The Experience

Experience what it's like living in a Victorian novel.

You are one of the main characters in a gothic-romance-adventure story. 

On this page, you will find information about what to expect and what not to expect, 

the characters, the storylines, trigger warnings, and safety & consent.

The Victorian novel

The 19th century saw the birth of many famous works of literature, such as Bram Stoker’s Gothic novel 'Dracula', Alexandre Dumas’ adventure novel 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and Wilkie Collin’s mystery novel 'The woman in white'.  The stories often combine dark mystery and romance to thrill the reader. 

Our own Gothic romance story literally comes to life at an eerie castle, overlooking a graveyard. Let's hope you won't faint just yet, for here's the venue where it all takes place...

Each character is the main lead in a novel

Your character brief is pre-written, and presented to you as a small novel. It includes the life story of your character so far, along with relationships, secrets, and gossip. Matching of the 54 roles is done based on the play preferences that participants indicate on their sign-up form.

Lots of freedom during the event

During the event, you have the freedom to portray the character and explore the world as you see fit. There’s a lot to discover, as every detail in your character brief is connected to a theme, storyline, or another character. You decide, through improvisation and acting, how drama, storylines, and relationships evolve, creating your own experience. Only the beginning (the character brief) is set; the progression and ending of the story are entirely up to you as the players.

The characters

The following types of characters are present: 

It's all in the eye of the beholder

To make the spooky Gothic vibe apparent, your character is superstitious or religious in a dogmatic 19th-century way. The supernatural is believed to be true, but it’s all in the mind. In the end, the setting contains NO ghosts, monsters, or supernatural phenomena. The characters simply drive each other mad with wild conspiracies about holy miracles, witchcraft, ghosts, demons, and the occult.

So, don’t expect any bombastic special effects with blood & gore. Instead, the dark Gothic vibe will be below the surface, creeping up on you through odd coincidences, gossip, and the way the characters behave. 

Trigger warnings

In addition to the main story, there are some smaller storylines that involve only a few characters. Some of these include the following trigger warnings (note that any form of suppression is written so that the victim also has friends & agency):

On the sign-up form, you can indicate if there is a certain topic you don't want to play with. It will NOT be in your character’s storyline. However, please be aware that it may still be part of other people’s storylines and, you may be confronted with it from the sideline.

Safety & consent

Participants must be 18+.

An independent confidant will be present.

Player list review round, 

before the group of players is finalised.

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Off play & rest

You can always leave the play. There’s an off-play area.

You can use a hand in front of your eyes to enter or leave a scene.

You can rest when you need to by hanging a Do Not Disturb 

sign on your bedroom door and taking a break.

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Calibration & rules

Pre-play scenes to calibrate play intensity 

(romantic, family, and other connections)

Safety words: green-orange-red

Safety & consent workshop

Meta technique Ars Amandi (rubbing hands) can be used to 

portray romance, or you can portray romance verbally.

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We have a Code of Conduct.

We have clear Terms of Service