Approved for release by the Golden Cobra Committee
Here's a list of the games submitted in 2016. Links are available below for those shared by the designers.
Golden Cobra Anthology 2016
Style of play: Larp
A humorous look at dysfunctional GM groups and overly complicated larp mechanics.
Tags: humor, yelling, larpcentric, meta
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
A Great Machine is a game for zero players. Up to ten people can be involved in the game, but there are no players. The act of playing a game implies control over the outcome, but in A Great Machine, the outcome has already been decided. You do not play A Great Machine, you are part of A Great Machine.
Tags: zero players, machine, order, pattern
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Party Game
The After Party is an informal game aimed at playing in a party. It aims at poking fun at the world of the movie/musician elites. It takes place just after one of the award shows and challenges players to be vague and descriptive at the same time.
Tags: party game, celebrity, award show
Styles of Play:Freeform larp, Chat/Online
A surreal simulation of an arcade, from a single-cabinet pizza parlor to a dark utopia of blinking lights. Some players portray arcade patrons and others, playing from distant locations via video chat, portray arcade cabinets. Themes include nostalgia, growing up, the 1990s, friendships and relationships, and the ephemeral nature of life.
Tags: arcades, feelings, video chat, flexible numbers
Styles of Play:Freeform larp, Larp
A set of techniques for portraying giraffe reproduction in LARP, for players who are not willing to actually have sex or actually be giraffes.
Tags: giraffe, sex, larp, techniques
Style of Play:Freeform larp
In a world where intelligent dinosaurs rule over second-class humans, an elite group of dinosaurs and free humans meet to discuss the implications of possibly giving humans equal voting rights.
Tags: GM-less, suffrage, short-armed
You are important men at an important meeting, who must make an important decision. You have a big penis. It is represented by a balloon.
Tags: penis, penis, penis, market segmentation
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play, Beer, porn
A game to play instead of a small chat.
Tags: play, while, drinking
Styles of Play:Freeform larp, Larp
Play an android-like version of yourself, at an unknown time in the future. You will ask and answer questions, in order to retrieve memories from your Brain Files. As a group you will try to figure out why you were brought back.
Tags: introspective, interactive, memories, questions
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
This is a larp about interstellar romance, where the forces of the universe bring two people together, and pull them apart.
Tags: freeform larp, fate-play, romance
https://beautifullymutilated.wordpress.com/
Style of Play: Freeform larp
In this game, Informal play at a convention allows somebody to steal the spotlight. Or at least try to steal the spotlight. Very little prep required.
Tags: convention, larp, light-hearted
Styles of Play: Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play, Chat/Online
Runaway AIs spread chaos among their guards to escape.
Tags: Communication, public, multimedia, AI
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Tabletop
The ghosts of dinosaurs squabble as a mix-up lands their remains in the Dino Dig of a children's museum. Experience a day in the life of these spirits as they routinely insult, mock, and taunt each other. Like Mean Girls, but with dinosaurs.
Tags: dinosaurs, museum, ghosts, funny
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
A game about leaving your body, wandering around convention spaces blindfolded, exploring the realms invisible and forming conga lines.
Tags: curious, preternatural, facetious, offbeat
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
Downtime explores an often overlooked facet of the fantasy gaming genre. What do the other characters do when one member of the party is taking care of business? Downtime also encourages a low pressure environment for players to perform for each other.
Tags: Casual, fantasy, humorous
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
An African-American male is pulled over at a traffic stop by a police officer. The players take the roles of different aspects of a person mentally reacting to an unfolding crisis.
Tags: contemporary, intense, emotional, race
http://www.SoundCloud.com/partyofonepodcast
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
A game designed to be played during a night of karaoke, about group of young revolutionaries fight back against a totalitarian regime.
Tags: Karaoke, Revolution, Social, Rock'n'Roll
Style of Play: Larp
Pitch: "The Land Before Time meets House of Cards." Dinosaurs meeting at the Great Convention to discuss the most important topics of the era.
Tags: dinosaur, political, convention
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
A group of friends gets together for an “Extinction Party!” where guests are expected to arrive masked as dinosaurs. However, last year's punch was contaminated with the spores of symbiotic aliens that are now riding along in secret with their hosts. At the end of this year’s party the aliens will decide whether or not humanity may continue to exist.
Tags: Masked, Dinosaurs, Party, Extinction
Style of Play: Freeform larp
Inspired by the Stanislaw Lem novel, Chain of Chance, academics at a party are confronted by an unsolvable puzzle that's presented by a detective, and must resist admitting a lack of knowledge in front of peers or suffer a loss of status.
Tags: social status, academia, knowledge
https://www.facebook.com/TobieAbadGaming/
http://tagsessions.blogspot.com/
https://www.patreon.com/tagsessions
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Contact
Parasites are all around us. But few try to control us the way these do. Is Free | Will truly free? Are our actions actually our own?
Tags: control, surrender, contest
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Tabletop
Women in a corporate setting vent about the challenges they face. Then, they use ritual magic to overcome those challenges. Problems ensue. Lunch is had.
Tags: lunch, witches, women, corporate
Style of Play: Freeform larp
The Grand Old Flock is a politically themed, satirical freeform centered around the tumultuous political landscape of the past year in the United States.
Tags: Satirical, Political, Comedic, Nonsensical
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
An RPG exploring how two people handle a great discovery and the choices that come after.
Tags: Freeform, RPG, Story, Choices
Style of Play: Freeform larp
Monsters try to set up their nervous Dungeon Keeper with a Legendary Hero they have a crush on with the help of an incomplete legend.
Tags: cute, flirting, monsters, performance
Style of Play: Freeform larp
In Memoriam is a short larp about writing an obituary while being haunted by the spirit of the deceased. Players take the role of ghosts watching over two people tasked with writing a summary of the deceased's life. How will the dead be remembered?
Tags: obituaries, memories, ghosts, writing
Style of Play: Freeform larp
A semi-autobiographical game exploring characters through different sorts of storytelling and shifting ambiance.
Tags: narrative, light, autobiography
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Tabletop
An act-based narrative LARP for 4 + 1 facilitator. Together, a group of travelers must journey through the shifting sands of an arid desert to reach the Aurora, a mystical event where every tenth season the veil between our world and the next thins. It is during this time alone that we may seek guidance from the Others. The journey to reach the Aurora is long and fraught with danger, and the Others are only able to commune with humans for a very brief window, so the travelers must move quickly lest they lose their chance for answers.
Tags: relationships, strangers, journey
Style of Play: Freeform larp
A little game about dinosaurs at a dinner party.
Tags: one-shot, dinosaurs, party
http://www.specialsnowflakegames.com
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play, expressive movement; possibly making drinkable lemonade
Players portray covert time-travelers in a populated place gathering essential ingredients for a magical ritual that will transform their own lives and the universal timeline - including maybe some time-police who are trying to prevent the ritual's completion by anyone who isn't one of them. The ritual itself combines the sweet fluidity of movement with the sourness and bitterness of life's challenges to produce an uplifting, cool, and refreshing experience.
Tags: uplifting, magical, somatic, timetravel
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Tabletop
Gather round and become a group of Dinosaurs for a day!
Tags: Dinosaur, RPG, Group, Freeform
Style of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
The Life and Death of Stars is both a tribute and an exploration of human mortality. Players portray one of rock legend David Bowie’s famous performance personas--each representing aspects of the artist’s psyche upon the moment of his passing. As fragments of a spirit floating in space, the personas grapple with fundamental questions of life, death, and legacy...as well as the confusion of their current situation.
Tags: Bowie, mortality, personas, spirit
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Tabletop
The characters are trapped in a place between worlds that is eating their memories. They take turns asking one another questions about who they were and how they came to be in this place, thereby developing several stories together in parallel. Play ends when all the stories reach a satisfying narrative conclusion.
Tags: Collaborative, Narrative, Cozy
http://hamishmacpherson.co.uk/
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Movement
A game about how we change spaces and spaces change us.
Tags: movement, objects, space, community
The game - https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxoy8jt8q7mbo23/Masks.pdf
My blog - http://boundary-crosser.jewishmagic.net
Previous work - https://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/14383/jason-feldstein
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
A game about a therapeutic support group for fictional characters. Choose a topic and a universe, pick a character from that universe, and then comes the fun part: whining, and reacting to the complaints of others. Explore the neuroses and challenges of a favorite hero or villain, and/or use their experience as a safe space to discuss problems you both share. "Masks" is psychodrama crossed with melodrama. Play it for laughs, play it for insights, or (ideally) both at once.
Tags: psychodrama, melodrama, fiction, therapy
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
A game for four about love and parties in the space future.
Tags: collaborative, freeform, narrative, larp
http://jonnyggarcia.wordpress.com
Style of Play: Larp
Nowhere is about discovery yourself, however it can only be through someone else.
Tags: reflection, darkness, connection
http://www.tinyurl.com/OFFTHISROCK
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
OFF THIS ROCK! is a frantically paced, physical game, with some light comedic science fiction role playing elements.
Tags: frantic, physical, team-based
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
A giant monster attack is both described and physically acted out by players. Stomp the city flat!
Tags: WORDS, Stomping, Yelling, Improv, Collaboration
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
You have found yourself in the woods that span the border between life and death. You have heard that this happens sometimes, every generation or so, to those who are seeking others. Here, they are given one hour to find the person for whom they are searching, no matter where they live, no matter whether one or both of them has passed. Now you are here, free to cross the border in your quest. Will you find what you desire?
Tags: spirits, liminality , searching
Style of Play: Freeform larp
Two people come together who are guided by their best and worst forces.
Tags: relationship, stars, emotions
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
Friends gather on a porch during the summer after their high school graduation. Each one has a burning question they can't ask everyone else.
Tags: communication, friendship, slice-of-life
Style of Play: Larp
Post Apocalyptic Tea House is a silly game where you place violent sociopaths of the wastes gather together to enjoy an appropiately civilized high tea. The only point of this game is to have fun while pretending to badasses following absurd rules of etiquette.
Tags: mayhem, murder, Edwardian etiquette
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Blackbox
Bittersweet story of an alien, who started a band on Earth in the 60s. Through repetition and non verbal elements, players will create ambiguous tale, while drugs-induced visions will transform their friendships and challenge their perception of reality.
Tags: seventies, band, non-verbal, tuned to positive experience
http://games.cultureaddicthistorynerd.com/
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
Players are giant lizards that must face their mortality as a giant meteor hits their planet. With only a short time to live, what will they do? Eat that dinosaur they’ve been checking out? Apologize for trying to take over as king of the dinosaurs? Mourn a life unlived? Try to build a spaceship? Better decide fast – life will soon be over for the Lizard Kings.
Tags: funny, apocalypse, dinosaur, death
http://www.facebook.com/paperdicegames
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
The galaxy is in trouble, can the Wise One lick our way out of it?
Tags: dogs, fun, galaxy
http://pigg.net/prdwp/category/gaming-grokked/ Tags: supernatural, murder, mystery, detective
Secret Dinosaurs
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
A silly freeform game for two to four players.
Tags: comedy, freeform, dinosaurs, restaurant
http://bit.ly/SoaringFragments
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play, Experimental
A game about the relationship between a Mentor, bearer of the Human Knowledge, and their Disciple, who will strive to grasp its meaning before becoming a Mentor themselves.
Tags: Human Knowledge, Experimental, Endless
http://www.magischola.com
http://www.learnlarp.com
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
This is a game about trying to be heard. Alternate play as the storyteller and a silencer, who uses various emotional abuse tactics codified as mechanics in the game. End with a debrief where active listening is practiced instead.
Tags: emotional abuse, silencing, listening
http://nickwedig.libraryofhighmoon.com/
Style of Play: Larp
You have died. Which is sad, but you will soon be reincarnated. After you die, you travel into the nighttime sky to collect pieces of stars, to be your destiny for your new life. In the process, you remember what was good about your old life and make those pleasant memories into gifts for other ghosts that also died around the same time.
Tags: ghosts, stars, reincarnation, memory
https://guyintheblackhat.wordpress.com/games/
Style of Play: Freeform larp
A surreal exploration of being in a cave, storytelling, and this inexplicable light.
Tags: surreal, allegory, improvisation, contemplation
http://www.sarahlynnebowman.com
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
Symbiosis explores the quest to learn healthier coping and communication skills in relationships. The characters are adolescents from an alien species on the planet Saturn who subsist on stardust. As a group, they learn to identify Parasitic communication patterns and develop Symbiotic traits.
Tags: relationships, communication, dynamics, adolescence
Style of Play: Freeform larp
Talking goat is a hidden goat game about playing to lose and living in a small town. It's mostly ridiculous with a few overtones of death by butcher (or magic).
Tags: ridiculous, quick, hidden role
http://gameandacurry.com/pbp/product-category/games1/larp/
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
It's a single player game spanning 12 days. You're a conspiracy theorist trying to prove the existence of aliens. You will be recording yourself every day for the 12 days explaining how the invasion has manifested. You may choose to upload the footage vlog-style.
Tags: vlog, aliens, camera
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
A haunting freeform larp for 4+ campers.
Tags: ghosts, possession, darkness, isolation
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
This is a game about sex and intimacy for two players.
Tags: sex, love, intimacy, ars amandi
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
What happens when your seance is overloaded with Mediums? Well, it can get pretty loud, and the ghosts of the beyond usually tend to sound a lot like rowdy game convention attendees. Too Many Mediums is a comedic freeform game meant to be played in a noisy convention hall for four players and, of course, plenty of unwitting audience participation.
Tags: comedy, freeform, convention, seance
Style of Play: Freeform larp
Aliens attempt to teach simians.
Tags: Uplift, aliens, love
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
You are about to be possessed by the ghost of a veliciraptor. It's cool. Play it cool. Everything is normal.
Tags: velociraptor, ghost, possession, silly
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Performance art
Waiting Room is an atmospheric freeform scenario that makes use of poetry, found objects, modular prompts, and other optional techniques to create a vivid and highly subjective play experience.
Tags: non-verbal, high-contact, hypnagogic, paidia
http://www.kettleoffishproductions.com/
Style of Play: Larp
A Deductive Guessing Game of Gastronomic Death
Tags: dining, mystery, parasites
https://www.patreon.com/glassfreegames
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play
Figuring out how to live with other humans is hard- figuring out how to live with aliens is a whole 'nother game!
Tags: aliens, roommates, humor
Style of Play: Larp
Miners trapped in the darkness, awaiting rescue after a mine collapse. Things that change us. To be played in darkness, using a torch.
Tags: darkness, rescue, relationships
Style of Play: Freeform larp
A game about family, grief, ritual, and a haunted plant framed around a Polish Christmas Eve ritual.
Tags: holidays, Polish, family
Posted 9 October 2016.
Approved for release by the Golden Cobra Committee