Furnace XX

Furnace has now been running annually at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield for an impressive twenty years, and this one was was bigger and better than ever. The huge amount of behind the scenes prep work from Dom, Elaine and Graham really paid off as everything ran smoothly, even with the inevitable last minute cancellations of some games due to one thing and another. 

The dining area on the main floor of the hotel was opened up for games for the first time, with eight tables available plus the trade stalls from Patriot Games and All Rolled Up. Everything was nicely spaced out in a bright and airy space, in addition to the usual tables in the upper jailhouse and dungeon, allowing for a noticeable increase in the attendance. Everybody was given a commemorative dice tray and I also managed to snag one of the very smart themed messenger bags which are perfect for carrying notes, rulebooks and dice.

This year I was running Tales of the Old West in slot 1 with a scenario that I had written as an experiment as a sandbox setting with various plot threads to pull at, hinted at in a handout newspaper. There was surprising little violence as the players got stuck into the challenges of keeping their ranch running, but I made the mistake of losing track of the time and had to rush the ending to get to a suitable conclusion. I'd definitely run this one again, I think.

A charming neighbour

Pays a social call with an
Ulterior motive 

Looking for an ace
High stakes in Silver City
Never bet the ranch

For the afternoon session I went for a game I'd never heard of called Dialect run by Sarah Dovey. We were playing as robots, abandoned on a dying Earth, waiting for humans to return. The twist with this game is that you get to invent and use new words to narrate the experiences of your characters, played out in short scenes. I decided that I was playing a simple maintenance droid tasked with cleaning dust from the windflower turbines that supplied power to our colony and my daily chores became the ritual of Chorly. The conclusion of the game was thought provoking and surprisingly moving.

Abandoned robots

Following their programming
As language evolves 

A simple machine 
Windflower Chorley complete
Hope of membrance 

Sunday morning was a play test of a forthcoming Kaiju Fighting game from Gav Thorpe, with a strong emphasis on teamwork and a nifty playing card based resolution mechanic. I think this is definitely one that I will be looking out for when it's announced officially.

Alpha Base attacked
An unknown Kaiju menace 
Team Force assemble!

Cryostasis breach
Major biohazard threat
Decontaminate 

The final slot was a chance to play Tales of the Old West instead of GMing for a change. I relished the opportunity to play an impulsive young gunslinger and we managed to track down the outlaws and even the odds by some tactical play. Excellent fun - a tip of the stetson to Dom for running!

Bobby Garrick shot
His wife Annie’s been kidnapped 
Damn Corrigan gang 

By dawn’s early light
An outlaw caught with his pants down 
An easy bounty 

See you all there next year!