Casual Campaign Larp Wellington - discussion - brainstorming

Community Larp discussion
#1

There appears to be a niche in the Wellington LARP scene

There is no easy access, evening, mission/social based, campaign LARPS.
By this I mean:

Easy Access;
Low costume expectations, low level of commitment (no need to have excessive downtime involvement)

Evening;
Played in short (3 hours) evening games or possibly short day games.

Mission/Social based;
Known missions that the Players have asked for, or GM based missions.
As well as social/political events that affect the campaign world.

Campaign;
Your characters will go on from mission to mission and there will be some level of overarching plots, there will be social events.

I’d like to open this discussion up, and see what the Wellington players would like in terms of; game, genre, locations to be held, etc.

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#2

Nothing to contribute, but I agree. It would be great to get this sort of game running more/again in Wellington.

#3

It sounds cool (but I would only be able to attend casually and probably only in afternoons.) I don’t have a lot of time for social activities right now.

#4

I love the idea of a casual campaign larp in Wellington.

I would specifically prefer freeform (ie make your own character rather than pre written characters).

I submit the idea of a sci-fi or futuristic type larp. Maybe something like Stargate as per being mission based (Yes I know it’s been done, and it was great. Props may still be available somewhere in Auckland, including a ring and DHD).

As for places to go, I can throw out wild suggestions of Petone Beach, Hutt Minoh House, George Denton Park in Highbury (small), Brandon’s Rock in Newlands, of course Percy Scenic Reserve in Lower Hutt/Maungaraki, Poet’s Park (beside Hutt River) and Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt.

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#5

Thanks for posting this - I’ve had several conversations on this topic and had promised to post something, but have been distracted by real life.
Like many LARPers as we grow older, I have significant out of game commitments. This limits the time I can commit to frothing about a game, out of game communications, or any desire to play in multi-day games. I think it’s awesome that there’s so many people who enjoy doing this, and I would have done the same 10-15 years ago. The net result of getting older and this new Weekend long game style, is a growing split between those with the willingness to contribute time to the longer games, and those who want to play in casual campaign games.
Which is cool - the community is big enough to support this. But, what it does mean is the handful of GMs and Player energy tends to be committed to the longer games as they broadly have more people, larger commitment of time and money, and a player base wanting a complete and enduring immersion in the Game. This split can mean those of us more dedicated to the shorter campaign games (of which there are very few) can feel isolated from the broader community.

This is not a whinge in any way, shape or form - I’m trying to problem solve. As said before, there’s so much enthusiasm in the community I think we can find a way to incorporate the wishes of all players. It’s just been disheartening to see really awesome looking ideas go the way of Weekend games which hinder involvement from a growing sector of the LARPing community.

One simple idea would be to incorporate a secondary game within a Weekend game. Example: Fantasy LARP begins Friday night, ends Sunday afternoon. Missions on Friday and Saturday, followed by a gathering of Leaders and politicians on the Saturday evening. Those who want to run around with swords wailing on each other can do so across the weekend, those with less time or inclination towards combat turn up just for an evening event in which decisions are made that guide Missions or events on the Sunday.

Happy for all thoughts on this, even to tell me if I’m WAY off base.

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#6

I’m in Auckland not Wellington, but the same “OOC commitments” limitation applies to me at the moment.

For me it’s not only things like genre and duration that are limitations, but also location and timing. I want something close to me to limit travel time, and not running late.

Many people in their twenties enjoy staying up late and it doesn’t impinge on any other responsibilities or exhaust you. But as you get older for some people your circadian rhythms change and earlier nights are the order of the day, especially if you have kids to put to bed who might wake up early, early starts for work, etc. Even when we have games that run for just an evening, it’s not unusual for them to start at 7pm and run to 11pm or midnight. I suspect that for the same people that weekend games aren’t so suitable, late nights often might not be either. Especially when you include debrief/aftergame, travel time to get home, and getting out of costume and makeup.

Which is a long way of saying, it might be worth discussing what optimum days and times are too.

For example, for me a good time might be after work from 6pm to 9pm. Or on a weekend afternoon sometime between 1pm to 5pm, or a weekend evening from 6pm to 9pm. It’s not a big deal for me to grab a quick early dinner before a game, that’s better for me than starting at 7pm to accommodate normal dinner time first, and then running late. Others would doubtless differ, so find timing that would suit the kind of people who want to attend, don’t just follow the “usual” larp timing.

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Game timing: afternoons vs evenings
#7

What I’d like to see is more small larps, run and organised more like table top games are - around the schedules of the people who want to play that specific game. I suppose for that to work all we really need is for people to step forward and run something. I don’t doubt there’s an audience for it.

Those who want to run around with swords wailing on each other can do so across the weekend, those with less time or inclination towards combat turn up just for an evening event in which decisions are made that guide Missions or events on the Sunday.

Weekend games aren’t just about combat. You can often avoid it completely. :wink:

The idea could work. Or as separate social/political events run outside of weekend games (perhaps in slightly more accessible locations?). The tricky thing is that it changes gear a little - holding it part way through an event sounds like it could have some organisational challenges… (I mean, what if the players have somehow burnt the whole village down when it comes time for the theatre style? What if someone is dying in the infirmary? Would that ruin the party? What if the players decide to attack the political delegates and guests, because they look too much like the bandits that attacked them earlier?)

#8

Thanks all,

I’ve got a lot of ideas, and would love other people to pitch in with ideas too.

I can see that there is some niche part of the community that needs to be catered too.

some great discussion here, thanks.

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