The Lost Cabin
I was searching the net on how to properly install a dead bolt when I remembered the mini-series “The Lost Room“. The Lost Room is a science fiction miniseries that aired on AXN in the Philippines. The series revolves around the mysterious “Room 10″ and some of the everyday items from that room which possess unusual powers.
I love the way the miniseries was concocted as though it was an idea for a game. The idea of the story is the Objects from Room 10 obtained somewhat unusual powers when the Room was exposed from the Event that happened at 1:20:44 p.m. on May 4, 1961. From that time on, Room 10 and everything in it vanished as though it never existed. But later during the years, some people began acquiring some Objects that came from the Room. These Objects have one common property: it’s indestructible. Some Objects lay dormant having no active powers, some are considered as weapons having destructible powers, like when wearing the Eye, it that can vaporise anything that it is stared at. New powers and properties can be obtained when Objects are grouped and used.
I noticed the acquired powers are somewhat randomized during the Event. Like the Coin that when swallowed can materialise a person dead or living as a real living person. Then the blank Polariod film can reveal the Room when directed at the vacant beside Room 9 of the Sunshine Motel outside of Gallup, New Mexico.
Logically “materialising” a person dead or living is like recalling the person when they were with us probably by watching a photograph or a video recording. Revealing the Room using the Polaroid is like beaming a flashlight on a dark room. And vaporising other objects is like burning it to ashes.
So I came up with an idea of a game for several players. It could be a card game, board game or a computer game I’ll call The Lost Cabin. There could be several versions of The Lost Cabin:
- A small cabin of an Oceanliner. Probably a small cabin on the Titanic.
- A ship’s cabin of the USS Elridge in 1942 during the Philadelphia Experiment
- A non-existent passenger cabin of a passenger train.
- A small mountain cabin in a thick forest.
The setup is simple enough:
- set the timeline as between 1900′s to 1930′s
- list all the objects that you can find in the cabin during that era
- describe each object for each general properties
- create a list unusual powers that you can come up.
For example, a few common objects that we can find in the 3 versions of cabins could be:
- a drinking glass – holds liquid
- a mirror – shows reflections
- a window curtain – hinders the view or darkens the room
A list of powers or abilities could be:
- telepathy
- levitation
- teleport
- hypnosis
- replication
Now, write each object on its own strip of paper, the properties on a separate piece of paper, and finally the powers or abilities on yet another piece of paper. Roll the small pieces of papers and put them on three containers: one for objects, one for properties, and one for abilties.
First draw a piece of rolled paper for the objects. For example we drew Mirror.
Then pick a piece of rolled paper from the properties. For example we got Holds Liquid.
Then finally draw a piece of rolled paper from the abilities. For example we got Replication.
With these three data, we could come up with an idea that if we hold the Mirror facing a waterfalls for example, the water stops flowing and looks like a vertically standing body of water. If we hold the Mirror towards the holder, the holder is replicated and a twin or perhaps several copies of the holder are materialised.
Now that we have a list of Objects, we create a card that has the Objects name, properties, and abilities. And probably some notes or instructions.
I am yet coming up on how the game is actually to be played but the objective of the game is for a person having most or all the Object wins the game.
Happy gaming!