Salon du Larp House: Charm School playtest

It’s 1925 and some experienced grifters—hustlers, sharps, and general crooks—gather to teach a group of younger, less-experienced con artists the tricks of the trade. Of course everyone brings their own bag full of secrets, and sometimes the best con is the one you don’t even know you are running…

Professors teach their signature cons, honed over years of practice, to promising new comers.

Students can gain experience, insight, and possibly a mentor as they learn various cons.

And as anywhere old and young gather, stories will be shared, grudges aired, and feelings bared.

What

Charm School is a game about being low-down dirty-rotten crooks who exchange tips, stories, and grudges. Sometimes the best con is the one you don’t even know you are running.

Run Time: 3 hours, including 90 minutes active play time
Players: 6–10
Facilitators: 2, who play as well
Tone: Self-serious characters played in a light-hearted way

You might enjoy this game if you are a fan of such films as: The Sting, The Usual Suspects, Reservoir Dogs, Now You See Me, Catch Me If You Can, The Brothers Bloom, or the Ocean’s Eleven franchise.

Written by Jason Morningstar
Organized by Kevin McIntrye and Kelley Vanda
With admin support from Katherine Shane and Jon Cole

This event is a playtest. Charm School 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 March 25th, 2023, from 1 to 5 pm Continue reading “Salon du Larp House: Charm School playtest”

Documentation for Space Squids

Space squid ganglia melds. The finest game in squid-based role-playing.

Documentation for Space Squids, a light-hearted live-action game about space, puzzle solving, and polyamory.

7 players

Designed and organized by Kevin McIntyre and Jon Cole

June 2018
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Larp House Presents: Space Squids

You are between 4 and 7 feet in length, possess a head, mantle, eight locomotive limbs and two manipulative tentacles arranged symmetrically around your central axis. You respire through osmotic absorption of oxygen suspended in liquid hydrogen dioxide. You are, in short, a space squid.

The evolutionary advantage your species enjoys is that while engaged in mating behaviors using your two tentacles, your ganglia meld with those of your partners, combining your intellect and skills, but also your attitudes and biases. Which is critically important today, because your deep space colonization vessel has broken down! If you can keep the ship habitable, restart the engines, and plot a new course you should be able survive to settle on a planet. If you hope to survive, you will have to work together!

WHAT: SPACE SQUIDS, a parlor larp playtest for 6 – 24 players (the more the merrier!).
Designed by Kevin McIntyre and Jon Cole
Organized by Jon Cole, Kevin McIntyre, and Kathy Shane

WHEN: Saturday, June 30th from 2pm to 6pm

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Space Squids”

Larp House Presents: Games Within Games

“When you grow suspicious of a person and begin a system of espionage against him, your punishment will be that you find your suspicions true.”

—Elbert Hubbard

Two spies in Cold War Berlin circle each other in a mole-hunt. They betray each other’s trust and struggle with their inner demons.

Games Within Games centers on the fear and anxiety of two people who depend on anonymity and deception to avoid being killed. The two spies have the most to fear from each other. The person who they depend on most is the person whose betrayal would be the most shattering. This scenario is about vulnerable people concealing their weaknesses, and failing.

WHAT:A freeform larp playtest for 4 players

Written by Jon Cole and Kevin McIntyre

Organized by Jon Cole and Kevin McIntyre

Presented by the Larp House in partnership with the Geek Partnership Society

Continue reading “Larp House Presents: Games Within Games”