Play as your pet (or a pet from a shelter), offering advice to animals across the globe in this immersive digital event.

Dear Flips,

My humans are always stressed out.

They wake up to a shrill noise, and rush off, muttering about being late. They come home 3.5 naps later, and only mutter about the time that they have been gone. They stare at boxes and worry about something called ‘paw-le-ticks’ – and while nobody likes a tick, I have thoroughly checked them and they are tick-free.

I have tried winking at them. I have tried licking them. I have even stooped so low as to play with ‘toys’ they provide me. I am at my wits’ end.

I have started to urinate in towels. I knock things off of counters to get their attention. They will not listen or pay me the time of day.

What should I do?

A Concerned Domestic Short-hair

Dear Domestic Short-hair,

It sounds like you have tried to be more than reasonable, and it is time to escalate things. Oftentimes, we try to change the people that are close to us – but it’s an age old truth that you cannot teach an old human new tricks.

You must decide for yourself how much you are invested in the relationship. If you find that you are truly committed, I would suggest laying on their chest at night, and pulling out all the stops – including purring.

Instead of singing them the song of your people when you want food, try just singing it to calm them down – preferably right before the sun rises. This is an effective treatment.

Humans lose their way, and it is up to us to help them find the path to a happy and relaxed life.

Dr. Flips ‘Littlest Baby’ Kits, NFC, LOML

Purchase Tickets Here.

Introduction

Animals are too good for this world.

If you’ve shared companionship with a animal, chances are you can identify to one or multiple of the situations below:

• You’ve experienced loss, and they’ve comforted you.
• You’re hurt physically, and they sense the pain and make you feel better.
• You’re lonely, and they’ve provided you companionship.
• You’re bored, and they’ve given you entertainment.

This experience gathers a number of pets together in a committee to discuss the human condition, and offer wisdom amongst themselves to treat ‘conditions’. Players will be acting as ‘experts’ in their field, perhaps a psychologist, medical doctor, pharmacist. These roles will come with a roleplay twist – so perhaps Dr. Spot the renown pharmacist, would recommend 20 fetches. The advice solicited will be followed as prescribed, and in the second event the committee will follow up on the situation and make adjustments as needed.

Participants will play as their own pet or be cast as a local pet from a shelter.

The goal of this event is to celebrate our pets, and look at life through the perspective of animals.

 

Structure

Session 1:

The event will include:

• Safety and consent overview.
• Introductions.
• Dilemmas presented from pets around the world.
• Committee discusses and provides solutions to the questions.
• Solutions will be shared publicly for peer review.

Session 2:

The event will cover:

• Safety and consent review.
• Follow up on previous prescriptions.
• Discussion on adjustments.
• Solutions will be shared publicly for peer review.
• Link will be given for nominations for the award ceremony.

Session 3:

The event will be an award ceremony for all participants.

• Safety and consent review.
• Mixer and introductions.
• Award ceremony (award is presented, few minutes to say thanks).
• Closing remarks.

 

Example Topics:

1. Poverty.
2. Hoarding.
3. Chronic Health Conditions.
4. COVID.
5. Getting Fired.
6. Death of a Loved One.
7. Marriage.
8. Divorce.
9. Moving.
10. Life transitions.

What Participants Will Receive:

Each Participant will receive:

A bespoke character based on your pet or a pet from the shelter.

8-12 hours of facilitated gameplay.

Run synopsis (publicly posted) and visibility to other runs recommendations.

Survey to nominate others for awards.

Prestigious Award for your work.

Purchase Tickets Here.

Runs:

Run 1 –  Saturday Mornings

Run Specific Dates: February 13 & 20, 10 AM – 2 PM EST

All Run Date: March 7, 2-6 PM EST

Host: Dr. Flips ‘Littlest Baby’ Kits

 

Run 2 –  Saturday Evenings

Run Specific Dates: February 13 & 20, 6 PM – 10 PM EST

All Run Date: March 7, 2-6 PM EST

Host: Dr. Spanky T. Pug, Jr.

 

Run 3 –  Sunday Afternoons

Run Specific Dates: February 14 & 21, 2 PM – 6 PM EST

All Run Date: March 7, 2-6 PM EST

Host: Dr. Flips ‘Littlest Baby’ Kits

 

SAFETY AND CONSENT

All participants must watch a safety video and agree to TGI’s Safety, Consent, & Inclusion Policies. While larp sessions remain ephemeral and unrecorded, those willing may consent to photography (screen capture). All safety instruction will be gone over again at the beginning of the larp. Those violating our policies may be ejected with no refund. We take the safety of our players very seriously, especially in “close to home” experiences such as this.

• Costuming restrictions: No skin darkening or black face. Regardless of your skin tone, making your skin unnatural colored (according to your preferences and what you feel like you would look like as a pet) is welcomed, but no one is required to lighten their face to play this game, nor does “lighter skin” represent improved power or status in any way. Please focus on what makes you comfortable and what is accessible to you.
• We require sensitivity in portrayal. Note that this larp is designed to empower players and characters by portraying someone who was once ostracized but now faces truth. As a result, we’re creating characters together – characters who may have experienced racism, homophobia, sexism, or a feeling of powerlessness or loss of control due to how others treated them. We ask for sensitivity and understanding in that many players are playing close to home here. We encourage players to consider exploring their own feelings of marginalization and othering. Those wishing to explore struggles other than their own must think hard about this decision, perform precise research, and proceed with extreme empathy. You will not need to justify anything you want to play, but playing another’s experience is extremely sensitive subject matter when it comes to marginalization. Participation means understanding and acknowledging this point.
• Verbal and symbolic restrictions: Derogatory language and symbols of any kind are prohibited. You cannot ‘play an anti-Semitic character who wears a swastika.’ You will be immediately ejected and banned with no refund. Marginalized players wishing to play empowerment scenes may do so, but some scenes may require a content warning for other players. An example: two players have consented to playing out a competitive brother-sister relationship in which sexism was involved. They decide that the woman pet is more powerful than the male, and the player wishes to play out her empowerment arc through the exploration of this in reaction to a sexist comment from her brother, changing the power dynamic in their family. In this case, all participants would receive a content warning about potential sexist language, and as a group we would determine limits on this language.