Joe Murphy

In kalma, you will take the role of old, old people who have stolen the breath of others. Now on their last breath, they have one more thing to achieve. kalma was submitted for the 27 Sight & Sound game design challenge.

Characters in this game are old people who have lived past their rightful age.

Some time ago, perhaps as a child or perhaps last week, they stole the breath from another person. In doing so, they took the remainder of that person’s life as their own. The act may have been deliberate, malicious, accidental or for another reason entirely, but the breath-taker was forever changed. Since stealing breath, the character has lived on the edge of life, able to see or sniff out elements of the underworld.

Perhaps they can occasionally glimpse the gloomy fate that awaits others, can smell impending accidents or can touch and weave the wisps of life connecting everyone. But most importantly, they have lived beyond their allotted span.

Submitted for the 24 Hour Modus Operandi Challenge: The Wars of the Worlds between Earth and Mars is coming, and you’re the first Martian spies. Put the filthy bipeds in their place and find every weakness in the human scum.

This great War lies decades in the future. Perhaps the awful horrors of the Heat Ray and Black Smoke will never come to pass. And it’s up to you.

For you are the spies sent by Mars to pave the way for invasion. Martian scouts have cast themselves psychically cross the void of space, inhabiting random people in a small geographical area ? the centre of Victorian London. In their short time on Earth, the Martian interlopers must evaluate humanity’s possible defenses against Martian weapons and tactics.

This is a game for three players. Together, the group will play a hive of Martians sent to spy on Earth.

The Opposite of People is a game of illegal art. The participants will create stories of theatre and debauchery (because there’s always debauchery where theatre is involved) in settings where such works are frowned upon or outright banned.

Introduction

?We’re actors! We’re the opposite of people!?
– The Player, Rosencrantz & Guildernstern Are Dead.

In The Opposite of People, the players take up the roles of a travelling troupe of actors. Though they start almost penniless and down on their luck, they hope their travels through the villages and towns of the world will bring them fame and fortune. Particularly fortune.

The game can be set anytime and anywhere, though three settings are provided. These settings are sketched broadly in order to allow plenty of space for the players to detail their own towns, countries, cultures and people.

The game is designed for four people, and is played in ten one-hour sessions. Each session represents one town on a tour. The first shows are performed in small communities, but the final performance takes place in the capital city itself.

The group will need about 3 tokens and a deck of ordinary playing cards.

For tokens, I use plastic gold nuggets. You could use coins, beads or jellybeans, but make sure they?re shiny and tempting.