IN A WEEK OF SHARKS (IAWS) A GAME ABOUT SHARKS One person plays Vescor, a great white shark that is the ultimate predator conceived of by man or nature. Everyone else plays lesser sharks, or actual people. You should have more people than sharks. Over the course of the game, the people will have petty squabbles over things like local politics and beach safety, and then sharks will start eating people, and then someone will probably try to kill Vescor. But he'll come back. He always comes back. Randomly select four items from the List of Plot Elements. Those four plot elements will form the starting situation in your game. Elaborate on them, brainstorm as a group how they might fit together, and figure out who your player characters are. Figure out what the relationships between each character are, especially where they result in conflict. Decide who gets to play Vescor. If you play multiple sessions, a different person should get to be Vescor each time you play. Maybe if a person survived a previous game, they'll make a repeat appearance. When you play, take turns framing scenes. (Maybe you should expand this.) The player to the left of Vescor goes first. Describe what your character is doing and who they're doing it with. Look for opportunities where characters will come into conflict. (Future person, put a resolution system here for resolving conflicts. Don't use the system from In a Wicked Age, Apocalypse World, or any other Vincent Baker game. Maybe there's a spectrum of stats; the better you are at bureaucracy, the worse you are at not getting eaten by a shark. Sharks are terrible at bureaucracy.) If a person loses a conflict against another person, they suffer social problems. If a person loses a conflict against a shark, they get eaten. If a shark loses a conflict, they die if their opposition has the tools to kill them, or are chased off if they don't. When your character dies, you get to narrate your own death scene. If it's early in the session, introduce a new character based on the Plot Elements, or play someone who was previously an NPC. The first time a session that Vescor would die, Vescor instead takes some permanent Scar or damage. Write it down for posterity. The second time a session that Vescor would die, he is instead merely defeated. Narrate how it happens... but the body is never found. (Maybe people who survive multiple sessions also gain the ability to take Scars instead of dying.) At the end of each round of scenes, increase the Blood in the Water score by one. It starts at zero. Add the Blood in the Water score to all die rolls made by sharks. (Or something.) If the game reaches The Final Confrontation (how?) then ignore Vescor's Blood in the Water bonus. You have reached the purest battle of man versus shark. PLOT ELEMENTS (A good number would be 52 or 100, to assign to playing cards or a d100) *A child, stuck in a riptide, the parents blissfully unaware. *An abandoned pile of needles, carrying a deadly payload. *An alcoholic light house operator, suffering marital troubles and driven to grief. *An unprecedented summer storm front, bringing in strange sharks from foreign waters. *A coast guard helicopter pilot, suffering flashbacks from the traumatic incident. *A secluded tide pool, the illusion of safety. *A coastal restaurant, notorious for its off-the-menu illegal shark fin soup. *A sea captain, missing a limb and obsessed with revenge. *A shark tooth necklace, given as a symbol of love. *A big game hunter, after the most dangerous game of all: sharks. *A film crew produces a documentary about sharks, pushing the limits of safety in their pursuit of extreme journalism. *A sleepy resort town, dependent on tourism for its livelihood, and the biggest vacation weekend of the year. *A scientific experiment in tracking shark movements, funded by sinister backers. *An aging stunt man and daredevil, looking to regain his fame by jumping his motorcycle over a series of shark pools. *A sewage treatment plant, extruding waste into once pristine waters. *An ancient shipwreck, long thought lost, burdened with pirate gold, pursued by nefarious characters. *The mayor, seeking reelection, in the pocket of local business interests. *A tabloid photographer and his publisher, with a scheme to lure sharks for the ultimate headline. *The private yacht of a wealthy millionaire, where an uncomfortable confrontation is soon to take place. *A world champion surfboarder, who has vowed never to surf again, not since the incident. *A clandestine beach party in the dead of night. *A new housing development, and the residents, lacking flood insurance. *A shipment of piranha, to be sold as exotic pets for the wealthy. *A fishing trawler, swept away in a storm, far from friendly waters. *A crumbling hydroelectric dam, needing repairs, ready to burst. *A drug lord's estate, featuring multiple pools, one of them filled with pet sharks. *An airplane, flying through a storm, forced to make an emergency landing in dangerous waters. *A covert government research facility, where illegal genetic experiments are performed. *A Navy Seal, returning from war, to a home that is no longer there. *A boardwalk carnival, dominated by the ferris wheel, built by the lowest bidder. *An international shark-trafficking cartel, illegally smuggling sharks. *A marine biologist, coming back to town to deal with unfinished business. *A radical terrorist cell, planning to attack with a shark-delivered explosive device. *A party rages in the luxury suite at an ocean-side hotel, and about to get really out of hand. *The newly elected sheriff, looking to make a name for himself. *A leading international shark expert, renowned as the “shark whisperer.” *Two lifeguards, more intent on their romance with each other than on the swimmers they are sworn to watch. *A popular spring break reality show, the D-list celebrities willing to make any sacrifice to jump start their dying careers. *An oceanographer, having a key insight far too late. *An innocent shark, framed for murder by a brilliant serial killer. *A massive passenger ferry, loaded with cars and people, about to suffer a catastrophic malfunction, and understocked in terms of life-vests. *Heated words, revenge vowed, during a zoning board meeting. *A previously undiscovered species of prehistoric shark, unknown for centuries... until now. *A team of scuba divers, left behind and forgotten by a careless tour group. *A captive dolphin, filled with hatred towards its jailers, plotting revenge. *An off-shore oil drilling platform, with environmentalists calling for its decommission. *An actual shark with an actual laser mounted to its head.