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Review of The Old Man of Damascus


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The Old Man of Damascus is a 27-player theatre-style Cthulhu Live larp from Skirmisher Publishing. Set during the Third Crusade, it tells the story of a fortress under siege, and the dark secrets of those within. Unfortunately, it is deeply flawed, to the extent that I would not and can not run it for my local larp community.

The big problem is that the game is underplotted. Theatre-style larps need buckets of plot, in order to ensure that everyone has enough to do and doesn't end up staring at the walls. Unfortunately, this one doesn't. For a 27-character larp, there are only 8 plots. My basic rule of thumb when writing this style of game is that every character should be involved in at least three plots. Most characters in this game are involved in only one, and some are involved in none at all - they're just walking props, meat in the room.

The second problem is that those plots are poorly designed. There are lots of secrets here, which is appropriate for a Cthulhu game, but there are no ways into them - no rumours, no hints, no characters who have seen or heard something odd which they might relate to others. The result is that those plotlines are likely to be an exercise in frustration for the players, unless someone does something stupid.

The third problem, and the one that makes it absolutely irredeemable, is that there are basically no parts for women. Out of 27 characters, only two are female - and they are cast in the imaginative roles of "wife" and "servant". Neither is strongly involved in their plots. The upshot is that if you are a female larper - and there are dozens where I live - you can't play this game unless you're willing to crossdress for it. And that makes it basically useless to me.

"But powerless women are historically accurate!" you say. Sure they are (if you're willing to ignore all the powerful and interesting medieval women who could have been used as templates for characters) - but this sort of gender balance isn't, unless the game is set in a monastery. Back in the middle ages, women made up 50% of the human race, just as they do now. By not writing characters for that 50%, they are excluded from or sidelined within the larp community.

There are other problems. A lack of common languages among the characters means many cannot actually talk to one another, which limits interaction and therefore play. There are some minor inconsistencies between character sheets which will undoubtedly lead to confusion in play. A bloodbath is suggested as one of the likely endings, which is fine if it happens at the right time, but there seems to be a very high chance that it will happen too early. On the positive side, the information on how to prepare for and produce the game is useful, and the book is cleanly laid out, though not exactly beautiful.

Overall, I think this is an example of getting what you pay for. At US$4.99, this game is absurdly cheap - and it shows.

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