"The Hot Seat"
This is a game about corporate culture and interviews, with a genre premise to exaggerate the satire.
An example premise is detailed below, but reskin options abound, provided the hiring firm has
•	A ruthless promotion/demotion process, based on arbitrary criteria
•	Unpleasant truths for “accidental” revelation by interviewers
•	Minimal concern for the well-being of its employees
You will need two or more interviewers representing a firm looking to hire, one candidate representing job-seekers applying for the position, an opaque bag called The Verdict, and three different colors of tokens (dice or poker chips’ll do in a pinch).

Candidate
You will portray job-seekers eagerly interviewing at a well-regarded law firm.
When asked about your background, experiences, and skills, you can either:
•	Answer however you’d like.
•	Panic and flee the interview room, returning as a completely different job-seeker, answering the question in your new persona.
o	Be sure to tell the interviewers anything noteworthy or distinctive about this new job-seeker.

Interviewers 
Tapewood, Scrimshaw, and Scry-Wyrm, PLLC is a well-regarded law firm, with clients ranging from Mumbai movie stars to Manhattan moguls. It is also a thinly disguised front for the demon-lords of the abyss, AKA Those Below, actively working to corrupt and destroy humankind. As Partners, you’ve fused with increasingly-powerful demons for insight and power, and claimed dozens of souls for your employers. 
Those Below have aggressive goals for expansion this year, so you need to fill this position quickly. The interview room has a concealed ritual circle – refreshed with blood weekly – so anything said within can only be repeated with your permission. Use your best judgement, but speak freely as needed.

Firm Agenda
•	Obtain souls via tricky contracts
•	Corrupt influential people
•	Imminatize the eschaton
Jargon
•	abstraction - the extraction of the soul via signed contract
•	benefits - massive salaries and demonic powers
•	coaching - direct, usually harrowing, interaction with Those Below
•	partnership - corrupting influential clients
•	intensive training - fusion with a demon
•	the board - Those Below
Unpleasant Truths
•	Success at the firm requires fusion – mind, body, and soul – with demons for insight and power.
•	Punishment is brutal, ranging from lost memories to outright consumption by Those Below.
•	Compensation and bonuses are based on souls acquired and communities destroyed.

The Interview 
You interview candidates by asking questions about job requirements, and adding tokens to an opaque bag, The Verdict, for whether you think they are a good fit.
You also take tokens, representing your feelings about the candidate, which determine consequences after the interview.
Tokens
    C	Contempt: cynicism, apathy, laziness; Those Below will do whatever they please
    +	Approval, optimism, positivity; this is the right candidate for the job
-	  Disapproval, worry, negativity; this is the wrong candidate for the job

Take turns reading these lines aloud:
“Tapewood, Scrimshaw, and Scry-Wyrm, PLLC provides leveraged solutions for our clients and their communities, leading the way toward a brighter future."
"We're here to determine whether you’re a part of that future."
"We’ll hold this conversation in strict confidence."
"We're certain you'll do the same in return."

Briefly introduce yourselves.
•	The first to claim it has a special senior title beyond Partner…
o	Take one + token.
•	Anyone else can claim an area of expertise…
o	Take one - token.
•	Anyone who doesn’t claim either…
o	Take one - and one contempt token.
Job Requirements
•	Healthy
•	Focused
•	Self-aware
•	Strong-willed
•	Willing to travel
•	Attentive to detail
Take turns asking the candidate questions addressing Job Requirements. Choose one:
•	A leading pointless gimme question…
•	has an easy and obvious answer, and demonstrates your relative disinterest in due diligence. 
o	Add a + token to The Verdict, take a contempt token

•	An actually important question…
•	carefully addresses the requirement, and measures whether the candidate is a good fit. 
o	Add a + or - token to The Verdict, take a token of your choice, discard a contempt token

•	An unintentionally revealing question…
•	addresses the requirement, but partially reveals an unpleasant truth about the firm. 
o	If they don't flee, add a + token to The Verdict, and take a token of your choice.
o	If they do, empty The Verdict, add a + token, and take a contempt token.

When all job requirements are addressed:
"Do you have a final question for us?"
Answer however you'd like, then move on to The Verdict.

The Verdict  
Decide what you think of the candidate, and take the corresponding token from what you have in front of you in your left hand.

Ask the candidate:
"Do you want the job?"

If no, inform them of the ritual circle and its consequences, and dismiss them. 
•	Without the candidate's help, Those Below’s goals go unmet, and all interviewers not holding a contempt token are devoured. Only the cynics survive. The game is over.

If yes, reveal the tokens held in your left hands, and say what you tell Those Below about the candidate.
•	Regardless of the interviewer’s opinions, Those Below hire the candidate.
•	The candidate draws tokens from The Verdict, representing their performance over the coming year, placing one in each interviewer’s right hand.
•	Proceed to Exit Interviews.

Exit Interviews
The candidate has been with the firm for some time now, and their performance has profoundly affected their former interviewers, now their colleagues.
Play through scenes between the former candidate and all colleagues with matching combinations of tokens in their hands. 
Check the scenes in order.

Expectation (left hand)		Result (right hand)
[setting for the scene]
Brief summary of the scene
•	An important point to make in the scene…
•	&etc.

+	+
 [The firm's equinox party, several drinks into the evening]
What a grand few months! The candidate has been impressing clients and Those Below alike.
•	Believers in the candidate’s potential have been rewarded (new titles?) for their keen insight!
•	Boast about recent successes!

-	+
 [A glass-walled conference room] 
The candidate explains the following:
•	The candidate is being promoted due to excellent performance (new title?). 
•	After underestimating the candidate's potential, Those Below have concerns about the colleague’s judgement: they now report to the candidate. 

+	-
 [A client visit gone horribly awry]
•	The colleague is dying as a result of the candidate's mistake, and fading fast.
•	A free and open exchange of ideas and constructive criticism is permissible.
•	Continue until the colleague goes to their eternal reward, or the candidate leaves the scene. 

C	+
 [An elaborately inscribed conference room] 
The former candidate explains the following to their soon-to-be-former contemptuous colleague:
•	The candidate is being promoted (new title?) due to excellent performance. 
•	Due to apathetic performance, the colleague will now be consumed by Those Below.
•	The firm thanks them for their service.

-	-
 [A dingy basement conference room] 
The colleague explains the following to the former candidate:
•	Due to poor performance (feel free to elaborate), per contract, the candidate's soul will be abstracted and their memories cleansed of their time with the firm, after a final client visit.
•	A free and open exchange of ideas is permissible, albeit unnecessary.
•	The firm thanks them for their service.
 
C	-
[A client visit gone horribly awry] 
•	The candidate is dying as a result of their colleague's inattention to detail, and fading fast.
•	A free and open exchange of ideas and constructive criticism is permissible at this point. 
•	Continue until the candidate goes to their eternal reward or the colleague leaves the scene.