TL;DR: GM tries to modify every aspect of a game he hasn't even read to have control of everything and railroad to the max.
I had a few brief horror moments in my experience with RPGs, but this is the most extensive, so it will be a very long story.

We had a group in which we rotate games and GM role every campaign, so I played other 2 campaignes with this group and they were really good.
This story begins way before the campaign starts. The group is formed by Me, The Hippy (a really nice guy that just avoid every personal conflict), Mr. Precise (a precise and ordered guy, very gentle, avoid fight but not conflicts) and the GM.

The GM wants to start a fantasy gritty campaign in the viking era (Journey to Ragnarok module for D&D 5e), really cool so far. He played D&D 3.5 before but never read nor play 5e, still suggested to play it as a GM.
Me and Mr Precise (we know 5e) start pointing out some problems that may occur while using D&D to play the gritty campaign he is describing. We suggest he read the manual and rule out some spells or abilities that may automatically solve the problems he wants to put in the story.
For example you can create food for all the party with the goodberries spell. If he wants to play around hunger, he should modify or ban the spell. GM responds that you can take the spell, but if you do you will be incarcerated and forced to cast it every day to make food for the people.
He asks what characters we wants to play (I want to play a Druid, Mr Precise a Wizard) and after we create them he starts to ban some things:

the only avaiable race is human
you can only use the class specialty in the Journey to Ragnarok module
you can't use fire as a wizard or other spells he thinks aren't right (he literally says this, so we don't know what he means by "right")
wizards can't have a book, writing doesn't exist in this world

Ok... so Me and Mr Precise stop modifying our characters at every new "rule" and ask him to made a full list of what is banned or modified, he responds that it will be too long to read everything and make a list (Days has passed, he haven't read the manual yet).
Mr Precise still wants to play a Wizard and the GM suggests he can sew runes in his vest instead of having the book...ok cool! But he will have to find the rune corresponding to the spells to learn them AND roll a sew skill check (not arcana) if he fails he can't learn spells until next level.
They start to discuss this thing (Mr Precise thinks is unfair), not really into a fight and after a while the GM says he can't be the GM because we are too hostile to him.
We just state the italian saying: clear agreements lead to long friendship. But at least problem is avoided, right? ...Ahah, not so fast!
GM changes his mind and brings new home rules to the table, like: using swords wears out the edge.
I ask if hammers have the same problem. GM respond that they don't have it, because hammers didn't exist in the viking era. He corrects himself right after, saying that they exists, but only smiths have them and are 10 times as expensive as a sword. (What?)
After some discussion GM cancel house rules and just says that he can use whetever he wants in the campaign because he is the GM ... we don't agree, of course the GM can create his world and modify rules BEFORE the campaign start, but especially after all he is saying, we really like to use clear rules.
At this point The Hippy (that has partecipated very little in the discussion) make a long message that says that changing all the rules in this way is too much and repeat to the GM that he should at least read the manual for start. Mr Precise adds that changing random things really change the balance in the game.
GM ignore the Hippy and tells that there is no balance since the GM has all the power, and that he is changing everything to make the world more realistic and similar to the viking age. (We explain what we mean by balance but he doesn't listen).
At this point he was also mildly insulting us (he said we were polemical, always negative and talking nonsense). So I make a long post in which i say he is ridicolous for not listening to all his 3 players. He if he wants to GM properly this is the first thing to do, other players agree in this.
He spit out some other insults and state that he will not be our GM...nice!
But wait, there's more!
Mr Precise and the GM keep fighting about changing the rules to accomodate the setting. (basically GM would change everything, while Mr Precise suggest to change little things or simply not use an high fantasy game to play in a gritty world).
(I'm skipping a lot of other nonsense, but this is getting too long).
At this point the GM still hasn't read the manual. So i suggest to change the game, or if he doesn't want, to leave us the task to remove all things that can break the gritty game he is describing or as a deseprate move remove all magic... it's really bad to remove magic from D&D, but this is what he was describing for days... a gritty world where people fear hunger and cold, how can we fear hunger and nonmagical cold if we can sput out food and fire out of nothing or create magical space with confortable temperature?
So GM finally decided: we will play Symbaroum (a D&D like game, with low magic) but whith a viking setting.
Ok, finally he changed his mind...
I read the Symbaroum manual, i don't like it very much, but whetever. GM asks what characters we want to do (here we go again! :D)
Mr Precise asks if he can make a necromancer (wich is a school of magic exactly like the others in the game). GM says he can do it, but if he do it he is an NPC (why???) We explain that a necromancer is basically a wizard and doesn't have to be evil, the GM respond his spell sucks because they kills friends.
In reality, there is one necromancer spell that target all living creature nearby... but he can just use it in the right moment or simply take other spells.
GM continues to make home rules and changes things up as for D&D, but you get the idea, i don't want to repat too much, so i skip to the best parts.
After i make my character (some sort of paladin) he tries to modify my abilities distribution, my powers choice, my background (not because it didn't fit the setting, he just wants to make my character one eyed, maybe to resamble Odin I don't know), even the picture i want to use and my F***ing character name (Gorm) because it wasn't viking enough... i literally searched on google "viching names" as HE suggested and chose from them.
I discuss some things with him, trying to accomodate what he is looking for, but I just refuse to agree to the nonsense.
At this point you may ask, why do you still wants to play with a GM like that? Well, this is thrilling me, how will this end?

So the campaign starts...
When we roleplay between characters is really exceptional, but even the parts with the GM are pretty nice, the problem is that in combat he continuosly give us malus for our actions and try to defeat us by "cheating" (using narration he said) but never killed us. The worst part was that every event occur in an awful railroad. Whethever you do, the most predictable thing always happens.
We played the first sessions using a draw program with the GM sharing his desktop (we switched to roll20 later) and at some point he alt-tabbed and show us some notes by mistake: It was a graph formed by 9 or 10 hexagonal boxes and arrows, like this:
[Encounter with NPC, go to the woods] -> [wolf attack, injures NPC] -> [Return to village, other NPC punish them for leaving first NPC there]
I Read only the first boxes, understand what it was and stopped, but everything i read happened.
I lasted 5 sessions...
the last thing was an encounter with an invincible NPC (that healed more damages per turn that we can possible make) in which i just tried to die in an old fashioned viching way before leaving the campaign, but apparently this wasn't his plan, so i didn't die.
So I write a message in the group telling that this is not my style of playing, i'm not having fun and so i'm stopping.
The GM insults me one more time, said he should have never accepted me as player (I was contacted by Mr Precise on a role play website and asked to join the group) and kick me from the chat group before other player can answer me.
The best insult was toward my character that to his words was a "panettone schifoso" ("disgusting panettone", today i don't even know what this mean, my character was basically a noble viching warrior with some heals and divine protections).
Other players answer me privatley telling me they understand me, but will continue playing mainly because he is a friend.

[Humans Will Use Any Weapon] #4

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[2 weeks]. [2 weeks]. Atall could barely believe it. For [2 weeks] the hexagonal brick of a battleship has been stalking her fleet, just drifting, maneuvering only when Atall moved her fleet. She could barely grasp how the monster of the species 437 vessel managed to continue its pursuit, especially considering that Atall had her fleet making anti-chase burns every time it got too close. It should have run out of fuel [days] ago, but there it was, angrily spinning as Scout Fleet S32-558-B-437 came to a halt.
Atall slowly wrapped a tendril around her communications interface. "This is Kesselfoor Atall to Gau Jorain, estimated time before we need to maneuver?"
"Gau Jorain to Kesselfoor Atall, if the species 437 battleship follows existing travel patterns, we have a little less than [2 days]."
Unwrapping her tendril from her communications interface, Atall rubbed her backplate and grabbed a nutrient bar from the side of her command nest. She quietly nibbled on the flavorless brick of compressed nutrients. [2 days] would mean that the last maneuver was the second most effective thus far, but it had also been the most dangerous, having to fly through the weapons range of the battleship to save enough fuel to make the maneuver worthwhile. Thankfully, the battleship didn't fire when the fleet got too close. Was it just trying to scare them off? Was it trying to monitor them? Was it simply too slow to react? Had the fleet scared it? Atall put the thoughts aside as she swallowed the last of the nutrient bar, wrapping a tendril around the communications interface.
"This is Kesselfoor Atall to Gau Halamare, what is the status of your system scans?"
"Gau Halamare to Kesselfoor Atall, there appears to be 8 planets, 4 between the local star and an inner asteroid belt, with the other 4 being gas giants between the inner and outer asteroid belts. Multiple dwarf planets detected throughout the system, several with signs of habitation. Most of the activity appears to be focused on the 3 planets within the expanded habitable zone, though one of the dwarf planets appears to be of import and there is a series of strange cargo transfer systems located around 2 of the gas giants."
"Kesselfoor Atall to Gau Jorain, have you learned any information about their vessels? Deployments?"
"Gau Jorain to Kesselfoor Atall, we've gathered enough for the Bureau of Space Tactics to come up with some ideas. Other than that, it would appear that species 437 is taking a defensive posture, focusing their vessels around planets, orbitals, and the dwarf planet that Gau Halamare mentioned. The few vessels that have been moving through open space are now travelling in groups, typically 2 to 5. We've also noticed that species 437 vessels appear to randomly appear and disappear when traveling through empty space."
"No signs?"
"None at all, Kesselfoor. No gravitic fluctuations, no superluminal blooms and no spacetime distortions. They appear and disappear seemingly without warning."
Atall released the communications interface. Sure, her fleet managed to gather some vital locational data, but it also brought more questions. Why are their vessels appearing and disappearing? Do they have some new stealth technology? Is it a never-before-seen method of travel? Do they have the ability to will things into and out of existence? In all reality, any of the options she could think of only served to make Atall rub her backplate more aggressively.
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"Captain! Unknowns are maneuvering. If they continue on their current path, they'll pass through our turret range." Called out the young woman, in a blue jumpsuit, who sat at the sensors station.
Captain Blackburn shook his head, still smiling. "Gunnery, hold fire unless fired upon."
"Yes, Captain!" Shouted a middle aged man in a blue jumpsuit that matched the rest of the bridge crew, before grabbing the microphone on his console and saying "All gunners! Hold fire unless fired upon!"
A woman of similar age to the man working the gunnery chief station called out "Captain! Maintain one quarter energy maneuvers?"
"Navigation! Confirm, maintain one quarter energy maneuvers." Stated Blackburn.
Sitting back in his command chair, Captain Blackburn watched his small bridge crew work their magic as the aliens prepared to reposition again. They'd been playing this game for 2 weeks now, but that only served to make them predictable. Sure, the aliens were fast, but they liked to move, then come to a relative stop, using plenty of acceleration along the way. It was almost as if they wanted him to keep drifting after them. Kinda reminded him of chasing rabbits around the backyard as a kid.
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Stubbs pulled the small, white cloth out of his uniform's chest pocket, wiped the sweat from his palms, then folded the cloth back up and returned it to the pocket from which it came. Returning to a more official posture, he continued down the hallway. A basic red carpet ran down the hallway's center with a recently done wood floor (which the receptionist excitedly informed him was from the artificial forest surrounding New China) beneath the carpet and white-blue metal walls with a mural of the formation of the UMC and a painting for each of the 27 presidents. Frankly, Stubbs was glad the Federal Headquarters was kept as simple as it was. It was slightly calming.
It wasn't long before Stubbs was at his destination: The Octagonal Office. The dark red, wooden door may have only been half a meter taller than Stubbs, but at the moment it seemed as if it was thrice his height. With a deep breath, Stubbs raised his right hand and knocked on the door.
Before Stubbs had a chance to recognize what was happening, the door opened and red suited, gruff and sturdy President Rupert Calhoun shook Stubbs hand and practically pulled him into the Octagonal Office, which Stubbs noted was actually a dodecagon. The office itself had a cement floor with a red, octagonal carpet taking up most of the floor, a large, curved desk for the President and a coffee table with a couch on each side and a comfy looking chair on either end. Along the walls were a mix of secured weapons lockers and quietly humming servers. Calhoun quickly guided Stubbs to the left side of the coffee table, where he stood for a moment before Calhoun spoke.
"Captain Stubbs, it is a pleasure to meet you. I would also like to introduce you to Secretary-General Kouma. He will be sitting in on our little meeting."
After a moment to regain his composure, Stubbs said "It's my pleasure, Mr. President." Offering his hand to the still seated Kouma, Stubbs stated "And it is a pleasure to meet you, Secretary-General Kouma."
Kouma stood up, his lanky form a head taller than Stubbs while his tight, black suit made him look as if Stubbs could snap him like a toothpick. Grabbing Stubbs's hand and shaking, Kouma said "The pleasure is all mine, Captain."
As Stubbs sat down on the couch, Kouma asked "Can I get you a coffee, Captain? I brought a bag of sea-salt caramel with me. It's not quite what they grow on Luna, but I like it."
"Yes, please." Replied Stubbs, desperately holding his poker face.
"While the Secretary-General's up and about, do you know why I called you here, Captain?" Asked Calhoun, taking a sip of his own coffee.
"No, Mr. President, but I suspect you want a direct report on yesterday's incident." Stubbs replied.
"That's correct, Captain."
"Might I ask why the Secretary-General is present for this meeting?"
"Convenience mostly. The Secretary-General was meeting with me to further discuss our unified defense of Sol and a more complete defensive plan for our collective extrasolar colonies." Calhoun calmly stated, taking another sip of his coffee.
Stubbs sat back, a minute of silence passing, which felt like an hour, before Kouma returned with a coffee cup filled with the light brown liquid. Taking the cup from Kouma, Stubbs sipped at the hot liquid meanwhile Kouma took his place in the opposing couch.
"How about you start from the beginning, Captain?" Calhoun asked, a gentle smile appearing on his face.
"It was about 1400 hours, Earth time, when the New America got the call. The New America was on a standard sub-light patrol of the 1st Martian Exclusion Orbit at the time. We were told that a gravitic anomaly was detected at the edge of the Exclusion Orbit and told to investigate. I ordered the New America to begin acceleration towards the coordinates Mars Command gave us and was told by the navigation officer that we were 15 minutes out with the CNSS Musashi and UMC New Britain arriving at the coordinates in 20 minutes. As we began the burn to the anomaly, I called general quarters." Stubbs said, stopping when Kouma raised his right hand.
"Were local scans showing anything in the area? Ships? Asteroids?"
"No, Secretary-General. Just empty space at that point." Stubbs replied.
"Okay, continue."
"About 10 minutes after the New America got the call, the alien fleet started appearing. Each ship they had was announced with a burst of blue-green light. Made them easy to detect and start tracking with active sensors. There were about 15 vessels, so I ordered the New America to go dark and maneuver on cold thrust only, preparing the standard exclusion zone message for 5 minutes later, which would have been 5 minutes before the Musashi arrived. About a minute before we sent the exclusion zone message, we were able to get visuals on the alien vessels."
Stubbs was once again interrupted, this time by Calhoun.
"Did any of the ships match anything we saw during first contact?"
"Only one. An organic missile cruiser. The one that fled during first contact. The rest were 'new' ships."
"Hmm. So, you had just gotten visuals."
"We had gotten visuals and shortly after that we went hot and broadcast the exclusion orbit message. They didn't respond. Actually, they didn't do anything, just drifted there. While we were waiting on reinforcements, I had the sensors officer identify the weapons the alien ships had. If I remember correctly, it was 7 frigates and the cruiser that used missiles, 4 kinetic frigates and 3 sensor cruisers. I'm not sure I got the numbers exactly right, but they're in the New America's ship logs. Either way, the alien fleet was 15 long and mostly missile ships, so I ordered the New America into broadside against the fleet and prepared for evasive maneuvers. This was maybe a minute before the Musashi arrived. I also told my gunners to only fire if fired upon and my comms officer to communicate such rules of engagement to the New Britain and the Musashi."
Calhoun raised his hand to his chest before asking "What did they do in response to your broadside?"
"They fled, Mr. President."
"Did they have any experience with the maneuver?" Asked Kouma.
Stubbs took a breath, then said "The missile cruiser from first contact did. I had the New America perform the maneuver after the cruiser launched a full missile wall at the New America."
"Good to know. Continue." Said Calhoun.
"Yes. The alien fleet began fleeing, just about the time that the Musashi arrived. I think it was 4 of the alien ships that reacted. They broke off from the alien fleet, launching missiles and a small kinetic volley at the Musashi. When the attacks proved ineffective, the kinetic ship returned to the alien fleet, but the missile ships continued their attack. The Musashi retaliated with a volley of its own. The 3 attacking ships must've been frigates, 'cause their defenses did fuck all against Musashi's volley..."
Without giving Stubbs any indication to stop, Kouma asked "What was the effect?"
After a moment's pause, Stubbs replied with "One of the alien ships was destroyed in the volley. The other two had their engines damaged."
"How did the Musashi respond?"
"Blackburn had her close in and use her flak guns for disabling fire. He also had the Musashi launch boarding craft loaded with robots."
"And the aliens?" Asked Calhoun.
"Once the boarders hit, the aliens detonated their ships while the rest of the fleet fled."
"One last thing, Captain. What were the final orders? After the alien fleet fled." Asked Kouma.
Stubbs took a sip of his coffee, then replied with "The Musashi was ordered to monitor the alien fleet, while the New America and the New Britain returned to Mars, Secretary-General."
Calhoun rubbed his chin for a moment before asking "I don't remember you mentioning the New Britain. What happened to it?"
"The New Britain arrived late. Apparently, Jupiter only assigned one slingshot and the Musashi drained it."
Calhoun took a moment to think before asking "What was your read on the alien fleet? Any idea on what they might have been doing?"
"I think they were escorting the sensor cruisers. Seems to me like they're scouting us. We probably scared them with first contact."
"Hmm. Sorry to take up more of your valuable time, Captain, but the Secretary-General and I have to figure out what this means for our defensive plans. Would you mind sticking around for a while?" Asked Calhoun.
"I don't mind at all, Mr. President." Replied Stubbs.
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High Elder Uriren stood before the ornate mirror-like device that matched marble and platinum design of the empty room around him. Standing still as a statue, Uriren watched the mirror, several gold "teeth" disappearing in a row, one at a time. As the last of the gold teeth disappeared from the mirror, the room around Uriren shifted to a large chamber, seemingly carved out of a single piece of granite, with trimming made from emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. At the center and front of the chamber was a massive, wooden chair covered in soft looking furs, in which a tall, thin and pale figure sat, dressed in the same partially transparent garments that Uriren wore, but with a bronze mask that had the face of a feline predator carved into it, with rubies forming the teeth and emeralds forming the ears.
Uriren half bowed to the figure sitting in the chair, saying "It is a pleasure to see you well, Grand Elder Erjor."
Erjor's ears slowly twirled in loops as he stood up, looking down at Uriren as he said "What is so important that the ever informed High Elder Uriren needed a personal meeting with such short notice?"
Straightening himself and looking up at Erjor, Uriren stated "The Hesmanformic Union has found Midgard and their reports have confirmed that simulation 8933 is correct."
Erjor's ears twirled faster as he walked down the steps from his chair, to look Uriren in the eyes as he said "You have just told me two impossibilities, High Elder. Why should I trust either?"
Uriren remained unmoved as he replied with "One of my agenteers received a suspicious report from one of his agents, who has access to the High Council meetings, about a species 437. He did some cross-referencing, and came to the conclusion that the system the event occurred in was the one that held Midgard and that species 437 is the menninir. On top of that, the meeting confirmed that the menninir craft that engaged the Union ships used missile, kinetic, laser, and plasma weapons and survived direct his from laser and plasma weapons, while being able to destroy an entire lyrint missile wall. On top of all this, the menninir ship was a single frigate against three cruisers."
Enjor's ears stopped twirling, settling high and out as he stopped walking to look Uriren in the eyes once again. "Let us say that I believe you. Why would you bring this information to me?"
"Grand Elder Erjor, Midgard sits within your sector. It is only natural and right that information and advice regarding Midgard be sent your way. Though, if you are asking why I went straight to you? That would be because the Union handled first contact with the menninir poorly, which has given us a window of opportunity to bring the menninir into the Æsir, possibly as our client state. If we are able to take advantage of this opportunity the Ancestor has given us, then both the ljósálfar and the dökkálfar would benefit."
"I can see how bringing in a new client state could help win some of the Odin's favor, but it is hard for me to believe such a tale. Sounds like the type of story a High Elder would use to disgrace, or otherwise, trouble a Grand Elder."
"I realize that many of my peers have established well earned reputations as lokis, but I have worked hard to establish, and maintain, a reputation of leaving the lying to my agents and agenteers. I would not waste such a reputation on causing trouble for a single Grand Elder I've little more than read about."
Erjor began pacing around Uriren once more. "You make a good point, High Elder Uriren, but why me? I'm sure you have plenty of Grand Elders you could give this information to that would gladly do exactly what you want. So, why me, in particular?"
"You are in a position to move quickly on this issue, you have established a reputation as an effective diplomat, and, most importantly, you have the authority over Midgard."
"Very well, High Elder Uriren. I'll go to Midgard, and if I find that you've lied to me, no Ancestor will save you. Though if I find what you've said to be true, then I will see to it that your efforts are appropriately compensated."
Bowing, Uriren said "I could ask for nothing more, Grand Elder."
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"This is Gau Zixx to Kesselfoor Atall, we're almost out of mission fuel. We might be able to handle one, maybe two, more maneuvers before we start cutting into our return fuel."
This is what Atall feared when the battleship had begun tailing her fleet. She was down to 3 other ships that had enough fuel to handle more than two more maneuvers and she wasn't even a third of the way through a standard scouting mission... at least according to the manual she had barely enough time to read after being assigned the fleet. Oh well, if she returned with something useful, they might give her enough time for her backplate to recover from the constant rubbing this mission had caused her.
Carefully wrapping a tendril around the communications interface, Atall said "This is Kesselfoor Atall to the Hesmanformic Union Scout Fleet S32-558-B-437: Prepare to jump to System S2-5-A. All vessels are authorized to jump as soon as the battleship is within [5 light-seconds], but no earlier. We need as much information as we can gain before we return home."
Relaxing, Atall wrapped a tendril around the observer interface. It was going to be a tense wait, but there was hope for relief from this prey-like hell coming, even if she had to return with a drooped torso.
And as Atall predicted, the wait was tense. [3 days] of sitting and waiting for the battleship to lumber on over, watching as her fleet slowly left the system, one at a time. When it was finally her time to leave, Atall greeted the subtle queasiness of exiting relativity with a mix of relief and joy. She could feel the relief of her whole hive as the hours of FTL travel passed unfortunately quick.
Then, the sudden stiffness and stretching of reentering relativity hit, and tension once again filled the hive. Neither Atall or her drones wanted to have to report another failure, but they all knew what they had to do.
Atall gently rubbed the communications interface. It was calm currently. She had some time.
"This is Kesselfoor Atall to the Hesmanformic Union Scout Fleet S32-558-B-437: All ships, return to your docks and prepare your reports."
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Councilor Kelrion walked down the center of the room within the Bureau of Space Tactics headquarters, flanked on either side by other kels working hard at their large, blocky terminals. Kelrion ignored those that looked over as he walked, focusing on the only kel here worth his time, Lead Tactician Kelyung.
Kelrion opened the door to Kelyung's office and marched in, closing the door and taking a seat. Kelrion studied the dark yellow furred Kelyung as he sat his torso into the stool and put his massive, 3 fingered hands on the table.
"Lead Tactician Kelyung. What news do you have for me?" Asked Kelrion.
Kelyung brushed his torso face with one of his feet before saying "The reports from the scout fleet came in and we've figured out a few basic stratagems for dealing with species 437."
"The scout reports came in? They shouldn't have even been back for [another month] and I don't remember authorizing them to take a comms node with them." Kelrion asked, his torso tilting suspiciously.
"They returned early, Councilor. They were able to get some baseline space vessel and military deployment information as well some reasonably useful system geography data. Nothing of species 437's biology or culture, though."
Kelrion brushed his own face as he took the information in. After [a minute], he stopped brushing himself and said "I will be certain to be at the hearing of Kesselfoor Atall for this failure, but what have you been able to gather from the information the scout fleet returned with?"
"Species 437 ships aren't slow for no reason. They are laden with armor, weapons, and tools, making each vessel practically a fleet, both in capacity and cost. The analysis of the system, and the number and quality of vessels protecting it, confirmed this. At current estimations, the value ration is 10 to 1 for vessels of equal class. On top of all that, they also possess the ability to make their vessels simply appear and disappear, which, if we have interpreted the data correctly, they use for travel."
Taking Kelyung's pause as an invitation to respond, Kelrion asked "We are dealing with a species that builds entire fleets into single vessels that also uses the ability to cease to exist as a means of travel. Has your team determined any ways to effectively fight them?"
"Currently, all we have is guesses, but collating the data from the first encounter and from the scout fleet, we have some prototype strategies. All of them boil down to a simple concept: Destroy the vessel before it has a chance to attack. The moment the species 437 vessel has a chance to attack, it will deal massive damage and seize the initiative, and the vessel's destructive capacity will cause a mudball effect, in which losses will rapidly become unsustainable and unacceptable."
"Which of the strategies do you think would be most effective?"
"Outnumber each species 437 vessel 8 to 1 with vessels of the same class that all use the same variety of weapon, try to destroy the vessel within [15 seconds], then sweep through the other vessels that other groups are engaging."
"Why this strategy?"
"For one, of all the strategies, it is the most aggressive and should prevent any species 437 vessels from gaining the advantage. It also falls inline with the 437 armor theory that I believe in. Oh, and it cleanly accounts for, and mitigates the effect of, losses."
Kelrion brushed his face torso with his foot as he asked "Armor theory?"
"Yes. Species 437 uses armor capable of protecting from a wide variety of weapons. The first encounter proved that. However, without any examples to test, my team has split into two armor theories: The first states that the armor is designed to protect from multiple forms of attack at once, and is most easily overpowered with heavy fire from a single variety of weapon. That is the theory I believe to be true. The other theory states that species 437 choses their weapons based on their armor, and thus the armor will be more easily defeated by multiple varieties of weapon at once. There is also another theory, but I can count the number who believe it on one foot."
"What is the third theory?"
"That attacking the weapons of species 437, then the vessel proper, would be most effective. I can certainly see such an attack working, but I believe that it gives the species 437 vessel too much time to inflict damage on out vessels."
"Attacking the weapons? That seems rather pointless."
"Normally, I would agree, but the protection and varied weapons that species 437 vessels have means that the playing field isn't necessarily equal. However, most of their weapons are exposed, meaning that direct fire weapons, such as plasma or kinetics, could damage or destroy the weapons. While this is, in my opinion, too slow to be effective on the attack, purposefully destroying the weapons could be very effective in opening up an escape route if the battle is turning against you."
"Hmm. What about that [15 seconds] you mentioned? Why that short?"
"From the data we have, that appears to be how long they take to begin attacking. At least while they are in a ready state. If you could catch a species 437 vessel by surprise, you might have a good deal more time before they can fight back."
"And the 8 to 1 ratio?"
"The number is a theory at this point, but from the data we have, 8 to 1 seems to be the ratio at which we could overpower a species 437 vessel, of equal class, enough to destroy them with no more than 2 of our own lost."

[Let's Build] d100 Distinct Locations in a Fancy Estate

d100 Distinct Locations & Characters in a Fancy Estate

Channel your most Downton Abbey or period-piece drama, places where a fancy party, drama, folk or gothic horror, or violent excitement can occur on, or near a large estate.

Seaside Boathouse: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding. Down at bottom of cliff, complete w/ sea-wall, & 5-man ketch. Large enough for three bedrooms, servant's bunks, extra kitchen, & small stable! Its own little mini-estate! Loyal sailor mans place, w/ hook hand & peg leg, lost in war.
Apse Oceanus: Underground. Secret grotto at base of wave-wracked sea-cliffs; cave entrance just above high water line. Inside cave, beach-gravel floor; an apse, seemingly carved by nature - semicircular recess covered w/ hemispherical vault. In center is ancient granite cauldron perpetually filled w/ fresh, clear water, as if by magic.
Moaning Cavern: Underground. Partially natural staircase in cavern & sea-cliffs. When wind blows strongly from right direction, it moans & whistles w/ ghostly sounds. Staircase seems natural (but has actually been artfully worked to appear so), it heads further in, up into cliffs beneath Manor.
First Lord's Tomb: Underground. Remains of First Lord of Manor & few relatives, interred in carved grotto in stone, deep beneath Manor. Occasionally trick of wind & strong draft make moaning noises... nothing to be frightened of, surely.
Ossuary: Underground. Vaulted ceilings somehow make underground crypt feel imposing & cramped. Ossuary walls hold recesses for stone boxes nearly impossible to move alone, each box storing interred bones; mortally departed going back to start of noble name of the Family. Some ossuary chests currently empty in preparation for family members whose remains are still in earth, either in Cemetery on grounds or Elsewhere. (u/crimebiscuit)
Garden Wilderness: Estate Grounds, Garden, Wilderness. Transitional area between formal gardens & large park surrounding the house known as “the Wilderness”. Originally as meticulously planned as other areas of Estate, but here plantings more irregular & included native plants and trees; gravel walkways; lawns that resembled meadows; & areas where the vistas were framed to deliberately look natural. Now, without groundskeepers, the real Wilderness is overtaking the Garden. A “Ha-Ha”, low wall & ditch designed to blend into landscape separates area from Common Pasture & errant farm animals.
Gardener's Cottage: Estate Grounds. Leaky roof, made of thatch; needs repair. Single room, w/ hearth. Dried herbs & flowers hang throughout. Gardener is old, but has v. young & precocious niece or nephew.. too young to do much work.
Old Vegetable Garden: Estate Grounds. Said to be haunted at night in Fall. Nothing but weeds grow here, since Gardener is getting too old to do any gardening. Enclosed by a dying hedgerow & rotting wooden gate.
Orchard & Vineyard: Estate Grounds. Fruit-trees in need of pruning & an arborist. Medlar, Quince, Apple, Cherry, & Pear. Several long rows of trees, growing on terraced hillside, interspersed w/ sad, underperforming grape-vines; surrounded by hedgerows in need of maintenance. Small shed & woodbox hides an old copper still & moonshining equipment, along w/ shears & saws for trimming fruit trees, tubs for mashing grapes & other fruit. Still a few jugs of Orchard-keeper’s secret reserve “White Lightning” Fruit-Schnapps buried beneath Wood-pile. Also, that tree over there is where Orchard-keeper was found hanging by neck, five winters ago.
Apiary: Estate Grounds. Much of Estate’s Honey was cultivated here, until plague wiped out hives two years ago. Those that survived have flown off or been slaughtered by hornets this year. Next year’s fields will likely underperform without bee-driven pollination. Bee-keeper abandoned their post, too depressed to continue. Now all that is left is bunch of earthenware hives infested w/ killer hornets.
Main Stables: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding. One of several, for all the work animals that pull the carriages, etc. Hidden behind a wall from view of Main House & Gatehouse by wall. The Stable-master is dour, sullen drunk.
Gatehouse: Estate Grounds. Outbuilding. Literally built across front gate of Estate, part of wall surrounding Main House, Courtyard; 3-story house w/ lower level garage for carriage, small foyer, sitting room, 3 bedrooms, privy w/ new interior plumbing, small kitchen, basement & attic bunk for servants. Used to house Old Lord’s mistresses while Lady was home. Plaster fresco above main bedroom fireplace features prominent image of Lady’s stern & displeased face, supervising the activities in room.
Courtyard: Estate Grounds. Cobblestone & gravel driveway past the Gatehouse, Old Wellhouse to the Front-door of House. Drive around side of house to Coach-house, East Stair & Servant’s Entry. During parties, lit up w/ outdoor braziers, torches, & lanterns.
Petite “Cour de Marbre”: Estate Grounds, Entry. Former Lord, some generations ago, fell in love w/ foreign Ruler’s palace so much, decided to replicate it here in miniature. Striking, intricate patterned, polished black & white marble courtyard patio, up short flight of steps; Courtyard driveway goes right up to foot of it. Front Door opens onto it. Terribly slick in wet weather.
Main Kitchen: Servant’s Wing. Row of iron stoves & warming counters, wide hearth & spit w/ an excellent draw, butcher-block, slate, & flagstone everywhere. Several large copper tubs, pots, & pans. Room itself smells of smoke & food permanently etched into its soul.
Upper Battlements: Upstairs. Highest walls of Estate are adorned w/ stone merlons. Several gargoyles lay in stony wait perched atop walls. Some say they serve Master of the Estate; need only be summoned in order to come alive. (u/Milkslinger)
Morning Room: Upstairs. Small, high windowed office w/ excellent light. Wallpaper has cobwebs & mildew spots down by corner & floor, behind worn bookshelf loaded w/ moldering books. Close inspection might reveal secret behind bookshelf.
Batmen’s Quarters: Servant’s Wing. Long, narrow hallway w/ only one window at end, runs length of the entire Main Estate building. Chief Servant of the Master takes calls for whatever They may need, using this hallway to swiftly move from one end to another, unseen. Each room in House, adjacent to this hallway, has a secret door (DC Medium, Investigation) one may use to enter. Should PCs find this, may also find blueprints of Manor w/ all hidden passages; also rations & diary of Master of the House’s comings & goings. (u/TheBeginningOfMe)
Portrait Gallery: Upstairs. Series of interconnected rooms featuring most-recent portrait work of the artist the family currently patronizes. His idiosyncratic manner captures Family in a striking stylized fashion. But the real oddity is addition of one handsome scion who reoccurs in paintings that no one seems to have any recollection of. (u/crimebiscuit)
Long Gallery: Main Floor. V.long, tall ceilings room turned into something more than hallway, w/ other rooms, v.tall dbl-doors, opening into it; stretches entire length of Mansion, has excellent light, wooden parquetry floors, three fireplaces, two full sets ancient plate-armor, several large taxidermied curiosities, giant decorative vases, etc. Nobles take exercise here when weather is inclement.
White Stateroom: Main Floor. For meeting important people. Large room all in white, ornamental plasterwork on ceiling in shape of fluffy feathers & clouds. White & Cream wallpaper w/ motif of feathers. Cream curtains, nearly completely covered in embroidered silky white feathers. White furniture w/ white & cream upholstery. Pale hardwood parquetry floor, w/ gigantic cream & white ornamental carpet. Silvery, platinum-leaf decoratively applied to plaster mold-work. Maids work extra hard to scrub soot from fireplace’s white granite hearth.
Marble Hall: Main Floor. black & white chequered marble floor; stunning oak carvings, by famed craftsmen. On wall hangs a portrait of Ruler, inscribed w/ motto ‘Non sine sole iris’ (No rainbow without the sun). 23 sets of ivory & stags’ horn scrimshawed into chandeliers w/ scenes of ancient life. Carved Stone Fireplace w/ marble busts.
Green Salon: Upstairs. For entertaining guests at intimate parties; tall ceilings, cream & vibrant-green trimmed “boiseries”, ornamental wood panelings. Room imitates the Salon of a Foreign King; everything is given names that are fancy words in other language. In pride of place, matched set of “fauteuils á la reine”, ornamental armchairs wide enough that even largest panniers on court-dress can sit comfortably w/out wrinkling. V. large, gilded mirror above gigantic fireplace & mantle, v. expensive porcelain vases on display. Oval plasterwork bas-relief fresco of Old Lord’s (embellished) military victories.
Mirrored Ballroom: Main Floor. Colonnade supported large ballroom, surrounded in full-height mirrors. Mirrors enchanted to record & display glories of masquerades & balls past, dancing in time to whatever music is being played. Several large crystal chandeliers. Balcony over entrance overlooks Ballroom from Master’s Chambers, 2nd Balcony over musician canopy connects to Green Salon; Balcony in rear opens to Gardens.
Grand Dining Room: Main Floor. Marble walls, w/ magnificent painted murals higher up and on large vaulted ceiling. Large chandeliers, decorative magical sconces provide light. Grand dining table, seating for 30. Marble tile floor. Fancy dinners here.
Room of Abundance: Main Floor. Continuing decor of Grand Dining Room, but w/ more Gold, Silver. Painted walls & murals of abundance, statues of wealth & opulence. During parties, silver platters full of food placed here by caterers. Connects to Ballroom & Grand Dining Room.
Secret Passages: Hidden tunnels, hideaways, spider-holes; behind every statue & painting. The walls have ears. Eye holes in carvings, etc. Useful for clandestine maneuvering through House. Every major room has secret access routes, in addition to back-hallways used by servants; it’s just a matter of finding them.
Grand Office: Upstairs. Stateroom pretending to be an office-chamber, white, gold, & warm wood color-scheme. One lord was into business, decided to convert stateroom into fancy meeting-place. Square room made to look vaguely hexagonal, w/ facets carved into walls, low bookshelves mirroring & follow hexagon motif floor. Gold hexagon pattern tiled into floor. Huge desk placed on hexagonal raised step; supplicant must approach dias, placed in low, uncomfortable chair. Arched ceiling, ornamental plasterwork suggests beehives, hexagons, bees touched w/ gold-leaf. Wide hexagon fireplace, ornamental gilded plaster mantel of dripping honeycomb & bees. Single large circular window; ample light, hexagon shaped leaded panes & amber colored stained-glass bees. Hexagonal double door w/ stained glass beehive to enter. Bees magically enchanted, reflect attuned user of desk’s mood, move when no-one looks at them. “Secret” door on wall to Petite Office, concealed within woodwork.
Petite Office: Upstairs. Smaller office, (compared to the Grand Office, anyway) w/ private bath & privy. Wood paneling, lots of books, old gas & (new electric lighting from Galvanics). Worn, comfy executive chair. Wood paneled “secret” door connects to Grand Office. Knick-nacks & Taxidermy everywhere there isn’t books & paperwork.
Thinking Room: Main Floor. Small Alcove off Main Library; small table & chair. Eerily quiet, architecture baffles sounds from Library, making anything quieter than shouting easy to ignore. Encyclopedias, dictionaries & other reference materials usually found here, & upon finding books missing from Main Library, inexplicably one’s first inclination is to sit down & look up whatever one wants to know, instead of taking it back. People found after being missing for minutes or hours, sometimes looking up things unrelated to the subject they originally intended to; usually their reaction to being asked about this is a simple, "I got kind of curious." (u/thecomputerking)
Main Library: Main Floor. Wall to ceiling books, w/ brass rails & rolling ladder to reach multiple levels of books, v. little else. Grooves in well-worn wooden floor show extensive use of ladder happened at one point in history of Estate. Books may or may not be just for show. Roaring fireplace & lanterns provide warmth & light; "Thinking Room" & "Study" are adjacent.
Study: Main Floor. Large, padded leather, comfy chairs w/ high backs, resembles throne, along w/ small side-tables, lamps, & writing desk; all oriented to face set of v. tall, wide, windows for the best natural light. Adjacent to Main Library.
Nursery: Upstairs. Filled w/ all manner of children's Toys & complete w/ crop of Ankle-biters & accompanied strict Nurse. Alternatively, room that has been abandoned & seen much neglect.
Children's Quarters: Upstairs. Tiny beds or cribs where children sleep. Patterned w/ toile wallpaper, simple furniture. No doubt filled w/ ghosts of murdered children, there is no joy here. A small room adjacent to this is where Nurse sleeps.
Nurse's Chamber: Upstairs. Actually two small rooms, cramped bath, & privy w/ cranky, indoor plumbing. Nurse uses one tiny room to sew, & to lock naughty children in as punishment, there is one specific corner that is noticeably stained by tears & snot of unruly children. Second tiny room has bunk for Nurse to sleep & chest to keep things in.
Billiards Room: Main Floor. Huge table, ample room around sides for cues. Chandeliers provide ample light. Gilt trim & mirrors make room bright, opulent at same time. Cards tables, other entertainments available. Notable artwork in room: triptych story of Noble who hosted other Noble for fancy dinner, but failed providing standards of hospitality. Last panel of triptych: host is murdered by offended guest.
Attic: Museum of failed & forgotten dreams; furniture covered in tarps, dust, leaves, and bird nests. Surely haunted. Don’t let the Creepy Urchins scare you.
Garret: Attic. Habitable space, at top of House; small, dismal, & cramped, w/ sloping ceilings, often leaky roof. Where “unfortunate” members of the Lord’s family are kept. Optional: Set of manacles, collar, chain, other irons mounted to one beam, slop bucket. Alternatively, the cramped room contains small bunk & tiny writing desk, stool, & campy unfinished manuscript or private diary by servant w/ literary aspirations.
Servant’s Wing: Back of the house, covers several stories, many rooms & store-rooms; shared bunk-rooms for servants. One half has locked hallway to keep male staff & female staff separated. No shenanigans!
East Stair & Servant Entrance: Servant’s Wing. Steepest, Narrowest, most treacherous stair in house. Connects to Servant Entrance, Mud Room, lots of traffic as staff hurry up & down w/ tasks about House. Servant Entrance has Mudroom, none DARE use Front Entrance for Business.
Boot Room: Servant’s Wing. Where cleaning of boots, shoes & certain items of clothing take place. Don’t scuff the Lord’s Boots, worth more than lives of three servants in price.
Servants Hall: Servant’s Wing. Place of congregation for Staff House; sit & relax by fire during break, eat & play music on battered piano. Large table, chairs lines length of room. “Bell Board” w/ every upstairs room listed on it; each w/ their own bell, linked by clever pulley.
Butler’s Pantry: Servant’s Wing. Contains large desk, cupboard storing expensive silverware, & keys to House, wine pouring accouterments, & many other furnishings & fittings. Everything is always tasteful, & professional; even the stuffed fish & list of awards on the wall. Situated opposite Kitchen & alongside Housekeeper’s Sitting Room in the Servants' Wing.
Housekeeper’s Sitting Room: Servant’s Wing. Serves as Housekeeper’s Office; full of books & paperwork as well as small desk & swivel chair. Connected to small Housekeeper’s Bedroom; located next to the Butler’s Pantry in the Servant’s Wing.
Laundry: Basement. for washing loads of cloth generated by Estate. Large blue-ish stone cellar-room w/ tables, tubs, washboards, dry-lines for hanging. Of course entire place is moist & smells of soap/mildew, or filled w/ great billows of steam, depending on mood. (u/mr_earthman)
Gymnasium: Basement. Old timey barbells, medicine balls, & other implements of self-torture in the name of “health”. Room always reeks of cigar-sweat & sausage.
Sauna: Basement. Fiery Furnace, Hot Water Tank, & unholy mess of pipes & valves combine forces to create a steam-room sauna that can steam hams in just a blink should anything go awry. Some staff think there’s a poltergeist that writes things on mirrors, leaves blood everywhere - others doubt one exists, blame the blood on Estate Lords being.. “Oh so clumsy!”
Wine Cellar, Cheese Cave, & Tasting Room: Basement. Barrels & bottles gathering dust inside enormous, climate controlled, vaulted, brick-lined wine-cellar deep underground. Even deeper, perfectly climate controlled cheese-cave w/ cheddars older than most of Staff, just now achieving maximum ripeness! Includes medium sized tasting room, lit by lanterns (and recently, electric light from Galvanics). Secret entrance, perfect for clandestine rendezvous & intimate cult meetings. Secret exit to surface, good for villainous escapes.
Mad Laboratory: All sorts of creepy-crazy-unholy-weird in here. Scary experiments. Possibly long unused, at risk of catching fire any second now & burning whole place to ground. What are you doing w/ that match? Either located deep in basement, in secret dungeon in garden outbuilding, or in highest attic of furthest tower, in case of accidents.
Cozy Dungeon: Basement. Several cells, a vaulted torture chamber w/ flickering gas-lamp (also recently installed electric light from Galvanics), manacles, custom graffiti & wall scratches, etc. A Lord, three generations ago, had water piped in to have dankness adjustable, & to hose out cells whenever they got too filthy. Now mostly just used for illicit cult-sex-stuff & occasional dungeon-orgy. One wall is suspiciously bricked over, looks like it used to be another cell. Second wall has sconce that when pulled, reveals another secret entrance, for secret comings & goings.
Star Chamber: Basement. Every Estate needs an Occult Ritual Room for Cult meetings & such. 8- or 9-sided large underground room w/ polished marble terrazzo floor, polished marble walls, intricate design of clock face & zodiac motif on floor. Domed ceiling painted midnight blue, w/ magical pin-pricks of light to resemble stars in night sky. Pinpricks magically focus light on whoever is in room, so they glow & are lit, while giving illusion of everything being night around. Gold & Platinum magical braziers burn to represent sun, moons, levitate across ceiling in time w/ astronomy. V. special, v. mysterious. No less than 3 secret entrances, plus special dumb-waiter access, chair & table storage for multipurpose room.
"Family" Chapel: Small, single room w/ shrine, where house-staff & family practice religious devotions, away from prying eyes of yokels; who knows what dark deities Estate Lords worship?
Rooftop Observatory: Upstairs. Great domed contraption built into a tower; magnificent 360 degree view of sky. All sorts of equipment & charts strewn about benches crammed into this space, dominated by huge brass telescope. This behemoth, covered in all sorts of gears, cranks, & levers, can easily bring craters on Moon into focus, or... spy on midnight rendezvous in garden. In a place dedicated to the stars, what could possibly draw one's attention away from the heavens? (u/Longjumping_Piano55)
Local Chapel: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Church. Where yokels worship. Father Ted presides. Small brick structure w/ tile roof, seven pews, & small altar. Within sight of Manor-house, but far enough away to be "separate". Has small garden where Father Ted tries & fails to grow sweet-peas.
Vicar's Cottage: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Church. Even smaller than Gardener's Cottage, this one is at least still in repair. Father Ted lives here, Has but small bed & tiny desk to write sermons on.
Cemetery: Estate Grounds, Church, Cemetery. Small, lonely grave-site filled w/ locals from Village. Estate "lovingly" donated to Village Church by former Lord. Rusty mort-safes protect some of the remains.
Mausoleum: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Church, Cemetery. Imposing structure on grounds of Cemetery; may be connected to Underground Caverns & Ossuary. Occasionally haunted.
Widow Row: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding. When former staff families are retired, or die in service to Estate, their widows, children, & infirm elderly are offered small rooms in run-down worker's cottage-house that existed on site before even Grand Manor was built! Rooms barely bigger than a stall for horses in a stable have several family members crammed into them, but includes free use of tiny patch of garden. Hidden from Main House by wooded bit of hills & muddy track.
Mad Muckbang's Lab: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Out near river on far estate edge; small cave w/ brambles growing over entrance. Inside, lab full of strange glass tubes & bubbling pots, liquids in thousand colors, & heavy cloying mist in the air. Alchemist & Inventor Finias Muckbang rents use of cave from the Nobles. Ignore occasional sound of explosions; possible entrance to Old Mines within.
Hermit's Shack: Estate Grounds, Gardens, Wilderness. Home of official Estate's Garden Hermit; resembles nothing more than few large stones & brush lean-to w/ tiny fire inside to keep warm. Out of the way part of Estate, but famously favorite destination for party-goers at former Lord's big shin-digs. Garden hermit gives guests fright; the Lord would enjoy themselves w/ their terror!
Rose Bush Labyrinth: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Wall of tall & sturdy rose bushes towers around exterior; suggests much the same inside. Plaque affixed by entrance to maze w/ message embossed: "To find your center, follow your heart." Hint to navigate labyrinth; always turning left leads you to center. Nearer you get to it, clearer the burbling, rippling sound of fountain that sits at heart of maze. (u/crimebiscuit)
Garden Fountain & Statues: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Statues or Ornamental Fountains throughout Gardens. Weeping Angels, Prancing Cherubim, Fanciful Animals, or Heroic/Historical Figures. Stone & Brass. Sometimes accompanied by water-feature.
Animated Topiary: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Large bushes trimmed to look like creatures, animated to patrol the garden-grounds.
False Gazebo: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Vine-covered gazebo oddly recessed without broad view their type usually affords. Stone cobbled floor, interior has moss extruding in strange geometrical, almost artificial shapes; might betray presence of subterranean level, cellar accessible through means not immediately evident. (u/crimebiscuit)
Stone Exedra: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Depressed semicircle in ground lined in fieldstone & tiles,; lichen covered limestone & granite benches. Old marble or granite columns, some toppled, decorate the semi circle. Little known, this area predated Estate by many centuries. Acoustics inside circle are excellent.
Tiled Stoa: Estate Grounds, Gardens, Ruin. Existing on site before construction of Manor; ancient weathered marble columns in Doric style, line black & white weathered marble tile walkway, covered w/ cracked earthenware roof tiles. Some columns & portions of roof left to collapse, artfully. From these spots, Gardener is apparently allowing wildflowers & vines to bloom.
Amphitheatre: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Small open-air stage built at bottom of gently sloping hill. Seating on the slope; audience looks down at stage. Mostly unused, apart from occasional travelling theatre troupes passing through... however if you go on moonlit nights, might just witness an otherworldly performance. Be warned though, it may not be to your taste... (u/Zawoopdoop)
Garden Ambulatory or Loggia: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Located few dozen yards away from Main House is rubble & freestone structure w/ stone slate roof, six bays of arched columns, flagstone lined arcade filled w/ comfortable looking wicker furniture. In crest of each arch, crude medallions of several different figures, now weathered & worn beyond easy recognition.
Old Treehouse: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Small hut in branches of reat oak, hideout of noble child long since grown up. Accessed via rope ladder; within shouting distance of manor, it's rather peaceful once inside. Wooden building, still holding strong, contains only simple chairs & table, tattered rug, some forgotten toys. Perhaps there is secret item hidden within - an old child-treasure, or someone else taking advantage of abandoned space. (u/Zawoopdoop)
Coin Tower: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Given fancy name, Folly guards one outer-entrance to Manor-grounds. Miniature castle tower, complete w/ battlements & arrow slit fortifications; only two stories tall. Metal-clad door w/ slot sized for gold-piece; place one piece inside & it locks main-gate to toy-tower via clever clockwork mechanism. Gate & anyone inside is locked in for 12 hours. Locking coin box on the inside holds deposited coins.
Dungeon of Wayward Toys: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Inside Garden Folly that looks like miniature castle tower; guards one outer-gate to the Manor, small alcove w/ rusted jail cell, palatially sized for several small creatures or v. cramped adult. The moldering remains of several stuffed animals & children's toys locked in or chained to the wall w/ rusty, miniature manacles... the toys have been long forgotten. Close inspection might reveal the mummified or skeletal remains of poor animal too.
Overgrown Polo Field: Estate Grounds, Gardens, Ruin. Off in a corner of the estate, long overgrown by woods & ivy. Tournaments held here regularly some one or two generations ago but the sport's popularity decreased, & so did this once well manicured plot's use. It is rumored that the field is inhabited by feral polo horses left in the stables to rot & anyone who enters the green must be ready to face their wrath! (u/Win5get1free)
Trucco-ground & Terrace Estate Grounds, Gardens. Soft green square for leisurely form of ground billiards played w/ heavy balls; brilliant beds & borders of small brick-walled gardens, gray flags of great terrace; rows of little orange trees, once heavy w/ flower & fruit, set in blue delft-ware tubs; now cracked and dying. Oriented to catch the last light of sun & remain warm in early evening. Lit at night during parties by great copper braziers & torches. Big Portugal Laurel grows in the back corner, conceals secret entry into the house.
Decrepit Mews: Estate Grounds, Wilderness, Ruin. Just beyond estate-walls, still within the watchful, downcast eyes of smoke-stained windows; a modest hillock. In days past affluent gentlemen of the Manor took fancy to falconry, doting on birds like dearest children. In those days the mews was fine building constructed mostly of wood & wire mesh cage; playfully built miniature clone of the larger estate. Time has lain itself upon the estate like a smothering blanket; little remains of this once proud roost. One of the walls has rotted through, eaten away by termites until the whole of the tiny house sagged to the side, a precarious arrangement of warped wood & bending metal. The falcons are gone, replaced by the occasional dirt-feathered barn owl or nest of starlings. (u/Knightheart777)
Ye Olde Dovecote: Estate Grounds, Ruin; Back in the day, one of the Estate Lords decided they liked the taste of roast pigeon & doves, as well as using them as reliable message carriers, they decided to breed them. Homing, Roasted, Boiled, Baked, & Stewed; the dovecote was the home-roost of these flexible multi-purpose birds. Now-a-days, chicken & pheasant is tastier, & the roost is in disarray; feral pigeons infest the place like winged rats!
Wind-Swept Sea-Cliff: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Battered by waves, where else will forlorn lovers throw themselves to their doom?
Wrack & Ruin: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Wave wracked sea-cliffs at base of Manor; brutal & often site of beached wreckage & powerful currents. Who knows what poor soul has met demise here?
Common Pasture: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Vast, rolling field of un-farmed grasslands & moors; nearby villagers pasture animals for small fees to Estate. Sheep are common, as is occasional howl of a spectral & terrifying black hound at night!
Wheal & Woe: Estate Grounds, Wilderness, Ruins; Ancient coal or tin & copper-mine sprawls beneath Estate. Don't fall into one of many unmarked, open shafts or pits! Known Hazard, scary.
Old Pumphouse Engine: Infrastructure, Ruins; Rusting clockwork & steam powered pump-engine w/ tall brick chimney; maybe powers Estate, or maybe used to pump out Old Mines beneath, if it can be made working again. Ghosts of several rage-filled engineers no-doubt guard it; must be exorcised before repairs begun.
Oak Forest: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Where bulk of Estate’s wood comes from. Home to wild boar & truffles; also a well groomed section w/ lone-giant tree, twelve foot trunk; stone benches & small swing.
Common Right of Way: Estate Grounds. Locals are still furious Old Lord enclosed Right of Way; posted “No Trespass” on old trail that runs thru Estate & Oak Forest; short journey to Mines & Coast is now made longer by several miles!
Game-keeper’s Shack: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Ruin. Built in hidden ravine, deep in Oak Forest. Shack built on huge fallen log; straddles small but swift flowing stream. Also here: decrepit smoke-house, abandoned kennel for hunting hounds, & vacant, rotting butchery. Rotten animal hides hang on rusty hooks inside, literally every surface coated by thick layer of sprayed blood, gore, & viscera. No clue if it is human-blood, it is gory nonetheless.
A River Runs Thru It: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Fast flowing brook, w/ gravel, & large rocks perfect for trout, salmon, etc. Just deep & wide enough for small boats or canoe to navigate it, out to sea. Several small ponds connect, including one large pond from Old Abandoned Mill. Sportsman’s Paradise.
Old Abandoned Mill & Bridge: Estate Grounds, Wilderness, Outbuilding. Used by villagers, large mill-pond, spillway dam from Old Mill, & Bridge. Pond is several dozen acres, near Commons; large enough for locals to boat on, even fish when given permission by Lord. Mill has seized, hasn’t been repaired for three generations. Bridge across Spillway is stone w/ several arches. Children play games by dropping sticks off one side, racing them to the other. V. Scenic.
Lonely Sea Wall: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Wilderness, Infrastructure. Long wall blunts majority of sea's rage; protects v. small harbor, dock, & boathouse. At end of brick & stone structure, former estate owner installed an ever-burning torch & large brass bell. When wind blows strongly, bell rings by itself. No doubt several former estate owner's family have been brought to sad end here.
Groundskeeper's Shed: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Infrastructure; filled w/ rusty tools & pots for wintering plants. Rusty nails & hooks, no doubt able to give one tetanus, simply by looking too long at them.
Old Courtyard Wellhouse: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Infrastructure. 100 feet of dark, dangerous shaft down to water table; in disrepair, unused for years, & possibly poisoned. Hidden cavern connected to who-knows-where. Large covered house w/ locked iron gate protects pulley; keeps fools from falling in.
New Wellhouse: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Infrastructure. Provides fresh water for Estate, w/ aqueduct & pump to rest of village too. Clockwork or wind-powered. Brand new, 100 years ago! Up on hill in copse of trees behind House. Probably not poisoned.
Great Oven: Estate Grounds, Servant’s Wing, Gardens, Infrastructure. Fire-brick, the size of a building; detached from House because of prodigious heat, w/ small awning to keep out rain. Large enough to cremate bodies, it has several openings. Used by Estate daily; bread & baked goods. Privileged members of Village who charm Chief Cook may use.
Hot Water Cistern: Infrastructure. Made of wood & iron, several thousand gallons of boiling hot water, in Attic, kept at temperature by Fiery Furnace in Basement below. At least one servant's children, playing around, have fallen in & boiled themselves to death over last 100 years. Occasionally leaks onto Servant's Quarters one or two levels below.
Galvanic Array: Infrastructure. New-fangled Storage Battery, charged via generator or magic. Used to provide power to House, or for current/former Lord's magical or scientific experiments. Serious risk of electrocution; pay no attention to creepy hunchback.
Garden Privy: Infrastructure. Gardeners & groundskeepers have to go somewhere, you know. They say that 3rd Earl's grandfather was brutally murdered & unceremoniously buried in muck here, a hundred years ago, their ghost still haunts it!
Enclosed Kailyaird: Servant’s Wing, Estate Grounds, Gardens. Don't let Gardener touch the Turnips. Chief Cook of Manor has claimed enclosed garden behind Kitchens as their own secondary kingdom. Whatever they grow there is incorporated in fine cooking Kitchens produce. Some kitchen staff are convinced several foolish scullery maids have been murdered & buried in back, as fertilizer.
Sewer Catchment: Infrastructure. “We all Float Down Here, Georgie”. Miles of rain-gutters, sink-drains, & indoor plumbing connect here. All that water from laundry’s got to go somewhere; into huge vaulted timber, stone, & iron septic tank underground before percolating into ground-water. Something has stashed at least 150gp of treasure inside.
Fiery Furnace: Infrastructure; burns copious amounts of fuel, provides steam-heat for estate. Connected to coal-chute, wood-storage area, or fuel-tank filled w/ bunker-fuel. Infrastructure.
Dumb-waiter: Infrastructure. One of several, also chute for Laundry. Used for sending food & drink up & down from stores, cellar, kitchen, etc. Not an elevator, but staff & drunken partiers often use it as such, occasionally get stuck, become laughingstocks.
Chief Cook: Overly portly, overly fond of pepper, loud & runs Kitchens like some sort of hyper-militant dictator. Could have even served in military in past.
Wheeze the Lost Groundskeeper: just like the polo field, a young groundskeeper who manicured the pitch was left behind. "We'll be back after a quick lunch!" They said, "just trim sidelines & clean the bleachers please!" & so he did... for decades. They never came back; his tools rusted long ago. His name is long forgotten; grasp on common language tenuous at best. Only companions feral equines that roam this place; they too know what it's like to be abandoned like so many playthings. He is one of them, one of them now, more horse than man, some might say. (u/Win5get1free)
Garden Hermit: Crazed guy who, for some reason, lives in shack in secluded area of Estate, & is never bothered. Hermit never leaves place, or holds conversation w/ anyone for at least the last seven years! During that time they've neither washed, nor cleansed themselves in any way whatsoever, letting their hair & nails on hands & feet, grow as long as nature permits them. Used to be a hit at fancy parties, when previous Lord would show them off to party-guests as a prank!
Eldritch Hobb: Pile of filthy rags in corner of Laundry. Laundry Urchin steers well clear of it & & any drainage catchments, complaining of “red eyes glowing” & alternatively “face of dead sibling”, “red balloon filled w/ blood”, or “harlequin w/ painted face”. IT has taste for nicking shiny jewelry, there is well over 150gp worth in catchment, & Lady of House’s prized earrings were found hidden under pile of rags, years ago; footman was blamed for it & sacked. (u/mr_earthman)
Mad Muckbang: Finias Arquist Muckbang is youngest son of Knight that had been in the Lord's service decades ago. No one bothers him much these days. Alchemist & Inventor, rents use of cave on the Estate for sometimes dangerous experiments. (OwenMcCauley)
Father Ted: Local priest, lives in Vicar's Cottage. Secretly views this posting as punishment for misusing church funds, although such knowledge isn't widely known.
Game-keeper: Ghost particularly reported around Old Vegetable Garden; elderly gentleman in old-fashioned clothing carrying flintlock or blunderbuss; seen late in evening during October; vanishes if approached. Linked to Gamekeeper wrongly executed for murder of a servant to former Lord.
Gardener Wyllet: Getting on in years, losing their sight, hearing, & barely able to swing scythe or turn hoe in order to keep Grounds from turning to weeds; still has knack for finding & tending to medicinal herbs. Mostly found in Gardener's cottage these days.
Laundress & Urchin: Short, powerful, arms likely to bend steel bars, & fists like iron. Shrill voice & accent that can peel paint. Skin & face red & peeling from caustic soda, she’s only 24, but “ain’t got time for suitors or no guff like that -- she has Laundry book to finish before sunset, thank you very much.” She, her 10 yr old urchin cousin, & whatever housestaff she can wrangle away from other duties, crew Laundry from dawn till dusk; for only 25p/day plus food & lodgings in Manor. Urchin is somehow terrified of pile of filthy rags in corner & walks well clear of drains & catchments, foolishly complaining of glowing red eyes within.
Lost Maiden: Haunts Estate; often spotted standing alone in corridors, rooms, or wherever w/ a confused look upon her face. Wears fine, but dated, gown w/ silver lacing. Sometimes only seen in corner of one's eye, other times right in view. However; whenever anyone tries to communicate w/ her, she steps out of sight & is gone! It is said that on occasion, she may look right at you. When she does, you suddenly find yourself, too, lost for just moment before World seems to bounce back into place. (u/Rigaudon21)
Nurse Trunchible: Nasty, strict, & hates children. Doses laudanum & arsenic to get 'em to sleep & to keep that healthy waxy pallor. Sleeps in set of v. small rooms off Nursery & Children's Quarters. Has feud going w/ Head Housekeeper or Butler.
The Twins: Pair of gangly youths, one deaf, one mute; children of an Estate Widow. Rapidly outgrown their rough clothes; aim to serve Estate, in order to survive. Live in Widow Row.
Younger Wyllet: Gardener's niece or nephew. Too young to do much work, even though they try to take up slack for far-too-old-to-be-working relative, Gardener. V. precocious; studying herbology & plans to be master arborist one day. When they aren't trying to weed garden, can be found in Gardener's Cottage.
Unfortunate Son: “Deformed”, or “Mad” Lunatic trapped up in the Attic Garret. “Fresh” slop bucket twice a week. Chained, or straight-jacketed, and basically ignored.

Bedside Manor [Final]

Part: -1- -2- -3- -4- -5- -6- -7- -8- -9 -10- -11
I took in my surroundings. Here we were again, seated around the dinner table. To my right, Jerry. To my left, Loren. Across from me… I could barely make it out, but that looked like it must have at some point been Wolfgang.
My eyes stung like they’d been brining in salt for hours. My muscles were jello. My head was heavy and off balance, and as I moved my neck I could feel something readjusting itself. Krikrikrikrikrik. Something that felt like a series of shallow knives stabbed into the skin in my hair, releasing streams of blood down my forehead and behind my ears. I reached up and pulled at the heavy bowl-shaped object on my head, but as I did, the knives dug deeper.
Krikrikrikrikrik. The pain was almost too much to bear, in a moment filled with panic and adrenaline, I pulled with all my strength, yanking the object free. I looked down at the thing in my hands and saw an insect, kicking its six pointy legs in the air. Chunks of my own flesh attached to the serrated feet. It looked like a gray mite, only it was about a foot in diameter, with a shell like a horseshoe crab. Where its mouth should have been, there was instead a thick, white, segmented tube running into my own mouth. Something beneath the hard crabshell vibrated, emanating that loud chirping noise: Krikrikrikrikrik.
I dropped the mite onto its back, grabbed the tube inside my mouth, and started pulling. It was sticky, slimy, rubbery, and--worst of all--long. I could feel it wiggling in my throat as I pulled it out, three or four inches at a time. But the more I pulled, the more emerged, until it was just a coil of white tube several yards long. When I finally reached the end, I saw that it had a pair of black eyes, and a mouth of its own--with concentric circles of hundreds of yellow, hooked teeth. I was looking into a tiny lamprey face. The noise it made when we locked eyes was loud and shrill: KRIKRIKRIKRIKRI!!!
I tossed it aside and dry-heaved as every muscle in my body screamed. A tingling feeling was returning to my arms and leg. Tears washed the burn from my eyes. And now I could see with clearer horror exactly what surrounded me.
The helmet-bugs were sitting atop all of the others. The calamari mouth tubes suckled at their insides as the creatures clenched themselves in place. The room was the same, but oh so different. The light came from a bioluminescent white film that coated the surface of the walls around us and looked like glowing coagulated fat.
The mouth tube on the creature I’d tossed aside was now screeching, KRIKRIKRIKRIKRI!!! It whipped around like an uncontrolled firehose. KRIKRIKRIKRIKRI!!! As soon as I was strong enough to stand, I stomped it into oblivion. KRIKRIKRI--. The mite creature’s legs stopped skittering in the air and slowly curved in on themselves. It got off lucky. Death was too good for the bastard.
My next move was to try and wake Jerry. He would know what to do. Or he would, at least, have something funny to say about our predicament. But the creature on his head had six legs firmly embedded deep into his skull. I couldn’t figure out any way to remove the bug without risking a fatal scalping. As I considered pulling at his mouth tube, I realized that Jerry had grown a beard since the last time I saw him. Even with the bug helmet, I could see that his wild hair had grown significantly longer. We must have been sitting here at this table for a couple of weeks at least.
Realizations came to me in waves. He was wearing the same clothes he’d had on when we walked up the hill to Bedside Manor. I was also back in my jeans and t-shirt. The floor was sticky, patches of spaghetti-noodle plants wriggled out of the carpet every few feet, releasing clouds of ashy spores into the air. On the table where our plates should have been, there were clusters of translucent egg sacs, with each egg about the size of a ping-pong ball and containing multiple tiny helmet-bug embryos. To top it off, everyone else at the table was different now.
They were all emaciated. The worst being Tobias and Bridget--mummified corpses with dark-tanned skin stretched across skeletal remains. Wolfgang was naked, taller, gaunt and stretched out like a starving child that had aged into malnourished adulthood. He and his mother must have been sitting in place for years.
Claire and Loren were wearing the same clothing as when we attempted our escape together. It felt like such a long, long time ago. I couldn’t tell how long the sisters had been here, but they both looked like they were starving. I needed to check, to see if any of them were even breathing, or if the insects had sucked the last of the life from their husks.
Stripes of blood had dried in lines down Claire’s face long ago. The tube of the insect pulsed as I got closer. The parasitic monster was clearly aware of my presence, even if none of the others were. Maybe I could scare it away or pry it off, but first I needed to see if I was wasting my time on a futile effort. I put my hand to Claire’s neck, hoping to find a pulse. Her skin felt cold under my fingertips. If there was a trace of a heartbeat, I couldn’t find it.
But I didn’t need to. Her hand shot up and wrapped around my wrist. Her eyes opened wide and stared ahead, through me. And then I heard her voice, inside my head.
Get out while you still can. Do not try to save us.
She released her grip and let her hand fall to her side. Her eyes closed and she went as still as a frozen lake.
“Claire,” I said. “I’m not going to leave you.”
There was a different voice in my head now. Not Claire’s. Not mine. Someone, something, else.
You’re not supposed to be here, Jack.
I felt the blazing heat upon my back like a fire run amok. I turned to face the source and nearly missed it. The thing emitting this invisible radiation was sitting there, at the head of the table--the same place where it had been this entire time. I knew he was there, only I couldn’t see him. He didn’t reflect any light. Like some kind of dark hole, he absorbed everything around him. But I could sense his presence if I focused hard enough. He was the shape of a human--one head, two arms, all that stuff, except he wasn’t made of flesh and matter. He was made of negative space. I physically couldn’t even point my eyes at him, but I knew he was there.
“Hey,” I said. “Is this whole thing your idea?”
“Yes,” he said back in a voice that sounded like a hiss of steam.
“Well it’s quite awful and I hate it.”
“I know. You were never supposed to see this. No one has ever woken up before. Not in a billion worlds. Not in a trillion years. There is no protocol for this.”
“What are you supposed to be, anyway?”
“We are as the microbiota who live in your intestines. We help you, we keep you alive and strong. And in return, you feed us. Our species are a symbiosis. We wish you no harm.”
“Oh really? I said, wiping the fresh blood trail out of my brow. “You could have fooled me--what with all the death and torture and everything.”
“We survive off of the emotional energy you throw away. Excitement, fear, love, hate. It all tastes the same. When our hosts allow it, we sow euphoric sustenance. But if our hosts try to starve us, we make darker withdrawals in the name of survival. Surely you understand.”
“Understand my dick!” I screamed. This negative void entity was really starting to piss me off.
Perhaps… the void said with some hesitation, ...a compromise is in order.
For a brief instant, I felt a flicker of hope. The entity running this nightmare wanted to come to the proverbial table. Gods don’t need to negotiate; the fact that it was willing to bargain could only mean it knew I was capable of harming it. I just had to figure out what it was afraid of.
“Compromise, huh?” I looked around the room. “Well you could start by letting us all go. And maybe buying me a new car.”
That is not possible.
“I’d settle for an old car.”
You may leave this place. And you may take one of the other players with you. Choose well, for this is the only chance you get.
It made sense. The game needed to continue, no matter what the cost. These creatures survived for years without me or Jerry, but their nest had reached max capacity with six hosts. If any more than two of us left, there wouldn’t be enough to feed the brood.
I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over leaving Wolfgang to dream it out forever, but running away wasn’t much of an option either. I looked at Jerry, then turned to Claire. Her words echoed in my mind: Get out while you still can. Do not try to save us. This wasn’t fair. I’d beaten the game. I’d escaped. And this was my award? Another impossible moral dilemma?
Even if I did make a deal and rescue another person, or even if I stayed behind so Claire and Jerry could both get out, I would just be delaying the void’s plans. Two other poor suckers would replace the empty roles, and then the game might actually get played. Then… whatever the next step was supposed to be. (I’m still not completely sure what they were planning.) There was only one real option. Everything else was merely a distraction.
I had to stop the game for good.
I didn’t know how. But if there was one person in the world who could fuck shit up enough to save the day, it was Jerry. I walked over to where he sat and grabbed the fleshy umbilical cord connecting him to the bug on his head. With both hands, I began yanking it out of Jerry’s throat.
Stop that! commanded the entity at the head of the table. He didn’t like what I was doing. That was a sign that I was on the right path.
The thing wriggled in my hands as I removed it inch by inch. It was a yard-long when I finally heard the sound of Glagh! The head of the creature popped out of Jerry’s mouth, recoiled to face me, and screeched, KRIKRIKRIKRIKRI!
Jerry’s eyes popped open. He gagged, sputtered, looked around and said, “What in the holy name of Xenu--” The wormy tentacle whipped out of my hands and darted for Jerry’s mouth like a moth to a lamp. Considering how many benders I’d seen him recover from, I shouldn’t have been so surprised by how quickly Jerry’s reflexes returned to him after regaining consciousness. Without even taking the time to panic, he punched the creature in its tiny face and said, “At least buy me a drink first!”
“Jerry!” I yelled. “No time to explain! We’ve been tripping on deep-throating monster juju this whole time!”
He looked at the others in the room, at all of the bugs latched onto their heads. With a grossed-out expression, he put a hand onto his own head and felt the creature there.
“Quick!” he yelled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a metal lighter. “Grab the prehensile proboscis!”
“The what?”
“The prehensile proboscis, Jack!”
“I don’t know what that means!
“The teethy tube! Jesus, Jack! Learn context clues!”
I grabbed the teethy tube out of the air. It wriggled and fought back. I dodged its snapping teeth as Jerry worked the lighter. It took a few flicks, but eventually he managed to catch a steady flame, which he then held against the bug’s shell.
KRIKRIKRIKRIKRI! it screeched in my hands. The body portion detached from Jerry’s head, kicked the lighter out of his hand, and jumped away. As soon as it was loose, I swung it around in the air and gave it my best hammer throw into the wall.
Enough! shouted the void. I command you to stop!
Jerry pointed at the entity at the head of the table, turned away momentarily to vomit on the floor, then asked, “What is that thing?”
“I don’t know. Something stupid.”
It seemed to rise, like it was standing. Or growing. There are eight billion hungry mouths waiting to be fed. You cannot stop all of us.
Jerry picked up his chair and flung it into the void, shouting, “Try me, bitch!”
The void disappeared with a sound like a crack of thunder. Still, his voice lingered. You will end this senseless violence! Or else, we will not be so kind the next time we put you back into the game. Your whole species will have you to blame when they wake up in a hellscape.
I heard a noise that nearly stopped my heart. An avalanche of stabs. I turned around to see hundreds of the insectoids crawling through the door, skittering towards us on thousands of feet. Emerging from the fat in the wall, burrowing out from holes in the floor, crawling across the ceiling. Most of them were smaller than the ones that had grabbed onto us. Fresh hatchlings, bodies the size of coins and mouth-tubes as long as rulers. They covered every inch of the floor, climbing over one another, flowing towards us. Reaching out with their lamprey mouths, screeching that horrible noise.
KRIKRIKRIKRIKRI!
Jerry jumped onto the table, grabbed my hand, and hoisted me up. As they expanded to the walls and began to cover the white bioluminescent film, the room grew darker and darker.
“Alright,” Jerry said. “Don’t panic. I have a plan! First, I’m going to jump onto the chandelier and swing across to the--” he didn’t finish what he was saying. One of the legs of the table broke under our weight. We both toppled off of it and slammed into the pile of hatchlings at Bridget’s feet. I stood and wiped the bug goo off of my shoulder, then jumped into the chair with Bridget. Now that I was this close, it was hard not to see exactly what these creatures had done to her.
Her hair was long and gray. Her clothes worn down to tatters. Her jerkified skin clung tightly over the bone like it had been vacuum sealed. And in the dim light, I could easily see her pupils rapidly bouncing back and forth behind her closed lids. She may have been sucked dry, but the insects were keeping her alive somehow. I couldn’t focus on that, though. Not right now.
An idea struck me. I pointed at Tobias’s shriveled husk and shouted to Jerry, “Weapon!”
Jerry didn’t miss a beat. He sloshed through the puddle of insects, grabbed Tobias’s skeletal arm, put his foot against the man’s torso, and said “Sorry, T-Bone,” before ripping the limb free from its socket with a sickening, fraaack!
One of the adult insects leapt through the air. Jerry punted it across the room with Tobias’s arm.
“I meant his gun!”
“Oh!” Jerry dropped the arm, bent down, ripped the fabric from Tobias’s decaying pants, and picked up the gun where it had settled on the floor by his ankle. Bugs spread up his arm and legs. An army of the little bastards were stabbing their way up Bridget’s chair and onto my leg as well. There were too many. We’d never be able to kill them all. For the briefest of moments, I considered begging Jerry to just shoot us both… But then Jerry pointed at a cluster of eggs on the wall and fired.
The sound of the gunshot in the tiny room was loud, but the reacting screams of hundreds of shrill otherworldly monsters was nearly deafening. The walls reverberated from the collective hissing, and all together they flowed away from the noise. They dropped from my clothes and skin. They ran back into the holes in the floor and walls. They retreated en masse. It would seem that they weren’t used to their food fighting back like this.
“Jack…”
The voice was weak. I turned my head to see Claire. Her eyes were unfocused. Fresh crimson lines ran down her face. She looked at me, tried to stand, and collapsed into her chair. The creature that had been draining her had retreated at the sound of the gunshot, along with all of the others. A pained moan escaped from Loren’s throat.
Before I could say anything, Jerry screamed a word that I’ve heard him scream far too many times.
“FIRE!”
He was pointing at the other side of the room where his lighter had landed with the wick still lit. A ring of flames steadily expanded outwards on the carpet. When the fire hit the wall, it ran up the edge like a dry fuse. Egg sacs sizzled and popped. Tiny monsters screeched and fell to the floor. And before I knew it, the fire had reached the ceiling.
I forced myself to ignore it for now and focus on the escape. I ran to Claire’s side. Jerry took my lead and rushed over to Loren. Claire’s eyes opened momentarily. Her head rolled to one side as she focused on me and said, Don’t! Please, save yourself.
“We’re getting you and your sister out of here.”
She closed her eyes. She was too weak to fight. No, I don’t…
That was it. She was unconscious again. I assumed she was trying to say something like “I don’t know how to thank you.” But I could feel fire against my back--a real fire now--so there wasn’t any time to reconsider. I put an arm around her back, another beneath her legs, and scooped her up. It was shocking how little she weighed. Somehow, I found room in my heart to hate this house even more for what it had put us all through.
I looked over and saw that Jerry had thrown Loren over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. She continued to moan as he led the way out of the burning room.
The walls of the great room were completely covered in that same waxy, white (flammable) substance. A hexagonal pattern emerged, a bee hive shape, with each section containing clusters of translucent eggs. They vibrated as we entered, swelling and bouncing in tandem, like the house was breathing. A pair of mites, both the size of English Mastiffs, crawled down the wall on either side of the front door. Their tube-appendages were as thick and long as elephant trunks.
“Wait!” The command came from the creature closer to us, in the same crepitating voice that Maggie used when she invited us into the manor all that time ago. “You can’t go! It’s dangerous out there!”
Another voice entered the room. A man’s voice. This one sounded just like Nathaniel, and it sounded like it was coming from the other creature. “I believe now would be an excellent time for us all to come together and work as a team if we are to solve the mystery of Bedside Manor.”
Jerry took aim and fired at the one that sounded like Maggie. Its hind end exploded in red goo, prompting the other monster to dive onto the ground and burrow into a crack. Jerry pointed the gun at the floor. That thing could be anywhere now.
Jack, Claire’s voice was in my head. She was weak, and losing a lot of blood. I looked at her as she struggled to tell me something, I don’t have a-
“What are we waiting for!?” Jerry blurted. He moved for the door. I followed. Whatever Claire needed to confide in us, she could do it outside.
We hit the door, came out on the other side, and kept running. It was the middle of the night, the only light coming from a full moon. The air was full of humidity and cicada screams. We kept running until we were halfway down the driveway, and then I stopped. I needed to help Claire. To stop the bleeding. I laid her down on the grass and started searching my pockets for something to help. Sunscreen, trail mix, useless!
Loren sounded like she was coming to with a gnarly hangover. Jerry let her down, and she instantly went to her knees. He didn’t even hesitate to pull off his t-shirt and start ripping it into bandage-shreds. I took the fabric, wrapped it around Claire’s head, and tried to get her to wake up while he tended to her older sister.
“Claire. Can you hear me?” I repeated myself a little louder. “Claire! Can you HEAR me?!”
Her eyes opened, then focused on mine. Loren staggered over to our side just as Claire began to speak. “Where… where are we?”
“Awake,” I answered, hoping with every last bit of hope that it was the truth.
“Damn,” Jerry said. I turned around to see that he was looking at the manor. The flames grew quickly. Heavy smoke billowed from the windows. The unearthly screeching succumbed to silence. Before I knew it, the house was entirely aflame, fire lapping at the underbellies of clouds.
“Should we keep running?” I said at last.
“No,” Loren answered. “We need to make sure none of those things get out.”
Nobody voiced any objections. After everything we’d been through, we were all so tired. It felt good to relax and watch the house die.
Once Loren and Claire were able to walk again, we left the manor for the last time. As soon as we hit the front of the property, we saw the car graveyard on the other side of the road. It was hidden in plain sight. A huge field, with at least twenty different vehicles parked haphazardly. Most of them with all of their doors open. Some, it seemed, had been rusting away for decades. At the very back, I found my shitty little Nissan waiting for us.
“Who parked this here?” I asked, but as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I remembered… the bandaged memory fell out of place… I was no longer under the spell. We parked here. On purpose. Jerry saw the house, and we thought it would be smart to leave the car and check it out. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. I shook my head. There was another conflicting memory taking up the same spot. We broke down a mile up the road and walked here to use the phone. There weren’t any other cars... My head throbbed. I was getting a migraine for the record books, and I still can’t tell which of these memories--if either--was real.
The engine started right away. Jerry offered to drive. I gave Loren shotgun while Claire and I took the back seat. We sped away from that place as fast as Jerry could drive. Only when we were miles down the road did I dare to quit looking out the back window. It was done. Gone. Behind us.
When I finally let myself look away, I found Claire staring at me.
What was it you were trying to say to me earlier? I wondered.
I received the answer to my question before I could even ask it.
Jack, she said softly. I don’t have a sister.
I turned my head to see Loren, leaning back in her seat, looking right at me. I felt a familiar buzzing energy run up and down my spine as she smiled and winked.
JT

Designing a Hex-crawl - Alternative Map Scales and a Guide to Making Useful Hex-maps for Running the Exploration Pillar in 5e

I’m a world builder at heart. When I chose to begin a campaign based around a hex-crawl exploration I decided to build the setting from the top down to give the most grandeur and realism possible to the landscape. The hope was to create a sense of vast distance and scope while applying the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide travel pace/exploration rules, so that travel has higher stakes and occasionally requires greater attention to resource management in harsh environments. The campaign was envisioned as an exploration into the wilderness of a newly uncovered lost continent.
This left me with the challenging task of turning my maps into a cohesive hex-crawl that I could easily track, and that my players would enjoy. I set out to devise an easy way to turn my own digital map resources into a tool for planning a west-marches style sandbox campaign, and I think that I’ve accomplished my goal!
This short guide outlines how I went from a map of my whole globe to creating a set of physical exploration maps and map keys that are easy to integrate and useful for running the exploration pillar in any game.
To begin with I started with the adventure's location. This map set was made by importing the coastlines and heightmap of my location into Wonderdraft and making a hex-grid overlay, however any map making tool of your preference will work for here if it will allow you to specify the scale of your hex-grid. The length of the short diagonal on your hex-grid should correspond to one of the map scales outlined below, and it should be 1-2 scales above the level of detail that you want to represent with each hex on your exploration map.
Combining scales
My maps use this nested hexagon pattern to accomplish easy translation between styles of gameplay. Because we can continually nest 7 hexagons inside of a single larger hexagon this way, we can expand the map scales on page 14 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide as follows:

Provincial scale: 1 hex is 1 mile (suitable for hunting for monster lairs)
Regional scale: 1 hex is 3 miles
Kingdom scale: 1 hex is 8 miles (suitable for overland travel)
Political scale: 1 hex is 24 miles
Continent scale: 1 hex is 72 miles (suitable for ships and sea travel)
World scale: 1 hex is 216 miles

At the new regional scale the land is rendered in enough detail to track the characters movement across each hex in terms of hours instead of days, and small wilderness expedition can be tracked with a satisfying level of granularity.
At the political scale each hex is a single day of ordinary travel, so a journey on established roads that is tracked in terms of days or weeks is easier to show on this map scale.
The world scale makes it easy to visualize your world map (if you have one) in terms of the length of sea voyages or other fast methods of travel.
A case for the 8-mile hex
Travel in the Player’s Handbook (p.181) follows a 4:3:2 system where a group of creatures can move 4 miles per hour at a fast pace, 3 miles per hour at a normal pace, and 2 miles per hour at a slow pace. Over an 8-hour day the travel pace table generalizes the mile per hour speeds, but we will see a good reason not to do this.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide includes rules for flying (p.119), which can be accomplished to increase the rate of travel for the party. These rules state that mounted flying creatures can use their flight speed for 9 hours over the course of the travel day, taking a 1-hour rest after each 3-hour span of flight.
The rules for traveling on overland mounts are hiding on page 181 in the Player’s Handbook as well. It says that mounted characters choose their travel pace as normal, however at any point in the day they can choose to replace their travel pace with a fast ‘gallop’ covering 8 miles in 1 hour. A character in a well populated region can conceivably find an inn or stable every 8-10 miles where fresh mounts are available, allowing for repeated uses of this ‘gallop’ feature and letting the character travel for 64 miles before potentially becoming exhausted, but otherwise the distance covered by a character on an ordinary mount simply obeys the travel pace table in the Player’s Handbook.
Finally, every vehicle or vessel, such as those provided in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and other supplements, give their speed in miles per hour. Since many of these creations can travel for 24 hours a day, provided their crew works in shifts, it is more useful to think of the rate of travel for ships and similar vehicles in terms of miles per hour instead of miles per day.
Taking all this in, I found that making the basic unit of my own hex-crawl the 8-mile hex provided an elegant solution to overland travel. Unlike other sizes of hex the 8-mile hex scales up and down neatly as seen above to make tracking daily travel a breeze. 8 miles is also the shortest amount of progress that a party can make (moving slowly, and through difficult terrain) in one day of travel.
By discarding the daily adjustment provided in the travel table, a fast pace of 4 miles per hour sustained for 8 hours can cross 4 hexes on this map, a normal pace can cross 3 hexes, and a slow pace of 2 miles per hour crosses only 2 hexes. This makes it useful for tracking both distances and time spent travelling over journeys of an indefinite length, or ones where the speed of travel may change drastically (such as utilizing a folding boat or magic carpet).
Creating the exploration map
The first step is to settle on a scale for your exploration map. Your chosen scale should reflect two things: the time scale of the journey cycle (will it be tracked in hours, days, or weeks?), and the level of detail at which you want to track changes in the environment for the purposes of tracking navigation difficulty and random encounters.
While creating my maps I wanted to track a journey of about one week using a journey cycle of days, and to allow for up to three environments (Dungeon Master’s Guide p.302) to be crossed in a single day of travel. I chose the 8-mile hex for my map scale and made the 24-mile hexes visible on the exploration map for clarity and ease of use. For shorter journey cycles tracked in hours you might choose the 1-mile hex map scale, letting you zoom in close on landscape features or visualize the regional effects of powerful creature’s lairs.
Once you have chosen a scale you must then reproduce the features that you want to be visible on your map at that scale. Software can help with this, or you can do it the old-fashioned way! No matter how you create your exploration map the result should be the same. A map that shows the entire span of a journey, to accurate scale, representing the features of the terrain as you have designed it, and usable by your party to navigate (Player’s Handbook p.183) to any of the locations that it shows.
With this finished you’re 50% of the way to being able to run your hex-crawl, you just need to populate your map with some environments! On a separate sheet of hexagonal grid paper label each of the hexes on the exploration map with a coordinate and assign each one with an environment, creating a map key.
Environments, such as coast, swamp, grassland, or mountain, are useable with the Dungeon Master’s Guide and the Monster Manual to give you an idea of the type of creatures that call this area of your map their home. The map key is also the place where you can note which hexes are home to unique creatures or locations that will require more expanding upon, such as a settlement or a dungeon.
Bringing it all together
The hex scale, the exploration map, and the map key all come together into a useful set of tools that operate fluidly within the existing exploration framework of 5e, including the Unearthed Arcana: Into the Wild, and the new Dungeon Master’s Screen: Wilderness Kit.
As the party moves across the landscape they will set their travel pace and choose their destination on the exploration map at the beginning of each journey cycle.
They can follow roads or waterways to their destination, or navigate against the difficulty class of the terrain making some number of miles of progress with each day of travel.
As the party travels there is always the potential for an encounter. When an encounter has been determined the prevailing environment on your map key can be used to quickly create a believable encounter using the tables provided in Appendix B of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, or you can roll on the Random Encounter tables provided in a book like Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
Supplies that are consumed regularly over the course of the day can also be easily tracked. Because the hex-scales nest into one another, and you can fit multiple scales onto one grid, you can always have a hex-scale available to you that will neatly reflect the distance covered over one day of travel.
Finally, the party may track their progress on the exploration map at the end of each journey cycle (an hour, a day, or a week). They can make notes of interesting locations and encounters or determine how lost they’ve become through poor navigation.
Ready to explore!
I think that the hex-crawl is an awesome tool for giving players freedom, whether you’re running a sandbox-style campaign or chronicling the hunt for a legendary monster’s lair, and I want to see it used more! If you’ve gotten this far then I hope that this small guide has given you a place to start if you are thinking of running a hex-crawl adventure in your own game. Thanks for checking out my post, and if you have any constructive criticism or improvements I would love to hear them!

These are the games I've played (for the first time) in 2020 + a short review of each!

Table 53's Games of 2020:
(I know these are controversial on here, but I love reading these lists from other people around this time and I like that they spark discussion about a wide range of games - hopefully you don't mind!)
JANUARY:
Divinity Original Sin 2 - Masterpiece of a game. I believe I actually started this 6 months earlier, but was playing it infrequently whenever my brother and I were in the same place for a few days, but in January started playing across Steam’s crossplay feature. Having enjoyed the first game and having heard that DOS2 was an improvement all around, I was excited to play it – and that assessment rings true. All the excitement, intrigue, and depth of the first game but with a lot more polish and quality. While I frequently lost track of the overall story due to my investment in the minutia of combat and character speccing, the newly introduced “character stories” not present in the first game were excellent. In addition to the main quest you can, if you choose, follow 4 other quests specific to individual heroes. These stories gave DOS2 a lot of heart, and by the time I was reaching the crescendo of Lohse’s storyline I felt such a strong attachment to the character, second only to Yorda in Ico – which is a remarkable achievement. Good story, great world and lore, excellent RPG – HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Effie - Effie is an indie 3D Platformer that’s aiming for an early 2000s mascot platformer vibe – a period I call the “golden age” of 3D platformers. It’s successful in some regards, but 3D platformers are highly sensitive to game feel and unfortunately Effie’s movement can’t hope to match the smoothness of those Insomniac/Sucker Punch PS2 titles. Having said that, the ideas in the game are neat and your character’s growing movement and combat kit are fun to play around with. A fun title, only let down by a lack of fluidity to the movement and an over the top and awkward storytelling style - SOMEWHAT RECOMMEND

(I Fell in Love With) The Majesty of Colours - Technically the first time I played this game was a decade ago, but this was my first play of the cheap (and mostly unnecessary) remaster of the game on Steam. The Majesty of Colours is a short, experimental work of interactive fiction that debuted on Newgrounds in 2009. Exploring a short story with 5 endings, The Majesty of Colours has you control a tentacled, undersea leviathan interacting for the first time with the surface and the human world. It’s a short but powerful game that’s executed exceptionally well and is definitely worth the 5-10 minutes it will take to play around with - RECOMMEND
FEBRUARY:
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age – Another replay, but again with such a long time between my previous go that it feels like playing something new. The Third Age is essentially Final Fantasy with a Tolkien theme, and critics were never particularly kind to it. Visually it’s strong for a ~2003 release and the enemy animations still look good, if a little low on polygons. What’s best about the The Third Age is how well it uses the LotR movies that it’s based on to make an engaging game – the enemy designs are plucked straight from the films, as are the locations, and the main plotline. In fact, the game’s story sees you following the exact route the fellowship takes just a day or so behind, occasionally catching up to engage the mainline LotR story, such as fighting the Balrog with Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-Dun or defending Helm’s Deep with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. In that regard it feels, in a good way, like a fan game. A game that gives you the opportunity to involves yourself completely in the film-version of the LotR story without having to replace or lose any of your favourite characters. Mechanically the game is enjoyable and interesting, but definitely veers towards the easy side in particular if you discover either of its two obscenely powerful or broken mechanics – though it is let down towards the end of the game by some lengthy, repetitive fights (oh, you just battled an oliphant for 25 minutes? Well, how about you fight two of them!), and the transition between the penultimate area of the game and the last is jarringly quick. Despite that, I still loved it - YOU PROBABLY CAN’T PLAY THE GAME ANYWAY
MARCH:
Iris and the Giant - Iris and the Giant is an interesting take on roguelike ‘deckbuilders’ that have been growing in popularity since Slay the Spire’s success – however, unlike the StS variant of these games, Iris and the Giant has a much more puzzley feel to its turn to turn combat, typically prioritising shorter 2-3 turn planning over dungeon-long synergy building. It’s key feature for me is a genius mechanic that allows you to “steal” cards from enemies – these have more interesting and sometimes more powerful effects than the cards you typically acquire, giving the game an excellent risk vs. reward mechanic as you try to keep powerful enemies alive in an attempt to attack them with a card stealing ability later. It’s a good game with an interesting art style and a large variety of cards from each of the many enemy types. Not as good as Slay the Spire, but certainly interesting - RECOMMEND

FIDEL – Fidel is a puzzle based dungeon crawler, navigate through gridded levels figuring out how to open doors and gain experience without losing Fidel too much health. It’s been a while since I played this, but from what I remember it was a neat puzzle idea that could grow into some difficult challenges - SOMEWHAT RECOMMEND
APRIL:
Pipe Push Paradise - Who loves Sokoban games? I do. Pipe Push Paradise is a sokoban game about move around awkwardly shaped pipes in confined spaces to reconnect the plumbing network on a tropical island. I liked the art style, and the puzzles weren’t bad, but ultimately they felt a little too “generic sokoban” with the only real twist being the pipes ability to role over in certain directions. I can see people enjoying it, but even as a big sokoban fan this one just didn’t click with me - NOT RECOMMENDED

Gwent - A free online game my brother wanted to try, I gave it a go and lost interest very quickly. I can see there being some strategy, though perhaps not as much as I’d really like – but I despite games where the biggest chunk of the strategy comes outside of playing in the form of tedious assembling some sort of deck. I could maybe put up with that in a more exciting game, but I had no interest in Gwent - NOT RECOMMENDED

Fates of Ort – A strange, isometric, low budget RPG that I chose to play because of the SUPERHOT-esque implementation of a tactical pause in combat. The land is being corrupted and only you can save it – unfortunately I didn’t find myself captured by the story which led to me feeling a little lost and wandering around aimlessly. While not typically something I would ask for, I think this game could have benefited from quest markers to give me a little more direction as I was learning to use the mechanics. Feels like there was promise, but in the end I moved on to other things, though I am tempted to return - NEUTRAL FOR NOW

Dungeon of the Endless (replay) – Masterpiece. Didn’t play for the first time this year and replay regularly so I won’t say much. It’s a roguelike, dungeon crawling, tactical tower defence game. Tower defence is just an inherently satisfying mechanics, and its used exceptionally here to make an absolute classic. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Umiro - A strategy puzzle game about guiding two characters past moving obstacles by planning each of their paths in advance and then watching them move. An interesting premise and visually very neat – but the gameplay felt awkward and often reverted to tedious trial and error as it was difficult to visualise how levels were likely to unfold - NOT RECOMMENDED
MAY:
Reky – Another visually cool little puzzle game that ultimately felt like it lacked in its execution. Potentially on a mobile device I’d have given this more of a shout as the controls could easily transfer to a touchscreen. The puzzles that involved tapping interactable platforms and moving them around to form paths for a little dot unfortunately felt like they were best solved through quite a slow, almost algorithmic process and it didn’t engage my brain in as exciting a way as I’d have liked - NOT RECOMMENDED

Intergalactic Fishing - Game of the Year. Seriously. This is No Man’s Sky as a small indie fishing game and behind its simple 2D, top-down visuals it’s a game that hides mechanical depth, a clear passion for the theme, and a lot of soul. I won’t write more as I made full lengthy post about this game on here previously, but as you can likely tell I - HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Terraria (Journey’s End) – I have played Terraria many times over many years, but this is the game’s final iteration with the last expansion, aptly titled Journey’s End. Terraria is a masterpiece, a genuine indie classic and – according to aggregate reviews – one of the top 3 games on Steam. Terraria is the absolute pinnacle of simulating an adventure in a game, started small and local and expanded outward moment by moment, growing in strength as you uncover more loot and items, and finding equally powerful enemies to match your new growth. The design of the map is exceptional, the mechanics are solid, but it’s the feeling of progress and the scale of the world that really blows you away. The update is an excellent addition to an already world class game - HIGHLY RECOMMEND
JUNE:
Spring Falls – described as a hidden gem I was quite excited to play Spring Falls. It’s a ‘relaxing’ puzzle game about guiding water down a mountain side by raising and lower hexagons of earth to fill ponds near to dried out plants. It’s quite easy, as its supposed to be, but for possibly a strange reason the relaxing part of it just didn’t click. I think this was mostly because, as you raise and lower bits of earth you can pour one hexagon worth of water into a two hexagon space and it will fill the both up.. which felt jarring, and frequently would adjust a tile and waste huge amounts of water off the side of the level but still have the right solution, which was visually unsatisfying. It’s probably a niche complaint, but it genuinely did prevent me from finding the game relaxing - NOT RECOMMENDED

Dis Pontibus – Dis Pontibus is a sokoban style puzzle game where you have to slide pieces to create bridges between islands. The pieces you interact with come in three different type, fixed green shapes that slide around normally, yellow rotating pieces that pivot around an axis, and brown pieces that act like snakes from the video game.. snake. It feels like a very simple idea, but the way that these three types of pieces combine together in the bridges and the oddities in how they interact with each other make from some very intriguing puzzles. Dis Pontibus also has the interesting idea that the puzzles in the game were all created by procedural generation. Rules were put in place to ensure the puzzles were solvable with other checks to ensure some level of difficulty, but it also allows Dis Pontibus to have an effectively infinite number of puzzles to solve - RECOMMEND
JULY:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Probably the biggest game I played this year and it’s.. fine. It’s no Stardew Valley, but then again very few games are. ACNH has a lot of peaceful and relaxing elements to it, and I actually liked the way that your island progressed in real world time giving the game a very slow and chilled pace. Having said that, it is also insanely tedious in far too many areas. Animations for showing off caught bugs and fish take far too long, and similarly crafting takes a lifetime if you want multiple items. Your backpack fills up alarmingly fast with just a simple trip around your island forcing you to wander home and empty it. Your home does give you freedom to be creative.. but in a way that I don’t usually care about. Compared with Stardew Valley where you can arrange plants and barns and water sources to manage your farm.. in ACNH your creative options are limited to purely aestethic elements that don’t change how you play. Not a bad game, not a great game, but my girlfriend absolutely loves it so I won’t say anything below - NEUTRAL

Starseed Pilgrim – A magical game, quickly became one of my absolute faves. I cannot and will not describe how Starseed Pilgrim plays, and you shouldn’t look it up either. Ask yourself if you’re someone who enjoys video games and has played a great range of them, has patience, and considers themselves to have great video game literacy. If you do, google Starseed Pilgrim, look at a screenshot and if sparks curiosity in you then play the game blind. It has no “narrative” spoilers, but going in blind gets the most of what this game offers - HIGHLY RECOMMEND

AUGUST:
Ever Forward - a puzzle platformer with interesting (if a bit generic unity) visual design, and decent cutscenes. Unfortunately I didn’t play for long as the actually puzzle-platforming was uninspired and quite dull - NOT RECOMMENDED

Rogue Summoner – A very interesting puzzley, dungeon crawler that unfortunately doesn’t have the execution to match the premise. The idea is that you have to battle through a dungeon as a summoner, learning new summons and then using them to fight. The combat is a deterministic grid-based puzzle where you can see enemy intent lines, and each enemy has a moves and attacks in a deliberate way (e.g move three squares, melee attack for 1 damage) – and so you place your monsters in a way that gives you an advantage to win the fight. It’s interesting.. some of the time. Unfortunately the fights were frequently so one-sided in favour of the AI that you couldn’t be creative or smart with your strategy, and had to resort to using expendable “bombs” to even stand a chance which not once felt satisfying. Interesting idea, not a great game - NOT RECOMMENDED

Dr. Derk’s Mutant Battleground – Another very weird game. Dr. Derk’s Mutant Battleground, one of the best video game names I’ve ever heard, is a game about training monsters through a machine learning process and then battling them against the monsters of other players. You set up training fights, and by changing how your monster is given reward points, try to guide them towards a beneficial strategy. It’s a very different take on a monster trainer game and, while not necessarily brilliant, was interesting to spend some time with - NEUTRAL
SEPTEMBER:
A Monster’s Expedition - Wonderful game. Another Sokoban puzzler about building bridges to move from island to island, but in this one the puzzle is about knocking over tree trunks which you can flip lengthways, but roll when pushed from the side. The quality of the puzzles here is excellent, not because they’re particularly mind blowing or tricky – but the exact opposite. The difficult I would describe as ranging from easy to moderate for a Sokoban game, but that’s exactly the point. A Monster’s Expedition is designed to be relaxing, it has an excellent soundtrack, top notch sound effects, and wonderful, cutesy visual design. The sprawling archipelago that you traverse also gives you options about where to head and which puzzle to solve next, so if you feel a bit stuck ever, there’s probably another puzzle elsewhere you can head off to first. I had a lot of fun with playing this game and it’s one I’m definitely going to revisit to complete some of the trickier optional/achievement puzzles - HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Environmental Station Alpha - Well known in the metroidvania scene Environmental Station Alpha (EVA) is probably not a good place to start if you want to explore the genre. Thematically I love it, the setting is a former ‘environmental station’ – and idea that makes me think of Silent Running – and so expect a sci-fi spaceship setting with strange and potentially dangerous fauna. It’s pixel graphics that are mostly very good, the design of the animals you encounter in particular I think are nicely made, though a lot of surface types end up looking similar due to the limited range of pixel colours used. In terms of gameplay I think the movement and platforming are quite clunky which was at times frustrating, and even with customisable controls, I found it difficult to work out a control scheme that felt natural for the movement. Resorting at one point to binding shoot and jump to the same button to fight one tricky boss. I’m enjoying the game, there’s definitely quality where it counts – but I do find the movement to be a little weak and it sometimes resulted in frustrating deaths and loss of health. Until I complete I’ll say - NEUTRAL

The Imagined Leviathan / The Night Fisherman – Short 10-15 minute narrative adventures created by Far Few Giants. Quite different games in how they play. These are games more about telling a story and creating an atmosphere than having intricate gameplay but are well worth checking out. The Imagined Leviathan in particular has an absolutely stunning atmosphere, visual design, and soundscape that really put you in the harsh cold environment its trying to create. Again, these are very short, free to play, and available on both Steam and Itch so well worth trying one out - RECOMMEND

World Seed – A strange massively-multiplayer game that I didn’t get into much of. It’s a game with classic RPG elements like crafting and items and combat – but the game is playing out on a hexagon tiled world.. that regularly changes. You can claim tiles as your own to gain resources as you travel around fighting differing enemies of various strengths, gaining other resources in the process – and the progress you make with your character stays every time the world changes. It feels like a game that you could log onto and play for a few minutes here and there and slowly make progress over a long period of time, but I haven’t played enough of it to see what it’s like over a long period of time - NEUTRAL
OCTOBER:
The Long Gate – Do you have a physics degree? No? Maybe not the best game for you. The Long Gate is a tricky puzzle game where the puzzles are all based on real world physics/engineering concepts such as logic gates, analogue and digital electronics, and even quantum computing 101... If you don’t know what a logic gate is, this game would simply be unplayable – but, if you do, and you are into that sort of science and technology then there are some very enjoyable puzzles in here that reward you for your knowledge of those concepts. The strangest thing about The Long Gate, is that despite being a game with heavy physics puzzles.. a lot of effort has been put in to create a gorgeous and atmospheric world. It looked to me like the interior of an enormous spaceship, though the description does state it’s a futuristic underground cavern – and this cool, realistic, sci-fi aesthetic worked incredibly well with the grounded, realistic puzzle concepts - RECOMMENDED

The Dungeon Beneath - I had a lot of fun with The Dungeon Beneath. Similar to Rogue Summoner, this is a game about planning out deterministic turn based battles and then watching them unfold – however, it is much stronger in its execution. The visuals and music make for a great indie dungeon crawler, and the game is puzzley, strategic, and exciting. You have a 2x3 grid on which to place your 1-4 heroes, and a larger 3x1 tile behind where your “hero” stands. The wide range of enemies have an identical layout, and each fight is won by defeating the enemy “hero”, an idea that gives each fight the tense feeling of a boss battle – and each turn every unit attacks in the order of their speed, either attacking the closest enemy unit in their lane or (if no such unit opposes them) directly attacks the enemy hero. The gameplay and strategy is about position your units and hero based on both your skills, you attributes, and the varying enemies with their own specific attack patterns and threats. It’s a game with a lot of determinism in the combat, and a lot of RNG outside the combat to keep runs feeling different – some builds will fare well against particular enemies and terribly against others, and the final boss fight of each run is against a mighty god that makes me think of the FTL flagship. The balance might be a little off at the moment with regards to some abilities being weak relative to others, but the devs are still providing updates - RECOMMEND

Roboquest (early access) – I’ll keep this short as Roboquest is currently very early early access, but it is a roguelike first person shooter where you enter procedurally generated levels and, with a wide range of Borderlands-esque weapons, stun, blow up, and ultimately just destroy a range of increasingly powerful robots. As you kill robots and pick up experience you can level up, allowing you to build into particular skills – like having a powerful rocket attack, or a talent for elemental weapons – and each run is fast, action focussed and a good deal of fun. However, at the moment it doesn’t even have a basic save feature, so while you do get to upgrade your base between runs, you can’t pause a run and return to it another time which is an annoyance. Worth keeping an eye one, but needs a lot of work for now - NEUTRAL

Pinko Park - A pokemon snap sort of game where you travel on a rail through an overgrown former theme park/zoo with the aim of documenting all the bizarre 2D paper cut-out creatures. I was interested in the idea having never played Pokemon snap and wondering what this sort of game is all about – there is some extra gameplay in addition to just the photo taking and you work out how to get some creatures to stop hiding/start flying/start eating etc. to document more habits, but after an hour of playing I decided that it wasn’t really a game for me. It felt like it had quality, and I’m sure some people would enjoy it, but it just didn’t click with me enough to keep playing - NOT RECOMMENDED

Paper Beast (Folded Edition) – This is a non-VR version of a VR art game designed by Eric Chahi who designed the influential platformer Another World in 1991. You can see why it’s a VR game, a lot of the “mechanics” are all about physical interactions of moving gorgeous objects around – in VR I can imagine this being satisfying, with mouse and keyboard it’s pretty but a little insubstantial. The idea of the game is that you’re dropped into a desert filled with strange and interesting paper creatures, and by moving around (guided invisibly by smart world/camera/visual design to the right places a la Journey) you discover more creatures and witness small moments with grand visuals. I didn’t finish it, though I am tempted to – but I’m sure it works much better as a VR experience - NEUTRAL
NOVEMBER:
Superliminal - Pretty weak puzzle game, very strong walking simulator. Superliminal is a “mind bending” game about using forced Perspective to move and chance the size of interactable objects in the world. The basic design is like a puzzle platformer where you have to move and resize items to fit onto buttons or create platforms to jump on – but really the variety and depth of these puzzles runs out about 20 minutes in. What the game does do exceptionally well however, is create and mysterious and gripping mood with gorgeous environments and well designed scripted visual sequences – in other words, good attributes for a walking simulator. Superliminal is visually strong, has an interesting story, the puzzle mechanic is exceptionally well implemented even if the puzzles are somewhat limited – and as a Stanley Parable-esque walking sim I though it was excellent. 2-3 hours in length, well worth playing - RECOMMENDED

Youropa - Youropa is a puzzle platforming “metroidvania” about manoeuvring a large bobble headed jelly man with plungers for feet over floating chunks of Escher-esque cityscape high above the city of Paris. It’s an indie game with an exceptional level of polish that spent a decade between its inception and its release. The puzzles are engaging and clever, the world is gorgeous and the metroidvania-inspired unlocks and abilities give the game and your character a great sense of progress. If you like puzzle platformers with an emphasis on the puzzling, Youropa is one that I - HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Puzzle Pelago - Puzzle Pelago is a game about figuring out how to connect up resources on small islands with the industries and residents that require them. For example, creating a path from a forest to a sawmill, and from the mill to residential areas – but even when there are multiple industries or towns, each tile can still only hold a single road. It’s a nice game, it’s quite pretty, it’s got a theme that feels good to play with but I didn’t think it was exceptional. Enjoyable, not spectacular - NEUTRAL

The Last Show of Mr. Chardish - A very pecul;iar game to end the month with, …Mr Chardish is a 2hr long narrative walking sim that tells the story of two former actors, your playable character and the eponymous Mr Chardish, many years after you left the theatre. The story is conveyed partly through items found in the abandoned theatre as well as snippets from a radio interview with the now old and unwell Mr Chardish. What the game does most interestingly, is that some of the items in the theatre – all masks or headgear – put you into small games representing the plays that these costumes were used in. These small games then play out and represent arcs in the lives and relationship of the two main characters and work as an excellent storytelling device – the second in particular I think would be worth playing as a standalone 15 minute game. Mechanically The Last Show of Mr. Chardish lacks a bit of polish, in particular the camera which at times feels too closely tied to the player making it a bit jumpy, and the story and conclusion aren’t incredible – but it is a very interesting game and I’m glad I gave it a go - RECOMMENDED
DECEMBER:
Heaven’s Vault - Spectacular. An adventure game (read: classic, old school, point and click adventure game) that does away with all the tedium, all the illogical puzzles, and all the backtracking and screensearching that has plagued that genre for decades. Heaven’s Vault is the latest interactive narrative game by Inkle (of 80 Days fame). It’s a game about an archaeologist called Aliyah travelling between floating moons across the mysterious rivers in search of a lost man called Janniqi Renbah. Along the way she unlocks secrets of his endeavours and learns more about the history of the universe – an idea frowned upon by the game’s population who believe in the “Great Loop”; a concept that the timeline of the universe is a circle, and that history is meaningless as a result. The story is endlessly fascinating and mysterious, with gorgeous locations, a unique art style and wonderful writing. The gameplay (I feel I’ve rather buried the lede here) is split in two halves, one being Inkle’s trademark excellent dialogue with natural, flowing conversations between you and your robotic assistance Six – and an almost “minigame” about learning words and translating an ancient language. These translation puzzles are ingenious in their design, it may annoy linguists in the ways that this ancient language is remarkably similar in structure to English (god knows if it was possible to translate this game to other languages..), but the translations are also really interesting visual and pattern recognition puzzles. An absolute masterclass in narrative freedom and adventure - HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Himno - Himno is a free casual platformer available on Steam. It’s a game with no real goals, no end point, just randomly generated platforms for you to bounce between collecting experience(?) in a relaxing and flowing fashion. I haven’t played a lot of Himno, but it is a pretty game – though perhaps a little too dark – and one that can definitely be an enjoyable time killer - RECOMMEND

Gravitas - Gravitas is also free! Gravitas is a very well made first person puzzle-platformer where the name refers to gravity not grandeur. The game’s core puzzle mechanic is panels that can create cylindrical gravity fields and pull any objects, including you, towards them. With a glove that allows you to control these from range the game asks you to pull yourself up to greater heights and move large boxes to find your way from the start to the end of each level. It’s a very cool mechanic to work with, though unfortunately it doesn’t make for particularly great puzzles – as the gravity fields are limited by the locations of the panels options are quite limited and you’ll often end up solving a level in a slow, methodical manner without many strong Aha! moments. Having said that, it’s still fun to play around with for the games <1hr duration, and it has an energetic and entertaining voice-acted story going on in the background. It’s free, check it out - RECOMMENDED
I'm usually very bad at keeping this list updated as I play new games, and I'm almost certain I've been sent a few keys by smaller devs for game that I played, didn't add, and then forgot about - but mostly these would have gone under not recommended anyway and so it probably isn't much of a loss
Feel free to ask me anything about any of these titles or share your opinions as well!

What Matters Most part VIII (New Year’s Special)

Author’s note: my Christmas special was a little nsfw. No sex just got a little handsy so it was not posted here. If you haven’t read that first as there’s context you might miss. Anyway enjoy this part.
“Alright,” I say to myself, stepping back from the table to admire my work. “We’ve got plenty of snacks, even accounting for a certain girl with a goddess’s metabolism.”
Sayori, who’s sitting on a stool by the counter, swivels to face me and sticks her tongue out. She’s wearing a “Go Army” t-shirt along with my N7 hoodie which is about 2 sizes too big for her and jean shorts.
“I planned out the whole evening!” She says proudly, her signature cute-as-button smile crossing her face. “Thanks for giving me lead on this one, Viz.”
“Hey,” I say, closing the distance between us and enveloping her in a hug. “You’re the VP, you should be doing some planning every now and then.”
She hums in delight and buries her face in my shoulder.
“I’m glad you showed some initiative in asking to plan today,” I say patting her on the head. “I’m very proud of the progress you’ve been making, my little Cinnamon Bun.”
“I need to come up with a nickname for you,” Sayori says pulling away.
“What? Why?” I ask. “Viz is already my nickname.”
“No, I mean only something only I can call you.”
Ding-Dong
“Well, imma let you think on that,” I say turning to go answer the door. “Meanwhile, our first guests have arrived.”
As I head for the door, I hear Katie bounding down the hallway upstairs to come greet our guests. She’s wearing a white v-neck and jeans.
I answer the door as Katie walk past me towards the kitchen. Our first guests are Yuri and Natsuki. Yuri is wearing her signature beige sweater, a purple scarf that matches her hair, and jeans. While Nat is wearing my gift, the cat hoodie and a pink skirt with matching leggings. Nat’s holding a cake that says “Happy New Year”. Yuri is holding a tea mix and the book I got her.
“Hi, Viz,” Yuri greets me shyly.
“Sup?” Natsuki says.
“C’mon in guys,” I say moving aside to let them in. “Now all we need is our fearless leader.”
Monika shows up about 10 minutes later, wearing a cream colored fuzzy sweater, a black scarf, black jeans and her signature white bow keeping her long hair in a ponytail.
“Hey, Viz,” she says with a big smile. She gives me a friendly hug, which I reciprocate. Then she moves to the living room to join the rest of the group.
I flop down on the couch next to Sayori, who gets up and addresses the room.
“Alright gang!” She says. “It’s time to get this party started! First order of business is to make a New Year’s restitution!”
“Sayori,” I say, tugging the baggy sleeve of her borrowed hoodie. “The term is resolution, restitution is totally different.”
“Oh...” she says. She starts fidgeting, nervously. “Ehehe, my bad.”
Her break in composure makes me feel a little bad, but she soon recovers and resumes her speech.
“Anyway,” she continues. “After that, Viz’ll start making us some barbecue, and then we’ll start playing some actual games. Viz has brought his Xbox downstairs and we’ve set up Jackbox, which according to him is loads of comedic shenanigans. Then we’ll eat, hang out, chill and watch the ball drop, afterwards if anyone wants to we have sparklers you can light in the backyard. Now, side question: who is staying the night? As Viz’s family love camping we do have sleeping bags, as well as a futon in the exercise room downstairs.”
“My sister’s covering for me,” Natsuki says, then mumbles, “would be nice to stay away from Dad and his drinking for a night.”
“Anyone else?” Sayori asks.
“Sounds fun!” Monika says, smiling with excitement.
“I-I’d like that,” Yuri says quietly.
“All right then!” Sayori beams, clearly proud of how well this is going.
My heart flutters slightly, seeing how much she’s enjoying this. It’s nice to see her take charge, she makes a great leader.
“Well,” I say, deciding on my resolution. “I’ll go first. I promise to give up casual soda drinking. Sitting on my ass all day, playing video games and drinking Mountain Dew isn’t exactly healthy.”
“Good for you,” Monika says, approvingly.
“Thanks,” I say. “Who wants to go next?”
“I’ll go,” Katie speaks up. “Hmm... I want to get a job this year! I’ve been looking since April when I turned 16, I want to be able to have my own spending money, plus our parents have a rule, you want a cell phone...”
“Get a job to pay for it,” I finish, remembering that conversation all too well. “Try to shoot for something better than grocery store restock guy, huh? It’s not as easy for someone as short as you.”
“I’m not short, I’m fun sized!” She retorts.
“Ha!” Sayori laughs at that. “Anyway I’ll go next.”
She pauses for a minute, thinking hard.
“Viz, I can’t think of anything,” she says.
“Well, let’s see,” I say, “what do you want to improve upon this year? Anything you wanna do maybe?”
“Hmm...” her voice trails off in thought. “I could take a more active role in club management?”
“Sounds good to me,” I say. “If you change your mind, we’ll come back to you, okay?”
“No, it’s fine. I actually like this idea!” She smiles, genuinely.
“Well I wanna find myself a boyfriend!” Monika says from the swiveling stool by the counter.
“Wait,” I blurt out in disbelief. “A girl as popular and attractive as you doesn’t have one yet?!”
She blushes and shakes her head.
“Er, with respect, of course,” I stammer, blushing myself as I realize what I just said. “I mean Sayori’s the only girl for me, but the fact you’re alone baffles me. Has no one asked you out?”
She shakes her head again, her blush not fading.
“I think I intimidate most guys,” she says, looking a little down.
“Well, any guy would be lucky to have you,” I say supportively.
“M-moving along,” Sayori stutters. “Nat, Yuri you’re the last ones.”
Their gazes meet and they both blush and look away.
“Um,” Yuri starts quietly. She then sits up straight and confidently states her resolution. “I want to learn to drive. My Mom and Ashley have been giving me rides to our meetups if Monika isn’t available, but I want to learn to drive myself.”
“That’s a good goal,” I say nodding. “Never forget the first time I got behind the wheel. I was so nervous I went 10 miles under the speed limit the whole way through the test. If I hadn’t aced everything else I’m certain I would’ve been failed for driving like an octogenarian.”
“A what?” Sayori asks.
“Someone who is 80 years old,” I respond.
“Ahhh.”
“Nat, your turn,” I tease.
“Shut up, Viz!” She snaps. “Mine’s private.”
“No fair!” I say. “Everyone else shared theirs.”
“Well I don’t want to.”
“She told me, but doesn’t want anyone to know yet,” Yuri speaks up. “It’s a personal matter.”
“Oh,” I say, surprised. “Apologies, Natsuki.”
“It’s fine,” Natsuki responds, looking down at her feet.
“Well,” I say getting up and moving to the kitchen. “I’m gonna go start up the grill. Brb!”
I grab the rack of ribs, a couple veggie patties, some potatoes and an assortment of sauces and seasonings. I move out into the rapidly darkening evening air and fire up the grill. No matter how old I get, I will never get used to daylight savings. It’s 4:30pm, but based on the light it feels like 7:30pm.
I heat up the grill, start seasoning and saucing the meats and potatoes, wrapping the potatoes in tinfoil before placing them on the grill, of course. Some of the neighbors are setting of fireworks already. Was gonna ask Dad to set some off from the backyard, but he was already planning on spending the evening with coworkers. I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks so Sayori and I agreed to nothing more than sparklers for safety purposes. If Michael Bay has taught me anything it’s that explosions are not safe if you don’t know what you’re doing. So better safe, than sorry with no arms.
I hear the screen door open and look to see Sayori coming outside, she shivers slightly and moves to me and hugs me.
“Ah, careful,” I say moving my arms up to not get any sauce on the hoodie she’s wearing. “That hoodie wasn’t cheap! And aren’t you cold?”
“Yeah,” she says, moving her face slightly closer to the grill. “I missed you, plus I wanted to see how the food was doing.”
I set the tongs down and wipe my hands, I then turn to Sayori and give her a proper hug and pat her on the head.
I take a second to absorb some of her warmth. I then kiss the top of her head and let her go.
“God, you have no right to be so adorable,” I say with mock frustration. “I love you.”
“Ehehe,” she smiles brightly. “And you have every right to be so sweet.”
“Says the girl so sweet, I call her Cinnamon Bun.”
She kisses me then moves back to the screen door, gives me a little wave and disappears back into the house.
The food is done soon after that and I am eager to get out of the frigid Michigan night air. The high temperature today was 40°F (5°C) but with sun having gone down it’s well below freezing. If it hadn’t been for the heated grill I was standing next to, I would’ve been shivering the whole time.
“Dinner is ready!” I say in as French an accent as I can muster.
“Pfft!” My sister scoffs. “You goofball.”
“Yay!” Sayori cheers, as I place the food on the table.
Everyone moves to the dining room and digs in, and Yuri enters from the kitchen with two tea kettles on a tray with some marshmallows in a glass.
“I made tea and hot cocoa ,” she says sweetly. “In case anyone wants some.”
“I’ll take you up on that!” I say, grabbing my N7 mug from the tray.
“Viz, you are such a nerd,” Natsuki smirks, noticing my mug.
“Yes I am! Thank you for noticing,” I say, filling my mug with hot chocolate.
“Do not ask him to explain anything further that what ‘N7’ means,” my sister says. “You won’t be able to get him to shut up.”
“That’s...very true, actually.”
The group shares a laugh. We all dig in, enjoy dinner and talk about our least and best parts of the year.
“Remember when everyone was scared about that SARS mutation?” Monika asks.
“Yeah,” I say vaguely remembering seeing it on the news. “Named after a beer company, or something, right? Glad China shut their borders to properly contain the situation.”
“Agreed,” Yuri says. “Changing the subject, Viz? How’d you manage to make the food taste like barbecue with every bite? Never seen that before.”
“Chef’s secret!” I say, wagging a finger at her. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
“Nice Dad joke, Matt,” Katie scolds.
“Everyone’s a critic...”
“Anyway, who’s up for some games?!” Sayori says, shooting up from her chair.
“Ooh! Me!” Natsuki says raising her hand.
“Same!” I agree. “Let me fire up Jackbox.”
We move to the living room and play several rounds of Jackbox. Natsuki is the first to get bored and suggests Among Us instead. Only me and her know how to play so the first few rounds is us teaching everyone else how to play. Sayori didn’t take the imposter role idea very well when she got it the first time, as she wouldn’t kill anyone.
“Sayori...” Nat, who was the other imposter, whines after the round is over. “Why didn’t you kill anybody?”
“I don’t wanna kill my friends!” She protests.
“But that’s how you win!” Natsuki responds, exasperated.
“If I have to kill my friends to win a game, then I don’t want to win!”
“Don’t worry Sayori,” I say, placing my hand on her shoulder. “I felt the same way when I started playing this with my gamer buddies. Just remember it’s only a game. No one’s actually dying.” A mischievous grin spreads across my face. “Then you can become the merciless killer you were born to be! Mwahahaha!”
“Viz,” Monika says, looking at me concerned. “You do maniacal laughs a little too well...”
“Thank you!”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“I know,” my smile not receding.
“Bro, you scary,” Natsuki says.
As my reward for my joke, on the next round I’m voted out first. Totally worth it!
At around 10:30 everyone starts to get a little tired so we end up breaking out some soda to keep us awake. We turn on Fox to watch the ball drop, and get there just in time to catch the beginning of of the Fox 2’s news broadcast.
“No,” I say, changing the channel to Adult Swim. “We are not watching the news.”
“Yeah,” Yuri agrees. “They almost never have anything good to report, it’s depressing.”
“Oh! American Dad!” Sayori says excitedly.
“Oh, I remember this episode!” I say. “This is the one where Roger farts in the Hadron Collider and it causes the apocalypse.”
The episode ends and we switch back to Fox. They’re on a commercial break, playing a commercial for some medical prosthetic company.
It opens with a woman, missing an arm cradling a photo of herself, and several others all dressed in Marine Combat uniforms next to a humvee.
“It was just a normal patrol mission,” she starts. “We were told to survey the area, show the civies we were there to help and come back.”
She looks down, tears filling her eyes. The camera pans down showing she in a wheelchair and missing her legs.
“When we hit that IED,” she says shakily. “I thought we were all dead, there was nothing but fire, dust and blood everywhere. The humvee flipped, and I had to crawl out, my arm and legs were torn to bits by the blast. I was sent home, my friends all died in that explosion...”
The tears welling in her eyes spill down her face.
It then cuts with some happy music.
“But when I got back state-side,” she says, as it cuts to her with cybernetic legs and an arm being helped to walk with the help of some physical therapist technicians “Cell Corps contacted me, told me they could make me all better.”
It cuts to her again, this time standing, and smiling, with her arms crossed.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” she says. “But they did it, it’s almost like the blast never happened.”
It cuts to a white screen and a hexagon made of seven smaller hexagons, some of them red to create a “C” out of the amalgam of shapes.
“Cell Corps,” a male voice says. “Build back better.”
The show changes back to the Fox New Year’s Special. And shows the hosts, Ken Jeong and Joel McHale, sitting with a guest, Chris Pratt. They banter and talk about a new movie he’s in. We sit and watch the show for an hour and 25 minutes. Then it switches to the person in Times Square interviewing people about their year till the Ball drops.
Soon it’s time.
“5...4...” we all chant simultaneously with the TV, “3...2...1...Happy New Year!”
I turn to Sayori and see she’s already looking in my direction. Her lips meet mine and we kiss for a few seconds.
“Oh! My! God!” I hear Monika exclaim with surprise.
Me and Sayori separate to see what the commotion’s about. And see Nat and Yuri locking lips on the adjacent couch.
They quickly separate and turn as red as my sister’s hair.
“Um-ah,” Yuri stammers. “Sorry Natsuki...”
“Why are you sorry?!” Nat protests, pouting.
“That was so cute!” Katie says, squeaking with glee.
“I AM NOT CUTE!” Natsuki yells defiantly.
“It’s not that big a deal,” I say, not seeing the issue with what just happened. “So you two kissed, big deal.”
“W-wait,” Yuri stutters out, she’s picked up a pillow and is using it to hide her face with embarrassment. “What?”
“Yeah,” Sayori says in support. “People can like whoever they want.”
“Well in that case,” Natsuki says with a sly grin. “I wasn’t done.”
She moves Yuri’s cover and plants her lips on Yuri’s, and they passionately kiss for a few seconds.
“So is this the resolution you didn’t want to share?” I ask Natsuki after they’re done.
“No!” She says defiantly, her face red again. “It was something else, dummy.”
I give her a look of disbelief, her face reddens further and she scowls at me in classic tsundere frustration.
“Okay, maybe it was,” she admits. “So?”
“Well, I’m happy for you two,” Sayori says with a smile. “You’ll make an adorable couple.”
“I second that opinion,” I say with genuine support for my friends.
“Perv!” Natsuki says.
“Okay, that was mean. Partially true, but still mean! I’m actually very happy for you two, though, honestly.”
“Can you guys keep this a secret at school, please?” Yuri says, hiding behind her pillow again.
“Well,” Sayori replies, “you did the same for me and Viz, it’s only fair. You can tell people when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
“Well congratulations, you two,” Monika says supportively.
“You guys wanna stay up a bit or turn in for the night?” Katie asks the group, changing the subject.
Sayori yawns and stretches, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me tightly.
“Looks like we’re turning in for the night,” I laugh, patting Sayori on the head. She hums happily. “Now that I’m thinking about it. Yuri, Nat? You guys are welcome to use the guest room.”
They both avoid my gaze and Yuri goes back to hiding behind her pillow.
“Monika you wanna sleep in my room?” Katie asks, trying to make Monika not feel left out.
“Sure,” she says with a smile. “Those sleeping bags you guys have better be cozy!”
“Dad takes camping seriously,” Katie responds nodding. “He gets the expensive ones, specially made for comfort.”
“See you guys in the morning,” I say as me and Sayori move towards the stairs.
“We’re gonna stay up for a bit longer,” Natsuki says, waving. “Night.”
“Night,” Sayori waves back smiling.
I follow Sayori and her gorgeous legs down the hall to my room, where she flops onto my bed and bundles up under the covers. She then holds her arms out.
“C’mere my big pogchamp!” She says beaming.
“You did not just say that,” I laugh, climbing into bed, embracing her and kissing the top of her head.
“Hehehe,” she giggles, she then snuggles up closer to me and wraps her arms and legs around me. “Happy New Year, Viz.”
“Happy New Year, my little Cinnamon Bun,” I say, as I nuzzle against her cheek.
Sleep soon takes her and her adorable, soft snoring lulls me to sleep.
-Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully 2021 is better than this last year has been. The only good things about this year for me has been joining Reddit and flexing my writing muscles again. A big thank you to all my followers and everyone who reads my stuff, especially u/Ohio_Sayori419 as he is my editor and has been helping me more than he is willing to admit. Now that there are less holidays to do specials for I will be slowing down a bit, not too much though. I will try to post at least one part per month, but I will push for 2, as I really enjoy writing this story. I still have plenty of ideas of where to take this, but as always I am open to suggestions, and recommendations. Thank you for your time, stay safe and enjoy the New Year! ~Vizman-7.

hexagon game table plans video

You can build your own hexagonal poker table in a day -- and for a fraction of what you would spend at a store. If you're not only a poker enthusiast, but also a woodworking hobbyist, you can build it with tools you already own. The next time it's your turn to host the game, you can entertain your poker To provide a handsome game table that's sure to make the guys take your bet—or bluff—more seriously, follow our free card table plans to build a table complete with a felt playing surface, insets for poker chips, and coasters. When the game is over, just fit the lid onto the surface to turn it into a dining table for the rest of the week. Mark the basic hexagon shape of the hub, or center of your table on your work table or a sheet of plywood. This will help you place pieces in the correct position. You can lay out the hub with a framing square, drawing a center line, transversal (with its length roughly 1 1/2 inch (3.75cm) longer than 2 spokes placed end-to-end), then marking two 60 degree angles on each side at the center so Part 1: Plans and Materials; Part 2: Racetrack; Part 3: Vertical Skirt; Part 4: Subtable and Playing Surface; Part 5: Finishing It Up; This is the first in a series of posts recording my experience building a solid oak, octagon-shaped poker or game table. It will be written as I work on the table, hopefully all within the next few weeks. Mar 8, 2017 - This is the board game atlas forum to talk about any board game in the world. The forum is currently filted with. Mar 8, 2017 - This is the board game atlas forum to talk about any board game in the world. The forum is currently filted with. Explore. Home Decor. Whether you are looking for a traditional poker table, Texas hold’em poker table or a hexagon poker table this collection of poker table plans will help you to complete a professional project Always read the poker table plans carefully and make sure that there is enough information provided for you to be able to complete the project - before Free designs, drawings, instuctions and plans for making poker tables. Plans 1 - 8. 16 Poker Table Plans Plans 1 - 8. Whether you are looking for a traditional poker table, Texas hold’em poker table or a hexagon poker table this collection of free plans will aid you in completing a professional project. Free Furniture Plans to Build a Hexagon Dining Table. Here is a nifty table that doesn’t take up a lot of space yet you can seat more people… These free furniture plans to build a Hexagon Dining Table are simple to follow and won’t break your budget. Apr 4, 2012 - Howard Miller Pub & poker cherry Game Table Furnishings by ty Pennington 699013 Niagara. Explore. Home Decor. Furniture. Coaster Inspired Furniture .. Saved from howardmillerusa.com. Howard Miller Pub & poker cherry Game Table Furnishings 699013 Niagara. May 2020 The first thing I did was search around on the internet for plans for a gaming table build. Like I said, I had a general idea that I needed a fairly large, rectangular table with a gaming pit set down into the surface and panels of some sort that could be put in and taken out to convert it to a regular table when not in use, no break down of my game setup required.

How to Build it; Custom Gaming Table — Idiot Tantrum

hexagon game table plans

hexagon game table plans - win

GM Railroading is so strong it starts even before the campaign starts