Reverie Studios and ‘larp’
The variety of ‘larp’ or ‘live action role playing’ that Reverie Studios creates and produces falls into a specific category in the world of larp. At Reverie we write larps that are inspired in the ‘Nordic’ tradition, defined at Nordiclarp.org as ‘immersive, collaborative and featuring an artistic vision.’. In short, we want to create and foster artistic experiences that transcend typical theater and leave a lasting impact on the participants, enriching their lives and allowing them to step, albeit briefly, into the shoes of someone else.
Q&A
Where are you based and where do you hold your events?
The company is based out of the Greater Boston area, but Reverie Studios has run events as far away as New Orleans and Berlin. The venue and the nature of the larp depends on the story we are trying to tell, and as a studio we look to find interesting locations to set stories in. We pick a place that fits the event and then write the story that accommodates that venue, as we are focused on ‘what you see is what you get’ and immersion.
What is ‘immersive theater’ or ‘larp’?
The term ‘larp’ is an acronym for ‘live action role playing’, and is often used interchangeably with ‘immersive theater’. While ‘larp’ and ‘immersive theater’ are similar, they represent different points on a spectrum of how to create and interact with a story. Both terms connote that an event’s attendees are active participants rather than mere observers. The difference is that many traditional larps have complex rules or systems that govern progression within the game, whereas immersive theater emphasizes the participants’ narrative control, allowing them to decide what best fits their personal stories. The goal of both approaches is to provide a visceral experience that players find engaging and worthwhile, in which they feel a strong sense of collaboration, improvisation, and agency. Either approach can create such an experience. Reverie Studios favors the more narrative end of the spectrum, allowing the players to form deep emotional connections to the material while exploring nuanced themes within their characters and the event around them.
What kinds of larp (live action role playing) do you do?
We run and produce intense larps that deal with altering perception of reality in the ‘Nordic larp’ model of immersiveness, collaboration, and artistic vision. The themes of the events we have run and plan to run are usually dealing with grief, existential questions, responsibility, and what happens when authority loses control.
How long have you been doing this?
Reverie Studios was founded in 2016 and has since written and designed many larps, ranging from small intimate experiences to large scale high production events with hundreds of people. The design team has worked in this medium for more than two decades. The team’s expertise ranges from running full production larps with large scale budgets to managing administrative systems for a national club and designing from the ground up multi-year stories with intricate arcs.
Why are you doing this?
Reverie Studio’s desire is to unite with a larger movement happening in the world of immersive theater and larp, to provide high quality events in the United States, and to design great stories. We believe that this is an ideal time for collaboration, both with US groups looking to achieve great things, as well as with our European partners. Reverie has had success with this, helping to run the seminal ‘End of the Line’ in Berlin for ‘Berlin by Night’ convention, and participating in High Level Games Convention as one of the principal design teams. Reverie regularly collaborates with partners, and is always interested in exploring opportunities.