Tag: Arnold Cassell

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Documentation for Deep Love

Documentation for Deep Love by Jason Morningstar, a larp about love between friends and scientists on a bathysphere expedition.

Organized by Arnold Cassell for Larp House, with assistance from Jon Cole.

Photos by Arnold Cassell.

4 players, Richfield MN in June 2017.

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Larp House Presents: Deep Love

Larp House Presents: DEEP LOVE

A freeform larp for 4 players

Written by Jason Morningstar, organized by Arnold Cassell and Jon Cole

WHEN:7:30 pm — 10:30 pm on this Saturday, June 3rd

Nonsuch Island, Bermuda 1934 –You’ve come to this paradise to drop a two and a half ton iron ball off the side of a shop and lower it almost a kilometer into the abyss.
You’ve come to crawl inside that iron ball and go down with it, to what there is to see down there.
You’ve come with three other brilliant adventurers, friends and lovers, and you’ll all get a chance to descend and risk your lives in exchange for seeing things no human being has ever seen.
And maybe. in the inky darkness and cold silence, you’ll find a measure of happiness and fulfillment.

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Documentation for Top Secret Admirer

Top Secret Admirer Drink List

  • Drone Strike
  • Manhattan Project
  • Blackberry Budget
  • HUMINT Julip

A freeform larp for 8 players

Run Valentine’s Day Weekend February 2016 in Saint Paul, MN. Collaboration between Larp House and the Macalester Gaming Society.

Written by Daniel Eison and Sam Zeitlin

Organized by Arnold Cassell, Jon Cole and Rebecca Gold

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Larp House Presents: Top Secret Admirer

Top Secret Admirer is a [redacted] freeform larp about looking for love and intrigue in the intelligence community. The game is set at an exclusive singles event in Reston, Virginia.  Everyone attending has at least a Top Secret-level security clearance. Here, you might discover a little Nicholas Sparks or E.L. James in your usual Tom Clancy lives.

WHAT:A freeform larp for 3-8 players
Written by Daniel Eison and Sam Zeitlin
Organized by Arnold Cassell, Jon Cole, and Rebecca Gold

Presented by Larp House in partnership with the Macalester Gaming Society
WHEN:
7:00 pm — 9pm on Friday, February 12th
GENRE:
Light-hearted, dating, spy stuff

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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: Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

The Phantom of Kohada Koheiji Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) Ukiyo-e - color woodblock print, 1831

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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