The end of Mothership Month draws ever closer and with it has come the end of Sam Sorensen’s OVER/UNDER, a combi-wargame and massive community play-by-post RPG set aboard the early days of Prospero’s Dream station. Whilst it’s safe to say that MM25 has been quite a crazy time here for us, OVER/UNDER was truly its own beast.
Those who have participated in PBP events before might be aware that what starts as an empty room can quickly sprawl into its own living space complete with spiralling storylines, a pretty unique cast of characters and no small amount of drama. OVER/UNDER was not immune to any of these factors and - being set in the already thriving background of the Dream - was perfect for generating a chaotic descent into channel-separated madness.
What is OVER/UNDER?
The premise of the game itself was relatively simple. Several factions (the Local Union, Golyanovo II Bratva, the Solarian Church, etc.) headed by their respective bosses were to amass intelligence, raise armies and battle for total control of the Dream. This was an evolved version of Cataphracts, a game by Sam Sorensen that I highly recommend you checking out the rules of.
However OVER/UNDER added an extra detail - the players.
Beneath the faction bosses were the Denizens, typically unseen footsoldiers in Cataphracts war now individually replaced by a player dwelling within the Dream. Bosses would be required to tax blocks, summon up armies from these Denizens and sally them forth for control of other further blocks. Denizens on the other hand would receive a wage from their faction of choice, pay the oxygen tax to stay out of Doptown (the Dream’s cold and dark substation slum) and decide whether betrayal or loyalty were on today’s cards. (I highly recommend reading Sam’s blog on the rules if you’re interested in just how this all functioned!)
Of course, this minor extra detail had a relatively large impact.
The Players
Anyone arriving late to OVER/UNDER would find themselves stepping into a thriving and bustling city. The Blocks, the initial entry point, were typically a buzz of pandemonium inspired by whatever daily news or factional war had occurred - or sometimes simply because they just were.
The Market, by contrast, was its own creature entirely. Services both real and fictional offered for the hard-earned credits of existing Dreamers varied from PR to ‘delivery’ to banking and estate control. This was, to begin with, where the idea for Mop Squad first made its debut with myself and a few people who’d been interested from the get-go.
Most notably this brought out community artists whose contributions changed the face of the game immediately, providing character headshots (like the one later in this blog), scene views and a variety of other fantastic things.
Beyond these two lay a host of other locations - the Stellar Burn (the Dream’s bar and relaxation lounge), the factional channels where Denizens of each faction congregated and later the Public Works, where new ideas were given actual form and thrown out into the digital world.
Mop Squad
It’s hard to actually describe why there was a need for a janitorial crew in OVER/UNDER. Things do not get dirty in virtual space.
A mixture of experience with other PBP forums and too much time in janitorial sci-fi games definitely helped, along with a need to see the less serious side of something like Cleaning Crew whilst writing it. However, with a little time, the Squad had amassed 20+ members and had become a relatively common presence throughout OVER/UNDER.
Mop Squad’s primary way of making money was not, as one might expect, cleaning. Instead there was a healthy business in being anonymously paid to toss buckets of water over various Dreamers, a service which quickly grew to be more and more present.
Neither Bosses nor the Dream’s richest were safe from such a service (something which became more apparent as the Squad grew) and the payments quickly became lucrative with more and more expanding contracts.
It’s important to note here that there was no official mechanic for this service. It was player-conceived, player-paid for and player driven. The reason I bring this up is that it represents what OVER/UNDER quickly became to much of its audience - a living space that thrived beyond the mechanics that had built it. Mop Squad was one service amongst many, janitors making their own survival out of a brutal war-torn station still now under siege.
Living and Learning from the Dream
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
-
The Tempest, William Shakespeare (and the Dream’s namesake)
Whilst OVER/UNDER came with its fair share of complications I think it’s more important to focus on its achievements. In one month it had not only created a community of entirely new characters genuinely living out daily lives aboard the Dream, but a community of people who would put in hours of their day (including some less than healthy sleep schedules) to make other people’s experiences more vibrant.
My time playing as Joe, pseudo-leader of Mop Squad and vaguely disgruntled janitor was no different. Whilst it took up a lot more of my time than I might’ve initially planned, it was worth it just to see the happiness that it brought to the community.
And, when OVER/UNDER came to an end only a few hours ago, people both mourned the loss of those characters and celebrated the time that they’d had.
Mop Squad was - if anything - a symptom of a very strange happening. A wargame had essentially become a miniature world, one which made it more challenging to deliver the war element.
It was one of many microcosms - a war now being fought with gallons of water rather than block raids. Others were waged financially, even more artistically.
I hope to see the return of OVER/UNDER or something similar in future years with planning to account for the inclement chaos that comes with any play-by-post scenario. As a first time Mothership creator it opened my eyes to the community.
And I got to play as a janitor.
Joe the Mop by d20plusmodifier.
