Producing the “King in Yellow” LARP
I originally wrote the “King in Yellow” LARP for my friends in early 2020. It was a big success, and the last game I was able to run before COVID stopped public events. I always regretted not taking many photos. I did not even attend another LARP until Darkness Emergent Chicago in 2024. So when I was invited to run games with Darkness Emergent, I wanted to do another production of “The King in Yellow,” with photos and video this time!
“The King in Yellow” is about a play that drives anyone who reads the 2nd Act mad with an obsession or a desire to serve the King in Yellow, a supernatural being outside of our reality. Since I have a background in live theater and film, I wanted to produce a play. I wrote the script using lines from the original novel and cast friends with acting experience. My mom, a costume designer, helped make costumes for each of the characters in the play.
While the two versions of the game were similar, I will be describing how we ran it at Darkness Emergent, since the game with our friends was less structured. Also, some of our best moments and changes came from last minute issues with time constraints at the event. Don’t tell anybody.
One of the few photos from the original performance of King in Yellow
Since I moved away from LA, we did not have much time to rehearse the play, so we ran it before the first game started. Unfortunately, we had only just finished 21 Grams, so we were running late, and I did not want any players to see the play or actors in advance, so we held them outside of the room. Since we were already running late, I decided to set all the lights, and invite everyone into the game space in character. I still needed to explain rules, give out character sheets, and do some introductions, so I didn’t drop character. I thought it really added to the mood, so we did it again at our Saturday game, even though we had more time.
In this game, players were given premade characters with backstories, goals, abilities, and connections to each other. During the game, they could use their abilities a limited number of times. When they faced a challenge, we used the card draw system again, but this time, the player had to pull a card equal to or higher than their appropriate stat to succeed. In addition, some of the players received thematic puzzle items that they would come to understand later in the game. Act 1 of our game was spent getting to know each other, especially characters that were connected. We also planted the room with some puzzles for the players to find and discuss. Act 1 ended with the actual play performance.
For the play segment of “The King in Yellow”, we had all the players sit and watch, while NPCs gave the performance. Once the performance of “The King in Yellow” was completed, we announced an intermission before Act 2 of the play. At this point, we introduced more supernatural elements and random events presented by the Storytellers, and out gave a few more puzzle clues. 15 minutes later, we called for everyone to sit for Act 2 of “The King in Yellow”.
Each of the actors came on stage, and we turned all the lights out. Then blacklights turned on, revealing writing and symbols all over the performer’s bodies. We then brought the lights back up, and asked each player to open an envelope they had received at the beginning of the game and read the contents. Inside was a description of the pleasure and terror of witnessing the 2nd Act of “The King in Yellow.” It also clarified that no matter their goal, their only hope of escape was to summon the King in Yellow by solving the puzzles in the theater. Finally, each letter had a unique message for the character, often revealing secrets they had been looking for earlier in the game or changing their character goals. And with that, Act 3 of our game began.
The bulk of the game took place in Act 3. With the blacklights turned on, all of the puzzles became solvable, since each of our 3 puzzle lines required blacklight at some point in order to prevent them from being solved before the players watched the 2nd Act of “The King in Yellow”. The actors also began to run their own scenes, and the STs were able to go all out on strange and supernatural side scenes for the players. It was during this sequence that many of the character arcs truly formed, many of the characters were driven insane, and some died. Also, Fab and B Dave played talking cats.
Eventually, the players solved all 3 locks on the final box and opened it to find the keys to Carcosa. At this point, we turned the lights out, we turned on a fog machine, and a laser projector of random colors and shapes turned on, facing the back of the theater. From a side door, the King in Yellow entered. Our costume for the King used stilts, extended arms, and a full face mask in order to create an intimidating monster. It was also around this time that the STs realized we were running out of time!
When we ran the game originally, we were under no time constraints, so the King wandered around causing chaos and cutting deals. But at Darkness Emergent, players had places to be and more events to attend. We decided to enforce a 1 minute timer for each character to meet with the King, asking what they wanted and offering something to the King in return. Ryan acted as the herald, relaying information to everyone in the room and enforcing the timer. Keith made the choices for the King. It was not in the original plan, but the 1 minute timer added a lot of intensity and structure to the end of the game that I really liked, so we did it again in our Saturday game! However, this time the actors had formed small cults that presented as a group. When we ran game again in 2026, we also had the actors present with their followers.
Once everyone had a chance to meet with the King, he left with those that would go with him to Carcosa, and I brought the lights back up. I explained that everything in the theater was back to normal, except those who left for Carcosa had disappeared, and those that had died or been driven insane were still in that state. And that was the end of the game. I felt that we did not have time for a full cooldown, which would have been preferable, but I invited everyone who did have time after the official time slot to stay and talk to the STs and each other.
We only got a chance to take photos and some BTS videos in 2025, but in 2026, we got a chance to film the whole play performance. So keep an eye out for that video coming soon!!
2025
2026