Date of Play: 2/4/14

Players: Jerome, Brenna, Tim

Flaw: Generosity

Haven: Haven (the Ivory Town), a small town perched on a giant rock spur encircled by--and towering over--a teeming, smoky metropolis. The town has access to advanced technology, but does not use it for most basic tasks (i.e. we have holographic computing consoles but hoe our own fields for planting).

Belief: Don't Mention the Outside. It is forbidden to mention anything beyond the edge of the town, for any reason. Which means, in practice, that the factories and skyscrapers stretched out as far as the eye can see in all directions DO NOT EXIST from the point of view of the townsfolk of Haven.

Practice: The Calling, a seasonal ritual to bring new citizens into Haven. A giant elevator built down through the center of the promontory brings up potential candidates for admittance. They are tested, and 4 of the most worthy are allowed entry.

Symbols of the Flaw: Scales (of the weighing variety), a Warm Breeze, Hand Holding, Whispers, Ribbon, Laughter

Symbols of Tradition: Deafness, Scholarship, Rain, Cards, the Color Blue, Harsh Winds

Minutia: (1) We look to our own. (2) We produce everything that we need. (3) We need no more than we produce. (4) Knowledge is our greatest asset. (5) The rain washes us clean. (6) Every individual has a planned role in society at birth.

The Protagonist: Ada, the Head of Education. She oversees the integration of new members of society into Haven. Her Beloved are her children: Maddie (Female, Age 15) and Stone (Male, Age 17). These are not her birth children. Since roles in society are predetermined, children are raised by individuals already fulfilling that role in society. Ada's personal symbol is Blue.

The Antagonist: Kip, the Caller. He has sole responsibility for the Calling, which makes him the only citizen of Haven to have contact with the outside world. He and Ada are coworkers, both working in the large brick Education building. Kip secretly covets Adversity, of which there is very little in this "Perfect" society. Kip's personal symbol is Hand Holding.

The Foil: Demetri, the Culler. As there is a Calling to determine what new members might be desirable and worthy in society, there must also be a Culling to weed out the undesirable, unworthy, perhaps even dangerous dross of society. Demetri is in charge of making those determinations and "removing" these elements from Haven. Demetri is neighbors with Ada. They attend the same church and their kids attend the same school. Demetri has rejected the flaw of Generosity because he once let someone stay in Haven for personal reasons, and this turned out poorly. Demetri's personal symbol is Wind.

Play: Downfall is somewhat unusual in that not only does scene framing rotate, but character authority rotates as well (half as often and in an opposing direction). Even so, our characters ended up feeling fairly consistent, which I suppose indicates we were paying attention to each other's input. Another fun aspect of this particular story was the "forbidden words" aspect of the setting we had created. Anytime someone referenced the outside in any way, they might as well have kicked a puppy. So we got to create some great lingual workarounds on the fly. "Contraband" material showed up (namely a bikini car mag, followed by a car etched into a desk) and our characters had to talk about it without actually talking about it. All of this tight-lipped conformity throughout most of the game made it even more dramatic when Kip (and eventually Ada) began to talk about things openly and freely.

In addition to our three main characters, we only ended up having two NPC's that actually showed up in the narrative: Ada's son Stone (who she ended up having a couple of good emotional scenes with) and Stone's school principal. So the story focused on the dramatic relationships between 4 characters (the principal was really only there to forward the plot). And in our final scene, everything collapsed magnificently. As Demetri attempted to remove the other two main characters from town at knife-point, Kip launched himself at Demetri and jettisoned them both off the great cliff face. With this ultimate act of Generosity, sacrificing his life for Ada, the flaw finally claimed her completely. Our last image was of Ada sitting on the edge and looking down at the sparkling city lights below, finally admitting that she sees them and finding them beautiful.

This was my first time playing Downfall. There were aspects of the game that we didn't use much, such as all of the symbology that we created during setup and the conflict resolution mechanic. While conflict resolution mechanics don't interest me personally very much, it would have been nice to use the symbology more. But even without it, we created a very satisfying story in a unique world.

Thanks to Jerome for facilitating for us, and thanks to both Brenna and Jerome for creating a new world with me! Lastly, thanks to Caroline for forming the framework for our little excursion into societal collapse.

"With this ultimate act of Generosity, sacrificing his life for Ada, the flaw finally claimed her completely. Our last image was of Ada sitting on the edge and looking down at the sparkling city lights below, finally admitting that she sees them and finding them beautiful."

I got goosebumps! Glad you had a good time! :)