Crucible is intended to be a 3-year Live-Action Roleplaying Chronicle consisting of seven Chapters, each with a weekend Chapter game and a variable number of day games in between. The Chapter games are to be held in Auckland, though the day games are hoped to be held in multiple centres, including at least Auckland, Wellington, and Hamilton.
The theme of the Chronicle is one of adventure, exploration, faction loyalty, colonial conflict, and arcane mysteries. Though there is intended to be a noticeable theme of dark fantasy within the setting, elements that in particular may disturb participants are either to be optional participation or not to be portrayed within the Chronicle. For more details, please consult the Crucible Welfare Guide.
Participation in the Chronicle is restricted to those 16 years or older, except where a parent or guardian is present and taking care of one who is underage.
Information on the Crucible Chronicle can be found on the website at www.cruciblelarp.com
The overall command of and decision making in regard to Crucible is through a team of Gamemasters (GM) that act as the absolute authorities on any matters that occur in relation to the Chronicle. The members of the Gamemaster team are listed on the website.
Quartermaster - This important Out-of-Character role will be filled by either a Gamemaster or a senior crewperson, and will be an important point of contact for characters with special abilities or with equipment requests or returns. They will be located at a set point at each Chapter event, and at some Day events.
Faction Representatives - Each player and NPC faction will have an Out-of-Character representative that between games and during any Chronicle events will act as a contact point for the GM team and the players belonging to that faction, or in the case of crew, those who have a preferred NPC action. The names of these representatives are listed on the website.
As a player in the Chronicle, a participant is expected to select from one of the six player factions (on the following page) with which their character will be aligned, and then develop their character and their backstory in a way that will work in well with the other players in their faction. All the necessary information to create a player character can be found within this document, though additional setting information can be found in the Crucible Codex, and there are many more spells, artefacts, lost knowledge, and special abilities awaiting discovery within the Chronicle.
An appropriate character is one that has a set of traits and abilities purchased with a player’s starting Experience Points, a selection of spells and knowledges purchased with Gnosis Points (where appropriate), a selection of key equipment purchased with starting wealth in sunshards (ss), and a backstory document that describes to us who the character is. While it is up to a participant to decide how much of a backstory they provide us with, if this amounts to over two pages worth of writing, participants are asked to provide a summary of no more than a page that the GM team can review with haste when necessary.
To submit a character and their backstory, players are required to create it as a Google Document, and share it with [email protected] (with edit permission). The document should be titled ‘Crucible - [Character Name] - [Player Name]’. This will allow the GM team to review and keep track of the character, even as you update it over the course of the Chronicle.
As a crewperson, a participant will play a variety of roles over a game as specified by the GM team. The purpose of these roles is to provide challenges for the players to try to overcome, while enriching the world with NPC characters and making it feel like as much of a living, breathing environment as is possible.
To allow the GM team to focus on the task of running the storyline, a system of badges has been implemented in the Chronicle which crew can be rewarded with if they meet the criteria. These allow a crewperson to lead scenes, generate plot, use special abilities, and finish off fallen foes without the need to obtain specific sign-off from the GMs.
In the Chronicle there is some capacity for crew participants to possess selfgenerated characters belonging to the NPC factions and notable characters from the backstories of the player factions. Their appearance in the Chronicle games will be dependant on the number of crew that have signed on and appear at an event. To create and submit such a character, the same process as the players use should be followed, though ‘NPC’ should be added in brackets after the Character Name in the title of the Google document.
For more information, please consult the Crucible NPC Guide on the website.
Grown prosperous through an industrial revolution built in part on a foundation of resource exploitation and lower class labour, most Alteraanians ignore the mutterings of druids and peasants about the smog that clouds the skies. They are instead quite comfortable with the status that their industrial advancement has given them amongst the Five Realms, and that they are assuredly richest of the kingdoms.
To be a noble, either in parliament or not, is through mercantile aptitude or careful social climbing, providing you can also watch out for all the knives aimed for your back. For the rest of the Alteraanian society, daily life is centred around working a steady job that will put food on the table with the most common dream being owning land.
Alteraanians typically wear reds and purples with gold accents. Leonine or laurel motifs figure heavily and armour or jewellery are the most usual displays of wealth.
The largest of the Five Realms, the Dra’zhar are a nomadic, communal, self-sufficient society. Ruled over by Khans, who can be men or women, and unified under a supreme Il-Khan, an individual’s worth to their tribe is based on what they can contribute to their family and community, as a fighter, producer of food and through household tasks - regardless of gender. Exporting only when there is an excess, they trade in horses, alchemical mixtures, and aetherstones, and are careful to reserve anything their tribe can make use of.
No other army has defeated the Dra’zhar in large-scale warfare on the open plains, in part because Dra’zhar tribes are always ready to move on, and to fight. Though the Dra’zhar are famous for their horseback troops, the foot troops are equally fearsome.
Light, comfortable, and durable clothing in browns and reds with copper accents is the standard, with thick leather being the most common form of armour. Horse or geometric motifs are popular, and trophies are a sign of nobility or significance.
Korashur is a magocracy in which those who study or practise magic are seen as innately superior to those who do not and the most powerful lead the realm. Korashur maintains the largest slave population in the Five Realms, a resource it uses to support much of its society.
In Korashur one’s gender is irrelevant; the strength of an individual’s will is all that distinguishes them from others. Those who can understand and wield the mysteries of the arcane arts are elevated above all others, and those who fail the state are the lowest of the low.
The common colours in Korashuran dress are purples and blues with silver accents, with draconic or elemental motifs. Nobles and mages invest resources into enhancing their staves, wands, or other magical foci (or other magical items if the person is not a mage), and mages frequently have tattoos of arcane glyphs which they will display at any opportunity as signs of their prowess.
The people of Sachsenheim are proud and resilient, equally capable of wielding a sword, a plough, or a ship’s tiller, with a culture that deeply honours their ancestry and the courage and capability of the individual. Of recent lament is the occupation of Northern Sachsenheim by Alteraan in the wake of the last Crown War. Though the peace accord struck with their northern neighbours has effectively ceded it to their control, many Sachsens are anxious to reclaim it as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
The common colours in Sachsen dress are blues and whites with bronze accents, and eagle or runic motifs figure heavily in ornate outfits. The most common items that a noble or person of renown will invest resources into enhancing are their weapons.
The general style of dress is fairly consistent from upper to lower classes, with sturdy leggings and a comfortable shirt covered by a tunic or dress being the base outfit. Various leather belts, baldrics, bracers, and breastplates often worn for functional and aesthetic purposes, commonly embossed with ancestral designs. Armour for battle is commonly chainmail, though those with fewer resources or those who skirmish tend to prefer leathers.
The Empire of Valeria is renowned across the Five Realms and beyond as a land of virtue and righteousness, as well as a place of enigmatic rituals and arrogant knights. Valerians are a people devout in their belief in the goddess Chiera as the divine protector. The poor are given food and shelter even when they cannot afford it themselves, while any with means will give a share of what they have to the church.
Women in Valeria are held in high regard and it is the duty of a man to respect and protect and obey women to the utmost of his ability. Valeria is ruled by an Empress, considered to be the avatar of Chiera and through whom the Goddess’ will is done.
The wearing of Masques within Valerian society is a prominent ritual engaged in by nobles and peasants alike. Reflecting the need in life to put a role and its responsibilities ahead of someone’s personality, the wearing of a mask stylised in some way to the role being carried out can be anything as simple as one that just surrounds the eyes, to a full face mask and hood.
Valerian colours are whites and greens with gold accents, with gryphon or solar motifs in ornate outfits, which involve a lot of frills and decoration. Heavily ornamented masks are the main show of wealth and importance.
Descended from an ancient order of mage-knights, the Hounds are a hardened mix of vengeful hunters, pardoned criminals, and mystic archivists. Members rise through the ranks from the harsh life of a rank-and-file initiate to the even harsher life of a Witcher, and fulfill duties ranging from the hunting of monsters to fostering diplomacy and peace between the Five Realms.
After training, initiates will go through severe testing in order to become Witchers. Made chemically sterile, Witchers can never truly lay down their weapons and turn to a new life; the blood in their veins, the years of training, and the fear of normal citizens means that once a Witcher, always a Witcher.
Their common dress colours are black or brown, though other colours and accents will be included by Hounds working to be accepted in particular realms.