They say the world is ending. Back in the city, the tabloid headlines screamed ASTEROID WILL KILL US ALL IN 2025, while eggheads on TV said it would probably fly by. But here, in these caves in the middle of nowhere, there’s just the radio, blending this multitude of stories into a more and more uniform hum.

There’s a group of us here, waiting for the end, forgotten by the rest of humanity. We are very different people, with different reasons to be here. Some say we can survive here if we work hard, and that after the dust cloud settles we will rebuild civilisation. Some see it as the last chance to live their life to the fullest and do things they never dared. Some want to make their peace with God, some seek love, or forgiveness, or connection. Others just want to forget it all and party like there’s no tomorrow. 

Still, the end of days seems to be bringing us closer together. Today, we’re celebrating a wedding – perhaps the last one any of us will ever see – and afterwards someone will have to do the dishes. We have one more year to fill with meaning.​

​About the larp

Our Last Year is a Nordic-style larp about waiting for the end of the world. It is strongly inspired by the film Melancholia by Lars von Trier, the larp La Sirena Varada by Somnia, and many works of postmodern literature.​
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Setting

The larp is set in the real world, and both the location and the start date are the same in reality and within the fiction. In July 2024, two months before the larp starts, multiple news sources across the world announced that an asteroid is headed towards the Earth, scheduled to pass it by very closely, or hit it, on 21 October 2025. The predicted scenarios varied widely between life going on as normal and complete extinction of humankind.

Earlier in 2024, some of the characters got access to classified NASA information about the asteroid. They bought Cuevas al Jatib, an abandoned holiday resort on the antipodes of the predicted impact location, with the intention of converting it into a shelter for the coming apocalypse. When the news finally became public knowledge, more people flocked into the caves: to survive or to die, to preach or to party. The larp follows their last year.

Tone

The tone of the larp is a realistic character drama with some postmodern elements. 

The intention of the larp is psychological immersion rather than narrativism or simulationism. There is no prescripted plot; the players are free to take their character stories in any direction which feels right. However, there will be optional activities and events to provide some structure and creative input, if needed. The players will be encouraged to discuss their needs and expectations with the organisers and co-players before and during the larp.

There are some mature themes in the larp (e.g. mental illness, addiction, domestic abuse), but our intention is to reflect real life rather than play on these themes for the sake of melodrama or exploitation. See Safety for more details about how we handle mature themes.
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You can read more about the vision, the design and the practicalities of the larp, or take a look at photos and testimonials from the 2019 run of the larp. The sign-up for Our Last Year is currently open and will close on Monday, 27 November 2023. To sign up, fill out this form.