Larp House Presents: Sign

illustration of two hands making ASL gesture for Friend

Nicaragua in the 1970s had no form of sign language. In 1977, something happened. Fifty deaf children from across the country were brought together to an experimental school in Managua. Without a shared language to express themselves, the children did the only thing they could — they created one. In Sign, we follow a small piece of their journey.

Sign is based on the true story of a language born in modern times from the hands of children.  In Sign, you’ll play as kids on their first day of school. Together you’ll make new language through play.

What

Sign, a live-action game about communication and being understood, for four to 35 players.

Designed by Kathryn Hymes & Hakan Seyalioglu

Organized by Katherine Shane

SIGN A Game About Being UnderstoodThis game of Sign will have simultaneous runs of one to five tables of four to seven players each, working together to create a new language. Play is entirely silent, without any spoken words or any use of currently existing sign languages. Instead players will use their creativity and their hands and bodies to communicate without words, build bonds of friendship, and create a new shared language.

This game will include a shared meal of traditional Nicaraguan food. (Meal will be vegetarian to ensure broad accessibility. Please indicate in the event sign up if you have any sensitivities or requirements.)

When

1 February 2020, 2 pm to 6 pm

Where

ECMN Community Room at 1101 West Broadway, Minneapolis (Google Maps)

Metro Transit routes 5, 14, 30, and 32 stop nearby. Parking is available.

Registration

If you’d like to play, please fill out the Sign registration form so we have an accurate head count for tables and food. Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t delay!

The cost for the game plus meal is a self-determined fee of $5 to $25 (sliding scale) that will be collected at the door.

Hard copies of Sign will be available for sale.

Special! For a flat fee of $60, you may reserve a table for a group of 4 to 7 players. This includes food as well as a single hard copy of Sign by Thorny Games!

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Sign”

Salon du Larp House: Glamourous Night – second playtest!

enchanted forest

Wizards, humans, magical animals, and faeries attend a mundane community’s summer solstice festival. Magic is in the air, voices are stilled, and dreams can come true at a cost. Tonight a journey between realms will grant attendees terrifying mystical power to pursue their desires. How far will you go to get what you want? When you are all-powerful, what is actually important to you?

What

Glamourous Night is a larp about faerie magic and wizards’ hubris for 15 to 25 players. It is an abstract and musical experience exploring the themes of mind control and healing from trauma. This event is a playtest for a larp designed by Jon Cole.

In Glamourous Night, players use two movement techniques to perform ensorcelling magic as their characters. Characters will experience joyful exploration and tempting darkness as they share, subjugate, and are subjugated.

When

Saturday January 11th, 2019, from 1 to 6 pm

Background

This is one of the final playtests of Glamourous Night, a nearly finished  larp that should deliver a fairly polished experience.  The organizer would like to gather your feedback after play for about 30 minutes.

Details on the larp

Setting and Situation

This larp is set in a medieval European world where magic and myth is reality. On the summer solstice a mundane community holds their annual celebration. This year, a mysterious covenant of wizards invited the community invited the villagers to celebrate in a mystically significant river valley. Elders say that the valley has strange auras that shift between magical and faerie. This solstice, human emotion and excitement have drawn faeries through the ancient mists, seeking playmates and playthings.

Play Style

Glamourous Night represents magical interactions with two movement techniques, so that magic in this world is a full body experience. Instead of a flick of wand and saying a Latin word, magic in this larp involves improvising body movement under specific constraints. The two techniques are simple to learn and the ‘rules’ of how to move make it easy to use and improvise spells. The workshop will be about 2 hours.

This game uses music to inspire the story and there will be a soundtrack for each scene and act of the game. Movement is the most important way to communicate in this larp. Characters can talk to one another but they cannot resolve their conflict by speech alone. Play will be about 2 hours.

You might like this larp if:

  • You want to play with temptation, power, and revenge.
  • You like having unique, unusual experiences that you can tell your friends about later.
  • You have personal interest in fairy tales, rituals, mind control, or the power of music.
  • You are interested in the games White Death, Ribbon Drive, Sarabande, My Jam, Before and After Silence.
  • You enjoy other activities that have “rules” for improvised movement such as contact improv, interplay, or blues dancing.
  • You are a fan of Ars Magica, the setting for this larp.

Where

Gandhi Mahal restaurant

3009 27th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406

Paid street parking nearby, or free if you’re willing to walk a couple of blocks.

Metro Transit Blue Line, 7, & 21 stops nearby.

Tickets

Get a ticket by filling out the Glamourous Night registration form. Unlike some of our other events, these tickets are first come first served. Once you have a ticket you don’t need to do anything else besides show up to play!

On the day of the event we request a pay-what-you-want goodwill cash donation ($5-$10 suggested) to pay for our use of the space. No one will be turned away if they do not make a donation. Continue reading “Salon du Larp House: Glamourous Night – second playtest!”

Larp House Presents: A Crow Funeral (PBS edition)

two crows on marble steps

TPT Twin Cities PBS logo

This special run of the game is a exhibition game that will be filmed by Twin Cities PBS as part of a segment they are doing on Larp House. All participants must consent to being filmed and interviewed.

A fellow crow has died and we will gather to mourn their passing, but more importantly to understand why they died. Not in a metaphysical way, but in a practical way – what killed this creature and how can we ensure it won’t kill us as well? We are crows and this is the crow way.

What

A Crow Funeral, a live-action game about arguments, empathy, and corvids for 2 or more players

Designed by Tim Hutchings
Organized by Katherine Shane and Tom Fendt

When

1 October 2019, from 5:30 pm to 9:00 pm (including interviews)

Where

A private residence in Richfield, Minnesota. Details will be provided to participants.

Registration

If you are interested in playing, please fill out our A Crow Funeral registration form ASAP.  We’ll let you know if you are in the larp as soon as we can.

We probably only need a few players for this. Continue reading “Larp House Presents: A Crow Funeral (PBS edition)”

Larp House Presents: Eye in the Sky

MQ-Q Reaper unmanned aircraft in flight over desert

A British-led intelligence operation close to the border of Pakistan is using an American drone for overwatch. Players are military, legal and political decision makers for either the British or American team. The optional 7th player is an unexpected observer from the Pakistan embassy. How will they all cope when the mission changes and their rules of engagement are no longer clear?

The premise

The larp is an exploration of the morality and effectiveness of using drones as a weapon of war. Different characters will have different ethical concerns about when and how to use drone weapons, and those will be tested as events unfold.

The leaders of a joint British-American intelligence operation are sitting in a room in a secure location in England, remotely directing the operation by issuing orders to British agents on the ground, local military units, or the American drone on overwatch.

Eye in the Sky will premiere at The Smoke 2020. This North American sneak preview is only at Larp House!

A larp for 6-7 players, 4 hours long (including debrief)
Designed by Malcolm Campbell
Organized by Malcolm Campbell, Josh Krehbiel, and Jon Cole

When & where

7 pm to 11 pm, Friday October 4th 2019
Hosted in private home near 78th and Dell Rd in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. (Exact address will be shared with ticket-holders.)

Plentiful free parking on site. We’ll be organizing a ride share to help get people out there.

Sign-up

Get a ticket by filling out the Eye in the Sky registration form. Unlike some of our other events, these free tickets are first-come first-served. Once you have a ticket you don’t need to do anything else besides show up to play! Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Eye in the Sky”

Larp House Presents: Boundary Waters

Sunset over a wooded lake with a canoe in the foreground

Why do we do we travel? Why do we go to the world’s wild places? Why do we paddle or hike for days, when we could reach the same destination in a few hours by car? In a world of elevators, why do we climb mountains? Sometimes we go into the wilderness to figure out what matters. We take on burdens to learn how much we can carry, and who will help us bear the load. We go to liminal spaces to find a path forward, or the way home. Sometimes we all need to go to the Boundary Waters.

In Boundary Waters, a group of six strong women facing difficult choices travel through the lakes and portages of the Boundary Water Canoe Area, heading for the Canadian border. As they paddle, they contend with the inner voices of hope and fear, guilt and love. At portages, they carry heavy burdens over difficult terrain, just as they must carry the burdens of their past and future choices over many paths. Sometimes they share each other’s burdens. At night they gather in the dark and liminal space of a campfire under the stars. As they travel, the beauty of wild places will hone who they are and what they value most. When they reach the border, each must make a choice.

What

Boundary Waters, a live-action game for two to six players

As featured at Make a Scene!

Designed by Katherine Shane
Organized by Tom Fendt

When

24 August 2019 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Where

Hidden Falls Regional Park, St Paul (Google Maps)

Metro Transit routes 46 and 134 stop about half a mile away. We’ll solicit carpool needs and offers.

Registration

There is no cost to participate in this larp.

If you are interested in playing, fill out our Boundary Waters Sign-Up Form by Sunday, 18 August 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 August 18th if possible!

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Boundary Waters”

Salon du Larp House: Glamourous Night playtest

enchanted forest

Wizards, humans, magical creatures, and faeries attend a mundane community’s summer solstice festival. Magic is in the air, voices are stilled, and dreams can come true at a cost. Tonight shifting auras will grant attendees terrifying mystical power to pursue their desires. How far will you go to get what you want? When you are all-powerful, what is actually important to you?

What

Glamourous Night is a larp about faerie magic and wizards’ hubris for 15-25 players. It is an abstract and musical experience exploring the themes of temptation and choice. This event is a playtest for an unfinished larp designed by Jon Cole.

In Glamourous Night, players use two movement techniques to perform ensorcelling magic as their characters. Characters will experience joyful exploration and tempting darkness as they share, subjugate, and are subjugated.

When

Sunday September 1st, 2019, from 1:30 to 6 pm

Background

This is an alpha playtest of a larp. Glamourous Night isn’t finished, and this will be one of the first times it is played. There might be big holes missing or rough patches in play. If this larp sounds interesting to you even though it may not be a coherent start to finish narrative experience, we will be very glad to have you join us!
Continue reading “Salon du Larp House: Glamourous Night playtest”

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.

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Sarabande”

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!

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Gone”

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!

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: The Hirelings”

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!

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: The Homeowners Association”