You’ll Need

● 3+ players
● A deck of major arcana tarot cards or an online equivalent
● Two six-sided dice or an online dice roller (abbreviated
throughout as 2d6)
● Pen and paper for note taking or a shareable online doc‐
ument
● Something to listen to music on
● Access to the album “Time Flies” by Ladyhawke

Credits

Writing/Design/Layout - Kayla Dice

Published by Rat Wave Game House

Photographs sourced from Unsplash

All emojis designed by OpenMoji – the open-source emoji and icon
project.

The title font is Goodhood, headings are in Fruktur and body is in

Nunito.

The Infinite Dancefloor is a hack of Time to Drop by Marn S.

It is designed to be played while listening to Time Flies by

Ladyhawke. The album was also an inspiration for the themes of
the game.

The Infinite Dancefloor was written for Record Collection 2K23.

Premise
The Infinite Dancefloor is every nightclub and none of them. A
sprawling, ever growing, ever shifting venue behind a thousand
small doors. A party that never ends. A night where the sun never
rises. Unfortunately that can make it a pain to actually leave the
Infinite Dancefloor once you’re there. But you and your friends are
done. You probably should have left at least two hours ago but you
didn’t and now you’re here. You’re separated from one of your
gang. You need to find them then find an exit. The Infinite
Dancefloor won’t make it easy for you. You’ll need to band
together and maybe you’re already a little past that but you don’t
have much choice. Let’s get outta here already.

Content to Consider
● Alcohol use is implied by the setting of a nightclub but
could be removed from your game easily
● Sensory overload is a logical thing to face in a story about
struggling to leave a nightclub you’re done with but if you
don’t want to go there in your game you obviously don’t
have to
● A Smoking Area features as a recurring area in the game
as written, but if you’d rather not have smoking be part of
the game this could be easily exchanged with a Gender
Neutral Bathroom
● Tension and arguing with friends is a core part of the
game so it’s worth discussing how harsh you’re comfort‐
able with this being, how much you’d like to actually play
that out and any limits you’d like to place on what argu‐
ments might be about
Phase 1: Character Creation
A character is made up of a name, some pronouns, their vibe and
their style. Go around the table each in turn creating a character.

Sample Vibes

Who You Are Mom Friend

Party Animal The Mean One
Young and Unemployable Step Dad Friend
Social Dragonfly Goes with the Wind
On Thin Ice Depressed Anti-Hero
Knife to a Gunfight Primordial Chaos

Sample Styles
Who You Are Sandwich Punk
Cobalt Metalhead Digi Goth
Fruit Hipster Bug Nerd
Scorsese indie kid Post-murmur emo
Crab Raver Energy Drink Wizard
Puppet Folk Scooter Pirate

Roll 2d6 and record the result. This is your character’s Chill.

Once you’ve all got a character write each of their names on a

sheet of paper and begin to draw lines explaining the connec‐
tions that exist between them. You don’t need to draw lines
explaining people are friends, it’s assumed you’re friend un‐
less stated otherwise. (It’s probably easiest if you have col‐
oured pens or pencils to use different colours for the different
kinds of connections, but if you don’t have any colours you
could use something like the follow.)

— Romantic Relationship
--- Exes
== Hook Up
…. From School or Work
++ Share a Common Interest
-/-/ Related
~~ Rivals
<-> Don’t really know each other
Finally answer the following two questions.
● What kind of night have you had?
● Why are you ready to leave?

Example Relationship Chart

: I'm gonna wake up tomorrow

feeling like I've been beaten by
nine skinny dudes with sticks.
: Why are they specifically
skinny?
: Cause if they were ripped I'd
feel way worse?

Don’t really know eachother

Common Interest (being queer)
Hookup

: Do you think you're a good

or bad person?
: I don't think anyone is a
good or bad person, except
for like cops and politicians, I
think it's just whatever you're
trying to be.
: Oh?
: Like saying someone's a
good person implies
everything they do is good,
which is bullshit. But if you
say someone always tries to
be a good person, that can
make sense, and like you can
still fail and that doesn't
change what you've been
trying.
: So you're trying to be a
good person?
: I didn't say that.
Phase 2: Your Missing Pal
As a table, create your missing pal. They’ll (like the main characters)
be made up of a name, some pronouns, a vibe and a style.
At some point the friend was separated from everyone else.
Whenever you find them they won’t be much help in terms of get‐
ting out. Why is that?

● Very, very drunk

● Generally poor sense of direction
● Overwhelmed by the whole thing
● Not taking things seriously enough
● The most tired they’ve ever been in their life
● Had an accident and has picked up an injury
● Something else

Add the missing pal to the relationship chart. Every character should
be connected with them and have a strong enough connection that
they wouldn’t just cut and leave without them.

Example Relationship Chart

(With the Missing Pal added in)

: You think you're smarter

than everyone else, don’t you?
: Not really, I just don't think
you're smarter than me, which
I guess to you is the same
thing.

Don’t really know eachother

Common Interest (being queer)
Hookup
Dating
Exes
From School
Phase 3: Obstacles
To start with there are going to be three Obstacles. Shuffle the tarot
deck and draw three cards and place them in front of all players.
These will represent the three Obstacles you know about already.

The First Obstacle is an aggressive feature of the Infinite Dancefloor

itself. A room falling away into time and space. Noxious foam begins
to fill a hallway. A lightshow full of hostile illusions.

The Second Obstacle is another clubgoer who wants you to stay on

the dancefloor. A hypnotic DJ. A creep leading a Dance of Death. A
rampager looking to start something.

The Third Obstacle is actually finding your friend and getting them
to come with you. Where were they last? Do they need any convin‐
cing? What state are they in? (For this Obstacle you probably have
some ideas already based on Phase 2)

Use the spread of cards for inspiration for the specifics of the
Obstacles. You can interpret them very literally (Death meaning a
Grim Reaper figure will be present) or more thematically (The Moon
for the Third Obstacle meaning your missing friend is having an
anxiety attack and needs to be soothed before you can get out of
here).

You might discuss ahead of time which characters are going to be

handling which Obstacles, or you might come to those decisions
when it’s time to actually make a move.

If you can’t defeat all the Obstacles the Infinite Dancefloor will be
able to move exits away from you and force you to face Obstacles
again, in a loop of your attempted exit.
Phase 4: The Smoking Area
This is the first actual scene in the game. You begin in the Smoking
Area, even if none of your characters smoke, just to get away from
the noise and get some different air. Go round clockwise and each
player describes how their character is feeling. Does anyone specific
propose it’s time to leave? Or is it an unspoken understanding?

When you’re ready, press play on Time Flies, head back inside and
try and get out of here.

Phase 5: Let’s Bounce

The Infinite Dancefloor is played in scenes. The focus of a scene may
be about addressing an Obstacle, character interactions between
Obstacles, or moving from one area to another.

Any player may pick up NPCs and describe Obstacles and play them
as needed, so long as their own character is not the main point-of-
view character for the scene. Think of this as a rotating GM role.
Rolling for an Obstacle
Whenever someone tries to address an Obstacle they roll 2d6 + the
number of cleared Obstacles.

● On a 10+ you succeed, and clear that Obstacle has been

decisively dealt with. Discard that Obstacles card.
● On a 7-9 you succeed at what you’re trying to do, but your
success won’t stick. The Infinite Dancefloor will recur this
Obstacle if you don’t escape in this run. The character who
succeeded rolls to Stay Chill, aimed at someone who
should have helped.
● On a 6 or less, you fail, and the Infinite Dancefloor creates
a new Obstacle in response. Draw and interpret a card.
Every character who didn’t address the Obstacle rolls to
Stay Chill, aimed at the character who failed.

Obstacles do not have to always be NPCs or environmental factors

-they may be a breakdown of communication between friends,
another person could get separated or one character might start to
have a personal crisis, to give some possibilities. As with your
original three Obstacles, interpret the cards as narrowly or as
generously as you wish.

Additionally, on any roll that contains doubles, invert the card of the
Obstacles being dealt with and reinterpret it. Because of you the In‐
finite Dancefloor responds and the next time you encounter this
Obstacle it will be different. If you roll doubles on an Obstacles you
have already inverted or have already cleared,nothing changes.

Rolling to Stay Chill

If you’re directed to roll to Stay Chill roll 2d6 and say which charac‐
ter you’re trying to avoid losing your cool with. Check the result
against your character’s Chill Stat.

If you roll above your Chill you lose your cool. What are you angry
about? How do you express your anger? (Do you start an argument
immediately, go cold or just keep bottling things up). Record how
you feel about the relevant other character.

If you roll below your Chill you keep your cool. Whatever the
incitement was for a roll, describe how you were able to be
understanding about things.

If you roll your Chill stat exactly you are considered to have kept
your cool but lower your Chill stat by one (if possible). The night is
chipping away at you.
Phase 6: The Loop
If Time Flies finishes and all Obstacles haven’t been cleared then
the Infinite Dancefloor will present a door to you, a seeming exit.
Venturing through it will simply return you to the Smoking Area.
This takes you back to Phase 4. If any arguments have been
bubbling up this may be where they explode.

(If the Obstacle of Your Missing Pal wasn’t cleared for good then
the Infinite Dancefloor will separate you again here, removing the
original exit before your pal can make it through)

Now probably a good time to step away from the game briefly. You
could commence another loop (pressing play again on Times Flies
and proceeding to Phase 5) after a short break or another time
(you’ll know your own needs and limits better than this book
could).

: Do you wanna get breakfast tomorrow?

: Like it sounds nice but I think I'm gonna
be pissed off at everyone by tomorrow.
: Hey I probably will be too but that
doesn't I can't go to a cafe with them.
: We're very different people.
: Is that a compliment or an insult?
: I honestly don't know.

Carry Us Home (The Ending)

Once all Obstacles have been cleared an actual exit will present
itself and you can all pour out onto the street. The Infinite
Dancefloor will attempt to mess with your memories as you exit.
You, as a collective, will roll 2d6 + Number of Cleared Obstacles to
resist this meddling.

On a 10+ you’ll all have a perfect recall of the night.

On a 7-9 your memories will be jumbled, like a dream mixed with
a hangover.
On a 6 or less you’ll have no exact memories, only feelings.

Each look at any notes you’ve made about how your characters
view each other. You might speculate where they'll go from here.
You might play out a short epilogue of the gang grabbing some
food before going their separate ways.

You can leave however much you have left of Time Flies playing or
fade it out, leaving the album in the club.
Safety Tools
Before properly beginning play we’d encourage you to have an
open discussion about what topics you’d want featured (or avoided)
and what level of in-game emotional intensity you’re comfortable
with. We’d suggest using the tool Lines and Veils for this and con‐
sulting the “Content to Consider” section earlier in the book. During
play we’d recommend making use of Beau Jágr Sheldon’s Script
Change. We’d also recommend simply pausing the album any time
a Pause is used (for any reason) rather than allowing that to add
unwanted pressure.

: Do you have anything to offer beyond snide

comments?
: Obviously not or I'd have said by now? The snide
comments aren't a toll you have to get past to get to
an actual useful contribution; that's all I've got here.

Remixes
Here are a variety of rules alterations or challenge modes.

● GMed Mode
A straightforward change to the game involves one specific player
not creation a main character and instead taking all responsibility
for playing NPCs and framing Obstacles and the environment.

● Speedrun Any%
Complete a run in five loops or less.

● Speedrun 100%
Complete a run without adding any additional Obstacles.

● Headache Edition
Complete a run with five starting Obstacles instead of three. The
additional two Obstacles can be of any nature.

● New Game+
After completing a run, start a new game revisiting the same main
characters but years later, as they return to The Infinite Dancefloor.

● Radio Edit
Complete a run using a 40 minute timer and listening to a radio
(either a literal station or an autoplay streaming thing).
“I’d rather be heart than be ignored”
- Ladyhawke, My Love (from the album Time Flies)

The Infinite Dancefloor is a rpg about escaping a

spatially shifting, sprawling, trippy nightclub.
It’s inspired by those rough nights that would have
been good, if you’d just known when to call it.
It’s a hack of Time to Drop, designed to be played
listening to album Time Flies by Ladyhawke.