Dead End Row

Creating your character

Character creation is a collaborative process to be done as a group in the first session: there are no stat points to assign or skills to select from, instead each player answers some questions about their PC to establish their background. This creates the situation they find themselves in at the start of play and also determines the strengths and weaknesses of whatever supernatural archetype they have chosen to play. It's a fundamental assumption of play that all the PCs are friendly towards each other, in the way that housemates are: they may have small disagreements with each other, but none of them are enemies to anyone else living in the house.

Preparing for the session

You will need a Discord account in order to play; when you join the game, you will be sent an invitation to a small private Discord server on which the game will be played.

What James Mullen brings to the table

Blood & Water is a player-lead narrative game, with the GM facilitating the stories created by the players and portraying the supportcing cast of characters in their lives. Combining slice-of-life soap opera with intense supernatural drama, the story focuses on the tough choices the PCs have to make just in order to have a quiet, ordinary life, and how both sides of their existence complicate their plans. We'll explore the emergent story as it unfolds, delving deeper into the background of the characters, with surprise guests popping up from their past or present to foil their plans. The more hooks the players provide, the more engaging and challenging the PCs' stroies become, making their victories taste all the sweeter in the end. The GM's role is to complicate the PCs' lives by exploiting the issues the players have created for themselves, whether that's struggling for recognition in their day job or fighting their own kind on the streets at night. The tone can blend simple moments of absurd comedy, as the monstrous housemates struggle to complete otherwise simple tasks, with intense drama, as supernatual forces gather around the housemates and threaten everything they have tried to build for themselves.

How James Mullen creates a safe table

The following safety tools will be in effect throughout the campaign: Open Table: players are free to come and go as they need to and should not feel they are interrupting the game if they need to take a break or leave for any reason. No Hate Speech: no matter what regressive opinions characters in the game may have, we will exclude any use of the terms hate speech, including an examples of sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, body shaming and so on. Lines & Veils: we will have a discussion about the tone and content all players find acceptable for the game, including trigger issues, phobias and so on. Pause Button: everyone is empowered to pause the game at any time, with an explanation if they desire; this can be used to take a moment, skip unwanted content, rewind & redo a portrayal of their character they are unhappy with, discuss upcomingh scenes and their ton, etc, Decompression: after every game, time will be available to discuss the game's content with each other, dig a little deeper below the surface of character motivations and generally ground ourselves.