All Options

A 1990s abortion larp by Jon Cole and Kelley Vanda

All Options is a larp about the staff of a Midwest USA abortion clinic in the 1990s. Under mounting pressure from the anti-choice movement, can you continue to provide compassionate care for people seeking abortion? The main characters’ personal insecurities with their sexuality or gender hamper their ability to connect with their colleagues. Through the course of their work in the abortion clinic they have a chance to challenge and transform their issues.

Players take turns portraying their main character doula and their patients, playing out scenes where they counsel on pregnancy options and conduct abortion procedures using a metatechnique. Most scenes are about the characters' work in the clinic, complicated by their personal hang-ups and the expansion of anti-abortion legal restrictions. 

Players need no prior knowledge about living in the US Midwest, the historical period, or abortion to enjoy this emotionally affecting larp.

This Larp Funds Abortions

We pledge to donate all proceeds from this larp to our local reproductive justice advocacy group, Unrestrict Minnesota. If you download this larp for free, we encourage you to donate to your local abortion fund.

About the Larp

Number of players: 3 or 4 players, no facilitator needed
Play time: 5 hours
No advance reading required - gather materials and play

What You Get
- 60 pages of material, everything you need to play
- 6 character playbooks
- 11 scenes, loaded with heartfelt drama

Tone and Theme

This larp is a drama, the tone a little more dramatic than real life, with a bittersweet ending. It is not about people deciding whether to have an abortion. Each character struggles with an element of their sexuality or gender, which makes it hard to reach out to their colleagues for support. This is the primary source of conflict, with external opposition to abortion access the secondary source. The characters will be challenged by their work at the clinic, and have the chance to evolve their struggle in small ways, or they may end up feeling as confounded and inhibited as they did at the start of play.

Praise for All Options

Winner of The Awards 2022. From more than 350 submissions, 20 winners were selected. Judges said:

“The way this game tries to convey the experience of having an abortion, the physical chain of bodies it has you create, is truly genius stuff. It reminded me of the abortion painting scene in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a moment that acknowledges the deep emotional and physical intimacy involved in the procedure.

Also like that scene, All Options is a game that declares abortion a moment worthy of being immortalized and appreciated in a piece of art. I have no doubt players of All Options will remember these scenes.”

Review by Clayton of Explorers Design:

"In worse hands, this larp would have been cuter, more triumphant, or defiant. All Options isn't. It's raw, patient, and transformative. It took a while for me understand it. Thanks to the other judges, I think I at least admire it. Simple design with a very pointed goal. Genius stuff."

Praise for The Abortionists

All Options is a spiritual sequel to our larp about 1970s feminist abortion activists, The Abortionists. With All Options we've refined the storytelling and presentation making it a leaner and more accessible design.

"The Abortionists is nominated for portraying a time, where gender norms were under dramatic upheaval, with empathy and historical insight. We gain an understanding for the women's fight for the right to abortion and equal rights in 70s Chicago. We are left both wiser about our past and reminded that we should not take freedom for granted."
– 2019 Fastaval Judges

"I gave [my friends] a detailed telling of my experience of The Abortionists and actually couldn’t quite finish because retelling the experience was enough to move me to tears. It was probably the most intensive roleplay experience of my life and I‘m really grateful I had the opportunity to play it.” – Harald Eckmüller, Host of 3W6 Podcast

“I guess you're thinking: A game about abortionists????? But ho-boy is that game a literal game-changer, I have no words for my emotions. It has been one of the if not THE most intense gaming experience of my life.” – Judith C Vogt, Author and Game Designer