Convention larps

Community Larp discussion
#41

If a certain type of game needs a lot of background, and it’s not the flagship, then it might be worth considering running a different sort of game at Chimera instead. This is kind of what I mean - it’s horses for courses, some games might be better for stand-alone than a con.

Take The Ch’akta Peace Accord for example. Nick said after the game that it wasn’t intended as a convention game. It was a science fiction setting with a detailed background, and there were certainly a lot of background info and character connections that were hard to grasp through the con haze. I loved the game, it was one of my favourites. But there was a long period of note-reading for a lot of players during the game, and some people seemed a bit stressed by not feeling on top of their character and the setting. I would have enjoyed the game even more as a stand-alone, where everyone had dedicated time to study up, and more time before the game to get the hang of who was who, what species they were, who their friends and enemies were, how people fit into the background, etc. I’m not just talking about immersion, but the comfort of the players in regards to feeling on top of the game and their character. At one point I gave someone totally incorrect information because I hadn’t found time to re-read my species briefing sheet and forgotten a major aspect of them. Whereas for a game like Asterix, I didn’t get the impression that complexity was as much of an issue for players.

It’s not that I think that some games shouldn’t be run at a con at all - I’m very glad to have had a chance to play in The Ch’akta Peace Accord as I might not have otherwise. It’s just that I reckon people might want to consider con brain-melt when considering what to run during a six-game weekend, especially if writing a larp specifically for the con.

#42

[quote=“Lady Prema”]
The purpose of sending out the world info out early was so everyone could get a feel for our world, unfortunately with all the secrets in the game we didn’t want to send out individual character sheets too early.[/quote]

I think if character sheets are clear about what is secret knowledge, and they go out with the usual “don’t share your secrets” spiel, this shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve never had a game ruined by people sharing secrets, and my favourite games are those where I have had time to get to know my characters weeks, or in some cases, months in advance. Yes, it is a trade-off, but knowing my character well in advance is far more important to my enjoyment of a game than any damage caused by unintentionally shared out-of-character knowledge.

The truth is, I have no buy-in to any world without a character who cares about it.

#43

Seconded. The information lockdown is ridiculous, and it undermines our ability to get into character properly (not to mention, in some games, costume). If its a problem with specific players, then I think you need to adopt a more narrowly targeted policy.

#44

… i didn’t struggle at all with the amount of information, i found if i needed to reference anything i could simply get out the paper and check.

Gordian was most probably my fave of the weekend.

#45

I think regarding the ‘sharing of secrets’ there have been a few, possibly high profile, incidents in the past that have prompted the ‘information lockdown’ approach, but the main reason why people didn’t get character sheets in advance for the flagship is because there weren’t any. If we had characters ready weeks or months out from the con, that would be great - we could send them out, everyone would have time to get to grips with them. Unfortunately the reality of the situation is that the flagship is often nowhere near finished until a week or 2 out, and even then it’s tight.
After 2 years on the flagship I have some thoughts about how that could be changed, but here probably isn’t the place to get into them. Suffice to say that it’s an enormous job and there is frequently writer attrition - this year was hit quite hard by both those factors.

#46

[quote=“No Rectangulars”]I think regarding the ‘sharing of secrets’ there have been a few, possibly high profile, incidents in the past that have prompted the ‘information lockdown’ approach, but the main reason why people didn’t get character sheets in advance for the flagship is because there weren’t any. If we had characters ready weeks or months out from the con, that would be great - we could send them out, everyone would have time to get to grips with them. Unfortunately the reality of the situation is that the flagship is often nowhere near finished until a week or 2 out, and even then it’s tight.
After 2 years on the flagship I have some thoughts about how that could be changed, but here probably isn’t the place to get into them. Suffice to say that it’s an enormous job and there is frequently writer attrition - this year was hit quite hard by both those factors.[/quote]

I understand the characters not being written as motivation to not send them out thing. As far as valid rational, that’s right up there. :wink:

But if the characters are written, and players have been cast, then I think people should be trusted to not go and ruin everything for themselves. It might take a little bit more work from GMs to insure that it’s clear what information is secret and from whom (or “all of it, from everyone”, could work).

#47

That’s perfectly understandable, given the scale of the job. Characters need to be written, then rewritten, then proofed and checked against all the other characters for consistency (because a bad inconsistency can ruin your entire game); its an enormous amount of work, and when things go wrong, its easy to slip.

A seperate “lessons learned” or “Flagship how-to” thread when the dust has settled and things have sunk in? I think that would be useful for everyone to read.

#48

There are ways of communicating this sort of thing, but they’d work best in a modern espionage game (where you can label paragraphs “SECRET/NOFORN” and such).

Dammit, now I want to see that game, where the character sheets are done as classified documents.

#49

By my conversations with people from Wellington, I’m led to believe that this is something of an “Auckland problem”. I know that a major plot was spoiled for the Great Exhibition two weeks before the game, and while I can’t recall any details, there were some other instances that particular Chimera of information being leaked via FB or university. I even heard an instance of someone at Refuge last year who had something major spoiled about two hours before the game.

The information lockdown approach is unfortunately a result of past behaviour, and that trust between player and GM that Adrexia says should be present is unfortunately still in the process of slowly being rebuilt :slight_smile:

#50

[quote]Dammit, now I want to see that game, where the character sheets are done as classified documents.[/quote]Me too :slight_smile: Secret Agent games are the best kind :wink:

#51

I the think one of the major plotlines that benefits from the “don’t spill anything” rule are characters who suffer from states such as amnesia, so to one character they may seem liek a normal contact, but the plot goes deeper than what appears on the character sheet.

Yes I agree with Daphne on that fact that with games such as the Flagship, we have always sent out characters when they are ready as opposed to holding onto them to not spill secrets. But there are ways around this, which I’m sure will be discussed by future writing teams.

#52

[quote=“Lady Prema”]I the think one of the major plotlines that benefits from the “don’t spill anything” rule are characters who suffer from states such as amnesia, so to one character they may seem liek a normal contact, but the plot goes deeper than what appears on the character sheet.

Yes I agree with Daphne on that fact that with games such as the Flagship, we have always sent out characters when they are ready as opposed to holding onto them to not spill secrets. But there are ways around this, which I’m sure will be discussed by future writing teams.[/quote]

Fake names for amnesia victims on sheets sent out early? :wink:

#53

Big fat warnings to those players that they should avoid information about the setting?

#54

Big fat warnings to those players that they should avoid information about the setting?[/quote]

I was thinking character X knows character Y, but character Y has amnesia. Give character Y a fake name, on their own character sheet would probably be easiest. There’s a case to be made that they may not know their name anyway… Don’t distribute photos of that character to other players until right before the game (or pretend you never got photos of them if that is easier).