I’m not a huge LARPer, but I do enjoy the occasional parlour-style game. One of my friends, the inestimable Steve D, designed an excellent Warhammer LARP a number of years ago called Sunset Claws (download here), which I really loved. I played it twice, in fact — once as part of a playtest, and I ran the final version for my birthday back in 2011.
Afterwards, I tinkered with the basic format of Sunset Claws to create a similar LARP for my own gaming group. It was basically a live-action session of Baker Street, the tabletop game I was running at the time (in 2012). Nathan, my editor and a regular gaming attendee who’d only played a handful of LARPs, then wrote and hosted one of his one in 2014 based on the same format, a steampunk murder mystery set aboard an airship. Nathan has been polishing this up a bit for eventual publication (if you’re reading — hurry up! 😀 ).
I’ve played in and ran a couple of other LARPs over the years as well, but I keep coming back to the simple rules and format of Sunset Claws as pretty much my ideal style of LARP.
This year, I’ve decided to write and run a new Sunset Claws-style LARP I’ve titled Blackened Hearts. My intention is to run it around June this year, polish it up, and package it up as a freebie/pay-what-you-want download. I’ve been working hard on the basics, and while I’ve still got quite a bit of work to do on it I have a blurb and a more-or-less final draft of the character list. I thought I’d share:
It be a fine day for larceny upon the high seas indeed! The Devil hisself must have blest the crew of the Black Kraken with his own luck—how else could it be that you would happen upon the fat Spanish treasure galleon the Urca de Lima, separated from her escort and crippled by one of the worst storms that ever scoured the ocean? Then again, even in these most favourable circumstances, the Spaniards fought long and hard before you finally took her. The Urca de Lima now trails behind you, a small prize crew doing what they can to keep her limping along just long enough to get to the port of Tortuga.
It’s been clear sailing all week all the way back to port—almost suspiciously easy-going and peaceful, in fact—and without much to do the crew’s been going stir-crazy thinking about how they’ll spend their ill-gotten rewards. In fact, the Captain’s arranged for an early share of the loot to be divided amongst the crew. Those who aren’t needed to sail the ship are able to enjoy the rest of the evening with a little bit of early gambling and drinking, so everyone is in high spirits. All that’s left now is to enjoy the rest of the evening as you coast into Tortuga, and maybe swindle some of your fellows out of their share. Wait, what’s this about a curse?
Link: List of characters
