What is this contest about?

The Golden Cobra Challenge is a friendly contest open to anyone interested in writing and playing freeform larp. See our FAQ and read more about the challenge.

Golden Cobra Challenge 2024

Golden Cobra Challenge begins 26 August 2024 and runs through 7 October 2024. Awards will be announced 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Friday November 8 at Metatopia 2024. Games will be run at Metatopia November 7-10, 2024 and Quintessential Consequences November 21-24, 2024.

See the games submitted in 2024 here.

Browse past Golden Cobra games at the Interactive Archive^beta.

Actually, you can peruse our Archive for all of our past submissions and winners.

Wishing the best to all who may take part.
Welcome to the Golden Cobra Circle of power and good luck with your game!

What is a Golden Cobra?

Only the baddest-ass snake in the jungle, which is something you should always aspire to be. Rules announced on Monday, 26 August 2024. All submissions are due by Monday, 7 October 2024 at 11:59PM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time). Winners and Honorable Mentions will be announced on Friday November 8 at Metatopia.

We are unsurprised in 2024 to find ourselves still in a COVID-19 pandemic situation. Just to be clear, COVID spreads through respiratory fluids, which means the densely packed, closed-room larps of 2019 and earlier are not accessible to the full community. Larp creators this year need to actively design the game to be playable under pandemic conditions, not just asking players to wear masks if they wish. The game must either be safely playable while players are masked and in a well-ventilated or outdoor space, or the game can be optimized for Web chat, streaming, Discord or Slack, or be epistolary, solo, or in some weirder format. If your entry can be either virtual or in-person, that's just icing on the cake.

Winners will likely get a run at Metatopia 2024, and submissions will also be on offer at Big Bad Con 2024 a few weeks prior to the awards announcement and Consequences in the UK a few weeks after the announcement.

This year’s contest will be judged by a panel consisting of only creators who have won multiple Golden Cobra awards over the years. This panel includes: Carly Kocurek, Kate Hill, Countess Dillymore, Wendy Gorman, Jeff Dieterle.

Submissions can be in any language, although languages spoken among the judges include English, Spanish, French, and Japanese.

In 2024, Golden Cobras will be awarded in six categories (plus honorable mentions):

Game we are most excited to play

Best game that lets players drop in and out

Best game that lets children be present¹

Best use of your local area²

Game we are most excited to fuck³

[1] Children may be players or participating in a different way, such as generally running amok in the same space or maybe serving as a randomizer element. We want creators to consider making larps accessible to parents.

[2] We leave it up to the creators to self-define “local area.”

[3] In case you wondered about the category “Game we are most excited to fuck”: we put that in because overt discussions of sexuality and desire are often important in queer stories. Feel free to avoid it. We hope it doesn’t make ace, aromantic, demisexual and gray contestants feel unwelcome: we’d love games that celebrate those identities. In fact, we’d love a game that says a giant “fuck you” to that category and defiantly avoids the topic of fucking.

What is the Contest Theme This Year?

The 2024 Contest Theme is Nature. What is “nature” anyway? What is humanity’s relationship with it? How do we converse with it in a meaningful way? Is it about the outdoors, or something else? Pose some questions about nature and answer them with your game’s design.

What are the Competition Constraints?

In order to be considered for a Golden Cobra 2024, your game must adhere to the following:

Anyone should be able to play the game (within reason)
- For example, we’d like to make games that are accessible to parents. That doesn’t mean that children have to play, but there should be some room for players to dip out for a while and take care of children or for children to run generally amok in the same space.
- There’s also an award category that would obviously restrict children from being present, which is why we state “within reason.” Please exercise good judgment in your design decisions.
A PDF no longer than four pages.

Games can be longer than four pages, but the judges will not have to read past the first four.

Minimal to no preparation required to play
- This means no pre-casting is needed.
Allow variable player numbers (a range of players or roles)
New content
- Never before published or officially run.

What are the Competition Ingredients?

These are totally optional, but may help jog your creativity.

Stickers
Masks
Cool sticks
Food
Board Games
Hope

Do you have Tips for Online Larping?

Your game doesn’t have to be online this year, but if it is, we’ve got a great guide for you.

What are the Rules for Entering?

Be a new, unpublished freeform larp. It is neither a board game or a video game. See the FAQ for more discussion about freeform larp.
Present your game in a readable, playable format in a single file (pdf preferred).
Submit only one game. Your name could appear on one entry but teams were welcome. You retain all rights to your work and ancillary material related to submissions, like play aids or commentary. These will by default be published under the name it was submitted under in the yearly free Golden Cobra Anthology (if one is created) and linked from this Website for the world to enjoy.
The deadline for submission is 7 October 2024 at 11:59PM EDT. To submit: fill out the Golden Cobra Entry Submission Form [form under construction] and email your game to submissions@goldencobra.org.

Can I spread the Word?

Please do! Find us on Blue Sky at https://bsky.app/profile/goldencobra.bsky.social. Word of mouth is most effective at inspiring someone to submit a game. Let a friend or someone you admire know about the contest! Post it in THE Group Chat, your home Discord, whatever. Make someone feel seen; don’t let the algorithm do the work.

Who are the Judges?

Judges for 2024 are Carly Kocurek, Kate Hill, Countess Dillymore, Wendy Gorman, Jeff Dieterle.

Who else did stuff?

The Golden Cobra working committee this year is Emily Care Boss, James Mendez Hodes, Jason Morningstar, Evan Torner and Noah Sara Williamson. The Interactive Archive was coded by Epidiah Ravachol with help from Joe Greathead.

I have more Questions!

Check out the FAQ! or email cobracommander@goldencobra.org.

GOLDEN COBRA CHALLENGE