Codes in larps

Community Larp discussion
#1

larpX has an article about using codes in larp, including “A note on ciphers” from a game called All For One:

(TL;DR: use caeser cipher for stuff you want trivially cracked or just to hide information from view; use Vigenere for stuff you want people to work at; give people keys and methods if you want them to just spend time).

While I didn’t play Musketeers, I wrote up a Guide to the Protection of Secrets for it, as a short guide to the codes of the era (I have no idea if Anna ever used it). I didn’t cover Vigenere or Nomenclaturs (number-based codes) as being too difficult. But it does have a few period steganographic methods used to conceal messages.

Musketeerscodes.pdf (63.5 KB)

#2

I don’t think I’d ever put the Vigenere cipher in a game, myself - I know that they’ve been used and cracked in larp, but based on what I know about cryptography, there are two problems with employing them in larp:

  1. They were originally designed to be uncrackable, which means that your players need to break their backs working on it, and
  2. It’s only sensible to have your players break their backs if the encryption could only be a Vigenere cipher.

If the code is anything other than a Vigenere cipher, and the players spend time working on it assuming it’s a Vigenere cipher, that’s only going to be frustrating for them when they don’t get the answer. But if you tell them it’s a Vigenere cipher, then once they have the key the decryption is just busywork - there’s no actual puzzling involved.
The Caesar cipher is fine for hiding information from view: like any substitution cipher; they’re pretty easy to crack, especially if the plaintext includes words like A, I, THE, THAT, WHAT, etc.

I feel like the best larp-solving experiences come from something somewhere in between. Book ciphers and puzzle ciphers are great for this, because the encrypted text looks unusual in a way that could lead players to the encryption method - most book cipher text comes in a page-number.line-number.word-number form, like 23.11.6.

The first large-scale encryption I was involved with in a game was four pages of substitution cipher, with the twist that capital letters were encoded with different symbols than their lower-case counterparts. This injected some challenge back into solving.

If people want to use encryptions in game, I feel like there are two things they can do to make the experience evenly challenging for players:

  1. Provide a list of the cipher types you’ll use in the game (as was done for Musketeers)
  2. Vary the plaintext so that the ciphertext becomes harder to crack - if you reverse the plaintext before encoding, than the words A and I remain easy to crack, but everything else becomes a little more confusing. Same goes for if you stick an X somewhere in each word, or use a plaintext that has no Ts in it.

TL;DR: Encryption is hard to use effectively because it’s usually either impossible or trivial. If you want something in between, playing with the plaintext is a good place to start.

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#3

I used both Caeser and Vigenere in The Gehenna Memo, but as a representation of something else (translation and magical research respectively). In both cases, the key was known, and the use of a cipher was really a way of getting the players to spend time to uncover a rewarding text. It could equally have been sudoku, but ciphers seemed more diagetic.

(If I ever write His Majesty’s Wizards, the Tudor Laundry larp, I’ll have to use magic squares or something…)

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#4

I enjoy cracking codes in LARP, but have often found the length of the ciphered text to be an issue. Cracking and then decoding a paragraph or two is fun. Cracking and then spending an hour or more decoding a couple of pages does not. Especially if it involves you missing plot. It coupld be worthwhile for GMs to have a decoded copy to supply once the players have shown that they have the alphabet deciphered.

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#5

Sighs a very long-suffering sigh in the direction of SOME PEOPLE :stuck_out_tongue:
I thought the same thing, in the only substantial code-cracking section I used in 33AR. Single-substitution cypher aka wingdings font. After a reasonably amount of time, I was watching the players cheerfully decipher the entire 4 page letter.
“Ok, enough” I told them. “You’ve passed, I’ll get you the English print out.”
“Nah, we’re good.”
…
“But your plot is outside.”
“What NOW?”
“Yes now.”
“Oh… but… Na, someone else can take it, I want to finish this.”

On the other hand, the first game included some instructions we’d just flat-out google translated into Italian, figuring that written italian was actually quite understandable if you took time to think about it and you were careful about your grammar and highlighting key words.
But forgot that one of the players was fluent in Italian IC.

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#6

[quote=“Brent, post:4, topic:22368”]
Especially if it involves you missing plot. It coupld be worthwhile for GMs to have a decoded copy to supply once the players have shown that they have the alphabet deciphered.
[/quote]

Sighs a very long-suffering sigh in the direction of SOME PEOPLE :stuck_out_tongue:
I thought the same thing, in the only substantial code-cracking section I used in 33AR. Single-substitution cypher aka wingdings font. After a reasonably amount of time, I was watching the players cheerfully decipher the entire 4 page letter.
“Ok, enough” I told them. “You’ve passed, I’ll get you the English print out.”
“Nah, we’re good.”
…
“But your plot is outside.”
“What NOW?”
“Yes now.”
“Oh… but… Na, someone else can take it, I want to finish this.”

:rofl: I did not play in 33AR. But I can guarantee you I would’ve been one of those people.

On the other hand, the first game included some instructions we’d just flat-out google translated into Italian, figuring that written italian was actually quite understandable if you took time to think about it and you were careful about your grammar and highlighting key words.
But forgot that one of the players was fluent in Italian IC.

Aaand it looks like I would’ve broken that plot too. For entirely OOC reasons. :smiley:

I love cracking codes in-game although I suspect doing Vigenere by hand would be beyond me. And as a side note: cracking a substitution cypher gets easier if you’ve got more text, not harder. So if you want to give me a real challenge, you’ll make it something like seals on pots.

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#7

…I was one of those people. :joy:

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#8

I’ve written up book codes for a monthly larp once, I was so worried that it would take too long for the amount of time that we had but it worked well.

The key is making sure your players can find the book!

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#9

Oh I have a story about that one too!

At Embers, the code-crackers spent HOURS working on this puzzle, and then they got stuck. They thought it was a book-cypher, but they weren’t sure, but the next clue was “Habits of Strangers” or something like it.
We converted every thing we could find about different groups into potential keys. Shrine locations, holy words, you name it. I totally spilled my factions big secret all subtle-like by including it in the keys (and was so delighted when someone noticed!). But nothing worked!
And then someone showed up with the book “Habits of strangers”. Someone had put it ON TOP OF THE ZIP hot water heater. At like 7 feet up? Why? Who? When? A mystery for the ages

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#10

I would like to second the single substitution is hella fun pov. I once made up a code where all the letters are pictures of penguins :stuck_out_tongue:

Codes like this are real satisfying though, and lead to a really big sense of achievement, plus then you can like have the players communicate in themselves with it. Dragon writitng is another good one to use if you want something real easy. i’d like to see someone do one with emoji’s too.

another thing i find really satisfying is just, making up a whole new language, with with another picture representation that it can make sense - aka heaven’s vault <3

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#11

Using these depends entirely on your player base.
As a plot writer or game runner, you are going to get an array of folks in your game, all with different attitudes to ciphers.

First there are those who love it and will literally sit and finish all the puzzles. You have entertained them sufficiently, but they miss out on other stuff going on.

Then you have those who are so smart they start decoding text before even handed a cipher or clue. Such that they are ready for the plot hours before it’s planned to go out Looking at Toby during Musketeers here.

Then you have those who like to have a go but don’t want to get too involved in case they miss out.

Then you have those who will see a cipher and make sure it’s someone else doing it. Yeah this one’s me.

Finally,people who won’t want ciphers in their game at all.

Because your people and players will be a range between these, you have to consider what information is being hidden, and how essential it is to the plot.
You need a back up delivery method so a hiding of a book doesn’t stall your game.
Conversely you need other things to fill in time between players solving things super fast and when you are ready to deliver the plot therein.

TLDR Ciphers are cool, but are as varied, risky and mixed in application and reception as the players and parties involved.

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