Where The Heart Is is a game about atypical family units, wherein the player group builds an unusual-looking family and plays out various dramas within it. Sound boring? Nope: I've had only three playtests so far, but in all three sessions some powerful drama has unfolded, in one case pretty explosively. Think it's going to be all screaming and plate-throwing etc? Again no; it can, but doesn’t have to be- in the first playtest, the family eventually broke up, but were able to ‘fail safely’.
Elevator pitch
Roleplay the family of tomorrow today!
Moving walkway pitch
Think in the future everyone will still be living in traditional spouse-and-two-child families? Think again. There's a sea-change in family models taking place, and we need to get with the curve. Remember, today's weird is tomorrow's normal.
During the game, players will play out all the usual family dramas- PTA meetings, arguments over computer use, homework and TV watching, and whose turn it is to do the dishes etc.- but with a twist: at that PTA meeting will be not just Bob and his husband Jim, but also Jim's ex-wife Diana, who still lives with Jim and Bob in the Brave New Family of the future.
Where The Heart Is is essentially a toolkit: the player group can create literally whatever family model they like. Also, players should not consider themselves constrained by the default setting: it’s possible to create playsets with a variety of settings.