Category Archives: Gaming

Brindlewood Bay: A Little on Game Play

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Hello! If you’re reading this, I would imagine it’s because you’re curious about the game I’m going to be running at Enbicon 2022.

(Although if you’re not, that’s fine too.)

I love cozy mysteries.

The genre is filled with gentle humour, amateur sleuths and occasional daring-do. But usually, the only one in mortal peril are the victims, who have already died. It isn’t about action most of the time, it’s about smarts, and intuition, and putting things together. They are mysteries to be solved, sure, but I feel it’s as much about quirky characters, odd settings and often puns. Oh, the glorious puns!

I also love the Lovecraftian mythos.

This is the twilight between the waking life and the dreamlands. The edge of our normal space and the way things really are, and how insanity often accompanies those who look deeper into the world, and realize the dark, largely unstoppable forces at work. At that point, it skirts the notion of surviving in a world that is much stranger and more menacing than you thought before, while most of those around you are still blind to it.

Peanut and Chocolate Time!

When I heard that the game Brindlewood Bay existed, where it takes the both of them together, I was instantly hooked. It came to my attention because of their Kickstarter, where they plan to expand on the source material considerably, and I backed it.

And now, after asking the crowd if they’d be interested, I’m running it at Enbicon! But…

The updated game isn’t out yet. Thankfully, they have all the original material, somewhat updated, and I have all that. But…

The game is not a style I’ve run before.

I’m looking forward to that, actually. I’ve played in a few games like this before, and I think it will be tonnes of fun.

How does it play?

There are Players, who portray the Mavens, a group of elderly, retired, empty-nester women who spend a lot of their time talking about their favourite murder-mystery author in their club, The Murder Mavens, and spend a fair amount of the rest of their spare time solving a few of the local crimes, even some murders.

Along with the players is the Keeper (me, in this case), who is a lighter version of a GM, portraying all the NPCs and providing some of the descriptions of the area, with player suggestions.

Characters will be created at the beginning of the session, but there are opportunities to add more flavour, nuance and detail as we go on. Handouts will provide some visual cues where possible, but otherwise the table will be made up of sticky notes with Maven insights on them. When rolls are required, only Players make them, and they make them with 2d6.

The game system is clearly influenced by the Apocalypse World style of game. Each character has a minimal number of attributes, and has several moves they can perform. These are generally setting-related actions that garner story-related results. There’s no “swing sword” here, but rather things like The Meddling Move, which you make whenever you are getting involved, investigating or searching for clues. You roll dice to determine the final outcome, but before that, the player describes what they want to do and how they want to do it, the Keeper lets them know the potential risks (if any), and the dice determine the result. The player or the Keeper might narrate the result, depending on the outcome.

There’s more to it than that, but that’s the basic mechanic.

The goal of the game is to solve the mystery, but that’s really only the last scene. The majority of the game is about the Mavens going around town, poking their noses in places they probably shouldn’t, interrogating people or slyly questioning them, digging up things (sometimes literally), and accumulating a bunch of clues.

Once they have enough clues, they form a theory, and there’s another roll. If it succeeds, the Mavens have solved the mystery! If they don’t succeed, something is not quite right, and they may need to find more clues and try again, or perhaps the murderer got away with it.

It’s Cozy, Though

Maximum Cozy!

Around and in-between scenes involving sleuthing are cozy moments. These might highlight meaningful things in each Maven’s Cozy Little Place, highlight some of the otherwise normal activities they get up to, or even Cut To Commercial to lighten the mood and possibly save a Maven from dire peril.

The Big Thing

The Keeper doesn’t have the answer to the mystery. They have the clues, and they will perform as all the other characters, describe (most of) the setting, and keep things moving. Random rolls will help solidify things, as things attempted succeed or fail. But the players are the ones putting things together.

This is a player-driven mystery, where they must exercise their creativity in putting things together, lining all the clues up, and ultimately trying to figure out the killer(s).

So, in a way: everyone gets to be the Keeper!

The players get to talk it out, see what they can come up with, but with a few rules:

  • Add details and opportunities, not conclusions. The Players have a lot of leeway when it comes to describing people and places in their town, but leave some space for doubt and roleplay discovery. In particular, while the Mavens might be familiar with the victim(s) or the suspect(s), they do not know the solution to the mystery until the very end, only have suspicions, theories, hunches and generally have some notions.
  • Work together to discover what the world is like. Seek ideas from others (including the Keeper) and be ready to include the details that others have come up with.
  • Fill in the spaces that aren’t given. Clues are deliberately opaque, giving Players and Keepers a chance to inject last-minute details that fit with the story as established so far. In the end, it is how the Players (and the Mavens) interpret the clues that determines the real mystery.
  • Live in Brindlewood Bay. A Maven might suspect that the grocer secretly has a hidden tentacle, but they aren’t likely to be a cyborg from the future. For the most part, ground the things you create in the game setting. Work with the setting — including it’s bizarre, Lovecraftian possibilities! — rather than against it.
  • Be creative! Go wild otherwise, especially when it comes to rumours, half-truths or your own family. Maybe your Maven had a fling with that grocer once, and it ended bitterly, although he might still harbour a flame for her. Or your grandson just graduated from Harvard, and went to school with the son of the grocer, who told you all sorts of things. (Geez… who is this grocer, anyway?)

A Bit About Brindlewood Bay, the Place

Along the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay has year round access.

A little quaint village with a long history on the North-Eastern seaboard of the United States, not far from Boston. A picturesque place where tourists come in the summer to sail boats and in the winter for beach-side bonfires. A quiet town where crime is generally low (except for all the murders…), and life is pretty easy for most of its citizen’s particular the retired, elderly women. There’s a festival every couple of weeks, all year round, and everyone sells knickknacks or has converted their family home into a bed & breakfast.

It also happens to be home to a sinister cult, whose name isn’t known to the Mavens, but the players know it as The Midwives of the Fragrant Void. What do they want? What do all cults want? Probably to bring about some terrible future, like ending the world, or something…

In this game, it’s unlikely that the Mavens will stumble deeper into the terrifying world of the cult. But strange things are afoot in this little town, and always have been. Stories have always been told, but most don’t pay that much heed to them. Maybe they should have.

See You At Enbicon?

So, there it is, a little more about Brindlewood Bay. The game is rules-light, starter-friendly, and meant to be a light, sometimes creepy exploration and roleplay-heavy game.

Fall is a good time to get a warm cup of tea, crack open a good book, and wrap your shawl a little tighter around your shoulders. But the racket that cat is making outside bothered you, up until the point when it abruptly stopped, which bothered you even more.

Time to call the other Mavens and find out what’s going on!

Enbicon 2022: Eye of the Beheld (Unravel, Part 6)

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I’ll be running another game in my Unravel series of experimental RPG scenarios at Enbicon again this year. This is an attempt to try surrealist roleplaying with a variety of systems (although many of them have used FATE as a base).

Each game is set in the same universe, although a bit different each time, and from an entirely different angle. Not all the games have run, but I still consider them canon.

This year, the scenario is this:

You and your friends have drifted apart since high school; some of you went to universities across the country, others stayed home and entered trade schools, and some went to the school of hard knocks.

But you’ve been thinking about them lately, even finding them popping up in your dreams, in strange moments right out of high school.

Apparently, you weren’t the only one…

Randomly, you all find yourself converging on a coffee shop, a local hangout. Completely unplanned, it turns into an impromptu reunion of sorts. Everything seems great until someone mentions that they’ve been sleeping poorly, because they’ve been having strange, night-time visions, and you all soon discover that they were connected.

What’s more, one of you remembers one of the images resembling a published promotional photo of an art installation in town. The installation never opened, but the paintings are still there.

It’s too surreal, and too bizarre to be a coincidence. You make a pact: you will go to the museum, and get into that exhibit.

Because while none of you says it out loud, you all are thinking the same thing: whatever is happening in those dreams is scaring you…

And it’s getting worse…

So, you will all play as a group of friends who’ve drifted apart for a few years, come together and need to explore this newly-discovered shared experience. The game will be surreal, with the use of prompt imagery for a considerable amount of dynamic improvisation. The game is intended to be horror, and we will go to some very strange places in our imaginations, but I plan to use both the X-Card and Lines and Veils as safety tools at the table.

Character creation will be done at the table collaboratively, and the system will be taught (because it will likely be custom). No experience necessary, but be prepared to stretch your imagination.

Enbicon 2022: Brindlewood Bay

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I’ll be running an episode of Brindlewood Bay at Enbicon this year! I thought I’d put a few thoughts up about it for any curious players, and I thought I’d use the system recommended in the sourcebook: CATS!

(Parts of the following are taken verbatim from the original rules, but I’ve adapted it a bit for the convention.)

Concept

Brindlewood Bay is a roleplaying game about a group of elderly women—members of the local Murder Mavens mystery book club—who frequently find themselves investigating (and solving!) real-life murder mysteries. They become increasingly aware that there are supernatural forces that connect the cases they are working on and, in particular, a cult dedicated to the dark, monstrous aspect of the goddess Persephone will come to vex them. The game is directly inspired by the television shows Murder, She Wrote and the Aurora Teagarden mysteries but also takes inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, ‘cozy’ crime dramas, and American TV shows from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

So, there will be a murder in a seaside resort town, and you will all be playing little old ladies with too much curiosity and a considerable amount of moxie, intelligence and persistence. And every once in a while, things will be menacing, sinister and just plain wierd.

Although I have backed the Kickstarter for the updated and expanded edition, it won’t be available until after the convention. So, we’ll be using the original rules. No need to have read them — we will teach you the rules (simple) and do character creation at the table.

Aim

We’re going to take an accelerated path to creating characters, and then solve a mystery the Mavens have found themselves embroiled in. We’ll start by introducing the characters and populating their Cozy Little Places. Then, we’ll start with a Cozy Vignette to learn how the Mavens enjoy an exciting and relaxing day, before introducing the a murder they can get their curious minds into. It will then be up to you, the players, to steer the set of scenes as the Mavens search for Clues and finally come to a conclusion about the mystery. Let’s hope they find the culprit! There will be some hints and elements of the Dark Conspiracy, but there will probably not be time to make it the main focus.

Tone

The tone of this game bounces between the cozy and the creepy. Most of the time, it will be fairly lighthearted, but occasionally it will get very dark and menacing. Some kitschy, campy humor is permissible here — and very much in keeping with some of the game’s inspirations — but above all, your characters should take everything they do very seriously, even if we’re having a bit of a laugh from time to time.

Subject Matter

The subject matter may occasionally get dark and challenging, especially when the dark cult rears its head. In order to help ensure no one’s fun is ruined by triggering subject matter, we’re going to be using the following safety tools: the X-Card and the Lines and Veils.

The X-Card

This is a murder-mystery game with creepy, supernatural elements, so we may tread into some rather dark territory, including threatening or harming the characters. This can make people uncomfortable, and that isn’t the point of playing the game. On the table there will be a card marked with an X. If any person at the table feels uncomfortable, they can tap the X-Card. No explanation needs to be given, although some indication of what was the problem would be helpful. We will navigate our way back and retcon what just happened.

(Adapted from The X-Card by John Stavropoulus.)

Lines and Veils

We all have our limits and boundaries. Lines and veils are different ways to handle those boundaries in play.

A line is, well, a line — a hard limit, something we do not want to cross. Lines represent places we don’t want to go in roleplaying.

A veil is a “pan away” or “fade to black” moment. When we veil something, we’re making it a part of the story, but keeping it out of the spotlight. Think of it as a way to still deal with certain themes while avoiding having to describe them in graphic detail.

(Adapted from an RPG Stack Exchange post.)

Unravel 2021: Water Under The Bridge (Introduction)

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For the last few years, I’ve decided to try my hand at running a roleplaying game at our local gaming convention (Enbicon). I haven’t run that many of them, and find the experience a bit daunting, but it’s a good challenge.

The image I always think of for this game.

One of the problems for me, however, was the question of what to run? I tend to run campaigns, not one-shots, so length is always an issue. But I wanted to take advantage of that notion, while also feeling free to experiment.

Thus, the Unravel series was born. It began with a particular setting book for the FATE system called SLIP, which intrigued me. The basic premise was that our world was being invaded by extradimensional beings. I discarded most of the rest of that setting eventually, and have kept with one central notion: if extradimensional forces were invading, how weird would that be?

Each time, I took all the flexibility of FATE as the opportunity to design something different. I’ve tried it four different ways so far, and am about to try an entirely different way.

The Game That Grew

In the first game, which I’ve retroactively entitled After School Special, a group of high-school students are kept after school for detention. When the teacher doesn’t come to check on them, they decide to leave, but discover that the school is starting to Unravel. In the end, they made it out, but not before the music room twisted into some sort of higher-dimensional beast. Behind them, the school was drawn into the vortex, vanishing completely.

In the second game, which I titled Further Down The Spiral, a team of investigators from Nautilus Industries is sent to investigate the weird happenings, hoping to find more evidence and otherworldly science to bring to industry. This game never ran, but in my notes I described my intention for the mood to be “Fringe meets X-Files meets Millenium meets Donnie Darko meets David Lynch meets Inception meets HP Lovecraft meets reality-distorting nightmares.” In it, the technical team would find themselves distorted as they came in contact with the strange phenomena, eventually discovering at least one source of it all.

The third game, which also did not run, was based somewhat on another really cool setting that was published for FATE that year called FATE of Cthulhu. My game was called Through The Spiral, and was to feature agents from the far future travelling back in time to the current day to try to affect a better tomorrow. They were the second team to go back, the first team having not apparently had any effect or having left any time capsules. This game would have lead the players to the same source that the previous game would have found, but they would have found more evidence that not only did the first team fail, some of them betrayed the cause. And that much of what they thought they knew about the era was wrong. A fun design, one that intended to satirize some of the modern day’s “normal” activities, and one in which the players knew the stakes of failure. Each of the characters would also have been marked by their travel, manifesting strange features of their own inevitable Unravelling.

In 2020, the game actually did run, albeit virtually, and I was again playing around with everything. Because it was online, I experimented with having all the sheets be in one large spreadsheet that everyone could see. I also experimented with live character design and large numbers of aspects, but ultimately that took too much time. (Previously, I had designed all the characters, but tried to leave customizeable bits or choices that players could make. That design seems to work better in a convention.)

That game was called The Last Thread, and had as its premise the idea of a group of high-school friends having a last party at the end of summer, just before they all went their separate ways. They were friends, but they all were mourning a mutual friend who had passed away. As the evening wore on, the cabin that they were staying in changed in remarkable ways, first with things not being exactly as they had encountered them before, then with the geography of the house shifting radically, and then with parts of the house being flooded. It was a bit fun and very weird, but somewhere I buried the lead, and ended up explaining what was going on in the end. All of this was the experience in the last moments of their lives, as their mutual friend drove off a cliff into the lake, taking all of his friends with him. Their friend had a certain affinity with the Twist, the force that is threatening to Unravel reality around them, and it manifested in this scenario — and was driving him insane. There were a few moral choices the characters could make along the way, and just about everyone of the characters perished because they were judged harshly.

I learned a lot about running the game, and how much I really needed to pare down things. In particular, I will no longer be including such large sheets with a dozen or two Aspects, and while I like the involvement of character creation, especially for new FATE players, it takes too long. And the scenario was too long, without enough specific things for the characters to do.

Back to the Present

In this year’s game, Water Under The Bridge, I’m trying to take my lessons and apply them, although I have less time than ever to do it. I also seem to be fundamentally incapable of doing anything entirely simple. In this scenario, three groups of people are converging on a facility deep within a nearby mountain chain. Through a strange quirk of nature, a river springs up within the mountain flows down over its side as a waterfall. In addition, the mountain is geologically active deep within. The facility was built to try to harness all of that, combining a water treatment plant, hydro power and geothermal power. But it was underfunded and too experimental, and as time went on, no longer as urgent.

In 1981, the facility was shut down. In 2001, a group of university students and their guiding professor obtained a grant and a pass to use the facility to conduct a collection of experiments.

And in 2021, a collection of motley thieves are hired to extract a valuable asset that was inexplicably buried within the facility.

The players will play a member of each group, and the game will span all three eras of time.

It’s ambitious, but I hope it will be interesting (and that I can pull it off!).

As I develop the idea (to be run on the weekend of September 24, 2021), I’ll to post weekly about it. If you plan to play in the game, I’ll try to make sure there aren’t any spoilers, but merely teasers.