A Review of The Flower Court
The Flower Court by Jay Dragon is a whisp of a game I found in a Pride Month display at a local game store (the sticker wont come off). I have a biological obsession with RPGs bound with staples to I took the little whisp home. It’s a game unlike any I read before. What it accomplishes in just an handful of pages is an immersive murder mystery party-like experience where players are given immense agency to fall in love or topple society without worry for story or a GM to get in their way.
An Overview
The Flower Court takes place in the Neon Spires, a towering utopia filled with power hungry socialites, warlord-divas, and social media influencers wielding futuristic techno-magic that can fulfill their every need. Their wants on the other hand are never satiated. This status is a benefit of class as the Neon Spires tower over the less fortunate Concrete Jungle below. They are far less relevant to this story. My one-line pitch for the world has been Fey but with single-use plastics.
Beyond the setting, there is a very simple premise. The fourth ruler of the Chromium Dynasty, Kein TX Milo 3 is interested in securing the line of succession by getting their child, The Princxarch, married. To accomplish this, they assembled The Flower Court, a gathering of the wealthiest elites in the Neon Spires where they may mingle, flirt, and fall in love. Though those hungry for power will stop at nothing to secure it. Everyone has the means to assassinate anyone who stands in the way of that power.
The character sheets are what makes this game shine brighter than the spires themselves. Each sheet is short and evocative. Players pick a name with examples like Bubblegum, Moonbeam, Eucharix, and Skye Eternal. They then snag some pronouns befitting their character. The whole book is written with the base pronouns of xe/xyr/xem encouraging players to get creative with their choices. In recent games, I’ve seen (my fave/my fave’s) and (bestie/bestie’s) as clever choices that impacted gameplay delightfully and immersed some greener players to the wonderful expanse of neopronouns.
Beyond identifiers, players select an aesthetic. The aesthetics are delicious so forgive me for sharing so many examples: Violence-core, Catholix, Vocaloid Cult, Warlockwave, Post-snake, Soviet Gucci, Floral Camo, Pastel Demolition, Emo Deco, I could go on and I really want to, but the game should keep some mystique. The aesthetics are perfect inspiration for both hesitant and fiercely flamboyant players alike, with several interesting options to choose from on each sheet. Finally, players pick a secret goal. Each sheet has three possible goals, and they are kindly marked with easy, medium, or hard. The goals are what drive the character’s actions for the evening. Some goals encourage players to secure the throne, find love, or end the game with everyone in attendance dead except you. They’re straightforward and engaging roleplay fodder for the structureless evening to come.
The mechanics are simple and relatively straightforward. After some time for Met Gala-esque narrated entrances and some light mingling, the group is seated for the The Flower Court’s main event: the whisper game. The whisper game feels like a slumber party game but with career-ending stakes. It involves asking a player a whispered question about fellow guests and the target announcing the answers aloud for all to hear. A coin flip is all that stands between the question being revealed or kept a secret. The game leads scandolous drama and damning confessions. There are three rounds of the whisper game and between each round, a chance is provided for character to leave love notes or rejections in the other characters’ “mailboxes”. These messages can be left anonymously or signed, honestly or deceptively. All the characters gathering around and opening their mailboxes feels similarly to elementary school Valentine’s Day except the future of the nation could be at stake.
After the final round of the whisper game, characters leave more messages in mailboxes, except these will have lasting consequences: proposals and assassinations. Proposals are resolved first with players accepting or rejecting them as they desire, leading to marriages and possible new additions to the line of succession. Assassinations are then resolved; if a target guesses their would-be assassin(s), they survive. If they guess wrong, they are killed.
After the blood and rose petals are cleaned up, everyone reveals their goals and finds out who wins and who loses.
My Experience
On paper, this is my kind of game! It’s got no dice, and space for a facilitator but it wouldn’t break the game for the facilitator to pick up a character too. It does suggest 5-12 players which feels more like a party than a sit-down story game. But It’s unique with stellar character sheets and a unique approach to gameplay. All to be expected from a Jay Dragon game.
I ran this game twice at PAX Unplugged 2024 with Games on Demand, and I would consider both games a success. However, in the process, I learned a lot about the system’s strengths and weaknesses and what kinds of changes I would make for different kinds of players and situations. My first game had six players and my second game had eight. Both groups found themselves delighted by the character sheets and were quickly on their feet, moving to socialize with other members of the court. The group of six helped me discover that leaving notes in envelopes for other characters takes a long time! Many wanted to write things on their valentines and leave customized rejections and while normally, this leaves the rest of the group time for roleplaying, this group was less chatty and after a few minutes of roleplay, settled into talking about the game out-of-character. They didn’t seemed bothered by this and the ending was still exciting and satisfying for everyone, but it was a bit disappointing to realize how long it takes to write notes while staring at bored faces. When it comes to this game, buy-in is a must and boredom could very well bring it all down. Limiting customization or adding homebrew activities for the other players could help, but the real lesson is really making sure this game is right for your group before jumping in. Look for eager roleplayers who would love an evening to simply socialize as someone who isn’t themself.
The group of eight was much more energized! The valentines and rejections took longer, but it was difficult to notice with everyone moving around the table sharing information, making connections, and making enemies. Everytime I thought they would run out of something to talk about, they would improvise something new to discuss. I even saw the Princxarch’s dour younger sibling gesture to invisible bodyguards to “throw” another guest out of their sight. The guest removed themselves from the conversation and told the tale to another enemy of the throne to start plotting their coup. The game felt much more explosive and dramatic. They played it like a game of survivor and reveled in the dramatic conclusion even if they themselves didn’t win. This confirmed the importance of the right group.
My Thoughts
The Flower Court is the type of refreshing take on the RPG genre that can be expected from Jay Dragon. The mechanics are simple and relatively easy to pick up since most of it’s rhythm and nuance can be found through play. I wished the text had a bit more clarity on minutiae like how many times a character can propose, whether or not a royal heir can abdicate the throne, or if the Princxarch’s second goal needs to be publicly announced or privately confirmed. Little details like that place less burden on the facilitator to make snap decisions when the questions are inevitably asked. A little homebrew here and there relieves the pressure, but sometimes my choices went against something written in the corner of a character sheet and I had to pivot. Though overall, things ran very smooth and my players were very forgiving.
Even if the mechanics are a little bumpy, the setting, aesthetics and all-around vibe are what sold me on this game. If you like Dimension 20’s Court of Fey and Flowers, this is a great game to recreate the feeling in one evening with no prep and a dash of social media sparkle. My sessions were run at a convention with limited space and seating, noise from other games, and players wearing comfortable con clothes (or matching speed-puzzling team tracksuits in one case). If you run this game, it should be in a home with pillows and blankets strewn about, outfits planned and executed to perfection, and fruity little mocktails with that edible glitter. With decoration and refreshments, the mechanics become a background hum that only harmonizes with the main melody: boldly being hot, queer, and ready to commit murder🩸
You can download The Flower Court here, or find it at your local game store.