Hey! Read this!

(It's important info to know before registering!)

It's important that every single person who attends an Adventure Weekend has a wonderful experience, so we want everyone to understand a few important points before registering:

Participants must meet admission requirements.

AGE: Otherworld events are exciting, challenging adventures for adults. To attend, you must be at least 18. 16- and 17-year-olds can attend with a parent/guardian. Each six-person group can contain at most one under-18 participant.

PREGNANCY: If you're pregnant (or might be at the time of the event) please read our Pregnancy FAQ.

Participants are outside often regardless of weather.

We've run Adventure Weekends in sunny years and rainy ones, warm years and cold. The packing list we'll send makes sure you're prepared for different conditions, and if you forget something, we can help out with extra layers or sunscreen.

Participants spend the weekend as heroes.

Some great stories center on abrasive or nasty or downright evil characters, but at Otherworld, we strongly encourage you to be a hero who's... well... heroic. We want every participant to have a great weekend... and that's easier when no one is being abrasive or nasty or evil to you.

Happily, this rarely becomes an issue. We're lucky to get such kind participants. If treating the people around you with courtesy and compassion doesn't sound like a good time, this isn't the experience for you. Otherworld is an unusual opportunity to be your best self, and we're committed to giving that opportunity to all attendees. For that reason, anyone whose actions compromise the safety or happiness of other participants or staff volunteers will be asked to leave.

Participants walk at least 8 miles over the weekend.

Our site means we can't give someone an adventure if they can't walk decent distances. Some of the trails are smooth and level, but others are uneven or hilly... or both. There are chances for breaks: you'll walk, then have a meal, then walk, then sit to talk. We encourage participants to communicate their needs, so their group can walk more slowly or pause often. Comfortable shoes help as well.

If you have a particular health issue that might make attending problematic, please contact us so we can figure out together if Otherworld is right for you.

Participants spend time under low-light conditions.

Both outdoors after dusk and in candlelit buildings, darker than average conditions add ambiance to our adventures, but these lower light levels can be challenging for participants with hearing impairments. Again, if you have an issue that might make attending difficult, please contact us.

Participants sleep in rustic, unheated cabins.

Please read our Lodgings page to learn more.

Participants engage in combat with safe padded swords.

Sword-fighting is not the focus of an Adventure Weekend, but it's part of it. That makes some people nervous, so let's address a few concerns:

"I'm afraid it'll hurt!" - It won't, honest. The swords are foam padding wrapped around a hollow plastic core, then covered with soft fabric. Getting hit with one feels like having a Nerf football thrown at you.

"I'm worried I won't be good at it!" - Most people aren't great at something they're trying for the first time. In a swordfight (as in much of life), everyone is so worried about how they're doing that no one will notice how you're doing.

"I don't like it for moral reasons." - We get it. The mock fighting participants do is defensive: "this is something I do to protect myself and my group", not "this is something I do to get what I want."

If people are nervous about combat, why do we do it? Because, plain and simple, nothing pulls a group together like making them physically responsible for each other. And because it's good and healthy to try new and scary-but-safe things.

Participants stay on-site from Friday at 3pm till Sunday at 5pm.

Everyone is busy, but you can't come to Otherworld for just a couple hours or one day. Part of what makes the weekend work is that groups bond and actions progress over time. Many people find the time "lost" while away from home, work or school is compensated for with renewed energy and enthusiasm at the end of the weekend.

Participants create each others' adventures

Otherworld participants aren't passive audience members. Instead, each attendee helps create and shape the experience for everyone else. Stepping into this sort of immersive, emotionally-compelling adventure is exciting and satisfying. It's also a lot.

Although you won't be with your 6-person group 100% of the time, you'll be sharing a cabin with them and spending most waking hours together as well. Otherworld works best when every attendee is an active, engaged and fully-participating member of this group.

It's fine to occasionally step away from the action, and we particularly encourage our introverted attendees to arrive physically and socially well-rested. But if you need frequent breaks to tolerate this degree of "being on", your group misses out on everything you'd otherwise contribute.

An Otherworld adventure asks a lot of you. But it's also an experience participants cherish for years to come.

Convinced Otherworld is for you? Visit our Registration page to sign up now!

Have questions or concerns? Please contact us!