Cracks in the Orb

"It was in the reign of the 17th Athyra Empress, Cherova III--947 years before Adron's Disaster--nthat the unusual events of the Ballroom Uprising came to pass. It was not the uprising itself that was unusual, for there would be unrest aplenty during that reign. The Ballroom, too, was not notable; there were, of course, many ballrooms within the Imperial Palace, and some of them even in use.

"What was perhaps, notable, was that when this ballroom was chosen as fortress to the sanctity of the Orb, there was already a ball in progress--the type of affair frequented by young ladies and lords of good birth, in which the rule of the evening is manners. That some of the ladies and lords would go on to play important roles in the history of the Empire, does not, of course, escape this historian's note."

Cracks in the Orb is a game of manners, romance, and military maneuvers for 23 players in the world of Steven Brust's Dragaera novels, at the intersection of a society event and an ongoing rebellion. It takes place roughly 400 years before the events of The Phoenix Guards, and features characters both new and familiar. Depending on your preferences, you can play a general commanding troops to quell the rebellion, a young noble looking for a spouse, or a little bit of both. In addition to Brust, the LARP takes inspiration from works such as Vanity Fair, Pride & Prejudice, Jeeves & Wooster, and other 19th-20th century novels/comedies of manners. No knowledge of any of this is required to play--just that you dig social and political plots in a high fantasy setting.

• This game is very much aimed at players who enjoy both romance and wargame-y type plots, but there are only a handful of warleaders, whereas almost every character has a romance plot. We'll do our best, but be aware that not every character can be the Warlord, and even the Warlord needs love.
• This game is recommended to folks 16 years of age or older simply for the reason that there are a good number of (non-explicit, mostly light-hearted) sexual references in the character sheets.
• Dragaera's a very (fantasy) classist and racist world - and you're all nobles, so casual dismissal of peasants and foreigners will be in your character sheet. Also certain characters may have traumatic histories, including abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, or drug addiction, that may be troubling to some players. There are also a goodly number of characters of various LGBT orientations. I would not characterize this as a game ABOUT those things, though--they are just aspects of character.
• This game has a lot of pre-game reading, especially if you're not familiar with the world. That means 11-12 pages of setting bluesheets, 4-12 pages of rules (depending on which game aspects you're involved with), and a character sheet of between 4 and 15 pages. Bluesheets and rules are already available on the website.