Battlestar Galactica Is Real In Sweden And Oh My Frak.
When someone mentions the term LARP (Live Action Role Play, but I’m pretty sure if you’re reading this, you know that already), one normally thinks of nerds dressed up in costumes in the woods, throwing “spells” made out of household items at each other. On this side of the pond, let’s face it…larping is kind of a joke.
However, when I tell you that recently a team of designers in Sweden hosted a LARP of Battlestar Galactica, I can promise you that you would never imagine the results.
The basics: a retired naval destroyer. Over a million Swedish kronor ($160,000). 140 characters. Dozens of staff.
The result?
Enter The Monitor Celestra. A ship described in the series, but never actually seen. Over three weekends this past March, larpers became the crew of a Celestia class ship, dealing with confrontation internally, with the ship’s crew against the onboard civilians, and of course…those damn toasters. I mean Cylons.
One of the game’s three weekend-long runs ended in a surrender to Cylon agents, another became mired in a bitter ethnic cleansing, and a third — while it had the lowest death count of any run — resulted in the fictional ship itself exploding.
Damn. Sign me up.
Only part improv, Celestra is a huge IRL sandbox game, with varying possibilities and outcomes. The other part is 10 computers, and a dozen Raspberry Pis to help with targeting, coordinates, and onboard life simulations.
Although Celestra is finished, there are plans to bring a new ship and story over to our neck of the woods in 2014. More specifically, the NYU Game Center in Manhattan, NY. They’re just plans, though. Basic things like funding are still in the very early stages, and the game was paid for by it’s participants.
To Ericsson and Dolk, Battlestar Galactica is the perfect setting for a larp. “It is both about intimate character drama and sociopolitical commentary and awesome space battles,” says Ericsson. An American revival would allow him to bring Nordic larp to the US without the pressure of representing an entire genre like steampunk or post-apocalyptic larping and it would give the team a chance to fix problems with the first run — primarily the fact that they felt many of the hundred-plus characters weren’t written well enough. “We’re just doing something super-specific: one show in one environment,” he says. “And then see if people like it.”
So basically, this is the most awesome thing, and those of us who still hold Galactica in our hearts may one day actually be able to experience it for real.
For a hefty price, of course. But I think it would be well worth it. Check out TMC‘s website for lots more info.
So say we all.
