Shelter

A dark content larp for 25 players about losing your humanity in the apocalypse

Setting

It’s not been long since the world got used to the idea of regular crises, each fluctuating over several months only to fade like ripples from a stone tossed into placid waters, and give rise to the next. The cycle is recognizable now, starting with outlying medical cases, wild accusations, and social media turmoil and quickly followed by inflation and crashes, meaningless public health measures, panic, and empty store shelves. The economic instability along with general public exhaustion and recklessness persists until everyone grows sick of hearing about it and, without actually changing anything, the dust clears and the next trend-tastrophe takes center stage. The cycle seems to endlessly repeat, for decades now. People are tired. They demand action from a government unable to really change the fallout of globalization.

The most recent pandemic has been among the most virulent and also most terrifying. Among other symptoms, the infected exhibit psychotic tendencies and are difficult to treat, often clinging to life for several long, hard months restrained to a hospital bed as their organs fail, recognizing neither themselves nor their loved ones. This time, even attempts at curbing the infection seem to have been completely abandoned by local governments, and as the infected rate skyrockets, there is no hope in sight.

The scars of the most recent pandemic are evident even here in the suburbs around the small, private Mt. Lagos College in northeast America. Discarded masks and gloves litter the streets, posters railing against lockdowns and forced immunizations adorn signposts and wire fences, graffiti spouting racism and rage decorate the sides of convenience stores and garages. The distant sounds of the day's demonstration rise in pitch and bile as it turns into yet another riot, the crowd growing ugly as firehoses and tear gas are turned on them. RETURN TO YOUR HOMES, a disembodied voice instructs via loudspeaker. SHELTER IN PLACE.

As the mass of people makes its way through the neighborhood in blatant disregard of that order; windows are shattered, doors broken down, houses are set on fire. The residents flee before the wave of masked and angry rioters, taking only what they can easily lay their hands on, frantic and afraid. Some demonstrators break away from the mass of seething emotion, terrified they’ve gotten in over their heads and desperate for a way out. There are only rioters and those fleeing them, desperately seeking shelter – which can be found, for some, in a prepper’s backyard bunker.

The larp takes place in 3 acts, covering 10 years of in-game time (each night skips 5 years forward).

Act 1

uncertainty / personalities / resources

Day 1

The door closed, echoing appropriately with a ring of finality. The thick, reinforced steel is bolted deeply into the concrete walls and seals us in this bunker and away from the danger outside as much as from the sun. We breathe air that already tastes stale and old and drink water that tastes of the plastic jugs it’s been stored in for the past four years. Who knows how long we’ll be here, but surely not... long?

With the closing of the door, it’s time to take stock, and questions abound.

Who’s in here, locked up together? Families, neighbors, strangers – is anyone sick? Is anyone dangerous?

What really just happened outside? How long until the door is opened? How long until we have to open the door?

And who’s in charge, anyway?

Act 2

routine / purpose / future

Year 5

It’s been five years since we last saw the sky. Each of us has found our niche, easy or otherwise, and simply continued with little awareness of what’s happening outside. We are maintained by our habits, our systems, for ourselves and for each other. It's been years since we heard the crackle of the radio and its last messages had all been the same anyway: "Shelter in place." And so we did, but not all without question.

Group dynamics have changed over the years and the residents of the bunker formed new and different bonds than the ones they'd arrived with. Opinions and beliefs have also grown and changed, pitting people against one another about how best to govern the little community in the bunker and ensure its survival.

Will budding factions try to convince each other with reason or resort to manipulation, subterfuge, or threats?

Act 3

resignation / faith / persistence

Year 10

The past ten years haven't been kind to any of us. Slowly we drew lines in the sand, formed opinions we could never have dreamed of Before. We wonder if there’s nobody else left out there. Three ideas prevail, each abhorrent to some and ironclad to others: giving up, sacred atonement, and perpetuating the species. Already, lines we swore by have been crossed and acts that used to be called atrocities are on the table.

Factions and ideologies have cemented and the members of each escalate their behavior to either convince the others or force them to conform. Long gone are the days or questioning ethics; now only the most extreme tactics are applied and the few undecided stragglers are at risk of having their choices made for them.

Which will win out – or is it already too late for humanity, if not for humankind?

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