The Severance Protocol — Industrial Sector Edition
Digital Download
Game Creator: Philippe Borremans / RiskComms FZCO
Estimated Time to Play: 90–120 minutes
Number of Players: 5–8 players plus a facilitator
Roles (8):
CEO, General Counsel, CFO, Director of Corporate Communications, Federal Liaison, Board Representative, Investor Relations Lead (optional), HR/Internal Comms Lead (optional)
Game Description:
The Severance Protocol is a tabletop crisis simulation built around a single fabricated audio clip — and the two federal investigations it triggers at once. A synthetic recording surfaces appearing to show the CEO of a publicly traded industrial manufacturer authorizing a cover-up. Within hours, the FBI is investigating wire fraud, the SEC is investigating market manipulation, and a sector-specific federal contact is on the phone — three separate bodies, three separate timelines, three separate proof standards, all converging on one company. Players don't just manage the reputational fallout. They manage the coordination friction of operating inside a federal system that wasn't built to move at the speed of a deepfake.
Features:
• Dual-track crisis design — one accusation, two independently escalating consequence chains (criminal fraud and securities/market impact), forcing trade-offs no single response can resolve.
• Federal Coordination Friction mechanic — a dedicated tracker and table that models the specific seam in US crisis response: agencies that don't report to each other, don't share timelines, and don't coordinate their disclosures.
• Synthetic-media uncertainty system — players operate without confirmation the clip is fake for most of the session; even definitive proof, when it arrives, doesn't automatically restore trust.
• Mixed public/private role structure — corporate leadership roles sit alongside a Federal Liaison role, surfacing the friction between institutional response and government coordination in real time.
• Facilitator-driven escalation — a 10-round, 40-hour clock with phased pressure (emotional framing, then symbolic action, then consistency under scrutiny) that the facilitator controls turn by turn.
• Four distinct endgame states — Contained but Scarred, Narrative Lock-In, Regulatory Gridlock, or Reframed — with no outcome in which every objective is achieved.
• Scalable — runs with 5 players doubling up on roles or a full 8-person table; the Federal Liaison role should never be cut.
Game requires 1d6 and 1d10 (not included with digital download; free online dice rollers work).