In April 2009, Staff of the Magi Productions (SotM) opened their second project, “Something Is Coming”, set in Harper’s Ford, a fictional town in the Pacific Northwest trapped under some kind of barrier with all manner of ravenous plants and beasties. With Harper’s Ford under martial law, Dave Dolan runs a pirate radio show, sending over 30 transmissions in about six months. We find that the entire United States has been put under quarantine. A possibly alien, possibly government paramilitary group, the Contingency Foundation, has enlisted us to some mysterious end.
Since Fall 2009, “Something Is Coming” has moved into a more location-based form of gameplay, localized exclusively but broadly to the continental United States. In September, representatives were chosen for each time zone, and these four teams competed, secretly racing through clue solves that eventually led to a dead drop. These first runners each received a live psychic reading (check out the wiki for player videos) and a “Compass,†a hardware-encrypted IronKey USB flash drive engraved with the Contingency Foundation logo. IronKey drives can be remotely managed and feature a permanent self-destruct sequence, triggered after so-many failed password attempts.
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As our planet careens into yet another lap around the Sun, puppetmasters are waiting gleefully in their lairs, cackling behind their respective curtains, fingers poised to hit the big red LAUNCH button at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2008. All around the world, ARG players will be clinging to their F5 buttons or obsessively checking their email for the new year’s first hint of activity in the world of chaotic fiction. January’s schedule is crowded with launches, relaunches, and continuations of new and ongoing games and experiences. We’d like to give you a quick peek at what’s in store for you in 2008.
black watchmen
infinite rabbit holes
field studies institute
simulacra
subtext game
lorefi