From publisher blurb:
1985 is a story roleplaying game about a society of people enslaved by an authoritarian government. But unlike 1984 by George Orwell, the people of 1985 deserve everything they get. Asleep at the wheel for years and generally selfish miscreants, the people of 1985 need someone to control their lives. In a place where no one is free and nothing is left to chance, everything must be controlled. Characters are the regular members of the populace, spying on one another and reporting the offenses of their ‘comrades.’ They keep tabs on everyone else’s movements in a vain attempt to maintain Utopia.
Note: This is the fourth Protocol to play upon the fears of authoritarian control, but each has its niche. This one creates a world where dictums have slowly eroded freedoms. What has happened was avoidable. But it’s not any longer.
Protocol is a series of story roleplaying games that thrusts characters together into dramatic situations. Each game uses the same set of rules, with vastly different parameters, start points, characters, and finales. Players take on the roles of directors outside the action and characters inside the action, using the ebb and flow of four different scene-framing styles (vignettes, interrogations, interludes, and ensembles) to tell meaningful stories about characters in crisis.
Each game in the Protocol series is zero-prep for 3 or more players. The game length is exponentially long, so games with more players take more time to complete. The Protocol Series requires a deck of poker cards as well as tokens to track drama points.