SOMEPLACE ELSE

RPG system: LARP
Participants: 10-15 players

By

✏️	Arthur Davis
	Arthur Davis

Description

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

This notice of employment is being delivered on the occasion of your death. You have been selected to work at a restaurant known as Virgil’s Hand.

We here in Afterlife Services offer an opportunity to individuals who teeter on the brink between the Downbelow and the Upabove: an opportunity to turn their eternal fortunes around through a few years of service at a local establishment.

We know the adjustment to the afterlife is difficult, so we have removed the strain of making the decision of whether or not to accept this offer from your shoulders. Employment is mandatory. Please report to Virgil’s Hand at the first midnight following the delivery of this notice.

And up until such a time as your actions qualify you for entrance to the Upabove or the Downbelow, allow me to be the first to say:

Welcome to SOMEPLACE ELSE.

The Dullahan, Manager, Afterlife Services.

BASICS.

In between the heavenly Upabove and the dreaded Downbelow, there’s a dull, gray, endless city in a limbo known as Someplace Else. Everyone here’s got their heads down. Everyone does their job. But if you know where to look for it, you can spot a little pop of color here and there – provided you squint your eyes against the rain. Among these vivid pockets of life is a speakeasy known as Virgil’s Hand. It’s on the far east side of Someplace Else, under a bridge and through three doors, and you have to know a password to get through – but we all know it here. In fact, we’re the employees: the ones that make Virgil’s Hand the place to be.

SOMEPLACE ELSE is a three-hour larp set in this speakeasy after the bar has closed to customers. Today is the characters’ monthly payday, which means cards, dice, and good conversation for all as everyone waits for the Boss to pass out the dough. There’ll be drama and some small mysteries – but for the most part, SOMEPLACE ELSE is simply about a few hours spent among friends and coworkers after a long, difficult day.

DETAILS.

Aesthetic: There’s rough inspiration drawn from historical speakeasies and the 1920s, but this is very loose. Someplace Else as a location has an almost film noir-esque look to it: an endless gray city and an endless haze of fog of rain.

Characters: Players will fill out a brief survey asking for input on who they’d like their character to be, what kind of game they’re interested in, etc. They will then receive a character sheet customized for them that will contain some notes on 1) who other people know them to be, 2) what other people know them to do in Someplace Else and at Virgil’s Hand, and 3) a few premade character relationships with other characters. Sheets will be 2-4 pages in total. Finally, I will explicitly add that this game is friendly to transgender/nonbinary players (and is written by a transgender writer), and all players will have the opportunity to choose their character’s pronouns and presentation.

Game Prep: A few brief character exercises will take place prior to the game, including a chance to meet character connections, but for the most part, expect to arrive more or less ready to roll.

Mechanics: SOMEPLACE ELSE will take place in a single uninterrupted scene with no non-diegetic mechanics. The GM will be present and playing a helpful quest giver-type character, but GM involvement in steering action will be little to none. Players will have relationships to pursue, interests to discuss, and so on, but SOMEPLACE ELSE emphasizes spending a few moments in this fictional world over larger, more standard plots. Any conflict in this game will be resolved through diegetic in-character actions, in-character conversation, or in in-character promises to follow through on things “off screen” after the end of the game. So if a conversation- and improv-driven game with high immersion sounds fun to you, this will be up your alley!

Tone: Players are welcome to express the tone they’re most interested in when filling out their character survey. While SOMEPLACE ELSE as a whole will not hit the extremes of either comedy or tragedy, there is room for variation based on player preference – be that a more lighthearted night of games with coworkers, tragic revelations about a friendship, heartfelt private moments shared over the punch bowl, or anything else.

World: A very brief worldbook (2-3 pages) will be sent to all players along with the survey. Much more emphasis is placed on the characters than on detailed world lore, however.

A FINAL NOTE.

Though I’ve run and written many larps within my own community, I’m a newcomer to Intercon! As such, I can’t say just yet whether SOMEPLACE ELSE will feel familiar or new or both to you, a player from a different larp community and tradition than myself. I aimed to make this summary as clear as possible with regards to what to expect, but please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have further questions. If this game sounds at all interesting, though, I would love to have you join me at Virgil’s Hand!
Content Warnings

Afterlife: Since the game is set in the afterlife, there’ll be some mentions of death, but no character will have memories of their life or things they may or may not have done. While real-world concepts of Heaven, Hell, and Limbo inspired the Upabove, Downbelow, and Someplace Else, no real-world religious material will feature beyond general concepts such as demons, a life after death, etc.

Speakeasy: The speakeasy setting means there may be mentions, brief descriptions of, or story content related to violence, alcohol, and other crimes, but none of this will appear “on screen” or be played out in the game. Players will be asked to portray their character as sober.

Other: SOMEPLACE ELSE’s character sheets and world documents will not contain instances of or references to real-world bigotry. Additionally, the character survey will give players the opportunity to privately share topics they’re comfortable existing in the world but don’t want to engage with personally (For example, “I don’t want to have my character personally involved in any violence”) as well as topics they don’t want the game to touch on at all. The latter requests will be anonymized and shared with players prior to the game start, and players will be asked not to reference the subjects listed.

If you have any further questions about content in this game, please reach out to the GM.

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