Openness
transparency vs secrecy
All of the characters will have secrets. None of these are revealed before the start of the game. It is a central concept that secrets will be revealed, but characters themselves have the most control over when and how this happens.
​
Remember: the whole point of having a secret is to have it discovered!
scenography
complete illusions vs minimalism
Our aim is to have a 360 degree simulation of the world in which we set our game.
The site is an actual Scottish Croft. The electricity is generated by the roof-top solar cells, the showers are gravity-fed, the furniture is mismatched and well-used. The battered books and boardgames on the shelves are just the kind of thing that post-apocalyptic survivors would cherish.
character creation
organiser vs player
Character creation is a collaboration between us and our players. During the initial sign-up procedure we ask several questions that help us place players in either the Crofters or Walkers group, with a vague understanding of what their backstory might be.
​
When we offer players a space, we will give a brief outline of our proposed character and ask for feedback. Some players might want us to fill in all the details, whilst others can engage in a conversation as we develop their character. We are open to suggestions and want to ensure that the characters we end up with are the ones that will bring the most fun for our players.
runtime game mastering
active vs passive
Almost all of our work will be complete by the time the game starts, then it's over to our players!
​
There will be a few instances where there are set plans for events- for example it is a central conceit of the game that the Crofters are willing to host the Walkers in their camp and allow them to sleep and eat together. If we left this up to the players, well... half of them might never get to actually join in the game.
​
Both organisers will be available throughout the game, but will not be actively directing play.
story engine
collaborative vs competitive
Our hope is that players embrace a play-to-lift style in order to build the best story for everyone.
​
Several characters may have contradicting goals and objectives. This is intended to drive the drama and tension, rather than to be the 'win condition' for our players. Everyone should be willing to 'fail' if it means making the best drama. Equally, those who find their characters 'winning' should make space to ensure that this is not at the cost of enjoyment over those they are 'beating'.
loyalty to setting
playability vs plausability
The setting is unfortunately a highly plausible one; world society in the process of collapse after a viral out-break. The following central conceits are in place for playability:
-
There is a virus that causes the dead to rise as flesh-eating zombies
​
-
The Crofters work hard every day to ensure there is heat and food, however the event takes place on one of their holidays. Therefore the players don't have to spend all their daylight chopping wood or mucking out goats.
bleed in
close to home vs differentiation
On the face of it, it might be easy to say that we do not intend to bring anything from our players' own lives into their characters. There is complete differentiation between our players and our characters. But then, we remember COVID-19.
​
The inescapable reality is that our game is based on a near-future viral pandemic. That hits close to home for many. When our characters talk about their experiences of the initial outbreak, there will inevitably be subconscious comparisons to our own experiences of COVID-19. This might mean remembering the harm done to loved ones; whether from the virus itself or from the government policies enacted to tackle it. Part of our game setting involves the poor response of the UK government. This will seem familiar to many, and may be distressing.
We are always open to our players communicating with us about their triggers and fears. Please do get in touch.
communication style
physical vs verbal
The game is based on the meeting and communicating of two distinct groups. There is sure to be a lot of verbal communication, but equally characters will use physical distance and placement to communicate their truth.
​
In the extreme, communication may deteriorate into physical violence. We hope that our players use this as the extreme last resort, with plenty of escalation before reaching for knives.
representation of time
abstraction vs simulation
Time in the game is exactly the same as real time.
​
Our game will time-in at approximately 9pm on the Friday, and run continuously until time-out Sunday afternoon.
​
Although the game remains active during the night, we do expect that players will be courteous enough to allow each other to have a good night's sleep.
meta techniques
intrusive vs discrete
There are very few meta techniques in this game.
​
The main technique is that any weapon used to simulate physical violence must be a LARP-safe foam latex 'boffer' weapon.
player pressure
hardcore vs pretence
FOOD SCARCITY
The food served by our caterer will be plentiful and nutritious, and a reasonable simulation of the types of food that it would be possible to prepare given our setting. In addition, every player will have access to small kitchen areas associated with their sleeping area in which they can prepare any off-game food that they would like. We would ask that players do not flaunt their consumption of chocolate and caffeine, but keep it discrete and off-game.
​
For the Crofters: refined sugar, caffeine, and chocolate are distant dreams. Fresh vegetables are abundant during summer, but winter and spring means mealy potatoes and half-rotten turnips.
​
For the Walkers: you probably cannot name the last time you had a fresh egg or bread that tasted like proper bread. Bland army rations are the most reliable source of nutrition. Occasional treasure troves are discovered during scavenging trips, and so your character might have access to dented cans without labels or possibly some extremely out of date candy.
​
This means that when our two groups meet, there will no doubt be some bargaining and bartering to be done! However, this scarcity and deprivation is for our characters, not our players!
​
THREAT OF ZOMBIE ATTACK
Our characters are under constant threat of zombie attack, including all throughout the night. However we are not going to simulate this for our players. There will be no interruption of sleep, and no zombies attacking the camp. There might be an alarm raised during the day in which players will need to shelter in place, but combat with zombies is not a feature of this game.​
