A Serpent of Ash

Wellington
#1

(Crossposted from NZRaG)

What: A LARP by J. Tuomas Harviainen and Eric Johnson, stolen from the LARPA Gamebank:

For a few years in the early 21st century, “The Liberated” was an active religious sect in the Boston area. It’s leader was Timothy Barke, who claimed that God spoke directly to him. Members lived in a communal house, donated their income to the sect, and lived by a strict code of conduct so that they could receive Timothy’s sermons. In 2002 Timothy passed away, and soon after The Liberated collapsed. Members went back into the real world and tried to lead normal lives; communication between them all but ceased. Now, five years later, several of them have gathered together for a few hours to discuss how The Liberated affected their lives. A Serpent of Ash is a larp about the dark side of religion: What happens when former cult members meet again? What has been left unsaid? A discourse-oriented game for 6-12 players that has been run at major conventions in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom.

When: Saturday, February 28th, starting at 7. The game should take around 2 hours.
Where: Small gallery, Turnbull House (that’s the mid-sized room on the Beehive side of the 1st floor)
How much: The room will cost me $40, but its too much hassle to actually charge people, so I’ll have a jar somewhere, and you can stick money in it. Any excess will go to WARGs.

I have 8 players so far, so that leaves 4 spaces (and I wouldn’t mind an alternate if someone pulls out in the next month). First come, first served. Post here or email me.

(Oh, and thanks to Nasia for booking the room…)

#2

Somehow I don’t think I’d be getting to that, but it sounds like it could be really good. Have fun! :slight_smile:

P.S. Any chance it can manage to make its way up to Auckland for Chimera? :wink:

#3

The thought had crossed my mind. Otherwise, someone could just download it from the internet…

#4

Well, from the sounds of it, this is a game that the GM can play in (I really wanna play in it if it runs), so I could possibly volunteer to run it at Chimera <.</>.>

#5

I was planning on sitting it out and watching with amusement.

Good idea.

#6

The game is now full, BTW. So, it takes ~ 3 days to fill a 12-person game in Wellington. We should run more of them.

#7

Are you still taking people for a backup list? Do you need any help at the actual running of the game? I havent been able to LARP since I moved to Wellington from the US except for a night at the Vampire LARP in Auckland. I’m going a little (more) crazy from withdrawals.

      -WayneO
#8

Also if you want backups Thomas Joychild (was Mr. Nakashima at Mafia 2071) is keen.

#9

I’ve currently got one backup player, just in case someone drops out. But I’ll let you know if you’re needed.

if the game goes well I may try running it at KapCon or ConFusion.

#10

If you can get a few more players you could always run two sessions of it :slight_smile:

#11

I doubt I could get two through on the same night, but there’s plenty of time (and space) at the various upcoming cons, so people don’t have to miss out.

#12

Tonight I ran a nice little Scandinavian LARP: “A Serpent of Ash” by J. Tuomas Harviainen. Twelve former cult-members get together to discuss their experiences. So how’d it go?

Pretty well. The players seemed to have fun, the portrayals were good, and while it ran a little short (1 hr 20 vs 1 hr 30), it didn’t seem like it was cut off. Without going into any specifics (since I will probably be running it again at ConFusion, Chimera, or KapCon), after about 50 minutes of people standing around finding out what they’d been up to for the past few years (and a few outbursts which established where a few people stood), there was a sudden state-change, which resulted in everyone sitting in a circle and it becoming like a giant self-help group. And then the real fireworks started as people began discussing how they really felt about poor, dead Timothy.

Best lines:
“Would you have more faith if you got your money back?”

“How many of us are better people for being in The Liberated?”

“We’re all like German Shepherds, and some of us still miss the kennel” (which led to an extended dog-metaphor for religion)

“I’ve grown up… you can’t go back to being a little kid”

At the end of it all, some people seemed to have moved on while finding support in their past, some were planning to refound the group in a more relaxed form, and one was planning immediate murder.

As mentioned above, the portrayals were all good, and there was some interesting body language as people acted out their weird little neuroses and internal tics (compulsive twitching when talking about (sinful) TV; unconsciously moving away when someone was talking about drug sniffer dogs; refusing to shake hands because they were repulsed by physical contact). It was subtle, but it added a lot, at least from my POV as the loon cackling in the corner.

Anyway, thanks to all the players - you were great. I look forward to doing it again sometime.