This LARP is NOT for you if:
- You have any actual sympathy or tolerance for the following: Fascism, Anti-Semitism, blackmail, betrayal, sexism, racism, psychological manipulation or any other kind of oppression or prejudice.
- You struggle to cope out of character with ‘in character’ struggle, military discipline, potential for failure, potential discrimination.
- You want a luxurious roleplay environment.
- You are looking for a full reenactment experience.
- You want extensive elements of ‘out of character’ chat or decompression.
Style Dials
The following aspects, on a scale of 1 to 10, can be used as a guide to the nature of the event.
With Realism and Accuracy being a 10 and a Hollywood version of History being a 1
With regard to the overall nature of the story or plotlines, on a scale of ‘this is the moment that SOE saves the World’ being a 10 and just another Day in the Life of an SOE Agent being a 1
Players’ experience of the next ratings will vary depending on their preferences and allocation of SOE archetypes
With classroom/theoretical learning being a 1 and practical/hands on learning being a 10
With regard to personal plotlines, if ‘cardboard cutout’ was a 1 and ‘self absorbed and broken Hamlet’ was a 10
With indoor, more sedentary and intellectual play being a 1 and outdoor, action oriented and explosive play being a 10
What is the experience?
Our event is based around simulated, historically accurate and hopefully interesting lessons and activities, followed by evaluations in groups and solo to determine whether candidates are suitable for the dangerous missions that await them. Participation in both training and evaluations is key but a Players’ actual aptitude is not the only consideration. Roleplay around a candidates’ proficiency is expected from both the candidate and the evaluator. That said, Players should be realistic about their aptitude for certain tasks so as to not have to stretch roleplay too far. If a Player knows they are awful at puzzles and maths, it’s probably best not to choose to play an arch codebreaker! They probably won’t enjoy their time and the narrative will suffer.
A key aspect to this LARP will be the ability to dial up or down (within reason) the aspects of SOE training and experience that appeal to you. One key way we will achieve this is that we will have three different types of agent available to play: Saboteurs, Standard Agents and Specialists. These are described in the Characters section but essentially allow Players to choose the type of activities they get involved in.
- Accessibility:
The event will involve moving about a country house that has not been designed to modern accessibility standards and so it features things such as uneven floors, steps and narrow corridors. There is only a small amount of accessible accommodation on the ground floor. That said, we encourage anyone with a disability or accessibility requirement to contact us to discuss if we can find a way to involve them in some or all of the activities. There are certainly aspects of the event and roles within the event that would be suitable for all levels of physical ability and other conditions can be catered for e.g. availability of documents in large print etc.
- Language content:
The LARP will be run exclusively in English. This is to allow all participants to have an equal footing and common language. Within the game context, SOE obviously taught the vast majority of its content in English. It is deemed that all candidates are sufficiently skilled and passed as competent in the languages they need to undertake their missions. Obviously if Players of a nationality wish to talk to each other in their own language, that is their prerogative, but we ask that this is kept to a minimum and used to enhance game rather than restrict.
- Mental and Emotional pressure
Players will be placed in high pressure situations and face a number of moral dilemmas. The game aims to push this as a theme and all characters will face this sort of struggle directly as well as through other Players. As the sensitive topics section below covers, there will be frequent mentions of violence, physical injury, murder, anti-semitism etc. Please consider carefully whether this sort of emotional and mental pressure is something you are comfortable to explore.
Sensitive topics: Historical perspective and our approach
Historical LARPs are an opportunity to understand the thinking of another time and often to contrast the wrong thinking of other societies with our own (which whilst imperfect, has developed). They can be an opportunity to understand what it must have been like to be the subject of oppression or prejudice or indeed to be a perpetrator of such behaviour.
This requires a delicate social contract and puts responsibility on all our participants to understand that these topics will exist and that they may find their characters taking positions that they themselves disagree with vehemently. A trust must exist that no-one is expressing controversial or prejudicial views that are their own or transgress the boundaries of the LARP we are creating together.
That said, we will employ mechanisms to ensure that all individuals can express their desire to tone down elements of play or to take themselves away from these elements altogether. These are shown in a section below. The mental safety and wellbeing of our participants is much more important than maintaining a narrative or spoiling an atmosphere.
The SOE ran its training and evaluation venues with military discipline and somewhat harsh methods. However, the organisation cast its net very wide and was very inclusive, so long as you could prove your usefulness. Women were treated equally and valued for their contributions. All nationalities and races were welcomed and given the same opportunities to demonstrate their worth. Political rivalries and dogma (within reason) were often put aside and, so long as candidates could demonstrate their enmity to the Nazi regime, they were tolerated. Disabilities were deemed to be good cover for agents, so long as they didn’t entirely impinge on performance. Sexual orientation was no barrier to becoming an Agent, although there would still have been prejudice and secrecy around this topic – both within the training and certainly once on a mission.
Whilst the organisation did not manage to entirely throw off the shackles of 1940s prejudice and wrong thinking, it was certainly a more open, tolerant and accepting environment than almost anywhere else in the world at the time. This atmosphere of acceptance was not an organic and benevolent one but rather driven from a practical and focussed approach to using every tool and method to wage war against the enemy.
There may be characters who exhibit prejudice – against women, sexual orientation, nationality or politics. This will always be in game and must be moderated and played carefully.