Key themes: family, secrets, murder

Designer: Karolina Soltys (UK)

Presented by: Laura Wood (UK)

Number of participants: 5–10

Duration: 3 hours

Genre/style: Nordic-style, improvised

About the larp

It is 31 Dec 1919 and the party at Weatherby Manor is in full swing.
The guests exchange furtive whispers of intrigue, blackmail and
forbidden love. At midnight, a glass of poisoned champagne shatters,
dropped from a dying hand. The family has to find ­ – or frame – the
killer before the police start looking too closely into their secrets.

But does the murder even matter in the scheme of things? How important
is it compared to pursuing your clandestine affairs, extracting
revenge on people who let you down during the War, arranging marriages
of convenience or saving your beloved sisters from going to
jail?

Arsenic and Lies is a 3 hour larp for 5-10 players inspired by Downton
Abbey and Agatha Christie novels. Rather than being a classical
whodunnit, it focuses on the emotions, relationships and secrets of
the characters involved. The characters and relationships between them
are created in the pre-game workshop, which makes the game replayable.