It Starts And Ends With Tiers

• Ruffled Feathers

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 11-30 players, The upper classes of the Ziggurat. : 2-5, The police class of the Ziggurat.: 1-7, The Servitors and workers of the Ziggurat.: 8-18

Organized by

Ruffled Feathers

By

Intercon U (2022), Crowne Plaza, Warwick, Rhode Island, United States

Intercon U: Ultraviolet (2023), Crowne Plaza, Warwick, Rhode Island, United States

	Jacqueline Bryk
	Ben Walker

Description

*Someday, I could be like that, if I’m perfect.*

In the world of the Zigguratti, the social pyramid is extremely literal. The world outside of the ziggurat-cities is a bleak planetary ruin, ravaged by environmental disasters, man-made catastrophe, and perhaps other, darker things. Our story takes place inside, where it’s safe. At the bottom of the ziggurats live and labor the Serfs, the 90% of humanity. They are controlled by the Knights (police), and Clerics (bourgeoisie), who live on the higher levels. At the very top are the Zigguratti, but no one knows who or what they really are.

In this scenario, players will be members of the Knights, Clerics, and Serfs. There must always be more Serfs than any other group. The Serfs serve the Clerics, and the Knights who are there to keep them in line. The focus of the scenario is an intimate get-together of Clerics, a party with the focus of getting two Clerics together in an arranged marriage, and everything must be perfect.

Except with humans, even cybernetically-altered humans, nothing is ever perfect. Serfs may be in love with people they can’t love, or trying to escape, or protecting family members who are outside of society. Clerics may mistep. Knights may fail to punish those who even think about stepping out of line. This is a game about rigid social structures, social rituals, cyberpunk methods, and the consequences of failure to comply.

*Based on the Zigguratti setting by Chad Walker: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hT9C9Bpghox1HkM4qh3-PU2h_rumb963/view*

**MECHANICS NOTES**: Since, in the world of Zigguratti, everyone has implants that allow them to see information about each other, players will have nametags with their names, pronouns, and roles. In addition, there will be a mechanic that allows players to "tag" each other with post-it notes (note: physical touch is opt-in, so tagging may involve placing the post it notes on each other, or handing it to the person being tagged). Serfs can tag each other. Knights can tag each other and serfs. Clerics can tag everyone. These post-it notes should contain information much like Amazon product descriptions and Yelp reviews. These notes are visible to everyone and may inform play.

Finally, in addition to usual safety rules like the OK check-in and cut/brake, the new safety rule for this game is “selling dreams”. A quiet dark room should be set aside for players who are overwhelmed or struggling to sit and process out of character. In the fiction of the game, they are using their sleep to mine for cryptocurrency.

Played at