I wrote an on-rails parlour LARP experience
It seems that parlour LARPs are typically more open-ended, and that the preference for open-ended story telling is prevalent. Though I heard there are existing parlour LARPs that lean more heavily into pre-written storytelling, they don't seem to be pervasive. Despite this, I wanted to share an experience that I think might interest those who would be open to trying an on-rails LARP.
I just finished writing a 4 hour session fantasy murder mystery of what is essentially a parlour LARP where you receive a pre-written character who lives through a guided story together with the other players. You embody your character as you interact with others and achieve your unique objectives. Even though it's on-rails, in my game and others like it, there are both micro and macro moments where you can make a decision for your character (imagine a linear video game where it pauses at the critical moment to let you choose A or B and then the game continues on the path you chose), so it's not as passive as you might think.
Although the "downside" here is that you don't have the freedom to choose your own ending or outcome, the corresponding "upside" is that the story is pre-designed with cohesiveness in mind, and perhaps with an overarching message and theme. Instead of creating a story as you go, you step into a character inside a story, like a first-person movie. Using video games as a comparison, it would be like open-world vs linear story. On-rails storytelling creates the opportunity for things like global plot twists that affect all characters in an intentional way, or learning something surprising about one's own character.
The latter is personally one of my favourite parts of this type of game: other characters and the story itself challenging my assumptions and having to rewire my character's perceptions --- I feel like these kinds of revelations unbeknownst to the character themselves needs to be pre-written as it wouldn't be revelatory if you came up with them yourself, but let me know if I'm wrong.
If you'd be interested in trying out this style of on-rails parlour LARP, which in China and the emerging English community is calling jubensha, I'd love to share the one I've written. Check it out here.
Even if you're not interested in my specific game, do you think there is unmet demand for on-rails parlour LARPs like jubensha in the existing community? Or are parlour LARPs open-ended for a good reason, meaning parlour LARPers have already decided that it's preferable? Let me know what you think!