The radio buzzed into life. Watts rolled over. He wasn't feeling it today. Last night had been a bit wild. There was an inauguration party for three of the new pilots. They were cocky and probably completely useless when it came to flying asteroid runs but he just couldn't resist a good party.
The wall of his dorm erupted in vibrant blues and greens as his daily objectives flashed up in a blurry haze. He could just make out the words "priority one" before letting out a groan. Today, really?
"TYRO" He shouted so loud that he felt a lash of pain across his forehead.
"How can I be of service today sir!" Chirped a robotic voice. The droid rolled into the room with a tray of orange juice and toast. Damn thing was far too enthusiastic.
"Hangover pills..." He murmured. The robot dispensed a small capsule into the orange juice and mixed it up with an automated utensil.
"Here you go sir. Though I do advise that the best cure for a hangover is moderation, as these will only mask the"
The robot stopped dead as Watts slammed down on a remote control. The damn things didn't come with a volume control but he'd got one of the tech guys down in sector 7 to rig one up. Came in handy.
He sighed and stretched out a little. They'd kick in soon enough. He paused his wake up routine when he saw the flashing red light on top of the robot. It was going berserk. With another sigh, he cranked up the volume.
"Emergency call from Mission Control sir!"
What did those jerks want? He'd been trying to block the words priority one out of his immediate consciousness.
"Captain Watts. Report immediately to debrief."
"What's the hurry?" He half-yawned.
"We have intercepted a distress call from Captain Walker. Report to debrief immediately for full objective update."
What had Walker done this time? That asshole was always getting into trouble, crying emergency at every possible chance. He'd had to bail that pussy out at least a dozen times. At least. Watts stumbled over to a panel on the floor. A mechanism rose around him. Slowly, a captain's uniform assembled around his body.
He crossed the bridge and walked over to debrief, taking a moment to pause and gaze out of a large, glass pane at Jupiter. You could never really get tired of the view, no matter what happened. Even on a day like today. Europa mission control was a crappy gig, but it had that going for it at least.
He slouched down awkwardly on the cold metal bench in debrief. Not like there was going to be an actual person stood here talking to him anyway. Bunch of anti-social jerks. A bright blue light flickered on a screen in the air in front of him. Too bright. A mysterious shadowy figure loomed on the screen, not showing its face as always. He was used to the drill by now.
"Captain Watts, this is Mission Control, preparing for debrief."
Watts sighed.
"Couldn't you just talk to me in my dorm? Don't really get why I have to always come out here just to have you speak to me in a different room..."
"Captain this is a serious situation. We ask that you prepare for next mission immediately."
"So what's all the fuss?" Asked watts, scratching himself awkwardly.
"We lost contact with Captain Walker the other day. He was dispatched to investigate the Dalia after we lost communication with the crew on board. We assumed he was dead, until we picked up an open communication from the ship. Now we are certain."
An audio clip played out through the room. The hangover didn't help, but those shrieks would've hurt in any condition.
"You are to investigate. We must find out what happened to Captain Walker. Assemble a team and report to Bridge Control when ready."
Watts stumbled out of the room. Who was he going to get to go investigate what he could only assume, from the horrible inhuman shrieking, was the portal to hell itself?
"I need to take a ship right now!" Came a shout from the lower deck.
There was a lot of commotion. A bunch of civilians were clamoring about a vessel where an officer stood on guard, miserably.
"Nobody can fly until we establish what happened to the Dalia, it's not safe."
The angry man spat on the floor with a snarl.
"I'm tired of all this talk. We want answers! Our families were on board that ship and now you're telling us the search and rescue needs rescuing?"
"I just can't allow it...it's not protocol..." Muttered the officer.
"To hell with the protocol!" Shouted the civilian. Others were rounding in on the officer. He was pretty outnumbered.
"It's okay Mike, they can take a ship!" Shouted Watts.
The officer looked up with a puzzled expression. Watts shrugged.
"Just so happens I'm putting a crew together to go see what's up with the Dalia. Need as many capable folks as I can lay hands on."
The officer frowned and glanced down at his feet. Watts knew the type. All about the protocol. Right now his brain was stuck in a loop of exploding protocols.
"Mission Control gave clearance to use a civilian crew?" Said the officer, disbelief and suspicion in his voice.
Welcome to Labyrinth IV: Through Oblivion! This is the fourth installment in the "official" Labyrinth series.
To those who've played Labyrinth before, I don't really need to say much else but I'll give a brief rundown for people who haven't. Labyrinth is a board game in which a group of people are placed inside a huge maze-like dungeon. Using their wits and whatever they can find, they must work together to beat the dangers of the Labyrinth and escape alive.
The real danger however is not the Labyrinth itself, but the prisoners inside it...
As an individual player, you only ever see the contents of your room as you explore the dungeon. You can communicate openly with people in your room through each 24 hour game "phase", but what is happening elsewhere in the maze remains a complete mystery.
The Labyrinth itself is deadly, filled to the brim with death traps, monsters who hunt your every move, life threatening challenges and lots of other players, each with their own agenda. To survive you have no choice but to work together, but only a handful will make it out alive.
Known now for it's atmosphere and sense of immersion, the game is an experience which will suck you in. Everything is anonymous, there are no sign up sheets and all players must play a character in strict alias. External discussion is completely forbidden, making the isolation of the Labyrinth even more extreme.
I'm pushing for the game to start around the end of April, giving a couple of months for people to apply and come up with characters. I'll be posting an official application form shortly.
Quick note about characters: I do have a set of defaults if you don't want to come up with your own. Any characters you do come up with may have to be altered to help with the plot and setting of the game. I like to keep it consistent.
The game is set around 200 years after the events of Labyrinth 3 (the future part), so bear that in mind. In real time that's about 2250 AD. Characters can be as creative as you like, but try to keep the setting in mind. In any case if I have to modify, I'll discuss the changed character before giving it to you.
Remember that this is all completely alias. There are no sign up sheets, and it needs to remain a mystery who you're playing, so keep your character to yourself.
I'm ready to take applications. Posting this here first before I open up the forum and circulate. There is a preset player limit which is mildly flexible, though not greatly. As a result of this, I can't take on absolutely every application and if things get tight, I might have to make cuts. Please don't be offended if that's the case.
I'll be taking on applications until around the start of April, giving me time to prepare with a finalised player list. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can make adjustments if the characters have to be modified, prepare the avatars and so forth.
I haven't posted much in the way of game mechanics yet for people who haven't played before. All of this will be posted up on the forum when it opens, along with some new features unique to this game.
In terms of commitment, this is a long game. Each game "phase" lasts 24 hours real time. Lab 2 lasted 57 phases and Lab 3 hit Phase 72. Based on the setup, I'd estimate about a 90 phase game, which is 3 months of real time.
I do need active players, since inactives really hold this game up. That being said, players don't need to be hyper-active. Just checking the board once every phase or so should generally be enough. Last game had some pretty long threads during the busy phases. I'm rectifying that issue this time around by allowing the discussion to span over multiple threads during a phase, with all host updates in a single "announcement" thread. I'm also going to post brief summaries for people who don't have time to trawl through flavour.
Also bear in mind that if you die in the game, you're locked out. It sucks, but it spells an early end to the game. The vast majority of players won't last the full duration. This game is going to be much more brutal than the last in terms of body count.
Please keep application and character details anonymous. You can send your application through to me via any source whatsoever.
Email: paulus2@hotmail.co.uk
AIM: paulus2r
Skype: pon_vaulus
A PM on here is fine too.
application form
Character Details
Labyrinth is entirely anonymous. Everybody has to play a character they will be posting in the game as. There's no penalty for posting out of character, but please keep your identity private throughout the game. The game tends to work better when people stay in character, but that's not heavily enforced.
Character details may be altered to fit with the setting of the game. If there are any alterations, I'll discuss them with you first. Characters will typically be adjusted for tone and realism. It's a fictional world, so real people or pre-existing characters will typically be cut. Non-human characters will also typically be cut. There have been notable exceptions to this in past games, and may be again. If I really like the character, I'll try to make it work no matter what.
Don't feel constrained too much by the game's setting and the plot of the prologue. It's fun to have a variety of different characters, it makes the game more vibrant.
If characters have to be altered in any way, your application won't be penalised.
Please provide the following details for your character:
Opt-out: You can choose to opt-out and not specify details. In this case I'll create a character for you. If you choose to opt-out, please specify a gender(s) for the character you want to play as. Name: Your character's Name. Avatar: A picture of your character. This will form your in game avatar. It's not very restrictive, but if I can't make the image match the style of the game I may have to alter it slightly. Background: A brief summary for your desired character's backstory. Nothing major. A single paragraph should work fine.
Gameplay Information:
This is to explain a bit about how you'll play. I put a section in for "best game" because I like to be able to see how people have played in the past, which helps the application process a fair bit. Give as much info as you can here.
Your best game: A brief explanation of your proudest game performance, along with details. A link to the game would be helpful. Why you want to play: A summary of what makes you interested in playing this game. Activity Level: Explain how active you think you'll be. As mentioned, it's not critically important you're hyper-active, it just helps to know. Gameplay Style: How do you play games in general? How do you intend to play this one?
Contact Address:
I need a point of contact to get in touch before the game starts. Make sure it's something you're likely to check, so I can get hold of you in a timely fashion. This can be an instant messenger account, a forum you post on or an email address. As long as it's a reachable point of contact, it's fine.
Further Entertainment
> Forum Games Archive > 1. Labyrinth > Labyrinth IV: Through Oblivion > Labyrinth IV: Through Oblivion
