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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!
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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. |
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