Hi all,
So, I said I was taking a break on the relationship games, but somehow I've got a host of games in active development and Under my Skin has moved to the top of the pack. I'm actively working on the final version of Sign in Stranger (http://fairgame-rpgs.com/ecb/SiSPlaytest3.pdf), and will be posting soon at the Imagination Sweat Shop (http://imaginationsweatshop.com/) about a recent playstorming (http://www.fairgame-rpgs.com/comment.php?entry=153) session of SiS, but since my trip to Finland for Ropecon (http://www.ropecon.fi/index_en.html) last year and subsequent conversion to Jeepform (http://jeepen.org/dict/), Under my Skin has been on my mind. A live version. As if that game could get scarier.
Under my Skin (http://www.fairgame-rpgs.com/ecb/UmSplaytest2.pdf) is the third installment of my trio of games Three Quick Games about the Human Heart (3QH for short). Breaking the Ice (http://www.blackgreengames.com/bti.html) has two characters falling in love, Shooting the Moon (http://www.blackgreengames.com/stm.html) is about three locked in a competitive love triangle and Under My Skin makes the next logical escalation: many people in relationship falling in love for one another, testing and perhaps breaking the bonds of fidelity and loyalty that their current relationships are founded upon.
At Dreamation this year, I ran a playtest of the live or jeepform version of the game. One of the players wrote up his experiences of the session on livejournal here (http://thegreyeminence.livejournal.com/57547.html). Many thanks, Kevin! He quotes my description of the game: "A game about passion, fidelity, and definitions of love. Exploring monogamy and polyamory." And it delivered. Acting out the characters seemed to bring an even deeper experience of the emotions, something I've been finding to be true in playing jeep and other live form games. There is a tabletop version (http://www.fairgame-rpgs.com/comment.php?entry=136) of the game I'm working on too, and the differences in the mechanics and rules given the exact same story structure are baffling and fascinating to me. I'm really looking forward to completing each version.
On Saturday morning, I'll run the jeep version of Under my Skin at the larp con Intercon (http://www.interactiveliterature.org/H/Static.php?page=ShamelessPlugs) in Chelmsford, MA. This event is put together by the good folks of New England Interactive Literature (http://www.interactiveliterature.org/NEIL/history.html) who from what I understand, present inventive and experimental larping events. This will be my first time at a larp con, and I bring great curiousity about how things are done. There will be a larp theory session on Saturday afternoon. I'll have my pencils sharpened.
There is a bit of a movement to start doing more jeeplike and hybrid live and tabletop games such as Seth Ben Ezra's A Flower for Mara (http://greatwolf.blogpeoria.com/category/games/roleplaying-games/flowers-for-mara-development-and-playtest/) and the movement of the Upgrade into improv and gaming circles (http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=5716). I'm glad to add Under my Skin to this generation of games, and can't wait to see what else develops.
Best,
Em
Also, I'll be at Forge Midwest (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=25563.0)! I've got to figure out how to sign up to run Under my Skin, and I can't wait to run it for all y'all folks.
Seth--I hope to see you there. Perhaps we can have a live game-a-thon?
Quote from: Emily Care on February 29, 2008, 10:22:47 AM
Also, I'll be at Forge Midwest (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=25563.0)! I've got to figure out how to sign up to run Under my Skin, and I can't wait to run it for all y'all folks.
Seth--I hope to see you there. Perhaps we can have a live game-a-thon?
I'm planning on being there. (I had best get those reservations nailed down then.)
And I'll be sure to bring the necessary equipment for
A Flower for Mara.
I'll be at FMW, too, and would love to bang heads together about jeep and jeep-like, and other blendings of LARP and tabletop games.
James
Woo hoo! Live head banging!
Excellent, Seth. I can't wait to play Mara.I posted about the latest playtest at Fairgame (http://www.fairgame-rpgs.com/comment.php?entry=160#1).
Soon!
best,
Em