Cut Out & Keep

Wow... the stuff you find when you start clearing out your hard drive. I apparently wrote this game for a contest and then promptly forgot about it, but as I read back through it for the first time in four years, I realised it would make a good game to play online with a minimum number of players. This is a tweaked version of the original draft to support quarantine play (is that a new genre?) and is as unashamedly queer as the original.

Group Activity

When I was young, I kept a secret stash of pictures I had cut out of newspapers and magazines which showed images of men I liked; this was before the internet, of course. The images were photos from medical articles in the newspaper, handsome bare-chested men from comic strips and really anything which used the context to show a bit of beefcake and muscle; not purely erotic, just enough 'plausible deniability' to get semi-nude images into the mainstream press. This game is a tribute to that experience.

Before play, create a shared folder or document and fill it with googled images of people; they may be photos or artworks, but avoid anything blatantly pornographic. You will want to talk about appropriate sites and images to use before you play, to keep everyone on the same page about what to expect. You can also do this as a live activity if you happen to all be in the same place, like so:

• Get a stack of newspapers and magazines, then divide them up between all the players: everyone should now go through their stack looking for pictures of people of the same gender as some other player around the table (don’t choose pictures that match your gender, unless everyone around the table is of the same gender.)
• When you find a picture, whether it is a photograph or cartoon, from a news story, magazine feature or advertisement, carefully cut or tear it out: to tear out a picture, tear out the page first, then make sharp folds along the edges of the picture you want and rip quickly along those lines.
• When everyone is done, spread all the pictures in the centre of the table, so that they are visible and accessible to all players; you are now ready to begin.

Getting Into Role

For the duration of the game, all the players must imagine that they are a young, queer person, who is either drawn to members of the same gender, has been assigned the wrong gender or both. The exact ages of the characters, and other details about them, will come out through play, no-one needs to determine an entire history for their character at the start of the game.

The pictures in the shared folder or spread across the table represent pictures that each character may have cut out & kept hidden away during the early part of their life, as a way of holding onto to that part of themselves which isn’t fully defined yet and which they fear may be ridiculed or worse. During the game, players will collect pictures, with each one representing some threshold in their character’s life.

Question & Answer

The game is played in turns; on each player’s turn, they nominate someone else who chooses a picture from the shared collection and passes it to the current player. The current player then says whether this is a picture of someone they were attracted to or wanted to be like: after this statement, every other player around the table may ask the current player one question about that picture and the circumstances around it.

A question may be direct or indirect, open or leading, but they must always relate to the picture itself: a question may not be about the character or family of the current character, but it may be open to answers about them. Therefore, a player may not ask “Where did you live?” but they could ask “Where in your house did you hide this picture?” and get an answer that also encompasses details about the character’s home situation.

• Open Questions provide the current player with few cues, so they are free to answer it how they like, as long as they are consistent with their previous answers, e.g. “How old were you when you collected this picture?” or “Where did you put this picture?” give the current player a lot of margin to answer.
• Leading Questions suggest or establish aspects of the character’s life at around the time they collected this picture, e.g. “How did your best friend react when you showed them this picture?” or “Who stole the school book you had stuck this picture to the cover of?” Leading questions can be used for some very hard framing, establishing facts about the current character’s life and getting the current player to respond: use the character’s family, friends and events in their life to push them for harder answers, e.g. “Where did your family send you when they discovered these pictures?” or “How did this picture cause the break-up you had with your first love?”

Rounds of Play

A turn ends when every other player has asked one question of the current player, but there should always be at least 3 questions per picture, so with fewer players, some will get to ask more than one question. A round ends when each player has had one turn at answering questions about the picture they have been given. Each subsequent round should represent a later stage in the lives of the same characters, but while this might be only a week later for one, it might be five years later for another, as long as all character unveil their stories going forward, not in flashbacks to an earlier part of their life.

Let each character’s story develop organically, don’t try to push them to a predetermined conclusion: on each player’s turn, they should confine themselves to only answering the questions they are asked. The answer should focus on the question and not be used to bring in masses of extraneous data about the current character. The more supplemental data that is given, the more it shuts down future questions that the other players might want to ask.

Ending the Game

The game should be played over three rounds, or five if there are very few players, so that each player ends with the same number of pictures in front of them: to close the game, each player explains what happened to each of their pictures, with each player taking it in turn to describe the fate of one picture before passing to the next player. Continue in this fashion until each player has detailed the fate of each of their pictures.

When describing the fate of a picture, any type of answer is allowable, from “I don’t know, I lost it,” to “I found & purchased the original; now it hangs over my bed.” A picture that was important to you in your youth might have lost its significance to you as you grew up and explored your identity; on the other hand, it might have become the defining image of your life, an ideal you have chased and conquered, making it who you are. There are no wrong or right answers here and this final round is intended to reflect what each character might or might not have learned from the pictures they cut out & kept as a youth.

Lorelei & The Rider

This is a special bonus game designed for two players, dealing with themes of romance, power relationships and being an outsider. It probably isn't to everyone's taste.

Upon This Rock

There are only two players in this game and no GM; it tells a tale of the passionate connection between two strangers who are both, in their own way, outcasts from the society around them. These two characters are:

Lorelei: a woman considered a pariah by her townsfolk, for her beliefs, actions or nature; some townsfolk believe her to be a witch or a supernatural creature and do not welcome her among them. As a result, she lives a simple life outside town, by the river, making her home on a rock which the waters flow around. If you are playing Lorelei, describe to the Rider how they first see you.

The Rider: a foreigner travelling through these lands for his own purposes; upon hearing the tale of the Woman of the Rocks, he decides to see for himself and becomes enthralled by her... or vice versa. If you are playing the Rider, describe your reaction to seeing Lorelei for the first time, then describe yourself to her.

Fell free to change the genders of these characters as you wish, the only constant must be that they feel an affinity and attraction to each other, with Lorelei enchanting the Rider but the Rider also fascinating Lorelei. They are both outsiders to the culture they find themselves in, for different reasons, and their relationship may be seen as transgressive or taboo by others.

In order to play, you need an ordinary deck of cards; if you're playing online, this tool may be helpful. The deck is used to ask questions, make demands and respond to each other during play, using the guidance that follows.

Will You, Won't You?

The game always begins with the Rider taking the role of provocateur: players will take turns in this role, pushing the other player for a response to an overture dictated by the cards. The Rider starts the first round of the game by drawing a card from the deck and placing it face up in front of them.

If the card in front of you is Red: ask a question about the other character's life, culture, background, dreams, fears, etc. You want to learn more about them and why they are here, in this place at this time, but your questions should be tightly framed to limit the other player's response. Don't ask "How do you feel?" but do ask "Why are you crying?" Don't ask "How did you come to be here?" but do ask "Where did you get that scar on your cheek?"

If the card in front of you is Black: make a request or demand if you are the Rider; make an offer or suggestion if you are Lorelei. Both characters are negotiating their feelings for each other and finding a type of attraction that is sometimes considered transgressive; the Rider is dominant and possessive, but also affectionate; Lorelei is submissive and sensual, but also strong-willed. Start with simple requests and offers, such as food, shelter, meeting again at a later date or time, and so on, but as the game progresses, go as far as you both feel comfortable with.

After a player asks their question or makes their demand/offer, the other player draws a card from the deck and places it face up in front of them, on top of any other cards they have. Their response is dictated by the rank of the card drawn:

If the card drawn is higher than the card face up in front of the other player: respond positively to their question or demand/offer, answering them, doing as they say or accepting what they offer you. Thank them, be grateful and explain yourself as necessary; this should draw you closer and create further understanding between you as you share something intimate.

If the card drawn is lower than the card face up in front of the other player: explain why you cannot do as they ask, cannot accept what they offer or why that question is difficult to answer. Apologise, be contrite and beg them to forgive you for not being straightforward or open with them; this should create an issue to be resolved and result in a sympathetic bond between you as you both acknowledge your limitations.

If the card drawn matches the rank of the card face up in front of the other player: you may ignore the question, demand or offer and act directly, expressing yourself with action rather than words. This may involve touching each other, kissing, undressing, taking food from the other's hand, pointing towards the answer or even grabbing the other forcefully but not painfully. This is a moment where your passion for each other breaks through.

The Turn of the Cards

After taking your turn as provocateur, pass that role to the other player; their overture is dictated by the card currently face up in front of them, they don't draw another. After the Rider's first turn, overtures are always suggested by the colour of the card you drew last; you only draw another card when you are responding to the other player's overture.

As Lorelei and the Rider learn more about each other, and their relationship progresses from conversation to physical intimacy, they will also seek ways to deal with the issues that arise between them when the card drawn is lower in rank than the provocateur's card. This forms the backbone of the game, with the provocateur using their turn to request or offer a solution to an issue that has been raised previously.

End the game when it feels right to do so; this will most likely occur in one of two ways:

• You may end the game on a match, if the action taken is suitable to the level of passion or intimacy already established between the characters. In this case, we can assume that the Rider ends their journey here to remain with Lorelei.
• You may end the game by resolving an issue that stands between you, if it was of sufficient substance to keep you apart. In this case, we can assume that Lorelei leaves her home for good in order to travel with the Rider.

 - Dedicated to the real life Lorelei; I command you to enjoy it!

Contingency 2020

It's that time of year again, where I tear myself away from my desk and emerge, blinking, in the sunshine (metaphorically, what with it being January) to do battle with the public transport network in order to arrive at my goal... Norfolk, the home of the best residential games convention I attend. OK, also the only residential games convention I currently attend, shut up.

Rather than go through the convention day-by-day, I'm just going to list the game sessions I played or ran, in chronological order. It has to be said though, all of these games were awesome, though the awesomeness of some of them may have been too much for my weak mortal frame.

Slot #-1: Fiasco

Using the '80s Cops playset, I got to play a 'legitimate businessman' with a loyal hit-man, a chief of police who was like a sister to me and a beat cop who was vying with my hit-man for the attentions of my daughter. The main MacGuffins were my plans to knock down a slum district in downtown Miami in order to build a leisure complex there, plus some missing money that had been skimmed from the project and was lost in transfer between the chief of police and the beat cop.

It all ended with my daughter running off with the money and the chief of police to start a new life together far from my influence, my hit-man going to jail for his involvement in the death of a local politician, following a Rorschach-like standoff with the police and my character renouncing his life of crime to take holy orders and become the priest for the church he had not been able to demolish to clear the way for his new enterprise. Pretty typical Fiasco territory, but this was very enjoyable and played out entertainingly by all players.

Slot #0: Vox Populi

The game available on this blog, with a Barbarian, Druid, Wizard, Sorcerer, Thief and Cleric trying to steer the fate of the newly liberated nation, with the help of a Spirit of Neutrality to act as chair through the proceedings, portrayed by me as previous experience with the game had shown that this helped the flow of play a great deal.

After looking at the 'final score', the Committee of Heroes voted against: appointing the Wizard as ruler of the nation; adopting Communism; letting Sorcerers handle the paperwork; instituting a culture of fighting pits for entertainment and taxation purposes; and stealing masonry and lumber from neighbouring nations in order to rebuild. The sole proposition that was passed was putting the Thieves' Guild in charge of tax collection, despite having no tax laws and no-one to decide what the money should be spent on; the thieves will just hang onto the money they collect in the meantime...

Slot #2: Party Games

This numbering gets confusing when I take a slot off, doesn't it? After relaxing for the first official morning of the convention, I ran a game of Best Friends using the hacks I previously posted here to create a fantasy setting. After giving the players the opportunity to create their own stats for this adventure, it turned out that Leeches! Can Cure Anything in this world and that Fabulousness helped you look great while saving the day, whilst being a Social Butterfly was an essential skill for the noble classes.

After slaying the Necromancer in the first scene, the party discovered that there was really a Necromancerer pulling the strings from the shadows, but an accidental prophecy meant that the wizard was now fated to marry the knight (who was also prince to the kingdom) and then tragically die a week later. They concocted a plan to draw out the Necromancerer, who knew of the prophecy, with a fake wedding using the half-orc bard to impersonate the wizard, little knowing that the Necromancerer was a future version of the party's rogue! After that, it got complicated.

Slot #3: Black Code

Since I shared a lodge with the designer, it only seemed fair and diplomatic to play his game, so I took on the role of a smooth-talking chancer in this transhumanist cyberpunk setting. We had a good introductory adventure, the hunt for a missing/stolen military-grade cyber-frame, touring various locations and encountering the locals (then killing them brutally) until we had the big showdown at a flesh-vs-machine fight club, after which there were the usual betrayals and reversals with our employers.

I like the system here, where you always roll four dice and then pick a number of the highest or lowest results depending on your stat, but the rich setting would definitely benefit from campaign play as there's a lot of detail to explore and the factions we ran into could each be the basis of an entire series of missions.

Slot #4: Afterlife

A reskin of  Blood & Water that I suggested in the back of the book, after a short time spent world-burning we settled on Tokyo in the aftermath of massive solar activity that had fried the world's electronics, with our group of survivors based out of a karaoke bar owned by an alchemist witch. Taking shelter there were a weredragon nurse and one of her elderly charges, an inadvertent genie, a juvenile werewolf seeking a pack and a disinherited fae princeling.

Due to some badly timed outbursts in front of the genie, the karaoke bar got teleported to the basement of the museum of antiquities, which itself was endangered by a volcanic rupture that had appeared outside and had attracted a cult of fire worshippers who were sacrificing the useless home appliances to the fissure, but who graduated to human sacrifice when the werewolf accidentally knocked someone into it. The day was finally saved by the fae's dad promising to protect the museum and the dragon nurse discovering that her charge owned an electronics company that had plans for returning the power.

Slot #5: Continuity

This was my convention highlight, based on my pitch to use Microscope to tell the story of a Marvel-

like comic books company from beginning to end, in an alt-history that we would create through play. The big theme that emerged through play: Communism! We had a period of communist purges on the table almost from the fist round of play, but this quickly echoed back and forth through the timeline, from anarchists and socialists founding the company as a producer of Penny Dreadfuls in the 1800s, to the future World Communist Collective that oversaw the felling of the last tree in cyberspace as a symbolic representation of the end of print media. The most remarkable thing about this game though has to be that, after 11 or so years of knowing Duncan, we finally got into the same game together! And the second one would follow that same evening!!

It was good to have a game with parallel continuities, as we dipped into the heroes & villains of the comic book line and the stories they were significant in, then coming out into the 'real' world to see how it mirrored the art. This meant the gonzo element was largely confined to the comic book events on the table, resulting in some much more serious and grounded 'real world' events and scenes. It was awesome and left me feeling like I could play an entire convention of Microscope if all the sessions could be like that. (If I look like I'm having a miserable time in that photo, it's only because I was trying to strike a brooding hero pose!)

Slot #6: Sisters of Mercy

Another of my rare instances of playing rather than running or facilitating, the fabulous Brenda ran one of her popular Dead of Night scenarios, featuring a reality TV film crew turning up to produce an episode about an ex-sanitarium with a haunted reputation. Cue lots of horrifying apparitions, vanishing crew members and ghostly nurses to terrify us.

Something special we achieved, quite inadvertently, was to get this game past the Bechdel test: two of us played female characters, who had a scene together without any male characters present and had a conversation that wasn't about men! (It was about freeing the tormented spirit of someone's Great Aunt and then burning the site to the ground)

Slot #7: A Penny for My Thoughts

This is always a bit of a gamble at a convention and I was worried I wasn't going to get enough players to make it worthwhile, so it was very satisfying to see three names on the sign-up sheet by Friday morning. It can also produce a game that is too intense and personal, with much triggering of the X-Card, or too gonzo and weird, producing unsatisfactory stories, but this really seemed to hit the sweet spot.

We had four individual stories, lightly connected by some NPCs, covering everything from the actions of an embittered CEO getting revenge on his rivals, to the complex family relationship of a man marrying his ex-teacher and being hounded by his demanding and irascible mother. In the end, the only one who chose to forget their memories was my character, a fallen charity director who had seen everything he made be taken away as a result of his own addictions and poor anger management.

Slot #8: Space Force

A hack-at-the-table version of InSpectres, with the pitch being "Let's portray Donald Trump's 'Space Force' as 'Team America: World Police' and see how long it takes the break the GM!' That last bit wasn't explicitly in the pitch, but for the record: 2 hours and 14 minutes. The stats chosen by the players to represent this mission were:

• Plastology: since plastic was the only 'natural' resource remaining in the distant future year of 2020, it was used for making everything.
• Muscle, Armaments, Guns & Ammo: the combat skill, shortened to 'MAGA.'
• Patriotism: the test of true Americans, the greatest, most diplomatic people on Earth and anyone who says otherwise is a Mexican Commie Liberal!
• Success!: for literally everything else, because we'll have so many successes, we'll get bored at succeeding!

The 'plot', if I can use that word, involved 2.3 million metric tons of Michael Bolton CDs on a collision course with Florida, which the team confused with Italy for a brief time... in fact, it's fair to say that most of us were confused for a brief time and the game ended before the end of the slot because we had made every joke. EVERY. JOKE.

Slot #9 & #10: Sorcerer

I was fortunate to be invited to a mini-campaign of Sorcerer that run over three sessions at the convention; in these first two, we selected LA as our setting, gave demons some flavour as 'wounds with things in them' for some Croenenberg style and defined 'humanity' as 'kindness' to track when we might be losing it. My character was the queer son of an LA televangelist who had been disinherited for his sexuality and the schism between the two sides of his life had driven him into a kind of delusional obsession that made him perfect for summoning a demon, even if he didn't really know what he was doing.

There was one other player-character, an aspiring actress who had joined a coven of occultists and been the only one who successfully summoned a demon, which she wore as a second skin, changing her appearance somewhat and leading to her being cast as the lead in a major new horror film. The kickers we began with involved the actress being blackmailed over her hidden past just as filming began on her new project, and my character's father being arrested on murder charges relating to a teenage girl in his flock whom he had allegedly attempted an exorcism on.

Slot #11: Shercula?

The pitch for this Primetime Adventures game, of Moffat & Gatiss adapting another public domain work to be a major new BBC TV series, resulted in a story combining the confidence trick/heist based drama of 'Hustle' with the pseudo-Victorian setting of 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' to produce 'Bustle'. This starred Emma Watson as Lydia Bennett, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Mrs. Bigglesworth, Sacha Dhawan as Mowgli, Simon Pegg as The Artful Dodger and an actor in a mocap suit that would be digitally replaced by a virtual recreation of Elvis playing Tintin. I don't think the BBC are going to a series with this one...

Slot #12: Sorcerer

We finished our short campaign with the actress going on to be an industry success, albeit a somewhat toxic one as the demon bound to her insisted she make the people around her miserable so it could feed on their tears. The preacher's son went on to have a breakdown on the witness stand at his father's trial, leading to his aphasia: after some months of rehabilitation, he returned to the care of his male lover and restarted his street ministry offering perfectly secure confessions, since it was impossible for him to tell anyone else what he had heard.

Slot 14: [Nameless Game]

After taking Saturday night and Sunday morning off, I ran my last game of the convention and offered up something totally new in which the players were invited to create the most snowflake, Mary-Sue, edgelord characters they could imagine. We settled on a superhero setting with Everyone, the superhero who is everyone in the world's digital presence; Sparkle & Bruce, her invisible pink unicorn; an evil criminal mastermind, since there's always someone in the group who wants to be a villain; Nyte Blade, not to be confused with his mentor Blade Lord, or anyone else with the name 'Blade', of whom there were many; Dr. Dr. Incel, who wanted you to know exactly how many doctorates he had; and the Encyclopaedia, a sexy librarian because reasons.

So, thanks to all the people there: the convention organisers who greased the wheels; the site staff who were friendly and helpful; the GMs who gave us stuff to do; the stall holders who brought the shinies; the gamers, who raised over £7,000 for charity; and finally, and most importantly, the ducks, to whom I would like to say "Quack."