"The Hot Seat"
This is a game about corporate culture and interviews, with a genre premise to exaggerate the satire.

This game requires at least 3 players, an opaque bag, and 3 types of tokens, representing Approval, Disapproval and Contempt. As these tokens will be blind drawn from a bag later in the game it is best if they are all the same shape. 
Amongst the group one person will start as the Candidate, while the others will start as the Interviewers. The interviewers should choose and review one of the Organizations and familiarize themselves with it before beginning the interview process. The Candidate should be given only the name and a short description of the organization before beginning the first interview.
The game is played through two scenes, as follow:
•	The Interview – This is a conversation between the Candidate and two or more Interviewers. During this phase of the game the Interviewers will ask questions of the Candidate and based on their questions collect tokens and place tokens in the Verdict Bag
•	The Result – In this phase the Interviewers will each draw a token from the bag and run through a scene with the Candidate, showing the consequences of their hiring.
Once the Result scenes are concluded the game is over. Another game can be started at this point, letting one of the less fortunate Interviewers take on the role of the Candidate.

•	

Candidate
You will portray job-seekers eagerly interviewing at a well-regarded Organization, which you will be given the name of before beginning.
At the start of the interview the Candidate should declare any interesting, noteworthy or distinctive characteristics of this candidate that may be included on their resume or obvious from their appearance.
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, and restarting the interview from the beginning. 

Before beginning the round it may help to write down some simple details about your candidate, such as gender, race, past experience and any noteworthy characteristics, to help you get into the character rather than playing a slight variation of yourself.
•	

Organizations 
There are several sample organizations listed and described on the following pages. Each Organization follows the format shown on this page.
A short description of the organization as it is publically known and an explanation of their true nature 

Hidden Agenda
•	The goals of the organization, under their hidden secrets.
Unpleasant Truths
•	These are things that the Candidate really wouldn’t like to know beforehand. Dark and horrible truths about the Organization
Jargon
•	Term – Explanation
•	The Jargon Is should be used during the interview to conceal the Hidden Agenda and Unpleasant Truths
Job Requirements
•	Several requirements for the position. Each Job Requirement must be addressed during the Interview
“Corporate Slogan"

Tapewood, Scrimshaw, and Scry-Wyrm, PLLC 
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 judgment, but speak freely as needed.
Hidden Agenda
•	Obtain souls via tricky contracts
•	Corrupt influential people
•	Imminatize the eschaton
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.
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
Job Requirements
•	Healthy
•	Focused
•	Self-aware
•	Strong-willed
•	Willing to travel
•	Attentive to detail
“Tapewood, Scrimshaw, and Scry-Wyrm, PLLC provides leveraged solutions for our clients and their communities, leading the way toward a brighter future."

PeopleFinder™
This well-known web company makes most of its money through advertising while gathering copious amounts of information about their users. Still due to their impressive outward fun loving presentation the company is well liked and positions there are coveted. 
In reality they use this information to find and collect test subjects for experimental and highly illegal medical experiments and have ties to several dangerous paramilitary organizations. Any interviewee that doesn’t accept the job will likely find themselves immediately removed by some of PeopleFinder’s associate organizations.
Hidden Agenda
•	Obtain locations of valid subjects
•	Obtain data to identify valid subjects
•	Capture and deliver valid subjects
•	Create Super Soldiers for Paramilitary Groups
Unpleasant Truths
•	Due to the classified nature of their work anyone who leaves the organization, voluntarily or not, is subject to become a test subject or material.
•	The corporate promotion policy is strict and requires work in the Product Test Group.
Jargon
•	Core User – Potential Test Subject
•	Product Test Group – Those involved directly with the medical experimentation.
•	Invitation-Only Beta Group – Kidnapped Test Subjects
•	New Products – Administration of medical experiments
Job Requirements
•	Strong Willed
•	Self-Starter
•	Willing to Travel
•	Team Player
•	Understands the Big Picture
•	Willing to put in long hours
“PeopleFinder™ finds the best people and points them at the places they can help the most."

Johnson Corporate Consolidated 
This large multinational PR firm has an impressive track record and a strong caring image cultivated by their own internal PR Department. The President is a well liked person who regularly accepts TV Interviews and cheerfully answers questions. The company has even been seen refusing to take on work they feel doesn’t support their image.
Everyone at the company is always so happy… The majority of the high ranking executives 
Hidden Agenda
•	Make money.
•	Project a caring atmosphere
•	Harvest valuable organic components grown in employees
•	Wide scale implantation of High Value Assets
Unpleasant Truths
•	Internal PR is a complex computer system that replaces people with robotic body doubles and uses the employees to lure in more people to cultivate High Value Assets in.
•	Those in high positions are subject to Retraining if they have any public mishaps
•	Any new hire will be subject to brain washing almost immediately
•	Anyone in a lower position who has a public mishap may be harvested
Jargon
•	Retraining – Replacement of the original by a mechanical double 
•	Training – Organic component implanted to cultivate proper personality.
•	High Value Assets – Organic components grown in employees’ heads.
Job Requirements
•	Positive Attitude
•	Family Values
•	Strong Communication Skills
•	Willing to work long hours
•	Team Player
“Here at Johnson Corporate Consolidated if you’re what’s right for everyone we’re the right ones to tell them."

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
Contempt	Contempt: cynicism, apathy, laziness; The real bosses will do whatever they please
Positive	Approval, optimism, positivity; this is the right candidate for the job
Negative	Disapproval, worry, negativity; this is the wrong candidate for the job
Briefly introduce yourselves.
•	The first to claim it has a special senior title beyond Partner…
o	Take one Positive token.
•	Anyone else can claim an area of expertise…
o	Take one Negative token.
•	Anyone who doesn’t claim either…
o	Take one Negative and one Contempt token.
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 Positive 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 Positive or Negative 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?"

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 their imminent fate and dismiss them. 
At this point the Interviewers should reveal their chosen token and play out a scene showing their fate.
Ex. 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 The Real Bosses about the candidate.
Regardless of the interviewer’s opinions, The Real Bosses hire the candidate and play proceeds to The Result.
•	

The Result  
At this point the Candidate should be given an opportunity to read over the Organization so that they can properly play out the end of game scenes.
Each Interviewer has revealed their opinion of the candidate and the candidate must now draw a token from the bag for each Interviewer. This token represents their actual results. If it is a Positive then they have been successful in their new position. If it is a negative they have failed in their new position.
The candidate has been with the firm for some time now, and their performance has profoundly affected their former interviewers.
Play through scenes between the former candidate and all colleagues with matching combinations of tokens in their hands. (i.e. If two interviewers both chose Positive and the Candidate gave them both Negative tokens they will play one scene together.) While these scenes can be played in any order it is important that the Candidate not meet an unfortunate fate before each Interviewer has been given the opportunity to play their result scene.

Successful Candidate
Positive Interviewers
The Candidate and Interviewers have moved up and celebrate their shared success.
Negative Interviewers
The Candidate has been successful and is being raised up above the Interviewers who are punished due to incompetence, and now subordinate to him.
Contemptful Interviewers
The Candidate has been successful and is being moved up in the Organization. He is left to dismiss the Interviewer from the company, possibly in a horrific manner.
Failed Candidate
Positive Interviewers
The Interviewers who supported the candidate suffer dramatic, potentially deadly consequences due to his incompetence
Negative Interviewers
The interviewer expected these results and has come to settle the termination of the candidate’s contract. If there are still scenes to play this should be left with some period of continued work before meeting their ultimate fate.
Contemptful Interviewers
The candidate suffers dramatic, potentially deadly, consequences due to the interviewer’s lack of attention to detail.

Example Result (Tapewood, Scrimshaw, and Scry-Wyrm, PLLC)
Successful Candidate
Positive Interviewers
 [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!
Negative Interviewers
[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. 
Contemptful Interviewers
 [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.

Failed Candidate
Positive Interviewers
 [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 
Negative Interviewers
 [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.
 Contemptful Interviewers
 [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.