Aurora Horizon is part six of my over-ambitious multi-part science-fiction first contact freeform larp. Previous episodes are: The Roswell Incident, All Flesh is Grass, Children of the Stars, Messages from Callisto, and The Stars our Destination.
This time, I decided to make some notes as I wrote the game. This is the first part.
The overall idea
In 2010, humanity sends a manned spacecraft (the titular Aurora Horizon) to investigate an alien spacecraft that has been parked on the surface of Callisto.
What do they find?
The problem
Writing Aurora Horizon as a ttrpg scenario would be easy. It’s a mysterious spacecraft with various things to discover. It would probably be a two- or three-session one-shot, I imagine.
But I’m writing it as a freeform larp for 13 players.
And I must admit that I’ve been putting it off for a while, because it’s a bit tricky.
See, exploring a spacecraft (or a dungeon or a tomb or whatever) works fine as a ttrpg, but it’s not great for freeform larps.
Many years ago, I played in a 20-ish-player Lovecraft game, which included (among many other things) four of us exploring some catacombs below Arkham. While this was fine, it turned a larp into a ttrpg, which wasn’t really what I signed up for. It also took one of the GMs out of the game, and I plan to run this on my own, so that’s not an option.
Whatever I do will need to be self-contained.
My plan
My plan is that the players will split into different groups at set times, when they go on EVA missions to explore Callisto or the alien ship.
They will choose an area to explore, and I will give them handouts explaining what they find. At the same time, there will be character-specific text.
My plan is to give them sufficient dilemmas to keep them occupied for 15-20 minutes before everyone reconvenes.
Inter-group communication
The game is set in 2010, and as a consequence, everyone can communicate with each other and see what’s going on via suit cameras.
My plan to deal with this is to let the players know that if they want to see what’s going on, they can.
They won’t be present, but they can respond, ask questions and offer advice. If they want to ask the captain something, they can.
(Although I’m not promising not to cut communications for dramatic effect.)
So that’s the plan so far.
Available to download
The first three episodes are available to download. Find them here:
The Roswell Incident (published by Freeform Games)
All Flesh is Grass (published by me on Itch)
Children of the Stars (also published by me on Itch)
(With the others to follow in due course...)
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