CONTACT
Themes vary from impending apocalypse, to hopeful first contact, to unavoidable tragedy, based mostly on which songs the group chooses. Most prompts are celestially spooky and aim to determine why the aliens have contacted the group, and what they want from the world.
In the final act, the players respond to the alien communication. By the end of the game, the players are left with a story and a playlist to listen to anytime, now with new meaning.
WHO IS CONTACT FOR?
Contact is for people who love listening to music with friends and building playlists. It's for anyone who has ever become enamoured with a song, listening to it every day for months and trying to get all their friends to listen, too.
Contact is also for people who become lost in the grandiosity of the universe, and wonder what lies beyond our reach. It's for anyone who loves to imagine what first contact with extraterrestrials might look like
Finally, Contact is for gamers of any level. The rules are simple and straightforward, no one needs to read them in advance. With a relatively short 1-2 hour playtime, Contact is the perfect warm up or wind-down to a long game night.
HOW DO I PLAY?
The game starts with playlist creation.
Using Major Arcana, your group will pull cards that prompt you to add songs to a communal playlist.
Perhaps you draw The Fool, and are prompted to put in a "fast song." You add your favourite punk song to the playlist.
Perhaps you draw The Hermit, and are prompted to put in a "song without lyrics." You add Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War to the playlist. Buckle up.
Once your playlist is complete, draw Minor Arcana to prompt questions about the characters and the Messengers. Shuffle your playlist, and use its songs to inspire your answers to these questions.
In "Act 1 - Pentacles", perhaps you draw the 5 of Pentacles, and are presented with the following prompt:
What was a significant loss experienced by the group? How does this event still affect you?
The playlist is shuffled, and the first song that comes up is bury a friend by Billie Eilish. Everyone at the table chuckles because, well, it's on the nose. But, you've now got the makings of who your characters are, and you continue pulling prompts to discover just how much the Messengers know about you.
Do this over four acts (one for each Minor Arcana suit). Prompts reveal information about your characters, who the Messengers are, what the Messengers want, and finally, why you're being contacted.
And then, you respond.
In the final act of the game, your group will choose between sending songs back to the Messengers, or writing one yourself.
2 - 6 players
1 - 2 hours of playtime
Requires a tarot deck, a way to compile a playlist, and something to play music from
A5 saddle-stitched zine, 24 color pages.
*PDF will be emailed once the physical item ships.