Dreams in Stasis
A Solitaire Roleplaying Game for Travellers
by Scott Malthouse
cover by Alec MacKinnon
Released under CC-By-Attribution 4.0
Introduction
Dreams in Stasis was my entry into Game Chef 2015 and also my first ever creation for the competition. The theme of the year was ‘a different audience’, which is why I wanted to focus on people who travel - be it on their commute or just taking a trip on the bus to see friends on the weekend.
Dreams in Stasis isn’t a roleplaying game in the traditional sense, but more of a storytelling tool that urges the solitary player to create a narrative in their head using whatever they have at their disposal.
That said, hopefully you find much to enjoy with the game, perhaps as an alternative to playing a game app on your phone during your commute.
Scott Malthouse
Concept
Dreams in Stasis is set on the day that the player is leaving the Earth for the last time. There has been a world-spanning disaster that has meant that humanity must leave to live on one of the gargantuan twenty space stations orbiting the planet.
The player is one of the millions who have been granted access aboard the space station and is currently in stasis, meaning they have been put into a chemically-induced sleep, until they reach their destination. One of the side-effects of the stasis is what scientists call The Replay - a dream conjured by the chemical that replays the last week of that person’s life.
Dreams in Stasis is a self-contained roleplaying game designed to be played by a solo traveller, creating an entertaining diversion from a journey on public transport, whether it’s on the train to work or a plane to Bermuda. The game can be played on a smartphone, using a memo function or a similar program, or simply written in a notebook.
This game plays out the last week of the player’s life, using the people around them on the bus, train, plane, or whatever mode of transport they are using, as non-playing characters (NPCS). These strangers are intrinsically linked to the player of the game, each becoming a possibly friend, enemy, mentor or even lover. Think of the game as a narrative that you are creating through using your imagination and answering a set of questions. By the end of the game, you will have a narrative with twists and turns - all created on your commute!
How to Play
You will need either a smartphone with a memo function or a pencil and paper, along with the questions in these rules.
Choose how your World Ends
The first thing you need to do is determine the reason for the mass exodus of Earth. These reasons can provide extra flavour and ideas to your game. Here are some examples:
Who are You?
In a game of Dreams in Stasis, you will take on the role of someone else. It’s entirely up to you who you would like to be in this game, but it’s likely that, because you have managed to get an invite to board one of the shuttles, you are likely a professional or someone useful to humanity on the space station. Think a scientist, politician, doctor or lawyer. This may seem unfair, but in the game world, governments have decided to rescue only the most productive members of society.
Make a note of your profession and a line or two of background about yourself. These details could include your hopes and dreams, your personality and your outlook on life.
Discover your NPCs
Look around you and choose up to four people to become NPCs in your game. Take note of what they are wearing, how old they are, what objects they have, to determine what character they could be. Could they be a professor of archaeology? A banker? A politician? It’s up to you to create a character from what you see.
Take a note of their name (that you will invent), their profession and their relationship to you. Each of them is going to be one of six things:
Give each of your NPCs a line or two of background and their relationship to you. NPCs are likely to know each other too, but those relationships will become more apparent during the game.
‘The Replay’ Questions
In a game of Dreams in Stasis, you are playing out a replay of the week leading up to you and the NPCs getting on board the shuttle to leave the planet. A list of questions form the main structure of the narrative, creating a story by the end of your game. The questions will often denote that ‘one NPC’ will do something. It’s up to you as to which NPC is involved in this question.
Try to tie together the narrative formed with your answers. For example, mentioning an NPC carrying out an action in one question might have repercussions for that or another NPC in a different question.
Each question represents an event that happens in one day of your character’s life, beginning on Monday and ending on Sunday. Write as much as you like as a response to each question. The more you write, the more story you will have to work with.
Replay Questions
Monday: You find out that you have been invited aboard a shuttle. You tell one NPC, who does not yet know that they have an invite. What is their reaction to your news?
Tuesday: One NPC surprises you today. This surprise could be good or bad. What is the surprise and how do you react?
Wednesday: One NPC has a very misguided idea that could put your and/or their life in danger. What is the idea and do you go along with it?
Thursday: You have wronged one NPC, either accidentally or on purpose. What did you do and how did they react?
Friday: You want to make amends to an NPC you have wronged. How will you do this and how do they react?
Saturday: You find out that one NPC has had a life-altering complication. What is it and how does it affect them? How do you react?
Sunday: It’s the day of the shuttle launch and one NPC has changed their feelings towards you, for better or for worse. Why have they done this?
Ending the Game
Once you have answered all questions, either by writing them down or just thinking about them in your head, the game ends. When you reach your real life destination you disembark onto the space station.
Example of Play
I’m on the subway and I have some time to kill - so it’s time for some Dreams in Statis. I decide that my apocalypse scenario is going to be an impending meteor that is about to wipe out all life on Earth. My character is a teacher, who lives in the local built up urban area, teaching inner-city kids.
I look around me and spot three people to be my NPCs: a young woman with dreads reading The Odyssey, an older man with glasses and a briefcase and a lanky man with a shaved head and a shifty look in his eyes. I write down the following:
Abi (friend) - the sister of one of my pupils and a student at the local university studying English literature. I was also her private maths tutor.
Graham (mentor) - I have known Graham for years - he’s the headmaster/principal of the school I teach at and has taught almost everything I know about teaching.
Lyle (enemy) - Lyle knows me through a mutual friend, but I have never got along with him. He once punched me for ‘looking’ at his girlfriend.
Monday: You find out that you have been invited aboard a shuttle. You tell one NPC, who does not yet know that they have an invite. What is their reaction to your news?
I tell Graham, who knows I have been worried about not getting a ticket. I was surprised to get one before Graham, but he seemed to be happy for me. He congratulated me and says that we need to meet up for a coffee before the week is over.
Tuesday: One NPC surprises you today. This surprise could be good or bad. What is the surprise and how do you react?
Lyle shows up at my door, evidently having caught wind that I had managed to get a ticket. He’s livid, also knowing that his girlfriend, Emma, has also managed to get into the same station. He turns up and threatens to kill me if I decide to go after Emma, knowing that we had a history together. I get angry and tell him to leave before I call the police, although I worry that the police don’t care much about anything at this moment in time.
Wednesday: One NPC has a very misguided idea that could put your and/or their life in danger. What is the idea and do you go along with it?
Because she’s a student, Abi doesn’t think that she will be able to get onto a shuttle. We both meet up and she tells me that she has a plan to steal a ticket. She knows someone who can fake an ID and, in her desperation is willing to do pretty much anything to get hold of a ticket. She confides in me that there is someone that she knows that has a ticket. She wants my help to steal it from her. I know that stealing a ticket is a capital offense and punishable by death (being left on Earth). I tell her that I couldn’t take someone’s ticket and there is still time for her to receive one.
Thursday: You have wronged one NPC, either accidentally or on purpose. What did you do and how did they react?
Abi is angry because I didn’t help her get a ticket and she still hasn’t got one. She shouts at me, cries and tells me that she never wants to see me again. I leave, distraught.
Friday: You want to make amends to an NPC you have wronged. How will you do this and how do they react?
I decide that I’m going to help Abi. I find the person that she wants to steal from and force the tickets from her, regrettably using violence. I feel completely terrible about this, but Abi is ecstatic that I’ve managed to get her a ticket.
Saturday: You find out that one NPC has had a life-altering complication. What is it and how does it affect them? How do you react?
Graham contacts me and tell me that he managed to get a ticket, but has been told that he has terminal cancer. He has only six months to live. He is thinking about just staying on Earth and giving his ticket away. I tell him that he can’t give his ticket away and that he should come on board the station where people can look after him until the inevitable happens.
Sunday: One NPC has changed their feelings towards you, for better or for worse. Why have they done this?
Lyle turns up at my door in tears, clutching a ticket. He tells me that he needs to make amends and is sorry for the way he has treated me in the past. I smile, accept his apology and give him a hug. Together, we set off to catch our shuttle.
The End
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