Epitaphs

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 20-25 players, Male characters: 11-12, Female characters: 9-13

By

Intercon U: Ultraviolet (2023), Crowne Plaza, Warwick, Rhode Island, United States

	Michelle Teixeira Brown
	Katherine Bryant

Description

_One passed in a fever, One was burned in a mine, One was killed in a brawl, One died in a jail, One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife- All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill._

The people of Spoon River a century ago were no different than anyone else, in their lives or their deaths. When they died, they took with them unfinished business and lifetime regrets, secrets and sorrows, lies, half-truths, and mistaken beliefs. But still they rest quietly in the cemetery on the hill.

But now, with a new reservoir about to flood the town, the cemetery must be moved. A secret uncovered about one of the town’s leading citizens wakes the ghosts of Spoon River, bringing them together one last time to discover the truth of what happened -- to him and to themselves.

How will they be remembered? And who gets to decide?

This game is based on Edgar Lee Masters’s _Spoon River Anthology_. Knowledge of the poems is not required, as there may be some changes to make the game work (and we’d actually prefer that players not go re-read the poems, since they do give away some characters’ secrets!). The characters are from the early 1900s in small-town Illinois.

This is a roleplay-heavy, mechanics-almost-nonexistent game focused on the interactions between the characters. Sensitive topics include (past) rape, abortion, and murder.

Played at