Seeking office horror stories

[jducoeur]

I seem to have accidentally wound up with the high concept for my game for Intercon next year. (As so often, it's all Christian's fault: he is always a font of game ideas.)

To that end, I am looking for any and all ideas for Drip -- the water-cooler horror game. It's going to be a vicious satire of All Things Office. The ideas are already flowing pretty quickly, but I welcome more: if you have character ideas, situations or just war stories about Office Life, send them along and I might work them in. Feel free to brainstorm wildly: weird and unlikely isn't necessarily a bar here. (Those who remember Panel will know how willing I am to get downright strange in my scenarios.)

(No, tpau, I'm not bidding it yet. Among other things, I haven't figured out the game's scope yet. It might be a one-hour 10-person Z game, a two-hour 20-person Sunday-or-Friday game, or a full four-hour 25-to-30-person slot. Once I understand how big the game is, I can think about bidding it...)

Comments

[jducoeur]

Halfway through the day, a small metal i-beam burst through the ceiling

Jeez -- that's essentially how my character in Edsel got killed for the first time. Scary to hear about a real-life version almost happening.

Lots of good ideas here: Muttering Lad practically writes itself, and the cube in the conference room has lots of potential for pain. (I'm already thinking about the "moving day" plot, with musical chairs of the cubicles.) Thanks!

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

More bits I am recalling:

The VPs (multiple VPs, company size < 25, bad sign) of the startup that was colocated with yours called a planning meeting, and insisted on a "Survivor" theme, complete with immunity necklaces, etc. We voted them all off the island, except for the VP whose idea it had originally been (who was really more like a lead developer).

Today I heard about a story where a brand-new server line of some expensive vintage was being deployed; a soon-to-be-ex-VP insisted that they "christen" the first model by breaking a bottle of champagne over it, while it was running. Despite engineers on standby with towels, the machine shorted and had to be replaced entirely. Oops!

[jducoeur]

(multiple VPs, company size < 25, bad sign)

Shades of Trenza: 25 employees, four of whom were "Director of Technology".

insisted on a "Survivor" theme

A *definite* possibility for Mandatory Fun.

a soon-to-be-ex-VP insisted that they "christen" the first model by breaking a bottle of champagne over it, while it was running.

Okay, that's a corporate version of the Darwin Award...

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

My dad actually dealt with an even worse version of this - construction outside screwed up, and dropped a concrete pillar on his boss's office, smashing the exterior wall down and destroying quite a bit of desk, computer, etc. But every surface was also covered in deep stacks of paperwork, and the rain was pouring in from outside...