Freeforms

The Annual May Day Party

By Jason Cebalo

Mayday: the International workers' day. A day for workers and leftists to celebrate victories in the class struggle.

The Canberra branch of the Socialist Party is on the brink of electoral breakthrough and are coming together to celebrate their achievements, plan for the future and elect a new leadership. Shifting agendas and alliances, pragmatism versus idealism and the struggle for leadership promise to make this an interesting night. Plus there will be free alcohol!

What the human members of the party don't realise, however, is that supernatural creatures of various kinds have taken an interest in the party. Vampires, werewolves and other, even stranger, creatures have infiltrated the party. Human and supernatural agendas will collide. Who will end up in control?

Among the things happening at the party will be the election of new leaders, attempts by some party members to instigate violence at an upcoming demonstration, a human member attempting to accumulate information on the supernaturals and, for some characters, a chance at romance.

The Annual May Day Party is a freeform for 15 to 20 players. The setting will be loosely based on White Wolf's World of Darkness 20th Anniversary Rules but may deviate from WoD canon in different ways. Also the game will be systemless. Knowledge of the setting will be useful but by no means essential; new players are very welcome.

August Time Machine

Translated by Jo Rocke

The year is 1990. Seven childhood friends, estranged for years, meet in a coffee-shop in their rural hometown, summoned by vague but urgent messages. The oldest of the friends stands up, and thanks them for coming. He informs them that he has gathered them to help him prevent the murder of the absent 8th and final surviving member of their group. How does he know their friend is going to be murdered? Because he witnessed the murder himself, and then travelled 12 hours back in time.

In this game, you will take on the roles of natural leader and small business owner Ryusei, big-city Tokyo journalist Midori, serious and studious class president Issa, quiet and reserved beauty Akane, down to earth farm boy Aoi, anti-social delinquent Konnosuke and spoiled mayor’s daughter Momoka as they attempt to prevent the murder of their old friend that very evening, while trying to advance their own personal agendas. All of them, of course, except potential murderers in their midst who want the evening to play out exactly like before.

This is a reading-heavy murder mystery game in which much of the game will be structured around small-group conversations which maximise the opportunities for miscommunication, misunderstandings and half-truths from those with an agenda to mislead. The system also incorporates information cards to simulate the details of your investigation.

The Bonds of Ascension

By James Woodman

A roleplaying game for 10 people ready to portray lovers, ex lovers and one dread sovereign. A ritual is to be performed. Power summoned forth from the darkest crevices to invest in one person who stands ready to accept the darkest mantle our world has ever known. Nyrix has performed countless preparations and a lifetime of research in order to achieve their desires, and has invited all their previous lovers to stand with them as they prepare to change the world forever. You were one of their lovers. Were, are, wish to be, or perhaps you ARE Nyrix. Nearly all of the preparations are complete, the ritual studied and prepared for months to be released at the stroke of midnight. Mere hours before Nyrix’s ascension, their loved ones are gathered to discuss the question of whether Nyrix really wishes to step off this cliff and plunge into the uncertain future. Three hours until the ritual completes, a polycule of previous lovers, current lovers, scattered metamores and Nyrix themself sit in a parlor, ready to yell, taunt and threaten each other until someone gets what they want… and perhaps we all lose.

The Bonds of Ascension is a 10-player LARP based on intrapersonal drama, messy queer relationships, and whether you REALLY trust your on-again-off-again ex with the power to obliterate anyone who threatens you. If you’ve ever rolled your eyes when some heroic protagonist has to put down their lover because they’ve been corrupted by their magic powers, this game is for you. If you’ve ever wanted to tell your ex they’re not responsible enough to wield phenomenal cosmic power, this game is for you. If you’ve ever wanted an excuse to roleplay out messy relationship drama with world-shattering consequences, this game is for you.

Content Warning: Messy relationship drama with the potential for in-relationship violence (Wolverine killing Jean Grey at the end of X-Men 3 is an example), but not abuse or coercive control in play or in backstories for any character.

Warning for societal mistrust and prejudice based on non-normative relationships.

Carnival of the Midnight Sun

By Ben Taylor

It is December 1832. The British Royal Navy's exploration vessel, HMS Aurora, has been trapped in the ice of the Antarctic continent for seemingly endless months, shrouded in freezing darkness.

Captain Fitzdavis has been struck ill and has become bedridden in his quarters for several weeks now. But he still issues orders, his most recent – a costume party! A celebration to welcome the arrival of the Midnight Sun.

All crew are invited to attend.

The officers hope it will improve morale. The crew hope it will simply be a warm meal.

The Captain’s grand costume box has been dug out and everyone attending is invited to dress up. The best of the remaining rations have been cooked (and the rum rations increased).

Tonight, at midnight we shall party and play, and celebrate the return of light that will banish the ice that has locked us away.

Costuming Suggestions

• (The costume box is imaginary – you will need to provide your own costume)
• This is the 1800s Royal Navy, so navy blues are your uniform
• If you're "dressing up" – period clothing, fancy dresses, ruffled shirts, waistcoats, and frilly frocks.
• Crowns, hats, animal masks, Roman soldiers, highway bandits etc.

Additionally, this is an /alternate history/ where gender wasn't a factor in joining the Navy, and cultural taboos around having non-male presenting individuals aboard aren't a thing in this universe. So any character can be played as any gender presentation.

NB: Sadly this game has been withdrawn. Pheno is sorry for any inconvenience.

Lost In Space

By Willow Lucas-Smith

Some people think there are few to no risks left in the act of colonising Alpha Centauri. With discussions on other potential colonisation locations and the newer Jupiter class ships proponents of the program believe humanity is leaping from height to height with no end to the possibilities.

Members of the 25th colonisation group have embarked on their journey across the stars. Each Jupiter-class ship equiped with a next generation jump drive capable of independent travel and failsafes the likes of which have never existed before.

Our new alien robot allies have brought to us a technological understanding that has ushered in a new true golden age of space exploration. It is the dawn of an age where humanity is evolving in to something new, something extra-solar, something better than before.

And for all this optimism the simple truth remains. Space is vast and dangerous. Ships have been lost before.

Just ask the Robinsons.

This is a game for three Jupiter ship crews on their way to Alpha Centauri to join the colony. They may make it, they may not. One thing for sure is – they will be Lost In Space.

Mx Universe 2999

By Stephen Justice

Drum roll please as we announce the winner of Mx Universe 2998!.... And the Winner IS!.... MX SANDEG!!!

That’s right, Glau Irock is our 2998 winner as a fine silicon-based entity representing the SanDEG galaxy!

*Music starts playing, and an ethereal voice starts to sing*
Oh, Mx Universe, so vast and wide,
Galaxies twinkle within your stride,
Stars and planets in your embrace,
A cosmic dance through time and space.

The year is now 2999 and the competition for Mx Universe could not be hotter, even true for some of the contestants with a more plasma-based existence.

Everyone wants to be the singular* entity that represents the incoming new millenium, with more races then ever tuning in to watch as their favourite contestants represent their culture in front of the wider inter-galactic community.

*Multi-consciousness entities not excluded, but may only have one body to represent them.

Behind the camera tensions run even higher. Tight schedules, small quarters, and too many wild parties. There have been friendships, rivalries, and maybe even a romance or two.

Will our contestants be able to maintain their poise and grace on this final night, or will the pressure be too much?

Is that friendship with Mx Pictor real, or have they just been giving you bad advice for your final performance?

Mx Universe 2999 is a game of drama around the largest social pageant ever seen, for 29 aliens and 1 poor stressed-out human producer. Players will take on the roles of contestants, judges, 'executive' assistants, or that poor stressed-out human producer.

Costuming is highly encouraged. Characters will be written agnostic of form/morph/gender, with a focus on who they are and not what they are.

Prizes will be given for best costumes, separate from whatever costume competition Pheno might hold itself this year.

Ravenloft: Before the Avalanche

By Joe McNamara

Tonight we gather to acknowledge the supremacy of Lamordian Science. Our scientists and engineers, poets and artists, savants and explorers have given us the world!

A line of stitching around a wrist. A light in the sky that follows you. A blizzard so deep that it swallows your footprints completely.

I call on you to consider the wonders our artists and scientists have wrought! Lightning rods at the summit of Svalterfjell draw down power from the sky that can restart a dead mountaineer’s heart! Geothermal probes pierced deep under the hot springs keep the lights on - and the baths warm - here at Chateau von Siebenthal! Stunning works of art that depict the sublime peaks and hidden souls of this mountain range!

A coffin, lying open in the snow. A terrible animal noise getting closer and closer. A figure standing just beyond the edge of the cliff, beckoning you forward.

And I call on you to consider the alternative: a Svalterfjell still shrouded by the superstitions of our grandparents! They left offerings of brandy and carcasses on its slopes. They never dared to go searching when travellers disappeared into its icy crevasses or into the cold, empty sky. They locked their doors and closed their ears when the wind howled their names.

A perfect circle of flattened trees. A grey-faced doctor with a sharp knife. A rumbling as, far above you, the rocks and snow begin to move.

They feared to learn. To challenge the peaks of ignorance about them.

We are not them.

I bid you charge your glasses for a toast – now, at last, nothing is beyond us!

Star Trek: Fading Dreams

By Sean Allsop

The Treaty of Bajor promised peace for a galaxy reeling from the destruction of the Dominion War. For many who fought in that war though, peace has been in short supply. The horrors of that conflict are not so easily forgotten, no matter how much one desires to do so. The Federation recognizes this and has devoted considerable effort to providing care and respite for those who need it most.

The USS Origin is a Starfleet facility devoted to a very particular subset of its officers who require respite: Vulcans. Specifically, Vulcans who abandoned the teachings of Surak to survive the Dominion War, but at its conclusion were unable to return to the path of logic. For these Vulcans, the Origin offers them a chance to recover in peace, away from the judgmental eyes of their home world.

The peace they seek is a distant dream, a dream that seems farther and farther away by the day. For something stalks the halls of the Origin. Something primal, lethal and hidden. So well hidden the staff don’t believe it exists. But the patients know. If they can’t convince the staff of the Origin that this creature is real, their dreams of the future may just fade away with the other ghosts of the Dominion War.

Star Trek: Fading Dreams is a horror freeform set in the Star Trek universe after the end of the Dominion War for 10-15 staff and patients delivered by Sean Allsop, David James and James Riley.

The Time of My Life

By Random Jones, Adrian Overbury, Bek Grayden & Aaron Holding

It's almost summer and school is almost over, not just for the year, but forever. The class of ‘87 is almost done. Not much more time left to deal with the teachers, while handling final exams, and the joys of being teenagers.

For the students (and faculty) of Spooky Valley High, there are also the complications of having supernatural students – a werewolf cub, a proto-vampire, and... whatever it is that Jamie is. Still, the year is almost done, everyone survived, and just one major social event remains: The Senior Prom.

It was meant to be last week, but due to plumbing issues at the venue it’s tonight. So, tonight, I’m going to have

The Time of My Life!

The Time of My Life is a freeform for 21 students and teachers attending their high school prom in 1987. Bad 80's fashion choices are strongly encouraged.