Become the hero. Interact with others in a shared story.
Theatre-style LARP is a live-action, non-contact form of roleplaying game. Participants each have a single character, which they play in person (in our games costume is optional but encouraged). Each character has their own background, capabilities, and suggested goals, but there is no script. Players must decide for themselves how their characters would act, and the choices they make will influence the course of the game. Unlike combat LARPs, the emphasis is on talking to the other players, and no weapons or physical contact are involved.
All in room 40.
Play
Nine Worlds: The LARP - Live-Action Game: Uncanny weirdness at a sci-fi con - Friday 3.15pm - 4.45pm
Welcome to the con! You’ve decided to take time out from your tracks to spend this slot listening to the visiting Professor talk about his recent find. Now that you’re here, are you ever going to leave? Are you sure this is really a convention at all? And what will happen when the panel is over?
Uncanny weirdness abounds in this somewhat meta game set in a sci-fi convention.
Rei Hampden-Turner and Hanbury Hampden-Turner
The Prime Directive: A Star Trek Crew on Trial - Saturday 3.15pm - 4.45pm
Your presence is required for the Starfleet Court Martial of a Starship crew. Together, the witnesses will use the holodeck to reconstruct the events that led them here.
What happened on the planet? Who violated the prime directive? Was there a mutiny? Where are the missing scientists? Or did something else happen entirely?
This is a game which uses collaborative improvisation to tell a story of the conflicts experienced by a Star Trek crew on a mission. No particular knowledge of Star Trek universe is required. Players will create their own characters and interrelationships, in a short workshop during the game.
Rei Hampden-Turner and Hanbury Hampden-Turner
The Unheroes: a story of amnesiac superheroes - Sunday 3.15pm - 4.45pm
You’re all normal people. You’re here, in this normal place, doing whatever normal thing you’re doing. Everyone around you is getting on with their lives - they’re perfectly normal, just like you.
Except that you weren't normal before. You were superheroes, the saviours of Herotopia, though you don’t remember it. No one does. The whole world was changed, and the history that you used to know no longer exists, and never existed. But it’s trying to reassert itself.
What happens if it does? Why did everything change in the first place? You're the only ones with the answers.
Joanna Piancastelli
Discuss
Theatre LARP 101 - Find out about LARPing and types of LARP - Saturday 11.45am - 1.00pm
What would you do if it were you standing on the bridge of that starship, or facing the Dark Lord? LARP is where you get to do just that.
So what is this LARP thing? What do you do? Are there limits to what you can do? Are they scary? What are the different kinds of LARPs? Do I get to make up my own character and story, or will that be given to me? Is there anything I can do to make my game more fun? Where can I find games?
Hanbury Hampden-Turner, Mo Holkar, Alex Helm
Diversity in LARPs - dealing with discrimination and creating a safe space - Sunday 11.45am - 1.00pm
How can you keep discrimination out of games – and do you always want to? To what extent do you balance the need for inclusion with the flavour of a setting? Does responsibility lie with the writers, players, or games-masters? How do you create a safe space for the players, even in a world that’s not safe for the characters they’re playing? Is separating the two as easy as it sounds? Does any of this change for different game styles – what about improvised games, or where the characters are pre-written? What if the author’s view conflicts with that of a player?
Mo Holkar, Alex Helm, Becky Annison
Create
Theatre LARP Writing Workshop - create a player-improvised game to play with friends - Saturday 6.45pm - 8.00pm
Ever been curious about writing your own LARP?
Last year, we wrote a freeform. This year, we’re going to have a go at writing the structure for a storytelling LARP using pre-game workshops. Much simpler to write and run; the emphasis is on player generated content and in-game improvisation.
Take home all you need to get your friends to act out all those fanfic ideas! No previous experience required.
Hanbury Hampden-Turner, Rei Hampden-Turner, Mo Holkar