The
•
Singularity

Logistics

When?

The event is planned for Saturday, 28th August 2021. Players need to be at the location at 10 am (unfortuntately there is no possibility to join the game at a later stage).

Where?

The event will take place at the Observatory of Hamburg
Gojenbergsweg 112,
21029 Hamburg

GPS coordinates: 53.480590, 10.238356
Google map here.

Players will have access to historical buildings from the early 1900, the surrounding park and some of the telescope domes.

Timeline and meals

• 10:00: Meeting at the observatory (main building/library) and registration
• 10:30 - 12:30: Workshops
• 12:30 - 13:00: Lunch
• 13:00 - 17:00: Act 1: the beginning
• 17:00 - 18:00: Break + Snack
• 18:00 - 21:00: Act 2: the return
• 21:00 - 22:00: Break + Dinner
• 22:00 - 00:30: Act 3: the end

Lunch will be prepared by the organisers with sandwiches (vegetarian option included). Dinner is not included in the costs and will be ordered in the afternoon from a local pizzeria. If you don’t want pizza you can bring your own food (there are microwaves).

Cost

In order to cover the costs for the scenography and consumables we ask each participant to contribute 30 euros to the event. If the event will be cancelled you will receive a full refund. If you cannot attend the event you will not get a refund, but you can pass your ticket to another person. The ticket includes lunch (sandwiches) and snacks, but it doesn't include the dinner.

Visiting Hamburg

The event is planned on Saturday. If you are interested in visiting the beautiful city of Hamburg, you are welcome to come for the entire weekend and some of the organizers will be happy to show you around the city on Sunday. Best idea is probably to get a hotel downtown (close to Hauptbahnhof or on the S21 S-bahn line), one hour from the observatory by public transit.

What is it?

What is a LARP?

A Live Action Role Play (LARP) is a space where people decide to tell a story by living it in first person. It is people meeting through their characters: their contact and interaction lead to the creation of a narrative.

In Europe, about 100.000 people play LARPs. To play a LARP is by far easier than to explain it. Basically you step into the shoes of a character and behave just like your alter ego as long as the game lasts. This means you will eat, move, talk and breathe like someone else. You will adhere to your role and the setting to the fullest. No audience will be watching you, you will interact only with other players just like you.

You will not be handed any written lines to recite, you will rely only on improvisation. As a player you will live the narrative in first person: you will unravel mysteries, solve problems, face your limits and overcome them. Be sure you will be moved. You will open your heart. A LARP takes your mind, body, and soul. Just go with the flow. Interact with other players and the story will take unexpected turns. That’s why there can’t be two identical events.

The three golden rules

1. Keep playing and stay in character: become your character with words, actions and thoughts. Don’t break the immersion with jokes or speaking about something else and avoid anachronisms. The game is as good as the players keep it alive and true to itself, for their own benefit and for others’.
2. To every action, a reaction: if another character tells you a secret, slaps you, asks for help: react. It doesn’t matter what you do or say, but do something, hopefully something appropriate, funny, dramatic. In a LARP no actions should stay unanswered.
3. Accept other people’s actions: in a LARP everyone is their own director. Don’t doubt other player actions, or their good faith and don’t expect a specific reaction. In a LARP there is no screenplay, no proof of misdoing and scenes are not re-played; some things might not be perfect, but everything will be plausible, if you accept to believe it.

Sources: Chaos League and Terre Spezzate.

Science Outreach

Our Story

1988, West Germany: A group of scientists, politicians, journalists and some VIPs get together for an important announcement about a revolutionary technology. Their life [your life] will change forever.

The Singularity is set in an alternative past. The events take place in August 1988, before the reunification of Germany. In our fiction, the Historical Observatory will be placed in the middle of an isolated zone of the West Wendland next to the border with the DDR. Here, a group of people will meet for a conference about a new groundbreaking and innovative technology. For the first time, there will be foreign scientists visiting from the Eastern Bloc Countries, a sign that the times are changing and the hope of a new era of peace.

The lecture will be given by professors Albert and Sofia von Neumann, a married couple who have been working in the institute for several years and who have developed the project that promises to change the life of man forever.

Historical situation

In the early 1970s the relations between East and West Germany gradually improved and this led both states to join the United Nations, in September 1973. The two German states exchanged permanent representatives in 1974, and, in 1987, East German head of state Erich Honecker paid an official visit to West Germany.

During the summer of 1988, rapid changes took place in East Germany, which ultimately led to German reunification. Growing numbers of East Germans emigrated to West Germany via Hungary after the Hungarians decided not to use force to stop them. Thousands of East Germans also tried to reach the West by staging sit-ins at West German diplomatic facilities in other East European capitals. The exodus generated demands within East Germany for political change, and mass demonstrations (Monday demonstrations) with eventually hundreds of thousands of people in several cities, particularly in Leipzig, continued to grow.

Until the Wende in 1989/90, the Wendland was a border zone that extended like a salient into East Germany territory. Since the end of the 1970s it has become renowned outside the region for protests against the atomic waste depot at Gorleben and the call for the so-called Free Republic of Wendland in 1980 - a protest camp that was later cleared by police.

Inspirations

Gameplay

The Singularity is retro sci-fi Live Action Role Play (LARP) with a well defined storyline that will carry the characters along the game. The game will last for 1 day (10 am to past midnight) and it will be divided in 3 acts, preceded by a workshop that will explain rules, mood and anything a player needs to know. The game is entirely in English. The Singularity is designed to accommodate 20-30 players, regardless of their past experience. Even more, The Singularity is thought to be easy-to-play for players with no past LARP experiences. The atmosphere is noir/crime, with an important investigative component and several mind-blowing moments that will keep the tension continuously high. The game is thought to be mainly collaborative, although competition and friction among the characters will be part of the game.

You will like The Singularity if:

• You enjoy investigation, mystery and, possibly, frightening atmospheres
• You like sudden plot twists
• You are ready to explore an incredible location

You will NOT like The Singularity if:

• You search for a game with a strong players-vs-players component
• You want to play many action/fighting scenes
• You expect a deep/complex character

Characters

1. The competing scientist: you are from East Europe, a crucial figure in the newborn field of computer technology and a competitor of the von Neumanns. You know the von Neumanns are up to something big and you cannot miss the chance to participate in the event.
2. The glamorous singer: you know nothing about the experiment of the von Neumanns but you heard that important people were invited to the event and you cannot miss it. Journalists will be present and that's your moment to show again who is the real star.
3. The gossip journalist: you usually do not follow scientific press releases, but this is different, here many VIPs will be present and that means that you also have to be present there. Your aim is to collect any intriguing story that will leak out from all the chatting.

Traits and connections

Costumes

Each player will have to choose their own costume based on the assigned character and the information included in the archetype. We would like to give players as much freedom as they want with their costume, there are no restrictions and the only suggestion are: try to make it realistic for the epoch and stress your character's characteristics! For example, if you are a journalist come with a notebook and a pen, a photographer should come with a camera that looks vintage. A professor can have a jacket and a shirt, while a politician will wear a tie.

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';