Well I am going to start off with my first scenario. Hope you all enjoy it.
I. Scenario
A. You and your friends are taking your children out to trick or treat for the night on a cool fall day (or hot day if you are in Australia). This is what you normally do every year. Your friends and you have grown together over the years and so has your children who are also friends from school. The eldest of the kids wanted to play a prank on you and your friends in order for all of the children to go to more houses without adult accompaniment because they do not want to be losers who need their mommies and daddies to watch them. The eldest convince the younger children to go to a house with another group of kids and leave with them while you and your friends are talking. The kids decided to scatter after they were done with the house and ran off the beaten path to a neighborhood that no one usually goes down. The children believe they will get better candy there because no one visits that neighborhood. You notice the children have made their escape and you now panic-stricken go to the house to ask which way the children went, but the neighbor does not know. You scan the neighborhood and you see that one of the kids bags has fallen to the sidewalk that leads to the neighborhood where no trick or treater goes because of the darkness. You run down to the neighborhood with your friends right behind you and now lies four houses that seem peculiar in comparison to the rest of the neighborhood.
B. Mission–Your mission is to enter each home to find the children. Each house holds a clue to the location of the children or child depending on how you want to play the game. However, each house holds a secret and you do not want to be caught by the tenants. Choose wisely and you can go home safe with the children.
II. Set-Up
A. This scenario consists of four areas within the LARP. Each one will consist of different homes with different decor for each home. Their will be tenants in each home which you do not want to meet and the children might have already met which is never a good thing. The children will perish if you do not hurry up and solve the mystery to where they have been taken too by the tenants. I suggest making videos for these scenes that after X amount of minutes you can show on a TV so the players can see their failure and it will be better controlled if you slaughter them before the game starts so a video will be seen and you know how much time you have (Be Careful with this and make sure the actors/actresses know what is going on and have family present if you use real children and not older people pretending to be children. You can even just have a body lying on the screen that looks like they died and not show the process of the kill. THIS IS FAKE and is supposed to be for fun. DO NOT GO OVERBOARD). Also keep in mind that if you as a player get caught you will die as well and are then eliminated from the game as a parent but can help the tenants capture the others by misdirection. They might show you getting killed so the other players can see what happen and give an extra tension. You as the host/hostess decide what house the children are in or all houses if you so choose. Though if you have children actors/actresses keep them close to you unless They are found and provide an area where they can be entertained because your players will be entertained with the experience.
B. Design/Background
a. Background of the Houses–There are four houses that will be design to bring a scary tension to all players. Each one with a unique tenet that is bound to scare. The Houses will be The Doctor’s House, The Fetish House, The Child Protective Service House, and The Abandoned House. I will first tell you about the background of the character in the house and then after all house tenants are accounted for I will tell you the decor of the house. All houses will be equipped with areas to hide from the tenants and an area where the children or child could be found. The rest is up to you. If you wish to design false walls, hidden panels, drop panels, etc. in these houses that is up to you I will be just giving a general description.
1. The Doctor (Doc)–The doctor was a master of surgery at one point of time who lost his way and license after several Deliberate Malpractice issues he/she performed that ended in tragedy. Still obsessed with surgery he decided to continue his surgical procedures to the poorer of society from his/her home. He found without the right anesthesia he/she must noise proof his/her home so the neighbors would not complain about his/her late night parties. But the pain he/she caused to these poor individuals was music to his/her ears and therefore started to just torture his/her patients for fun. (American Mary/Hellraiser)
2. The Sadist (Fetish House)–This sexual predator did not get fixed after he/she left the care of his/her doctor provided too by the court while imprisoned. He/She loves the power they get dominating their sexual partners at the expense of injury. A sick pervert who cares of nothing but pleasing themselves and how many conquest they can have a day. Whatever your fetish is they will provide but be warned they are in control at their home. (Now this can be intense for some participants this description is simply for the design and costume of this actor/actress and nothing more so do not be a PERVERT. Do not have explicit pictures and paintings in here unless you chose to make this an Extreme Adult experience but this is not designed that way). You are just a guest. (People Under The Stairs/American Horror Story First Season)
3. The Child Protective Service House–This little slice of Americana was born from tragedy. This lovely inviting couple wanted nothing more than the American Standard. A white picket fence, 2.5 children, 2 car home, in suburbia, however it did not go well for them once they lost both their children in a tragic accident which rendered them incapable of having children anymore. They are more than willing to do anything for yours and they sure do not want to give them back. (Poltergeist/Pumpkinhead/Amityville Horror/Any Movie That Shows the Family Fighting to Keep The Family).
4. The Abandoned House–Be weary of this home of the misplaced individuals of society. This home is a haven for the ones who decided to fall off the grid. Vagrants, prostitutes, drug addicts, and all around criminals love to stay here where no one dares venture because of the detestable smell and living space this place shelters. No electricity, no running water, and no one cares. Your children would not last too long here neither would you. You have to be stealthy, smart, and quick to make it out of this place. (Escape From New York/Escape From L.A.)
b. Decor of each area–This will give you a general idea of how these homes should be created for the experience.
1. The Doc’s House–Two people can live here if you chose (Doc, Nurse). The decor should be very medical. Books of biology, anatomy, and all medical science should be placed throughout the home. Surgical tools line shelves and found throughout the area. Fluorescent lights should be lit throughout the building. The kitchen should have a make shift surgical table placed in the middle with plastic draped over all windows and halls because the Doctor does not want blood on his/her house. Places to hide should be in bedrooms bathrooms and behind the plastic where you hope that the Doctor does not notice but still the home in the outliers of the kitchen are relatively dark.
2. The Fetish House–Black pleather or black paint covers the walls of this house. Benches and tables are spread throughout the house. Ropes to be bound surround the walls as well as the floor with cuffs. Walls decorated with whips, chains, and nasty substances. The house is lit with red light bulbs and tends to be warm. Different toys are spread throughout the shelves and bathrooms. Naughty magazines (Fake) can be seen on different tables and pictures show perverse imaging made of paint (Pin ups, Costume Parties). There are several bedrooms within the house each fulfilling a fantasy such as furries, clowns, and one photography room that has a dark room attached. The kitchen is stockpiled with different foods for sploshing (Sex with Food) food items including whip cream, chocolate, strawberries, and others. **Please do not let the children in this home if children are your actors/actresses do to the nature of this homes contents. You should know better but I am doing this as a warning. If this is where you want a child to be found in your personal game then I suggest finding a key in the house to lead to a place outside of the house so the children will never have to be in the house during the game.
3. Child Protective Services House–This beautiful home is well-lit and nothing is out of place except for the fact that the entire decorations are perfectly in place with fascist tenacity that will creep out anyone. It has nice furniture a beautiful TV that is used to view the multiple security cameras hidden within the home. The kitchen/dining area has a complete meal placed on it with four chairs placed around the table. Two of these chairs are equipped with restraints attached from the floor. The home is decorated with the tenants family pictures except with two child like shapes cut out of the picture. There are three bedrooms in this house. The master bedroom which always seems locked and two children bedrooms completed with jail bars on the door and windows. Children toys are on the shelves of the bedroom neatly labelled and placed to perfectly on these shelves. A chain with a neck harness attached to both children’s beds. The main bathroom also is equipped with a camera and cleaned expertly which makes the bathroom smell of bleach. The towels hanging on the rack are ironed and wrinkle free bright white towels. One bar of soap is placed near the faucet with no soap scud around it as well as in the bathtub, which also is equipped with restraints. A perfect house that the owners know how everything is set-up so do not misplace a thing or they will know someone is in their perfect home.
4. Abandoned House–Dark decrepit looking house with candles as your only light source. Filled with odors of smoke and old food. Dilapidated furniture and mattresses all over the floor. Empty can goods, beer cans, and liquor bottles lying everywhere in the home. Closets, hallways, and rooms with holes throughout the drywall line the interior. Multiple tenants smelling of liquor and body odor live in the home. Some sleeping some wired. Fog enters from the outside area. Large boxes also surround the house and are on the inside for make shift bedding. Welcome to the dregs.
c. Actors/Actresses
1. 3-5 children if you want to use children for real in this scenario but keep them from the truly adult oriented stuff. The kids age range should be between 8-12 years of age. You can also use adults as the children too just be imaginative and you can design it how you want. If you use adults they can be in areas where prior to this point I told you to keep the children out of because they know what is going on.
2. 1 to 2 people in each of the other houses especially the couple but the Doctor can have a nurse, the sadist can have a masochist to help search.
3. 4 to 6 people in the abandoned house.
4. 1 for the neighbor where the kids ran from you and maybe 3 kids as other trick or treaters.
5. All these scenarios really do not need a specific sex or due to the fact that you can create the scenario how you want too. If you want the couple to be homosexual that is your choice you want the doctor to be man or woman does not matter just the amount of people you have matters and the costumes that they bring.
6. How they look is also up to you. I would say the standard: a. Doc and Nurse–lab gear overcoats with medical tools. b. Fetish Guy/Girl–Look at American Horror Story or People Under The Stairs. c. Couple–I would say 1950s type of garment. Prim and Proper.
d. Abandon House–look like what you would imagine a drug addict, prostitute, or vagabond would look like if they never went home in months.
III. The Game
A. Time–Time period should be between 2 hrs to 1 day depending on your participants skills and if you want to try another game or two, however, depending on what type of area you are renting preparation time could take weeks or months. If you just want to make each house an almost escape room to get to the next section that could take a couple of days but if you actually want to build sets for a huge event that may last a month or two preparation will take months for each build. But you can charge and probably make a profit if it is successful.
B. Rating–The rating for this scenario will be Adult to Extreme Adult due to the nature of the subject as well as the different areas including Fetish House being the most detrimental to anything under an Adult Rating.
C. Difficulty Per House
a. Doc’s House–Medium Difficulty=There is some areas with good lighting and many places to hide. Easily maneuverable but you can be found easily too.
b. Fetish House–Hard Difficulty=Chains and ropes can make noise easily and the house is difficult to transverse due to the lack of lighting to perform your maneuvers to escape. There also limited hiding places so the tenant can get to you easily.
c. Couple House–Extreme Difficulty=The house is very well-lit. The security cameras can catch you moving throughout the house if the tenants happen to look at the TV. If an object is misplaced the tenants will be alerted to your intrusion within the house and will search to protect their children. Two people live in the house so they can split up and find you especially with limited spaces to hide.
d. Abandoned House–Extreme Difficulty=This is due to the fact that there is 2+ tenants in a dark area lit by candles (Fake Candles–Fire Prevention). The dark can cause you to trip on bottles, knock cans, or even trip on people who will alert the whole house that you are there and they will look. The walls an area to hide will also have holes in them so you may be seen hiding in an area and another tenant from a different area can see you through a hole.
D. Game Over–The ending and discussion
a. Mission Accomplished–you or your team completed the tasks at hand. You have solved the puzzle and found the children. You escape and the cops are called to investigate that hellish neighborhood.
b. Mission Failed–You did not make it.
1. The children were never freed in the time you were allotted and therefore they perished.
2. You and your friends were all caught by the tenants, therefore you died and they died and so did the children because no one could free them.
E. Experience–Take time to gather information here and debrief participants. Ensure no one was harmed during the time and introduce the participants to the actors/actresses. Make sure any concerns are discussed at this time so that the issue will not persist in further experiences. Ask the participants how they would rate it and what could be used to make it more fun or scary or what not to improve upon for future games. Party it Up if you want because it really comes down to have a shared experience and possibly making new friends in the end.
Thank you all for reading this scenario. This is the first time I wrote one so I ensure you I am not disturbed these were tropes from movies I have seen and stuff I have heard. I want this to be fun for all and I hope you can create this experience and can tell me how it went so I can also improve my skills. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED. Be Safe, Have Fun, and more will come.
scarefirsttalklater 