• Third person, past tense except when contra-indicated for stylistic reasons.

• Communicate with other players before writing their characters. It’s expected that short speech and movement will be fine to keep things moving, but be happy to edit or rewrite when asked.

• Feel free to create and write NPCs but be aware that if you go too wildly off piste you will be reined in. And remember, we’re here to write with one another - this is a game that lives or dies on inter-character interaction!

• If you’re going to be absent please let us know if you can, and give us an idea of when you will be back. Understand that the narrator and other players will move your character about if it’s going to be otherwise difficult to continue during long absences.

A note on speed: Prior to the September 2016 ‘soft relaunch’ this game was designed to run very slowly. Going forward, players will be expected to be able to keep up a more constant pace. Please be prepared to aim for a post a week (or more often if you’re writing a back-and-forth with another player).

The set-up: you’re a performer (of pretty much any description - musician, dancer, comic, acrobat, etc). In your last memory of the real world you were at the brink of a dramatic death - accidental, through illness, murder - perhaps you were even taking your own life. You blacked out, and woke up in Le Jardin, a travelling Spiegeltent, with a bunch of other cabaret performers with the same story as yours. Nobody ages, nobody dies, nobody leaves - well, not often. Most folk eventually resume their careers on stage.

The tent moves from place to place (you have no idea how) gracing festivals and fairs all over the world and all through a 200-odd year patch of history (~1850-2050). You arrive, you do a run of shows, you move on.

The game’s been running pretty freeform ‘til now, with the plot revolving around interpersonal relationships and newcomers to the Cabaret. However, I’m planning to step up the plot (and the pace, which ‘til now has been very relaxed), and that seems like a good time to take on a few more players. The game will continue to have a strong thread of character development and a healthy dose of interpersonal drama, but is going to have a metaplot (mystery! danger! a bad guy!) to deal with as well, and will even have a progression toward some measure of conclusion!

I could support at least three more characters on cast (two of the present characters are mine and will be very much supporting cast as far as Plot is concerned). It is of course LGBTQAI+ friendly and diversity of all kinds is encouraged. We have a couple of ‘new kids on the block’ already so I’d prefer longer-standing residents of Le Jardin.

There’s a game website - it’s very small, but if you browse the top-level pages that will tell you a bit more about the set-up.

Any questions or notes of interest, please drop me a line or ask in the lobby. This will not be first come first served; we have an established cast so I’ll be looking for a good fit.

Character creation notes:

• All character Natures should be a Major Arcana tarot card. These are all listed in the pre-made cards. However, you are very welcome to make your own version with different card text and a different/more specific interpretation of the tarot - indeed, I would encourage it!
• It’s worth observing that some cards may not be appropriate for Natures in the long term. Consider your choice for your essential nature vs your choice of Subplot carefully. Cards like, for example, Death or The Tower may be more appropriate as Subplots unless your character is particularly unstable or tragic.
• Strengths, Weaknesses and Subplots can be any tarot card. These can be very flexible - Google for interpretations and stretch them as far as you like! Some examples are given but you can use any card in the deck including Major Arcana here if you wish.
• Please don’t duplicate the Nature card of any active characters. Strengths and weaknesses can be duplicates but please vary the descriptive text to differentiate from other characters with the same card(s). At time of writing the ‘taken’ Natures are The Moon, The Devil, The Hermit, The Hanged Man, Justice, and The Magician.
• The whole of the Art Nouveau deck used in the narrator-provided cards can be found here. You do not have to use this if you don’t want to, though it does give the game a lovely consistent aesthetic. :-)
• If you can, please do at least skim-read the game before applying. There are only six scenes.
• Please read the currently active character bios before applying to try to cut back on duplication. An original personality is more important than an original talent.
• Non-standard-format bios (3rd/1st person narrative, a short scene, epistolary etc) are encouraged! If you would like to write a creative writing bio just append any extra notes I need as a narrator in the comments when you apply.
• In the world you came from, you never saw any evidence of the supernatural being real, or had genuine supernatural abilities. No genuine spirit mediums or actual wizards please!