The game
The complete game in one printable document.
- Facilitator guide and room set-up
- Player handout with safety rules and general knowledge
- Welcome text to read aloud
- 18 character briefs, one per page
About the game
Fifty years after the first landing, Mars is about to become a free republic.
Every Martian will become a citizen. But what about the robots and AIs that helped build the colony? The players are the experts and stakeholders convened to draft the part of the new constitution that settles their rights, obligations and legal status.
Mars Needs Robots is a chamber LARP about AI and robot personhood, about how ideas turn into law, and about how the people in the room at a pivotal moment can shape history. Each player gets a character with a public face and private goals: an industrialist looking to limit liability, a lawyer for the robot that owns itself, a philosopher with a theory, a director dialling in from Earth who would rather nothing got decided at all.
The game was first developed for a course on the Societal and Philosophical Implications of AI at NYU, to deepen engagement with the course concepts and to show that even simple design decisions in technology shape how society develops.
- ~2 hoursof play, plus briefing and debrief
- 18 briefs17 unique roles and 1 repeatable
- 1 rooma table or circle of chairs, and a timer
Materials
Everything you need to run it
The history of Mars
An opening presentation to show while the welcome text is read.
- Fifty years from landfall to the eve of independence
- RoMo and Helper Corporation, Mr. Robot and the robot torture scandal
- The three questions the players must answer
The delegates
Who is in the room
- 01The IndustrialistOwner of the RoMo Corporation
- 02The FounderFounder and owner of Helper Corporation
- 03The RoboticistChief scientist at Helper Corporation
- 04The Labour LeaderVoice of the working people of Mars
- 05The TranshumanistPart human, part machine
- 06The LawyerLegal representative of Mr. Robot
- 07The Earth DirectorRepresentative of the founding consortium
- 08The BureaucratSenior official of the future administration
- 09The PoliticianRising star of the Progress Party
- 10The PhilosopherScholar of robot rights
- 11The StudentMartian patriot and university student
- 12The ArtistCreator of AI- and robot-based art
- 13The Swarm RoboticistBuilder of very small robots
- 14The Religious LeaderSpiritual guide to the people of Mars
- 15The Animal Rights ActivistA campaigner in search of animals
- 16The JournalistMars correspondent for ClickBaitRUs.com
- 17The HistorianExpert on the history of human slavery
- 18The CitizenRepeatable, for any number of extra players
Running a session
From briefing to debrief
- Brief15 min
Go through the overview and safety tools, then let players read their characters.
- Welcome3 min
Players enter in character. Read the welcome text and show the history of Mars.
- Debateabout 2 h
The delegates draft their text against the clock. You observe, and play a guiding politician if needed.
- Debriefopen
Talk about how it felt, what everyone wanted, and what they learned.