ROLES & DUTIES
Interpersonal interactions vs the wargame
Primarily, this is a game about emotional moments and interpersonal interactions against the background of a desperate struggle. The tensions that arise from a new and unknown kind of war, fought with new and poorly understood weapons, where women are finding new roles.
This sort of game doesn’t need many rules. You just need to know who
your character is, act as they would, and react to events and the actions
of other characters.
In order to help generate the uncertainty and immediacy of war, the game
is supported by a wargame. Events happening in the skies over Britain will
be tracked, and strongly influenced by player action. WAAFs will plot
German raids and move RAF fighter squadrons into position to intercept
them. Pilots may be killed as a result. Towns may be bombed; maybe the
town you’re from.
The point of the wargame isn’t to win or lose it; it’s to create emotional
moments and simulate the effect of powerful forces outside your
character’s control yet which can have an immediate and real impact on
their life. Don’t worry that you won’t be up to standard; characters making
mistakes is entirely expected and even if your part in the game looks
complicated, playtests have given us confidence that you’ll settle into
your roles quickly on the day.
The roles of the WAAF and RAF
There are two distinct groups of player characters in this LARP:
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Female characters are all members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).
-
Male characters are all fighter pilots and aircrew within the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The two groups have very distinct roles within the war. Pilots will fly their aircraft to intercept German raids and attempt to prevent them from bombing their targets - but their lives will largely be in the hands of the WAAFs staffing the Operations Room. The WAAFs will track the position of hostile aircraft, decide which raids to intercept and which RAF squadrons to put where to make the intercept. The pilots may think of themselves as knights of the air, but it is largely decisions made in the Operations Room which will determine whether they succeed, or indeed survive.
