The Dark Forest Design Document
In Greg Bear’s The Forge of God, a scientist discovers that Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has disappeared. And that’s the first sign that an alien civilisation has arrived in the solar system. That idea has stayed with me, long after the other details from the novel have disappeared.
But what if that really happened? What if a distant moon in our solar system disappeared? Or Pluto? Or the rings of Saturn changed? What would be our response? And when it became clear that aliens were in the distant reaches of our solar system, what would we do?
That idea, along with my love of first-contact SF stories, inspired this series of freeforms.
General concept
The universe is a dangerous place. Alien civilisations are predators or prey—and poor humanity is completely unaware.
There are already aliens on Earth, hiding from predatory races.
These aliens are steering us in the directions they wish us to take. Are they allies or enemies?
The freeform larp
The story will take place over a series of episodes, each its own freeform. Characters may appear in different episodes, but most characters will be unique to each freeform.
Decisions made in each episode will carry forward to future episodes—although not always in predictable ways. (I will admit that I haven’t worked out exactly how that’s going to happen.)
Constraints
Gender: All characters will be gender neutral. I will refer to them by surnames only, with rare exceptions. Players will choose their first names.
Numbers: Each freeform will have the same number of characters. Currently, I am aiming for 13 players.
Continuity: Some characters will continue between episodes.
Stand-alone: Each episode is stand-alone and can be played without having played previous episodes.
Repetition: I would like to run this game (or series of games—a campaign?) more than once. I’m not sure how that will work, given that actions in one game will affect later games.
Online/offline: While I would like to play this face-to-face, it needs to be playable online as that’s where I will run it first.
Caveats
This is an experiment. It may fail - I hope not, but that's a possibility.
Progress
So far, episodes #1 and #2 are complete and just need finishing. However, I haven’t decided how the impacts between the games will carry through yet.
Episodes
The Roswell Incident (1948)
All Flesh is Grass (1965)
Children of the Stars (1983)
Messages from Callisto (1990)
Inspiration
Inspiration has come from many places, including:
Books
The Forge of God by Greg Bear
Rendevous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke
Project Thunder Child by Nick Pope
Project Lightning Strike by Nick Pope
Footfall by Niven and Pournelle
Three to Conquer by Eric Frank Russell
Contact by Carl Sagan
All Flesh is Grass by Clifford D Simak
They Walked Like Men by Clifford D Simak
The Visitors by Clifford D Simak
Way Station by Clifford D Simak
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone
Movies
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978)
2001: A Space Odessy (1968)
2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
Cocoon (1985)
Invaders from Mars (1986)
The Abyss (1989)
Independence Day (1996)
Contact (1997)
Arrival (2016)
Cosmos (2019)
Moonfall (2022)
Television
Quatermass (1953-1979)
Dr Who (1963-)
The X-Files (1993-2018)
Torchwood: Children of Earth (2006)
First Contact: An Alien Encounter (2022)
For all Mankind (2019-present)
Comics
Skizz by Alan Moore and Jim Baikie