War Birds Anthology

Women were part of the Great Generation, but history has forgotten our contributions. We fought in fields and factories to keep the infrastructure alive. We fought in civil defense to keep the home front safe. We served on the front lines as nurses and pilots. As civilians in war zones, we resisted, we fought and we died. 

War Birds is an anthology of live games about women at war. For 4-6 players, in 3-5 hours with no knowledge of history required. Designed by an international team of writers of marginalized gender, War Birds presents fun-to-play, easy-to-run games that let you explore exciting stories you might not have heard before.  

Format available is a full color 220 page pdf with comprehensive print and play worksheets for easy running  of the games.  Physical copies of the War Birds Anthology are available for sale at Indie Press Revolution

Baltimore, Maryland – August 1944: In Europe and Asia, World War II is raging. On the American home front, the production of defense materials is top priority. Munitions, shipyards, aviation and telecommunications production can hardly keep up with the demands of the war and 24-hour production lines are in effect. With the soldiers at war, the gates of industry swing wide and offer exciting new labor opportunities to women and to people of color. But change comes neither easily nor equally. When the first African American inspector joins an all-white, all-female crew at the Western Electric Point Breeze Works, a wildcat hate strike is launched to reject her employment. Against the Grain fictionalizes this moment in history to explore the intersectional allocation of freedom and equality. 

About the game: Against the Grain is a larp for 4 players and a facilitator that plays in 3 hours including workshops and debrief. The scenario is based around a charged negotiation between characters embroiled in the situation. The tone is calibrated by the facilitator using directive meta-techniques, and the use of monologues helps determine the outcome of the story. 

What people are saying:  “Combining a racially fraught, impossibly difficult historical conundrum with tight, focused gameplay, Against the Grain is provocative, challenging, and deeply humane. It’s a window into a larger story that was deliberately buried during and after the war, and when you play it, you live it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” 
 ~ Jason Morningstar, creator of Night Witches 

Sweetwater, Texas – August 1943: Four women meet in a barracks where they have been called to be Women Air-force Service Pilots. They will test new planes and ferry them to the front lines of the war. To the outside world, they are unknown, to the war they are unwanted, and to the US army they are a necessary evil. They will each endure insults, distrust, and ridicule. 

Through the war, they will find kindred spirits in each other, and together they will be invincible. No matter what else might occur, they will always have their memories of the plane. The unfathomable, tactile sense of flying as the only refuge of absolute freedom. High-flying, anxiety provoking, discouraging, untameable, deep-felt, wild. Friends in arms, always. Barriers are things to overcome. Life is, until it ends. 

 About the game:  We Were WASP is a Danish freeform tabletop scenario for 4 players and a facilitator that plays in 4 hours including workshops and debrief. It uses set scenes to give players an immersive glimpse into the lives of the WASP, and a partnered piloting mechanic that brings to life the emotional intensity of flight.

What people are saying: “Four women with dreams of flight become the unsung heroes of the war in an otherwise forgotten chapter of history. Simple story rules ensure that even stressed out WASPs don’t get stung, but instead find strength in a high-flying sisterhood when chauvinism tries to pin them to the ground. Powerful and genuine characters mirror the conflict of the game and provide the players with a solid foundation on which to build despair. The outside world forces the WASPs to grow and form their own sisterhood in a society that wants to clip their wings."  ~Fastaval Jury

Ft Oglethorpe, Georgia, 1943: This story follows five queer women working together here in the motor pool, trained in the driving, maintenance, and repair of jeeps, trucks, and motorcycles. For the first time they could find each other, find community, in the Women’s Army Corps: clothes they felt themselves in, a job that let them get their hands dirty, a lover, a family, a home. The military only tolerated these women because they needed the numbers; by regulation they were still classified as mentally ill and the threat of a dishonorable discharge was real. Sometimes that threat meant making the hard choice between doing the right thing, and surviving as a queer woman in the army. 

About the game: Mobilize is a semi-live larp for 5 players. It runs in 3 hours and includes workshops on gender presentation and performance to understand the complexities of identity these women experienced in 1943. Play is a series of motor pool jobs where choices are made about how characters and their new found queer community will comport themselves under pressure and the intense scrutiny of military authority. 

What people are saying:  “This is the first game I’ve ever played that brought me to tears. I felt Thelma’s despair and wept for her. It was beautiful and moving. Mobilize was a masterpiece. “ ~Joseph Le May

Three generations of women in one family fight as partisans during the war. Having escaped the grasp of the Nazis, they have taken to the woods of Europe to fight back in armed resistance. The women are from a traditional Jewish background and have spent their lives steeped in their culture and religion. Confronted with this wide-open world fraught with danger, they must decide what part of their past traditions they wish to preserve, and what legacy they will carry with them to be passed down to future generations. 

About the game:  Keeping the Candles Lit is is a semi-live larp inspired by blackbox theater techniques and abstract play. It runs for 4 hours, requires 3 players and 2 facilitators who will also play supplemental roles. 

What people are saying:  “Keeping the Candles Lit is an experience that I will always carry with me. It was a beautiful, haunting, horrifying window into an indescribable experience and has influenced the way I both play and design games ever since.” ~Anna Kreider, designer of Thou Art but a Warrior and Autonomy

An intense family drama set in occupied Denmark. Under the dominion of the Reich, the pressures of domination pushed everyday people to examine just how much they were willing to comply or resist the state of occupation. Family bonds were tested. Autonomy and sovereignty became primary concerns as much at home as in the streets. This is a game about resistance and control, freedom and protection, and the difficulty that comes from deciding not to model the behavior that is expected of you. 

About the game:  A semi-live larp  for 4-5 players and a facilitator (who also plays); the game takes 4.5 hours to play including workshops and debrief and alternates between full live game play and narrative interludes. Storyboarding mechanic provides support for the players to direct their own fate. It has has been used as an edularp in Denmark to teach about the occupation.

Akiko, Toshi, and Hana live in Tacoma, WA during World War II, and are a Japanese-American family consisting of a grandmother, mother, and daughter. Akiko was born in Japan, but her daughter Toshi and granddaughter Hana have lived in the United States their whole lives, and have never even been to Japan. They have just received news that the US Government is going to put them in an internment camp somewhere in California. They have just 24 hours to close their tailoring business, pack what few possessions they can, and sell the rest.

What will they bring with them? What will they sell? What will they have
to leave behind?

About the game: The Things She Carried is a tabletop role-playing game for three players 3 players to be played in 2 hours.

_____

These deeply immersive, provocative games provide a broader investigation into the contribution of women in the war effort and they ask hard questions about history and how we interpret and remember it.

Honors & Press:
2017 Indie Groundbreaker Award for Best Setting: War Birds
2017 Indie Groundbreaker Award Nominee for Game of the Year: War Birds
2016 Indiecade Nominee: Keeping the Candles Lit
2016 Indiecade Official Selection: Keeping the Candles Lit
2016 Indie RPG Award Nominee Game of the Year
2016 Indie RPG Award Nominee Most Innovative
2016 Indie RPG Award Nominee Best Production
2016 Indie RPG Award Nominee Best Support
2016 Stockholm Scenario Festival Featured Selection
2015 Fastaval Nominee Best Jury's Special Prize: Model Protectorates
2014 Fastaval Nominee Best Storytelling: We Were WASP
2014 Fastaval Nominee Best Roles: We Were WASP

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