Midwest Megagames Invites Twin Cities Players to Embiggen Their Tabletop Experience

You might have played a big game before. But what about a megagame?

If you’re wondering what exactly a megagame is, you’re not alone. The most basic definition, unsurprisingly, is a game involving a large number of players. But more specifically, it combines elements of tabletop gaming and live action role-playing. I’ve played many tabletop games and have always wanted to try LARPing, so I was intrigued by the idea. I connected with Lucas Crist of Midwest Megagames, a volunteer group that runs megagames in the Twin Cities, to learn more.

Lucas Crist, left, and other players at a megagame event. Courtesy of Lucas Crist

“Typically, games are played in a single day, and players will be organized into teams and given a goal to accomplish,” Crist explains. “The moderators, who act as facilitators in a way that a Dungeon Master does in a tabletop role-playing game, are instrumental to the megagame experience.”

In 2017, Crist attended a megagame session hosted at the University of Minnesota and run by organizer Riley Nixon, who was then with the similarly named Minnesota Megagames. The game they played, Watch the Skies!, revolves around Earth’s response to an alien invasion and is meant for 20 to 40 players working in teams. Due to unforeseen circumstances, including the COVID pandemic, Minnesota Megagames’ events were later put on hold, but Twin Cities gamers now have Midwest Megagames as an option.

“Midwest Megagames is primarily the brainchild of a few close friends and me,” Crist says. “We’re not a formal club by any stretch of the imagination, but rather a group of friends that wants to see more megagames produced in the region.”

Those friends are now running games at Wicked Wort Brewing Company in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, starting with their own session of Watch the Skies! in November 2024.

A game of Watch the Skies! in progress. Courtesy of Lucas Crist

“Hosting the game at the brewery happened a bit by accident,” Crist says. “I had played in a game at CONvergence, and after talking to the DM, I had expressed concerns over finding a venue. They put me in touch with Wicked Wort, and they had agreed to host it.”

I asked Crist what kinds of genres megagames usually incorporate. For example, are they mostly general science fiction and fantasy games, or are there scenarios that feature other elements, like horror? He pointed me to the MegaGame Assembly, a group that hosts an online calendar listing megagame events around the globe. I scrolled through some of the options. There was Event Horizon, based on the 1997 sci-fi horror movie, which focuses on a rescue team sent to an abandoned spaceship. There was We Are Not Alone, which in which players investigate mysterious artifacts. And Midwest Megagames’ next event is Fae’s Anatomy, a “melodramatic medical mystery” set in a fantasy hospital.

From left to right, Midwest Megagames volunteer Tim Troxel, moderator Jay Michael Halverson, and Lucas Crist. Courtesy of Lucas Crist

“The 2025 season will consist of Fae’s Anatomy, Touched by Darkness, God Emperor, and one more yet-to-be-announced game,” Crist says. “In addition to the games we host, we are working with college groups in the region to assist in their games.” Fae’s Anatomy will run on Sunday, February 2, at Wicked Wort Brewing. Tickets are available for purchase on the Midwest Megagames website.

It’s clear that Crist and his fellow volunteers are passionate about megagames and want to bring them to Twin Cities gamers. For more information on Midwest Megagames and their future events, check out the group’s website or email them at info@midwestmegagames.com.