“I walked in there and I was absolutely terrified because everyone was in leather, head to toe. And I was the only one who was wearing Levis and a regular shirt. []…I was terrified, visually, at what I was seeing, excited at the same time–tremendously excited…”
–Ellis Chan on July 19 1996, recalling The Brig

Cruising for Sex in a Burning Building is a larp about intimacy and community connection through kink, set in the underground gay men’s leather scene in the 1980s under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic.

When your most-familiar forms of sexual expression have become dangerous, alienating, unfamiliar can you learn to share your heart’s deepest fears and desires? At this bar the music’s pulsing beat and the burning heat of other men’s bodies call to you. Beautiful boy, when the clock strikes midnight are you going hard or going home?

In this larp players use a variety of embodied meta-techniques to stand in for BDSM play, experiencing first-hand the sensations and emotions their characters do. Play is an emotional mix of discovery and anxiety as characters decide how to re-enter BDSM while forsaking the exchange of body fluids.

A scenario about self-discovery, grief, and community set in a gay men’s leather bar during the 1980s AIDS crisis.

When the most-familiar forms of sexual expression for gay men have become dangerous, alienating, unfamiliar… What does returning to the sex club after time away look like for you? When the dungeon opens at midnight are you going hard or going home?

Play is a mix of discovery and anxiety as queer male characters decide how to re-enter BDSM while forsaking the exchange of body fluids. Players will use embodied meta-techniques to stand in for kink and sex, using Ars Amandi inspired techniques to reach for the sensations and emotions of their characters.