My year of games (2009)
Here's a list of games I've played in 2009
I finished playing a game of Shock:.
Then I helped out at Kapcon 18: Games on Demand.
I played Mouse Guard and 3:16.
Then I played in a great mini-LARP, Sitting Shiva.
On Day 2, I ran Mouse Guard.
Then I ran Best Friends: Fellowship of the Ring.
After a couple of weeks' break, our Tuesday night group played 3 sessions of Mouse Guard. Then we started on the second season of our PTA game, 'The Other Side' with a pitch session.
Meanwhile, my Thursday night group started kicking each other in the nuts with a game of Covenant set in Wellington.
While the Covenant game was delayed for a little while, I started playing Burning Wheel with Simon. And we kicked off 'The Other Side' with a nice character-establishing session.
Then I played two one-offs: Simon C ran his pulp-fantasy game "On Mighty Thews" for us, and I helped facilitate "The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries". I found both of them exhausting in terms of the amount of player input that they expected. That's definitely a skill I need to work on.
At Day of Games, I ran:
It's Complicated
Bacchanal
Capes
... and played Zombie Cinema.
This was a very difficult con experience for me, and I was pretty shaken up by the end of it. Three extremely problematic games. And Zombie Cinema.
Burning Wheel continued, and wrapped up.
Our Thursday night game began playing Dogs in the Vineyard, using a structure where we rotate GMs between towns (to allow for players dropping in and out).
When Wayne didn't show up for our regular PTA game, I ran Danger Patrol (after reading once through). It went ... like this.
I ran a town of Dogs (Black Creek), and so did Simon (Prosperity Branch). In between those two towns, though, I ran Don't Rest Your Head for Simon and Malc (as a practice run for Fright Night).
At ConFusion, I ran a noir version of Geiger Counter set in Hollywood, called Dirty Stars. Jenni played in it. I also played in Mike's game, Monster of the Week, which was a fun riff on the world of Supernatural.
After a long break for the film festival, we restarted PTA Season 2 with Celeste's spotlight episode, set in a magically altered reality where everything was perfect. It was one of the finest sessions I've had the pleasure of being involved with with my Tuesday night group. Lots of great drama!
Up at Matt and Debbie's for the inaugural CowCon, I played some Zombie Cinema set in at Coastlands, and ran a game of Best Friends set in the world of the Scarlet Pimpernel. There was much intrigue and derring-do, and I had a few insights into how to run the game. Here's Matt's write-up.
Simon's Dog burned out and quit at the end of Golden Branch.
As part of my move towards playtesting, I was part of Simon's Playtesting Sunday. He ran The Heartbreaker War, Malc ran Shipwrecked, and after five years I finally ran Left Coast.
PTA smashed towards its conclusion with a war in Hell, and oatmeal.
Mike ran 44, the game of body-snatching robots, set in 1951 Wellington. I played a housewife who discovers the disturbing truth, fails to stop the conspiracy and ending up being re-united with her family in the creepiest way possible.
Jenni ran us through an extremely entertaining pastiche of Twilight.
At Fright Night, I played a manipulative mystic in Communing in Darkness (a LARP set at a seance). Jenni, Mash, Rohan and I also took Mike's Monster of the Week for a playtest - it's shaping up to be a good game.
Simon playtest The Heartbreaker War for us again - far more successfully this time.
We ran our Dogs through (I believe) seven towns in total. In the end, the fate of the Faith rested on a conversation between Malcolm's character and mine. He wanted to fight and repel the Easterners moving into our territory, while I wanted the Faith to adapt and adopt principles of passive resistance ("We can't win a fight, we're running out of land to run to. We have to adapt.") An incredibly tense conversation, which I won without resorting to guns.
By popular (Jennish) demand, the Tuesday night played Geiger Counter on a ship filled with tentacles. Then we revisited In a Wicked Age, with the main character being a haunted tower.
Late in December it was time for Post Box Con. Mash talked a little bit about it, here.
I played Zombie Cinema and died.
I played the spy game Wilderness of Mirrors, was identified as a traitor and executed by my team-mates.
I ran In a Wicked Age, which wasn't entirely successful and I need to figure out why.
I played in a game of Bliss Stage as a nearly burned out teenage mecha pilot with a gift for alienating everyone around him. Tremendous fun.
I finished playing a game of Shock:.
Then I helped out at Kapcon 18: Games on Demand.
I played Mouse Guard and 3:16.
Then I played in a great mini-LARP, Sitting Shiva.
On Day 2, I ran Mouse Guard.
Then I ran Best Friends: Fellowship of the Ring.
After a couple of weeks' break, our Tuesday night group played 3 sessions of Mouse Guard. Then we started on the second season of our PTA game, 'The Other Side' with a pitch session.
Meanwhile, my Thursday night group started kicking each other in the nuts with a game of Covenant set in Wellington.
While the Covenant game was delayed for a little while, I started playing Burning Wheel with Simon. And we kicked off 'The Other Side' with a nice character-establishing session.
Then I played two one-offs: Simon C ran his pulp-fantasy game "On Mighty Thews" for us, and I helped facilitate "The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries". I found both of them exhausting in terms of the amount of player input that they expected. That's definitely a skill I need to work on.
At Day of Games, I ran:
It's Complicated
Bacchanal
Capes
... and played Zombie Cinema.
This was a very difficult con experience for me, and I was pretty shaken up by the end of it. Three extremely problematic games. And Zombie Cinema.
Burning Wheel continued, and wrapped up.
Our Thursday night game began playing Dogs in the Vineyard, using a structure where we rotate GMs between towns (to allow for players dropping in and out).
When Wayne didn't show up for our regular PTA game, I ran Danger Patrol (after reading once through). It went ... like this.
I ran a town of Dogs (Black Creek), and so did Simon (Prosperity Branch). In between those two towns, though, I ran Don't Rest Your Head for Simon and Malc (as a practice run for Fright Night).
At ConFusion, I ran a noir version of Geiger Counter set in Hollywood, called Dirty Stars. Jenni played in it. I also played in Mike's game, Monster of the Week, which was a fun riff on the world of Supernatural.
After a long break for the film festival, we restarted PTA Season 2 with Celeste's spotlight episode, set in a magically altered reality where everything was perfect. It was one of the finest sessions I've had the pleasure of being involved with with my Tuesday night group. Lots of great drama!
Up at Matt and Debbie's for the inaugural CowCon, I played some Zombie Cinema set in at Coastlands, and ran a game of Best Friends set in the world of the Scarlet Pimpernel. There was much intrigue and derring-do, and I had a few insights into how to run the game. Here's Matt's write-up.
Simon's Dog burned out and quit at the end of Golden Branch.
As part of my move towards playtesting, I was part of Simon's Playtesting Sunday. He ran The Heartbreaker War, Malc ran Shipwrecked, and after five years I finally ran Left Coast.
PTA smashed towards its conclusion with a war in Hell, and oatmeal.
Mike ran 44, the game of body-snatching robots, set in 1951 Wellington. I played a housewife who discovers the disturbing truth, fails to stop the conspiracy and ending up being re-united with her family in the creepiest way possible.
Jenni ran us through an extremely entertaining pastiche of Twilight.
At Fright Night, I played a manipulative mystic in Communing in Darkness (a LARP set at a seance). Jenni, Mash, Rohan and I also took Mike's Monster of the Week for a playtest - it's shaping up to be a good game.
Simon playtest The Heartbreaker War for us again - far more successfully this time.
We ran our Dogs through (I believe) seven towns in total. In the end, the fate of the Faith rested on a conversation between Malcolm's character and mine. He wanted to fight and repel the Easterners moving into our territory, while I wanted the Faith to adapt and adopt principles of passive resistance ("We can't win a fight, we're running out of land to run to. We have to adapt.") An incredibly tense conversation, which I won without resorting to guns.
By popular (Jennish) demand, the Tuesday night played Geiger Counter on a ship filled with tentacles. Then we revisited In a Wicked Age, with the main character being a haunted tower.
Late in December it was time for Post Box Con. Mash talked a little bit about it, here.
I played Zombie Cinema and died.
I played the spy game Wilderness of Mirrors, was identified as a traitor and executed by my team-mates.
I ran In a Wicked Age, which wasn't entirely successful and I need to figure out why.
I played in a game of Bliss Stage as a nearly burned out teenage mecha pilot with a gift for alienating everyone around him. Tremendous fun.