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We’ve done it again! Once again, several of my friends and I have accidentally trapped ourselves within a hyperfixation that is nearly impossible to explain to anyone else, and yet once again I am going to attempt to try!
The origin here is a one-hour, two-person game called Debrief, set in a slightly alternate Cold War with ghosts and spirit mediums. The two player characters – Robert Alderidge and George Russell – are MI6 colleagues, best friends and brothers-in-law. Unfortunately, Alderidge has just been found dead in circumstances that make it extremely undeniable that he’s a double agent working for the Russians. Now spirit medium Russell has exactly one (1) hour, and no longer, for a final interrogation of the ghost of his most beloved friend!
Each player gets a character sheet that contains a lengthy backstory, an agenda for what they would like to get out of the conversation, and one or two moves they can use during the game. Two of us played over the summer, and immediately began haranguing the rest of the groupchat until we committed to doing likewise, because they were deeply emotionally compromised by Alderidge and Russell. Now, unsurprisingly, we are all deeply emotionally compromised by Alderidge and Russell. The problems, however, are these:
a.) can’t talk about it to anyone who might wish to play it except in the broadest of strokes outlined above; the game is fundamentally engaged with “loyalty, ideology, memory, obligation, and the difficulty of interpersonal knowledge,” which means that the whole point is that Russell and Alderidge’s players Do Not read each other’s character sheets before the game, and only have their character’s own preconceived notions of the other going in. Can’t know but what you think you know!
b.) as far as we could tell, it is no longer available anywhere on the internet except in [illicitly] shared Google folders! This was a deep ethical problem to us until yesterday, when one of the creators, Elisabeth Cohen, actually responded to a desperate message asking how it might be possible to pay them for our many, many hours of enjoyment, and gave us their blessing to share the game freely. Huge shout out to Paracelsus Games; we are extremely excited to check out the creative team’s other work!
c.) ‘many many hours,’ you say? Is this not a one-hour game? I’m glad you asked. It turns out, when the game is obligate Zoom (Alderidge’s player Must be contacted over video in a darkened room), and you all take advantage of this technology to record your sessions with your intensely different yet thematically linked characterizations, and then you all watch each other’s sessions and spiral ever deeper into obsessive interrogation of various potential failure modes, it’s entirely possible to make your own DIY timeloop agony!
Anyway. We all feel deeply that this extremely good game should remain in circulation, and we also feel deeply that if you play you should pay the middleman by reporting back about your experiences because the hunger is ongoing.
Cynlguebhtu Grnz 1: Ehffryy vf frys-evtugrbhf, tevz naq ohfvarffyvxr, rzbgvba nf ybpxrq-njnl nf cbffvoyr; Nyqrevqtr gevrf gb zngpu uvf gbar, ohg vf cebar gb ovggre ihyarenovyvgl naq ubeevsvrq ynhtugre. Guvf vf n qvibepr gung’f cergraqvat gb or n cebsrffvbany rapbhagre, onqyl (ohg vf nyfb jvyyvat gb npghnyyl erfbyir vgf ohfvarff, juvpu vf zber guna nalbar ryfr urer jvyy qb.) Ehffryy riraghnyyl cebzvfrf gb qb jung Nyqrevqtr jnagf uvz gb qb, va beqre gb nyybj Nyqrevqtr gb cnff ba. Nyqrevqtr vf jvyyvat uvzfrys gb oryvrir vg, ohg Ehffryy vf ylvat.
Cynlguebhtu Grnz 2: Nyqrevqtr vf fzvexvat, vqrbybtvpny, pbzcryyvat, znavchyngvir; Ehffryy vf frysvfu naq frys-evtugrbhf, cebar gb ovggre natre naq ubeevsvrq ynhtugre, naq ernql gb guebj rzbgvbany oynpxznvy. Guvf vf n qvibepr gung’f cergraqvat gb or na rguvpny nethzrag. Nyqrevqtr riraghnyyl tvirf Ehffryy jung ur jnagf, nf n svany fnyyl va na batbvat tnzr bs rguvpny puvpxra; Nyqrevqtr’f tubfg vf tbvat gb unhag Ehffryy guebhtu gur raq.
Cynlguebhtu Grnz 3: Nyqrevqtr vf frys-zlgubybtvmvat naq frys-ybnguvat, naq ernql gb guebj rzbgvbany oynpxznvy. Ehffryy vf ybivat, gehfgvat, boqhengr, rntre gb yvfgra gb Nyqrevqtr, ohg abg jvyyvat gb vagreanyvmr nalguvat gung jbhyq sbepr uvz gb erpbaprcghnyvmr uvf vqrn bs gurve eryngvbafuvc. Guvf vf n qvibepr gung’f gelvat abg gb or n qvibepr, naq guvf Ehffryy naq Nyqrevqtr ner fvzhygnarbhfyl gur zbfg naq yrnfg ubarfg bs gurz nyy. Nyqrevqtr tvirf Ehffryy jung ur jnagf. Ehffryy znxrf harnfl unys-cebzvfrf, naq jvyy or unhagrq ertneqyrff.
Guebhtuyvarf: npebff n shaqnzragny tnc va pbzzhavpngvba naq haqrefgnaqvat, cebsbhaq ybir rkvfgf! Vg vfa’g rabhtu & va snpg vg znxrf guvatf jbefr!
The origin here is a one-hour, two-person game called Debrief, set in a slightly alternate Cold War with ghosts and spirit mediums. The two player characters – Robert Alderidge and George Russell – are MI6 colleagues, best friends and brothers-in-law. Unfortunately, Alderidge has just been found dead in circumstances that make it extremely undeniable that he’s a double agent working for the Russians. Now spirit medium Russell has exactly one (1) hour, and no longer, for a final interrogation of the ghost of his most beloved friend!
Each player gets a character sheet that contains a lengthy backstory, an agenda for what they would like to get out of the conversation, and one or two moves they can use during the game. Two of us played over the summer, and immediately began haranguing the rest of the groupchat until we committed to doing likewise, because they were deeply emotionally compromised by Alderidge and Russell. Now, unsurprisingly, we are all deeply emotionally compromised by Alderidge and Russell. The problems, however, are these:
a.) can’t talk about it to anyone who might wish to play it except in the broadest of strokes outlined above; the game is fundamentally engaged with “loyalty, ideology, memory, obligation, and the difficulty of interpersonal knowledge,” which means that the whole point is that Russell and Alderidge’s players Do Not read each other’s character sheets before the game, and only have their character’s own preconceived notions of the other going in. Can’t know but what you think you know!
b.) as far as we could tell, it is no longer available anywhere on the internet except in [illicitly] shared Google folders! This was a deep ethical problem to us until yesterday, when one of the creators, Elisabeth Cohen, actually responded to a desperate message asking how it might be possible to pay them for our many, many hours of enjoyment, and gave us their blessing to share the game freely. Huge shout out to Paracelsus Games; we are extremely excited to check out the creative team’s other work!
c.) ‘many many hours,’ you say? Is this not a one-hour game? I’m glad you asked. It turns out, when the game is obligate Zoom (Alderidge’s player Must be contacted over video in a darkened room), and you all take advantage of this technology to record your sessions with your intensely different yet thematically linked characterizations, and then you all watch each other’s sessions and spiral ever deeper into obsessive interrogation of various potential failure modes, it’s entirely possible to make your own DIY timeloop agony!
Anyway. We all feel deeply that this extremely good game should remain in circulation, and we also feel deeply that if you play you should pay the middleman by reporting back about your experiences because the hunger is ongoing.
Cynlguebhtu Grnz 1: Ehffryy vf frys-evtugrbhf, tevz naq ohfvarffyvxr, rzbgvba nf ybpxrq-njnl nf cbffvoyr; Nyqrevqtr gevrf gb zngpu uvf gbar, ohg vf cebar gb ovggre ihyarenovyvgl naq ubeevsvrq ynhtugre. Guvf vf n qvibepr gung’f cergraqvat gb or n cebsrffvbany rapbhagre, onqyl (ohg vf nyfb jvyyvat gb npghnyyl erfbyir vgf ohfvarff, juvpu vf zber guna nalbar ryfr urer jvyy qb.) Ehffryy riraghnyyl cebzvfrf gb qb jung Nyqrevqtr jnagf uvz gb qb, va beqre gb nyybj Nyqrevqtr gb cnff ba. Nyqrevqtr vf jvyyvat uvzfrys gb oryvrir vg, ohg Ehffryy vf ylvat.
Cynlguebhtu Grnz 2: Nyqrevqtr vf fzvexvat, vqrbybtvpny, pbzcryyvat, znavchyngvir; Ehffryy vf frysvfu naq frys-evtugrbhf, cebar gb ovggre natre naq ubeevsvrq ynhtugre, naq ernql gb guebj rzbgvbany oynpxznvy. Guvf vf n qvibepr gung’f cergraqvat gb or na rguvpny nethzrag. Nyqrevqtr riraghnyyl tvirf Ehffryy jung ur jnagf, nf n svany fnyyl va na batbvat tnzr bs rguvpny puvpxra; Nyqrevqtr’f tubfg vf tbvat gb unhag Ehffryy guebhtu gur raq.
Cynlguebhtu Grnz 3: Nyqrevqtr vf frys-zlgubybtvmvat naq frys-ybnguvat, naq ernql gb guebj rzbgvbany oynpxznvy. Ehffryy vf ybivat, gehfgvat, boqhengr, rntre gb yvfgra gb Nyqrevqtr, ohg abg jvyyvat gb vagreanyvmr nalguvat gung jbhyq sbepr uvz gb erpbaprcghnyvmr uvf vqrn bs gurve eryngvbafuvc. Guvf vf n qvibepr gung’f gelvat abg gb or n qvibepr, naq guvf Ehffryy naq Nyqrevqtr ner fvzhygnarbhfyl gur zbfg naq yrnfg ubarfg bs gurz nyy. Nyqrevqtr tvirf Ehffryy jung ur jnagf. Ehffryy znxrf harnfl unys-cebzvfrf, naq jvyy or unhagrq ertneqyrff.
Guebhtuyvarf: npebff n shaqnzragny tnc va pbzzhavpngvba naq haqrefgnaqvat, cebsbhaq ybir rkvfgf! Vg vfa’g rabhtu & va snpg vg znxrf guvatf jbefr!
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* Tale and the Twilight, by Elisabeth Cohen and Warren Tusk. This was an Arabian Nights-flavored pseudo-sequel to The Dance and the Dawn (which they sell), with a similar courtship mechanic but also additional plot mechanisms. First LARP I did, I generally had a good time, though there was a dull stretch after I had figured out who True Love was and then didn't have much to do, because my character's main deal was that she was Lawful (a jurist!) so nobody wanted to go around letting me in on all their illicit shenanigans, but at least I got to patch up my relationship with one of my sisters.
* Kill Dr. Lucky LARP, by Elisabeth Cohen and Michael Von Korff. This was a LARP designed for a house party, so definitely not doable remotely (the murder mechanic involved sneaking up behind people and tapping them on the back). Fairly lightweight game, there was a Cold War espionage subplot that I was involved in, but I was assassinated halfway through the game.
* Soul of the World (I think this one is just by Warren Tusk, but I'm not sure?): OK, so this is pretty great conceptually, and my fellow LARPers were all amazing, though maybe the game was a bit too political for me -- but it was still a good experience even if I didn't feel that I was using my agency particularly well. Twelve people, each driven by a deeply held guilding philosophy, get together to decide which of them will make up the new pantheon.
* The Path of a Thousand Whispers by Warren Tusk. This is an extremely self-indulgent LARP where each of the 7 characters is an author self-insert character in one way or another. It had some good character interactions!
* A Taste of Blueberry by Kristen Hendricks. For a while there was a meme going around the LARP writing community to write minimalist "Orc and Pie" larps. This one has a bit more plot/mechanics than "you are in a room with an orc. the orc has a pie", but not much. I enjoyed it but don't remember it that well.
* Howling Fire Theomachy, by Kristen Hendricks. Title may be overdramatic, but there sure were gods! Not my best LARPing experience, but can't actually discuss without spoilers.
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I have never played an Orc and Pie game and kinda want to play Kristen's now.
Who did you play in Howling Fire Theomachy? I also didn't have the -best- experience (I played the Heretic) but it's inseresting.
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And yeah; the Heretic is a great chance to play a very visible character role and have eyes on you.
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