From Zuhayri Mohamed comes Experimental Masquerade, where you play as co-workers in a lab who, after being invited to a masquerade party, transform into their costumes. It asks what you will do when given a chance to embrace a new form in a liminal space, away from the stifling rules and established hierarchies of the lab. All you need to play is a way to keep track of your character!. No GM is required, and I’d suggest this for groups of 3-5 people. Experimental Masquerade is available on Itch for $5.00USD [here].
You begin by creating the laboratory itself, the place where mind-blowing discoveries are made, and personal progress is something like a dream. Where the Lab is filled with rules and procedures, the Party is filled with a surreal feeling of freedom. There’s a short series of questions meant to guide creation for each – these won’t take long, and answers will be as varied as your group! The third part of creation is your characters. There are questions provided, some specific to the Lab and then a second set that you answer before heading to the Party.
The game is divided into two phases: the Laboratory, and the Party. There are prompts associated with each location, and each player has a chance to choose a prompt for the table to engage with. I thought the prompts for each section were interesting, giving the opportunity to build up the Lab and the relationships with co-workers there in a variety of ways. Those for the Party challenge the relationships and established norms of the Lab phase, urging players to consider what their characters do in a temporary space allowing them to explore their desires. The game ends when everyone has had a chance to introduce at least one prompt from the Party phase.
I really enjoyed the prompts in this game, and the vastly different environments introduced! I think there’s a lot of fun to be had in a masquerade party where people know they’ll be turning into their costumes. Especially contrasted to the formality and rigidity of the lab.
As with any game, establishing table boundaries is integral, and to ensure the enjoyment of everyone at the table a discussion about the kinds of behaviours allowed at the party should be had. Additionally, while the game suggests determining whether people remember the events of the party at the end, I would float the option to make that decision ahead of time, just so that players don’t have their characters let loose when they wouldn’t have if there was any possibility of people remembering their actions (and who they were).
Experimental Masquerade comes in at four well-organised, easy to follow pages. It’s exceptionally clear in its explanations and any question I had was either answered immediately, or in the next section. It is also printer friendly, which is a definite bonus for those who prefer not to read off screens, or who are playing in-person. There is also a digital toolkit available for those playing online, which I thought was quite a thoughtful addition. I can easily see this being played as a conversation around a living room table and take a lot of joy from that – I hope to play this in-person someday!
Like this review? Want to help the Cauldron keep on bubbling? Become a Cauldron Companion on Ko-fi or Patreon!
The Cozy Cauldron 