I played in it at the last Minicon at Endgame Oakland and Paul Tevis was the facilitator.
Best,
Shannon
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3PM . .. MONTSEGUR 1244 . .. there are no dice in this game. In fact, if you have a good memory you don't even need to take notes. The premise is based on History in which 200 or more Cathar heretics (a loaded word) stayed true to their faith and chose to burn at the stake rather than convert back to the Catholic Church. The game is very free flowing. You pick cards to develop scenes and each players gets 2-3 characters and decides how many scenes to play for each of them. The main characters cannot die until the epilogue b/c there are only three outcomes:
1. Only one main character can escape into the night 2. The other characters have to convert or burn
Before the ending there is a great deal of drama taking place. As it's an insulated town everybody knows everybody.
One interesting thing you can do is use special cards to either take over a scene or do a follow up scene if you don't feel you got enough screen time.
In this game I got last pick so I got the youngest and unloved daughter of a noble and the harlot of the town, who happened to be related to a very powerful count. I chose to make the harlot my main character. She was concerned about her niece and nephew, who were played by other players, and also had to confront a man who had raped her when she very young. The man who raped her was played by another player and I blackmailed him first and failed. Then I played on his guilit to get the kids out of there and as they were sub characters this was allowed but the nephew's controller decided he would die during the escape. I think he was about 8 years old.
There was a pretty moving scene where a husband in a loveless marriage planned for his pregnant wife to get away and go with her lover (also the man who raped my character). I know, it sounds like a soap opera but it still good. That scene made a person cry openly at the table which I had never seen before, and, keep in mind these were strangers, not a regular playing group.
At the end the joking pretty much died out and a grim melancholy tone took over. One or two other people were teary eyed.
So, we had six main characters and the results were:
1. My harlot tried to get the man who raped her to take her hand and burn with her (they built a 40' high burning pyre and you jumped off a sort of plank and fortunately died fast) and was refused three times. She told him he would hate himself for refusing and stepped backwards into the flames still looking at him. 2. The man who raped my character was the only person to convert. He was so angry at the world that the PC decided he would become an inquisitor as well. 3. An old woman said very little and jumped into the flames. 4. The man who sent his wife off with his lover (who, by the way, was #2 and felt duty bound to never leave) simply refused before the Inquisition and walked into the flames. 5. The priest revealed a bad thing about someone in the Inquisition, after he made sure they wrote everything down, and then died in the flames, too. 6. The pregnant woman escaped but shortly before the escape her child was revealed as stillborn which destroyed her love for her lover (see #2).
Overall, it was one of those games that really shined. You can always tell when it goes that way b/c the players stuck around to talk about the game for a good half hour and it was obvious no one wanted to leave that feeling. Andy and Trey actually had to wait around before I could talk with them though Trey was so impressed that he went and bought the game that night.
Caesar_X has the right of it. I was present for both games (I facilitated the EndGame Oakland game and also played in the Nerdly Beach Party one).
It really surprises me how well this very tight scenario stands up to repeated play. I've played three times now and facilitated/observed once, and I've got one more play scheduled.