Is this for me?
This experience is for you if you like the following
The core vision for this larp is experiencing how it is to play two parts of the same character with someone else and be in symbiosis with them. Together, you are a whole human being. This also means that it is physically impossible to be more than two meters away from each other at all times during the larp. There is no exception from this offgame, so be aware that you sign up with someone where you feel comfortable that you will need the same amount of breaks. If one party needs a nap – the other one will have to be out of the game as well. Energy level is an important calibration topic when choosing a partner.
In the fiction, separation will bring you both excruciating pain. The specific distance in practice is something we will try out in the workshops. How to be aware of each other at all times is also something we will practice in the workshops before the larp.
You will play characters that have or are trying to come to terms with the fact that they have been lied to for all their life, but many are still unsure of how they want to shape their life after the church.
The characters are former Magisterium people, experimental theologists (physicists in our world), witches, nobility, nomads, soldiers, students at the university, politicians, natural philosophers and the like. The characters more or less know each other before the game starts – some only superficially.
You have in common a great curiosity about what this state of things will mean for you personally and how the view possibilities of understanding have and will affect your understanding of your Daemon. Scientific experiments might help you learn more about your connection to your Daemon and thereby – the world.
Playstyle and pacing
The playstyle will be Nordic in origin and focus on “Play to lift”. More about this in the workshops.
There will be options for short off-game calibrations during scenes, but there will be no off-game comments in in-game areas and no longer off-game conversations outside off-game areas. The GM will be playing a character in the larp to visualize some of the mechanics and manage the some events in the beginning of the larp.
Daemon is what I call a “Frontloaded” larp. There are a lot of complicated relations in the character backgrounds as well as a dramatic intro scene to start off the larp.
The character sheets are 5-8 pre-written pages. They contain all relations, back-stories and what you need to know about your character. No co-creation is expected regarding the basis of the characters and relations but there are open questions of things to think about and something your might discuss with your partner. The only thing expected is calibration with co-players in the workshops and deciding how you want to play it.
Frontloading also means that there are more planned events in the beginning of the larp as well as a high intensity beginning of the game. Later, most of the time will be free play, but there are some collective activities that all characters will participate in: Meals and scientific experiments are the most prominent of those. So please bring all the extra activities and ideas into the larp that you would like.
We will start the larp together in a collective scene and then we do directly into a three course dinner designed around “Dinner Warfare”. You can read more about that concept here:
That means that pacing wise, we are jumping right into the core of the larp instead of walking around and saying “hello” for ages. The three acts are between four an six hours, all designed for high intensity with breaks in between.
River Rafting Design
If you want to read more about the pacing itself, you can see an illustration in the article by Katrine Wind on page 34 in the 2025 Knutepunkt book Anatomy of Larp Thoughts: a breathing corpus:
Playing an engaging victim
Another core concept of the larp is practising the skill of “Playing an engaging victim”. We will lift each others’ play – especially when we are playing oppression play. An example could be to not demand that scientific experiments should be voluntary and make it too hard for the scientists to actually do transgressive experiments. You can read more about the concept here:
Examples of what you can do at the larp
- Experiment with the symbiotic relationship between human and Daemon
- Have a passionate romantic interest where the Daemons show the true feelings while the humans aren’t allowed to show them
- Have fun by making great toasts to science which has won the war
- Have an existential crisis over losing your deity and seemingly gaining free will
- Question the nature of the human soul
- Explore what place desire can have in your life
- Relive traumas from the war through your Daemon to heal
- Dine and dance in a way you have never been allowed to before when The Magisterium had a firm grasp over morality in this world
- Threaten a former friend who was on the other side of the war
- Be shocked and horrified by radical experiments taking place between Humans and Daemons
What this larp is not - what you should not expect from this larp
- A ‘His Dark Materials’ reenactment. There will be no dangerous adventures in this or other worlds like the ones the main characters in the books experience. No known characters will be in the larp or be known personally to the characters. This in only a world inspired by the novels.
- What exists in the fiction outside of the setting and location we will be playing at is not important. Yes, armoured bears exist, and some might have seen one in the war, but they are not relevant to the story. The same goes for spectres and other elements of the original material that are not on this website.
- Daemons eating, sleeping like animals and being in full body costumes to look the part. Actually, in His Dark Materials, Daemons don’t eat at all. But as players, we need to eat, can’t fly and can’t be as small as a moth, so we will never be able to do a 1:1 representation of the animals anyway. Thus, the Daemon players will also eat at the table and sleep in a bed like their human counterparts and merely represent the animal form they have with bodylanguage and some costume/make-up parts.
- A sexual or nudity filled experience. Some of the important themes are definitely desire, the meaning of loss of innocence and newly won free will. Even sensuality or eroticism can be a part of this experience for some. However, the death of “The church” is not only about sexual liberation and there are many kinds of desire other than sexual desire. Therefore players are advised to interpret ‘desire’ as broadly as possible. Sexual violence is not a theme you can encounter in this larp.
- A strict plotline for the overall larp. There will be plenty of character relation options and possible storylines for the individual and there will be much time to play this out to experience the bond between human and Daemon. All players are invited to create stories ingame and create play for each other.
Preparation
- You will get the same character sheet as your partner. For each character, there will be three options as to which animal the Daemon can be. The options will all fit the background and personality of the character.
- All characters are public to read before the larp. There are no secrets off-game but you don’t have to read anything but your own character. There are some events during the larp runtime that you won’t be told the content of but there are no secrets between players.
- You are not expected to plan scenes.
- Pre-play is discouraged. You just read your character. You are more than welcome to talk to relations beforehand but you don’t have to and no pre-play will happen. This is to make sure that you can just show up to the larp with a costume, knowing the setting and having read your character to play – nothing else.
Science and examples of experiments
Scientific experiments as well as psychological talks are an important part of the larp and all of this is co-created. Ideas, experiments, bringing equipment and the like is encouraged. Usually, character relevant trauma and play around the connection between human and Daemon will be relevant to most players. Previously forbidden knowledge about the world like Dust and the existence of other worlds can also be interesting for some.
The scientist characters are experts and when they express some gibberish science, they are the authority. This means that players don’t need to know anything from His Dark Materials, real world science or psychology. Please play them up on their ideas even though you can of course discuss the implications.
The scientists will start the larp by looking at people and Daemons who have been hit by the white powder of The Magisterium. The players affected decide what effect it had on their character. However, it is important that the scientists reach the conclusion initially that for the people affected:
The white powder is
1. Non-lethal
2. Not contagious
3. But they need to be quarantined. T
This provides an alibi for “unwelcome guests” to stay the whole weekend but also take out some of the immediate emergency so we can go to dinner. At the larp, there will be a range of “scientific equipment” that can make sounds, measure dust levels etc., so you as a scientist later in the larp can try to find out what happens to Dust, when human and Daemon move away from each other. Can you do anything to make it possible for Daemons to get further away from their humans? Other things you can look at with the equipment could be:
– Why do we have Daemons when people from other worlds don’t?
– What are Daemons really? Are they our souls – or something completely different?
– What is the state of the human soul without representatives of a divine power to tell about it?
– Can you separate yourself from your Daemon? And what does Dust have to do with any of it?
The more psychology oriented scientists can be inspired by the following:
The psychologist asks the human to act from a certain moral codex and shift perspectives. How does the Daemon react? Does it protest? Act differently than usual? The question is if moral and ethics is defined by humans and not as a given, natural state. Is the Daemon an independent entity or solely dependent on the human’s morality? Does this change the way that Dust interacts with them?
Looking at people who were very religious before – what does that mean regarding their Daemon? Does it change anything? How are their Dust levels? The Magisterium branded Dust as Sin. So try to make them do things they wouldn’t have done before. Do Dust particles manifest in will?
There are no specific answers from a design point-of-view to these questions. The goal isn’t to actually find answers but use it as a canvas for interesting roleplay. However, if you would like sparring or direction, Katrine is happy to provide input.
We highly encourage all genders and backgrounds to join this larp.
Please note that there are some human binary roles ingame while others can be rewritten with regards to gender. All Daemons can be all genders (he/she/they). All offgame genders are welcome to play all characters – both human and Daemon. In the casting form you will be asked if you have a gender preference for your character, but this has nothing to do with your offgame gender, which you will not be asked about in the sign-up.
This is a redesign from the source material where there are (almost) only opposite binary genders in the human-Daemon couples, but this is different in the larp. You are still very welcome to play opposite binary genders if you prefer. It is just not a requirement.
Sexism, racism, body shaming, non-consensual sexual behaviour and bullying based on offgame traits are strictly forbidden at this larp.
Please note that this will be an international larp, and we probably all have different larp cultures. Be observant and empathetic.
The philosophy of Narrators Inc. is that self-care comes first. We expect you to take responsibility for your own experience and well-being. That means stating your needs, boundaries and using the safety mechanics if you need it as well as asking for help if necessary. You can count on everybody else – players and team – being expected to do the same in this larp.
Safety is of utmost importance to the organisational team both because we want everybody to feel good but a feeling of safety is also necessary because of what we want to enable you to do: Be brave in your interactions with your co-players and get the most out of the Daemon to share a powerful experience.
To create a feeling of safety, we will build The House of Bravery together.
I have tried to build the foundation of the house so far with the upcoming flagging process, transparency, expectation management and explicit code-of-conduct on the website.
To further enable bravery and build the house, we provide both a floor of what you can just always do and a ceiling of the upper limits of certain interactions – and not just one of the two. You can make sure that your co-players stay within this house meaning that you don’t have to calibrate with anyone beforehand to do things “below the floor” and don’t have to fear they will do anything “above the ceiling”.
The floor in The House of Bravery
Please note that the larp will feature physical interactions and a good baseline of what you should be okay with could be a stranger touching your arm, shouting at you, holding your hand or kissing you on the cheek. If you are not comfortable with this in general, Daemon is probably not a larp for you.
Players can choose that their characters act in violent or sensual ways, experience dramatic breakdowns or suffer from mortifying humiliations. Daemon is a larp containing both light and dark themes, and it can include triggering subjects such as violence, oppression, abandonment, gaslighting, controlling behaviour, PTSD and war crimes. You will NEVER be forced into this kind of play, if you don’t want to. You can always leave a situation and you are always in control of your own body! However, you can be sure that everyone who signed up knew that these themes could appear in Daemon and that they might be played out while they are present.
So be brave and play on them if it fits your larp. You will not be stopped off-game from playing these scenes no matter who is present as long as you stay within “The House”, and you don’t have to ask any bystander’s permission to do so.
The ceiling in The House of Bravery
For sensual play, touching each other on non-genitals and embrace of any kind is okay (if calibrated beyond the standard stuff above of course!). If you get to a point where you want your characters to actually have sex, you will have to go into a private space and fade to black (go off-game). Here, you can talk about what happened in the scene.
No off-game sex is allowed during the larping play time and nudity is not allowed while in play. So torso and bikini areas need to be covered for all genders.
Sexual violence is not a theme in Daemon.
Careful stunt fighting will be opt-in as an option for all but especially daemon-players who wish to engage in this kind of play are welcome to, but it is not required at all to have a good experience at Daemon. There will be a practice element of the workshops element for those who wish.
Since we do have different playing cultures as players, there will be workshops of how to use the word “off-game” for one-line calibration on the middle of a scene, escalating slowly, leaving situations and calibrating with respect to everyone’s wishes for degree of off-game agreements when we do things that get nearer to the ceiling.
Assume the best of others
We always encourage you to assume the best about others. We probably have different larp cultures so strive to be observant and empathetic. If someone states a boundary, don’t be scared or feel bad. They are helping you and themself by taking care and then you can both move on.
There is an offgame room available where you can take breaks from the game. Here you can also have a talk with the organizers if you feel that your game has got stuck. Furthermore, there will be a designated safety person that is not part of the organization in general. They will also host a voluntary debrief after the larp.
Plan for the larp
There will be a strict time management policy at this larp. This means that workshops and play will start on time, and we are not waiting for anyone. This also applies for break times. So please plan your trip thoroughly so that you can be there in time and preferably wear an ingame appropriate watch. I completely understand that this is not a preferred style for many people, but I will rather have clear expectation management if this is something that makes you want to participate to a lesser degree.
Larp schedule
First day of the larp
11.00-12.00: Show up, put on your provided name tag and make sure you have eaten your own lunch. No lunch will be provided on Friday.
12.30: Presentation of the setting and room for questions (briefing)
13.15: First part of the workshop without costumes
14:00: Structured time to speak with your relations
15:30: Get afternoon coffe/tea and cake. Dress up and get into costumes. More time to calibrate if you are done with costumes
17:15: Last workshops in costumes
18:00: Act 1. Starting the larp together
18.30: In-game three course dinner together with everybody
22.00: Public, political debate
23:00: Memorial ceremony for Lord Edward Blackett
Around Midnight: Daemon pauses for the night. Take some time to talk to your relations or decompress – whatever you need.
Second day
08:00-10.00: Off-game breakfast. Time to get into costume again
10.00-11.00: Continued time to put on costume as well as photo options before the larp starts
11:00: Act 2. Larp starts again with a short talk on how things developed during the night and what everybody needs
13:00: In-game one course lunch
15.00:16.30: Off-game break. Taking a rest in your rooms is highly advised
16.30-17.00: Calibration time
17.00: Act 3: Larp starts again
18:00: Ingame two course dinner
21:30-22:30: Larp ends. Socialize for as long as you like. There is a voluntary debrief for those who want to hosted by the safety person
Third day
08:00-10.00: Off-game breakfast
10.00-11.00: Saying goodbye and packing your things. You have to be out of the rooms by 11.00
