Family, viewpoint, memories

Designers: Quinn D, Kathleen De Smet, Katie Giacomini, Eva Schiffer, and Gaylord Tang

Number of participants: 6

Duration: 4 hours

The presenter feels that this larp IS suitable for young people aged 16+

About the larp

It’s been three years since Grandma Dot’s cancer diagnosis, and the last two annual family beach parties have been centered on her long—and happy—goodbyes. Now she’s passed away in a hospital far from home. Rather than turn her body over to the usual pipeline of hospital to funeral home to cemetery, the family took it and drove off in their RV to take her home and decide what to do. Grandma’s Resting Place is a game about coping with the loss of a loved one by sharing and reliving memories spanning three generations. The game is set in a realistic modern time. This is a serious game including a mix of joyful, funny, and sad memories. The focus is on roleplaying the characters involved, with no goals.

Content Warnings: Discussions of death, cancer, abandonment, controlling behaviour, opinions on homosexuality and childrearing.

Presented by

Sue Lee: Committed gamer, LARPer, Lasertagger, Freeformer and Cat Herder. Responsible for UK Freeforms, and founder of Peaky Games and Consequences. Give me games to run or play and I’ll be there!

Parameters

Physical contact	Light contact; touching hands or forearms
Romance and intimacy	Not relevant for the larp
Conflict and violence	Not relevant for this larp
Communication style	Lots of speech
Movement style	Sitting or lying
Characters	Characters are fully predesigned
Narrative control	Heavily scripted, perhaps with predefined scenes whose outcomes are known
Transparency	Every character has very different memories of events, and a lot of play is about hearing those different things
Representation level	The fictional space looks very unlike the play space, but players will use their imaginations
Play culture	Players are collaborating to achieve joint aims
Tone	Dramatic

Saturday afternoon, Studio 4