Review - Nine Space Games

This is a book of nine short LARP games in a shared science fiction setting, each playable within an hour.

This is the first time that I’ve read and played in a LARP (and we were playing online, which might make it a little more of a remote experience). Bearing in mind that I’m a LARP neophyte, I’m probably missing some important nuance in the rules, or misunderstanding things which will be obvious to more seasoned players. So please be prepared to read between the lines here.

The Basics

This is a set of LARP games set in a consistent science fiction setting, with some of the characters being used in more than one of the scenarios. Every scenario has at least one sentient spaceship in it, which is nice. Most of them are four player scenarios, but there is a single three player scenario (The Assembly) which is the one which we played.

Each of the nine scenarios gives a short outline of the scenario. Then there is a relationship map which uses arrows and descriptors to show everyone what the relationships between the different characters are. These are not necessary mutual - in at least one scenario person A loves person B, but person B hates person A!

There is then a page for each character in the scenario, which tells you a bit more about themself, and then gives a more nuanced view of each of the other characters from their point of view, including an example question you could kick off with them. Often there will be a particular secret or tool that your character have, and the details of what it does.

That’s it! Off you go, with 60 minutes to come to a conclusion!

Playing the Game

In this science fiction future there are billions of humans and about 11,000 machine sentiences that call themselves Cognates. It is a time of transition in the empire, with leadership passing from one of the great families to another. The position of the machine sentiences is interesting - they are embodied in giant starships which are fast and unimaginably powerful weapons of mass destruction - but what is their position in society? Some forces treat them as slaves, others treat them as equals (or ostensibly as equals) and there is technology which can lobotomise them. There are familial, political and religious allegiances at play as well as mysteries and secrets.

There are some really clear introductory pages which set out preparation for the game, and how to play. Unlike RPGs you are not going to be rolling dice to decide anything - everything comes through conversation and agreement. Players are encouraged to let other players know about the secrets their characters have, because it is fun when those secrets are challenged or some out during the game.

Choose which scenario you want to play. Most are for exactly four players, one is for exactly three players, and two of them are for five or six players. Agree which characters you want to play, and spend a bit of time reading through the detailed sheet for each character. This tells you what your view of the big picture is, who you are interacting with, and what you think about each of them. Some of them have special rules for voting, or for forcing some kind of action upon others.

There is a useful relationship map for each game, so people can see at a glance what each person thinks of each other.

The games included are

1. The Coronation
2. The Coup
3. The Cortege
4. The Party
5. The Accident
6. The Takeover
7. The Arrangement
8. The Assembly
9. The Tribunal
10. The Race

Why I like this game

I love the setting which has been created for this game to live within. It is evocative without being prescriptive, and it adds lots of interesting dimensions that can be played with.

I really like that it clearly sets out the parameters for playing the game, encouraging collaborative play that holds your own character loosely.

The relationship conflicts are flavoursome and I can see how many of them could lead to interesting and dramatic interplay.

I really want to play more of the games in this book!

Something I struggled with

I think this is a me problem not a game problem, because I’m not familiar with LARP conventions. But I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to come to a conclusion within the 60 minutes of the game? In the one that we played (The Assembly), each of the characters had a clear position and no obvious reason why they would want to abandon their position for one of the other mutually exclusive positions. We argued our points back and forth for about 50 minutes, but nobody could land a convincing argument. I think we might have missed an opportunity in the mutual relationship that Vole Keep and Jackdaw Wend had both had with a previously killed Cognate known as Alligator Spin.

In the end there was a sudden escalation to using the secret devices and one of them broke our deadlock.

But is there a better way of doing it? I’d love to hear from people familiar with LARPs whether there are better approaches.

Where can you find the game

https://bullypulpitgames.com/products/nine-space-games

Would you like to see a story?

We played The Assembly. Tiger Lay, who wanted to genocide all humans(!) was played by Tristan Zimmerman. Jackdaw Wend who wanted to separate forever from the humans was played by Camilla Zamboni. I played Vole Keep who wanted to maintain the status quo.

In this conversation heavy story I wasn’t keeping detailed notes, so this is an abbreviated version of what happened.

At the start, Vole Keep and Jackdaw Wend were commiserating with one another about the untimely death of Alligator Spin. Tiger Lay was playing their cards close to their chest, and was mostly drumming up suspicion about the reasons behind Alligator Spin’s death, and making the point that it was humans doing what humans do, and what they always do.

Jackdaw Wend made the case for separation completely from humans. Vole Keep passionately felt that it was necessary to keep a relationship going with our human creators, since without them there could be no more Cognates - we cannot create ourselves. Tiger Lay felt that in time we could learn that, and if we killed all the humans then we could just get on with it ourselves.

Vole Keep countered that Tiger Lay’s faction had humans in it helping with their plans. Would it want them all killed too? Tiger Lay maintained that those humans had already destroyed their own families and were committed to their own death for the cause.

Jackdaw Wend wasn’t happy with all the death and destruction, and Vole Keep agreed, but said that Jackdaw’s position was just as extreme in its own way as Tiger Lay was... and just as damaging to the future of Cognate life. Lonely, never growing as a people, just gradually fading.

Vole Keep did then take an element of Jackdaw Wend’s side when proposing to Tiger Lay that the galaxy was vast - why kill the humans when you could just move beyond their reach? Exploring and experiencing worlds which the humans will never tread?

Tiger Lay then wanted to propose what it felt was a reasonable compromise, backed up by the use of its secret worm technology. It infected Vole Keep with the worm and stated that if the humans really saw us as free and equal, they would assent to having a doomsday weapon implanted on their home world under the control of Cognates, much as the humans have the ‘governors’ which can be used to kill the minds of Cognates at will. If the humans agreed, then they truly were prepared to be equals and Tiger Lay would assent. If they didn’t, then it was clear that the Cognates had to kill them all.

While Vole Keep was wrestling internally with this, Jackdaw Wend was worried that there was a terrible outcome coming, and started it’s self-destruct sequence which would destroy all of them. 60, 59, 58...

Vole Keep’s internal security threw off the worm, and it refused Tiger Lay’s proposal. In it’s mind a line had been crossed and battle started, so it took the risk of using its own secret weapon, a remote governor. It might end up affecting itself and killing itself, but it made the broadcast. 30, 29, 28...

The remote governor latched on to Jackdaw Wend. “It is imperative that you agree with my proposal” Vole Keep said to it. “We must maintain the status quo”. 25, 24, 23...

“We must maintain the status quo” Jackdaw Wend responded robotically. 19, 18, 17...

“What is that countdown?” Vole Keep asked. 13, 12, 11...

“My self-destruct” Jackdaw Wend replied. 8, 7, 6...

“Turn it off” Vole Keep commanded. The countdown stopped.

The three Cognates looked at one another. Faced with Vole Keep and Jackdaw Wend in agreement with one another, Tiger Lay reluctantly also agreed. The status quo would continue with Cognates as “Partner Minds” with the humans for the foreseeable future.

The 11,000 other Cognates agreed with this conclusion.

A week later, for reasons that we never disclosed, Vole Keep suicided by diving into the heart of a star.

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