"Those of us who remain will gather atop the hill at midnight. We will bring kindling and we will co-operate in the building of a big fire. It will serve as illumination, and into it will be cast all the bones, herbs, and other ingredients we have been preparing all month to give ourselves an edge and to confound our enemies...Forces will wrestle within it...Then we will position ourselves in an arc before the thing our divinations have shown us to be the Gateway...The openers and their friends stand at one end of the arc, the closers at the other. All will have bought tools they intend to employ. Some of these are neutral, such as the ring, the pentacle, the icon, to take their character, -- of opening, or closing -- from the hands of those who wield them; others -- the two wands, one for opening, one for closing -- will naturally be held by those of these persuasions....The forces of the neutral objects will support the side for which they are employed, which makes the outcome sound like a simple mathematical affair. But it isn't. The strength of the individual counts for much; and these affairs seem to generate a strange byplay as well, which contributes to the overall dispositions of power. And then there is experience. Theoretically, everything should be conducted at a metaphysical level, but this is seldom really the case...We tend to retain our positions in the arc once the ceremony has begun, and sometimes things happen to players during its course...Psychic attacks may be shot back and forth. Disasters may follow. Players may fall, or go mad, catch fire, be transformed....Eventually....the matter will be decided...This site is dedicated to a playtest PBEM game of "A Night in the Lonesome October", which is based off the book of the same name by Roger Zelazny. The game incorporates a variant of the Amber Diceless system, and was written by Australia's own Timothy Ferguson. The premise of the story is basically characters from classic horror novels and movies come together when the conditions are right, to attempt to summon, or prevent the summoning of, the Elder Gods of Lovecraft fame. In the book, Jack the Ripper was the main protagonist, and the story was told from the perspective of his dog. In this game, rather than Victorian England, it will be set in modern day Twin Peaks, Washington, to add a new level of weirdness to the whole game. |
