Guest Contributor: How We Impact Our Games

Contributor: Amanda/"Istamira"
LARP System: Accelerant (Madrigal, Mirror Mirror)
Location: Boston, USA
PC Name: Istamira "Mira" Nascirus
Years LARPing: 1 years, 7 months 
Website: Istamira's Quill istamira.wordpress.com

A guest contribution about the various ways that we can help (and hurt) our larp communities.

If you're reading this, no matter who you are, there is something terribly important that you must be made aware of immediately.... 

You have power

... the power to create game experiences.
... the power to change the course of the game.
... a power to manipulate how things are perceived, received, and more.

You wield this power every single day - often without even knowing it. It's a radiating aura that travels with you wherever you go, and all who so much as tangentially touch your existence are influenced by this power. For that reason, it is inherently dangerous for you - yes YOU (myself included) - to make any contact with other larpers. Why danger?

We each have the power of creation, influence, and perception, but note that it is in the most neutral sense of the words. For example, if we have the power to create "good" game experiences, so too do we have the power to create "bad" ones. Ignorance of this duality of our inherent power is the most dangerous part of the equation! Yet every day, we each go out into the world, interact with one another, and life and the game plays out according to how we're wielding our power. The results are the cocktail that makes up your larp community. 

Creating Religion

Given my own research interests, and related pursuits these past months, I've had some questions, percolating slowly, about IG religion. My questions are mostly from a narrative, storyteller perspective, but I'd be interested to hear from players as well.

I'm interested in religion for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a well-crafted, IG religion can make a world feel richer. Moreover, it's a good way to get players invested in a game in a purposeful way. However, it certainly has its problems. There are all sorts of taboos surrounding religions, IG or otherwise, that can make fictitious faith hard to implement, even in a fantasy setting. Also, in a fantasy setting, it can be really hard to avoid longstanding fantasy-faith cliches. So, some questions...

Firstly, as a staff member/world developer, how do you create a fictional religion? What sort of components do you make sure you include (and why)? What sort of rituals, documents, and/or relics do you make available to the gameworld?

Secondly, as a staffer, how do you implement religions into your gameworld? How do you interact with players to make a faith seem meaningful and "real"? How do you allow players to participate in a fantasy religion structure?

Finally, for players, how do you interact with IG religions? What meaning do they have for your PC? Do you enjoy them? Avoid them? How do you choose what faith to play?

(Also, I've been a bit slow to respond/update this lately, but I wanted to thank readers for their responses to the costuming. Everyone had great advice/ideas for developing wardrobes/makeup.)

Staying in Mundania

by Zoe

I was chatting with a friend last night; we were talking LARP, as we tend to do. The friend, who has various experience staffing and playing, mentioned the role of "mundane plot" in LARP-- especially fantasy LARPs or high-magic environments. The friend said that he preferred mundane plot over continually epic, high-fantasy encounters. After some thinking, while I like my epic plot plenty, I came to agree with aspects of this argument. So, I have some questions, and some brief answers of my own. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

What is "mundane plot"?
For me, mundane plot is the stuff that makes a world real, but doesn't have universe-dismantling consequences. It's the conversations with farmers, technicians, refugees, villagers, and minor politicians. The modules that allow you to engage with the daily grind of the gameworld's population. The minor moral decisions that don't impact the larger flow of the game, but engage players in a lasting way.

I'll give an example of mundane plot that was engaging for me. In MM, a group of NPCs and staff member lead a weekend plotline that involved a debacle between a fae lord and a village; the bone of contention was a river that the fae lord wanted rerouted. The rerouting would, of course, significantly hamper the villagers; however, the players owed the fae lord a favor. Beyond basic combat modules, the plot involved several round table meetings between the players and related NPCs (including the mayor of the village, villagers, and representatives of the fae contingent). Players, as a group, had to devise ways to appease both parties-- some players, myself included, were, without question, in support of the fae; some were, without question, in support of the villagers; everybody wanted to have their interests represented in the conversation. The plot was, mostly, back and forth discussion about drilling wells, rerouting rivers, and repercussions for the surrounding communities; innovative modules to dig the well and reroute the river followed. Writing it out, it, admittedly, sounds a little boring. However, it wasn't-- it was fantastic. The level of normalcy involved drew us in-- we, epic characters of legend, needed to figure out how to provide irrigation to a random village's crops. If we had decided to ignore the plight of the villagers, in favor of pleasing the fae lord, nothing dire would have happened-- but the goodly players among us would have felt uncomfortable. It was a story arc that, through its normalcy, involved us, as characters, on a variety of levels. Simple as it was, it was a very engaging, well thought-out plot.

How does mundane plot add to a campaign?

As in the example presented above, mundane plot can make players feel involved in the world around them without involving higher-order fantasy. It can be a good way to involve character well-versed in the universe, but also to pull in newer players who may not understand the grand overarching schemes. Moreover, when epic characters and plotlines are constantly used, they have a tendency to get old and, worst case scenario, cheesy. Throwing in a goodly dose of "mundania" can help that.

When does it detract from a campaign?

Mundane plot, when done poorly, can feel like filler. Poorly done mundane plot feels like modules for bored players, or for players who don't have any connection to a larger plot. Obviously, this is problematic, and needs to be avoided. Careful writing and, perhaps even more importantly, really good NPCs, can help people avoid this. In order for mundane plot to work, the actors involved need to be skillful, knowledgeable, and interesting (easier said than done)-- that way, minor issues feel like major issues, which is the trick to making mundane plot work.

So... how do you use mundane plot in your LARPs? Do you enjoy it? Avoid it? What are some successes and failures you've had?

Growing a World: Providing Background Information

by Zoe


In a previous post about briefing NPCs, a commenter brought up the following thing as a key part of successful NPC briefing:


"Background info - Most NPcs are better at their roles the more they know. Keep background info available in monster camp for them to read when curious. Have maps, have writeups, have ways for them to grow their world knowledge that enables them to better handle the unexpected."


I feel like this is a really good point. It's an awkward experience when your merchant NPC who, allegedly, "has been living here for her entire life," doesn't know the political climate of the capital, the state of the roads through the eastern forest, or the activity of a mercenary band in the north. Although, as Berta the Merchant, you may quite well understand your mission, your stats, and the items your carrying, it's uncomfortable to be unable to answer PC questions like, "So what do you think of the civil war in the west?" Cool PCs, realizing a new NPC might not have the background knowledge that they do, will generally try to help you with gentle hints-- but it shatters game immersion for everybody. Especially in a game that has been running for multiple years, this is a tricky situation. Moreover, even if you brief NPCs well and provide them with all the pertinent information for an event, newer ones (and even more experienced ones) can't get everything from a write-up or a conversation with a staff person.


Considering all this, I am a huge fan of "background information." That stuff available in Monster Camp that involves histories, timelines, current events, maps, pictures, lists of key NPCs-- anything. Many games, such as Aralis, Lost Eidolons, Endgame, and the upcoming Invictus, also have websites available providing world info that both new PCs and NPCs can access.


With all of that being said, different games have different ways of providing background information. I wrote this post mainly to source ideas from readers. How does your game provide background information to PCs and/or NPCs (if at all)? What are the benefits and risks of a providing background info to NPCs? As a PC, what sort of background information would you like prior to starting a game? As an NPC, what information do you appreciate having available?

In-Game Spaces

Contributor: Zoe
Submission: Thoughts about creating lasting and repeatable in-game spaces.

Part of making a believable gameworld is offering your players predictable and appealing in-game spaces. These are places that, almost every game, will make an appearance-- moreover, the places will look the same time and time again. In other words, it's not the standard, but oh-so-lovingly dressed, module space or one-time tavern. These are areas to which players can and will want to return. I identify two types of these spaces: 1) permanent spaces and 2) visiting spaces. Visiting spaces are a bit trickier, so I'll start with the former.