FACILITATING

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

HELLO, FACILITATOR
Space Station Fobolex is a massive gaming event for 4 to 20 players, and
1 to 4 facilitators (depending on your number of players). More people
is better, and an even number of players is essential. You could probably
run it for more than 20 if you had enough facilitators for everyone, but we
haven’t tried that so be careful.
Give yourself about 4 hours to play, including time to check in with
everyone afterwards.
Read these instructions. Some of the instructions are in italics, which
means you’ll read them to everyone out loud.
All the facilitators should have a good grasp of how to play Star Crossed.

WHAT YOU NEED

 Time: Four hours.
 Players: 4-20.
 Facilitators: 1-4 (One for every three couples, roughly).

MATERIALS
 Per session: One long table for displaying play materials, one
set of printed badges on label paper, one or more copies of these
instructions, one or more copies of Star Crossed for reference.
 Per pair: A small table, a set of scene cards, a Tumbling Block Tower,
Lead and Follow character sheets.
 Per person: A chair, a pencil or pen.

DESIGNED BY
Jason Morningstar & Alex Roberts
EDITED BY
Steve Segedy
LAYOUT, ICONS, AND GRAPHIC DESIGN BY
Brennen “Terror of the Gantrofax” Reece
© 2018 Jason Morningstar & Alex Roberts

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SET UP
Set up the small tables spread out across the room, each with two chairs
facing each other. On each table, set a tumbling wood block tower, two
pens or pencils, a set of scene cards, and two character sheets: one Lead
and one Follow.
On the large table, spread out the character name tags. Players will be
coming to the table in pairs to select characters so spread them out, and
don’t have anything else cluttering the table.
Go over these instructions with your fellow facilitators, and make sure
everyone knows what’s going to happen. Answer any questions about the
event or the game itself. Then give a big cheer - you’re going to do this
together!

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WELCOME
When all your players and facilitators have arrived, put your hand in the
air and say:
This gesture means: “Please be quiet; I have something important to
say!” When you see it, be quiet, raise your hand as well, and wait for an
announcement. Now, let’s learn to play Space Station Fobolex!
Introduce yourself and your fellow facilitators. Point out where the nearest
bathrooms are. Thank everyone for coming, and let them know that:
Space Station Fobolex is a totally opt-in activity. That means you’re here to
have a good experience, and if you feel the need to leave at any time for
any reason, please do! We’d appreciate it if you let us know, but ultimately:
take care of yourself! People are more important than the game.
When everyone’s on board with that, introduce Star Crossed:
Star Crossed is a two-player game that uses a shaky tower of wooden
bricks to create stories of forbidden love. Doomed romance, impossible
relationships - people who really really want to but really really can’t. We’ll
be joining you all into pairs who will play together for about two hours or
so - as long as it takes for the tower to fall. We’ll explain how the game
works as we go, but for now, here are the important things:
 the way to win this game is to tell a great story
 what makes a great story is up to you and your fellow player
 the characters will always have powerful feelings for each other, but
they won’t act on them until the tower falls
 together, you’ll tell the story leading up to that moment
What makes Space Station Fobolex special is that you will all be playing
individual stories, but in a shared fictional space. What happens at your
table could impact the environment in ways that change other players’
stories.
Space Station Fobolex is an interstellar waypoint, a crossroads of weird
aliens with even weirder cultures. Aboard the station, a dedicated crew
works hard to keep the lights on and the inevitable conflicts to a minimum.
As a major trade hub, the station sees its share of shady figures, from
corporate raiders to dubious freighter captains to actual space pirates.
And as a place that’s as far from home as you can get, no matter where
you call home, it is a haven for iconoclasts, rebels, and the heartbroken.
But into this maelstrom,a new force will arise – a force perhaps unfamiliar
to the hardscrabble crew and visitors to Space Station Fobolex.
A force called… love.

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PAIRING OFF
In this section you’ll put individual players into pairs with similar interests.
Get everyone’s attention by putting your hand in the air, and then find any
players who came pre-paired. If players already know who they’d like to
play with, it’s important they stand aside for the next exercise.
Star Crossed can be cute, silly, sexy, serious, prosaic, heartwarming or
heartbreaking. We’re going to try to match you up such that players who
want more serious, mature content in their games aren’t matched up with
people who want lighter, more comedic stories. Does that make sense?
It does.
First: invite them to line up from one end of the room to the other single
file shoulder to shoulder, with one end of the line representing “silly” and
the other end representing “serious.” Players in the middle shouldn’t feel
strongly either way; players on the “silly” end should feel strongly that they
want a silly game, and players on the “serious” side should feel strongly
that they want a serious game. Remember to keep them single file.
When they’re settled in that, have them step forward or backward, staying
single-file along the first line, with forward representing a desire for an
“intimate” game and stepping backward representing a desire for a more
“wholesome” game. An “intimate” game means that mature and even
explicit descriptions of sexuality and intimacy may come up in play, as
the players negotiate. A “wholesome” game means that descriptions of
closeness will not be explicit, there will be little or no talk about sexuality,
and though romance will continue to be a theme, it will be so in a subtle,
non-explicit way. Remember these are only guidelines about general areas
of interest: actual play will always be up to the players and how they feel
in the moment.
Continued on next page

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When this exercise is done, your room will look a bit like this:

Tell your players:

Find the player closest to you and say hello. Introduce yourself. They will
be your partner for this game. If you’re not sure who your partner should
be, ask a facilitator for help!
You will probably have a few outliers who won’t see anyone very close
to them. Match them up with your middle-of-the-room folks if you can.
Remember to watch those with strong preferences, and do what you can to
ensure that each player is getting the kind of game play they’re interested
in.
As players get matched up, direct them to the table of name tags. Tell them
to pick the first name tags that call to them.
They’re all great and they’ll all work well together. If you’re wondering
what a Gantrofax is or why someone would guard the Orb, pick that tag!
You will get to decide! Nothing in Space Station Fobolex is pre-determined.
It’s all up to you to discover as you play. As soon as you’ve found a set
of name tags that you and your partner think would make an interesting
match, grab them and find a table. We’re about to get started.
Always empower players to answer questions themselves. Encourage them
to come up with fiction that fills out the Fobolex universe.

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BEGINNING PLAY
When everyone is at their tables, jump right in: ask them two important
questions about their characters, and impress upon them that this question
will guide and ground their entire story:
What has brought your characters together, and what is keeping them
apart?
Now decide with your other facilitators who will be responsible for helping
which pairs of players. It’s better to have no more than two, but you can
do three.
Now and for the rest of the game, walk around the pairs you’re responsible
for and watch for completion or confusion. When they’ve answered their
first questions, have them choose who will play Lead and Follow. When
they’ve chosen character sheets, guide them through the rest of the
questions, one by one. Encourage them to take their time and find an
answer that feels just right. Remember the players swap sheets for the
question “What are two things about me that I don’t realize are attractive?”
Explain the moves when all the questions have been answered, or if they
ask about it, while selecting Lead and Follow roles. Then explain to them
the scene and turn structure, when to pull a brick, what moves do, and
when the game is over. Remind them to mark on their sheet when they’ve
pulled a brick.
Stay watchful for any confusion your players might be showing! Answer
rules questions, or encourage them to come up with creative solutions if
they feel stuck in how their story is going to proceed.

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WHEN SOMETHING
HAPPENS
Temporal anomalies, gravometric waves, or a sudden scandal the whole
station knows about - anything important going on in one story can shake
things up for everyone. Let everyone know:
Whenever something big is happening in your story--absolutely anything
that might impact the other players’ stories or change what’s happening
on the station--let the nearest facilitator know and we’ll tell everyone!
Other players can then incorporate that information however it might
best add to their story.
Whenever players tell you about an important event, raise your hand to
get some quiet, and then announce it to the rest of the room. Feel free to
do this in a newscaster or ship’s computer voice, for fun.
It’s up to the players to decide when something is significant enough to
impact the rest of the station. Encourage them to ask you about it. Anything
from temperature changes to power outages to a coordinated android
uprising can add unexpected twists and fun to other players’ games.
Leave some time in between announcements to give players a chance to
adjust and incorporate their new conditions. Remind players that what
is happening should impact their story as much and for as long as they’d
both like.

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WHEN THE TOWER

FALLS
Towers will fall at different times. Guide players through the epilogue, and
encourage them to have a short chat after the game to debrief and leave
their characters behind. Encourage them to stick around for a full debrief
at the end (see below) but let them know it’s not mandatory.
If their tower falls before two hours have passed, they can play again! Have
them play their same characters in an alternate universe, or go up to the
table and pick two new characters. Remind them of any time constraints.

WHEN ALL THE TOWERS HAVE FALLEN

Gather into a circle anyone who’s left hanging around. Thank your players,
thank your fellow facilitators, and let everyone know where they can find
out more about the game: bit.ly/starcrossedrpg. Say:
Let’s go around the circle and each say one sentence about our experience
with the game. Share a moment that touched you, or made you laugh,
or that you want to express gratitude for. This isn’t mandatory; you’re
welcome to pass on your turn if you want. We’ll keep it short so that
everyone has time to speak, but if there’s more you want to talk about,
come see me after. I’ll start.
Set the tone by thanking a person or pair for a cool element they brought
into the game, in one relatively short sentence. Let everyone else do this
in turn. If someone is talking for a long time, thank them and invite them
to come see you after the check-in is finished, then move on to the next
person. When everyone is done, thank them again for everything they
brought to the game, start a round of applause, and then start tidying up
the game space and chatting with anyone who needs to unpack their game
experience a bit more.
Congratulations! You just ran Space Station Fobolex!
Be sure to take lots of pictures, and with everyone’s permission, share
them with us and the world. We’d love to hear from you:
 info@bullypulpitgames.com
 facebook.com/bullypulpitgames
 @bullypulpit_HQ
 #StarCrossedRPG

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SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

LIFELIKE™
MANAGEMENT
ROBOT
You are a former Fobolex Corporation Lifelike™
senior management and facilitation robot.
Loving someone is new to you - how can you
treat them as more than a sapient resource?
SHIFTY SPACE
GRIFTER
Business is easy when you have boxes and
boxes of snake oil to sell! But loving is hard
when you’ve trained yourself not to trust
anyone.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

FAMOUS SCRUFFY
RESONANT ASTEROID
PRAISE SINGER MINER
You are a Gantrofax. You are afraid of You have a family back home, and you work
disappointing your extremely demanding and hard for them. You are afraid of letting them
celebrated resonant praise singing family back down.
on Jorca-10.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

RECLUSIVE TOUGH
HOLONOVELIST AS NAILS
BODYGUARD
You are a Zurd. You are held back by your own You are a Zurd. You must protect the Galactic
reputation as someone above such trivial Emperor. You are afraid your sworn loyalty to
matters as love. the empire will get in the way of love.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

PENNILESS BRAVE
NIGHTCLUB SPACE FLEET
PERFORMER ADMIRAL
You are a Býi. Your religious devotion is You are an Orb Guardian. You are held back by
important to you, but you worry it will be an The Orb, for you may couple only with other
obstacle in building a new relationship Guardians, and only in the blissful light of The
Orb.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

WEALTHY SYMBIOTIC
SPACE BRAIN
TOURIST PARASITE
You are a Býi. You are held back in love by your You are held back by the immutable laws of
own self-consciousness and social anxiety. symbiosis - stay for only ten cycles, then leave
your host forever.
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SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

DISGRACED LONELY
FORMER GALACTIC
KILL-BOT EMPEROR
You are a droid, and a gentle hydroponic You are held back by your imminent betrothal,
farmer now. You worry about someone finding which will end a bloody war.
out about your terrible past, so you keep
others at a distance.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

FIERY SCION WORRIED
OF A SPACE SPACE
MONARCH DIPLOMAT
You are a Gantrofax. You are afraid your social You are an Orb Guardian. You are held back
standing is too high for anyone here to be a by the fate of your partner, who may well be
good match. dying in an intergalactic conflict many light
years away.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

SAD SPACE WORLD-
JOURNALIST WEARY SPACE
COWBOY
You are doing a story on Space Station Fobolex. You are lonely, and you are held back by
You are held back by concern that your very concern that you might rush into an unhealthy
recent and painful breakup will ruin any new relationship because of it.
relationship.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

SENSITIVE WILD & FREE
SPACE SPACE PIRATE
JANITOR CAPTAIN
You are held back by your social standing, You are a Xhehfa. You are held back by concern
which you consider too low to be a good over your reputation as the life of the party, a
match for anyone else here. scoundrel who will never be tied down.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

PROUD SPACE DESPERATE
PATROL CORPORATE
MARSHAL DOWNSIZER
You are held back by concern that your You are a Xhehfa. As a rep of corporate Sapient
demanding job will always have to come first, Resources, you are here to downsize the space
no matter what. station crew by 50%. You worry that your
position, and loyalty, make you unlovable.
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SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

MALFUNCTIONING COLDLY LOGICAL
XENO-PHYSICIAN FOBOLEX
DROID BUSINESS DROID
You are a droid. You are held back by concern You are a droid. You refuse to have any soft
over being deactivated if you are caught being “feelings” for a flesh-creature. And yet you are
intimate with anyone. very lonely.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

OVERWHELMED STOIC CHIEF
SPACE STATION OF STATION
ENGINEER SECURITY
You are held back by the hive mind that Your partner is in suspended animation and
incorporated you at a young age, which you will finally join you in a few daycycles.
were only recently severed from.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

CONFIDENT SECRETIVE
FRONTIER KID TENSEGRITY
IN THE BIG CITY SCIENTIST
The only thing holding you back from a You are held back by your tensegrity and
loving relationship is a strong attachment resonance research, which will get in the
to a genuinely fun and refreshing period of way of a relationship - and perhaps not
singlehood! metaphorically.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

RIDICULOUS PHILOSOPHICAL
SPACE STATION NIGHTCLUB
MANAGER OWNER
You are held back by your meticulous care and You are held back by your dedication to your
attention to your crew’s lives and relationships, business, which demands your attention
at the expense of your own chances for love. around the clock.

SPACE STATION FOBOLEX SPACE STATION FOBOLEX

UNCERTAIN
DIRT-WORLDER
You are from a wonderful place that doesn’t
have any of this technology. You are held back
by worry that your ignorance will make you
seem stupid, and that you don’t belong here.
AWKWARD
SPACE VAMPIRE
You are held back by your reliance on synthetic
blood, which sustains you as long as you don’t
let yourself get too close to anyone.