Halat hisar is a weekend-long larp that will be played in Finland in the summer of 2016. It’s a remake of the original 2013 game, with largely the same organizing team.
Date
The dates for the larp are 16th – 19th of June, 2016.
Venue
The larp will be held at Otavan opisto, Otava Folk High School (Otavantie 2B, 50670 OTAVA), near Mikkeli in Finland. We are organizing a bus transport from Helsinki to the venue. If you want to sign up for the bus (price approximately 30 euros), please contact Teemu (teemu.rantanen@gmail.com).
See here for instructions on reaching the location by car.
Participation Fee
The participation fee is 75 € for those who chose to sleep in a bed on the signup form, and 45€ for those who chose to sleep on a dormitory floor. It will be paid at the venue (cash, card, or Smartum vouchers).
Food
Food is included in the price of the event. The K-kauppa grocery store near the venue is open until 21:00 daily, and Restaurant Huvikumpu is also open on the evenings. Note that you will not be able to exit the campus during the game. There’s no cash machine near the venue, but you can withdraw cash in the K-kauppa grocery store when you do your shopping.
Schedule
Players should be at the venue in the evening on Thursday Jun 16th. Our bus will leave from Helsinki on Thursday at 17:00 and arrive to the venue approximately at 20:00. The registration at the venue will be held at 18:00-21:00, and those who’ve chosen to sleep in a bed will get the key to their room and instructions on the accommodation.
Friday will be used for workshops (the workshop is an important part of the game and mandatory for participants). The game itself will start on Saturday, Jun 18th around 10:30, and it will end on Sunday, Jun 19th around 13:00. After the game, there will be a debrief, and our bus will leave for Helsinki around 18:00. The debrief is an important part of the game, so don’t expect to leave the venue before 18:00. Our bus should be back in Helsinki before 21:00, and after that there’ll be an opportunity to have a couple of drinks together.
See here for a more detailed schedule with meal times and key game events.
Accommodation
Those who chose to sleep in a bed will be accommodated in 2-4 person rooms in the Otava Folk High school dormitory. There will be linen and towels in the rooms, and each room has a bathroom and shower. In-game, the rooms will be the characters’ dorm bedrooms, so it’s a good idea to bring something to decorate the rooms so they look more personal! The dormitory is the light-hued 4-story stone bulding on the campus area. Those who chose to sleep on the floor will be also accommodated in the dormitory building. There are washing and bathroom facilities available, and on the ground floor, there’s a sauna /washroom. You will need to bring your own sleeping bag, mattress and towel. There are kitchens and small spaces to hang out at the dormitory building. There’s no elevator in the building.
Smoking
According to the Finnish law, smoking is prohibited on the Otava Folk High School Campus except for the designated smoking area. There are very sensitive smoke detectors in the dormitory building and the main building.
Costumes
As larps go, Halat hisar is quite easy costume-wise, since it’s set in the present day. However, we recommend you to wear something different from your everyday clothes, to make a distinction between yourself and your character (think what your character would wear). Also, to hold the suspension of disbelief, we’d like to ask players not to wear clothing items that associate to the Palestinian struggle (e.g. keffiyehs, T-shirts with slogans about Palestine). This way, it’s easier to remember we’re in an alternative reality. In any case, don’t stress about your costume!
Playing Instructions
The instructions to play (or rules, if you prefer) for Halat hisar are here.
Information
The best place to find new information is this website, as well as our Facebook group.
Contact
If you wish to contact the organizers, send email to Kaisa Kangas (kaisa.kangas@helsinki.fi) or Juhana Pettersson (jlp@iki.fi).