The Epidemic

run by anna klein

They're calling it the 'Martian measles', if you get the version with the spots. It's 'star flu', if you get the version without. The experts in the news say that's rubbish, they say we can't know for sure it's come from Mars, or the moon, or anywhere off-earth. But if it hasn't, then where has it been all this time? Why has it only turned up now, now that the aliens are here?

Forty years ago, the aliens arrived, from across space, in large starships that have hovered outside earth's atmosphere, lazily orbiting, like a dozen new moons. They have mining on the moon, started colonies on Mars, and they brought technology and knowledge to the people of earth. For forty years, a tenuous and uneasy relationship has been fostered with these extra terrestrials. Some say they are friends, leaders, teachers, here to help raise humanity to new peaks of science and civilisation. Many others are suspicious of the aliens and their ways, of their knowledge and of their intentions.

 

And now, it seems, their fears were founded, as a disease unlike any other started spreading through the densely populated human cities, outstripping all human medical knowledge. The fatality rate is 90%. As the "star flu" trickles into a new city, fear and suspicion spread like wildfire, and most people are pointing fingers at the aliens, who seem unaffected by the disease.

 

The game takes place in a small town hospital, where the infected and their families are trying to cope with the reality of the epidemic, and a group of aliens, claiming to be doctors, have arrived to take charge of the situation. The game will focus on fear and confrontation. Mature themes.

Written by Anna Klein


 

Cast List

18 players (13 humans, 5 aliens)

  • Julian Judge, elderly community leader
  • Blaine Dewitt, an older local man, suffering from star flu
  • Morgan Sherwood, pillar of the community
  • Jamie Logan, local teacher, Morgan’s partner
  • Dr Remus Sherwood, long-time doctor at the hospital
  • Winter Campbell, alternative healer, Harper’s parent
  • Ash Knight, out-of-towner come to support family
  • Thisbe Elliott, a pregnant woman suffering from star flu
  • Dorian Elliott, Thisbe’s loving partner
  • Dr Icarus Barbette, newly graduated doctor under Dr Sherwood’s wing
  • Father John Pellegrino, serving the town parish for a mere three years
  • Miguel Blake, a young drifter, volunteer nurse in the crisis
  • Harper Campbell, a rebellious teenager

And a team of five extra-terrestrials claiming to be a medical team.

 

Game Details
Session: 5
Number of Players: 18 players (13 humans, 5 aliens)
Genres: aliens, modern, sci fi
Costume: Human characters are near-future small town America. 5 characters are high costume alien characters.