This is a listing of games that will be running at our Welcome Week one-shots. Sign-ups will take place live at the start of the event, following our usual format for game pitches.
To take part, please sign up to the Geas Discord at http://geas.org.uk/discord
Please note that pitches will start at 6 pm on 19 September. The post here is for information only, and sign-ups for games will happen on our Discord server after the games have been pitched.
Games listed in alphabetical order by title.
The Archmage’s Tower
System: Exodus
GM: Alexander Kiker
Description: Players will be part of a familiar group of adventurers who have come together to break into the tower of an enigmatic figure known only as the Archmage. The game is set in a fantasy world, with magic as a nearly universal part of life. There will be options for pre-generated characters with different customization options available.
Format: Voice and video preferred
Spaces: 6
Age Rating: PG
Content Advisories: The game may touch on somewhat heavy themes, such as the inevitability of death, the horrors of war, and the meaning of life, but will hopefully do so in a lighthearted manner
Crash Pandas
System: Crash Pandas
GM: Rowan Edmunds
Description: Your wacky characters have woken up as raccoons enrolled in a race for reasons. You must win. let the race begin
Format: Voice I will be using a screen share with MS paint
Spaces: 4 to 6.
Age Rating: 12
Content advisories: Dangerous behaviour
Dropzone
System: homebrew
GM: Alan Jackson
Description: Aliens. Dripping acid. Teeth in the darkness. A distant colony planet. Suddenly silences. You are the brave marines sent to rescue the survivors.
Format: Zoom
Spaces: 6.
Age Rating: 15
Content advisories: Action violence. Some horror.
The Grand Space Adventure of [Your Name Here]
System: Lasers and Feelings
GM: Emma Andersen
Description: Lasers and Feelings is a simple one-page system that tends to produce funny, chaotic games that work best when no one takes things too seriously. This oneshot should be a rollicking space adventure with undertones of cosmic horror as our spaceship crew decides what to do with a strange alien artifact, the pirate captain who wants it, and a mysterious entity known only as Something Else.
Format: Voice with video on Discord
Spaces: 5
Age Rating: 12
Content advisories: This oneshot will include elements of cosmic/eldritch horror (though no Lovecraft himself because racism is not welcome) and potential mind control/loss of bodily autonomy.
The Great Train Robbery
System: Deadlands: The Weird West
GM: Craig Barnes
Description: In the Weird West of North America it’s 1884 and societal progress is marked by miles of iron rail stretching across the continent. Nothing can stop a 10,000 ton series of reinforced train cars from reaching their destination. Except mabye you. Your Outlaws, good ones too, and if you can pull this off you’ll be set for life.
This is a Steampunk Western where you can expect an action packed train heist filled with Monsters, Magic and Mad Science. Not to mention a number of truly horrific southern accents.
Format: Roll 20, video not required but I’ll be using it.
Spaces: 6
Age Rating: 15
Content advisories: Non graphic violence
Honey Heist
System: Honey Heist
GM: Duncan Henley-Washford
Description: A super silly heist themed game. Here is the plot:
1) You have a complex plan that requires precise timing.
2) You are a GODDAMN BEAR.
Format: Voice-only and using Roll20 (…probably)
Spaces: 5
Age Rating: 15
Content advisories: Things that come up are mostly defined the players as they lead the narrative. But (mostly cartoony) violence is likely.
A Human Decision
System: systemless
GM: Milo van Mesdag
Description: As the ‘designated human decision makers’, when the energy system on your long distance space transit ship fails, it is up to you to work through the list of 50 people that you are responsible for and decide which 15 will be ‘powered down’. No monsters, no bad guys, just you, a direct video link to any of the 50 that you wish to talk to and the knowledge that by the end of it, it will be your decision which ones will live, and which ones will die.
(Note: this is a pure, probably quite brutal role-playing experience. No dice, no action, just one terrible decision to make. You will each be playing a pre-made character, each with their own motivations, secrets and history.)
Format: Video, and each player will need to be able to access a couple of Google docs.
Spaces: 6
Age Rating: 15
Content advisories: Death and sacrifice (and therefore possibly mental health and suicide, but this can depend on the group). I would prefer to avoid issues of discrimination.
Liberation
System: 7th Sea, 2nd Edition
GM: Mick Zijdel
Description: This game will be run using 7th Sea, 2nd edition: A swashbuckling and sorcery system where you play as (pirate) heroes and fight despicable evil. This game will take place in a faux-Caribbean setting called the Atabean. The game will be quite light-hearted, especially with all the memes involved. Your characters will be pre-made, but there will be a wide range of options, and the game is good for beginners. “Arrrrr mateys! Welcome to the New World! You, a crew of pirates, freedom fighters, and defenders of the weak and poor, have just liberated some goods from their previous owners. Now, sailing back to a safe haven before you encounter any of the Atabean Trading Company’s slave traders or pirate hunters, you encounter a lonely undefended merchant ship. Have you got any other choice than to take a gander?”
Format: This game will be run on Discord. I will be using a webcam and I encourage you to do so too. We will also be using Roll20 to roll and track stats.
Spaces: 4
Age Rating: 12
Content Advisories: References to slavery
Masks: Making the Grade
System: Masks: A New Generation
GM: Vivek Santayana
Description: You have just gotten your final school exam results downgraded, and you are SO NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS. What can you, a teenager at Halcyon Secondary School, do about it? Well, for starters, you’ve got superpowers, and you’ve got your team of superhero friends. So why not take the fight against this injustice straight to the people responsible for this?
Masks is a game about teenagers navigating their self-image, relationships, and the challenges of living up to adults’ expectations while also being superheroes trying to save the world. The tone is very much like that of a comic book about teen supers like X-Men or Young Avengers. This game will look at the recent exam results scandal, and will explore the importance of friendship in dealing with hardship.
Format: Voice and video. Discord to roll dice.
Spaces: 3 to 5
Age Rating: 12
Content advisories: The game will portray recent events regarding the exam result scandal, which may be distressing to people who have just had a direct experience of them. The game may include romance depending on how players create their characters. There will be abstract, cartoon or comic book violence or threats, but no detailed or graphic depictions of violence.
Project Galileo
System: Trophy Dark
GM: Jamie Wheeler
Description: 2033, scientists on Martian research base Galileo are close to returning home. Today a drone broke through into a artificially constructed cavern. Find proof of intelligent life, achieve scientific glory, die on an alien planet. Science fiction horror
Format: Voice/video
Spaces: 5
Age Rating: 18
Content Advisories: I don’t understand the BBFC rating system or how it would apply in advance to a game constructed on the fly, so I just put 18 to cover any self destructive behaviour that comes up.
Sapphire & Steel
System: Home-brewed diceless
GM: Roderick Easton
Description: Beings from beyond the corridor of time are trying to break in to destroy it. Elemental agents of reality are sent to potential breaches where they must find out what the problem is and resolve it before it is too late. Odd things are happening on a freighter sailing through the so-called Bermuda Triangle and a group of agents arrive.
“All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Copper and Jet have been assigned.
Format: voice or video, I’ll share pre-genned sheets on Google drive
Spaces: 2 to 5.
Age Rating: 12
A Thief of Many Faces
System: Blades in the Dark
GM: Manuel Tarazona Querol
Description: In the dark and dreary city of Doskvol, the story of the Vixen, a legendary thief, is one of the few things that bring hope to its citizens. However, it is just a story, so the players have all decided to take up her mantle. Independently from each other. And rob the same place. At the same time.
Shenanigans ensue in a gritty setting and system.
Format: Video optional; will use roll20
Spaces: 4
Age Rating: 15
The Trainwreck
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th ed
GM: Jules
Description: Call of Cthulhu is a relatively grim system (and you don’t have to familiar with it – I’ll explain the rules if needed), with Lovecraftian lore and where too much knowledge can lead to a fate worse than death. In this game, I would rely more on investigation and roleplay – no gore, but plenty of ways to lose sanity (as characters) nonetheless. More of a thriller than horror. I have prepared some pre-generated characters (you’re welcome to modify them if you will), so we don’t waste time and I hope you’d join me.
The story starts in February of 1926 in a small mountain town, Sunrock – too forgettable to be included in the maps, with not more than half a thousand people currently living in it. First founded by the gold diggers, currently, the life of the town is centred around the old mines, where some mineral valuables are still to be found.
A fair question to ask would be, what brings the Investigators to this hellhole of a place, especially during the winter months when even the nature couldn’t be fully enjoyed, as the cold, snowy clutches of frost forbid the few exciting activities you could find in the town.
Well, everyone felt taking this job was a bad idea, but everyone had their reasons to do so. The Investigators set out to search for Jamie Davenport – a prised geology student, who left for this town about three and a half weeks ago to collect some data for his diploma and disappeared without a trace. Will it be his loving family, a brave detective or his academic rival, who’d find him? Or will they all disappear without a trace as well? Join the game to find out.
Format: Discord (voice only) and roll20
Spaces: 3 to 5
Age Rating: 15
Content advisories: Darkness, confined spaces, blood, ghosts (maybe) and an array of phobias and mental traumas for your characters
You Awaken in a Strange Place…
System: You awaken in a strange place’
GM: Yves-Pearl Hurley
Description: You awaken in a strange place’ perhaps its the galley of a spaceship cruising through the stars thousands of years from now, or maybe you’ve come to in a dingy basement you don’t recognise. Maybe its 1888 and Jack the Ripper is terrorising London or perchance a powerful sorcerer has awoken you from a slumber you don’t recall falling into….
‘You awaken in a strange place’ is a completely improvised one shot game system. No prior experience of TTRPGs necessary, no ruleset to read and only one d6 needed to play. As such its RP focused improv type game great for people who are into the storytelling part of TTRPGs, vets who want to try that out or anyone who’s new and wants to get straight into playing without having to be an expert or know a game by heart.
Format: voice only or video, depends on the group. No other tools needed,
Spaces: 5
Age Rating: 15
Content advisories: As the game is improvised I would like to have the opportunity to ask players to let me know privately anything that they would like me not to include. I always veto discussions of suicide, assault and anything happening to underage characters with a new group.