THE SACRED BALL

an Interactive Drama Live Action Freeform Role Playing Scenario
for 10 players (5 male and 5 female)
written by
Ellen Li, Hellen Tsai, and Fiona Cheng

Written as an assignment in English Conversation One, an English as a Foreign Language course taught for freshmen by Dr. Brian David Phillips in the Department of English at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, Fall Semester, 1998.

Copyright 1998 by Ellen Li, Hellen Tsai, and Fiona Cheng.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY:

This interactive drama is set in Tibet. The "Sacred Ball" of the Tibetans is stolen by someone. There are many people involved in this complicated situation including lamas themselves, ambassadors from the P.R.C government, reports...etc. Find out who actually is behind the whole conspiracy by yourself.

CHARACTERS:

TSUNG FENG LAMA (Johnson): An elder lama who is highly esteemed by others for he has lived for a long time and people in China believe that the longer you live the smarter you become. Also, he is a sticker about the independence of Tibet, which makes him become the biggest obscurant to the P.R.C. government. 
DING FUNG LAMA (Brian): A young lama who received his education in SHANG- HAE (a big city in China). He is a young man with passion to improve the situation of Tibet. However, the way in which he resorts to is to have a cooperative relationship with the P.R.C government. Thus there is sort of a conflict between he and Johnson. 
DAVID LAMA: Ding Fung Lama's good friend who is as young as Brian. He is one of lamas who are in charge of the Tibetan government. 
CHIN HUNG LAMA (Peter): is a lama, too. And he is the person who is responsible for the cleaning the holly hall in which the Sacred Ball is placed. AS a matter of fact, he actually is longing to get away from the simple life of lama, he wants to have a luxurious life, instead. So, he is not as pious as other lamas do. 
MARY: A news reporter of CNN and she came to Tibet with Ariel. She is a very successful woman who has reported a lot of important events. This time, her job is to write a story about the political meeting between the Tibetan government and the P.R.C. 
ARIEL: A young, attractive reporter who came to Tibet with Mary. She looks inexperienced, but as a matter of facts, she is a capable reporter who always does a good job. 
SHERRY: She used to be a general, but now, she comes to Tibet as the representative of the P.R.C government. She is assigned to have an political meeting with the Tibetan government. 
ROSE: She is the subordinate of Sherry. Both of them are sent by the P.R.C. government as emissaries for the purpose of persuading the Tibetan into reunification. 
OWEN: A journalist of the" National Geography Magazine". He has been to a lot of countries in the world but Tibet has always been his favorite place. He comes to Tibet in order to collect some information about the mysterious Tibet and write a good story for the magazine. He comes with his college Jane. 
JANE: She is an journalist of the "National Geography Magazine". She is given the assignment with Owen to gather material about the holly Tibet.
CHIN HUNG Lama (PETER)

BACKGROUND:

You were unwilling but forced to be a lama at the age of 4 for your family were suffering from economical problem and were unable to bring you up. Now you are a grown-up, and you plan to leave Tibet to seek for your own life, but you know it maybe is a dream only.

SECRET:

Though lamas are supposed to live a simple life, you're looking forward to enjoy a luxurious life and you're trying to save money. When the National geography magazine's journalist offered you a great amount of money to take them to the room where the ball was placed, you said yes because you can't resist the allurement of money. Keep this secret in mind unless others ask you.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

Though David is the person who is responsible for the cleaning- up of the room where the "Sacred ball" is placed, but the night in which the ball was stolen, you saw him at 4am which is two hours earlier that the time when he should do this routine job.

Also, you accidentally picked up a letter written by the Chinese Ambassador Sherry and the receiver is Brian. Read the letter to others.

TZU YA Lama (DAVID)

BACKGROUND:

When you were about 15 years old, you were told by an elder that you are the authentic leader not the present one who have the control over Tibet. (Don't tell others about that, just tell them that you are merely a ordinary lama) Your old friend is Brian who grows up with you.

SECRET:

You are very angry with the present leader, so you plan to over throw the "fake" and take back the power that belongs to you. (You have once revealed some information about your plan to Brian, but not all of them.) When you know that China is going to send some emissaries to Tibet, you decided to use this great chance to make chaos by stealing the "Sacred ball". ( By doing so, you can discredit the reputation of the present leader.)

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

You must pretend to be panic and keep saying that this is the punishment of Buddha. Remember to tell others your routine job is to clean up the room in which the "Sacred ball" was placed. And the night when you were heading forward to the room in order to do your routine job(actually you went there to steal the ball not to clean the room up), you bumped into Peter who just came out from the room. However, Peter didn't steal it, you are the one who did it.( The reason why you did this is because you want the Tibetan to believe that the Buddha is angry for they have chosen a wrong person to be the leader so that you can announce to the whole country you are the real leader.)

TSUNG FENG Lama (Johnson)

BACKGROUND:

You are an elder lama among others, so you are highly-respected by the Tibetan. However, you are a sticker about the independence of Tibet. (You don't like Brian who merely is just an arrogant young lama who has received western education and wants to cooperate with Mainland China, which seems to be a treachery to you.)

SECRET:

You are the only one who knows the truth abort David's identity. He should have been the leader hadn't there been the conspiracy˘w some lama switch his identity with another baby who now control Tibet as the highest leader. You can't reveal the secret unless you are asked.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

Brian always holds a defiant attitude to you for he intends to have Tibet reunify with China. So, you think that he is the most suspicious person. (He may have stolen the " Sacred ball" in order to disorder the country and let the P.R.C. government make good use of this great chance and attack Tibet when the country is in a chaos.)

MARY

BACKGROUND:

You are a news reporter of CNN and you came to Tibet with Ariel. Your assignment this time is to report the political meeting between the P.R.C government and Tibet.

SECRET:

You and Ariel actually are both spies. Your job is to help Ariel to complete the assignment. Ask Ariel about the purpose of this mission.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

You can say to others that when you were trying to gather some materials about the political meeting (since you are a reporter), you notice that Rose was collecting the information about the "Sacred ball". She tried to know where the ball was and the security system that protects the ball. So, you think she is suspicious.

ROSE

BACKBROUND:

You are the subordinate of Sherry. Both of you are sent by the P.R.C government as emissaries for the purpose to make Tibetans submit to China. You are a shrewd and sociable woman who is good at diplomacy.

SECRET:

Your superior Sherry assigned you to collect information about the "Sacred Ball" so that she could buy Brian off. (Sherry wanted Brian to steal the ball) By doing so, Sherry can make a chaos in Tibet and let the Chinese government grab the control power from the Tibetan.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

You can tell others that when you had a personal meeting with lamas, you asked some religious questions out of curiosity, but when you mentioned the sacred ball, David appeared to be irritated and nervous. You were surprised but did not give it a second thought. However, you now wonder why he overreacted about that. Maybe he has something to do with this mysterious incident.

DING FUNG Lama (BRIAN)

BACKGROUND:

You received your education in SHUNG HIE.. Personally you think that the living standard of Tibet is terrible. So, reunification with Mainland China is the best way for Tibet. However, the elder lamas insist on the independence of Tibet. You privately planned to cooperate with the P.R.C. government.

SECRET:

Originally, you had a deal with P.R.C government. They wanted you to steal the ball, so the P.R.C could attack Tibet while the country was in chaos. They sent you a letter to give you order, but you've lost it accidentally. However, you were surprised to find that the ball had already been stolen before you took action.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

You grew up with David and know him very well. You've found that his attitude has become more cynical as he has grown up. You remember that a few days before the sacred ball was stolen, he came to see you in high spirit and kept saying, "Dear friend, finally I'll get back what I deserved." Tell others about his unusual behavior.

ARIEL

BACKGROUND:

You are 22 years old and also an attractive young lady. You came to Tibet as a reporter of CNN NEWS. You have a colleague who works with you---Mary.

SECRET:

As a matter of fact, you are a spy sent by the R.O.C government. Your assignment is to prevent Tibet from being reunified with China and monitor the movement of the ambassador of China. So, you found that the ambassador seems to have a secret agreement with one of the lamas, Brian. (Find out more details about this.)

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

You can tell others that you've seen Brian talked to the ambassador secretly for several times. So you doubt that maybe the Chinese ambassador, Sherry, and Rose are involved in this conspiracy.

SHERRY CHEN

BACKGROUND:

You were an experienced general and now a senior official represents the P.R.C government. You're assigned an important task to have a meeting with the chief leader of Tibet. Your purpose is to convince the Tibetan government to reunify with P.R.C.

SECRET:

To force the Tibetan to give way to P.R.C, you have a deal with Brian to make a mess in Tibet by stealing the "Sacred ball ". Then, the China government can attack easily. Moreover, Johnson is obviously the biggest obstacle to you, so you plan to impute to him the responsibility of the missing ball.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

You lie to others that it must be Johnson who stole the ball because he hates the P.R.C government. So he planed the whole thing and tried to impute on you.

JANE

BACKGROUND:

You are an attractive female American journalist of the "National Geography magazine" and are given the assignment with Owen to gather material about mysterious Tibet.

SECRET:

You had once worked for the CIA before, so you doubt the real identity of the two people who claimed that they are reporter work for CNN because they looks more like spies than reporters.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

Because you can't reveal your previous identity as a CIA agent, you tell others that you know very well the staff of CNN and you don't think Ariel and Mary belong to them. So, you think that maybe they are involved in the mysterious disappearing of the "Sacred ball".

OWEN

BACKGROUND:

You are a journalist of the " National Geography". You have been to a lot of countries in the world but Tibet is your favorite one for the mysterious abeyance is so attractive to you. So, when your superior asked you to write a story about Tibet, you accepted it without hesitation and set off right away from America with your colleague Jane.

SECRET:

Basically speaking, you are a very simple person, so you don't have any important secret in mind, but you have a crush on Mary.

CLUES THAT YOU SHOULD TELL OTHERS:

Although you know exactly that it is prohibited to take any photographs of the "Sacred ball", you still wanted to take it by fair ways or foul. Luckily Peter was willing to give you a hand as long as you offer money in return. Tell others that you just went to the room to take photos and when you left, the ball was still there; but Brian left the room after you, so you are not sure if Brian is the suspect or not.

Dear DING FUNG Lama,
We appreciate your cooperative attitude and we are glad that we've reached an agreement.

It's very wise of you to be our friend because you can enhance the living standard of your people, and this is for your own good. We hope that other lama can be as smart as you.

As for the plan, please carry it out as soon as you can

Best regards,

Sherry Chen