Ash and Rowan

RPG system: LARP

By

Description

Seasons turn and turn again.

A child grows older. A tree grows taller.

Seasons turn and turn again.

A decision must be made.


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tl;dr: A weird art LARP about a human and a tree

Good for players who: want to spend an hour crying while talking to a tree or an hour being a tree while someone cries at them

Bad for players who: want literally anything else

Run Time: up to 1 hour; often runs shorter

Players: 2

Suggested player experience level: Intermediate to expert

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Ash and Rowan is a LARP for two players who enjoy being dramatic and sad. It is a weird LARP that, statistically speaking, you the person reading this right now will not enjoy. Do not play this LARP and then say, “That was a weird LARP and I did not enjoy it! Why would the writer subject me to such an experience after promising a fun LARP?” I am telling you now: it is a weird LARP and you probably will not enjoy it.

One player takes on the role of Ash, a human who must decide whether to leave home forever in search of greater things or give up on those dreams and remain home to quietly die. The other player is Rowan, a rowan tree that Ash believes was once human and Ash’s best friend and lover. Is this true? Ash certainly thinks so and Rowan has said nothing on the matter. Over the course of the hour, Ash will deliberate and Rowan will be a tree. At the end of the hour, Ash must decide whether to leave home – and Rowan – or stay.

The setting is deliberately vague. Are the characters medieval peasants, modern people in an isolated rural community, or living in a solar dome on Mars? That is up to you. Ultimately, it does not matter to their story of love and loss.

Be aware of themes of illness, madness, death, and social isolation.

Links

• Website