Timothy Dedeaux

Beltaine is a 24 Hour RPG I did well over a year ago and never got around to posting. I think the card-based mechanic has some untapped potential, and I plan on revising the game and linking the suits more closely to the setting (after all, the point of using cards as a randomizer is to do things that dice can’t easily do, right?).

Beltaine is a game about the Faeries and creatures of Celtic myth living in the modern world. It’s being put together quickly as a part of the 24 hour RPG project, and will hopefully serve as a springboard for a cyberpunk-and-Fae game I hope to write later.

The faerie courts are dangerous places, socially and physically, and it is easy to fall from favor. The safest thing to do when one does so is to go into exile on Earth. Some, like the Fomorians, live in permanent exile on Earth, either in hiding or disguised as humans. Fae on Earth often interbreed with humans, and their half-faerie children typically remain behind.

Edge of the Century is my second 24 Hour RPG attempt. I didn’t get as much time to work on it as I’d wanted to (about 4 hours, total), but I think it’s still playable. The game has some innovative narrative mechanics (at least I hope they’re innovative) and a fairly unique, but fast, character creation process that’s also very narrative. Have fun!

The edge of the century draws near, as does the life of the great Queen Victoria. In America, the Native tribes have been decimated, and the frontier declared closed. England is beginning to lose her Empire, though for the moment it is safe. In the cities, women shout for the right to vote, workers strike for a living wage, and anarchists gather in secret with Das Capital in one hand and a bomb in another.

In Europe, ethnic unrest and a complex web of alliances will soon burn the continent in a war many men think will be good. They say that Europe has gone soft and weak and needs a war to make it strong again.

And underneath the calm, stoic Victorian facade, madness coils and twists, waiting to erupt. Secret societies meet, calling on spirits of the dead and ancient gods. Curses lay upon families, waiting to drag them down into madness, or worse.

Central Resolution Mechanic inspired by “dukereg” on the “Opportunity Pool” thread at http://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-384462.html

A 24 Hour RPG done on April 20/April 21, 2008 (7 pm to 6 pm), in which the PCs play ordinary people who must investigate and face down creatures of darkness. The DIP-Styx system was designed to encourage Develop in Play character creation style and to be friendly to beginning gamers.

DIP-Styx

An introductory RPG for the 24 Hour RPG Project
Written by Timothy Dedeaux
Begun Sunday night, April 20, 2008 around 7:00 pm
Ended Monday, April 21, 2008 around ??
Premise/idea: one non-roleplayer who’d tried roleplaying and hadn’t fallen in love with it told me the hardest part was character creation. Cross-referencing this in my mind with what I’d read years ago on the old Rec.Games.frp.Advocacy group about Design at Start vs. Develop in Play styles, I decided to write an RPG to emphasize the DIP side of things, and perhaps help new roleplayers get over the “character creation” hurdle. Develop in Play is abbreviated “DIP,” and thus the “DIP” part of the name. The “Styx” part comes from the setting. For the record, this is designed for an at least somewhat experienced GM to use to introduce new players, not to be easy-access for a group of total newbies.

For thousands of years, Charon guarded the entrance to the underworld, protecting us from the things that go bump in the night. But now, he’s gone missing, and creatures are slowly breaking free, and it falls to ordinary people to stop them. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and strange spirits must be put to rest, and only you can do it: are you up to the task?.
The game begins with a group of relatively ordinary people (the player characters, perhaps with a few NPCs around for flavoring) finding themselves in a strange situation. They have to figure out what’s going on and how to stop the creature. Ultimately, the game is a game of investigative horror, though the horror can be run anywhere from G-rated, funny cartoon monsters to Unrated disturbing things. The characters may find themselves chasing ghosts through old, haunted mansions, seeking lost children in the dream world, chasing a vampire through the slums where he preys on prostitutes, Jack the Ripper style, or hunting (and being hunted by) a werewolf on a country estate.