Prisoners of Memory LARP

A game by Olivia Montoya, Elisa Ford and Azalea Weisblat

Prisoners of Memory is a dystopian sci-fi LARP for exactly six players about the price of immortality, the impact of nature and memory on identity, and making difficult decisions with limited information. Characters will question everything about their lives as they regain access to forgotten memories.

I co-wrote this game for Peaky Midwest 2021 (a team-based LARP writing event), which was run online. It was written over the course of three days, but I've made some layout improvements and a few tweaks since then. The world of the game is inspired by my short visual novel, We Met Once, Perhaps in a Dream.

The game was originally written for online play, but has also been adapted for in-person play. It has run at such events as Camp Nerdly, Intercon, Dice Bubble, A LARP Festival and Summer Larpin’.

The download contains all materials necessary to run the game, including:

• Game master materials with casting instructions, plot bible and plot timeline, envelope stuffing instructions, how to run the game, and FAQs
• Player handouts and setting sheet
• Character sheets
• Character memories
• An in-game poster
• A secret in-game document
• A detailed content warning document
• A printable casting questionnaire

Blurb

In a world where medical science has advanced to the point of granting physical immortality with a single procedure available to all, but where understanding of the brain lags behind, memory is precious. It’s been hundreds of years since immortality became available to everyone, and hundreds of years since the discovery that the human mind can’t handle hundreds of years of memory. As a consequence, old memories begin to fade. Eventually, you can only remember the past ten years or so. Humanity has adapted. Society has adapted. But have you?

You are someone who lives in this society, going about your life as usual, when you receive a very old-looking letter in the mail, containing an invitation, a key, and coordinates. When the time comes you travel to that location and find an isolated cabin, and 5 strangers. Or at least they look like strangers to you… All six of you got an invitation. And based on what you discover inside the cabin, it seems that your past selves had something to hide.

Prisoners of Memory is a LARP for exactly 6 players. Characters are pre-written. There is about 2.5 pages of reading per player during game. Runtime is approximately 90 minutes, not counting filling out casting questionnaires.