Based on the children’s classic, The Secret of NIMH, this game is based after the events of the movie. A great evil threatens the inhabitants of the Thorn Valley. After the captain of the guard goes missing, along with several artifacts that once belonged to Nicodemus, the mystic, a team of heroic young rats is charged with finding out what happened. As they journey far from home, they stumble upon humans threatening the valley, strange mysteries and monstrous dangers. Can they survive the final confrontation with evil? Find out in this special two session game!
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A shout-out and big thank you goes to forum user Review Cultist for our custom title art this week!
Great episode like normal! I do have one question though, anyone count how many time Aaron said “that’s like”?
Seriously though, we’ve gone over the topic of verbal tics like half a dozen times now.
This was a really cool scenario, I really like how you adapted the system!
(This is going to sound weird, but Aaron’s tics are pretty cute. It’s like he’s a character in a romantic comedy for nerd women played by Hugh Grant)
YYYYEEEESSSS!!! Oh My God! The first half more than met my expectations and then the second half… Blew it out of the WATER! Thank you Aaron for the concept, Thank you Caleb for the golden brick, Thank you everyone, you have made my day with this. This, this right here is the true sequel to the Secret of NIMH.
well. that. was certainly a thing Ross Payton posted on the internet. and yeah, by the end of the game, you definitely know what it’s like.
no jk! that was awesome. super clusterfucky, which is my favorite. doubleplus points for the kill all humans excavator scene.
When I heard “READ” I knew it was going to be awesome. And it was. I was somehow hoping for Ghatanothoa though.
I’m a big fan of the Wild Talents and Eclipse Phase games you guys have posted however I have never been a big fan of Monsters and Other Childish Things but this episode was very interesting. I like how “Grim Dark” this game got. I’ll have to go back and give this system a second look. Also this episode makes me want to go back and watch the Secret of NIHM again. Good game and good job to the GM.
Only a third of the way through, but awesome! Aaron, you rock, I really dig your take on the world. Well done!
So I heard you guys like one roll engines (wild talents campaign, monsters and other childish things, and the nemesis one shot that Ross ran on unspeakable), but has aaron ever heard of/played mousegard? That seems like a better suited system for this particular game (because, you know, mice). Because of how crazy dark this scenario got though, I would like to see this run in little fears (because of CHILD MICE!)
@Brian
Yes, I am familiar with Mouseguard, but I have never played the system. At the time I was developing the game to run at Gencon and since Arc Dream was paying for my GM badge it needed to use one of their games. Ideally Nemesis probably would have worked a little better (given the sanity loss system), but I was more familiar with MAOCT at the time and felt it would be easy for players to pick up on. Plus it made it easier on me to have the enemies set up in dice pools so I did not have to keep track of 2-4 custom character sheets.
Mouseguard? Pshaw, let’s go look at Bunnies and Burrows instead. Can’t get more grimdark than Watership Down.
Bunnies and Burrows? (Checks Wikipedia)
… A moment later…
Proving once again that there is an RPG for EVERYTHING!!!
Dear God! lol
Somewhere in Something Positive archives is a comic talking about an ill fated Bunnies and Burrows character who made the mistake of investigating Ol’man Molecraft’s farm.
@ Journ – I must see that comic.
On a side note, I wonder if there’s enough money in the world to convince the Rppr crew to run a game of B&B. It definitely needs more exposure. I mean if Review Cultist never heard of it…
I’d like to see a Mouse guard game run. Its systems strong focus on roleplaying really interests me.
I may see about picking up a copy while I am at Gencon this year. If I run anymore games in this particular universe that may work out better for the recordings. Though if there are future games there probably will be a religious temple dedicated to Pat Benatar somewhere.
This is an excellent game, great job Aaron! MVP definitely goes to Caleb for the awesome character concept.
The only fault I could see whas that ther e were too many Arrow to the Knee “jokes”. Shame on you, Ross. >:(
@Michael
Haha, oh that’s not saying a lot (the whole if I haven’t heard of it bit). But I would be interested to see how a B&B game played out.
Also a temple to Pat Benatar is now VITAL! for EVERY SCENARIO!… at least the ones that follow the Legacy of NIMH universe.
@Leigh: not to try and rep a different podcast, but I have six hours a day at work that I need to fill with podcasts. Anyway, The Walking Eye did a pretty good AP of mousegard, if you are looking for how it is played. They also review and give tips at the end.
@Aaron: That makes sense. I would have never thought of MOCT for this game, and it seems to have worked extremely well. Caleb’s Lover In The Ice setting has been my favorite for awhile (got a copy from his kickstarter), but I’m from the eighties and I REALLY want to run
This game
I loved this episode and know the movie way too well so here’s this as tribute to Caleb’s excellent character bit.
(To the tune of Flying Dreams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0-nS6KeDwU )
“Time for brunch,
so let’s munch,
on these yellow bricks,
the tasty things also served for lunch,
humans call it Captain Crunch.
Love it seems sent these flying things
blood sugar will soar,
they’re quite a find
with a hive mind,
but will make your teeth sore.
Love is the key.
Love is the key.”
So, Aaron, how do you feel this would have been different had you run this using the “A Dirty World” rules? (cackles insanely)
And those thalidomide rat babies were eXtreme, like the eighties.
@Ed
Unfortunatly there was no tasteful way to add rat prostitutes to the scenario.
Oh Aaron, you and your morals…
Love seeing a game from you by the way. Any chance we’re going to see something like what Caleb’s has done with Eclipse Phase, ie: a long campaign, from you? You don’t run enough games. 🙂
@Michael
Glad you liked it! Honestly I had not thought about doing any long running campaigns, but after talking to Ross, Tom and Jason I may try to come up with something. The general consensus was that a game based on the concept of Sliders might be fun to do.
The frog also can shout random lyrics. Coming to mind is “Hell is for children,” “Stop using sex as a weapon” and really anything from Heartbreaker.
Then a holy war against a Lita Ford cult.
Most age inappropriate children’s story, EVER!!!
Great game. Enjoyed the heck out of it.
Aaron…your GM skills have improved quite a bit since The Haunting.
So does this game explain how Mrs. Brisby used force powers to lift her house?
The amulet Nicodemus gave Mrs. Brisby is what enabled her to do so since she was one of the few who could resonate with it (or so I assumed by watching the movie again). If you would like any more details, feel free to PM me since I don’t want to give any more spoilers here.
Holy crap Aaron! Rathulhu was epic! I loved Ross cursing the revelation of the West formula as well Calebs incredulous statements about the Grimdarkness.