Pre-Game FAQ

Subject: Final Notes Before The Doctor When Game

Hello, gamers! We of the Doctor When Game Control team are delighted that you will be joining us for this unique puzzling experience.

This email is our last "out of character" communication we'll send to you, and so a good opportunity to clearly state a few final pieces of information and advice to help you have the most fun. So please make sure all members of your team read this, not just the team captain.

SAFETY FIRST

As always with a Game, safety is of utmost important, especially in an immersive game like this. So please be careful and don't let the excitement of the moment ever cause you to take risks.

ROLEPLAYING DURING THE GAME

• From the moment you arrive both you and we will be in character. There is *no* onsite intro. This is the intro!
• However, if at any point you want a GC member to step out of character (perhaps to answer a question) just say "time out" and we'll gladly oblige. (But we think you probably won't need to ever do that.)
• Understanding the story as it unfolds and thinking through its internal logic may help you with various challenges. And we hope that following the story is fun for you, too!
• This is a non-competitive game (with one or two isolated exceptions). No scores or times will be posted or even recorded. So "stop and smell the roses"!

PUZZLES AND ACTIVITIES

We really tried to push the boundaries of puzzles. Sure they're great puzzles all by themselves. But we labored to make them not just fit into our story, but actually move the story along. Because of that

• Some "puzzles" don't solve to simple words or directions.
• There is no standard format, data entry device, or way that all the puzzles will end--it will depend on context. A puzzle may be "accomplish task X" or "find out information Y."
• There will be a variety of ways you get your puzzles and submit your answers.
• But don't worry--we will always make it clear when you have a challenge to overcome and what that challenge is. On the other hand, how you overcome it may be less clear...
• Some story text and theatrics are purely used to drive the story and don't contain elements useful for solving the next challenge.
• On the other hand, some story text and theatrics (and previous puzzles) do contain elements useful for solving the next challenge. (Don't worry--we've tested it and it all makes sense in context.)

THINGS TO BRING

In addition to the standard puzzling gear, your team should bring:

• cassette tape player
• Mobile smartphone with way to pick up emails on the go

and, of course,

• your brilliant, brainy, adventurous, creative, playful spirits!

THINGS TO DO BEFORE THE GAME

Please print out the attached waiver and completely fill it out before the game.

Thanks from the Doctor When GC!

Subject: Re: Conveying our conceit to the players

The week before the game, we would send the teams an out-of-character email,
where we would say things like (this is a super-brief summary)

* make sure all the players (not just the captains) read this!!
* safety is really important, especially in an immersive game like this
* stuff about role-playing - we'll try to be immersive, but call "time out" if you want to step out-of-character, are getting frustrated, etc.
* Understanding the story as it unfolds and thinking through its internal logic may help you with various challenges. And we hope that following the story is fun for you, too
* Also, there's no intro.  This is the intro.  The moment you arrive, the in-character event is running.
* this is mainly a non-competitive game; we encourage you to enjoy the flavor elements (and sometimes they'll be important for the puzzles too!)

 STUFF ABOUT PUZZLES, in which we would say things like:

We are experimenting with many things, and most puzzles won't follow a
mechanism of "GC member hands you an envelope with your team's name on it
and the title Puzzle #4".  We're trying to make our puzzles flow with the
story, which has many possible implications, such as

* We have "puzzles" that don't solve to simple words or directions.
* There is no standard "end" to a puzzle in this game - it will depend on
* context.  A puzzle may be "accomplish task X" or "find out information Y"
* We have flavor text and preamble text that is purely used to drive the
* story and doesn't contain elements useful for solving the next challenge.
* We have a variety of delivery mechanisms, both for teams getting puzzles
* and submitting answers.
* Puzzles are not all "self-contained". Information from previous puzzles or
* previous flavor elements may be secondary hints or even primary information
* for solving a later challenge.

I believe that being direct about this is the best approach because it's
likely to lead to the least confusion.  (There will still be some, but we
want to minimize it.)  I think the "let players figure it out" path is too
dangerous.  I vote for making it clear up-front that we have a free-flow,
immersive, unorthodox, non-standardized approach to puzzles and answers.

this is not a race; there is no prize; your pace will sometimes be controlled by GC; the story IS the experience, advanced step-wise by puzzles; and it will be clear when you've been given a goal, and what that goal is.

We will always make it clear when you have a challenge to overcome. How to overcome it may be less clear, but the goal itself will be clearly motivated ("help us do X"). Example: after players have solved a challenge and are watching a plot video, there aren't puzzles hidden in the video (because there's no outstanding challenge at that point).