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Larp House Presents: Sarabande

At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance, a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec

In a small café in Montmartre, a group of people meet day after day at the turn of the 19th century—all entangled in issues of love, beauty, freedom and truth. With their individual rules, conflicts, fears, assumptions and commitments, they play through the same routines again and again. It is as if their lives are frozen in one atonal unstable harmony seeking redemption, but unable to find peace. Day after day they live out these issues through their art, trying desperately to break free or to find that one true love. Day after day goes past, and for each day another passed chance.

But tomorrow… tomorrow will be different…

The participants will play the twelve persons who attend this café day after day and meet again and again. Throughout the scenario, they will be given the possibility to either play out their conflicts in a series of scenes or to play out their internal tensions in small musical and bodily intermezzos. Together we will create these twelve fates and live them out through the use of body, emotion, music and art rather than talking about it. We play with our bodies rather than our heads.

What

Sarabande, a musical roleplaying scenario for eight to twelve players. (Plus on est de fous, plus on rit!)

Designed by Jeppe Bergmann Hamming and Maria Bergmann Hamming
Organized by TLS

When

Sunday, 14 July 2019 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Where

EMERGE Community Development in North Minneapolis

Directions

Free parking on site. Metro Transit lines 5, 14, 30, and 32 stop nearby.

Registration

If you are interested in playing, fill out our Sarabande sign-up form. by Sunday, 5 July 11:59 pm. This larp will run as long as we have a minimum player count by this deadline, so please register by or before July 5th if possible!

We are requesting a pay-what-you want goodwill donation ($5 to $10 suggested) to support the work of EMERGE in appreciation for the use of their space. No one will be turned away if they are unable to make a donation.

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Larp House Presents: Gone

Image of family photo album circa 1941

Lise suffers from dementia and is slowly disappearing from the world, while her family watches. Unable to do anything. Soon she will be gone.

Up until now the family has managed to push old conflicts aside and pull together in taking the best possible care of Lise. But the disease is wearing on them and everybody is nearing their breaking point.

Gone is about being a relative to a person suffering from dementia—not about having dementia yourself. The scenario follows her husband and three adult children the last year before she is admitted to a nursing home. It is also about loss as you watch the one you love disappear day by day, as well as finding yourself and rediscovering your family within the tragedy.

What

Gone, a serious roleplaying scenario about family, grief, and loss for four players

Designed by Klaus Meier Olsen
Organized by TLS

 

Three laurel wreaths

Best Scenario, Fastaval 2018
Best Presentation, Fastaval 2018
The Audience Award, Fastaval 2018

When

Sunday, 30 June 2019 from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Where

Minneapolis Central Library at 300 Nicollet Mall

Directions

Paid parking is available; we encourage a car pool or transit!

Registration

There is no cost for admission to this event.

If you are interested in playing, fill out our Gone sign-up form. before Sunday, 23 June 11:59 pm. This larp will run as long as we have four players by June 23, so please register by or before then if possible!

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Documentation for The Homeowners Association

Four people with exaggerated body language
Four people with exaggerated body language
Left to right: One, We, You, I
You catches a glimpse into We's personal life
Four people with exaggerated body language
Left-to-right: I, One, We, You

It was surprisingly sweet and emotional, despite being callously funny at the beginning. —Jon Cole

Documentation for The Homeowners Association

Designed by Marie Skouenborg
Organized by TLS

22 May 2019
Minneapolis
4 players + facilitator

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Larp House Presents: The Hirelings

"Five Soliders and a Turk on Horseback" by Albrecht Dürer

In a world of perilous adventure and dark dungeons filled with precious riches, one group of aspiring adventurers are having their first day in a new job, and it’s not quite working out as planned.

The Hirelings is a role-playing game in which you play out the preparations and the aftermath of a failed dungeon crawl.

It draws heavily upon clichés from fantasy role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, video games, comics, and fantasy literature. In addition there are also elements from modern life, like job interviews, group therapy, sports, and team building. The characters in the game are all novice adventurers, who are preparing to head out on their first real quest.

What

The Hirelings, a live-action fantasy comedy role-playing game for three to ten players (The more the merrier!)

Designed by Håken Lid and Ole Peder Giæver.
Organized by Shawn Stokes

When

Sunday, 9 June 2019 from 3 pm to 6 pm

Where

A North Minneapolis nonprofit located near Broadway and Emerson. Players will be given details after they are registered.

Parking on site. Metro Transit lines 5, 14, 30, and 32 stop nearby.

Registration

If you are interested in playing, fill out our The Hirelings Sign-Up Form by Sunday, 2 June 11:59 pm. This larp will run as long as we have a minimum player count by this deadline, so please register by or before June 2nd if possible!

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Larp House Presents: The Homeowners Association

row houses, the street lined with plastic waste bins

UPDATE: This event has been re-scheduled to May 22. Registration is live!

“I think it is about time something was done about the filthy road signs in the neighborhood. I think it’s a bloody disgrace.”

“One might say that one should leave such things to the proper authorities since they have the responsibility.”

“You could pay some of the adorable children from the neighborhood to sweep the area with a nice bucket of soapy water and a sponge; then you would have it fixed in a jiffy.”

“We will get to all that later, surely, but first we have some more important things to discuss.”

The Homeowners Association is at once a humorous caricature of those embroiled in a petty bid for power and a personal drama in which those same people struggle with the demands of their personal lives.

Each board member is defined by their particular manner of phrasing and use of body language, which makes them look rather ridiculous to one another, especially in the board meetings where tempers run high. What begins as a mutual attempt by the board members to desperately try to impose their will on the board meetings and by extension their neighborhood becomes something different as they get to know each other outside of board meetings. What will happen to all of their plans, ideals, and conflicts when they suddenly know their opponents on a personal level?

What

The Homeowners Association is a comedic live-action scenario about low-stakes high-drama arguments for four players.

Designed by Marie Skouenborg
Organized by TLS

Winner: Otto Award for Best Characters, Fastaval 2017
Winner: Otto Award for Best Scenario, Fastaval 2017

When

Updated: 22 May 2019 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Where

Updated: Minneapolis Central Library at 300 Nicollet Mall

Directions

Paid parking is available; we encourage a car pool or transit!

Registration

There is no cost for admission to this event.

If you are interested in playing, fill out our The Homeowners Association sign-up form before Tuesday, 14 May 11:59 pm. This larp will run as long as we have a minimum player count by May 14, so please register by or before then if possible!

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Larp House Presents: POP!

Get Connected!

Update: Sorry to burst your balloon, but this event has been cancelled.

The warm hum of a CRT monitor is drowned out by the scream of a dial-up modem. As Internet access becomes ubiquitous, people with obscure sexual interests are beginning to find one another in anonymous forums. A cursor floats over a hyperlink to looner-landing private forums 18+ only.

On one bulletin board service, a group of people connect over their common sexual interest in balloons. Who are the people behind the keyboard? What nascent community do they form, and how does it change when they meet in person for the first time?

What

POP! is a live-action game about online communities, for 8 to 12 players.

Specifically, it’s about an online community of people who love and fetishize latex balloons.

Players will immerse into the warm, soothing atmosphere of a nostalgic Internet via private messenger, forum posts, and chat rooms. At the end of play, the characters will meet for for the first time at an in-person meet-up event, which might be a joyful revelation or an awkward trainwreck. While this game is about a very specific community, the themes of finding belonging are universal.

Designed by Alex Roberts
Organized by Jon Cole and Tom S. Tea

When

Saturday, 25 May 2019, from 2 to 5 pm

Where

POP! will take place at SpringBOX, located at 262 University Ave W in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Parking is available on site. METRO Green Line and bus lines stop nearby.

Directions

Tickets

Get a “ticket” by filling out our POP! registration form before 11:59 pm on Sunday, 19 May. Unlike some of our other events, these tickets are first-come first-serve. Once you have a ticket, you don’t need to do anything else besides show up to play. In the unlikely event that too many people sign up, we will solicit volunteers to drop out of the event in exchange for a “golden ticket” of instant admittance to their next event with us.

SpringBOX is a space for community events and programming, operated by Springboard for the Arts. We are requesting a pay-what-you-want donation ($5-10 suggested) to support the work of SpringBOX in appreciation for the use of their space. No one will be turned away if they are unable to make a donation.

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Rosenstrasse: Now On Kickstarter

The latest game in the War Birds series, Rosenstrasse is an immersive freeform tabletop game in the scenario festival tradition. Starting in 1933 Berlin, it explores marriages between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans during the rise of Nazism, culminating in the 1943 Rosenstraße protest. Rosenstrasse has been playtested by historians and Holocaust educators, has been played to critical acclaim at game festivals, and is now being made available as a ready-to-play publication. Please take a look at this important title!

Rosenstrasse: A War Birds Story of Love & Survival. Berlin: 1933 – 1943 on Kickstarter

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Conclave: Now on Kickstarter

Conclave is a live-action game of political scheming between 13th-century Cardinals designed by Willow Palacek. 8 to 27 players take the role of historic characters, literally locked in a room together until they decide who will be the next Pope. It has been a cult favorite of the convention circuit, and now you can get a copy on Kickstarter!

Support regional game designers and check it out!

Conclave: The Papal Election LARP on Kickstarter