Characters and relations

CHARACTER CREATION
Characters will be made in a co creation effort between the players and org. In the signup form, there is an extensive section asking about preferences concerning character contents.
We ask players to remain open minded, even if they have some ideas of what they want to play. They might not exactly get what they put in, but we will do our best to grant wishes and validate ideas.
Players will be asked to choose their character's gender identity. This choice will, of course, be respected 100%.

CHARACTER SHEETS
The character briefs will be about 2 pages long and contain inspirational texts about the character's job, family background, character traits, previous relationships, experiences with TV Shows, and what they are looking for on this show.
Players are allowed to change, adjust, leave out or improve everything about their character sheets within the general rules of the game. Meaning, they are allowed to change e.g. their character's past experiences, but they are not allowed to add e.g. sexual assault to their background story, since that is against the general rules of content of the larp.
Players will be given a first name for their character and will have to choose a surname themselves. If players are unhappy with their character's name, they may change it together with org. The names are relevant for several lists in the background, and there will be character name tags, which is why we need to know if you want a different name.

THE TV SHOW
All characters have auditioned, and been extensively vetted, to be on this TV Show. They want to be on TV.
Nobody is forcing them into the experience, and they have been specifically chosen as a candidate.
Yes, characters may be naive as to what being on reality TV really means and what kinds of struggles they will have to face.
They may have bitten off more than they can chew.
Production may try to manipulate them and push them to dramatic, emotional limits.
The larp is not about breaking the show or rebelling against production. Players are asked to portray their characters accordingly.

Yes, characters are looking for love, to varying degrees of seriousness.
Yes, they consented to possibly signing a marriage certificate at the end and be legally married.
Yes, they aren't well-established influencers only looking for clout.

The characters will be designed to want to be on TV, and also, at the same time, find a spouse. They might fall in love. They might have fights, drama, they might cry. They might be rejected or dumped in the last possible moment. And they know that, to varying degrees of awareness.

Their feelings will be real and deep, probably heightened by the environment, but still, real. But they know that they might not find a spouse and get reality TV infamy instead.

CHARACTERS' SEXUAL ORIENTATION
All characters are at least open to have romantic experiences with individuals of more than one gender identity or gender expression.
Gender distribution between the two groups will be as balanced as possible, taking into account off game wishes (flagging).
Characters may be played as asexual. If players wish to portray a character on the ace spectrum, that is absolutely allowed. Sexual attraction is not a prerequisite for this dating show, and asexuality is part of queer experience.
Characters may not be played as polyamorous or ambiamorous (meaning being okay with mono or polyam relationships more or less equally). All characters are monoamorous. None of the characters are polyam, or wish for a polyam relationship.
This is a hard rule of the larp, because it is part of the design to face hard romantic choices and not run away from them and sneak out of them by choosing a polyam solution for being interested in several people.
Also, characters will be designed to be dramatic and not the best, or healthiest, of communicators. Going the polyam way is not an option for them.

RELATIONS WITHIN THE GROUPS
In general, none of the characters know each other before they come on set. There are no relations such as being cousins, siblings, or best friends.
However, players will be encouraged to engage in some chatting via Discord before the larp and let the characters within the same groups get to know each other.
This is going to be optional, but highly encouraged.
Some characters are going to be somewhat famous. However, no characters are going to be known in a way that the person on the other side of the wall knows what they look like from hearing and recognizing their voice.
It is allowed and encouraged to play up your own group mates' fame: "Oh I've read all your books!" / "I am a fan of the sports club you play for!", etc.

RELATIONS WITH CHARACTERS FROM THE OTHER GROUP
There will be no pre designed relations between the characters who date each other. They do not know each other before and have never met.
Players will have the opportunity to "green flag" other players to make sure they are in opposite groups.
However, we do not wish to see entire plot lines already laid out before the game, guaranteeing characters to get together.
It is part of the experience that some, if not most, characters do not end up as a part of a couple and we want players to be open for that.
We want players to create intense, dramatic, engaging stories together that will be aired on a streaming platform and enjoyed by an audience of millions. It is not a larp about being guaranteed to find a spouse. It is a larp where characters might go into the experience with the intention of going on more shows later and garnering Reality TV fame.

There is also no way for org / casting to guarantee a match for everyone. All we can do is encourage players to remain open for the experience and some highly dramatic twists and turns.

Click HERE to read more about the themes and vibes of the larp to find out if this is for you!