Month: March 2018

Microscopic Cosmic Deities and Pandora’s Other Fiasco

Tonight we had two full tables of gaming going with 9 players in all. On one, we took to the stars in Microscope by Ben Robbins. Our history spanned hundreds of years and followed the wars between the planets and the megacorporations that ran roughshod over the entire solar system. Things got complicated when the planets, houses, and corporations allied themselves with cosmic deities to extend their war, but when those deities decided that mortal squabbles weren’t worth the trouble, they brought an enforced peace to the entire system. Imagine our surprise when another pantheon of gods arrived and wiped these cosmic deities out, leaving our hodge-podge of aliens to pick up the pieces, but at least we were united for the first time.

On the other table, we played Fiasco by Jason Morningstar using the Touring Rock Band playset. We were managers and fans of the very obscure band Pandora’s Other Box (or POB as some call it). A combination of mismanagement and poor impulse control led the team to organize a performance at a megachurch in Salt Lake City as a tribute to the victims of a fire that took place at a prior POB concert.

Masks vs. the Mole Men

If The Breakfast Club had happened at Hero High, it might have gone something like our session of Masks! A New Generation by Brendan Conway. Our group serving Saturday detention together consisted of the Battering Ram (Bull), Banana Person (Protege), Thistle (Outsider), Burning Man (Star), Vamp (Delinquent), Matrix (Transformed), Sawa (Legacy), and Void (Doomed). Once our school started sinking into the Earth, we sprang into action and quickly fought off attacks by mutated moles and giant, demonic spiders. Following their tunnels below the school, we talked our way into the lair of the mastermind, a poor, demented soul who just needed his mindset adjusted to return peacefully to the surface. Saving the day, we returned to school to receive praise from our teachers, who, thankfully,  cancelled our detention.

Ten Candles Light a Sunless Resort

Last night we played Ten Candles, a tragic horror game by Stephen Dewey. Our characters were stranded on a resort island during a sunless apocalypse where They were hunting us. The protagonists — the resort’s cheerful activities director, a resourceful party girl, an ex-military cop, a high-powered businesswoman, and a mysterious old man — attempted to make it to the northern island to await rescue by the Coast Guard. But one by one they were lost to accidents, violence, and of course Them. In the end, all that remained was darkness.