“The internets are not a TRUTH!”

Our Kingdom was the small, mostly irrelevant college paper at New College, the Nova. Once a bastion of conservative thought in the college press (editorial aside: how does that even happen? Especially at a liberal New England liberal arts college), a liberal and activist agenda is beginning to invade the paper. No one is reading the Nova which now faces funding issues, including possibly getting cut out of the school budget.

Characters

1) Raymond Murdock (Touchstone): Photographer with a passion for the truth, even if it means framing the president of the college with a stripper. Played by Seth.

2) Charlotte Day (Perspective): First year reporter who has a problem with confrontation. Dating a girl who’s closeted so she was publicly dating Murdock for most of the game. Played by Rachael.

3) Blain Whalin (Power): Editor-in-Chief. From a wealthy background but doesn’t want anyone to know. Played by Ben.

4) Oliver Pendersen (Perspective): Social Media editor who knows nothing about technology. Evidently webpages don’t come in boxes… Played by me.

Our first crossroads was whether the paper would go online only. This crossroads went on FOREVER, I think ten scenes total. I for one, was loving it and intentionally didn’t check the Crossroads card because I wanted it to be keep going. Blain after first being very very pro-digital paper (going so far as to trash our hardcopy archive, the horror!) swung to the opposite extreme and chose to move a turn of the century printing press with cold metal type into the office’s basement. But at least the Nova had an impact. Everyone was reading it!

Our second crossroads was whether to publish an exposé about the president of the college having an affair with a student. We did, even though the president resigned in disgrace and the country thought all the New College students were making porn in their dorm rooms. This change precipitated a crisis with the new president instituting a faculty advisor (read: censor) and the student staff fleeing. Murdock left the paper but not before dropping off his Rorschach-esque journal at the paper. Charlotte left New College behind to head to an unnamed all girls school. The time passes card was full too but the crisis destroyed our kingdom so that didn’t resolve (one day, I will see that mechanic in action).

I have not laughed this hard in a really long time. The somewhat manic shifts characters were exhibiting and some of the absurd situations we ended up in were amazing humor fodder. It’s funny, most of the fiction I read is fantasy or scifi but more and more I think there’s something really nice about real world story games.

"Why wouldn't someone read the Nova?!?" --Murdock, astounded

Oh my god, so many great bits.

"I got us a web page!"
"Is it a good one?"
(rattles box) "Yeah I think so. It's pretty heavy!"

Rachael and Seth nailed Charlotte and Murdock's fake relationship. It was an endless font of comedy gold. And the little tweak that Oliver was the dethroned editor made our relationship soooo much juicier.

I loved how even though so much that happened was hilarious (to us) it also felt basically real. I could imagine college kids doing all this stuff and thinking it made sense, while the world around them just stared in amazement (or called the police).

It’s funny, most of the fiction I read is fantasy or scifi but more and more I think there’s something really nice about real world story games.

Exactly that. Even in entirely exotic settings the things that really click (for me anyway) are the human moments.

(oh, and that's Whalin with a W)

"We gotta go digital man. We gotta stop before there aren't any trees left on campus."
"But… we don't make paper from the trees on campus!?!"
"You don't know that, man."