B Movie will make use of a limited set of mechanics to enable play.

Sex

This is not an erotic larp, however some intimacy may take place. We will use Theatre Style Sex to represent intimacy in this larp. However, your characters are only allowed to be intimate in places where you might be discovered, and only with characters where this discovery would cause drama. So you cannot go back to your trailer and makeout with your in-game spouse, but you can (loudly) make out with the pool-boy-turnedactor behind the diner where you may be seen!

DRUGS

There are simulations of drug taking within the larp. If your character takes cocaine, another player can challenge your character to “truth or dare?” If they say truth then your character must give a monologue which is the absolute truth of what is on their mind, without editing or holding back. For the dare metatechnique they can dare you to do a thing, and the character must do it (of course as a player you may always choose not to do this).

No actual drugs will be involved.

CONFLICT

B movie is not a larp about violent conflict. It is very rare that a fight will break out. If you wish one to happen, do take the other participant to the side and decide off-game how you want to play it out.

“The movie must be made!”

This phrase is an excuse to do something that your character realistically would not do. If you have had a huge row with another actor just before your big scene you might want to run off to the woods and sulk, however this phrase is your alibi to stay and film the scene anyway.

You can also use this phrase to urge other players to do something that is important for the film to be made. If you find that the actor playing the alien queen is crying in their trailer and the whole crew are waiting to film the spaceship landing — and you need them to be in the scene — you can say “remember, the movie must be made” to give them a reason to come back.

As a player, of course, you are always in charge of your own body.

HaYs Code

In this larp we use the Hays code as a mechanic and a tool for suppression of divergent views, sexuality and other deviations from the norm. This is a tool for self-suppression and a way to adhere to the imagined strict societal norms of the 1950s, and a way for everyone to watch and push each other back into the box. If a Storyworld character uses the mechanic and “Hays Codes” a scene, the scene needs to be played again in the B World. B World characters need to be observed to exist, so if you want events you have played out in the B-World to persist, then you need someone – not necessarily a camera – to see them play out. If that observer considers the scene they have observed to be immoral then they can use the Hays Code to insist that it is replayed.

For example the Colonel plays out a scene acknowledging and professing his love for his gay son. The observer of this powerful reconciliation considers this inappropriate and uses the code. The scene must be replayed with a different turn of events.

Choose your Observer carefully to steer the outcome either towards being Hay’s Coded and seeing your precious moment erased, or to ensure that the scene lasts forever. The Hays Code is exhaustive and we won’t expect you to internalize all of it before the larp. We will have it printed out several places on location. But you can also read our initial summary of it below.

HaYs Code’S GENERAL Principles

No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

  • The use of firearms should be restricted to the essentials.
  • The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown.
  • The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld.
  • Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing.
  • Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated, or justified, or presented attractively.
  • Scenes of Passion should not be introduced when not essential to the plot.
  • Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.
  • Homosexuality, sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden.
  • Women of low morals should reach a bad end.
  • Obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, joke, or by suggestion (even when likely to be understood only by part of the audience) is forbidden.
  • Pointed profanity (this includes the words, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ – unless used reverently – Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd), or every other profane or vulgar expression however used, is forbidden.
  • Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette, or any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture.
  • Undressing scenes should be avoided, and never used save where essential to the plot.
  • Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passions are forbidden.
  • Dances which emphasize indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene.
  • No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.
  • Communism is the enemy of freedom.
  • Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains.
  • The use of the Flag shall be consistently respectful.
  • The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly.
  • If a couple are shown sitting or lying together, one of them must keep at least one foot on the floor to imply no sexual contact.
  • Wrongdoing must be punished; good must triumph.
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