Is this for me?
The core vision for Spoils of War is to experience an epic drama in the endpoint and aftermath of a brutal world war. All characters are significant and no one important in the world is outside larp.
Core elements of the larp is structured trials and negotiations where the houses will settle what the cost of war and war crimes should be for individuals and houses – and where the future of everyone is settled.
Playstyle and pacing
The playstyle will be Nordic in origin and focus on “Play to lift”. More about this in the workshops. I invite you to think of Spoils of War as a Nordic larp in fantasy disguise and stylewise leaning towards “epic” play. The characters are in the most exceptional circumstances of their lives and their decisions and actions have potentially world changing consequences – but mostly they will try to build the best possible future for themselves and those they love. Think of the noble familie more as gangsters than posh Brits. Yes, manners matter, but they have just been to war, and many of them are rowdy. This is not a larp, where we sit around battling on politeness (except than during the Feast of Life), and grand gestures as well as subtle ones are very welcome.
During the ingame playtime, there will be options for short offgame calibrations during scenes, but there will be no offgame comments in ingame areas and no longer offgame conversations outside offgame areas. The GM will be playing a character in the larp.
Spoils of War is what I call a “Frontloaded” larp. There are a lot of complicated relations in the character backgrounds as well as a dramatic intro scene to start of the larp. We also begin the larp in the end of a great war for there to be lots to play on that has already happened instead of ending up in a big war in the end. Frontloading also means that there are more planned events in the beginning of the larp as well as a high intensity beginning of the game. Later, most of the time will be free play, but there are some collective activities that all characters will participate in.
That means that pacing wise, we are jumping right into the core of the larp instead of walking around and saying “hello” for ages.
Dinner warfare
Day two of the larp will include a long meal with the winning and losing side together designed around “Dinner Warfare”. You can read more about that concept here:
Playing an engaging victim
Another core concept of the larp is practising the skill of “Playing an engaging victim”. We will lift each others’ play – especially when we are playing oppression play, and you can read more about the concept here:
This experience is for you if you want:
- Personal drama
- A deep and epic bespoke setting
- Themes range in a spectrum from family, romance, broken expectations, abuse of power, oppression, abuser/victim dynamics to vengeance and a pinch of mysticism
- A Nordic style, feminist larp played out in a unique setting evolving around the aftermath of a brutal war where women and men have fought, loved and died
- A story with a set stage where you can focus completely on the conflicts in the game
- A larp that raises the question of what a real victory is while facing the horrors of war. If your enemies are rivalling houses, many of whom are your friends and family, wherein lies the true victory? Does anyone even win?
- Appropriate workshops (regarding game mechanics and safety techniques) to properly introduce you to the world, your groups and the setting itself
- A “front-loaded” larp with long characters (10-14 pages) with complex, predetermined relations and planned events for the first part of the larp and then less and less organiser determined content the longer you get into the larp.
- Dinner warfare
This larp is not for you if you seek to:
- “Win the game” through power or strength
- Fight in epic battles
- Keep all your secrets close to your chest
- Play a high fantasy game with obvious magic and magical creatures
- Wander around in a historically accurate representation
- Unexpected outside threats in the narrative used to push the plot forward
- Many player rules and numerical stats
- A plot where you are to prevent an impending disaster; e.g. the end of the world
Inspiration
Inspired by Game of Thrones, The Tudors, European history and a dash of Shakespeare. Spoils of War is an intense larp where you can fully immerse yourself into the world of the fictional setting ‘The Starlands’ as people inhabiting the war-ravaged lands.
Gender and background
We highly encourage all genders and backgrounds to join this larp.
Please note that there are only binary roles (men and women) ingame, but all genders are welcome to play all characters. In the casting form you will be asked whether you want to play a male or a female character, but this has nothing to do with your offgame gender.
No offgame discrimination!
Sexism, racism, body shaming, non-consensual sexual behaviour and bullying based on offgame traits are strictly forbidden at this larp. Please note, however, that some characters will display an inherent racism towards the other culture in the game; “The Woodlanders”. Some characters will also play Woodlanders, but you will only get cast into this kind of character if you specifically state in the casting form that this is a concept you want to include as part of your game.
Cultural differences
Please note that this will be an international larp, and we probably all have different larp cultures. Be observant and empathetic. If you can sense that another participant is either insecure or reacts in a way you’re not used to, rather go off-game and talk with each other to ensure that you’re all having fun.
Safety
Safety is of utmost importance to the organisational team but we want to make it a baseline as to make it possible to be brave in your interactions with your co-players. Since we do have different playing cultures as players, there will be workshops of how to escalate slowly, leave situations and calibrating. The workshops also include specific exercises of how to play on sex and violence. We aim to create an “Umbrella of safety” that will make the players dare to play on the harsh themes of the larp and opt in to situations they want to experience so that we can create something truly dramatic together.
Please note that Spoils of War will feature physical interactions, and a good baseline of what you should be okay with could be e.g. a stranger touching your arm, holding your hand or kissing you on the cheek. If you are not comfortable with this, Spoils of War is probably not a larp for you.
Characters can choose to act in violent or sexual ways, experience dramatic breakdowns or suffer from mortifying humiliations. For sexual play of any kind up to theatrical sex (dry humping) is alright, but no offgame sex is allowed. There is no nudity of torsos or genital areas allowed during the larp.
Spoils of War is a larp containing dark themes, and it can include triggering subjects such as violence, war crimes, torture, sexual violence, pregnancy, abortion and racism. You will NEVER be forced into this kind of play, if you don’t want to, you can always leave a situation. You are always in control of your own body! But you have to be okay with the themes being part of the larp, and the fact that they might be played out while you are present.
The philosophy of Narrators Inc. is that self-care comes first. We expect you to take responsibility for your own experience and well-being. To help you with this, we will provide a designated safety person on location if you need to talk to someone during the LARP.
Offgame room and safety team
There is an offgame room available where you can take breaks from the game. Here you can also have a talk with the game masters if you feel that your game has gotten stuck. Furthermore, there will be a designated safety team that are not part of the organisation in general and who don’t play characters. They will also host a voluntary debrief after the game.
