Shadows Over Falkonia

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 14 players, Male characters: 6, Female characters: 6, Characters that are not strictly defined as male or female: 2

By

Lucky Consequences (2018), Naish Holiday Village, Christchurch, Dorset, United Kingdom

	Tony Mitton
	AJ Smith

Intercon S: Smoke and Mirrors (2019), Crowne Plaza in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States

	Tony Mitton
	AJ Smith

Description

And still they came ...

While Mr Wells' official history of the Martian War was a masterly tale, it quietly ignored those cylinders that fell outside the British Isles. Scattered Martian Fighting Machines threatened population centres from Lagos to Lahore, Boston to Brisbane, St Petersburg to Shanghai.

The failed Martian invasion saw leaps forward in military technology, some of it scavanged from the Martians themselves. A nation's ability to exploit these advances did much for its international prestige. Meanwhile, geo-political fault lines opened up during the Martian War and its aftermath. One such centres around **Falkonia**: a minor province of the ailing Austro-Hungarian Empire, once a vassal of neighbouring Transylvania, and with a history of patriotic unrest.

A handful of years after "The War of the Worlds", a disparate group (including local aristocracy, military, scientific researchers and even a notorious "monster hunter") finds itself trapped in a remote toll-house deep in the Falkonian countryside. Themes include the effects of accelerated scientific progress, patriotism and the crumbling of empires.

This game forms the "pilot episode" for an adventure series, set in the aftermath of the Martian War. While the game is self-contained, some details may not be fully explained - for now. (If you've played any of the "Kestrel" games - "The Linfarn Run" et seq - the format will be familiar).

Mechanics will be cinematic/abstract: combat *may* occur, but will be resolved by GM Fiat. (Character death *might* occur very late in the game, but mortally wounded characters can expect to totter on until it's most cinematic to expire). Some Mad Science exists but, in this episode, it's not a dominant feature. (Characters should not expect to build their own Fighting Machines during the game - sorry!)

Played at