Medusa’s Head
LARP Setting

Gamma-Nyx ain’t much to look at – just another dusty rock on the far side of the Outer Reach, three jumps past civilized space and five years behind in tech. Terraforming was half-finished when the funding dried up, leaving deserts, toxic dust storms, and pockets of barely habitable farmland clinging to cracked river valleys.
The corporation pulled out decades ago.

What’s left are the stubborn, the desperate, and the quietly dangerous.

Out there, there’s no government, not really. The UGP (United Galactic Parliament) claims jurisdiction, but their nearest enforcement post is two sectors away. Gamma-Nyx runs on barter, bullets and backroom deals.

Everyone’s got a story. Most lie. A few kill. And one or two might just be telling the truth.

Sometimes people tell rumours of the village Sparta, famous for its beautiful gardens, far east of Nanjing. It has been destroyed, they say. And some claim, they had been there, ten years ago, when it had all been green and blooming.

There is no place that resembles anything like a garden now, especially not in Nanjing. In the outskirts of Nanjing. – one of the few settlements worth naming – is the Medusa’s Head, a shabby ageless tavern welded from salvage and grit, known across this slice of the periphery as neutral ground. Mercs, miners, smugglers, survivors, black-market traders, and out-of-luck colonists all pass through its dusty doors.

You’ll find no sheriff here, no judge, and no safe bet.

The Medusa’s Head is run by T. Varn, an ex-captain turned bartender with a cybernetic eye and a no-nonsense attitude. Their rule? No blood on the floor unless you’re the one mopping it up.

Beyond that, well…what happens behind closed booths is your business.
Trade runs on scrap tech, stimroot, and water chips, though some still barter in credits.

The economy of Gamma-Nyx, as many of the planets on the outer rim, is built on patchwork salvaging – old colonial wrecks, crashed satellites, and one very questionable ore refinery that coughs black smoke across the valley.

Tonight, the tavern is unusually full. A mercenary squad arrived this morning on an old frigate. Word is, they’re hunting someone. Or maybe they’re here for something worse.

Also in town: a bounty hunter chasing a big payday, a preacher with a secret, a runaway android, and rumours of a ghost ship in orbit – full of tech too valuable to ignore and to cursed to touch.

Welcome to the Medusa’s Head. Grab a drink, keep one hand near your
sidearm, and don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.

About the LARP
You play a loosely scripted character in one of the following groups:

Tavern Crew
Workers of Nanjing (locals),
Travellers
Mercenaries

Please choose three characters you‘d like to play, we‘ll try to get everyone their preferences.

You can play any character you see fit, no matter of age, gender, body type or skills (you don‘t need to be a martial artist to play a bouncer or mercenary, physical characteristics are mostly suggestions, if present at all).

Following you‘ll find a brief description of the characters, you‘ll get some more background, once you have your own character. Since it‘s a four hour game, this is not about you memorizing a lot of names and faraway places, but focuses on your experience in a rough, shabby, sometimes brutal space western setting.
In our questionnaire we will ask you to prioritize three characters, hoping to be able to provide you with a character of your choice.

Please be aware while choosing the characters you like to play: in the third part of the game, the mercenary characters will be the ones on the bottom end of interrogation scenes.

There are three acts when the actual LARP begins:
ACT 1 – Setup – The tavern crew starts at the tavern, locals and travellers arrive, after some time the mercenary make a strong and (mostly) dominant entrance.
ACT 2 – Revelations – Free interaction between the characters, Mercenaries are free to engage into play scenes with the locals from also a top perspective as the Tavern Crew slowly realizes who just strolled in and makes a plan to overwhelm and capture them.
ACT 3 – Interrogation – The Tavern Crew and Locals & Travelers (who join in) overwhelm and interrogate the Mercenaries until they have the information they need.

THE CHARACTERS

The Tavern-Crew is formed around a group of survivors of the Big Demonic Fire in
Sparta, who sought for refuge in Nanjing and built this shabby place with dedication from grit and salvage in the outskirts of Nanjing.

Tess/Theo and Nathan/Noelle run the tavern together, giving work to some of their fellow survivors like Costa, Agapi and Mon, as well as Adeljana/Ajdin who found them in later years. Also the two Pets at the MH came with them from Sparta. Some others joined them in time, since Tess and Nathan consider the Medusas Head a place of safety for the lost.

The crew sticks together, since life on your own is hard and nearly impossible in Nanjing. As you can imagine, providing work for such a big crew, would need a lot of sales volume, which is not made by selling booze and stew. So any sidejob in and outside the tavern is welcome and the courtesans and dancers live on tips alone- still grateful for the space they are being given.



(C01) Tess/Theo Varn
Tough, straight forward. Former Captain. Veteran. Lost an eye in battle
(cybernetic eye). Very close to Nathan. Co-runner of Medusas Head.
Has a special bond to Vedat and Loran, trusts Ishtar and Vassily. Has a friends-with-benefits relationship with Vassily, does notbelieve in romance.

(C02) Noelle/Nathan Walker
Friendly and chatty, with a loud wholesome laugh. Loves to
listen to stories from the tavern guests, especially those from far away. Doesn‘t take the guest‘s weapons, but lets them show them off (and sometimes the amunition seems to be in another pocket afterwards). Cares a lot for Pet Eya. Has a little playful feud going on with pet Oh.

(C03) Constantia/Costa
One of the waiters at Medusas Head. Easy going, loves silly jokes and
flirtations. Tess/Theo saved C. from the Demonic Fire and later sent C. to take a year„outside“, which he spent travelling and working on the „Fruitbat“, a small freighter for odd wares.

(C04) Adeljana/Ajdin
Is a dancer, working at the Medusas Head bar, they are from Sparta too, but
was abroad when the Demonic Fire happened and found the Medusas Head only about 3 years later.

(C05) Tara/Tahir
Is the second waiter at Medusa‘s Head, more quiet and serious than Costa.
They are a refugee from another planet where they learned the skill of indoor farming and has a troubled past with addiction, till an encounter with Mei that helped them and got him the job at the tavern.

(C06) Iphigenie/Lysander
Is an elegant, but sometimes bitter courtesan in their mid-thirties to
forties, working about a year at the Medusa‘s Head. They are also not from this planet and seem to have seen places, might have even been involved in politics.

(C07) Mon
Another courtesan working at the Medusa‘s Head tavern. They lost their lover in the Demonic Fire. They are friends with Milan.

(C08) Mila/Milan
Is a dancer at the Medusas Head tavern and deals with all sorts of substances.
They had been part of a famous dance troupe travelling all sorts of places.

(C09) Agapi
A bouncer, responsible for security at the Medusa‘s Head tavern. Agapi is stern,
sometimes bitter, can be brutal if needed. Very loyal to T. Finds Ishtar cute and has an ongoing quarrel with Vedat over a shared lover in Sparta.

(C10) Philo
is another bouncer, sees the world in black and white. They are friends with Tahir.

(C11) Esme
is the third bouncer or security person, usually friendly and cheerful, but is a tough and trained fighter if needed.

(C12) Eya
is a pet seen with Adeljana usually, rather seductive.

(C13) Oh
is a pet comfortable and cheerful, owned by Nathan but cared for mainly by Mon.

The Workers of Nanjing are the locals that frequent the Medusas Head. Some of them have been refugees from Sparta and know Tess/Theo, Nathan/Noelle and part of the crew since back then. Nanjings mines are a hard place to work at, especially for those who remember better times. But you need some sort of job to get by and not everyone is made for all the illegal business that Nanjings economy floats on.

(W01) Vasilya/Vasily
Miner. Formerly from Sparta where they have been the owner of a beautifully groomed orchard. Has lost a spouse and newborn in the big demonic fire. Owes their life to Tess, especially caring for pet Oh, will always watch out for them.
Friends-with-benefits relationship with Tess/Theo.

(W02) Mei
Mechanic. Comes from Nanjing, has worked on several spaceships, but now works for a factory in the outskirts of Nanjing close to the Medusa‘s Head. Has saved Tara/Tahir and got them the job as a waiter for at the tavern.

(W03) Jess
Miner. Quite inexperienced, comes from Clocktown and seems out of place in the mines and the outskirts of Nanjing. Talks about literature, music and arts. „Eat the rich“. Adores Ishtars/Attars dark sketches and paintings.

(W04) Ishtar/Attar
Started to work in Nanjing as a miner but soon found their path as a
courtesan. Paints haunted pictures on walls and bits of any scrap. Ishtar/Attar and Vedat fled the demonic fire together and tramped on their own through the dessert, till they reached Nanjing, a month later than the group around Tess/Theo and Nathan/Noell. Can be both played as miner or courtesan

(W05) Vedat
Miner. Vedat fled the demonic fire together with Ishtar/Attar, all alone through
the desert. When they reconnected with the survivors of Sparta in Medusa’s Tavern in Nanjing, Vedat found out that Ilo, the lover they had lost to the fire was Agapis lover at the same time. They have an ongoing quarrel now.

The Travellers are the ones visiting Medusa’s Head tonight.

(T01) Freya/Freyr Sunface
Originally from the planet Theta-Lluvia, they are a professional
head-hunter in their forties. A good detective and merciless when it comes to fulfilling their contract. Cherishes short, exciting encounters on the spot, after a brief and sharp interrogation, to make sure work is not going to interfere.

(T02)Lorana/Loran
A travelling priest/priestesse, seeking for redemption, formerly from
Sparta, but hasn’t seen the others since they all fled from the Demonic Fire. They will always try to go the non-violent way.

(T02)Thando
Is a runaway android that easily passes as a human and this way owner of pet Poi.

(T03) Nayeli/Kaipo
Works as a travelling courtesan. Had some shady busyness in Clockwork-City.

(T04) Poi
Is Thandos pet, looks harmless but is not.

(T05) Riley
Is in their end of twenties, charming with a bitter subtone. Had been ambitious and quite successful as a scientist in farming and crops cultivation. Comes to Medusa’s Head with Thando and Poi.

(T06) Amelie/Amando
Is a rich traveler, almost a sort of tourist, but tries to blend in with the locals.

The Blizzards, a mercenary group, have been an elite troupe working special security jobs years ago, until they were shattered after a job gone wrong. They have mostly been in smaller units during the last ten years, apart from single jobs as a group. They know and trust each other well, but have also changed. They gathered for an easy job near Nanjing and now come to spend some of their pay together, before they will part ways again. The Medusa‘s Head seems just the right place to distract yourself with dancers and courtesans and drown your sorrows for a night.

(M01) Cut
Might be female, you can’t tell. In their mid thirties or older. A tough and smart leader of the mercenary unit.

(M02) Bark
Second in command to Cut, loyal and strong.

(M03) Blast
End of twenties. Very close to Wreck. Sadistic in a playful manner.

(M04) Raze
Had always had a fascination for fire, explosions, weapons and machines. Will
usually have some tools or metal in their hands and a new experiment on their mind. Has a bond to Scar.

(M05) Smash
Is a brutal opportunist.

(M06) Wreck
Very close to Blast, but will also have Raze‘s back. Wreck is an efficient destroyer.

(M07) Scar
Is intelligent and sneaky. Good at finding information.

(M08) Strickey
Is a deadly pet and belongs to Scar.

(M09) Haul
A cute and cuddly pet, giving emotional support to the whole team.