Dark Forest Design Document - my design philosophy.

In June 1947, Idaho pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a string of nine shiny unidentified flying objects flying past Mount Rainier at speeds of 1,200 miles an hour. One week later, something crashed near Roswell, New Mexico (population 25,000). An experimental aircraft? A weather balloon? A secret military project? Or something else?

Two days later and Roswell has visitors. It is noon, July 3, 1947.

The Roswell Incident is a 2-2.5 hour freeform larp for 13 players by Steve Hatherley.

August 1965.

Yesterday, the residents of Millville in Grant County, Wisconsin (pop. 164) woke to discover a mysterious barrier around their village. Through trial and error, they found that the barrier allows no life to pass through it—only inanimate objects. Today, at lunchtime, Senator Wilson and representatives of the federal government meet with the mayor of Millville in a large tent erected across the barrier.

All Flesh is Grass is a 2-2.5 hour freeform larp for 13 players by Steve Hatherley.

It is 1983. The space shuttle has been flying for two years. Michael Jackson’s Thriller tops the US album charts. W and Z particles discovered at CERN. The last-ever episode of M*A*S*H is screened. The CD player is released. Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Pluto. Return of the Jedi completes the Star Wars trilogy. Over a million people demonstrate against nuclear weapons at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament march in London, England. A baboon embryo is successfully ‘conceived’ in a laboratory dish in San Antonio, Texas. ARPANET is moves to TCP/IP. The Soviet shuttle Soyuz T-10 explodes on launch. The first version of Microsoft Word is released.

And in December, the 1983 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Science Conference is held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Children of the Stars is a 2-3 hour freeform larp for 13 players by Steve Hatherley.

It is 1990.

Classified images from Voyager showed a regular, pyramid-shaped structure on the surface of Callisto. The structure looked too regular to be natural, and in 1983 the US government decided to send a follow-up mission, Arcadia, to Callisto to learn more.

Now, the first signals from Arcadia have arrived, and the International Alien Response Task Force (IARTF) is meeting in London to discuss Callisto along with several other issues that have all come to a head at once.

Message from Callisto: The first pictures from Arcadia have now been received and clearly show some kind of technology. A decision as to the next stage needs to be made.

The Intrusion Web: The deep space surveillance system has identified an anomalous sighting.

Cuculus presentation: The Cuculus have requested to speak to the IARTF.

Budgeting: The next round of science budgets need finalising. McDonald to lead this discussion.

Messages from Callisto is a 2-3 hour freeform larp for 13 players by Steve Hatherley.