I ran the Dictionary of Mu for a few years while it was still just a word document with red ink on it.  It was at Dreamation that I met the book's artist, Jen Rodgers and passed one such word doc on to her.  It was at Dreamation that Luke and I went from online aquaintences to friends.

So, running it this year, when it has been selling well felt like returning to my hometown after winning the state championships.

Everyone at the table owned the book, I believe.  This was kind of nice, took some of the pressure off. 

I gave everyone a book to hold while we played, mostly because the characters were in the book and it made for an easy reference.  The game started and I went quickly over the dice mechanics and read off kickers.  Terry had some trouble figuring out which character to take so I just let her know the page numbers where there were characters and she settled for Oghma, Son of Oghma, which was exciting as no one has ever played him at a con scenario I ran.

They read over the characters for a few minutes and then we launched into the binding scene.  I use this as a kind of prelude.  I ask the players to describe how they are binding their Demon and the descriptions always rock me.  I make sure to throw out Bonus Dice, so the players begin to understand how that works.  This is also a good way to make sure that everyone is on the same dark, pulp fantasy page.

The game went really well and I am heartbroken that my iRiver ran out of batteries, so the game went unrecorded.

My favorite parts of this game:

The way John played the Primite Prince with cunning but a limited intellect and his severe daddy issues.

The way Terry used Oghma as this wonderful way to show the power of the written word and the importance of using history in constructive ways.

Matthew found this quiet dignity in the Damsel Messiah that was lovely, while still keeping her ferocious and brutal.

Shane's Khan of Khans was on the rampage, turning Mu's Bed into a crater filled with blood and death, taking the Witch-King as his eyeless, handless servant and in the end, he married the Damsel Messiah and found peace in a very organic and beautiful process.

I watched Shane kind of struggle with the Khan and it was fun to watch.  In most con scenarios I see there isn't much character growth, not much willingness to see a character change over the course of the four hours but Shane really showed the Khan finding hope.

Blood, dismemberment and crucifiction...yet the most hopeful session of Mu yet.

At the end of the game I asked the players to define a word to add to the dictionary and I was given the following, that we read out loud at the end of the game (as per the game's rules):

Terry's word
History - It is far, far bigger than you, so settle down!

John's word
Father = slaver

Matthew's word
Garden - A place of peace where love can grow

Shane's word
Peace: A Fragile spirit on Marr'd that could not be eaten by its bloody history.  It can still be found there in places quiet and cool.

What I love about these is that I can read them and they are sign posts for the game's goings on.  Wonderful.

Terry, Shane, Matthew and John...thanks.  That was fun.

Paka wrote:
Shane's word
Garden - A place of peace where love can grow

Matthew's word
Peace: A Fragile spirit on Marr'd that could not be eaten by its bloody history.  It can still be found there in places quiet and cool.

It was an awesome game, epic and bloody!  Definitely the highlight of my experience at the con.

Judd was great and of course his setting is inspired.

The game would not have been the same without the players we got.  Thanks Matthew, John and Terry.  You guys are amazing!  How can so much happen in 4 hours?

Yeah, John's got some father issues.  He shot his pa in the Dogs game that immediately followed.  Perhaps we should stage an intervention of some type.  :)

Anyway, it was a game I'll not soon forget.

Here's a post from an email I sent to Judd about my thoughts/motivations while I was playing:

I'm not sure why I picked the Khan-of-all-Khans as he wasn't my favorite character when I read the book--he wasn't a bad character, he just didn't do anything for me.  But when you read the kicker to us I thought of spitting blood in a doting mother's face while being staked out in the sun in an effort to prove himself the Khan-of-all-Khans.  So I picked him.

Now I needed to decide what this guy wanted to do and I thought it needed to be big, because Mu is EPIC!  And what could be bigger than killing _everyone_?  But what reason could I give him for attempting this?  I decided that if he killed every sentient being, leaving only himself, then by process of elimination he would be God. 

But I'm not a bloodthirsty bastard, so I really wanted him to fail.  I wanted him to change and decide not to continue his plan, but only if the dice or the other players could stop him.  It wouldn't be satisfying unless I could play him to the hilt and not hold back.  I wasn't going to let him change unless something forced it.  The only idea I had at this moment was to complete the arc where he married the Damsel Messiah, but, as I said, I wasn't going to do it unless the dice or the other players made it happen.

The Khan's first change came when he summoned peace, but he failed to sacrifice it to History Eater and instead it made him pause and consider what he had done.  It was brilliant that you made it a parasite demon that infested him for just a moment.  I decided this wasn't enough to stop him, but it was enough to make him talk to the Damsel Messiah before he attacked.

When it came time to talk to the Damsel Messiah, I insisted that she come to my tent, because I wanted to challenge Matthew to take a risk that might save his people.  He seemed reluctant at first, but finally delivered the Damsel Messiah into the Khan's hands.  Bravo for him.  That was incredibly brave after witnessing the scene where the Khan had cut off his own man's head and thrown it to the crowd.  Then he mentioned the gardens and failed to give a satisfactory explanation for what they were.  This prompted the Khan to deliver himself into the hands of the Damsel Messiah, and Matthew's message to the city that the faithful were to remain out of sight was magnificent, as it met the terms I issued and reminded the Primites that they hadn't converted and couldn't interfere with this without obviously insulting them.

The crucified bureaucrats were the icing on the cake as they showed the Khan that the Damsel Messiah was also blooded but had changed and I thought that was almost enough to push me over the edge and let there be a happy ending, but then the apprentice showed up (what was her name?) and denounced the Damsel Messiah throwing everything back into chaos again.

I decided right then and there that if Oghma couldn't talk her down, I would kill the Damsel Messiah and finish what I had started despite having come so close, but Terry was on fire and gave a great speech telling the little girl that the world was bigger than just her.  And that was the end of the Khan-of-all-Khan's reign of terror.

Fantastic game!

Cool!  Judd, was there any prep for this other than presenting the kickers to the players and letting them run?  I'm curious how much "plot" there was under all this.

James_Nostack wrote:
Cool!  Judd, was there any prep for this other than presenting the kickers to the players and letting them run?  I'm curious how much "plot" there was under all this.

The content and uses of the posts in this forum are finer and more useful than what I usually post for the intended audience at my livejournal.

But I'll provide a link to my Dictionary of Mu actual play thoughts here:

http://nemomeme.livejournal.com/2748.html

Damn, that's thorough, Matthew.  Well done!  You took me back to Marr'd.  It's great to see the game from your point of view.  Now if I could just summon and bind John and Terry and force them to write some runes here...

--Shane