what is this game about?

CityBirds transform how you look at the city in a quite literal way by turning you into a bird that can travel to the future. This ability of travel is granted to you and your fellow travellers by a wise bird that needs help interpreting his observations of the future. The goal of the citybirds is to spread their wings and help the wise bird look beyond its own limited vision.

gameplay

For the game to be played a gamemaster is required. This person will guide the game and ensure that the narrative that players will build themselves can emerge. Within the contents of the game a script and cards representing citybirds of Eindhoven is given. It is highly encouraged to tailor these cards to represent the birds that live in your own urban area. 

The game starts off with safety instructions, as is common in role playing games. Players will pick a card which represents the bird they will transform into. To get into the character a small workshop is done to practice bird noises. After the player knows what bird they will become they are asked to write down a memory of their birdlife. 

In the next phase of the game preparations are made for travelling to the future. Players will roam the park for materials to create a birdsnest.  The nest will be a circle in which the futuring scenes will take place. Each scene contains two elements to inspire the players for their improvisations of the future they see. These are future cards and the memory cards., The future cards are observations made by the wise bird from earlier travels. The  memory cards are those written by the players in the beginning and are hidden within the nest.

The game ends when the memory cards run out. This makes the total gameplay shorter than other nordic larps. A script is given to connect all parts of the game to one another but can be  deviated from at any point.

Made by: Pauline van Tilt

instructions

To play it is advised to print the booklet single sided and to cut out the player cards. You can download the booklet here.

The player cards consist of:

• Bird cards
• Memory cards and future cards
• Empty cards are also included on which you can write extra scenarios for future cards.