Content Warning: This game deals with colonialism and colonial violence within the fantasies of science-fiction.
Your world as you know it, is about to change... Intelligent life beyond your planet has been revealed by discovery of a faint radio-transmission emanating from beyond the cosmos. You each are the Ambassador for your planet’s civilization; you represent your people with grace and dignity. This comes with a heavy responsibility, as your decisions will determine the fates of your respective planets.
One of you belongs to an Advanced Civilization–the one responsible for sending out the “great transmission.” Your planet is dying and your hope is to find a new home either through harmony or vicious conquest.
The other belongs to an Emerging Civilization which has finally engineered the technology needed to decrypt the “great transmission” and send a response. Great things may happen if you embrace this new civilization, but you are hesitant to welcome this mysterious race.
You both decide to communicate with one another via these transmissions. Bear in mind that cosmic radiation and vast distance may disrupt the fidelity of the signal. It is up to you to determine what kind of alien race you may be dealing with; your contact will have consequences. (See Instructions for gameplay)
What is The Signal?
The Signal is a two-player, turn-based, generative tabletop roleplaying game wherein players adopt alien personae to transmit messages to one another across the cosmos.
Why play The Signal?
Are you into science-fiction? World-building? Strategy? What kind of civilization can you think of from a few sparks to guide you?
Are you excited by the unknown...
The Signal is a game of conversation, of conceptualization, and of deception. Your story is one which may travel down an infinite amount of paths, limited only by the constraints of your creativity. Might you be the ambassador of a world of delicious burger-people? Do you live on an undersea planet filled with hostile mer-people? Perhaps you belong to a hive-mind of incorporeal jelly, communicating exclusively through telepathy. You are the architects of your utopia, or your destruction. Each time you play may be a new adventure, or perhaps one which builds upon prior conquests.
At its core, The Signal is about whether you are able to convince the other player to bend to your will; be it one of peace and harmony, or one of glory and conquest. Glory for whom? Through limited communication, your task is to give one another an idea of who you are, (or who you seem to be).
At the end of your communication, you will use what you have learned to collaborate and create the exciting conclusion to your arc. Be it one of beautiful success or tragedy, one thing is for certain: you will have created an epic tale.
Instructions:
(feel free to copy-paste to access offline: this game is in-progress and will eventually be built into a full package)
Objects Required:
- A writing tool (pen, pencil, etc)
- A black, permanent marker.
- The game sheet
- Scissors
- A pair of dice (2d6)
Procedure:
- Fold and cut the bottom half of the game board following the dotted lines. Divide these pieces evenly between each player.
- Begin with a dice roll (1d6) to determine which player goes first. The player with the higher number will proceed first. This player will represent the Advanced Civilization. In the case of a tie, roll 1d6 to break.
- Exchange questions, answers, and information between one another by transmitting messages. The Advanced Ambassador begins contact.
- Transmission:
- Cover your hand and write out the message within the space provided. Selectively provide information and ask questions to the other Ambassador. You may choose to keep it brief, or write small; how does your race communicate?
- Once your message has been encoded, redact up to four words using the marker and tear the paper into four pieces.
- Hand these pieces over to the other Ambassador. They must decrypt the message by assembling the pieces and making inferences.
- Ambassadors may not lie, but they may deceive with a clever response. They may not directly ask whether a civilization is peaceful, or hostile.
- Continue transmitting messages until each Ambassador has one paper left.
- On each player's final transmission: The Advanced Ambassador must use their last sentence to declare whether they wish to contact. The Emerging Ambassador declares whether they will embrace this contact or defend their planet.
- Proceed to the endgame: this is communicated between one another using speech. Use the matrix: the respective aspects of each Civilization and the outcomes of your transmission will determine where your story goes.
Endgame:
| Make Contact: Hostile | Make Contact: Peaceful | Do not Make Contact: | |
| Embrace: Peaceful | Colonization: Brutal Slaughter | Synergize | Determine Fate |
| Embrace: Hostile | Colonization: Valiant Struggle | Great War: +1 to Emerging Ambassador Roll | Determine Fate |
| Defend: Peaceful | Great War: +1 to Advanced Ambassador Roll | Shame: Determine Fate, -1 to Roll | Determine Fate |
| Defend: Hostile | Great War | Shame: Determine Fate, -1 to Roll | Determine Fate |
Colonization:
- Collaborate to imagine how this occurs, whether it is a brutal slaughter, or a valiant struggle. Your words are the legend which details the end of the Emerging civilization.
- This is now part of the legacy of the Advanced Civilization.
- Confront this as players: how does this feel?
Synergize:
- Take turns describing your combined diplomatic efforts to create a new Utopia. Imagine the state and appearance of your new, blended civilization; you are recording a new history.
Great War:
- Each Ambassador rolls 1d6 (adding the respective bonus if applicable).
- The Ambassador who rolls highest is the civilization who emerges victorious.
- Take turns to engage in this battle and determine the paths to victory and defeat. Your words capture the lore of a bloody war.
- Confront this as players: how do you respond to this violence?
Shame:
- The Advanced Ambassador has brought great shame to their people. Use this feeling to inform how their planet's fate is described.
Determine Fate:
- The Advanced Ambassador rolls 2d6. To survive, they must roll an 8 or higher. Collaborate to chronicle the last efforts made by the Advanced Civilization to save their planet; the Emerging civilization has contributed to the success/failure–describe how. Your words are the Swan Song of a great empire.
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