Horror
Demeter run #8
Event Card
Full-English
Sleeping-Place
Restroom
Fully Catered
To An Adult Audience
Deliciously Inclusive
4, Am Südhafen, Ellenberg, Rückeberg, Kappeln, Schleswig-Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, 24376, Germany
It is October 29 1897.
The schooner “Demeter” is on its way from Transylvania to London. The 28 passengers and crew do not know that there is something ancient and evil among them. But they will soon realize the terrible truth. The Demeter will reach London, alas without a living soul aboard…
out of 5
Based on Dracula's journey from to London as described through newspaper clippings and diary entries in Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula", this LARP subjects its players to the claustrophobic confines of an early 20th century sailing ship. It is important not to expect a creature feature here - Dracula's presence is mostly perceived through the uneasiness and mounting paranoia of the characters, not jump scares or dashing fight scenes. The horror originates with the strangers the characters share the ship with during the 10 day voyage from Varna to Whitby. The characters don't know it yet, but the players are all too aware: When the ship drifts into Whitby harbour, no one aboard will be left alive. The LARP is a masterclass in building an atmosphere of mounting tension and dread "the old way", and feels similar to the creeping horror and madness one would expect from a Lovecraft-inspired Mythos setting. Since the journey of ten days is compressed into a little less than 48 hours, the LARP is played in chapters, with some mandatory calibration- and sleep breaks in between - something I was initially sceptical about since I felt it could impact the immersion into the game world. In the end, it worked very well for a LARP inspired by a literary work though, and didn't bother me at all. The LARP being played on a sailing ship, on the open sea during the day, some limitations must be born in mind: Since there is no room for an additional crew, players must chip in with the necessary chores: cleaning, cooking, and not least of all sailing the ship can't all be done by the LARP crew and the actual skeleton crew of the ship alone. Furthermore, moving around the ship requires climbing steep stairs and using hatches way smaller than your average doorway. Lastly, while there are small restrooms on board, showers are only available in the two ports the ship is moored in overnight. Finally, people prone to seasickness might have an awful time of it if the sea gets even just a little rough. Also, owed to the real life sailing ship, there will be breaks in the illusion here or there that can't be avoided. There will be modern cars and streetlights visible in the ports, not all modern appliances onboard can be perfectly hidden; some willing suspension of disbelief is required. For all of this, players are rewarded with a fantastic game experience though. Characters come pre-written and feel like they have been plucked from the pages Victorian literature; in some cases, one can hazard a guess at the character's inspiration. It is within these characters, their sins and secrets where the tools for building internal tensions lie. The game utilises shadowplay to dredge up these dark spots on the characters' sould, and externally, the number of ill omens keeps mounting. Blame, accusations and threats of violence soon follow, and drive the crew and passengers towards the inevitable finale. The Baltic sea in autumn helps a great deal facilitating this mood - in dreary weather, the water looks almost black, and standing on deck, gazing out at sea, gives a conversation between characters additional weight. Demeter was a wonderful experience of old-timey, literary horror and is especially well suited to lovers of the genre. Photo by Beol Ljungborg