Archive for the ‘Actual Play’ Category

Monsterhearts Actual Play – Edgegate, Part 1

Joe Mcdaldno, creator of Monsterhearts, asked me “What happened in your session? What were the big highlights?”. I thought this deserved a separate post to make it easier to find. I’ll probably do a follow up post too once we have our second session tomorrow.

For those who just want the highlights, here they are:

  • Cole, the chaos ghoul, made another student’s lab experiment explode, probably killing the poor NPC. Cole jammed the door as gas filled the room, to create more chaos, yet when he finally stopped pretending the door was stuck and dragged the unconscious NPC into the hallway he was hailed as a hero!
     
  • Jane, our part-machine Hollow dealt 3-harm to an NPC with a Terminator-strength bitch slap in a cat-fight, hospitalising her.
     
  • It was subtle, but I really liked that Aurora and Cole shook hands on a promise and both lingered slight, both rolling 10+ on to turn each other on. In the backstory, Cole has had love rekindled in his dead heart after seeing Aurora frolic naked in the woods. Before we even started play Aurora had 4 Strings on Cole, now it’s 5.
  • More than anything I loved how the game played, how we all suggested how things could go and how as the MC I didn’t have to strain to come up with where things would go next. Snowballing and chain reactions are awesome.
Read on for the long version, including downloads of our home room, gossip about NPCs, and wallpapers for our lacrosse team, the Edgegate Eagles!
 
Gooooooooooooo Eagles! Continue reading…

You might also be interested in reading...

Actual Play: Dungeon World Hack

Yesterday my regular group came around to play Pathfinder. We hadn’t seen each other for a little while and had some exciting news so we were all talking for a while. We ran out of time to play our normal game, but I decided that we’d try Dungeon World Hack. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a free download, a D&D-style hack of Apocalypse World.

Including character creation we played for under two and a half hours. Normally we wouldn’t get a whole lot done during that time, but with Dungeon World gameplay was quick, simple, streamlined and fun. We formed bonds amongst the characters, had a bit of fun character interaction, filled in some details of the world, delved into a mine, fought the monsters within and defeated the menace that had driven the miners away. It was great fun! Read on for a more in-depth report of play.

Continue reading...

Writing Ryou’s Journal

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

Yay! Ryou survived and even made a difference to the world! Woo!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read this post and/or the rules for the Hikikomori RPG. Once you’re up to date, read on for a brief overview of the rules and decisions that resulted in the story told in Ryou’s Journal.

Continue reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 7

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

I haven’t slept since yesterday. There’s been almost a thousand downloads now and people have donated about twenty dollars to Child’s Play because of my song! It’s not much, but it’s something, and I’ve been working on this new track and I think it’s actually a lot better than the one I uploaded. My eyes are sore and my ears are red from the headphones, but this new song is really catchy and I did some new stuff that I haven’t heard anywhere else before in quite the same way. I’m on a roll and I’m almost done.

…

Ok. Finished. I uploaded it and people can get it for free or whatever they want to pay, but any money goes to Child’s Play. I said if the song gets enough money donated to the charity, I’ll make a full album. I doubt that’ll happen.

…

I can’t believe it! So many downloads already! I think it’s gone viral! Not everyone is paying for it, but enough people are that the donations are racking up. I can’t believe it… something I made is helping people. I’m not saving the world, but… it’s something. It’s good. It’s quite around here, too. Max isn’t saying much today.

You might also be interested in reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 6

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

I don’t really have time to write much today. I woke up at my desk this morning and got to work straight away. Max was still grinding and shouting threats at me, but my headphones kept me safe and I was pretty sure I was on to something good here. I’m just going to spend a bit longer on this track today.

…

It’s after midnight now and I’m still awake. Something has happened… people like my track. I got an email and checked the page again. It’s had a couple of hundred downloads already and there are a few comments asking who the artist was and if there were more by the same person.

…

Some comments were abusive, but I’m not going to let trolls get me down. People like my work! Some even say I should charge for it. I don’t know about that, but that gave me an idea. I saw a poster at the trade-in shop for, I don’t know, some gamer donation website. I’ll have to search for it online.

…

Ok, I found it. Child’s Play. Charity for giving games and stuff to sick kids. Maybe I could ask people to donate to that if they like my song. I’ll comment on the upload site and see what people think. It’s really scary, but exciting too.

You might also be interested in reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 5

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

Today I woke up to the sound of a good 8-bit song. It took me a second to realise that it was one of mine, my new one. I think I must have been dreaming about it too because I had some ideas about how to tweak it. I spent most of the day doing that. It took me a while, but I think I fixed up what I didn’t like about the track. I think it might be finished. I took a break after that and with my headphones off NES and Max started discouraging me again.

NES was sparking and swearing at me. I told her to stop and when I went to pull her cord out of the wall she zapped me! I screamed and grabbed her, ripping her away from the wall. She screamed murder at me but the cord came flying out of the socket. The cord whipped at my legs and I fell over, dropping the machine. I got up and shoved NES into my backpack, threw the pack on and ran down the street.

It was dark by then but I made it to the trade-in shop just before it closed. I put NES down on the counter and told the guy I needed to trade her in. He looked at me strangely but he inspected the machine, plugged it in and tested it. I could hear her furious static in my ears, but he said it worked so he gave me some money. I didn’t count it. I just ran back home.

Back in my room I bared my teeth at Max and waved the handful of money at him, telling him NES was gone and not coming back. I listened to my track again and I don’t know why, but I uploaded it to the net. Nobody’s going to listen to it, but whatever. Now I can mark it as done, which is good because on my way home from the shop I had an idea for another track. I didn’t think I would do anything with it, but it was still in my head hours later, so I started working on it and kept going late into the night, falling asleep at my desk.

You might also be interested in reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 4

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

I woke up today with the disc still looping. I had a headache so I took the headphones off and went to the window to make sure no light could get in to make my headache worse. I was hungry. Around my room were a few empty boxes of microwave noodles from the past few days, but no leftovers, so I ate some of the snacks I had bought at the shops. NES and Max spat their hateful static at me and threatened the burning and grinding.

Max told me I should just get it over with before someone interrupted me again, like yesterday. I was sick of him. I went to the drawer with the knife and locked it, then hurled the key under my bed. I told Max that I didn’t need him and that I would smash him to bits if he didn’t shut up. He buzzed and whirred at me angrily for a while. He didn’t try to convince me to kill myself again, but he kept making threats every so often and so did NES. I worked on my music for the rest of the day and went to bed with my latest track playing in my headphones.

You might also be interested in reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 3

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

I listened to my new disc for a long time today and realised my latest track is nothing compared to the ones on this disc. Max and NES jeered at me, telling me that they were right. Couldn’t I see that I would never be as good as these people? Why even try? What was the point? I found my knife again where it had bounced off the wall when I threw it. I sat in that corner with the knife in hand for maybe half an hour. I was just about to do it, but I heard a knock on the door. After a moment I opened it. It was Ben with his stupid symbols. He asked me what I was doing with the knife. I told him it wasn’t his business and he should go away. I pushed the blade back in and put the knife in my drawer. I went to bed to the sound of 8-bit music drowning out the static of the angry machines.

You might also be interested in reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 2

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

I didn’t get much sleep last night. Max and NES were whispering to each other and laughing coldly. Whenever I was about to drift off a burst of static would wake me. I got up while it was still dark and put my headphones on. I plugged them into the Game Boy, not NES and tried to block out their threats. I tweaked music till about noon but it didn’t make me feel any better. I kept looking at the two, sitting there on the low shelf, conspiring. NES sparked and told me she would burn the room down in my sleep. Max yelled at me and told me how stupid I was and how useless my life was, making music in my room alone. I felt wetness on my cheeks and they laughed at my tears.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I threw open my desk drawers and grabbed my box cutter. I pushed the blade out of the sheath and sat there at my desk trembling with the knife above my wrist. I don’t know how long I sat there. In the end, I couldn’t do it. I hurled the knife into the corner of my room as the machines laughed at me, saying again how useless I was, I couldn’t even kill myself.

I ran away and before I knew it I was outside on the street. I peered around in the light. It was so bright. I wandered down the street to the shops. It was after lunch but before school got out. There weren’t many people around, thankfully. I bought some snacks and I couldn’t believe it but I found a Blip Festival 2008 disc in a trade-in game shop. I bought it and asked them how much I could get for trading in my NES and Betamax. They didn’t want the Betamax, but they said they would take the NES. It was weird walking around the shops, but it felt good and when I got home I told NES what she was worth. She didn’t say much after that. I listened to my new disc a couple of times through and fell asleep with my headphones on.

You might also be interested in reading...

Ryou’s Journal – Day 1

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

I got a call from Ben today. He was mumbling about that stupid symbol he’s always drawing. He said he wanted to show me. I told him I didn’t care and hung up. I messed around with my old Game Boy and the synthesiser again today. I spent a while tweaking my latest 8-bit track. It was afternoon by the time I had something I was sort of happy with. I listened to it again and I think it might have sounded good.

The Betamax was sitting on top of the TV like always, with a stack of tapes next to him. When I played the music for Max he started whispering static at me. I couldn’t hear him. I turned the music off and crawled up close to him. He was whispering… horrible things. He was making threats, saying how pathetic my music was and how I would never amount to anything. He said he would grind me up. I tried to calm him down. I pushed his favourite tape in but he just chewed it up and made a really scary grinding sound, spitting the shredded tape out at me. He was silent for a while and so I got up and moved away.

I put on my big padded headphones and lay on my bed listening to some of my other tracks through my modded NES for a few hours, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. After a while the NES started talking to me – that hadn’t happened before. She screeched static in my ears and I threw my headphones off. I could still hear her though. She said it wasn’t just Max that would get me, she would too. She said she would burn me and choke me. I didn’t want to listen. I put my headphones away before going to sleep. But when I turned my back to Max I heard him spitting static again. I tried to sleep, but all I could do was listen to him. He said that I deserved to die.

You might also be interested in reading...

Return top

WHAT YOU'VE GOTTEN YOURSELF INTO

Pyres of Vam is run by Mockingbard and his alter-ego(maniac) Vam. It focuses on tabletop roleplaying but you'll find other things here too.

Mockingbard loves roleplaying, worldbuilding and stories. He posts setting ideas, session recaps, gamemastery tips and the like for fun, for himself and to get his creativity on.

Vam posts from the villain's point of view: debunking monster myths, providing adventure ideas for villains, and helping fellow villains and dastardly GMs deck out their lairs and complicate the lives of filthy adventurers.

We write this stuff because we like it :) Hopefully you'll find something you like here too.