The Castle ARG


9 thoughts on “The Castle ARG

  1. RLW

    One of the reasons I decided to run a Trail of Cthulhu game is the level of support for feelies. Chaosium always had good ideas for props, but there are some great on-line resources for making creepy props for your Cthulhu game. The HPLHS disk is brilliant and I think it really enhances play.

    In publishing there’s a mystery subgenre that includes the evidence in the book as well. I have a Batman themed one that’s neat and bought a Dracula sequel one for my goddaughter.

  2. Chuck

    I’m amazed that the crossover between ARG and RPG space is pretty rare in my experience. I think they share DNA (though, with that said, they’re animals who have evolved quite differently which I guess explains the deviation in audience).

    ARGs are pretty cool, but in many ways limited. They have in the past made room for a very small but diligent number of players to take control of the game. Because so much of the unfolding ARGs has to do with ciphers and puzzles, ultimately it ends up that whoever solves the puzzle becomes something of a prime mover in terms of that given ARG.

    One ARG you should look at: The Jejune Institute. Breaks a lot of those characteristics you (accurately) note. Fantastic experience, and I recommend it to anybody who visits San Francisco.

    — c.

  3. Brahman Atman

    I wonder if WotC’s Encounters or Living Forgotten Realms programs are primitive examples of RPG ARGs? As I understand it, WotC tweets one-time bonuses to players on nights when Encounters events take place. Living Forgotten Realms has the big network of players and DMs which seem ripe for ARG play.

    In the RPG context, I suggest that a publisher could successfully start an ARG by using these WotC models as a foundation. The RPG gaming public is already conditioned to this sort of thing, whether it’s through direct participation in the WotC programs or by hearing about them.

  4. Reverance Pavane

    On a smaller scale than the PR-powered ARGs (which have an advertising budget to support them) there are the social games that can be found around the place, such as the pervasive games of Hide and Seek (which is based in London). Combining aspects of LARP, ARG, and flash-mob, and supported heavily by the various Arts and local Councils, they have been developing quite a following over the last few years. [Also check out Holly’s website, Several Bees for some of the things they do.] The emphasis here is in engaging in a shared social activity, rather than the just viral marketing.

  5. Dan Livengood, CPA

    The first RPG I ever encountered, with a ARG feel was De Profundis put out by Hogshead in 2001. I’ve never actually played it, but… It might be a good mid-ground as the players (via thier characters) can add their own elements of mystery confusion and action, using letters, email, blog posts, etc, of thier own, instead of just unraveling a series challenges put before them by the game master.

  6. gamefiend

    Good stuff as always. I haven’t played in a ton of ARGs but was involved in the early stages of one ( playtesting and some puzzle /game design). My thinking is that the ARG forms the connective tissue (or backplane as you put it on twitter) that contains the puzzles typical of the genre, but within those game spaces, there are rpg “growth” and “choice” mechanisms. Maybe you are x type of sleuth, which could give you a certain type of clues that a person who signs up as a y type of sleuth won’t get.

    Slicing the characters into roles creates the need for interaction to most effectively solve puzzles, and in the interaction rolepplaying can occur. To drive roleplay even further, we can award some “fiction rep” where people are rewarded for contributing to the game. If you roleplayed briliantly or did something otherwise clever, you get some whuffie-equivalent that you can use in the game later. Or it can just serve as a score.

    Whatever the mechanism, it’s clear to me that the most important factor in merging ARG and RPG is getting people talking, because in my experience that’s where everything fun occurs in RPGs.

  7. Distilled

    I’m heavily involved in ARGs on a daily basis – and often blog about them if you’re interested:

    The Old Soldiers game which you’ve been included in is just hotting up and all the community stuff is going on here:

    ARGs in general, I believe, are the vehicles which can bring gaming out of the basement and into the real world. Currently, games are seen as just simple “play”; a distraction from the real world, and nothing more. McGonigal makes some fine points for how gaming can make a difference and she is a great spokesperson for Alternative Reality Gaming as a medium for real change.

    Heading over to unFiction and taking a look at some of the threads might be an interesting insight into how the Alternative Reality Gaming community works, I think theres a lot of opportunity for RPG players to really get a kick out of the games held there.


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