When the Music Stops

When the music stopped...
The ballroom had grown dim. Ornate glass baubles hung in the air, slowly drifting through the air as if through molasses, much like myself. I had leapt forward as I heard the whining of the chain keeping the lighting fixture suspended, yet it had come crashing down even before I had taken the first step. My eyes grew wide at the horrific scene in front of me as I realised droplets of blood also drifted through the air, the crimson orbs almost as pristine and magnificent as the clear glass. And I felt resolved that things didn't need to turn out like this. That's where I was when the music stopped. But we can hit rewind.

When the Music Stops is a GMless story game for 1-5 players that should last 2-4 hours. The game is designed to be played while listening to a mixtape prepared in advance by one of the players and rewinding it to go back in time. The characters work together in order to prevent a big disaster from coming to pass, struggling against the rigidity of events and time itself.

The game is setting-agnostic, where the only assumption being made is that characters possess some method or ability to travel through time. It's also tone-agnostic, as what constitutes a "disaster" is left vague. It could be anything from a prom gone wrong due to a senior prank to the first omen of the world ending.

The kinds of stories that are touchstones for When the Music Stops include Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Higurashi When They Cry, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Life is Strange.

The game is loosely based on Ribbon Drive by Avery Alder, which you should definitely check out if games that interweave music with the mechanic are of interest to you.