style and play culture
Dawnstone is a game of openness, trust and collaboration. It’s low in mechanics and has no combat system, but has community guidelines to foster the kind of inclusive and generous atmosphere we’d like to see amongst our players.
THEMES
Dawnstone is about a group of people coming together on what might be the last night of their lives, and perhaps the last night of the world as they know it. They all have history with others here, and they collectively carry the impossible burden of the Dawnstone, the prophesied artefact that may or may not be able to save them all in the morning.
These supposed heroes are riddled with fears, regrets, secrets, and lies, and the larp asks which of these things they will allow to surface in their last desperate hours, and what they might take to their graves. The larp isn't about strategising for the coming battle - it's about conflict and quiet, hope and despair, and what extraordinary and very human people choose to do with the last few hours of their lives.
AESTHETIC
The larp is defined as “fantasy”, but beyond that there are no specific aesthetic requirements.
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The setting is a beautiful church that has many lovely architectural features, but it has been modernised inside and won't be extensively set-dressed to make it look period.
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Players are encouraged to make an effort to wear costumes that look historical or fantastical and that would suit their characters, but there are no strict costume guidelines or requirements.
PRINCIPLES
We have three key principles to guide how interactions between players should feel in Dawnstone, even when things get heated and unpleasant between their characters.
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INCLUSIVE
Inclusivity and safety are paramount at Dawnstone - no player should be made to feel unwelcome, and discrimination or unpleasantness in or out of character because of real-world traits such as gender or race are completely unwelcome. The larp team will take any issues of this kind seriously, and the players are encouraged to treat one another with compassion and goodwill. If your behaviour is making someone else feel unsafe, you will be asked to change it, or asked to leave.
There will be characters of different nationalities within the game and it is highly likely they won’t all see eye to eye, so direct your in-character bias along national lines. If you intend to play a character who is particularly hate-filled in this respect, it would be a good idea to bring this up during the workshops and check in with players who might end up being your targets so you can be certain of whether they want to engage in that kind of play before you launch into it.
TRANSPARENT
Everyone will know everyone else’s characters - to the extent that they’ll have a hand in writing them. During the workshops, and even during play, you’ll be able to see flashbacks of things that happened in the past. The more you share, the more everyone will have to work with.
Players are expected to use the knowledge they gain this way to help drive towards interesting stories for other people’s characters and let them interact with themes or events they care about, rather than to hold anything over them like a bargaining chip, especially if it is knowledge their character wouldn't have.
COLLABORATIVE
This is a small-scale, collaborative game based loosely on the American Freeform tradition of GMless games. There is no referee oversight of the story and no pre-written plot besides the overall scenario setup, so all players have equal creative control. This might mean that contradictory facts are established once the game begins, but these can be explained as differences in understanding between characters, or negotiated quickly out of character if it becomes important.
Players that want it can direct their characters towards having greater in-character responsibilities, but it is then up to them to determine what that means within their own level of comfort.
META-TECHNIQUES
Play in Dawnstone is very simple with just a few techniques to keep in mind. These are designed to simultaneously promote player safety and larp calibration, and have been kept as brief and memorable as possible in the hope that people will actually use them.
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FREEZE - ONE HAND IN THE AIR
If you need everyone in the larp to stop and pay attention, raise one hand in the air. If it’s urgent, yell, “Freeze!” to get everyone looking your way faster.
If you see someone with their hand in the air, break character, stop what you’re doing, raise your hand, and don’t talk.
Freeze might be used by the organisers to explain logistical things, by someone who’s dropped their glasses and doesn’t want anyone walking around and treading on them by accident, or by someone who is overwhelmed by the situation and needs play to stop completely, for example.
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PAUSE - A HAND WITH CROSSED FINGERS
If you want to communicate out of character with the people in your immediate vicinity, hold your hand up where they can see and cross your fingers. Preface what you need to say with, “Pause,” for clarity, if you like.
If you see someone with their fingers crossed, their current words and actions are not in character and should not be treated like they are. You can cross your own fingers to respond out of character in return, though if a player makes a decision to step away or asks you to dial back the intensity of a scene, please don’t question their reasons.
Pause might be used to ask a fellow player to remind you of their character’s name or a piece of backstory you forgot. It could be used to check in that the other players in an intense scene are okay, or to negotiate something ahead of time. It could also be used to explain a magical effect that the people immediately around you would see.
You can also use Pause specifically to ask another player for a flashback. If they agree, it will take place in a Circle of Candlelight.
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LOOKDOWN - SHIELDING YOUR EYES
If you want to leave a scene or walk past ongoing play without drawing attention, hold your hand above your eyes as if you're shielding them from the sun and make your way to wherever you need to go.
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If you see someone shielding their eyes like this, leave them be. If someone exits a scene you were playing in this fashion, just handwave their absence and don't make a big deal out of it in or out of character.
Lookdown might be used for someone to extricate themselves from a scene that has become uncomfortable to them, or to move past a group of people so they can get to the toilet without being interrupted if they really need to go. The reasons behind using Lookdown will be out of character, so it might be worth checking in with someone later if you see them using it.
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OK CHECK IN - MAKING THE OK SYMBOL
If you want to check that someone's okay out of character in an unobtrusive way, flash the diving OK symbol to them. If they show you the same symbol or a thumbs up in return, they're fine. If they seem uncertain or give a thumbs down, use Pause to talk to them or help them get to the Offgame Room so you can find out what they need, which might be to find an organiser to talk to.
If you're doing something that looks like you're in serious physical or emotional distress and you want to preemptively signal that it's only the character having difficulty and the player is fine, you can show the OK symbol as you're doing it so people know they don't need to worry out of character.
OK Check In can be used by anyone to check in with anyone else, player or organiser, but is especially good if you know someone has been involved in a particularly intense scene or might otherwise be struggling. If you think someone might need checking in with but you don't have the energy to deal with the outcome if the person does need help, you can always ask an organiser to check in with them instead.
OFFGAME ROOM
There is an offgame room where you can always go if you need a break from what’s going on. There will be food and drink available there, and no one will be in character.
If you decide to take a break and need someone to come and decompress with you, there will be a blue sign you can put outside the door to indicate that you’d like some company.
If you see a blue sign by the offgame room’s door and you’re not currently deep in a scene, wander over to the offgame room and chat with the player in there for a little while. Grab the sign inside on your way in, or leave it out there if you want to attract more players.
If you’re in the offgame room and you want to talk to an organiser, there will be a red sign you can put outside the door.
If you see a red sign by the offgame room and it doesn’t look like an organiser has noticed, get their attention with Pause and point it out.
GAME MECHANICS
Game mechanics​ in Dawnstone are very few and far between, and hopefully very intuitive. You may only interact with some of them, and that's totally fine.
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CIRCLE OF CANDLELIGHT
If you’re acting as your character but in a way that wouldn’t actually be present in the hall of Castle Iriya on the night before the Stormsworn’s arrival, you can surround yourself with LED candles to indicate that you’re in a different time and place.
If you see someone in a Circle of Candlelight, act as if they and anyone watching them aren’t really there. If you want to watch, you’re more than welcome, and you can pick up and hold one of the candles if you want to make it clear that you’re engaged in spectating.
The Circle of Candlelight will be used for people playing out flashbacks or trips outside the castle walls, usually for brief stretches of time.
COMBAT AND MAGIC
This is a non-combat game, but tensions will be high and it’s always possible that one character will want to punch another for a perceived or real slight. All combat is non-contact and super slow motion.
If you want to attack someone physically, mime the action you’re performing in super slow motion, and describe what you’re doing at the same time.
If you want to cast magic on someone, use Pause to describe what you’re trying to do, then make any casting motions or magic words you feel would be appropriate.
If someone throws a punch or a spell at you, you get to choose what the effect of it is - you might shrug it off or be thrown across the room, but try to be faithful to the consequences your character has earned as part of the story. If you decide to have a physical reaction, make sure you also respond in super slow motion for your own safety.
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THE FINAL BATTLE
The outcome of the final battle, as well as who lives and who dies during it, will be decided by a vote. Each player will have the same number of tokens, and will be asked to distribute them to represent how their character has spent their energy during the final battle. No character can die before this point.
You can allocate tokens to saving or bringing doom to the world as a whole, yourself, and other characters, and the outcome will determine who is alive and who is dead, and what the state of the world is when the dust clears.
No one person is responsible for everything, nor even has sole control of their own fate. Your character may die as a result of the choices of others. But this will only happen at the very end of the day, and you'll have a chance for a glorious death scene and an epilogue so it won't result in you having less play than anyone else.
You won't have enough tokens to do everything you want to, so as the Storm arrives your character will have to make some hard choices about what really matters to them at the very end.