It's Curtains Act 3 Test Drive

[stagemanagers]

1) CURTAINS UP

You’ve just woken up in some kind of dorm room, which is certainly not where you went to bed last night. Actually, do you even remember going to sleep…? Regardless, this isn't where you last were, and worse still - there's other people waking up in the same room with you, in the same state.

Talk to your roommates! Go out and meet everyone from the other rooms! Most of these people may be strangers, but you’re gonna all have to get used to one another. And who knows? There may actually be a familiar face in the crowd.

2) THIS PETTY PACE

By now, you're acquainted with everybody here and you're slowly growing bored. Bored enough to kill? Hopefully not. You'd better try to find something else to do. You can always go hang out with your castmates, or maybe try and whip something up in the kitchen! There’s even a band room to keep you busy! I sure hope you like music.

3) BREAK A LEG

Comedies are fun and all, but that’s not quite what we’re about here. You’ve all just been handed this week’s motive. What do you make of it? Is it one that might actually tempt you to kill, or did you get off lightly this time? Either way, maybe you’d better look around the room and see who else is having a rough time.

4) I LOVE PLAY REHEARSAL

It's Club Day! What's Club Day, you ask? Come to the classroom on the poster to find out! It looks like this week's club is Bread Club. Be wary, when you enter the classroom you'll face a shower of various bread slices but be rewarded with a surprisingly fancy layout of spreads and jams to go with them. Don't mind the oddly threatening poster on the far wall. He's just here to supervise.

5) CURTAIN

It was bound to happen eventually. Someone is dead, and now it's time to go off and investigate. Were they close to you? Are you, perhaps, feeling guilty? Either way, it's probably best not to leave anyone alone right now.

6) CUE MUSIC

Feelings in a murder-school can get pretty gosh darn intense. Sometimes you’ve just got to let it out. And hey, if you sing a song about whatever’s going on in your head, maybe someone will hear and come help you? Either way, this is a musical – there’s not really any reason not to sing.

[Mod Note: The song mechanic is meant to be fluid and simple. You do not have to produce your own song lyrics, nor are you required to use show tunes (although we do encourage it!). If you want to rewrite existing lyrics to fit the situation, go for it! Anything goes - if Mumford and Sons expresses your character’s current emotions, then break out the banjos. We want to keep the musical mechanic as fun and simple as we can to encourage our players to use it as much as they like.]

6) WILDCARD

Make up your own prompt!

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Questions, comments, concerned? Reach the mods on plurk at slothbless (Lynny) and lluosogrwydd (Lu) and at our public mod plurk stagemanagers. Our official Act 3 FAQ can also be found here!

Comments

[alchemistake]

[Varian is far from someone who could have moral high ground over anyone here, that's for sure. He might not remember everything, but coupled with the photo in his pocket...

He remembers enough.]

...maybe.

[Maybe, he says, as if actually killing somebody can be considered an option.]

I guess it's just hard to do that when the rules change by the week.

[The motives, he means. It's always something different, it's never as simple as "kill somebody and leave". It's "kill somebody or somebody you care about dies" or "kill somebody and we'll give you a million dollars". It's too specific.]

[yourattention]

The circumstances changing doesn't mean the rules change. [Connor shrugs.] It just means the rewards or stakes are different.

[The immediate example for him is video game levels, but well. He's sure Varian won't understand so... Card games? It'll have to do.]

The rules for poker are the same whether or not you bet money on the game. This? [He holds up the crumpled photo.] This is just what we're betting on. It has nothing to do with the rules.

[alchemistake]

[It sure feels like the rules change, but...Connor's right. And with Varian's own photo currently burning a hole in his pocket, it's just a reminder that they're like mice in a cage, being poked and prodded until they either go for the food being given to them or snap before they ever get that far.]

The incentive is what gets more people to play. Meaning more of us are going to die.

[To put it bluntly.]

What happens if we all decided we'd had enough and gave in to that?

[yourattention]

I guess it depends on whether or not you think the game is rigged. [Connor pockets his crumpled photo.] If it is, then that's a house win. If it isn't... who knows.

[He shrugs. It's not really a concern to him, because he's not going to do murder. That requires a bone-deep will to live that he simply doesn't have. As much as... no. No, it doesn't fucking matter. It wouldn't change anything.]

[alchemistake]

[Varian...is in a different state of mind when it comes to what he's willing to do to escape, but it's less that he wants to get out for his sake. He has someone very important he needs to help back home, and he can't do that while he's trapped here.

But going so far as to kill someone?

That photo sure is burning a hole in his pocket right now.]

If it is all rigged...then everything we do here is completely meaningless. I don't know why someone would go to the trouble to set all of this up without some sort of actual goal in mind.

[He doesn't doubt there are people crazy enough to get their kicks just watching people in desperate situations, but it's just too much of a stretch for Varian to accept.]