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“Have Yourself a Merry Little Murder” a Standard One Shot in the Brindlewood Bay system. Led by Nona de Koning

  • Indecisionist Productions Chicago, IL, 60641 United States (map)

The handouts (rules reference & character sheet) will be messaged to players on Discord ahead of time

Session pitch:

Christmas is approaching, and that means it’s time for the Great Holiday Gala. This year’s Gala is special because the venue, the BelCanto Concert Hall, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Holly Stamp Card Company sponsors the Gala, making their mark with their banners and a display of limited edition keepsakes and ornaments. The Gala fills the week with choir and orchestra concerts, community dinners, board member functions, and, finally, the Gala Ball and charity auction. Celia Domingo wants to pamper her favorite great-aunt, one of the Mavens (players), with plenty of tickets and backstage passes to the Gala.

Unfortunately, Miles Greaves, the beloved founder and owner of the BelCanto, passed away before the celebration began. Thus, this year, his family has gathered for both the Gala and

his funeral. To make matters worse, at the wake, Greaves’s great-nephew, Nathan, made a drunken spectacle of himself and claimed Miles had been murdered. The next day, when the BelCanto opened to prepare for the first of the Gala concerts, Nathan is found dead on the main stage; the cause of death was an apparent blow to the back of the head.

The possibility of a double murder during the biggest holiday event of the year is too juicy for the Mavens to ignore, and those all-access passes will be just the thing to help get to the bottom of what’s going on.

About the game system:

BRINDLEWOOD BAY is a roleplaying game about a group of elderly women—members of the local Murder Mavens mystery book club—who find themselves solving actual murder mysteries in their quaint New England town. There is no canon solution to the mysteries, instead, players must collect and piece together many different clues and come up with a convincing theory, then play to find out if they are right!

The Mavens themselves are all elderly women whose partners have passed away and whose children have long flown the nest. Now, they’re enjoying their golden years in the picturesque town of Brindlewood Bay, keeping their homes the way they like, pursuing their hobbies, and finding comfort and companionship in each other. Their mystery book club has been meeting on the top floor of The Candlelight Booksellers every Saturday evening for the last ten years. The Mavens are particularly fond of The Gold Crown Mysteries series by Robin Masterson, featuring the globe-trotting super-sleuth, Amanda Delacourt (which only exists in-universe and not in our world).

The Mavens' special interest in these books has resulted in them becoming amateur detectives themselves, and by the time the game starts, they have helped local police solve several high-profile crimes. Sometimes people approach them to get their help on a case, but usually, the Mavens just stumble onto it—much to the chagrin of the authorities, who almost always resent their meddling.

There are some supernatural elements in play in the background, but those will need to be uncovered through repeated plays and aren't a part of this one shot. There is also a meta-level to the setting, where the Mavens are actually characters in a TV show that the players are watching. If there is enough interest in it, the game runner is willing to offer this system at future cons in a West-Marches approach where both of these elements will feature more prominently.

This game will be great if you like holiday specials, cozy murder mysteries, collaborative storytelling, improv, PbtA games, Murder She Wrote, Riverdale, Pretty Little Liars, One Of Us Is Lying

Players should build characters ahead.

Character creation is a really quick multiple-choice process. The game runner will contact players in advance to share handouts (rules reference & character sheets) and make your selections.

New players are welcome. Players need to have played some RPGs.

The game runner has run this game a few times now.

Tone: Silly⚪⚪⚪⚬⚬ Serious

Combat: ⚪⚬⚬⚬⚬

Role Play: ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪

Exploration: ⚪⚪⚬⚬⚬

This game will be hosted in room #3 of the TTRPG Pickup Con Discord Server. The game runner will use Miro whiteboards for maps and visuals. https://miro.com/app/dashboard/ Spectators are welcome in the Discord room.

Murder will be featured (but without gory details), and other content will be adjusted based on players' lines & veils. May contain hints to cults and the supernatural and subjects such as infidelity, illness, and other "family scandals"

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December 2

“Onward To Adventure!” a Standard One Shot in the Age of Adventure RPG system. Led by GM Age

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December 3

“Feast of the First Frost” a Standard One Shot in the DnD 5E system. Led by Rayne Bakcheious