A Christmas Movie LARP

A picturesque, snow-blown town in the middle of nowhere. A wistful train ride to a place you knew and left for ambition and adventure. A worn set of gold bells chiming as you walk through doors that hold memories and dust and maybe even the start of something new.

Long Description

Description:

A picturesque, snow-blown town in the middle of nowhere. A wistful train ride to a place you knew and left for ambition and adventure. A worn set of gold bells chiming as you walk through doors that hold memories and dust and maybe even the start of something new.

You've received an invitation from the Mayor to attend their famous Christmas Eve party - every year, the whole town is invited, and often a few new faces show up to share in the plentiful cheer. It seems that the holidays always bring out the best -and messiest- of human nature, and between putting the star on top of the tree, giving toasts around the roaring fire, and making sure no one sees that unexpected kiss under the Mistletoe, there's a lot to be done and very little time in which to accomplish it. But you know what they say - there's magic in the air on this fateful night, and you just might find the opportune moment to make your dreams come true.

Setting:

The game takes place at the Mayor's annual Christmas Eve party.

In Backstory: There are two central places referenced - The Town and The City - referred to sometimes as small and provincial or big and busy, respectively. Christmas movies, especially those released directly to television, present a dichotomy between these two locations - often representing the bustling metropolis as fast paced and unconcerned about human connection, with the quaint hometown acting as a foil - a safe place full of memories, potential, and people who care. In the real world, these types of places are as complicated and full as the people who live in them, with charms, graces, and hidden skeletons. In this game, either can be an avenue towards wish fulfillment.

Goofy Fun vs. Meaningful Stories - Making it Your Own:

Characters that show up in Christmas movies trend along archetypical lines. We have played into common tropes, such as the big city ingénue, the small town hotties, the struggling shop keepers, the CEOs, the yuppies, and a few others. Your sheet will include a few questions to help guide your roleplay.

This LARP is designed to be lighthearted, with potential for emotionally meaningful roleplay tied in with characters that are caricatures - and soapy drama that will ultimately be resolved by the time Santa flies overhead. Everyone can pursue a happy ending for their character, even if it is an ending that differs from your character's initial goals. You may ultimately end up selling the secret family recipe, choosing to stay in a small town, finding a new career, or exploring polyamory - and that's wonderful.

You will have time during the pre-game workshop to negotiate some of these interlocking storylines with their closest ties.

Expectations:

This game is written to explore the typical romance expected in made for TV Christmas movies in non-traditional ways. The genre, while in many ways charming, is not without problems both individual, overarching, and systemic. It is expected for players to explore a variety of relationships and relationship structures, for characters to use the "magic" of the holiday season as an avenue to pursue their dreams in ways they might not have given themselves permission to before. This hope for the game is to explore the stories we wish those movies would engage with.

You should expect to encounter romantic roleplay in this game, as well as roleplay involving family, acceptance, and the pursuit of happiness.

Christmas, Religion, & Winter Holidays:

This game is focused on cultural traditions as presented by a particular kind of tropey media (made-for-TV Christmas movies), not in attempting to authentically explore the underlying religions or cultures which birthed those tropes. The lighthearted, soapy nature of this game is not an appropriate lens for sensitively and thoughtfully exploring real-world faiths, and is instead concerned only with a handful of specific cultural trappings which are themselves no more religious than a 30% off sale on inflatable santas.

Gender & Sexuality:

Characters are written with the gender-neutral pronouns of they/them and you can adjust those for your preference for the character. Nametags will be provided for your character's name and pronouns. While players will choose pronouns for their characters, some characters may carry implied gender constructs (such as Mom, Dad, and Not Santa). Players will be able to indicate their preferences in the casting survey.