Where's The Will ? an Interactive Drama Live Action Freeform Role Playing Scenario for 13 players (2 male and 11 female) written by Holly Yu, Maxine Perong, Danise Lee, and Tony Thamsir Written as an assignment in English Conversation, an English as a Foreign Language course taught for Minors by Dr. Brian David Phillips in the Department of English at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, Fall Semester, 1998. Copyright 1998 by Holly Yu, Maxine Perong, Danise Lee, and Tony Thamsir Introduction You are all related to the Takashimaya Insurance Company. Some of you might be the manager, some might be the workers, janitor, or the guard¡Ketc. But some of you are not in this company, for example, Christopher and Zoe are of the Toyata Insurance Company. It all began at a X'mas party. All of you were enjoying the X'mas party on the X'mas Eve. Mr. Takashimaya, the president of the Takashimaya company, was going to announce the next president for this company, for it was the time for him to get retired. But all of a sudden, he got a heart attack and fainted. Now the party ended in chaos. The next morning, the vice president, Julie, announces the bad news in the morning briefing ¡V the president is now in coma, and the will he made is gone !! Now all of you have to start the investigation task. Make every effort to find out who the thief is. You have to tell the truth unless you are the thief! Characters Teresa Nishimura Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You're a 36 year-old career woman, you have been working in Takashimaya Company for about 10 years. As one of the managers, you're very intelligent and good at persuading your boss and co-workers. You have brought a lot of fortune to this company. In other words, you have an excellent performance in this company. Betty is your best friend who also entered this company at the same time as you. You are married to Christopher, the President of Toyota Company. You know something about Catherine, just because you are her leader. She is in debt after losing a big amount of money in Las Vegas a few months ago. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : You are the THIEF who stole the President's plan, so you can tell a lie about that. Although you work really hard for the company and the boss appreciates your work, you know that Mr. Takashimaya is a traditional Japanese man, who prefers Charles to you, just because Charles is a man. Besides your husband, Christopher, is eager to merge the Takashimaya Company to expand his own company. If you can be promoted to be the next President of Takashimaya Company, his "merger dream" will be realized. Charles Yamamura Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are a nice, handsome, young man, you entered Takashimaya Company 2 years ago. You have had a good performance in this company. Because of that, the President of the company really appreciates what you've done. Both of you and Teresa are the managers in this company. But you always have a quarrel with her, and everybody knows that. Your girlfriend Zoe works in Toyota Company as the shift leader of Department of factory insurance . Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : Although you know you are appreciated by the president, you are still not so sure about the promotion, so you seduce Mrs. Takashimaya and have an affair with her, you use her to influence the President, so that you can be promoted soon. And you keep this secretly, even to your girlfriend, Zoe. But if she knows about this, you just say that, It's just a tactic... Betty Yamamoto Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are Teresa's best friend, and you also have been working in Takashimaya Company for about 10 years. You are very effective and energetic, so in 1995, both of you and Teresa won the "Best Employee" award , for your great performance in this company. You are beautiful and attractive. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : But after Charles entered this company, both of you and Teresa feel really insecure. And although you work hard for the company, you seldom get promotion, so you started to get jealous and dislike Teresa because of her success. So now you envy her and hate her very much, but you won't let her know about this. You always talk something bad about her, for example: Teresa is always late, she likes one night stand though she already has a husband. Zoe Yamada Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 30 years old , and you work in Toyota Insurance Company as the shift leader of the department of factory insurance . You are Charles's girlfriend. You have a good relationship and you are really a nice couple. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : One day when you came to the Takashimaya Company, looking for your boy friend, you heard a conversation between Julie and one man about the president's plan. From this conversation, you know that Julie doesn't like her uncle. Dora Takashimaya Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 42 years old, the wife of Mr Takashimaya. Everyone in the company calls you Mrs. Takashimaya. And you also serve as the company's Finance Executive, You and your husband were college classmates. After graduating from college, you married him right away because of both families¡¦ decision. You haven't had any children until now. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : Cause your marriage was decided by your rich family, you bear grudge on this. You don't love your husband, your marriage life was really awful. Therefore, you turned to Charles for some comfort and had an affair with him. Moreover, you dislike Zoe, Charles' girlfriend. Lisa Takeda Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 35 years old, the detective of this case. Since you are the president's friend, you realize the unhappy relationship between the president and his wife. You have been a detective for 8 years. Therefore, depending on your expertise, the burglary must be involved with some ambitious employees. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : You are an awful person, you are often drunk after going gambling with some bad guys. Because of losing money in gambling, you borrowed $10000 dollars from the president, but you really don't know how to pay him back. Therefore, when you know the president's illness, you are a little happy. Julie Takashimura Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are a middle aged woman. Now you are the vice president in this Company. You are the best adviser to the President, who is also your uncle. You have a good relationship with him. You entered this company 3 years later after the opening, So you know a lot of things about this company. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : Although the president is your uncle, you always envy him secretly. You know that you won't be promoted to be the next President, so that you work hard, using the Takashimaya company source to build your own company. You know that there is something wrong between Charles and Mrs. Takashimaya, you smell an air of affair between them, and you try to get more information from other people and spread this information to all of the workers in the company. Christopher Nishimura Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 48 years old, Teresa¡¦s husband, and the president of Toyota company. In recent years, you have made some efforts and tried to become the No.1 company in Japan. Therefore, Takashimaya really is your rival. You and Teresa have been married for 8 years and live a happy life. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : Since you hate the Takashimaya Company, you often make Teresa as a spy to find out the situation of that company. You look like a kind person, in fact, you are filled with jealousy. Recently, you have come up with an idea to ruin Takashimaya and Teresa knows it. Catherine Hoshino Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are a 25 year-old young lady, attractive, talkative and sexy. You have just entered the Takashimaya Company for one year. You like Charles, just because he is the type you like. Three months ago, when you went to Las Vegas, you lost a lot of money. So you have to work harder to pay the debt as soon as possible, that's why you are agree to stay longer in the office and to work harder than others. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : You have borrowed US$10,000 from an underground bank to pay for the debt you lost in the Casino three months ago. And you need to pay back in 3 months. You also wondered whether you can be promoted to any position. If you can get the promotion, your salary will be raised and you can get more money to pay the debt. Nancy Hashimoto Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 25 years old, a worker of Takashimaya Company. You are very beautiful and graceful. You are proud of your job. You look down upon Marcie -- the janitor --. You think that she is very dirty and eager to get something good. You suspect that she wants kill the president of Takashimaya Company and gets all the assets of the company. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : You like to suspect others because you think you are the best. Every time when something happens, you always deny the responsibility. Patricia Honda Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 30 years old, and you are the assistant of Detective Lisa. You two are best partners. This time you are going to cooperate again to investigate this complicated case. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : You suspect that Teresa is the thief. You two were friends since childhood. She always tells you everything that happens to her, But not this time. You love her very much and want to protect her. So you try every effort to hide the truth. Sally Suzuki Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 46 year-old, the guard of Takashimaya Company. On that night, when you were on a night shift, you suddenly heard some weird sound. Then you seemed to have seen a stranger running. Marcie told you that was Zoe -- Charles's girlfriend. And you are very sure that Zoe is the thief because you know she frequently comes to the Takashimaya Company and envies Betty. Everyone says that Zoe envies Petty's good performance and good looks. Also Zoe doubts that Petty wants to seduce Zoe's boyfriend, Charles. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : On the night the plan was stolen, you fell asleep. You didn't know what happened. You mustn't tell anyone about this. ~Remember!~ Therefore, you know nothing about the burglary. However, you still have to tell the "truth."- (indeed the story is made up by you.) It means that you really don't know who is the thief . Marcie Awada Use this information to introduce your self to the group : You are 33 years old. You are a janitor. You look like a crazy woman and are unreliable. On that night you and the guard ¡V Sally, saw Zoe appear in the Takashimaya Company. Keep this information secret, unless you are asked : Although you are kind of stupid, you still realize the truth. You accepted Teresa's bribe and hid the truth because you promised Teresa not to tell anything. You pretended to know everything about the "truth", but what you say is not really true. Indeed, the time when the will was stolen, you were at the scene. You have seen Teresa finding something. She was in a flurry. You saw her taking a piece of paper. But you didn't know what it was. And at that time, Teresa knew you saw all the process. She gave you money and threatened you not to leak the secret, or you will be killed. Event Clues Clue from the vice president : The announcement from Julie < Last night I was in the hospital accompanying our president. I am sorry to announce that he is now in coma because someone injected some drug in him. Yesterday he was about to announce the next president for us in the party, but because of the incident, he wasn't able to make it. However, he made out his plan last night in the hospital. But this morning I found that the will in the security box is gone, and our president is unconscious now. I called detective Lisa and her assistant, Patricia. They will help us to do the investigation. We have to find out that who put the drugged to our president and stole the plan. The other clues : Other clues are already prepared in the characters sheets. The game masters will also go one-by-one talking the players to remind what should be noticed. ( The game masters will do this in a secret way without disturbing the process of the game.) Those things should be notived are as the following. Teresa Nishimura Please emphasize the following information : You know something about Catherine, just because you are her leader, she is in debt after losing a big amount of money in Las Vegas a few months ago. Charles Yamamura Please emphasize the following information : You have had a good performance in this company, because of that, The President of the company really appreciates what you've done. Betty Yamamoto Please emphasize the following information : Teresa is always late, she likes one night stand though she already has a husband. Zoe Yamada Please emphasize the following information : You have a good relationship and you are really a nice couple. Dora Takashimaya Please emphasize the following information : One night, you see Zoe went in to your company and behaved strangely. Lisa Takeda Please emphasize the following information : According to your expertise, the burglary must be involved with some ambitious employees. Julie Takashimura Please emphasize the following information : You know that there might be complicated affair between Charles and Mrs. Takashimaya. Christopher Nishimura Please emphasize the following information : In recent years, you have made some efforts and tried to become the No.1company in Japan. Catherine Hoshino Please emphasize the following information : You just entered the company for one year, but you love this place, and try to stay longer in the office and to work harder than others. Nancy Hashimoto Please emphasize the following information : You suspect Marcie that she seems to want to kill the president of Takashimaya Company and gets all the assets of the company. Patricia Honda Please emphasize the following information (Only to your partner , Lisa) : Tell your partner, Lisa, that Teresa is your best friend from the childhood, so you think that she is the last person to steal the will. Sally Suzuki Please emphasize the following information : You are very sure that Zoe is the thief because you know she frequently comes to the Takashimaya Company and envies Betty. Marcie Awada Please emphasize the following information : On that night you and the guard , Sally, saw Zoe appear in the Takashimaya Company. The End Of The Game Once the players have shared their clues, they should vote with secret ballots for the person they believe is the thief. The character with the most votes is arrested and sent to prison for the crime of theft. The arrested character should then let the players know if they arrested the right person. If not, the guilty person(s) should admit the crimes and explain why - alternatively you can have the other players guess the real reason for the crimes. Opinions From the Players' Evaluation Sheets < Comments I enjoy the background of the story. It seems that I am a Japanese ---a special feeling! This story is the one I like most. The idea of the business secret affairs is good. The drama is rather simple and interesting, not complicated like others we've played in the class. Therefore, it's easy for us to figure out and immerse ourselves in the schema. It's quite interesting. But it seems that the thief is not so difficult to guess. The designers could put more suspicious elements in the characters. In this way, this drama will be more challengable. The atmosphere of the drama is nervous, just like movies. But the designers should give the information of which company the characters belonging to. This will be more perfect. The designers are so patient and polite in presenting the game, and they control the whole situation fluently. What do you like most about this Interactive Drama? The plot of this drama is creative, and the elements--competition between two companies, love affairs, the ambitious TOYOTA's leader, spy...--all are so attractive. I enjoy the background of the story. Because the characters in it are quite common in this business and competitive society, I feel so excited and interesting when I play the drama. This drama just reflects the dark side of the society, so the plot is practical and close to our lives. Besides, the instructions are clear and the descriptive words of the story are great. What do you dislike most about this Interactive Drama? There is something strange in the drama. I just can't understand why Christopher always mentioned to everyone that his wife, Teresa, is his spy, that's really against the nature. Do designers really design that? If not, they must notice whether the actors play the drama without following the instructions. I wonder that why every story just includes the love affairs, complicated relationship among people it's really a little dull. Since I think the background of this story is great, the designers should put more emphasis on the nervous conflict or competition between the company, it will be more profound and deep. I think the rolespersonality or background should be more vivid and specific, or it's a little hard to distinguish every member of the drama. I think if I have more information to exchange with each other or spread more "secrets" to others, I will have more chance to talk with people and have great fun What are some specific ways in which the authors can improve this Interactive Drama? The designers can make the plot more vivid or increase more complicated elements in the plot, in this way, the plot could be more suspicious and the result will be more difficult to guess. You can add some new information and clues during the process of the drama to mislead the actors.