[LARP] Tips & Tricks

[Brantai'sPuppet]

It seems that summer is LARPing season for me. I tried LARPing twice last summer at a persistant-world Vampire: the Masquerade game and it didn't seem to be my thing. Most of the time I just sat around, and when I wasn't twiddling my thumbs I was making small talk with people pretending to be vampires. I decided to quit because it was very, very boring.
The thing is, though, I wanted to like LARPing. I still do. I'm hoping it was the particular LARP I tried out. So I'm giving the local Camarilla a shot. They've got a Mage: The Awakening game that's just starting up and the new MET system seems pretty tight. I really want this to go well, but I'm a little shy and generally bad at making small talk. I'm also probably not going to get to participate for a few sessions, and being the new guy who doesn't know anybody only compounds my wallflower instincts.
Anyone have any tips or tricks to make this a successful venture? How have you reduced the "new guy factor" in the past?

[Peter Svensson]

Find a friend who is already in the group and ask if you can tie your character's backstories together. That makes entering the game a bit easier, since other people will be able to say "Oh, he's So-And-So's friend" rather than "Oh, he's new." Plus, you will then likely be attached to whatever plotline said person is involved with, which is a good way to get going. You can establish yourself as an individual later, once you've gotten your feet wet.

[Ambrogino]

Alternativly, get more friends to go with you in a group too large to be ignored. If your friend and some people he knows from the game fancy trying new characters, even for only half a session, this works even better and requires less people to make a noticeable percentage of the group.

[coeli]

You may also want to mention to the Storytellers that you would like some in-character hooks or connections to other people's characters. (To be honest, I tend to feel it's part of the Storyteller's job to see to it the new folks have good ways to get involved.)

[Ryan Paddy]

What sort of larp are you looking for?

WW games often have a strong social & political focus. If you're looking for action, maybe mowing down some mooks, you might want to look around at other varieties of larp or WW games that specifically cater for that sort of thing.

My recommendation is to take your entertainment into your own hands. Create a character that is highly motivated and has goals that are likely to conflict with other characters' goals. Then push like hell to achieve them. It'll keep you busy.

[Sombra]

I'd say forego doing your own PC for a couple of sessions. The best way to jump straight in is to volunteer to play an NPC a few times. It gets you right into the action quickly, and STs are always grateful for extra bodies to play NPCs. You get a better feel for it as well since you have a character with set goals for each session.

Once you have a better idea of the game, the theme and the app[arent style of play in that particular game, you can then set about designing your own PC. The STs should also have someone make themselves available for you to ask questions (like a mentor, sort of), and newbies should ALWAYS be encouraged. Make yourself known (but not in a demanding fashion), and you should find all sorts of fun.

BTW "Gothic-cool-in-the-corner" isn't fun, nor does it contribute fun for anyone else. In your own PCs background and design - have secrets, but not of the "is last member of a secret magic ninja clan with bad-arse Hooky Death Shit(TM)" kind. ;)
Flaws are fun, too. Weaknesses add to character. Don't make the "I am an island/self-sufficient" type. Have a reason for your guy to interact, and for others to want to interact with them. Idiosyncracies are good too, because they help you remember how to play it, and others remember you. Just as long as it's not a shouting psychopath - trust me - they SUCK!

Hope some of the tips in this thread help a bit. But yeah, first things first - get in touch with the STs, let them know you're new and want to learn/play NPCs for a bit etc. It's ok to just ask. :)

Cheers,

La Sombra, Cammie since 1997

[Eggwhite]

Try to arrange a bit of time to talk to the STs about characters and involvement beforehand. Not on the day of the game, ideally, as that's when STs tend to be running around like blue-arsed flies trying to get everything sorted - but some other time.

Speaking as an ST for a whole host of oWoD based LARPs for about six years, I can tell you that you'll generally find many more ways of getting involved if you talk to the STs than you would if you just turn up on the night of a game with a character sheet and expect them to know what you want from the game and provide you with it with no forward planning.

In the games I've been involved with, we nearly always try to give our new PCs a hook or two - something about them that makes the other PCs interested in them, or that gives them a piece of information that everyone else needs. That kind of thing. If you manage to talk things through with an ST, a good thing to try and do is to make sure they know what you want from a game - if they know that, they're actually in a position to try and provide it, otherwise they're working in the dark.

Another thing to try doing (and you can do this if you talk to an ST or not) is to set some goals for your character. Pick out a driving goal - something they want to see achieved. It does not have to be achievable in game (in fact, it might be best if it probably isn't...), just something that your character can strive for. Something they want achieved and, more importantly, why they want it. Then think of three things that are definately achievable within the duration of the chronicle, ideally smaller goals that could lead towards the main one - but there's no reason you couldn't throw in some others as well. Once you've got those, think of another three things that you want to get done within your first session.

If you've got those goals, you might still just end up chatting in character, but at least you have an agenda you can be pursuing whilst you chat.

As an example, in an oWoD Vampire LARP you might consider a driving goal of not just replacing the current prince of your domain, but breaking down the whole corrupt system of power within kindred society and replacing it with something less hidebound and anachronistic.

This could lead to the shorter term goals of replacing the prince (by taking the role yourself or putting your candidate in place), forming a network of kindred of like mind who can spread the word beyond the domain and, lastly, quietly and discreetly removing your opposition.

As for "on the night" goals, if it's your first night and the character is new to the domain, examples could be as follows: Identify areas where you are permitted to feed and haven (you don't have ot intend to feed or haven in those areas, but it's probably handy to know where they are), Identify the power players in the domain and determine their role in the existing power structure, Find out how much status you need to get taken seriously around here and start trying to gain it.

That little lot would give you three things to focus on on the night, three larger goals to play out over time (replace them as and when they are achieved) which will be served by the "on the night" ones, and one overall goal which the others generally support.

Hopefully that lot will help.

[Eggwhite]

Actually, I've just realised, the advice I've given above assumes that it's an ongoing game of the kind you're talking about attending. Things would be different for a fixed timescale game... Although I guess what I've said above would work, but if there's a definite end in sight then you might want to focus more on the achievable goals rather than the distant ones.

[daHob]

I always have fun at LARPs because I come prepared to create my own fun. The secret is that half or more of the players are there looking for something to do. Even long term players can be at a loss.

If you can generate some kind of action, anything really, you will find you become a lightning rod. All the folks that don't have anything to do will come to you, and the STs often make your actions plot important (because they often are running low on ideas).

A couple of easy ones:

Start a poker game (or dice game, or chess game.. ) First, it's something to do if you can't get any other plot going. Second, it's something for other players to do. Let people stake influence, blood, resources, hell even childer if they like.

Ask for favors. Decide on some goal you want to accomplish in the game world (say, building a skyscraper) that your character can't do on his own. Figure out who has the resources/influence to do what you need and go ask them for help. They will feel good because they seem important. If the thing you are building is interesting, they will want to get involved. Even if it's boring to them, you owing them is a source of RP, and may drag you into thier plots.

[basilisk]

As a long-time LARP veteran I can tell you that whatever you decide to play, make sure it's able to interact with the other PCs. No wraiths or werewolves in an oWoD vampire game. It's a bad idea. You'll either end up spending hours not talking to anybody because it's too expensive or trying to figure out reasons not to slaughter everyone else in the game. Play something with a worldview/stereotype that's not actively iminical to everyone else, in other words.

I suppose that's an extension of the 'be a joiner, not a loner' advice others have given....

Also...don't get too hung up on background. Ten or twenty-page backgrounds are even less attractive to a LARP GM than to the GM of a regular group. After all, he or she is probably dealing with two, three, or four times as many PCs as your regular tabletop group. Don't obsess over downtime actions as well, for the same reasons. The GM wants to have fun, too, not burn out in two weeks.

Beware of cliques. Starting play with a group of your friends is fine. Continuing to play in an alliance of the same players character after character after character:
#1 gets old, and #2 starts up the old 'Inego Montoya effect' squared. It gets ugly really fast.

[Ambrogino]

Start a poker game (or dice game, or chess game.. ) First, it's something to do if you can't get any other plot going. Second, it's something for other players to do. Let people stake influence, blood, resources, hell even childer if they like.

Personally, I disagree. I find few things more annoying than not being able to talk to the only person that can further the plot because he's playing cards.

[Caudex]

For MET, my advice is this: get in debt to someone as soon as possible, the higher-up the better. Instant plot involvement.

Certainly, this won't prolong your character's life expectancy, but if you want to do that, the safest thing to do is not turn up to games.

Debt to other characters = involvement in their plots.

[daHob]

Personally, I disagree. I find few things more annoying than not being able to talk to the only person that can further the plot because he's playing cards.

That's fair. I mostly use the card thing in boffer LARPs. I rapidly get tired of chasing 16 year olds through the woods, so I usually hang out in town, drink and gamble.

[Brantai'sPuppet]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I like the tips about getting in debt to someone - that seems like a good thing to try out.
Just to clarify for everyone, the LARP I'm looking at is a recently begun Mage: The Awakening LARP run by the local Cam. Since I've been dying to play Awakening in any form I fully intend to play an Atlantean Order mage.
The real problem I had last time I tried out a LARP is that it was kind of like walking into a room where everyone's watching a movie, but it's halfway through and no one will tell you what's going on because they're busy watching the movie. If that makes sense.
So anyway, thanks again for the good advice. Keep it coming!

[Old Geezer]

The secret is that half or more of the players are there looking for something to do. Even long term players can be at a loss.


...Aaaaaand that's why I spend exactly one day in exactly one LARP. Ten hours to do what would have taken 20 minutes tabletop, because in tabletop you skip all the BORING BORING BORING BORING shit like saying "Hello my name is..." to all 150 people while you look for ONE of them.

YMMV.

[daHob]

...Aaaaaand that's why I spend exactly one day in exactly one LARP. Ten hours to do what would have taken 20 minutes tabletop, because in tabletop you skip all the BORING BORING BORING BORING shit like saying "Hello my name is..." to all 150 people while you look for ONE of them.

YMMV.

That's the reason I've never been a fan of campaign Vampire type LARPs. I used to have quite a bit of fun in small, invite only, well written plot heavy Vampire LARPs.

This one time, Justin was married to a BSD...

[Dragon_Blooded]

That's the reason I've never been a fan of campaign Vampire type LARPs. I used to have quite a bit of fun in small, invite only, well written plot heavy Vampire LARPs.

This one time, Justin was married to a BSD...

I dislike Camarilla/OWbN-style LARPS too, since: A) Big Kahuna NPCs tend to deprotagonize the local PCs (at least in our local chapter), B) Due to the open doors policy, any idiot with a character sheet can join, C) There's a tendency of having way too much vampires for the citiy's population (in Brasília, for instance, there's something like 30, 40 vampires in an urban area with only 2 million something souls), and D) Local player satisfaction/fun gets sacrified a lot "for the good of the national project".

Personally, the only LARPs I've enjoyed were invite-only (or at least had some heavy screening process), local (or ended up that way; I played once on a Werewolf LARPs that abandoned a larger project because it wasn't benefiting the local game), and avoided the old MET rules like a plague.

Eduardo Penna

[Emperor Norton II]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I like the tips about getting in debt to someone - that seems like a good thing to try out.
Just to clarify for everyone, the LARP I'm looking at is a recently begun Mage: The Awakening LARP run by the local Cam. Since I've been dying to play Awakening in any form I fully intend to play an Atlantean Order mage.
The real problem I had last time I tried out a LARP is that it was kind of like walking into a room where everyone's watching a movie, but it's halfway through and no one will tell you what's going on because they're busy watching the movie. If that makes sense.
So anyway, thanks again for the good advice. Keep it coming!

Find someone to apprentice to.

[basilisk]

I dislike Camarilla/OWbN-style LARPS too, since: A) Big Kahuna NPCs tend to deprotagonize the local PCs (at least in our local chapter), B) Due to the open doors policy, any idiot with a character sheet can join, C) There's a tendency of having way too much vampires for the citiy's population (in Brasília, for instance, there's something like 30, 40 vampires in an urban area with only 2 million something souls), and D) Local player satisfaction/fun gets sacrified a lot "for the good of the national project".

Personally, the only LARPs I've enjoyed were invite-only (or at least had some heavy screening process), local (or ended up that way; I played once on a Werewolf LARPs that abandoned a larger project because it wasn't benefiting the local game), and avoided the old MET rules like a plague.

Eduardo Penna

OWbN can get worse, believe me....in the US, you get to experience the fun of differing ST styles when people visit different games. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Well, it becomes a problem when one of a set of games in semi-nearby towns becomes dominated by munchkins. Said munchkins begin visiting other towns, and there's typically a slaugher--because most munchkins can't resist a penis-measuring contest and there's no better way of saying you're the biggest munchkin than by wiping the floor with a bunch of PCs from another game. Players who've just had their PC's whacked start to munchkinize as a means of self-defense and pretty soon it's damn near impossible to not to be a munchkin. Anything else, and you've got a very short lifespan. What was once role-playing becomes an extended game of rock-paper-scissors ('beating off' we called it). It's one of the reasons I stopped LARPing altogether.

[Emperor Norton II]

OWbN can get worse, believe me....in the US, you get to experience the fun of differing ST styles when people visit different games. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Well, it becomes a problem when one of a set of games in semi-nearby towns becomes dominated by munchkins. Said munchkins begin visiting other towns, and there's typically a slaugher--because most munchkins can't resist a penis-measuring contest and there's no better way of saying you're the biggest munchkin than by wiping the floor with a bunch of PCs from another game. Players who've just had their PC's whacked start to munchkinize as a means of self-defense and pretty soon it's damn near impossible to not to be a munchkin. Anything else, and you've got a very short lifespan. What was once role-playing becomes an extended game of rock-paper-scissors ('beating off' we called it). It's one of the reasons I stopped LARPing altogether.

Y'all need to just once come to the Muncie Cam LARP. He have an amazing game- lots of politics and good roleplaying. We don't let most characters bring weapons into the Elysium, and our VSS states you cannot kill a character at the LARP without a downtime report as to why it'd be good for story.

Excourages lots of power-playing in mortal society and all the fun and treachery that comes with.

Long live the Family Villain!

[Dragon_Blooded]

OWbN can get worse, believe me....in the US, you get to experience the fun of differing ST styles when people visit different games. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Well, it becomes a problem when one of a set of games in semi-nearby towns becomes dominated by munchkins. Said munchkins begin visiting other towns, and there's typically a slaugher--because most munchkins can't resist a penis-measuring contest and there's no better way of saying you're the biggest munchkin than by wiping the floor with a bunch of PCs from another game. Players who've just had their PC's whacked start to munchkinize as a means of self-defense and pretty soon it's damn near impossible to not to be a munchkin. Anything else, and you've got a very short lifespan. What was once role-playing becomes an extended game of rock-paper-scissors ('beating off' we called it). It's one of the reasons I stopped LARPing altogether.

This was an OWbN game. The fact that the local chapter is one of the biggest in the world (it had something like 90 active players, once) doesn't help.

And you're right about the munchkinizing. I'm getting back into the game, but only because, as a Giovanni, most of my plots will only involve other Giovanni, all which are close friends and good players. That, I'm because I'm totally convinced that the game will never, ever be about personal horror, or anything resembling a good Vampire campaign, so I'm going to munchkinize as much as I can, and not feel guilty about it, since there's nothing good to wreck.

Eduardo Penna