Practical
29 July – 1 August 2027
(1:30-2pm arrival,
11am latest departure)
Ingestre Hall, Stafford, UK
67 players
57 X Full contribution: £325
5 X Discounted contribution: £75
5 X Understudies: £75
Includes dormitory accommodation
(Limited smaller rooms and accessible spaces available)
Includes meals from Thursday dinner to Sunday breakfast
Key dates
- October 14th – November 1st – Sign up period
- November 2nd – November 7th – Flagging period
- November 15th – Lottery results
- December 15th – Full payment or first instalment deadline
- March 15th – Second payment instalment deadline
- July 29th – August 1st – The larp itself
Location
The larp will take place at Ingestre Hall in Stafford, England.
Arriving by bus
A bus leaving Heathrow at 10:00 am on the Thursday and returning to Heathrow by 3pm on the Sunday will be available if numbers allow. Depending on how many people sign up for the bus, expect to pay between £80 and £120 for the round trip.
Arriving by car
The venue is accessible by car at the postcode ST18 0RF. Parking is on the lawn to the side of the road leading up to the building. Neither the larp nor the venue can take any responsibility for vehicles parked there.
Arriving by public transport
Ingestre Hall is a 20 minute drive from Stafford station, which is well connected from London, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham by train. There are usually taxis by the station but you should book in advance for the trip back on Sunday as availability at that time is limited.
Accommodation
Sleeping is offgame, in dormitories of between 4 and 11 people, in single beds. There are 4 spaces available in a dormitory that is accessible by lift.
You do not need to bring sleeping bags. Bed sheets, pillows and duvets are all provided, but you’ll need to make your bed on arrival and strip the linens off before leaving.
You do need to bring your own towels. There are shared bathroom facilities including showers on each accommodation floor, and toilets and showers with disabled access near the accessible dorm and the main play areas.
Accessibility
Mobility
Ingestre Hall has reasonable wheelchair accessibility, with most interior play spaces located on the ground floor, reasonably wide doorways, ramps to get over door frames, accessible toilets and showers on the ground floor, and a mezzanine that is accessible by lift with sleeping space and an accessible toilet and wet room. Most of the outdoor play spaces use gravel pathways which may not be accessible to all wheelchairs.
Warden and Squire players need to be able to climb two flights of stairs to reach an upstairs play space, and should be able to jog gently across a room and swing a larp weapon with enough control to fully pull the blow. Many Lightspinner and Initiate characters do not have any mobility requirements.
Visual
Some flashing light effects (not strobe) will be used, and colour is a strong visual identifier throughout the larp, but critical information will be conveyed through additional means. Some characters may want to read documents provided during the larp. Some play areas may be dark, especially at night.
Auditory
Some spaces have less than ideal acoustics, but it is usually not prohibitive to play and can be managed by moving scenes if necessary. Music and sound cues will be used at some places in the larp, which we will provide alternatives to.
Activity
We will provide a detailed timetable closer to the larp that will indicate when major pre-planned events will take place so players can plan breaks without missing them – though player actions may cause unexpected things to happen at unexpected times.
Food & Drink
Food will be provided throughout the larp, and the menu will be adjusted to meet the dietary requirements of the players. Our catering team is experienced at accommodating a variety of diets with a minimum of stress, so please be clear about your needs in the practical form and let us know if you have any concerns. Menus will be available before the event.
Most meals will be buffet style and available for an extended period rather than creating big queues and trying to cram everyone into the dining room at specific service times.
There will be tea, coffee and water available at all times in the offgame room, and we suggest that you bring a bottle or cup so you can stay hydrated throughout the event.
Alcohol will not be provided during the larp and it won’t be possible to buy it on site. You are welcome to bring alcohol to drink at the afterparty, but we ask that you don’t bring anything stronger than 20% ABV. The organisers will remove you from the party if they judge that you might be putting yourself or others at risk. There must be no consumption of alcohol during play.
Timings
A timetable will be published as we get closer to the larp, including meals and when key events will happen during play. For now, the key timings are:
Thursday – Players arrive on site 1:30-2pm for workshops starting at 2:30pm. Play starts in the evening after dinner
Friday – Second day of play
Saturday – Final day of play, debriefs and afterparty
Sunday – Bedrooms should be empty by 10am when the bus leaves, and players should be offsite by 11am
Play will end each night of the larp so everyone has time to get some rest.
What you need to do before the larp
In practical terms, you’ll need to pay for your spot, arrange your travel, assemble your costume, pack and get to the venue on time. For the larp:
You must read all the documents we provide. We’ll repeat some of the information there during the workshops, but not all of it.
You should talk to your bond partner before sign up and after characters are released to discuss boundaries, what kind of play you are hoping for from the relationship, and what kind of what kind of support you would value offgame.
You can talk with the players of your prewritten relationships to understand what you both want from that connection in and offgame.
You shouldn’t make extensive additional relationships that might interfere with what’s been designed for your character. Establishing a few colleague relationships or little professional rivalries is fine, but please don’t decide ahead of time that someone is your one true love or mortal enemy if it isn’t on your sheet.
Costume
The core costume brief for Bonds Unbroken is “generic European medieval/renaissance fantasy” – think Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings or The Wheel of Time and you’re on the right track. If you as a player have heritage outside of Europe and you want to put together a costume to reflect that history instead, you’re very welcome to.
We recommend footwear that’s safe and comfortable to be worn on a gravel path, and that can easily be removed as one indoor space has a “no outdoor shoes” restriction.
Temperature averages are around 25°C in England at that time of year, but it’s expected to be a hot summer. If we hit a heatwave it could peak around 35°C, so consider removable layers or a hot weather version of your costume.
Colour will be a big identifying factor for different character types.
- Lightspinners should try to wear a costume that is mostly their Circle’s colour
- Wardens should wear a costume that has obvious elements of their Circle’s colour alongside neutrals – black, brown, grey, cream, white and offwhite
- Initiates should wear all white or off-white
- Squires should wear all neutral colours, including at least some darker neutrals so they aren’t mistaken for Initiates
Avoid prominently wearing colours of Circles your character doesn’t belong to.
Don’t wear all grey or all black, as there will be NPCs who are identifiable by those colour schemes and we want to avoid confusing anyone.