gschneider
05-14-2006, 01:43 PM
I am about to run my second one-shot LARP on memorial day weekend. It is sequel to the one I ran last year and it designed as a theatrical fantasy larp set in the world of Harn. You can find more information about it here (http://www.blackshieldgaming.com/info/Events/PeaceinOurTime/tabid/56/Default.aspx).
After how much fun my event was last year and with how much fun I am having plotting the next one, I have come up with an idea for an actual LARP campaign based on similiar concepts of kingdoms politicing with each other. I have outlined that idea below and would love to here experienced LARPers opinions of the idea, especially since I will likely have to charge players in order to cover location and website costs.
Birthright, the LARP
The setting for this LARP is the old AD&D setting of Birthright. Each of the players will player a ruler (or lieutenant) of one of the countries. One player will get to play the Ruler of the Imperial City. All players will build their characters from scratch. I have all of teh Kingdom supplements produced for Birthright, so I have starting material for the players.
Every three months, the rulers of all of these countries (PCs) will gather at a festival at the imperial city to discuss the current state of the empire. These will be the actual sessions, where the players can gather to plot, start wars, attempt assasinations, etc. These will be held three months apart in both game and real time. The real time length is due to the fact that I will be recruiting players from around the entire state of Montana and there will likely be players that travel over a hundred miles for each session.
I will not be using anything close to the D&D system for character generation or play. I would use the same basic system that I use for my one shot LARPS, which is a variant of the Over The Edge system that uses 3x5 cards as the only required prop (1 per player, plus other cards for special powers, spells, etc.)
But I would use the Realm Management system straight out of the Birthright rulebook. This means that each of the rulers actually has specific numbers for their country. The live session would be what they used to interact with other countries and implement plots, while they would do ruling actions during the "downtime" between sessions. As per the Birthright rules, each player would get one (or possibly more) actions to undertake during the 3 month turn. These could be used to start a war, build roads, or whatever else they imagined. These would have real number effects on their kingdom and the world as a whole.
These actions would be posted in out on a website as they occur. (There would be a specific order based on "initiative"). At least, the ones that were publicly known. There would also be forums for the game as a whole and sub-forums for each alliance or kingdom. (These would be requested by players and players would be given access as needed.) Thus, players could do some scheming an planning between sessions.
Anything needing resolution during the downtime would be done using the players statistics or whatever else is needed. (I would likely scrap the pathetic "war card" mass combat system and use old-school War Machine instead, which would be very easy to adjudicate on-line.)
Of course, the GM would be doing his best to introduce some plot and keep things moving at the same time. Although I would hope to do most of it during character creation as I am not big fan of NPCs in live action. This would allow the players to be responsible for most of the conflict, as it should be.
I would expect to have somewhere in the range of 10-15 players.
This is somewhat of a meld between LARPing and on-line role-playing/war gaming, but it has some appeal to me. I have been wanting to do a large scale multi-player Birthright campaign for sometime and this seems like an enormously fun way to accomplish it. (From my perspective.)
Some basic questions:
Do you think the 3 months real/game time is a good time frame?
Would you play in something like this? Would you pay $20 a session? How much would you pay?
Would you drive a hundred miles four times a year to play in this?
This is the wrong medium to ask if internet access would be a problem for you, but what about your fellow players? Is requiring internet access to play a LARP going to work?
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for your input.
Greg
After how much fun my event was last year and with how much fun I am having plotting the next one, I have come up with an idea for an actual LARP campaign based on similiar concepts of kingdoms politicing with each other. I have outlined that idea below and would love to here experienced LARPers opinions of the idea, especially since I will likely have to charge players in order to cover location and website costs.
Birthright, the LARP
The setting for this LARP is the old AD&D setting of Birthright. Each of the players will player a ruler (or lieutenant) of one of the countries. One player will get to play the Ruler of the Imperial City. All players will build their characters from scratch. I have all of teh Kingdom supplements produced for Birthright, so I have starting material for the players.
Every three months, the rulers of all of these countries (PCs) will gather at a festival at the imperial city to discuss the current state of the empire. These will be the actual sessions, where the players can gather to plot, start wars, attempt assasinations, etc. These will be held three months apart in both game and real time. The real time length is due to the fact that I will be recruiting players from around the entire state of Montana and there will likely be players that travel over a hundred miles for each session.
I will not be using anything close to the D&D system for character generation or play. I would use the same basic system that I use for my one shot LARPS, which is a variant of the Over The Edge system that uses 3x5 cards as the only required prop (1 per player, plus other cards for special powers, spells, etc.)
But I would use the Realm Management system straight out of the Birthright rulebook. This means that each of the rulers actually has specific numbers for their country. The live session would be what they used to interact with other countries and implement plots, while they would do ruling actions during the "downtime" between sessions. As per the Birthright rules, each player would get one (or possibly more) actions to undertake during the 3 month turn. These could be used to start a war, build roads, or whatever else they imagined. These would have real number effects on their kingdom and the world as a whole.
These actions would be posted in out on a website as they occur. (There would be a specific order based on "initiative"). At least, the ones that were publicly known. There would also be forums for the game as a whole and sub-forums for each alliance or kingdom. (These would be requested by players and players would be given access as needed.) Thus, players could do some scheming an planning between sessions.
Anything needing resolution during the downtime would be done using the players statistics or whatever else is needed. (I would likely scrap the pathetic "war card" mass combat system and use old-school War Machine instead, which would be very easy to adjudicate on-line.)
Of course, the GM would be doing his best to introduce some plot and keep things moving at the same time. Although I would hope to do most of it during character creation as I am not big fan of NPCs in live action. This would allow the players to be responsible for most of the conflict, as it should be.
I would expect to have somewhere in the range of 10-15 players.
This is somewhat of a meld between LARPing and on-line role-playing/war gaming, but it has some appeal to me. I have been wanting to do a large scale multi-player Birthright campaign for sometime and this seems like an enormously fun way to accomplish it. (From my perspective.)
Some basic questions:
Do you think the 3 months real/game time is a good time frame?
Would you play in something like this? Would you pay $20 a session? How much would you pay?
Would you drive a hundred miles four times a year to play in this?
This is the wrong medium to ask if internet access would be a problem for you, but what about your fellow players? Is requiring internet access to play a LARP going to work?
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for your input.
Greg