Open Gaming

Presented By: Tarquin (Rabitldr)

In space no one can hear you scream…and at the convention we’d like you to respect those at the other tables

If you know the movie Aliens this is your game. It’s as near to the movie as you can get in board game form. You can be Huden on your own with a team of grunts you control or a team of 6 working together…or mostly together if one of you is Burke.

Can’t find the game on shelves? Missing an expansion? We’ve got all of them. Play in one session or three, each night it gets harder but there’s bigger reward, more bugs to hunt. The hallway is clear? Wait…I’ve got movement…Hicks is now surrounded by 16 Aliens…

Player Capacity: 1 to 12 (up to 2 tables of 6).
System: Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps.
System knowledge required: None. System will be taught during the session.
Rating: PG. The game is faithful to the movie and has naughty words on the cards.
Seriousness: Moderate, but on the less serious side. (2/6)

Presented By: GriffinMuffin

Los Angeles – 2036. A neon-noir dystopia of conflicts and contrasts. The backbone of industry are replicants, synthetic beings manufactured for the hard labour needed by corporations to sustain their power and wealth across the system. Once the Tyrell Corporation made them, but so much has happened since then. Now the Wallace Corporation has their patented technology and has sanctified the production of replicants after their system-wide ban was lifted a few months ago. The Replicant Detection Unit has been reinstated and the LAPD are looking for Blade Runners again. It’s not long before Deputy Chief Holden calls you into his office.

Inspired by the Blade Runner series of movies, comics and books, Free League have created this rulebook for a great TTRPG experience. Play the roleplaying game that investigates the powers of empathy, the fears that poison minds, and the burden of being human in inhumane times. Become a Blade Runner and take on a case in your own way using your character’s skillset. You can choose either to be a replicant or a human. The events of the Blade Runner RPG are set between the events of both Blade Runner movies. The gameplay is centered around solving the case – but it’s not always about the case. You can explore the rich themes of the Blade Runner universe and your character can get closer to what it means to be human. Combat is deadly – gunfights and brawls often means someone leaves in a body bag. In this session, you will play an adventure or ‘case file’ whereby the Game Runner and the unique dice pool system will lead you through a series of scenes with rich roleplay.

The city of Los Angeles can be unforgiving.  But you’ve got a job to do. Time to live. Or time to die.

Player Capacity: 4.
System: Free League (Year Zero Engine).
System knowledge required: None. System will be taught during the session.
Rating: MA15+. Adult Themes, Violence, Dystopian setting.
Seriousness: Moderate, leaning toward serious. (4/6)

By: Sheldon Mott

Heckle Havoc is a game of improvised storytelling.

It’s simple, a player makes up a story and the others Heckle them.

The Story cards are a leaping off point from which you conjure your story. Is it about you? Someone you know? Is it a Wizard in North Korea trying to find housemates? Navigate your story on the fly as your Audience Heckles you with twists that will help you and often throw you wildly off course.

Player Capacity: Maximum 12. Best 5.
System: Heckle Havoc
System knowledge required: None.
Rating: PG.
Seriousness: Completely silly. (0/6)

By: @V2Sgames

ONE OF YOU IS THE KING. The rest of you are either going to try to assassinate them or rat out the conspirators. Who can you trust? Who’ll be left standing? Who will be king?

The King’s Poisoner is a new pick-up-and-play tabletop roleplaying game of conspiracy & courtly intrigue for 3–8 players. It was showcased at PAX Australia and SXSW Sydney 2023.

Player Capacity: 2 to 7. Best with 3 to 6.
System: A Tale of 21
System knowledge required: None.
Rating: M. Themes include poison, intrigue, romance, regicide, and murder.
Seriousness: Moderate, but on the less serious side. (2/6)

Presented By: Stevie

The Melbourne Queer TTRPG Community is a place where queer players can hang out, play casual games and find out more about Melbourne Queer TTRPG Group.

System knowledge required: None. No System, or no knowledge required.
Rating: PG.
Seriousness: Average. (3/6)

Presented By: Domino

Wargaming made simple and fun! Watch this space for more information on scenarios for 2024.

An Introductory game for those who have not experienced tabletop wargaming, or have not played One Page Rules before. Choose your setting, bring a friend, and battle it out!

Miniatures for this event will be supplied.

Player Capacity: 2 per table
System: One Page Rules
System knowledge required: None. System will be taught during the session
Rating: PG. War theme.
Seriousness: Average. (3/6)

Presented By: @bismuth_ink

Suit up, and save the day! POWERED BY CEREAL is a light-hearted game where you play as a team of colour-coded Heroes that fight together to save the world from evil forces. Choose from a variety of pre-made Series kits and get playing, or create your own world and heroes and tell the story of how they become a team, in a quick and low-crunch d6 system that encourages cooperation and bold moves to keep the momentum of the fight on the side of justice!

Player Capacity: 2 to 5
System knowledge required: None. System will be taught during the session.
Rating: PG. Fantasy violence
Seriousness: Not very. (1/6)

By: Steve Dee

Welcome to the world’s fastest roleplaying game for the world’s greatest heists. Make a character, make a plan and make off with the target in under twenty minutes.

A totally new kind of RPG for beginners and casual fun.

Player Capacity: 1 to 9. Best with less than 7.
System: The Score
System knowledge required: None. No system knowledge required.
Rating: PG. Crime, guns.
Seriousness: Not very. (1/6)

TGDA present the works of new local game developers. Over the course of the convention, the designers will be demoing the following games:

Baju
By: Adam Obren

An abstract strategy game for two players.

Hunt for a space to place your buttons on the grid. Move your buttons according to the number of holes in it, while avoiding your opponent’s bridges. Swap places with any other button by moving to its location. Fill any row with your buttons to win!

Run time: 20-30 minutes
Player Capacity: 2
Rating: G

Clones
By: Mike Bantick

2-6 Clones become self aware trapped in the lab they were created. They must combine their efforts to destroy the killer robot that is hunting them, and then only one of them can escape with the revealed biolock key.

Clones is a game where players will build up their characters through implants and combine their skills to destroy the Cleanser that uses a unique card system of movement and targeting. It is quick paced game of picking the right moment to backstab your friends.

Run time: 45 minutes
Player Capacity: 2 to 6
Rating: PG

Warriors of Legend
By: Ryan Higgins

Warriors of Legend is a historically accurate 1v1 card dueller. Take control of a warrior from medieval times, and duel against another, to prove once and for all yours was the best. Everything from Arms and Armour to Combat Manouevres is historically accurate, and each warrior archetype has two differing weapon loadouts. Choose from: Catalan Almogaver, Norse Berserker, German Landsknecht, or Japanese Samurai.

Run time: 30 to 40 minutes
Player Capacity: 2
Rating: PG

Appetite For Adventure
By: Dylan O’Dwyer

A casual family-friendly dice placement game about slaying monsters and cooking them up to sell in your restaurant.

Run time: 20 to 30 minutes
Player Capacity: 2 to 4
Rating: G

System knowledge required: None. System will be taught during the session.

By: Lachlan Peterson

Wartide is a local Melbourne designed expandable card game officially releasing mid 2024. Take control of the guns and tanks of Empira, the divine cult of the Null, or the hyper-capitalist furrys in mechs of Kegawa. Build your units and march across the battlefield to capture your opponent home base for victory.

More information about Wartide is available at https://www.wartidecardgame.com/

Player Capacity: 2 per game.
System: Wartide.
System knowledge required: None. System will be taught during the session.
Rating: PG. War themes.
Seriousness: Moderate, leaning toward serious. (4/6)