Sponsored by Bobbio Pellice City Council
From the creators of “The Rebels on the Mountains”
A Historical Larp, in two runs
A Carabiniere once told me: “Keep on fighting. If you’ll win, they’ll stick a red star on our cap and we’ll go on beating you as always.”
Guglielmo “Billi” Bilancioni
“Ultimo Covo” (“Last Hideout”) is a one-shot LARP that will be played in two runs during October 2017, at Le Casermette holiday house and in the nearby village of Bobbio Pellice (Province of Turin, northern Italy). “The Last Hideout” is the second historical production by the same people from Terre Spezzate who wrote “I Ribelli della montagna”, a LARP on Italian Partisan Resistance during WWII, played in 2015.
This time the story will be focused on an imaginary workers’ village in Northern Italy, during the last phases of the kidnapping of American Brigadier General James Lee Dozier by the Brigate Rosse, an Italian Marxist terrorist group. The gameplay of some characters will be centered on the kidnapping, while a series of issues will revolve around it: the struggles and the victories of the working class, students’ protests, the life of everyday people during that time of unrest and contradictions.
The larp aims at historicity and realism. “The Last Hideout” is explicitly inspired by the dramatic events of the 70s and 80s in Italy and the Dozier incident. Many characters will be modeled upon known and less known figures of the so called Years of Lead. Despite this, “The Last Hideout” is not a historical reenactment. It is inspired by historical documentation and research, but its facts and characters are the authors’ invention.
The authors producing the larp would like to stress that their collective upholds anti-fascist, anti-nazi, anti-totalitarian and anti-terroristic values.
Nonetheless, in this event we will explore political themes with an approach that is as much as possible bipartisan. We will highlight horrors and crimes committed by both sides. Before being Communists, Christian Democrats or Fascists, the characters we strive to create are complex and dramatic human beings.
“The Last Hideout” will be played in two runs, during two consequent weekends. Each run is self-standing and not connected in any way with the other. It is not possible to play both runs. New and more precise information will be published in the next weeks. The Sign Up will open on this page the 10th of July 2017. The participation fee for international players is 100€ - it will comprehend food and lodging. If you need help for costumes, write us on facebook or mail and we will manage something. There are 6 international spots for each run, 3 male characters and 3 female characters.
International Characters
International characters will be written by the organizing team, in English. They will receive as much attention as possible in their design, in order to help them to get into plots and narrative even if they will talk in a different language. They will be NATO officers, Soviet spies, or maybe normal people casually bumped into this strange Italian historical moment. Every one of them will have a strong link to plots and they will be central in solving things and situations of the larp.
It will be possible to choose and read their public description from the beginning of August 2017.
The Italian-Speaking Character Groups
The Red Brigades – “Anna Maria Ludman” column
Marginalised, oppressed people of the proletariat. They are factory workers, students, clerks, farmers, common criminals. Some of them are young, some are not. After witnessing the failure of the political struggle, they understand it is now time to take up arms and overthrow the Imperialist State in Revolution!
That is what their fathers did during the Resistance, and that is what they will do now. Never mind the State and the bourgeoisie twisting reality and labelling them as “terrorists”. It is the price to pay. One day people will understand. One day people will follow them.
NATO IS IMPERIALIST WAR AND PREVENTIVE COUNTERREVOLUTION! WAR ON NATO! WAR ON ANTI-GUERRILLA SPECIAL CORPS!
Red Brigades Communiqué
The Police Forces
A war is going on. The UCIGOS, the Central Bureau for General Investigation and Special Operations knows that. The NOCS, the Central Security Team knows that. The Policemen know that. A war is going on and the Police is one of the targets. They risk their lives, they must bear it all, and they are even underpaid for that. It is time for strong men, unflinching, resolute men. Men who know what is loyalty to the State. It is time to show that Police can effectively counter terrorism and finally silence those yobs who speak about the uselessness of the men in uniform. It is time for authoritarianism. Who can define the limits when you have to defend innocent lives, when the State is in danger? Every possible way must be tried. No hesitation. Till the end.
“My idea of interrogation is clear. A person must feel to be utterly under the power of the interrogator. When it happens, that person yields.”Nicola Ciocia, also known as Professor De Tormentis
The Carabinieri
For the layman, the Carabiniere is a firm, trustworthy reference figure. Even the children are scared of Policemen, but not of Carabinieri. Who knows why? It looks like their uniform stands for unswerving dignity. Every day those servants of the state leave their home in their uniform, and they know the risk they are about to face only because of wearing it. All the colleagues who have fallen under the terrorists’ bullets testify for that. Maybe, instead of becoming martyrs, those men would have preferred to live on their lifeas corporals, officers, fathers and husbands, rather than be remembered with a plaque. But who can doubt their courage?
“There are things you don't do out of courage. You do them so that you can still look in the eye of your children, and the children of your children.”General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
The Secret Services
Superpowers contrast each other in a hidden, cold war, through secret agents and spies. CIA, KGB and others. Secret agents seem to be people without morals or ethics. They can’t trust anyone, not even their colleagues, living in the shadows, among treason and double crossing. They are often cynical and disillusioned. This also means their outlook on life is quite original. What leads a man to betray his country? Is it ideology? Money? Blackmail? Retaliation? Love? Such men embody all the contradiction of the human condition. They are, in one word, SPIES.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK SPIES ARE: PRIESTS, SAINTS AND MARTYRS? THEY’RE A SQUALID PROCESSION OF VAIN FOOLS, TRAITORS, TOO, YES; PANSIES, SADISTS AND DRUNKARDS, PEOPLE WHO PLAY COWBOYS AND INDIANS TO BRIGHTEN THEIR ROTTEN LIVES.”
John Le Carrè, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Students
Social demands of the students at the beginning of the 80s were still of a proletarian nature, even though the term might have become abused by that time. In the 80s the life of working students is becoming impossible, huge numbers of them withdraw from university or can’t complete the exams by the end of the terms. Universities are becoming once again the expression of a classist society. With the words of Don Milani’s Letter to a Teacher still in their mind, students movements become once again politicized, aware and ambitious. They are ready to fight, and they denounce all social institutions, from the family to the State. The values of the Italian Economic Boom and of Catholic Tradition are being replaced by an exaltation of the individual and of personal freedom, within a political vision that has gone beyond the mere communist utopia of the earlier decade.
“They've kicked us out of university, we're angry with the whole city”Rebel student's slogan
In-Game and Out-Game Languages
During “Ultimo Covo” we will experiment with using different languages within the same event. The languages will be regulated quite strictly, both to allow for a coherent narration and to facilitate the game of Internationa Players (who are not supposed to speak Italian). Specifically, within our narration, only two languages will exist: Italian and English.
International Players will interpret International Characters and they will be speaking English. Among Italian Characters, only those with the “English-speaking” tag will be able to understand and speak English. They will be of course interpreted by Italian Players with a good knowledge of English, and they will be able to talk with International Characters and understand documents written in English. All the other Players will be interpreting Italian Characters with only a very limited knowledge of English. In the early 80s many people did not know much English, especially among the working class. Such Characters will not understand much spoken or written English (even in the case they could actually do that in real life!).
Practicals
Ultimo Covo will be played in a holiday retreat and in the nearby village. Hot water, toilets, warm food will be always available. Sleeping in beds is guaranteed for villagers; militaries and spies could sleep in less comfortable situation, depending on the narrative solutions.
Organizers team will help international players to find a lift (and a host if needed) in order to reach the location, which is not so well connected by public transportation. The closest airport is Turin TRN; other possible destinations are Milan MXP or Milan BGY.
International participation fee is 100€, including food and lodging for the days of the larp. There are 3 Male and 3 Female spots for every run.
Accommodation will be either in dormitory rooms (with a shared toilet) or in small apartments (with their private bathroom). You'll be assigned to a room according to your character and group.
The Law Enforcement characters will sleep in a in-game house outside of Le Casermette, on campbeds provided by the organizers. Each player must provide their own sleeping bag or blankets. International Players will receive a blanket by us organizers if they cannot bring their own.
Rendez-vous
For both runs, the rendez-vous is on Friday, at h15:00, in the "Le Casermette" courtyard. The game proper will start at h19:00, after registration and workshops. The larp will go on continuosly; eating and sleeping will be in-game, too.
The larp will end on Sunday, around noon.
Sign Up
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