Tempering Toxicity

Toxicity, which I define as a special brand of negativity, can be a large problem in LARPs. I'm curious as to how readers understand gamecentric toxicity, and how they counter it. So, I'm going to give you my operative definition of "toxicity," and then ask a few questions that I feel are productive for bettering game environment.

"Toxicity" is, technically speaking, the extent to which a substance can cause damage to an organism-- in other words, the extent to which something is poisonous. In larp terms, I understand this as negativity, coming from individuals and groups, which spreads throughout the player base, and proceeds to damage a game. While every single player experiences negativity-- and can be negativity-- toxicity, to me, is that negativity channeled in a way that is detrimental to the larger community. Toxicity can hurt a game's reputation, damage staff relationships with players, damage players' relationships with one another, and drive talented people-- staff or pc-- away from the game. It has many causes, and can originate in things like valid complaints, justified interpersonal problems, and/or plain, old dysfunction. Some questions (answer some, all, or make up your own)...

1) What sorts of things cause toxicity? What are some of the most frequent causes of toxicity?
2) When does negativity (dissatisfaction with a game, either momentary or continuous) transition into toxicity?
3) How can toxicity be avoided (understanding that everyone is going to have bad events, from time to time)? How, once it starts can it be fixed?
4) Have you had any experiences with a toxic game environment? (No need to name names, if uncomfortable with doing so-- if you think it's productive, feel free. But, again, constructive work and productivity are the goals of this blog.)
5) Negativity can often be productive for games (it generates, for instance, constructive criticism). How do you channel negativity into something constructive?

Briefing NPCs

by Zoe

An inquiry into the best and worst tactics for briefing NPCs, especially concerning complicated plot.


The scene: in the middle of an event, when you're dehydrated, fatigued, and overworked, you set off to lead a combat mod, hook an encounter group, or get involved in some intense RP. You know your stats. You've received a quick briefing from a harried staff member. You're sporting costume and make-up. You have your props and weapons. You hit the field, mod building, or tavern.

Everything's going just fine. Then... the unexpected happens. A PC asks you a question you can't answer (but probably should be able to). Or the players, rather than cutting down your crunchy corpse, decide to RP the stats right out of you. Players take you hostage for questioning. Or you're handed an item, which you should understand, that leaves you baffled.

We've all been there.

Despite our best intentions and the dedication of staff members, in every LARP, there eventually comes a time when the NPC, especially the non-staff NPC, is just not prepared for an encounter. In games that have been going on for years and years, this is especially true: PCs often know the world like the backs of their hands, while casual NPCs may have never read anything other than the core rules. Especially for those interested in RP, this can be problematic. It feels terrible to go out as an NPC, only to realize you don't have the information needed to fully interact with the PCs. And PCs can sense it: if an NPC goes out poorly prepared one time (I can think of a particularly unfortunate incident when an NPC hook didn't have name), they're going to have a hard time gaining player trust in later events.

Irregardless of the quality of the NPC in question, most of the burden of prepping the NPC happens in the pre-module briefing. A well-briefed NPC, even if they're new to larping of the system, is going to be infinitely better than even the most experienced, yet poorly briefed, NPC.

As a compulsive NPC, who likes heavy RP and combat roles, I've seen some of the best and worst ways to brief an NPC. I offer my advice on how to successfully brief people, and encourage other players, especially staff members, to join in the conversation.

NPCing: The Ins and Outs

Contributor: Zoe
Submission: How I have successfully crafted NPCs
System: Accelerant, 2 years
Email: collabnarration@gmail.com

Beth wrote a great post on the art of talking with a "Big NPC." Similarly, J.J. wrote a really useful piece on character development from a PC-perspective. However, what do you do when you are the Big NPC-- or one of her talkative minions? As much as I love PCing, I think NPCing really gives you the opportunity to play with character, depth (or lack thereof), physical representation, and game system interactions. So, here is my novice approach to character design. LARPcast, LARPOhio, and Beth (in livejournal and elsewhere) have all published much more on this, so go give it a look. For my take, read on...

LARPcast!

This blog is primarily about PCs, and LARPcast centers around staff and game-design. However, it's important not to forget the NPCs that make a game run. The LARPcast team answers some questions has a good post about how to effectively play an NPC. Check it out!

http://larpcast.podbean.com/2012/03/14/larpcast-25-npc-questions/

What are your experiences, good, bad, and ugly, with NPCing? Consider, especially, character development. Have you ever had a character that should have been boring but was absolutely fantastic? What about a character that was beautifully written, but fell flat?