HULDRA, BANSHEE, SELKIE, YUKI-ONNA

I challenge Jellyfish's instructions to never play this game, I instead think one should set it up on a stage and sell tickets.

First let me acknowledge the subject matter is certainly intense (someone is in an abusive relationship) and is not something I would offer up to the average LARP participant. It does however enter into a field of something akin to scripted improv play due to the nature of set roles in a scene and the source of the drama agreed upon at the start. That is to say, like the stage play based on the board game Clue, there is a predetermined outcome, but it changes depending on chance. This gives us a rare opportunity to explore gameplay and acting as a singlular experience.

For those uninitiated, the stage play version of Clue opens with a member of the audience drawing cards that determine who die, where, with what item, and by whom, much like the board game. This inserts some sense randomness to the story, but it's still played by the actors as if this was always going to be the outcome, no protest or modifications needed by the cast. The story and structure of the play accounts for the various options, very much like this game. I wonder now if this play is in itself an exercise in LARPing due to a set of rules imposed upon it from outside forces, the audience members who draw the cards.

I digress, why this works is because the change is predictable, this game guides you how to behave depending on if you are in the player in the abusive relationship or not. Once you know how to play your role and if you find yourself able to accept that role, you can slide into it like an actor playing any other character on a stage.

To me it makes it a unique game that might be better turned into a performance piece as others may find comfort in something that portrays suffering in a human, yet monstrous, way. This also allows those that fear strong emotional game "bleed" to create a barrier to protect themselves from that bleed and create a way to contextualize feeling in a digestible manner—a single scene between friends learning that something awful is happening to one of them.

With more time I could go on how this game and the psychological concept of bleed are directly linked but that's for another time. However, I will say it's Jellyfish's warning of no one should be playing. This is a way to directly address the concept and should be something one should not be taken lightly; this game almost feels like it’s made to trigger it, even if you have not been in the situations it's meant to portray.

Aside from my challenge to the creator's intentions I will say it's a very well thought out game that guides one to play a creature of folklore in a believable and clever manner in a very stressful and intimate situation. In many games we experience there are often strict adherence to an established cannon or behavioral expectations for monsters, this game challenges it by humanizing the monster in an unusual way. Not changing their nature but adding a moment to reflect on relationships and how they impact our behaviors.

It says even monsters can be hurt by the ones they love. It says even monsters can be human.