In Redemption, you play a character who has come to a religious convocation of a sect called the Followers of Christ’s Faith. You believe in the tenets espoused by the sect and either are a member or wish to be so. During the larp, you’ll wrestle with questions regarding the state of your soul with the help of your fellow Followers.
The Followers believe that to find salvation, one must sin. Otherwise, what is there for God to forgive in His infinite mercy? Your goal is to use these few days to find salvation through sin. You have to make sure you have sinned properly so that when you die, you can experience redemption in the face of God. You can also help other Followers sin, just as they are helping you.
This gathering of the Followers is unusual in the sense that there are people present from many sides of St Petersburg society. There are Romanovs and revolutionaries and their mutual antagonism is hard to forget. Yet perhaps that too can be wielded in the service of sin.
For many characters this is also an unusual chance to interact with people outside their normal social milieu. After all, bucking the existing social order is a sin so normally there’s little social contact between social classes even if they interact on a daily basis.
From the perspective of the characters, there are no big surprises in this larp on the broader level. Events progress as planned with no collective plot twists. The focus of the larp is on the individual experiences and these can of course twist and turn as much as larp chaos allows!
As you play the larp, you’ll have different opportunities to explore salvation through sin. Some of these occur in the rituals held through the larp and others are created by you and your fellow Followers. Fortunately, helping others sin is also a sin, so the Followers can work on their problems together. You will fulfill personal goals, reconcile values and resolve conflicts. You will wallow in moral filth and be reborn.
For some, this convocation is a joyous occasion. For others, a source of trepidation and worry. Still, you’re all united by your belief in redemption it’s necessity to be granted salvation.
Perhaps you’re a rake and a wastrel, a revolutionary or an aristocrat, an artist or an anarchist, the sect your way to reconcile your natural proclivities with your concern for your soul. Or maybe you’re innocent as the driven snow, deeply worried that this fact will keep you from entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
In both cases, you have to sin.
Members and Newcomers
You have a choice of two types of characters: Those who are joining the sect or those who already belong to it. This determines your journey through the larp but it’s also a practical issue. Characters who belong to the sect will have costumes provided by the larp.
The characters of the larp are based on real historical people but your goal is not to portray that person with stifling accuracy. Rather, they’re a template you can use to add verisimilitude to your experience at the larp.
In the early stages of the larp, the newcomers hold their earthly social positions. Dukes are treated as dukes and princesses as princesses. As the larp progresses, they’re inducted into the sect and roles change: They are now initiates, their former roles washed away.
Many of the characters already in the sect are members of the lower classes. Their roles in everyday life may be humble but once the newcomers have been inducted, they’re at the top. And in a cult where sin is something to aspire to it’s always okay to explore newfound power.
Ingredients
Here are some of the things you may encounter during the larp. In all situations, you may choose whether you wish to participate or not. However, you may still witness any of these things, although some are more likely than others.
Religious rituals
Degenerate partying
Scenes testing the values of your character
Nudity
Contemplation
Simulated sex acts
Suicide
Blasphemy
Prayer
Returning Players
We welcome returning players who already participated in the original two runs of Redemption! As you look through this page, you may notice that the design has changed somewhat as we’ve taken lessons from the original runs aboard and adjusted the experience accordingly.
The main shift is obvious from the timetable below: Instead of two nights, the larp now lasts three nights. The extra time was added to avoid the feeling of being rushed, to give us more workshop time and to be able to have an afterparty on Saturday night after the larp ends. This way, it’s possible for the participants to reflect on the experience together in a communal and informal manner.
The basic structure of the experience remains the same as before, as do details like the venue and the characters. The website has been updated with a few design solutions such as including the hand mechanic that were actually used in the original runs but not explained here.
We have also added a new ticket category with a lower price tag, the replacement player. The idea is that if you get a ticket of this type, you’re on standby if someone cancels their participation. If that happens, you take over their character. In the event that nobody cancels, you’re still guaranteed a spot at the larp with a character who’s connections are created at the workshop.
We originally designed the larp with replayability in mind, with different character types and emergent larp chaos providing for new experiences.
Actions
Here are some of the basic actions in Redemption:
Confess your sins (and virtues). Seek out someone, another character, and confess to the sins you have just perpetrated. You can also confess to your virtues, the qualities that remain undefiled and pure, and thus need to be worked on next.
Sin in ways big and small. Perhaps sinning means speaking ill of someone, or coming up with a complex orgiastic scene involving Satan-worship and fucking those you hate the most.
Flirt. You’re in a retreat in the middle of nowhere to sin and be redeemed. Surely that means you can engage in a bit of flirting!
Satisfy your curiosity. What’s up with these socialists/Romanovs anyway? You’re all here to sin together so it stands to reason you should get to know each other too. Why not start with a few blunt questions?
Stare into Eternity. You’re a spiritual person experiencing one of the most religiously significant events of your life. It’s entirely possible to be possessed by holy ecstasy and rend your clothes in mad inspiration.
Satisfy petty impulses. You’re here to sin for your soul but who’s going to know if you sin for pettier reasons instead? Now is the time to bring out your character’s hidden desires, when satisfying them is all in the service of your soul.
Pray. Maybe you just need to speak with God.
Here are ten more specific actions you can take at the larp:
1. Debate the merits of various kinds of sin when it comes to your chances of redemption.
2. Tear off your clothes and writhe in holy ecstasy.
3. Lay out your vision for the next thousand years of Czarist rule and explain why the revolution is impossible.
4. Explore the sins of lust and hate by having sex with your worst enemy.
5. Lose yourself in collective worship.
6. Compete with others over who can sin the most.
7. Help others attain salvation by involving them in novel types of sin.
8. Argue that it’s not enough to sin, that you must enjoy it for it to truly count.
9. Cry tears of joy as you debase your most sacred principles.
10. Throw yourself to the floor and kiss the hem of the robe of a prophet.