MECHANICS

For those who have larped for a long time and have played Angst in the past: we wish to change some things.

We will no longer have a system. We will have very simple mechanics for insanity and supernatural effects. But you will no longer receive a character sheet which tells you how your physique and skills are.
We wish to progress into a role play environment where people try to lift each others experience instead of focussing on what they can do.
This play to lift has been a standard for many years in many LARPS throughout Europe and are mostly known as Nordic Larps.

Nordic larp is a term for shared larp traditions in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. What sets the Nordic larp traditions apart from others is a strong emphasis on collaboration and collective creation, unobtrusive rules, as well as a rich variety of play styles and settings sometimes including heavy themes. (from https://nordiclarp.org/what-is-nordic-larp/)

We strive for Angst to still be the experience of old, but with a new style of play. There is no winning or losing, it's the experience that counts.

We want to create a safe 'play to lift' environment where players of great experience or first-timers both have a good time, have a great experience and go home with a feeling of gratitude. Where people dare to go insane, do horrible things or lose everything they have and afterwards laugh about it when the event is done.

We will explain how we wish to achieve this, on how to play and check with your fellow players in several short yet important workshops before we start to play. In these hours you will get to know your fellow players a bit.

In your character briefing you will receive several contacts you have in the game so you can establish the relations between your contacts beforehand and perhaps even discuss certain scenes or topics you wish to play.

SAFETY MECHANICS DURING THE LARP

Calibration and Safety

Angst is a LARP with themes of terror, desperation and decent into madness. Because of this, participants have a set of calibration mechanics they can use to control their own experience.

We advise players to calibrate offgame in the offgame room to coordinate scenes. If this is not possible because of how the games develops one needs to use a calibration technique.

These mechanics are:

No Surprises – Never do anything to another player by surprise. Instead, approach and move slowly and telegraph what you’ll do, perhaps even verbalizing it. “Oh, I’m going to choke you now!”

This way, your co-player won’t be caught by surprise and has time to react and use calibration mechanics if needed.

Opt Out – You can always exit any scene. If you need to signal to your co-players that you’re opting out, lift your hand above your eyes and sneak away. When you do this, your co-players should play around your exit as naturally as possible. You don’t have to justify opting out in any way. If you are already in a scene an it is hard to show this you can also ‘tap out’ simply tap your fellow player twice. If they do not notice you can do so again but more clear. Then lift your hand above your eyes and move away from the scene.

Examples:

– A person in a mad aggressive state wants to jump you. He announces this but you realize this is too much for you. You move away with your hand above your eyes. The play continues but without you.

– You’re being carried outside by a crowd of people. Because the ground is wet, you use the safeword and ask someone to fetch your shoes, putting them on before the scene resumes.

– You suddenly notice a physical safety hazard, such as a candle that has fallen down. You use the safeword and put it out.

Note that you don’t have to justify the use of the safeword and if someone uses it, you shouldn’t pressure them to explain why.

The Tapout – This is the physical version of the safeword. You can tapout by tapping a co-player twice in quick succession or by tapping your own body in a place where your co-players will see it.

This is useful if you can’t speak for some reason, if you don’t want to disturb a big scene, or if speaking is otherwise undesirable.

The most immediate meaning of the tapout is: “Stop doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

Examples:

– A co-player’s character is in a state of raving madness and pushes you down to the floor. Your foot gets caught in an uncomfortable position so you tap your co-player’s shoulder twice to let them know there’s an issue. They get off you, you adjust your position, and the scene resumes.

– A co-player is feeding you a food item that you can’t eat because of your off-game eating restrictions. You give a quick double tap on your own chest while looking pointedly at the food item. Your co-player moves the scene into another direction.

Sex Mechanics

During the LARP, we will not focus on heavy sexual content. However, if it should happen you’re participating in a sex scene, you should have at least briefs, panties, etc. on.

The method for playing sex scenes is to mime them out theatre-style. With some types of sex acts, this means dry humping, but experience has shown that sex scenes are more interesting to play if they incorporate other elements as well.

You should not have actual sex involving genital stimulation or penetration in this LARP.

Violence Mechanics

Acts that would cause physical harm to another player should be played out theatre-style. For example, if you punch someone, telegraph the move so they know what you’re doing, and then mime the punch without putting any force into it. Then your co-player will act as if the punch really connected.

There is no character death or serious injury in the LARPexcept in pre-planned scenes.

These themes and mechanics will be treated during the workshops as well.

Thanks to Maria Pettersson and Juhana Pettersson for the text.