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Icebergs
Thoughts on larp from Sinking Ship Creations


Can You Be Good At Larp?
When we talk about larping — the actual activity of live action role-play — we often talk about how to do things better. This ranges from theoretical (“How do we play to lift?”) to specific (“What are good ways to role-play a romantic relation?”) to technical (“Should we try to do an accent?”). But all of these questions have a fundamental assumption: that role-play is something we can do better or worse. And this question has a lot of implications.
Sep 17


Boutique Larp
Rarely can I find the origin of a larp phrase so easily and clearly as “boutique larp” — Mo Holkar coined it in the Larpers BFF Facebook group on January 21, 2017. It’s been nearly a decade since that post, and while the term is not common, it’s been used a decent amount. Personally, I’m quite fond of it, because boutique larps are having a moment.
Sep 3


Tears Are Cheap
For ten years, I made larps that made people bawl. I felt like I really created something special. Then everyone started running “crying” larps. More accurately, I met more people who were already doing the same thing. And I realized I wasn’t special, or brilliant, or a larp god. Because the thing about tears is that it’s really not that hard to make a larper cry.
Aug 25


Facebook Is the Devil
If you’re a larp organizer, Facebook is an unfortunate fact of life... which has a lot of us asking, "can we drop Facebook?"
Jan 15


Sex & Violence: What's the Problem?
The two most risky activities in a larp have very different issues.
Jan 7


Our Favorite Larps Are Repetitive
There's a reason why we enjoy them... we've done them before. Let’s start with this: there are lots of very good larp designers creating...
Feb 7, 2024


The Problem With The Herd
As designers, we spend a lot of time asking, “What makes a good larp?” The best answer we’ve heard is “a larp is good when it meets or...
Jul 12, 2023


Many Types of Fun
Last week, we kind of trashed an entire style of role-play. Actually, what we did was challenge designers.
Mar 3, 2022


Tears Are A Cheap Shot
About a decade ago, the unofficial slogan of the Sinking Ship larp at the time was “we make our players cry.” It was an extremely popular sl
Feb 24, 2022
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