Here’s the draft larp programme for The Smoke 2019! There might be some changes between now and the festival, but hopefully not too many.
Click on each larp’s name to go to a page of details about it.
| A Wolf by Any Other Name | Designed by: Maury Brown, Ben Morrow | Magic, werewolves, detention |
| Arsenic & Lies (R) | Karolina Soltys | Family, secrets, murder |
| As on by is held in (18+) | Nilas Dumstrei | Uncertainty, self/surroundings, invisibility |
| Beginning (18+) | Nina Runa Essendrop | Sensory, gentle, abstract |
| Being Scene (18+) | Michael Such | Music, movement, connection |
| Between Limbo and the Veil (P) | Muriel Algayres | Emotions, team work, trials |
| Bon Appetit (18+, P) | Kol Ford | Diplomacy, society, cannibalism |
| Bothwell School of Witchcraft (P) | Cameron Readman | Investigate, prepare, learn |
| Clearing | Jamie Harper | Community, diversity, resilience |
| Closing Doors (18+) | Rei England | What-if, choices, identity |
| Critical Path (18+, R) | Amanda Brown, Jill Krynicki Dutcher, James Silverstein, Brandon Brylawski, Doug Freedman | Drama, decisions, ride |
| Dance of the Perseids | Lea Pullerits, Simon James Pettitt | Passionate, surreal, journey |
| Death (Whispers in the Dark) (P) | Stephen Dorman, Nick Long, Ben Mars | Darkness, unknown, trust |
| Dinner at Grandpa’s | Giulia Cursi, Mirko Gaviano, Alessandro Giovannucci, Chiara Locatelli, Marco Tamburrino |
Black comedy, family, grotesque |
| Father (18+) | Espe Montero | Family, drama, hospital |
| Gone Viral | Liz Cable, Toby Jones | Puzzles, deduction, escape! |
| I keep some coffee warm for you! | Jonas Klinkenberg | Friendship, memories, trust |
| Life Lessons (18+, P) | Mo Holkar | Drawing, community, self-exploration |
| Life on a string (18+) | Jantine van den Bosch | Silent, abstract, theatrical |
| Living Embers (18+) | Laura Wood, Karolina Soltys, Patrik Balint, David Owen | Family, normalisation of dysfunction, surreal |
| Love Stories by ABBA | Anna Westerling | Love, music, party |
| Miss-under-stood (P) | Beatriz Creel | Communication, enigma, discovery |
| New Life (P) | Laura Wood, Ruth Trenery-Leach | Motherhood, identity, change |
| Once Upon a Time, We Were Celebrities | Diana Ostrat | Past, choices, hope |
| Playdate | Stephanie Marx, Drew Novick, Margaret Simkins, Susan Weiner | Childlike, identity, reality |
| Sarabande | Maria Bergmann Hamming, Jeppe Bergmann Hamming | Music, art, emotion |
| Sign: A Game About Being Understood (R) | Kathryn Hymes, Hakan Seyalioglu | Exploratory, creative, linguistics |
| Small dreams, big goals. (P) | Mary Czapkowska, Donata Brazauskaite | Drugs, dreams/nightmares, insanity |
| Small Town Folks | Tracy Bose, Rob Harris, Mo Holkar, Tony Mitton, Mike Snowden, and Cat Tobin | Community, family, history |
| Strangers (R) | Nina Runa Essendrop | Culture clash, abstract, mute |
| The City of Bavel | Erez Zvulun, Hila Gregory Meinrath, Yauheniya Siadova | Communication without language |
| The Journey (18+) | Jantine van den Bosch, Marcel Oerlemans | Physical, experimental, journey |
| The Larp Crush (18+, P) | Agata Swistak | Romance, larp, comedy |
| The Meeting Point (P) | Laura Wood | Identity, time-travel, relationships |
| The Script (18+, P) | Michael Such | Acting, relationships, viewpoints |
| The Waiting Room of Lost Souls (18+, P) | John Shockley, Martyn Meeks | Goals, fiction, fun |
| They Come At Night (18+, P) | Gordon McDonald | Co-operation, betrayal, fear |
| Trojan Women (18+) | Troels Ken Pedersen | Mourning, community, tragedy |
| Unity (P) | Lee Foxworthy, Seth Fogarty | Detainment, heritage, arduous decisions |
| Voices | Melina Cunelius | Mental health, dissociation |
| What Might Have Been (18+, P) | Karolina Soltys, David Owen, Patrik Balint | Search for meaning, end of the world, interpretations |
18+ = this larp is only suitable for participants aged 18+. Others are suitable for age 16+.
R = revisit – this larp has been a favourite at The Smoke in a previous year, so it’s been brought back to give new people a chance to play it.
P = premier – this larp has not run at a festival before! (But, like all of them, it has been playtested.)
In addition to these larps, as a new experiment for this edition of The Smoke, we’re scheduling some workshops! These will involve fun group and individual exercises, led by experts, that will look at different aspects of larping and hopefully spark some thought about how to enjoy your participation in it even more.
| Love & larp: Tips & tricks (18+) | Maria Bergmann Hamming, Jeppe Bergmann Hamming | Love, romance, interaction |
| People We’ve Been and People We Are (18+) | Jonaya Kemper | Autoethnography, emancipatory bleed, exploring a character |
Larp slots
Here’s a handy rough graphic of which larps are in which slot, in which room:
(click on it to make it bigger)
And here are the programmes from the 2018 and 2017 festivals.
The Smoke 