[Information] Race Headquarters

[lostcheerio]

Table of Contents for This Thread

Post #1: Table of Contents (you're soaking in it)
Post #2: Rosters and Times Tables
Post #3: Announcements (in reverse chronological order)
Post #4: TARPGR Avatars Part 1 (winners and SciFi)
Post #5: TARPGR Avatars Part 2 (Steampunk and Fantasy)
Post #6: Story Summaries for Completed Games

[lostcheerio]

Expanded table:

Player	GM	Team Name	Game Name	Link	Notes	Genre	System	Start Date & Time
Aethera	Fillyjonk	Smokin' Gearhead Bards for Life	Clockwork Sienna	Game Thread		Steampunk	Rules Lite	July 9th @ 12:05pm
Fillyjonk	jbear	The Bardbearians	The Wild Misadventures of Burnapolia Bronkus	Game Thread		Fantasy	Grace and Grit	July 14th @ 6:00am
nanovich	bananabadger	TBD	TBD	TBD	Going for 48 in 48
pseudenim	bananabadger	TBD	Redcoats & Red Planets	Game Thread		Steampunk	TBD	July 9th @ 12:02pm
lostcheerio	Homestarbaby	Lost Star	Journey to the northWest!	Game Thread		Fantasy Wuxia	Rules Lite	July 12th @ 10:42am
Dworin	bothers	The Amazing Teatime	The Café at the End of the Universe	Game Thread	Flipped for GM seat and bothers got it	Fantasy	Rules Lite	July 9th @ 3:00am
bananabadger	Kaymithe	Mythical Badger	Angles & Dangles	Game Thread		Fantasy		July 12 @ 1:26am
penbeast9	lostcheerio	Furry Furioso	The Gates of Paradise	Game Thread		Fantasy	D&D5e	July 9th @ 12pm
zevonian	rhaiber	Retro-Futuristic, Film-Noir Fantasy Elves in Space	Whispers in the Aether: Mysteries of Magic and Machinery	Game Thread		All Three	Rules Lite	July 11th 12:20am
PlaidPeregrine	AnotherDragoon	A Plaid Pair of Goons	Interdimensional Espresso Apotheosis	Game Thread		SciFi		July 14 @ 7:00pm
Mitsubachi	squirmonkey	Monkeybachi	Galactic Gallopers	Game Thread		SciFi		July 9th @ 12:01am
stepanxol	bananabadger	Hoxhiast Hee-Haws	Hark! Hallowed Hollers	Game Thread	Going for 48 in 48	Steampunk		July 9th @ 7:00am
BlackDragon0	rhaiber	A Dragon and a Kender Walk Into a Coffee Bar	Is this necessary and is there a prize associated with it?	Game Thread		Fantasy	Rules Light	July 13 @ 1:08pm

Timing Table

Team Name	Player/GM	Start Time (GMT -4)	Finish Time (GMT -4)
Monkeybachi	Mitsubachi/squirmonkey	July 9 @ 12:01am	July 17 @ 5:20am
The Amazing Tea Time	Dworin/bothers	July 9 @ 3:00am
Hoxhiast Hee-Haws	Stepanxol/bananabadger	July 9 @ 7:00am	July 10 @ 5:31pm
Furry Furioso	Penbeast0/lostcheerio	July 9 @ 12:00pm	July 22 @ 12:19pm
Psuedobadger	Pseudenim/bananabadger	July 9 @ 12:02pm	July 23 @ 2:35
Smokin' Gearhead Bards for Life	Aethera/Fillyjonk	July 9 @ 12:05pm
Retro-Futuristic, Film-Noir Fantasy Elves in Space	zevonian/rhaiber	July 11 @ 12:20am	July 23 @ 10:52pm
Mythical Badger	bananabadger/Kaymithe	July 12 @ 1:26am
Lost Star	lostcheerio/Homestarbaby	July 12 @ 10:42am
A Dragon and a Kender Walk Into a Coffee Bar	BlackDragon0/rhaiber	July 13 @ 1:08pm	July 22 @ 3:26pm
The Bardbearians	Fillyjonk/jbear	July 14 @ 6:00am	July 15 @ 11:13pm
A Plaid Pair of Goons	PlaidPeregrine/Dragoon	July 14 @ 7:00pm	July 22 @ 12:38am

[lostcheerio]

This post will be updated with announcements, and linked from my signature so you can find the latest information.

Announcement #9 7/24/2023 9:48 AM | The Day After We did it you guys! For those who have reached 48: Your games have been moved to the Completed Games folder, a "Finish Line" post has been added, and your games are open to be read and posted on by anyone. Congratulations! For those who have not reached 48: I added a "Finish Line" post to mark the official end of the race, but if you'd like to carry on, of course you are welcome! If you want to end it there, and you'd like your game to be made public for others to read, let me know. If you're carrying on and you want to remove that pesky "Finish Line" post because it gives you finality vibes, I can do that too. For all: Over the next few days, we'll be counting words, writing summaries, and figuring out awards. All DMs should nominate their players. All players should nominate their DMs. Everyone should feel free to post in all the game threads, giving feedback, reactions, nominations, and chatter. They are not closed. They are open. Playlist: If you have a song to contribute to represent your game in the TARPGR playlist, post it! If we get enough songs (total of 24? 12 DM and 12 player recommendations in 12 games? so maybe "enough" is 12?) I'll add a post to Race Headquarters with the list. System Feedback: If you have feedback about the Rules Light system, I would love to discuss this. In fact, I've already posted a discussion question in that thread, for GMs or players who want to talk about it.

Announcement #8 7/23/2023 10:24 AM | The Last Day We're here! The last day of the race has arrived and only 14 hours remain in which teams can write 48 posts and be victorious. Go go go! We have six teams finished, and those games have been moved to the Completed Games folder and un-secreted. Feel free to leave feedback, encouragement, questions, award nominations, or just claps to those players and DMs. Every player should let me know what award they think their DM should receive, and every DM should let me know what award they think their player should receive. You can choose from our list, or make one up! Story summaries are coming, for the completed games. You can see them in this post at Race Headquarters or in the stats post at the beginning of each game thread. If you haven't finished yet and you'd like to write your own story summary, let us know! Otherwise, Fillyjonk and I would be happy to do that for you. It's not really a summary, more like the jacket copy on the back of a book, so if people want to read the thread, they won't know all the secrets already. If you aren't done but you feel like you might finish, maybe some advice from AnotherDragoon will help! His interview is below our post counter: squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 48! bothers and Dworin: post 28 zevonian and rhaiber: post 44 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 48! psuedenim and bananabadger: post 47 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 22 rhaiber and BlackDragon0: post: 48! bananabadger and Kaymithe: post 3 Homestarbaby and lostcheerio: post 26 Fillyjonk and jbear: post 48! AnotherDragoon and PlaidPeregrine: post 48! Q&A with AnotherDragoon, another winning GM! 1. Was it harder or easier than expected? It was about as I expected going in, honestly. The 48 in 48 is insane! Major props to BananaBadger, Stepanxol, Jbear, and Fillyjonk. Freeing up time to crank out the words proved to be the biggest obstacle. Having PlaidPeregrine along for the ride was a major boon, such a joy to collaborate with. Discord helped with communication between posts tremendously too. 2. How was it incorporating random rolls from the tables? The random tables were surprisingly fun! Forced me to stay fluid with the story and was honestly so much fun incorporating the twists. I found myself thinking how I might use the other possibilities as well. 3. Do you have any advice for the rest of the field? Stay hydrated, don't be afraid to fail forward, and remember it's all about having fun. As long as you're both enjoying the story you build, you've already won. Time to finish line for all: 13 hours and 36 minutes.

__________________

Announcement #7 7/19/2023 4:33 PM | Completed Games? What are THOSE? All racers alert! Take a look at our new Completed Games folder! When you finish your 48th post, I will post a finish line for you to mark the end of your game. And whew — it’s done! Then I will move your threads to Completed Games, open up your game thread, and we can all wander about the threads giving feedback, gaping in awe, cackling in delight, and so forth. Anyone can post in any thread about that thread. No judgments or critique, but if you have comments, or bits you particularly like, you can call them out! Maybe you have questions, or a “oh we did that too!” or maybe a “I can’t believe you guys did that” to share. Whatever you want to post! This is also a great time to nominate for prizes. Players, you can nominate your GM, and DMs you can nominate your player. The prize can be one on the list or another one you come up with. Awards will be abundant and ridiculous. Some may be objective, like "Highest Word Count" or "Lowest Time" but there will also be subjective ones like "Most Gruesome Fight" and emotional ones like "Most Walls Broken." There will be a trophy room in the Race Headquarters thread. For now, I’m looking forward to wandering through and reading everything. Also in Race Headquarters right now: Avatars! Here's our updated post count: squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 48! bothers and Dworin: post 25 zevonian and rhaiber: post 25 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 37 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 17 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 16 rhaiber and BlackDragon0: post: 26 bananabadger and Kaymithe: post 2 Homestarbaby and lostcheerio: post 20 Fillyjonk and jbear: post 48! AnotherDragoon and PlaidPeregrine: post 45 Time to finish line: 4 days 7 hours 21 minutes

Announcement #7 7/18/2023 10:43 AM | Screaming Through Week Two This is day 10 of the race! Another announcement and another finishing team. Huzzah for squirmonkey and Mitsubachi who raced to 48! This is particularly amazing because squirmonkey did this while also participating in Outplay. Congrats squirmonkey on making it through round 1 in Outplay, and to both squirmonkey and Mitsubachi for doing an amazing job driving your team to victory in TARPGR! See below for some GM thoughts on the experience... Here's our updated post count: squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 48! bothers and Dworin: post 20 zevonian and rhaiber: post 19 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 33 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 9 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 14 rhaiber and BlackDragon0: post: 18 bananabadger and Kaymithe: post 2 Homestarbaby and lostcheerio: post 14 Fillyjonk and jbear: post 48! AnotherDragoon and PlaidPeregrine: post 42 And here's squirmonkey's green room interview after the race was run: 1. Was it harder or easier than expected? I'll agree that it was about as hard as expected. We got slowed down a little bit by distant time-zones and our both keeping erratic sleep schedules, but it worked out fine. We were able to get in more than the 2 posts per day that would have seen us safely to the finish line just by going fast and making good assumptions. For me, the hardest part was pacing the story itself. I wanted to make sure to include all three table results as significantly as possible, while also having a final showdown and resolving that final showdown by post 47, so we could use 48 for a denouement. The dice system we used made success and partial success results very common (and Mitsubachi rolled very well!), which was good. It gave me a lot of room to keep things moving while still keeping the pressure up. I don't run a lot of one-shot games, which is I think the closest normal RPG thing to what's happening here. (After all, in a live session, you get to way more than the equivalent of 48 posts in 48 hours!) But I think I learned a good bit about the pacing of them. How to have loud moments, and quiet moments, etc. There's plenty I would do differently next time, but I think our 48 posts make a decent story, and are a solid showing for a first outing! 2. How was it incorporating random rolls from the tables? For the most part, I really enjoyed it. One of the biggest and most exciting moments in our game came from the twist I rolled on the twists table. Having the tables to roll on gave me a good excuse to introduce some complexity to the story beyond what was in the starting situation without feeling like I was stepping in the way of player agency, which was good, because I can sometimes get a little inhibited in wide-open roleplaying like this. My only criticism is that I found the 3rd table (in my genre at least) to be too detailed. Many of the details of the encounter I rolled had to be changed because they couldn't be fit into the story at such a late stage, or because they directly contradicted facts that we'd established in play. Peeking at some of the other encounters, they go so far as to include mechanical details that are invalid in many dice systems. I made it work, but the presence of the 3rd-table element was by far the least satisfying of the three in our game, and felt forced in from my perspective. I would have preferred a simple one-line description of the type of encounter that was happening (like the other tables had been) so that I could have adapted it to fit the current facts of our game more naturally. 3. Do you have any advice for the rest of the field? Just roll with it. Something I sometimes struggle with as a GM is the feeling that I'm responsible for the entire story, and that if I'm not on my game, the story will be unsatisfying as a result of my failure to make it better. This sometimes leads me to offer my players choices where I have a pretty good idea of what they're going to pick, so that I can steer things the way I want them to go. I certainly did this a few times during the race, and it worked fine. But some of the best moments in our game were the ones where I showed my player a threat or problem without any idea of how they were going to deal with it, and they consistently surprised me with plans that were not only clever, they were excellently on theme. All this to say, the race is a collaboration, and I think it's at it's strongest when both player and GM are leaving things wide open, so that there's room for the other to surprise them. Time to finish line: 5 days 13 hours 15 minutes

Announcement #6 7/16/2023 6:49 PM | The Mad Dash This is day 8 of the race! We had another team finish -- congratulations to jbear and Fillyjonk who hit 48 in under 36 hours with their fantasy story. Incredible! Hey, how's it going out there for you? Sometimes the middle of a project is the hardest part and requires the most determination, after the novelty of the beginning and before the exultation of the end. I hope everyone will find some energy in reaching the halfway point! All the progress is so awesome. GMs, don't forget the GM threads are also for private discussion if you want to bounce ideas or pose questions to GMs who are doing the same genre you are. Here's our updated post count: squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 44 bothers and Dworin: post 18 zevonian and rhaiber: post 14 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 29 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 5 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 12 rhaiber and BlackDragon0: post: 11 bananabadger and Kaymithe: post 2 Homestarbaby and lostcheerio: post 10 Fillyjonk and jbear: post 48! AnotherDragoon and PlaidPeregrine: post 32 One of our finishers, Fillyjonk, answered my little survey for those wrapping up games. Here are her answers: 1. Was it harder or easier than expected? EASIER in some ways. Because it was SO FUN. I was kinda waiting for the post to drop, and I loved the galloping pressure of having to be IMMEDIATELY creative. Loved. HARDER at the end. WE GOT REAL SLEEPY! lol. 2. How was it incorporating random rolls from the tables? From a player standpoint -- I LOVED it. It led to some really cute moments and call-backs, and the one big TWIST roll was AWESOME. But part of that was my dm, I am sure, who did a great job rolling with it. I will see how I feel when i have to roll in ONE MORE POST in the game I am DMing. 3. Do you have any advice for the rest of the field? Don't be afraid to stay in a great moment. If your DM puts up cool stuff, stop and smell his or her carnivorous roses. Trust the dm to move you along or open a path to an end.

Announcement #5 7/14/2023 8:12 PM | Pack up the starting gate! This is day 6 of the race! There's no one waiting in the paddock. That's right. All of our teams have started! And remember, Step and badger have finished, and gosh, squirmonkey and Mitsubachi are wonderfully close! We have two teams currently going for 48 in 48 (that's jbear/Fillyjonk and Dragoon/Plaid) and the rest of us schmucks are cantering along with big plans of just finishing. GMs, don't forget the GM threads are also for private discussion if you want to bounce ideas or pose questions to GMs who are doing the same genre you are. Here's our updated post count: squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 35 bothers and Dworin: post 13 zevonian and rhaiber: post 12 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 19 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 2 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 6 rhaiber and BlackDragon0: post: 8 bananabadger and Kaymithe: post 2 Homestarbaby and lostcheerio: post 10 Fillyjonk and jbear: post 16 AnotherDragoon and PlaidPeregrine: post 0 Twelve teams, and twelve big dreams. Anyone had a PC death? (It's me. I did. It's me.) Remember you can just switch characters and keep plunging onward to 48! Don't be downhearted, especially with the Rules Light system. It can be deadly! But you didn't come here to be safe, did you? Mwahahahaha!

Announcement #4 7/13/2023 1:34 PM | Almost all in! This is day 5 of the race! Almost all our teams have started, with only two more to begin tomorrow. The final two teams to take to the course are strong contenders for "48 in 48" challenge and both are going to attempt it, so you know however early or late it is, there will be a lot of wild flag-waving at the starting line and hoots and hollers from an enthusiastic crowd as these last four lunatics take off. That's 6am GMT -4 and 7pm GMT -4 for those of you would like to wave a flag or hoot and holler from your desk. GMs, don't forget the GM threads are also for private discussion if you want to bounce ideas or pose questions to GMs who are doing the same genre you are. Here's our updated post count: squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 28 bothers and Dworin: post 10 zevonian and rhaiber: post 7 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 13 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 2 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 3 rhaiber and BlackDragon0: post: 1 bananabadger and Kaymithe: post 2 One of our finishers answered my questions. Coincidentally it was the one that isn't currently racing! So here are stepanxol's answers: 1. Was it harder or easier than expected? I can say I found the whole thing relatively hard, but not as much as I thought (even considering a 7-hour gap in our time zones). Of course I had banana as GM, and that helped a lot, not only because he rules (he does), but also because we go way back. This allowed us to find "the flow" right away and also -- most importantly -- to use an IM like Telegram to communicate in real-time during the (long) sessions when we were practically playing in real-time. This of course requires sharing a RL phone contact, and I understand it's not for everyone, but it's been crucial for our speedrun. I figure the OOC thread will be enough for people aiming to finish in 2 weeks (esp. if you've set up in advance a twice-daily posting rate with specific times). 2. How was it incorporating random rolls from the tables? I think maybe cheerio and Filly were afraid that... there was not enough plot in the scenario? The result has been a constant sequence of plot twists (at a certain point, practically one every post!), which may have been too much for its own good. GMs may want to tone that aspect down, if the game doesn't show a need for it. That said, of course a game that's fully resolved in 24 player posts is by its very nature a strange beast, so... it's difficult to evaluate. We must do it again soon to verify my hypothesis! 3. Do you have any advice for the rest of the field? My advice is to have fun and don't be afraid to do weird stuff. Think of your future readers, you'll want to entertain and amaze them! Keep going, all! You are doing a great job. Personally I'm finding that this is much different from normal PbP, even more so than the compressed timeline would have led me to suspect. We'll debrief it all when it's over, but for right now, let's race on!

Announcement #3 7/11/2023 10:13 PM | 48 in 48? How about 36?! This is day 3 of the race! We have six teams on the course and one team past the finish line!! Huge congrats to Stepanxol and bananabadger who finished their steampunk adventure in less than 36 hours. Well done! squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 15 bothers and Dworin: post 9 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 48! lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 11 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 1 Aethera and Fillyjonk: post 1 More teams starting tomorrow! Everyone is doing so well. The pacing for this game is kinda crazy isn't it? A couple of questions for our 36-hour finishers: 1. Was it harder or easier than expected? 2. How was it incorporating random rolls from the tables? 3. Do you have any advice for the rest of the field? I'll collect the answers in the next announcement.

Announcement #2 7/10/2023 8:14 AM | They're Off! This is day 2 of the race! We have six teams on the course and incredibly it looks like we may have a finish coming soon! Stretch that ribbon across the line, get your confetti cannon ready, and release the doves. Then get the doves back because we need them for the next racers to come through. squirmonkey and Mitsubachi: post 11 bothers and Dworin: post 5 bananabadger and stepanxol: post 31 lostcheerio and penbeast0: post 7 psuedenim and bananabadger: post 1 Everyone is doing a fantastic job -- keep going! Glory awaits. There are no more starts until tomorrow, so today will be about squirmonkey and maybe also me rolling on that plot twist table, bananabadger and step sailing into the winners' tent, and the rest of us cantering boldly onward.

Announcement #1 7/8/2023 11:32 PM | Notes at the Starting Line 1. At your start time, you will get a post in your game thread with the materials the player can see: premise and playable characters. You will also get a link to the GM thread for your chosen genre, so the GM can see settings, monsters, and tables. Game material provided can be used as is, or twisted, augmented, excerpted or extrapolated. Use as gospel, or as inspiration, or don't use it at all. 2. All art is AI-generated. You may use it in your posts by right clicking and referencing it at its current address. 3. If your GM posts first, and you strictly post back and forth, then your player will be writing post #48. If you'd prefer to have your GM write post #48, you can have your player post first, or someone can post twice at some point in the game. 4. GMs can use the GM thread for your genre to talk to other GMs or ask me or Fillyjonk questions about running your game. 5. Players and GMs can chat in The Pit Stop during their game run, but please keep a lid on the game material until everyone has had a chance to rip open that envelope on their own starting line.

[lostcheerio]

Avatars are hosted on Imgur and can be used from their current location, or you can download them and host them however you like best.

Winner Avatars

SciFi Avatars

[lostcheerio]

Steampunk Avatars

Fantasy Avatars

[lostcheerio]

Hark! Hallowed Hollers
by bananabadger & Stepanxol

This is the story of a sweet little green cryptid named Aromatika. All she ever wanted to do was rescue her little buddy Larvarvus, and all she ever did was to eat a cultist, take his identity, fall in love with a news deliverer, who was actually the son of a mad industrialist inside the scooped out body of cult-breaking revolutionary, and then take her identity, and then there was some poison, and-- and ---! Friends, in this game, nothing is as it seems, and "shot to the heart" is not a metaphor. In the midst of this daring rescue and all these transformations, the esteemed Princess Akimo is coming to Toffingwatch! Will her visit culminate with a midnight whist tournament hosted by Enoch Irondawn? Or will she choose to patronize one of the rival balls, hosted by Otto and Elspbeth Irondawn (or their scooped out corpses animated by crazy cryptids and cultists)?

In this tale of mistaken identities and betrayal, the soulless automaton you think you adore is actually the soup tureen with which you can save the world. Oppressors are orphans, clockwork is forever, and Whizztanks will not get in the way of destiny. Don't underestimate love or the compelling call of a sudden cyclist!

Click here for the game thread.

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The Wild Misadventures of Burnapolia Bronkus
by jbear and Fillyjonk

Join Crispienne the Fairy Dragon (better known as a very normal looking, mostly person-shaped being who goes by Burnapolia Bronkus) as she fails to infiltrate the tower of the Mad Spider-Mage Mortigorn to rescue Buttons, the love of her life. The baddies capture Crispi almost instantly—we’re talking in post one, folks—and using powerful pointy-sock magic, imprison her in a created reality as part of a mad plan to make Fairy Dragons into perfume.

To avoid this nicely scented if horrific fate, she’ll have to follow the yellow brick road through the Snowpiercer, and orphan soaked Dickensian London, and the Dark Tower, and a host of other universes all the way to the chocolate-clogged digestive system of the Sarlacc to defeat a villain with the most disturbing vestigial nipples ever penned. Along the way, Crispi is helped by her best friend, an alive hunk of mud named Hunk of Mud and a Broadway cast of expendable thousands from a dozen different fandoms. Can true love triumph in the end? Maybe, but it might not be the love you think!

Click here for the game thread.

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Interdimensional Espresso Apotheosis
by AnotherDragoon and PlaidPeregrine

Jechts may look like a malformed toddler with a head made of infinite space, but this child-sized being is actually a puppet-vehicle piloted by a canny space-frog who is not about to let his naive and undying orange bestie get dissected in the name of human immortality. No one wants those guys around hanging that long, anyway!

The K.I.L.L. Institute has golden robots and metal tracking hounds and evil scientists galore, while our hero only has a crafty clone, a soft-hearted techie, myriad janitorial supplies, and a Loki-level propensity for gonzo shenanigans and trickery to rely on as he mad dashes his friend to possible safety. The real treasure, of course, will be Punky Bearster and the friends he makes along the way. Because the mad dice may well have him losing his friend like a set of cars cars before he’s even half way home!

Click here for the game thread.

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Galactic Gallopers
by squirmonkey and Mitsubachi

Dr. Kimi Suzuki will not bow to the orders of Dr. Korblorglot, will not vivisect this harmless alien on the table in front of her. She's not cowed by that rat of a colleague, Lyle Daglon, nor is she afraid to high-kick a robot into submission! No, she scoops up the little orange blob and launches a daring rescue! Dr. Suzuki must navigate air ducts and enemies, endure injuries and ignore orders, all to get this sweet little alien to safety.

Can she make it out of the Institute and get Hoobli Dorbli to his spaceship and freedom? Can she make time to do a little science with a hot nerd along the way? Watch out for those plot twists, Dr. Suzuki! A landing beacon by any other name is actually ultimate evil! With the help of supporting cast that includes a luddite and a science officer, Dr. Kimi Suzuki will make Starfleet proud.

Click here for the game thread.

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The Gates of Paradise
by lostcheerio and penbeast0

In the Baptistery of St. John in Florence, sometime after Brunelleschi's dome was finished but before Leonardo DaVinci attempted flight, an aarakocra Inquisitor of the Catholic Church and a kenku Anabaptist dissident are both attending a baptism. But something's not quite right here, as a corrupted priest has made a deal with a pair of strega to use a helpless fey creature in a terrible plot to target and weaken certain Florentine families. This unlikely avian duo must team up to save the little fairy, stop the strega, and expose the priest.

Will they find friendship along the way? Will they survive the violent gold constructs the priest animates from Ghiberti's famous doors? Will an aerial battle over the duomo itself bring a flock of Inquisitors against them? Can they escape the clutching vines of the strega's nature magic? Can they get the infant fey bird back his wings and beak, and return him to his realm? Lord knows they'll try.

Click here for the game thread.

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Is this necessary and is there a prize associated with it?
by rhaiber & BlackDragon0

In the lovely land of Prismadia, Princess Luminara Starshimmer, the prettiest princess ever to be made entirely out of sugar, has lost her Faerie Dragon, Buttons, to some baddies. Who can rescue Buttons? Probably not Crispian, a liarpants, and definitely not Krunchian, an entirely different liarpants who is an elf or human and not the same guy as Crispian at all. Nope, it’s going to have to be Gallant, a knight or apprentice knight or some kind of knight-adjacent guy with katanas.

Our good aligned hero sets off to save the good aligned Princess’ good little fairy dragon, but he may be brutally tied up by buff mage brothers Kirk and Dirk or brutally hugged to death by otters before he can succeed. With two lighthearted DMs, a slew of helpful allies, and some portals to alternate worlds, Gallant just might get untied long enough to complete the quest, but twists abound and you will never guess who turns out to be genuinely, actually, no but really, OH-MY-GODS-AND-GODDESSES, 100% evil in this pink romp toward a big, red end.

Click here for game thread.

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Redcoats and Red Planets
by bananabadger & psuedenim

In a genre-bent Victorian England where steam powered space travel has led humanity to Mars, a middle-aged ex-soldier is sent to Toffingwatch investigate mysterious, dark doings and perhaps rescue some non-native life forms from the ill intentioned Irondawn Diagnostics. Soon he’s hooking up (metaphorically) with an inside (wo)man agent and (yikes, perhaps more literally) with enemy bullets.

Neither snipers, nor imported orc wizards, nor gloom of knight invasions from Fairy-Land, nor bouts of frog-boxing shall stop this Queensman from meeting the swift destiny of his appointed round. Only time(travel) will tell if that a metaphor for the rescue, or a literal round of ammunition. He has already lost one career to a war wound! Will Gaylen die here on this (metaphorical and literal) hill, or find the success and glory as an agent that eluded him in his soldiering days (disappointing his mother)? The answer is, Don’t be so binary; this game’s wild conclusion is only found down a winding path through through multiple threads, realities, players, and genres.

Click here for game thread.

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Whispers in the Aether: Mysteries of Magic and Machinery
by rhaiber & zevonian

Welcome to New Avalon City, a sprawling metropolis shrouded in an eternal haze of mystery and ambition, where the elites in their Elfhattan penthouses can easily overlook the downtrodden kitsune immigrants who call Kunluntown their home. Arcano-prohibition casts a long shadow over this city of secrets while ominous whispers speak of the rising tide of Orzi fascism overseas. This backdrop of clandestine intrigue is also home to one of the toughest hard-boiled detectives ever to crack a case.

Unfortunately, he’s out of town.

Instead we get his assistant, Phinneas Merrit, the guy charged with such dangerous tasks as answering phones and picking up the dry cleaning. That is, until a raven-haired siren in silk stockings enters his life. Now Phinneas finds himself on a wild chase that will take him from the casteasies of Mordor’s Kitchen all the way to the heart Orczi controlled Niebelungen and perhaps worlds beyond our knowing; and what starts out as a missing person’s case could determine the fate of humanoid-kind.

Click here for game thread.

[lostcheerio]

Technical Table

Team Name	Player/GM	Start Time (GMT -4)	Finish Time (GMT -4)	Time to 48	Total words
Monkeybachi	Mitsubachi/squirmonkey	July 9 @ 12:01am	July 17 @ 5:20am	197.3 Hours	19,354 Words
Hoxhiast Hee-Haws	Stepanxol/bananabadger	July 9 @ 7:00am	July 10 @ 5:31pm	35.5 Hours	15,594 Words
Furry Furioso	Penbeast0/lostcheerio	July 9 @ 12:00pm	July 22 @ 12:19pm	312.3 Hours	32,649 Words
Pseudobadger	psuedenim/bananabadger	July 9 @ 12:02pm	July 23 @ 2:35pm	335.5 Hours	19,006 Words
Retro-Futuristic, Film-Noir Fantasy Elves in Space	zevonian/rhaiber	July 11 @ 12:20am	Jul 23 @ 10:52pm	310.5 Hours	33,548 Words
A Dragon and a Kender Walk Into a Coffee Bar	BlackDragon0/rhaiber	July 13 @ 1:08pm	July 22 @ 3:26pm	218.3 Hours	19,593 Words
The Bardbearians	Fillyjonk/jbear	July 14 @ 6:00am	July 15 @ 11:13pm	41.2 Hours	38,646 Words
A Plaid Pair of Goons	PlaidPeregrine/Dragoon	July 14 @ 7:00pm	July 22 @ 12:38am	172.6 Hours	24, 896 Words