Safety Guidelines and Themes for Forever Hold Your Peace
We want to create a trusting, open and inclusive environment where players can feel safe. These guidelines are here to set ground rules for off-game behavior and in-game interactions.
We maintain strict standards to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all participants. As a player, the following off-game behaviors are strictly forbidden:
Sexism, racism, and non-consensual sexual behavior.
Bullying or body shaming of any kind, including in-game bullying based on off-game traits.
Real drug use, including “soft drugs” like marijuana, before, during, or after the event.
Excessive alcohol consumption. Moderate alcohol use is allowed during the afterparty. Intoxication is not permitted.
Off-game sex and nudity involving genital areas.
Failure to comply with these rules may result in removal from the event without a refund. Organizers reserve the right to enforce these rules at their discretion.
Our core principle is that players are responsible for communicating their own boundaries and needs. There will be opportunities to calibrate with your co-players before and during the larp.
During the game a dedicated off-game room will be available to take a quick break from the game, grab a drink or some chocolate or just share your story. Some members of the organizing team will be available as (emotional) safety support throughout the event. You can ask them at any moment both in-game and off-game if you need any help. The rest of the organizing team will be available for any questions on the game or your character.
The game focuses primarily on characters, their relationships and underlying family dynamics. The minutiae of organised crime and the role the characters play in it are part of the setting, but serve as a backdrop. Interactions between characters, family expectations, old history, conflicting loyalties and personal ambitions are what drives the narrative for each character.
With the focus on interpersonal drama there are various heavy and/or emotional themes. While some themes are integral to the design, others can be excluded from personal storylines. However, complete avoidance of certain themes during the larp cannot be guaranteed. Use the safety mechanics to disengage if needed.
Themes You Will Encounter
bullying, classism, domestic violence, drugs, alcohol, and addiction, emotional violence, homosexuality/homophobia, honour culture, human trafficking, in-group versus out-group dynamics, memory loss/dementia, mistrust and betrayal, physical violence, religion, and sexism.
Themes You Might Encounter Off Screen
ableism, childhood abandonment, harm to animals, harm to children, loss of unborn child, non-consensual sex, and suicide.
Themes We Will Not Play On
body shaming, explicitly played non-consensual sex, incest, nudity, racism, and transphobia.
Play on homophobia and sexism
As a general guideline, players are expected to conform to the family values unless the characters are written to have a different view. In general, older generations tend to be more traditional than younger ones, and more traditional families often care much more about reputation, marriage, and "proper" behaviour than more modern or unconventional families.
Players keep the difference between in character and out of character clear. A character may dislike another character because of their gender or sexuality, but that should never translate into disrespect between players.
The attitude towards homophobia and sexism differs per family. Please see the relevant family in chapter 4. This will also be discussed during the family meeting part of the workshops on Thursday evening.
Slow escalation
We strongly believe that both physical and emotional scenes are better when they are built up slowly instead of going full on from the start. Players are encouraged to use slow escalation during a scene to allow their co-player to respond in a similar manner. Slow escalation also allows for either party to indicate and take appropriate measures when a scene approaches or crosses their boundaries.
This larp includes physical interactions. The baseline level of contact you should be comfortable with includes:
Hugs, touching hands, arms, shoulders, face, and hair
A kiss on the hand or the cheek
Violence represented by shaking someone’s shoulder or a slow-motion punch without physical contact
Exceeding the baseline can only happen after calibrating with your co-player and obtaining their explicit consent. We encourage you to apply the 90-10 principle for any physical interaction, whether within the baseline or calibrated. When you engage with a fellow player clearly signal your intent and initiate the interaction for 90%, let your fellow player lean in for the remaining 10%.
While it is okay to exceed the baseline after calibration with your direct co-players, the following is the upper boundary for any physical interaction in the game:
No full nudity, underwear should stay on at all times
Theatre style sex (dry-humping)
Light physical violence (softly punching someone in the gut, a slap in the face, etc)
The families are gathering on neutral ground, bound by the Old Traditions. One of the oldest and most important of these traditions is that no blood may be spilled during a wedding. A wedding is considered sacred and must not be defiled by violence.
This has several consequences:
No fake firearms of any kind are allowed at the event.
Most characters are unlikely to carry weapons, as being discovered with one could be seen as a serious breach of traditions and worse: a sign of disrespect.
However, for some characters it makes sense to carry a concealed weapon, such as a knife or brass knuckles. These are permitted, provided they are approved by the organizers.
If you're bringing a weapon, please bring it to the organizing team during Thursday check-in so we can check it. We will inspect it to ensure it is safe for use. Once approved, you are free to carry and use it in play, keeping in mind that your character is still subject to the in-game consequences of bringing a weapon.
As with all physical conflict, the receiving player decides the outcome. Weapons are storytelling tools, not ways to "win" a confrontation. We encourage you to play generously, support each other's stories, and choose outcomes that create engaging scenes rather than decisive victories.
FHYP is a dry larp meaning that there will be no alcohol during the run time of the game, this includes the IC dinner on Thursday. Please don’t drink your own alcohol during the game time either.
The characters are likely to want to drink alcohol in game, for this purpose there will be options available to simulate alcohol use, like apple juice as whiskey or grape juice for wine.
Next to alcohol there might be some drug use for certain characters. There are broadly three kinds of drugs that we are simulating:
MDMA/Molly Mood boosting/hallucinogen Brightly colored candies (Tic-tacs)
Cocaine Stimulant Fine white powder (Vitamin B12)
Benzo/Xanax Calming Small white pills (Liquorice drops)
You are free to play with the effects of the drug you use in a way you see fit.
We’ll be using the following safety mechanics to ensure that all participants feel secure during the event and have the tools to communicate their boundaries:
Look Down
Safely exit a scene without any in-game or off-game consequences by looking down and walking away.
Off-Game Hand Signal
Raise an open hand and say “off game” to ask a boundary-related question, e.g., “Off game, can you stop screaming at me, please?” or “Off game, can I grab you by the arm and drag you towards the corner?”
Tap Out
Use this mechanic to stop a scene if you’re unable to vocalize your needs.
If you ever find yourself without a scene, don't wait for one to come to you. Visit another family, check in with a relative, ask someone to go for a walk, start a conversation over coffee, or simply ask another player if they're looking for a scene. Some of the best moments of the weekend begin with a simple "Do you have a minute?"
Should you still be stuck please ask one of the organizing team, they can help you get back into the game, suggest someone to speak to or help facilitate any plan you might want to put in action. Don’t hesitate to come to us, we want everyone to have a good time and an amazing story but we can only help you if we know that you are struggling with your game! Sadly we are not psychics.