A World without summer

Three years ago the sky darkened and the world turned into a hopeless place without summer. Spring came late and autumn early, leading to crop failure and famine around the world. People across all countries tried to find out the reason for this darkening. Some claimed it to be the result of the eruption of a volcano, others believe it was the wrath of the Saints because people stopped believing in Providence, and some blamed witchcraft to be the cause for this catastrophe.

 

Once thriving countries now struggled for ressources and with unrest on any level. People started fighting over what little was left. After a first wave of conventional and civil wars left peoples’ hope and land in ruin, more people became susceptible to all kinds of outlandish ideas like building societies into the warm rock of volcanoes, building gargantuan, impossibly to maintain, greenhouses that would contain whole cities, or venturing out into the wasteland to find more hospitable landscapes.

 

One of those ventures arose from a tale of a warm oasis or a passage into the land of spring high up in the mountains.

 

One of these ideas was a tale of an oasis of green fields and warm springs that can be found high up in the mountains close to the sun. Most versions of this tale said that it would be a place to survive until summer came back, others even claimed that in the spring there was a passage into another world.

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The City of Nondon

The prosperity of Nondon is built on three pillars: Faith, science and social hierarchy.

Faith gives the people hope and guidance. The Saints are the guardians of Providence. They help those who do right and punish those who do wrong.

Science brought a new age, an age of prosperity, innovations and industrialisation. While the nobility gains more power, most of the common folks suffer under the squalor of the industrial revolution.

Social order keeps stability and peace. Everyone knows, the nobles look out for the less fortunate and the common people carry their burden with dignity.

 

Most Nondoners are proud to be Nondoners. Nondon is the center of an empire so vast, that the sun never sets. An empire to be proud of. Even when they are just a small cog in the machine, every proud Nondoner is doing their part. Every Nondoner does their best to build a small fortune with hard honest work and putting their trust in the Saints. Do good and gain just a little bit more Providence and one day their children will live in a better world.

 

Every Nondoner is taught to be cautious of those who envy the fortune of their neighbors. They want more than their Providence provides them and the worst of them even entertain the thought of using witchcraft to take what is not theirs. Wicked work that opposes the very fabric of faith and Providence. Sorcery that makes your milk go sour, your family's portrait fall off the wall or a raven crash into your window.

 

When the years without summer came, Nondon managed to keep out of most wars, but they did not remain unscathed. The political unity suffered, many people resorted to stronger anti-witch sentiments and everyone suffered from the imminent threat of a famine.

 

As soon as the tale of the passage spread, many people from Nondon joined the race. Some political and military leaders made an effort to join the race as well, but they were never united enough for full involvement. Therefore they did just enough to claim that they were involved if any of these efforts would turn out to be fruitful.

 

The City of Lutece

Lutece is a city of beauty, arts and opulence. Due to its history it also became a boiling pot of different ideas of equality which led to quite some turmoil in the past and an attitude that anyone with the right mindset and Providence can rise.

 

When the years without summer came, the Lutecian empire got pulled into many different wars. After a while the Lutece commune, a union of Lutecian commoners, decided to rise up, take over the city and expel all nobles, on the grounds of spreading rumours that the Lutecian nobility was harboring witches.

 

Faith and the Saints

In Nondon and Lutece people worship the Saints. In their lifetime the Saints were humans who ascended into sainthood because of their selfless deeds.

 

After their death the Saints became guardians of Providence. A Believe, that any person acting righteously will one day get something in return and any person acting selfishly will get punished for their deeds one day. Most people agree that Providence can be inherited and that one’s deeds not only affect yourself but also your next of kin.

 

Every Nondoner and Lutecian knows someone who knows someone who has seen the spirit of a Saint wandering the world.

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Design

Ready to play

The Passage is a ready to play larp and you are only required to read the written source material for your character, put some thought into how you want to interpret your character, and consult with the organisers if there are any issues. You will neither be asked nor get the possibility to partake in writing the character, creating additional connections or preplan scenes for a character.

 

You will receive all the equipment (costume, expedition gear, provision, weapons, bandages) needed to play this game except a few specific costume pieces, your out of character sleeping gear and personal sanitary products. The costumes will be provided by a professional tailor.

 

You will also receive a “diary” containing a shortened version of your character information, and for each chapter of the game (approximately 3-4h of playtime) a short text containing inputs for your game. Many of these inputs can be discarded at the player's discretion, some are meant as a guide for the pacing of the game and give you permission to take the spotlight. In some instances there are clearly marked instructions that you have to follow because they are important for the story of other characters.

We encourage you to enrich your character play and the aesthetic of the game by bringing decorative elements, songs, poems, memorabilia and stories from your character’s past. Please do not bring any game relevant equipment without checking in with the organisers before the game.

 

Surprises and Transparency

The Passage is not transparent by design. There are certain aspects to the characters and the story that we don’t want to be shared before the game, that can be discovered in-game. The game is still designed in a way that you as a player will be able to react to the surprises in character and not be overwhelmed out of character.

 

As a result we will ask you to keep the pre-game calibration down to the guided workshops, and neither to exchange any character information, nor tell any other player what your characters really think of each other. However, players will have the chance prior to the game to get to know each other as well as set general boundaries and play preferences.

 

You will not participate in planning any scenes out of character ahead of the game nor during the game. We will provide a selected set of meta techniques that you can use to opt out of a scene and that you can use to indicate to other players that you want to escalate.

 

Narrative and Fateplay

«The Passage» works with pre-written narratives for each character. During the casting process you will have the possibility to express what types of narratives you wish to experience. Many of these narratives contain fateplay to a certain degree. There will be moments where the fate of your character will be decided by something that you can’t control.

 

Fiction vs History

The Passage is set in a fictional setting that takes a lot of inspiration from late 19th century Europe. Despite Nondon being inspired by London and Lutece being inspired by Paris we ask you not to add an artificial French or British accent to your character.

 

We do understand that gender was a really important topic for the late 19th century, but apart from the aesthetic aspects gender roles and conflicts will be ignored in the game.

Safety and Content

Your safety is important to us. We will do our best to ensure your physical safety and mental wellbeing during the whole experience. We will have designated people to provide emotional support during the game and we will have safety briefings and workshops on physical play.

 

That said, this game takes place in winter in a cabin in the alps and tackles certain heavy topics. Each player will have to agree on sign-up to be okay with being exposed to certain topics and be prepared for the physical demands of this game. You will also have to agree that you won’t have the possibility to calibrate certain elements and you will be responsible for your own limits and opt-out of scenes accordingly using the meta techniques that we will provide.

 

The game tells the story of a dire situation, a desperate last resort in a fight for survival. All players will encounter fake blood, injuries, violence, tales of domestic violence, spiders, bullying, death (including suicide), class segregation, xenophobia and witchhatred (a conflict using similar mechanisms as racism, ableism and othering).

 

Despite the historical inspiration for the game there are certain elements that will not be part of the game. We will not play on gender, sexism, homophobia and racism.

 

Every social role can be taken on by a character of any gender and every player can take on any gender representation no matter their gender. That said, you will have to decide on the gender representation on the costume form.

 

There will be no homophobia. In our gameworld it can be absolutely normal, that someone has two biological fathers or two biological mothers.

 

There will be some character connections that we encourage to be played as romances and others with the option to be played as romances or close platonic friendships. We will flag them accordingly during the casting and you will get the possibility to calibrate them with your partner.

 

There won’t be any play on intimacy and sexual violence will not be part of this game. The limit is what is nowadays accepted in public in Switzerland, which means that consensual physical contact is allowed.

 

Meta techniques

In order to keep the game flowing as best as possible we will put some selected meta techniques in place. 

I’m done here!

You are responsible for your own limits. If you want to opt out of a scene because it is about to exceed your limit in intensity or for whatever other reason, you can always leave a scene and say “I’m done here”. Any other player will let you leave the scene without questioning nor following you.

If you want people to react to your leaving, you can still leave a scene with any other exclamation like “You are idiots, I won’t argue with you any longer!”

The key phrase for this mechanic is: “I’m done here.”

Look down

If you need to whisper something out of character to someone or you have to chuckle, but it would not be in character for the dead serious figure you’re playing etc., you place your hand above the eyes.

“Look down” is a method to signal that your behavior is not in character, but the character is still there.

Never ever tell anybody

If you have a secret and you as a player want it to spread but your character doesn’t you can use the “never ever tell anybody” mechanic. When you confess to a friend, or have a secret of someone else and are talking to another friend, your character can always tell them to “never ever tell anybody”. Your character can then tell the whole story at ease, because they know that their friend would never betray their trust. Meanwhile your co-player knows that this is a secret that needs to be spread, and their character can go to their next friend, tell them to “never ever tell anybody” and then continue to tell the whole story with some extra flavour.

(Not so) Silent Prayer

Whenever you want, ideally before an expedition leaves or when there are people otherwise gathering nearby, you can go to the altar and pray to the Saints. There are two mechanics, that are activated by beginning your prayer with a certain phrase:

• “Saint XY I confess…” can be used when you have a secret and you want other characters to know it and start a gossip chain.

• “Saint XY please keep me safe from…” when you wish your co-players to escalate. If they hear this, they know that you as a player actually want this to happen to your character. (Please be aware, this only applies to the praying character, if a character prays for the safety of another character it’s just a prayer and not this technique.)

 

Physical demands and accessibility 

We expect the participants to be physically fit enough to walk in heavy snow and climb steep inclines.

 

We will have to adjust the routes of the expeditions to the weather. If the snow allows, the longest route (one way) will be about 3 km in length and 150 m rise. People will go on up to four expeditions during the whole game.

 

We would like to make the game as accessible as possible. There is a limited number of spots for people that don’t want to go on any expedition, you will still have to be able to march about 1 km through difficult terrain. If you are unable to do this, please contact the organisation and we will work on a solution together.