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Salting the Earth; A Nano-Larp • 2017 rpg

Jason Morningstar • www.bullypulpitgames.com

Stand together in a corner. Say: “We are peaceful villagers, but there are soldiers fighting nearby. Recently someone buried hundreds of landmines in our fields. What will we do?”
Decide individually: Abandon farming [1], call the government for help [4] or walk to the room’s center and plow your field [7]

[1] Say: “Plant crops or your family starves.”
Leave the village anyway [6] or walk to the room’s center and plow your field [9] 

[2] Say: “Rebels come, accuse you of laying mines, and execute you.”
END

[3] Say: “You are killed instantly.” 
END

[4] Say: “The government laid the mines. Don’t ask again.” 
Abandon your field [6] or plow it [9]

[5] Say: “Your leg is blown off. You can’t work. Your family will suffer.”
END

[6] Say: “Leave the play space. Your family abandons everything you’ve ever known to become refugees.”
END

[7] Say: “You step on a mine. Flip a coin.”
Heads [3], Tails [5]

[8] Say: “One of your children steps on a mine and is killed.”
Leave [6] or keep working [7].

[9] Say: “You reluctantly till the soil. Walk to the room’s center and flip a coin.”
Heads [2], Tails [8]

Author Comments

Landmines are a fucking cancer upon the Earth and this simplistic exercise doesn’t really do justice to the miserable choices people who suddenly find themselves surrounded by lethal contamination must make. At best landmines deny innocent people a way to make a living, a way to feed themselves, and a future for their children. At worst they kill, maim, and destroy - their original purpose redirected, sometimes after half a decade.

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