5 ms·

Megagames: Giant board games for hundreds of people in the same room

71 points by jsnell 11y ago

splawn 11y ago
This looks like a lot of fun. Here are some entertaining videos from shut up and sitdown that seem to capture what its all about. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame-2-pt1/ http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame-... http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/watch-skies-2-pt-2/ http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/watch-skies-2-pt-2/
- KeytarHero 11y ago
  Also this video from their first time playing it (1 year earlier), which I found a bit easier to follow (it's also only half as long) http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame/ http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame/
shkkmo 11y ago
Anyone know of a links page or any good way of find the groups that run these sorts of things? All I can find is the main one in the UK: http://www.megagame-makers.org.uk/ http://www.megagame-makers.org.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mmakers/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mmakers/ One in the US in NY http://megagamesociety.com/ http://megagamesociety.com/ https://twitter.com/MegaGameSociety https://twitter.com/MegaGameSociety https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety And a random twitter account https://twitter.com/chicagomegagame https://twitter.com/chicagomegagame I read there is also some activity in Australia, but couldn't find any links
- agrona 11y ago
  We just ran two events in Seattle. The "MegaGame Society" is sort of the over-arching organizing group (they licensed Watch the Skies from the UK group, updated it significantly, and are recruiting more groups to run it locally). They're definitely the folks to follow for information on games outside of the UK.
  - shkkmo 11y ago
    Any plans to run any more on the west coast this winter? I'd love to participate.
    - agrona 11y ago
      We'd like to! We're thinking of something this winter, but are taking a much-needed break for a few weeks. Our first event was a lot of work and these are entirely labors of love--the ticket cost lets us basically break even.
carbide 11y ago
I never believed a game as complex as Eschaton could exist in the real world. I'm glad to be wrong.
braythwayt 11y ago
I recall teams playing “War in Europe” a couple of decades ago in Toronto’s original wargaming club “The General Staff:” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Europe_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Europe_(game) It may not have been a megagame, but it certainly was a monster.
dragondave 11y ago
"And I know there are some big Larps in California, but those still only have about 100 people at any one time." Well, we've got at least two LARPs in the UK which have been well over the thousand mark for a while now: Lorien Trust (https://www.lorientrust.com/ https://www.lorientrust.com/) and Empire (which is run by Profound Decisions - http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire). [I'm excluding Curious Pasttimes, since I have no data, but suspect it's also 1000+]. Typically Empire (which I play and have a better idea of numbers) has around 1500 people: around 1300 players and 200 crew. Empire is interesting from a Megagame perspective because it places the players as the movers and shakers of the world and then gives them the levers of power -- there are senators dealing with the temporal politics of a ten-nation Empire, the synod wrestling for the protection of man's mortal soul, the mages who bargain for power from the alien beings from outside Creation or for those aliens to not deal with the Empire's enemies. And it's on a timescale of four weekends a year, for years, rather than a one-off game. (This isn't even the only large LARP they run -- I believe their mythological era Odyssey game is several hundreds of players) And as the comments of the article say; Germany has some epic LARPs too -- and pretty sure other places do too. That said, I'd love to play in one of these tightly plotted megagames... [full disclosure: I play Empire, have played Odyssey, and played Lorien Trust a long time ago and wasn't a massive fan. If you book for either of the first two games with 570.2375 we'll both get money off.]
1123581321 11y ago
These are fun. I played in the June Chicago game and I'll be assisting with the October Chicago game. Like many people, I learned about the concept from Shut Up & Sit Down, the board game review site. In these games, each player on a team has a role that grants them access to a part of the game unavailable to most of the rest of their team. Communication is essential. Teams use a mix of methods to deal with this ranging from tweeting to smartwatch texts to using members of their team as information couriers (in our game, we had a member of our team with wider on the lookout for hand signals from the more restricted members.)
- shkkmo 11y ago
  Are there any details on the October Chicago game?
  - 1123581321 11y ago
    It's slated for October 10th and will be Watch the Skies. I don't think it's been announced yet, though.
  - monksy 11y ago
    Do you have any information on this? Where could I sign up etc?
    - 1123581321 11y ago
      You can sign up for the Chicago mailing list here: http://bit.ly/1CM2nad http://bit.ly/1CM2nad (found at the bottom of http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-registration-16166271754 http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-registra...). You can also keep an eye on the Facebook page for all the games: https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety
    - 1123581321 11y ago
      Tickets just became available, actually: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-2-tickets-18211946422 http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-2-ticket...
falsedan 11y ago
This is just a LARP… a 300-person actual boardgame would be weird/interesting, but this is just "get a bunch of people in a room with assumed roles and restricted social interaction & see what happens" which is every roleplay cons' big event since the 90s

71 points by jsnell 11y ago

This looks like a lot of fun. Here are some entertaining videos from shut up and sitdown that seem to capture what its all about. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame-2-pt1/ http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame-... http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/watch-skies-2-pt-2/ http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/watch-skies-2-pt-2/

KeytarHero 11y ago
Also this video from their first time playing it (1 year earlier), which I found a bit easier to follow (it's also only half as long) http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame/ http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/v/susd-play-megagame/

shkkmo 11y ago

Anyone know of a links page or any good way of find the groups that run these sorts of things? All I can find is the main one in the UK: http://www.megagame-makers.org.uk/ http://www.megagame-makers.org.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mmakers/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mmakers/ One in the US in NY http://megagamesociety.com/ http://megagamesociety.com/ https://twitter.com/MegaGameSociety https://twitter.com/MegaGameSociety https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety And a random twitter account https://twitter.com/chicagomegagame https://twitter.com/chicagomegagame I read there is also some activity in Australia, but couldn't find any links

agrona 11y ago
We just ran two events in Seattle. The "MegaGame Society" is sort of the over-arching organizing group (they licensed Watch the Skies from the UK group, updated it significantly, and are recruiting more groups to run it locally). They're definitely the folks to follow for information on games outside of the UK.
- shkkmo 11y ago
  Any plans to run any more on the west coast this winter? I'd love to participate.
  - agrona 11y ago
    We'd like to! We're thinking of something this winter, but are taking a much-needed break for a few weeks. Our first event was a lot of work and these are entirely labors of love--the ticket cost lets us basically break even.

carbide 11y ago

I never believed a game as complex as Eschaton could exist in the real world. I'm glad to be wrong.

braythwayt 11y ago

I recall teams playing “War in Europe” a couple of decades ago in Toronto’s original wargaming club “The General Staff:” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Europe_(game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Europe_(game) It may not have been a megagame, but it certainly was a monster.

dragondave 11y ago

"And I know there are some big Larps in California, but those still only have about 100 people at any one time." Well, we've got at least two LARPs in the UK which have been well over the thousand mark for a while now: Lorien Trust (https://www.lorientrust.com/ https://www.lorientrust.com/) and Empire (which is run by Profound Decisions - http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire). [I'm excluding Curious Pasttimes, since I have no data, but suspect it's also 1000+]. Typically Empire (which I play and have a better idea of numbers) has around 1500 people: around 1300 players and 200 crew. Empire is interesting from a Megagame perspective because it places the players as the movers and shakers of the world and then gives them the levers of power -- there are senators dealing with the temporal politics of a ten-nation Empire, the synod wrestling for the protection of man's mortal soul, the mages who bargain for power from the alien beings from outside Creation or for those aliens to not deal with the Empire's enemies. And it's on a timescale of four weekends a year, for years, rather than a one-off game. (This isn't even the only large LARP they run -- I believe their mythological era Odyssey game is several hundreds of players) And as the comments of the article say; Germany has some epic LARPs too -- and pretty sure other places do too. That said, I'd love to play in one of these tightly plotted megagames... [full disclosure: I play Empire, have played Odyssey, and played Lorien Trust a long time ago and wasn't a massive fan. If you book for either of the first two games with 570.2375 we'll both get money off.]

1123581321 11y ago

These are fun. I played in the June Chicago game and I'll be assisting with the October Chicago game. Like many people, I learned about the concept from Shut Up & Sit Down, the board game review site. In these games, each player on a team has a role that grants them access to a part of the game unavailable to most of the rest of their team. Communication is essential. Teams use a mix of methods to deal with this ranging from tweeting to smartwatch texts to using members of their team as information couriers (in our game, we had a member of our team with wider on the lookout for hand signals from the more restricted members.)

shkkmo 11y ago
Are there any details on the October Chicago game?
- 1123581321 11y ago
  It's slated for October 10th and will be Watch the Skies. I don't think it's been announced yet, though.
- monksy 11y ago
  Do you have any information on this? Where could I sign up etc?
  - 1123581321 11y ago
    You can sign up for the Chicago mailing list here: http://bit.ly/1CM2nad http://bit.ly/1CM2nad (found at the bottom of http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-registration-16166271754 http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-registra...). You can also keep an eye on the Facebook page for all the games: https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety https://www.facebook.com/megagamesociety
  - 1123581321 11y ago
    Tickets just became available, actually: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-2-tickets-18211946422 http://www.eventbrite.com/e/watch-the-skies-chicago-2-ticket...

falsedan 11y ago

This is just a LARP… a 300-person actual boardgame would be weird/interesting, but this is just "get a bunch of people in a room with assumed roles and restricted social interaction & see what happens" which is every roleplay cons' big event since the 90s