Salon du Larp House: Batting Heart

A collection of assorted stuffed animals sit of a bed facing the viewer, as if waiting patiently for play to begin.

As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen.

A day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day.

If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.

―Winnie the Pooh

What

Children at preschool enter the land of make believe with their stuffed animal companions. This is a physical play experience, where players literally enact childsplay and wind through the rambling-dream logic of stories children tell. How does the child’s inner life come through make-believe play with their stuffie? When hardship comes and fears threaten to overwhelm, who supports who and how? Leave this game feeling a little more grown-up and a little more connected to childlike parts of yourself.

Written and Organized by Jon Cole
Admin Support by Olivia Montoya, Katherine Shane

This event is a playtest. Batting Heart isn’t totally finished, though it will be a complete play experience. There might be some missing pieces or rough patches in play. If this game sounds interesting to you even though it is not in its final form, we will be very glad to have you join us!

When

Saturday June 17th, 2023, from 1 to 4pm

Continue reading “Salon du Larp House: Batting Heart”

Larp House Presents: The Harvest Festival

The hands of person with pale skin wearing blue uses blue clay on a rustic wooden table to create molds for silver charms.

A rural village craftspeople prepare for the annual Harvest Festival. At the festival each craftsperson will present their proudest works to other members of the community as a symbol of gratitude, forgiveness, or apology.

During the day, you sit with an elder perfecting your craft and seeking advice from your peers about your personal life. At night, wander the cozy streets of the hamlet to visit with other villagers to put that advice into practice (for better or for worse). After the third day, we will celebrate the Harvest Festival and give away the things we created.

What

The Harvest Festival is a pastoral game about interpersonal conflict and support networks. Inspired by Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, join us to live out a hygge cottagecore fantasy for one afternoon.

Written by Marshall Bradshaw
Organized by Jon Cole

When

Saturday January 7th, 2023, from 1 to 4pm

The fingers of a person with pale skin delicately manipulate wet clay on a pottery wheel. The hands are wet, covered with shiny clay.

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: The Harvest Festival”

Larp House Presents: Glamourous Night

People dance in a dimly lit room. Two move lean into one another, sharing weight. One person the the foreground thrusts out an outstretched hand to another person.

In the old, old, half forgotten times, magical beings spin helplessly through realms of music and magic. Tragic are they! These wizards, fae, humans, and magical animals do not see that they already possess the power to change themselves. To take control of their vulnerable situation, each group dominates the minds of the others in turn, each more wickedly than the last. Mind control scars both the leader and the follower, but each has a chance to heal. In the end, only True Love can redeem them and break their bonds. When they have the chance to escape, will they want to?

What

Glamourous Night is an immersive game about hurting others, and having a chance to redeem yourself for 8 to 30 players. It is an abstract, mostly non-verbal game that is played to music. Players use two movement techniques to resolve their characters’ conflicts, either mutual spell casting or mind control. Players will be on their feet and moving during most of the three hour workshop and the two hour game.

The setting is a fantastical medieval Europe where all the folk tales are true. The characters are powerful magical beings who go on an accidental journey between dimensions. They are tempted to mind control each other before escaping, scarred. Only True Love can break mind control bonds and redeem their actions. Finally, each character decides which of the three dimensions they will make their new home.

Written by Jon Cole
Organized by Steve Stolpman and Jon Cole

When

Saturday January 28th, 2023, from noon to 5pm

Read on for more details!
Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Glamourous Night”

Larp House Workshop: Larp Jam ONLINE

Mason jar labeled "Larp Jam"

Have you ever seen a reality TV cooking competition? Each team has to cook up a larp using a secret ingredient. Then the “dishes” are rotated between teams of chefs, who have to keeping working on a “meal” they didn’t start.

LarpJam is great for roleplayers, people interested in game design, and folks who like collaborating in small groups.

In a matter of hours people with no larp design experience can create awesome, fully-playable larps!

What

LarpJam, a collaborative game-design workshop where you create your own live action roleplaying games, for 6 or more participants

Designed by Jon Cole

Facilitated by Katherine Shane

This LarpJam will be run completely online! We’ll use real-time collaboration software like Google Hangouts and Google Docs. You’ll need to have an Internet-connected device that can run these applications, probably something with a keyboard so you can chat and write at the same time, and a webcam.

When

20 March 2020, from 6 pm to 9 pm, CDT Continue reading “Larp House Workshop: Larp Jam ONLINE”

Larp House at Con of the North

whiteboard scrawled with complex diagram mapping relationships between suspected agitators

Members of Larp House ran larps at Con of the North, Minnesota’s longest-running gaming convention, running 14-16 February 2020.

We also got a chance to meet other local larp designers!

Games ran:

Thanks to all the con volunteers, the friendly hotel staff, and all the rad players that showed up to play!

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!”

Documentation for Be-Con 2019

Woman in surgical mask and black rubber gloves sits to back of another woman with a man facing camera in background

A weekend-long larp convention in the Chicago area

Rosemont, Illinois
13-15 September 2019

Glamourous Night
Designed by Jon Cole
Organized by Jon Cole and Cat Stuntebeck
16 players

Pop!
Designed by Alex Roberts
Organized by Jon Cole
11 players

Intense love letter on hotel stationery
ephemera from Will That Be All?

Will That Be All?
Designed by Graham Walmsley
Organized by Larry Lade
8 players + facilitator

All Options
Designed and organized by Jon Cole
3 players

Slayer Cake
coming tomorrow!

 

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”