Get a friend and go together to a hamlet, town or city, possibly one only one of you is familiar with. You will play two childhood friends: the One-Who-Left and the One-Who-Stayed; the O-W-L has just come back home and the O-W-S is touring them around.
Just walk around town and sightsee; O-W-L, whenever you feel like, point at a spot and state it was the place where you:
1. did your homework.
2. worked gigs.
3. used to hangout with your clique.
4. had your first moment of romantic intimacy.
5. hid to think after “that bad stuff” happened.
O-W-S, decide if you know about these events and whether you were there too.
Then, chat about that place and the people it was connected to; O-W-S, tell the O-W-L how everything and everyone has changed.
After the fifth spot, discuss why you respectively left and stayed, and whether you would do it again. Finally, pick a sixth place together, rest for a bit (perhaps get an ice-cream) and chat about how and why you have always both felt peaceful in that final spot.
Dedicated to my friends Greta Carrara and Roberto Grassi; they made me realize my love for urban explorations.
Special thanks to Antonio Amato, Stefano Burchi and Alberto Muti for their support.
This game is my attempt at “converting” into a LARP the songs “Ragazzo della Via Gluck” (Adriano Celetano, 1966) and “Le Rane” (Baustelle, 2008): I tried to convey the same feelings through a story game.