The Collective Ambition Behind Odysseus, a Game-Changing Sci-Fi Larp
14 comments
·March 19, 2025Animats
jowday
There are immersive theater-type events that can scratch the same itch, although they tend to focus much less on participation than LARP events like this. The Starcruiser is probably much closer to poorly-executed immersive theater than live action roleplaying. Really well done immersive theater can be incredible - Sleep No More in NYC is one of the most mindblowing experiences I've ever had (although it closed earlier this year). Legitimately felt like I was stepping into a David Lynch movie every time I went. It only had limited, somewhat improvised audience participation with the actors.
In my experience, the best immersive theater experiences find very clever ways to make the atmosphere work. In Sleep No More and other Punchdrunk shows, all of the guests are given masquerade masks to wear, the venue is fogged, and the lighting is dim. The dim and foggy atmosphere hides stuff that would otherwise take you out of the dreamlike 1920s noir setting of the show - that the other guest walking next to you is wearing a graphic tee, for example. The masks cast the audience as a shuffling horde of vengeful spirits haunting the characters for the sins they commit throughout the show - so when you see a big crowd following a character, it doesn't instantly feel at odds with the setting the way I imagine seeing a 5 year old in a Pokemon t shirt on the Starcruiser would.
jimbob45
Obligatory link to the Jenny Nicholson Galactic Starcruiser review[0] since there's really no better overview of the experience.
adrianhon
I’m the OP; I went to the Starcruiser later in its run and had a very different experience. Here’s my writeup: https://mssv.net/2023/08/07/star-wars-galactic-starcruiser/
RugnirViking
I would desperately love to do something like this. Either as a participant or as an organizer. Honestly, if anyone wants help in my local area (denmark) or remote help organizing web stuff or part design/3d sculpting for 3d printers id be happy to donate some time.
I had heard of similar things in the UK, fantasy stuff. and also Evermore park in the US which was like an even more ambitious theme-park sized one that had a continuous ongoing story.
creade
you might check out Copenhagen Megagames[1] which is the other name I've seen for this type of stuff
panzagl
You should look into the Artemis Spaceship Simulator: https://www.artemisspaceshipbridge.com/#/ (also on Steam)
While not nearly as extensive as what's in the article, it's a first step achievable with a small group of friends.
WorldMaker
Also the article mentions that the Larp mentioned here directly used an Open Source relative (competitor?) to Artemis named EmptyEpsilon: https://daid.github.io/EmptyEpsilon/
Artemis Tom is cool and deserves the revenue and has a lot of cool scenarios and stuff out of the box. EmptyEpsilon is when you start to need more customization, down to source level, and GM tools. (The article mentions a lot of what this Larp did was not heavily automated and somewhat directly in EmptyEpsilon's GM tools.)
smcameron
Don't forget (my own) Space Nerds in Space: https://spacenerdsinspace.com (discussed here previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28343941)
adrianhon
OP here! Denmark has a very strong larp scene with a lot of young people involved due to the popularity of larp for children and at schools. I’m not sure if there’s anything on the scale of Odysseus planned but the skills certainly exist.
aleph_minus_one
Then start organizing something like this. :-)
RugnirViking
My remote hope was that something like spontaneous organization could form here in the comments :P but honestly i'm aware this kind of thing requires years of putting yourself out there making smaller events, building up etc. But I've not really ever been in this world, it might be nice to know someone with a bit more experience to guide me, or hear about something already going before diving into organizing something myself
saulpw
Looks like they are. Why don't you start responding to comments exhorting the person to do what they're already doing in the very comment you're responding to?
RugnirViking
to be fair to them, my comment was a lot shorter when they responded, they were very fast aha
The web site of this LARP has good video.[1] They did a very good job on this. Here's the prep material for players.[2] It's intense. 48 hours with no breaks.
It's hard to scale location-based entertainment. Disney tried the Galactic Starcruiser themed hotel, but it was a dud. Too expensive - $5000 or so for 2.5 days. It was a LARP dumbed down to Disney park customer level. Lots of mini-games, not much coordinated activity.
That's about how this sort of thing usually goes. Keeping everybody on script in coordinated activity is tough. I was involved with steampunk conventions, pre-COVID. Those took elaborate prep, but there was no all-player coordinated event.
The US has some events like this. Wasteland Weekend. The Society for Creative Anachronism. Military reenactment groups.
[1] https://www.odysseuslarp.com/
[2] https://www.odysseuslarp.com/blog