Daemon

Daemon is a Nordic Larp by Katrine Wind where a core mechanic is extreme Dyadic Play where two players are playing one character; a human and its soul in the form of an animal - namely its daemon.

Daemon has a vintage and steampunk feel and is inspired by aspects from the book series His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.

Website: Daemon Larp

Vision

The core or this larp is experiencing how it is to play the same character as someone else and be in symbiosis with them. You don't sign up in pairs to be family, lovers or anything of the sort – but two parts of the same human.

Mechanics

Daemon relys heavily on dyadic play, and you sign up as a human/daemon couple with the daemon player wearing some kind of animal-representing make-up and/or costume but not a full animal outfit. The daemons can talk and interact with the humans.

The dyadic partners can't go more than two meters away from each other during the in-game time.

It is an absolute taboo and transgression for a human to touch another person's daemon.

Dinner Warfare is a core design element in Daemon.

Safety design is based on Katrine Wind's The House of Bravery concept.

Setting

The larp takes place in the aftermath of a war in which many of the characters helped kill the God of this world. The characters have gathered at the mansion to celebrate the victory and what the hostess calls "The Birth of the Scientific Age".

But not everyone wants to be there. Not all of the heroes see themselves as that and because of a last attack from the losing side, even adversaries from the war have had to flee to this exact place.

The war has brought together people from all classes. Class differences are an important part of the experience. Everybody present experiences the pressure of social norms because of the nobility present.

Scientific experiments and political issues in the aftermath of the war are key elements of the play experience at least for some players.

Only the "vibe" and the idea of a human having a Daemon is featured from the original material in the larp. So it is not necessary to have read the original works as all characters, dilemmas, the events in the larp and the set-up is written by Katrine Wind and doesn't contain plots or story arcs from His Dark Materials in general.

Playstyle

Daemon is an epic style Nordic Larp where collaborative storytelling is in focus.

The larp is designed for the most possible intensity both regarding mechanic and schedule and from the principles of Katrine Wind's design concept: River Rafting Design found in the Knutepunkt 2025 book.

Practical facts

Number of players: 34 (+2 facilitator characters). So 18 characters, as two people play different aspects of the same character.

Language: English

Playtime: 3 acts over two long days including four hours of preparation time with relations, workshops and a little briefing time

Runs: The playtests ran in July 2021 and there have since then been 20 runs in different locations in Denmark, the US (produced by Journeys and Tales LLC), the UK (produced by Harry Harrold), Belgium (produced by Sandy Bailly), Finland (produced by Essi Santala, Paula Pennanen and Emi Maeda) and the Czech Republic (produved by Iva Vávrová and Josefina-Luisa Jekinková).

Screenshots from the website

Frontpage of the Daemon website

The "Is this for me"-page on the Daemon website