Marvel Heroic (One-Shot Game Offers)

One-shot games are rpgs that, well, are done after one session (but we'll allow two or maaaaybe three sessions as well). They are perfect for trying out new games or settings, if you want to play but simply don't have the time for a long campaign, or for high-drama and horror games, after which a character is finished in one way or another.

They are also great if you are curious about tabletop rpgs and want to test the waters.

So if you have something you want to try out, this is the place to look for GMs and players. Which means: if you want to run a one-shot game, feel free to post it here!

Playing:


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First thing I would like to offer is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. It's a GMless game in the vein of Fargo, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, or Blood Simple. It's about that great idea you had, how to make a ton of money without any effort. It's super safe, don't worry.
...and next thing you know, there's a dead body on your back seat, the video went viral, and your boyfriend has joined a cult.

Fiasco is a very rules-light game with an emphasize on creating a story together. First, we will make a set-up for the game using a “Playset”, which gives us the scenery of our game, and will help us create characters - don't think about this in advance! Characters are created by setting up a relationship web, and it's all part of playing the game.

You can watch a short play of Fiasco over at Tabletop (yes, with Wil Wheaton):

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Fiasco will be for you if you:
- gleefully watch things spiral out of control. Things will go very wrong, and it will be very entertaining.
- enjoy playing from the perspective of a writer or a director. Fiasco puts the story first.
- don't mind that your character might turn out to be a horrible human being. Because somebody has to be... well, at least the really stupid guy.
- like to pick up ideas the other players bounce off you.

Fiasco won't be for you if you:
- don't like games about crime and violence.
- strictly play from your character's perspective. Fiasco plays better from the perspective of the director of the movie, not the actor in the movie.
- hate to play bad guys or escalate a situation. Escalation is what Fiasco is about, so it should be fun for you.
- prefer a clean resolution. There is no guarantee the good guy wins and the bad guy goes to prison in Fiasco. Very likely, everybody loses.

The best number for a Fiasco is four players (three and five also work). DuckSauce and I would be two players, so we'll need at least another player, preferable two. We'll be done after one session.

Because of different time zones, I think we can only play on a weekend. I'll be free next Sunday (August 9th) or the weekend after (August 15th to 16th). As for the starting time... we'll have to figure something out to accommodate an international group (I live in Germany, and DuckSauce in Australia (right?)).

I would prefer it if we choose the Playset in advance. Once we have a group, I'll make some suggestions on more “vanilla” Playsets (there are Playsets ranging from Renaissance Italy to a space station, find them [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]).

I would second the recommendation that new players try it out. It seems a lot easier than Dungeons & Dragons so it would be a good way to get a hang of the basics of roleplaying before tackling more complex systems.

While I would love to play, I would prefer to give my spot to someone new to roleplaying if there is enough interest. I want to make sure that everyone who wants to play gets a chance before me.

If there is room in the end, I would definitely love to play though!

I could be down for this, potentially.
Might be a good way to introduce myself to tabletop games. Complete noob here.

Katrien Caffeine wrote:I would second the recommendation that new players try it out. It seems a lot easier than Dungeons & Dragons so it would be a good way to get a hang of the basics of roleplaying before tackling more complex systems.

While I would love to play, I would prefer to give my spot to someone new to roleplaying if there is enough interest. I want to make sure that everyone who wants to play gets a chance before me.

If there is room in the end, I would definitely love to play though!

Ah, no problem - Fiasco has nearly no prep-time, so if more players show up, we can organize an additional session.

wondercube wrote:I could be down for this, potentially. Smile
Might be a good way to introduce myself to tabletop games. Complete noob here.

You're more than welcome, if you want to join! Fiasco is mostly free-form play, so nearly no complicated rules. The only prerequisite as that you are interested in the basic premise, which is crime stories going spectacularly wrong.

DuckSauce, Katrien Caffeine, wondercube and I make four players, a perfect number. Are you all in?

What are your time zones? I'm at GMT+2 (Germany). We'll play for about four hours, maybe a little more with explanations and technology-fiddling.
Is it possible to find a time where it's, uh, kind of day for everybody?

As I said, I'm free this Sunday (9.), as well as the weekend after (15./16.), and the 22./23. should be okay as well.

We also need to think about where to play. I normally prefer google hangouts and like to use a webcam, but of course, if you prefer voice chat, that's fine too.
Hangouts requires a G+-account, though, and I understand if someone doesn't like to give any more information to Google than necessary. If all the players are already on G+, I'll link you to my profile and set up an event.

Other choices are Roll20, which has an integrated video/voice chat program, and requires a free registration, Teamspeak 3 (we could meet on a German online RPG-server), but you'd need to install the TS3 client, or Skype... though I haven't used it in ages.

In addition, we'll use some kind of white board to write down stuff, and an online dice roller, but neither is very complicated.  

Um, I guess everything sounds more complicated than it is. Let's first settle on a day, time, and what tool to use.

I'm Central Time (Arkansas, US). Any of those days should work for me, but I would prefer an earlier time just so I won't have to wait as long.

I believe I have a Google+ account but I'm not sure how Hangouts works. If it's simple, I'm fine with using it. I might just need to be instructed on how to set it up.

I believe I am GMT +8 I will check when I am free and let you know exactly when I'm available Sunday sounds good though.

How about Sunday, August 16th? We'll have enough time to talk about technical stuff, make sure everybody is on board, and choose a playset - but it's not too far away  

As for the time... I think I broke my brain thinking about time zones, and the best I came up with is 2 pm GMT (14:00), which should be 9 am (09:00) in Arkansas, 10 pm (22:00) in Perth, and 4 pm (16:00) in Germany.

Which would mean one person has to get up early, and one has to stay up late... and if someone can come up with a better time frame, I'd be super grateful!

Katrien Caffeine wrote:
I believe I have a Google+ account but I'm not sure how Hangouts works. If it's simple, I'm fine with using it. I might just need to be instructed on how to set it up.

It's not very complicated, so if the rest is okay with using it, I'll write up a short explanation, and send you the link to my G+-Profile.

I'll post some playsets I recommend for a first Fiasco later today (or tomorrow, if the heat defeats me).

So, everybody fine with playing August 16th, 2 pm (14:00) GMT via Google Hangouts?

Fiasco uses Playsets to, well, set the scene of the game. At the start of the game, we will roll some dice and use the result to choose relationships, needs, objects, and places, which will be important during play. You don't need to worry about that now (set-up is part of playing), but you can download the Playsets and check out one appeals to you.

I've selected a few Playsets I think are good for a first game (a few have additional rules, and I've found that real world settings work better in the beginning), but feel free to go through the other Playsets and name your favorites (or choose one from below).

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It’s all about the music, man. It’s about becoming famous. It’s about the chicks, the drugs, the fans. It’s about burning bright and dying young, leaving behind a legend!
Or maybe it’s about paying for the hotel room once the stupid legend has left the building.
Touring Rock Band is an over-the-top collection of iconic rock and roll glories and unwholesome lunacy. It’s about golden gods rising to fame and falling back into addiction, stupidity and squalid failure.

(Add "Hardcore Logo" to the list of recommended movies. It's about the reunion tour of a small Canadian punk band, and it's an excellent fiasco.)

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A dead body, a Cockney drug-dealer selling from the back of the kebab shop, three suitcases full of blue flake cocaine and an unexploded World War Two bomb - these are a few of the things that make for a proper East End fiasco.

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Universities are strange places, and small town universities even more so. Faculty fight viciously with each other because the stakes are so low. Students grub for grades, or give up and drift through school. Townies hate the school, but it’s the only thing keeping the town alive, and many of them go to school part-time.

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The director slept with half the cast, your lighting designer is homicidal and that bastard from the Daily News just panned the show in his column. You’ll be lucky on opening night if the cast remembers their lines, nobody mentions the Scottish Play and the scenery doesn’t fall down mid-performance. But hey, the art is all that’s important, right?

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It’s a nice middle class neighborhood with a nice mix of professional families and a nice, powerful homeowners association. Good people who get involved and know their neighbors. People who aren’t afraid to tell you that the shade of blue you are painting your house is not exactly allowed by the association covenant.
But lately things have been unsettled around Poppleton Terrace - property values are falling, crime is rising, long-time residents have been less than receptive to the suggestions of the standards committee, and now new people are moving in. People who are not like us. At all.

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Gen Con. The largest tabletop gaming convention in the Western Hemisphere. A gathering of the particular branch of the geek tribe that likes to get its game on analog-style, rolling dice, pushing lead, and slapping down cards. With something shy of 50,000 people descending on Indianapolis for a long, hot weekend in the middle of August, Gen Con is the size of a small city. They call it the Best Four Days in Gaming. It might also be the deadliest.

(Because you would never drug somebody to win that Magic tournament. Or kill just to win your favorite piece of movie memorabilia. Or kidnap Chris Pratt and lock him in your RV for his own protection. Or would you...?)

Sorry, I've been at my girlfriends and crazy busy for that last few days and have been unable to post to this forum. I can't do the weekend of the 16th as I'll be Larping the whole time. Rather then delay the game and screw everyone over maybe someone should post on TMS for a replacement player? There seemed like a lot of keen players who could replace me?

9:00 am is pretty early for me but I should be able to manage that...

As far as the playset, I like Touring Rock Band.

DuckSauce wrote:Sorry, I've been at my girlfriends and crazy busy for that last few days and have been unable to post to this forum. I can't do the weekend of the 16th as I'll be Larping the whole time. Rather then delay the game and screw everyone over maybe someone should post on TMS for a replacement player? There seemed like a lot of keen players who could replace me?

No problem! I would be a bit sad to replace you because it was kind of your initiative that led to this game. I'm also free on the 23rd, so we could push back the date one week. Or, if we find enough players, we could run a second game at a more convenient time for you.

Katrien Caffeine wrote:9:00 am is pretty early for me but I should be able to manage that...

Argh, I know, I'm sorry... the 13 hour difference between the US and Australia makes this really complicated. On the upside, people from now three different countries can play RPGs together, which is kind of neat.

If you end up with a second game I am interested. I'm in the U.S. Pacific time zone.

Lol I'm GMing my Star Wars campaign on the 23rd. I really don't play that many RPGs honest! I think you guys should be decisive and just go for it. I'll catch the next one.

DuckSauce wrote:Lol I'm GMing my Star Wars campaign on the 23rd. I really don't play that many RPGs honest! I think you guys should be decisive and just go for it. I'll catch the next one.

Haha, alright. Finding a day where everybody is free is never easy. We'll find another day.

DTCarter wrote:If you end up with a second game I am interested. I'm in the U.S. Pacific time zone.

Are free on the 16th? We could use another player. This would also mean we can start later in the day so that nobody has to get up too early on a Sunday. Maybe about 5 pm GMT (17:00)?

Looks like that is 10am here, works for me. I do have a google+ profile, never really used it.

DTCarter wrote:Looks like that is 10am here, works for me. I do have a google+ profile, never really used it.

Great! As far as I can see, that Katrien Caffeine, DTCarter and I are in; I'll pm wondercube and see if they still want to play.

I'll pm you my G+-Profile in a minute. Please add me to your circles (there should be a red button next to the profile pic), I'll add you back and send out an invitation to the hangout event. Depending on your account settings, you'll get an e-mail, and/or the little bell in the upper right corner will show you have new messages. One of the messages should be the event, which should show your local time.
Say yes, you'll participate, and G+ will send you a reminder one day in advance. The hangout will open when the event starts, at which time a blue button saying something along the lines of "enter hangout" will appear. Click it, and you're in the hangout.
That's it

If you have a few minutes, it'd be cool if you could check everything works by opening a hangout (sometimes Google wants you to install an app or something). To do that, go to the rider on the right that looks like a quotation mark, click it, and go down to "start a video hangout". Once the hangout opens, you can also check if microphone and/or webcam work (I'll leave it to you whether you want to use a webcam or not). If something doesn't work, we'll have time to troubleshoot in advance or move to another program.

So, I recruited another player in the lovely Contessa community (it's an online-con and general platform for women in tabletop RPGs: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]).

Katrien, did you get my PM? I still need to connect to you on G+, so I can send you the invite. You can also send me your profile link, if you want to.

As for the Playset, "Rockband on Tour" okay for you, DTCarter?

Okay, I accepted it!  I also tested my Webcam, which seems to be working fine. I think I'm good.

Anything else I need to do? If not, I'll see you folks tomorrow!

Rock Band sounds good to me.

Just discovered my webcam is not compatible with windows 10, I will be audio only.

Katrien Caffeine wrote:
Anything else I need to do? If not, I'll see you folks tomorrow!

No, nothing more! You could still watch "This is spinal tap" and "Hardcore Logo" as inspiration, but that's optional

DTCarter wrote:Just discovered my webcam is not compatible with windows 10, I will be audio only.

That's fine, webcam is nice but no must.

Well, see you later. I hope I'm not too nervous

Thanks you two, that was one hell of Fiasco! You're both super, and I hope we can play together again in the future.

Thanks for hosting the game! I'm not used to that kind of freeform roleplaying and I have really bad anxiety so I'm sorry about being so awkward, but I had fun.

I really enjoyed it, thanks so much for including me. Now that we have played through a game, I think there were a couple things that I would've done differently (Oops! We don't *have* a drummer) but I think it turned out wonderful and/or horrible, depending on your point of view.

Katrien, I also have issues with anxiety, and one of the things about it is that I am completely unable to notice other people's awkwardness because I'm worried about being awkward. I call it my insecurity filter. ;-) I really enjoyed playing with you both.

Katrien Caffeine wrote:Thanks for hosting the game! I'm not used to that kind of freeform roleplaying and I have really bad anxiety so I'm sorry about being so awkward, but I had fun.

That kind of story games take a little getting used too, but what can I say, I really enjoyed Ash and the laser of death was awesome. And oh man, her pumping out more Cärriön Dream albums, even though they were terrible...

I'd say there's really nothing to be anxious about, though I'm one to talk, because I'm always somewhat anxious when I GM/facilitate, or play with people I don't know. Not playing in my native language doesn't really help either

But if everybody had fun, I'm relieved.

DTCarter wrote:I really enjoyed it, thanks so much for including me. Now that we have played through a game, I think there were a couple things that I would've done differently (Oops! We don't *have* a drummer) but I think it turned out wonderful and/or horrible, depending on your point of view.

Most GMless games tend to have a few hiccups when it comes to smooth story - it's more like a first draft, where you end up with little sticky notes saying stuff like "Go back and change drummer thing". It's hard to avoid when a group of people throw their creative ideas around Though some games add more structure from the start, and those tend to be more focused.

I can't participate in our half-yearly roleplaying retreat this year, because I have to work (booo!), but since that means my husband is out, I would like to run a game on Sunday, September 6th for 3-5 players. I'm on CEST (UTC+2), and will be free most of the day.

This time a little more “classic” than Fiasco, in the sense that there is a GM and stats and stuff.

As before, no knowledge of the game system (or tabletop RPGs in general) is necessary, I'll do my best to confuse... er, explain the game to you.
I like to play via Google Hangouts, but both TS3 and Roll20 are fine as well.

Here's what I can offer:

- Golden Sky Stories: A cute and heartwarming Japanese RPG about animal spirits who can take the form of children in a small town helping people (and sometimes gods or animals) with everyday problems. No violence, little to no action, only fuzzy feelings. It's basically the “My Neighbor Totoro” or supernatural version of “Barakamon” of RPGs. Warning: I might get weepy if too much cuteness occurs.

- Trail of Cthulhu/Fear Itself: Horror with fairly normal protagonists set either in Lovecraft's classical 1920s or current times. I have a bunch of pre-made adventures thanks to Bundle of Holding, and I would run one of those (haven't decided which one yet, though). As horror, this might get gory and deadly.

- Märchenkrieger, LOS!: This is my own thing, an anime inspired setting for Fate. It's set in 1870s Germany, where parts of the fairy tale world have seeped into our world after Grimm's collection has been published. You play as “double souls”, people who in a moment of crisis agreed to share their body with the superpowered version of a fairy tale character. Style-over-substance action and hopefully drama, because both souls have their own distinct personality and problems.
(Playing this would give me a push to finally do the rules changes, but I get it's rather specific )

...and of course, I would be perfectly happy to play pretty much anything if somebody else offers to run a game