IT’S FUN TO LOSE AND TO PRETEND
a stupid LARP about stupid teenagers

THWACK! was the noise your mother’s hand made when she slapped the taste out of your mouth for making a snarky comment, that fucking bitch. After that, it was hours of brooding and loud music while you languished alone in your room. At around 10:30 PM, you heard her finally go to bed. While she was distracted with fucking your step dad, you snuck downstairs, nabbed the keys to the Impala and peeled out of the driveway. SKRRRT.

From there, you went straight to The Hangout—a gathering place where you and your BFFs chill to avoid making something of yourselves—and then on to the gas station to get snacks. At some point, it was suggested that you go on a road trip. With no responsibilities, no fear, and no fucks given about parents or the school you’ll be missing, you set off.

Are you any kind of prepared? No. Have you considered the legal ramifications of joyriding with the family car for several days? Well, not really. Do you even have a single valid driver’s license among the 4 of you? Uhh …

You’re off to see the world and you have junk food, recreational drugs, and your friends alongside you.

Oh, and you all have superpowers.

SETUP AND SITUATION

To play, you’ll need the following:

This text.
4 players.
~150 minutes.
A moderately-sized room to play in.
5 folding chairs arranged like the seats in a car (3 in the backseat area, 2 up front).
A single screen that is large enough for all players to see from their chairs, attached to a device that can access the internet.
A 52-card deck of standard playing cards OR some blank index cards.
Google Maps with Street View and maybe MapCrunch to find random places to drive around.
Diabeetus-inducing junk food (optional).
A music player to play Kurt Cobain songs real loud (optional).
Air-guitars for everyone (not optional).

All players are superpowered teenagers embarking on a road trip/joyride.

In a world of powered heroes and villains, you are distinguished by the fact that your unique abilities are tied to the approval of your friends, effectively functioning by group consensus. The way you use your powers—and the results of their use—are dictated by the whims of the group. Influencing the world with your powers will largely involve convincing others that your power use is justified, necessary, or even just cool.

During the game, you’ll pretend that you’re riding with the other players in a car. With Google Maps Street View providing a visual catalyst, you’ll meander through a story about teens doing dumb shit and testing the boundaries of their powers and friendships.

POWERS AND SHIT
(~30 minutes)

To start off, everyone picks two of the following KITS. Your kit establishes what your powers are. Once a kit is picked, it’s gone. Resolve disputes over kits with social pressure, guns, parcheesi or however you feel is best.

Next, everyone picks two of the following BACKGROUNDS. Your background is basically a fragment of your character’s situation that you can build on to flesh them out. Pick these randomly by removing the specified cards from a 52 card deck, shuffling them and dealing two to each player. Alternately, you can write all the backgrounds on index cards, shuffle them, and deal two to each player.

Before starting the game, everyone should talk a little bit about their characters. Specifically, discuss how who they are affects the way they typically use their powers.

TRIPPIN’
(~120 minutes)

Begin the game with all the characters in the car, cruising around their hometown. Decide on a town or city to serve as the group’s home base and pull it up on Google Maps Street View. Familiarize yourself with Street View’s layout and controls.

Have everyone choose their seats (handle disagreements on a first-ass-in-the-chair-first-served basis).

The first person to make it to the driver’s seat is the driver. The driver will move the car around by clicking within the Street View window (at the time of writing, all you have to do is click on the ground to go where you want to).

Everyone else is a passenger. Passengers don’t directly control the vehicle, they’re just along for the ride.

When you’re ready to begin, the driver should start moving the car around the city you’ve chosen. Go anywhere.

DRIVER: Control the pace of the Street View screen changes. Move through them as fast or as slow as you want to. Disobey traffic laws and the rules of the road at your peril. While you are driving, you get to decide what happens to the car and how external things like other drivers affect you. Do this by speaking in-character, saying what you see and experience. Mimic the movements your character makes (maybe use an object to simulate a steering wheel). Examples:

Driver: “What is this guy doing? I don’t … Oh shit, I think I just rear-ended him.”

Driver (pretending to glance at the rear-view mirror): “Oh man, is that the cops?”

Driver: “This traffic is unreal. We’re basically fuckin’ crawling.”

PASSENGERS:

React to the driver (their movements, what they say, their body language). If they suddenly turn the wheel and say “Shit, hold on!”, verbalize your character’s fear (“Fuck, don’t get us killed, man!”) or show it by moving yourself—hanging on to imaginary seats, miming whiplash, stuff like that.

Point things out to the driver to telegraph to their player what you find interesting, or what you feel should be incorporated in the game (“The pigs like to sit up there in that gas station to catch speeders, be careful.”, “Fuck man, do you have to go so slow?”, “Are those sirens?”). Suggest whatever you want. The driver will select what they incorporate.

Ask the driver to adjust the Street View to look at things you catch a glimpse of that might interest your character (“HOLD ON! I THINK I SAW A MCDONALDS. WE HAVE TO HIT THAT!”).

Suggest stories about people you see on the street. “Hey, is that Mr. Hopkins? He used to teach English, I think, right? You should honk at him.”, “That guy lookin’ bummy as fuck. Wait. Is that the homeless dude who’s always panhandling on 4th and Elm?”. The driver will decide the truth of these and add their own details in response (“Nah, that ain’t him. I think he lives up a few blocks though, actually.”, “Yeah, I’ma roll down the window and give him some change.”)

Play ‘I Spy’ if you want to give others a chance to establish details about something that interests you. One person describes an object or person that they want to call attention to as vaguely as they want to (“Something red,” “Something phallic.”). The first person to guess what it is ascribes some significance to it (“That’s the theater where I lost my virginity.”, “That’s the retarded dude who always masturbates in the park.”).

Harass the driver. Throw popcorn at them. Sing loudly.

EVERYONE:

Try to always speak in-character (never say “My guy does X,” or “You see Y happening.”, just talk about those things as though you were seeing and reacting to them.). An important exception to this rule is found below, under the PEER PRESSURE section.

Everything you see on the Street View is what your character sees.

Bounce off the other players’ in-character statements. Don’t intentionally contradict things that have been said already.

Never split up. You should stay with the other characters at all times. Road trips are a group activity after all.

(Optional): As horny, hotheaded teens, it’s expected that you’ll get into spats. You can fight each other, even hurt each other, but don’t outright kill another player character (you’re friends, for fucks sake). This rule is optional because sometimes, a dramatic death can be cool. It can definitely provide some interesting opportunities for super-seriousface emotional roleplaying. If you want the game to be more about the road trip (and ensure that it lasts the full 120 minutes), play with player killing off. If you want it to be some kind of homage to the volatile, killed-in-an-instant-on-the-way-home-from-prom, Dead Man’s Curve style of teen tragedy songs, play with player killing on.

If someone dies, they linger as a ghost that haunts the group. They don’t get a vote in situations where powers are being used (see below), but they can make commentary and try to sway the opinions of the group. Ghosts can’t use any powers.

Change the driver every 15 minutes real time.

You can stop the car and get out. If you do, follow the above narrative rules. Interact with things that you can see, and add details. If you want to walk into an unidentifiable building you see on the Street View, for example, describe your character going in (“Fuck it, I have to go to the bathroom. Think this brick-looking place has one?”) and what it is (“Dude, that looks like somebody’s house! I don’t think they’ll let you just walk in and take a piss in their bathroom.”) through your in-character speech.

If you want to talk to any people that aren’t characters in the group, just talk. Pretend you’re having a conversation and let the other players figure out what’s going on and fill in the gaps. If someone else is talking to someone, jump in! Just make sure you play off of what’s already been said.

Notes and Tips:

Don’t become too sidetracked going inside buildings and shit. Try to keep most of the action in the car. Extravehicular action should be a detour, not the main event.

Feel free to mime fisticuffs, slaps upside the head, beatings, and other physical violence (just be safe while doing it). Take some hits, give some hits. Or you can stand there and get beat, see if I care. The point is, if someone mimes something physical, react to it. Make it feel real.

PEER PRESSURE

When you want to use your powers, telegraph it by announcing what you want to do as your character would (“Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if I set that fucking dog on fire?”, “You guys wanna see me confuse these motherfuckers with some illusions?”). If you aren’t sure about what someone is trying to do, ask follow up questions in-character (“What kind of illusions? You’re not gonna hurt them are you?”). Literally just bounce ideas about how you can use your powers for shit back and forth between you and your friends.

Powers rarely work exactly as you want them to, due to the nature of your bond with your peers. You should definitely argue (again, as your characters) about when and how powers should be used. Lead up to power use by asking questions of your peers (“Should I do this?”, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I did this?”). Consider your backgrounds while you’re arguing. It might make sense that someone who was [Abused] might shy away from violent power use, or that someone who is [Addicted] might want to use their abilities to procure their poison of choice.

When the question of powers comes up, slow the action down and discuss the power being used. If you’re driving, stop. Voice your approval or disapproval in-character. To ensure that your will is clear, make the devil horns if you approve or give the power user the finger if you disapprove.

WHAT POWERS DO

If you find yourself in a situation where you’re the only one who thinks its a good idea to use your power for something, it doesn’t work. Simple as that. It fizzles. Bummer.

If you can get one other person to support you, something happens, but it’s not what you want. React to this as your character to try to show everyone what happened. Others will interpret your reaction and react themselves. This becomes what actually happens. Don’t correct people if they react in a way that’s different from what you intended. In fact, look at the details they add to their interpretations and incorporate them in future uses of your power.

If two other people agree with your power use, it works just as you say. Step out of character and say exactly what happens. Additionally, the odd person out suffers in some way from your use of the power (this occurs even if the power wasn’t directed at them). They get to decide how (while staying in-character). Maybe after you set that dog on fire, the flabbergasted owner rushes over and starts screaming at them because they think they did it. Maybe the illusory prank you pulled gets them punched in the face.

If you can convince everyone that using the power is a great idea, it works just as you say. Again, break character to narrate the power’s effect. Additionally, the power is now permissible. This means that you can manifest it at any time without group approval and say what it does. Be very careful what you make permissible within your group. You might just find that giving your unstable teenage protagonists the ability to manipulate reality at will fucks your trip up in some awful way. It sucks being a wet blanket, but being a dismembered torso in the middle of the street covered with a blanket sucks even more (probably).

Notes and Tips:

Most of this game will just be teenagers talking. Power use should feel sudden, unexpected. Superpowers should either get you out of trouble, or get you into it.

If a character dies, the group may never again make any powers permissible. If two characters are dead, powers never work the way people want them to. If everyone but one person is dead, the last survivor’s powers are inert and will not function at all.

Strongly telegraph your intentions when you use powers, especially when you use them against other player characters. Use body language cues. This will help people visualize what you’re doing and give them a jump off point for their reactions. Just outright say “Want a lightning bolt to the face? Then keep talking.”

EXAMPLE 1:

(Nancy, pointing to Tonya): “Y’all wanna see me set this bitch on fire? ‘Cause I will.”

(Tonya, giving Nancy the finger): “Fuck you, you wouldn’t even.”

(Jimmy, throwing up the devil horns): “Yeah, torch her! Fire!”

(Pedro, giving Nancy the finger): “Back the fuck off. This is ridiculous.”

In this situation, only one other person was OK with Nancy setting her friend on fire, so Nancy would have to react to the power in a way that suggests that it doesn’t do what she intended. Like this:

(Nancy, waving her hand around wildly): “Oh fuck! Owww, it burns! Damn, that’s gotta be third degree. Y’all just made me burn my damn hand!”

EXAMPLE 2:

(Devon, threatening Amy during an argument): “I’m gonna freeze this little twat. Yeah, you. I’ve got a ray of ice with your name on it. We’ll see how much shit you talk when your mouth is frozen shut.”

(Amy, responding to Devon): “I bet you I can teleport out of the way before you do that, my dude.”

(Ben, flipping Devon the bird from the sidelines): “Yeah man, don’t bother shooting. You’re not fast enough to catch her.”

(Jimmy, also flipping Devon the bird): “Nah Devon. She’s fast as fuck, man. Don’t try it.”

Here, Devon has been outvoted, as everyone sided with Amy (Ben and Jimmy’s anti-Devon votes are effectively positive votes for Amy). Amy’s player breaks character and says that Amy phases out of existence and reappears behind Devon. Devon’s power fizzles out, and additionally, he also suffers somehow. Because Devon has been humiliated, his player satisfies this requirement by having Devon’s macho persona crack a bit. He breaks down crying.

EXAMPLE 3:

(Devon, threatening Amy during an argument): “I’m gonna freeze this little twat. Yeah, you. I’ve got a ray of ice with your name on it. We’ll see how much shit you talk when your mouth is frozen shut.”

(Amy, responding to Devon): “I bet you I can teleport out of the way before you do that, my dude.”

(Ben, flipping Devon the bird from the sidelines): “I bet she’s faster than you, Devon.”

(Jimmy, flipping Amy the bird from the sidelines): “Oh fuck off, Amy. Ice that bitch, Dev!”

This is probably the most complicated situation that could arise in play. Devon and Amy each have one person supporting them, so their powers do something, but not what they intended.

Amy reacts by shuddering visibly and saying “I… uh… fuck. I almost teleported right into something. Guys, I could’ve wound up becoming part of the fucking wall!”

Devon reacts by whistling incredulously. “OK, so that bus ain’t going anywhere for awhile, tell you what.”

If you’re confused about what happened in a case where someone’s power didn’t work the way they wanted it to, good! If they’ve telegraphed at all, you’ll probably at least know what power they were trying to use, so just use that as a basis for your reaction. Don’t worry if you feel like you didn’t understand exactly what they were attempting to do. The workings of peer-consensus power use is unpredictable and you’re awkward teenagers. Strange things will happen.

One thing you should absolutely, positively do is use the teleportation power to move the car (and your characters) to another part of the world. Anywhere that has roads! Go to Africa! Go to Germany! Go dumb!

Telepathy can be used to suggest things that happen in the future. If the telepath receives a message from the future, keep it in mind and try to steer the narrative in a direction that will acknowledge it. Sometimes this will work out, sometimes it won’t. If it doesn’t, maybe their mind was clouded by something.

ARE WE THERE YET?

End the game after 120 minutes of real time have passed. Don’t wrap things up, just stop playing wherever you are.

During your game …

… Were powers mostly used to harm people outside of the group or destroy property? Collectively narrate an outro where your characters are sitting in jail.

… Were powers mostly used to cause mischief and make the group laugh? Collectively narrate an outro where your characters’ rebellious streak peters out and they return safely to mommy and daddy.

… Were powers mostly used to harm people within the group? Collectively narrate an outro where your characters are dead.

If none of these things really describes your playthrough, your characters drift away from each other and become powerless, productive normies. Say what boring jobs they have as adults.

The outro you do doesn’t have be in character, just talk normally.

After you’ve wrapped things up, turn off Google Maps, throw this manual in the trash and go listen to some Nirvana. Or maybe go on a real life roadtrip with the friends you played with (don’t steal your mom’s car to do this).