Benediction

Script by Laura op de Beke, created in collaboration with Una Hamilton, Helle, Sille Storihle, and OddHelge Gravalid. With thanks to Alex Brown.

This larp is about a group of medieval nuns who are told that in five days their abbey will be blessed with a visit from a traveling priest and miracle worker. The priest is making his way through the plague-ridden countryside to deliver a sermon. As they anticipate his benediction, the nuns ruminate on their feelings about themselves, the others, God, and the arrival of the vagabond priest, which has awakened in them unprecedented fears and desires. Play to find out: who is this wandering priest to you? Threat, temptation, redemption? Or something else entirely? 

Content warnings: blasphemy, potentially graphic language, sexual subtext

Duration: 1,5 hour workshop, 1,5 hours of play

Number of players: 6-12

Played at Grenselandet, Oslo 2023

Submitted to The Golden Cobra Awards 2023

Winner of "Game That Made Us Cry the Most" :

"Laura op de Beke's game Benediction takes place over five in-game days, as a group of medieval nuns await the arrival of a holy man set to change all their lives. It's an intensely focused, well-researched, and emotionally heavy game about women given the chance to be introspective about their roles, their God, their fears and their desire.There's lyrical beauty to Benediction, which makes excellent use of ritual group prayer across the liturgical hours to both set the tone and create a sense of (sacred)space, and is driven by a series of revelatory and often disturbing announcements that occur daily at lauds. While not particularly sad on its surface, Benediction promises to be a deeply emotional experience - one that will make us cry."

Check out the other winners here: http://www.goldencobra.org/2023winners.html