Every 33 minutes you climb into your overheating fighter to keep humanity alive, then climb back out to argue with your boyfriend, punch your wingman, and kiss a stranger. You’ve done this 236 times in 130 hours with no sleep. You just need to survive doing it five more times to make it to safety.
33 is a Battlestar Galactica inspired LARP.
Long Description
Every 33 minutes, your ship, Battlestar Archeron, jumps to another system to attempt to evade the enemy fleet. Every 33 minutes, you hop into the cockpit of your overheated fighter craft and try not to die defending humanity’s last hope for survival. But, every 33 minutes, that fleet appears right behind you. And when that’s done, you have 33 minutes to argue with your boyfriend, punch your wingman, and kiss your other wingman in the ready room. You’ve done this 236 times in the past 130 hours. You haven’t slept, you’ve barely eaten, and you just need to survive doing it five more times to make it to safety.
33 is a Battlestar Galactica inspired LARP which depicts the misfit, queer flight crew of one of humanity’s last military spacecraft as they try to run from an overwhelming hostile force: the Cylons.
33 is a casted LARP with prewritten characters and relationships. These characters are flawed, exhausted, and queer; each character has a rank and last name, and you will be able to determine their first name, pronouns, and gender presentation.
You do not need to have watched Battlestar Galactica to enjoy this game! If you’ve watched any media about fighter pilots, like Top Gun, you’ll get the general vibe of this game. However, this game is heavily inspired by the first episode of Battlestar Galactica, 33, which is 45 minutes long and requires no other prior watching (it’s the first episode of the show!). I recommend watching the Mini Series and 33 together.
Themes:
Service and duty. This is a military structure which has ranks and orders which must be followed. What happens when those orders collide with your values, beliefs, and those you love?
Exhaustion & breaking points. What does it mean to push the human mind and body to its brink? What does exhaustion give you the courage to do or say that you wouldn’t otherwise? The perfect pristine pilot might crack and finally speak up to their superior; the shy pilot might finally confess their attraction to their subordinate...
Queer joy and perseverance. The military is homoerotic, and all the characters in this game are SUPER queer. I, the writer, am queer and trans: the characters don’t have assigned genders, they only have a rank and last name, and are all a little queer.
Queer disaster situationships. A vast majority of the characters in this game have some kind of romantic past or present that is messy and weird! There's cheating and love triangles galore, but most of it is written with camp in mind.
Loss. The Cylons want to destroy us. They’ve been picking us apart for days. Someone will die before all this is done, likely more. It might be you.
Hope. Despite it all, you cling on. For yourself, for those around you, for humanity? What maintains your hope?
What You’ll Do
You’ll explore your character’s relationship with themselves, their flight wing, and the Colonial Navy. You’ll reckon with your character’s goals, their desires, and their fears, some of which will contradict each other. You'll participate in a brief set of workshops. You’ll collaborate with your fellow players. You’ll play a three-hour parlor LARP with 18 other players.
Game Mechanics
33 Minutes: Every 33 minutes, the Cylons come. You’ll do this five times, five more jumps, and try to survive. When exhaustion sets in, your character has a chance to die. When that point comes, you’ll get in your cockpit and draw a straw; that straw determines whether you live or die. Injury and damage to your spacecraft will occur, but death will not happen until the last 3rd of the game. Characters who die will have the chance to leave a final radio message, then will observe the rest of the game.
Costuming
I recommend wearing vaguely military-like attire. This can include... - Cargo pants. - Tank tops, flight jackets, utility shirts, and similar. - Olive drab, green, black, and tan. However, costuming is not required. After 236 hours in the cockpit, who's going to tell you what to wear outside of the cockpit?
Media Touchstones
This game is very heavily inspired by the first episode of Battlestar Galactica, but here are some other media inspirations that match the vibe of this game. If you don't know any of these, don't worry! - The Pitt TV Show - Generation Kill TV Show - Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World Film - The Expanse TV Show - Masters of the Air TV Show - Black Sails TV Show