With Grandpa at the head

Every country has its laws, every family has its rules. Ours are few and simple: Grandpa sits at the head and we keep fights out of the dining room. Of course we all love each other, but being stuck in the same room all day is a whole other thing… Will we manage to keep it together till the end of the night, so we can just forget about our dearest relatives until the next family gathering? Or will someone end up spilling their guts and ruining the evening?

With Grandpa at the head, oblivious to his family’s clash of personalities and awkward pauses in conversation, the dining room is a no man’s land. Only his voice, delivered through an audio track, can warm up the tense atmosphere. 
Who knows? In between anecdotes, there may be a chance for the gathered relatives to finally say what they really think. At the risk of jump-starting an avalanche of in-fighting and confessions. But they ought to be careful not to hurt Grandpa’s feelings, or this might be their last dinner as a family. 

Authors:Mirco Gaviano, Chiara Locatelli & Marco Tamburrino
Roles:7 to 12. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

The game is directed through an audio track. Different elements and secrets may emerge from game to game. 

Leitmotiv:Extended family, Italian-style comedy, fond memories and bad blood, irony, hypocrisy, secrets. 
Handouts:Voice of experience
Voice of dismay
Placecards
Family tree
Rules of good manners

Mutiny on the Asp

The wind is high, the sailors’ blood is up, and the Captain has set a course… Away from the biggest prize the Asp will ever have the chance to plunder! The Captain is certain that the Spanish treasure galleon will be too well guarded for the Asp to survive and many agree with the experienced sailor’s judgement, but no one signs onto a pirate vessel to shy away from bloody risk. Or the promise of tremendous riches. What was once a united crew now finds itself on the brink of mutiny.

In Mutiny on the Asp, players come together to tell the story of a pirate crew. By stepping on an imaginary stage in small groups, they’ll chart their relationships through a series of Prologue scenes and see the success or failure of their last adventure in the Epilogue scenes. In between, fate will turn them into mutineers or loyalists. When the time comes to choose between the biggest prize they’ve ever seen or living to plunder another day, who will prevail? The Captain’s authority, the pirate’s free spirits, or the sudden blast of gunfire?

Author:Joanna Piancastelli
Roles:6 to 14. No gender suggestions. Additional sailors can join the game in a minor role.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:Medium.
Prologue and Epilogue scenes have two variants each. Mutineer and Loyalist roles are randomly assigned. The final outcome is a mix of collective votes and random card draws.
Leitmotiv:Piracy, backstabbing, relationships and division, risk and reward.
Handouts:Signal flags and stage cues
Mutiny cards
Name tags
Character sheet: Captain Evers
Character sheet: Quartermaster Persad
Character sheet: First Mate Reyes
Character sheet: Weapons Master Creek
Character sheet: Sailing Master Shih
Character sheet: Surgeon Balkey
Character sheet: Shanty Caller Jack
Character sheet: Bosun Morgan
Character sheet: Cook Holst
Character sheet: Cannon Master Demir
Character sheet: Carpenter Rubio
Character sheet: Helm Wynn
Character sheet: Rigger Lunis
Character sheet: Vanguard Gambi
Character sheet: Able Sailor

Public offering

Welcome to Gatekeeper Cloud Services! We are so excited to have you join our team of innovators and technology voyagers! We are definitely not an apocalyptic cult disguised as a disruptive internet startup, and our leadership team are most assuredly not invested in inducting our new hires into our secret rites of worship. We’re almost ready to announce our quarterly roadmap and nobody is plotting to invoke the Great Outer God Yog-Sothoth in order to secure our next round of funding!

In Public Offering, players will take the roles of employees of an internet startup circa 2008. The founders are cultist who must bring enough people on board to perform a ritual summoning of Yog-Sothoth (he is the Gate, the Key and Guardian of the Gate, IA!) to grant them the arcane knowledge and power to dominate the industry. Will they succeed, risking their lives and sanity to get their next round of funding? Will this affect their 410k?

Author:Marc Majcher
Roles:9 to 13. 7 male, 4 female, 2 non-binary.
Time:4 hours.
Replayability:Medium.
Some characters have secrets that may be interesting to keep unknown. Multiple endings.
Leitmotiv:Tech startup, Chtulhu Mythos, secret roles, comedy, horror.
Handouts:Business Cards
Character sheet: Gregory Perkins
Character sheet: William Rice
Character sheet: Adela Sorazos
Character sheet: Ernest Frye
Character sheet: Seneca Billings
Character sheet: Noah Lapham
Character sheet: Josef Silva
Character sheet: Alice Warren
Character sheet: Surajit Chandra
Character sheet: Fern Czanek
Character sheet: Francis Morgan
Character sheet: Curtis Ricci
Character sheet: Charlotte Germain

Building a XORS

The long awaited moment. First contact. Radio signals blindly reaching out across the stars have finally reached their long awaited destination. Sentient life. Or at least, sentient life with adequate enough technology and inadequate instinct toward self-preservation to reach back out and grasp our outstretched hands. The barrier to communication is still very high, but we are making progress. We’ve learned enough to know they’re on their way.

Building a XORS is a game that mixes third encounters of the third kind with that profound and deeply human pastime: furniture assembly. Our first extraterrestrial visitors are on their way, but preparations must be made. Something called a XORS. They sent pieces, but their method of providing instruction is… Unorthodox. Through a series of visions, players will attempt to produce a XORS, learn more about each other, and interpret the aliens’ true intentions.

Authors:Kathryn Hymes & Hakan Seyalioğlu
Roles:4 to 8. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:Medium.
There’s a high degree of interpretation for characters and instructions. Fixed sequence in every game.
Leitmotiv:Building furniture, aliens, surreal, uncertainty, blanket forts.
Handouts:Tasker briefing
Visions
Character sheets

Capybara Day

Does every day look the same to you? Is your routine starting to feel like a cage? And what if you were truly, actually, literally trapped in an endless loop – what would you be willing to do to break free? The solution might be closer than you think. Sometimes, all you need to do is think outside of the box and maybe follow a capybara.

The Protagonist of Capybara Day will face a parade of perfectly identical days. Meanwhile, the rest of the players will breathe life into the Environment where the Protagonist moves, all with a good helping of altruism. All in the words of improv theatre guru Keith Johnstone: «Make your partner look good!».

Author:Simone Bonetti
Roles:3 to 7. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:High.
All roles are generated by players. The structure lends itself to all kinds of settings. Let’s go wild!
Leitmotiv:Pressure, routine, surreal humour, lateral thinking, altruism in play, escalating time limits.
Handouts:Time factor
Order of the day
Protagonist sheet
Supporting character sheets
Who framed Andy Allison?

Martingale

It’s the oldest game in the world: Beasts race on the track and more beasts bet on them. When you lose, you double down; hold on enough and you’ll break even, maybe even turn your luck around. It’s a foolproof system, almost mathematical. Almost is a great word, though: You can’t be almost a winner. Nor can you be almost alive, for that matter. At what point does chance stop being a game?

In a Martingale, everything is decided by combinations. Not just the course of events, but the character sheets as well. No role stays the same from one game to the next and the flip of a coin can be enough to change everything. The result goes beyond heads or tails: What makes a difference is always a clash of wills, systems and superstitions. Every damn race ends right at the photo-finish.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:3 male.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:High.
The combinations are designed to make characters different from game to game. The results of the race are not predetermined and depend on character intervention.
Leitmotiv:Chance and risk, gambling, crime, self-fulfilment, horse-racing, twists of fate.
Handouts:Handicaps
Stakes
Careers
Race commentary

Q.B.

Here’s the recipe for today’s game: Two characters who haven’t seen each other in a long time, garnished with an unlikely chemistry; One failure to ward off, with a good helping of assorted setbacks; One or more pieces of honest advice, to taste. All these ingredients, well-amalgamated and baked for a little over an hour, will yield a light story that makes for a wonderful afternoon break. In fact, the secret ingredient is cookies.

Q.B. is a live action roleplaying game that mixes dialogue, narration, and cooking. No need for experience in the kitchen, nor with this kind of game. All that matters is being willing to have a chat while you bake a batch of cookies. Probatum est.

Authors:Maria Guarneri
Roles:2. No gender suggestions.
Time:1 hour.
Replayability:High.
The characters’ relationship is defined by the players. Some main narrative elements are written by players as well, while others are randomly drawn.
Leitmotiv:Amalgam, kitchen, cookies, personal relationships, failure, secrets.
Handouts:Recipe for Q.
Recipe for B.
Method
Materials & Ingredients
Fortune cookies

The quiet game

Close your eyes. We’re going back to childhood, before words, before the complexities of adult relationships. Back to pure feelings, meeting and clashing. As we give and receive emotions we’ll learn to know each other, through fights and games and moments of loneliness. Up until we look into each other’s eyes and realise we’re all grown up. 
But there is a price to pay. There always is.

The quiet game is a fully silent scenario, where every interaction between the characters is conveyed through movement and touch. A group of nameless, voiceless children goes through a daily life made of rituals, games and gestures, all the while searching for their lost identities. Through the looking glass of this strange childhood, players get the chance to engage with their base emotions, to know themselves, to see themselves in each other’s eyes.

Author:Costanza Chelidonio, Matteo Davolio, Maria Guarneri, Simone Paci & Samuele Vitale
Roles:12 to 24. No gender suggestions.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

Characters are not predetermined. The game experience is focused and very unusual.

Leitmotiv:Childhood, growth, loss, emotion, colours.
Handouts:Return to childhood
Game phases
All the colours of emotion
Endings

The littlest village

he Village has always existed, and its pillars are the Three Laws. Space is scarce, so it must be shared. Unity is strength, so two must live as one. The Taboo is our shield, so it must be respected. They have never been challenged. Not until now.
Nothing lasts forever, not even the Three Laws, not even our Village. Now the Taboo lies broken, our harmony shattered, and all we can do is cling to the only thing that’s left in spite of everything: the bonds that we share.

The littlest village puts space front and centre: the physical space of a town square, and the intimate space of the villagers’ relationships. We will navigate a colourful  tangle of threads, strung up for us to stretch and strain and sever. As we alternate days of strife with nights of reflection, will our Village torn apart by Discord find its way to a new balance?

Author:Antonio Amato, Margherita Di Cicco, Chiara Locatelli, Lapo Luchini & Alessio Rossi
Roles:12. No gender suggestions.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

The character sheets and community structure are predefined, but developed through open questions for players.

Leitmotiv:Community, social norms, progress and tradition, relationships, space, threads.
Handouts:Couple sheet of the Azures
Couple sheet of the Indigos
Couple sheet of the Goldens
Couple sheet of the Saffrons
Couple sheet of the Vermilions
Couple sheet of the Crimsons
Genesis of the Taboo
Village Annals

4 – 3

The city gathers around the stadium, split in two by today’s derby. In the locker room, eleven players prepare for so much more than just another game. On the other side of the wall, their eternal rivals. 
A ritual, a sacred space for the length of the match, only extinguished by the referee’s final blow on the whistle. And in between, a few sublime instants and many shades of grotesque. In a word, football. 

4 – 3 is all about team-play and the match is a ritual of gestures and motion. But the outcome is determined by what goes on in the locker room. As the athletes prepare to face yet another epic challenge, their stories and decisions interweave like a web of passes. Will they end up scoring a goal?

Author:Oscar Biffi & Alessandro Giovannucci
Roles:7 to 11. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:High.

The outcomes of the match are multiple and not easily predicted. Characters are defined by a random combination of cards.

Leitmotiv:Football, derby, rivalry, locker room, sublime and grotesque, epic challenges, romanticism of sports.
Handouts:Cards
Pre-match warmup
Flow of the match
Commentator’s table

Pantheon Club

The world has changed. The Gods no longer live on Mount Olympus: They walk among us. Lost in the scent of nectar and ambrosia, they were blind to catastrophe. The sun has set forever. Zeus has banished Apollo from the most exclusive of clubs, the Pantheon.
The God of the Sun was beautiful, powerful, successful. He was the best of them. What was so wrong about him? And who is going to be next?

Pantheon Club looks at peer pressure through the lens of myth. What drives someone to take an important part of their identity and drown it in silence? To never dare tell anyone else about it? Apollo’s fall from grace is a pretext for players to put their own silences in play, safely hidden behind Godlike façades.

Author:Maria Guarneri, Lorenzo Mannella & Nicola Urbinati
Roles:5 to 10. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

Players’ personal input is crucial to the scenario. The resulting game experience is focused and specific to the group.

Leitmotiv:Peer pressure, friendship, silence, marginalisation, diversity, prejudice.
Handouts:Character sheets of Aphrodite and Ares
Character sheets of Artemis and Athena
Character sheets of Dionysus and Hades
Character sheets of Hephaestus and Hera
Character sheets of Hermes and Poseidon
Descent into the Underworld
Prophecy of Apollo and Judgement of Zeus
Audio track

White noise

«This is Oscar. Sorry to disappoint the war that killed you guys, but I finally woke up from the coma. Over.»
«Affirmative. A landmine took my hearing and landed me in this wheelchair. I’m not giving up, though. You deserve more than a war memorial. Respond. Over.»
«Repeat. Not all at once. Don’t lose your nerve, soldiers. Don’t lose yourselves. Speak one at a time. Over.»
«Roger. Your family, our friends, they’ll get to say goodbye. Your radio operator will take care of it. I was never discharged, you know. Over and out».

White noise features an asymmetrical experience, with the Fallen on one side, their Relatives on the other, and the
Veteran acting as a go-between. This surreal exchange of transmissions with the Afterlife is made urgent by the need to leave war behind, to find the courage to start over or finally rest in peace. The only code that can deal with the dead is one made of memories, of the experiences that bound us together in life.

Author:Tito Baldi, Oscar Biffi, Costanza Chelidonio, Daniele Di Rubbo & Simone Paci
Roles:9. 5 male, 4 unspecified.
Time:4 hours.
Replayability:High.

The game experience greatly varies between the Fallen, their Relatives and the Veteran. Randomly assigned memories and character relationships add to the variety. 

Leitmotiv:War, family, life beyond death, grief, memory, the importance of names, séance.
Handouts:Child’s character sheet
Sibling’s character sheet
Parent’s character sheet
Spouse’s character sheet
Veteran’s character sheet
Fallen character sheets
Phonetic alphabet
Wavelength cards
Relative Frequencies
Extended family
Placecards
Fallen Frequencies
Signals

Time out

Dear future me. Why am I writing this? Because I’m curious, as all kids are. Am I still like that? Curious, I mean. Or, will you be like that? I mean present you. Which I guess is still me. You know what I mean. There are so many things I want to ask you, though there’s one I know already: The band will always be together.

Dear past me. Why am I writing this? As a kid you think adults have all the answers, as a teenager you think they don’t know a single thing. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between. There are so many things I’d like you to know, though there’s one I’d rather you never learned: Nothing lasts forever.

In Time out, four players live as a band of teenagers over the best summer of their youth, while the remaining four step into the shoes of that same group of friends in the crucial moments of their adult lives. The two players of every character meet between scenes, sharing wishes and memories, each time asking a single question: How much does the past influence the future… And vice versa?

Author:Michela Bernini, Oscar Biffi, Adriano Bompani,
Gigi D’Amore, Ale Romanzin & Nicola Urbinati
Roles:8. No gender suggestions.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

The two character groups have different game experiences. Each player must contribute creatively. Scenes begin with predetermined prompts.

Leitmotiv:Nostalgia, time, youth, friendship, wishes and memories.
Handouts:Letter from Past A_____
Letter from Past B_____
Letter from Past C_____
Letter from Past D_____
Letter from Future A_____
Letter from Future B_____
Letter from Future C_____
Letter from Future D_____
Past Diaries
Future Diaries

The Offering

O Gods and Goddesses, if you know mercy then turn your eyes upon our suffering and show us the sin that sullies our hands. You who watch over the people of the long hill, show us the Offering that pleases you and let us renew our pact in blood. Our blood for the blood of our enemies, your peace for our victory in war. 
Show us the Offering.

The Offering is brought before the gods in a time after Troy and before Rome, but far away from great cities and immortal heroes. A dark age, as murky in our minds as the events of the fateful midsummer’s night that brought ruin upon the people of the long hill. 
The seven characters who sit in the Circle will piece together those moments under the watchful eye of the gods, to divine their sacred will and offer them a rightful sacrifice.

Author:Daniele Di Rubbo, Lorenzo Mannella, Federico Misirocchi & Veronica Pellegrini 
Roles: 7. 1 female, 3 male, 3 unspecified.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

The fateful midsummer’s night is defined by some specific events. Players choose how to piece them together and what they mean.

Leitmotiv:Bronze Age, human sacrifice, sense of divine, bread, flour and blood.
Handouts:The Elder’s character sheet
The Youth’s character sheet
The Virgin’s character sheet
The Herder’s character sheet
The Crafter’s character sheet
The Tiller’s character sheet
The Seer’s character sheet
Rite of the Circle
Entrails

Today, tomorrow, never

The flat line of the walls around us. A border. 
The tall line of the bars between us. A border.
The straight line of the back I won’t bend. A border.
The broken line of the gaze you avert. A border.
Borders to count, to cross, to escape.
Today, tomorrow, never.

Today, tomorrow, never is a cycle of phases and rituals, just like the prison life it seeks to recreate. Standing between the characters are more than obvious physical barriers, and these subtle, impalpable borders will prove no easier to cross. The only thing we have plenty of is time to try.

Author:Oscar Biffi & Maria Guarneri
Roles:3 to 6. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:High.

Roles are defined by random card combinations. The scenario consists of ritualised phases, but the result is always open-ended.

Leitmotiv:Prison, punishment, guilt, passage of time, complicity, bonds, friendship, lust for freedom
Handouts:Drummer’s Mugshot Sign
Fiend’s Mugshot Sign
Kite’s Mugshot Sign
J-Cat’s Mugshot Sign
Monkeymouth’s Mugshot Sign
Shank’s Mugshot Sign
Solitary confinement
Personal effects
Alienated Report
Convert Report
Innocent Report
Institutionalised Report
Mobster Report
Repentant Report

The Duel

Your Excellency, on the day of our last meeting You offended me, with neither cause nor right to act in such guise. For this must I conclude that Your Excellency despises me, and therefore wishes to cast me from the number of the living. I can and I shall satisfy Your wish. 
I hereby invite Your Excellency and Your second to join me and mine in such a place, where You would not be held guilty of offending the laws of the Serenissima by slaying me, and I would be accorded the same grace should God assist me in killing You.

Before the guns go off, The duel unfolds over ten steps. In between them are the crucial moments that brought the duellists, their seconds and the judge to this fateful encounter. Five flashbacks play out in reverse, a journey that starts with the throwing of the gauntlet and ends with the close kinship that once bound the protagonists.
This backstory is woven on the spur of the moment, without a script, like an old play from Commedia dell’Arte.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles: 5. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability: High.

The duel follows strict rules, but players invent the matter of honour to be settled.

Leitmotiv:Honour, the meaning of nobility, Ancien Régime, Republic of Venice, Commedia dell’Arte.
Handouts:Cartels
Mask of the Magnifico
Mask of the Servitore
Mask of the Giudice
Mask of the Capitano
Mask of the Innamorato

Fire and lead

Rome, 1973. La dolce vita gives way to years of lead as violent crime puts the Capital to fire and sword. In a police station, another round of the old dance begins: cigarette butts and a glaring lamp; fists on the table and a tied tongue. 
How many interrogations have the perps suffered before? How many more has the detective conducted? But this time, things are different. The stakes are much higher. And time is running out.

The story of Fire and lead unfolds over two separate rooms. In one, a barrage of fast-paced interrogations. In the other, all that’s left of a criminal gang waiting to be questioned one-on-one by the detective. 
The two spaces are isolated, with no way to tell what’s being said on the other side of the wall. And in the background, the breaking news get more worrying by the minute. 

Author:Elio Amicarelli, Marco Andreetto, Margherita Di Cicco, Simone Micucci, Alessio Rossi & Lorenzo Trenti
Roles:4 male.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:Low.

Clues are predetermined and there is only one solution to the case, making the detective unreplayable. Other roles can be replayed.

Leitmotiv:Years of Lead, Rome, police questioning, organised crime, political terrorism, violence, lack of trust, prisoner’s dilemma.
Handouts:Flashbacks
Robbery report
Statement
Recollections and Plans of the gang
Incoming calls
Outgoing calls
Angelo Abbatino’s character sheet
Bruno Bernacchia’s character sheet
Claudio Colafigli’s character sheet
Danilo Danesi’s character sheet
Telex
Newscast – Video track

Naked stone

The Children of Man possess a dark wit indeed. Stone upon stone, we have seen them build a house in which to lose themselves. They call it Labyrinth. In its heart hides the promise of their ruin, the promise of our victory.
Everything within the house is repeated countless times, but the three of us seem to exist only once. We hold the torch in the dark. The flame crackles and trembles.

In Naked stone, three players take on the role of Prodigies, at once more and less than Men. As they make their way through dark halls without ever leaving a single room, they are called to strip themselves of what made them who they are.
Who among them will shine light on the heart of the Labyrinth?

Author:Chiara Locatelli, Oscar Biffi & Dario Praselj
Roles:3. No gender suggestions.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:Medium.

The Labyrinth offers many twists and turns; characters are a random combination of elements. Gradual revelations are a crucial part of the experience.

Leitmotiv:Labyrinth, metamorphosis, fantasy, constriction, liberation, meaning of humanity.
Handouts:Amulet Talismans
Bracer Talismans
Chain Talismans
Broken Talismans
Entrance and Hall
Forwards Direction
Left Direction
Right Direction

Alzh & Imer

Light of my eyes, I wish you never looked at me like that again. Like I was an actor playing the same part over and over. I wish I could remember who you are and why I feel like I love you, but the truth is I’ve forgotten my own name.

My love, I wish you never looked at me like that again. Like you’ve never seen me before. I wish I could help you remember, and that’s what I do day after day, but I fear I’ll only want to remember you the way you were after you’ve left me forever.

In Alzh & Imer, players portray an elderly couple struggling with a chronic, degenerative, invalidating disorder. Alzheimer’s disease affects not only the person it touches, but their loved ones as well: The partner will take care of the patient and engage in a daily struggle against the disease, guilty of taking their beloved away.

Author:Antonio Amato
Roles:2. No gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:High.

There are no character sheets. Scenes are guided by a series of questions that can change from game to game. The game experience is focused and not at all light.

Leitmotiv:Alzheimer’s disease, illness, memory, lost stories, love.
Handouts:Leaflet
Photographs
Medicine package

A quiet place in hell

«The bad news? You have all recently died and are now sentenced to eternal damnation. The good news? You have been permitted to enter Hell’s real estate market and purchase yourself suitable housing for at least a little reprieve from all the torment. The problem? Not all quiet places are created equal».

A quiet place in Hell presents players with an experience of pure American freeform, as they step into the shoes of a group of Recently deceased souls, looking for a place to stay in the Afterlife. Players will collaborate in drawing their own questionably idyllic homes together, and then tour them with one of Hell’s laconic realtors: One might imagine what could go wrong from there.
A dark comedy about the horrors of the real estate market and human pettiness.

Author:Evan Torner.
Roles:

3 to 9. No gender suggestions.

Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

High.
Real estate offerings are determined collectively. A simple character creation system allows for variation between games. Hidden information is scarce.

Leitmotiv:Comedy, linear story, everyday life, surrealism, metaphysics.
Handouts:Hell’s Realtor character sheet
The Unloved character sheet
The Sighing one character sheet
The Possessor character sheet
The Angry drunk character sheet
The Soul of the party character sheet
The Sociopath character sheet
The Rising star character sheet
The Mistaken character sheet
Draw your ideal home worksheets

Infinite minutes

Something has reduced the ability of solar rays to penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, and the planet is facing its own slow death. International project Tardigrade III has developed spacefaring vessels capable of travelling at the speed of light, reaching the Sun in less than 8 minutes and storing enough energy to power the world for a few decades.
But the return trip won’t be as quick: The ship will take fourteen years to get back to Earth. How will the crew of the Infinite handle their few waking moments from cryogenic sleep, just a handful of hours before each new gravitational slingshot?

Infinite minutes is about the clash of two opposing forces: personal affections and responsibility towards the human race. The aim of the game is to explore the soul of each crew member in search of their breaking point, through a series of messages created by the players to weave the illusion of distance from home, both in time and in space. What will the Astronauts be willing to lose to succeed in their mission? How will their feelings influence them?

Author:Antonio Amato.
Roles:

7 to 9.  No gender suggestions.

Time:4 hours.
Replayability:High.

 

Wide roster of roles. The game mechanics dictate the creation of characters and messages.

Leitmotiv:

Space travel, distance, technology, humanity, responsibility, affection, science fiction.

Handouts:ID cards
Personal profiles
Flight plan
Artificial Intelligence protocol
Command protocol
Flight protocol
Scientific protocol
Communication protocol
Security protocol
Evaluation protocol
Soundtrack

La belle confusione

Live-Action RolePlaying is the next big thing! And we’re the ones who run the best games! We are young and hungry. No one has ever been where we are now and it feels like the sky’s our only limit. What will our next game be about?
Well, it’s still a secret right now, so just wait for the official announcement.
Or don’t wait, just sign up!

La Belle Confusione tells the story of an (in)famous LARP collective at the height of its glory. The game begins just after another successful event and ends with the announcement of their next big thing.
The scenario will span six scenes, in which six players will struggle with problems of inspiration and frustration, friendship and rivalry, success and failure. It is a series of snapshots portraying various steps of the creative process.

Authors:Mikołaj Wicher.
Roles:6 no gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
The game can be played multiple times, with the same character or a different one. No secrets.

Leitmotiv:

Neorealism, Boheme, elite, meta reflection, documentary, LARP,
teamwork, artists, show business.

Handouts:Boss’s character sheet
Big J’s character sheet
Cobra’s character sheet
Phoenix’s character sheet
Snowflake’s character sheet
Random’s character sheet

Old friends

«Back in the Nineties we were a team. We hunted ghosts together and put a lot of souls to rest. Like any team we were a mess of individual flaws, contradictions and rivalry, but it worked. It worked until Sara died. It happened at a haunted school. And that was it. We were done. Disbanded after the criminal investigation.
The authorities led the death away as “natural causes”. We all knew better, but kept our mouths shut. What choice did we have? And now here we are: the same school, the same classroom. Renovated, painted, bright. The past has brought us back together. Together for that one last job».

In Old Friends, the investigation of a haunted school will lead the players through a series of ghostly Possessions. The game will begin with a ritual, opening the way for unfortunate souls to enter the hunters’ minds: Only after all characters have suffered through at least one Possession will they be able to perform the closing ritual.
Will our ghost hunters finally find the strength to leave their past behind? Or are they doomed to fail?

Authors:Ole Peder Giæver and Jason Morningstar
Roles:

4 to 5. No gender suggestions.

Time:3 hours.
Replayability:

High.
The characters will be defined by random cards, as will the Possession game mechanic.

Leitmotiv:

Ghosts, possession, guilt, flow of time, death, friendship, trust.

Handouts:Team role cards
Backstory cards
Problem with the living cards
Problem with the dead cards
Possession cards
Keyword cards
Warm-up cards
Principles
Mask

Listen at the Maximum Volume

Listen at the Maximum Volume was one of the greatest bands of all time. They sold millions of albums, filled up stadiums all around the world, had their picture on the cover of thousands of magazines and became wealthy beyond belief.
But all of it is gone. Fifteen years ago something happened, the band split up, and their life has never been the same again. Now, after a long time, they have finally agreed to talk about what happened and see if the time has come to give the band a second chance.

In Listen at the Maximum Volume the players will be members of a band that is meeting again for the first time fifteen years after its breakup: Their reunion will bring out repressed anger and past joys, and give rise to expectations, grudges and the opportunity to forgive and start anew.
Music will be the red thread running through the improvisation, thanks to random cards that will define each character’s role in the band and its dissolution.
Is a new beginning truly possible?

Author:Luiz Prado.
Roles:

3 to 6. No gender suggestions.

Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

High.
The roles are not defined by character sheets. The prompts given by the random cards are both numerous and diverse.

Leitmotiv:

Music, sorrow, regret, frustration, split-ups, guilt, vanity, nostalgia.

Handouts:Sheet music
Attitude Cards
Lineup Cards
Recollection Cards

Letters not about love

What to write about! My whole life is a letter to you. Writing about love is forbidden, so I’ll write about two brothers. That ought to be sufficiently remote. Bratishka and Starik, the younger and the elder, bound together and torn apart by a single, crazy train ride.
In search of her, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, while reality runs past the window, bathed in reddish light.

No character sheets, but an exchange of letters. No unity of action or place, but the five legs of a journey. No definite ending, but the whims of fate lurking behind every corner. No love story… Or is there one? It’s hard to tell, with a Russia straight out of a novel casting its melancholy shadow over it all.

Authors:Oscar Biffi & Alessandro Giovannucci
Roles:2 males.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:Medium.
Room for interpretation in the relationship between the two characters. Multiple endings, dictated by game mechanics.
Leitmotiv:Brothers, letters, love, revolution, Russian literature, turn of the century, train journey.
Handouts:Itinerary for Bratishka’s player
Letters for Bratishka
Itinerary for Starik’s player
Letters for Starik

Till the end of the line

Lu and Dom see each other every single morning. On the first ride of the day, at the first stop of the line, in the first car of the train. After a five-minute journey, Lu gets off the subway. See you tomorrow.
You could set your clock to their meetings, or bet your head on them. The world could end before they changed their routine. It is more than habit, more than tradition. It’s a constant of every possible reality, a pillar of the universe as we know it.
What in the world would happen if they ever lost sight of each other?

Till the end of the line is a scenario specifically tailored to accommodate a variable number of players. Let’s say, 2 to 30? The challenge is to all play with a single idea and only two characters, as we multiply the number of parallel dimensions in which the action unfolds. It’s the simplest, most practical solution, and it’s also eerily similar to the gaming equivalent of a speed date.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:2 to 30, no gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

High.
Two kinds of roles with different instructions and fifteen variants each, low incidence of secrets, highly diverse experience between games with few players and games with many.

Leitmotiv:Surreal humour, escape from reality, parallel universes, existential crisis, the value of friendship
Handouts:Lu’s character sheet
Dom’s character sheet
Lu’s Alter Ego sheets
Dom’s Alter Ego sheets
Lu’s team leader instructions
Dom’s team leader instructions
Audio track
Numbered tags

The Theatre of Major Arcana

On a stage that seems to have shut the world out, under the guidance of an absent yet obnoxious Director, a motley acting troupe is ready to audition. Mask over mask, scene after scene, by playing someone different they may come to know themselves, and maybe even find a purpose.

In The Theatre of Major Arcana, acting is a means to experience emotion, and emotion is a vessel for self-discovery. The players will wear one mask on top of the other, letting the timeless symbology  of tarots guide them as they impersonate  an actor, only free to be themselves in the scraps of time between a role and the next.
When the character is on stage, what is left of the actor?

Authors:Yuka Sato & Valerio Amadei
Roles:9 to 12, no gender suggestions.
Time:4 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
The characters are actors and their role in each scene is defined by a random card draw, but the scenes’ outlines themselves are fixed.

Leitmotiv:The game of theatre, tarots, masks on top of masks, universal values, self-discovery.
Handouts:Major Arcana Deck
Minor Arcana, Swords Deck
Minor Arcana, Pentacles Deck
Minor Arcana, Wands Deck
Direction notes
Actor Rules
Audio track

Sturm und Drang

Christ, what the hell is going on? Have you ever seen this kind of shit?
Rain, thunder, ice, flames… Fuck, all that’s missing is frogs! It’s like the sky is falling. Being outside is suicide, what with this damn wall of water crumpling you up and pushing you around. Trying to drive is even worse: The hail is just gonna wreck everything and leave you caged in your car. I need a place to save my hide.
66 Stop Groceries? Okay, the third 6 some lunatic sprayed on the sign doesn’t help, but I have no choice. This damn night came straight out of the Devil’s asshole.

In Sturm und Drang, the players are called to flesh out and weave together the murky stories of characters at a crossroads in their lives. In the heart of the storm of the century, they’ll shine light on pieces of their past that may push them towards a new beginning, a turning point, or simply to their end, in a postmodern  tragedy meant for players looking for thrills and ready to get their hands dirty.

Author:Andrea Rinaldi
Roles:11 or 9, 7 male and 4 (or 2) female.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
Character relationships can develop differently in every iteration.
The investigation is less replicable.

Leitmotiv:Postmodern, crisis, tragedy, squalor, violence, death, rape, perversion, drug abuse, mental illness, suicide, racism, burglary, disease, blood, anger, vengeance.
Handouts:Kennet Hicks’ character sheet
Konstantin Bartosz’s character sheet
Trice Hetad’s character sheet
Robert Garland’s character sheet
Lilian Thurman’s character sheet
Ellison Harlan’s character sheet
Gary Ghronel’s character sheet
Heather Smith’s character sheet
Dante Sparrow’s character sheet
Frank Cunningham’s character sheet
Mark Einnod’s character sheet
Note on the three acts
Notes on Shining light

Something about us

Florence, 2016. The apartment block in Via dell’Olmo 27 is, like any respectable apartment block, a land of relationships, quarrels and disputes. Behind every door lies a world the other residents know nothing about, and within each set of walls prisoners coexist, victims of their inability to communicate: couples growing ever more distant, men and women locked in a quest for solace.
From the outside, a young manager observes the ups and downs of this particular  corner of humanity and wonders: Is there a way to truly understand each other, or are we all inevitably doomed to solitude?

In Something about us, players will step into the shoes of the occupants of Via dell’Olmo 27 and attend two meetings of the residents’ council, bearing the weight of their secrets, their frustrations, and all the things they never got to say– perhaps to someone important.
Maybe between one meeting and the next the daily grind will finally allow them some time to talk eye to eye with that person, if only for a brief moment. There’s no telling what may come to the surface and what will be left unsaid.

Authors:Barbara Fini & Rafu
Roles:10, 5 male and 5 female.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
Information on the other roles is incomplete by necessity.
The middle section is managed with an auction, and the results are never the same.

Leitmotiv:

Italy, love, activism, loneliness, drug abuse, adultery, infertility, illness, maternity, suicidal thoughts, homosexuality, poverty, emigration,  incommunicability.

Handouts:Luciano Avellini’s character sheet
Alice Gabbrieli’s character sheet
Vincenzo Salemi’s character sheet
Camilla Lanzi’s character sheet
Gioele Zacchei’s character sheet
Rosa Mistretta’s character sheet
Giada Fadda’s character sheet
Ria Santos’ character sheet
Dario Ristori’s character sheet
Attilio Daddioli’s character sheet
Quotes
Meeting notices
Map of the building
Names for the auction

The Age of Men

Since time immemorial, the people of the Vale have been fighting a desperate battle against Dragons. A conflict that would have already been lost centuries ago, were it not for the Regents. Thanks to their gifts, a spark of hope has finally ignited in the hearts of men: The shadows of Dragons no longer darken the skies.
But celebrations were cut short, for not long after the victory the Regent of  Zamar and the Oracle of the Monastery were found dead, perhaps assassinated. And now, amidst the turmoil, a summons comes…

The Age of Men puts forward a mystery to unravel, not to come to the right conclusion, but to guide the characters through hard decision after hard decision. The protagonists will need to uncover the truth about themselves by looking at their own reflection in the eyes of others. Will they be able to trust each other? What will they sacrifice for the greater good? Will they be the heroes humanity needs?
The answer is in their choices, set to a pressing, epic rhythm, like in the best fantasy novels.

Author:Lorenzo Martinelli
Roles:9, 7 male and 2 female.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
Uncovering the characters’ secrets is a vital part of the game. There are multiple possible endings and different roles face different themes.

Leitmotiv:Dragons, fantasy, spells, conflict between good and evil, power and responsibility, the value of family, the meaning of love.
Handouts:Allen’s character sheet
Solomon’s character sheet
Drystan’s character sheet
Faramond’s character sheet
Ninon’s character sheet
Wilhelm’s character sheet
Renier’s character sheet
Lylie’s character sheet
Giraut’s character sheet
Finale diagram

Wanderers above the Sea of Fog

Three con artists. A fake painting. An almost perfect plan.
The Three signatures are more than a criminal gang– they’re a family. But what should have been their last great masterpiece is about to become their swan song. What choice will they make when they find themselves cornered? Money and the chance to finally start a new life, or a friendship that might just turn into a prison?

In Wanderers above the Sea of Fog each character is portrayed by two players- one for their real identity, one for their part in the fraud; one for their bonds and feelings, one for their lust for money; one for their Brains and one for their Brawn. Even the Gull has a hidden side, however, and ripping them off will prove to be a difficult task.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:7-8, no gender suggestions.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
The game experience differs greatly between Brains and Brawn, the story is open-ended and plot twists are entirely up to the players.

Leitmotiv:Con artists versus real artists, friendship versus ambition, crime versus integrity, style versus power.
Handouts:Chaucer / Austen’s character sheet
Marlowe / Woolf’s character sheet

Byron / Shelley’s character sheet

Moriarty’s character sheet
Name tags

Winds of change

It’s common knowledge that there are as many wars as there are fairy tales, and it’s easy to think there is nothing left to learn about them. Wars between peoples, between friends, between brothers – these tales have been told time and time again. But if one bears a bookmark in the great tome of human folly, it should be the war between Polabians and Vendevians. A nation torn asunder, like black and white, from one day to the next.
Its witnesses are seven youths, seven friends, seven partners in misfortune. What does it mean to grow up together, when the winds of change blow everything apart?

Winds of change is not set in a real country, nor does it focus on the horrors of historical wars. Instead, it tries to tell the tale of seven lives made surreal by a world that seems to have lost its mind.
The characters are revealed through letters and journal pages, mute testimonies, fragments of existence waiting to be re-assembled. Four scenes, each set seven years apart from its neighbours, will beat out the merciless flow of time.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:7, 6 male and 1 female.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

Low.
Although the game is completely open-ended, the four scenes map out the main points of its story.

Leitmotiv:War and oppression, fairytales and reality, friendship and diversity, social pressure and the burden of choice.
Handouts:Veles’ memoirs
Jarilo’s memoirs

Ziva’s memoirs

Svetovit’s memoirs

Kresnik’s memoirs

Tawals’ memoirs

Borevit’s memoirs

Billboards

Under the Mountain

The King is dead and five knights pay homage to His pyre. Around them whisper the voices of the People under the Mountain– an ancient enemy, shrouded in dark-ness, the hand behind the downfall of the Kingdom. Yet the King’s body bears no marks made by fang or claw: It was a blade that struck him down.
Did one of the knights truly commit the ultimate betrayal? Or will their loyalty shine bright, a beacon of hope in the darkness under the Mountain?

Under the Mountain strives to recreate an epic, chivalric feeling without the use of spells, monsters or great battles. A chamber heroic fantasy, where grief twists the tales of a glorious past to give form to the King’s memory: Even though no single player will portray Him alone, His character is far from absent.
The whispers of the People under the Mountain, eager to pit the Knights against each other, pose an unforeseen threat to their devotion to the code of chivalry.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:6, no gender suggestions.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

Medium.
Playing the People under the Mountain makes for a unique experience. Memories of the past are created from pre-written prompts. Secrets are of moderate importance.

Leitmotiv:Heroic fantasy, chivalry, the five stages of grief, conflicting memories, collectively shaping a character, paranoia.
Handouts:The Squire’s character sheet
The Last Knight’s character sheet
The Stable Master’s character sheet
The Champion’s character sheet
The First Knight’s character sheet
The People under the Mountain’s character sheet
The King’s Mask

Castaways

And so it was that War came to the Island they called home. It made them castaways, threw them to the mercy of the winds and the biplanes from the Mainland, as the soaring terrors tear through every spell known to the Archipelago. Before them lies the infinite expanse of the Sea, with no hope in sight.
But the waves carry messages in bottles, precious fragments of a past that may yet return meaning to the future.

With five bottles to build an imaginary boat, the players of Castaways are called to weave the prompts given by their character sheets and their own free interpretation
into improvised scenes to gift each other.
Each participant will see their role grow, change, even turn on its head, all thanks to the creativity of the group:  This absolute narrative freedom will bring to the surface both the true wishes of the characters, and the destination they will ultimately set sail for.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:5, 3 male and 2 female.
Time:3 hours.
Replayability:

High.
The creative tools available to the players make each iteration of the game unique.

Leitmotiv:War, the value of memories, the meaning of identity, the appetite for imagination, individuality and responsibility, collective narration.
Handouts:Alosa’s character sheet
Notacanto’s character sheet

Smeriglio’s character sheet

Lanzardo’s character sheet

Remora’s character sheet

Bottle labels

Tell-Tale Hearts

This night feels endless, paced as it is by the hammering beat of restless hearts. The old patient of a psychiatric clinic has been killed and the head physician privately turns to a detective to find out whether the murderer is to be found within its walls.
But the investigation is in danger of opening an unexpected window to darker depths – what lies there may well be more painful than the blood trail itself.

In Tell-Tale Hearts, the mystery of the Old Man’s death is nothing but a means to explore the twisted inner world of the characters. What will happen when others strike at us with harrowing revelations about ourselves? Will we end up believing ourselves murderers, or will we still point our finger to someone else?
The game mechanics aim to trigger a spiral of crushing paranoia, as an homage to Edgar Allan Poe.

Author:Oscar Biffi
Roles:4 male.
Time:2 hours.
Replayability:

Low.
Revealing new and unsettling information is the core of the game.

Leitmotiv:Secrets, paranoia, who’s the real madman?, identification vs. investigation, Edgar Allan Poe.
Materiali:Wilson’s character sheet
William’s character sheet

Ernest’s character sheet

Auguste’s character sheet

First they came

Berlin, 1942. In a chilling climate of suspicion, at the height of the Third Reich’s delirium of power, blood and steel, the SS comb the streets looking for the last undesirables of the regime, those who managed to survive wave after wave of deportations and summary executions. Cowering inside a building in the squalid outskirts of the city, three people listen as shrill whistles dissect the air of the coldest winter in human history, spurring the bloodhounds in their search. They know they must hide, lest this be their end.

In First they came, players will step into the shoes of three opponents of the Third Reich to feel the pain and paranoia carved into the hearts of the German people by the persecutions of the regime. By reliving the characters’ trials, they will have a chance to understand how they came to their predicament.
What mistakes and atrocities did they condone to save their own lives? Were they part of the problem, as well?

Authors:Andrea & Alessandro Giovannucci
Roles:3, no gender suggestions.
Time:1 hour.
Replayability:

Medium.
The three character sheets are made up of multiple-choice questions. The audio track that will span the length of the game also comes in two versions.

Leitmotiv:Guilt, egoism, melancholy, indifference, resistance and complicity in the Nazi regime
Handouts:Anna / Aaron’s character sheet
Bathilde / Berthold’s character sheet
Christina / Camill’s character sheet
Apartment inventory
Audio track 01
Audio track 02

The last sunset

In a room like countless others, a couple is called to face their buried past and its far-reaching shadow, following them to the last, crucial sunset. A man, a woman, a pointed gun and distant memories fill the last rays of light as the day comes to its end.

Regret, success, failure, desire: It’s all about choices.
In The last sunset those made by the players will define the present situation, as well as the relationship developed by the characters over the years. Envelope after envelope, choice after choice, they will decide which of eight letters will dictate the couple’s fate. What could its contents reveal?

Author:Francesco Rugerfred Sedda
Roles:2, 1 male and 1 female.
Time:1 hour.
Replayability:

Medium.
Multiple endings. The experience greatly varies between roles: the female character, Lynx, is fully replayable, while the male character, Falcon, is not.

Leitmotiv:Regret, remorse, melancholy, life as a couple, pulp, deep web.
Handouts:Falcon’s character sheet
Lynx’s character sheet
Possible ending letters

CANOVACCI

This is our collection, made by all italian authors who decided to share their games on Laiv.it. Right now you are viewing all of our scenarios, in reverse order of uploading in the database. If you want to filter results by Author, number of Players, or Availability of the game to be downloaded, just click the red gear icon on the top.

WARNING: IF YOU READ A GAME, YOU RISK TO SPOIL THE PLOT TWISTS!
You can’t organize a game without reading the scenario, but if you read too much you can’t join as a player. Often secrets are very important to character sheets. Don’t forget it, before download one of ours Canovacci.

… We will translate some italian game as soon as possibile…