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This has been a hard week for everyone.


We stand at the precipice of something dark, as if we are at the top of some horrific rollercoaster we’ve been forced onto. The horror in front of all of us is only matched by its absurdity and stupidity. The idea of joy and fun seem impossible as when we feel powerless to the reality that so many people voted for what seems so clearly cartoonishly evil.


I’m reminded of the quote from James Baldwin that’s been making the rounds, and it’s best to hear it in Baldwin’s own voice:


“Love has never been a popular movement. And no one's ever wanted, really, to be free.

The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people.


Otherwise, of course you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you've got to remember is what you're looking at is also you. Everyone you're looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster, you could be that cop. And you have to decide, in yourself, not to be.”


So how do we do that? How do we not despair?


That’s what Elysian Revel is about. In the midst of Jim Crow, the midst of yet another rise of American xenophobia, In the midst of a world where homosexuality was a crime, people still found joy. The people of the era were pushing culture to new heights. They were finding new ways to think. New ways to love. New ways to be. And they were doing it together.


I want to learn from them. I want to do my best to see what it was like to be them for a little while. I want to bring that back to us, in the present, and learn how to bring that sense of communal joy into the next few years. It’s going to take all of us.


I went to look for Joy,

Slim, dancing Joy,

Gay, laughing Joy,

Bright-eyed Joy,—

And I found her

Driving the butcher's cart

In the arms of the butcher boy!

Such company, such company,

As keeps this young nymph, Joy!


-Langston Hughes

The Weary Blues 1926.

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A big design goal behind Elysian Revel is that you, as a player, are empowered to make the world of the event your own. We don’t want Elysian Revel to happen *at* you, we want you to be such an integral part of it that no one could imagine it without you.


Have you ever experienced a piece of art – a novel, a painting, a song – that resonated with you so deeply, it felt like it was created just for you? It speaks to you so personally that when you try to describe it to someone else, you feel like you’re explaining it badly? I often say that the reason that Live Action Role-Playing is my favorite artform because it’s the only one where the audience and the authors are the same people. You are co-creating with all the other players. Your co-players are surprising you, lifting you, and you are lifting them back; when it works, you’re left with an incredible experience similar to a piece of media that speaks to you so directly, you’re at a loss how to explain it.


Elysian Revel is a game about people who looked at the world and imagined more for themselves and those around them. It’s about people who found themselves and each other in the most unexpected ways. We want *you* to have the experience of bringing someone to life and experience finding that person while they are finding themselves. We could have pre-written characters, but what we’re truly interested is in *your* interests. What do you care about? What parts of history excite you? What you discover about your character as you explore is going to be far more fascinating than anything we could write. This may seem daunting, but at its core, it’s a simple process: all you need to have are a costume and a basic idea.


We start with the Archetype. Whether you choose to be a Dreamer, an Artist, a Hedonist or a Hustler, the archetype is there to give you a core need. It’s not just a prompt to give you a goal at the event, but a reason for you to say yes to everything happening around you.


Then we add on the Savvy Workshops. These workshops will not only teach you about the 1920s, but the context, the how and why that accompany the what. It’s not important that you remember everything from every workshop; they’re meant to be a buffet of knowledge, fun facts and stories from the game’s real world setting. They will give you the verbs you’ll need to try to achieve your goals.


What do we mean by “verbs”? These are *actions* for you to take at the Revel, things you can do with other players. Are you recruiting accomplices for your bootlegging operation? Are you exploring the party for artistic inspiration? Are you taking someone’s hand and dancing the night away? Are you trying to convince important people to support your political ideals? These are all actions for you to take that give you reasons to interact with other players and help build each other’s stories.


These workshops will give you the opportunity to not only create ties with players at the game, but ties to the greater 1920s world for you to lift the stories of those around you. These ties aren’t things you have to lock down, but improvise with each other in the moment! If you’re a bootlegger, maybe one of your clients is a rich investor, and you’d be willing to introduce them to your criminal network – *if* they help you find someone with a boat! The trick here is to not make it too easy for each other. Rather than an immediate yes, you can respond to the invitation with an obstacle: you or someone else needs to be wooed, blackmailed, persuaded, or tricked, especially before the midnight toast!


By the time the Revel begins, you’ll have a plethora of tools for you to build your story. You’ll encounter fellow players that end up lifting your story, and you’ll end up lifting theirs! And, if you’re ever feeling lost, our facilitators are here to help you find your verbs and point you towards other players!

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***A quick reminder that early bird reduced price tickets are only on sale until Monday July 8th!***


“So, just 20’s? No fairies, vampires, wizards? No supernatural elements?” In the development of Elysian Revel over the last couple years, I’ve often thought about or been asked ‘but what if with some magical elements?’. There is nothing wrong with bringing magical elements into a historical setting, but for the purposes of what this game is about, the idea has always made me feel a little sad.


The more research I’ve done on the era, the more I’ve read about incredible people doing incredible things, the more it’s left me convinced that bringing something supernatural into it could dilute the absolute vibrance and spirit of the real people of the era.


Did you know there was a movement of radical anarchists in education, based in Stelton NJ, which emphasized self-determination above all else? No tests, grades or mandatory classes; instead, they actually thought to ask children what they’d be interested in studying. It started in the 1910’s in St. Mark’s Place in New York, later moved to New Jersey, and existed into the mid-1950’s until it was eventually shut down.



Did you know there were fake opium dens in NYC’s Chinatown entirely set up to be tourist attractions? They created fake “dens of debauchery” for rich (mostly white) looky-loos to see after they had been written about in so many penny dreadfuls. “Slumming” tourists would be taken to these fake dens, often be shown a fake fight, and then be taken to a Chinese restaurant. While today one might be unsettled by such seedy representation, isn’t there something also brilliant and subversive in providing an experience for very prejudiced people, taking their money, while also, unbeknownst to them, introducing them to real Chinese culture through food?



Did you know that Drag Balls were a hugely popular social part of the Harlem Renaissance? The Hamilton Lodge Ball was an annual cross-dressing ball in Harlem that started all the way back in 1869 and saw the height of its popularity in the 1920’s. It was one of the few integrated spaces at the time, and while cross-dressing was officially illegal, the events, which drew over 8,000 people, even had security provided by the NYPD! It was only in the more repressive 30’s when they were finally shut down.



The way we are often taught about history is via the myth that people in the past were far more conservative, or didn’t have any of the same ideas and imaginations that we have today. The myth claims that they weren’t fighting against the same structures that we face today, when nothing could be further from the truth. The more I learn about what actually happened in the 1920’s, the more I’m fascinated by the resilience, the brilliance and ingenuity of the actual history.


When we represent historical eras in fiction, it’s very tempting to add a supernatural element for an escapist flair. But even when great artists use the magical realism of the supernatural, they do so to help us emotionally understand what a certain moment may have felt like. I worry that if we only engage with the past aesthetically and fill it with the supernatural, are we erasing the struggles and triumphs of real people who could show us true magic – their transformation of human culture and thought that we are still feeling 100 years later?

Written by Joseph Mastantuono Edited by Samara Metzler special thanks to Ericka Skripan.

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