Casting

We’re big fans of transparency, and we’d like to give the players as much control over the casting process as we can. So, here’s our plan.

First, we’re going to make blurbs available for all characters. Those will be 2-3 short sentences describing what the character is about and giving a sense of what that experience might feel like. You’ll have an opportunity to review those for a couple of weeks and decide which appeal to you.

At this stage all characters will be gender-neutral and could be played as any gender the player wishes. You will have a chance to specify the gender you wish to play once casting is complete. This does mean that any relationships written into your character may turn out to be with a character of any gender or none, depending on the choices made by yourself and other players. The intention is to avoid writing in explicitly romantic relationships between characters though, of course, you can interpret any relationship in that way if you wish to do so. The important part is the emotional heft of that relationship, not what it specifically entails. As long as you discuss the meaning of it with your co-player(s) and find a comfortable agreement between you, it will work out. Your character may find romance over the course of the larp – that, of course, is entirely up to you, your character and any other players and characters involved.

Once you have had a chance to review the character blurbs, we’ll ask you to fill in a short casting questionnaire. You’ll be able to choose between four and eight characters you’re interested in playing, ranked roughly in order of preference. You’ll also have an opportunity to indicate if there’s one of the groups of characters—Triumphs, Mentors, or Citizens—you are not interested in playing. There will also be a space where you can describe the kind of play that interests you (and any kinds of play that you explicitly don’t want to experience).

Once we have that information, we’ll use it to try to cast everybody. We hope to be able to give everyone one of their listed characters. In the event we can’t, we’ll use the characters you listed and additional information you gave us to try and find a character who’s going to fit well with your interests. Triumph isn’t the sort of game that’s tightly plotted around particular sets of characters; in general, it’s not going to be a big deal if you want to create additional connections or add a love interest if you’re lacking one. All that we ask is that you fulfil your role in the game — characters with power should generally use it, whether fearfully or boldly — and treat your coplayers with respect. That means if you’ve got a relationship you’re not planning on playing much, you should discuss it with the person on the other side of that relationship and negotiate with them ahead of time. It will be possible to create further relationships over the course of the larp should this type of play appeal to you.

Many of the characters will have flexibility in terms of age. There may be some relations (parents and children, for example) which create constraints. These should be obvious from the blurbs. If you would prefer not to play an older or a younger character feel free to specify that on the casting form. Unless you request us to, we will not be casting on the basis of age; you should feel free to play characters at whatever age you feel is appropriate.

Finally, all roles are open to all players, regardless of gender, physical or mental health or ability. The hotel is fully accessible, and play will be focused in a few small areas. Although we have not yet contracted a space for the arena we are committed to making sure that all play will be available to everyone. If you have any concerns on that front, please get in touch. We are keen to work with you to make sure we address them.