The first time that I ever had contact with a Deity was after three solid years of being ‘type cast’ in a LARP as what I would describe as some form of Corvid Princess. And this LARP was run by occultists. Did I encourage this? Oh, absolutely. It is said that to be perceived is to be loved, and this was a step further than perception to me at the time—it was a perception of who I very deeply wanted to be. 

Games as Magical Mediums

Rune Emmerson was one of the first people I discussed the overlap between gaming and magic that not only took it seriously, but was about fifteen steps ahead of me. The way he described it to me is that Invocation, the process of bringing in an outside energy into the practitioner, is one of the fundamental arts of magic. And it’s the basis of TTRPGs, LARPs, etc. The player is able to bring the character they play back into themselves even as they put a little bit of themselves into each character, and they can bring that power back into the ‘real world.’ As previously cited on this blog, there is a very fundamentally powerful things about role playing games and the way the brain reacts to them. This is why they make both powerful tools for therapy and can cause intense trauma. 

But, in addition, they function as a means by which to invocate. 

Rune occasionally runs games of Fascinaria (a system he wrote himself) over Discord and these games are somewhat infamous for ‘bleeding over’ into the real world. 

In one case, I attended a blockbuster LARP called New World Magischola. (I would not recommend this LARP anymore, and it is defunct—for the better. But, that is another discussion.) Somehow all the people who considered themselves occultists and not just LARP magicians ended up in the same house. The first night, there was a ritual wherein every single player drew a small pewter charm from a bag. The charm was immediately recognizable as relevant to both their character’s plot and the player’s out of character ‘real life’ going ons at that exact point in time.

That was just one of the things that this particular house collectively did that kept the rest of the players on a low level spook for the entire game. Part of it was the fact that everyone brought some of their own artifacts and shrine materials and made a giant shrine in the common room without anyone having discussed it before hand. Or, it could have been the fact that someone spilled their homemade Florida water on the first night, so the aroma of the area was…powerful. 

I will note, every instance that I have heard of a game ‘bleeding over’ its boundaries has had an aspect of ritual in place. In Rune’s Fascinaria games, that ritual is done with awareness and with purpose. In New World Magicschola, I believe it was done earnestly within the structure of the game—but not with the understanding of what could happen outside of that context. 

Games as Astral Exploration and Journaling Games

A number of my occultist acquaintances and friends are enjoyers of solo ttrpgs, also known as journaling games. After I jumped into astral work last spring, I realized that astral work could be very easily combined with this type of game. Immediate names that come to mind in terms of games are ‘Wreck This Deck, Apothecary, The Librarian’s Apprentice, and many others. Witch Quests on Tumblr offers what (from my perspectives) are both overtly fun little journaling quests/writing prompts for a character journal and doubly overtly astral exercises. 

“But Suns”, you might say, “making an elaborate journal about all the details of your solo ttrpg adventures is so cringe!” First of all, Domain Expansion is the most powerful technique a Jujutsu Sorcerer can use, and the most powerful domains are the most detailed and practiced. Second of all, a witch’s Labyrinth is a mirror to their psyche. Many occultists kept notebooks that were the equivalent of their own chunibyou journals. The idea that it is ‘cringe’ to do something when no one ever needs to see the journal is nothing but the shackles of the dominant culture’s opinions forced onto your neck. Become Cringe. Become Free.