The Premise

Here's your chance to change the world.

After a hard week of moneylender-bashing, speechifying, and infuriating the establishment, Christ and his closest friends - you - have retired here for fine food, good company, and stirring conversation.

Tomorrow, your beloved leader will be crucified. Good thing you don't know that.

His teachings will live on in you, the Apostles; it will fall to you to carry the Word to the world. How you do so - what you emphasize, how you interpret the message, which tools you use to teach it, and ultimately what you believe - will have a profound impact on the world to come.

It will not be the same as the world we know.

Judas may not be the traitor; Peter may not be the first Pope. That's up to your group - your play of the game. What are the ramifications of those changes?

Play The Last Supper and find out.

The Gameplay

This is a role-playing game for 3-12 players plus a GM, with elements of LARP, card game, and murder mystery. It is played in a single evening and incorporates a pot-luck supper.

During the meal, players will participate as their character, one of the twelve Apostles, but their actions and decisions in-character will also generate a simultaneous world-building exercise to explore the effects of these choices.

By the time the night is done, someone will have made the fateful decision to sell Christ out to the Romans, and the history of the world to come will be painted in tragedy, splendour, and redemption.

You probably know someone whose life is not complete without playing this game at least once. Chances are you also know someone who couldn't be convinced to play it in a thousand years. Hell, the author's best friend is in the latter group. Keep that second friend and play something else with them... but preorder The Last Supper for the first one.

Availability

Scheduled for release in the summer of 2006. Probable cost 25$US, $30CDN; preorders accepted at those prices, and we'll refund you the difference if the final cost is less, but charge you no more if it ends up higher. The game will include Doctine cards, a play board, and a rulebook including a selection of period recipes. To preorder, contact orders@hellequin.net.

The Last Supper is currently in beta playtest. If you're interested in taking part in the playtest cycle, and committed to playing it at least twice by the end of 2005 and submitting complete reports, contact us at playtest@hellequin.net. Not only will you get to play the game before it's available to the public, but your group will also receive a mention and a summary of the worlds you made in the finished version.

The IGC

The Iron Game Chef competition is an event where game designers gather to build their skills and their community. A selection of secret ingredients is released on the first day, and contestants have until midnight on the ninth day to design a complete RPG incorporating those ingredients. A panel of secret ninja judges evaluates the entries on the basis of playability, completeness, use of the ingredients, and style.

In 2005 the winner was Mischa D. Krilov's evocative 1984 Prime, followed by two runner-ups: Beneath a High Pillow by Jason Petrasko and The Last Supper. The field was replete with fabulous games, from Lovecraftian cockroaches on campus to duelling Chinese master sages, from debauchery in Bacchus-soaked Puteoli to cannibalism on an expedition to deepest Africa.

Join us next year around the end of May for a new batch of madness...