Reventón

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 0-9 players, Female characters: 0-3, Male characters: 0-3, Characters that are not strictly defined as male or female: 0-3

By

Knutpunkt (2022), Linköping Concert and Congress Hall, Linköping, Sweden

Stanley N.

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

Stanley N.

Description

*Two years ago, Santa Elena was a fairly average border city. Now it's the center of a drug war where all the rules have gone out the window. Roguish sicarios, powerful narcos, corrupt cops - that’s not your story.*

*You’re just a high schooler in the city they took hostage and filled with 24-7 terror. With over 300 people murdered by the week, mostly bystanders caught in the crossfire, your city has become a ghost town. The malls, theaters, and arcades are empty: you go from home to school and back again, your activities monitored by the anxious adults who want to keep you safe. But tomorrow you graduate, and tonight's the last night you'll get to see your friends all together, all in one place. Paloma Carbajal is throwing the sickest party possible under the circumstances, and you're going. All of you get one last night together, one last chance to make an impression, one last chance to make your dreams come true.* *Un último reventón.*

Reventón counters the glamorized narrative of the Mexican drug war with the experience of being a citizen struggling to avoid the violence. Despite the drug war that took their city hostage, nine teenagers celebrate the last night of high school with a party they're not supposed to be having. These characters deal with the mental whiplash of planning their futures and navigating relationships with each other, all while coping with their home becoming a war zone.

The LARP is mostly freeform in style, with an in-game mechanic to simulate tension. At points in the game, the players will be asked to pull a random card which will dictate the course of events during the party. The game also employs the “okay check in” and “lookdown” mechanics to allow for successful calibration of emotionally intense scenes.

Character casting will occur before game, but the beginning of this experience will allow players to create further ties and memories between their characters. Although some basic background information will be sent out along with casting, the beginning of the experience has a portion set aside to help players portray the material with sensitivity and thoughtfulness. All characters depicted are somewhere in the LGBTQ umbrella, and up to a third of the characters may be nonbinary.

Played at