Jackalope’s “Cyberpunk: Night City” Made Me Cry Real (In Character) Tears
July 18, 2019 Jamey Alea 0 Comments
The date was May 25th, 2036. The place was Night City, an urban shithole located in Northern California. I was there to celebrate Night’s Wake—an annual raucous block party commemorating the assassination of Night City’s founder Richard Night, complete with a traditional truce prohibiting gang violence for one night. And the anticipation in the air was palpable.
Okay, the feeling of anticipation was real, but the rest of the details were part of the fantasy. The real date was May 25th, 2019, the place was San Antonio, TX, and the event I was celebrating was Cyberpunk: Night City, the latest blockbuster event hosted by Jackalope LARP, the Austin-based studio that brought me to Texas to be buried alive at The Night In Question last fall.
The game took place at a local airsoft arena, and walking through the doors really did feel like stepping into 2036. The arena had been completely converted into Night City’s rough and tumble Northside neighborhood, complete with a seedy bar, a cybernetics shop, a reputable house of pleasure, and a noodle bar staffed by a grumpy noodle vendor who would whip you up an actual bowl of spicy ramen—and potentially put your name on his hit list if you weren’t sufficiently polite to him.
Read the whole article on Sidequest! This was my second time participating in a blockbuster LARP with Jackalope and it was another truly excellent experience. I got to be part of a really interesting and rewarding storyline, tell a delightfully tragic love story and learn a lesson about redemption—both in and out of character. This article is a loving retelling of the collaborative story and a photographic glimpse into what it was like on the streets of Night City.