RULES

To participate in the event it is necessary to:

1. Be registered through official registration form.
2. Accept and obey Gimle Code of Conduct.
3. Paid the fees.
4. Dress up and act as a character that fits our world and genre.
5. Do the Gimle quizzes (knowledge about mechanics and lore).
   • Basic rules: https://forms.gle/YztADix2VpYbynm99
   • Lore: https://forms.gle/GXYFRwq4yuCQyvNF6
   • Fight: https://forms.gle/AnF6W3CBgvTSNZbz9
   • Magic: https://forms.gle/qPz4954e9KTnj1sL7
   • Artifacts, things & places: https://forms.gle/2Ayriz8ppwPg2rQz7

Gimle Code of Conduct

1. Get familiar with all accessible information about Gimle Larp (on a website, FB page, FB group, WhatsApp group).
2. Respect Gimle rules and game mechanics.
3. Apply Gimle Safety Design system (see below).
4. Assume good intentions and be kind, even or especially to those who have different perspectives.
5. Cherish diversity, be open and respectful for any kind of differences (eg. languages, traditions, identities, genders, ethnicities, sexualities, religious/political beliefs).
6. Expect a multilingual environment, but switch to the common tongue of Gimle (English) when other players ask you to.
7. Foster networking and new connections, introduce people to each other.
8. Listen actively, be clear and specific in your communication. Express your feelings and needs.
9. Respect personal boundaries of all the participants of the event (players, organizers, NPCs).
10. Remember about self-care (drink water, sleep enough, respect your own personal boundaries and needs).
11. In justified cases, the organizers have the right to ask participants to leave the event (eg. disrespectful behavior) or act according to specific situations, (eg. in case of emergency or evacuation).
12. At the event’s location it is forbidden to:
    • use any kind of physical and psychological violence
    • use or be under influence of alcohol, drugs and/or any other psychoactive substances
    • vape or smoke both traditional and electronic cigarettes in larp area and in the common spaces of the farm
    • damage any part of the infrastructure, including equipment and other materials.
    • litter or damage any part of the natural environment, living branches, streams, ponds etc.
13. Personal data of the participants gathered during registration will be processed by Hastekasen Farm Association who is the legal host of the event (we do not spread to any third party except Sverok)
    If you do not want to be part of Gimle photos that are posted on social media, then YOU yourself have to avoid photo sessions – just turn around and walk away when someone is taking photos.
    If photos are taken secretly – recognizable people will be asked afterwards if they are ok being seen on Gimle social media.
14. The Gimle larp has a player association connected to Sverok giving the players an insurance and power over the grants from Sverok.
15. Swedish law applies to all the participants during the whole duration of the event.
16. Obey FIRE rules!

The Organizers will be present non-stop throughout the event.
They can be asked for assistance and clarification for any guidelines of conduct (but you are obliged to read and remember the code of conduct).
Info points:
Grey cloaks – question about rules, report cheating and rule breaking.
Lockwood messenger service – in game happenings (get and give information).
Merchant – F-coins, register questions, return rental items, e t c.
Red House – small injuries, random socio/emotional questions, special questions.

Our rules & vision

Choose your own experience.
It is you who decides your own experience (and also lets others choose their own). No one should force anyone else to do anything. You should always be able to choose not to be exposed to e.g. magic, combat, touch, kidnapping, knocking unconscious, etc. Always give your (IN-game) opponent a choice to choose. Your character dies only if you decide to allow it.

What you see is what you get.
Gimle is low imagination or low fantasy meaning we only allow those fantasy expressions that can be convincingly embodied. In practice, this means we have limits on what fantasy races and magical abilities you can play.

Clearly definable groups.
Every player should belong to one of the groups and every group is required to have visual uniformity. Being a beginner-friendly LARP it is important to be able to quickly understand which group someone belongs to. This way each of the groups can also get intrigue, connected to the main narrative.

Plenty of battles.
We aspire to have plenty of opportunities for combat supported by a healing system (3-6 HP). Our healing times are short (1-3 hours) and fighting rules are fairly simple.

Player empowerment. 
We value diversity – but with it comes responsibility. That is why we value transparency, appreciate managing expectations and have a safety system. Check the sections of Safety Design and Disclaimers (under Rules).

Immersion is key. 
Gimle LARP lasts for 3 days and strives for all-around immersion. We prefer if most players sleep IN and are therefore always IN character. Besides the big IN area, we also have an extensive OFF area called “South” where you should go if you want to do anything that does not fit into our fantasy world.

Respective and inclusive community. 
Our vision is a community based on mutual respect, consent, and inclusiveness in which players feel safe to play, experiment, be curious and explore. We are LGBTQ+ friendly. Feel free to experiment with with identity, but respect our genre: “medieval fantasy larp”

 

Informal rules

Do’s:

Play for flow – don’t end the scene too early, don’t blindly follow your objectives, rather adapt to what others are doing and go with the flow.
Play to lift – we are empowering the community so treat all players up to their roles – king as a king, merchant as a  merchant.
Play to lose – rather than winning focus on creating an amazing scene that is consensual

Dont’s:

Don’t be an asshole. Be respectful, obey the code of conduct, read the content, respect what is in mechanics and lore, respect others, be attentive to what the larp is about.
Don’t be Sven with a sword.
Don’t forget to ask for consent. Consent matters in every aspect of the game: poisoning, fighting, and touch.

Physical injury

We have at least one medical responsible person, who will present themselves at the main meeting.

Where to find medics? Come to the IN merchant house or the OFF red house and get a hold of a person that can help.

Shout for help if it is an ABC condition (breathing, bleeding, shock), otherwise, go to the “kitchen” in the main red house and ask for help. In Swedish we say “skarp skada” = “sharp injury”, meaning, it is a real injury, not acting.

• If you can, handle it in an IN way and “limp” out of the play area while still in character.
• If you get seriously hurt or see someone that needs medical attention – ask for help from the organizer.

The person from the organizing team will:

• Send someone to get the medic.
• Get hold of a phone.
• Maybe start calling 1177 and/or 112.
• Send someone for the stretcher if need be… If you know the person can be moved safely.
• Transport of the injured to the OFF area down to the red house.

Make sure someone from the organization is involved (takes charge).

Don’t stare. If you are not needed in the caretaking, don’t stare, move away and keep larping. If 112 decides it is an emergency – they will send an ambulance. We keep our evacuation car for “life and death” situations.

Do you want to know more about physical safety?

1) Being safe and feeling safe are two different things.
Being safe, while feeling a bit UNsafe … is adventure.

2) One can get injured emotionally and physically.
Yes, some of us want to feel a bit scared sometimes…. but we do not want to get traumatized.
In larp people are acting and other players could act aggressive towards you – if you get too stressed ask them to calm down.
Say: calm and do palm downward sign with your hand. You can also do the OFF fist sign and just walk away if you like.

3) It is every participants job to keep this event safe and look after each other.

Lets talk about physical safety:

4) Larp weapons can severely hurt you.
You are not allowed to swing these weapons as hard as you can.
They can injure, eyes and joints for a long time (knees, elbows)

5) People do get injured every year in this larp.
The most common injuries are:
– cuts and wounds…. blood
– burns
– sprained ankles

What the organizer fear most is that someone would:
– Fall and get spine or head injuries
– Eye injuries, mainly from running in the forest and getting a branch in the eye

Do not fight or run on slippery or uneven ground!

6) Fire can do injury to nature, animals and infrastructure.
If you start a fire that spreads you will be reported to the police.
See more rules on fire

7) Drink a lot to avoid dehydration, as it makes you take stupid decisions and make you less in control of your body.

8) Now I am going to tell you what to do in different injury situations:
– If you have a small wound with blood.
Clean it with water and put a band aid on it (YES clean water is enough, soap is also useful)
Clean it again next day if needed. Try to let the wound get a lot of air and dry out, but you must keep it clean.
The first day, keep the wound very tightly closed – maybe using stronger medical tape.
– If you burn yourself; IMMEDIATLY put your hand in water (the colder the better), or pour clean old water over the burn – keep it cool for at least 15 minutes.
It can save you a lot of trouble if you do it directly – within seconds.
Bigger burns, get medic.
– if you sprain your ankle it can become DOUBLE worse if you do not do exactly like this:
a) Do not move another meter. Do NOT stand on the foot. Sit or lie down.
b) Bandage it HARD and immediately.
c) Keep the foot high (lie down, keep the food higher than your head)
d) Put ICE on the foot. For a long time…. an hour.
If you use your injured foot – the injury will get worse.
If you follow these instructions – you may be able to use your foot the next day.

9) If you need help go to:
– The merchant house.
– The red house outside the game area.
Idea…. keep playing if you can. Pretend to be injured IN also. That is good play.

10)  If there is a BIG injury, something that could be life threatening or at least lead to long lasting injuries.
(Has never happened at Gimle)
First do the OFF fist sign and whisper/ask if they are really injured. If it is real and serious:
Call for help. Shout “REAL injury” so that people understand it is not acting.
Get Sebastian, the main medic.
Do NOT get stressed. Do not ask unnecessary questions to the injured person, when you are in pain and/or chocked you are not interested in conversations.

If you are medically trained (including CPR) you know what to do – do it.

-> In very serious cases someone must IMMEDIATELY get the main medic responsible: Sebastian

If needed, call 112 (or wait and let Sebastian or other medic make that decision)
One person stays with the injured, sit beside them. Calm them.
Do not group around and stare at the person.

If you are first person at the scene:
– If the person needs to be moved – move the person (if their head is down in water or their head is in the fire).
Otherwise DO NOT MOVE the person.
– If there is blood coming out of the person – STOP THE BLOOD from going out. NOW!
– If the person is unconscious – not responding. Do not move them. Talk gently to them, squeeze their hand.
Check if they are breathing. If not, check again. If not – start CPR. Find someone that knows CPR, lots of people know it

If the person wants to stand up and walk away – do not let them. Sit down beside them and gently ask them to rest and feel, until the shock is gone or a medic arrives.
Soon a more experienced medic will come and decide if the person has no spine or neck injuries and can be moved.

We may need stretcher and blanket – ask at the merchant.
Carrying a person with a stretcher takes minimum 4 people and is complicated. Focus. Don´t fuck it up.

Hospital is 30 minutes away.
Helicopters are available if it is life threatening.
Gimle will only use the evacuation car if 112 says we should use it.
If it is not hospital emergency – we will not drive you to hospital.
We must save the car for EMERGENCIES.

Emotional safety in “Gimle Safety Design”

Trust

Role-playing, immersion, and alibi require a community of trust. In Gimle we want that our community members can trust each other, and that trust can happen when they are and feel safe, supported, and empowered.

Transparency of Content, Rules, and Vision – Matching the Expectations

Read the content-related information about Gimle, its rules and mechanics, disclaimers, larp pictograms, lore, storyline, religion, faction descriptions etc. Check if it suits you, it’s absolutely understandable that not every genre or rule must be liked. Choose consciously your own experience.

Tailored Empowerment

Gimle is a community-based larp, and we care and empower each other. We offer support with character creation, designing personal development goals, group bonding, pre-game workshops, de-rolling and debriefings after the game online bonding within the Gimle community (FB group, discord).

Safety System

Gimle has its own Safety and Calibration system which includes the Art of Asking – Consent Negotiation, signs for OFF, OK Check-In, regulating intensity with Palm up/down, and specific mechanics eg. for intimacy or fighting. During the game, we also have Sanctuaries where players can find support. IN the game area a role of such a sanctuary plays Nanna’s Hut at the Academy, in the OFF area, it is a main red house at the farm. For rest, there is the whole OFF area at the farm including a fireplace, garden, yoga circle.

SAFETY definition – a place and / or a state of mind:

• necessary for someone to feel that they can open up, be vulnerable, take risks, and be supported and cared for as they do.
• where they can trust others to behave responsibly and to have a shared sense of responsibility for others and the shared space.
• that allows individual autonomy, mechanisms for individual needs to be met, and compassion for other individuals in Concert. (Sarah Lynne Bowman, Maury Brown, Johanna Koljonen)

And remember! Player care and safety are more important than the game.

Basic needs first – sleep enough, drink a lot of water, enjoy food, keep warm, tend to your own needs and respect your boundaries.

Become a Master of Art of Asking

Verbally or nonverbally (with signals and codes) IN or OFF, ask for the consent of the player to have anything happen to their character. We know that it can be awkward at the beginning but it’s a base for creating a community of trust.

Feeling Safe makes me brave!

Safety and calibration can spice up many scenes and increase immersion and satisfaction as players know that they can always opt-out or decrease intensity, which allows them to take risks, pick up conflicts, throw a tantrum, go berserk, try intimacy or overcome their fears in a safe space. It helps to get out of your comfort zone but with a guaranty of not ending up in a panic zone.

Bleed

It’s a phenomenon where a character’s traits affect the player out of the game and vice versa. It’s neither negative nor positive as it can cause various outcomes, for example in educational Larps controlled bleed may be used to enhance different competencies.

It is important to understand the nature of bleed as it can help us to design our character, its relations, and engagement in the game in a way that will suit us best, even empower and also avoid unwanted effects.

• BLEED IN happens when the feelings, emotions, attitudes, behaviors, and/or skills of the participant are transferred to the character. It may help participants to play their character as themselves as it is not as demanding as pretending to be somebody else (then we say that they play ‘close to home’). On the other hand, it may cause many misunderstandings, because the actions and motivations of the character may be perceived by other players as the attitude of the participant.
• BLEED OUT occurs when feelings, emotions, attitudes, behaviors, and/or skills of the character pass to the participant. For example, it happens when a shy player portrays a self-confident character and after the game believes more in themselves and can copy actions and decisions taken during larp in real-life. Bleed out may also trigger unwanted situations or negative aspects if during a larp there is a conflict or betrayal between characters and these negative emotions stay between players after the game. Or if a player was portraying a character with negative traits and some of their behaviors (eg. being mean, bossy, etc) stick to a player.

CALIBRATION

“Calibration means the many explicit and implicit ways that players have to negotiate playstyle, play intensity, and sometimes things like the genre.” Koljonen.

In other words, imagine dialing up/down, scaling, and fine-tuning.

TOOLS in Gimle for Calibration:

• NON-VERBAL:
  • IN game: You may rise the intensify – PALMS UP (with a movement up),
  • IN game: Decrease the intensity, calm down –  PALMS DOWN (with a movement down)
• VERBAL:
  • IN game: the word “CALM” – decrease the intensity, calm down
  • OFF game NEGOTIATIONS of players of how they wish to interact with each other (Art of Asking)

ART OF ASKING – Consent Negotiations

We recommend consent negotiations in Gimle for any actions which may cause discomfort in other players. The Art of Asking can be used before and during the larp, to establish boundaries and permissions between two or more players included in the affair. Consent negotiations should increase safety and trust between players which later may help to create better play, intensify drama, intrigues and conflicts, and prevent bleed out.

We suggest using Art of Asking before romance and sexuality scenes, physical contact, staged fights, violence, kidnapping, throwing a tantrum, converting by force, bullying, using poison or other uncomfortable potions.

OPT-IN/OPT-OUT

This is your adventure, you choose the experience which you want to go through. You may always decide not to participate in a scene or an act.

OFF SIGN

Off-sign holds up the game for the player.

To make it form A FIST IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE. It gives you also an opportunity to:

1. OPT-OUT, you can just walk out the scene and it can be interpreted as “sorry guys I am feeling uncomfortable, I need to go”
2. Use Art of Asking – Consent negotiations if you want to discuss or check in with other players
3. Be invisible (eg. just passing quickly to the toilet)
4. Pause the scene when adding a verbal part saying “OFF GAME” (that’s only in special situations where physical or emotional safety is endangered).

We also have a pictogram of OFF sign which marks places and objects as OFF spheres which are prohibited to enter and untouchable.

OK CHECK-IN

Player 1 flashes the “OK” symbol, with the thumb and index finger touching in an “o” and the other three fingers extended upward, to another player and established eye contact. You place this sign over your chest. This gesture means “Are you okay?”

Answers:
A) Player repeats the gesture – which means it’s okay;
B) Player doesn’t repeat the gesture – you signal OFF and use the Art of Asking;
C) Player signals OFF – you answer with OFF sign and first you listen actively and then discuss the situation.

As you can see in disclaimers, Gimle larp might contain some topic or situations which might be triggering. 

Please make a conscious decision about joining the larp, always prioritizing your own mental health, and if you are under a serious mental health condition, including medication, we kindly ask you, for your own safety, to reconsider or restrain from participation.

If you have any doubts or questions concerning this topic, contact us so together we can find the best solution.

PLACE

IN game Sanctuary – Nanna’s Hut in The Academy.
OFF game Sanctuary – Red house at the farm or fire place, garden and yoga circle for taking rest (emotional and/or physical). We also recommend visiting a nearby seaside.

DISCLAIMERS – GIMLE LARP PICTOGRAMS

As transparency is part of our Safety Design we try to help you take a conscious choice by visualizing our disclaimers in the form of pictograms based on the work of larp designers Zofia Skowrońska and Krzysztof Maj https://btwlarp.wixsite.com/infography

Remember about our Safety and Calibration policy, choosing your own experience and a possibility to OPT OUT.

Scenes of sexual intercourse

The game may contain symbolic scenes of sexual intercourse involving the players (using the mechanics provided, only 16+ years old). Gimle is a family-friendly larp and we expect players to not exude sexuality. We encourage more subtle ways of performing affection or marital obligations depending on your character’s needs. However, if you feel that sexual intercourse scene is absolutelly needed for your character’s relations then instead of inventing your own forms of imitating sex, you shall use Ars Amandi. It involves keeping eye contact while touching the hands, arms, shoulders and, if mutually agreed, also the neck (we suggest The Art of Asking before). And when deciding to use it, remember about keeping it out of the view of other players who didn’t give consent to see such a performance.

Its creator, Swedish larp designer, Emma Wieslander explains: “The core of the Ars amandi method involves limiting the body area that the players touch and use in physical interaction to hands, arms, shoulders (above where the breasts begin and including shoulder blades, but not lower) and the neck (under and not including the earlobes). In some instances the interaction has been restricted to only include hands and arms. Touching the permitted areas, combined with eye contact and breath and moans constitutes the A to Z of Ars amandi.” (If interested we recommend further readings:
http://www.ars-amandi.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Ars-amandi-workshop.pdf
https://leavingmundania.com/2011/11/09/intro-to-ars-amandi/

What insults to use in LARP?

Insults must always be towards characters and never players. You might use some of the common ‘insults’ taken from fantasy games (but please restrain yourself from the vulgar ones in presence of children):

Some other popular fantasy ‘insults’:

• “You have such a striking face. Tell me, how many times were you struck?”
• “You’re pathetic, I’ve seen orks do better than that.”
• “Your head is so thick I mistook you for a dwarf!”
• “By the time you breed, my children will be masters of the realm…”
• “We may breed like rabbits, but we bite like wolves!”
• “Spoken like an ageless, long-lived, obsolete (insert race here).”
• “Haven’t your kind gone extinct yet?”
• “Elf – Erratic, long-lived, fool”
• “Dwarf – “dumb, warty, asinine, rotund, fool”
• “Elves, so much intelligence, so little brains.”
• “I’ve never met a dwarf that wasn’t a legend in his own mind.”
• “If your ancestors are so great, why are they dead?”
• “You’re uglier than the offspring of an orc begotten by an ogre.”
• “All the magic in this world and none of it can make you smarter.”
• “Just by walking near women, you cause a barren womb”
• “You’re weaker/more frail than a wizard!”

Flyting – Art of Insults

If you want to go level up and master the art of insults you can dig deeper into the tradition of flyting – a ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. Examples of flyting are found throughout Ancient, Medieval and Modern Celtic, Old English, Middle English and Norse literature involving both historical and mythological figures. The exchanges would become extremely provocative, often involving accusations of cowardice or sexual perversion. For more information you can check here:

From Thor to Twitter: Flyting and the Norse Tradition of Insulting Your Enemies

RULES overview

Photo video policy
Films and photos may be taken discreetly during the event  and if you do not want to be seen published on the larps homepage/social media, you must avoid cameras. We will not take close ups without asking and if a photo is taken secretly we will ask the persons on the image if they are OK with being seen.

Thieving 
We have a special mechanics for theft. You can steal anything marked with a SPECIFIC RED TAPE or RED STRING. But do not steal things unless you are playing a thief. Sell the stolen item to the merchant or interested parties. We want to keep things in circulation.

Taking something that is not marked with a red ribbon or tape is theft by Swedish law so we will treat it as such.

OFF sign
We have an OFF sign and an OFF rune mark:

• The OFF signal = is a clenched fist at the side of your face. Show it if you want to say something OFF, or when you DO NOT want to be involved in the game. Be discreet, dont attract attention. You can display the OFF signal and ask someone: “calm down” if you think they are fighting too aggressively.
• The OFF rune mark = this means that you are absolutely not allowed to go in that space or fiddle with the stuff protected with this mark.

STOP OFFing sign

In case of unjustified OFF behavior / items / clothes / objects, which are not fitting into Gimle decorum but are in the IN-game area, you can remind players to stop/hide it by “STOP OFFing” signal = do the OFF signal, then open up the fingers towards the player in a swift “shooing” motion.

“Play up” – “play down”

Calibration of intensity and playstyle is very useful to make the scenes more comfortable in a fluent way, without breaking them more harshly with an OFF sign. If in need however, so use in combination with an OFF sign.

DO NOT’s:

• Do not enter the red house.
• Do not go to the neighbors property (the yellow house),
• Do not touch any dog you meet.
• The event is Non-smoking / non-alcoholic. If you must smoke, leave the play area, see to you not being seen. The OFF area is also non-smoking.

By registering to GIMLE LARP you agree to the following:

• I have read “the rules” and I will follow them.
• I have read the ‘’game mechanics’’ that are applicable to my role and I will respect them.
• I take part at my own risk, and I will be responsible for my own safety and my own belongings.
• I will respect the LARP’s equipment and other players’ belongings.
• I will never leave a fire unattended.
• I will not cut down any tree, or any bush, or break any living branch or destroy any stonewall (digging is allowed).
• I will not pee into or close to any ponds (they are a part of the drinking water system).
• I will not use any modern materials that can be seen.
• I will not OFF inside the game area.
• I will not leave my camp after the larp without cleaning it.
• I will respect other players’ integrity.
• I will not role-play with sexuality in the game. Instead I will only use sex mechanics.
• I understand that the organizers can remove me from the LARP if I break any rule (without being given any reimbursement).

Physical safety when fighting

For the roleplay to be truly immersive but at the same time very safe this requires a system: be very careful and respectful with each other. Always error on the side of caution.  In combat the only thing that should have contact with your opponent is your weapon, never your shield and you cant grab a hold of your opponent.

Also always be aware of your surroundings in larp combat, break character to warn your opponent if they are about to back off into something that is going make them fall and hurt themselves. Or stay in character and “draw” the fight into a safe area.

The OFF signal

The sign for talking to someone outside of the game is a fist held in front of your face. Then you whisper and come to an agreement about how to play out the scene.

In, for example, a wrestling match. Talk to who you are fighting out of the game before the scene starts.

If you are for example arresting someone and tying up their hands use the off sign and check if they are ok with that. If they are then always tie their hands in front of them never behind, in case they fall and do not tie their hands too hard.

Perhaps they are not comfortable with being touched at all by other players which is totally fine by the way. So even before grabbing someone’s arm, check if they are ok with that, error on the side of caution if you don’t know.

Do not cheat and pretend to have OFF needs that gives you advantages IN the game.

If you don’t want to have to break immersion during one of these scenes like the arrest scene try to predict it beforehand and talk to the player that you intend to try and arrest even before the game starts or if you meet the player outside the play area.

For example we have an NPC group that plays bandits – it’s highly likely they will get arrested at some point. Talk to them beforehand and check what they are comfortable with and if you know that the player you are playing in a scene with is comfortable with certain things then you can do that without breaking character and asking.

NPC´s are also players that want to have fun and be respected.