Games of Summer 2024

The schedule of games being run in Summer 2024 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.

[7/27 Weekend] Moonrise

GMs: Silk Yu, Jack Lewis, Claire McLellan-Cassivi, Michelle Yan

Wizards once co-existed with non-wizards, though forced into unwelcome secrecy. At the dawn of the SPQR--the formidable non-magical Republic--frustrated wizenkind staged a rebellion: the First Riot. Their reward? Genocide. It took generations for the wizen diaspora to build themselves a new haven, the city of Roma Magica, forever hidden from immagical eyes.

Four centuries later, Magical Rome--or simply Rome, as wizards prefer--had found new strength, and once again sought to bring justice to their former oppressors. The Second Riot took the immagical SPQR little by little, with guerilla strikes from an enemy they were unable to find--until the long-planned revenge was itself disrupted by civil war in Rome.

At the city's founding, its leaders had sworn to align with the Light and abolish the timeless evil of Dark magic. Those who fell to its temptations were killed, death being their only salvation from corruption. No one saw Renegea coming; another hidden city built by refugees, this time Dark wizards escaping Rome. Waiting until Rome was invested in its great Riot, Renegea's army of Dark paladines, led by the current Dark Lord, brought destruction upon the supposed haven that had rejected them. The war between Rome's Light and Renegea's Dark raged for three years---until three days ago, when Renegea altered the battlefield by doing the last thing anyone expected: breaking the magical concealment over Rome, revealing it to their ancient enemy.

Now Rome is in panic, desperate to settle magical grievances and restore its concealment before the SPQR can bring its non-magical strength to bear. Eight Light wizards and four Dark wizards gather today in the Roman Senate House to find common ground through... civil debate? Unprecedented.

How long will your patience last?

Moonrise is a high-mechanic, high-lore 6-hour LARP of uncivil debate, world exploration, intrigue, puzzles, conspiracy, and possible bloodshed, written by Silk Yu and Livia Zhang and running for Guild Con (weekend of 7/27). Welcome to wizard Rome! Content Warnings: period-typical classism, sexism & homophobia; war; trauma; loss of loved ones; amnesia

[7/27 Weekend] An Aquarium Auction

GM: Nine Morch

Tonight, in an aquarium: a cocktail party of the rich and influential. You work for a clandestine global organization whose job is to keep the following secret: paranormal artifacts are real, dangerous, and expensive. Everyone on the guestlist, you included, has secrets to keep. The question is: what? Tonight, on auction: a painting, a statue, and a bottle of wine. Billionaire Rowena O'Sullivan, celebrity in the paranormal community, dies after years of silence. Her only heir is selling her priceless artifacts, in an auction open only to the powers of the underground. The question is: why? Tonight, at stake: a sprawling economy, a tenuous peace, and a fragile masquerade. Representatives of the world's largest powers will gather, for the first time in decades. You get the uneasy feeling that something big's going to happen. The question is: when?

An Aquarium Auction is a two-room, two-hour, nine-player game about espionage, allegiance, and value, set in a modern-day magical realist world. Players will bid, negotiate, sneak, lie, eavesdrop, steal, and spy to achieve their goals. This game was originally written by CJ Quines, and is being rerun this Guild Con weekend (7/26-7/28) by myself.

[7/27 Weekend] Murder at Elm Hall

GM: Tamasin Wohlers

You and five others have been invited to spend the weekend at Elm Hall by the wealthy Lord Black, a famous socialite renowned for his parties. You were delighted to be invited – but now he seems to be dead!

To make matters worse, a storm has cut off all communication with the outside world – you are on your own, with the killer among you. With no help from the outside world, it is up to you to be judge, jury, and executioner of one of your own peers.

Intended as a fairly simple game, this is a rules-light murder mystery with less focus on the actual investigation, and more on the connections between the characters and the drama of the situation. Players expecting a significant amount of deep plot will likely be disappointed, but there will be lots of juicy gossip. Game will run for about ninety minutes.

[7/27 Weekend] Into the Abyss

GM: Izzy Rose

Authorship Credit: Elisabeth Cohen, Kiara Vincent, Michael VonKorff, Sarah Judd

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster...

Il-Khabna was a mighty empire that controlled much of the known world, until recently when it was conquered by neighboring totalitarian Postidor. For some, little has changed. For others, everything has. A resistance cell is desperately struggling to bring back Il-Khabna's former glory.

Roruun was the originator of all things; the Earth, the sky, the monstrous Great Beasts, and the gods. Then the gods slew Roruun and cost out the Great Beasts. These ancient monsters seek, too, to regain what was lost to them so long ago.

Will the humans of Il-Khabna and the Great Beasts of the ancient world find enough common ground to save each other and themselves? Have they lost themselves already?

...When you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you - Frederick Nietzche

Into the Abyss is a 2-hour sort-of-speed-dating-style game for 5-12 players about people becoming Monsters in desperation. Around half of the players will be playing traditional monsters embodying one principle whose purpose has been lost. The other half will be playing human beings who have done monstrous things and are desperately joining with Monsters in order to survive and to achieve their goals.

[8/17 Weekend] Masks: Nightmare in New York

GMs: Kendra Beckler, Andrew Menard, Tamasin Wohlers

BREAKING NEWS BULLETIN! HSC ALERT! BREAKING NEWS BULLETIN! HSC ALERT!

The NYC League of Defenders is warning residents to shelter in place tonight in light of multiple simultaneous superpowered showdowns. Two have already officially been designated Hazardous Superpowered Conflict.

First, a series of localized earth tremors have shut down the subway in all of Manhattan. The exact situation is unknown, but a few civilians have claimed to see the calling card for the Evil League of Evil, hence the current designation as HSC. Authorities are promising to resolve this unknown situation in time for the morning commute.

Meanwhile, on the East Side, another HSC is bringing quite the lightshow to the skies! Supervillain Nightmare Sun claims to have begun the solar apocalypse she has long promised, but Official Defender of the City King Zeus is shooting bolts of lightning at the extra suns! Stay inside, but enjoy the lightshow throughout the night.

The NYC League of Defenders standard disclaimer: citizens are reminded that while it may be exciting to see superheroes in action, it is dangerous to approach a HSC. Citizens are advised to use extreme caution and to seek shelter when near a HSC. Remember - be an everyday hero! Keep yourself and others out of danger by sheltering in place during a HSC!