The Game: By the Author of Lady Windermere's Fan.

The Players: Myself, Tim, Kelly, and Shimon.

(I am 99% sure those names are correct, but I managed to not write them down, so if someone needs to come by and beat me with a correction stick, please do so!)

First of all, thanks to all the players! There was an absence of folks willing to facilitate today, and because I was running late, I didn't bring any games. Luckily, this is one which I knew the rules of by heart, because I, uh, wrote it. Two weeks ago. In my defense, it has been successfully playtest before and I did feel that it was in a presentable state, but I still feel a bit dirty about that.

I would feel dirtier, perhaps, but it went well! "By the Author of 'Lady Windermere's Fan'" is a game about actors throwing together an Oscar Wilde play, because they realize opening night is tonight, but they neglected to do any rehearsing or even bring the scripts, and have to improvise it. After coming up with some sets, we decided to do something with pirates... Wilde channeling a little bit of Gilbert and Sullivan, perhaps?

We set the show on a pirate's island, and two of us were pirates: Robert (who was secretly Roberta), and Captain Higgs (who later pretended to be Admiral Higgs and later Royal Spymaster Higgs, when all the while he was nothing more than a bos'un with a little gold to throw around). With us was Thomas Vale, the Spice Lord, and an enigmatic fellow known only as the Castaway. The Castaway was hiding the fact that he was, in fact, of noble birth, while Vale would tell all and sundry that he had at his command a tribe of fierce warriors, when in fact he had none.

It should be clear at this point that we are all lying about things, and as we are making preparations to secure the island as a Dutch fleet moves in, we try in vain to maintain our lies, defending them even as they grow more elaborate, before they ultimately collapse under their own weight, exposing us for the fools we are.

But worry not, because this is an Oscar Wilde farce: there is a happy ending for everyone, and even a double wedding. And as we know, even the most vicious Dutch invaders wouldn't slaughter a wedding, so we're safe from all of that as well. Huzzah!

Okay, clearly I am a biased fellow: I made this game, and I thought it went fairly well. If other folks want to disagree, please do!

It wasn't perfect... in particular, the transition from one scene to the next is pretty sloppy, especially in light of the pace-pace-pace-pace aesthetic. And there are other minor details to play with, some of which might be attributed just to my running the game without having the actual text in front of me, and having to make do with sticky notes instead of proper index cards (the most essential tool in the story gamer's arsenal). BUT, we seemed to have a good time, and we came up with something that certainly approximates a pirate-themed Wilde play.

Props to Tim as the the Spice Lord for coming up with a completely indefensible lie, that he had a tribe of warriors at his disposal to kill his enemies, and defending it until the end, well past the point a saner man should have fled to safety. That's quality farce! Props as well to Kelly as Robert/Roberta, the relative newbie, both for general story-game bravery AND for teaching us that no, shaving your legs is in fact SUPER MANLY.

Extra props to Shimon at the Castaway, for being right proper enigmatic, and hurrying us all along to our happy endings when he revealed he was, in fact, the Lord. He was also the audience favorite (which is to say he made folks laugh the most, and never had to pause for time or scramble for props), which meant he got to take the final bow and give the play it's title:

"The Secrets of Pirate's Cove," by the author of "Lady Windermere's Fan."

First of all, thanks to all the players! There was an absence of folks willing to facilitate today, and because I was running late, I didn't bring any games. Luckily, this is one which I knew the rules of by heart, because I, uh, wrote it. Two weeks ago. In my defense, it has been successfully playtest before and I did feel that it was in a presentable state, but I still feel a bit dirty about that.

You are a gentleman and a scholar.