Sara Mastros, Simon Zealot, and the Pittsburgh Winter Harvest (PWH) are pleased to announce our first game of the year: Aποκάλυψις: The Seven Seals
Apokalypsis is a game of mystery and revelation, of poetry, and magic. It is a game about preparing for the bad time which are coming. The game is open to everyone, free to play, and rewards richly its winners and heroes. Every Wednesday, for seven weeks, players receive a new missive. You have seven days to decrypt the missive, follow the hidden clues, and unlock the gate you find to reveal the next set of clues. On December first, Bodhi Day 5777, if all Seven Gates are open, the Great Revelation of the Game will be announced, Winners will be acclaimed, and Hero's Prizes Awarded. There is no way to lose the game, except to not play. (NOTE: Because the game is expired, prizes are no longer available, but you can still play, and the real prize, wherein you open within yourself (and without) the gates of what the Church has locked away from you) are, obviously, always available.
Some players may choose to work alone, or in small teams. Some might play with, and some might play against*. For the Greatest Reward, play on Hero Mode: throw open the Gates for everyone, and clear the path of stumbling blocks for those who follow after you. To play along with the game, all you need to do is play along; you can quit at any time. To play, you must publicly declare you are playing, and use the hashtag #ApokalypsisGame to mark your own revelations. The first missive, below, is your clue to opening the initiatory gate, the Gate of Heros.
*those playing as antagonists should be proficient magicians, and should expect IRL resistance.
Missive Zero:
On the meander-path of revelation, there are seven stairs, which are seven stars, which are seven immortal mystery cults. The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse are seals upon these gates, shackles on the truth Below, built on the ruins of the Temples of Magic. And yet, what is hidden is also what is Revealed, and every Church is built on the ruins the previous Temple.
If sport is the sad compromise made by warrior peoples to slate a thirst for blood, art provides a similar succor to the soul of every struggling sorceress deprived of his or her magic. Reclaiming that divine rite requires retracing the path of its greatest destroyer, the Pauline Church, and excavating from the chthonic ruins beneath their first Churches the chthonic pagan powers that are still held beneath. These so-called Seven Churches of the Apocalypse each contain another piece of the ancient mysteries that Paul had to eliminate in order to secure his own cult's supremacy. The Age of his supremacy is over.
