John Kim

• Lord Clayton Wyndham (The Dragonfly)
  The host of the party, a count of some repute now in his early fifties. He was deeply involved in the Commonwealth and hence politically marginal at present though officially pardoned. He has been a patron of the arts and sciences, specifically to those who are politically moderate enough for his taste. He is strictly neutral between royalist and dissenter, and privately despises both the past and present kings but also considers the Commonwealth to be a failure. He is not a publically religious man, but supports moderate Anglican clergy.
• Lady Melissa Wyndham (The Bee)
  The wife of Sir Clayton, a respected society woman but also a sympathizer of the Quakers. She is an industrious woman in her mid-fifties, and her diplomacy on her husband’s behalf has often saved him in the turbulent times.
• Julian Arkwright (The Fly)
  The youngest son of an upper-class Englishman, Julian is a traveller and amateur naturalist, now in his early thirties. He has visited M. Malpighi in Italy as well as J. Swammerdam in the Netherlands. He is officially Anglican, but has considerable sympathies with the Catholics.
• The Honourable Richard Bagwell (The Grasshopper)
  The youngest son in the large family of an Irish nobleman, Bagwell is now a sophisticated scientist and member of the Royal Society. He is an extremely well-educated and erudite. He is loosely based on Robert Boyle.
• Malcolm Sterk (The Ant)
  A middle-class professional naturalist employed by the Royal Society, now in his mid-forties. He is himself a skilled scientist, and often jealous of having lower status and being required to do menial tasks for the richer and higher-class members of the society. He is skillful but only moderately educated. He lives with his young orphaned niece in a London house. He is loosely based on Robert Hooke.
• Katherine Sterk (The Silkworm)
  A beautiful and eloquent young woman of around twenty, the niece of Malcolm Sterk. Partly through her uncle and partly through herself, she is generally agreed to have qualities and connections beyond her current station, and has hopes of marrying a higher-class gentleman. Loosely based on Grace Hooke, the niece of Robert Hooke, and to some degree Catherine Barton (the niece of Isaac Newton).
• Astrea Philips (The Butterfly)
  A female dramatist and satirist, scandalous of behavior. Loosely based on Aphra Behn. She has published poetry of political, scientific, and alchemical themes under the pseudonym of “Enitharmon”.
• George Ringer (The Flea)
  A middle-class painter and writer. He was a radical Leveller, and possibly a heretical Ranter, during the Commonwealth. He anonymously published political tracts during the period, but the authorship cannot be proven. He has also had more respectable writings and illustrations. Following the restoration of the king, he left the country for a time and only recently returned. He painted a watercolor of the silkworm which was associated with the current treatise.

• Politics
• Religion
• Science

Politics

The Commonwealth was a period officially lasting from 1649 to 166, but really began with the Long Parliament in 164. At that time, Charles I called Parliament to pass finance bills, since his administration was nearly bankrupt after wars. However, there were were grave disputes over Charles’ perceived misconduct in financial and religious matters. Parliament voted to largely strip the King of his powers. After a decade of civil war, eventually Charles I was tried and executed in 1649.

The Commonwealth was a hotbed of radical groups: including the Ranters, Levellers, Diggers (or True Levellers), Quakers, and Seekers.

In London, 1661 saw the last vestiges of unrest against the Monarchy. Thomas Venner, a leader of a military faction of the Fifth Monarchy Men, who had made attempts against Oliver Cromwell in 1658. The first few days of Jan. 1661, a small group of Fifth Monarchy Men, Baptists and some 4 Quakers attempted to overthrow the civil government in London. After a few days of of local fighting the rebel forces were defeated and arrested. The ring leaders were tried and sentenced to death. Many of their supporters were arrested and sent to prison.

• The Great Fire
• The Great Fire

Religion

In 1662, the Act of Uniformity required both use of the Book of Common Prayer and an oath of allegiance, whilst the so-called Quaker Act prescribed prison for anyone refusing the oath or dissuading others from taking it.

The Conventicle Act of 1663 made it penal for any person to attend a conventicle (non-Anglican meeting for religious worship at which five people apart from the household were present). The punishment for the first offence was three months imprisonment. The Five Mile Act in 1665 punished dissenting preachers with a 4 pound fine if they came within five miles of towns.

Quakers arrested at City and East London meetings were imprisoned in nearby Newgate prison or the Tower of London. Conditions were horrific. 1665 The last great plague of London. Some natural philosophers argued that God established nature by laws and so plagues were not a direct action or a sign of his wrath. Quakers would have none of this. In his A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe wrote: “…the Quakers had at this time also a burying ground set apart to their use… and the famous Solomon Eagle, who… had predicted the plague as a judgment, and ran naked through the streets, telling the people that it was come upon them to punish them for their sins, had his own wife died the
next day of the plague, and was carried, one of the first in the Quakers’ dead-cart, to their new burying ground”.

An early Quaker victim of the plague was Henry Stokes, Spittlefields baker, who died on 24.4.1665.

Science

The first half of the 16’s saw the birth of empirical science, with the time of Galileo and Sir Francis Bacon. During the Interregnum, there were many followers interested in the methods, but the chaotic political landscape kept them from publically organizing. Their meetings were sometimes referred to as the “Invisible College.”

On November 28, 16 — just after the restoration of Charles II — a set of members met and decided to start a “College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning” which led to the “The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge” (aka the Royal Society). The founding members included Robert Boyle, John Evelyn, Robert Hooke, William Petty, John Wallis, John Wilkins, Thomas Willis and Sir Christopher Wren. Wren was a Savilian Professor of astronomy at Oxford as well as an architect and scientist. He was responsible for many of the designs for the new London following the Fire. He is particularly known for his design for St Paul’s Cathedral.

Timeline

• 1661 Name first appears in print, and library presented with its first book
• 1662 Royal Charter gives permission to publish
• 1663 Second Royal Charter
• 1665 First issue of Philosophical Transactions
• Robert Hooke published his _Micrographia_
• 1666 Fire of London causes move to Arundel House
• 1668 John Locke joins Royal Society

Links

• Royal Society Home Page
• Robert Hooke (1)
• Robert Hooke (2)

Each of the following powers should be represented by a card

Lord Clayton Wyndham (The Dragonfly):

• Hover — ???
• Fly Backwards — You may take back your last sentence or action. Instruct those who are present to ignore what just happened as if it never happened.
• Toughness — Ignore the effects of insult.

Lady Melissa Wyndham (The Bee):

• Social Sting — You may invoke this to immediately do damage of 1 Social Confidence to someone you are talking to. You must give them an opportunity to avoid this by backing off, apologizing, or some similar easily fulfilled act.
• Direction Dance — You may communicate a specific message wordlessly to another player. Simply hold up the card, walk up, and whisper to the player, then return to your place and restart in-character play.
• Collectivity — draw everyone’s attention for something

Julian Arkwright (The Fly):

• On the Wall — You may force another player to briefly but truthfully say what their last conversation was about.
• Escape — Automatically leave a conflict without taking damage.

The Honourable Richard Bagwell (The Grasshopper):

• Chirp — attract attention

Malcolm Sterk (The Ant):

• Endurance — You may immediately retry any action.
• Trail — You may make and consult notes out-of-character. Effectively this allows you to freely time-out to your own advantage.

Katherine Sterk (The Silkworm):

• Consume — take social confidence from another player
• Entangle — prevent another player from leaving

Astrea Philips (The Butterfly):

• Charm —
• Poison — damage those who damage her

George Ringer (The Flea):

• Infect — …

The game is about the eight guests at Lord Clayton Wyndham’s home in London just off the Strand. It is not very large but richly furnished and well stocked with amenities. Each of the guests is an exaggerated fictional character based on historical figures of the time, and each is identified with an insect. The game will primarily be conversation, but it will be thick with subtext since discussing insects is a subtext for talking about the characters themselves.

Your character is represented by up to three things:

• A set of two or three cards representing powers based on the character’s personality and the insect which symbolizes them.
• A single sheet of paper representing a potential secret: Treason, Crime, or Affair. These are the goals of the game, and there are three distributed randomly among the players at the start of the game (along with five blanks).

Other than the cards and secret, there are no game traits distinguishing the characters, so there is no need for individual character sheets per se. All character backgrounds should be open — i.e. all players can see the complete backgrounds for all characters, though obviously not the secrets once distributed. In addition, all players should have the following:

• A name tag. This should have your character name, the symbolic insect, and Intoxication Level.
• A supply of six Social Confidence points. This is the currency of the game, and may be lost through conflicts. These may be represented by six slips of colored paper, which are torn if the point is lost.
• A set of ten chits marked 1 through 1, which can be kept in a pocket. These are used to generate a random number from 1 to 1 in contests. You draw one chit from your pocket, and your opponent draws another chit randomly from their pocket. Sum the two drawn numbers, and numbers from 11 to 2 count as 1 to 1.

Powers are represented by the cards. To use a power, you simply hold up the card itself. In-character dialogue should immediately pause while you show the power card and explain its use. Powers will always succeed when used. The effect is explained on the card, along with a listed power level (see below). After any use, an opposing player may elect to spend a Social Confidence point to attempt to eliminate the power. The player must mention this immediately after you use the power. If the drawn sum is less than the level of the power, the power is eliminated. You should put the card away onto a central discard pile.

Intoxication Level is represented by 1 to 1 dots on your nametag. Each character begins at Intoxication 1. These can be easily self-reported, as level of intoxication is largely voluntary and is a trade-off of ambiguous advantage. Being more intoxicated insulates you from adverse social effects — both by being personally less sensitive to slights, and by having the excuse of being drunk for your behavior. However, it also makes it easier to interrogate you. Ideally, the host should have a several actually alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and rate them as in-game intoxication points. A full glass of wine should typically be two intoxication points, a smaller drink or beer as one.

Secrets are represented by sheets of paper handed out folded and/or in envelopes at the start of the game. There are three secrets: Treason, Crime, and Affair. One character has the secret. One other character (the “informer”) knows the secret, and wants it revealed but without it being known that they are the one who revealed it.

Intoxication is represented by dots on the nametag. These can be easily self-reported, as level of intoxication is largely voluntary and is a trade-off of ambiguous advantage. Being more intoxicated insulates you from adverse social effects — both by being personally less sensitive to slights, and by having the excuse of being drunk for your behavior.

Actions

Besides individual powers, there are four actions which you may attempt. Except for “Accuse”, these do not have any cost.

• Detect Lie: By holding up two fingers angled towards someone, you indicate that you are trying to detect if someone’s last statement (say three sentences) was a lie. Draw chits, and if the sum is less than or equal to the target’s intoxication level, the player must report what of that statement was a lie. There is no cost for this except that you cannot attempt to detect lie on the same person for 15 minutes following an attempt (successful or not).
• Snub: By making a pushing motion with the palm facing outwards towards another player, you may indicate an attempt to snub the character. Draw chits, and if the sum is greater than or equal to the target’s intoxication level, they are forced away. The player must move out of earshot of a quiet conversation (i.e. the other side of a large room) for at least five minutes.
• Insult: By making a chopping motion with your hand, you may indicate that the current dialogue is a forceful put-down or insult to the other party. Draw chits, and if the result is greater than the target’s intoxication level, they lose 1 Social Confidence point. Only one such attempt may be made on any given target within 15 minutes.
• Accuse: By touching or almost touching another player with a pointed index finger, you may indicate that you are accusing them of a particular secret. At the same time, you should also name who you think was the informer. If you are incorrect about the secret, then you lose two Social Confidence points. If you are correct about the secret but incorrect about the informer, then you get 4 points towards victory and the informer also gets 4 points. If you are also correct about both, then you get six points and the informer gets none.

Goals

At the end of the game, there are scores totalled. You get one victory point for each point of Social Confidence you have remaining. You also get either 4 or 6 points for successful accusations.

Morpho Londinium specifically refers to London in a period of literal transformation. “Morpho” is the Latin designation for butterflies, which refers to their metamorphosis. “Londinium” is the original Latin name for the city of London. In 1699, London is being transformed in many senses. Politically, the city is settling into a newly restored monarchy which followed after almost a dozen years of kingless Commonwealth (from 1648 to 166). Religiously, the recent civil war was a storm of opposing religious beliefs which remain unresolved — ranging from the pantheistic Ranters, to Quakers, Puritans, Anglicans, and Catholics. Physically, the city has been literally devasted. The Great Plague of 1665 wiped out nearly 1, people — roughly 15% the population. The following year, the Great Fire wiped out an area of one and a half miles by half a mile, destroying 87 churches and 13,2 houses. Three years later, the city is still rebuilding itself. Intellectually, the Royal Society, which is to become a central institution of developing science, was founded in 166 immediately upon the restoration of the monarchy.

The game is about the eight guests at Lord Clayton Wyndham’s home in London just off the Strand. It is not very large but richly furnished and well stocked with amenities. He has been a patron of the arts and sciences as well as a scientist himself, and is throwing this party to celebrate the publication of Malpighi’s work. This is not a delicate Victorian tea party, but rather a meeting of opinionated and often pugnacious minds in a rowdy, tense period. There should be plenty of drinking and lively discussion. As you drink, your character has an intoxication level which goes up. This makes it more difficult to lie, but insulates you from social snubs and insults.

Each of the guests is an exaggerated fictional character based on historical figures of the time, and each is identified with an insect. Three of the characters will have secrets that they are trying to hide. These are not necessarily punishable or fatal secrets, and they might even stay within the circle after the party. However, they do have real risk. For each character with a secret, there will be one informer who wants the secret revealed but does not want to be known as the source of the secret. The game will primarily be in-character conversation. Ostensibly they are there to celebrate and discuss the Royal Society’s latest publication on entomology. However, beneath the surface they are probing each other for secrets.

In addition, there are conflicts among the characters. These may often be disguised as discussion about insects — since each character is identified with such. Comments about ants, bees, and other insects are veiled comments about the other characters at the party. In addition, each character has a set of absolute abilities based on their sphere — represented by a card. For example, the hostess is symbolized by The Bee, and has a social string power that will force anyone to back off in some way. Powers will always succeed when used, but they may be lost after being used.

A live-action role-playing game for eight players set at a celebration in a London house for the seminal work of modern entomology — M. Malpighi’s treatise on the silkworm. Discussion of the treatise and science masks the secrets and politics of the characters. Action is through themed powers of each of the characters, who are each identified with an insect, plus a set of four possible actions.

Two hosts and six guests gather to celebrate and discuss the latest treatise to be published by The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. The current is on the anatomy of the silkworm, and is destined to be the seminal work of modern entomology. The author is an Italian professor of medicine, Marcello Malpighi, the only Italian member admitted thus far to the Royal Society.

• Overview of the Game
• Game Rules
• Cast of Characters
• Powers
• Setting Notes

• Designer’s Notes