LARP game entry methods.

[Levi]

These are LARP start methods that I've seen or have read about. If you've got more, or comments on these, share away.

Jump-Start
A Jump-Start entry is basically when people gather in the play space, and at an arranged time, the organizer basically calls them to attention, gives a few words about the place and stage, a few moments to get to a spot to start, and announces "game on!". Jump-starting strikes me, personally, as a weak opening.

Walk-In
A walk-in start is when people are kept out of the play space, or led out of it, before play begins. At the time when play starts, they're told that upon entry, they're expected to be in character. In many games, Walk-in is a fairly strong method.

Tableau
A tableau start has the organizer give each player a "starting condition" - what they're doing, and why, right at start. The organizer then places each player, silently, at their starting location. They call "game on", and play begins suddenly, jerking into full action. Variation includes use of blindfolds, so you don't see anything until game start, and start of straight from go. I've never actually been to a game that did this, but have heard of it, and I'll be at one that intends to try it in the next few months.

Multiplication
A Multiplication opening starts with most of the players in audience; a short scene is played out, and breaks up; each of the participants in that scene then starts a new scene with one or more "audience" members. This continues until everyone is playing. I've run this kind of game start in the past (not for a while, though I can't think why - might be getting lazy); it worked very, very well with that group.

Any others?

Any thoughts?

[Peers]

Offscreen
Players are given their required materials (charsheets, props, etc) and told the game will begin at, say, 6pm on Friday. The starting materials request them to gather at a particular place a couple hours later, but also provides methods for contacting other players to 'work things out' before the big meeting. Thus, at the big meeting, each player will know some of the others, but not all. Kind of the reverse of Multiplication... multiple small scenes start and then all come together in one big mass.

Pros: Lends a more natural feel to situations where characters would know some of the others, but not all.
Cons: Slow starter, early gameplay will almost certainly wind up needing to be put on hold until a GM can be found...

[Jiituomas]

Tableau, version Beta

The same as above, but with the players choosing the situation a few minutes before "game on". Very useful for games where characters do not die, but return to the starting point. Example: In Sielun/Messu (Harviainen & Hämäläinen, Finland, 2005) if they died, they also tried to go through the scenes they'd played before, until something or someone broke the pattern.

Descent

Favored in Sweden, and combines nicely with things like semi-off-game rooms. The game begins with a ritualistic system. Example: In Moira (Ericson & Tidbeck, Sweden, 2005), the game begun with a faerie ritual about circling the game location. As the ritual went on, people slowly moved from off- to in-character thoughts, through both the sense of wonder and the changes in physical movement habits.

Wake-up

Players come to the location the night before. When they wake up the next morning, they're in-game. Example: Mellan Himmel och Hav (Wieslander, Björk, et al., Sweden, 2005) used this very effectively. An additional benefit is that games with this system /always/ start on time...


Thoughts: This, just like Ada's piece on endings in Role, Play, Art, is much more important than people often realize. To feel the sense of wonder, to activate Huizinga's magic circle, the game needs to move smoothly and effectively from off to in. The best choices depend on the larp in question, so listing the varying options is a big help.

[Levi]

Thoughts: This, just like Ada's piece on endings in Role, Play, Art, is much more important than people often realize. To feel the sense of wonder, to activate Huizinga's magic circle, the game needs to move smoothly and effectively from off to in. The best choices depend on the larp in question, so listing the varying options is a big help.

That article prompted this thread, yes.

And, though it's bit more fanciful than I'd put it, hell yes, I agree.

[Ryan Paddy]

Split Walk-In
In a standard Walk-In, players often enter the play space from the same direction one at a time, for example all entering through a doorway into a room that is the play space and dropping into character as they cross the threshold. By comparison, in a Split Walk-In characters are led to various entry points, often in groups, and drop into character as they enter. With a large play-space, this gives groups a chance to roleplay together and fall into their group dynamic before encountering each other.

Larp O'Clock
This is a type of Jump-Start, but with no organiser present to let everyone know to drop into character. At fest larps in the UK, there is often a set time when the larp starts. The players are typically camped in factions all over a large area, and in theory when the established Time-In time is reached everyone drops into character. This is good in that groups can establish their dynamics within their camp before rolling out to encounter other factions. But the OOC/IC line can be very fuzzy as a result, with some groups being more in character than others. The sense of crossing over into play time is weak.

*

Mordavia (www.mordavia.com) uses a split walk-in to establish a sense of suspense, having character groups approach the buildings where the game is taking place from either direction along a road or from out of the forest, carrying all their gear. This allows us to set up unexpected encounters on the way to the buildings where the characters are staying, or inside them (at one event a building where players were staying was overrun by ghouls). The instruction "when you start down the road, you're in character" is common.

[Ambrogino]

I can't think of anything missed but I'd add combinations of two or more - for example in a game set in a town the characters from the town start with Tableau or Jump-start, whilst the characters just passing through or coming to town for the first time enter walk-in or split walk-in a few minutes later, once people have had a chance to get the town vibe working.

[Merten]

Offscreen
Players are given their required materials (charsheets, props, etc) and told the game will begin at, say, 6pm on Friday. The starting materials request them to gather at a particular place a couple hours later, but also provides methods for contacting other players to 'work things out' before the big meeting. Thus, at the big meeting, each player will know some of the others, but not all. Kind of the reverse of Multiplication... multiple small scenes start and then all come together in one big mass.

A variation of this we've used.

Meeting

All introductions and off-game stuff between players and organisers and players between themselves are handled beforehand. Perhaps a separate event where the organisers give a briefing and players discuss with each other about the characters.

Player receives some personal items, like planned meetings for the evening (place, time and the function of the meeting). He arrives, meets other characters and the game is on. Slipping into the character usually happens slowly when travelling to the meeting place, or when meeting other characters. Used especially on multiple-location pervasive games (aka. city games).

[Iskander]

We use our in-game forum and e-mail briefings to set up the background for the event.

Then we use the split walk in.
Last weekend the players arrived at a university. Some were there for a symposium, others were following some of the bad guys, others were there to meet some masters of their order...

We also allow the players to devise their own reason to be there.

Different gm's take them to different locations and call time in. Play begins.

[Ryan Paddy]

Vignettes

Before the main play begins, the organiser sets up a series of scenes to create "memories" of events leading up to the main event. These vignettes play exactly the same as the main part of the larp (i.e. the characters are free-willed to the same extent), but they begin in media res to ensure immediate action and end quickly, so that a number can be strung together before the main play begins. The vignettes themselves will require other entry methods to start them, as will the main play.

This is an approach I'm planning to use for a modern event that only takes one evening. The event focuses on characters and their interactions in a largely mundane setting. The idea of the vignettes is to give the main part of the event instant context, and provide the players with the kind of pseudo-memories of previous interactions with each other that can usually only be achieved with extended play.

Vignettes could also be used as an exit method after the main play, to demonstrate longer-term results of whatever happened and provide a kind of delayed denouement that isn't usually available in larps, where IC time is typically contiguous with OOC time.