Synergon, the Office RPG
"I'm going to have to consult with Bob Loblaw about this."
Have you ever wanted to find out what life would be like as a soulless cubicle drone grinding out 12-hour days in some dreary office building with neurotic and irritating co-workers? Yeah, me neither. But pretending to be one for a few hours could be fun and hilarious.
Synergon is a free RPG that was published by a mysterious group known only as “The BLARP Consortium.” Their manifesto suggests that business people using made-up business jargon and pretending that all their blustery marketing meetings and nonsensical sales charts actually have meaning are no less absurd than people running around hitting each other with foam swords. In fact, it’s much worse because BLARPers (Business Live-Action Role-Players) don’t realize that it’s all make-believe.Imagine wearing your fake armor and carrying your foam sword on the subway ride home.
To be frank, I’m not sure Synergon would be much fun to play. The tag line (“Where dreams come to die”) is brutally appropriate but hardly enticing. I get the impression the creators didn’t necessarily intend for this to be the game you gather for to play every week over beers and Doritos. As a work of satire, however it works brilliantly.
I don’t want to ruin the joke by overexplaining it, so you should just head over to the Synergon site and read through the rules. Looking at the cliches and misadventures of office life within the context of a D&D-like RPG is hilarious fun, especially the status effects. And if you and your friends happen to be game-loving office drones yourselves, it might lighten the drudgery a bit if one of you comes back from a meeting groaning, “They played Move Up Deadline on me, and countered by Blame with a Belittle. Is it five o’clock yet?”
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