Player experience


Odysseus – First Light builds on the same core larp experience that was previously played in 2019 and 2024. The overall story and structure remain largely unchanged, preserving the narrative and emotional journey that defined earlier runs. Some characters and individual plotlines may be refined or adjusted, and the experience continues to evolve based on player feedback, ensuring that each iteration is both familiar and thoughtfully improved.

Odysseus - First Light is a Finish style larp with pre-written characters, a main storyline that runs heavily on tracks, and a 360° setting where we aim to provide as realistic an experience as possible. The runtime is 48 hours and players are ingame for the entire duration of the game (excluding any personal breaks they need to take).

All players will receive a fully-written character with ready-made connections. The game experience itself will be built on a combination of pre-written plots and events that occur during the larp, but there will also be varying amounts of downtime during which players can soak in the atmosphere or seek out new connections. As is common in Finnish style larps, both personal and overarching plots rely rather heavily on first keeping and then revealing secrets. The pre-written content in the characters and their connections should be played on and cannot be fully ignored.

This larp is not a good match for players who want a fully open sandbox, or who want to create all their connections and game content themselves. It is also not a good match for those seeking to win the game in some way, or those who always need to find the most optimal solution to any given issue.

Story-wise, the larp is set on the Starship Odysseus after the destruction of a human civilization living in a distant star system. Over the course of the larp, the players will be repeatedly put into situations where they need to make terrible decisions for the lack of better options. On an individual level, Odysseus can be a story about success and optimism, but on a broader level, it is a story about war, survival and the things humankind is willing to do in order to survive.


Themes


The genre of Odysseus is social drama meets space adventure, with the main themes being war, survival, hard choices and the mystery of what it means to be human.

Odysseus is heavily inspired by many classic scifi series. Our starting setup draws inspiration of BSG (more specifically the episode “33”), but our story and the universe built for it are our own.

While we do aim to give a lot of familiar feelings to fans of BSG, Odysseus is very much its own story both in terms of the history of its world, as well as the twists and turns the story ends up taking. ​

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Military simulation

The journey of Odysseus follows a set pattern where players are expected to execute a hyperdrive jump every ~3 hours to escape the pursuing enemy. The characters will steer the starship from one crisis to another while trying to solve the mysteries left behind by their ancestors. Their ultimate goal is to figure out a way to shake off the enemy fleet that is following them, and to find a way to Earth – the forgotten home planet of their ancestors.

For most of the character groups, military simulation will form the core of the gameplay. Throughout the game’s 48-hour duration, the crew of ESS Odysseys will work in shifts mandated by martial law. While on duty, the crew will be responsible for operating the ship. The bridge crew works from the bridge, operating navigation, comms, science, weapons and engineering stations, as well as making sure the rest of the ship (including the science lab, engineers, medics, marines and civilians on board) follow instructions. The rest of the crew of course perform their various tasks according to these instructions. While off duty, military characters are free to sleep or engage in personal plots.


War

Odysseus is not just a thrilling space adventure. The story also touches on some very dark themes of war and war crimes. As the introductory slogan for the larp states, Odysseus is “A story about survival”. As such, our aim is to explore the things that people are willing to do in order to survive – and the consequences of those actions.

Odysseus is a story about desperate people in a time of war, making decisions that will most likely haunt them for the rest of their lives. Extreme acts of terror, including genocide, are heavily present in the larp, not only as elements in the backstory but also as active themes during the playtime as the characters are trying to escape an overwhelming enemy. We want our players to explore why terrible things done during wartime might be deemed necessary or even portrayed as heroic, without losing sight of the fact that terrible things done for good reasons or raw necessity are still terrible things. Our aim is not to glorify war or justify any of the actions taken – in fact, quite the opposite.

Odysseus is also a story about broken people who have lost everything. The tragedy, which all the characters have faced, is an important aspect of the larp. It explores survivors’ guilt, the different ways in which the characters try to recover from the total destruction of their civilization, but also the sparks of hope that help them carry on. Some characters will dwell on the tragedy, others will stick to their routine, desperately clinging to the familiar in a world that has become chaotic. Others still will reflect on the past and re-evaluate their lives, striving to give themselves a chance for a better future. It will be up to the players to decide which approach their characters will take.


Interpersonal drama

​On a more personal level, Odysseus will explore various aspects of the everyday life of its crew and passengers. There will be interpersonal drama, sparked by disagreements between people with their conflicting agendas, and also by the determination and willingness of some to do whatever it takes for the survival of the human race. There will be all kinds of relationships to explore: from friendships, families, and romance to enemies with deep grudges, and loyalties that will inevitably collide.

Every player will receive a pre-written character (most are 3-8 pages long, with a few longer ones closer to 20 pages) with relevant history, recent events, and personal connections. Most players will also receive at least one group briefing, which is essentially a shared story describing a group of characters and what binds them together, relevant events to the whole group, their day-to-day routines, and notable dynamics between the group members.

The pre-written plots will consist of e.g. conflicts of interest between specific characters, advancing an agenda, or dealing with the dynamics between friends, families and lovers. The majority of the characters will have a romantic drama plot; this can be a significant plot for some characters, for others it will be a secondary plot while the main focus of the character is elsewhere. Players can always choose to convert the romantic storylines to platonic ones (eg. meaningful friendships), since while we will have romantic relationships for all orientations, we are unfortunately unable to cater orientation preferences in casting. A large number of the characters will also have family members and close friends or colleagues on board, acting as dependable rocks in the storm, sources of grief and anxiety – or more likely, both.

Triggers

Possibly triggering themes that might be encountered during the game and which we cannot guarantee you can avoid.

  • violence, death, suicide, murder
  • war, war crimes
  • substance abuse
  • medical gore
  • character pregnancy, propped human embryos 
  • discrimination based on socio-economic background or non-human status
  • loud noises (explosions, spaceship sounds)
  • flashing lights (during certain events)

This larp is for you if you enjoy the following content:

  • exploring difficult questions about war, survival, and humanity
  • fully pre-written characters with a long backstory and meaningful connections
  • immersive experience with 48h of continuous play time
  • being a part of a team with set tasks and clear schedule
  • intriguing puzzles and problem-solving
  • political play and tough negotiations
  • interaction of faith and science
  • a game with strong emotions around interpersonal drama


This larp might not be for you if you are looking for:

  • a sandbox-style game where you create your own adventure
  • building and negotiating your own connections
  • minimal background materials and briefs
  • a happy ending for everyone
  • winning the game 

What do players do in this larp?

Every character will have some ingame duties to perform during the larp. For military characters, these tasks will heavily define the entire experience, while for civilian characters these tasks are lighter and more optional in nature. Depending on the character, these tasks can either be the main theme of your game, or they might be something to do while not busy playing on other themes. During their shifts, characters who are on duty are part of a very hectic and time-sensitive clockwork play, which means that many decisions, missions and solving certain puzzles will need to be completed within set timeframes.

Crises will hound the ship throughout the larp. These events will vary greatly from large-scale space battles to minor political crises and everything in between. Most of the events will be aimed to touch multiple (and at times all) character groups, and will set the pace of the game.

Even though there will be no shortage of events, the game will not be one continuous crisis mode: there will be some much-needed breathing space for all characters. This will allow the characters to carry on with what remains of their everyday life, by taking part in religious rituals, helping out in more mundane tasks wherever they can, or by exploring the ship that is now their home. All characters will also have the possibility to engage in written conversations with loved ones, family members, colleagues or other associates onboard the rest of the surviving fleet.

Different elements will be more heavily present in different character groups. Here are some examples of what kind of play will be expected of players in various character groups:

Officers: Leadership role, responsible for making decisions throughout the larp, giving orders and distributing tasks evenly among crew members

Marines: Expected to carry out military tasks including combat and potential land missions (involving walking and activity in real-world wilderness conditions)

Bridge crew: Roles involving the operations of the vessel, including navigation and combat (using Empty Epsilon)

Pilots: Flying dangerous missions in simulated fighter jets, also in combat situations (using Empty Epsilon)

Medics: Carrying out medical tasks ranging from routine scans to the treatment of realistic-looking injuries created with sfx-makeup

Scientists: Science and research tasks, many of which will include puzzle-solving, some of them highly time-sensitive and/or critical to the story

Engineers: Maintaining and fixing the ship using simple mechanical task, minigames and puzzles (e.g. minigames on handheld devices, changing fuses, reconnecting wires, recalibrating software by entering the correct button sequence)

Civilians: Trying to carry on with everyday life, jobs including journalism, politics, religion, criminal activity and trying to find their place at time of war, being taught new skills, being recruited to help out with various above tasks

Politicians: A sub-group of civilians trying to rebuild the civilian government through negotiations and deal-making, engaging in struggles over the leadership of the fleet and its operations, possible public speaking

Velians: A tight-knit group from another planet, rituals and mysticism, being recruited to help out with various above tasks


TRANSPARENCY VS. SPOILERS

All information on the website represents the overview of knowledge available to the player characters. More details will come along with character briefs, and they may contain secrets and spoilers. The design of Odysseus relies on certain information being restricted to specific groups and individual characters in the hopes of encouraging ingame cooperation, investigation, and fueling dramatic play. We encourage you to keep the secrets to yourselves before the game so that everyone can enjoy uncovering them at the larp.

We realize that our players come from different cultures and have different preferences when it comes to the level of transparency and information-sharing. We wholeheartedly encourage pre-game communication, relation-making within the pre-assigned groups, and building common backgrounds; however, we insist that the players respect the non-transparent design of the game and don’t spoil their fun by revealing too much. Discovering things ingame is part of the experience – let’s make it a great one!