Play Pen&Paper | Questhaus Ost II: The Return of the Drags

Whether you’re a curious beginner or an experienced role-player, whether you come alone or in a group—everyone is welcome. We’ll start with a brief introduction to how pen-and-paper games work, then we’ll showcase the games people have brought, and a group will form for each game. The focus this afternoon is on queer game worlds.

If you’d like to bring a game and run a session, please email info@ballhausost.de in advance.

• Arrival & Introduction: 3:30 p.m.
• Pen-and-Paper: 4:00 PM–7:00 PM

Drag Show

Night is falling in Berlin. For the second time, drag beings are gathering at Ballhaus Ost to take on the monsters of modernity with improv, queerness, and love. Led by their drag king game master, the heroes embark on a wild mission to save the world.

Last time, the drag-queen heroes managed to defeat the bureaucratic monsters and hoist the rainbow flag atop the Reichstag, thereby lifting the curse from Berlin. But barely six months have passed, and the wind is picking up again, colorless trash bags are floating through the air, and a new challenge looms for our beloved heroes. And they’re not wasting any time—they’re gluing on their beards, pulling on their fishnet tights, and gathering once more to face the most dangerous villains who are suffocating the city in a gray, corrupt fog. Join the fight and help show who this city belongs to!

The mustachioed drag king BroKolya and his guests—drag kings, drag queens, and other beings—invite you to take part in a game inspired by “Dungeons & Drag-ons”! Come by, watch the dice roll, see wigs fly through the air, and experience how drag performers reinvent an entire world in real time.

Questhaus Show: 8:00 PM–10:30 PM

What is Pen & Paper?

In most role-playing games, a game master guides the players through the game: they depict scenes, describe locations, play all non-player characters, and decide how the story unfolds. The game’s rulebook provides the framework for this.

The players take on the roles of fictional characters and develop the plot. There are also role-playing games with a character sheet that provides information on skills and abilities or fun facts.

Many decisions and game moments with uncertain outcomes are determined by rolling dice. This is also specified in the respective rulebook.

There are countless scenarios in pen-and-paper RPGs. Whether as a vampire in 1920s London, a thief in the future, with magic, or without magic—anything is possible.

The so-called rulebooks set out the basic rules and game settings. How strictly the group adheres to these basic rules is a group decision. The rule here is: as long as everyone is having fun, anything goes.