Practical
Event overview
Dates
Run 3: Friday the 6th of December 2024 to Sunday the 8th of December 2024.
Run 4: Friday the 3rd of January 2025 to Sunday the 5th of January 2025.
Workshops start on Friday at noon.
You have to leave the venue on Sunday at 11.
Sign-up
Open opens on March 17th and closes on April 17th, 2024
Price
660 euro. Instalments possible.
Number of players
29
Organisation
Narrators Inc. is behind this not-for-profit larp. It has been designed by Maria Pettersson and Katrine Wind.
Language
English
Age limit
18+
Contact email
helicon@narrators.eu
Location
Broholm Castle, Broholmsvej 32, 5884 Gudme, Denmark
aesthetics and Costumes
The larp is set in the “vintage era”, which encompasses any time from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.
Those playing Inspired are asked to find a suitable costume which will portray their character. They can be modest or outrageous according to the character’s personality and taste, but should aesthetically fit the vintage era. Historical accuracy is not important. Inspired can use any colour apart from white and gold. A white shirt under a set of other colors is okay but the white should be toned down.
The Muses will dress in white and gold. Their clothes can contain influences of the fashions of ancient Greece, or they can be from the vintage era. Ingame, the Inspired will choose what clothes they give to their Muses; off-game the costume should be up to the player of the Muse.
All gamemaster-generated content will take place inside. You can play outside if you want to, in which case we encourage you to bring a suitable coat, as Denmark in winter can be cold.
Location
The location is a gorgeous upscale boutique and gourmet hotel. You don’t need to bring towels or bed linen. The hotel will provide everything.
You sleep in two person bedrooms with your Muse/Inspired partner. Most of the beds are double beds but you can ask for beds that are separated. If you have special needs regarding sleeping arrangements, please let us know in the sign up form. We will sleep off-game both nights.
Some of the rooms have their own bathrooms and showers, while others have two shared bathrooms in the hallway. In addition, there are some common toilets in the play area.
Address:
Broholm Castle
Broholmsvej 12
5884 Gudme
Denmark
Travel
If you don’t travel by car, take the train to Nyborg Station. It runs directly from Copenhagen central station and several other Danish cities and costs about 50 euro. Then take the bus no. 930 to “Rudkøbing” and get off at the stop “Broholm Gods”. It stops right in front of the castle and takes 26 minutes from Nyborg Station.
If you are flying, Copenhagen, Hamborg or Billund airports are preferable and you can reach the location by train. However, we recommend not flying to this larp if you have the opportunity not to.
ACCESSIBILITY
The venue is an old castle, and it is not very mobility friendly. Rooms are on the 1st and 2nd floors, and we play on the 3rd floor as well. This means that you need to be able to walk on stone stairs. During much of the larp you will be able to sit down on comfortable chairs or couches. Lights in some of the rooms might be dim in the evening.
You will be asked about your special needs in the sign-up form. If you want to discuss accessibility before sign-up, please write us an email.
Language
Food and drinks
Friday afternoon: Afternoon coffee with home-made cake (so bring your own lunch!)
Friday evening: Three course dinner with the option of a wine menu/alcohol-free drinks menu
Saturday breakfast: Buffet with local specialities
Saturday Lunch: One course meal
Saturday evening: Two course dinner with the option of a wine menu/alcohol-free drinks menu
Sunday brunch: Buffet with local specialities
For all meals, most dietary requirements can be met, as the hotel is used to handling special dietary needs. You will be asked about your dietary needs in the sign-up form.
We will be serving non-alcoholic drinks. Some alcohol will be available during the game (so beer, wine and bubbles), and will be included in the price. Water, coffee, tea and snacks, as well as some soda and beer are available at all times. We will serve some drinks after the larp has ended, but you can bring your own alcohol for the afterparty.
Photos
A photographer will join us to document the larp. You can also have your portrait taken.
You can request not to feature in pictures. Before the photos are published, you will get access to the pictures to sort out ones that you would like deleted.
Organisers may use the approved photos to document or promote the larp.
Schedule
There will be a strict time-management policy at this larp. This means that workshops and play will start on time, and we will not be waiting for anyone. This also applies to break times. So please plan your trip thoroughly so that you can be at the venue on time, and preferably wear an in-game appropriate watch.
We completely understand that this is not a preferred style for many people, but we would rather provide clear expectation management.
Ingame, a lot of the time will be spent in free play, but there are some collective activities that all characters will participate in: meals, rituals and fake-showings of art are the most prominent of these. However, these collective activities will not be time-consuming compared to the time available to play freely. So please contribute any and all ideas for relationships, scenes, plots, etc, that you want to play with your co-players during the larp. It is a co-creation experience.
Friday
12-12:30 Show up, put on the name tag with your character’s name, which we will provide upon arrival, and make sure you have eaten your own lunch. No lunch will be provided on Friday. We check into the rooms at 15:00.
12:30-13 Presentation of the setting and opportunity for questions (briefing)
13-15.10 First part of the workshop, without costumes
15:10-16.50 Check into the rooms and get afternoon coffee and cake. Dress up and get into costumes. More time to calibrate if you are done with costumes
16:50-18 Last workshops, in costumes
18 Act 1. The larp starts with the failed escape and punishment ritual
19 In-game dinner
~23 Muse ritual/flashback scene for Inspired
~23:45 End of act 1 and everybody offgame.
Please don’t party on Friday night. Take some time to talk to your relations, or to decompress – whatever you need.
Saturday
08-09:45 Off-game breakfast. Time to get into costume.
10-10:30 Group photo, calibration off-game, info on Act 2
10:30-11 Act 2 starts with a flashback scene
13-14 Lunch in-game
14:30 Party and complete draining of the Muses. Some Inspired will show what they have achieved during the previous year.
15:30-16:30 Off-game break
16:30 Off-game calibration time
17 Act 3 starts
18:30 In-game dinner
20:30 Binding ritual
21.45-22:30 At some point during the time, the Finale happens with all characters present. Helicon ends. Short common debrief and a voluntary longer debrief hosted by the safety person as well as afterparty.
Sunday 7th of January/18th of February
08-10 Off-game breakfast
10-11 Saying goodbye and packing your things. You have to be out of the rooms by 11.
Safety mechanics and self-care
A safety person will be at your service at all times during the larp, and available also after the larp. There will be workshops about how to escalate slowly, leave situations and calibrate using the word “offgame”.
Please note that the larp will feature physical interactions, and a good baseline of what you should be okay with could be, a stranger touching your arm, shouting at you, holding your hand or kissing you on the cheek. If you are not comfortable with this, Helicon is probably not a larp for you.
For sensual play, touching each other on non-genital and front torso areas and embracing of any kind is okay (if calibrated of course!).
Calibration means that players discuss offgame and decide what their characters do ingame. We encourage players to calibrate in order to get an optimal experience. Some things like simulated violence or intimate touch should always be calibrated.
If you get to the point where you want your characters to actually have sex, you will have to go to a private space and to play it out or to “fade to black” (go off-game). No off-game sex or nudity is allowed during play.
Careful stunt fighting will be opt-in as an option but not required.
Players can decide that their characters act in violent or sensual ways, experience dramatic breakdowns or suffer from mortifying humiliations. Helicon is a larp containing both light and dark themes, and it can include triggering subjects, such as violence, oppression, abandonment, gaslighting, controlling behaviour, sexual violence and mental-health issues.
You can always leave a situation, and you are always in control of your own body! But, it is important that you are okay with these themes being part of the larp, and the fact that they might be played out while you are present.
Our philosophy 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, in case you need to talk to someone during the larp.
No off-game discrimination
Gender and background
We highly encourage people of all genders and backgrounds to join this larp.
There are male, female and non-binary mortal characters in the larp. In mythology, muses are usually female gendered, but in this larp, muses can be of any gender (he/she/they/other/none).
Players of all off-game genders are welcome to play all characters – both humans and muses. In the casting form you will be asked if you have a gender preference for your character, but this has nothing to do with your off-game gender, which you will not be asked about in the sign-up. Within a pair, the Inspired and the Muse can be of either the same or different genders.