Ideas

I started LRPing on the edge of a massive group of incredibly talented people. As a result I have always had access to interesting insightful games and I have learnt from people who try to do the ridiculous. We create games that we think are interesting and possibly pushing boundaries.

I’m currently tempted to take some people on holiday with me so they can run an event at my destination. I’d also like to run an event were people pull a t-shirt out of a box and it has their character card on the front - that’s what they play.

Tell me your stupid ideas. Tell me the things you want to see and do at events. What ridiculous system do you want to play?

Moving

I've moved the blog. For the past few weeks old entries have been appearing every Monday at Larp.Guide.
From now on new entries will also be appearing there. 
There's a new entry there today. 

Roleplay - If you don't like it LRP probably isn't for you.

Everyone has role play traits that annoy them. For me, it's people saying huzzah and using archaic terms. It jars and feels unnatural. Its not what I'm there for. There's been a post on Reddit suggesting that there are no good games that combine combat and roleplaying well. It's referring to American games, and my initial reaction was that this is something we have achieved. Here in the UK I'm aware of games that do have a good balance of fighting that you can get caught up and a decent world to play those characters in. However, I'm also aware that people would be able to pick holes in the way we fight (I've heard both that we're not violent enough, and that we're too violent. Recent discussions about headshots showed how divided people are about these things). 

Crewing and Monstering

In my experience the vast majority of LRP game worlds are populated by the player characters and by NPCs (None Player Characters). The second group are played by some form of crew. At some games players are encouraged (or required) to take time out from playing in order to fill this crew role. Other players do the same for them. Sometimes crew are dedicated, and NPCs can appear briefly, or be regular recurring characters who are there as often as players are.

Talking about LRP

The best exchange of LRP ideas happens face to face. For me this normally ends up meaning in the workshop. Good conversations happen in places like pubs, at events people are monstering, and anytime you put a group of LRPers in the same place and they’re not actually LRPing.

This is a massive benefit of the LARP awareness party. It gives us a chance to talk about what we’re doing, and to look at the different opinions that are out there. Talks run throughout the weekend, from a wide variety of people running different systems and sites. A whole host of traders are present talking about kit options and exchanging ideas, and a large number of systems advertise there. It gives you a chance to talk to the people running events that you might like to play or crew.

Player Types

Every player is different. They like different things, they’re at the event for different reasons and you have to cater for all of them.

The first thing you can do to make your event easier is pitch it accurately. The players that will enjoy a physically tough action game may in part be the same players that want to sit around and politic for three days, but some of them won’t be, and even those that are will feel cheated by having prepared for one game and getting another, and while it is possible to run an event that offers an engaging experience for both groups, it would probably require a large and equally varied crew, and it would take a lot of experience to work out the compromises involved. I tend to leave that to fest events where they have the people and background to run that level of stuff and focus at being the best at whatever we’re running this week.

Guided Do

This post leads on from my earlier posts covering Tell, Show and Do encounters.
I spent a few days last week discussing scenario design for eLearning, and the Tell, Show and Do encounters were discussed there as well. They also had a Guide category.

Each encounter can be put into a category. A plot is made up of a number of encounters. The lowest value are Tell encounters - which is someone turning up and telling you something, or receiving a letter (or putting a document in a pack). Show encounters are where the players are shown something but can't actually do anything. Something happens to them. Do encounters involve the players (predictably) doing something.