Contributor: Zoe
Submission: On the intricacies of moving from tabletop to live-action
I recently wrote on the fine art of introducing new characters to an established game. In that post I mentioned the importance of making sure that lifetime tabletoppers understand the nuances of live-action gaming. It seems commonsensical, but many of these points are really important for everyone's enjoyment. Tabletop games and LARPs are as different as manticores and pegasi: while both are chimerical, their aims and preferences are a genus apart. So, if your dedicated RPGer has decided to join your band of Merry Men, make sure they understand the implications of a live-action game.
These rules should help you introduce a sedentary gamer to the live-action experience.
1. Matching IG Skill Sets with OoG Ability
I've already written about this, but it bears repeating: skills sets, especially in boffer LARPs, generally require actual skill. (This is, of course, not the case with all LARPs.) Politely make this clear to everyone. If someone always plays a roguish bard-- despite the fact that they are tone-deaf and can barely use a house key--, emphasize that, in-game, they will need to regularly perform songs, disarm traps, and pick locks. Conversely, if an athletic friend with great hand-eye coordination usually plays a healer druid, ask if they'd be interested in combat-- IG reasons for playing a druid, such as love of nature, can easily transfer to an archer/ranger character. Matching IG skills with OoG abilities makes for a better experience for everyone.
2. Physical Representation
Costumes, props, and scenery are what make a LARP a LARP. Sometimes people who have exclusively played sedentary RPGs can forget this very important fact-- while imagination and willing suspension of disbelief are important in LARPs, good costuming, make-up, and props enhance the gameworld. Coming into game with a steampunk game in t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a top hat is lame-- in a tabletop game, this is normal, and even kind of funny. Similarly, a fun-noodle does not a longsword make. People work hard to make the game look good. Explain phys-rep to friends, and help them craft authentic, affordable, and comfortable costumes and props.
3. Always in Character
Tabletop top games are generally fairly laid back-- online RPGs even more so. When playing DnD or Skyrim, people are surrounded by the comforts of home. While you're plunging headlong into battle, you can sip Mountain Dew and much on freshly delivered pizza. When engaged in fierce political debate, your roommate might come into the kitchen to get some coffee. This sort of environment engenders a casual attitude: OoG jokes and conversation are not uncommon in a tabletop setting. For many people, the OoG socialness of a tabletop is a good reason to play. This is not the case in many LARPs. Especially in the Accelerant system, all players are expected to be in-character all the time. Nothing makes someone more unpopular than incessant OoG chatter-- it ruins immersion. Make this clear to people-- especially particularly talkative or silly friends.
4. Physical Activity
This may not be an issue for all LARPs, but, for boffer LARPs, this is an important issue. In sedentary gaming, physical fitness and ability are not really an issue. However, in a boffer LARP, running, jumping, ducking, dodging, and endurance activity are par-for-the-course. Make sure people, especially fighters, know this, and prepare accordingly. It might mean taking a few walks around the neighbourhood, buying some athletic equipment, bringing protein bars, or, in serious cases, consulting with a physician. LARP is a form of physical fitness-- in many ways, an extreme one--, and people need to plan accordingly.
5. Interaction
Unless you're in a convention setting, in the tabletop environment, interaction generally happens between a small number of friends or acquaintances. You may play with strangers, but you usually meet for gaming sessions weekly, and soon get to know each other. A LARP is a different environment: though you will quickly get to know people (it is, afterall, a giant sleepless sleepover), at the start, you are confronted by sometimes up to 100 strangers. Moreover, you're expected to interact, meaningfully, with at least half these people. Make this known to friends-- especially shy ones. Don't overwhelm timid tabletoppers-turned-LARPers, but help them develop strategies to interact with total strangers on a familiar basis. This is especially true if plot decides to send an NPC out as your friend's estranged mother. In a similar-though-different vein: if you have a friend who is used to making bawdy IG jokes, suggest to them to temper the humor until they get to know people. Even if that NPC is your brother/barmate-- OoG they may be made uncomfortable by overly familiar banter and jokes.
What suggestions do you have for tabletop-to-LARP gaming? Have you had any positive or negative experiences going back-and-forth between the two?
I'd add two points:
ReplyDelete1) Play the character type you want
Sometimes tabletoppers design groups or coordinate character classes to ensure that every necessary skill is covered. Some LARP teams do the same things from time to time. However, the bottom line is "play the character you want". You will not have fun if you are playing a role you don't like. Unlike a tabletop session, most LARPs last for an entire weekend - which will give you days in a roll you don't like. And the "always in game" immersion style LARPs will give you days in game without a break playing a roll you don't like.
So play a character that you want to play. If you want some group friendly support skills that make sense to your character, take them. But don't play a character roll designed by someone else to fit into a group dynamic. You won't like it. Ultimately, the game's supposed to be fun.
2) It takes time to enter a game:
Whether you start at the first event, or enter a game that is already established - you will not find your niche in the first event. It takes time for you to get used to your character, learn your stats, solidify your roleplay, get used to wearing your new skin. It also takes time for other characters to get to know you, learn what you can do, get a feel for who you are, and learn to remember your name.
In some games, it takes time for them to learn what you are interested in and want to help accomplish. In other games, it takes time for them to learn to trust you and decide you're worth taking a risk with. In any game, it also will take you time to learn what is going on and try to see where you want to go - or figure out where you're being drawn by chance or by design.
No matter how you slice it - it will take you several events (I tend to say 4) to get yourself acclimated, introduced, involved, and invested in a game. So if your first event or two seems a bit slow, where no one knows you and you don't know whats happening...you're not alone in this. Most of us have been there, and have gone on to find ourselves and our place in the game.
For me I learned: No matter how good it looks on paper, you don't know if the character will be fun until you try it. That even goes for if you build the character with "your oog" skills in mind. You may have your strategy all worked out to match your physical abilities only to learn that it's no fun. Example:
ReplyDeleteYou play bards in D&D all the time because you like to sing in real life. You're good at it too. You love music - and you're not afraid of singing in front of people. You get help to build a bard character for game that has useful skills and you know the songs you will sing. This will be perfect... or so you think. Then you get to the game and realize it's not as fun as you thought once you're trying to sing over top of a raging field fight.
If your game allows you to remake characters, there is NO shame in rerolling the character... and when you do, try to base it on things you saw in game in person that seemed fun. If you saw something fun but don't know what it was, ask around and people can help you figure out what game skills allowed the player to do the fun thing that you saw.
"Tabletop games and LARPs are as different as manticores and pegasi: while both are chimerical, their aims and preferences are a genus apart."
ReplyDeleteZoe, you are such a nerd :). Love it!
Hahahahaahahaha. Fair enough.
Delete^This.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be late to the comment party!
ReplyDeleteOn the matter of "play the character you want," I have a "yes, but."
If you're joining an ongoing game, I think it's a good idea to get an idea of what those character choices will actually mean in terms of plot involvement and carving out a niche for yourself.
If you make a character who is too different from all the other characters IG (from a faction that no one else is from, for example), you may find that it's hard to find plot and interactions that match your character's interests.
On the other hand, if you're the 12th elven mage to walk into game, it's going to be harder to make your character come across as useful and unique.
Beyond that, try to talk to people who play similar characters ahead of time, if you can. It's important to know that, for example, all of the mage plot that's currently going on involves solving puzzles using trigonometry. That could certainly make or break your experience, and might affect whether or not you want to play a mage.