Event Horizon: the megagame
A rescue fleet investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned... on board are the secrets to save the Earth and unlock the universe beyond.
In the near future, humanity has successfully colonized the Moon and Mars, and is venturing deeper into space. In the year 2040, state of the art starship Event Horizon was sent on a secret mission, but it disappeared without a trace beyond the planet Neptune at the outer rim of the solar system. The official story was that her engines malfunctioned, resulting in a loss that was considered the worst space disaster on record, with her entire 36-person crew missing and presumed dead in a cloud of fiery death. The economic ripples of the disaster disrupted the stability on Earth as the blame was passed around. In 2047, just as all-out war is about to erupt, the ship suddenly reappears.
The international space station for the outer planets picked up a heavily distorted distress signal which identified the ship as the lost Event Horizon. Since the ship had all the major Earth players involved, they called on their best vessels in reach of the outer planets to be diverted to take on this UN-led top-secret search and salvage mission. The Earth’s future is at stake. On board the fleet are military personnel, scientists, medical staff, technicians, and high-ranking officers who command each ship. On the Event Horizon, something is waiting for them.
The international search and salvage fleet consists of vessels representing different nations and corporate entities, all pooling together to salvage the starship, uncover its secrets, and compete for faction-specific and individual goals. Each player will take the role of one crew member in the search and salvage fleet and control their actions on board the fleet or exploring the Event Horizon. Each ship has its own distinct characteristics and specialties. Each crew member has been carefully selected with a set of skills needed for salvaging the Event Horizon and getting back to earth. No one plays a trivial role, and no one is expendable.
The game takes its name from one of the horizons surrounding a black hole, a shell of a point of no return – a region in spacetime beyond which future events no longer can be influenced. It will be a race against the clock for the teams to meet their competing objectives as individual crewmembers start to lose their grip on reality.
MegaGames are huge games with a bit of everything - role playing, combat mechanics, tech trees, bluffing, negotiation - but unlike most games they’re mostly driven by you, the player. The umpires, called the “Control Team,” will be on hand to answer questions and come up with rulings your creativity inspires. While you have agendas and goals laid out for you, megagames allow players to invent their own win conditions and pursue those as well.
What Kind of Megagame is it?
Event Horizon is a megagame with lighter board game mechanics and prominent elements of negotiation and roleplaying in a near-future space horror setting. The game is played across two rooms where the first room holds the fleet and the second room holds the Event Horizon. The game has severely restricted communication between rooms, and the claustrophobic setting leaves little room for the “grand scale of things” as each player is ultimately left alone to face what is on the Event Horizon.
You don't need any previous megagame experience to play this game. There are umpires called Control who will help you on the day so you can focus on having fun with the other players.
In terms of roleplay vs mechanics this is very much up to you as a player. This means that the problems you face can be handled through the game mechanics (spending dice from your dice pool) or through roleplay (talking to other players). No roles are more or less mechanical, and your personal playstyle will influence how you play the game on the day!
This is a megagame of sci-fi horror. This means that the game will push themes of paranoia and fear of the unknown. There are no (intentional) jump scares, but there will be times where you might feel uncomfortable and have doubts about what exactly is going on.
Event specifics
For this run, we're aiming on having a maximum player count of 48 players. The game will run for approximately 6 hours with plenty of breaks. You are welcome to sign up as groups and we’ll do our best to ensure friends play in the same team (a maximum of 8 players on a ship). If we do not get at least 15 players, we may be forced to cancel (and we’ll fully refund you). If you buy a ticket, please do your best to attend or find someone to go in your place. Having players no-show makes things very difficult for game organizers.
We are planning on having an “after party” immediately following the event at a local pub where we can all share stories from the day over a pint (not included in price).
For lots more information on our events, such as what to expect before the event, what you can expect on the day, please see our FAQ.
Policies & Procedures
Although there will be no explicit references to adult themes, there is a level of maturity required to understand the concepts and interact with other Adults for the long period of time. Due to these factors, the the minimum age requirement is 16.
The Dukes of Highland are committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. Harassment will not be tolerated and will lead to exclusion from the game without refund. Please read our code of conduct.
Refund Policy - We recognize that sometimes things come up and you cannot attend the event. If you can find someone else to go in your place - that’s fine by us - just let us know. If you can’t find anyone to take your place, we will offer a full refund if more than 10 days before the event (as it gives us a chance to resell your ticket).
If you buy your tickets within the 7 days leading up to the event, we will have already done team assignments so whilst we’ll do our best, we can’t guarantee that you’ll be on the same team with your friends.