Playstyle

Legion: Siberian Story is a Czech content larp which ties it to a specific design tradition. We will now highlight the most important features of its design and play culture, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask us at our email: legion@rolling.cz.

Legion: Siberian Story combines role-playing as characters in a crisis, a long winter hike under uncomfortable conditions, and some military action. We want to tell a story of ordinary people in a tough situation, and we want you to feel like you were there. We want strong emotions, big conflicts, and intense relationships. We do not aim for a perfect military or historical simulation; both are merely props for telling your story.

The march itself is primarily an atmospheric tool, but the game requires the players to be reasonably physically fit and willing to endure discomfort. During the game (most of Friday and all of Saturday), the players will march around 25 kilometres through woods and hills, with regular stops. Different characters come with different demands on physical activity; the registration form will allow you to choose how physically demanding you want your game to be. While soldiers will fight and shoot and Red Cross nurses will run around to save the wounded under fire, civilians can expect fewer physically demanding activities - but they will have more relationship play and often more connection to the area.

When creating the game, we adapted historical reality to allow for a stronger and more inclusive story. The game is not a faithful reconstruction of what happened but a collage of stories, fates, and situations from this period.

You do not have to study complex historical facts to be able to play the game - we will provide you with a character sheet, historical documents, and workshops. However, you have to be willing to read long texts and listen to some talking about history.

What we want from the game is to create strong stories together and for each other in a setting simulating Siberia and the civil war. The game cannot be won, and we will ask players to embrace a civil style of play rather than looking for cool, flashy scenes. We encourage each player to create a coherent and powerful story for themselves and other players.

The players will be given pre-written characters with backgrounds, relationships, and goals. Each player will have several key choices and be free to interpret their character—but they will not be able to change or add significant content.

Game preparation

The game is a “come and play” sort, and only light preparation is expected of the players. You will get a full character sheet and will not be asked to participate in writing it; however, we will ask you to read it thoroughly, think about your interpretation, and consult about any issues that might arise with the organisers.

We will also not expect you to study detailed historical information on your own, as we know this historical setting is not well known. Instead, we will supply comprehensive materials summarising what you need to know. Before the game, there will also be a workshop on the history and norms relevant to the larp.

We will provide costumes, food for the whole game, props, guns, and equipment (including food equipment). You will only be asked to bring good walking shoes, warm undergarments, and sleeping equipment.

Transparency and fateplay

Our game is not transparent, and it works with surprises and secrets. Players will only have access to their own character sheets and will be asked not to share character secrets with others. Secrets are to be revealed in-game and the goal is to have them be a surprise for both the characters and the players.

As a result, pre-game calibration is intentionally set on a low level. Before the game, you can talk to your co-players to get to know them and set general boundaries and play preferences. However, players should not send each other their character sheets or tell them what their characters really think about each other. There will be no option for pre-play.

For any calibration or issues during the game, there will be space to calibrate anything through the consultants - organisers who are always present with the players throughout the game. However, outside of these moments or any safety-related issues, we will ask you to always stay in character after the game starts.

The game also includes fateplay to some extent. Each player will get a “diary” before the game – inspired by real diaries that the legionnaires used to keep. The player will get a few lines of text for each location that the march will stop at. In many cases, there will be suggestions, food for thought, and possible inspiration that the player can disregard. On the other hand, there will be some (clearly marked) orders that the player must obey and find a way to play them out. In this case, we also do not work with full transparency and we ask the players not to read ahead.

Accuracy

Legion: Siberian Story strives for a relatively high level of visual immersion. We provide costumes for the larp and all game-relevant props and equipment, as well as a style guide for the items you bring (like boots or gloves). We generally ask people not to carry modern items around visibly, such as mobile phones, plastic bottles, or modern backpacks.

However, our goal is not historical reenactment or military simulation: history and military play are means to an end for us. Costumes and props will not be historically accurate to reenactment standards. Similarly, it is entirely all right for participants to have modern equipment (hygiene supplies, medicines, modern snacks) hidden in their packs. While we prefer contact lenses to glasses, wearing glasses is also no problem.

We also find players more important than the game and expect nobody to look exactly as their character would. Player gender, age, appearance, ethnicity or other traits do not determine what characters they can play and are not to be played with.

We will also be walking through the modern world. You will see some modern houses, maybe we’ll march on roads with cars for a while, etc. One or two photographers with modern cameras will accompany the unit; please ignore them. Players can opt out of being photographed but will not be allowed to take their own pictures during the game and workshops.

Physical play

The game has some physical fitness requirements (you have to be able to walk over 25 kilometres in winter in nature, though there will be regular stops). It also includes physical play of violence and some intimacy. Intimacy will go up to the level of a hug/light kiss on the lips, plus a touch-light mechanic to symbolise sex when necessary - but players will always be able to set stricter boundaries or opt-out.

The game will include gun replicas (blanks that carry a powder load and make a loud noise) and some fighting with cold arms (foam sabres and knives). The workshops will include a general briefing on safety and gun handling.

We will also discuss mechanisms for physical brawling, wrestling, and bullying in the workshops. These mechanisms use a very low degree of physical force but a fairly high degree of physical contact, and we ask all our participants to comply with the safety measures presented in the workshops.

Casting

The role division will not depend on your abilities or off-game characteristics but on your content preferences, which you will state in the signup questionnaire. Please note that we cannot ensure that everybody plays a specific character, and the roles are pre-written and will not be changed. We also cannot guarantee that you will be playing with your friends, though we can ensure that you do not play with somebody you don’t want to.

Once we have all your information through the forms we send you, we will send you a choice of characters with detailed descriptions that we think would fit you. You will then send in your order of preference for these characters with your comments. We will always ensure you do not have to play anything you do not want to, but we cannot ensure everybody will get what they want the most.

Gender

Players can choose character gender regardless of their gender - but men playing women and women playing men will need to use some visual cues (such as fake facial hair) to make their character’s gender visible at first glance.

We view all our roles as equally interesting and valuable: they are the main protagonists of their own stories. However, the game works with sexism; all female characters encounter it in some form. To make the game more dramatic and create a broader scope of roles, we added several female soldiers, who also have to deal with conflicts and problems regarding their gender.

Please note that the number of women with guns is limited in this game, and there are no female commanders (only non-combatant group leaders). This is intentional: the game wants to tell real stories of the men and women of the period, and women’s stories simply did not include being a soldier anywhere near as much. Female characters also include nurses, who have a lot of action (running, being under fire, getting injured), just of a different kind. However, if you definitely want a soldier role, signing up as a male character is the best option. Signing up for the game to play only a female soldier can quickly end in sadness.

None of the characters in this game are openly non-binary (although some are gender non-conforming, and how players read them is up to them). However, we welcome non-binary players as long as they are comfortable playing one of the character genders. It is up to them what they prefer.

Food and accommodation

This is not a comfortable game. You will sleep on the floor in the sleeping gear you bring indoors, either in insulated buildings or in heated tents (1 night at most). There will be no showers, though we will try to ensure showers on Sunday morning after the game for anybody interested. For some parts of the game, you must make do with chemical toilets (port-a-potties).

You will spend Thursday and Saturday nights in warm off-game accommodation. You will sleep on the floor in one room with everybody else. Friday night will be in-game. You will sleep in a heated tent or a not very well insulated building, but it will likely be cramped and without privacy.

We provide food from Thursday afternoon until Sunday morning - three meals daily, occasional snacks and tea. We will provide all food in a vegetarian version and a version with meat. Expect food like soups, stews, bread with spreads, etc., nothing fancy. Our kitchen facilities are extremely limited, and we cannot promise to cater to more diets or allergies. We will provide a menu with allergens 2 weeks before the larp and can talk to players individually about them bringing some of their own food or making alternative arrangements. You can email us at legion@rolling.cz to talk about options.

Physical demands

Legion is a physically demanding game. It deliberately works with physical fatigue, discomfort, and mental exhaustion as part of the experience. We know this might not work for everyone - the larp is not accessible to people with mobility issues. However, you do not have to be a super-soldier to go through with the larp - it is doable for anyone who is generally fit, reasonably healthy and determined to do it and cope with discomfort.

We put a lot of responsibility on our players to decide whether they really want to do this and to be able to monitor their health before the event. We do not recommend going to this game because of the hype, without considering whether you’re willing to larp while cold, tired, hungry, and marching around. While we do all we can to help any cold, tired, and hungry players, you will inevitably be at least one of these at some point during the larp.

In the casting process, you can choose how much action your character will have, and the level of physical demands varies from role to role - soldiers will be required to carry rifles, run around, charge, sometimes dive to the ground and so on. The officers will have quite a bit of running around and organizing, as well as some military action. The nurses will run into the battlefield and help drag the wounded away. On the other hand, the civilians will have much less action (while getting other interesting stuff to do).

However, everyone will be required to march 25 kilometres in very varied terrain (which includes very hilly) and possibly also in adverse weather conditions - icy terrain, deep snow, or mud and rain. There will be stops during the game; the longest stretch you will be asked to walk between in-game stops will be four kilometres. We will also walk and play at night, with lanterns, through fields and forests - if walking downhill in darkness on a slippery road sounds like a horrible idea, this larp might not be for you.

Tiredness is another factor: you cannot expect to get your 8 hours every night - on Thursday, workshops may run long, and you might not sleep as early as you’d like. On Friday, you will get up early, again take some time for workshops, then start the game at noon and go on until late at night. Friday night is an in-game night, and things will be happening until late - you will not lose the game if you decide to sleep early, but be aware that you might lose out on some gameplay. On Saturday, you will play for the whole day until late at night when the game will end. Being tired is inevitable.

How much sleep you get in the game also depends on the players and how long you take to do the Friday march. Similarly, when you eat will depend to some extent on when you get to the locations where the food is. We will do our best to get you enough food and get it to you warm - but bringing snacks is very much a possibility.

Safety and content

Safety is essential to us. During the game, we will do our best to ensure your physical safety through instructions and workshops. Accredited medics and people who can provide emotional support will be present. We will practice risky situations and themes in the workshops, and consultants will walk with you to help you every step of the way. Organizers will be available to care for the players during and after the game.

At the same time, all players accept a certain degree of risk and will be exposed to specific heavy topics in the larp. The larp occurs outdoors in winter, on hiking paths and in terrain inaccessible by car in some places. We rely on all players to care for themselves and those around them during play, follow organiser instructions, not leave the group, and ask for help as soon as needed.

The game tells stories of war. All players will encounter sounds of gunshots and explosions, fake blood, the topics of bullying, war trauma, injury and death, as well as period-relevant sexism and xenophobia. Discrimination of women and people of various ethnicities other than Czech is a key part of the game. Players will receive a detailed questionnaire asking them about the types of content they want to avoid directly playing on, but all the abovementioned topics will be more or less present in everyone’s game.

We have players from various backgrounds, and we will rely on you to be respectful, care for yourselves and each other, and mind each other’s boundaries. Any harassment or off-game discrimination is unacceptable. Before and after the game, players can also use a separate and confidential channel to email Rolling’s Safety Consultant for any matters they do not want to raise directly with the organisers.

We think the game is accessible to mostly anyone who is reasonably healthy and has the determination and willingness to do the walk and endure the related discomfort. However, it does involve walking as a central part of it, so it is not suitable for people with limited mobility. It is also physically exhausting and, therefore, not suitable for people whose chronic condition or acute illness or injury can be aggravated by physical exertion, cold weather, lack of sleep, or limited hygiene. Participants should also expect they will be expected to read long texts before the larp - expect around 30 pages in total at least. For legal reasons, all participants must be above 18, and we would like to advise you that the game is unsuitable for pregnant people.

Consulting

There will be two to three consulting organisers, NPC-like characters who march with the players. They generally play low-key characters with no significant in-game role. Their primary role for the players is that of a consultant: they will be there for them. They are there to check on the safety and practical comfort of the players (so you can approach them if you are hungry, sick, cold, too tired, your equipment has gone faulty, etc.) and to help the players with their game.

The consulting organisers are the players’ first line of help. They will always be with the marching players to ensure nobody gets lost and everything stays on track. Players can approach them with any issues. They know the game, can listen, and can solve any practical or health problems.