ONE LAST FIRE is a game about what has been lost in the past, what we may lose in the present, and what we may make of the future, where players explore a Library which is bound to burn unless they can figure out why and how it will be destroyed. It is then up to them if they choose to stop its destruction.

It is based on the ransacking and burning of the Library of Alexandria, once one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was considered to be one of the most significant repertoires of knowledge cultivated by humankind. Through the annals of history, it is known as one of the most tragic recorded losses of knowledge.

The emphasis of this game is on historical mystery and suspense. At game start, players will not have all the information they need to discover why the Library keeps being destroyed. They must discover the reason (s) through exploration of the Library itself, interactions with NPCs, and reflection on their own connections to Libraries.

ONE LAST FIRE encourages players to explore ephemerality, the meaning of being human, and the significance of knowledge.

Introduction

The world of the game takes place in multiple incarnations of a Library across time. This can best be described as a series of planes within the same timeline. Within each plane, the Library is set to burn/be destroyed, albeit in different ways. The player characters are among a select few guests of the Library who can travel across different incarnations. Because of this, they also possess knowledge of the Library’s doomed future each time.

Each time the player characters fail to prevent the library from burning down, they are transported to a separate existing incarnation of the Library. These incarnations are far from identical, occurring at different points in time and in different geographic locations.

Some example aesthetics of different incarnations are:

• learned scholars seeking to collect, transcribe and preserve the books of disappearing jungle libraries;

• a group of school children being led on a school tour of a modern urban library filled with tactile, kid-friendly exhibits and smiling staff;

• a gothic cathedral style library with stained glass windows and flying buttresses that is silent except for the occasional sounds of rattling gun fire and the explosion of air bombs shattering stone and mortar;

• a cramped library turned book shop with narrow aisles of bookcases on the verge of toppling over and the soft hum of music echoing through the stacks

As this is a historial game, we would like for libraries to borrow from a diverse range of cultures and time periods, however we do not plan to make reference to real world figures, religions or movements.

The Setting

Library Incarnations

ONE LAST FIRE is the Society Game for Michaelmas term 2021 and will run into the first half of Hilary term 2022. It will be run on a Discord server similar to Romancing the Toaster, Starstruck, Emporium and other online-only games run in 2020 and 2021. Throughout the game, players will ‘fall’ into different incarnations of the Library.

All downtime actions will take place in a library of some description, but emails may take place in an in-between space known as their ‘Personal Libraries’. All messages over Discord are interpreted as in-person interactions while emails represent letters/messages physically written to other players.

The game will run on Tuesdays from 7-10 pm, starting in Week 4 (2nd November) and run for eight sessions. There will be a break for the winter holidays after the fifth session on the 30th of November with ONE LAST FIRE resuming on Tuesday, 11th January. The eighth and final session will run on 25th January.

Details

Next Steps