Two Giant Leaps

It's been several cycles since your species made initial contact with the first alien species. And yet, so far none of your civilization's best and brightest have been able to bridge the seemingly incomprehensible communication gap. Despite the risks, it's time for a more direct approach: meeting on a neutral planet and attempt to form a positive first impression face-to-face, in the same space.

Two Giant Leaps is a freeform game about first contact between two species despite a major communication barrier. It's also a game about empathy, perspective, social norms, building trust, and platonic touch. You'll take on a role of a member of a group attempting direct first contact, responsible for setting the tone in what may be the most significant event in your species' history. You don't need to get it perfect, but you do need to open your mind to the possibility that a species could think, act, feel, and behave very differently from you and your society.

Two Giant Leaps was selected and featured at the Make A Scene Festival 2023.

Long Description

Two alien species make first contact on a planet foreign to both of them, only to discover they have significantly different means of perception and ways of socializing. As a member of one of the species, you desperately need to find common ground. Both species have mastered technology necessary to safely interact physically without any fear of biological contamination. In a series of encounters, you will attempt to accommodate each other’s ways of thinking and interacting by creating a common form of movement and touch-centered communication.

Two Giant Leaps is a game about overcoming gaps between different ways of thinking, sensing, and socializing. The game utilizes simple, dance-like motions as improvised language. In between cross-species encounters, members of each species will be able to reflect, discuss, and plan. Through a sci-fi lens, players explore themes of human connection, social communication, and various types of empathy, performed with roleplay, movement, and platonic touch.

This game’s setting and play builds on lessons learned from disability and neurodiversity activism. It is for 6 to 16 players for about 3 to 4 hours, including the workshop and debrief. Players will be making physical touch in platonic ways, which will be practiced in the pre-game safety workshop. Social faux pas and miscommunications are a core part of the experience. The rules and workshop will include means for accommodating differences in physical ability. Default allowed touch includes hands, arms, shoulders, upper back, and side-to-side contact, and will be workshopped. Other types of touch are opt-in only and will be reviewed together. Species and characters will likewise be workshopped and created at game.

COVID SAFETY: It's so difficult to predict exactly when surges will hit. This game is listed as mask-optional, but your GM will be watching hospitalizations and wastewater numbers, and will require masks should numbers go too high. In that case, at least a few weeks' warning will be done before con, and all registered players will be consulted first. Special considerations may be given for any player who has any particular additional health risk. Your understanding about this is greatly appreciated. Con policy is that games cannot have safety measures reduced, only increased, so this is the best option to account for the unpredictable situation.

Two Giant Leaps was chosen and featured at 2023's Make a Scene Festival, and run at Intercon V.