Maelstrom Rules - Additional Information

Costume Requirements
The Maelstrom campaign is not modelled after any strict historical period and players are not required to acquire expensive or historically accurate clothing and props. However, live role-playing is a co-operative hobby; the more effort made by all attendees, the better the event for everyone. Consequently, we ask that our players make an effort to ensure that they are not wearing any modern looking clothing such as white trainers, jeans, t-shirts or similar articles of clothing. Black trainers or a stout pair of boots, a pair of dark nondescript trousers and some form of tabard or tunic is expected as a minimum.

If you cannot obtain appropriate costume before or at the event, then please speak to GOD and we will lend you a simple piece of kit. The quality of this kit is universally poor but it will be clean and suitable for use in the game. Any kit borrowed from Profound Decisions must be returned at the end of the event or you will be charged for it.

Disguises
It is not possible for a character to disguise themselves as a member of another race unless they have a lammy that indicates otherwise. You may disguise your character, but you should actively avoid any make-up or prosthetics that could conceivably be confused with the OOC requirements for a member of another race.

Because a player is allowed a secondary character this may cause confusion if someone attempts to use an IC disguise. It becomes impossible for other players to tell if they are seeing an IC disguise or a different character. If you think that you recognize another character who is in disguise you may check by informing a referee of the name of the character that you suspect is in disguise. The referee will check the player’s character card for you. Alternatively you may ask the player OOC if they are playing the name of the character that you suspect is in disguise. If you are asked by another player if you are playing a specific named character in disguise then you must answer truthfully.

Character Photographs
Profound Decisions maintains a database that includes a photograph of every player in their character costume and make-up. We take this photograph the first time that you play your character at an event. You cannot collect your event pack until you have had your photograph taken, so please put on your costume and make-up before coming to collect your event pack if you are playing a character for the first time.

The photographs will never be displayed publicly without your written permission. They are used as part of the magic system, as some abilities allow the user to see a picture of a character. They are also used to help Profound Decisions locate and identify players when we need to find someone urgently. For both these reasons, you are not allowed to deliberately misrepresent your character when being photographed. If your character prosthetics or make-up change significantly for some reason then you must tell us so that we can take a new photograph of your character. If you begin role-playing a new character then you must have a new photograph taken before the character goes into play.

Playing Npcs
We use a dedicated NPC (non-player-character) team for all of our events. Consequently, we do not usually require any assistance from you to fill our NPC roles. However, it is possible that events in the unfolding campaign may result in scenes that require unusually large numbers of NPCs for a short period of time. In these situations, a referee may ask you if you are interested in playing an NPC role. If you think that you are likely to be able to spare an hour or two from your event then we would appreciate your assistance in helping us to bring large scale encounters to life.

Volunteer Staff
Profound Decisions is a professional live role-playing company dedicated to producing high quality LRP events. However, the majority of referees, staff and NPCs that you encounter at an event are unpaid volunteer crew. They have freely given up their time to help to make the event more enjoyable for players. They are not there to deal with problems or complaints. This is their hobby too. We require our players to be civil towards all members of the volunteer crew at all times.

Whilst we aim to run our events to the highest possible standards, it is not possible to produce a perfect event and problems will arise from time to time. If you have any problems or concerns or are unhappy about any aspect of the event then please go to GOD and ask to speak to a member of the Profound Decisions management team. All the management team are employees of Profound Decisions and part of their role is to handle any issues that arise or deal with any complaints that you may have. We will try our best to resolve any problems that arise as soon as we are informed of them. Each event pack will include a list of the names of the Profound Decisions management team attending the event.

Referees
At every event there will be a number of staff wearing bright yellow caps and tabards or coats that are labelled ref that are acting as referees. The referees do not always perform the role for the whole event, so please do not take a referee issue to anyone who is not wearing a referee tabard or cap. Most of our event crew, up to and including Matthew Pennington, are not referees and cannot answer a question about the event rules.

The referees are there to ensure that the rules are being followed and to act as a referee where one is required for certain actions. If you have any queries about the rules governing the actions of your character at an event then you need to speak to a referee. Queries regarding downtime or anything that takes place outside an event are handled by members of the GOD crew. In between events all rules questions can be directed to rules@profounddecisions.co.uk.

If you feel certain that a mistake has been made by a referee then please ask for a second opinion.

Exceptional Calls
Three of the following exceptional calls may be made by a referee, the MAN DOWN call may be made by anyone.

MAN DOWN - Stop role-playing when you hear this call. This call can be used by anyone as it indicates that a real injury has occurred. If you hear this call stop all role-playing and move away from the injured person. You may resume role-playing when time in is called.

TIME FREEZE - Stop role-playing, close your eyes and hum quietly to yourself when you hear this call. This call is used to allow the referees to make rapid unseen changes to the scene. You may resume role-playing when time in is called.

TIME IN - Resume role-playing when you hear this call. This call is used by a referee to start or restart the game after it has been stopped for any reason.

TIME OUT - Stop role-playing when you hear this call. This call is used when the referee needs to suspend roleplaying for a period of time. You must remain still but you may talk out of character with people nearby. You may resume role-playing when time in is called.

Communications with the Known World
If you write a letter during downtime, the item will be added to your inventory. You can give a letter to another character like a normal item using the give item action. The character that you give the letter to will be able to read the message by examining the item in their inventory if they choose.

Any character that travels to a port in the Known World has the option to give an item to a character in the Known World. They can use this action to attempt to deliver a letter to its intended target. Please see the guidelines for more information on writing letters to the Known World.

To visit a Known World port your character must embark on a vessel that sails to that Known World port using the downtime system.

Event Hosting
At each event it will be the responsibility of the current event host to choose the host for the next event but one.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.