Coven
From the website: "Coven takes place in a newly, rather unwillingly, formed coven of witches: present day, Sweden.
This is a LARP about cool powers, the witches that wield them and the people trying to kill them for it.
Come and indulge in classic high school tropes, make friends, make enemies, be betrayed, fall in love. Maybe even accidentally kill someone and desperately try to resurrect them before the Supreme Witch finds out… or simply cover your tracks.
The mood is tense. The future is uncertain. You have either way too little power, or too much, to be in control of your own destiny. You have to make friends. You have to trust. You have to help each other or you’ll most probably die soon, maybe sooner than you think.
But first you have to work out where the biggest threat lies: outside the coven or within it?"
Themes
The larp is inspired by contemporary witch fiction, specifically "American Horror Story - Coven" and "Cirkeln" and explores themes of horror, teenage angst, magical powers and tense character relationships.
Setting
Witches have always existed. They have always tried to keep themselves hidden and avoid discovery by the outside world. Most witches have lived in covens: a group of witches bonded together in a specific place and ruled by one witch: The Supreme Witch or Supreme for short. These covens have been their homes, refuge and community.
Witch hunters have existed as long as witches have. Under the cover of a variety of organizations they have tracked and killed witches for generations. The balance had always been pretty even, but over the last thirty years the witch hunters have succeeded in exterminating coven after coven.
The covens that remain have gone into hiding and many witches have renounced their powers and assimilated into the rest of society. The remaining covens are mostly resigned to their fate, most witches have nowhere else to go. Even their greatest authority the Witches’ Council, seemed to have given up.
Then suddenly something changed. Witch hunters stopped focusing on covens and started hunting individual witches. At first previous coven members only, but then they started targeting anyone with magical potential. Even before many of them were aware of their own power. The Witches’ Council was forced to step in; rescuing young witches and sending them to the few covens still undiscovered by the witch hunters.
Story summary
The larp follows and intense period in the coven, starting with the arrival of many more untrained witches than expected. Then follows the choosing of a new Supreme to lead the coven via five trials and finally a showdown with witch hunters that have come to kill all the witches.
Techniques
Powers Characters had one or more of five different magical powers, each performed by clearly saying the appropriate keywords/magical incantation beginning with "Alma" and then the name of the power invoked plus sometimes extra information about the specific intent of the magic. The subject of the spell was then responsible for deciding the exact outcome of the magic effect. The five powers were:
- “Alma Mortis” (For the touch of death).
- “Alma Vitalis” (To resurrect the dead or heal the living).
- “Alma Concilium: (followed by further instructions)” (For mind control).
- “Alma Clairvoyance: (followed by further instructions)” (For mind reading).
- “Alma Transfero” (to transfer your injury or emotions to another).
Powers were represented on each player's nametag with a coloured dot.
Lottery If a player decided that their character would develop additional powers during play, they could contact the organizers who would randomly draw a power for them and add it to their name tags.
Safewords Safety was present through the a modified version of the "Trafic light system" with "Bloody" being used to escalate situations, "Easy" De-escalate and "Tap Out" verbally or physically to stop play entirely. "Off:" was used to give quick offgame messages during play, often to clarify effects or situations."
Ars Amandi was used to represent sex, with the addition of touching cheeks to represent making out.
Wall of Rumours In the bathrooms large sheets of paper on the walls were set up where players could write out rumours about their own or other characters that they wished to get into play.
Text Larping was extensively used by many players to represent friends or family in the outside world as well as various supernatural entities. The remote participants used text messages and online messaging services to send messages and pictures into play. It took on a life of its own as many of the contacts were kidnapped and ransomed by the witch hunters.
Development and productions
The larp was run first in Swedish and then in English.