Bor'd Games

Prologue

Before the Maw grew in the Firmament, consuming all in its path, people who were bored came to visit Bor’d to play some board games. With each completion of a planet-sized game, the planet thrived, able to generate boundless resources without causing wear or tear to its pieces. However, as word spread about Bor’d, people with mal intentions game to play. They wanted to take advantage of the planet and farm its resources. Unknowingly, the misplaced hearts of these winners caused the games to degrade, worrying The Villagers or the people who lived on the planet. Soon, it fell on their hands to repair the games. Jacob, however, saw this as unsustainable. What was needed was a player who could beat those who played the game just for their resources. He went on to find The Villager who was best suited for this role, looking for a person he called “The Player.” After testing The Villagers for their gaming skills, Jacob found no one good enough for the role. It is unknown whether Jacob tried to train someone to be The Player, but the end result was Jacob ruining many of his relationships with other Villagers. As a result, Jacob decided the person that must take the mantle of The Player should be himself.

TL;DR of what happened next

As The Player, Jacob did not fully succeed in protecting Bor’d from both mal-intentioned players and maw-afflicted raiders. So much so that it caused him to be slowly afflicted with the Maw and leaving an unfinished game of Catan.

The first expeditioners come to Bor’d, fighting maw-afflicted raiders and finding The Dice, Bor’d’s world heart. In the process, they learn how to play the game and get hints about The Player's history.

The second expeditioners go into The Player’s inner dungeon, clearing him from the effects of the maw. They also find out how to activate The Dice: finishing games and rebuilding relationships.

The third expeditioners activate the world heart. They also learn how the winner of the game can improve/degrade the state of Bor’d depending on their heart’s intentions. Finally, they learn about constellation requirements.

The fourth expeditioners finish rebuilding all relationships. They also learn about constellary rituals as the first constellary bonds are formed.

The fifth expeditioners fight back against the maw-afflicted raiders. They also learn about Jacob’s failures and help him accept the maw that lives inside him.

Run 1: Catan

On Whale’s Tail, Ra’alith, a gith bounty hunter, looks for a party to join them on an expedition to a distant planet to gather resources. Brummuki, Derek, Gobi, Myra, Nargullur, and Sir Luxembourg join the expedition. Before they leave on a bounty hunter ship, the party realizes that all other parties are going on expeditions to help save a planet and push back the Maw whereas they are going out to take resources. When asking Ra’alith about this, she explains that she does not know how to save this planet, if possible, but she assumes that the resources will be important for saving other plants.

Upon arriving on the planet Bor’d, they find a game laid out on its 25-square-mile mahogany table surface. Amongst the game’s disarray, they meet the Villagers, the 7 people who live on the 25-square-mile surface of the planet. In the process, they learn about how the planet can be fixed either by repairing game parts or by cheering up The Player, the 5-mile tall human who sets up the game. They also learn about the game of Catan and how it can be played with The Dice, an artifact that causes changes to the game.

The party ponders on the fact that the game of Catan lacks resources and the fact that The Player also loves playing games. In the end, they decide that the best way to help repair Bor’d is by taking the mantle of The Player’s opponent and finishing the game.

To do so, the party sets off to find The Dice which, according to the Villagers, was last seen with Ra’alith. When Derek confronts Ra’alith about the matter, Ra’alith tells the party about their experience with The Player and how she lost her partner and The Dice due to The Player punishing them for cheating in the game.

After Ra’alith tells them how The Dice works, Nargullur befriends a shark to help them locate The Dice. However, she discovers multiple sets of Dice at the bottom of the ocean. The party works overnight to upgrade the bounty hunter ship to be able to dive into the depths of the ocean. Once they do, Gobi is able to use their knowledge of different metals to find the right pair of dice.

While this occurs, Brummuki learns from Daenelis that Ra’alith is most likely part of the faction of gith who want to speed up the spread of the Maw. The dwarf runs back to the ship’s location only to find Ra’alith pushing the party out of the ship. However, as the ship lifts off to leave, Sir Luxemborg hears Brummuki and jumps onto the ship. The party works together to wrangle the ship out of Ra’alith’s control and retrieve The Dice. Unfortunately, Ra’alith escapes with another bounty hunter ship waiting on standby.

With The Dice in hand, the party plays the game. The Player reluctantly plays Catan with the party. In the process, the party learns that their actions on the board of Catan allow them to affect the roll of The Dice. Using this to their advantage, the party easily wins against The Player. As The Player throws a tantrum, the party leaves to go back to Whale’s Tail.

Run 2: Munchkin

As the people on Beverly learn about the existence of world hearts, a new gith astrologer assembles a new party to return to Bor’d in order to retrieve and activate it’s world heart. However, as the party of Edmund, Evaleen, Kreeg, and Narkos assembles, the astrologer learns that The Dice have entered an afflicted state due to The Player turning into a Maw-touched creature. Having some experience with helping out Maw-touched, the party goes off to the planet.

Upon arriving on the planet, they find The Villagers a safe distance away from The Player who is currently bawling on the surface of Bor’d. They learn from the Villagers that The Player used to be a Villager called Jacob. However, relationships between Jacob and the rest of The Villagers soured. Hence, they currently do not know how to help him.

Knowing that may be afflicting The Player, the party goes into their inner dungeon, meeting a child named Jacob and finding a note saying bring Jacob to the exit which was four rooms away. In the second room, they meet the Maw incarnations of the Villagers Yala and Zaunna in a Judge’s bench. Kreeg protects Jacob from their punishments while Narkos charges up to destroy them. In the third room, they meet the Maw incarnations of Daenelis and Morren standing on chests in a tiled room, most of which are trapped. Evaleen and Edmund used cotton candy clouds to float through the room and gave them to the rest of the party to retrieve the items in the chests. In the fourth room, the party meets the giant versions of Alqun and Nuqla, whose debate has manifested into actual weapons getting hurled across the room. Amidst the chaos, the party realizes that these Maw incarnations of The Villagers reflect how The Player sees The Villagers or maybe vice versa. With this in mind, the party convinces Alqun and Nuqla to walk in each other's shoes and give each other a chance. In the process, they learn that, in order to activate The Dice, both the games of the planet and the relationships between The Villagers and Jacob must be repaired.

In the final room, they find the Maw incarnation of Okutur, The Villager who used to be Jacob’s closest friend, firing arrows at the boy from 200 feet away. According to Okutur’s bad memory of Jacob, someone has to lose in a game and sometimes someone has to get hurt in order to uphold fun. As the barrage of arrows went, the party convinces Okutur that today it is them who needs to lose.

As they exit the last door, the party finds them on the surface of Bor’d. The Player appears to have returned to their normal self and The Dice are back to their inactive state. Before the party travels back to Whale’s Tail, the party helps The Villagers and The Player realize that they have both wronged each other in one way or another, and, in order to fix their relationship and save Bor’d, both parties must be willing to give each other a chance. In the end, everyone on Bor’d agree to make an effort to fix their relationship, although some more reluctantly than others.

Run 3: Here to Slay

Having learned of the restoration of The Dice, the gith astrologer on Beverly once again asks for volunteers to go on another expedition. This time to activate The Dice, reigniting Bor’d as one of the stars that would push back the Maw. The party that volunteers for the expedition is composed of Jules, Kv, March Potao, Penelope, Professor Irving, and postdoc Shemeber. The gith briefs them, mentioning that the previous expedition learned that the relationships and games of Bor’d must be repaired in order to activate The Dice.

Upon arriving on Bor’d, the party talks to The Player who has been updated by some of The Villagers about the ongoing efforts of the people of Beverly to push back the Maw. The Player finally reveals how the games of Bor’d work. In essence, if the heart of the player who wins the game has positive intentions for planet Bor’d, then the planet is refreshed and rebuilt when the game ends. Otherwise, it degrades, resulting in spilled food, broken parts, and faded markings seen in previous games. The Player then suggests playing one of Bor’d’s more complicated games in order to create a more restorative effect — assuming that the party has positive intentions for the planet. To this, the party agrees, choosing Here to Slay over Dead of Winter.

During the game, the party must to recruit Heroes and/or retrieve Monster parts in order to win. When recruiting Heroes, they can learn more about their relationship with The Villager. On the other hand, when retrieving Monster parts, they can learn more about other planets and how to help push back the Maw. Professor Irving maximizing recruitment and retrieval so as to repair as many relationships and learn as much about other planets.

In the game, the party recruits three heroes. Marsh finds Yala sleeping amidst a rockslide. Upon waking him up, Yala tells the story of how Jacob once tried to fight against the previous players of Bor’d but was unsuccessful — the frustration of which caused the Maw to grow in Jacob. Kv takes Daenelis up on their drinking challenge in which anyone can do anything to make the other person throw up. Upon beating them, the impressed Daenelis tells this story of how Jacob refused to play games from their own home planet which made Daenelis sad. Finally, Jules finds Alqun meditating up in the trees and tries to convince him to join the party. Alqun, however, is reluctant saying that it’s difficult to hear Jacob’s kind heart due to the whole mess. Jules convinces Alqun that Jacob has apologized for their actions which is enough to convince Alqun to join the party. After each recruitment, the party helps each Villager to remember good memories between them and Jacob, slowly helping them let go of grudges and focus on working together to rebuild the planet.

As for monster parts, the party retrieved two monster parts. Penelope caused the twinned-dragon’s claw to fall to the ground while postdoc knocked the tooth out of the kanghemoth. After each battle, the party saw visions of constellations which pushed back against the Maw. They learned that each planet involved in the constellation must give something to some planet and take some from some planet. With the final vision, the game ends and The Dice glow a radiant light that could be seen from across the firmament. Some of The Villagers and The Player begin talking to each other. To further help them rebuild relationships, the party teaches them how to play Dungeons and Dragons. After that, the party hurriedly returns to the Whale’s Tail in order to spread word about the power of constellations and how to form them.

Run 4: Dead of Winter

With information about building constellations spreads throughout the firmament, the gith astrologer organizes another expedition. This time, she hopes to learn more about constellations and retrieve resources that could be given to other planets. Kriv, Chester, Gareth, Gell, Derek, and Eagle Screech quickly volunteer.

Upon arriving on Bor’d, they find an apocalyptic land space on its surface. Finding Jacob, he explains that, in hopes of rebuilding more relationships with The Villagers, they wanted to play a cooperative game. Hence, they had set up Dead of Winter. Unfortunately, a large chunk of the instructions were missing but he believed the expedition would be able to figure it out.

Not long into the game, the party learns that they must find a sustainable way to live in the apocalypse to win. Most of the party quickly go into an abandoned bunker to set up as their sustainable base. The party clears it out, with Kriv and Gareth dealing massive amounts of damage. Chester then begins to barricade and repair the location. As this night passes, Severen spots Nuqla, one of The Villagers turned survivors, in less than positive terms with the group. Upon talking to her, Nuqla explains how emotions have no place in astronomical research and that rebuilding relationships will not help in saving Bor’d, much less the Firmament. The party helps Nuqla realize the flaws in their argument. As this occurs, a ray of light shoots from The Dice to a distant location. Nuqla and Gell recognize this as the premature connections of a constellation. Gell studies this connection and learns of the ritual needed in order to fully form constellations.

As for Derek and Eagle Screech, they go to investigate the survivors whom Gell also spotted repairing a cell tower. There, they find a colony being set up by Morren and Okutur. After learning that The Player is with them, Morren says that they are unwilling to let the rest of their party into the colony. After some persuasion, Morren explains that The Villagers have tried multiple times to reconnect with The Player but he had never reciprocated. The two convince Morren that Jacob is willing to cooperate and that he will be the one to initiate rebuilding relationships this time around. Although reluctant, Morren gives them the go signal to bring the rest of the party.

Morren’s colony (with some resources from The Party) go to rebuild the bridge connecting their region to the colony. Then, the whole party uses magic to sneak by the zombies and join the colony. With that, the game ends and the party receive a Resource Card to be used to make connections with other planets. Before the party leaves, however, Derek follows an intuition and finds Mahogany inside of the table that is Bor’d. With minimal convincing, the dryad decides to join as a Villager of Bor’d, serving as its caretaker. With that, another constellary bond is made, showing out to yet another point in the sky.

Run 5: Monopoly

Having learned about news of constellations coming from Bor’d and constellary bonds forming with it, Ra’alith returns to wreak havoc on the planet. Jacob surmises that they are planning to destroy The Dice. Hurriedly, Jacob walks through the book of doors to get to the Whale’s Tail and forms a last-minute expedition with Kriv, Gareth, Derek, and Ned.

Upon arriving on the planet, they find all of its board games scattered and broken. The only one left is Monopoly. All The Villagers, now including Jacob and Mahogany, agree that they are useless in a fight, but they can provide support through this game. Asking the party to protect The Dice, The Villagers quickly set up the game.

As the setup concludes, the gith set up their own game, throwing down pieces from Catan and Dead of Winter to attack the party. Quickly dispatching the enemies, the party goes to find the bounty hunter ship that was responsible for the attack. With Derek going back to the Monopoly board, Ned and Kriv deal with the surrounding enemies allowing Gareth to destroy the bounty hunter ship which the gith were upgrading with some Dice stealing appendage.

Back on the Monopoly board, Derek goes to jail out of curiosity and finds what appears to be a Maw-afflicted Jacob. Derek rushes over to Jacob’s property in the game and finds Jacob, quite happy and content with his relationships. However, as Derek and Jacob converse, the Maw incarnation of Jacob appears crying at the property’s doorstep. He explains that he has failed in protecting Bor’d, that he had sacrificed much of his relationships as he overthrew the previous players, and yet he was not a good enough player to keep the planet protected from mal-intentioned attackers and players. Derek, however, begins to realize the truth about the Maw and how it is simply a part of us and is controlled by who we choose to be. With this in mind, Derek is able to help Jacob accept his Maw incarnation, fusing them back into a new Jacob.

As the party reunites on Bor’d, the last bounty hunter ship lands on the Monopoly board. Ra’alith steps out, defeated. The party converses with her, learning of her true story, how the Maw has always been a part of her life, and how she wanted to make others feel exactly how she felt. The party explains that they now understand how she feels and how to fix it: to find connections that will allow her not to quell the Maw but simply take control of it and prevent it from spiraling out of control. With that Derek chooses to remain on Bor’d as one of its Villagers, performing the rituals of being a part of Bor’d by being the designated game master for a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons.

Epilogue

Gareth and Ned go to different planets, delivering resources and living games from the planet of Bor’d. In the process, Bor’d becomes a part of The Great Whale, the constellation that spans the whole Firmament and keeps the Maw at bay.

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