Charlotte is Becoming Real ARG sends players to Germany

Two of the players of the Charlotte is Becoming Real ARG are frantically packing their bags for a free, last-minute weekend trip to Berlin, Germany. Others are cursing the fact that they let their passport expire four years ago (ahem).

It all started a little over a month ago when several ARGers received scuffed up cassette recorders in the mail. On the microcassette inside each recorder was a portion of an interview with an author who is suffering from a curious condition. Her condition seems to be that everything she writes in her books comes true soon after. It didn’t take long for players to connect the tapes to the recently released book, Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek. The interviews were excerpts from the fictional book.

After some investigation, players discovered that the tapes were stolen from the office of a missing psychiatrist, Ivan Krotzler, Ph.D. Dr. Krotzler treats authors with Labyrinth-Syndrome, a condition where the author “puts themselves in the shoes of one of their characters to a degree at which they are not able to find their way out it in the end”. Players have since been trying to piece together clues and find the answers to their many questions. What happened to Ivan Krotzler? Who sent the stolen tapes through the mail and why? Since the tapes belonged to Dr. Krotzler, did the events of Therapy really happen?

All may be revealed in Berlin. In what is expected to be the climax of the ARG, two players, Rowan and PinkCloud, will fly to Berlin on Friday to participate in a yet to be revealed event. They’ve been told that a rental car and hotel will be provided along with the free airfare.

Join the discussion at UF and watch the weekend’s events unfold! If you’d like to get up to speed on the story so far, check out the guide first.