The Gate

A Modern Mage Story

A freeform Larp about difficult choices and interpersonal drama.

For many years, the Thelemic Order (an occult group that seeks to control magic through strict adherence to rules and rituals) has known two things: one, that there are people who are “magically resonant,” with the ability to wield power; and two, that there exists another realm, a realm where strange entities abound. These are — so says the Order — dark and malevolent beings who seek to gain entrance to our world and to corrupt it. The realm itself is dangerous, they say, and drives those who spend too much time there mad. The Order tried, once, to seal away this other realm, but did not completely succeed. They have spent many years seeking to close the gates they left behind. Now, only one remains, and today the stars have aligned so that they may close it.

But they are not the only ones who are interested. There are those who reject the Order’s ways, and who believe the entities are in fact benevolent, and that the best hope for humanity is to create a permanent opening between the realms so that the entities may enter. They have brought together a small group of magically-resonant individuals that for whatever reason are outside the Order. Calling themselves the Gathered, they are determined to open this last gate once and for all.

The gate is unstable. If nobody does anything, in a few hours its energies will completely destabilise and it will explode, which both sides know would be devastating. Neither side has everything they need, yet. But one side or the other must find a way, and soon. And as they decide the fate of the gate, they will also be confronting their own histories and mysteries. There is more to most of them than meets the eye…

The game is played out live and in real time, with this part of the game lasting around 2-3 hours. You will be in character for the entire game (other than when resolving actions/magic use with the GM). The game is heavy on roleplay and relatively light on mechanics; there are mechanics for spells/magic use and some resources that need to be managed, but the focus is on character interaction and decision-making. There are no complex rules to learn and no experience of RPGs or Larps is needed to play.

You will get a prewritten character with existing relationships and goals, most likely already aligned with either the Thelemic Order or The Gathered. There will still be plenty of scope to make the character your own, and your goals and relationships may well change during the game.

If you sign up for this game please get in touch with the GM through the Festival Discord server RPG channel. This will allow you to have some input into which character you want to play, get a copy of your character sheet in advance, and ask any questions.

Content warnings and player safety: We will be using a number of safety tools during the game to adjust/remove content as needed. The main tools used will be ‘cut and brake’ which will be explained and demonstrated before playing.

All characters are gender-neutral, and some characters have romantic relationships, so there may be same-sex or opposite-sex relationships. Some characters have past traumatic or violent experiences, including committing violence themselves (no sexual violence) and the death of family members.

This game is for players 18+ only

[12 spaces available]