We will have ample time to go through all this information together, make sure to bring your questions to the workshops.
play style - how to larp?
collaborative & narrative
There is nothing to win, nobody to defeat, no real secret to crack (apart from inner secrets, perhaps). Accept other players’ ideas and invitations and try to help them understand yours. The intensity of your story will depend on what you want to create together.
The characters’ backgrounds and the tapes (see Narrative techniques ->) are here to help you and to inspire you. Fill the gaps as you please. Should you want to take another direction, feel free to twist your character accordingly but make sure it doesn’t hinder the other player’s ability to play.
You are never forced to play. If you feel it makes no sense for your character to engage in the discussion and if you don’t want to partake in a scene, you can get out of the scene. Keep in mind, however, that it can sometimes be interesting to push through a situation that is difficult to understand or to play.
flexible & surreal
The two groups play in two different halves of the same space.
In this version of the prototype, there is no visible separation between the halves; you will have to pay attention to where people in your group are and stick to that area of the set.
The groups play back and forth, each group becoming the audience of the other consecutively.
Contradictions and paradoxes are part of the game. It is likely that a lot of things will get mixed up: names, archetypes, gender, what’s real and what’s fantasized, what’s in the past, the present or the future. Accept the confusion, everything is valid.
The information revealed by one group is somewhat intuitively revealed to the other group. As such, the groups can use each other's knowledge to build their own narration. It is recommended to wait until act 2 before revealing anything meaningful about the characters.
Relationships
Characters do not have strong prewritten relationships within their expedition group, if any at all. You are very welcome to decide during the play to get closer or more antagonistic to other characters and there might be hints in the tapes to do so.
You can also decide to remain neutral and focus on inner emotional play. However, there will be a few scripted flashbacks that will stage your other relations, breaking the mirror between the groups.
narrative Techniques
note: there will be time before we play to discuss and rehearse the narrative techniques.
breakdown of the game
The two expeditions walk in the Woods until they arrive at a stop.
During the walk in the Woods: you will listen to individual tapes and, once arrived, you will play the act. The sets in the prototype are not very big, but your movement pace has been slowed down to encourage you to walk around while listening to your soundtrack.
During a stop, or "act": the two groups will separate in two different halves of the sets. The groups will play back and forth, in front of each other (see bell, below).
Group 1 starts roleplaying as soon as all players are separated into their groups.
Each act will end with the sound of howling wolves, signaling the Woods are pressuring the groups to move on.
the tapes
The tapes are a stream of thoughts and/or a soundscape that you will listen to during the walk. They are meant to:
-
help the characters’ state of mind to evolve and guide them through the different acts and their themes
(Doubts – Nostalgia – Disillusion – Despair – Truth) -
Give the characters ideas to develop their relations to each other.
You can decide how much these tapes influence, or not, your character.
the bell
The two groups are mirroring each other, they went through this journey at different times, and, somehow, they are now superimposed on the same space.
They cannot interact with the other group, and they cannot play at the same time.
As a player, you see what the other group does and can reflect and use what they say, but as a character, you only see and interact with your own group.
When one group plays, the other watches them, and vice versa.
The bell technique indicates that it is time to switch which group is roleplaying. In future versions, the sound will be triggered by players themselves.
By default, group 1 (Guide, Scholar, Author) starts all the scenes.
flashbacks
During some stops, there will be flashbacks.
These are scenes from the past that can be either real or fantasized.
Those flashbacks will be introduced by a brief narration and a change of soundscape.
When you start hearing the announcement of a flashback, try to pay attention: you might get called into the scene as your character, or as a support character.
During the flashbacks, you can play in the entire space (as opposed to your group's half)
At the end of a flashback, the play resumes where it was left - if the bell rings, the next group starts playing.