GM: Tim Hutchings
Players: Derek Guder, Liz Gorinsky, Allen White, Lisa Padol, Sean Nittner
System: Tears in the Rain
This is a solo game which will we all play in parallel. We will occasionally check in with each other and share our story-thus-far. A unique (I think) system for prompt-word delivery will let us create and describe a ‘day turned remarkable’ for a somewhat average person living in a minimally defined cyberpunkish/Blade Runneresque cityscape. Play is guided by evocative but minimalistic key words, the prompt structure shows a few key future events, and demands call-backs to earlier keys. Play is fast, stories are short, we are creating short stories not novels. Content warnings align with the genre–body horror, loss of autonomy, violence, mind fuckery, crushing capitalism, poverty, etc. This is part one of two completely different games that fit together like a puzzle. It is self-contained and satisfying on its own. I would like to collect the player’s play material at the end to later use for playtesting the partner game.
We made normal every day people by creating slice of life moments from random prompts. The struggle was avoiding turning those moments into a narrative that were all linked together. Our pattern matching brains want to connect everything! I was pleased that my character Beazel did have some multitudes. He was an overworked bank teller, an animated neon sign collector, and newly a power walker. Yeah there were yakuza meetings in his apartment at night, but as long as they didn’t mind him slipping by to get to the bathroom (small bladder) he didn’t mind.
The outcome of this game, a databank of memories as collection for the rich data barons, is fiendish! I love it.
