Here’s our plans for how the combat in the Arena is going to work.

It is important that we are clear about the design of this larp and the ending of the Triumph characters. All of the Triumph characters, save one, are going to die on the final day. We’re expecting the Arena to take roughly eight hours to play out; that means more than half of your characters will die at least four hours before the game officially ends, and some within the first hour of the Games. You will have an opportunity to volunteer for a time when it makes the most sense for your character’s story — and we strongly recommend you steer towards a dramatic loss — but if there are no volunteers, the loser of any given combat will be randomly chosen. If there is a specific fight two players wish to arrange in the Arena, just let us know, and we’ll ensure it occurs.

There will be a dedicated member of the safety team present in the arena to assist those eliminated, as well as to handle any issues that may arise. This is in addition to dedicated access to the rest of our safety team as necessary. After elimination, players are welcome to make use of any off-game facility within the hotel, but we do ask they join us in our specific off-game space prior to the conclusion of the larp.

There may also be opportunities to play out some scenes with characters the Triumphs had connections. More on this later.

We will strive to provide a secondary character so that players of eliminated Triumphs can reenter the Capital should they so desire. Priority will be given to those eliminated earliest.

We hope the loss of your character was clear to you when you signed up as a Triumph. This is a game about oppression, and the story of the Triumphs is about being celebrated while at the same time being utterly disposable.

If you weren’t aware of those conditions, or you decide there is something you are uncomfortable with about the way combat is going to be handled, please let us know immediately. We will work with you to find another character for you to play within the game. As usual, if you have any questions or would like to discuss any of this with us, please reach out on Discord or email.

The Arena

The final day of the larp, the Triumphs will be taken into the Arena, where they will be eliminated over the course of the day until only one remains. We were initially planning on renting a separate venue for the Arena, but the hotel underwent some remodeling over the past few years, and we’ll be able to run the Games in the same location as the Capital, which greatly simplifies the logistics of the event.

We expect the Games on the final day to last roughly eight hours. This means there will be about three eliminations each hour. We’re still working out the exact timetable; if we fall behind schedule, there may start to be multiple eliminations per combat — the Gamekeepers have many ways to increase the lethality of the Arena — and it’s not unknown for drones or hunter-seeker robots to enter the Arena if the action isn’t happening at an optimal pace.

In the Arena, the larp will switch to a different style. Rather than the less structured, ongoing play of the first two days, combat will be handled through a series of discrete scenes where the result is determined at the beginning of the scene. They will be recorded and broadcast to the players throughout the hotel. The video will not be available outside the hotel, and any subsequent released will be cleared with all participants under the same conditions as any photographs from the event. Players will have the power to veto the public release of any media in which they appear.

The following sections explain the rules we’re going to use to resolve combats in the Arena. Don’t feel like you need to study or memorize them; we’ll explain all this on site, and the organizer team will be responsible for enforcing them at the at the larp. They are designed to be simple to understand in play and serve to reinforce the emotional play, not replace it. Here are the key points:

1. As a Triumph, you’ll be able to form teams, but the number of Triumphs permitted on a team will shrink over the course of the Games.

2. We’ll use Discord to let Triumphs communicate with their Mentor while they’re in the Arena. They won’t be able to communicate with other players.

3. When a combat occurs, the participants will have an opportunity to volunteer to die. In the event no one volunteers, the victim will be randomly chosen. The combat will then be acted out, and broadcast back to the Capital.

4. There will be two ways to gain an advantage in a combat. All Triumphs will be able to choose a type of weapon they are skilled with — if you manage to acquire one, you will have better odds of surviving any given encounter. Likewise, there will be occasional supply drops into the Arena. If you have one, it will provide a one-time bonus to a single combat.

More detailed explanations of these rules are below.

Teams

It’s common for Triumphs to band together in groups in the Arena. The Gamekeepers permit this, within certain limits. At the start of the Games, there is a maximum of six players on each team; over time the cap will be reduced to increase competitiveness.

In the larp, any Triumph will be able to create a team by requesting one from the Gamekeepers; this makes them the Team Leader. Any Triumph can join a team with the consent of the Team Leader. Likewise, any Triumph can unilaterally leave a team, or be removed by the Team Leader. You will be warned if you are joining a team with more than the recommended cap — the Gamekeepers have been known to send drones to cull the herd if teams get above the approved limit.

Mechanically, when encounters happen in the Arena, you have a lower chance of being at risk if you are in a team. This will not increase your chance of surviving if you do get selected in the Arena, but it will decrease your chance of being selected in the first place. There’s safety in numbers.

Communication

Communication during the Games will be handled through Discord. There’s a channel for each Canton that includes both Triumphs and their Mentor. You will be able to use text and voice (and possibly video, if we can verify the available bandwidth). Triumphs are not permitted to communicate over any other channels during the Games; we will be blocking them from the other chat channels while the Arena is running.

If you are playing a Triumph or a Mentor and do not have a device capable of running Discord, let us know, and we will make arrangements for you to use during the Games.

Mentors will have access to the resources of the Capital, as well as the other Mentors. They will be responsible for trying to arrange resources for their Canton to be sent into the Arena, and for acting as the liaison between the Gamekeepers and the Triumphs.

Anatomy of a Fight

These are the stages of combat:

1. Sides will be determined. Players are welcome to offer to fight; otherwise, this will be largely random, but with additional weight being given to those who haven’t participated in a combat in a while. A single team has the same chance of being chosen as a single individual.

2. The participants will be determined. In the case of an individual, they are the participant. In the case of a Team, someone on the Team can volunteer, otherwise one member of the team will be randomly determined. In some cases, more than one participant may be chosen.

3. Any advantages (weapons and supplies) will be added, and the losing side will be determined randomly.

4. At this point, any Triumph can volunteer to die in the combat in place of any of the losing side.

5. There will be a brief discussion of how the combat will be acted out.

6. The combat will be acted out for the cameras.

7. There will be a short break while we return to the first step. Those who died will be given time to have a death scene before they are escorted out. This may involve having a camera and broadcasting it back to the Capital, if that can be arranged.

Advantages

There will be two direct ways those in the Capital can influence the Games: by providing weapons and by providing supplies to Triumphs. These need to be arranged through the Gamekeepers. Once arranged, the Triumph will receive either a larp-safe physical representation of the weapon or a prop representing the supplies they have received.

These items can be freely traded within the Arena. They have to be voluntarily given up by players (no stealing items out-of-character). They can only be used during a combat. In the case of weapons, they must be in the possession of the participant at the beginning of the combat, and the participant must be skilled in its use. In the case of supplies, anyone can use them to help. You can only benefit from one weapon and one supplies in each combat.

The base chance of surviving a combat is roughly 50%. If you have one advantage, it will increase to roughly 60%. If you have two, it will be roughly 70%.

There are three weapon classes: swords, axes, and bows. Triumphs will have an opportunity to choose one to be skilled in before the Games start, and this information will be public. You may not change your choice during the Games.

If you die, any weapons or unused supplies you have go to your team leader. If you are not part of a team, they go to the person who killed you.

A Warning

We are still working out the specific details of the Arena. We may be required before or during the Games to change how some of these rules work — the Gamekeepers rarely feel particularly bound by tradition. In all cases we will warn you as soon as we can, and we will aim to make the minimum changes necessary to run the Games.