Office, Comedy, Horror |
| Designers: Carcosa Dreams |
| Number of participants: 8-10 |
| Duration: 3 hours |
| The presenter feels that this larp IS NOT suitable for young people aged 16+ |
About the larp
A dark meta comedy larp inspired by the expanded Cthulhu Mythos.
The Engagement Crisis Scenario
In this scenario our plucky employees find themselves starring down the barrel of a late-night crisis meeting, the outlook email invite states that; “…a serious drop in cult membership has the board concerned and are taking personal interest in our departments plan to resolve this. This is a combined project encompassing both HR and Marketing to be overseen by a senior VP. Bring coffee, it’s going to be a late one…”
The objective of this scenario is to work out a marketing strategy which will support future recruitment of the Cultist outreach programme. The project is currently failing after Phil, the projects previous leader had an unfortunate incident leaving them unable to communicate with the team.
The sun rises in two hours and a solid plan better be on its way to the top floor before then.
A note about the inspiration: Howard Phillips Lovecraft whose writings inspired a whole genre of Cosmic Horror was an abhorrent human being, his white supremacist views were not only prevalent in his reality but also in his writings. A true villain of our past and something which should not be ignored when using aspects of his writing and that of others inspired by his Cosmic Horror genre.
There will be none of the bigoted elements lifted into this game. The respect policy, which is both in game and off game, is specifically designed to exclude these negative ideologies. We aim to create a safe environment for all players, where everyone feels welcome and in a way which spits in the face of those with similar views of the author, we are using for inspiration.
There is much more information online regarding individuals and their outlooks. We ask that all participants and those reading this document spend some time reading up on the subject and passing it on where possible. Whilst reading also check out those working on inclusive, queer, anti- racist things written in this genre and celebrate that. Fictional writings are the lifeblood of game but it is important that those with abhorrent views are exposed and held to account for their beliefs.
Content Warnings: Gruesome/Cosmic horror, Office based stresses
Carcosa Dreams is a collective of like minded individuals producing a plethora of narrative and agency driven larp projects. Recent; The Quota (Joint project) , Sisyphus, Returned, Alba, Forsaken, T67, Tabula Rasa…
Parameters
| Physical contact | Not relevant for this larp; e.g. just standing in a room and talking |
| Romance and intimacy | Player choice |
| Conflict and violence | Shouting and other intimidating actions not involving contact |
| Communication style | Lots of speech |
| Movement style | Sitting or lying |
| Characters | Players build their characters around a predesigned skeleton or archetype |
| Narrative control | The shape and direction of the story is entirely, or almost entirely, determined by player choice |
| Transparency | Fully transparent – players will, or at least can, know absolutely everything in advance |
| Representation | Scenery and props will be used to make the play space look something like the fictional space |
| Play culture | Players are in rival factions, teams, etc, which are in some sort of competition for success |
| Tone | Comedic |
The Smoke 