The Dresden Files RPG

Just a quick reminder/announcement post: We’re taking part in an Evil Hat/EndGame meet-up at Origins on Friday, 2pm North Market. Look for all the gamers eating Ice Cream from the inescapably fantastic Jeni’s Ice Creams! Fred’s the one with the blue hair. No, the other one.

General origins

So, we’ve had some bad news. Two of our volunteer GMs, Jon Hixson and Tom Cadorette, aren’t going to be able to make it to Origins. In Tom’s case he’s been eaten by a sudden plumbing crisis, which figures — water grounds out magic, right?

These are the game slots affected:

That said, we are looking for folks to step in and take over these games (no obligation to run the same “pitch”, just the same system) so the folks who signed up for them aren’t left stranded without gaming.

Good news is, we already have some takers! Both of Jonathan Hixson’s game slots will be taken over by none other than IPR founder and Mortal Coil author Brennan Taylor. We’re also talking with a couple people about taking on Tom’s S7S game on Saturday.

That said, we do need some replacement GM talent for Tom’s games! The two Dresden Files games (2pm Thursday, 2pm Friday, both definitely sold out) are crucial, but we’d also like to get someone in there who can run A Penny For My Thoughts using the Prisoner questionnaire Tom wanted for that one. If you’re interested and available to do this, please let us know so we can get this taken care of! You’ll have our thanks and a PDF of your choice from our catalog if you’re able to step in.

The one that’s probably in greatest trouble is Friday 2pm. On that day and at that time several of us will be joining up with Chris Hanrahan (of Endgame, That’s How We Roll, and 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction) over at Jeni’s Ice Creams in the North Market. If you’re signed up for that game and it doesn’t end up with a GM, please come on over and join us. If you can show that you were one of the folks signed up for that game, we’ll buy you a scoop.

General origins, schedule

We haven’t gotten word yet that event registration is open/working on the Origins website, but we have gotten event numbers and partial location information for the games.  Here’s the update!

UPDATE: Latest word from the Origins folks is “Origins announces the opening of Event Registration for Origins Game Fair 2010. You can begin registering for events at the following times: Tabletops – Wednesday, May 26 at Noon Eastern Time. Role-playing – Thursday, May 27 at Noon Eastern Time. All other events – Friday, May 28 at Noon Eastern Time”

General origins

Evil Hat — and the Dresden Files RPG — will be in booth #418 at Origins Game Fair.

General origins

Over the last few weeks we recruited some volunteer GMs to run Evil Hat’s games in the slots at the Origins Game Fair.  We got a really good response, and better yet, most of them are for the Dresden Files RPG.  Here’s the breakdown:

Beauties, Blood and Beasts

Owen Powers, director of last year’s low-budget supernatural hit “Unnatural Undertaking”, has some problems. His efforts since have tanked miserably, and he was banking on his latest, top-secret project.  This morning the police found him on the set, covered in blood and surrounded by carnage, with no idea what happened. It’s going to take your “special” investigation skills to finish this script! Introductory, characters provided.

Capital Chaos

Where’s the best place in Washington D.C. to meet a demon for dinner? When it comes to national security and matters Infernal, protocol is of utmost importance. An impeccably credentialed Emissary of Hell has come to you with information about a terrorist plot of supernatural proportions in your hometown, our nation’s capital. You can’t ignore what you’ve been told:  you’ve got to stop it, if you can. But everyone knows Hell doesn’t do anyone a favor with no strings attached. It really sucks to be you right now… but then again, it usually does.

The Century Club and the Day of Myth

The Century Club have competed in the Remarkable Race, visited Lost Cities and Mysterious Islands, and solved the mystery of the Nether Agenda, but can they survive the Day of Myth? When creatures of legend threaten, the members of the Century Club must solve the mystery behind their attacks before it is too late!

The Century Club and the Talons of Fear

The Century Club have competed in the Remarkable Race, visited Lost Cities and Mysterious Islands, and solved the mystery of the Nether Agenda, but can they survive the Talons of Fear? When the police are baffled by a series of mysterious deaths, only members of the Century Club can unmask the true terror behind the Talons of Fear!

The Doom of Damocles

When you’re a Wizard you live by seven unbreakable laws. Break one and it’s an instant death sentence. No appeal, no parole, no exceptions. But what happens when you’re falsely accused? Your only hope is the Doom of Damocles, a stay of execution and a chance to get your old life back. And that’s exactly the choice the White Council has given you: go on a dangerous suicide mission, or face an instant death by the swords of the Wardens. Either way your head is on the chopping block, and you’re under the Doom of Damocles.

The Dracula Killings

Something is wrong in Houston, Texas. The supernatural community has gone into hiding. A new player is in town and they are causing a big splash. Bodies are turning up and even the mundane community is on edge. The newspapers are calling it the Dracula Killings. If only they knew how close they were. Bad news is that you and your friends have just been hired to put a stop to this Black Court Scourge.

Ethereal Pillars

Fog in San Francisco is nothing new. Heck, tourists come to see the fog. There’s even a local rugby team named for it, poor devils. When the figures of both new and long-forgotten dead start appearing in the evening fog, however, even a city long-accustomed to weirdness starts to come unglued. It’s up to you to figure out what’s calling the dead from sea and shore and put a stop to it before anything worse happens — if it isn’t already too late.

First Down and Hell To Go

The last time the Cleveland Browns went to the national championship, the Cuyahoga River burned…as a warning.   A trickster creature from the Nevernever cursed the Browns and if they ever return to the championship game, more than just the river would burn…everything would!  Now, in Baltimore it is the game that decides who goes to the Superbowl and the Browns have forgotten their old curse after years of purposeful mediocracy.   This year they could go all the way…and you have been brought in to prevent it.  Just beware evil forces that would be happy to see the nation burn… and they are not just Raven fans!

A Fright at the Opera

You’d planned on a nice enjoyable evening at the local theater festival, seeing a revival of one of your favorite plays.  Little did you know that something else had plans for the theater that night and they weren’t going to be quite as enjoyable.

Greek Week

It’s Greek Week, and for most of the fraternities and sororities on campus that means raising money for charity, putting on shows, and some friendly competitions. But for the werewolves of Sigma Alpha Delta it means danger – a rash of unexplained disappearances plagues the University, and strange creatures out of myth are invading the frat pack’s territory. Can they put a stop to it, and win the Pan-Hellenic games?

Halftime Hexes

The OSU/Michigan game the weekend before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest events in Columbus.  Whether you like the Buckeyes (or Football) or not, you can’t escape it. There’s lots of emotion, and let’s face it, nothing makes magic more than emotion. You’ve got tickets to the game, and a ticket for the Dube’s tailgate, and a gentle request by the PTB to check things out a bit while the  local Wardens deal with a Red Court threat in Cleveland.  In other words, it’s a cake job at the event everyone who is anyone is at. Until you get a whiff of some evil magic brewing, and set to go off at halftime!

Major Problem, Minor Talents

Supernatural trouble brewing on the streets of the Big Apple, and everyone with even an ounce of mystic talent can feel it. The war raging between the White Council and the Red Court Vampires has left both sides weakened and distracted. The Wardens are nowhere to be found; most minor talents are keeping their heads down and just trying their best to stay alive. But when the local Paranet group discovers a dangerous threat is stalking minor talents on the streets of New York. They know it’s way out of their league, but if they don’t even try to stop it, who will?

Neutral Grounds

At Neutral Grounds, you’re used to being greeted with a friendly smile, a cup of the best coffee in Baltimore, and the company of other people with your… unique talents. This morning, things have gone horribly, horribly wrong; you’ll have to use all your abilities, natural and otherwise, to get to the bottom of things. (Editor’s note: This one’s run by Clark Valentine, one of the game’s developers!)

A Penny-Farthing for My Thoughts

Welcome to the Village. I am Number 127, your doctor. Although I am supervising your treatment, you do not remember me. Recently, you suffered a traumatic shock that has caused a form of memory loss called profound retrograde amnesia. This loss of memory occurred because you attempted to escape the Village. The immediate cause of the memory loss is not known at this time. We believe that this is due to a trauma caused by some action on your part, and your mind has created a barrier as a way of protecting you. We — that is, you and I and Number 2 — discussed various possible treatments and you decided that your only option to recover your memory was an experimental drug called Mnemosyne…

The Princess Bride 2: Vizzini’s Revenge

A skinless-faced madman has kidnapped Waverly, the daughter of Westley and Buttercup, apparently killing Fezzik in the process. Westley, Buttercup, and Inigo Montoya (fresh from his first tour of duty as the Dread Pirate Roberts), along with two or three other interesting characters, take off in hot pursuit of the madman, from their home on One Tree Island, through the Wilderness of Woe, into the Swamp of Slime (only slightly more perilous than the Fire Swamp), and across the Serpentine Sea to the shores of Sicily … and the slopes of Muncibeddu, the Mountain of Perdition!

The Sterling Apartments

The Sterling Apartments aren’t glamorous, but hey, it’s home. But the clocks have stopped, the doors have opened, and you have all entered the Mad City. Stay awake, and you might live to see morning.

Vacant Streets

The dregs of society have gone missing. Not much of a crisis, right? But when the son of a well loved ectomancer goes missing, eyes open and ears perk. Something is definitely up, and it’s going to take those who are In The Know to get down to the root of the matter.

General origins

So who in our audience is going to Origins in late June? Make sure to come by the conjoined Hero Games/Evil Hat Productions booth, where we’ll either have copies of the game or (if a shipping/printing delay/snafu nails us) will be doing an in-person instant-content preorder of it.

And if you’re going, do you think you’d be able to run an Evil Hat game or three on the official con schedule? Previous convention-game running experience is a plus, but we’d love to get some people running games of Don’t Rest Your Head, Spirit of the Century, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, or A Penny For My Thoughts.  People able to run The Dresden Files RPG would be a big help as well, of course — if you’re familiar enough with Fate via Spirit of the Century and think you could learn the new game via PDF, pipe up.

General origins