Catapult the rich
All right, luvvies? It's a standard start to the year, in that everything looks quiet because everything's happening behind the scenes. Here's some stuff to look forward to this year.
Coming right up
Eating the rich is so 2021. This year, let's catapult the rich into space
Merely Roleplayers news
Lights Out progress
Put games in all the podcasts
Badges
Project Tallneck
will be a cyberpunk audiodrama about survival, resistance and community in the shadow of a space elevator.
Capitalism is in its death throes, and the 1% have poured their hoarded resources into the Lilypad: an orbital shipyard joined to the Earth's surface by a space elevator, from which they're staging a last-ditch effort to get off-world and start an awful libertarian colony on Mars. The story is about the people who built the elevator and the Lilypad, and who now do the dangerous and thankless work of maintaining them and shepherding shipments up to the station.
Imagine realising that the 100 wealthiest and therefore worst people in the world had voluntarily placed themselves in the head of an Olympic hammer being whirled around and around by the Earth at immense speeds. Imagine realising those people are relying on you and yours to keep them fed, watered and most importantly anchored until they're ready to take the next leap. Wouldn't you be tempted to just ... release?
I'm about halfway through the first draft of the pilot episode of this, so it's early days, but it really feels like it's taking shape. I'm finding the characters and their voices, and seeing paths emerging to the big beats I'm hoping to hit down the road. Here's a sneak peek of something from our hardboiled narrator, whose voice has been especially fun to develop:
NARRATOR: The shuttle is nothing but a shipping container. They pack you in with the rest of your shift like so many packages out for delivery. Stack you and strap you and sedate you, if you want it and you got the scrip for it.
The executive car is more what you might imagine when you hear “space elevator”. Execs like to stay productive or failing that they like to be comfortable. And they like reminders of their big wins. The objectives delivered and projected outturns exceeded.
Say you’d dreamed of a shipyard in space. A Lilypad in a sea of stars.
Say you’d made it happen.
Leaving it behind in your fancy executive elevator car, on the long climb up the stem to the Earth, you’d want to look down and see the thing you dreamed about. See it up close and real, textured, as the car crawls out of the loading bay. See it growing as the car keeps climbing, your construction crews buzzing round all the new modules. See it shrink into the distance ‘til you can cover it with your fist and say “That’s mine.”
But say that’s not you. Say you’re someone trying to slip off the Lilypad without leaving a record. That view, the expanse of it under your feet, the construction crews, the slow climb … maybe you feel a little exposed.
I've historically had a problem with projects that take a long time to realise, which is that after a certain period of time they don't feel relevant any more, and I lose the impetus to work on them. This one, though? I don't think the themes are going to get any less relevant as time goes on - more like the opposite. Likewise, I think the anger behind it is more likely to be banked and stoked than to go out.
The real trick here is going to be keeping up the momentum now I'm back at the day job after the holidays, and don't have so much time for personal projects. Turns out a couple of other people in the UK Audio Fiction discord are also working on pilot scripts - new year, new project! - so hopefully we'll all keep each other on track!
The Lost Andromeda Ward Christmas Special
is now available in its entirety on the Merely Roleplayers podcast!
The Lost Andromeda Ward Christmas Special (Studio) - YouTube
Or follow Merely Roleplayers in your podcast app of choice.
For once I actually thought ahead enough to produce a seasonal special. I'm ruling that January is still close enough to festive times that you're ok to binge this five-episode production now if you haven't already. We worked in callouts to Reanimator and The Fly, so like The Nightmare Before Christmas, it's also suitable to revisit at Hallowe'en!
The podcast is now on a few weeks' break. We tried to get the next Vigil recording session together in December, but (shrugs) Omicron. Rest assured we're not about to podfade, though. Josh proposed a brand new strand of Backstage episodes, which we started recording and editing this week - more on that next time. And all being well, we're recording the next Vigil production this weekend.
I'm not going to commit to a comeback date quite yet, because it'll depend on who has capacity to do post-production, and how much. But stay subscribed (to this newsletter and to the Merely Roleplayers feed), and watch the Merely Roleplayers Twitter, and we'll definitely start making a noise as soon as we know when episodes will start releasing again.
Lights Out
just needs laying out before I make it available. This is the published version of the roleplaying game-powered performance we staged at the London Horror Festival 2021, which you can still enjoy the recorded version of if you missed it on stage.
The text of the book is complete, other than needing a final sense-check and proofread, and a bit on attribution. It includes everything a company should need to stage their own performance(s) of Lights Out, including rules for the game elements and guidance on rehearsal, staging - and fire safety!
I don't want to mess around trying to lay this out myself, since I probably won't be happy with the final result, and I want to spend my time on Project Tallneck instead. So I'm going to start asking around for quotes. If you know someone who does RPG layout (the someone can be you), send them my way please! Either reply to this email or find me on Twitter @merelyMJ.
Do you host a podcast?
One that isn't related to roleplaying games? I want to run a recorded roleplaying game session for the hosts/cast of your show. It'll be a fun new experience for the team, and you'll get a great bonus episode (or several) out of it, which'll show you off to your audience in a new light. I'll get to know your podcast and prepare a system and a scenario tailored to you and your team. No roleplaying, improv, or tabletop gaming experience necessary!
This is a paid service I've been thinking about spinning up for a little while now. I'll get a page up on my site about it and start shopping it around properly before too long. If you're interested and we know each other, give me a shout - I'm up for doing one or two of these sessions for mates' rates initially to get the service off the ground.
Reminders to act
Left: an orange button badge with "oh god, stop talking!" written on it. From an old Marc Ellerby clearance sale. Something I have to remind myself of sometimes when writing drama: stop just talking and do something!
Right: a beautiful round pin, gunmetal, with a comedy/tragedy mask design on it in relief. Made by Clockwork Arcana and given to me as a Christmas gift from my brother, who knows me way too well.
Until next time,
Matt x