BOX: Northern Larp Festival

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BOX: Northern Larp Festival

Chamber larp festival in the North of England

06/02/2024

Thanks so much to everyone who came to BOX - whether you were a player or a larp organiser! The event literally couldn't have happened without you and we've come away filled with energy and excitement for thiis hobby

A question we got a lot last weekend was “Where can I find out about other Larps?” That’s a surprisingly difficult question to answer!

Here are a few of the other projects the BOX team are involved with, all running in and around Yorkshire. If anyone wants to share their own games in the comments then please do!

Erin & Jon run a game about once a month at Treehouse Board Game Cafe, quite literally just down from the road from Theatre Deli. There are still a couple of tickets available for “Arthuriana” - a 3-session game about the spirits of the round table colliding with modern people.
https://www.treehousesheffield.com/events/2024/2/18/larp-at-the-treehouse-arthuriana

Hazel is on the team for Disruption LRP, a game about ancient magical beings and capitalism. They intend to run their third event later in 2024: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3628027723889895

Char wrote MVEX LRP, a game about big robots and crisis-management, which practically all of us have crewed for over the course of its several runs. There are no events currently planned, but if some come about you’ll hear about them here:
https://www.facebook.com/mvexlrp

Jon is also returning to Theatre Deli in June this year, to run Motorway South, a game about a weird and introspective bus ride, loosely inspired by Disco Elysium. The form for interested players is open until the end of the month.
https://www.jonolocks.co.uk/motorway-south

03/02/2024

[BOX is complete]

Thank you so much!

BOX is completed, and the organisers are now firmly ensconced in a quiet corner and relaxing.

We'd like to thank all of our larp organisers and creators, and the players who made it happen.

Coming soon: feedback opportunities! We're unlikely to be looking at messages on the BOX profiles for a week or so, you are welcome to leave something for us there.

03/02/2024

[BOX is today]

BOX is today! It's 8am, and the BOX organisers are either traveling or travelled. We'll see you there. Someone should be able to see and quickly respond to messages on Facebook or Instagram if you send them.

02/02/2024

[BOX is tomorrow]

BOX is tomorrow! With printing of door signs underway, the dog fed, and Sheffield ready to accept our glorious little larp festival, things are about ready to go.

01/02/2024

Travel Update!

--> This weekend there are going to be train strikes for East Midlands Railway (EMR) which operates out of Sheffield station,. If you're travelling in via train, give National Rail a look and make sure your train is actually running --> https://www.nationalrail.co.uk

--> There is a football match at Bramall Lane on Saturday kicking off at 17:30. As this is close to the venue, this may effect parking earlier in the day and driving back after the event.

--> Speaking of parking, Theatre Deli has a few parking spaces that can be reserved for accessibility purposes. Let us know either in advance or when you get there that you're using them. Beyond that, there is street parking and a multi-storey car park nearby at APCOA New Era Square.

If you're having any problems with travel on the day, do pop us a message and we'll try sort you out.

(Thanks to Josh Ho**er for helping us with some of this intel)

27/01/2024

[BOX: one week left]

One more week until BOX!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

If you're attending and you've got any access needs you think we haven't covered or might not know about, please tell us!

25/01/2024

[BOX: What do I need to bring?]

You've probably seen this already somewhere, but we want to be super clear.

Bring yourself.

That's it, really. We'd advise clothes/footwear/etc. that you're as comfortable as possible in for the full length of the larps, but there's really nothing else.

You're not in a larp at the point of arrival, everything in the communal area is always offgame.

The single thing you need to be aware of - if you see people around you raising one hand and being quiet, please do the same. Everything else you'll need to know will be covered in your larp.

10am, we'll be starting promptly. You can arrive from 9am, and to be honest we'd advise doing so for some preBOX chatter and opportunity to meet Rambo.

21/01/2024

[BOX: Less than 2 weeks to go]

Less than 2 weeks until BOX!

We're excited, we hope you're excited!

There's not much really else to say here except 'Eeeeeeee'.

If you have questions, you know where we are!

10/01/2024

[BOX waitlist still open, probable chance to attend]

Missed out on a BOX ticket, or hoping to bring a friend along? We’re just over THREE weeks from the big day, and as “real life” has begun to get in the way of a few people attending, our waiting list is looking very short indeed. Anyone who joins the waitlist in the next day or so is practically guaranteed to be offered a space between now and the end of the month, and will be helping us ensure every game gets a full count of enthusiastic players.

You can join the waitlist by heading to our eventbrite and clicking “Get Tickets” https://www.eventbrite.com/e/box-northern-larp-festival-tickets-693432845307

Or just pop us an email: [email protected]

When a space opens up we’ll be in touch to share which larps currently have spaces, and you’ll have a day or so to send payment over Paypal (or make alternative arrangements.)

You can read about all the practicalities, and the Larps on offer, over on our website: https://boxlarpfestival.wixsite.com/boxlarpfest

15/12/2023

If you've signed up to play or run a larp at BOX, there's an email in your inbox!

This tells you which larp/s you've been assigned to play on the day - and we're super happy to share that everyone got their first or second choice 🥳

Any questions or worries, just pop us an email

14/12/2023

[Meet the team - Rambo (he/him)]

What is a larp festival without a mascot? Particularly a small, hairy, four-legged mascot.

Rambo doesn’t belong to any of the team, but does spend quite a lot of time with Char and Cara. He’s three years old, and originally rescued from Bulgaria. He’s probably half sausage, half miscellaneous terrier, but it’s anybody’s guess really.

He enjoys walks, occasionally shouting at people walking past the house, and providing cuddles to people who are sad. He does a strong line in afternoon snoozes, failing to catch squirrels and even sometimes doing as he is told. He knows approximately 5 tricks.

Rambo is the Best Boy, and a Good Boy, and a complete rascal.

We’re hoping that - everything-permitting, including no strong allergies amongst participants - Rambo will be on site during the day of BOX to keep Char and his clipboard company, and be available as emotional support dog. That being said, he prefers to approach people rather than be dived on, but we’ll cover Rambo etiquette on the day. (If you are a person with strong allergies please let us know and we will chat)

Was there ever a better reason to come to a larp festival?

If you want your ear licking off, ask Rambo about:
- Whether he is a good boy
- Whether he would like a treat
- How soft and amazing his ears are
- Whether he would like a walk (but you better be able to deliver)

(Couldn't decide on the pictures to collage so you can just have all six!)

27/11/2023

If you've got a ticket for BOX, this is just a little reminder that the deadline to fill out the form to select your LARP preferences is this Sunday!

Here's a little taster of another of the games on offer...

💪 Hench 💪

The Criminal Evil Overlord has summoned their team of henchpeople to a meeting in the basement of The S.L.O.E. Gym – which is not only the Secret Lair Of Evil, but also a handy training ground and money laundering operation.

The CEO is not pleased with you lot. Your last mission did not exactly go according to plan.

You’d better be ready for your next mission: making sure it’s one of your team-mates who ends up swimming with the piranhas instead of you!

A lighthearted non-combat game of secrets, teamwork and backstabbing.

07/11/2023

[Meet the Team - Hazel]

Blearily, Hazel emerges from the hole they’ve been in for… potentially years. Paper, lockboxes and pictures of s*x toys are strewn across the floor. On one wall, there’s a picture of Michel Foucault with the words who is he??? scrawled onto it in red ink.

They blink against the light.

“What is this? Where am I?”

“It’s a BOX bio, Hazel. We’ve been keeping it warm while you hand your PhD in.”

“Oh perfect. Well, er, that’s done now. I better get on that”

Hazel (she/they) loves writing larps. Being able to create a world within which the players can act and feel really powerful. She’s run quite a lot of small larps from the online games of the pandemic like submarine disaster The Nautical Trench and cyberpunk disaster T67:// survival night to small freeform fae games like Nimble Things. You can tell you’re writing a game with Hazel when you wake up to a splurge of ideas at 3AM about the game which are occasionally good.

As hopefully the intro spoilered, Hazel recently handed their PhD in. They did research into s*x education but most importantly what happens when you work with people to design games, escape rooms and materials about s*x education. Yes, you’re right. It is pretty cool but Hazel was very stressed and incredibly flakey as a result.

When playing larps, Hazel really loves playing a mischievous hedonist. Someone who causes trouble for one reason or another (providing it’s not that they’re never taken seriously, she hates that). Hazel’s been larping for a while, having met Char when she was 15 at a very different time in both of their larp lives. Yeh Char, let that math kick in.

Hazel is also part of interactive RPG adventure Roll for Initiative - an improv show where a GIANT D20 helps decide that outcomes of the story. BOX coincides with the end of a week-long run of Roll for Initiative at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle.

Hazel will talk to anyone about many things. These include:

Dogs. Aren’t they great?
Tattoos - pretty damn cool. Wanna see mine?
Escape Room Design
S*x Education (the subject not the TV show)

Photo credits:
Left & Top-Right - Oliver Facey
Bottom-Right - James Nicholas

04/11/2023

At this moment we have just SIX unsold tickets! If you’ve been waiting to book, or have a friend you’ve been meaning to tell, then go go go: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/box-northern-larp-festival-tickets-693432845307

Once we sell out we’ll start nudging everyone to fill in the game preference form, with the aim of announcing assignments in late December.

Details on the practicalities of the event can be found on our website (https://boxlarpfestival.wixsite.com/boxlarpfest/practical) and do get in touch if there’s anything else you’d like to know!

Pic by Wonder

18/10/2023

Over half the tickets for BOX have been sold!

Now's a great chance to grab one if you haven't already, and join us for a day of small larps in the heart of Sheffield

Check out our website for more info about the larps you can play, as well as practicality info like parking, local amenities and accessibility 🩷🖤

Tickets 👉 eventbrite.co.uk/e/box-northern-larp-festival-tickets-693432845307

Website 👉 boxlarpfestival.wixsite.com/boxlarpfest

30/09/2023

[Meet the Team - Cara (she/her]

Cara is a 30-something year old robot masquerading as a human who works in the greeting card industry.
She enjoys playing video games, watching ice hockey and listening to music that goes 'beep' (there isn't a defining genre for this, but it includes EDM, electro and chiptunes).

Cara trained as a costume and prop maker for film and TV, and still enjoys putting her creative talents to work building things. She became interested in larp as a means of combining D&D, cosplay and choose-your-own-adventure books into one gloriously creative hobby. These days, she is a powerful moment seeker, preferring one-off, rules-lite games moved by strong themes, difficult decisions and cataclysmic endings. Aesthetically-driven, she enjoys creating impactful looks for characters.
If there is an opportunity to play a robot in a game, Cara will want to play it.

If you want your ear talking off, ask Cara about:
- Cyberpunk genres
- Prop making
- AI and robots
- Nintendo
- Affordable aesthetics in roleplay

15/09/2023

It's time to explore another of the fantastic larps on the lineup for BOX!

🌏 Creating New Worlds 🌏

A group of non-human beings have had to abandon their world for an unknown reason and are travelling to a new world, untouched by sentient beings. The larp will involve the creation of a new society and a new world by and for these beings. The larp will involve three different scenes, which will be accompanied by different audio and visual cues. Creating New Worlds is an art-based larp, which explores the combination of role-playing and art-based workshop. The larp is completely non-verbal and will ask participants to communicate through art-making and the use of various art materials (such as paints, pencils, markers, playdough, paper, thread, etc.). Please note that you absolutely do not need to have any experience in art-making. Art-making will be workshopped and discussed in detail prior to the actual larp.

(The larp requires some dexterity as art materials are used. Participants also need to be able to sit on the floor.)

05/09/2023

[Meet the team - Erin (any pronouns)]

Erin is a chronic jack of all trades who works across radio, s*xual health, theatre and sacred music. She can often be found on a train between Sheffield and Hull, and has developed strong feelings about exactly which seat is best (gotta catch those Humber bridge views!).

Erin decided larp was hot s**t after 9 hours of dragging a suspicious box around a disused factory and realising how terrified they were the entire time. When playing a larp, Erin tends to ignore existing plot and go diving into her own thing, but you’re much more likely to find her crewing games these days.

Alongside Hazel and Jon (both also on the BOX team), Erin’s run some weird and wonderful larps over the past few years including a monthly chamber larp taking over the Treehouse, just a couple of minutes' walk away from BOX’s venue. She’s also written for larger games such as Omenstar’s Cyberpunk London and Profound Decisions’ Empire. When left to her own devices, Erin tends to run games which use wacky formats like audio walks and voice notes.

If you want to hear some strong opinions, chat to Erin about:
- choral evensong
- immersive audio
- why larp and theatre shouldn’t try to imitate each other actually
- trickster archetypes
- the ideal temperature difference between hot chocolate and coffee

📸 left and bottom right photos by the brilliant Oliver Facey

29/08/2023

We're so excited to introduce you to all the brilliant larps that are part of BOX! 🩷

You can read a summary of each one on our website, but we're also going to spotlight them here. First of all......

📝 The Drinklings, organised by Mo Holkar 📝

A group of friends meet regularly in a pub. They all work as respectable and esteemed scholars at an ancient university, but they all also write fantastical fiction in their spare time. The larp is made up of scenes depicting a series of their monthly meetings, at which they talk about their writing and how it's going, and bounce ideas around the table. The last scene, set much later, involves a group of critics discussing the work of these giants.

This is a light-hearted larp, with themes of friendship and the tension between support and envy/competitiveness.

21/08/2023

[BOX: Meet the team - Char (any pronouns)]

Char is a just-under-40-year-old dad of three who works in the charity sector. They play a lot of pinball (and we do mean a LOT) including tournaments, and ‘enjoy’ playing unreasonably difficult computer games.

With a larp hobby starting in the world of Mind’s Eye Theatre and the Lorien Trust, Char has at first drifted and then leaped headlong towards less rules, more transparency and an awful lot more emotions. These days, in a larp context, they are far more likely to be found buying heavily into oppressive systems or being a horrifying excuse for humanity than anything else.

Char has written for a number of larps both in the UK and into the Nordics, but tends to avoid being a main organiser of larger things. One day, they’ll write and run one of the ridiculous ideas they have for a larger larp, or maybe Heist Larp, or Tragedy Looper-inspired larp, or maybe even that Monster Hunter meets village slice-of-life thing they’ve been talking about.

If you like the idea of giant robots punching giant monsters, pressure-cooker socials and the unavoidable drama of inevitable civilian casualties, then convincing Char to organise MVEX again should be on your list of things to do at BOX. They’re (allegedly) working on a shorter version they can run at festivals and conventions.

On the day at BOX, Char will be a good point of contact for questions, concerns, emergencies or support. There will probably be a clipboard.

If you want your ear talking off, ask Char about:
* Pinball
* The tension between character-as-written versus character-as-read
* Canals and narrowboats
* Bleed and why you definitely get it especially if you think you don’t
* UK 2nd-tier ice hockey (Leeds Knights, woo!)
* Why characters who are manipulators or oppressors are totally powerless and why you should think about it

Photo credit top right is Simon White, and bottom left is Camilla Milla. Char's Iron Maiden high score is now in the 700 millions but keeps forgetting to take a picture.

11/08/2023

[BOX: tickets available now]

It's Friday! It's the 11th August! It's 7pm! That means...

Tickets are available now!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/box-northern-larp-festival-tickets-693432845307

Let's goooooooooooo!

10/08/2023

[BOX: Tickets available TOMORROW]

7pm, Friday 11th August (that's tomorrow) you'll be able to get tickets for BOX!

They'll be £22.38, and they'll be on eventbrite, the link will be up on this page and the website!

That £22.38 is £20 towards BOX plus eventbrite's fee of £2.38.

*** Objective "To make a larp festival that is financially accessible " ***

We are not currently expecting to sell out immediately, but if for any reason you're in a situation that means you want to BOX but you haven't got that £22.38 right now, PM the page and we'll figure something out, strictly confidential.

EDIT TO ADD: This does mean that tickets are first come, first served. If this is an accessibility issue for you PLEASE PM and once again, we'll figure something out.

04/08/2023

[BOX: the larps that will be at BOX]

It’s the 4th of August, so it’s time to announce the larps for BOX: Northern larp festival on 3rd February 2024 at Theatre Deli Sheffield! Below you’ll find the list with three themes at the end of each, but you can get a bit more detail on the website (link in comments)

Kingpins and Aces organised by Beckett Chapman - up to 30 players - Coercion, Politics, Gambles

The Drinklings organised by Mo Holkar - up to 4 players - Writing, Academia, Drinking

Hench organised by Nicky Lawrence - up to 4 players - Criminals, Teamwork, Backstabbing!

Starships and Space Slugs organised by Ross Millar - up to 20 players - Schmoozing, Skullduggery, Deduction

Hero’s Journey organised by Sarah Cook - up to 15 players - Movement, Abstract, Embodied Archetypes

Creating New Worlds organised by Usva Inei - up to 10 players - Art, Materiality, Connection

Parent’s Evening organised by Vicky Smith - up to 25 players - Magic, Discovery, Parenting

Bones of my Bones, Flesh of my Flesh organised by Wrenna Robson - up to 10 players - Family, Grief, Memory

This also means we have a theoretical maximum of 59 tickets available for BOX.

Who’s excited? We’re excited!

01/08/2023

[BOX: Larps announced soon]

It’s a grand total of three days until we announce the larps that will take place at BOX: Northern larp festival. We’d say we cannot wait, but we have to.

Be ready!

27/07/2023

[BOX: Meet the team - Jon]

The first in our series of ‘meet the team’ posts, these are designed to let you know the faces and names of the people who are involved in organising BOX: Northern larp festival.

Jon (he/him) is a twenty-something creative / charity-worker whose first Larp character was a scruffy orphan aspiring to knighthood. His most recent Larp character was a slimy diplomat who nuked a city for very dubious reasons, and somehow got away with it. Times change!

He has written uni linear systems, “World of Darkness” chamber games, a “hike larp”, and several inscrutable online games from the depths of lockdown. He is currently “Head of Plot” at Empire LRP, and constantly at pains to say that this “isn’t as impressive as it sounds.”

He is the wrangler of spreadsheets and emails (“but in like a cool, fun way”)

If you want your ear (gently) talking off, ask Jon about:
“S” by Doug Dourst and how it’s a great format for a game
Puzzle design
Ursula Le Guin
Queerness in historical larp
The Return of the Obra Dinn
Cycle lanes

23/07/2023

[BOX: Call for larps is closed]

That’s a wrap!

The Call For Larps for BOX: Northern larp festival has now closed. We’re super excited to go through them and select the larps. We’ll be announcing the larps on the 4th of August - wheeeeee!

Keep an eye out tomorrow for a special little post about the team.

(If you're panicking and still frantically writing to submit something, we'll actually press the button to stop any more submissions at some point fairly early tomorrow morning ;) )

21/07/2023

[BOX: Call for larps closes in 2 days]

Hi everyone!

The calls for larps form closes in 2 days, on Sunday July 23rd. This is our last shout-out before it does so, so please if you’re interested in running something then fire it over!

The submission form is here: https://forms.gle/d21McKpCnRQvZLt6A

11/07/2023

BOX came about for a few reasons, and we’ve put together a few of our objectives for the festival below for your perusal. These are explicitly not digs at any other festival or style, just what we’re trying to do 🖤🩷 We love you all!

🖤 To create a short-form larp festival in the North of England

🖤 To make a larp festival that is accessible to new larpers and organisers

🖤 To create a space where people have a chance to explore different types of larp

🖤 To make a larp festival that is financially accessible

🖤 To organise a small festival with a broad variety of larps

🖤 To avoid needless inaccessibility and be as inclusive as we possibly can, whilst being consistent with our other objectives

🖤 To be hella queer-friendly 🌈🏳️‍⚧️

07/07/2023

[BOX: Timeline of dates and events]

You might be wondering, what timescales do we have on getting things done? Well, we’ve put together this handy list for you.

- Larp submissions close - Sunday, 23rd July 2023
- Larps announced (and therefore maximum number of tickets) - Friday 4th August 2023
- Tickets opening - Friday 11th August 2023
- Larp preference form opening - Friday 11th August 2023 (will get an email when you buy a ticket)
- Larp preferences deadline. If you haven’t picked larps at this point you’re on a ‘get what you’re given’ basis - Sunday 3rd December 2023
- Larp allocations announced - Sunday 17th December 2023.
Tickets purchases closing (if we haven’t run out) - Friday 26th January 2024

Are there any dates you want to know about that we’re missing?

Also don’t forget, larp submissions are open until Sunday 23rd July and you can submit one here: https://forms.gle/d21McKpCnRQvZLt6A 🩷🖤

27/06/2023

[BOX: Reminder about the Call for larps]

Thank you so much for your interest in BOX: Northern larp festival so far!

We’ve had some submissions for potential larps come in, and we’re excited to look through them in detail once the submissions close. That happens at 10pm UK time on Sunday 23rd July 2023.

In the meantime, what info would you like to hear from the team at BOX? We’re actively interested in what you want to know.

If you’d like to submit, or are just a little interested, the link is here: https://forms.gle/d21McKpCnRQvZLt6A

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