Measure Twice

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 6 players

By

Summer Larpin' (2023), Boxboro Regency, Boxborough, Massachusetts, United States

Jamey Patten (G)

Be-Con (2023), Sheraton Suites Chicago Elk Grove, Illinois, United States, United States

Jamey Patten

Description

“If a man gives way to all his desires, or panders to them, there will be no inner struggle in him, no ‘friction,’ no fire. But if, for the sake of attaining a definite aim, he struggles with desires that hinder him, he will then create a fire which will gradually transform his inner world into a single whole.” – P.D. Ouspensky

The six of you (for better or worse) have been everything to each other for these past years of school. So with one of you being expelled and due to leave in the morning, of course you’re going to meet up after lights out. And do a ritual to try to make the unbearable more bearable. And while you’re severing things, you all have some other cutting off that you desperately need to do, while the moment is right.

Measure Twice is a larp about a group of (older teen) boarding school students and their collective struggles, set in the mundane real world, as they prepare for and then perform a ritual of severing various feelings/attachments/parts of themselves (making use of a big swathe of fabric that you will eventually cut pieces off of). Interpersonal issues will be hashed out, a few revelations may be had, and intentions for the future will be set, among friends. Tone is serious/realistic. A few characters have a defined gender, while others will be player-determined.

Participant communications
Players will receive casting forms well in advance of the con, with character sheets of a few pages distributed at least a couple weeks before the convention.

Content warnings
Emotionally abusive mentor/teacher relationships (not appearing directly in play), some background homophobia towards characters (ditto), parental death, messy romantic/sexual relationships, teenage betrayals. (Game is small enough that I can avoid casting you in a role that directly deals with this content, but you should expect these elements to be part of everyone’s play.)

Played at