Games

Phenomenon 2009 is proud to offer the following games and events. These are divided into several categories:

The Triptych
RPGA games
Freeforms
Team (tabletop) games
Miniatures
Special events

The schedule

Go to General and miniatures schedules...

New Designers

Each year Pheno is proud to encourage games writers who are new to writing for Cons to have a go.

At the end of each game the players will be asked to vote for the new writer whose game was the best, and the winner of this will receive a trophy and widespread adulation!

New designers are marked with the New Designer Star: It don't mean they're no Federal stoolie though.

Game ratings

Pheno uses a rating system for games to help you choose games, and to help you anticipate what the GM is looking for in a game.

Games are rated from 1 (little or none) to 5 (really important) on the following:

Characterisation — portraying the characters... 1 (play the numbers) to 5 (bring out the deep insights)
Story/plot — telling a good story... 1 (A-Team) to 5 (Shakespeare)
Genre — knowing the genre, staying in the genre... 1 (post-modernist parody) to 5 (Tolkienesque total immersion)
Seriousness — romp (seriousness 1) to the big issues (seriousness 5)
Rules knowledge — do players need to know the game system (5), or is this a good introduction to it (0 or 1)?
Advisory rating — violence, horror, naughty bits. This can also be rated like a film: G, PG, M, MA, R.

The Triptych

The triptych: each year, Pheno invites three respected designers to present a systemless single session game. Each game showcases what we consider the best of Pheno roleplaying: characterisation, drama, entertainment, innovation. Each game will be judged separately, but teams competing in all three games will also be eligible for the Triptych Perpetual Trophy.

The Triptych games are all for 5 players.

Dead Man Walking — by Mik Bonsall
Silence of the Bush — by Fi McConachie
Vengeance of the Vampire Lord — by Nick Argall

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RPGA games

A primo heist of an RPGA game brought to you by the RPGA.

Organiser — Wes Nicholson, email wes <at> netspeed.com.au

Baldur's Gate1-1 Flames of Initiation — a 1-session game for characters of level 1-4.

More RPGA game details will be posted when we have them, closer to the date of Pheno.

Freeforms

Freeforms are big games for 15–30 players (or rarely, and insanely, more...) players, whose characters are collected in some kind of social gathering in which they interact, intrigue and politic with each other.

By a Dark River — by Travis Hall & Sarah Western (1 session, 20 players, Greek myth)
Canberra: The Big Divi — by Lawrence Flower (1 session, 10-30+ players)
Chaos Ends — by Ingrid Bean & Shane Donohoe (1 session, 10 players, Warhammer Fantasy)
The Erebus Incident — by Xole Karman, David Hollingworth & Andrew Smith (2 sessions, 15 players, Fading Suns)
The Queen of Love and Beauty — by Belinda Kelly (1 session, 20 players)
Regency Revels — by Philippa Borland (1 session, 26 players)
The Retreat — by David James & Nadina Geary (1 session, 17 players)
Singles' Night — by Alicia Cameron & James Wright (1 session, 14 players, Old World of Darkness)
Tales from the City: Exogenesis — by Simon Boot & Alicia Cameron (1 session, 19 players, A|State)
A Tangled Web We Weave — by Marissa Harris (2 sessions, 13 players, Cthulhu Live)
100 Years Ago Today... — by Random Event (1 session, 6-30 players)

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Team (tabletop) games

Team games (or tabletops) are the traditional form of roleplaying, for groups/teams of about 5 players with generally one GM. There will be character sheets; there may be dice.

Execute Order 66 — by Jimmy Riley (1 session systemless, 5 players)
Knights of the Stagnant Pool — by Joe McNamara (1 session systemless, 5 players)
Last Action Villains — by Dan L'Estrange (1 session system-lite, 6 players)
London Girls — by Random Event (1 session systemless, 5 players)
Mainspring: Theft of the Forged Gear! — by Mark Bruckard (1 session, Mainspring, 5 players)
Phoenix — by Mark Somers (1 session Shadowrun, 5 players)
Poppa — by Jacinta Thomler (1 session, 5 players)
Positions Vacant — by Barbara Kearins (1 session, 5 players)
Resurgence — by Robert Barbetti (1 session, 5 players)
Game cancelled - Don Morpho apologises for the inconvenience.
The School for Heroes — by Rebecca & Sarah Plush (1 session systemless, 5 or 4 players)
A Secret of Amber — by Mike Walker (1 session Amber:DRPG, 5 players)
A 'Ship' in Time — by Ken Carcas (1 session D&D 4th ed, 5 players)
Sympathetic Magic — by Stuart Barrow (1 session systemless, 5 players)
Victim Squad — by Rod Kearins (1 session systemless, 5 players)