Age of Silver

By Mike Walker

The unwitting humans of the Silver Age are in danger of being wiped out, just as the humans of the Golden Age were wiped out before them...

The royal wedding of Ixion and Dia is intended to unite two warring kingdoms in love and celebration… Just as this joyful union is supposed to begin, internal strife and secrets between the participants threaten to tear the peace apart. For the first time ever, a mortal will be driven to commit the sacrilegious act of murdering a blood relative...

Ixion, the arrogant groom
Dia, the trusting bride
Deioneus, the prideful father of the bride
Leonteus, the grasping father of the groom
Hippodamia, shrewd consort to Leonteus

Meanwhile...

The coming sacrilege prompts Nyx, Goddess of the Night, to spontaneously give birth. Her child is Moros, the God of Doom. The terrible power of Moros infuriates the other gods, for he forces destinies upon both gods and mortals alike. Is he something to be controlled, destroyed, or protected? 

Cronus, King of the Gods
Moros, God of Doom
Thanatos, Angel of Death
Eris, Goddess of Strife
Nyx, Goddess of Night

The tragedy of the royal wedding calls the attention of the gods, for it reflects upon each of their aspects. They must decide how to punish the humans... perhaps even wiping them out in a great flood, bringing an end to the Silver Age forever.

Players take part in two interweaving storylines converging in decisions that will shape the future of the world. The story and ending is for the players to determine through game play, potentially deviating from the mythical source material. Although the murder of a blood relative must happen, it is up to the players to decide who the murderer and the victim will be. Players, as the gods, will also decide the fate of Moros and the humans.

A team game for five people.
Loosely inspired by Greek Mythology.

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All that Glitters

By Jon Lowe and David Woodruff

An experienced adventuring party begins their journey home after another successful quest, but are finding that not everything is how they expected. A single shot DnD adventure for 5 players. (High level characters, rules light, no previous DnD experience expected or required, medieval sword and sorcery setting)

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The Big Cthuna

By Melissa Esler

The war has ended, the endless summer has arrived and the Sharkies Peninsula community is having its first Annual Surf Festival. Promising two weeks of fun in the best swell this side of the Pacific!

Rumour has it things have been getting pretty strange 'round these parts. Sure, the locals could tell you rumours of the latest disappearances, local legends, weird sea-life, strange things lurking in the bush and eerie tunes, but that’s true for any popular beach locale with perfect waves and resident beatniks, right?

Bums, Bunnies, Bodgies & Widgies... this is your time! Hang five, hang ten, let it all go & get hip with the most happening new religion to hit these shores!

A loosely Cthullhu-verse game by Mishka Esler for 3-6 Surfies not afraid to get their hands a little sandy.

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By Demons Driven

By Steve Dee

Relics: A Game of Angels cast the characters as fallen celestials. They were not expelled from heaven, though they may have left on bad terms. Others simply thought it was better to fight the war against demons by doing so on the frontlines. Yet when they fall angels find their powers locked in sacred items—their Relics—that they cannot use unless they give to a mortal. Over the tens of thousands of years angels have lost or abandoned their Relics, seeding ancient powers throughout history. And now, God has left, slamming shut the gates of heaven, presumably to fight the final war in a way that leaves Her creation safe. But this has left all the fallen angels and their demonic kin stranded on earth, while also causing all the Relics to awaken their celestial power. An arms race has begun to seize the power of the heavens but without God, who are the angels truly fighting for?

But on the other hand, can you let the demons just get all the Relics and rule the world forever? Especially an ancient powerful demon like Dantalion, who all five of you have a personal score to settle with? Everyone thought Dantalion disappeared sometime during the Middle Ages, likely slain by one of the many he crossed or betrayed as was his nature as the Demon of Discord. But now an angel you barely know is sitting across a bar in a run-down Vegas casino saying he got a call last night from a stranger. A stranger who said Dantalion is back. And a stranger who said he worked for the FBI.

That's way too many questions. Remember when we were in heaven, and we knew all things? That was great. This is not great. And someone has to untangle it. Someone meaning you.

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CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS MUST DIE!

By Jake Nelson

Supervillainy used to be a pretty sweet gig. Fame and fortune, your own underground lair, dread legions to strike fear into the hearts of the good people of Valiant City. Sure, you got foiled by superheroes a lot, but at least they foiled you in a way you could come back from, y’know? You got to do your thing, the heroes got to do their thing, the civilians got to watch... it was an arrangement that worked for everyone.

Then HE showed up.

The greatest superhero never to walk the face of the planet. He Who Can Do No Wrong. Mister Sun-Probably-Does-Shine-Out-His-Backside.

Captain Courageous.

I mean, really, who does this jerk think he is? Appearing out of nowhere, going around single-handedly protecting the city, not respecting the boundaries of superheroism and putting respectable villains like you out of business! If you don’t do something about this fast, you can kiss your memberships in the Diabolical Order Of Masterminds goodbye!

There’s only one thing for it. You’ll have to put your egos aside and… ugh… work together. Because if there’s anything you can all agree on, it’s this: CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS MUST DIE!

Assuming you all don’t kill each other first, anyway.

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Discworld: “Streets of Ankh-Morpork”

By Mathew Sforcina

Ankh-Morpork, city of 100,000 souls and ten times more inhabitants.

A lot has changed over the past decade or so (time got a little weird a while back). The Watch went from a joke to an actual thing, the Clacks was brought in, every race and culture on the Disc now has at least one take out joint somewhere in the city, Golem rights, paper money, Football even...

But it’s still Ankh-Morpork. There will always be new fools, new idiots, hoping to make that one big score, to get what they want, no matter what. There’s always another dark alley, another crazy scheme, another dreamer, another thief, another chance at having it all, another chance to end up a chalk outline with rainbows and speech bubbles thanks to the City Watch.

Fiasco is a collaborative no-GM worldbuilding/storytelling tabletop game about plans gone awry, bad decisions made worse, and stupid people doing even stupider things. Players cooperate to create a web of interconnected characters with their own drives, goals, and issues, then proceed to watch them all bring each other down in a miasma of stupidity and greed. Think movies such as Burn After Reading or Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels for the type of flavour of storytelling.

Mathew Sforcina is the writer and facilitator and, if needed, extra player for this module. Knowledge of the system or the world is not needed but helpful. Star Trek and Fallout: New Vegas modules also available upon request.

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Fellowship and Firepower

By Hugh Fisher

This is the social event of the year for the High Programmers of Alpha Complex. Status will be measured, alliances formed and broken. One's reputation can be destroyed by a careless word or using the wrong fork for the salad. Then again, a tacnuke in a tea cosy would destroy more than just reputations. Which is why your team of Troubleshooters will be on hand to prevent any such boorish behaviour.

If you've played Paranoia 2nd ed or XP before, you know what to expect. Roleplaying a Troubleshooter, satire, cheerful backstabbing, and hilarious explosions.

If you haven't played Paranoia before, here's your chance. On the surface this is a game of cartoon violence and terrible puns, but underneath is an RPG system and setting that has lasted for decades because it overturns our usual expectations. Roleplaying and characterisation do occur and are encouraged. Don't be surprised if you get shot during your soliloquy, but don't worry either: your character can come back.

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The Hurting

By Michael Hitchens

One went mad and was sent away
One denies they were ever there
One turned wild, feral and free
One wanted more but didn’t know where to look
And the last one of all regrets what they took

England, 1856
A decade ago a group of children encountered the Fae.
They tasted magic.
They were never the same again.
No matter how much they wanted to be.

How do you live once you’ve seen something greater and had it taken away?
Something strange and wonderful and fearsome.
Wanting just one more minute of it.
No matter who would pay the price.
No matter if it would be the worst decision you could ever make.

This is a game set in Victorian England. It is not Changeling or any other published rules system. The characters come from different levels of society. But all of them living with the memories of what they saw, what they felt. And the desperate need to feel it again.

Content warning: this game deals with issues of mental trauma

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Into the Dead Zone

By Jason Cebalo

Two years ago, all the supernatural creatures in Canberra vanished without a trace. Since then, no vampire to enter Canberra has been heard from again.

Now, seven vampires with radically different beliefs will be forced by circumstances to flee into the city. To survive, they will need to learn to work together—but can such differing world views be conquered so easily?

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Into the Woods

By Luke Jordan

Forests are magical places.

Growing up, grandpa always said so. He took you and your siblings rambling in the woods to pick berries, swim in dark streams, climb trees, gather firewood, learn the names of herbs and the cries of every bird.

And as you walked side-by-side he talked and you learned:

To bow to the bush before you pick blackberries.
To never eat or drink something you don't recognize.
To never insult a living creature no matter how small or meek.
To never step into a ring of toadstools.
And to always (always) be out of the trees by sundown.

But he hasn't taken you into the woods for ages. These days he's always tired, and stays in bed all the time, and when he leaves the house it's just to go see boring doctors. And your parents keep having hushed conversations when they think you can't hear.

You're not stupid. You're not just dumb kids. You know grandpa is sick.

And he's not getting better. So you're going out into the woods, all by yourselves. And maybe, if you're brave and clever and careful, and you all stick together, and you ask the wild rose nicely for directions and feed the robins for luck, you'll find something that can help.

Something that will make grandpa well again.

Right?

A single-session game of grief and childhood, about the bittersweetness of growing up and learning to say goodbye.

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Being a curious case of satyrs in the top paddock

By John Hughes, Philippa Hughes and Aidan Scott

“Sorcery and sanctity... these are the only realities.
Each is an ecstasy, a withdrawal from the common life.”
—Arthur Machen

numinous
ˈnjuːmɪnəs
adjective
denoting, being, or relating to a numen; divine: mysterious or awe-inspiring, surpassing comprehension or understanding: of, relating to, or like a numen; spiritual or supernatural.

Bohemian Sydney, 1926: the pubs, wine-bars, coffee shops, scandal, gossip and sensuality of the street. ‘Starving artists, poor musicians, writers scratching for a living, bit actors, and people with all sorts of strange jobs.’ The men seek the verities of beer, women and mammon. Mostly the beer. The women seek something a little more complex and indefinable. Led by Jack Lindsay, the Vision group seeks to defend True Art against the barbarities of modern life.

But something has entered this antipodean arcadia, something beautiful and terrible. Something deadly.

The Players

Jack Lindsay: angry young poet, son of the immortal Norman.
Ken Slessor: dapper journalist and poet.
Dulcie Deamer: novelist, charismatic ‘Queen of Bohemia’.
Moira Dartley: Bulletin columnist, social climber.
Hope: street tough and artist.

Pan^ic is a systemless multiform, a retelling of Arthur Machen’s horror classic, The Great God Pan. It offers horror, mystery, an interpenetration of worlds, and, perhaps, an ecstasy.

Want to dig deeper? Check out Myth-O-Logic:
myth-o-logic.org/convention-modulz/panic-2019/

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Red Markets—Argent Eve

By Drew Triebe

The world ended six and a half years ago, but your rent is still due. The Blight emerged and no one really believed a zombie apocalypse was actually happening until it was way, way too late. The Romero effect they called it, Fake News by others. The government and everyone who had the means retreated east of the Mississippi then promptly wrote the west off as dead. Nothing is free or easy now except what you take from the Carrion Economy.

Now you’re living out of a 3x3m tent in a College stadium convention hall, north Montana with six hundred other Lost.

You are a Taker crew, a member of the Kalispell Silver Bullets Rollerderby crew and you’ve got a line on a job. You have to hustle, go over the fence and do jobs for bounty because you have a retirement plan and bills to pay.

This is an economic horror game where getting ripped off financially is worse than getting your face ripped off by zombies. The session is structured but rules light; find a job, negotiate, travel to the job, do it, get home and get paid. Near future setting, gritty but you can joke around. 4-5 players, pre-genned characters supplied. This con game will allow you to pick a job from four offerings.

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Sergeant Scion's Lonely Heart's Club Band

By Penny O'Rance

Some Scions use their superhuman abilities to fight the good fight. Working tirelessly to keep the forces of evil from gaining a foothold in the world, they keep their true nature a secret until Fate makes it impossible for mortals to not realise what they are. They are the stuff of legends, the sort of Scions who become the heroes of stories that last millennia.

The Hummingbirds use their superhuman abilities to be a boy band. What's the harm in taking advantage of the gifts your divine parents gave you to get some fame and make some money, especially when you're bringing some essential morale to the world?

On the eve of a farewell tour, the last hurrah before the band takes a much-needed break—some to strike out on their own, others with some soul-searching to do—with a rival looming and strange occurrences haunting the preparations, it just might be that that morale is far, far more essential than anyone anticipated.

Previously run at Sydcon 2015

Content Warning: Addiction issues, Mental Health. Character list mentions themes players may wish to avoid, such as “Potential romance with another PC” and “Commitment issues”.

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Table for One—A Grey Cells Mystery

By Bogdan Constantinescu

Tomorrow, Frank Baker was due to testify in court and help to put a drug lord behind bars. But today, he has a date with a tombstone. A little pasta, a glass of wine and a case of indigestion that you don't wake up from.

Without the main witness, the trial is dead in the water—unless you can get to the bottom of this and find out who served Frank his last supper.

Grey Cells is a mystery and detective fiction RPG that's easy to learn and gives you the tools you need to solve devious cases. Bring your fedora, your notebook, and most importantly—your grey cells.

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Three Short Games about Wizards

By Stuart Barrow and Barbara Kearins

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Magic is cruel, and brutal, and callous. To wield it you must be cruel, and brutal, and callous. The Sorcerer is more cruel, and more brutal, and more callous than you could ever be; where does that leave you as the Sorcerer's Apprentice? Will you choose magic and the power that it brings, or will you refuse in the hope of something better?

The Voyage of the Sorcerer: Magic brings freedom, and power, and control. But everything you take control of binds you in return, and accepting more power means accepting more constraints. The Sorcerer has a purpose and a destination now, but will the purpose remain when all power is spent? What use is power without freedom? What use is freedom without power?

The Death of the Sorcerer: Magic is unstable, and temporary, and fragile. So are people. The Sorcerer lies dying, and death will bring an unraveling of every work, every making, every action. What will become of you, whose life the Sorcerer has touched so deeply?

Three Short Games about Wizards is three short games about wizards, that most potent of fantasy archetypes. Short, systemless, experimental, with game each focusing on a different wizard, and a different theme.

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