A High Fantasy LARP
Experience
The Larp
Rogaria is an Immersive High Fantasy Campaign LARP.
In this statement the order of adjectives is intentional.
First and foremost it is Immersive. We want the entire experience for each of our participants to be in-game, in-character and fully in line with our vision of the world. As such we aim at creating a setting where everything is 'what you see is what you get'.
Rogaria and the stories you write are of a High Fantasy nature. There are quite a lot of supernatural things going on, divine beings, magic in many forms and non-human races. Each of our participants is expected to wear an appropriate costume that fits within the style of the event. For our Non-Player-Characters, the crew will make a costume available.
The stories written in Rogaria are of a Campaign nature. There will be multiple events during which the story is driven forward by the participants. Any and all events, actions and decisions taken will have an impact on the world, the setting and future interactions. Your scenario team will set a scene, provide some groundwork and create challenges, all of which is aimed at encouraging you to write your own story on Rogaria.
That being said, it is perfectly possible to participate in a single event as we can and will provide you with all the necessary background on previous events to jump right into your character.
As Rogaria is not always a peaceful world, we will make use of foam weapons to play out combat. We do wish to mention that Rogaria aims at being a roleplay larp first and foremost, combat will happen, though most of the time diplomacy could prevail.
Design & Design Document
Belgium and Flanders by extension, have a long standing tradition of creating and playing a specific style of Campaign Larps.
We pride ourselves in creating long running stories with epic tales of heroics and drama. Of wars between nations and crusades against other religions. Personal vendettas and long lasting alliances.
More often than not, these Larps were not of Nordic Style, often more a 'Play To Win' situation in which character progression and growth played a primordial role.
With Rogaria we want to add Nordic Style touches to this story-creation-type of larping.
Rogaria is an attempt at creating a series of events that combine the best of both worlds.
We want to add workshops to our events, play to lift principles, callibration techniques and step away from power growth and play to win.
We very much realize this is an ambitious attempt at best and strongly encourage any and all feedback.
We have written our vision in a Design Document, which we expect all of participants to adhere to. We understand that for those participants that have experience in other Nordic Style larps, most of what is written in this document may seem obvious. We also understand that for many of the regular Belgian larpers some of the things in this document may seem strange and unconventional.
We are however convinced that everything we describe aims at improving your experience and will provide you and your co-participants with additional tools to heighten your fun and play.
Read it, ask questions about it, and challenge us into improving it.
Rogaria
Rogaria is a ficticious world, sprouted from the combined creative brains of Tom Boeckx and Pierre Van Damme. It was first unleashed on all of us back in 2004. A series of 20 events were played out in the campaign larp called 'Saga' culminating in an epic event back in 2016.
We now revisit Rogaria and jump back several thousand years in its history. So nothing that was relevant or known during that time is useful in our current series of events.
As it is a vast world with many layers of knowledge and interactions, we have written an extensive document describing the entire world and its inhabitants.
You can find it here:
We expect any and all participants to have read this document in its entirety.
It sets the foundation upon which the event is played.
In addition to the document describing the world, we have also provided a document containing a number of Mentor Scrolls which depict certain specific aspects of the society and culture(s) in which our events take place.
While these are not mandatory reading, they will give you a better insight into how the world lives and breathes.
What to expect (and what not to expect)
There are two ways to experience Rogaria. Either you participate as a Player Character (referred to as a PC) or as a Rogaria Population Character (referred to as an RPC).
Player Character (PC)
As a PC you create your own character that lives, breathes and walks around in Rogaria. You can set your own targets, you co-create your own story, you are part of your own Kraal, ... you are free to do as you please. Any and all interactions you have and decisions you make, will have consequences and subsequent reactions from within the world. You are expected to write your own background story, put forward your own goals and targets, put together your own costume and bring along your own foam weapon(s).
You also create the game-system part of your character, which will describe what type of character you put forward. Are you a scholar, a mage, a fighter, a wise one... The way you create your character decides how you start your story in Rogaria, it is however in no way limiting on how you evolve your story in Rogaria. We encourage you to seek out new experiences, be seduced by darker paths or be enamoured by heroic deeds. It is after all your story to write across many events.
How way to create your character is described in our Player Handbook. We ask you to read through this document as it describes any and all aspects of the 'game' part of Rogaris.
On top of that there are some FAQ on the rules which can be found here.
Rogaria Population Character (RPC)
As an RPC you receive a pre-written character from the crew. It will contain a background story, goals, character traits, connections and everything else you need to start writing your own story in Rogaria. While we set the scene for this character, it is yours to play out and make decisions on how your character progresses. We ask you to regularly provide the scenario team with some feedback on happenings so they can pick up on things.
While we will provide you with a costume and other props, we encourage you to bring your own things that might give additional panache to your character.
We will ensure you receive your briefing prior to the event with enough time to spare to read through it all and ask us additional questions should you have them.
We encourage our RPC's to also read through the Player Handbook so you are at least aware of what is possible in our game.
Triggers & Topics
Rogaria is an 18+ event. Anyone under the age of 18 who wishes to participate must be accompanied by an adult guardian and even then the crew reserves the right to deny participation.
Given the nature of our event, here is a (non-exhaustive) list of things you might experience in this larp:
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Violence (played out using foam weapons)
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Political discussions
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Moral discussions
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Theological discussions
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Racial conflicts
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Shouting
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Temptation into corruption
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Drama
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Disturbing imagery and props
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Medical experimentation
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Monster suits
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Puzzles
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Death
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A game system with a character sheet that depicts a number of (supernatural) things your character can do
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A challenge to reach goals, potentially in opposition to another participant's goals
Things you will not encounter in this larp:
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Sexual violence
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Cosmic Horror
How we deal with these topics, and much more, can be found on the Mechanics page.