HouseBreaker

Prep
for 2 players who don't live together
a watch or mobile timepiece for each player
the player's houses

it is insinuated that the houses will have land-line telephones.
the poem will last for 13 minutes, tracked independently by the 2 players.

Prelude
read the following prose before playing. Don't refer to it during the poem, just take what you remember and go with that.
The two players are out of their houses, ideally together, somewhere. They enjoy themselves (again, ideally) and before parting ways to return home they decide on three things- 1) what time to begin play, 2) what time to make a phone call, ideally 7-9 minutes after play begins, and 3) which of them will be the caller.
Then the players synchronize their watches and go home.


The Poem
Play will begin when you are outside of your home and somewhere out there your fellow player is outside of their home. You stand outside, a little ways off. You keep glancing at your watch. When the selected minute turns over and play begins, you transform. You become the poetic ideal of a thief, methodical, cautious, infallible; carefully wearing the perfect disguise. You look exactly like a person who lives in this building here, this building you are about to break into.

Hang around for a few more minutes, out on the street, making sure no one is watching; try to move like the person you're disguised as. When it's clear, go up to the door, take out the copies of keys that you've made and keep trying until you find the one that works.

Then walk on in.

Try to quickly get a feel for the layout of the house. So this is the living room, there, down the hall- is that the bathroom? And regard the objects with your measured gaze. All of these things, from the furniture down to the pen beside the telephone, all of it was brought here by someone, selected among others of its kind using some particular criteria. Can you fathom that criteria? And does your quarry live with others? You don't know. Are there themes among the objects which would insinuate multiple dwellers, insinuate multiple decorators?

No time to lose. Remind yourself of your goal, and begin searching. Explore, and sweep the rooms with an appraising eye. you are not here for DVDs, nor jewelery, nor laptop computers; though these things may tempt you. Seeking understanding, move from room to room. The bathroom, the kitchen. Seek to understand. If there are multiple bedchambers, quickly rule out the ones which have a discrepancy in them. Your quarry does not pretend to be other than they are, unlike yourself. Select one and go in. Look around. Time is getting on and so you must find the place in the house which most strongly represents your quarry. Go there.

Stand in the middle and look carefully, touching nothing. Someone actually lives like this. All of these objects were selected and brought here, and arranged by those hands. Why is that thing sitting there, when it so obviously belongs somewhere else? Hazard a guess. Make it up. There's no way to know for sure.

So somewhere here, maybe hidden from view but soon to be revealed is the object most like your quarry, the single thing which represents them completely and exactly. Begin your search gently, then move with more passion. You must find it!

But keep an eye on your watch! You're expecting a call, or you must make one. In either case, get to the phone early. Hang around, making sure the line won't be in use. Apologise if someone wants to use it, be firm. This is important. If you're answering, pick it up on the first ring.

Here is the script for the conversation:

Caller: Have you found it yet?

Answerer: Not yet, but i'm close. You?

Caller: The same.

Answerer: We should hurry, there's not much time.

Caller: There'll be enough.

It is important that the script is held to exactly. The thieves may stay on the line, listening to one another breathing, but no more may be said.

And then you hang up.


[continued below]

The Wealthy Literary Connoisseur Has Stepped Out Of The Room While You

and the three or four or five
others are left with the ice cubes in your drinks, melting,
the finery all around and the daunting shelf
packed with volumes old and new, packed with
every celebration and misery you've put to the page-
and the three or four or five
all looking at the shelf, at their past
glories and transgressions on the art
of lifting a pen-

you can stare at a volume on the shelf,
you can pick it and feel its weight in your hand.
you can speak its name, loud or quiet.
and speak too the name of its author, who is
standing awkward in the parlor
cursing your host for leaving you all here together.

one of your companions you know to be a genius,
and you will defend his good name and good works; and one
is a plagiarist, coldly stealing manuscripts-
can you accuse, knowing the bounty of your failures?
would you not do the same, were you bolder?

and what will come to be, should you raise your voice?
should you lift a book above your head,
should you cast it out to crash along the wooden floors
should your spittle decorate the cheek
of a fellow author?

and haven't you always wanted to say
just what you thought of this book?
and haven't you always wanted to tear
its seventh chapter out?

and when the connoisseur returns
in a quarter of an hour,
you authors stop and, shocked, behold
the literary slaughter.



[This is a role playing poem.
The poem outlines a scene to play out, with friends.
All the players (4 to 6 is optimal) portray celebrated
authors who have been invited to a gathering at the home
of a very wealthy fan. At the start of the scene, the
fan leaves the authors alone with a bookshelf containing
all the books that each of them have ever produced, which
is quite a lot. All of the players can make up book titles
and pick which in the group wrote that book, and that book
will be there on the book shelf for all to comment upon.
Each person picks one other author whom they love the work of,
and a different one whom they think is a terrible thief who
doesn't even write their own books. As the scene moves along,
it is natural for the authors to begin annoying one another.
Since the scene is fifteen minutes long, this can escalate a
fair bit.

To play the scene you'll need
a) some friends who want to play too
b) some way to tell when fifteen minutes has passed
c) some books which you don't mind getting thrown around
or perhaps even torn up a little.

At the end of the scene, the wealthy fan comes back and
is horrified by what the celebrated authors have done to
each other and their wonderful books. The authors can all
see themselves through the fan's eyes and are shocked and
stunned. The moral of the poem is: People who write books
are actually desperate monsters.]


[this rpp was made up by jackson tegu.
the form of rpp was made up by tomas h.v. mørkrid. obvious inspiration came from
reading t.s. eliot years ago and being cripplingly self-critical. the concept of
"escalation" was introduced by d. vincent baker in his excellent rpg "the dogs of
the vineyard."]

commencement of graduation

to set up the room for this role playing poem one must acquire twice as many chairs as there are participants, and set them up facing one direction with an AISLE down the center. there should be an equal number of chairs on each side of the AISLE. one or two rows would be best, but three would be ok too. the part of the room which the chairs are facing will be called the STAGE and the part behind the chairs will be called the AUDIENCE. everyone present who is not participating should arrange themselves in the AUDIENCE section and remain quiet throughout the poem. to perform this poem with more than ten participants you will have to devise some clever variations, i should think six participants would be an excellent number.



there is some music somehow, live or recorded, that begins as each participant takes a card reading the following-

Welcome and Congratulations to Your Graduation Ceremony

A. What section of your life is now coming to a close?
B. Tell us three previous sections of your life.
C. What have you learned from this section of your life?
D. Say something optimistic about the future.

as the music plays, the participants will walk in a circle, slowly and deliberately, around the entire grouping of chairs. they look at their cards and think about their responses to the prompts. as the music ends after a few minutes, all the participants make their way to the chairs on the AUDIENCE's right. each participant, starting with the participant in the chair closest to the STAGE and the AISLE stands alone on the STAGE and addresses all in attendance. perhaps they thank a few people for being there, or thank others who are only there in spirit. they can try and make a joke. they tell all those in attendance their responses to the prompts on the card, in the order they feel is most fitting. after speaking, each participant finds a seat among the chairs to the AUDIENCE's left. they can sit anywhere they please. the participants will have to be careful not to take an inappropriate amount of time with their speech.

once the last of the participants has spoken and found their new seat, all participants stand and walk to the stage together. the music will start again and participants may throw their hats in the air, bow, embrace, laugh, or otherwise express their emotions. some may choose to dance to the music. all those in the AUDIENCE should clap uproariously.

the poem ends here, but it should be noted that this is a fine transition to a dance party.

------------------
written by jackson tegu. the rpp form was created by tomas h.v. mørkrid and this piece owes thanks to tomas' rpp "one foot in the wild". changes were made late in the design thanks to chris bennett's rpp "the believers".

"HouseBreaker" is a fantastic game! Jackson Tegu: your design really impress me! Fun to read, and exciting to imagine how it will affect my perception of my own home. Great!

Here's my entry and it's before midnight in my very own timezone (Mountain)!

If someone would play it as intended (i.e. without reading ahead) I would be eternally grateful.

I think, by now, we can safely say that the competition has ended. I want to thank everyone for participating - the interest has been huge, much more than I anticipated! I'll get the jurors started, and it'll be very interesting to see what they have to say.

I've contacted Erlend and Erling - the matter is now entirely in their hands :)

Posted By: scottdunphyIs anyone interested in forming feedback/playtest groups for this ala Game Chef?

Oh definitely! I think there are some great little games here. And I would love any feedback/AP on The Believers.

Go with it!

Hmm ... how does the jury fare? Have they gone out to test the games, never to return???

The verdict will be announced pretty soon. It's just that I've spent my summer days gaming and not judging :) The Firkløver will find its way to a lucky and skillful winner in due time.

Wow. Congratulations, Jackson! And Lasse and Chris! And everyone else who participated!

I've been awaiting the judges' decision as eagerly as anyone :)

Jackson, whisper me your address and I'll send you the Firkløver!

Congratulations, guys! Well done, and well deserved.

yup. Congratiulation to the winner!
Very beautiful game. but i'm missing a second player. Anyone interested?

and the believers... i will try it as soon as possible too!

Huzzah!!! The winner is worthy of the firklöver! Huzzah!!!

And grats to the two runner ups too! And to the rest of the field; those bold designers who made this thread into something special! Thank you very much and congratulations!

OH WOW!!!!

Hey Cool!! my partner and i were just making dinner and she said "hey, whoever won that firklover, anyway? it's been a couple of weeks now." and i replied that i didn't know, and left the potatoes under her able hand. and look! the internet gives up her sweet prizes, i feel like a latter-day mariner adrift on a digital sea, hauling up my nets...

and let me say that i am very grateful for the judge's decision, and i can see that it was hard- every poem is amazing; for my part i will be putting together a round of "lost wedding ring" as soon as i can find a good spot (because it has to be perfect, i'm not going to just go over to the soccer field at the middle school) and my room mate keeps hounding me to play "child monks". and i'm stoked to play "the believers" the weekend after next, and i'm excited to go back through the list- i found a perfect little wooden thing for "orcology" like a week ago.

thanks again, and thanks times ten if anyone wants to post about their actual play.

i just feel so wonderful right now.

if you can rush the firklover, we can share it for dessert.
actually, second thought, there's a whole pack of people around so just send it nice and slow.

Haha! Cool. Did it melt in translation, or did it survive?

I'm looking forward to playtest some of these poems in the fall.

Best regards from the Norwegian Indian Summer.

(The firkløver, by the way, is not actually a lover of firks. The word means four-leaf clover).

... and there's Alan's arm in the background, he'd just finished being my just-reunited cutpurse half-brother Hazard.


what an arm.

thanks for the great shots, Chris!
much love to all my homies; the academy...
The USPS for not munching my snacks.