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Community Larp discussion
#41

[quote=“Alista”][quote]
If the answer to the problem is “run a fantasy game because people want to play a fantasy game, anything else is just an ego trip”, I’m sorely disappointed in my fellow gamers.[/quote]

I am suggesting that such a game can be run as well as other games, rather than having just the the existing games.

I think this clearly demonstrates what I am talking about.[/quote]

We have been waiting for awhile for No Man’s Land to be ready to play. It’s looking like people are getting impatient and others might spring up instead.

#42

[quote=“Alista”]
I think this clearly demonstrates what I am talking about.[/quote]

What am I demonstrating, exactly? This statement isn’t entirely clear.

Are you suggesting that I’m actively opposing the running of a fantasy game (I’m not), or worse, that my viewpoint on the subject is egotistical?

#43

Sure, but I’m talking about people who aren’t particularly into anything seen as geeky like fannish subcultures. Or no more than average.

There’s too ways of looking at larp in there:

  • Becoming part of another world
  • Improvising a fiction

I’d say that the “geeky” or fannish appeal as such is in the other world being different to ours, usually with supernatural aspects.

But improvising a fiction isn’t inherently geeky, unless you see all drama as geeky. It’s arty.

Anyhow, I’m just pointing out that if you go in with an assumption that only certain types people are interested in larp and focus on recruiting them, it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophesy.

#44

I’m with Ryan on this one - different aspects attract different people.

NZLARPS has to cover all the genres, and since we’re a volunteer organisation, its easier to find people to run games which are of personal interest. This isnt to say we can’t to targetted advertising for individual games, though, if thats what the game organiser wants.

I keep intending to write up an article for Immersion about LARP genres and the Definition of LARP but I never find any time…

#45

I’m all for recruiting these arty people. The sooner the better, we have a nice selection of genres available, a lot of them seeking players.

How shall we recruit these people?

#46

[quote=“Anna K”]

How shall we recruit these people?[/quote]

thats the 20 million dollar question

#47

[quote=“adam”][quote=“Anna K”]

How shall we recruit these people?[/quote]

thats the 20 million dollar question[/quote]

perhaps we should ask what people want?

#48

[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]
But improvising a fiction isn’t inherently geeky, unless you see all drama as geeky. It’s arty.

Anyhow, I’m just pointing out that if you go in with an assumption that only certain types people are interested in larp and focus on recruiting them, it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophesy.[/quote]

Fair enough.

I will admit I really have no idea how to draw in ‘normal’ people, so I’ll wait to hear some suggestions and try to offer some input.

#49

But is it safe to assume that if there are several types of people interested in larp, then we will need several types of recruitment?

For example, if we run fantasy games to get the student geeks in but run, say, classy murder mysteries in the the evenings to get older, drama inclined people in, these options are not mutually exclusive?

#50

[quote=“Anna K”]But is it safe to assume that if there are several types of people interested in larp, then we will need several types of recruitment?

For example, if we run fantasy games to get the student geeks in but run, say, classy murder mysteries in the the evenings to get older, drama inclined people in, these options are not mutually exclusive?[/quote]

Sure.

I guess my main worry is that we get advertisements that are basically “geeks of the world unite!” You know, actually describing it as geeky and appealing directly to “geekdom”. I think so long as we’re not thinking of it that way and targeting solely that way, we’ll net the full range of people who would be interested.

In terms of live combat, I reckon there’s also a little-considered jock appeal. I’ve seen sportos go hard at it with foam swords, they had a great time. They might not go for the roleplay aspect, but the live combat aspect might appeal.

#51

Another possibility is see if we could expand the community to other cities…

Not only would it be good for the organisation but this would also get people and games from other cities on the boards and more people may make the short hop up or down…

Take a few commitee members down to hamilton or wellington to meet with LARP organisers down there…maybe even encourage them to start their own branches, give advice on how to start and have a National Commitee meeting once or twice a year (which could be as little as having a representitive from each branch come up to tell us whats going on with the branches round the country).

Just an idea.

Or insted of actualy going down maybe we could write a “packet” on how NZLARPs went about establishing in auckland and getting games on board. Then pop it off to people we know in various cities.

#52

To boost player numbers in the Auckland larp community, I propose the following measures which I submit knowing full well they will be ripped to shreds. If you do tear it to shreds, I fully expect you to present a viable alternative.

  1. We implement the measures suggested by Ryan in this thread. No use getting people interested if they just get lost as soon as they turn up here.

  2. Setting up an email mailing list which anyone can join that sends out a monthly email of upcoming larp events around the country.

  3. To recruit arty and working folk, I propose a monthly Murder Mystery Night, in the vein of the Freeform games. This will be a regular event which will take one evening, so people who are pressed for time due to work will find it easier to attend than a weekend game. It is likely to cheap and “murder mystery” is a nice mundane entry point to larp, it is the sort of event you’d be able to get a work colleague or two along to without exposing yourself to ridicule. The venue will probably have to be nice-ish, and dinner may or may not be provided.

  4. As part of the above, we should put into motion Ryan’s other suggestion, a running of the larp “Flight of the Hindenberg” as a big, very well promoted gala event. Ryan says there are something like sixty characters, pre-written, and there is minimal effort required on part of the player in learning the setting. With a lot of promotion, a nice venue and a team of organisers, we could reach out to a very very wide audience with this. Again, as a one night event, it would not be a big risk for newbies.

  5. To recruit the more geek inclined people, I propose we set up a fantasy campaign. Given Steve’s point about complexity putting people off, we will not be using NERO but instead a simple system either from scratch or shamelessly ripped off from Mordavia. This campaign would be specifically designed to be newbie-friendly with a wide appeal.

  6. We find a way of making Scotty’s suggestion of sending an Immersion to every high school library in Auckland financially viable and then do it, high school is when most of us were hooked, right?

  7. We create glossy posters that incorporate the main genres of larp available in Auckland and put them up in drama schools, drama departments, public libraries, game stores, costume shops. These posters will convey the sheer number of genres available, link them to the website, and sell them on the fun and adventure that larp entails.

The key to achieving these projects is to get people working on them who will get them done. We need to stop talking about what we’re going to do, and actually get stuff done.

#53

Sounds like a good plan of attack Anna.

I’ll start looking into the Welcome to Diatribe stuff and run it past Craig & the committee. I am still keen to run Flight of the Hindenburg, and would be happy for it to be an openly advertised public event.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with murder mysteries to appeal to the general public. Murder mystery nights are definitive proof that larp has widespread appeal, it is not limited to some subcultural demographic or other.

One word of caution though. Larps with pre-written characters, which murder-mysteries inevitably are, take a large amount of writing effort to create. Much more than roll-your-own-character larps and especially more than larp with lots of physical action. The Kapcon larp teams spend most of a year writing their 60-person larps. However, there are several pre-written ones available that we could use while getting up to speed with writing them ourselves, Flight of the Hindenburg included.

On Flight of the Hindenburg, it’s worth noting that the source material is quite genre-fannish, being aimed at an original audience of tabletop roleplayers. Also, the inclusion of Nazi characters and Nazi set-dressing could be contraversial with the general public and a “think 'Allo 'Allo and Raiders of the Lost Arc, not real Nazis” disclaimer should be included to defuse that hazard in advance.

#54

Nice one, Anna.

Our “crisis” is one of time. We just don’t have enough collective free time to participate in all the games, and your idea will soak up some of our time (although I see this as a valuable investment of time). Therefore, we spend money instead of time, where appropriate.

For example, buy Freeform games and recoup the cost by charging an admission fee to the Murder Mystery evenings. No need to invest time in doing this when NZD50.00 will get us a game that is ready to go (and playtested). One or two games ought to recoup the game cost.

We need to market the MM evenings in such a way as the participants will organise themselves rather than soak up our time chasing up participants. So, I suggesting hitting company social clubs. These guys are organised and most have budgets so they can subsidise participation if they want. We get the club to pay for the evening and they sort out who comes etc.

I suggest contacting Human Resource managers in the first instance by letter as a way to credibly introduce our MM evenings. As a bonus, this approach will involve entirely new pools of people rather than the current social vectors that branch from the nzLARPS community.

#55

Great idea on social clubs Mike. Businesses also often have access to an ideal place to run larps: boardrooms. And they’re used to catering for meetings, so they could do that part themselves.

This will also affect our ability to host these evenings, as it takes time to prepare them (even if they are already written) and run them. My solution to that is that we hire people to run them, and pass the cost of labour onto the clients. So the project is non-profit, but it has some employees. Running the events wouldn’t need to pay a great deal to appeal to some of our larpers, so long as it pays as much or a bit more than waiting tables or retail I think we’d have some people up for it.

We could also pass onto the clients the distribution of character packs - they can sort of who plays what, which is one of the things that takes time before events. There is actually a good hour of reading material for players to go through sometime before these events, and the earlier the better.

Then on leaving we could do a talk & handout on larp in general and the society.

#56

[quote=“Ryan Paddy”] Running the events wouldn’t need to pay a great deal to appeal to some of our larpers, so long as it pays as much or a bit more than waiting tables or retail I think we’d have some people up for it.
[/quote]

Putting my name in the hat early.

#57

[quote=“FauxCyclops”][quote=“Ryan Paddy”] Running the events wouldn’t need to pay a great deal to appeal to some of our larpers, so long as it pays as much or a bit more than waiting tables or retail I think we’d have some people up for it.
[/quote]

Putting my name in the hat early.[/quote]

Yeah, I have to say, I’m interested in this “paid larp organising” business as well. (I’m not mercenary, I’m just a student)

#58

[quote=“Anna K”][quote=“FauxCyclops”][quote=“Ryan Paddy”] Running the events wouldn’t need to pay a great deal to appeal to some of our larpers, so long as it pays as much or a bit more than waiting tables or retail I think we’d have some people up for it.
[/quote]

Putting my name in the hat early.[/quote]

Yeah, I have to say, I’m interested in this “paid larp organising” business as well. (I’m not mercenary, I’m just a student)[/quote]
Actually, I’m more interested in Phase 2, where we start a “paid forum posts” business :stuck_out_tongue:

#59

Wow, lots of cool action here in the last couple of weeks.

Anna, the MM nights sound like a good opportunity for people to create and run their own little games - something I really want to happen. Running it with growing playership in mind is a big idea, top marks.

Anna and I talked at length about some stuff on the phone and we’re still getting our thoughts together… we will have something to bring up before the next meeting.

#60

Another thought occurs to me about the pool of players not being large enough for the number of events.

When Mordavia was running we actively recruited new larpers specifically for Mordavia. Are the current larps doing this, or are they mostly relying on the existing pool of larpers? Posting on larp forums doesn’t really count, it’s mostly going to attract existing larpers. Which is good, but won’t expand the overall player base.

It would be good for every larp to actively recruit new larpers for itself with flyers, word of mouth, friend-get-friend deals, etc. Specific larp events are the heart of things and their flavour, quality and advertising is what will ultimately attract most people.