A retelling of a short story written by myself for an old Horror fanzine. That story focuses on a particularly eventful evening in the life of freelance photographer Pamela Grey in the world of the Dark Conspiracy RPG. In this story game you take the place of Pamela. 

The world you live in is much like today's, only a little worse.  The rich are richer, the poor are poorer, and the gap between is so much wider. So much is controlled by the mega-corporations and rich interests that large swatches of the ever expanding urban sprawl are marked as "Outlaw Territory, Enter At Own Risk" - where even the police don't go, either for fear or lack of resources.  The middle class has mostly disappeared except for the lowest echelon of corporate execs, and legislative changes have allowed many that would have previously been on the public dole to instead sell their vote to corporate interests in exchange for support. Crime is up, as are disappearances, theft, and violence. Even as bad as the world has become, there are persistent rumors that even worse things lurk in the shadows.  Many neighborhoods have abandoned houses that everyone knows better than to enter, and even in the outlaw where the police fear to tread there are rumors of entire blocks that no one but the mad or the most desperate are willing to risk going into after dark.

You and Susan, your significant other, are doing ok.  Her job with Aprico has afforded the two of you a small place in a small gated community owned by the company. A prized place in the vanishing middle class. Your home is close enough to the gates that you can still easily indulge in your favorite hobby, walking through Chicago with your trusty camera in hand, particularly at night.  The sale of these photos as art pieces to the ultrawealthy, facilitated by Susan's contacts, has helped with sporadic lump sums of money.  Susan pays the bills, but your money pays for luxuries and splurges.

In the twilight one often finds isolated moments of beauty and mystery that would never been seen in the daylight, and you work to capture these moments in the perfect clarity of your lens. You know the risks of being out alone at night outside the gates, but even Susan has had to admit that the last couple of pictures you sold would not have been possible if you hadn't been out there.  To help comfort her (and yourself to be completely honest), you recently bought a large knife to carry with you, just in case.

So, come explore the night and see what waits for you in the dark.

The job listing was simple "Earn 100K » in your sleep!" Having not been able to find a steady job for over a local year and half, you jumped at the chance.

Now, eight months later by the clock on the pod, you have suddenly been awoken from hypersleep to fulfill your role as the emergency backup crew of PrimObs 80085. There is no sign of the regular crew, and even worse, no sign of the rest of the backup crew, so it is up to you to determine what happened and hopefully get a message back to sector command for rescue.

Entry for EndMaster's Prompt Contest 4: Prompt #27) A story involving a space station.

An entry for MHD's Fairytale contest, this is a retelling of the old Appalachian Fairy Tale "The Little Princess of the Forest".

Come listen to the telling of one of the wildest fairy tales I've ever heard.    This story was originally told by Marshall Ward for a fairy tale collection, and has stuck with me ever since I first heard it.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  Grab a seat and listen up, as it starts like this...

You have made your way through the city, state, regional, national, planetary, sector, parsec, arm, 64th-, 32nd-, 16th-, octo-, quarter- and semi-finals to arrive with a guaranteed spot in the Finals of the 169th cycle IntraGalactic Culinary Challenge brought to you by Mag King and Gal-actic Robotics held on RecStation 420 in the Lagoon Nebula. When those magnetronics need to sing, 🎶🎶 Call on Mag King 🎶🎶! Do you need a handy robot pal? Everybody wants a Gal!

You face a varied array of challengers and an even more diverse panel of judges to win over in the two round Final. Before each round, you will have time to plan your dish and explore the features of the station. Who knows, you might even find something to help in the contest! Judges and contestants are randomly selected with every read-through, and finding things is done by a random function of your stats, so every new read is a fresh game.

This was originally going to be an entry for EndMaster's Promt Contest 4, but I ran out of time and quickly wrote The Backup

This is a storygame conversion of the Minion Hunter Board Game (and Minion Nation expansion) by GDW, based on the Dark Conspiracy TTRPG by GDW and Dynasty Presentations, with some modernization updates by myself, and is set in the same world as my "A Night in Chicago" storygame.

This is a simulation of a complex boardgame and while I have done my best to add some narrative to the events, it does not have a standard ending that you are working towards.  Every movement is a "round" in the game, and while you are developing your own stats and equipment, the forces of the Dark influences are advancing their plots.  The story ends when one of the main Dark Minion races (ETs, Fae, Morlocks, or Nukids) gains 20 plot points, or you defeat enough plots to run out the plot deck.

Full rules are detailed within.  Give it a try and see if you can save Dark America from the corrupting influence of the Dark Minions.

It was just supposed to be a quick run down to the bodega. Ten minutes, tops. Then you saw something in the alley, and now everything has been turned upside down.

This is incomplete. Sorry, I just ran out time.

Entry for Sherbet's Summer's End Synergy Contest

Exciting things all over. What mod gave you the penguin head for Sent and which name file are you adding people too for the autonaming?

Bang Bus rename option - Bussy McBusface? The Stego? Cystian Block?

Stego Names - Bus, Blade, Bumpy, Larimar, Apex, Kimmeridgian

Vote: Option A - We already have the bus, might as well use it.

I just got my first featured comment since the start of the contest. Obviously splitting my focus is helping fight my undiagnosed ADHD and letting me be productive across multiple fronts.

It would be very funny if there was a late game issue (once some more advanced recreation options become available) of a Polybius/Rimworld type game that is very fun and relaxing but completely addictive.

So as our erstwhile researchers begin building up their new base and Larimar takes out his endless agression on the useless war machines (literally, they drop no useable stuff and just take up space and be visually interesting!) we have our first couple of votes:

Camp layout Vote:

• Individual cabins - Each colonist gets a decent sized room that stands alone. This option gives some inherent protection against the threat of fire and gives more cover if a fight breaks out in the colony, but requires more resources overall, particularly to heat and cool each one.
• Residence Hall - Just like back in college, each colonist has a decent sized room that are connected into one large building. This will simplify heating and cooling, and increase the chance for social interaction, but presents a much greater risk for fire spreading.

Initial Focus: Highest priority to start with is constructing shelter of course, but what are our 2nd and 3rd priorities?

• Food - We've got two decent patches of rich soil nearby that will yeild pretty good crops. Potatoes and Rice are the quickest to harvest, but I have more options from mods that I don't know off the top of my head.
• Mundane Research - It looks like our only route to get off this world again is to build our own ship, but we are a long way away from being able to do that. It would be useful, both for trade and recreation, to focus on either brewing or making a drug lab, but putting in the research to develop turrents and weapons will give us better protection once the inevitable raids come. Especially since we currently only have one shotgun and a bunch of knives.
• Anomaly Research - The twisting runes and ceaseless whispers of the monolith call to us. It is what brought us here, and may be the only way to actually escape again. This is less likely to yeild immediately actionable knowledge, but it the highest point of interest.
• Collection - While the warmachines are useless, there are lots of little ruins scattered around. We could focus on deconstructing those, which will yeild a fair amount of steel and various carved stone blocks.

I see what you were alluding too. That is very funny. I seem to carry anomaly with me everywhere I go. The eye is just decoration guys, seriously. Don't worry about it and let me get to diggin'. Thanks for the crosspost link as well. I thought about using the multilevel mod, but decided not too. I'll be interested to see how that works in yours.

Research Vote: B - we need better food storage if we hope to actually do any quests Stego Vote: B - focusing on getting one male and one female for dino breeding over time. Dino ranching could be good money.

Also what is in this screenshot with Sent? Is it eating the garlic?