This weekend I got to run a mod for a LARP campout, and I built this neat little prop! I unfortunately didnāt get any pictures of the original set up since I wouldāve had to leave it overnight and it rained, but I had it draped with vine fairy lights and faux fur rope (think Halloween spider legs), and swirly color shifting chiffon fabric in the middle. Itās made with recycled corrugated plastic signage, a large sheet of honeycomb cardboard, tubes from bolts of fabric, and many many zip ties. I built up layers of paint, ripped up tulle (that also got hit with a heat gun), and coffee grounds for the stone effect. The glow lettering is done in clear glitter glue with soooo much UV powder mixed in.
The premise was a murder mystery in the Autumn Court, and this piece was for our Friday evening scenario. After the murder of the Pumpkin King (during the banner making paint and sip party) the Queen requested a burial, non combatants carried the body and fighters defended the procession from our draugr NPCs. The tomb/gate was a puzzle that used 3 poems players may have collected during the banner painting party. The banner portion of the tomb gave them instructions for the puzzle L1 [Magic from words] spells must be read to work, not time cast L2 [Words from the Soul] referencing the poems L3 [Souls last rest].
The first poem āactivatedā the gate, revealing the words on the side columns which referenced the elements and fae courts [āļøEarth/Spring, āļøWind/Summer, āļøFire/Autumn, āļøIce/Winter], they then had to cast a spell of the correct type on the matching word in seasonal order to get all four to glow (UV light effects are my favourite). They successfully āburiedā the king and sealed the tomb with the second poem. The draugr continued to respawn and attack the entire time, only one person had picked up the third poem, and they figured out that it would act as a ālast rightsā spell and finished the encounter.
Overall it went really well and I heard a lot of good things from folks! The puzzle solvers had a good time figuring everything out, and it went long enough that our stick jocks got some good fighting in. Folks HATED the texture of the gate, which is exactly what I wanted, gotta have the correct unsettling vibes! And at least one person clocked that I used DA Elven for the lettering (using this resource), which was super fun š¤
