(Shall we say how long the games will be to playtest? I remember Rich was asking that before.)

I'm bringing:

A pretty playable draft of The Gay Recruitment Squad Wants YOU! (2 hours)

A few ideas for Tales Of The Ninja, previously known as The Quiet Game (2 hours would be nice, but I'd take 1)

An absolute passion for cooking stuff. I might bring my skillet, if it's desired, and if you guys fancy very spicy blackened chicken.

A desire to play all the games I haven't played before.

A lot of wine.

A really bad attitude about everything.

I'm bringing:

beer

also my cooking skills, possibly to make fajitas, possibly yaki soba. i can bring a wok if needed!

dice!

a nearly finished version of Six Bullets, for which I'd like a full on slot (4 hours?)

my Game Chef entry, Lost Days of Memories and Madness, which can probably manage with 2 hours

rough musings on both Yesterday's Tomorrow (I'd like to try out character creation with a couple of people, which would only take half an hour or so) and Ordinary Angels

hopefully a draft of Geoff's game, Anarchy

positive, helpful feedback

my normal mix of cherpy optimism and ascerbic wit

Desired playtest length is probably handy for planning and stuff.

I'm bringing in no order:

A pretty well tested version of Umläut. This version is (IMHO) much improved over the one people have seen. There's also some stuff I'm not 100% happy with ATM, but the next 2 weeks of playtest ought to iron some of that out. I'd ideally like to use a 4 hour slot for this.

The same old version of Danger Dudes. This shouldn't last more than 2 hours (as in, if it does, the game needs revising).

I don't want these games criticised so much as I want them anally violated with a barbed wire dildo. An honest and justly applied barbed wire dildo mind you.

Some notes and ideas for Slacker. There's no game yet for that, but it's worth talking about over beer and pies.

The need to play games of all sorts.

Beer. Lots and lots of beer. I like beer.

Friday night's dinner. Claire and I will bring a pre-cooked bolognaise or similar along with some spaghetti. So at least nobody has to worry about cooking straight after arriving, we can get straight down to the beer and game chat. There'll be enough for all 9 of us, hopefully.

Bacon, eggs, sausages, bread and whatnot. I intend to pick this up in Long Buckby on Friday afternoon. A good breakfast is a good start to the day, and by golly, we're going to need the energy.

Some board and card games. There are a few of these I think can of which are not only fun to play, but also have things to teach RPG designers. Or maybe not, but they are fun to play and will make a nice change of pace for us.

Clean pants (I think this might be a little too much detail now...)

I will be bringing an almost complete version of Reel Adventures, should be about 4 hours to run.

An unbelievably rough version of 'What a shambles', 2 hours should be fine for that.

Stitch, which I just want to try out. That could be anything from 1 hour to 4, dependent on patience.

A complete version of 'Revenge of the BMovie' that will fill a half hour here and there.

I was hoping to pick up any alcohol etc. on the way. But definetley some beer and whisky will be on the cards.

I don't think I will be able to carry any more in my bag.

Apart of course from my wit and charm.

Cheers

Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

Graham: Despite your so-called bad attitude, I'd like to hear about how acting and improv can improv our play experiences. Is this something you'd like to talk about for, say, an hour? I for one would really like to hear what you had to say on this and get some collective thoughts out of it.

What say you?

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Sounds like an excellent dinner conversation!

I'll be bringing enthusiasm, Red Bull and tequila (not all necessarily related, but there may be some kind of evil synergy there). I'll also bring an apparently redundant willingness to cook something tasty and Japanese, and some ingredients to help bring this about if required.

And, as he asked nicely for a lift, I'll be bringing James.

Scott: I'd love Japanese food.

Malcolm: I don't want to talk about acting and improv but, if you like, I'll run an improv session. I'd enjoy that. It'd take either one hour, for a brief session; or two hours, to do some storytelling techniques. I'm happy to do it if people want; easy either way.

Graham

I would be interested to do this and talk about it as well. I am thinking about putting improv advice into Reel Adventures and would be interested to get other peoples views on the matter.

Cheers
Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

Graham: That would be great, I'd love for you to run and improv session.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Seconded/thirded.

Also, japanese food also seconded! I was going to make yaki soba (noodles, chicken etc) but maybe I'll make some yummy fajitas instead.

I shall be bringing myself and an enthusiasm to play any and all games, and to provide positive feedback on said games.

It looks like my cooking skills can be relied on as a backup to the backups backup, though I'll bring some dairy free stuff so if needs be I can feed myself without anyone else having to worry what I do or don't eat.

I'll have my iPod with mic with me anyway should anyone want to record a playtest or debrief (it worked okay last time we tried it, though the quality is far from great).

Other then that soft drinks I guess (anyone got preferrence for fizzy sugar rich things?) and anything small and gamelike I can fit into bag pockets, though it looks like we have more then enough lovely playtesting.

Oh, another thought is that I'm bringing a laptop and some pretty hardcore speakers. And an external hard drive filled with METAL!

Actually, I might just bring my MP3 player if I can find the power pack, but having the laptop might be handy for other stuff (although I can't imagine what...)

All right. So. Let me make an inevitably unpopular attempt to summarise...

Malcolm: Everlasting Empire, ? hours
Malcolm: Okhrana, ? hours
Graham: Gay Recruitment, 2 hours
Graham: Tales of the Ninja, 2 hours
Andrew: Six Bullets For Vengeance, 4 hours
Andrew: Lost Days Of Memories And Madness, 2 hours
Rich: Umlaut, 4 hours
Rich: Danger Dudes, 2 hours
Iain: Reel Adventures, 4 hours
Iain: What a shambles, 2 hours
Iain: Stitch, 1 – 4 hours

That's leaving out the shorter, half-hour games.

Also, possibly, Geoff's Anarchy and some games from James. And possibly an improv session.

Looks doable. Did I miss anything?

Graham

Not unpopular at all Graham. Thanks for taking the lead and listing all the stuff we need to test!

At the moment, I'm probably look at 4 hours for Okhrana and 2 for Everlasting Empire. Sound odd? Well, EE is a much bigger project and, ironically, less ready for testing. Okhrana, on the other hand, is closer to a workable set of mechanics, but really needs a thorough hammering.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Looks good to me.

Thanks Graham

Cheers
Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

Looks good to me.

Thanks Graham

Cheers
Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

Graham,

That list looks about right.

I'll start a thread later today with more specific doodads in.

And as we get closer to the day, my enthusiasm rises and my decisions about what to bring fade into a blur of uncertainty...

Doodle Dungeon is a definite: I want at least one objective opinion based on the actual look & feel of the game. Its a concept I'm feeling quite bervous about now: even if people are enthusiastic about it in principle, will the reality bear out that enthusiasm? (Look at George Lucas' output this decade... 'nuff said)

I'd also like to bring Ghost Towns for a playtest: this is a relatively new project thats, though it's only half written, feels strangely complete, e.g. knowing where I want the game to go, I still have half of it to write, but what I've got so far is perfectly playable.

For both of the above, I'm probably only looking to do some character creation and maybe one scene, just to test the principles involved, so that still potentially leaves me with a game slot, in which case...

I'm torn between When Bad Things Happen to Good Magicians and The Memory Cheats: these are both in a state where a full game can be played that easily ought to take a couple of hours. As Scott has graciously volunteered for play testing of both of these in the past, I'll understand if he wanst to duck out and do something else while he's at Spodley, but I would just ask him... which one would you recommend to the group? The Memory Cheats is looking pretty finalised but would benefit from exposure to fresh minds, whilst When Bad Things... is on an untested draft at the moment and I've no idea how strongly it will resemble past sessions using previous drafts.

I forgot to say - I'll be making some brownies to sweeten you all up! No one's allergic to nuts are they?