Jeppe and Maria Bergmann Hamming’s Literary-Musical Larp Adaptations

This article addresses the question of analog role-playing game authorship through an analysis of three music-based blackbox larps by Jeppe and Maria Bergmann Hamming: Sarabande (2013), Deranged (2015), and Encore (2022). The Bergmann Hammings’ work over time bears their unique signature, using aesthetic idealism and high culture to explore issues of character decadence and downfall. With the increasing use of role-playing games to convey history and heritage, the Bergmann Hammings’ design patterns both evince a particular interpretation of that history and also demonstrate how future designers might generally adapt such material into role-playable forms.