What: A Disco Elysium larp for around 100 players.
When: 18-22 & 25-29 September 2024 (1 day of workshops, 2 days of play)
Where: Old Military Hospital, Terezín (Czech Republic)
Cost: €290
Produced by: Rolling & and international crew
Language: English
Location: Old military hospital, in the middle of the city. Indoors and
outdoors environment. Location has basic amenities (toilets, water etc) but don’t expect high
standard (no central heating).
Accessibility: Not wheel chair friendly (no elevators, stairs, thresholds).
Very sensitive allergies or asthmatics may have problems with the environment.
Time: Players will be required to be in Terezín on Wednesday evening, for a
full day of workshops, briefings, player meetings and co-creation. The game itself will start on Thursday afternoon and run until Saturday afternoon — with less intense or no play at all for night time sleeping (players choice).
Costumes & props: Key costume elements and key props will be provided. You
bring a base layer, shoes, and any extra props you want. Costumes and props are mostly attainable by modern second-hand shopping.
Food & drink: Scheduled breakfast, lunch, and dinner (served in-game). We will provide water, tea, and vegetarian food, with the whole menu available beforehand, allowing people to bring food to address their allergies and special needs.
Design stuff
Potential content warnings: Racism, violence, physical larping, political
extremism, loud noises, realistic firearms, drug use, oppression, suicide, actual work.
Design & play style: Immersive experience grounded in a poetic world. Expect
some scripted stories in the form of fateplay and collaborative rather than competitive play. Individual character-specific plots. Not full transparency. Some non-diegetic meta-techniques.
Sign up process: Lottery system with certain conditions applied by organisers.
Upon selection in the lottery, players pay the participation fee and receive full character and access to the participant website. Players will have option to signal they are uncomfortable playing with somebody or think somebody is not safe to be at the event.
Co-creation: Pre-written characters. Act structure with some specific limitations and/or mechanics; otherwise, players have the freedom to create. Players are not expected to prepare or create relations, have meetings, partake in events, etc., before the event. Lore is established by organisers, and players act within provided frames. There is an established overarching arc for the larp, with some set events. Artist characters will be creating art during the game.
Physical & emotional safety: Opt-out techniques & safety techniques. Some themes, mechanics or content of the larp are very general and not opt-outable (for example, “poverty”). Mechanics for violence and fighting that lean more towards simple conflict resolution than boffer fighting. Dedicated organisers on premises for safety, medical, and emotional support. Calibration and escalation/de-escalation techniques will be workshopped and encouraged.
What will we be doing: Playing out conflicts, romances, brawls, revealing secrets from the past, pursuing political goals, dealing with community problems. Creating art, music, weird performances, or just striving to have a normal, working family. The slice-of-life approach means that work is also part of the game. Most players will have 2-3 hours of some form of “work” to perform each day (not very physically taxing). Scheduled and spontaneous activities in the characters’ social groups (hobbies, families, politics, interest groups, etc.). Socialising, trading, scheming or just chilling and people-watching. There will be plenty of low-threshold activities on-site for everyone to be involved in if interested. Our aim is to create a living, breathing world. Everyone will be able to get 8 hours of sleep.
The game will take place in the Old Military Hospital in Terezín, a former 19th-century military hospital, which we will design and modify to create the illusion of a lived-in place: apartments, a soup kitchen, a
tea house, a store etc.
Rolling has been renting the location for seven years now, and we participated in its reconstructions
and ran numerous games there. The long-term relationship also enables us to decorate the place the way we
want and do multiple runs of the larp here. What is even more important for us: the building has been long
neglected, and running the game there will both allow for a very fitting environment and actually bring
some art, life, and funding into the town. We will try to source most of the materials for the game locally
to support the local community.
Terezín is easily accessible by public transport from Prague and Dresden.
Accommodation
The price of the ticket covers accommodation in the hospital. Everyone will get a mattress, but people need to bring their own sleeping bags. The facilities in the hospital are very basic – there are portable (chemical) toilets outside and running (cold) water, but no showers or central heating. We can provide electricity for essential needs, but not to charge everyone’s phones.
It is also possible to get accommodation in one of the nearby hotels, which we will organize, but expect that this will be at an extra cost (to be determined depending on the demand) and it will not cover the entire run.
Food & Dietary considerations
We will provide food for the whole event with three meals a day, starting with Thursday dinner and ending with Sunday breakfast. All food will be vegetarian. There will always be water and tea available.
You will be able to purchase other food and drink on-site.
Sadly, we cannot cater for any other dietary restrictions due to limited kitchen capacities. We will send you the detailed menu some weeks in advance so that you can bring any additional food items with you. If you have any questions about the food, write to us.
A gang member establishing the dominance Photo by Petr Zewlakk Vrabec
Physical demands
The larp takes place in an old historical building with stairs and no elevators. There will be no hiking, but the hospital is large and walking there can stack up. The building is not wheelchair accessible. If you have other disabilities or mobility limitations and want to contact us about whether the larp is accessible to you, please write to revachol@rolling.cz.
Some characters will engage in fighting – simple and short combat with larp weapons that will be workshopped on site. It is possible to have a character who doesn’t do any fighting.
The larp will run non-stop from Thursday to Friday and Friday to Saturday. However, there will be an uninterrupted period of sleep where no major activities will be scheduled. The sleeping will be in-game in shared rooms. Gender-segregated sleeping spaces will be available.
The tension among the immigrant families is rising Photo by Petr Zewlakk Vrabec
What you need to bring
We will provide 3 vegetarian meals a day, running water, chemical toilets, and a place to sleep in a communal room on camp beds or mattresses. We will also provide any character-relevant parts of the costume, props, and accessories. However, we will need you to provide some base layers that you will be comfortable in:
Comfortable, neutral-looking shoes (a style guide will be provided).
Underwear, a neutral-looking shirt, simple trousers (or skirt, as applicable).
Sleeping bag/blankets (we can loan you woollen blankets for a fee).
A cup to drink from.
We will provide you with all character-relevant outer layers, head covers, jewellery, props, weapons etc.
Your apartments will be furnished. However, optionally, you can also bring any extra personalised accessories and decorations for your apartment or living space, such as books, posters, framed photos, household items etc. You can also prepare any artworks your character may have created.
