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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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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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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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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Meanwhile, in New Perlis

Risus RPG: Perchance To Dream

Risus RPG One Shot Perchance to Dream This was a Risus the Anything one-shot game that I ran for my Master’s Degree supervisor Prof Harshita and my colleague Asha who was along for the fun of it all. I thought Risus would be a great way to introduce them to RPGs as a language learning tool because of the versatility of the Risus’ clichés. It went smoothly, and I can see how the characters could develop new clichés as the story went on. Dramatis Personae General Desi – a retired military general Ms. Bong – a rich entrepreneur The retired General Desi and entrepreneur Ms. Bong were travelling through the tall grass and rolling fields of the land they called New Perlis. Desi needed a walking stick as at her old age she was Easily Tired (1). Above them, two suns blazed in a cloudless noon sky. The land rose […]

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The programme participants

The Laundry: Getting Ahead of Themselves

Episode 3 Getting Ahead of Themselves Last time on The Laundry, Team Bunga Tahi Ayam was sent to Ulu Yam to look for the missing Team Bunga Kemboja of Capital Laundry Services agents. Their de facto field supervisor Pn. Izani escorted them in their car while micromanaging them loudly and obnoxiously. The trail of the agents lead them to the kedai runcit of En. Sabri Mat Hassan where a pair of undead armed with automatic weapons attacked them. Later, they discovered the house of En. Saad Ibrahim, a sculptor who works with wood. One of his sculptures had been possessed by an extradimensional entity and killed Team Bunga Kemboja leader Keith Yong. It seemed like this was caused by occult pages of a book that was found all over the countryside. The conclusion of the encounter with the possessed wooden sculpture was a blast… Dramatis Personae Azizah a.k.a. Jijah (Yuzi) […]

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The usual suspects

DnD: Winter at Stonehaven

We have visitors this week. The language educators from Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, Thailand are on a three-day working visit of Universiti Malaysia Perlis. There are a number of activities that the Centre for International Languages scheduled from them. One of the activities is a tabletop role-playing game session. I was given a table to set up books, dice, maps and paper miniatures for a mini-exhibition. Before me, my colleague Yuzy (who plays the teenage spy Jijah in our The Laundry (Malaysia) RPG campaign) ran an ice-breaking session and demonstrated how online learning tools like Quizziz and Kahoot were run in class. After Yuzy’s activities were done, I began my segment with a short slide presentation. The presentation summarised what a tabletop role-playing game is, what games exist in the market and how it could benefit language learning, especially in an ESL environment. Not to mention how it could improve […]

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Paperminis

The Laundry: An Unbelievably Wooden Dialogue

Episode 2 An Unbelievably Wooden Dialogue Previously, the agents that comprised Team Bunga Tahi Ayam and their de facto field supervisor Puan Izani travelled to Ulu Yam to investigate the disappearance of Team Bunga Kemboja Capital Laundry Services (Malaysia). Their investigations led them to a kedai runcit owner named Sabri Mat Hassan and an ancient occult book written in arcane Jawi titled Kitab Serba Serbi Budi Bicara Alam. Also, they were attacked by undead gunmen. The mission continued… Dramatis Personae Azizah a.k.a. Jijah (Yuzi) – a Fifth Form student who is also an experienced spy from Pulau Langkawi. Badrul (Bazli) – a 65 year-old antiquarian from Ipoh, Perak. Lucy Abdullah (Farah) – a “plumber” from Tangkak, Johor. Rayha a.k.a Ray (Noriha) – a linguist from Batu Pahat, Johor. Talhah Abdullah (Rizal) – a computer hacker from Segamat, Johor. Chapter 1 A KAMPUNG HOUSE STANDS ALONE The team decided to travel […]

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Ay-Gee-Seven Meeting Room

DnD: The Mushroom Forest Strife

In a land ravaged by magic and monsters and forgotten by time, a pair of adventurers: a human barbarian named Jonz and an elf ranger named Maya travel the wilderness. While the barbarian is keeping an eye out for gold and treasure, the ranger is keeping close in order to quickly pull her clumsy barbarian friend out of trouble at a moment’s notice… Dramatis Personae Jonz the human barbarian – Rizal Maya the elf ranger – Noriha Chapter 1 – Thankfully No One Has Arachnophobia Dozens of types of mushrooms stood in the way of Jonz and Maya. There were small lichens, knee-high toadstools and hundred-foot tall mushrooms, surrounding them as they walked through the ancient Mushroom Forest. A river blocked their path and they spotted a body on the ground across the river, about forty feet away. “Maya what do you know about this mushroom forest?” Jonz asked Maya. […]

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DnD: The Dark Mage

As three members of our Laundry RPG campaign were unable to attend today’s session, the two remaining players decided on a one-shot Dungeons and Dragons session. The Holy City of Honour was a city where dozens of peoples from dozens of faiths come to visit. It grew to be its own city state. A thick wall protected it from the outbreak of wild magic that had ravaged the lands to its south. The Tempest Bay protected it from the north. Ships from all over the realm arrive in Honour through the sea gates of the bay. To the south-west of the city in a forest along the beach was a small cottage. The occupants of the cottage were the human paladin Jyn and the elf ranger Jolle. They explored the wild magic infested lands and defended the weak from dangers that roamed outside the city walls. Dramatis Personae Jyn, Human […]

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The CIL tabletop RPG group

The Laundry: The New Normal

Episode 1 The New Normal Two weeks ago, my colleagues from the Centre for International Languages and I started with a session zero. Today, we played our first actual The Laundry RPG session. A group of language teachers attempted to play as a group of ultra-secret government intelligence agents trying to – ultimately – stop the end of the world. From the Capital Laundry Services (M) Sdn Bhd Employee Handbook Ver 34.2: The Laundry (Malaysia) is a unit in the Malaysian Ministry of Education. After a 6 years being an independent British agency after the independence of Malaya, the Laundry (Malaysia) was gazetted and absorbed into the new Malaysian Federal government in 1963 in a Top Secret ceremony with the blessings of the Majlis Raja-Raja. The Laundry was integrated into the Ministry of Education using high level computational sorcery and magic. In 1997, the Laundry (Malaysia) was attached as a […]

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The GM with the players

The Laundry: CIL Campaign Session Zero

So it came to pass that Fridays every fortnight from this morning on, there will be a role-playing game group at CIL, my workplace. Thanks to Bazli, we have official permission from the university to use RPGs as a training and character-building tool for the group. The game the group has chosen: The Laundry by Cubicle, based on Charles Stross’ The Laundry Files novels. Over the session, I explained to them the concept of RPGs, the setting of the Laundry and the basic rules of the game, including the dice rolling mechanics. I even created LibreOffice Impress slides for the session. After that, I switched to another set of slides I made for character generation purposes. Character generation took most of 90 minutes. In the end, everyone had stats for their characters. The Laundry setting I devised will be located in Malaysia. Malaysia, being once a British colony, has its […]

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Shoes at the door plz thx lol

EOTE: Dude! Where’s My Starship?

It began as a impromptu invitation to a roleplaying game (RPG) session. Suddenly there I was running a short Star Wars Edge of the Empire scenario for my colleague Rizal at my office. Commandeering Oskara’s character folio, Rizal became the human male bounty hunter known as Riz who owns the YKL-37R Nova Courier named Glamorous Hedgehog manufactured by Gallofree Yards. Edge of the Empire Dude! Where’s My Starship? The previous day, Riz arrived at Port Emerald in the Ord Mantell system. He accomplished a mission to retrieve a family heirloom for a local entrepreneur and earned four thousand credits. He was gleeful of his new-found wealth and booked a nice room at a two-story old tavern-style bed and breakfast at the very edge of the mesa that housed Port Emerald, overlooking three landing platforms. The Glamorous Hedgehog was parked upon one of the platforms. Money The Bright Jewel sun was shining […]

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