Care, Cultivation, Impact |
| Designer: Chloe Mashiter |
| Number of participants: 6-8 |
| Duration: 3 hours |
| The presenter feels that this larp IS NOT suitable for young people aged 16+ |
About the larp
“I ask for your help, your wisdom, your power. I don’t believe in fate or destiny enough to let that decide what happens to me. But I believe in you, and that you are my best hope here.”
In another world, on another plane, people call out to you: powerful patrons who wield grand magic. Watching over this world and those within it, your fundamental duty is to help your ward. But how do you do this? Change them, change the world around them, or refrain from changing anything at all?
The land of Odmienny is in a state of turmoil. In the middle of this, six adventurers are working together – fighting, spying, sabotaging, defending – to do what they can to bring peace and stability to the land. Each in need of aid, wisdom and comfort during their trials, they have appealed to six otherworldly patrons to give them such help.
You are the ones with the power to help, and the responsibility to define what it means to help.
Nuture primarily combines map-drawing and conversation, with some light theatrical touches such as a soundtrack live-edited by the facilitator to reflect the players’ decisions.
NB: Players are expected to write and draw during the game (though no artistic skill is required); if a player would require assistance with this then the facilitators would need to know ahead of time to be able to plan for this.
Content Warnings: As a game about ways in which people change and grow, certain themes common in such stories (betrayal, loss, danger, sacrifice, death) are likely to feature, even if only to a minor degree.
Chloe Mashiter: I am a game- and theatre-maker and consequently bring various elements of theatrical design and practice to the larps that I write. I’ve been making games and creating, directing and performing in immersive, interactive and game-based performance for eight years.
I like to make structures that foster emotional, character-driven and collaborative storytelling – whether in theatre, tabletop games, or larping.
Nuture is my first larp, written as part of the Smoke’s 2020 Sparring Partners programme (with mentoring from Calum Campbell).
Parameters
| Physical contact | Light contact; touching hands or forearms |
| Romance and intimacy | Not relevant for the larp |
| Conflict and violence | Themes of conflict, but not enacted by players; e.g. quiet threats and vengeful stares |
| Communication style | Lots of speech |
| Movement style | Walking |
| Characters | Players create their own characters, in a workshop |
| Narrative control | The shape and direction of the story is entirely, or almost entirely, determined by player choice |
| Transparency | Players will be given some information privately [prayers] – whilst sharing these will be common and encouraged, players can keep them private/secret if they decide |
| Representation | There are two fictional spaces, both created through use of imaginations (the world the patrons inhabit and the world their wards inhabit, represented by the map) |
| Play culture | Players are individually trying to achieve goals, such that not all can succeed |
| Tone | Dramatic |
The Smoke 