Larp House Presents: Orthodoxy

A larp about the politics of rewriting a religion and reconstructing a city, to be played this January 2015.
Orthodoxy will be full of intrigue, bribery, compromise, and maybe even murder. Players will be grouped into ancient religious sects consisting of up to 5 people, including the sect’s Lector and their closest followers. Throughout the course of the game, these characters will contribute to writing a text that will unify the land under a single religious ideology.
The larp will cycle between two phases, one in which each sect will narrate chapters of the text in order to make their virtues the most prominent and another phase of bribery, spying, rabble-rousing, and possibly assassinations!

WHAT:
a larp for 9-20 players
Written by Ezra Studios
Organized by Arnold Cassell and the Larp House
WHEN:
The larp will be held from 1pm-5pm on Saturday January 31st  2015.
If you choose to attend the optional lunch potluck, come at noon on the 31st with something to share.
For Lectors (players who sign-up for a role with more responsibilities during the larp) there will be an additional required workshop from 1-3pm on Saturday January 24th  2015.
WHERE:
The larp will be held at in a private home in Shakopee, MN  USA. Please sign up to receive the exact address. There will be some rides available for people without vehicles.
The lector workshop will be held at the Caribou Coffee on Selling and Grand in Saint Paul, MN  USA.
WHAT GENRE:
political scheming, high-stakes business meeting
Orthodoxy is a competitive game. Players are each other’s opponents vying for religious and secular power in a crumbling city-state. Use of deception and skulduggery is expected and encouraged. However player elimination is not expected. Any assassinated character will definitely be dead, but the player will take on other interesting duties.
HOW DO I SIGN UP:
Tickets are assigned via a lottery of all interested people. Enter the lottery by sending an e-mail to [email protected] before 11:59PM Wednesday, December 31st. You should know if you are in or out of the larp by Friday January 2nd.
In your email, please also indicate what type of role you would like for the larp: Lector or Devotee. By selecting Lector, you are required to come to an additional workshop one week before the larp to learn about this special role.
If you have a vehicle and would be willing to offer folks rides out to Shakopee, please mention that in your email of sign-up here.
Finally, Arnold would like to host an optional potluck lunch before the larp. If you interested in that, you can indicate it in your sign up email.
Anyone is welcome to sign up to play in Orthodoxy, feel free to invite people and forward this email widely.
WHAT ROLES ARE THERE:
There are two types of player roles in Orthodoxy, Lectors and Devotees. Devotees will portray members of different religious sects. They will engage in behaviors such as scheme for personal power, have personal conflicts with members of their sect, complain about other sects, and carry out secret missions for their sect.
Lectors will portray leaders of the religious sects that Devotees are a part of. There will be 2 to 4 Devotees per sect. Lector characters will have the benefit and burden of representing their sect during parts of the negotiation.  Lectors will engage in such behaviors as scheme for the power of the sect, have personal conflicts with other sect leaders, complain about their Devotees, and cut deals with other sects.
COSTUMING:
To the extent that you are excited about this, get your ancient Roman religious leader on. At the Lector workshop, some distinctive markings and symbols for each sect will be created. Be ready to accessorize and represent your sect!
ACCESSIBILITY:
The play venue is a split-level home, stair access only. The venue is accessible only by car. A limited number of rides to and from the event are available for people without access to a vehicle, organized here. Climate controlled building. Plenty of seating available. Potluck meal will be provided at noon. A minimally appointed off-game decompression space will be available. If you have an accessibility question or request please email [email protected].
CONTENT WARNING:
Devotees will be assigned to sects created by Lectors. Play will include callous political power-grabs, content and reasoning inspired by real-world religions. Play may include assassination, unequal power dynamics between characters. Play will center around creating a new religious canon. If you have an question about this content warning please email [email protected].
CONTACT THE ORGANIZERS:
For more information about Orthodoxy email [email protected]. Your inquiry will be forwarded to the organizer best suited to answer it.

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Larp House Presents: LarpJam

LarpJam, a workshop where participants will create their very own larps in a round-robin format. In a matter of hours people with no larp design experience can create awesome, fully-playable larps or the seeds that future larps can spring from! This process folds creative invocation, constructive constraints, and peer feedback into one lightning-fast process.

This event is being put together outrageously last minute because the Larp House was specially invited to participate in

Golden Cobra, a new freeform design competition that concludes October 30th. Seriously, Whitney Beltrán and Jason Morningstar wrote us personally to ask Larp House people to submit. Even if you can’t attend this Larpjam, you are encouraged to design something for Golden Cobra!

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Larp House Presents: Service

Service is a freeform larp about residents of the United States called up for military service during a brutal war.
Each player takes on the role of a citizen who has been torn out of their everyday life and brought to the Orientation Center for deployment to basic training. Everything they own has been removed from them as they are about to embark on the transformational experience of becoming a soldier.
Service is game about saying goodbye to the life you’ve known, about patriotism versus the reality of war, and issues of personal versus societal responsibility.

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Larp House Presents: Silver and White

Silver and White is a live action game about four suburban teenagers encounter the mystery that will shape their lives. They explore, and each time they touch, we exchange cards. For the teens a few days, for us a few hours. We make up a story together, our invented truths springing from the cards we hold; and they step into the unknown, pausing at every awkward touch, hopeful despite everything to come.
WHAT:
A game about personal change for 4 players
written by Jackson Tegu, adapted by Alex Carlson
organized by Alex, Adam, Jon
WHEN:
7pm-1am Saturday July 5th

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Larp House Presents: Family Business (run 3)

LARP HOUSE RE-PRESENTS: FAMILY BUSINESS
What:
Family Business is an American Freeform about a family of con artists in the 1980s. The family’s leader has just been arrested so the members of the gang have to make sense of their changing relationships as the law breathes down their neck.
This larp was presented by the Larp House in 2013 and has been polished for a second run.

 

When:
6:30pm-12am Saturday June 7th
depending on interest, there may be a second run in the afternoon or evening of Saturday June 14th

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Larp House Presents: Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

Played in the summertime, when the sky stays lit well into the night and the air is stiflingly humid, Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai is a simple storytelling parlor game with an evocation ritual reminiscent of “Bloody Mary.” In a mythic imagining of Edo period Japan, a gracious host has invited villagers to improvise stories. The host lights a dozen candles, and characters take turns telling strange and grotesque stories, folktales, and ghost stories. 

At the end of each story, the teller of the tale extinguishes a candle. The room darkens at the conclusion of each story, the fading light calls upon the spirits and creatures of the stories. When the final candle goes out, something monstrous may fill the darkness.

WHAT GENRE: telling ghost stories, Japanese folk tale, creepy ritual

HOW MANY: 6 – 12 players.

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Larp House Presents: Hug Street

LARP HOUSE presents: Hug Street

WHAT: Hug Street takes place in an alternate reality. Instead of selling and buying shares, stocks, and derivatives like on Wall Street, players trade in hugs, handshakes and vocal noises, such as “ahhs” and “mmms.” But a recession is coming – will you be able to steer through this crisis without going under?

The game explores an economy where the goal is spending, not saving. In this world, consuming is a positive act, as long as you consume for the good of everyone. Even more information below the cut!

WHAT GENRE: Stylized realism, comedy by accident
WHEN: 1 – 5 pm, Sunday February 23rd!
HOW MANY: 6 – 12 players!
EDIT: Larp is full.
HOW DO I SIGN UP: Send an e-mail to [email protected] starting 6 PM Wednesday, January 29th. Sign ups will not be accepted before then. There will also be a Facebook event for announcements and such.

I WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LARP: During the game, the traders swap simple products such as hugs, handshakes and vocal sounds.You choose what products you feel comfortable selling and buying.The money you don’t use degrades, and it is possible to lose everything! If this happens, you’ll have to start over from scratch. Since everyone is interdependent, your fellow traders will want you back in business as soon as possible if this happens. In Hug Street, not having is a resource just as much as having one, provided you are willing to trade. And having a resource isn’t worth anything if you keep it to yourself.

Hug Street can be played by people who are not comfortable hugging.You always decide whether you’d like to give or receive hugs or other physical trades.The game sup- ports both saying ‘no’ to a transaction, and modifying trades to meet with the accept- ance of all involved parties. Even though it’s possible to play the game without touching others, if you’re not comfortable with physical contact, this might not be the game for you.

The larp follows a working week in the life of a Hug Street trader. From Monday until Saturday you will sell and buy hugs, handshakes, and sounds. Together with the other traders, you’ll experience both an expanding and shrinking economy as the market gradually opens. Eventually you will move beyond trading into designing your own products.

Hug Street was designed by Fredrik Hossman and the larpscript was taken from Larps From the Factory (thanks again to Arnold Cassel for buying it for us).

I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION: Send me an e-mail and I will try to answer it!

Larp House Presents: The City of Fire & Coin

UPCOMING LARP: The City of Fire & Coin

The City of Fire & Coin is a sandbox larp for 12 roguish characters adventuring in a mysterious fantasy city packed with violence and intrigue.  The game will be run by Kat Jones and Evan Torner in the Parlor Sandbox system, bringing their successful larp from Intercon M 2013 to share with the Larp House!

City of Fire and Coin larp for 12 players
Location TBA  Twin Cities, MN  USA
6:30pm-12am Saturday January 18th (January 25th snow date)
(Facebook event here)
RSVP Info Below

City of Fire and Coin is a Swords and Sorcery genre larp in which players have a lot of agency. As a result, this larp isn’t a win or lose type of game; sometimes telling a great story involves characters who make decisions that are ultimately against their best interests!
There are 12 player slots at this larp available on a first-come first-served basis. We’d like you to RSVP early. Because we are serious about our claim that you will have a lot of agency, once you have RSVP’d we’ll help you make a character and we will fold that character into our preparations. Please claim your slot ASAP by messaging us directly.

EDIT: All slots claimed, LARP IS FULL.

Costuming is encouraged for City of Fire and Coin. Based on the Quickstart RPG of the same name by Epidiah Ravachol. Information about the first run of the larp can be found here.

Larp House Presents: Family Business

UPCOMING LARP: Family Business

7pm-12am Saturday November 16th (find out more here)

7pm-12am Saturday November 23rd (find out more here)

Family Business is a larp about a family of con artists in the 1980s. The family’s leader has just been arrested so the members of the gang have to make sense of their changing relationships as the law breathes down their neck. Family Business will be run semi-lajv in the DramaSystem.