A Note from Jason...

Well, friends, my mind is overflowing with weird ideas right now. This is a blessing and a curse, but I'll take the curse if the blessing keeps me productive. I was away at a private gaming weekend with friends last weekend and returned buzzing with thoughts and ideas. One of them asserted itself so strongly that it is pretty much done - I devoted a big chunk of yesterday writing it and laying it out. It started as a Golden Cobra entry and, as these things often do, moved itself in surprising directions.

I work well with constraints. For the Cobras this year, one of the categories is "best game for brand new larpers", which piqued my interest. I feel like some of my games are really good gateways to or from larp (The Climb being an obvious example - tabletop structures, strong metagame roles, combined with those delicious dying alone on a frozen peak larp-y feels. I went to bed thinking about games for new larpers, and when I woke up I had what I think is a cool idea to address that design brief.

A game for new larpers, I figure, needs to be non-threatening, and straightforward, and easy to play, and to the point. Play it in an hour, roleplay as much or as little as you like around a few simple, fun concepts that don't make you feel like a freak. My initial idea almost hit these points. Here's the pitch: You play as yourself, but with a catch - you are also channeling an alien ambassador dispatched to decide the fate of the Earth. In an hour long game, you spend half your time as the alien and half the time as yourself, marveling at how dumb the alien is. It's fast and silly and by the time an hour has passed, you may have condemned our planet to destruction, or opened the door to galactic civilization. I'm calling it "The Emerging Civilization Working Group" and it is an unsubtle commentary on all the things wrong with humanity wrapped in some colorful tomfoolery. If you are a Patreon supporter, you will see it soon!