Friday Evening – B & C

A Dream Is Just a Dream

Genre: Angsty/romance

It is 1951 and time has gone by since the events of the movie Casablanca, and the Charles’s Investigations in the Thin Man movie series. Can a novel therapy using drug-induced shared lucid dreams revitalise the marriages of Nick and Nora Charles, and Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund, or will they find that their futures lie apart? A game where Film Noir couples (from Casablanca and The Thin Man series) engage in relationship counselling. Expect high drama, angst, and past wounds to be revisited.

Costuming is not essential, but would improve the atmosphere of the game. We suggest anything that would not look too out of place in a film-noir setting. There will be an optional post-game structured debrief to allow players the opportunity to decompress.

Note: Please be clear that this is a game, and none of the authors are real-world therapists. Characters in this game are two canonical heterosexual couples, and the writers have extrapolated beyond the closing credits.

Lead GM(s): Martin Jones, Sue Lee, Graham Arnold

Content Warnings: This game includes married couples saying potentially unforgivable things to each other. The game has the potential to cause substantial bleed, people signing up can request to either be cast with or in a separate run as other people signing up.

Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medicinal psychotropic drug use, sexual references, relationship counselling, neglect, differing opinions on the equal rights movement, anti communist sentiment, language in the character sheets could be considered jingoist and potentially xenophobic against the axis powers.

Participant Communications: Character sheets are approx 5 pages long, and will be distributed electronically in advance, based on answers to a casting questionnaire. Physical copies will be provided at the game. While not essential, watching Casablanca and/or the Thin Man movies would probably enhance your game experience. Knowing the plots from these films will not spoil your game, as this game is set after the events in those films, and takes those events as canonical backplot. There will be some reading in-game, short documents only, which will describe the format of the dream sequences. Players will have autonomy within the parameters of the dreams.

Age Restrictions: 18+

Expected duration: 3 hours

Players: GAME FULL (4/4)

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Friday Evening – C

Players: 4

 

Saturday Morning – A

Night Train

Genre: Mystery

It was an ordinary day when you got on the train. How were you to know all was not quite as it seemed? Your life and your fate are in your hands on the Night Train. You are heading towards your destiny, but where will you get off?

Characters from diverse backgrounds are on a train together. They must work out what is going on, why they have been thrown together and how to extricate themselves from the situation in the best way possible.

All Aboard! We hope you have a pleasant journey.

Lead GM(s): Charlie & Alan Paull

Content Warnings: n/a

Age Restrictions: n/a

Expected duration: 2.5 hours

Players: 13 total; 2F, 2M, 9N

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Saturday Morning – B

Plan 8 From Outer Space

Genre: a very silly sci-fi/meeting simulator game

The People of Earth are stupid. They have built a device that will destroy the universe. We are part of that universe and must stop them. Welcome to the post mortem meeting for Plan Eight and the discussion of Plan Nine.

This game is set aboard the Alien Spaceships from the movie Plan Nine From Outer Space by the incomparable Ed Wood. This specific game is set before the movie, just after the aliens have tried Plan Eight. This meeting is the post mortem for the failed Plan Eight and a strategy session for Plan Nine, whatever it turns out to be.

Think Dilbert meets cheesy 50s B-Grade Sci-Fi. No actual knowledge of the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space is needed to play.

Lead GM(s): Ezzy Pearson, Vikki Sterling

Content Warnings: n/a

Age Restrictions: n/a

Expected duration: 2 hours

Players: GAME FULL (8)

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Saturday Morning – C

Lumberjills

Genre: Travails in wartime

In the highlands of Scotland in WW2, British women come together in brutal physical labour: felling trees and processing timber in service of the war effort. In the woods, they find newfound confidence and physical capacity – and in dance socials with neighbouring lumberjack and training camps discover romance, and new options for their lives.

This scene-based game follows the characters through a variety of scenes as they first meet, go to dances and have a chance for romance, and bid farewell to each other at the end of the war, when they must decide what sort of lives they will return to.

All players will be playing a female lumberjill as well as briefly playing multiple side characters, both male and female. Players may be of any gender identity, but should expect to play both female and male characters. All players will play side characters that are potential romantic interests for each other player.

Content Warnings

• Some light touch of hands and shoulders is required for certain scenes. Kissing will be represented by holding hands.
• Themes of sexuality/romance.
• Game takes place against the background of WW II. There will be no Nazis.
• Players will need to stand for three sets of dances, as well as three periods of simulated physical exertion.

Age Restrictions: 18+

Lead GM: Sue Lee

Players: 4

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Saturday Afternoon – A

Love Letter: Silver Rush

Genre: Romance

In the first half of the 19th century, the third son of a third son left England to make his fortune amongst the panhandlers on the Wild West frontier. He struck silver, made his fortune, and raised a town as the first Mayor of Watling, Arizona.

Sadly, after years of prosperity, the silver dried up. And with it, Watling’s prosperity faded, its population shrank, and the dust settled over our once thriving town. But those loyal to Watling remain a close-knit community of townies and the ranchers who settled nearby.

Now there are whispers of a new silver vein, which could bring prosperity and growth back to Watling. But the promise of riches is a temptress not without peril – and often the human price is dear. And lately the Dry Gulch Gang has made its mark upon the town and nearby Silverwood Ranch.

The Wild West is still largely untamed, and the sleepy town of Watling is no stranger to the hazards of frontier life. But the Silver Steer Saloon, the heart of the town, is a light in the darkness, providing drinks and entertainment, in a town of friendly, familiar faces.

Join us in Watling, where life carries on and hope is burgeoning. Does another boom lie just beyond the dusty horizon?

What is the game?

Love Letter: SILVER RUSH is of course not really about prospecting, but the dangers of frontier life do come into play. Our game is primarily about ROMANCE and other relationships which form, change, and develop throughout the course of a year or so in this frontier town. Set against the backdrop of the Wild West (which is purely scene-setting, with no “plots” of its own), the characters assemble in the Silver Steer Saloon, the evening before half the characters will venture off to explore a potential new silver vein and begin mining.

This is a time to drink and be merry and say goodbye and good luck, set against the fear it might be the last time they see one another. Is this the last chance to say things which need saying, even if, perhaps, they should not? Is it harder to be the one saying goodbye or the one going off to the mines?

When the characters meet again will their relationships still be intact or will the hardships or tragedy have changed those who went or those who stayed behind? What has time apart now made clear to each couple?

Love Letter: SILVER RUSH is an episodic game, with 3 scenes stretching across months or years. In between each scene are periods where the players can establish ‘What happened’ in discussion with others, feedback forms to the GMs, and are encouraged to write love letters to other characters. These techniques provide the players with new information for the subsequent scenes.

There are elements of writing, reading, and physical movement involved in this game. We have helped with dyslexia and limited language barriers in the past through the use of special printouts with larger and more legible fonts. But if there are further concerns about these elements, please get in touch with me (Elyssia) before signing up.

Costuming is thematic to the American Wild West. All characters are members of this community, from ranchers to townsfolk. There are small variances of fortune, but not enough to worry you in early stages of Costuming, and a generic look is absolutely fine. After casting, you can add simple touches to distinguish you as the town preacher, sheriff, or a saloon girl, if you wish. Because this game is getting a heavy edit and playtest in late September, we will do the casting in early October, leaving you at least a month to costume. Costumes do not need to be authentic or period-accurate, anything vaguely American Wild West will do. If you would like to borrow something or are looking for advice, we recommend posting in the Facebook event or Discord group. You should be able to costume without need of your full character sheet.

Love Letter: SILVER RUSH is a stand-alone game which is similar in style to the “original” Love Letter game and Love Letter: The Crusade. You do not need to have played either of the previous Love Letter games to play or enjoy Love Letter: SILVER RUSH. The game will be played in three episodes, and players will have a chance in-between these scenes to write letters from their character to other characters in the game. The game is still “plot-free” and all about relationships (romantic and friendships). That said, we’ve tried to make this new game as different as possible. There is an all-new setting/genre, with new characters and new dilemmas. If you enjoyed previous Love Letter games, we think (we hope) you will enjoy our new edition which should feel different but perhaps familiar. ​

The original Love Letter game was borne of a challenge at Peaky (a LARP-writing weekend event) to write a game entirely about Romance. It certainly does this and – in addition to the excitement and reward of new and true love – also includes the strain on friendships and the pain at the end of relationships.

This is a game entirely about Romance. Unlike many theatrical LARPs where Romance is just another layer among many, there are no real “plots” to the game, no combat, or political machinations – although there is certainly a bit of intrigue to be discovered amongst our friends and lovers. We think it’s lovely, and hope you will join us, if this sort of thing excites you.

Some people may find some of our themes disturbing, and while characters are written within the range depicted in films it is entirely possible – given how romance can evoke strong emotions – that some players may react to this in a negative way. The writers understand this, and we’ll ask about issues you wish to avoid during casting. We ask players be as honest as possible to help avoid any conflicts, and while we’ll make our best effort, it’s hard to predict all possible emotional responses. We also ask you to keep in mind that this is a small game – we can make every effort to keep a certain topic out of your character sheet, but cannot keep other characters from bringing up these topics in conversation with or near you.

This game may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and depending on your particular concerns there may not be a “safe place” for everyone in this game. Please feel free to contact me (Elyssia) before signing up to ask questions.

More about the game can be found on our website: link

Content Warnings

This is a romance game, every character has romance, and it makes up the majority of their game.

The game is written with all prewritten romances being heterosexual. However, we always support players doing what they want during the game – as long as it’s consensual from all players involved.

Additionally, players may encounter:

• off-screen death
• bereavement
• lies/betrayal
• abandonment/rejection
• physical touch and intimacy
• marriage/committment (or committment issues)/monogamy
• infidelity
• controlling parents/family/employers
• bankruptcy/loss of wealth or property
• historical gender bias
• war and historical racism (background only)
• fire (background only)
• gun violence (background only)
• alcohol/drinking – occasional overuse (background only) – no characters have a current “drinking problem”
• medical issues and medications – no drug abuse included (background only)
• some people may be asked to play more than one character

Participant Communications
There will be a casting form which is mandatory for all players to complete, in the format of a Google Form. (If you cannot access or complete these please get in touch when signing up.) Some Who’s Who and general Background Information will be made available with the Casting Form. Casting will be sent to all players well in advance.

Lead GM(s): Elyssia McCormick, Heidi Kaye

Age Restrictions: 18+

Expected duration: 4 hours

Players: 12 total; 6F, 6M

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Saturday Afternoon – B

Hades’ Plan

Genre: Puzzling gods

You are about to start filming the third season of Hades’ Plan, a game show about people who think they are geniuses, that revolves around puzzles, personal drama and mythology. Unfortunately, the puzzle department has failed to come up with any interesting games and you are all locked into the puzzle room until you have come up with some. This family never deals well when backed against a wall. How the mighty Greek Gods have fallen.

A game of personal drama, mythology, creating puzzles and interdepartmental politics with comedic elements .

You will be given a couple of paragraphs about your character and their aims, but will also develop relationships in a short workshop (20 mins max.)

Costuming: Modern day corporate/back of house, but you are all playing Greek Gods so anything goes

Lead GMs: Ray Hodson and Simon Clark

Content Warnings: n/a

Age Restrictions: n/a

Expected duration: 3 hours

Players: 12N

 

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Saturday Afternoon – C

TBC

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Saturday Evening – A

The Highgate Club

Genre: Clubbish shenanigans

The Highgate Club is an exclusive club for those who live extra-ordinary lives.

The Highgate Club overlooks Highgate cemetery, and membership is by invitation only. Its membership supposedly includes witches, warlocks, immortals and vampires – but nobody really knows for sure. (It is considered impolite to inquire.)

The club is presided over by three senior members, Commodore Ed Crouch, Kensington Hammersmith and Tris St James and, generally known as the “inner circle”. Other senior members are known affectionately as the “outer circle”. Anyone else is an ordinary member.

Further information can be found here.

Lead GMs: Steve Hatherley

Content Warnings: n/a

Age Restrictions: n/a

Expected duration: 3 hours

Players: 14N

 

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Saturday Evening – B

On a Hot Summer’s Night

Genre: Vampire relations & relationships

It is the summer of 1930 in Sunnydale, California and a group of locals and frequent visitors to the town have met up in a speak-easy for a night’s entertainment and illegal drinking. Due to a combination of a successful crackdown by the Federal Government (prohibition is in full swing) and a general increase in poverty due to the Great Depression, these locations are now in cheaper out-of-the-way, out of town and generally rundown buildings and change location frequently. Tonight’s one is in an old (now abandoned) farm building. Since it is a hot summer night, quite of the few patrons were drinking and talking outside.

Shortly after sunset, a group of around 20 thugs rushed out of the nearby woods and attacked without reason, biting at people like animals. There had been rumours of such a band in the area for a few weeks, but this is the first time they have actually been seen. Several of the patrons were killed in the initial attack, while the survivors rushed inside and barricaded the doors as best as they could. Despite the building being quite ramshackle and easy to break into, for some reason the thugs seem unwilling to try and force their way in, and are content to surge around outside making animalistic growls. Hopefully they will get bored and leave soon. Meanwhile the survivors are trapped inside will and have to wait to dawn…

On a Hot Summers Night is a horror game inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Sinners, Supernatural and the 1920s prohibition era, in which players play the surviors within the speakeasy and deal with interpersinal relationships. To give some idea of the game think of this as the second part of a mid-season two parter in which the main story for that season is revealed but not concluded.

This is a character-focused game, aiming to give you angst, rather than a game in which problems can be solved.  Character sheets are generally not too long we are expecting 4-5 pages with about a page or 2 of additional materials.

The additional materials will cover lore needed for this game, this will deviate from the established lore of Buffy:TVS and Angel. Players may talk about stuff they might know to add flavour but it should not be used to drive plot without speaking to a GM.

No characters are connected to the events of Buffy:TVS and Angel except for tangental Easter Eggs.

Costume is not mandatory, but is encouraged, and should be late 1920s style.

A casting form will be given before the event and character sheets will be distributed about a month in advance.

Lead GMs: Nick & Natalie Curd

Content Warnings: This game contains supernatural horror themes with substitutes for drugs, body autonomy, abusive relationships. Also it contains the death of family members in tragic cicumstances.

Age Restrictions: 15+

Expected duration: 3 hours

Players: GAME FULL 10 total (1F, 2M, 7N)

 

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Saturday Evening – C

Rosenstrasse

Genre: Resistance to fascism

Rosenstrasse is a roleplaying game about the loss of civil liberties in Berlin under the Third Reich, and a historical women’s protest.

1933 Berlin. As the Nazi party rises to power, lines are drawn in the sand to separate who is German and who is not. This line runs straight through marriages between Jewish and “Aryan” Germans. Over an in-game decade, players explore how the Reich’s racial policies, restrictions, and violence strip away liberty, security, and dignity for these families. Though their marriages initially shelter them, the Jewish men in these partnerships will not escape. When they are finally seized for deportation, the women in their lives have one last chance to keep them alive. To do so, they must stand up and defy the Third Reich.

In the very heart of darkness, is such resistance even possible?

Rosenstrasse is an elegaic, immersive historical roleplaying game for 2-4 players and one facilitator. It runs in one session of two to five hours, depending on group size. and can be played as either a tabletop role-playing game or a semi-live larp. No historical knowledge is required to run or play the game, but players will leave play with a rich, accurate, historical understanding of what it was like for people like their characters in Germany’s Third Reich. It has been designed to be usable in Holocaust education settings, and as such, is structured to be friendly to both new role-players and experienced.

Lead GM: Sue Lee

Content Warnings: This game contains disturbing historical themes.

Age Restrictions: 18+

Expected duration: 2-5 hours

Players: 4N

 

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Sunday Morning – A

Nodding Donkeys

Genre: Corporate mismanagement (and no guns)

Nodding Donkeys is a game of spies. Real British spies, that is, who eat takeaways and pop into the pub for a pint and a moan about management with the gang after work. Characters with flaws and humanity, but who may well slightly overestimate their effectiveness in their chosen field. (If you have encountered the works of Mick Herron, Charles Stross, John Le Carré or Graham Greene then you are on the right wavelength…)

However, in between the interminable filing and paper clip counting, they (and that includes you) are required to go on to the occasional mission. This is the story of one of those missions. Whilst you may not be quite Bond or Bourne you are an accredited field operative of British Intelligence and you have received top training (where it is assumed you were actually listening).

Now after the latest unfortunate mess-up, which was definitely not your fault you have been required to attend a refresher/training course which will almost definitely fix things. Probably. Maybe.

This time… really.

Warning! Nodding Donkeys may well contain one or more of the following:

• over-inflated egos
• day-old takeaways
• unventilated rooms
• workplace sarcasm
• passive aggression
• absolutely awful managers
• physical jeopardy
• and… really terrible coffee.

Nodding Donkeys is a Peaky game.

Lead GMs: Adam Hayes, Kevin Jacklin & Julie Winnard

Content Warnings: Look we’ve already said these once. Have you been paying attention?

Age Restrictions: 18+

Expected duration: 4 hours

Players: GAME FULL 8N

 

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Sunday Morning – B

Cryobots

Genre: Science-Fiction/Angst

Set in a universe loosely inspired by “Blakes 7” and “Firefly”, among other sources. You are all on a prison transport heading to a penal colony, being kept in cryostasis, but now you are waking up in the bodies of the maintenance Androids, your consciousness transferred by the emergency systems due to the ship having suffered significant damage. You will need to fix the ship, then figure out some way to turn this situation to your advantage, or at least survive.

Cryobots is a moderately high angst LARP designed for 9 players, focussing on interpersonal interactions and drama. There is some problem solving, but it’s not meant to be the main part of the game.

Themes include:

• Crisis of identity
• Betrayal
• Memory loss/damage.

Character backgrounds may include

• Murder/Assassination
• Loss of loved ones
• Injustice
• Corporate exploitation.

Lead GMs: Peter Jones

Age Restrictions: 15+

Expected duration: 3 hours

Players: 9N

 

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Sunday Morning – C

TBC

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Sunday Afternoon – A

TBC

Sunday Afternoon – B

Unconventional Odyssey

Genre: Vampire/Zombie/Horde

UnConventional Odyssey is a Horde game about a group of American Vampire LARPers whose car breaks down on the way to a convention. They then encounter a wide variety of people and not-people (such as zombies), in their quest to get to the con. These latter characters are the “Horde”. All characters are designed to be as gender-neutral. Expect the supernatural, mythological, romance, comedy, frustrated attempts to get to a convention, costume changes and a petrol station lunch. Come prepared for laughter and frustration!

In this game, a select few of you will play the same characters throughout the game. These characters, the “Car characters,” will be a group of Vampire: The Trademark LARP players whose car has broken down on a rural road on the way to Ithacacon, a local gaming convention. (The state you’re in, and what town you’re going to or from, isn’t important to the game. Don’t sweat such details. Everyone else will be playing characters that the Car characters encounter. Horde players change characters throughout the game, with name badges/stickers to give character descriptions.

The car players will all have chance to make phone calls during the game to a variety of people that will be played by horde players and this will be simulated rather than real phone calls.

Content Warnings
This game is filled with frustrated attempts to get to a convention and as such if you are a player that like to succeed at goals this may not be the game for you. There could be romance, anger at the situation, shouting, and characters being propositioned. For anyone that has played the game previously I have removed prostitution and drugs from the game

Participant Communications
I will communicate with the players before the game via email. I’ll ask who wants to be Horde and who wants to be a Car character. Horde will get a brief briefing before the con and then can play different characters throughout the larp. Car characters will receive a character sheet before the game.

Lead GM: Ray Hodson

Age Restrictions: 15+

Expected duration: 3 hours

Players: 3-5N Cast; 4-7N Horde

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Sunday Afternoon – C

Lumberjills

Genre: Travails in wartime

In the highlands of Scotland in WW2, British women come together in brutal physical labour: felling trees and processing timber in service of the war effort. In the woods, they find newfound confidence and physical capacity – and in dance socials with neighbouring lumberjack and training camps discover romance, and new options for their lives.

This scene-based game follows the characters through a variety of scenes as they first meet, go to dances and have a chance for romance, and bid farewell to each other at the end of the war, when they must decide what sort of lives they will return to.

All players will be playing a female lumberjill as well as briefly playing multiple side characters, both male and female. Players may be of any gender identity, but should expect to play both female and male characters. All players will play side characters that are potential romantic interests for each other player.

Content Warnings

• Some light touch of hands and shoulders is required for certain scenes. Kissing will be represented by holding hands.
• Themes of sexuality/romance.
• Game takes place against the background of WW II. There will be no Nazis.
• Players will need to stand for three sets of dances, as well as three periods of simulated physical exertion.

Age Restrictions: 18+

Lead GM: Sue Lee

Players: GAME FULL (4)

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Sunday Evening – A

TBC

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Sunday Evening – B

TBC

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Sunday Evening – C

TBC

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