Games of IAP 2025
The schedule of games being run in IAP 2025 under the auspices of the MIT Assassins' Guild is as follows.
Make sure that you are on the Assassins' Guild Mailing List to receive the application forms for these games.
[1/24 to 2/2] Masks[edit]
GMs: Kendra Beckler, Alex Dehnert, James Hobin, Talya Klinger, Andrew Menard, mikka, Terrin, and Tamasin Wohlers
Coming this IAP Jan 24-Feb 2, Masks is an exciting and lightweight ten day game of superheroes and supervillains! It is being run under the auspices of the MIT Assassin's Guild by a GM team of Kendra Beckler, Alex Dehnert, James Hobin, Talya Klinger, Andrew Menard, mikka, Terrin, and Tamasin Wohlers, with additional runtime support TBD.
Supers — people with abilities most only dream of — have risen to public prominence since the end of the Vietnam War, and there seem to be more every year. Some become Heroes, some become Villains, and if there are others, not much is known about them. There are tales of a few who likely had superhuman abilities going thousands of years back in human history, Sun Wukong and Hercules and Rama and Joan of Arc and others, though their abilities have surely been embellished by later storytellers. Today, Superheroes are commonplace enough that every major city has an official Defender of the City, whether an individual or a team, and Supervillains are commonplace enough for the Defenders to have their hands full. The rise of the Supers has caused a massive political shift, the old ideological battlegrounds abandoned in favor of arguing about the legal status of Supers. With the next major election just around the corner, every electoral vote counts, especially the three new ones.
“Uncle Sam needs YOU to settle Liberty Island, the soon-to-be 51st state! The 2025 Homestead Act guarantees ample land grants for all pioneers moving to the island. You can do your civic duty helping establish the physical and civil infrastructure of the island. Candidate superheroes to be the Defender of Dream City are especially desired.”
An island is newly risen out of the ocean southwest of California. It was first discovered on the ocean floor by an underwater expedition three weeks ago. Then it began to rise. Congress quickly passed a number of acts regarding this strange new island. It is being declared a state and hastily settled to solidify the US claim to the land. Some are touting this new island as the future homeland of the supers, a place to live in peace with their own kind instead of being drafted by the military to use their powers as weapons. Others believe this strange island conceals valuable secrets, historical and technological.
“Greetings, humans of Earth. Due to your achievements in spaceflight, your species qualifies for entry into the Federation of Peers, the coalition of all spacefaring races in the universe. We invite you to send a delegation to the L5 stable point in your moon’s orbit to meet with your Galactic Governors and representatives from the Federation to discuss the rights and responsibilities of Peer races as well as particulars about Earth necessary to process membership in the Federation. We look forward to welcoming you in as a new Peer race."
Two weeks ago, before Liberty Island had even finished rising, the announcement came, broadcast on every radio frequency and cycling through the 284 most common human languages (covering 97% of the population of Earth). The broadcast continued for five days and nights.
Unfortunately, due to recent attacks on spaceports by the ecoterrorist Supervillain Captain Gaia, and the current reign of terror of the sinister Supervillain Apocalyptica on the major cities of the world, the new island is the most likely location for organizing the delegation and for the launch, as enough Supers and companies and billionaires will be there to build a new spaceport very quickly. If this isn’t a hoax, for anyone going, the last viable launch window is ten days from now, on Liberty Island.
Major nations are anxious to be represented at the L5 talks. Corporations see new market opportunities; politicians see new electoral opportunities. Heroes, villains, homesteaders, politicians, builders, researchers, students, CEOs, and more have flocked to Liberty Island to mold the island to suit their own vision.
