PlaystyleThe setting is not seen by any of the characters as dystopian or oppressive – this system is the best solution humankind could come up with given the situation with the infection. Rebelling against it would be seen as something similar to e.g. rebelling against public schooling or vaccinations, It is not the theme of the larp except, optionally, at the very end, when two characters could potentially choose to be Banished together.
The intended tone of the game is mildly absurdist relationship drama – we recommend you watch one or both of our inspirations (Hang the DJ and The Lobster) before you play the larp because this will be exactly the tone of the game (we want to reassure you though, in a spoiler-free way, that there will be no unexpected setting twists in the larp). It is a story about attempting to have romantic relationships with a variety of people, some better suited to you than others, about growing as a person and looking for true love, whatever that means. It is not intended to be “misery porn”, though there may be some difficult themes in the character backstories (e.g. depression, bullying, emotionally abusive parents). However, there will be no sexual abuse. |
The world our characters live in is slightly more progressive than our current world – there is a bit less racism, a bit less homophobia and more social equality. These themes may still exist but are not the focus of the larp. The partner-matching takes into account the characters’ declared sexualities, but in some cases it might turn out that “it knows you better than you know yourself” and your character might be surprised by getting matched with someone of a gender they didn’t think they could be attracted to. In the sign-up form the *players* will be able to declare their preferences and we will respect these, of course – however, we encourage the players to be open to exploring romantic play with any gender in this larp. Babies are grown in vats and created based on the genome of both partners regardless of their sex, so any couple has the option to procreate.
Playing on romance is the main theme of the larp (with personal growth and discovery being a secondary theme). A common worry is “I don’t see myself as attractive, so no one will want to play romance with me” – we want to reassure you that the larp design prevents it from turning into a “popularity contest”. For each relationship, the players will get a meta-level instruction specifying how attracted (physically, romantically and in general) their character is to the other person, ranging from “you fall head over heels in love with them” to “you think they’re a horrible person”. The larp design on a meta-level ensures that the emotional tone of each relationship is pre-planned to provide everyone enough play of the kind they like, be it star-crossed lovers, unreciprocal crush on a best friend or being stuck with a partner you hate (you will be able to specify your preferences in the sign-up form). |
SafetyThe larp's safety approach is to provide a brave space where participants feel supported and confident in exploring their emotions. We emphasise player agency: there will be a single safeword, "offgame", which can be used for all purposes. Players will be encouraged to negotiate relationships as necessary before playing them, and it is always encouraged to go offgame for discussion when the need arises.
|