Apocrypha Studios
Inspirations of Questionable Origin
We are headed to Hal-Con again this year for another weekend of gaming!
Here is the schedule for Hal-Con 2012:
(this is a big post, don't miss any of it)
Eden Falls
I put Apocrypha Studios together with a singular purpose of creating the Eden Falls RPG. The Providence System, my own original RPG gaming system, was similarly created to reflect the Eden Falls setting. Last year at Hal-Con I ran an official Eden Falls playtest session. The players will have their name in the Eden Falls credits when it is published. This year I will be running another official playtest session of the Eden Falls RPG and Providence System. I am also working on a novel and comic book series, both set in the Eden Falls universe, and hope to have the big release of Eden Falls at a future Hal-Con.
A game of Choice and Ignorance, Consequence and Horror, Revelation and Judgement.
A setting of Esoteric Horror and Noir Punk storytelling.
Everything is personal,
Nothing is chance.
Embrace your Fate,
Or suffer your Doom.
An interactive storytelling game, Eden Falls takes place in a world that has been judged and found unworthy. Abandoned, all fight over the diminished resources of creation, and players struggle with powers both greater than themselves and within themselves, with their Soul as the ultimate prize. Life and death are merely one of the wars that can be waged in Eden Falls, with Madness and Sanity, and Damnation and Salvation being just as important and just as deadly.
Hal-Con Schedule
Apocrypha Studios will be setup in the games room with a section to run games over the weekend and sell Apoc wares. I will have hardcopies of Ngenesis RPG: the Trials of Flesh, and a Digital Compilation of all Apoc’s works on DVD for sale.
The Digital Compilation will include PDFs of the Ngenesis RPG, all the Ngenesis Add-ons, the Apocryphon, Providence Playtesting materials for several popular RPG settings, the 2012 Halcon Playtesting manual for Eden Falls, a sneak peak at the Eden Falls novel: Seven Crows, and a sneak peak at the Eden Falls Comic series: Three Score.
Apoc Prize Box!
Everyone who stops by and says hi will get a free ballot for the Apoc Prize Box. Additional ballots will be available for $1 each. Purchasing any of Apoc’s wares will also get you an additional ballot for every $1 spent. In the Apoc Prize Box: 2 Graphic Novels by Alan Moore, a four issue mini series of comics from Dark Horse, a collection of DVD movies, and a big pile of RPG books. A couple hundred dollars worth of geekery and gaming, and much of it a source of inspiration for the upcoming Eden Falls RPG. This is a great way to support Apocrypha Studios (money will be going towards securing artwork for Eden Falls) and get yourself some sweet swag. The draw will be Saturday evening.
6:00 ish Setup
Apocrypha Studios will be setup in the games room around 6 and preparing to run the first APOC game of the convention.
7:00 Star Wars
One of the first settings used to playtest the Providence System was Star Wars and I still love running the one shot story: the Enigmatic Marday (story details below). The story usually takes a few hours to run through. Room for up to 5 players. Game uses pre-generated characters.
Saturday
9:00-10:30 Providence
Stop by and check out demos of the Providence System, its base mechanics, and character creation for Eden Falls. The Eden Falls playtest will have several pre-generated characters to use, but interested players with an inspired character idea can always create their own character for the playtest game.
10:30 - 1:00 Break
I am a huge RA Salvatore fan, so I have to take a break to attend the Q&A, and then get some lunch. I will be back asap, so I might be back before 1:00.
1:00 - 6:00 Eden Falls
The second official playtest for Eden Falls held at Hal-Con. I will be running the one shot story: Applewood (story details below) and all players will have their names included in the credits as playtesters for Eden Falls. Room for up to 5 players. Game uses pre-generated characters.
6:00 - 7:00 Break Dinner time!
7:00 Eden Falls
Another run of the Applewood story (story details below) for Eden Falls. Players will have their names included in the credits as playtesters for Eden Falls. Room for up to 5 players. Game uses pre-generated characters.
Sunday
9:00 - 1:00 Elder Sign
I am bringing Elder Sign with me. Great cooperative board game set in the Cthulu Mythos, where investigators join forces to try to stop a Great Old One from awakening and ending the world. Join me for a game (room for up to 5 more players). If we win, the player who contributes the most Elder Signs will get an APOC prize.
Star Wars: the Enigmatic Marday
It was supposed to be a simple straightforward run. Rent a transport, hire a crew, jump to the Varonat mining colonies, renegotiate the contract and Brightstar saves the company and returns home a hero and gains a bigger slice of the company pie!
Simple... brilliant... yeah right...
The starship worked out great, the Evarel is a Corellian Light Cruiser decked out with just the right amount of comfort for the trip. The crew is... interesting. Brightstar is the money behind the operation, the boss. Benoss is a Duros pilot and techie, two for the price of one. A pair of human laborers, Davalos and Nordmark, one presenting themself as a merc... maybe. And Leet, a Kel-dor diplomat, worth every credit. We came, we negotiated, we saved the contract, and now onto the victorious return home.
Except when we dropped out of lightspeed to find ourselves in the middle of nowhere... somewhere... we don’t know where... and no one knows how it happened. Or how the hell the other starship just happens to be here ahead of us, floating in space.
Its large, the size of a capital ship, but no configuration that any of the crew recognize. It looks like it was cobbled together out of scraps of a few dozen ships. There is power and the ship is moving slowly on sub-light drives, but there is no reaction to the appearance of the Evarel.
This was no fluke or accident. Someone on the Evarel brought us here and only that one person knows where we are or how to safely get back. Are they coming forward and talking? Of course not.
We are going to have to board that ugly lump of starship. We need answers. We need to get out of here!
The Enigmatic Marday is set in the Star Wars universe, using Apocrypha Studios’ Providence System to play. Five characters to choose from, with five secret backgrounds that are randomly assigned to the characters, making every run of this story different. Will the crew discover who set them here and why? Will the crew survive the Marday to discover its horrifying secrets or will they tear themselves apart and go mad in the process.
Eden Falls: Applewood
Sitting on the edge of the Dustpan and connecting the five counties, is the Applewood Mall. Covering over 5.3 million square feet, the mall is the size of a small town, includes over 800 stores and services, and has become a number one destination for tourists and shoppers. Along side of the shops and services is a world class hotel, icerink, waterpark, underwater aquarium, and indoor amusement park with rides and attractions for all ages.
Twenty five years ago the Applewood opened and the five counties hailed it as their savior, bringing in jobs and revenue aplenty. Nothing has changed, the Applewood still keeps the five counties prosperous even while the rest of the country sinks ever further into depression. The Applewood is celebrating its 25th anniversary, but things are about to awry and five souls are going to be caught up in the middle of it all.
The Wanderer Never Alone
Good a place to stop awhile as any. Plenty of work that noone else wants to touch, never the same stranger twice, and wide open spaces for the other to hunt without worry. The Applewood. Strange vibe though, the other wont come near the place. Might be about time to move on. Double pay for the celebration, then the road.
The Seeker of Truths
Fluff pieces for a fluff rag, but bills need paying. Sometimes they lead to deeper stories, darker truths, enlightenment at the edge of the abyss. Wondrous. Here we have the Applewood, celebrating 25 years of decadence and economic glory. But I see deeper. Every three years a death or disappearance on the same date, going back long before the mall even stood at this crossroads. Every third three years, true catastrophe. Carnage and coverups, and another nine year cycle coming to a close. I am all over this!
The Ticking Time Bomb
Hired as a cameraman and I am in, full access to the Applewood. I have done everything they asked and I will not stop. I will do this. I will do this. I will do this, God forgive me, I will do this. My wife is gone, but they still have my children. I will do this.
The Little Girl Lost
Alone at all times surrounded by a mass of souls. Lost in the crowd. Hidden. The Applewood has become haven and here I stay. At night, when it begins to empty and quiets, I can sometimes hear her voice. This frightens me as it ensnares me. I would set her free, would that it cost only my soul. The price is never so small.
The Righteous Soldier
I am not here because of luck or good fortune. Hell is what I deserve, and here I stand alone against the oncoming tide of darkness, facing hell. I shall not succumb, but stand true and take my redemption. If I can save even one soul, then perhaps my own will no longer be damned.
