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I knew it from the moment I saw her. The chattering crowds of the ball and the melody of the string quartet melted away, leaving only the sound of my own nervous breathing as I approached from across the room. I had no knowledge of the things that I had been taught were important when choosing a spouse – her title, her wealth, her family's connections – and yet something about her wry smile captivated me, as she observed the other debutantes fighting for a dance with their most eligible peers. I joined her in a quiet spot beside the lemonade table, on the outskirts of the room, then took a moment to muster the courage to step forward and make my intentions clear. With a surprisingly steady voice, despite my lack of confidence and the demanding eyes of my family upon me, I asked the simple question.
“May I have this dance?”
Welcome
The Social Season is a 3 session parlour LARP (Live Action Roleplaying) game run by Isla H for the Oxford LARP Society.
Characters are attendees of a series of balls held over a social season (between January and July) in a fictionalised version of Regency London. These balls are held for the wealthy, influential elite of the country (‘the Ton’), providing a space for courtship between young people and an opportunity to mingle with others in the upper echelons of society.
The Ton is full of secrets and hidden agendas, and it won’t be easy to navigate this complex web of relationships and come out on top. Some may even dabble in crime or assume false identities, but such actions come at the risk of major scandal.
The game will take place every 3 weeks across 3 sessions held on Wednesday evenings. Sessions will take place on July 22nd, August 12th and September 2nd at the Asian Cultural Centre in Oxford. There will also be an optional character creation session online on the Discord server on July 15th and an online debrief on September 16th after the game has concluded. For more details, see When and Where.
Getting Started
If you are new to parlour LARP, or roleplaying in general, you may find it helpful to read the New to Parlour LARP page for more information on the format and this page for tips on roleplaying.
For information on accessibility, including how to change the wiki theme to 'Readable', please see Accessibility.
To get more of an idea of the play experience of the game and what themes it's based on, see Style and Tone.
It is essential that you have read and understood the Conduct and Acceptable Themes policy which explains which themes are permitted in the game and how players are expected to behave to ensure the comfort and safety of everyone in the game.
To learn more about the world of The Social Season, see the setting pages in the sidebar (beginning with The Balls) which contain locations that will feature in the game and describe elements of the world in more detail. You can read the CAMPO, Crew and NPCs page for information on the associated NPCs who populate this game and who will be playing them.
And finally, if you want to play in the game, you'll have to create a character. There will be an optional event on July 15th online on Discord if you need help or inspiration for creating your character. The game also has crew roles which you can read more about here. Information about the player cap and balloting can be found on this page. If you would like to be involved in the game, either as a player or crew, please fill in this form by 19:00 on Sunday 19th July.