Odysseus

Odysseus

Techniques	Clockwork Larp Pre-written characters Playing to Lose Pre-larp Workshop Puzzles Empty Epsilon Nerf Firearms
Website	www.odysseuslarp.com
Information
Date	June 27–30, 2019 (2019-06-27 – 2019-06-30), July 4–7, 2019 (2019-07-04 – 2019-07-07) and July 9–12, 2019 (2019-07-09 – 2019-07-12)
Duration	48 hours run time + workshops
Location	Helsinki, Finland
Participants	312 players (104 players per run)
Budget	~85.000€
Participation fee	80€/200€/300€ Some characters had mandatory costume and prop rent 20-40€
Credits
Designed by	Laura Kröger Sanna Hautala Antti Kumpulainen [Team of over 180 volunteers]

“Odysseus” was a Finnish Larp set in a starship fleeing the genocide of mankind. Part scifi adventure, part Shakespearean drama, Odysseus was the first international blockbuster game in this scale organized in Finland. Through its futuristic setting, the game explores the inner turmoils of societies and human beings after a catastrophic collapse.

Setting and Themes

Odysseus was a story about survival. It was heavily inspired by Battlestar Galactica. Team created a fully working across-the-board starship environment with light, sound, operating systems and 360-scenography. Concrete work done by the character groups (e.g. pilots, technicians, medics, scientists, and soldiers) affected the running of the whole ship. The emphasis was on the concrete lives of the crew and passengers: in their workdays and their free time in a time filled with crises. As much emphasis than creating a realistic spaceship was put on creating the story and the character. Odysseus had fully pre-written and fleshed characters with ready-made networks of meaningful relationships.

Summary

Story of the larp takes place 800 years in the future far away in the stars in a place called the Arati system. There is the planet Ellarion and its two moons, Caelena and Osiris, which form the EOC Nation. This civilization was formed over five hundred years ago by people who were part of an exodus from Earth called the Genesis project. Most of the information about the Genesis journey and the distant home of their ancestors, was lost during the exodus. It was only known that there was some incident during the journey that corrupted most of the databases, and thus only stories and memories remained.

The larp started seven days after an enemy called The Machines attacked the EOC Nations and wiped out all major cities in a coordinated strike. Remnants of human civilization are fleeing this overwhelming enemy. The game follows the journey of a small military ship, ESS Odysseus, that starts out alone and during the game picks up more survivors, meets the fleet, and reaches the position where it is up to the players to decide the fate of their civilization.

Statistics

The production had 312 players split in 3 runs. There was over 180 volunteers participating in creation of the larp.

• Run 1: Local run (played in Finnish) June 27–30, 2019
• Run 2: International run (played in English) July 4–7, 2019
• Run 3: International run (played in English) July 9–12, 2019

Techniques

• Pre-written characters
• Playing to Lose
• Pre-larp Workshop
• Clockwork Larp
• Puzzles
• Empty Epsilon
• Nerf Firearms

Photo documentation

• https://larppikuvat.fi/odysseus

Video documentation

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSYsrDUT_w

External links

• Odysseus official web page
• Blog covering different aspects of creating the larp
• Public materials for the larp
• Compilation of Media coverage and documentation