GENERAL EVENT QUESTIONS
The Outbound Hope Mission is a multi-day, live-action role playing event intended to give players the realistic, immersive experience of being aboard a space-bound starship.
Hosted within the interior of the decommissioned USS Edson in Bay City, Michigan, players will be engaged in four days of exciting science-fiction adventures and missions. For the duration of the event, the Edson will be outfitted to serve as the Flame of Liberty, a 23rd-century starship proudly protecting a fleet of colonists in the unknowns of space. With a crew of more than 100 individuals, players will need to work together to fulfill duties and objectives unique to their character.
Two separate 2026 Season events will be held from Thursday, April 30 to Sunday, May 3 and Thursday, May 7 to Sunday, May 10. Registrants will need to select which event they plan to attend upon registration.
Outbound Hope events are focused at the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum and the USS Edson, a decommissioned Cold War destroyer. Additional sites – all within the Bay City area – will also be used to simulate additional locations.
Check-in and all meals will take place at the museum, with transportation between in-game locales always provided to participants.
No. For many reasons, players may be transported to additional locations, simulating travel to other ships within the Outbound Fleet or nearby planetary bodies. Players may need to travel to other vessels for plot points such as a diplomatic exchange or to subdue a hostage situation. These situations may be presented to players by our story team throughout the weekend. Additional ships – player or non-player run – may also take the form of on-site trailers or sectioned-off areas of the Edson.
Though heavily-inspired by the Swedish Battlestar Galactica game, Monitor Celestra, the Outbound Hope Mission is not based on any specific science fiction franchise. The Outbound universe is unique and original and based heavily on current events, themes, and future projections for our real world. Still, many players may recognize small nods to franchises like Battlestar Galactica (2003), Star Trek, Halo, and more.
This event is open to anyone 18 years and older. International visitors are more than welcome to attend, with the knowledge that all in-game encounters and game materials will be provided in English.
Please note that due to the historical nature of the event site, it is not ADA compliant, and players with limited mobility may struggle with certain areas.
Absolutely! Most people can easily acclimatize themselves to live-action role play, especially if they have any background in other RPG’s, tabletop games, or Murder Mystery events. Long before the event, all participants will be provided with plenty of information to help them flesh out their character and improve their overall experience. Event staff will also host various tutorials prior to the event in order to further prepare participants and familiarize them with both the ship, their roles within it, and the basic concepts of live-action roleplay.
Yes! In the beginning of 2026, event staff will begin to seek out volunteers to help serve as Non-Player Characters (NPCs) for various plots and missions available to Outbound participants. Volunteers will need to provide some evidence of larp or theater experience and will be thanked with lodging, meals, t-shirts, and more. If you can’t make it as a player, you can always help out behind the scenes!
PLAYER LODGING
Players will be assigned lodging within the original berthing areas of the USS Edson, which are communal spaces with nearby bathroom facilities both aboard the ship and on shore (with showers). Electrical outlets are available but limited. Some characters – based on assigned character role – will also have access to the ship’s staterooms which may be utilized as private lodging spaces.
Yes. Optional hotel rooms will be made available to players for an additional cost. Players who opt for these accommodations will be shuttled to and from the event site by staff, or may opt to transport themselves. Note that parking is free at both the Edson and our participating hotel.
Coming to the event, players need to bring their registration and character materials (as previously sent to them by event staff) and all necessary toiletries and out-of-character personal items. Those staying aboard the ship should bring appropriate bedding with the understanding that temperatures can vary wildly. Civilian characters will need to bring their own costumes (as approved by Outbound staff), but military characters need only to bring appropriate black footwear. Additional and more specific lists will be provided to registrants closer to the event date.
EVENT REGISTRATION
Tickets to the 2026 event will be available on this website beginning on July 4, 2025. A specific registration schedule will be published at a later date which gives priority registration to players previously registered for the Season Two (2020/2022) event. General registration will be opened thereafter.
Ticket price includes a unique character to play, on-shop lodging, and catered meals, drinks, and snacks. In addition, players will be provided with all necessary props and weapons for their character. Military and Martian (Science) characters will also receive an appropriate uniform based on size specifications provided. Player transportation between in-game locales is also included. Additionally, event fees help to pay for location rental, set construction, professional story development, and much more.
Transportation to and from the event itself is not included, but players may request complimentary shuttle service to and from MBS International Airport. Optional hotel lodging and upgrades are available for additional fees. Civilian characters will also need to provide their own appropriate costumes, which must be approved by Outbound staff – though civilian flight suits are also available for a fee. Additional items – such as travel insurance – are also the responsibility of the participant.
While Outbound Hope has done away with the tiered pricing system of previous event seasons, there are still some registration classes with lower costs than others.
Civilian roles are discounted because they do not include a provided costume. Instead, civilian players are asked to provide a costume of their own, approved by staff before the event.
Press players are further discounted because of the labor-intensive nature of their role. Press players will be asked to produce actual stories, videos and broadcasts during the event, which help to inform other players about the events occurring throughout the fleet.
Wildcard roles are discounted because their role allows staff to place them in a class or miscellaneous role according to the needs of the event and thus have less control of their experience than other players.
PLAYER HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Though the physical stamina for this event differs significantly for different character types, simply moving about the ship can be strenuous for some players. As a decommissioned military vessel, the USS Edson is filled with a number of hatches to climb through, steep ladders to descend and occasionally-uneven floors to navigate. Moderate physical shape is recommended for players. Some characters – such as marines – will be asked to complete more strenuous tasks in combat-like situations. Players wishing to avoid these situations should indicate this in their enlistment survey.
Due to the historical and military nature of the USS Edson, there is no wheelchair accessibility on the ship. Different levels of the ship are accessed via ladder and elevators are not available.
A full-time medic will be available to players at all times. Additionally, an established player support contact will assist with individualized player needs and as an Out-of-Character (OOC) touchstone for players that may require one.
CHARACTER CLASSES
Upon registration, players will be asked to select a specific character class, which represents the type of character they would like to play and the “duties” they would like to perform aboard the Flame of Liberty or various support craft.
After registration, players will be asked to complete a player survey that will help to give the Outbound story team a sense of the type of character an individual would like to portray. Using this information, the player will be assigned to a character no later than March 1, 2026. In addition to a character’s role and general background, player characters will also be assigned a specific military or civilian rank that will designate the individual’s position within the chain-of-command. Being a military ship, character hierarchy will be an essential part of role-play and should be respected — or skirted around — by player characters.
2026 character classes include:
- Civilian Government
- Civilian Press
- Civilian Ship Crew (Group of 6 Preferred)*
- Crew
- Drone Pilots
- Engineers
- Marines
- Martian Ship Crew
- Medical
- Military Escort Ship Crew (Group of 6 Preferred)*
- Science (Martian)
- Wild Card
*Note that preference will be given to groups of six players that wish to volunteer to fly either the Civilian or Military Escort Ships.
Additional descriptions and details on all of these classes will be provided shortly.
RULES AND MECHANICS
Outbound Hope utilizes a rules-light system that changes somewhat depending on a character’s class. The first draft of the ruleset will be released on June 1, 2025 if not before. A final draft will be published prior to the event.
Outbound Hope will employ the use of three separate combat systems, depending on the situation. Live Combat situations use sophisticated IR tracking and targeting system to allow players to fight in real-time. Passive Combat — often (though not exclusively) used on the Edson itself, allows players to resolve conflicts in a more simulated and tactful manner. Starship Combat allows ships of the fleet to engage with environmental dangers and enemy vessels through a sophisticated and player-directed computer simulation. Learn more about combat in the upcoming Outbound Hope ruleset.
While characters can die, death in the Outbound Hope universe can be remedied through the use of sophisticated technologies. Still, the use of these devices is not easy and often requires a tremendous drain on resources as well as the loss of recent memories. You can learn more about death and our regeneration system in the official Outbound Hope ruleset.
2019 VERSUS 2026
No. In planning for the 2026 event, staff decided that the 2019 event was too far gone to be rekindled. Rather than reboot the story in its entirety, the writing team opted to to shift the focus of Outbound Hope away from the story of The Ascendant Dawn and toward The Flame of Liberty, another Roosevelt-class orbital destroyer in the Outbound Fleet.
Any materials found on the Outbound Hope website are considered “canonical.” Any of the lore drops or short stories previously published on the Outbound Hope website prior to the 2019 event are also considered canonical, though they may be updated and replaced prior to the 2026 event. The events that occurred within the 2019 event are also still canonical, though would be unknown to any player character participating in the 2026 event (as they technically are meant to be occurring simultaneously).
Note that this means that anything that was released after the 2019 event, including the post-event historical files, articles about the Windfall War, etc. are no longer canon. Elements of these – and possibly entire articles – will be re-released at a later date but will not be considered canonical until they are. This gives our new start to Outbound Hope a chance to tell its own story without interference from what might have been in the time of Covid.
In re-imagining the Outbound Hope experience, staff felt that allowing some players to pay more for a command role was a kind of “pay-to-play” that was not within the spirit of the event at large. Command roles will now be selected from within character classes based on the information provided to staff within the player surveys. Staff will be looking for leadership experience but also the ability to delegate and facilitate equitable gameplay for others under their command.
EVENT DOCUMENTATION
At both events, professional photographers and videographers will be on-site. Most of these materials will be made available to players following the event.
Additionally, press characters will be asked to document events in-character to be broadcast to the other ships of the fleet; should any of these in-game press materials be distributed outside of the game, they will be filtered by our staff before distribution to remove images of any players that decline to have their image to be made public.
Yes, though it is asked that this be kept to an absolute minimum. Phones and personal electronic devices not linked to the game itself can be an annoying distraction that can easily break the sense of immersion. Players are encouraged to store these items within their personal lockers whenever possible. In addition, any images of a player who has opted out of being photographed (see below) may not be posted publicly and no images of the event may be used for a commercial purpose without the written consent of Windfall Entertainment, LLC.
Players wishing to opt out of being photographed will be given an opportunity to indicate this preference in their player survey. A piece of their costuming (specifics to be released at a later date) will indicate to our professional photographers and other players that their image may not be published publicly or used in promotional materials. Please note that this preference does NOT apply to photographs or video taken in-game by press characters, who may utilize any character’s image for internal materials shared within “the fleet” (current Outbound Hope players and staff) during the event.
