This is a larp about an agricultural penitentiary colony that reeducated LGBTQ people during Franco’s dictatorship in the 50s in Spain.  It is a larp about the resilience of a community in the context of an unhealed civil war.

This is not a larp about living misery, but misery will be part of the larp. This is not a larp about physical torture.

The Tefia Camp was called a «Colonia Agrícola Penitenciaria» (an agricultural penitentiary colony) The story we’d like to tell in Violetas is one of a community rising from the experience of those who were imprisoned for existing. This was a prison where individuals were sent to cultivate the ground, on a deserted island. In Violetas you will play one of these prisoners and your character will have physical labor like: collecting water (as of today there’s no drinkable running water in the islands because the tap water is desalinated water) or building walls (since the walls to the Tefia prison camp were the ocean), “reeducation” classes, religion classes, mass. They will have no freedom, no intimacy. As a player, you will play on how these strangers came together to survive, the ones who did survive; the adversity, the imprisonment of not only their bodies but themselves, their minds. Since the players will have a hand in the creative concepts for their characters, we will also be telling your story, the one you want to tell in this context of community.

Our aim as designers is to create a story about the people who survived adversity and kept hope alive during a very complex moment in the history of Spain.

As LGBTQ+ activists, we want to state clearly that our behavior can’t be changed, because we are not ill, and the consequences of such punishment can leave a mark forever.

With this larp, we want to honor the community that survived and fought for the creation of some of the most advanced laws in terms of equality in Europe. We are proud to be part of that community, so we want to make this larp accessible to our people too.

What is not in-game: Comments of the body of the players are prohibited. Racism is not a theme in this larp. Everything else can be part of the game.

Prisoners

The original prisoners of Tefia were Canarian men. For the purpose of this design our characters will be of any gender and from all over Spain. We will base our story mostly in the LGBTQ+ prisoners. There can be nonbinary and noncisgender characters, that due to the historical moment, might be perceived as cis men or cis women in-game.

As LGBTQ+ activists, we disagree with the binary gender simplification of reality.

Guards

There will be no guards in-game, however, there might be some oppressors in-game that will be played by organizers. No scenes related to physical violence will happen in-game. Our aim is to play on the community that survived this situation, not to play a larp about torture.

 

Character writing process

We want to co-create the characters with the players. This means we will conduct an opt-in interview with the participants. After the interview, we will send an initial text that the participant may edit to make the character theirs. Organizers will add some plots and relationships to the character sheet. The character will be fully completed during workshops at the site.

Those opting out of this process will have a fully written character sheet provided by the organization.

 

 

SAFETY

Our safety system relies on the ability of players to set and respect boundaries, be able to say safe words, and be able to speak with the safety team in case you are not ok. If you have trouble doing that, this larp is not for you.

CODE OF CONDUCT

1. People are more important than the larp. Safety is our priority. Respect all the game security rules.
2. Each person’s body is their own. They alone may set their boundaries and say what makes them comfortable. Please be clear establishing your limits, both physical and emotional. Don’t be afraid to modify your limits if you feel you need to during the game.
3. Consent must be freely given, vocalized, and is considered inviolable. Respect everyone’s boundaries and don’t tease, gossip about, ostracize, or retaliate against someone who has set a consent boundary. In fact, we would like you to thank your fellow co-players for setting boundaries, as practising active consent negotiations allows everyone to feel more comfortable.
4. Off-game harassment, abuse, or assault of any participant – or using the alibi of character to harass, abuse, or assault a player – is not tolerated. This includes any reference to the race, gender identity or presentation, sexuality, body size, conventional beauty, age, and experience of the player.
5. Each participant is responsible for their own actions; for reading, understanding, and abiding by the Code of Conduct; and for the consequences of their actions to others.
6. Everyone might harm another member, whether intended to do so or not, and must accept responsibility for their own behavior. If you are informed about this kind of situation, you are expected to reflect this in your own behavior and seek to change it. Don’t deflect, blame, or become defensive if you are informed that you have harmed someone.
7. No one should ostracize or retaliate against any member for setting a consent boundary or for making a report of harassment or abuse.
8. If you witness someone behaving in a manner that is against our Code of Conduct, we encourage you to ask them to stop. Please inform the Safety Team of the incident. You may report anonymously if you feel more comfortable doing so, and we will respect your privacy.
9. Inform the NotOnlyLarp team about any health problems or allergies we should take into consideration.

SAFE WORDS

Emergency: “Emergency, stop playing.” Everyone should stop their scene.
Players should announce their intentions, to give the other player the chance to say a safe word:
– Green. When someone uses this, it means the rest of the players can raise their game intensity. It is a suggestion, not an order.
– Yellow. When someone uses this, the other players have to lower their game intensity. This is an order you have to follow.
– Red. The scene stops immediately. This is an order. The person who stopped the scene should ask for what the other player needs.

HARD LIMITS

 

Comments about the body of the players are prohibited.

SAFE SPACE

 

This is an out-of-game space that works as a safety net for the players. If your play is having any negative impact on you, you can come here and eat, rebalance, relax, or sleep. You’ll find a walkie-talkie to contact the safety team.

ARE YOU OK?

 

Gamemasters or other players can ask if a player is ok with this sign:

You can reply with:

“Yes, I am ok”

“Not sure”. This hand signal, which means the player doesn’t quite know how they feel, or that it’s neither good or bad.. Please ask the player if they want to stop the scene.

“No, I am not”. Please bring the player to the safe space.

If the player doesn’t answer, stop the scene.

MEDICAL TEAM

 

NotOnlyLarp has a First Aid Team to deal with any health problems that can happen during the event. Please inform us about any health problems or allergies we should take into consideration and the way to deal with them should they arise. We also want to know any player that can volunteer help to our First Aid Team.
We have a first aid kit, but this does not include medication; everyone has to bring their own.
We don’t have a psychologist in the team.

SAFETY TEAM

 

NotOnlyLarp has a Safety Team to deal with any issue that can be considered a violation of the Code of Conduct or threaten attendee safety.
Feel free to raise any complaint to our Safety Team. Each complaint received will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

SAFETY TEAM MEMBERS

 

Cripzy RRomero, Javier Dorta, Enrique Esturillo, Juantxi Rodríguez, María Diz, Espe Montero

HARASSMENT

 

NotOnlyLarp’s definition of harassment may not necessarily align with legal definitions of harassment. Therefore, attendees should regard the following guidelines as expectations of conduct in addition to legally actionable actions. In other words, the legal expectations of tangible proof are not necessary for the Safety Team to take action upon a complaint.
For our purposes, harassment includes:
· Verbal comments or displayed images that denigrate individuals based upon gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion, political beliefs, philosophies, geographic origin, or socioeconomic status;
· Body policing, including gender policing in all bathrooms;
· Non-consensual physical or emotional interactions;
· Non-consensual sexual acts.
· Unwelcome sexual attention, whether verbal or physical.
This harassment policy applies to both in-person and online activities. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Not Only Larp volunteers and committee members are also subject to the anti-harassment policy.

Reporting Harassment

We will provide members of the Safety Team with detailed instructions and training procedures in case of a violation of code emergency. Attendees can report harassment at any time:

Before the event: If you are privy to information about harassment toward yourself or someone else by someone in the community at large, please email us at notonlylarp@gmail.com. Please include as many details as you consider necessary. These messages will remain strictly confidential, known only to the safety team. Reports received about registered attendees before the event are subject to the same consequences as those received during the game.

Please note that if a harassment issue occurs, at least one of us will need to speak firsthand to the person. We will keep any identifying information restricted to the safety team. It’s our policy because we know how misinformation can be spread accidentally when it goes between multiple people. We trust everyone here to be honest, but we will require firsthand information before we can take action as a general policy. Anyone in the safety team who personally knows the people involved in the incident won’t be able to make decisions about it.

During the event: If a violation of the Code of Conduct transpires, please inform a member of the Safety Team, as soon as you consider it necessary. You can reach them personally or through any other member of the NotOnlyLarp team. We will provide also provide phone numbers for on-staff Safety members at the start of the event, in case of emergency.

After the event: You may choose to wait until after the event to report a violation, in which case, please email notonlylarp@gmail.com
Disciplinary Steps are organized into two levels based upon the severity of the violation.
Level 1: Monitoring the individual in question, pulling the individual aside to discuss the violation, and/or issuing verbal warnings.
Level 2: Removing the individual from the game and, potentially, from future NotOnlyLarp events.

This document is inspired by the safety documents from Conscience, Living Games Conference, New World Magischola, and Just a Little Lovin’.