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What is LARP?

If you’re not familiar, LARP stands for Live Action Roleplaying. It's kind of like tabletop roleplaying games, but you embody your character and do what your character does (with exceptions for mechanical abstractions).

And "Litform"?

But what is "litform" LARP? "Litform" is a new-ish term (coined by Susan Weiner at the Living Games Conference in 2018) used to describe a style of LARP that has been popular in certain theater LARP communities since at least the 1980s. Even "litform" has been a controversial term that has mutated depending on the communities it is used in, but: 

For the purposes of this jam, I'm using "litform" to mean a LARP scenario with pre-written character sheets (and usually pre-written worldbuilding and plots). 

Playing a litform LARP is kind of like playing a mashup between improv theater, tabletop roleplaying games, and murder mystery dinner parties (though not all involve murder mysteries).

Lots of other words have been used to refer to games of this style, or are inclusive of some or all games of this style. Some include: "interactive literature", "secrets and powers" LARP, theater LARP, parlor LARP, "Intercon-style" LARP, UK freeform, and others. (LARP terminology is generally a giant mess that no one agrees on and is highly regional and community-specific, even if the same words are being use.)

This style of LARP has been independently invented many times, often on university campuses or in communities surrounding gaming conventions.

And this Jam?

I'm running this jam to encourage more people to write this kind of game and publish them online! I've been playing these kinds of games for 12+ years, but they are relatively rarely published publicly online. They are mostly run at conventions and as a part of LARP clubs/societies, as well as in private runs. 

If you're worried about how to get started, I've included a bunch of resource links and examples below!

Also, this jam is un-ranked and open to anyone. Just don’t be an asshole.

Rules:

  1. No promoting bigotry in your games! You can explore themes of prejudice/bigotry or write a character who has bigoted beliefs without promoting it overall. Just be thoughtful about this.
  2. Write a live-action scenario with pre-written characters! Optionally, include other pre-written world and plot elements!
  3. You can submit a placeholder page if you don't finish on time.
  4. You can submit a game you started writing before the jam, even one you finished before the jam.
  5. You can write a game alone or as a team.

Resources:

Your host,

Olivia Montoya

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Prisoners of Memory LARP
A dystopian sci-fi amnesia LARP for 6 players about memory and immortality
Metaparadox
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