Actual Play – In Darkest Night (3/11/2018)

MC: Andrew Gillis
Players: Andi Carrison, Andy Munich, and Sean Nittner
System: Girl by Moonlight

And!And!And!

There were many great things about this game. We played it in Big House after the Waffle Party, so I literally did not have to get out of my pajamas to a) socialize with friends, b) eat waffles, and c) play Girl by Moonlight. Also, I got to play a game with Andrew, Andi, and Andy! Have I died? Is this heaven? No, it’s in Darkest Night.

Darkest Night is the, as you guessed it, darkest playset for Girl by Moonlight, and in particular, it’s one the one that I think exists in the fringe of the genre, which is a place I’m really interested in. Andrew talks about this on a recent interview with That DnD Podcast.

The Heart of Night

As the playset pitch says, In Darkest Night is a game about tragedy and betrayal. What’s most poignant to me is that betrayal isn’t just directed at other people, but also at ourselves. It’s our own personal desires and fears that erode away at our beliefs. One way this is articulated is that social links (the downtime activity that normally provides an opportunity for the characters to bond) is replaced by “have a disagreement”, which is just like it sounds. The move still creates links between the characters but it also causes stress. Enough that my character Flax entered Ellipse just from accumulating stress in the Obligation and Downtime phases!

Our Dystopia

We spent a lot of time developing this world, but for me it was richly rewarding. Many times when developing settings I feel like there are either parts that are too incongruous for me to wrap my head around, parts that are missing, which leaves me really unsure of my character’s motivation and background, or parts where I think the players at the table have very different conceptions about. While I enjoy starting with a fruitful void, I feel uneasy playing inside it unless the group as a whole is committed to acknowledging the pieces that are missing/uncertain/confusing and putting a spotlight on them so we can better understand them through play.

In this game, not only did I feel like the setting was internally consistent enough for me to understand our backgrounds, I also felt like all four players at the table were committed to pausing the game when necessary in order to discuss and clarify parts unknown. So, to the specifics.

Scientists had uncovered the rotting body of a dead god, and through it, discovered the genetic code for making a “perfect” human being. The augmentation did not work on everyone, however. Citizens, those who had been perfected, lived in satellite in geosynchronous orbit. Everyone else was divided into cowards (those who refused the treatment) and failures (those who the treatment did not work for). Once perfected everyone’s bodies matched a single image of beauty, physical health, and otherwise looked like covers of Cosmo and GQ magazines 24/7. However, the definition of perfection kept “evolving” as the scientists discovered more still secrets from the dead god. The people who didn’t take well to the treatment often died, were used as test subjects for further experimentation, or became monsters that ravaged the world below.

We were all parts of this systems. An admissions officer, the child prodigy of the scientists, and a military officer. Andi played the Unlikely Hero playbook, so her character did not yet transcend. Andy and I however, each had extreme physical transformations when we transcended, into the idea of feminine beauty and a monstrous giger-esk killing machine.

Super. Super. Super gross. And Toxic. And a place I was really excited to try and tear down while also being trapped inside of it.

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