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Introduction
"All's Well That Ends" is a freeform for 23 players, written
by Anthony Grocock, Russell Harris, Heidi Kaye, Jane Winter and Andrew J
Smith. It is set in a fictionalised version of Elizabethan London,
one more akin to that depicted in "Shakespeare in Love" than, say,
"Elizabeth" or "Elizabeth R".
The runs of "All's Well That Ends" in the Chicago area the weekend
of 10-11th October 2008 at 8pm-midnight on Friday and 1-5:30pm on Saturday. It is being run in conjunction with Brian
William's game House on the Hill which will also be running
in the same location Saturday evening. The cost for this game on its own
will be $25, or you can pay just $40 if you play both games. Note
that House on the Hill is a slightly larger game than Alls
Well That Ends, so not everyone will be able to play both games.
There will be a break between games on Saturday where we will order dinner in so
please come prepared to pay for your portion of that as well. There
is a separate registration page for House on the Hill here.
You MUST fill out both forms if you wish to play both games.
Thanks! We look forward to hearing from you.
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General Background
Time: 1580s, a cold winter’s evening
Place: The Final Curtain, a tavern of dubious repute
in Deptford, London, England.
The tavern is much frequented by theatre people, since it is just around
the corner from one of London’s principal theatres, The Swan. Many
theatre patrons stop in for a drink before or after the performance, and it
is also busy with workers from the nearby London docks.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth is on the throne of England - unmarried, and without
a direct heir. Elizabeth rules a Protestant England that is beset by
the two great Catholic powers of France and Spain. War has been threatened
many times but, until now at least, it has never been loosed.
Tonight, soldiers are on the streets. A curfew has been announced.
The theatre has been closed and the performance cancelled. A
case of plague has been reported in the district, and no-one is permitted
to leave until this has been investigated.
The cancellation of tonight’s performance - of Kit Marlowe’s well-received
"Doctor Faustus" - is the second tragedy to strike this area today.
This afternoon, the dead body of Marlowe himself was carried from this tavern.
Now see below ...
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Historical Accuracy (aka "Huh? That
didn't happen!")
As it said in the Introduction, the setting is fictionalised; the authors
have taken certain "liberties" with Elizabethan history. Primarily,
we've condensed events in Elizabeth I's reign a little, to fit into the game.
Players are welcome to read up on Tudor history if they wish, but it's
definitely not necessary. The game is "self-contained"; the detailed
background/history here will
also be provided in the character packets. This will be the "official"
game version of history, ie it's "true" in the game universe, even if not
in Real Life.
(In case you're wondering:
We've messed with history Just A Bit, But Not Very Much. Some
of the characters are fictitious, but not grotesquely so. The authors
promise that:
- none of the characters is a Weird Space Alien in Disguise;
- Time-Travelling Pantomime Quadrupeds do not form part of the
game;
- the characters are not really mind-wiped participants in a
far-future Reality TV show;
- there are absolutely no vampires whatsoever.
We really mean it).
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Mechanics
Almost everything in the game can be achieved by talking to the other
characters. For the exceptions, there are Game Mechanics. These
fall into two main areas, ability cards and contingency envelopes.
An ability card will typically describe something that the character
can do, but that might be more difficult for the player - "Intimidation",
"Really Jolly Cunning Questioning" etc. The card will describe
the effect, and also the usage ("two uses", "tear up when used" or whatever).
Contingency envelopes have a trigger condition on the outside (eg "open this envelope if you see a blue parrot"). Obviously enough,
please don't open the envelope until the condition has been fulfilled. The
contents of the envelope could be some new information, a new ability ...
or just something else to complicate your character's life.
In all cases, if something doesn't seem to make sense, please find
a GM.
The more detailed information about mechanics
here will also be included in the character packets.
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Timetable (aka "What happens next?")
Registration now open! Follow the
link, fill out the form and use the button at the bottom to submit
it. You'll receive a confirmation within a few days.
We'll cast the game, then send out costuming hints as soon as possible.
Full characters and any relevant background/mechanics sheets, aka
"bluesheets", will follow shortly after. (By default, we'll send out
electronic copies of documents. Paper versions will be included in
the character packets, and available for collection on the day).
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A Note on Characters
This version of "All's Well That Ends" has 23 characters: 11 "male",
10 "female" and 2 "boys". The last category consists of two "boy actors"
from the nearby Swan Theatre. In keeping with the tradition of
the time, the female roles on stage are played by adolescent males. Both
were due to be on-stage this evening, and have been caught up in the curfew.
On the whole, we'll try to avoid cross-casting if we can. However,
we're happy to cast these roles to male or female players, as required/requested.
Similarly, these players are welcome to adopt male or female garb,
as they wish. (The justification is that they did/didn't have time
to change out of their stage costumes, when the militia shut the theatre).
Yes, we confess that this is a transparently obvious way for us to juggle/balance
the gender mix, without actually having to rewrite any of the characters.
(Some might call this "lazy". We call it "optimising our precious time"
...).
[Note that the casting questionnaire
includes an opt-in/opt-out question regarding these roles]
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