Festive piracy. Feudal times.

A fun, festive game with an international feel, allowing players to explore their inner pirate.

In the bustling pirate port of Salty Cove, Captain Barnacle Bones was renowned for his audacious exploits on the high seas. But Barnacle had a secret, a hidden treasure chest of humour in his heart that was just as valuable as his ill-gotten loot. He was famous for a saying that made his crew chuckle and his adversaries scratch their heads: “Our flag means minor inconvenience.”

You see, Captain Barnacle had a flag like no other pirate. Instead of the menacing skull and crossbones, his flag displayed a crossed cutlass and feather duster. It wasn’t long before his ship, “The Laughing Galleon,” was known far and wide for its hilariously mild approach to piracy.

One sunny morning, Captain Barnacle’s lookout spotted a rival pirate ship on the horizon. The dreaded Captain Blackbeard and his crew of menacing marauders were headed straight for them.

“Captain, Captain Blackbeard approaches!” yelled the lookout.

Captain Barnacle scrambled to the deck and bellowed, “Man the tickle cannons!”

The crew leaped into action, firing confetti and shooting water pistols at the approaching ship. Captain Blackbeard’s crew was perplexed, dodging streams of water and colourful paper instead of cannonballs and grapeshot.

“We’ve been tricked!” roared Captain Blackbeard, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Full sail ahead, mateys! We’ll give ‘em a routing they won’t soon forget!”

But as Captain Blackbeard’s ship drew nearer, he found that his fearsome pirates were instead getting drenched by a seemingly endless supply of water balloons launched from the Laughing Galleon.

Meanwhile, Captain Barnacle, standing at the ship’s wheel with a feather duster in one hand and a rubber chicken in the other, looked fearless. His methods might be unconventional, but he had never lost a battle yet…

If you have played one of my previous Christmas games:

• This is a new game, more Panto than Christmas, not a re-hash of the previous ones.

• The previous deck of cards is still here, but you can ignore this

• There is totally no need to have any knowledge of previous games - but if you want to bring a previous character in, that is fine.

Um, hope I have covered everything, but do ask questions!

A Cyberpunk adventure

In the sprawling, neon-soaked metropolis known as Neo Elysia, the future has arrived with a stark division between the haves and the have-nots.
Enhanced individuals, or “Mods,” have become the new elite, possessing cybernetic enhancements that grant them extraordinary abilities, from hacking neural networks to manipulating reality itself. Ordinary citizens, referred to as “Basics,” struggle to survive amidst the towering skyscrapers, poverty-stricken slums, and lawless alleys of the city.

You, a group of unlikely allies, find yourselves drawn into the intricate web of the city. Each of you possesses a unique enhancement, granting you an edge in a city teeming with both promise and peril. As Mods, your abilities are in high demand, making you the go-to for a variety of shadowy figures and corporations looking to manipulate the city’s power dynamics….

Glossary / summary of key terms.

There is no external canon to worry about, here I set out some key terms you might see.

“Sy”, which is short for “SynapTech” (short for Synaptic Technology). Similar in this game world to an app - and in particular a means by which those with skills can be assigned tasks by those with the means to pay…

W!SHLIST and t@$K are examples.

Wishes are tasks from W!SHLIST (the most prominent Sy.
Angels are the agents fulfilling Wishes.
Task Runners are agents of t@$K.

Wishes/ tasks are often ranked a bit like this:
1 Tinker (bell)
2 Doc
3 Wizard
4 Genie
5 Demi-God

Rankings earned by achieving on t@$K: Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte

Rankings on W!SHLIST are based on angels ets; such as Disciple, Seraphim, Cherubim, Archangel.

Other Sy’s tend to go for things like pagan gods etc.

The Sy’s need to be seen to be legal - but have their ways of facilitating illegal transactions.

This game is to drop in, drop out as you wish.

It consists of challenges and short adventures.
Timeless but with a medieval/magical feel. Characters can be from any era or setting.

This game is intended to be accessible and beneficial to players who are new to Storium. Players can join the story any time; and by the same token make an exit when they want to focus on other stories.

As well as a game, a great place to hang out and chat in character! Maybe meet other players to form a group for a game.

The Taproom.

None could really say how they got there. Some were not sure how long they had been.

They were from all walks of life. All periods of time. Many from Earth, but some were from … further afield.

Returning to whence they came was desirable - but for now, the refreshment was pleasant, the company was changeable and the challenges were … diverting. Though some seemed a little dangerous.

All they knew was in their old life - a life which now seemed so distant - they had opened a particular book or curio, and found themselves drawn into this … world.

I would want any player to tell me if I need to adjust to increase their access or inclusion.

Who dares play The House of Reiley?

The most tyrannical game show in the Universe…
The product of a media company with deep pockets and shallow ethics, The House Of Reiley attracts contestants across space - and time. Sometimes desperate, sometimes seeking fame at any cost - always pitted against a pitiless host.
The prize - do well, and you could be living the life of Reiley! A huge cash prize, the chance of other sponsorships or media deals: or at the very least the elimination of your money worries or even a pardon from a criminal sentence.
But the chance of the prize comes at a price. Maybe humiliation, maybe facing terrible fears. And never really being sure how far it would go - could you be in real danger?
Just how far will the desperate go to win?
And just how far will the sinister host go to entertain his degenerate audience?

This game is to drop in, drop out as you wish.

It consists of challenges and short adventures.
Timeless but with a medieval/magical feel. Characters can be from any era or setting.

This game is intended to be accessible and beneficial to players who are new to Storium. Players can join the story any time; and by the same token make an exit when they want to focus on other stories.

As well as a game, a great place to hang out and chat in character! Maybe meet other players to form a group for a game.

The Taproom.

None could really say how they got there. Some were not sure how long they had been.

They were from all walks of life. All periods of time. Many from Earth, but some were from … further afield.

Returning to whence they came was desirable - but for now, the refreshment was pleasant, the company was changeable and the challenges were … diverting. Though some seemed a little dangerous.

All they knew was in their old life - a life which now seemed so distant - they had opened a particular book or curio, and found themselves drawn into this … world.

I would want any player to tell me if I need to adjust to increase their access or inclusion.

This game is to drop in, drop out as you wish.

It consists of challenges and short adventures.
Timeless but with a medieval/magical feel. Characters can be from any era or setting.

This game is intended to be accessible and beneficial to players who are new to Storium. Players can join the story any time; and by the same token make an exit when they want to focus on other stories.

As well as a game, a great place to hang out and chat in character! Maybe meet other players to form a group for a game.

The Taproom.

None could really say how they got there. Some were not sure how long they had been.

They were from all walks of life. All periods of time. Many from Earth, but some were from … further afield.

Returning to whence they came was desirable - but for now, the refreshment was pleasant, the company was changeable and the challenges were … diverting. Though some seemed a little dangerous.

All they knew was in their old life - a life which now seemed so distant - they had opened a particular book or curio, and found themselves drawn into this … world.

I would want any player to tell me if I need to adjust to increase their access or inclusion.

This game is based on one of the kickstarter worlds, just for fun.
But the central core that I am adding to it is that there is in the city the tomb of a Vampire.
Such a thing should, of course, not be disturbed.
Unfortunately, not everyone is quite that sensible…

So take a look at the background info that should be visible. Don’t worry - you don’t have to get up to speed on reams and reams of lore, just have a look at it (and DM me if you can not find it). We will start the game with this as the backdrop - but then the story envisaged will melt away as our own story involving the Vampire tomb takes over.

War’s like a rich man’s dinner: the gluttons eat until they’re stuffed, then they throw out the scraps for the common man to pick at. The war in the Bleak Lands was no different. The end of the Dark Lord didn’t end the terror he instilled. The Order’s received news that three Heretics — the elite followers of the Dark Lord — have entered Coldrock, presumably to meet for some foul purpose. The Night Watch is strapped keeping riots down and thugs in line, so they’re willing to call in a few favours to get this scum out of their city.

This uses the Dauntless deck as a starting point mainly for characters, but will very much be a unique story…

In the 22nd century, humanity ventures into deep space in search of knowledge - and power. Space is vast and humans aren’t the first to explore it but thousands of planets and stars have yet to be claimed and humanity intends to make a home for itself among the stars.

The deep-space starship Dauntless and her crew, had embarked on a new mission of exploration beyond the colonial boundary…

However, an unexpected solar flare had knocked out systems. The ship was still supporting life… for now…

Initial card art curated by @sparkletwist

Everlorn was a dead-end world on the edge of human space — until the day a prospector stumbled out of the desert stormlands with a million credits’ worth of hyperdrive crystals in his hands. Now spaceships thunder through the skies above the planet’s boomtowns, and fortune hunters fill the dusty streets.

The folks who settled Tempest Ridge hoped for a quieter life. Ostensibly a mining town, Tempest Ridge also supports a small collection of homesteaders and eccentrics who value its isolation out at the very edge of habitable land in the Verge. Nobody ever paid attention to them; that had its uses.

Now it’s that very position on the frontier that has brought it to the attention of the powerful syndicates hoping to scour every inch of Everlorn to extract its crystalline wealth. Tempest Ridge is seeing more strangers every day, and most of them with hungry eyes on the unending maelstrom that marks the stormlands.

Of course, getting the attention of civilization also means a chance for profit. Syndicate money seems unending, and for those not in Tempest Ridge entirely by choice, well…maybe there’s an opportunity there, too.

First, though, they’ll learn: Everlorn has no mercy for the inexperienced, or the unwise; and out here, there’s nobody to call in for a timely rescue.

This is a Beginner Game. Please take a close look at Info for Applicants. Veteran players are welcome to help show new players the ropes, but are expected to be part of the learning process.

A triumph of modern architecture.

One of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.

But the lift is falling.

It is in freefall. Only a true hero can save the occupants - and apprehend the culprites.

In this game we are not overly obsessed with cannon.

You can adopt a known character, or create your own.

We will build the game together.

This will be a short story, focused on creating your super-hero and showcasing their abilities.