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Millennium Bugs is an urban fantasy game about community connection, activism and creativity. It will contain a mixture of ARG and immersive game elements. Spread over 2021, there will be 4 synchronous live roleplay events played over video/voice/text. The main plot will occur during the live events, with character development and opportunities for creating art in between for players choosing to engage with these elements of the game.
What are the game’s themes?
Millennium Bugs explores the experience of creating and maintaining communities on the fringes of society, touching on themes of found family, community activism and making the best of a bad situation. It isn’t about enacting large scale social change, but about the smaller wins we can fight for by working together and the support we can provide each other in a flawed society.
The game draws influence from media such as Sense8, Misfits and the work of Avery Alder.
When are the events?
The game will start with the first event. There will then be optional ways to continue to engage in between the live events.
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Event 1: 5th June 2021
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Event 2: 24th July 2021
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Event 3: 2nd October 2021
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Event 4: 13th November 2021
How do I play?
The game will be split across two platforms: there will be a Discord server where you can communicate with voice/video/text. There will also be the option to play on gather.town during the live events. You will take on the role of a “glitch”, someone who has gained supernatural power and finds their entire life changed.
Play will consist a mixture of solving problems that are occurring for glitches as well as creating content as a community. You will be communicating with your fellow players via voice/video or text to do this.
Players will be split into groups (you will have the choice to either choose your own or be selected randomly) and most of your interaction will be in these groups.
How do I book?
Booking will open on 30th April through eventbrite. After booking, you will be sent a short form to begin building the character you will play during the event.
Who is involved?
This game is being created by a wonderful array of writers, designers and other troublemakers including: Hazel Dixon, Erin Marsh, Kane Elwell, Alex Hill, Jonathan Fry, Joana Pianscatelli, Simon Barnes, Lorraine Kipling, Usva Seregina, Charlie Holdway, Cara Packwood, Laurie Owen, Ylva Otting, Kit Armstrong-Gardner, Kat Quatermass, Rowan Pierce, Michelle Taylor, Diana Ostrat, Ellie Williams and Lorraine Kipling.
More information coming over the next week…..
Keep up to date by following us on social media or joining the mailing list
1st January 2000: the world awakens to find a subset of humanity has gained powers that defy modern views of biology and physics overnight. Governments around the world scramble to react to the event, and many are swift to pass through legislation curbing the freedom of these individuals - these “glitches” - out of safety fears.
Twenty years later, Jake cycles through a thrumming city centre. Their bike meanders along the streets, following the sewer pipes below rather than the road surface itself; the rushing water beating its own heartbeat in their ears. They detour round a protest against the new license landlords are required to obtain to rent property to glitches; speed past a community service project where someone’s glitch keeps making the flowerbeds they’re planting sink further and further into the ground; at the edges of Jake’s vision, the very roads themselves seem to yawn and stretch, revealing dark figures and shadowed corners.
They pull into an old industrial unit covered in graffiti, locking their bike to a rusted fence. Three doors down, a tap drips rancid water. Beyond that, a stream filled with waste and litter winds its way south. They pull on some headphones to mask the din and head indoors. Figures lounge on sofas leaking stuffing onto a floor covered in a thick layer of poster paper and scraps of official letters. The walls are splashes of colour from murals, manifestos, portraits. Someone shushes Jake as they close the door and sharply gestures to her podcasting equipment. They cross to an ancient computer terminal, nearly as old as they are. Glancing at the password taped to its screen, they log in.