Approved for release by the Golden Cobra Committee
Here's a list of the games submitted in 2022. Links are available below.
Styles of Play: Larp, Committee Larp
You and your friends make plans to run the free world as the Illuminati.
Tags: teamwork, evil, asynchronous roles
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Chat/Message, Streaming/Online Face to Face
It's September, 2004. You're at the Neko Case concert at the Parish. The night is perfect, except: A woman in the bathroom is sad. In Are You Like, OK? your job is to help her. Or be her. But the point is, we're all in this bathroom together, and the headliner starts at midnight. Are You Like, OK is a freeform LARP for 4-10 players set in a women's bathroom. It can be played remotely, in person, or even via text. This is a game about spontaneous community and caretaking.
Tags: caretaking, soft, feelings
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Chat/Message
Badass Fuckin' Disabled Wizards is a love letter to all of the cool as shit disabled people who make games. It is a narrative led game comprising of scenes where you come up with magical problems and try and solve them together as wizards.
Tags: disability, magic, wizards
Styles of Play: Aer van de Water
Imagine being celebrated by your religion rather than judged and ignored. Imagine being blessed rather than cursed. Imagine being affirmed and supported in your transition, the changing of your name, the revelation of your gender, rather than having to go it alone. Ceremonies and rituals to bless and celebrate a new name are a growing phenomenon in inclusive religious communities.
Tags: transgender, transition, name, ritual
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Committee Larp, Chat/Message, Streaming/Online Face to Face
Everyone knows werewolves are half humans and half wolves. What few know is that they are also half material and half spiritual. Few shrines make the membrane between these worlds more tenuous, allowing the dialogue between the material one and its spiritual reflex. Now, a group of werewolves discuss the possibility of creating one of these shrines in the metaverse - an ambiguous situation between the need for new shrines to exist and the position of much of the werewolf's complex tribal society, which claims that technology is largely responsible for imbalance between these worlds.
Tags: l@rp, werewolves, non-verbal communication
Styles of Play: Larp, Video/Transmedia
It’s late. You are meant to be somewhere else. Instead you’re spending the night at this rundown motel, staring at a damp popcorn ceiling. You can’t sleep. Can’t concentrate. Maybe you’re feeling guilty, or scared, or angry. You need someone to talk to. There’s something heavy in your chest and you need to offload it on someone else, anyone else.The only light in the room is coming from the telephone sitting on the bedside table, a single red light blinking in the dark. “Hello, this is the concierge speaking. How can I help you tonight?”
Tags: horror, phone larp, audio only/p>
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ypFSLHzDmhnfBFttJ004KRS1cpKXMqQ-97iGDiY30o/edit?usp=sharing
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face
A freeform larp about rumors and insecurities.
Tags: rumor, insecurity, drama, conversation
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Letter Writing, Arts & Crafts
Casting off Tyranny is a play-by-mail keepsake game where players are citizens of a country while it is being invaded by an occupying force. In order to fight back and defend their homeland, players will collect information from newspapers, knit secret codes into garments to communicate that information, and mail it to another player who needs to know. Players will then use the information they decode from sending secret messages to take actions to liberate their home country. The game ends when either the occupying army takes the whole country, or when the resistance has driven the occupying army entirely from their lands.
Tags: knitting, keepsake, play-by-mail, resistance
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face
“Dark Reflections” is a 30 minute game for 2 players about someone meeting their reflection in the middle of the night, and the dawning existential horror of finding it is not just a reflection.
Tags: 2-player, horror, midnight
Styles of Play: Larp
After years of war between villages, a crisis requires the effort to create a community among all. But will it be possible to put aside so much violence committed to save our loved ones? This larp focuses on the gathering of emissaries who seek the salvation of their familiars through negotiations with their former enemies.
Tags: politics, contractualism, alliances, polls
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cF7eNwyuFOII5iR2WeVIJgTqw87ZtSm1/view?usp=sharing
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face
Dusza to krótki larp dla dwóch osób o ciele, które spotyka swoją duszę. Jego głównym założeniem jest opowiedzenie przez graczy historii o dwóch bytach, które niegdyś stanowiły jedność, lecz zostały odseparowane. Osoby uczestniczące same wymyślają przeszłość swojej postaci oraz precyzują jej osobowość i światopogląd. Ktoś na niego zawsze spogląda zza lustra. Nie zawsze widzi tam siebie, tylko zupełnie obcą osobę. Zastanawiał się, co może być tego przyczyną. Słyszał coś o depersonalizacji, lecz bał się skonfrontować to z psychologiem. Wybija północ. Pęknięte lustro odbija światło księżyca, zostawiając osrebrzoną poświatę. Rozlega się pukanie do drzwi. Kto zdecydował się przyjść o tej porze?
Tags: freeform, larp, two people, magical realism, spiritualism
https://www.jacquelinebryk.design/
Styles of Play: Tabletop/Pencil & Paper, Solo Play, Journaling
A solo game about being the sibling of a mech pilot during a world-changing war.
Tags: childhood, mecha, apocalypse, journaling
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Chat/Message, Streaming/Online Face to Face, Video/Transmedia, Arts & Crafts
Families in my town celebrate harvest season with a Hyssop Box. If you visited, you'd find one in every house. Some people use handcrafted wooden boxes with ornate decorations. Others use the drawer of a side table. Regardless of what a Hyssop Box looks like, the ritual remains the same. Ask a question. Give a gift. If your offer is accepted, Mr. Hyssop will give you an answer. I would be happy to show you how it works on the traditional date, the evening of the autumnal equinox.
Tags: ritual, tradition, truth, fairness
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cMgu2RSBv61FlhTYTuRjvBpWOMpvv9WN/view?usp=sharing
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face
Człowiek okiełznał kosmos, albo próbuje w to wierzyć. Międzyplanetarne wyprawy nie są niczym szokującym, ale nadal wymagają wiele czasu, wysiłku a nawet poświęcenia. Zawód kosmonauty nie jest niespotykany, choć nie jest łatwo zdobyć tę profesję, praktycznie każdy zna jakiegoś gwiezdnego marynarza. Podstawowym sposobem kontaktu z ludźmi na statkach kosmicznych jest zażywanie białych pigułek nazywanych kryształowym puchem, które są legalnym narkotykiem, za pomocą którego osoby zażywające tę substancję mogą się widzieć i ze sobą rozmawiać, jednak nie są w stanie się dotykać ani poczuć swego ciepła. Formy takie jak wideorozmowa czy komunikacja telefoniczna są niemożliwe ze względu na ciężkie warunki w kosmosie uniemożliwiające podtrzymywanie połączenia w takiej formie. Kryształowy puch ma jedną swoją wadę, jest silnie uzależniającą substancją, częste jego zażywanie może powodować problemy z rozpoznawaniem, co jest prawdą a co iluzją. Dwójka najbliższych sobie osób postanowiła w końcu spotkać się podczas wyczekiwanego haju na kryształowym puchu, na co pozwalają sobie stosunkowo rzadko, obawiając się skutków ubocznych. Jedna z postaci jest osobą, która pozostała na Ziemi, a druga kosmonautą, który wyleciał do gwiazd, a jego wyprawa wydłuża się coraz bardziej, choć miał wrócić z powrotem już dawno temu. Gra skupia się na opowiedzeniu historii zakochanych osób, których dzieli ogromny dystans, ukazaniu ich emocji oraz rozterek, jakie przeżywają. Pod przykrywką technologii, rozwoju i techniki, kryje się wrażliwy świat uczuć i marzeń. Bohaterowie muszą poradzić sobie z samotnością oraz trudami miłości.
Tags: science fiction, miłość, samotność
https://twitter.com/julesdoesgames
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play, Chat/Message, Solo Play
A text-based apocalyptic LARP in which a group of friends reacts in differing ways to the knowledge that the world is ending at midnight.
Tags: apocalypse, passive, character building
htttp://playsanctum.net
http://sanctorum.com
http://sunsetracism.com
http://agilian.com
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Chat/Message, Streaming/Online Face to Face, Performance (ie song, lipsynch, dance etc.)
A hundred years ago, our bodies were discovered in a house. We died from causes unknown. Now, we are haunted by doubts. We are spirits investigating our own demise in rooms where our diaries were left behind.
Tags: Penny-Dreadful, mystery, improv
http://www.oliviamontoya.com/
http://metaparadox.itch.io
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face, Gather.town, Proximity-based Spatial Video Chat LARP
Tags: memories, identity, relationships, royalty
Styles of Play: freeform larp, streaming/online face to face, tabletop/pencil & paper
Metaphorphosis is a 60-minute freeform larp for anyone who wants to explore how we translate our inner worlds and how in turn, the people we love hear us and learn who we are.
Four players portray the chosen family of Aunt Dorian, a beloved queer elder who passed away, leaving behind a poem. In an extended metaphor, Dorian describes their experience of coming out and embracing their queer identity using the metamorphosis of a moth. Players come together over the poem and translate it into a description of the events, relationships, and emotions Dorian is writing about, hopefully gaining understanding and closure in the process.
The game's goals are to build empathy for queer and neurodivergent people for whom traditional channels and methods of communication and storytelling may not be accessible, and to explore novel, subversive perspectives on legacy and loss outside those offered by heteronormative biological family tropes.
Tags: queer, metaphor, translation, legacy
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Arts & Crafts
A two-player game, played over the phone, in which the Host guides the Guest in meeting their alter-egos, all of whom live in the worlds we can see in the mirror. Each alter-ego is slightly different than the Guest, who can only communicate with these other selves in a midnight ritual involving guided self-reflection and drawing symbolic images on mirrors. The Host guides the Guest in realigning their differing alter-egos (Mi'ors) into a cohesive version of themselves. The Host is responsible for holding the Guest's identity safely and soundly while the Guest explores other personas. It is a game of identity exploration, intimacy, and reflection through connection.
Tags: mirrors, alter egos, drawing
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Tabletop/Pencil & Paper, Streaming/Online Face to Face
A weird workplace-suspense larp about mining the abyssal zone.
Tags: workplace, environmental, technology, futurist
http://www.ludoverse.blogspot.com
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face
Misfit Mechanics are the flesh-and-blood avatars of discarded tabletop roleplaying game mechanics and other obsolete system elements. Banished from the game world, they now find themselves in the real world with a final chance to reclaim their relevance.
Tags: game mechanics, Fantasy Heartbreakers, obsolescence
https://zenarch.itch.io/
http://alchemicalgaming.com/games/
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Letter Writing, Video/Transmedia, Arts & Crafts
A game about two people who miss each other terribly. There’s an old place each of them goes, just to feel closer to the person they used to know. During one of these visits, they both look into the same reflective surface at midnight, and suddenly they can see each other’s faces. How can it be?
After a brief conversation, the image in the mirror fades. Each character is left staring at their own reflection. They assume it was all in their minds, and will never happen again. But one writes a letter to the other, and soon finds it has disappeared. A reply appears the next day. It becomes clear that the person writing these letters is not who your character remembers, but a version from a parallel universe. They are missing their version of you too, but lost them in a different way. Perhaps this is a second chance for you both.
As you get to know these new variations on an old theme, your growing connection warps reality around you. When the time comes, will you choose to meet? Or will you decide not to, for the safety of both worlds?
Tags: intimate, emotional, magical realism
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Chat/Message, Solo Play
A game about yourself and the online spaces you pour your heart into.
Tags: online, isolation, short
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Chat/Message, Arts & Crafts
Remember a gone old friend using objects left in a drawer.
Tags: relationships, death, past
https://vforvesta.neocities.org/
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Tabletop/Pencil & Paper, Chat/Message, Arts & Crafts
You are a dabbling crew of paranormal sleuths, stumbling from one ghostly rumour to another. You've heard about a ghost who stalks within mirrors, haunting reflections, and have decided to poke around. Your crew take a few photographs of reflective surfaces and one night, you all come together to investigate the snaps. Here's the catch: in the process, you’ve also invited the ghost to your table. Will the investigators find their resolve to unravel omens and solve the mystery, all while the ghost looms over them?
Tags: ghost, investigation, photography
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Letter Writing, Chat/Message, Streaming/Online Face to Face, Video/Transmedia
Sansara, czyli nieustanne wędrowanie, wieczny kołowrót życia i śmierci, któremu od początku świata podlegają wszystkie żywe istoty.
Tags: Sansara, reinkarnacja, dusza, narratywizm
https://beatingthebinary.itch.io/
Styles of Play: Larp, Chat/Message, Streaming/Online Face to Face
A shapeshifter hangs out with their online friends for emotional/logistical support as they prepare to go through a big change at midnight.
Tags: friendship, shapeshifting, folklore, relationships
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/authors/nat-silverman
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Letter Writing, Chat/Message, Slow play
A game for 2-4 players about participating in a drawn-out and very dramatic conflict.
Tags: text, humor, slow, anime
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp
Vampires reflect on their final moments before the sun rises.
Tags: vampire, larp
https://alles-ist-zahl.blogspot.com/2022/09/my-rpg-work.html
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Committee Larp, Chat/Message
Players play contributors to a mailing list which after a supposedly innocent out-of-topic email goes downward quickly.Vampires reflect on their final moments before the sun rises.
Tags: mailing list, absurd, escalation
Styles of Play: Larp
A game about real-life messiness tidied up into palatable social media posts; play as a group of friends at a wedding navigating knotty relationships and imperfect moments, who are regularly posting photos to tell the story of the night they want others to think is true.
Tags: friendship, celebration, idealised lives
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face, Video/Transmedia
You’ve followed the psychic lead up to the house. It’s midnight and you’re sure there’s no living being inside at the moment, so you got in. Your fellow investigators will assist you, following your exploration through your video device. Will you find the answer? Will you understand the question? And, most important, will you get out alive?
Tags: horror, investigation, asymmetrical
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vpvaVtyh5yPupMxSZsheAOXqR2PEoVR7Qn9h_VHsSBA/edit?usp=sharing
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Streaming/Online Face to Face
The last time a character is drawn for all time they receive a funeral in the dream of the Drawer who did so. The characters who knew them and still live come to eulogize them and have a funeral. Captain Valor was a minor player in the 1940's and was soon forgotten. Now not even the reprints could keep him alive so the comic characters who remember him come to pay their last respects.
Tags: funeral, forgotten, comic, hero
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Pervasive Game/Public Play, Letter Writing, Chat/Message, Arts & Crafts
Are you a newcomer, a old queen, a twink? Wearing a uniform, fetish wear, or not much at all? Whoever you are, come to Dillymore's on Turnpike Lane every Thursday (£3 with this flyer).
Tags: gay, pub, ephemera
http://www.blackgreengames.com
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Larp, Tabletop/Pencil & Paper, Letter Writing, Streaming/Online Face to Face
Mages found new communities and seek support from those they grew up with. Inspired by Ars Magica.
Tags: a/synchronous play, shared world, mages, community
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kvegPOnJqu0tI2FHBoafTIQMK6tU5ppX/view?usp=sharing
Styles of Play: Freeform larp, Committee Larp, Chat/Message
It is said that strange occurrences happen after midnight. You and your friends recently stumbled across an old journal detailing a ghost sighting that occurred in town centuries ago. You all know that there have been similar recent reports of ghost sightings in the same area described in the journal, so you have decided to check the place out yourselves. However, you may be in over your heads.
Tags: ghosts, Zoom, committee, horror
Posted 16 October 2022.
Approved for release by the Golden Cobra Committee