Tales of the Future

This is about a future of wonder and discovery, from the time of the First Sentience in the Galaxy, to a time where the hills and valleys of hyperspace are filled with ships from thousands of sentient races. These sentiences are biological, of fluids and sinew, adapting to some surprising ecological niches. They are mechanical, with positronic robotic minds driving robotic bodies of all shapes and functionalities. They are also virtual, living software existing in one of the vast computational constructs of quantum entanglements and semiconductors.

And yet, they are all people, with hopes, ambitions, desires, quirks and foibles. For all of the freedom a post-scarcity economy brings, problems remain. Communication between two groups of people with vastly different mindsets is always difficult, even under the best circumstances. Important decisions must be made, with incomplete information, and with no time to mull over the options. Accidents happen. Mistakes are made. And evil still exists.

These are Tales of some of those challenging moments. These Tales use classic SF themes and settings to pose interesting and challenging questions about the future. Each Tale is a separate, small, independent, focused LARP.

About the Tales of the Future LARPs

Each Volume in the Tales of the Future is its own dark, philosophical Tale-telling LARP set in the universe of Across the Sea of Stars, The Tales of Irnh, The Journey of a Single Step Made Quadrillions of Times, and others. Each Volume consists of a series of six to eight independent Tales — short LARPs — that illuminate the history of the Future.

These are character-driven, low-mechanic, little-to-no combat five player LARPs. There are no gendered pronouns in the game, which means two things: the gender of the role is open to the player to define and inhabit, and those roles may have important and significant intimate relationships with others in the Tale. If this is a concern for you, please talk to the organizer of your event.

The Tales are small; every player is necessary and expected to drive the action. Players will play a variety of roles during the game, good and evil, protagonist and antagonist — but all critical to the Tale. If you are new to LARP, please talk to the organizers of the event, as this style of LARP can be a challenge to some. That will give us a chance to figure out the best way to cast you; remember this is a tiny LARP, and every part is necessary for everyone's enjoyment in the experience.

Volume One and Volume Two are FIVE hour events. Once everyone has been cast, we will send out a zip file containing PDFs for each of the Tales and the characters in those Tales. Please read this material before the game, as it will total around 22-28 pages. There is additional useful background material about the Tales of the Future universe on this website. There will be time to review the materials for each Tale before the Tale starts. There will also be a five minute break after the fifth Tale. We will use all FIVE hours, so please plan accordingly.

Volume Three is a FOUR hour event, for six players, although it may run shorter. It is based on the Tales from Across the Sea of Stars. Volume Three does not contain spoilers for Across the Sea of Stars.

The Tech Logistics page lists the minimum amount of technology you'll need to play in virtual runs of the Tales of the Future LARPs.

Each Volume is designed to be independent; they don't hold spoilers for other Volumes. While this takes place in a setting shared by several other LARPs, this will not spoil those games. Similarly, if you've played those games, you can play Volumes in the Tales of the Future without being spoiled.

Tales of the Future Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3 were designed and written by Jennifer and Jordan Diewald.