This page presents a high-level overview of the setting of The Equinox Institute LRP and what the game entails. We recommend all of our attendees read this section prior to delving in deeper to the setting to determine whether The Equinox Institute LRP is right for them.
ALTERNATIVE Modern-Day Setting
- The Equinox Institute LARP takes place in an alternative modern-day setting on an Earth which is similar but slightly different to our own – change by the presence of the supernatural and groups which seek to take advantage of it.
- The setting is far from perfect with a number of sensitive themes which may arise during the course of the system or at individual events. Please see our Content and Themes Policy for further information.
The Equinox Institute LARP takes place in an alternative modern-day setting on an Earth which is like our own but where the eldritch, occult and alien (collectively known as the “paranatural”) dwell just beneath the surface. The Earth of The Equinox Institute LARP is not an unusual or strange place (for the most part). Globally, it is the world that many of us recognise today – it shares the same landmasses, countries and politics.
Look in closer detail at its history however and things start to unravel. Strange unexplainable events. Mysterious occurrences. Enigmatic organisations. All of these things and more have taken place but for the most part have become myths, legends or conspiracies. Throughout history, humanity has sought to rationalise and explain away the paranatural but there are those select few who remember and seek to use it to their own ends.
Given the circumstances, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Earth of our setting is far from perfect and is subject to the same issues we experience today. Climate change, natural disasters, famine, discrimination and prejudice remain rife. It is not an ideal world and the stories told in game do not seek to avoid these issues.
For more information on our Content and Themes Policy please see here.
Closed World
- The Equinox Institute LARP has a defined timeline of events which are considered to be official, true and authoritative as to what has happened in the setting of the game world.
- Players are welcomed and encouraged to help build on the world and mythos of The Equinox Institute LARP, so long as this does not contradict the official, established details of the game.
- Because of the nature of the setting and the events intending to be told, attendees should avoid making Pop Culture references during the course of play. The exception to this is where the pop culture in reference has been brought up expressly as a part of the event story.
The setting of The Equinox Institute LARP is a closed world which has a defined, official and authoritative timeline of events. We have done this to set ourselves apart from other events and franchises and to make our game more immersive and engaging. It allows all of our attendees to attend our events with equal knowledge of the setting and an understanding of what is relevant (or not relevant) to the game.
To assist us in creating this world and keeping it consistent, we ask attendees to avoid making modern pop culture references during the course of our game. For the purpose of this game that means any mention of a cultural artefact such as a piece of art (movie, song, TV show), famous person or character (Bill Clinton, Iron Man) or company (Walt Disney, Amazon). Our reasoning is for the same reason as characters in zombie media do not use the term “Zombie” – we want to create a sense of immersion and do not want people to be brought out of the game either by thinking of other media or because there is a question as to whether the media is canon to the setting.
Finally, while the setting is closed – this does not mean players are not encouraged to help build on the world and mythos of The Equinox Institute LARP. It is a core tenet of our approach to game and plot design that the best stories are ones where both the organiser and attendee work together to build worlds and tales they are both invested in. We want to know about your band of agents and their missions handling the paranatural. We love to hear about their families and, despite many stereotypes suggesting otherwise, we love to hear about your backstories. Players are encouraged to help work with the team to build on this world and we will present opportunities to do so. All we ask is that in doing so you do not contradict the published, official information set out by the game team.
A history of The Equinox Institute and the world can be found here.
The Equinox Institute
- The game is focussed on the Equinox Institute, a fictitious UK organisation focussed on managing the threat posed by the paranatural.
- All player characters must have a role within the Equinox Institute and it is this role that results in them being involved in the events that we run.
- Player character backgrounds that indicate the character intends to betray the Equinox Institute by destroying it from within or killing its members will be rejected.
The Equinox Institute LARP is focussed around a fictitious secret organisation founded by Queen Elizabeth I and tasked with protecting the United Kingdom and its allies from paranatural threats to its people known as ‘The Equinox Institute’ (more commonly known as either ‘The Institute’ or ‘Equinox’). Our game is focussed on this organisation and while other groups exist and have ties to the Institute, their main significance to the game is how they assist or impede Equinox in its role of investigating and managing the threat posed by the paranatural.
Players take on the role of members of Equinox carrying out investigations on behalf of the organisation. Members consist of agents, analysts, researchers, physicians, soldiers, occultists and more. All characters are experts in their field and this is reflected in our rules system by five separate classes and seven specialisations for each. It is because of their skills and abilities they are brought into the Institute to assist it with their goals.
Because of the focussed nature of the game, every player-character must have a connection to the Institute. It is this connection which ultimately acts as the reason as to why a character will be invited to missions (aka events) and without it, the character simply would not be present. Even if your character has connections to another supernatural organisation, they must be actively working with the Institute on a daily basis before they enter play.
Finally, given the nature of the setting and the size of the game, it would be extremely easy for one hostile actor to infiltrate Equinox and cause havoc on a mission. We do not believe this is fun for the majority of our attendees and we would prefer any decision to work against the Institute to have developed and took place naturally during the course of play so as to allow other attendees to identify the cause of the betrayal and provide them with active steps to either stop it or bring justice to a perpetrator. To that end, any character backstories proposing that the character intends to betray the organisation from the outset will not be accepted.
More in-character information on The Equinox Institute can be found here.
The Paranatural
- The paranatural is rare, inconsistent and difficult to understand.
- Paranatural phenomena can take many forms and includes (but is not limited to) people, places, artefacts, entities and events.
- Existence of the paranatural remains (mostly) hidden from society.
- It is possible for a select number of attendees to start play with paranatural abilities.
- There is in-game bigotry based on whether an individual has paranatural abilities, uses paranatural objects, is under the influence of the paranatural or has a view on how paranatural phenomena should be dealt with.
Anything anomalous, unnatural or supernatural can be readily described as “paranatural”. Paranatural phenomena can take many forms but can include people, places, artefacts, entities or even events. This definition is deliberately wide and vague so as to allow us to tell a similar range of stories in the setting of the universe.
In the context of the setting however, most people never see or experience paranatural phenomena. The first reason is that paranatural phenomena are hard to find. A significant amount of the world has been mapped or monitored and by their nature most paranatural phenomena are unique. Assuming an individual is able to find such phenomena the next issue is that they might not survive the experience. Even if they do so, many rationalise the experience away and of those that refuse many either get grabbed by groups such as The Equinox Institute or have their memories tampered with so as to make it difficult to remember what occurred. All together this has the impact of keeping the paranatural relatively well hidden from society (though there are occasions where this is not the case).
A select number of characters may start play as paranaturals – individuals with anomalous abilities. This is one of our character classes and like the other classes, has seven unique specialisations reflecting paranatural powers the character has. Many of these are as much curses as blessings and use of these abilities often come at a price.
The existence of the paranatural is a decisive topic and one of the key points of debate in-game is whether the paranatural should be allowed to thrive, be contained or be destroyed. The Equinox Institute itself remains relatively neutral and prefers to judge the paranatural on a case by case basis but other groups are less accepting of this position. With this being the case, characters can expect to be subject to in-game bigotry based on whether they are paranatural, use paranatural phenomena or have a position on how the paranatural should be handled. This in particular should be noted should an attendee wish to play a character with paranatural abilities.
More in-character information on the Paranatural, including historic paranatural phenomena that the Equinox Institute has dealt with can be found here.