Esgaroth in all but name, anyway. We decided to mix it up and do zombies in a fantasy setting. "Like Middle Earth style?" Yep. Boom, lake town. We decided it was a free town that fostered trade between the nearby human kingdom / Gondor-analog and the never-to-appear-in-this-game wood elves.

Stavros (Dani) -- Manly man of mystery and magic, came from unknown lands but has settled in Lake Town to work his magics. For now.

Prince Etrigan of Canimar (me) -- Fifteen year-old boy prince from the neighboring kingdom, snuck off to see the world and hiding his identity (poorly). I drew the Dependent card which was intrepreted as being accustomed to having servants waiting on him hand and foot. He had no idea how to fend for myself in the real world.

Gantria (Tim) -- Young girl of Lake Town, now a servant of Stavros. Crazy for the prince. Not a euphamism: Tim drew the Mentally Disturbed card so Gantria had a hint of madness about her.

As we joked, we practically spent most of the game playing Hot Guys Making Out. The Prince had a bro-crush on Stavros, that manly man of the world, while Gantria had an absolute stalkers fixation on the Prince. Very Shooting the Moon.

Zombie Cinema does suffer a bit from the chase problem -- once you start running around it's easy to lose good character interaction and just argue over which way to turn next. You definitely need to try hard to find ways to keep that part interesting (e.g. Hot dagger-holding sex while hiding from the zombie hordes. Technically not sex. Naked kissing, for Gantria and the Prince were both young and naive.)

After the game, I was thinking about the bit where Stavros won the conflict to get the dagger away from Gantria by using his magic to bend her mind to his will, Jedi style. What if Stavros was actually the _cause_ of her mental problems? She might have been a normal girl when she started serving him, but he used his power on her a little too often to hide his secrets, making her a little insane?

So much creepy hindsight about Stavros…

I had a great time with this game! It's an interesting little system. I like the interpersonal focus a lot. The mechanics are pretty simple and easy to understand. It's fun to be able to ally or support with other players/characters. As for Stavros, I hope I did a good job of playing a mysterious masculine magician. Yes, he did turn out rather creepy. :)

It was a really fun night around the table too. :) Ben and Tim, you guys are always a pleasure to game with. Thanks for another fantastic evening at Story Games Seattle!

- Dani