Tempo!
“Do you feel it?” … Momentous rhythms, that irregular pulse… slowing down, catching up… speeding along out of order… hurry, breathe, feel something… there’s no time… follow that beat… find “your speed”!
Make a Scene! 2026 scenarios focus on Tempo, how we use and prioritize time. With not enough or nothing but how will you use your time? What’s the cost of indecision? Explore the pressures of generating, moving against or maintaining momentum.
Let’s Sync up, Let’s Sing along and dance away. Let’s see what we find.
Together, apart, in order or not let’s… Make. A. Scene!
Pace yourself. Smooth is fast.
Pulse ragged. Toes tapping. Are you rushing or dragging?
Pick up the pace – leave ’em in the dust!
Catching on yet? Speed it up. Go:
lights strobe fingertips brush
seconds left until 4ever
Mate in three. Wait. Unless. That’s it…
Rest. Selah. Breathe. Be. Dearly beloved: let’s begin.
This Year’s Premier Scenarios
A Room Full of Voices
by Laura Wood
A Room Full of Voices is about a community choir ending and how characters mourn and grow from that loss. It’s also about moving from isolation to interdependence and is designed to end on a note of realistic hope. It involves singing (no musical ability required).
About the author: Laura Wood (they/them) is a British larper and larp designer. They are an organizer at Larps on Location. They have designed several larps run in several countries throughout Europe including Inside, The Vision and Slimming Smartly. They love larp for its ability to explore relationships, ethics, and identity: and are currently interested in safety and risk, consent, and community building.
“Un/sanctioned Songs”
by Michelle Hofeldt
You are a group of musical artists and producers currently living (and trying to make your living) in an increasingly authoritarian state. Freedom of expression is supposedly protected, and on the faces of government buildings and the fronts of concert halls, your state is called “The Republic.” But behind closed doors, you’ve heard many of your fellow artists start to refer to it by another name: “The Regime.” Listen to and curate protest music, and talk about the impact music can have when performed. Will you openly rebel, or stealthily subvert with subtext? Shape your character’s story as you navigate the consequences of state censorship, grapple with the spectre of self-censorship, and try to stay true to your artistic vision and your ideals–or perhaps change them–in the face of your experiences. Can you collectively organize a resistance strong enough to speak out against the Regime?
This scenario deals with censorship by an authoritarian state, specifically including censorship and oppression of queer- and transness, institutional racism and how it intersects with censorship, and self-censorship. (Transphobia and homophobia will not be acted out between players, nor will arrest or brutality by law enforcement.) Players will all listen to and discuss music during the game that contains mature themes and explicit lyrics. (But don’t worry; no musical expertise is needed. You won’t have to write or compose original songs from scratch.)
About the author: Michelle Hofeldt is a Minneapolis local and nonbinary, transgender, and queer musician, instrumental music teacher, and community co-organizer. They were introduced to Larp House in 2023 and Make a Scene in 2025 by great friends who know they love roleplay-heavy games of all kinds. “Un/sanctioned Songs” is their first larp, and it was written while they were living through and educating in the midst of the [ongoing] ICE occupation in Minneapolis, the repercussions of which are still being felt by their students and much-loved community, and the [ongoing] resistance against which was a central spark of inspiration to write this larp.
My Immortal: A Fanfic Adventure
by Tony McGinn
It’s the early 2000s, and at Woodrow High, several outcasts have found comfort writing angsty vampire fanfics with self-insert OCs. All of them were recently contacted by a mysterious figure who claims to have the ability to bring their work to life! But they only have one night to make it happen.
About the author: Tony is a 37-year-old biologist-turned-writer, living and working in sunny CA. He is happily married with two dogs, one son, and an Iron Man tattoo. He’s a sommelier, cosplay nerd, book clubber, and hamster enthusiast who firmly believes that pineapple belongs on pizza.
Swansong
by Hannah J. Gray
Players take the role of the beast’s organs as they rail against, bargain with, and eventually accept the newly sustained Wound as it slowly kills them. Through a soundtrack-led ritual of free-motion and noise-making, experience the process of death, keeping time as the beast’s time runs out.
This scenario deals with animal & character death and the process of dying, injury, fear & panic (possibly panic attacks), potentially startling sounds in background audio, and potentially distressing noises such as shouting, screaming or crying from players.
About the author: Hannah J. Gray (she/her) is a Scottish larper and storyteller. She started writing live action online games (LOAGs) and solo larp experiences as a creative outlet during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020. The games she writes are political, experimental and queer; they deal with our connection to technology, to the Earth, and to each other.
Ready, Set, Switch!
by Micah Amundsen
Ready, Set, Switch explores plurality and fluctuating identity through players taking turns playing the same character while multiple scenes play out in parallel.
About the author: Micah Amundsen (aka the Symphony System) has participated in MAS since the beginning, and has been threatening to write a scenario for a few years, and now they’ve finally done it. Larping has helped them explore and understand their own system, and now presents an opportunity to share these unique feelings for others. Very little media, besides their own webcomic (The Roommate from Hell), and maybe Steven Universe, actually explores positive feelings and experiences in being plural, so that was a primary goal for this scenario.
Until the End of Time
by Elise Catibog
When the spaceship “Defiance” becomes adrift in space with no way of communicating with mission control back home, the crew must ask themselves how far they’re willing to go to survive in a ship that’s actively falling apart.
This scenario deals with suicide, repetitive sounds, and potential violence.
About the author: Elise is a Toronto based mixed race creator with a deep love for LARP. They are new to the art of writing, but seek to create thoughtful, immersive games that give people space to explore emotionally.
The Intergalactic Autogyro EXPERIENCE
by Evan Torner
The Intergalactic Autogyro EXPERIENCE is a dance-rave chase sequence trip into outer space, like nothing you’ve ever felt before. Step into the galaxy’s most 1990s music video ever.
About the author: Evan Torner is a professor of German and Film & Media who began doing larp theory and design in 2010. He co-founded the Analog Game Studies journal and the Golden Cobra Challenge.