Willow Palecek’s Escape from Tentacle City is now available. I played a session of this at Forge Midwest this year. It combines Survivor with Lovecraftian horror and extreme stereotypes. The “characters” consist of one group per player; each player has a character in each of the groups they did not create, and sets the scene for the group they did create. I created the Mexican Street Gang; we also had a group of Third Graders (my character: the bald kid with cancer); a group of High School Dropouts (my character: Troy, a Jehovah’s witness whose parents won’t let him do anything), the Muslim Terrorist Cell (my character: Mohammed the Black Nationalist with an Afro and a Machete); and some Midgets (my character: Darren and Warren the Siamese twins, with a pimped-out go-cart).

During each scene (at least in the early version we played), a group can chill, loot, travel, throw down, or take back the streets. At the end of each scene, there’s a success roll; if it fails, one character in that group dies: all of the players vote for which one (as I recall, a throw down means that the losing character dies). Only one character in each group survives to the final scene; every player has one survivor—if their other characters die, the remaining character is “safe” until the final scene.

Besides creating a group and a character for each other group, each player draws a location, and connections between locations. Movement can only occur between connected locations. Each location has a threat level that rises throughout the game. When all of the groups are down to one character, the player narrates that character getting to a central meet-up point, and from there the characters need to get to the escape point, where the military is evacuating survivors. At the end, there’s one final vote for each survivor to see if they survive or die before escaping. (My survivor was Darren/Warren, who was shot by the guards after getting the other characters through.)

It’s a neat idea for a one-night game with a definite end. And it’s a lot of fun.

While you’re there, take a look at Awesome Adventures. I haven’t played it, but that’s some heavy graphics, man. Almost makes me want to get a second copy.