Twilight: The Requiem

I’ll come out and say it – I enjoy Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Not so much the second installment or the insipid love story, but there are some nuggets of gold buried in that world. What if I wanted to explore the politics of the Volturi (think vampire secret police) or re-enact the Southern newborn wars?

Disclaimer: I own neither Vampire the Requiem or the Twilight series. This is nothing more than a silly little experiment.

Meyer’s Vampires

When I think of the vampires from the Twilight series, a couple of things jump to mind.

They sparkle in the sun instead of burning
They kill whenever they feed
They are all supernaturally fast, tough, and strong.
Newborn vampires are extra physically powerful for the first year of their life, but their self-control is rubbish.
Some vampires get a bonus power ranging from telepathy, to extra strength, to just lookin’ pretty.

As eye-rolling as the sparkles are, I’m going to leave them in there purely to stay as true to the setting as possible. Non-lethal feeding is no longer an option, which I think could create some interesting implications for players to have to deal with. Sure, animals are an option, but they’re not exactly satisfying. It should’t be an easy way out. The physical aspects will be easy to recreate, as will the newborn instability, but the “bonus power” is a little tougher to quantify. The vampires in Twilight sadly don’t have clans so I’ll leave them out, but there’s nothing to stop you from including them if you really can’t bear the thought of your sparkle-pire not having a clan.

Creating your vampire

Start with normal character creation, leaving out disciplines for now. Do not assign clan.

All vampires have the following discipline spread:

Vigor 3
Resilience 3
Celerity 3

That should produce something along the lines of what Meyer envisioned for her vampires.

Something extra special

There are a lot of options here. Choose one from the list below:

Add an additional point of either Vigor, Resilience, or Celerity.
Take the Striking Looks merit.
Take an additional Attribute point.
Take one of the many supernatural merits.
Take one Discipline power. If you have the 4th level of Auspex, you do not have access to the previous powers. Exceptions for Disciplines such as Dominate or Majesty where some levels build on previous levels.

This won’t produce balanced results but I won’t lose sleep over that. Meyer’s vampires aren’t balanced and the different powers produce interesting results. Pick something too flashy and you’ll find yourself head-hunted by the Volturi. Literally or otherwise.

Feeding

So you can’t just take a little blood here and there. If you drink from a human and don’t drain them totally, they begin the process of becoming a vampire themselves. It’s an agonising 3-day process so unless you have somewhere to store a screaming, thrashing body for 72 hours, don’t leave any blood behind. I recomend applying the usual “hunger” modifiers to resisting Frenzy as the lower on blood a vampire gets, the less self-control they have. Also their eyes turn black for some reason.

It is possible to feed from animals, but it shouldn’t be easy. I suggest giving players who want to take the “vegetarian” route a permanent Tempted 1 condition or in some way penalising their frenzy rolls when in the presence of blood. Vampires who feed on the blood of animals exclusively have golden irises.

Newborns

If you’ve been a vampire for less than 12 months, you get a mixed bag of benefits and drawbacks. Newborn vampires have Vigor 5 for the first year, but suffer from penalised Frenzy rolls. Let’s give them a flat -2 to resist Frenzy, -5 when in presence of blood. Better hope you’ve got a good sire to keep you out of trouble. Also your eyes are a vibrant red, even if you immediately adopt an animal-only diet.

Death

The surefire way to dispose of a vampire in Meyer’s world is to tear the body to pieces and burn it. Fire does aggravated damage to vampires and if they’re unlucky enough to be decapitated and have their head cremated, it’s game over. The other source of Agg vampires have to fear comes in the form of a big furry wolf. Werewolves are designed to kill vampires and their teeth tears through dead flesh like butter.

Summary

I’m not going to lie, I’d be sorely tempted to run a game set in this world and see how long it’d take my players to figure out. Though now I’m sure any session of Requiem I run will be treated with suspicion. Would you play a game set in Meyer’s world? Am I the only one who really unironically enjoys Eclipse? What would you change about my suggestions if you were to run Twilight the Requiem?

If you enjoyed this silly post, you can buy me a coffe (or more realistically, a tea) through my Kofi! Every donation is greatly appreciated. https://ko-fi.com/theladylarper

Mummy the Curse: 2e review

Mummy. A game of immortal servitude, fleeting memories, and being powerful enough to call down meteors from the sky.

If you’re not already familiar with the game, I recommend checking out the primer post I have on this blog. You can find it here: https://theladylarper.home.blog/2020/02/27/what-is-mummy-the-curse/

I’m going to be giving a general overview of the 2nd edition, what changes stand out from the 1e, and the bits that really grab my attention. Personally, I enjoyed reading the first edition a lot but it was a little messy at times. I’m expecting to see a lot more clarity in this edition, as well as the boost in power that other splats typically receive in their 2e books.

Disclaimer: a review copy was kindly provided by Onyx Path Publishing.

The Guilds

Five Guilds made up the workers of Irem and each mummy belonged to a Guild in their life. By and large, these remain similar to their 1e counterparts though reading 2e makes it a lot easier to imagine what a Guild member might look and act like. There’s more flavour and character here. They took the pleasant meal of first edition and added some spice. From the flavour text to the sample character concepts, this section is overall more enjoyable to read and will provide players less familiar with the system a better impression of the purpose of the Guilds – both in Irem and after the fall of the empire.

The Decrees

If the Guilds reprsent who the mummy was in life, the Decrees mark what they devoted their soul to during the Rite of Return. The Decrees correspond to the Five pillars of the soul, which pillar the Risen built up when they were broken to nothing in Duat. If the Guilds improved on what was written in first edition, 2e Decrees took a piece of writing and made it art. There’s so much emotion here. It’s crystal clear how the various decrees tie into the themes of the game. They all have their own strengths and passions and weaknesses.

The Decrees are given reasons to keep on living and serving. They all carry their own “curse”. Some mourn the loss of their mortality (not that they’ll ever admit it). Others can’t bear to remember; they loathe the realisation that nothing is new for an immortal. It hurts knowing that all civilisations crumble to dust with time and your work will similarly disappear. I enjoy Chronicles best when it’s about personal pain and struggles and reading this section makes me imagine all the growth and loss you can put a character through. It’s delicious.

The Judges

Good grief, an overhaul was needed here. The first edition offered a lackluster list, each Judge getting a sentence or two to describe them before it was time to move onto the next. Here, we see the Judges fleshed out. We’re told why and how they are worshiped, and what crimes their servants judge. It’s a fun little section and some sections really resonant with current moods. Who doesn’t want to be an immortal being with a vendetta against lying politicians or mega-corporations that exploit their workers.

Affinities and Utterances

Wow.

1E mummies were powerful. That’s their shtick. For a while anyway. Their power wanes but while it’s there, it’s god-like. While the original had its share of awe-inspiring powers, there were admittedly some that were… just a bit less impressive than others. 2E introduces the idea of Blessed and Blighted actions. For a Blessed action, you roll twice and take the best result. For a Blight action, roll twice and take the worst result. To be blunt, this is just cool. It feels thematic. It really fits the idea of being a servant of a powerful God, receiving some sort of divine blessing for your work.

Affinities

Affinities have been tweaked and streamlined in subtle ways. Compare Falcon Soul Aloft in the two editions. 1E granted a dice bonus to keeping balance, 2E grants the mummy perfect balance. Instead of a dice bonus for jumping, you are simply able to just do it. Of course, I appreciate that this affinity is somewhat more powerful in 2E but what I enjoy the most is that it’s just easier to understand. No fiddling about with rolling or something that will possibly work. It just does. It’s much more cinematic to know that you’re going to jump across that chasm and give your character an unassailable confidence in doing so.

If I had one criticism of the Affinities, it’s that some seem a lot more useful than others. Blessed Panoply, like in first edition, protects your items from decay and damage. You can clean them and yourself with an instant action. That’s a neat little trick. Your treasures can’t be damaged and your weapons will never suffer the test of time. Now in 2E, the power also grants 9-again on any rolls that use tools – including an attack that uses a weapon or a drive roll with a vehicle. Additionally, their clothes offer an extra point of armor. This jumps out as something you’d be foolish not to take. Sure, some will resist the allure of such a nice power, and there are other powers out there that will help brawlers but… it’s just so much more appealing than some of the more situational powers.

*Source: Mummy the Curse, 2nd Edition Kickstarter page*

Utterances

Now this is where the real power lies. Utterances are extremely powerful acts of magic and no one can look upon them and mistake them to be a simple mundane occurrence. Each Utterance is split into 3 tiers, higher tiers growing progressively more powerful. Like with Affinities, there are many Utterances here that are streamlined, more powerful versions of their 1E counterparts. And it works!

Utterances are meant to be flashy and powerful. If I’m calling down a meteor from the heavens, I want it to land in an inferno of fire and cause aggravated damage to those unfortunate enough to get hit by my divine wrath (hellooo Secrets Ripped from the Skies!). When I read the Utterances section, I imagine facing down another supernatural. They’ve underestimated me. They’ve never met a Mummy before. They don’t know what they’re in for. That’s when I grapple the werewolf, turn them into an ivory statue, and display them in my tomb.

Utterances are the biblical plague of locusts. They’re the river running red with blood and the sky turning black in the middle of the day. They’re not something you’re going to use in every session but that makes them all the more special when you announce you’re going to tear apart the fabric of reality and channel the power of some ancient, forgotten diety.

Conclusion

If I had to pick my favourite section, it would have to be the Decrees or the Utterances. The Utterances are so very cool. They’re cinematic and are sure to make for great “remember that time when-” stories. The Decrees are less flashy but they’re ripe with the potential for emotional stories.

I cannot wait for the physical release. I want to run a campaign of this game and I’ll be buying a hard copy as soon as I possibly can. It’s rare that a book makes me audibly exclaim “holy shit” as often as this one did and really, what more can I say?

What is Mummy: The Curse?

Recently I’ve been lucky enough to receive a review copy of the second edition of Mummy: the Curse (Thanks Onyx Path Publishing!) and as I’ve been balancing reading the manuscript with writing a thesis, I’ve had a lot of people ask me “So what is Mummy about anyway?”

The exact question varies. Usually it’s some variant of “what are mummies” but I’ve also been asked “but what do you do” or “what do mummies want?”. So in preparation of my 2E review, I’ve decided to produce a brief primer for those unfamiliar with this game line.

What are mummies?

Mummies, like many supernaturals in the world of darkness, were once human. They served mighty sorcerer-priests in the name of the god-like Judges in the empire of Irem. These priests rewarded the most loyal of servants with immortality. Using a great magic called The Right of Return the sorceror-priests kill their servant and send their soul to Duat – the realm of the dead.

In Duat, the potential-mummy has their soul ripped apart and stitched back together again. They face countless trials that test their body, mind, and soul. With each inch of progress, the mummy grows stronger and Sekhem – life energy – fills them. By the time they’re done, they know exactly who they are and which Judge they will serve.

For the rest of time, mummies will sleep and awaken in a cycle. Each time they wake up, they are brimming with power and Sekhem, but their memory is patchy at best and a mummy may have no idea who they are. All they know is their purpose – to serve. As their time “alive” wears on, they lose power and eventually, they sleep once more.

What wakes a mummy up?

A giant alarm clock. Next question.

Alright, alright. Mummies follow a progression of time called the Sothic Turn. When Sothis is in alignment, those loyal servants awaken. A Sothic turn takes 1,461 years and the most recent one occurred in 2012. Judges can also awaken their servants, though the power required to do so means they tend to do it at specific times of the year.

A mummy’s cult can awaken them (yeah, mummies get cults. Suck it, ghouls.) The cult might want the mummy’s aid with a ritual, they might want protection from a bigger, scarier cult, or they may have located a relic filled with Sekhem that they require their master to fetch.

Mummies can also be disturbed from their sleep when their tomb is breached. Archaeologists, grave robbers, tourists, many have met a grisly end at the hands of a bewildered and furious mummy.

What’s the curse part about?

Mummies are immortal servants who wake from long slumbers with massive gaps in their memories.

See a problem yet? Let’s take it piece by piece.

They’re immortal: Unlike some of the other immortals in the world, mummies don’t experience life as one continuous stretch. They wake up for days, weeks, or maybe months at a time. And they don’t even do that linearly. It’s hard to form attachments when you’re not sure how long you have left, or when you’ll next wake up again. You’re limited pretty much to other mummies – and they’re often your competitors in getting relics full of tasty Sekhem.

They’re servants: Sure, they might wield god-like power but that power comes with strings attached. If awakened by Judges, the mummy’s supply of Sekhem is largely dependent on them doing what the Judge wants them to do. If they continue to pursue what they’re supposed to, their Judge will keep ’em topped up. The same thing goes for when a cult wakes their mummy up. Even if the Risen doesn’t want to fulfill their purpose, they unfortunately don’t have a lot of choice. That isn’t to say they can’t exact revenge on disrepectful followers, it just means that punishment may have to wait until they’ve completed what they were brought back from dead for.

They sleep a lot: Okay. It’s not technically sleep. The time not spent in the living world is spent in Duat, doing who knows what. Whatever you call it, they miss out on a lot of time. A mummy might wake up centuries after her last memory, with the population speaking a strange and unfamiliar language and a cult who doubted she would ever rise again. Another mummy might awaken in the early 1900s with memories of the World Wars, not sure what he’s supposed to do about this grave knowledge of the future.

They forget: Let’s take a hypothetical scenario. You’re a mummy. You wake up after decades of slumber. When exploring the world you have stepped into, you meet someone who feels familiar. You can’t put your finger on why. So you start travelling with them and over time, you’ve become close companions. You trust them, you rely on them, you love them.

Then you remember that you used to be sworn enemies. What do you do?

Themes and Moods

My favourite part of any game is figuring out the vibe I’m going for. Mummy is a game where you’re racing against time. It’s a game of discovery where, despite your immortality, old things can be new and beautiful and exciting every time you rediscover them. It’s a game about memory and what your past lives mean to current-you. You can play an exciting race to achieve your goals as you manage dwindling supplies of Sekhem or you can play an emotional relationship between immortals who never quite have enough time together.

In conclusion:

Want more? Good. You’ll have to wait for my review of second edition though. Hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of the game and what 2E is building on when it hits this blog.

Thanks for reading and as ever; like, comment, and share!

An Analysis of Irish Gaming Cons and their games

I’ve attended cons, I’ve volunteered at em, I’ve been on various committee positions, and I’ve had bathroom crying sessions more often than I’d care to admit.

It’s become more and more frequent that people will comment how many LARPs a con seems to have, or that conventions are now dominated by recurring LARPs that make it difficult to just play a game at a convention. And since the first group of nerds decided to rent a hall to play some games, the number of total games has been up for scrutiny. A lack of games can kill a con, just as easily as bad advertising or poor management.

Unfortunately, collecting data was somewhat difficult here. Most conventions update their websites annually, wiping all trace of previous years’ timetables and game listings. I did what I could, scrounging through my email inboxes to find timetables from the conventions I have run games at in the past.

Warpcon

The good old Cork gaming convention is getting singled out here for one simple reason: I have the most data on them. Sorry Warpcon!

LARPs seem to have been slim on the ground in 2018 with our lowest proportion : 3/18 games. I’ll discuss recurring LARPs later in its own section, but we see a very high percentage of ongoing con-LARPs here, between 40-75% of all LARPs being recurring games.

Leprecon

My home con, Leprecon is definitely the con I’ve played the most roles at. In committees that is. I’ve never managed to play a game at a Leprecon yet… Sadly, the game submissions for Leprecon 2020 have just opened and I don’t have their upcoming timetable yet.

Leprecon is a slightly smaller con than Warpcon and we see it reflected here in the number of game submissions. The Pathfinder Society frequently submit several games, definitely beefing up the number of RPGs we see here. Recurring LARPs still make up a hefty chunk here, though they are fewer than we see at Warpcon. To the best of my knowledge, juggernaut superhero LARP Higher Powers didn’t run any games at Leprecon and if I had to bet, I’d put money on that being the reason why Leprecon saw fewing ongoing LARPs in the past few years.

2019

I have the most data for the year gone past, probably because I ran a game at every single con except Leprecon where I was RPG director.

Vaticon saw only a single LARP while Gaelcon sometimes saw two LARPs running in the same slot. From discussions with fellow gamers, there seems to be a unanimous decision that one LARP/slot is optimal but I speak from experience when I say it can be difficult to wrangle game submissions and sometimes we just have to take what we can get. Should an RPG and LARP director turn away games just because they’ve already reached the “magic number” of one game/slot? It hardly seems a reasonably expectation.

2018

Let’s just take a moment to marvel at just how many games Vaticon had this year! A whopping 28 games! While the number of LARPs isn’t significantly different, 2018 observes the trend of recurring LARPs growing in number with time.

Recurring LARPs

As fun as they may be for those invested in the games, I have to question how open recurring games are to the average punter. When done right, they’re a gem in the crown of games at a con. When done poorly, they’re intimidating and have a barrier of entry too high for your average attendees to bother surpassing. In my opinion, there are ideally one or two ongoing LARPs at any given time with the rest being exciting and weird one-off experiences.

Note: I have counted my own LARP: Tales of Thedas as an ongoing LARP as it runs several times a year at conventions. However, it is not a continuous story; each game is set 100 years apart and each game deals with a different scenario and characters.

Sadly, I lack data for some of these cons, but it’s rather surprising to see just how many of these LARPs are ongoing games. That’s a lot of games requiring continuing investment from players. When is too late to join an ongoing con game? The game runners can’t turn anyone away, but I have certainly felt lost and overwhelmed in games when I have hopped in half-way through the story. Those with a progression system are even harder to get into – no matter what your character is good at, there’s someone who has put XP into making their character better than you.

I don’t think I’m alone in my concerns here. Others have voiced displeasure with the feeling that too many games attempt to be ongoing campaigns that stretch across conventions. There are only so many games you can play and remain invested in with gaps that span several months. The Hype Machine will only produce so much excitement and when multiple con-campaigns are forced to share, they all suffer. We can see from the graph above that it’s a growing trend, but it doesn’t seem to be one that punters are happy with.

What can be done?

I’m not about to get out my scepter and declare that no more ongoing con games be created until some wrap up. I have no right to do that. Hell, as someone running an anthology game, I’m partially guilty! Seeing these results does affirm my decision to make Tales of Thedas a series of unconnected, unrelated games. When I ran an event outside of con season, during the drought that strikes in summer, I received great interest and people even expressed pleasure at having something like this not happen at a con. It’s not that people don’t want ongoing games: it seems we want our ongoing games to have their own space and to leave conventions to the strange and novel.

I’ve seen some genuinely fantastic concepts posed as con games and I regret that I haven’t been able to play them all. The games I did play were a blast, made all the more special because I knew I’d never get to step into this character’s shoes again. I was more willing to take risks and sacrifice things for the narrative because I knew it wouldn’t come back to bite me in three months time.

One off games are freeing for the writers too. You don’t have to worry how this will fit into the continuity. You don’t have to handle downtimes or XP spending. You just have to write one good game. And if it’s not good? Who cares!? You never have to do it again! You’re not shackled to the promise of a whole series of similar games.

Prose and Cons

Writing ain’t easy. I’m a writer. I’ve spent my fair share of time sitting, staring at sentences I’m just not happy with. Writing a con game brings the extra pressure of having to produce something by a deadline that will be played and probably judged by other people. There are some interesting trends here and while I (and others) might personally prefer more once-off games at conventions, writers are doing this for free and should do what makes them happy.

Gaming conventions wouldn’t happen without the generous and creative souls who give their words and time to creating worlds we can escape into for a 3 hour session. I believe the onus is on con organisers to present the timetable of events they wish to see. It’s not always easy and sometimes you have to take the selection you’re given, but perhaps there are ways to incentivise submissions of certain types of game.

What do you think? Do you have experience writing games or running cons? Share your opinions in the comments below, I’d love to hear what you think!

A big thank you to the helpful friends who sent me data from the years I didn’t have access to! These graphs wouldn’t have been as nice without your help! ❤

Things I like in LARP – or am I just impossible to please?

It’s been a while since I last typed out something for this blog, but I’ve been hankering to get back into the swing of things. I plan to do an update sometime soon on games I’ve run and what my future plans are, but for now, I feel like talking about things that I enjoy and don’t enjoy. You might agree with some things, while you might find that when it comes to others, you don’t understand my view at all. And there are some things you may have not thought about.

I enjoy a sense of emotional vulnerability

When it comes to LARP, my characters always have something they care about and want to protect. Sometimes I come in not knowing what that thing will be, and it usually turns out to be a someone. I enjoy letting my walls down and coming to trust others. It’s cathartic to share your IC fears with someone else and feel your heart beat as you await their response. It’s fun knowing that you would give up personal gain in order to protect what you care about. It’s touching to play a reserved character and have other characters tell you they care about you.

I don’t enjoy being made to feel bad while vulnerable

Feeling guilty or scared because you care is one thing, it’s another when the story sets out to kick you while you’re down. I draw the line at being made to feel bad or lesser out of character. I don’t want to be made to feel stupid or sad. It’s a fine line when I actively seek out emotional stories with my characters, and it honestly requires a good helping of trust between players or player and GM.

I enjoy feeling like I’m part of the world

There’s nothing better than when you poke the world and it pokes back. The feeling that you’re a character part of something bigger than you is wonderful. There are conspiracies beyond my reach. There are things I care about and want to protect and there are things I don’t want to touch. My character doesn’t have to be embroiled in every little thing or have a close rapport with every NPC, but even just knowing they’re there, living their lives is enough to make me feel immersed.

I’ve described it to people before as feeling like a fish in the sea. Sometimes I know about the abandoned pirate treasure and eat smaller fish. Other times, some behemoth swims past underneath and I am left with a sense that I am not the most powerful being here.

I don’t enjoy feeling like a disposable part of the world

This one is a bit tricky because I do enjoy gothic horror and urban fantasy where you are very often lower on the food chain and sometimes, you are indeed disposable. But when a player is in a game, they’re there because they want to feel like they matter in some way. Sure, the Big Bad will squash them if they attacked alone, but maybe they’re the one who can crack the locks on the prison cells, or maybe they’re the one who was childhood friends with the Big Bad’s lieutenant.

No one should feel totally worthless, even if they aren’t the most powerful person in setting. I play in a Victorian Vampire LARP which nailed this balance perfectly. It featured two very old feuding vampires. They were the behemoth in the ocean. They were so far beyond our power level that I suspect the entire player base would have had a tough time ganging up on them. But they weren’t untouchable. They interacted with us. They made deals with us. One even made some friends with the much younger vampires. We were very clearly outclassed and they couldn’t care less for what we thought of their ancient feud, but they didn’t ignore us entirely.

We may have been less powerful, but we were not just mere puppets for the powerful NPCs to bully.

I don’t enjoy feeling like I am the only important part of the world

This is where others might disagree with me, but I don’t particularly enjoy being the only powerful person in the world. It’s an issue I sometimes have with games like D&D – why are we the Only Ones who can stop this problem? Why hasn’t the town guard been able to clear out that goblin-infested cave. Why haven’t any other heroes slain the dragon and made off with their horde of treasure. Sheer dumb luck of being the first to arrive can’t be used as an excuse every time.

Other games have this issue too. The vampire prince turns to the player party instead of his sheriff or other court members he’s appointed to do this work. The dystopian world seemingly only has one group of ethically-dubious hackers who care enough to bring down the corporation that’s been poisoning puppies and drowning babies. Jesus Christ himself comes down and cuts off his hand to give to the player party because…

uh…

You get the point. It might sound weird to say I don’t want to be the most powerful, but to be honest, it simply breaks my immersion when I’m questioning why the player party are the only ones working to fix an issue. How I get around this is to bring the stakes down and make them more personal. Now the bad guys aren’t trying to take over the world (okay, maybe they are). But the players don’t know that. All they know is that their nephew or daughter has been kidnapped and they have to do it because everyone else is busy dealing with their own problems. The Changeling monarchs aren’t willing to risk their courtiers by attacking Loyalists, it’s up to the party to go rescue their kidnapped friend. It’s not the vampire prince hiring the players, it’s someone they’ve helped before and the party are the only ones they personally know of or can contact.

I’ve been in games where a players were awarded random Mc Guffins, seemingly for no reason. They’re not the most pious but the Dalai Lama gives them the magic spear that throws lightning. They’re not the funniest but they get the talking book of Knock Knock jokes. If it means someone gets special treatment – you get jealousy and players wondering why they don’t get special toys. If you’re throwing them at everyone in your LARP, you get power creep and I’m left wondering about the others who are surely more worthy than us. It can work in an RPG with a smaller group. Sometimes you want a good old bit of power fantasy where you are the Best and the Only One but honestly, it’s a very rare situation where I’m in the mood for that at the table. I prefer it sticks to video games where it belongs.

What do you like/dislike? Or just tell me in the comments why I’m wrong

Giving your characters (and players!) something to care about

We’ve all seen this trope before – the lone wolf who doesn’t need anyone by his side. His parents are dead. His lover is dead. His friends left him because he’s so badass, he doesn’t even need their help! What does he care about? Nothing! What can be used against him as leverage? Nothing!

What’s interesting about him? Nothing!

Loners make things harder for the GM

As fun as it may seem to play a grizzled loner with no ties or connections, it gets old fast. What reason does this solo adventurer have to play nice with the rest of the party for? Why are they even on this adventure? As a GM, I love it when players give me people they love and care about! It means you can threaten those nearest and dearest to the character and the stakes will feel way more intense than any number of doomsday devices.

Now I’m not saying that the GM shouldn’t write any plot other than “your loved ones are threatened! Again!“. There are surely external forces in the world with their own goals who don’t give a crap about the PCs, but will clash with them anyway. But what’s more likely to chill your character’s blood? A threat that a randomer from the street who they’ve never met will be harmed? Or a threat that the villain knows the route their son walks to school by?

Caring about people creates interesting conflicts

I ran a Changeling LARP where a player character fell in love with a Loyalist NPC (admittedly before he knew what she really was) and even married her. In the final game, players were being posed difficult questions and this player was asked if he would betray the Freehold for his wife, if it came down to it.

The player stood in silence for a solid minute, then gave a very quiet answer. Even with knowing the deeds his wife had committed in the past, even with the knowledge that she still hadn’t broken free of her Fae mistress, he still said that he would always stand by her side, no matter the cost to others.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make. After admitting that he would betray the Freehold for his Loyalist wife if he needed to, he sat down, very clearly shaken. He knew his friends in the Freehold would find out what he had said. Yet he still made his choice.

Thankfully for that character, he and his wife got a happy ending, but it wasn’t without tribulations. Yet because of the adversity they had faced, it felt so much sweeter. The player base didn’t just get the satisfaction of besting a Loyalist, they got the reward of seeing one of their own happy and in love.

Image credit: https://whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/

Make your characters decide between things they value and want. Have your young vampire feel guilty when she feeds because all she can imagine is someone preying on her younger sister the way she preys on the humans. Have your fighter hesitate to take action because their friend is at risk if they make the wrong choice. Have your superhero struggle with their newfound calling because their wife is at home, struggling with newborn twins and he’s not there to help her.

Sacrifices are much harder and victories are much sweeter if it comes at the cost of something your character really, really cares about.

Feeling things makes for a more rewarding experience

Now I must admit that this one is entirely subjective. Not everyone plays games for the same reason, and that’s a good thing! Some people want to experience the satisfaction that comes with a well-statted character taking down a giant beast. Others want to unravel a mystery, uncovering plots and motivations along the way. These things don’t automatically exclude emotional ties – there’s no reason why you can’t have your cake and eat it too!

But this post is about emotions in roleplay. And if you’re comfortable with involving those pesky lil things in your games, I personally find things become much more rewarding. I want to feel joy and sorrow, anger and fear, when I play. It’s certainly not what everyone seeks to get out of an RPG. Maybe I’m an emotional junkie?

If you’re not normally the sort who creates characters with ties and people they care about – give it a go! What happens might just surprise you.

The Nervous Gamer

We’ve all been there, be it as a player or a GM. Your character stands up in front of the royal court. It’s time to make a speech. The eyes of everyone at the table are on you. You freeze.

Maybe your character has done something silly and they’re now facing down an angry NPC. What do you say? You freeze.

Ten minutes until your LARP starts. You have everything ready. You think. What if people don’t have fun? What if you’re wasting everyone’s time.

It doesn’t matter how seasoned a role-player you are, nerves hit us all sooner or later, sometimes when we least expect them. I once had to leave a particularly dense sci-fi LARP before it even started because I was simply too overwhelmed by all the new info and people. I had a panic attack in a small side room, then let the GMs know I wouldn’t be playing.

I’ve seen countless players panic or stammer their way through a situation. Role-playing can be a scary experience. You’re putting yourself out there in a way that others are going to interact with and possibly judge.

Everyone get nervous. No one is going to judge you.

http://unfitmind.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/social_phobia1.jpg

Try not to be worried that you’re not as eloquent as you feel your character should be. Don’t fret if you don’t make realisations that your character might have. No one is going to scoff and ask why you’re playing the character you’re playing. In general, people are going to empathise and are usually more than willing to help a fellow player out.

If you’re a GM, players are a lot less likely to notice mistakes than you think they are. They don’t know that you had intended for a particular NPC to come off as confident, or that you forgot what a particular location looked like and made it up on the spot. Even if you forget how rules or mechanics work, people are unlikely to care. They understand that you’re human too and that everyone makes mistakes.

Helping out our fellow role-players

There’s a lot of easy steps that can be taken to help others ease into what can be a daunting experience. If you’re playing in a small RPG group, be mindful of the others at the table. If someone is a little quieter or getting left out, make an effort to interact with their character and ask their opinion on things. If it’s in a LARP setting, keep an eye out for anyone who seems to be left alone or who looks nervous and uncomfortable. If your character is the intimidating sort, it could mean a lot to a new player to have you be a little kinder to them. Sure, your character may have no real reason to go over to a strange new person and make an effort to talk to them, but it really enriches other people’s experiences and isn’t that what role-playing is all about? To collaborate to have a fun time?

For GMs, be mindful of how you treat your players. Do you have NPCs mock them or shame them when they fail? Are you creating an environment in which a shyer player feels comfortable using their voice? Take some time to examine your GM style. In my experience, games like Vampire the Masquerade, while intentionally dark, can lean a little too antagonistic with players feeling downtrodden by old and angry vampires.

What can players do for GMs?

I feel like giving constructive feedback to GMs could merit its own post, but we’ll touch upon it here. Did you as a player really enjoy something your GM did? TELL THEM. Seriously. Nothing makes a GM feel more valued than a player telling them that they really enjoyed a puzzle or NPC or combat encounter. Your GM puts time into writing the games, please show them you appreciate their efforts!

If your GM flubs a bit of the game, be it plot, role-play, or mechanics, please do be patient. I promise you they’re trying their best and likely giving themselves enough self-criticism. But what if you really need to bring something up with them? Maybe they’re doing something that makes you genuinely uncomfortable, or maybe you just feel you have some advice that could help them. Do be kind. If you can, mention something you like about their game along with your criticisms. Show that you appreciate their efforts and that you want to work with them to create a better experience.

Comfort comes with time

When I started role-playing, I was remarkably self-conscious. I didn’t know what I was doing. I questioned every decision I made. I worried that people would judge me. Then I started GM-ing and that brought new worries. Were the NPCs I wrote interesting enough? Was my plot engaging? Was the ending going to flop?

I wish I could say I found some magic cure for these nerves, but the truth is, they never entirely go away. I’ve been role-playing for years now and sometimes, the niggling doubts still come back! It’s simply through exposure to these situations do I find myself becoming more self-assured. Role-playing and GM-ing are skills of their own and like any skill, you become more confident using them with time.

Have fun!

At the end of the day, gaming isn’t meant to be a test. It’s supposed to be a fun and rewarding experience. It’s a collaborative experience and if we’re mindful of that, we can make things more enjoyable, even for the most nervous of gamers.

Running LARPs and RPGs – Are you a jaded GM?

If I had a euro for every time I encountered a GM frustrated with their players, I’d… have a nice amount of money but not anything terribly impressive because the role playing community is relatively small. Does this sound familiar – the always-GM. The person who’s always running a game and who never gets a chance to play. They’re sometimes harried or flustered but they’re so firmly entrenched in their role as a GM that they can’t possible take a step back.

GMs get burned out. It’s not anything to be ashamed of, it’s natural when you’re working to tell a story and showcase your creativity. It’s a lot of work to put on a game, especially a LARP with many players!

Don’t be afraid to communicate

If asked what the worst game I ever ran was, I wouldn’t have to hesitate before answering. I ran a LARP session where the mood couldn’t have been more miserable if we’d killed someone’s dog. I’m not ashamed to admit I broke down in tears after we timed out. I felt like I had failed my players. I consider myself very lucky that players felt they could come to me and talk to me about how they felt during the game though. While in this case it was obvious that people weren’t having fun, it’s not always as clear when the issue is smaller or if it’s a subsection of players who are dissatisfied.

So what did I do after that game? My fellow GM and I wrote up a public apology. We explained that the game had utterly failed to hit the tone we had intended it to. We stated the intended tone of the campaign (it was listed in our game primer) and that we were going to strive to adhere to it in the future. We were going to do better and we thanked those who gave us feedback.

The response was comforting. People appreciated that we were willing to own up to what we did. They appreciated that we were going to do better in future games and they stuck by us. Our players thanked us for being so open and for our willingness to communicate. What could have ended the campaign turned into something we used as a platform to communicate better with our players and take a moment to evaulate the direction we wanted the game to go in.

Don’t be afraid of feedback! Your players want to have fun, and ideally, you should too. Work together with your players to make the game you all want to play. Sit down with your group if it’s small enough, and hear from everyone what they want from the experience. If it’s a bigger LARP, include a section on tone and mood in your primer! Give players and idea of what they’re in for and they’re more likely to play in line with what you imagined.

Be a player

7 Lessons About Playing D&D I Learned From Critical Role — Image credit: Geek and Sundry

If you’re the kind of person who always runs games, don’t be afraid to be a player for a change. Just as writers read voraciously to improve their skils, playing games will help you develop as a GM. Want to better understand what makes a game fun? Play!

Taking a break to be a player for a while will also allow you to rest your creative muscles. It’s liberating to just show up without wondering if you’ve written enough plot, if the players will like the NPC you wrote, or find all the clues you set out. You don’t have to worry about engaging your players or making sure everyone gets equal roleplay time. You don’t have to stat anything past your own character sheet.

Do you notice a trend in the games you run? Do you prefer cyberpunk? World of Darkness? DnD? Play something different! You might discover a new system that you love, or you might just appreciate a change of scenery. You might even discover new tropes that can be fun to bring back into your favoured system. Nothing gets people out of a rut like new experiences.

Why do you GM?

When motivation flags, it can help to take a moment to consider why you GM in the first place. Personally, I love telling a story with my players. Ideally, I’ll invoke a variety of emotions. Running a game can be stressful but I get my rewards when I see people enjoy the experience I have created for them.

If you find that your games are no longer aligned with what you enjoy about running games – change it up! Don’t let a beloved hobby grow stale. Don’t grow resentful of your game or worse, your players. It’s worthwhile to take some time to reflect every so often and make sure you’re still enjoying your hobby in the way that brings you joy.

If you find you view GM-ing as a burden or that you’re no longer enjoying things as much as you used to, there’s no shame in talking to your players about what to do, or playing a different game to change things up!

Ultimately, if you’re having fun, your players will also have fun and the quality of gaming increases for all.

Giving your players enough to do

Something I always worry about before every LARP is if I have enough for the players to do, especially if it’s a convention scenario where people don’t start with investment in the characters and plot. So how do you know when you’ve written enough to keep people entertained for a stretch of a few hours?

Character goals

In my experience, giving each character 3 goals they want to accomplish seems like the sweet spot. They might achieve some of them straight away, they might stray from what you’ve given them and follow another plot that piqued their interest. And that’s okay! What you’re doing is giving them a starting point. What does their character care enough about to devote time to? Giving them goals is a great way to point them in the right direction.

It’s important to strike the right balance between trivially easy and impossible to achieve. While a player might not complete all the goals on their sheet, it should ideally be possible for them to reach a conclusion in some way for all of them. Maybe they don’t reach an ideal outcome, but closure should be possible. You can even vary the difficulty of the goals, although be aware that you’re the only one who is intimately familiar with the plot and characters. What seems trivial may take some digging on the player’s part. On the flip side, players will always surprise you with their ingenuity and something you thought would take up most of the game has been resolved in an hour. Don’t panic!

Tying characters together

One method I’ve used in the past is to write all the characters names down, arranged in a circle. Beside that, assign each subplot a colour. Once you have that done, go around the circle and put a dot beside a character’s name if they are directly involved in that plot. Take a look at those dots? Is there anyone with an overwhelming number? Perhaps give a plot thread to someone with fewer dots. Do you look at this and realise that while someone may have several goals stated on their character sheet, they’re only involved in one subplot? Consider getting them involved in something else so the player isn’t left to flounder if things get resolved earlier than you had anticipated.

Once you’ve allocated the dots to your liking, connect them! Keeping same colours, connect up those who are involved in the same plots and you’ll see who needs to interact with who. Obviously the players won’t be privy to this information, but it’s a good way to see if there’s anyone who isn’t very connected to the others. Ideally, the players will all interact with each other and through roleplay, will clash and complement each other. However, it can be disheartening to see everyone else hare off to do something special together while you’re left on the sidelines.

Keeping players busy with roleplay

Encouraging roleplay merits its own post, but here are some suggestions as how you can give players greater roleplay opportunities.

Give them something they care about. Ever heard someone talk about something they’re passionate about? People can talk about the things they love or hate.

Give characters conflicting opinions. So you’ve given your players something to care about. Now make them clash. There’s no fun in a circle of people sitting around, politely agreeing with one another. Give the characters opposing views and that will breed conflict. It’s even better if these conflicting characters need to work together to achieve their goals.

I ran a social LARP once set at a fancy ball and one of the players utterly delighted me when he came over and asked if he could use the servants to spread false rumours. Characters were accusing each other left, right, and center, and it really helped showcase the various conflicts and feuds.

How do YOU make sure you’ve given people enough to play with?

I’m always learning and I’d love to hear from others on how you personally make sure there’s enough plot to go around. Do you keep backup plots to be deployed in case of a slump in the action?

And players – what sparks your imagination in games? What makes you take an idea and run with it, creating delicious drama? Do you like seeing goals written down on your character sheets? Let me know in the comments below!

Who is the Lady LARPer?

Who am I?

My name is Eimear and I’m an Irish gamer. While board games were my first love, my passion for writing and game melded together into playing and running roleplaying games.

What is LARP?

If you’ve never heard of LARP, first of all, congrats on finding this blog about LARP! LARP stands for live action roleplay. It’s an exercise in collaborative storytelling. The players are actors who don’t need to learn lines, they make it up as they go along based on their knowledge of their own character. They perform for no audience save for themselves.

Who am I to talk about writing and running games?

I’ve been running games for about three years now. Along with various tabletop RPGs, I’ve run a year long Changeling the Lost LARP and I run an ongoing Dragon Age LARP that takes place at conventions. I’m not a perfect GM, not by any stretch of the imagination, but I try to take something away with me from every game I run. I’m always learning and I wanted a place to share what I figure out. Learn from the mistakes of others and all that.

When it comes to playing LARPs, my aim is to get immersed and experience emotions through the lens of someone else. But how does a writer go about achieving that? Emotional investment is a vague and unquantifiable thing. What will draw someone in will give someone else a cold dose of reality and remind them that they’re playing make believe with a bunch of other adults.

So that’s what you have to look forward to! Join me as I tease out what makes gaming fun, and how do you go about writing a game in the first place?