TEXT: A game by: Giovanni Micolucci
  Special thanks to: Giorgia Menozzi, 
  Giacomo Vicenzi, Matteo Mariani, 
  Marco Lombardi e Raffaele Manzo.
  Inspiration: Burning Opera (Giacomo 
  Vicenzi), Doll (Josh T. Jordan), Una 
  facile via d’uscita (Daniele Di Rubbo) 
  and the film Cube.
  Translation: Matteo Mariani
  Proofreading: Tobie Abad
  Layout: Daniele Di Rubbo
  What Do You Need 
  to Play
  Two players. One to be the person 
  in a coma. The other to be an angel.
  • A table.
  • A room, with the possibility 
  of making it dark (killing the 
  lights or covering the win-
  dows). 
  • A torchlight/flashlight.
  • Something which can be used 
  to play a song (a cellphone, an 
  MP3 player with speakers, or 
  perhaps a phonograph). 
  • Paper (even just a single post-
  it or index card will be fine).
  • A pencil.
  Note: The sounding device will be 
  held by the one playing the person 
  in a Coma, the torchlight by the one 
  playing the Angel.
  Your Role
  A first player gets to play a person in 
  an irreversible Coma. Another player 
  will play the part of an Angel, who 
  has descended to take this person 
  towards Salvation or Damnation.
  The goal of the game is not winning, 
  but rather an exploration of one’s 
  thoughts about the Coma condition 
  itself.
  Salvation or 
  Damnation?
  Before the game starts, the player 
  playing the Angel - and with him Sal-
  vation or Damnation - has to choose 
  if all that happens in the next 3 
  scenes will be the Truth, or just Illu-
  sions that he will create in the mind 
  of the comatose person. This way, 
  the Angel will be sure in advance if 
  ing; if he had not, go to Salva-
  tion Ending.
  Salvation Ending
  The player playing the person in the 
  Coma is now free to describe how 
  he feels having escaped the trap he 
  was in, now finding eternal peace.
  Damnation Ending
  In this case is the Angel who nar-
  rates to the other the consequences 
  of his choices, the neverending sleep 
  filled with nightmares which waits 
  for him now on.
  Turn the Lights On
  The game mechanics actually end 
  now and the game is over. But be-
  fore leaving, try spending some time 
  talking about the Coma subject. 
  What did Salvation and Damna-
  tion mean for you? Have you ever 
  thought of the many people who 
  have to spend the rest of their lives 
  in a Coma condition, without any 
  certainty about leaving it someday, 
  somehow, or perhaps just drifting 
  in an endless slumber? How they 
  may be trapped, unable to tell you 
  they want to let go? Or how they are 
  waiting, hoping you do not give up? 
  Which situations could this imply? 
  Is that still a life, a long sleep or a 
  living nightmare?
  3rd Scene
  Switch the torchlight on: The An-
  gel describes a dangerous situation 
  in which the comatose person is in. 
  Then he narrates as he intervenes, 
  as a sign or a tangible force, saving 
  the other from the danger.
  Switch the torchlight off: The co-
  matose person asks now questions 
  about the scene; the Angel answers 
  with lies or truth.
  Last Scene
  Switch the torchlight on: The Angel 
  asks the one in the Coma to follow 
  him.
  Switch the torchlight off: The coma-
  tose person finally makes his choice, 
  to follow the Angel, or not.
  What follows? 
  • If the Angel chose to be an An-
  gel of Salvation: He switches 
  the torchlight on and reveals 
  his nature. If the person in the 
  Coma had followed the Angel, 
  go to Salvation Ending; if he 
  had not, go to Damnation 
  Ending.
  • If the Angel chose to be an An-
  gel of Damnation: He switch-
  es the torchlight off and re-
  veals his nature. If the person 
  in the Coma had followed the 
  Angel, go to Damnation End-
  Trapped
  Vas Quas Editrice — Linea Emozioni
  
  it. All the possible exchanges 
  between the players take place 
  now. This phase could last as 
  long as the Angel desires, un-
  til the moment he switches 
  the torchlight on and says it’s 
  time to pass to the next scene. 
  The Angel can do so if the co-
  matose person is getting too 
  insistent for answers, or if the 
  questions become inappropri-
  ate, or just if he decides there 
  are no more points to talk of.
  • Sounding device - The coma-
  tose person can use this me-
  chanic once in the game, from 
  the 1st scene to the 3rd, but not 
  in the last one. Playing his fa-
  vourite tune, he can make the 
  Angel declare if he’s lying or 
  telling the truth about the last 
  question asked! The song has 
  to be played for at least 30 sec-
  onds and then the Angel has 
  to: switch the torchlight on if 
  he lied; answer with “You say 
  that I am” if he was telling the 
  truth.
  The Game Starts
  Lights are out: The player playing 
  the person in a Coma has to start 
  expressing his thoughts and feelings 
  about the surrounding darkness.
  The torchlight is switched on: The 
  Angel can do so whenever he choos-
  es, and introduce himself. His fea-
  tures are those of someone close to 
  the comatose character, which he 
  will choose and describe.
  The torchlight is switched off: “No 
  more questions allowed”, the An-
  gel says. After a couple of seconds 
  of silence, the Angel introduces the 
  1st scene.
  1st Scene
  Switch the torchlight on: The An-
  gel narrates about souls appearing 
  around; they may be flying slow-
  ly, or maybe they dart around and 
  scream, while trying to reach the 
  light ahead.
  Switch the torchlight off: Now the 
  comatose person is allowed to start 
  asking questions about the scene, to 
  which the Angel will answer with 
  lies or truth, accordingly to what he 
  had chosen earlier.
  2nd Scene
  Switch the torchlight on: The Angel 
  tells the person about a voice he’s 
  hearing, the voice of a family mem-
  ber or a friend of his. He asks the 
  comatose man who this is, and then 
  impersonates the voice telling him 
  something important, about his life, 
  their relation, his current condition.
  Switch the torchlight off: The coma-
  tose person starts asking questions 
  about what just happened; the An-
  gel will answer with lies or truth.
  [TRUTH] or [ILLUSION]
  • 3rd SCENE: “The person is in a 
  dangerous situation, but the 
  Angel saves him.”
  Was the danger real, or creat-
  ed for Illusion? 
  [TRUTH] or [ILLUSION]
  Make it clear that the one playing the 
  character in a Coma will not get any 
  direct answers to direct questions! 
  Questions like “What Angel are you? 
  Why are you helping me? Is there 
  Damnation or Salvation ahead?”... 
  will not get a clear response.
  When asked questions like these, or 
  such questions are implied, the An-
  gel should silent, or answer plainly, 
  “Amen”.
  The comatose person will be able to 
  ask the Angel about what happens 
  in the scene, and to these questions 
  the Angel will choose to answer 
  with a lie, or the truth.
  Main Rules
  • Switch the torchlight on 
  when the Angel introduces 
  the scene. The person in a 
  Coma does nothing but listen. 
  No questions are allowed for 
  now.
  • Switch the torchlight off after 
  the scene has been described, 
  and the comatose person 
  starts asking questions about 
  he’ll lie, or tell the truth when the 
  other player starts asking questions 
  about the scene.
  So, choose what kind of Angel you 
  will be: 
  • Angel of Salvation: the per-
  son in a Coma will die, and in 
  death find everlasting peace.
  • Angel of Damnation: the per-
  son in a Coma will never wake 
  up, his remaining life a night-
  mare.
  Write down the option you choose 
  on a piece of paper, while hiding it 
  from the other player. 
  There are 3 scenes in the game.
  Now choose if what happens is 
  Truth or Illusion. But remember this 
  one rule: at least one scene must be 
  Truth, at least one scene must be an 
  Illusion.
  • 1st SCENE: “Souls flying to-
  wards the light.”
  Are they real, or are you, the 
  Angel, creating this soothing 
  picture?
  [TRUTH] or [ILLUSION]
  • 2nd SCENE: “A voice resounds, 
  it’s someone family’s, telling 
  to do something (this can be 
  anything, Angel’s choice).”
  Is the voice true, or are you 
  just faking it?
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Collections/Duet/RPGS/Horror & Suspense & Mystery/Trapped/Trapped.pdf