for the queen

Actual Play – The Queen of Fashion (7/6/2018)

Facilitator: Sean Nittner
Players: Krin Irvine, Ben Swinden, Cara Simian, and Isaac Thummel
System: For the Queen

Our very first question set the tenor of your entire game.

“This journey isn’t just about diplomatic negotiations. What else do you suspect is going on, and why?”

Answer – A war of fashion. If the enemy is better dressed then we are, our reputation will crumble and thereafter the support of our allies.

To be told I didn’t think this would be a serious game, until we answered more questions and realized JUST how important fashion was, and how much telling a person what they could and couldn’t wear controlled a part of who they were. If felt like a threat to our freedom than resonates very strongly with me in 2018.

The land you live in has been at war for as long as any of you have been alive.
The Queen has decided to set off on a long and perilous journey to forge an alliance with a distant power.
She has chosen you, and only you, to serve as her retinue, and accompany her on this journey.
She chose you because she knows that you love her.

Our roles end up being the queens body double (who tried on all her dresses first), the old servant (who too the fall when the Queen attempeted to introduce snaps into fashion), the guard (scarred and dressed all in the queens purple), the zealot (who would bring buckles to the masses), and her seamstress (who the queen kept closer than any other).

Following the last game I played, I encouraged us to play in the the golden fields of the Great War, with similar primitive automobiles. We also had the advent of strict fashion rules and a lot of value placed around an impossible ideal of beauty, both in terms of bodies and in terms of design.

The game was dark, full of sacrifices made for the good of the many. In the end we had to be sacrificed as well. And yet, look at all these smiling faces:

Actual Play – The Queen of Espionage (7/5/2018)

Facilitator: Karen Twelves
Players: Mark Hobbs, Craig of Meetup, Ross Cowman, and Sean Nittner
System: For the Queen

I’m so glad that when people say “hey, do you have a fun RPG that we can just play right now, I absolutely do!

The land you live in has been at war for as long as any of you have been alive.
The Queen has decided to set off on a long and perilous journey to forge an alliance with a distant power.
She has chosen you, and only you, to serve as her retinue, and accompany her on this journey.
She chose you because she knows that you love her.

In advance of Go Play Northwest, Karen and I went to Olympia a few days early to hang out with Ross and Mo, walk around Discovery Park, have boat adventures on Lake Union, and, check it out, play games at Story Games Olympia.

Marc was the MC of the event but because there were only a few of use there, we all ended up playing a game together. Marc was great about convening the values of the story games community and my very strong hope is that Craig, who found out about it from Meetup.com, comes back to many more events (this was his 2nd RPG!).

Our queen, set in a world of silver hills and primitive automobiles, was a master tactician playing a game that not even her top advisers understood. She send her secretary to make dead drops to foreign agents, she planned press releases before the events every happened, she intentionally lured our enemy into thinking she was weak while leading them into a trap, she pitted us against each other, and with her actions she threatened those we loved.

And we loved her. We loved her so much, that when attacked we all stood in her defense. Dying to protect her.

Actual Play – For the Queen (3/10/2018)

Facilitator: Sean Nittner
Players: Andy Munich, Cate Hirschbiel, and Paul Beakley
System: For the Queen

I wasn’t planning on playing anything in the morning, but there we were, sitting around the table, gushing about For the Queen, and when I texted Alex and asked if I could run it, she said she’d be there in 30 minutes with the deck!

The land you live in has been at war for as long as any of you have been alive.
The Queen has decided to set off on a long and perilous journey to forge an alliance with a distant power.
She has chosen you, and only you, to serve as her retinue, and accompany her on this journey.
She chose you because she knows that you love her.

Our queen was beautiful and terrible. We were her interrogator, the one she let free, her canary, and her bodyguard. All of us but her guard fell to protect her. By the end despite his love, he could not stand by her side. So amazing!

Actual Play – The Queen’s Receipts (3/8/2018)

Facilitator: Alex Roberts
Players: Tomer Gurantz, Erik Bell, Nadja Otikor, Andy Munich, and Sean Nittner
System: For the Queen

“Unnamed Game Playtest” was the billing. By the end of the game we were using the name “Atrocity: The Queen’s Receipts”. By the end of the weekend (thanks to Stras) were were calling it “For the Queen”. I hope that name sticks!

Here’s how the game opens:

The land you live in has been at war for as long as any of you have been alive.
The Queen has decided to set off on a long and perilous journey to forge an alliance with a distant power.
She has chosen you, and only you, to serve as her retinue, and accompany her on this journey.
She chose you because she knows that you love her.

That’s all you know when you start the game, but as you play, question by question you define the Queen, and your relationship to her. Unwittingly you craft a story of being her banner-person, her cook, her servant, her adviser, and her body double. You find that she’s shown you great kindness, staying your execution, and great wrath, forcing you to sacrifice yourself for her, over and over again.

Our queen cared greatly for her people, so greatly that she closed the gates and let countless die of a plague so she could save the ones inside the keep. We were loyal to her unto death, so loyal that we set her up to be ambushed, in the last moment we could not carry through with the plan and fell to protect her. We loved her and yet in ways we could not forgive her. She showed us beauty and ugliness, kindness and cruelty.

Our characters started as archetypes but through the questions they all became more and more complex. Each question re-contextualizing the answer to the last. The Queen and our relationships with her developed with each answer as well.

Just look at this retinue, ready to serve!

What Rocked

The Game.

The People.

The Questions.

The Answers.

I’m serious here. You’re not going to know what I’m talking about because this game isn’t out yet, but it’s fucking amazing. When it does come out, you’re going to play it and love it as much as I did. I’m sure of it!