Co-operation, Betrayal, Fear |
| Designers: Gordon McDonald |
| Number of participants: 8-16 |
| Duration: 4 hours |
| The presenter feels that this larp IS suitable for young people aged 16+ |
About the larp
You are a small group of survivors at the end of the world. THEY are still out there and at night they try to get in. You found each other and have made this place as safe as you can, but every night there seems to be more of THEM.
The game is set in your shared safe place after you have finished scavenging and building for the day and before THEY start trying to get in. It is a game about how you deal with being in that stressful situation and the bonds you build.
Between each game you can be hurt or killed by THEM. Either because they broke in during the night or because something happened while you were out looking for supplies.
The army is coming to save you, it’s on all the emergency broadcasts. You just need to survive six nights until they can arrange an extraction in your area.
Content Warnings: Building friendships and then potentially losing those friends is key to the design of the game. The main threat is chosen by the players as part of the game.
Gordon McDonald:
Parameters
| Physical contact | Light contact; touching hands or forearms |
| Romance and intimacy | Romantic themes but no player contact; e.g. discussion of romance, illicit glances |
| 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 build their characters around a predesigned skeleton or archetype |
| Narrative control | Players have some influence over story, but there is basically a script or structure that they’re within |
| Transparency | Transparent design, but players can create secrets during play and keep them from each other / reveal them when wished |
| Representation | The fictional space is pretty similar to the play space |
| Play culture | Players are individually trying to achieve goals, such that not all can succeed |
| Tone | The feel of the game is heavily influenced by player choice but previous runs have all been light hearted |
The Smoke 