On Vox: TRAITOR!: Another day, another crispy half-baked LARP/Mystery Game idea...
After putting some time into refining some other games, I was bumbling around the Forge, hitting some links, looking at some other ideas, and I came up with what I think could be quite a fun one-session, indoor-friendly LARP situation, somewhat akin to the "murder mystery dinner".
The scene is a war planning room: everyone in the room are high-ranking officers, deep into planning an advance in a fictional land war. However, not all of you are fighting on the same side, and nobody knows who the double-agents are! You have to save or disrupt the war effort, all while surreptitiously "bumping off" the enemy.
The details:
Every person is given (or creates) a character description. Each person also rolls a given die and notes the number. Then, the die is rolled again, and all persons with that number are to play traitors.
The players may wish to be sure that there is a traitor in their midst, and that the game is not all for naught. If so, create 2 slips of paper for each person-- one which says "TRAITOR", and one which says "LOYAL" (written by the same person so as not to give away the game by handwriting). Each person puts their slip into a hat, and discards the other. A designee draws slips, and when they reach the first "TRAITOR" (or differing slip, if you wish to assure a mixed game), stop drawing and begin the game. If all slips are drawn, and everyone is on the same side, try again.
The purpose of the traitors is to lead the troops into an ambush situation. No one except the traitors should know of the ambush. To be sure of this, place a closed folder with a map of the battlefield in a seperate room. Each player should enter the room while a referee counts down from 20. If the player is a traitor, they may open the folder and mark the map with the details of the ambush. If the player is not a traitor, they should not open the map folder. Every player should stay in the room for a full countdown. Traitor players may have access later in the game to show the map to others, although they will be quite readily found out and likely lose the game if they show a loyalist!
Every character is armed with a sidearm, plus whatever seems reasonable (poisons, garrottes, knives, etc.). Conflict should be settled by common resolution systems, keeping in mind checks for silence, success, and fatality. In other words, resolution system is TBA, although the old LARP standby of Paper/rock/scissors would probably work.
Optional rule: To keep everyone playing, a more informal game may institute an "underling" rule. If an player-character is killed, a lower-ranking officer in their employ may move up to take their position, played-- curiously enough-- by the same player. The new character should have the same loyalty, but a different name and back-story.
Ultimate success is determined once a war plan is reached, as to whether or not the troops overcame the ambush. Furthermore, tally up the number of traitors versus loyalists found out/jailed/killed.
Originally posted on fleb.vox.com