The Night Market

Every ten years, the mysterious Night Market appears in the dark desert outside the Caliphate's palace city. It will disappear in the morning, not to be seen again for a decade. But for this one night, any mortal can enter the market and change their fate forever. The only question is: what will you give of yourself in return?

Long Description

In this game you may choose to play mortals from the Caliphate's court, seeking to change their fates in the Night Market; or you can play vendors, creatures who have lost their fates and are imprisoned in the market as wandering spirits, selling their wares.

Mortal characters have full character sheets, backstories, and motivations. They are invited to cut apart these character sheets and sell parts of themselves in order to get what they want in the market. Choose this role if you want more traditional larping goals, and desire to play with themes of passion, sacrifice, and loss of self.

Vendor characters have empty character sheets. They've lost themselves. Most of their past is forgotten or sold away. The only way to regain their humanity and leave the market is to be given bits of character sheets from the market's fresh mortal visitors. The vendors will be expected to perform their role in the Market, and barter fiercely for their freedom. Choose this role if you are okay with playing an NPC-like character with an expected game function, who starts with very little to work with.

Setting

The Night Market is set in a medieval 800s Levantine or Moroccan court setting (think the Palace of the Golden Gate in Baghdad or the Idrisid dynasty in Fez), but the game doesn’t focus on historical details in favor of a soft-focus, mythic tone. The mortals come from an extensive palace ruled by a Caliph, with accompanying gardens, fountains, courtesans, scholars, politicians, poets, artists, wives, and concubines.

The courtiers of the palace are offered little social mobility. Everyone is confined by a complex web of social, religious, or political expectations. But there is somewhere they can escape these shackles: the fabled Night Market, which is thought to be run by fearsome djinn, or a coven of witches, or strange desert spirits. No one's quite sure. But it's definitely magical and dangerous.

Mechanics

This is a mechanics-light game. Players will be given scissors and tape; when bartering at the market, they may cut away parts of their character sheets to give away, or take pieces of others' sheets and tape them to their own. The gamerunners encourage creativity and flexibility with this mechanic, and the Night Market focuses on interesting and dramatic story decisions before all else. There will be no combat.