Rakree: An Intergalactic Exchange

This relational, world-building LARP is inspired by Becky Chambers’s book The Galaxy and The Ground Within. When a satellite system is disrupted, aliens from completely different worlds are stranded at the Five-Hop One-Stop, a planetary waystation and habitat dome. Although each character has their own society and way of interacting, they are all naturally curious about others, and kind-hearted.

In this game, you will create an alien character, including the details of their species and the society they belong to. You will then inhabit that character as they wait with strangers, learning about each other’s cultures and sharing your own.

Long Description

This game centers on the idea of “rackree,” from Becky Chambers’s Wayfares series. Rackree is an event in which the Akarak culture gathers for exchange and sharing, giving where they can and receiving what they need. This concept is from The Galaxy and The Ground Within, the fourth book in the series, but familiarity with the source material is not necessary to play this LARP.

Before the game, you will be assigned some information about your character's species and be asked to fill out a brief worksheet. This should provide hints for light costuming, if you would like to do so. In addition, you’ll be provided with a brief setting overview if you are unfamiliar with the Wayfarers book series.

The game then consists of a workshop phase that is about an hour long, followed by a brief in-character transition and three acts, approximately 30 minutes each, and a short debrief. During the workshop, players will finalize their own alien society and character by working through a set of prompts. The workshop will involve both individual and collaborative world-building.

Gameplay then proceeds through three acts: Misunderstandings, “Eerekere”: Vulnerability with Strangers, and finally “Rackree”: Exchange & Sharing. Although the first act focuses on characters having misunderstandings about each others’ cultures, this LARP is not meant to be combative. Rather, in Becky Chambers’s style, characters make mistakes but are kind-hearted, open, and willing to learn. Before gameplay, we will strategize responses to microaggressions that may occur in this phase and establish safety protocols. In the second act, characters work to find common ground despite their differences and learn to trust one another. In the final act of the game, characters not only repair relationships with others but also build them by sharing an artifact of significance from their culture. (These items will be provided by the GM.)