- Attend classes as a witch or wizard and learn the magical arts
- Be selected to represent one of the five ancient Houses of Czocha Castle
- Explore the castle and meet the magical creatures that roam the grounds
- Make new friends and form long lasting bonds with like-minded people
- Get into discussions, stir up shenanigans, and play games
- Perhaps even a little (in-character) romance?
- Spend 3 nights at a castle in Poland and have a once-in-a-lifetime adventure
- Breakfeast, lunch and dinner each day is of course included
- Either travel to Zamek Czocha yourself or take our cheap bus from Berlin
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Since the crowdfunding campaign started, we have added some more videos to the Indiegogo page, where we talk about the project. So if you want answers to some of your questions, check out the videos.
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You can read a lot more about the experience awaiting you at in our Design Document, which you can find by clicking
HERE. It describes both how the event works, what happens during it and all manner of details. It's rather large, but you don't need to know everything in it! ;-)
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If you're not familiar with it already, the term "larp" is a shortened form of Live Action Role Play. In a larp, the participants dress up in costume and pretend to be their characters. A larp can last for hours or for days, and can have from a couple of players to many thousands. Some larps are about elves and orcs in the forest, while others are about advertising agencies, prisons or ... magical universities!
If you want to know more about larp, you can check out this short documentary, that Discovery Channel/TLC did in 2013. It does a good job at explaining Nordic style larp, but it's about a rather more harsh experience, so don't get scared away! There are also several good documentaries on Nordic larp elsewhere on the web. ;-)
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Imagine our world, just as it is today. Except that magic is real. The world of magic exists in the shadows of our own mundane world - undiscovered by billions, but known to the initiated. It’s a world of tradition and old bloodlines, of secrets and mysteries. It is a world of wise sorcerers, powerful witches, and dark-hearted conjurers.
Most of all, it is a world that is slowly changing. From the open practice of magic in ancient times to the secret rituals held in dark forests in medieval times to the completely underground magical world of today, the witching world is a parallel society that is under assault from modern culture.
Here, long-flowing robes and dragontooth wands meet jeans and leather jackets. Magical theory is taught in old castles to students at home on iPhones, and while some wizarding families proudly trace their lineage back to famous magicians such as Morgana le Fey or the Oracles of Delphi, there are powerful sorcerers popping up in suburban Chicago and downtown Shanghai.
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The world of magic has its own politics, myths and rules, and is every bit as varied and diverse as the Mundane world. But there are three simple rules that are followed by all, whether noble master of charms or dark-hearted necromancer, known as The Traditions.
The Tradition of Word: You do not speak of magic to Mundanes.
The Tradition of Action: You do not practice magic around Mundanes.
The Tradition of Fear: Break these rules and you shall be cast out.
This is the world of magic. Welcome, magicians.
You can read more in the Design Document.
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In November 2014, a team of volunteers from the non-profit organisations Liveform (Poland) and Rollespilsfabrikken (Denmark) created the larp event College of Wizardry at the fariytale Czocha Castle in Poland. It was such a success that two more larps were planned for April 2015. Both sold out in record time.
So today, we bring you this campaign, because we want to do more than just two CoW larps in 2015. And for that, we need your help. But first something important.
Warner Bros. kindly allowed us to continue with our unauthorised Harry Potter larp event, on a one-off, non-commercial basis, to avoid disappointing the fans who had booked and paid for their places.
We want to make clear that we have agreed with Warner Bros. that our future larps will not include or be connected in any way with any part of the Harry Potter world.
So please note that this larp is NOT based on nor will it involve the use of any Harry Potter stories, characters, names or elements. It is not a Harry Potter fan event, but is for those larp participants who wish to play in a generic wizard college setting. College of Wizardry larps will NOT take place in the Harry Potter universe, but in a universe of our own making. There will be no mention of Muggles, no Quidditch and no Hogwarts in our fiction. The whole idea behind this Indiegogo campaign is to make College of Wizardry stand on its own legs. ;-)
We hope you'll help that happen.
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College
of Wizardry is a
four-day larp event, that starts Thursday afternoon and ends Sunday morning. We've already gotten the funding to do an event on November 12-15, and we hope to also hold events on Nov 19-22 and Nov 26-29. If we fail to raise enough funds for all three events, we'll of course give full refunds to those who've supported in vain. We're not really worried about that, though. ;-)
But what actually happens during one of these events?
There's
more than just students at school
At
CoW, participants play everything from students and teachers to ghosts and
visiting reporters. After signup has closed, all players get to tell us what
their preferences are, and we try to cast them as best we can.
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It's
ok if you've never larped before
You
don't need to have any larp experience to play CoW, as long as you're willing
to give it your best shot. It's a participatory experience, so you'll be both
actor and audience at the same time. And don't worry. It's not that scary.
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You'll
eat, sleep, and live at the Castle
Some
people ask us about lodgings and nearby hotels. Czocha Castle IS a hotel, and
as a participant, you'll be staying there for the duration of the larp. You'll be staying in 2-4 person rooms along with other participants - and if you go with a friend or three, we'll of course give you a room together. When
the game starts, it doesn't end until it's over, and even eating breakfast and enjoying a glass of port wine happens in
character.
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Much more than just classes
Though there are classes from 9.00 - 16.00, not all day is spent in the classroom. First of all, there are meals, but also Czocha College is home to a string of societies (some secret, some well-known) and there are things going on at all times. There is a castle to explore, a forest to visit and there nearby tavern to grab a beer at. Oh, and then there's initiation of Juniors, House rituals and more. In short, there's plenty of stuff going on at the castle at all hours.
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There's even a school ball at the end of the game
A magical college wouldn't be complete without a magical ball to end the event. Here, the Czocha Polka will be danced, the legendary DJ's "The Wicked Witches of West Berlin" will play and there'll be speeches and entertainment. After that the game will end and there'll be an afterparty of epic proportions!
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We
create our own magic
Obviously,
none of us know real magic, but we have a pretty good system for how we
pretend. It was invented by the Polish organization Liveform for College of
Wizardry, and makes magic work in intuitive and fun ways.
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: We're certain to do two events (Nov 12-15 & Nov 19-22). If we do not manage to reach our goal of $175,000, which enables us to do all three November events, and we need to cancel the third event, you will of course get a full refund for the event you've signed up for (with a $376 reward). We're quite confident we'll do all three events, though. ;-)
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We've had some long discussions about what to do about the Castle Perks. Naturally, we have a lot of great ideas, but we felt it was a bit strange offering bits of a castle dream that might not happen. So we've added the note to all the new "Castle Perks" that if we don't buy some sort of location in Poland, then we'll give you the money back (-10% to cover expenses to Indiegogo, transfer fees, etc).
This means that if you support us and choose a Castle Perk, we'll refund almost all your money if we end up without real estate. ;-)
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Our crowdfunding campaign has been receiving a bit of media attention. Below are some of the places where it's been featured. If you're interested in doing a story about College of Wizardry, you're more than welcome to write us at claus.raasted@gmail.com. Here are links to a few of the articles in English.
The Verge, The Telegraph, Seventeen, Larping.org, Daily Mirror
February 2015: The campaign launches.
March/April 2015: Work on the new story world takes place.
May 2015: Signup for the larp opens for non-backers.
June 2015: The new story world is publicly launched. Participants get characters.
August 2015: Dialogue with character coaches.
September 2015: Relation-building in online forums.
October 2015: Final preparations for the larps.
November 2015: The larps take place.
$250,000 -- If we reach this level of funding, we're also going to do a Robin Hood larp in cooperation with Danish archer legend Lars Andersen (he has agreed) at another Polish castle. Archery lessons from Lars will of course be a part of the larp. You can see a picture from the castle here. ;-)
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$350,000 -- Not only will we do the book and documentary combo, the three College of Wizardry larps and the Robin Hood larp, we'll also be buying property. This level of funding won't get us an entire castle - but we WILL be buying an old medieval watch tower in Western Poland. It's 350 m2 and situated on 1 hectare of ground. We're already in dialogue with the owner.
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$400,000 -- If we reach $400,000, we'll buy the watch tower and do the College of Wizardry and Robin Hood larps. We'll also be doing a big larp about the end of the Napoleonic Wars in cooperation with Zamek Ksiaz - the 3rd largest castle in Poland. We're already talking with them, but need a bit more funding to make it a reality. Don't worry - we haven't forgotten the book and the documentary.
$500,000 -- If we reach $500,000, it beins to look crazy. We'll do three College of Wizardry larps, a Robin Hood larp with Lars Andersen and a Napoleonic Wars larp at Zamek Ksiaz, along with a book and a documentary. But instead of the watch tower, we'll find some property that's even nicer. For example this 18th century palace...
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$1,000,000 -- If we reach a million dollars, not only are we doing three events in November, publishing a teaching book and doing a documentary. We're also doing a Robin Hood larp with the world's fastest archer, and a Napoleonic Wars larp at the third-biggest castle in Poland. And we'll be buying something wild.
At this level of funding, we'll be able to buy an actual castle in Poland, so that we can do future events at our OWN freakin' castle. This will permit us to buy and refurbish a honest-to-Merlin castle in Poland. And if THAT happens, you can be sure that we'll be doing more awesome events in the future. Put simply, if we reach a million dollars, we're going to buy a castle and throw the craziest opening party ever.
Here's one of those we have our sights on...
Making something like this happen requires much more than money. If you want to help us, we'd be very grateful if you'd mention our campaign on social media, write about us on your blog or use the hashtag #cowlarp. If nothing else, send a kind thought our way or give a high-five when you meet one of us. It all helps.
Thank you!