Light a Single Candle

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 12 players, 6 living people and 6 spirits

By

Summer Larpin' But oh, those summer nights! (2022), Boxboro, Massachusetts, United States

Liliya Benderskaya (GM)

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

Liliya Benderskaya

Description

Close your eyes.

Focus on the afterimage of the flame, the ambient warmth on your palms, the faint smell of wax.

Remember why you’re here.

A tiny pinprick of light blooms and glimmers in the darkness. They’re coming. How long has it been since the last time? Feels like a fraction of a second. No, a lifetime.

A year has passed since the last Wanderin’ Night, when the boundaries between life and death grow thin, so thin you can drift across. And every year, for some few, this night marks a rite of passage.

About time. It gets all kinds of boring out here. Kind of lonely too.

On Wanderin’ Night, we lay the dead to rest.

No, before you ask, this isn’t an exorcism. You don’t become a monster just because you die. You don’t become any less yourself. But death… well. That shit’s hard to deal with, okay?

Not like life is all that much easier.

Sometimes I wonder if they need this—need us—almost as much as we need them.

Light a Single Candle is a four hour game for twelve players, loosely inspired by Spiritfarer and The World Ends With You. Half of you will be playing living humans, and the other half will be playing ghosts. The game will run in semi-darkness, with (electric) candles and glowsticks providing the only light. Due to the nature of the story, this game deals pervasively with themes of death, grief and mourning, as well as various ways one can die, including chronic illness, murder, and suicide. Character sheets may also reference domestic violence, homelessness, and police brutality. Due to the thematic content, this game is recommended for players sixteen and older.

Played at