Quest RPG at UniMAP in 2023 with GM Danial

Quest RPG at UniMAP

It is now the semester break and with help from my colleagues, I was able to organise a Tabletop Roleplaying Game Training Workshop (Bengkel Latihan Permainan Penglipur Lara) at the office. Usually I had to both organise and run the game, which means more time for game prep. Thankfully, this time I was joined by our guest GM from Penang, Ahmad Danial A. Ghafar. One day, Danial searched for application of RPGs in education in Malaysia and came across my MAHSA University talk. He reached out and I discovered he has the same aspirations to use RPGs as a tool for teaching and learning. So, I invited him to run a game for our workshop. We had five participants, Farah, Mastura, Mimi, Hasmizan and Faizal. The first two have played in games I GMed before, but the rest were new to the game. Danial decided on using Quest, the RPG […]

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Declare your action!

Work Excursion to Melaka

Previously… I was invited by the English Department of Pay Fong Middle School in Melaka to run RPGs and give a talk during their English Week programme. With my RPG gear in tow and Ain and Irfan as my support team, I was ready to for the events in the next few days on behalf of UniMAP. Day One: Year Zero Mini (2023-07-27) Because we were due be at the school after lunch, it allowed us time to recuperate from the drive the previous day. The storefronts along the beachfront road were closed except for one Indian Muslim restaurant, so we had lunch there. After Zuhur/Asar jama’ prayers, we headed there to meet with my contact there, the English teacher Kelvin. Thankfully, school traffic was not as jammed as the previous day. We easily found a parking spot. Then we went to the school’s language lab, where I ran Year […]

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Doom Agents 2023

Doom Agents: Stealing Crate 037

We had the room at the library for 2 hours. The group activity with my students took only 30 minutes. So, I introduced them to tabletop role-playing games. I thought that using Mini-YZE (with my own mods) would make it simple for them. Easiest setting to run for new students would be the Doom Agents setting. It is contemporary, and I can emulate modern spy and action moviews with it. DRAMATIS PERSONAE Chamice, Engineer – Tey Jack, Medic – Ooi Agent 47, Sniper – Danis Sniper Agent 47, Medic Jack and Engineer Chamice are assigned to a mission near Manaus, Brazil. The Approach The team, in an off-road vehicle, heads south into the jungle in the late afternoon. It is raining heavily and before them river with a strong current block their path. The bridge has been washed away. Chamise and Jack study the waters, then guide 47 to drive […]

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Dire Wolves are dire

DnD: Six Sessions in Six Classes

Once upon a time I ran five sessions of Dungeons and Dragons in five classes over the course of a week. Last month, in what purported to be a sequel long overdue thanks to the pandemic, I ran six sessions of D&D in six classes over the course of that week. It was during a Consultation Week. After all the consultations have been consulted, I had an average of  75-80 minutes to run a session. Not much time, so I used the same scenario framework for all six classes. Besides their own character names, I also allowed the students to name the region’s sovereign and their castles. Because there were many students each class, each player character is controlled by a team of more than one student. I have chosen to post text written by one player characters group from each class. As usual, please do not disparage the students […]

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The Intelligent Tree Whisperers

AOR: The Intelligent Tree Whisperers

AGE OF REBELLION The Intelligent Tree Whisperers It was mid-semester break. Although the students are on a week-long break, we teachers still have work to do. So we set up a Tabletop RPG Workshop for any teacher to join, stretch their imagination and communication skills and have a bit of fun. So I ran an Age of Rebellion roleplaying game session for my colleagues using the Beginner Box material. Dramatis Personae Fal – a Human ace pilot who once lived on Ryloth in the same city as Oskara. (Nana) Lorick – a Wookiee hired gun, whose family was taken to be science experiments and slaves to build Imperial cities. (Shih Min) Oskara – a green-skinned Twi’lek bounty hunter, whose home city on Ryloth was bombed by the Empire. (Farah) Pashten – a Human smuggler, who was rebelling against cruel Imperial taxes. (Faten) Reyhana – a Mon Calamari engineer, whose people […]

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Doom Agents: A Beautiful Summer's Day

Doom Agents: A Beautiful Summer’s Day

There was an official event at work today where I ran a tabletop RPG session for some colleagues online. It was an opportunity to show them how could RPGs work in the field of education. I thought for some time about the campaign and setting to play, then decided on the setting I keep running for my students, Doom Agents. Also, instead of Mini Six or Freeform Universal, I opted for Year Zero Mini as the gaming system to use. Last time on Doom Agents, there were two recorded instances of a rescue mission in the Endau-Rompin rainforest where a team recovered one of two missing nuclear warheads. Another team in on the trail of the second warhead… Dramatis Personae In alphabetical order Alice Abdullah, Malaysian spy – Farah Anastasia, Russian medic – Arina Jason, American sniper – Hafiz Jessica Yoo, Korean driver – Najihah Koko, Thai soldier – Hafifa […]

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Doom Agents The Endau Rompin Rescue Instance B

Doom Agents: The Endau Rompin Rescue (Instance B)

It’s the final week of the semester and I was able to run a game session each for two different classes. This was the second of the two. Click here for the first class. Freeform Universal: Doom Agents (PPIPT5) It is two years after the Brazilian mission. 10th June 2019: Another Doom Agent team is sent to the Endau-Rompin National Park for ANOTHER rescue mission.  This time it is the kidnapped daughter of a diplomat. The team of five arrived in Malaysia and set out for their mission immediately. Dramatis Personae In alphabetical order (played by student group names in quotation marks): Captain Kelvin, Soldier – “5Avengers” Dr. Bob, Medic – “Rulebreakers” Jeffrey, Sharpshooter – “Team Alpha” Jet, Thief – “North Team” Sancorn, Enforcer – “Amigos” The Mission Begins It is raining heavily in the thick jungle. Sancorn drives the team in a Toyota Hilux towards the GPS coordinates where […]

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Doom Agents The Endau Rompin Rescue Instance A

Doom Agents: The Endau Rompin Rescue (Instance A)

It’s the final week of the semester and I was able to run a game session each for two different classes. This was the first of the two. Click here for the second class. Freeform Universal: Doom Agents (IKOM3) What happened to the last Doom Agents team that left on the Brazilian mission. What happened to them, we might never know. However on 10th June 2019, another team was sent to the Endau-Rompin National Park to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a diplomat. The team of seven arrived in Malaysia and set out for their mission immediately. Dramatis Personae In alphabetical order (played byStudent group names in quotation marks): Bevis, Enforcer – “No Boundaries” Black Widow, Medic – “Titans” Captain Price, Soldier – “Team UVW201” Heister, Thief – “Cool Dudes” Jerung, Sharpshooter – “One Hit Wonder” Magnificent, Driver – “Queen Bees” Roye, Technician – “Magellanic Cloud” Watch the video belowto […]

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Guardians of Magic

Year Zero Engine: Guardians of Magic

I was not able to do it last year, but I thought I would run a tabletop RPG for my Theatre Arts students this year. Last Saturday, I invited them all to Discord and I gave them a briefing on how to play the game. For this online session I chose Free League’s Year Zero Engine as my system of choice. This is because I can scale it down enough for them to practice their role-playing. Here is a video recording of the session. It took almost 1.5 hours of actual play time, but I edited out the long pauses, duplicate instructions and action declarations, as well as all my ummmms and uhhhhhs. I edited it down to just under 40 minutes of video. Episode 1 IT’S A DOG EAT DOG WORLD Dramatis Personae Willy Wesley from London Zane from Asgardia Constantine from Moscow Sebastian from Austria Alice from Dubai […]

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Carcosa Seri Negara

The Laundry: Infiltrating a Carcosa

The Laundry RPG Episode 4 Infiltrating Carcosa Dramatis Personae Badrul, Antiquarian (Bazli) Jijah, Spy (Yuzie) Lucy, Military Officer (Farah) Ray, Linguist (Noriha) Talhah, Hacker (Rizal) Note: For this section of the game session, I created a random encounter table with a simple success/failure dice roll, just to see what went on between the months of March and July, in 2019. The Capital Laundry Services (Malaysia) Team Bunga Tahi Ayam‘s first mission in Ulu Yam began and concluded in January 2019. They were not assigned any missions until March 2019. Then they were sent on one mission per month, with rotating team leaders. The First Half of 2019 In March, the team leader was Lucy. They were sent to Kedah. There was an incursion at Alor Setar. A tentacle creature was trying to come through a Level Four Gate and eat the diners on top of Menara Alor Setar. The mission […]

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Jakku Star Destroyer

SWD6: Scavenging the Fallen Part 2

Star Wars D6: Scavenging the Fallen Part 2 A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the crew of the YT-1300 light freighter Pretty Enemy was tasked with retrieving a Carbanti H-50 targeting processor from the derelict husk of a crashed Imperial Star Destroyer on the planet Jakku. Six months earlier, there was a battle there where many Star Destroyers  had crashed onto the planet’s desert surface. Although the star system was remote and unremarkable, it had become the very site where the military might of the Galactic Empire was finally extinguished by the New Republic… Last time on Scavenging The Fallen… Dramatis Personae Donetto Dusk – a smuggler Hamilton Zero – a speeder racer Lubird – a protocol droid Sam Aiman – a young Jedi Susan Sunbreaker – a brash pilot Zam Wessel – a bounty hunter The team had decided to press deeper into the Star […]

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The players and I

SWD6: Scavenging the Fallen

Star Wars D6: Scavenging the Fallen A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the crew of the YT-1300 light freighter Pretty Enemy was tasked with retrieving a Carbanti H-50 targeting processor from the derelict husk of a crashed Imperial Star Destroyer on the planet Jakku. Six months earlier, there was a battle there where many Star Destroyers  had crashed onto the planet’s desert surface. Although the star system was remote and unremarkable, it had become the very site where the military might of the Galactic Empire was finally extinguished by the New Republic… Dramatis Personae Donetto – a smuggler Hamilton – a speeder racer Lubird – a protocol droid Sam Aiman – a young Jedi Susan – a brash pilot Zam Wessel – a bounty hunter We have seen better days The Pretty Enemy, an orange-and-blue YT-1300 freighter, dropped out of lightspeed close to the planet Jakku […]

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Cthulhu Hack and dice

Cthulhu Hack: The Man of the House

Cthulhu Hack The Man of the House Cthulhu Hack continued today with my colleague Robert. After a day investigating the disappearance of his high school classmate and threatened by law enforcers to leave town, our investigators holed up for a night at the Helton Hotel. After breakfast at the hotel café, private detective Sean Columbo and his friend and partner Dr. Bogdanowicz considered their options. Where would the real estate broker Margaret Hilton could have disappeared to? Why did everyone believe the Woodson estate, which Margaret was trying to broker to developers, was haunted? How did the Woodson house burn down 35 years ago, killing the matron of the family Evelyn Woodson and her sons David and John? He remembered the two photos he had salvaged from the ruins of the Woodson house the previous day. They then took a cab to the Leon County Public Library to look up […]

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Cthulhu Hack player and GM

Cthulhu Hack: The Woodson Estate

Cthulhu Hack The Woodson Estate Today at work I ran Cthulhu Hack for the first time. I have the rulebook with me for some time now and had not tinkered with it last weekend. Then, Irfan and I went through character generation and the dice basics, just to get the hang of it. Later I read several of Michael LaBossiere’s online scenarios, after which I decided to adapt “Woodson Pond”. Here is the story from the game I ran for my colleague Robert who like me also teaches English. The Letter The year was 1980. It was on a Friday during one of his lull weeks when Sean Columbo received the letter. The Seattle-based private eye discovered that the letter was from his former high school classmate Margaret Hilton, a real estate broker in Tallahassee, Florida. Margaret had was set on acquiring and selling a land to a developer as […]

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Pash and Lowhhrick

EOTE: The Desert Search

Edge of the Empire: The Desert Search Earlier today, I ran a short one-shot Edge of the Empire RPG session with my colleagues at our language centre using the Beginner Game pregenerated characters. I set up my gear at the lounge in my office, but for some reason I forgot the custom-made dry erase mat. So the poor paperminis had no terrain to stand on. Anyway, here is the story that was derived from the game played by three English language teachers. Dramatis Personae: Pash – male Human Smuggler (Shih Min) Lowhhrick – male Wookiee Hired Gun (Asha) It All Started At The Wheel Star pilot and smuggler Pash and his partner and hired gun Lowhhrick, a bulky and hairy Wookiee, strolled the commercial thoroughfare in the space station known as The Wheel located in the Besh Gorgon star system. Although their attire and gear identified them as dangerous outlaws, […]

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Mission to Kijimi 2

EOTE: Mission to Kijimi

It was the last class of the semester and I had finished the syllabus a week early, so I organised a Star Wars RPG session for the students earlier today. The students used the Legends of the Galaxy pregenerated character sheets which I used in class previously, from all three flavours of the game: Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny. Here’s the story that resulted from the game session: Edge of the Empire Mission to Kijimi Dramatis Personae Sasira, female human Colonist/Entrepreneur – Amira Malea, female human Jedi Warrior/Starfighter Ace – Syuhada Kree, female human Smuggler/Pilot – Anis (Captain of the Portkey Mustang) Byt, male Twilek Technician/Outlaw Tech – Aiman Freya, Chiss Jedi Seeker/Ataru Striker – Wani Wedelia, female human Jedi Consular/Niman Disciple – Raf Arrival on Kijimi The crew of the Portkey Mustang were given a mission by the Rebel Alliance: to journey to […]

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