On Board larp: Design Document - Core Book
Ashore larp: Design Document - Core Book
THE LAST LEGACY
"Give me freedom or give me the rope. For I shall not take the shackles that subjugate the poor to uphold the rich." – John Goldenwolf
It’s a time shattered by unprecedented changes, when a new world, a promise of freedom and redemption, is slowly becoming the same hell from where all the people hunted by the past are fleeing. Like a curse that you cannot lift, the justice of the Crown is cutting down the life of many like you, for good – no matter if they deserve it or not. You have to choose your side: fight for what you really believe in or hush forever.
“The Freebooters' last breath is approaching”
As anybody else in this little piece of world knows, adventure is a real thing here.
The never ending horizons, the legendary treasures hoarded by ruthless sea people, the emotions and feelings of setting sail when no one knows if there'll be a coming back or the course is right: these are the daily dares of a pirate’s life, but they're also the kind of things they love, and which are worth fighting for. Yet the power and the hand of the Crown enthrall many seafarers, who would prefer a life under a traditional set of rules or, after years of living outside the law, are tired of fleeing and yearn for a quieter life. In the end, will they surrender their will to the overwhelming power of the law, hoping to get a second chance, or will they keep fighting for all pirates’ freedom and try to satisfy their thirst for gold and glory?
- There comes a time in most men’s lives
when they feel the need to raise the Black Flag.-
Whatever Side you’ll be on, are you Ready to get on Board a Real Tall Ship or to Live in a Pirate Society, in a small Trading Outpost deep in the Caribbean?
THE TWO EXPERIENCES
Raven Crew is an adventure larp which allows players to choose between two very different Role-Playing experiences. The event entails interactions between the two groups, and a shared ending. Half of the participants will be playing aboard the ship La Grace, that will sail the waters off the Tuscan coast. The other half will be playing on the shore, on a beach near Marina di Grosseto.
Read below the specifics of each Role-playing experience you can choose between.
The experience on the Sailing Boat
"There's a ship: The Gold Freighter. With a skull on its masthead, it will be coming in. At the port, a multifaceted fellowship is waiting to get on board and face the waves' challenges. They will be proving themselves in a risky mission, the search for a legendary treasure."
The sea-borne Larp experience is set in a glorious but harsh past, in a time when humankind is still exploring the wide world crossing the vast expanse of the open seas in small, self-sufficient wooden ships. Supplies of food and water must be brought along and carefully managed from one remote island to the next, while the energy to operate the ship's equipment comes from muscle power alone, and the ability to follow the chosen route is influenced by the vagaries of weather.
"Home is where the anchor drops"
Living for almost four days on a ship at sea will be an exciting experience but not necessarily a comfortable one:
The experience on the Shore
"The sailors know that hazards don't come just from the sea.
Grim threats impend on the Pirate society that rules this corner of paradise."
The shore-based Larp experience is set in Raven's Nest, a small, isolated settlement, far away from civilization. Most of its inhabitants are grounded freebooters, driven by fate to dwell on dry land; they all desire to regain the sea, and perhaps to take revenge against destiny. But they also have a dream that one day they may build a haven safe from oppression, found a nation free from the King's justice and the yoke of all rulers, where people's worth stands in their own deeds, where no one has to bow head to no one, but all can stand tall side by side as brothers and sisters. Western civilization may be better far and away, for gaining its attentions could mean the spectre of an armed intervention.
"We know the only good rule: no rule!"
Experiencing the life of a remote outpost deep in the Caribbean can be the best choice for all those who may not feel at ease at sea, but want to live a true Pirate experience:
What is larp?
A LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) is like being on the set on a movie with no script and whose ending is up to the participants' decisions and actions. A LARP is a structured play-pretend for grownups, with awesome costumes, props and a believable location.PLAY STYLE
When we watch movies, we all see the same story. In a larp, there are many stories being told. Each participant lives his own tale, and all are connected in a great woven story of conflicts and relationships.
Raven Crew is a larp focused on role-playing and living within the experience. You can imagine being a character in a movie, with all ensuing feelings, drives, goals and fears. Whatever action you would like your character to carry out during the game, you’ll just do it for real! The only boundaries will be common sense and a set of simple rules on how to simulate what otherwise would be too dangerous or burdensome (fighting and injury, for example). Beside that, the key guideline will be "What You See Is What You Get". Our goal is to create an event that is as much immersive as possible; everything that is a part of the story will have a physical representation.
In Raven Crew, conflicts aren’t there for characters to pursue some sort of personal “victory” but to explore and develop relationships between each other, to one goal: the collective building of an exciting story. A conflict scene should be as “cinematic” as possible, so as to be interesting and engaging – as much for the characters who are directly involved as for those standing around. We expect all players to be comfortable with the kind of verbal intensity and body contact you would see on a film set.
We have published an online “Design Document” with everything you need to know, including all the details of game rules, safewords and practical info needed to sail with us like a real Freebooter; and a much shorter “Core Book”, to help you remember the most important stuff:
On Board larp: Design Document - Core Book
Ashore larp: Design Document - Core Book
Moreover, if you're curious about our play style, here you can read some details about other larps we created in the past. Every larp is different, but we think you can get some insight:
ICARUS ("Design Document)Black Friday ("Style" page, and Player's Guide); Dracarys (main rules, and Player's Guide); The Rebels on the mountain ("Design and themes" page, and Player's Guide).
SETTING
Captain’s log, 23 August 1715
Today the sea is our friend. We have set sail to the island I know will make a great retreat for my crew at large. The men are smearing tar from their buckets and singing their seafarers' songs just outside my quarters. The waves are gently lapping at the hull of this old ship, as the sun shines to weather its worn out wood. I can hear the creaks and shifts calling my name as we sail to our future, the hard-earned riches safe in the ship’s belly below us: I am tired, and like a whale that knows it has reached the end of its life, our ship is crossing the seas for us one last time too.
I long for a Port to call our own, away from the clutches of the greedy Crown and the rules of men who never bother to ask their fellow folks' opinion before exploiting them. Maybe one day all of this could meet its beginning. Yet the seas are whispering my name, and I’m afraid there will be a lot to suffer before I can finally see my dream come true.
Raven’s Nest, early 1717
“Maybe I’m not a master in telling stories, but I assure you it's worthwhile paying attention, so at least you'll get something out of it, aye. That ship, the richest of the Seven Seas: I saw it, surely I have, from my shack on the shore in old Port Royal. A big tall ship sailing northbound! Have I had less winters weighing me old bones I’d have taken to a brig and sailed with them, as for the look of it Triton himself was bellowing those lily white sails!”
The frail old man was suddenly shook by a particularly harsh fit of cough, that left him wheezing. Yet he continued, his knobbly fingers moving quickly through the fishing nets he was fixing: “Ye can rest assured, half the crooks with even a piece of floating wood had their tails on that cargo, aye! Never seen a ship like that, golden figurehead and trims gleaming in the sun! Spaniards, so they said, carrying the biggest treasure anyone of us had ever heard of. Riches beyond imagination, a ship so heavy with doubloons it had to be dragged by three ropes; golden trinkets abundant, and rubies the size of yer fist, me mate.”
“Did anyone seize that treasure?” I asked, but I had to wait for the old man to cough up and spit on the ground.
“Aye, someone did. The tall ship went up in flames. Never reached shore, no they didn’t.”
“And the treasure?”
“I’m telling ye boy, forget about the booty. Whoever bloody mate got his dirty hands on it never told anyone where he dug the hole! For Triton’s beard, we could be sittin’ right on top of it, for all we know!”
1718, The Caribbean
The growing activity of piracy across the region is causing governments to tighten their grip on the region. As legendary booties grow smaller and smaller in number, officials roam the seas and privateers are lured to pirate hunting with the promise of reward, only a handful of pirates still have the means to fight for survival.
Tortuga, the dream of a new pirate order free from the impositions and laws of the motherland, is long gone under the blows of the European superpowers. As hostilities brew back in Europe, the fight against piracy becomes one of the main concerns of western Governors in the Caribbean, hellbent on straightening their predecessors’ laxity on matters of politics and criminality.
Sea Lanes & Shores
Raven's Nest is a small settlement on the shore by the mouth of a stream; it comprises just a few tents and wooden shacks, more a permanent encampment than a real hamlet, set up in Saint Kitts, in a remote and secluded trait of shore hopefully safe from the attention of the authorities. Despite this, Raven's Nest has its own, little organised society, with traders, workers and illicit shady businesses. Many of the settlement's dwellers are former pirates; along with them there also are merchants, missionaries, buccaneers, former slaves and dubious characters, as well as some Pearl Divers previously inhabiting the area.
Another landscape, that of the newly born city of Kingston. A ship sails forth: it has been chartered by a group of European adventurers pursuing an expedition they have planned. In order to crew the ship they've enlisted different groups of shipless seafarers, maybe formerly privateers or pirates. Will the seafarers get along without incidents? Will they accomplish their mission? At what cost?
Inspirations
Raven Crew is a LARP designed to deliver the feeling or a true pirates tale, with treasures, secrets, alliances and backstabbing.
“We got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable - not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit.”
R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island
“Let us say there is some merit to your argument. Let us say that Mr. Dobbs will do as you ask of him. I would have to admit in that case that the world has shifted beneath our feet in a most startling way. But, in terms of our future and the danger that you believe you may pose to me, bear this in mind. I have survived starvation, a tempest, pirate hunters, jealous captains, mutinous crews, angry lords, a queen, a king, and the goddamn British navy. So, to whatever extent you may be concerned that some day we will clash, worried that though today we be friends, some day you'll have no choice but to be my end, I won't worry too much.”
Captain Flint - Jonathan E. Steinberg's and Robert Levine's Black Sails
“One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I “and I’ll blow your brains out! Dead men don’t bite, you know”, I added with a chuckle.
R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island
“These men, who brought me here today, do not fear me. They brought me here today because they fear you and because they know that my voice, the voice that refuses to be enslaved, once lived in you. And may yet still. They brought me here today to show you death and use it to frighten you into ignoring that voice. But know this. We are many. They are a few. To face death is a choice… And they can't hang us all. Get on with it, mother fucker. “
Charles Vane - Jonathan E. Steinberg's and Robert Levine's Black Sails
CHARACTERS
“You make a new life by making new choices.”
Raven Crew features 80 characters, all written by the authors; 40 will be playing aboard the brig La Grace at sea and 40 on the shore.
Each character in Raven Crew is designed to be more than just a name and a sum of traits. They are people and have their own personalities, beliefs, moral stances and ways to see society, politics and other people. We will provide a brief and public textual outline of each character, which will be available for everyone to read in advance. In line with the “movie-like” style of Terre Spezzate, we will call this brief introduction a “teaser”. The teaser will only reveal enough of a character to get a general idea of it, providing enough interesting details to make an informed choice about what character you want to play, while staying spoiler-free. Character teasers will be online at the beginning of January 2018.
The public information represents just a fraction of a character's life and there is much more to discover, such as terrible secrets, traitorous backgrounds, hidden agendas or emotional traumas. Once a player selects a character, they will, in due time, be granted access to the full description. No other player will be able to read this information: it will be your secret until the larp. Full descriptions will be available around mid February 2018.
Characters on the Ship
The tall ship LaGrace has been rented and outfitted by a small group of enterprising European adventurers for a mission: helping them on their way, pirates and former privateers in search of a good wage.
From the Captain to the Quartermaster, from the Cook to the Cabin Boy, the Rigger and the Gunner, everyone has their spot on the ship. The mismatched group will then set sail out of Kingston to the ultimate adventure: the open seas.
Characters on the Shore
Raven’s Nest is a small outpost living a precarious balance of powers and personal interests, which can be tipped at any time if the inhabitants won’t follow the thin social pact keeping this budding pirates’ society together.
This balance relies on the authority and influence of some figures like wealthier merchants and traders, renowned former pirates, missionaries and bloodthirsty gang leaders.
The dream of a new order will have to face the arrival of new European influences.
The Pearl Divers - Waiting List
The Pearl Divers is a group of very light characters, with no actual character sheet but only a group description and tasks. The group is composed by players in waiting list for the ashore larp, who are ready to step in and take on a pre-written character if a player is missing. Those who do not get assigned to a pre-written character will play one of the Pearl Divers and will have to create their own personal info, tasks etc. They will play the larp on shore, together with the other shore-based characters. For details see the paragraph in Sign Up.
Gender, Relationships and Family
Due to a precise design choice, historical accuracy will overlook the gender segregation of the times: everyone will get to play any available role. We want to offer every participant the chance of playing a character they will love.All the characters will be written as neutral; their names will be like B. Cortez, F. Hawkins or J. Cook and every player will choose for the character a given name of their own taste (i.e. Jenny Cook or Jonas Cook or Jorge Cook or Jane Cook).
There will be love, friendship, romance and family bonds. There will be family bonds according to the unisex nature of characters, meaning there could be siblings, cousins, parents and children.
While bonds are binding and players are expected to play them, their actual nuances are open to a more detailed characterization and they could lead to mutual or asymmetrical romances or friendships.
Our goal is to allow people which love to play romance to do so and people who don’t to adjust their relationships according to their taste.
Romantic relationships will be up to the players to decide: characters will have strong bonds but the nature and the intensity of them will be decided by the players involved in the relationship. A strong positive relationship could be defined as friendship or love; a new positive acquaintance could be a fling, a flirt or just a mutual liking.PRACTICAL
Where
Location of the Sailing Larp: La Grace
La Grace is a replica of a sailing ship from the second half of the 18th century which cruises seas and oceans with the aim of reviving sailing history. The La Grace crew arranges cruises on their historical ship to all interested people, together with training in marine crafts and their proud traditions. According to available sources, La Grace was the name of the ship belonging to the first real Czech seafarer Augustin Heřman. He crossed the Atlantic several times in the service of the Dutch West Indies Company; later on, when out of service, he started his career as a privateer, raiding Spanish trade ships with La Grace. Eventually, he became the largest exporter of tobacco in America. The ship's construction was begun in late 2008 in a professional shipyard in Egypt. La Grace was launched on water on 5th December 2010. The main reason for choosing that shipyard was the fact that there the boats and ships were still being built in the traditional way. (La Grace's Facebook Page).
Location of the ashore Larp: Fiumara Beach
The land-based location (whence La Grace will also sail forth) is a seaside restaurant called Fiumara Beach with the surrounding grounds, placed at the edge between beach and pinewood near the mouth of St. Leopoldo Effluent (also known as la Fiumara), just NW of Marina di Grosseto. (see on Google Maps).
Transportation
The closest airport is Pisa (PSA), at less than two hours driving distance; Firenze (FLR) and Roma Fiumicino (FCO) airports lie at about two and a half hours driving distance. The closest train station is Grosseto (see on Google Maps). You can reach the beach from Grosseto Station also by Bus, see the bus stop (HERE).. Here you can find the (web site of the Bus Company).. You can of course reach the beach by car; if you come from abroad you can easily rent a car in every airport. We made some simulations and got a total of €40-50 from Thursday till Sunday. See our research (HERE).. For the international run we’ll provide a “larp bus” departing from Pisa Airport at a cost that will be around €20-25, depending on demand.When
There will be two runs of Raven Crew: 12-15 April 2018 in Italian and and 19-22 April 2018 in English. Both will be from Thursday until Sunday for the ship-based characters and from Friday evening to Sunday for the land-based ones. The time schedule of both runs will be as following.
The “On Board” Schedule
*: this applies to the International run only, as local players will not need it. The exact cost for the larp bus will be determined by how many people use it, but it should be under €20-25 per person for a round trip.
The “Ashore” Schedule
Languages
For BOTH runs, all the written material (website, setting, characters, in-game documents and files) will be exclusively in English. Italian-speaking players can attend the English run if they want, but there will be a 25% cap – that is, at least 75% of the International spots will be reserved for players who do not speak Italian.Food
The participation fee includes food and beverages, both for the larp itself and for the afterparty. In-Game meals will be distributed to participants and will look like proper pirate food. Meals will include several vegetarian options; food may always include animal-derived products, though – we cannot guarantee a fully vegan menu. Unless you have any special dietary needs (please duly inform the staff if you do!) you’re asked not to bring food of your own. A moderate amount of alcohol will be provided during the event. We expect you to be considerate and behave like responsible adults: drunkenness (or tipsiness) during the larp will NOT be tolerated.Lodging
Onboard: Life on a Tall Ship
As well as the food, accommodation will also be an integral part of your "Pirate experience". There will be common sleeping quarters, equipped with bunk beds, hammocks and cots. There are also some private cabins, that we will assign at a cost, but only after the characters are assigned. We will publish all the infos about these beds at the right time. We only point out that the ship has five bathrooms and electricity.
All the characters, except a little group, will have to fulfill their sailors duty, like cleaning the bridge, prepare foods for the cook, trim the sails and so on. Shifts will be set and you will have the chance to experience all the parts of the real life on a sailship. Obviously there will also be resting time and free time.
A Sailor's Sack
Space in a ship is limited and vital: experienced sailors know they must keep only what's strictly necessary for a pleasant journey. But since you’re still just ship’s boys, we did you a favour and put down a list of what you have to tuck in your sack. Note that this is not about your costume, but only a matter of space management. We want indeed to avoid the use of rigid trolleys, because on the ship it will be difficult to store and hide them. So we strictly recommend to use a backpack for travelling with your stuff, and some canvas bags suitable for the period for the larp. Here you will find an example of a non-exhaustive list:Note that every dress on this list can be adapted/modified for your character. So it is only a general reminder of what is necessary on the ship. For international players only, we will provide an option to buy a warm sleeping bag from us, if you can't carry it by plane. It will be a "10° C or more" sleeping bag, costing 25,00€.
Weather at sea
The sea may look quiet and beautiful from the coast, but every brave seaman must be ready to challenge its fury anytime. For this reason we recommend that every participant is prepared and aware that we aren’t in control of the weather. April in Central Italy is quite warm, but there may be some rains, or a cold Spring. In any case the temperatures will likely range from 10 °C (50 °F) during the night to nearly 20 °C (68 °F) during the day. A useful tip is wearing layered clothes so that you can decide at any time to remove layers or add them. If you think you are sensitive to cold, take a warm sweater to wear under your costume, and an extra blanket for sleeping.The nights ashore
For the participants of the larp ashore, lodging is not included in the price. We will present in this section a list of the nearests campings and hotels, and state if there is a fixed price or not for each solution, in that case mention TERRE SPEZZATE when you are booking. If you'd rather search for an autonomous solution, however, you are free to do so. For the participants of the international run we can offer support for choosing the appropriate accommodation. By the way remember that Airbnb is your friend!Costumes
Costumes are not included in the price of the ticket, and you will have two options to arrange them. Obviously there will be characters that require a greater effort than others.
Aside from the costume rental it will be possible, after the character selection and if appropriate with the character to BUY or RENT from us - on order - a flint flintlock gun or more. NOTE: if you are coming from abroad it can be difficult to transport a gun replica by plane. We will provide a form to fill in due time.
“That was Flint's treasure that we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already the lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola. How many it had cost in the ammassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, 1882.
SIGN - UP
There are 80 spots in each run of Raven Crew, 40 On Board and 40 Ashore. Sign-up will be as follows:
International Run: Sign up opens on November, 25th 2017, at 21:00 CET, and last till December 04th, at 24:00 CET.
Italian Run: Sign up opens on December, 9th 2017, at 21:00 CET, and last till December 18th, at 24:00 CET.
In order to Sign Up, you’ll have to fill out a form on our site, and choose the kind of ticket you want. It will be mandatory to subscribe for the larp ashore first, so you will have to indicate only if you'd want a spot on the ship.
Only if you are not one of our recurrent players, you will have to send us a down payment of €100,00 for the larp on the boat, or €20,00 for the larp ashore (for details, see Payment later on).
You cannot play Raven Crew twice, but you are more than welcome to attend the first (Italian) run as a player, and then the second (English) run as a helper - write us an e-mail if you want to do so.
In case we end up having more people signing up than available spots, we'll proceed as follows:
Please note that in the English run we will place a cap for Italian speakers: 75% of the spots will be reserved to players who are not native Italian speakers.
REGISTRATIONS ARE OPEN
HERE you can find the registration form for the International Run.Ticket cost
We take pride in producing high quality yet affordable larps. In this case, we are forced to make Raven Crew less affordable than usual, due to the fact that we will set sail on a real Tall Ship replica, and also to the amount of rather expensive costumes, gadgets, props that we plan to realize. To help people participate, we've planned several subsidized (discounted) options.On Board Tickets for the International Run (April 19-22)
On Board Tickets for the Italian Run (April 12-15): 40€ discount
We decided that the Italian run will be somewhat cheaper than the English run. This is both because we anticipate the English run to have more interested participants, and because we think it is fair to reward our recurring players: it’s highly probable that Raven Crew would just not be possible without all the props and stuff that we hoarded across the years, thanks to the larps paid for by our Italian players.Ashore Tickets for the Italian (April 13-15) and International (April 20-22) Run
Payment
After you sign up, we'll ask you to send us a down payment of €100,00 for the larp on the boat, or €20,00 for the larp ashore. You will be able to pay using either PayPal (credit card), or a bank transfer. If you do not pay, respectively, before December 10th for the International run and December 24th for the Italian run, we will not consider your application. If you get a spot, this down payment is non-refundable.
You will pay the rest of the fee, in cash, during the earliest Terre Spezzate larp you attend. That means you will pay either:Cancellations
If you cancel before December, 31th 2017, we will withhold the down payment only (€100,00 for the larp on the boat, or €20,00 for the larp ashore). If you cancel before February, 4th 2018, we will withhold the down payment and half of the remaining amount. If you cancel after February, 4th 2018, we reserve the right to withhold the entire payment. We'll still try to give you back what we can afford, so if you cancel, please inform us as soon as you can.Character selection
Once you’ve read character “teasers”, you will be able to select your top 5 favourite characters. We will then assign characters blindly: that is, we will not take into consideration who is playing whom, but we’ll just use an algorithm to satisfy as many players as possible. A few people might still get a character that is not in their top 5. This is unavoidable, but we will also ask you to exclude 2 characters that you really do not want to play and you’ll be sure that in no case you’ll have to play them. We believe this system will minimize disappointment and ensure that virtually all players get a character they like.Every participant will get the full description of their character around late February 2018.
Waiting List - The Pearl Divers
Waiting lists rarely works well in larps, especially in international ones. For Raven Crew, we’ll use the following system, which for us it’s the best way to manage the cancellations.
When you sign up for the larp, you have to indicate the kind of experience you want to have. If you want only to participate in the on board larp, in the ashore larp or both (and your first choice). If we can’t give you a spot, there can be the following situations:
- If you want to attend the on-board larp only, it will be offered to you to enter in the waiting list for the boat, but you will not enter in the “Pearl Divers” group. You can also sign for the ashore larp or Pearl Divers at any time.For the Pearl Divers we will charge an amount of €50,00 that will follow the same rules of payment of the other tickets (see the payment paragraph for details). If there are not enough cancellations for the ashore larp (or if you don’t like the character to be replaced), you can still attend the larp, playing a Pearl Diver. You will not receive a full character sheet, but only a group description and tasks.
If you replace a missing character on the ship, you’ll have to pay the rest of the ticket (270,00 € for the International Run, 230,00 € for the Italian Run). If you replace a missing character ashore, you will be allowed to play the larp without paying anything more than your reduced Pearl Diver ticket.
About Us
“Raven Crew” is a larp by Terre Spezzate
Terre Spezzate created several successful Italian and International larps, such as ICARUS, Black Friday, Dracarys, Chiave di Volta, I Ribelli della Montagna, Il Teorema di Bayes and others.
What International larp organizers say about us: on the Knudepunkt 2017 book, a Finn writes about Black Friday. Here a Spaniard, again about Black Friday. A Frenchwoman about Rebels on the Mountain. A Dane shares his thoughts about Dracarys. A Czech's detailed comments about Black Friday.
E-mail: raven@grv.it
Facebook: Raven Crew FB event - Terre Spezzate page
