mystery of the abbey  

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report     

  2010 Status: pending December Membership Trial Vote

Allyson Field, SC

2009 Champion

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Event History
2003    David Wenstrup     98
2004    David Burkey     31
2005    Lisa Gutermuth     27
2006     Chuck Halberstadt     31
2007    Jordan Halberstadt     42
2008     Chuck Halberstadt     46
2009     Allyson Field     40

 

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Chuck Halberstadt  IN    08     40
  2.  Brandon Bernard    PA    09     30
  3.  David Wenstrup     SC    03     30
  4.  Alexandra Henning  CT    08     26
  5.  Allyson Field      SC    09     24
  6.  Jordan Halberstadt IN    07     22
  7.  Lisa Gutermuth     TX    04     22
  8.  David Burkey       PA    04     20
  9.  Eyal Mozes         NY    03     18
 10.  Josh Githens       SC    08     12
 11.  Karl Henning       CT    07     12
 12.  Natalie Beach      MD    06     12
 13.  James Allaire      CT    05     12
 14.  Ted Drozd          IL    03     12
 15.  Brian Schott       MD    03      9
 16.  Robert Larkins     PA    09      8
 17.  Gene Pappas        MD    08      8
 18.  Angela Collinson   MD    07      8
 19.  Ellen Hoam         OH    06      8
 20.  James Kendrick     uk    04      8
 21.  David Travis       NJ    09      6
 22.  Scott Petersen     MN    07      6
 23.  John Kratz         ID    04      6
 24.  Meghan Friedmann   NJ    09      4
 25.  Gadoon Kyrollus    NJ    07      4
 26.  Verity Hitchings   DE    06      4
 27.  Kathy Hitchings    DE    05      4
 28.  Andrew Bremer      NE    04      4
 29.  Gary Noe           FL    03      3
 30.  Helen Byrens       CA    09      2
 31.  Chris Yaure        PA    08      2
 32.  Marcy Morelli      PA    07      2
 33.  Lauren Vessey      VA    05      2

2009 Laurelists                                              Repeating Laurelists:

Brandon Bernard, PA
2nd

Bob Larkins, PA
3rd

David Travis, NJ
4th

Meghan Friedmann, MA
5th

Helen Byrens, CA
6th


Past Winners

David Wenstrup, SC
2003

David Burkey, PA
2004

Lisa Gutermuth, NC
2005

Chuck Halberstadt, IN
2006, 2008

Jordan Halberstadt, IN
2007

 

GM Ellen Hoam teaches her initiates at the opening demo. No WBC GM does a better job of getting in the spirit of the game aided by her considerable costuming skills.

Eventual winner Allyson Field, Bob Larkin and Meghan Friedman answer the inquiries of the abbess who doubles as the Gamemaster in the WBC version of Clue.

a better whodunit ...

This year's group of sleuthing monks was ready for a mystery Thursday night, and included, as usual, many novice monks as well as some who were dusting off their old habits. The first round of discovery was replete with songs sung in rounds and several groups engaged in plainsong. With so many at the start, it was a raucous and festive bunch, and one could hardly believe we were in the midst of investigating a murder. The abbess and her dedicated assistant were most pleased this year to find that Brother Stephen had even donned a habit of his own for this year's investigations!

While most tables in the first round made at least one revelation about the vile culprit, the third table, comprised of Brother Evan, Sisters Alex, Angela, Shannon, and Alyssa, was loath to reveal anything. Brother Evan successfully discovered the guilt of novice Gerard at this tight-lipped table of serious investigators. Quite the opposite was true at Table 7, where Sisters Pam and Christina and Brothers Jonathon, Daniel and Jay were happy to share many a revelation - so many so that the revelations won the game despite a correct accusation at the end!

In the semi-final round of investigation, the first table of monks was extraordinarily quiet as well. There was no sharing of revelations from any of the four monks, and only Brother Bob made accusations - one incorrect and one correct, netting him a score of two points. Of the other three monks, whose scores were all 0, Sister Allyson placed second by virtue of remaining pure and penance-free - the second tie breaker for the tournament (first being correct accusation as opposed to two correct revelations).

Table 2 of the semi-final round had quite a difficult time of it. After two revelations and at least five accusations, the table realized that misinformation had at some point been passed around. All the investigators had every suspect marked as innocent in their notations, so the monks soldiered on with several more false accusations, while Brothers Evan and Brandon raced to backtrack and correct their notations. Brother Brandon pulled it off and raced to place his final (and the eighth) accusation, winning the game with -2 points. Brother David and Sister Helen tied that score, and rolled off for second and third place, while Brother Evan came in fourth with a score of -6.

After such a trying semi-final round, the Final round of investigations was a pleasant and surprisingly short game. The players drew the plainsong event in Lauds, which made for an extremely quiet round. Brother Brandon, who normally swears he will not sing, was far too interested in discovering the truth to worry about it this time around, and was the only monk to make an effort at chanting. Unfortunately for him, in this very round (the second of the game) Sister Allyson made an astonishingly quick accusation and handily won the game with four points. Brother David was the only investigator with penance, and thus received the fourth place ranking. Brothers Bob and Brandon, tied at 0 points, rolled off for the second and third places. Brother Brandon lucked out with the second, and Brother Bob placed third. It was indeed the fastest investigation this Abbess has ever seen in all her years of conducting investigations.

We give thanks to all the monks who came out to join in the investigations in 2009. It was a great turn out, and it is always a pleasure to GM for such enthusiastic players. I hope to see you all again in 2010, when we will once again discover the mysteries of the abbey!

 

Jennifer Drozd, Helen Byrens and Claire Pfeiffer
were just three of 18 ladies entered - fully 45% of the field.

Evan Cagwin, Davis Travis and Alice Travis were part
of the inquisition into the matter of this year's murder at the abbey.
 GM      Ellen Hoam  [3rd Year]   NA
   hoamer@embarqmail.com   NA

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