The year is 1813, and two elderly widows have invited their extended families to visit, along with some carefully selected guests. What will transpire over the next few days is a societal game with dancing, flirtation and new friendships, where permanent matches will be made between families. In the process, hearts will break, old traumas emerge, and patterns repeat themselves. Meanwhile, multiple groups of servants are blended, and watch as their lives change, perhaps forever.

Love and Duty is a larp set in the Regency era. For the Upstairs group, it’s the story of generational trauma being passed on, about society’s ­expectations and shattered dreams. It is also a story of love, marriage, family, and reputation.

For the Downstairs group, this is a larp about coming together in new constellations and finding a way to work with each other. It’s about moments of freedom, of the possibility to make new friends, form rivalries, and perhaps even fall in love. It’s also about realising that as the reality changes for the employers, it might also change for the employees, who might need to move away from their friends and families. It’s a larp about powerlessness, and the relationships that form with people in the same position.

Love and Duty is not a romantic regency larp. It is not about playing Austen heroines, or happily ever afters. Instead, this is a larp about social realism, rather than the romanticised version we so often see portrayed. For this larp we want to lean into the constraints and expectations of this time.

This is a non-profit Nordic larp organized by Atropos and Lu Larpová. Participants will play either one of the upper-class guests (Upstairs), or one of the servants (Downstairs). It was first run in September 2023, and will be run again in November 2024.

The Quick Facts:

What: A Regency larp with 41 characters per run.
Where: Gutshaus Groß Markow, Germany.
When: Run 1: 13–17 November 2024, Run 2: 20–24 November 2024. Workshops start at 19 on the 13th and 20th.
How much: Upstairs: €500, Downstairs: €250. This includes your food and lodgings.
Language: English.
Age limit: You must be 18 or older to attend.

Changes

After the first run of the larp in 2023 we have made some changes to the design of the larp, as well as the schedule. In short these are:

• Five kitchen staff have been added to the Love and Duty crew in the form of both helpers and cooks. They will receive characters but also have off-game responsibilities when it comes to cooking and doing dishes.
• There will be a designated Upstairs organizer (Petra) and a designated Downstairs organizer (Lu).
• All servants (Downstairs) that are not the butler and housekeeper will either be lady’s maids or valets and be employed in-game by one of the Upstairs families.
• As a group, the Downstairs servants have no kitchen tasks. Their play will instead be focused within the group and towards the Upstairs group.
• The workshops will start on Wednesday evening rather than on Thursday morning. The larp will also start a few hours earlier on Thursday than at the 2023 run.
• The departure time from the larp will be at noon on Sunday, and we have added a second, longer debrief on Sunday morning.