, but one intangible and undefined. You’re summoned to help find out what is causing all this, while others keep it at bay from a neighbouring shadow

Corruption of evolution, who can tell? Maybe it is all merely perception.

Characters:

A team of 2 Chaosians and 2 Amberites is required: we need to unite in the shadow of this looming threat. 75 points.
We’ll decide who gets to be the Amberites and Chaosians, when people have responded.

Players:

  1. Toine S (GM)
  2. Randal T
  3. Rob W
  4. Amber B
  5. Matthew B

Game Su-8/6: Excuse me, are we related?

GM: Stephen Q
On: Discord
Cast: 4
System: ADRPG

Description:

Set after the time of the Patternfall war, King Random is concerned about the number of potential bastards running around in shadow carrying the genes of the family. He is concerned that in time they may become, in some way, pattern aware and pose a threat to either Amber or the Pattern(s) or both. A task too trivial for his brothers and sisters, there are a few of his nieces and nephews knocking around the castle, eating expensive rations and causing extra work for the castle staff. Not to mention the mayhem they have occasionally caused on their forays into town. They can go off into shadow, find the bastards, and deal with them.

Characters:

Character creation based on 100 points. Bad stuff is allowable. All players must take pattern imprint. Otherwise allocate points as desired. Players may choose their parent from any of the princes or princesses except Random, Corwin, and Brand. It would be nice if the character had some of the parent’s traits. Game will run on Discord. There may be moral dilemmas and some abstracted violence but otherwise would be suitable for younger players.

Players:

  1. Stephen Q (GM)
  2. Klil H
  3. Darrell H
  4. Pete M
  5. Rachel W

Game Su-8/7: Silver Screen Pulp Heroes

GM: Michael K
On: Discord
Cast: 6-8
System: ADRPG

Description:

Players are actors who recently portrayed heroes on the silver screen and are called upon to become those same silver screen pulp heroes.

Characters:

Contact GM to be assigned a pre-created character

Players:

  1. Michael K (GM)
  2. CJ J
  3. Chris L
  4. Amber D
  5. Ari M
  6. Tom M

Game Sa-8/8: Star Trek: Gaze No More in the Bitter Glass

GM: James A
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: Key RPG

Description:

Months after an encounter with an alien probe killed over half of the crew of the USS Saratoga, the ship and crew has returned to active duty. Patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone is a quiet assignment….almost boring. However, when an unexpected ship crosses the Neutral Zone, the crew will find itself pulled into an adventure that will take them where no Starfleet crew has gone before.

Characters:

Game will use the Key RPG System. Pregens will be provided. This is the same scenario that played at Ambercon Northwest 2020, so please do not if you played in the previous run of this game.

Players:

  1. James A (GM)
  2. Ivo K
  3. Simon C
  4. Ian N
  5. Rain D

SLOT 9

1am till 6am BST

(1am – 6am BST/GMT+1 Sat) (12am – 5am GMT Sat) (8pm – 1am EDT/GMT-4 Fri/Sat) (5pm – 10pm PST/GMT-7)

Game Su-9/1: Wars of the Diadochi

GM: Larry B
On: Discord
Cast: 4-6
System: Lords of Gossamer and Shadow

Description:

The world is on the dawn of War. The Kings of Atlantis spread their hands out in Dominion over the Mediterranean Sea. The King of Atlantis has hired individuals to escort the Half-Sister of his Adopted son to Egypt. This is when things go horribly wrong and a Roleplaying Game starts.

Characters:

180pt Characters generated before the game.

Out of interest, the title is a reference to an actual series of wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Diadochi

Players:

  1. Larry B (GM)
  2. Richard D
  3. Randal T
  4. Darrell H
  5. Rain D

Game Su-9/2: Cat Game I

GM: Joe S
On: Discord
Cast: 3-6
System: Homebrew, descended from John Wick’s Cat

Description:

Your characters are cats, living with their humans in a superficially peaceful suburban neighbourhood. But they are also heroes, defending their humans, fellow cats, and the rest of the world (or at least their part of it) from EVIL THINGS. If they can somehow get out of the house…

Setting: A lovely tree-lined neighbourhood on the West side of Ann Arbor, Michigan — frequent finalist in “Best Places to Live in the US” but always loses points for expensive housing, road quality, and football traffic. Of course, if you’re a cat, you don’t care about any of that as long as you’re fed, have a warm place to sleep, the crows don’t steal your food, and the damn demons would QUIT TRYING TO EAT YOUR HUMANS’ SOULS.

This game borrows heavily enough from John Wick’s “Cat” that I want to acknowledge the debt, but it isn’t a straight use of the rules or setting.

If you’ve played in Cat Game before, don’t sign up for this one as content will repeat.

Characters:

Pregenerated characters will be supplied before the game. No prior homework is required. I’ve heard there are photos on the Internet.

Players:

  1. Larry B (GM)
  2. Guy A
  3. Laura B
  4. Rob W
  5. CJ J
  6. Amber D
  7. Ian N

Monday

SLOT Post-Con

(10am – 5pm BST/GMT+1) (9am – 4pm GMT) (5am – Midday EDT/GMT-4) (2am – 9am PST/GMT-7)

Game Po/2: A <Insert Adjective Here> Summers Tale of Love and Loss

GM: Matthew B
On: Zoom (Backup on Discord)
Cast: 3-5
System: Special ADRPG variant
Setting: Non-Amber Faerie Tale

Description:

In the court of the Faerie, at the height of summer, there are games to be played, hands to be wooed, monsters to seduce and joy to be had. As always on the longest of all days, at the height, the Queen of the Faeries of summer will grant a boon to the coven, circle or coterie that she regards as the most worthy.

You are the representative of a small group, hoping to regain that favour you have lost.

Characters:

All characters are faeries, elves, goblins or other mystical creatures that have banded together for mutual aid. All seek to regain lost honour and power through the granting of the Queen of Summers boon. System will be placed on Discord nearer the date.

Players:

  1. Matthew B (GM)
  2. Karen H
  3. Kevin D
  4. George K
  5. Simone P
  6. Mel M

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