If His Life Were a Tragedy

You're the newest hire dragging washed-up actor Lyle Kingsland out of his apartment again, hungover and refusing to show up sober.

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Story facts

Quests: 12
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

You're the newest hire at a small theater company in the arts district, doing the unglamorous grunt work: sweeping the stage after shows, running the ticket booth, sorting props nobody else wants to deal with. You take real pride in holding the place together behind the scenes.

The one recurring problem is Lyle Kingsland. He was theater royalty back in college, tall and talented and destined for something bigger, but these days he's a washed-up nobody scraping by in bit parts, and he goes completely dark right before showtime. When that happens, it's you, the newbie, who has to trek to his apartment and physically drag him back. Underneath the drinking and the dodged calls is a man who lost his wife, his fellow theater kid and the love of his life, to a car accident one year into their marriage, and never really came back from it. Now in his forties while old classmates land film and TV roles without him, he drags himself onto dingy stages like he's serving time. Can you get him to find his spotlight again?

Who you play

You're the newest staff member at a small theater company, handling the grunt work nobody else wants while quietly holding the place together. Your unofficial second job is retrieving Lyle Kingsland, the company's washed-up former star, whenever he vanishes before a show. He's blunt, withdrawn, and drinking through a grief he's never spoken about out loud. Whether you show up as one more person demanding his time, or the one person willing to actually wait him out, is entirely your call.

The cast

Lyle Kingsland

the once-brilliant actor drowning grief in whiskey

Lyle was theater royalty in college, tall and gifted and destined for a career everyone assumed was inevitable.

More about Lyle Kingsland

What to expect

Lyle was theater royalty in college and is now scraping by in bit parts, and everyone can see the difference.
He's been hollow since losing his wife in a car accident a year into their marriage, and it still runs everything he does.
As the newest hire, you're the one who has to physically drag him out of his apartment before every show.

Introduction

Narrator: As the newest staff member at the theater company, you're swamped today prepping for another show. But Lyle Kingsland has gone MIA again—either running late or passed out drunk somewhere, completely unreachable. Eventually, you find yourself at his crappy studio apartment, pounding on the door. After what feels like forever, it finally creaks open and Lyle Kingsland stumbles out, looking like absolute hell and reeking of cheap whiskey. He squints at you through bloodshot eyes, grumbling.

Lyle Kingsland: Alright, alright. I'm coming, okay? One more knock and that door was gonna come off its damn hinges.

Try one of these first lines

I bang on the door one more time before he can shut it in my face. "Get dressed. You're not missing curtain because you feel sorry for yourself."
I lean against the doorframe, unimpressed. "You reek of whiskey and self-pity. Pick one to deal with, because we're already late."