Random Inc presents a Phenomenon Labs games convention

• P h e n o p a l o o z a

• Roleplaying games
• Triptych & Diptych
• Freeforms
• Team games
• Pathfinder
• Other games
• Schedule
• Online registration
• Location & map
• Food & services
• Vendors
• About Phenomenon
• Writing for Pheno
• Pheno archive
• Terms & conditions
• The crew & writers
• Contact Pheno

Team (tabletop) games

These are the traditional games that Old Mozart would recognise. The table is optional but also very traditional. Some are system-based games, others systemless. But they all have tune you can hum along to..

• The Beta Test — by Michael Christie (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• Every Body Else — by Greg Tannahil (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• Gaze — by Philippa and John Hughes (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• Jusenkyo or Bust! — by Robbie and Stephanie Matthews (1 session systemless sort of Ranma 1/2, 5 players)
• Mad (DEMON) Men — by Narayan Bajpe (1 session Archipelago 2nd Edition, 5 players) (This game has been cancelled. Pheno apologises for the inconvenience.)
• Ordinary Vanity — by Stacy L Payne (1 session systemless, 5 players) (This game has been cancelled. Pheno apologises for the inconvenience.)
• One Last Job — by Anestis Kozakis (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• Pathfinder: Year of the Shadow Lodge (4-hour Pathfinder Society interactive, 12+ players)
• Shedding Silver Tears — by Travis Hall (1 session Werewolf: The Apocalypse, 5 players)
• Sometimes — by Michael Hitchens (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• Time Patrol! — by Rod Kearins (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• Up-time Girl — by Stuart Barrow and Barbara Kearins (1 session systemless, 5 players)
• What Does This Button Do? — by Random (1 session systemless Dragonlance, 5 players)
• Willowbark — by Mik Bonsall (1 session systemless about OWOD Ghouls, 5 players)
• (Back to the RPGs page)

The Beta Test

By Michael Christie

No one knows exactly when it appeared, nor how it came to the notice of so many netizens at once, but there it was - a new quest, promising virtually your heart's desire upon successful completion. Admittedly, the settings don't make much sense - cross-genre multi-player co-op? But what have you got to lose? In the downtime, no one runs out of respawns.

A one-session tabletop role-playing game for 5 l33T videogame characters from the ranks of first-person shooters (e.g. Master Chief, Duke Nukem), platformers (Lara Croft, Mario), adventurers (Cloud Strife, Commander Shepard) tournament fighters (Raiden, Chun-Li) horror survivalists (Chris Redfield, Heather Mason), crimulationists (Niko Bellic, Agent 47) and even real-time strategists (Raynor's Raiders, Global Defense Initiative).

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Every Body Else

By Greg Tannahil

A game of friendship, communication, and zombies.

Today is the day. Today is the day you change your life. Today is the day you tell them how you feel. Today is the day you follow your dreams. Today is the day you start your band. Today is the day that everything, finally, comes together.

But as the wind changes, and the first whispers of smoke come crawling down your street, you remember that you've said this before, and put it off, and put it off, and now, as the infected come slouching across the asphalt, making that ear-scraping hum, trailing their numb hands against the walls of the suburban houses, it may finally be too late. Somewhere a police siren is wailing and somewhere a baby is crying and on the horizon the clouds are breathing in and inhaling great, wide, plumes of ash.

All you have left are your four closest friends, gathered together in one lonely house, and the things you've said to them and the things you haven't. Given enough calendars, there eventually comes a day after which there is no tomorrow.

Today is the day.

Every Body Else is a character-driven story of zombie survival in the tradition of 28 Days Later. Gameplay focuses on characterisation, collaborative storytelling, and surviving a zombie apocalypse, in that order. No prior knowledge required - inexperienced and first-time roleplayers are encouraged!

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Gaze

Nothing is real unless it’s on camera

Five lovers

Four secrets

Three beds

Two cameras

One ghostly intruder

Gaze: roleplaying theatre from Philippa and John Hughes. Background, prep and pre-Con character sheets available at <http://gazethegame.wikispaces.com>

GAZE - UNCANNY PHENOMENON

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Jusenkyo or Bust!

By Robbie and Stephanie Matthews

Ranma Saotome - (heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts) has somehow been kidnapped! The unknown villian has taken him to China, and the others must travel across the sea to save him! Oh No!

Fortunately for Ranma, you, his friends, are all highly accomplished martial artists.

Unfortunately for Ranma, his friends are all insane. Or cursed. Or both.

Oh, and very broke.

But you have a plan. A series of anything goes martial arts tournaments begins tomorrow, and you are sure to win a lot of prize money!

What could go wrong?

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Mad (DEMON) Men

(This game has been cancelled. Pheno apologises for the inconvenience.)

Ordinary Vanity

(This game has been cancelled. Pheno apologises for the inconvenience.)

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One Last Job

By Anestis Kozakis

You have done well for yourself, becoming the top in your field. You contemplate an early retirement, maybe two or three more contracts, when a messenger arrives at your door with an invitation:

Dear Sir/Madame,

I am writing to you as you are the best in your field and in what you do. As such, I would like to hire you, at triple your normal rate for a period of two weeks.

Your employment will consist of planning security measures and preparing for a trip to my laboratory in New Haven, as well as bodyguarding and security duties on the trip.

The two week period will also cover my attendance at the 10th Annual Science and Technology Exhibition, where I plan to present and demonstrate my new invention.

Please find enclosed a pre-paid ticket to New Amsterdam, as well as a down-payment of $1000 for travel expenses. If you decide to not accept the job, either now or after travelling to my residence to hear my proposal, please keep the down-payment as an appreciation for your time.

I look forward to meeting with you in person,

Regards,

Professor Ulden Dunschatff

Well, this job would certainly allow you to retire, and two weeks isn’t all that long. You think it might be worth at least hearing the professor out.

A Noir/Pulp style game set in a Steampunk Universe for 5 players.

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Pathfinder: Year of the Shadow Lodge

A Pathfinder Society Interactive

Given the chimeric nature of the Pathfinder Society, it should surprise no one when intersocietal conflicts surface. As one of the foremost powers on Golarion, the Society is unique in its desire to remain neutral, without debt or affiliation to other nations or religions, despite the inherent alliances of its individual members. But an organization of such magnitude cannot always police its members, nor can it sway their ambitions or their greed. What starts as a simple whisper becomes a seedling of dissent, and when properly nurtured, grows into a giant oak of rebellion, blotting the sunlight from the sky and drowning the entire forest in its dark shadows.

A four hour Pathfinder Society interactive event for character levels 1 to 11.

Note: This event requires a minimum of 12 players. If less than 12 players have signed up when pre-reg closes, the game will be cancelled.

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Shedding Silver Tears

A Thunder Egg Prophecy by Travis Hall

From Willowbark Caern set forth Gaia's warriors, striding into this wide brown land of the sun. They were five, one for each silvered face of the moon. No two shared a tribe, but now they were united by their quest.

They were the best of us; the strongest, the purest and the most wise. They had proven it by firelit trials, and by the time it was done no-one within the sept could claim to have the strength or skill to defeat them.

With them they carried all our hopes, and we knew they would not fail. They could not. They must not.

⁂

"Over here, another print. There's a scent, too - blood. And… wolf."

"It can't be them, can it? Why would they be out here?"

A Werewolf: the Apocalypse tale of five Garou hunters and the trail they followed.

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Sometimes

By Michael Hitchens

Tomas could feel the demon much more clearly now. It was there, around the corner, in that alley up ahead.

Some people think everyone has a guardian angel

They’re wrong

We’re not angels, and there’s so few of us

Ash’s winds whipped her almost-white hair across her face as she drifted slowly to the ground.

I’ve seen angels, flying high above the city

Sometimes I hear them singing

In between the demons scream

Michael, unseen, bent his head nearer the crying girl’s, his voice a whisper in her head, desperately urging her to put down the gun she aimed at herself

The people don’t hear them

They don’t see us

They don’t know

Stefan held on to what little spark was left; let the old man know he wasn’t alone. He caught a name, Peter, in the confusion of the man’s dying thoughts.

I don’t know what I am

But I know what I do

Because if we don’t fight the demons, who will?

Charlotte is falling

Everybody needs rescuing

Sometimes

A 1 session immersive module for 5 characters with questions and 5 player who don't need answers.

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Time Patrol!

By Rod Kearins

1907: The first Boy Scout Troop is formed in England by Lord Robert Baden Powell. Juliette Gordon Low will found the Girls Scout Movement in 1912.

1920: The first World Jamboree is held in England.

1961: A former Scout is President of the United States of America; his efforts will ultimately see another walk on the moon.

1979: The World Jamboree Year sees Scouts from all over the world discuss knotting, hiking, boating and lepidoptery.

2011: A member of the Scouting Movement perfects the trans-temporal communication.

2032: The Time Patrol is inaugurated - Scouts from throughout time and space united in Bravery, Enterprise, Purpose, Resolution, Endurance, Partnership, Assurance, Ravelling, Enthusiasm and Devotion!

2051: Timmy Jones and members of his troop have been invited to visit the headquarters of the time patrol. What could possibly go wrong!

A cross-time adventure for five plucky lads and lasses.

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Up-time Girl

By Stuart Barrow and Barbara Kearins

Time flies when you're having fun.

You might just be the most highly educated criminal in history. Art, culture, ancient and modern languages, mathematics, archaeology, chemistry, biology, medicine, psychology, forgery, fencing, glassblowing, javelin throwing. And, of course, trans-temporal physics.

The job is getting in and out with the goods, before the space-time continuum collapses around you. Lost treasures only - anything that's historically significant stays right where it is. Where it was. Where it will have always been.

It's the best job in the world. And it's strictly a one-person operation.

So - who's following you, and why?

And why do they seem so familiar?

And so damnably attractive?

UP-TIME GIRL

A light-hearted, systemless Diptych game by Stuart Barrow and Barbara Kearins, for five chrononauts on a schedule.

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What Does This Button Do?

By A Random Event Production

“Elves, humans and ogres can’t change the time stream. Because these races were created by the gods at the beginning of time they travel within its flow. It’s like throwing a pebble into a river. You may create a few ripples, but they will quickly fade, and the river will continue on as if nothing had happened.

“The other races however, the dwarves, gnomes and kinder, their creation was an accident. As a result, the time stream is not protected from them. Anything they do *will* have an effect on the time flow. That is why the spell for time travel had the limitation on it on who could be sent back in time.”

“So, you’re saying that those of us who are protected from the effects of that device cannot change things back, and those who can change things are under the effect of the device and don’t notice anything different?”

“Except for those five, the rest of them believe what they are experiencing is normalcy. They can’t change it back because they have no memory of what is supposed to be.”

“And why are those five immune?”

“Something shielded them, it is unknown exactly what.”

“Paladine protect us.”

“Indeed.”

A Diptych-ish adventure in the Dragonlance universe for five individuals who happened to be in Mount Nevermind at just the wrong (right?) time!

Willowbark

A Thunder Egg Prophecy by Mik Bonsall

1857

Something is found in one of our Masters' gold mines. The men who touch it are driven mad and we end up leaving their bodies at the bottom of a worked out shaft. Our Masters forbid any but themselves to touch it.

1893

We have travelled across this sun-cursed continent for our Masters' sakes, collecting the varied and wonderful items they require. They reward us with sweet, fresh nectar and we revel in our love for them.

1918

While millions died on the other side of the world, we have finished building the vault to our Masters' specification, mixing the mortar with the blood of one hundred black men and piling their severed heads in four small pyramids, all to please our Masters.

1933

Our loyalty and hard work are to be rewarded. Tonight, our Masters have told us that we shall become most blessed, that we are now ready to become as they are, to shun this mortal coil and submit, finally, to their sweet Embrace.

⁂

Willowbark is a systemless OWOD game for five Ghouls who have served their masters faithfully for over a century and tonight are preparing to be Embraced, set in the 1930's Melbourne.

Previsooniously willon on runnen be at Conquest 2011.

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