FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Standard Starfall Academy events are held at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.

The next Starfall Academy event is the Year 3 scheduled for June 13 to June 16, 2024

Absolutely! Most people can easily acclimatize themselves to live action role-play, especially if they have any background in tabletop or video game RPG’s or murder mystery events. Long before the event, all participants will be provided with plenty of information to help them flesh out their character and improve their overall experience. Event staff will also host various tutorials prior to the event in order to further prepare participants and familiarize them with the Starfall world and the basic concepts of live action role-play.

No. While certainly drawing inspiration from fan favorites like Star Wars and Harry Potter, Starfall Academy is an original and unique world and experience. To learn more about the Starfall world, check out the videos and articles available in the Starfall Academy Archives on this site.

Starfall Academy’s game site (Hampshire College in Amherst, MA) is wheelchair accessible and the event is fully open to individuals with physical disabilities and limitations. Even our combat training sessions are able to be catered to individuals with special needs. Individuals who wish to opt out of lightsaber training entirely may do so, though staff will ask these individuals to be part of Ordo Venefari for in-character reasons.

Starfall Academy is designed to provide a variety of options for players to regularly interact with new groups of people. While most classes will be carried out within a specific cohort of players (or “sect”), extracurricular adventures are often best completed with a variety of character types (a “prism”). While players are certainly encouraged to attend with others, the game structure will promote interconnectedness outside of regular classmates. Would you rather take classes with a friend or go on adventures with them afterwards? The options will sometimes be mutually exclusive.

Player documents will sometimes reference “PRISMS,” an in-character term used to describe a group of Guardians with representation from multiple (ideally, all) sects. Both in-game and within lore, prisms combine differently-abled individuals to maximize the overall performance of the group. A group composed only of Bellati, for example, would excel at combat but fall short in most other needs. A prism of five Guardians of different sects should be well-rounded enough to thrive in any task. Most extracurricular adventures and quests players might find themselves in will require a functional prism to succeed.

All QDE events require participants to agree to a specific code of conduct and will be updated for the 2024 event.

Starfall Academy uses a unique rule system based on the same overall structure as most other QDE games. Unique to Starfall is the fact that the ruleset available to players online before the event will include only a fraction of the overall rules and abilities of the game. As characters attend classes, players will be made aware of the rules and new abilities which will be unlocked to their character as time progresses.

Ticket price for Starfall Academy includes:

Event fees help to pay for location rental, professionally-prepared meals, set construction, creature creation and puppeteering, professional story development, on-site medic, staff supervision, and much more.

Ticket price does NOT include character costume or travel to the event.

Coming to the event, players should bring any and all registration and character materials previously sent by QDE staff. Additionally, players should expect to bring their own necessary toiletries and out-of-character personal items. Player bedding – including pillows – should also be brought, though bedding packages will be available (for a minor fee) to players whose travel arrangements make this difficult.

As registration costs do not include costuming, players will need to provide their own costumes according to the standards set out on this website.

RETURNING PLAYERS are asked to bring their sabers with them to the event.

QDE offers two ways to pay: Pay-in-Full and Payment Plans.

Pay-in-Full allows players to pay their entire ticket price at the time of registration.

Payment Plan option requires an initial $250 payment to serve as a non-refundable deposit. The remainder of payments may be paid at times and increments of the player’s choice by contacting help@qdentertainment.net. Full payment must be received by JUNE 1 or the player will forfeit their place at the event and their deposit.

Players may be issued full refunds — minus $250 non-refundable deposits — until 60 days prior to the player’s event. 50% (or non-refundable deposit, whichever is greater) refund is offered thereafter, with no refund available within two weeks of the event.

PLEASE NOTE THAT NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSITS NOW APPLY TO ALL PAYMENT OPTIONS.

The remainder of the payments may be made at anytime in increments of the player’s choice by contacting help@qdentertainment.net

Players can check their balances by emailing help@qdentertainment.net. Please include the name you registered under.

The Starfall universe offers a colorful variety of alien species to choose from. Players can exist as Human, Khi’Hinn, Koleon, Nara, Rikkan, Shumi, Solanar, or Vyx characters, provided they meet the required costuming stipulations. More information on STARFALL SPECIES CAN BE FOUND HERE.

A player’s chosen species does not affect a character’s in-game abilities in any way. While species offers minor suggestions for roleplay, game mechanics do not change for one species over any other.

After registration, players will be given a player survey which will solicit an individual’s interests and play style to be matched against the intended experience of the various sects. During the initiation ceremony on Thursday night, new players will be “sorted” into their various sects in an elaborate celebration. Players will not know their sect prior to this ceremony, allowing a component of surprise and anticipation which will be a major part of the overall experience.

Additionally, players will be able to override this feature and select their own sect, though staff does not recommend this, as it removes a major component of the overall event. These preferences can be made during the Player Survey sent to all registrants.

Starfall Academy is intended to portray a functional school training its pupils to become protectors of the greater Sellonian Empire they serve. While some level of deviancy is expected and – in some cases – even encouraged, the event is not intended to facilitate the fall of “evil” players. It is also not intended to establish a system of elaborate player versus player (PVP) encounters outside of tournaments and sparring. Future Starfall-themed events may better facilitate “fallen” characters and PVP situations, but Starfall Academy will not.

Additionally, from the perspective of in-character lore, the Dominari are predominantly extinct. They will not be available for player participation.

A first-year character will begin as an initiate and quickly be elevated to the rank of novice within the first evening of the event. Further elevations in rank can take place by participating in additional future Starfall Academy and Starfall-themed events. These elevations may require a demonstration of skill or knowledge, or participation in a specific activity, depending on the rank being moved into.

Costuming is one of the few things not included in the overall registration price. Players will need to provide their own costuming for the event based on specified standards.

Standards for player costuming can be found here.

Combat will be closely moderated by Starfall Academy staff to ensure player safety. Players will be required to follow all safety protocols, and in classes combat will play out more as a martial arts sparring session. Outside of classes – such as when a player explores campus or seeks to complete a specific quest – Starfall combat will operate much more like a traditional boffer larp. Here, players may be forced to defend themselves against dangerous beasts or outside forces.

At all times blades will be covered with specific “sleeves” intended to provide a padded layer around a player’s blade.

While combat plays an important role within Starfall Academy (players will spend a minimum of an hour per day in saber training sessions), it is important to note that the primary focus of the event is on the academic and “training camp” aspects, and is not intended to exist as a traditional, combat-focused larp. While these encounters will exist, they will be less common. Starfall Academy is in no way a Player-Versus-Player (PVP) event outside of school-led tournaments (which do not pose a threat to the health or life of a character).

Starfall Academy and QDE are proud to partner with Ludosport for all of our saber training classes. In all saber sessions, Ludosport trainers will work with Starfall students to teach real-world saber skills based on their international saber program. While Ludosport rules will not apply outside of these sessions (if players need to defend themselves from a hostile creature, for example), players may find some of the techniques and methods valuable to incorporate.

The Starfall Academy ruleset does include health conditions which could progress a character to the point of death. If this were to happen, though, there are individuals – particularly within the Medicari sect – with the ability to reverse this process. Death should not be taken lightly, however; raising a Guardian from the dead is a long and complicated process that takes significant time and resources.

Absolutely! As a returning student, characters will continue their studies into The Light, learning new powers as they do so. They’ll also earn additional focus points, making them steadily stronger in their training!

Not at all — While new students will have classes similar to previous years, every Starfall Academy experience is a unique one. First year students will have opportunities unavailable to returning students (and vice-versa).

Yes! In the same way that players of different sects regularly interact, players of different years will interact as well — both in and out of classes.

The initiation ceremony is the official welcoming back of all students for the new year. As such, all students — old and new — will participate. While returning students will not be re-sorted, they will be present to encourage and cheer on new students as they ignite their own blades for the first time. As well as get their own moment of recognition.

Returning players can and should make changes to their wardrobe, as costuming is a means of reflecting experience and rank within the Starfall world. With your sect now known, costumes can now incorporate the colors of your order. Returning players will need an appropriately-colored arm band as a symbol of their novice rank, which can be either created by the player or given by game staff before the event.

Character costumes should continue to avoid colors indicative of other sects (no purples for a Ouiori, for example) and garments representative of rank (obis, tabards, and robes) until they are earned.

For more guidelines on costuming, please see the costuming page.