The Shift that Never Ends

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 5-15 players, The bottom of the corporate ladder. Currently serving the food, but likely to become the food. Still have some memories of their mortal life, and maybe even hope of returning to it. Currently holding the store, and the managers, hostage until their demands are met.: 4-12, The lackeys. The mid-level monsters. Used to be human, but that was a very, very long time ago. Either wholeheartedly devoted to the Boss, or else pretending to be to stay alive. Currently being held captive by the crew members.: 1-3

By

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

Peter Hagmann

Description

“Mister Hades set you free To work yourself into the ground Free to spend eternity

In the factory And the warehouse Where the whistles scream And the foreman shouts

And you're punchin' in And punchin' in And punchin' in And you can't punch out.” -- The Fates, “Way Down, Hadestown (Reprise)”, Hadestown (2019)

Your feet hurt from standing, and your face is stiff from holding a frozen smile. Your uniform is torn and bloodied from an unfathomable number of years of service. Your hands are calloused, your knuckles bleeding, your eyes watering….

It didn’t used to be like this.

You used to be a perfectly normal person. Probably had a job, a family, and plans for the future. Then one day, in a moment of weakness or crisis, you opened a door and found yourself standing in the Boss’ office. The thing behind the desk offered you a job.

In exchange for your service in his fine dining establishment, he’d fulfill your wildest dream. Give you anything you wanted. Even had a contract all written up, just waiting to be signed. Which you did.

Here comes the hitch: time in this place doesn’t work like you might expect. Your contract only asked for one shift, but that shift never ends. You’ll be standing at this counter for the rest of time, punching in orders for customers that defy all you previously understood about the universe.

At least you’re not alone, right? Around you are other poor mortal souls that made the same mistake you did. Some of them have been here much longer than you. Some of them have been changed in ways you can’t bear to think about. Like your managers, who have outlived countless generations of workers by becoming something inhuman, ugly, and ceaselessly loyal to the Boss.

That’s all going to change now though. You and your fellow workers have done the impossible, and you’ve rebelled. You have your managers tied up and you’ve locked the doors against customers.

You have control now. The Boss is going to have to listen to your demands.

- - - - - TLDR: In The Shift that Never Ends you play as service workers who were tricked by an otherworldly force known only as The Boss into working a single shift at his fun-time, family friendly chain restaurant of horrors. Unknown to you, that single shift never ends. Now you and the other workers have chosen to strike, and you’ve taken your managers hostage. Will the Boss give in to your demands, or will one of your team members betray the team and become a scab? - - - - -

Structure: The game consists of a workshop (guesstimated to be about forty minutes) where players will flesh out their characters, make character ties, and create a (short) list of demands that you want the Boss to meet. Then, after a short break, the game starts and goes for two to three hours. This might change after playtesting.

Characters will be assigned through a questionnaire that will go out in early February.

Inspirations: Hadestown, Spirited Away, The Magnus Archives, and capitalism

Played at