Phenomenon 2003

A roleplaying convention

Triptych

Triptych (trip-tick) n. picture or carving on three panels able to fold over centre; set of three associated works so placed esp. as a centre piece; set of three writing tablets hinged or tied together; a set of three artistic works; such used as an alter piece; a treatise in three parts.

Each year, three respected designers are invited to present a systemless single session module. Each scenario emphasises characterisation, psychological realism and drama. Each module will be judged separately, but teams competing in all three modules will also be eligible for the Triptych Perpetual Trophy.

2003 Triptych: Punctuated Equilibrium

Most scholars will tell us that evolution occurs due to the slow accumulation of changes beneficial to the survival of the species, and thus shapes species over millennia.

What if they’re all wrong?

Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould postulated in 1977 that evolution was actually eras of stable dormancy followed by short, chaotic, explosive periods of change. What if races don’t so much evolve from one another as give birth to them? And what if one of those periods were just about to start? Evolution - Three stories on awakening, adaptation, secrets, and future potential.

(Please note – these are not in any way an X-Men or Mutant games.)

The games

• Psi — Mike Walker
• Can you go home again? — David James
• Silence — Ingrid Bean

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Psi

By Mike Walker

Striving for the stars on shaky foundations leads to instant flight and catastrophic fall…

Under the guidance of a mentor, four high school students are about to awaken their own innate psychic potential. At first the abilities seem a gift from the heavens but there is a more sinister price that must be paid. And a world to be saved…

Beware the shadows of the mind, and what lurks within…

A one session game for five players
A Pegasus Unlimited Production
For queries, please contact me at pegasusunlimited@hotmail.com.

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Can you go home again?

By David James

Mankind has stretched its influence out over the solar system, with colonies on the Moon, Mars and several of the larger moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. It is the Mega-Corporations that lead the way however, leaving the various national governments earth-bound and increasingly irrelevant.

They say that changes in environment can often trigger evolutionary growth. A completely alien environment requires some fairly radical changes, and humans were never ones to patiently wait for nature to slowly do what they could “help along”.

What few stopped to consider was, from the point of view of these “new” humans, the most alien environment would be Earth itself…

A Game for five people coming to terms with what they are, and what society wants them to be.

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Silence

By Ingrid Bean

After the Awakening, personal space became a necessity: overcrowding was soon unbearable. In 2154 AD, the Coalition of Worlds was set up to coordinate the expansion of Homo sapiens psyches throughout the galaxy. The web of humanity spread rapidly, filling up the emptiness of space with noise.

But now, gradually, the noise is abating. Now, here and there, there is silence.
A systemless sci-fi adventure for 5 people that carry the silence with them.

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