The Apple and the Tree

The Apple and the Tree is a short, emotionally charged LARP about family. It explored what family means, how it can be used for and against people, who gets to be counted as family, and several other concepts surrounding what it is that these types of relations mean, if they mean anything at all.

Long Description

Fifteen years ago, the Fallons were the very picture of the perfect American family. Two parents, two children, a happy golden retriever whose tail seemed to be wagging in every photo, their joy was clear for everyone to see. No matter how one of the parents might feel about their job, or how the children felt at school, there was always the warm embrace of family for them to fall back on.

That was the image, at least.

Nowadays, the family is almost unrecognizable. In the time since then, the father passed away, leaving just the mother to continue raising the children. The youngest child’s transition, and the reactions of the other family members to it, began a chain of events that ultimately led to a major falling-out. The youngest largely stopped associating with the family, and the relationship between the mother and the oldest was left forever changed.

But now, after eight years of limited contact, the youngest child has decided to make an effort to reconnect with the rest of the family, bringing her partner along with her. As an attempt to gather everyone in one place to have a meaningful conversation, the eldest daughter has invited the youngest, the youngest’s partner, the mother, and an old family friend to a Mother’s Day brunch.

All are arriving with the intent of having it be a peaceful, pleasant time. But old wounds have a way of opening at the worst of times, and the tension of a shared history can be a knife all of its own.

Game Information

Overview & Experience

Short Description: The Apple and the Tree is a LARP about family. It explores what family means, how it can be used for and against people, who gets to be counted as family, and several other concepts surrounding what it is that these types of relations mean, if they mean anything at all. It takes place during a brunch at which a number of characters with different familial relationships to each other are meeting after being apart for some time and attempting to reconcile the problems in their relationships with each other. While some problems will be evident at the start of the game, more will come out as the characters' experiences are gradually illuminated over the course of their conversations with each other.

Play Experience: The Apple and the Tree is an intense, heavy game. The tone of this game is expected to trend towards being serious, tense, and reflective. It centers on topics that may be present in players' lives in various ways, and engages with the concept of family on a level that expects (and even encourages) heavy tension and interpersonal conflict. Expect to engage seriously and deeply with emotionally charged topics. While some of the tension and conflict between the characters might be resolved over the course of the game, most of the experience will be engaging with that conflict, and it is entirely possible that some of these differences may be found to be irreconcilable. It is not recommended to play this game if you are not ready to engage in this type of conflict. Attention will be paid to ensuring that proper safety mechanics are in place, and there will be time set aside for debrief/decompression/etc. after the game in the service of helping to prevent bleed and carryover negative emotions from inside the game.

In short: the game has the potential to have positive outcomes, but expect tense emotional conflict as the core of the game and understand the potential for partially or substantially negative outcomes for the characters.

Structure: The Apple and the Tree will take place as a single, uninterrupted scene. The GM will be present in the room, but will not be participating in the LARP itself. There are no additional mechanics, and the game centers around conversations between characters.

Details

Gender/Pronouns: Unlike other games you may see from me (the writer/GM), there is very little flexibility in the gender of this game's cast, as gender dynamics and experiences of gender are integral to the setup and play experience of the game. The buckets represented here are primarily for me to ensure that there are people willing to play each of the corresponding relationships with gender. Trans women are women – different people may have different levels of comfort with playing a trans woman. Once signups are completed, the casting survey I send out will allow for some flexibility between the gender buckets if players are comfortable with playing multiple types of relationships with gender (in the service of having character themes/relationships that might be more preferable), though priority for roles will be given to the people who signed up for those buckets.

Players are welcome to sign up for any relationship to gender that they're comfortable engaging with.
Romance/Sexuality: Characters in this LARP also have fairly distinct experiences related to how they engage with romance and sexuality. This is not covered by the bucket system here, and it is generally expected that players in this game will be willing to engage with any relationship with romantic and/or sexual attraction. There will also be the possibility of some calibration with this on the casting survey, though I will give this somewhat lesser priority compared to gender.
Timing: There will be about twenty minutes at the beginning of the time slot for pre-game discussion and calibration of safety tools, followed by the LARP itself (to last approximately an hour, with some minor flexibility), followed by what time remains for (optional but encouraged) debrief/decompression/unwinding/etc.
Costuming: Costuming is encouraged but not required. These are characters in the modern day, so costuming guidance is simply to dress as feels appropriate to you for the character.