We want a jolly christmas celebration with a gloomy backdrop.

Set in a typical English town which we will call Bamford. Most characters will be poor workers. A few will be the Sterling family.

The larp is historically based, but not anchored to a specific date. We will take inspiration from events and styles from 1837-1850 (early victorian, georgian era).

We draw inspiration from the works of Charles Dickens, like A christmas Carol and other Christmas stories, the Pickwick papers, Great Expectations etc. Even though we’re going to enjoy the holidays, we want the mood to reflect that the characters have a lot of struggles and challenges that might not be overcome.

The characters won’t know everyone, but there will be an intricate web of relations in the group. Many characters will have one challenging relationship, with a conflict from the past. Everyone will have a current dilemma or challenge, and will also have worries for their future. Some might get to make some choices to make their future easier, but there are pros and cons to everything. There’s no hope for anyone to live happily ever after, that’s just not how life is.

This is the larp for those who want to celebrate a proper Victorian christmas, while worrying about life after the holidays.

Costumes

Medium demands. Costumes should not be a hindrance to attend the larp. We expect everyone to make an effort in portraying the general early Victorian style of early victorians, but this can be obtained pretty easily.  

The organizer also run the costume lending service Laivgarderoben, which has a lot of fitting garments.

If you want to go all out to make the glorious styles of early Victorian clothing you are of course welcome to do that.

Even if most characters will be poor, you are allowed to have one elaborate outfit. The in-game explanation will be that it’s borrowed from the Manor.

Check out our Pinterest-board for inspiration, and don’t hesitate to ask for help!

There will also be a costume guide.

Food

The characters are mostly poor, and we want to experience the mood of people who have nothing, and suddenly find themselves in safe and warm surroundings, having access to food and drinks they might not even have seen before. 

There will be enough food for everyone, but we want to feel the excitement of getting just a little piece of exotic tastes.

There will be a pretty simple breakfast, and the first day will have simple meals to set you in the mood of what the characters are used to. Christmas eve and Christmas day will have more elaborate dinners.

Gifts

Gift giving is fun. However – Please limit the amount and the value of gifts. Christmas presents weren’t all that common during this period, and people mostly gave useful items and symbols of affections to the closest family and friends.

Despite common belief, gifts were actually given on christmas eve during this period, but it’s also nice to spread the giving out, perhaps some gifts are better given in private, while others are more fun to give in public.

The characters are not supposed to give each other gifts unless they have a close relationship, this is normal and not something people would feel bad about.