Owlsborough

The honor of your presence, noble Guest, is requested for an Evening Dance and Courtly Gathering, in most esteemed company to celebrate the opening of the Iron Gate, and the invitation of the Fae into our Empire. This Ball is to be held at the Owlsborough Country Estate, Farforello Road, outside our glorious Empire’s Capital beginning at 8 in the evening, and hosted by the venerable M. Ospry Owlsborough. Be warned: fairies may also attend.

Long Description

THE BALL You are a courtier, or a servant, from the high noble houses of the Candle Empire. Long has the Empire held fast against the beguiling, corrupting influences of the mysterious Fae – the fairy creatures who reside in the Deep Places. You could stumble into this other world by accident: in the corners of a dark cabinet, past the hole in the hedge, through the tarnished looking-glass… And by the same token, the Fae could sneak their way into the mortal realms. There are many dark tales of their ancient mischief: stealing children away, cursing kings, bewitching hapless wanderers. But long ago, the cold iron knights of the Candle Empire sealed the Deep Places away behind the Iron Gate, where they would never again cause chaos. This hasn’t stopped fairy magics from leaking through – but the royal line of Eiselcross has kept ever watchful. Until now. This year, the new Eiselcross Monarch of the Empire has done something unprecedented: she has ordered the Iron Gate to be opened. This has made many people angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. And yet, this decree was not made for free. You see, the fae courts have promised a gift in return: a wish. One wish, given to whoever desires it, to make your most desperate dreams come true. It is said that this wish will be bestowed by a fae regent, in disguise, during the next social gathering of the season: the Owlsborough Ball, a dance that promises to attract every noble house the Capital can boast, all in fighting form and with gossip buzzing in their mouths: who will be given this wish? Why did the Monarch make this decision? How will the Empire bear the Fae courts’ return? That’s for you to find out. THE GAME The Pitch: It’s a fantastical fae Regency-style court drama parlor LARP with some social mechanics, political intrigue, romance, magic, and dark secrets. This is a game about your reputation, the masks you wear, the dreams you hold dear, and what you’ll sacrifice to achieve them. This game does not have prewritten characters! This game asks players to pitch their own character concept, using a pre-written list of noble houses and character archetypes as scaffolding for their ideas. This involves a survey asking what character you’d like to play, what personal conflicts and themes you’d like to wrestle with, what juicy secrets you’re hiding, and anything you want to avoid. You will then receive a character sheet customized for you, with as many elements included from your original pitch as possible. Is this a mechanically heavy game? Owlsborough Ball is medium-mechanics; all mechanics are social in nature, intended to make the underlying court drama more clear and engaging. You’ll be given small social powers by your character background or social position; you don’t NEED to use these powers, but the game will be made more interesting if you do. I am also testing out these mechanics for future iterations, so please, give them a go! That said, this game is NOT intended to be competitive or play-to-win. The primary goal of every player should be to tell an interesting story. What’s the tone of this game? Players will influence the game’s tone; players will also be asked to provide lists of topics they’d prefer to avoid, which will be made clear during game. Generally, this game is intended to support neither dark cutthroat political machinations or cheerfully sanitized fairy-tale endings. There will be some darkness inherent to the premise – there will be bad people – there will be dangerous, dark magic – but the story will not be a tragedy. This is also a queer-friendly game, written by a queer author! The setting is divorced from real-world Regency-era locations in order to best facilitate diversity, in every sense. What’s the aesthetic and costuming like? This is NOT Britain in 1810. It just has the sensibility and tone of novels written during that time. Regency clothing and aesthetics are good jumping-off point, but anything that is A) sufficiently fancy and formal and B) comfortable enough to dance in should be fine. Want to dress like you’re from Nirvana in Fire? Go for it. The aesthetics of the game itself – tablecloths, china, ballroom – will vaguely nod at high-class Regency fare. What are cultural touchstones for this game? Think Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, Dimension 20’s “A Court of Fae and Flowers”, the tabletop RPG Changeling: the Lost, and of course Jane Austen’s works. Importantly, many of the basic mechanics for this game are distantly derived from the TTRPG Good Society, which I highly recommend. Custom Content Advisories This game contains: • a setting filled with rich elites and their servants, with few opportunities for social mobility • background descriptions of magical kidnapping, memory loss, murder, plague, and references to drugs/alcohol • potential depictions of social ostracization, social manipulation, gossip/rumormongering, religious zealotry, dark fae magic, and duels • a setting with some bias against homosexuality, due to the focus on conceiving heirs - although players are encouraged to act against this societal assumption. Importantly, as Owlsborough Ball’s setting is ostracized from real-world Regency-era England, none of this game’s material will make reference to real-world bigotry, religion, or colonization of any kind. The character survey will give opportunity for players to list material they don’t wish to engage with in-game. These requests will be anonymized and shared with players before the start of game, and the group will be asked not to reference the subjects listed. If you have any further questions about the content of this game, feel free to reach out to me.