There's a gun taped to the bottom of your chair. You know what to do

Role Playing Games
1

So Rym put this stupid idea into my head and now I can’t let it go.

Original thread: LARP discussions - Front Row Crew Forum

So my particular take is as follows:

Table with 2 sides and ends, like a long table.

Make up “character sheets” which will just be beliefs. Possibly titles. Place in envelopes along the sides of the table and at one end.

Set the players in a conflict where no side is “right” and have this either be a negotiation or a fight which ever the players decide.

Sitting at the end of the table is the guy who’s envelope simply says “There is a gun taped to the bottom of your chair, you know what to do”. Also there’d be a gun taped to the bottom of his chair.

That’s about it for the stuff that I have down. The fuzzier stuff I’m thinking is that this is a meeting between say an occupying force and some organized rebels. The leader of the rebels is in attendance (expected because if he’s killed it’ll just rally more support to his cause) but the leader of the occupying force has joined to everyone’s surprise.

The reason for the occupation could be something along the lines of look your country is right next door to this other country that we’re at war with for really legit reasons… like, say they are actively involved in a genocide and we’re intervening.

The locals understandably just want to be left alone and there is the rub.

So as to the people at the table. I mentioned the leaders of both factions the rebels and the occupiers are right across from each other next to the head of the table. Their beliefs will include extreme confidence in their follower’s capabilities, (the rebels are confident they can repel the occupiers and the occupiers are sure they can stay until the war is over). Next to each of the commanders would be a subordinate who’s significantly less confident in their abilities and more confident in the oppositions’.

Also worked into their beliefs would be some info about the individual with the gun, Known to everyone but that person, they were the one who broker’d the meeting. They did this through their publishing of their essays that analyze the conflict and that both sides enjoyed so much that when they said theyd attend a meeting if both sides attended both sides did and so here we are.

I’m also thinking some kind of time constraints, alert the players (maybe in their envelopes) that there’s a hard stop in x minutes where unless something happens something bad happens for both sides. Also further if someone gets shot it’s now something like if leader A gets shot, x happens, if leader B gets shot y happens and if either of their subordinates gets shot z happens.

That’s what I have right now. Criticism is welcome.

Also I need a way to actually put this into words that I put in envelopes. Also maybe some proper nouns to fill in my placeholders.

2

Sounds like a good start for an RPG based around early 19th century duels.

3

How do you figure? What would the sides be?

4

Could be just about anything, I was just noticing a similar structure. Commerce and honor were the two most common causes of duels. Perhaps a man believes he was frauded and is disputing the merchant. A local politician insulted in the paper duels the columnist. Maybe a husband dueling the man his wife was cheating with. Most duels were concluded by the duelists’ seconds negotiating a reconciliation between the parties without guns being fired. I think having the seconds negotiate without input of the duelists would be a good mechanic, as would having a mechanic for firing into the air as a method of conclusion. Jackson would most often throw away his shot if the duelist appeared for the duel, believing that his opponent proved he was honorable because he was brave enough to show up.

5

Well I like the idea, but sadly it doesn’t scratch my “there’s a gun under your chair. you know what to do” itch.

6

Probably because I misread your OP. I thought the two people with the envelopes had guns taped to the bottom of their chairs, not a third party.

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7

It could be a good game a la Cash n Guns. Have a person with a known goal (outing a spy/rebel) and people have to RP it. Once someone figures it out, the person with the gun taped under their chair pulls it on the suspected person. Kinda like a one-iteration Werewolf.

8

Ay Yo ERIKA! @open_sketchbook

9

Has anyone played 2 Rooms and a Boom? Its a sort of large group, scaling social game where people get a variety of roles with different objectives a la Werewolf, but I found the limited rounds and the types of objectives really different in execution and a lot of fun.

2 main factions, team blue wants to protect the president at all costs (hide his identity and make sure he ends up in the room without the bomb), team red has a bomb it wants to set off in the same room as the president. There are spys and bodyguards and some players have very specific side missions like an assassin trying to take out a target and neither cares about the bomb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMy2EDfkTa8

10

Yes, I know what to do.

Find and shoot the person sticking things to my fucking furniture.

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