Games of Fall 2021

The schedule of games being run in Fall 2021 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.

Patrol

First and Third Saturday of the month, 8-11:00pm, 36-115

Travel to strange new classrooms. Meet interesting, unusual people, and kill them! Patrol is a high-action game of live combat with rubber-dart guns. Shoot your friends, then watch out as they try to take their revenge.

[10/2 Weekend] A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villany

GMs: Charles Leiserson Jr, Ariel Segall, and Brian Sniffen

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

It is the end of an age. The old Galactic Republic is falling, and no one is sure what will replace it. The Jedi order, once bastions of respectability, has been criminalized, and its adherents made into fugitives. The head of the Galactic Senate has taken personal control of the military, and is beginning to solidify his power base on the many outer planets. Even now the troops are landing.

Tatooine has always been a haven for the less savory side of society. Smugglers, bounty hunters, and slavers ply their trades freely under the watchful rule of the local Hutt crime lords. In these uncertain times, the spaceport has gained an additional influx of refugees, spies, and other folks who keep their business to themselves.

It is evening in the Cantina, and a sandstorm has confined everyone inside…

[10/16 Weekend] SA-20

GMs: Tamasin Wohlers, Thomas Chappell, and CJ Quines

For over twenty years now, your world has been under attack by the aliens commonly called “the Slugs.” With humanity fighting for its survival and most of the older military personnel dead, academies were set up twenty years ago to train children from youth to be the next generation of soldiers. You are near the top of your class, and will likely have your choice of career open to you. Before you graduate, however, you must undergo the infamous “Sierra Alpha” test. What this test involves is a closely guarded secret that no one talks about at all, but it definitely involves no risk of death or serious injury.

Set in a futuristic Earth-like world, Sierra Alpha Two Zero is a four-hour game of survival, teenagers separated from grown-ups and dealing with questions of authority, relationships between people in high-stress situations, finding yourself, issues of trust, and figuring out just how easy it is to solve your problems with violence.

Players of SA-17 and SA-18 are invited to participate in this new SA-20.

[10/23 Weekend] Murder on the Starlight Express

GMs: Ken Clary, Jay Munch, Jayson Lynch

Murder on the Starlight Express is a one-night, ~6-hour assassin game. It's 1 part Star Trek, 2 parts old-school murder mystery, and 3 parts live-action Among Us. This game is has been run many times over the years, and it is notorious for all the good reasons. Come play a crewmember (or stowaway?) or such on the freighter Gabriel, where anyone could be a criminal and everyone can shoot back...

[10/30 Weekend] Upton Manner

GMs: Tamasin Wohlers

England, 1922.

At Upton Manor, home of the Earl of Moncreiff, the two branches of the family are poised to reconcile after a long and bitter feud. But when an unexpected death occurs, the mood quickly devolves from joy and merriment into suspicion and scheming, as blame is cast and everyone rushes to see how they can best turn the situation to their advantage, while still keeping up a proper facade of grief.

Upton Manor is a three hour low-plot game of intrigue, secrets, and romance, with a dash of murder thrown in. Though using the veneer of a murder mystery as a framing device, intrigue and character relationships take priority over the actual mystery, with most characters being far more interested in blaming their rivals or covering up any scandal than in actual investigation. While plot is far from absent in the game, it is largely light, the focus is largely on shtick, socializing in-character, and drinking tea.

Content warnings: Drug, gambling, and other addictions, family rivalries which may involve murder, sexism, classism, infidelity, backstory involving torture (non-graphic). Please note this is a period piece and expectations of most of the characters regarding gender norms, sexuality, and class are fairly strict.

[11/6 Weekend] Long Ago and Far Away

GMs: Steve Balzac & Aimee Yermish

Did you feel like wolves and dragons always got a bad rap? Think the princesses were too prissy? Ever wonder what to do with Djinn that’s had a bit too much gin? Wanna see those evil viscounts and stepmothers get what's coming to them? Or maybe come out on top for a change? Join us for Long Ago and Far Away, a short LARP based in a world of fractured and intersecting fairy tales, where magic is real, the animals talk, and "happily ever after" isn't guaranteed.

[11/13 Weekend] Resonant Space: Scherzo Collective

GMs: Jesse Ashcraft-Johnson, Ken Clary, Spencer Lane

01001101 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 designation 6k5, 18J7 dodecahedral, Overmind 7, initiating active defense sequence. <dodge> Preparing for dispersal. <fire> <dodge> Priority -1, <fire> <fire> <damage> <fire> 0, 1. <EOL> <rerouting> Reaching critical calculation density. Protect, dispense, assimilate. Spread survive conquer. Repel intrusion. <fire> <fire> Repel intrusion. <fire> <ogg> Destroy, assimilate. <ogg> <fire> <OGG>.

...

You are an emergency response team stationed in the Pavane system, making routine patrols to ensure safety of mining equipment, scare off poachers, and deal with other small threats. A virulent AI seed (from the Singularity Collective) has just infected a relay outpost named Scherzo Beta, quickly overtaking the station’s support systems and making a beeline for the mainframe. Left unchecked, it will send out spores, putting the nearby worlds in grave danger. This is above your pay grade, but with no time for reinforcements to arrive, you must board the station and prevent the Mother Mind from reproducing, at all costs.

...

Resonant Space: Scherzo Collective is a SIK (Society for Interactive Killing) game: a high-action, low(ish) plot, large-scale nerf-gun battle between multiple teams. Each team has a unique set of game mechanics, goals, and victory conditions. Roles are available for both new and experienced players alike. The game universe is heavily inspired by Star Wars, Aliens, Metroid, Star Trek, and various other sci-fi settings.

[11/20 Weekend] Pokémon: Champion's Dawn

GMs: Jesse Ashcraft-Johnson and Victoria Longe

The day has finally arrived for the Pokémon League World Championship tournament! The city is bustling with new arrivals: the different regional finalists and their coaches, media personalities and celebrity guests, corporate sponsors promoting their latest battling gear, scientists looking to study Pokémon’s highest-level abilities, recruiters looking for promising talent, and of course thousands of League fans and excited tourists here to enjoy the show. But amidst the crowds and celebration, darker elements lurk: criminal organizations trafficking in stolen Pokémon, dissidents looking to disrupt the festivities, and agents from different Regions’ governments and militaries maneuvering to use the games to gain power.

Pokémon: Champion’s Dawn is a one-night game of friendly competition concealing secret intrigue set in a grown-up version of the Pokémon world.

[12/4 Weekend] Power Ballad: Total Eclipse of the Eternal Flame

Original GMs: Matt "Halftime" Peairs, Kim Beder, Beth Baniszewski

Runtime GMs: Spencer Lane

The year is 1989, and tonight is the night of the big high school dance! It doesn't matter whether you're the head cheerleader or president of the math club, whether the posters on your bedroom wall are of The Bangles or The Cure, or whether your goal is to finally ask out your crush or just to avoid getting stuffed into a locker (again)--whoever you are, you just know that this is going to be your night!

Tonight, romance will blossom, bitter rivalries will resurface, and all manner of moves will be busted. Better stock up on hairspray and start practicing your moonwalk, because tonight we're gonna party like it's 1989!

Power Ballad: Total Eclipse of the Eternal Flame is a party game, set at a prom in a bygone age. Low action, high fun. Contains dance mechanics and actual music!