Flipside: Sundereth (An Introduction)

Ah yes, research. Funny stuff that. Did you know research has proven that ashtrays cause lung cancer?

Yelling “FIRE!” to make everyone at a larp stop playing in event of a real world problem is just fine.

But I don’t believe that the research that suggests yelling “Fire! Fire!” instead of “Help, police, I’m being raped!” is neither accurate or relevant. Not that this should stop people using the “FIRE!” call to attract attention in a larp. There needs to be a way to do this and any varient of fire, halt, hold, stop, OOC etc is as good as any other in my mind.

The “yell fire not help” theory is interesting. I believe it says that people have a natural self interest and are more likely to ignore cries for help that don’t effect them personally. For example, if you live in a New York apartment and the neighbor is yelling “Help, help!” you’ll ignore them because you don’t want to deal with their boyfriend punching your face in. However, if they’re yelling “Fire, fire!” you’ll get off your arse and do something because you don’t want your apartment to burn down.

There may be some situations where this actually happens and I suspect with some people in poor apartment buildings (especially in countries with lots of guns) this may actually be true.

But in New Zealand I think people are best to say it like it is.

If I’m sitting on my bum at home and someone is yelling “Fire, fire!” I’m going to go outside and look for smoke in the sky. I’ll probably grab one of my fire extinguishers from the armoury or the kitchen and I’ll make sure I throw on some footwear and a heavy jacket. I’ll go looking for a fire.

But, if I’m sitting on my bum at home and someone is yelling “Help, police, I’m being attacked!” I won’t reach for my fire extinguisher or my sturdy footwear. I’ll grab a hickory axe handle from the front cupboard and if it’s night I’ll take a torch as well. I won’t be so fussed about footwear or a jacket because the degree of urgency is greater. I’ll go looking for people struggling.

Now there may be a slice of New Zealand society where cries of “Help, I’m being raped!” interrupt the late night footy all the time and the natural reaction is to close the window and turn up the volume. But I’d suggest that they are for the most part a very small section and if you’re using a public park for a larp and yell “Fire, fire!” they’re most likely to be the people that you’re having a problem with and not in the group of people who potentially might rescue you.

Anyway, I digress. My natural skepticism has made me rant again. Sorry :blush:

Thanks Ryan
Flipside was an old concept, which will be discarded upon the re-release of this concept.
Sundereth is a perversion of the Sundered Earth, hence Sundereth.
My current working title is Sundereth Realms but I am quite open to names, I find it harder to name things than I do to write pages of game stuff.
I shall have to have a brainstorm on this because I don’t want a silly name.
Zap How does “Chimera” sound? This is a merging of 2 or more systems, so I think it fits.
[size=150]Chimera?[/size] Thoughts anyone?
As for setting, plot & motivation, well, I have a lot to do there.
There are 2 functions of the system once developed, one to provide a fantasy larp system, and two, to provide a nation fantasy larp system.
At a local level games would be run by local GM’s (plus some help outsourced if I can get it) & run an adventure style day or night game.
Plot events will be big of small depending on the GM running an event.
At national events, local plots would entwine national plots for a game world effect.
For me, setting will be set on these 2 levels, a broad national setting in which the local settings sit & the local settings themselves, which to a certain extent will be independent of each other.
For example, local effects would be like the drought (now potentially broekn) here in the Waikato. No direct effect on Auckland City or Wellington but there will be a national effect of reduced diary production & spending in the Waikato.
So setting, plot & motivation is outstanding so far & it is what I need the most help with. This is because, outside of running my own unique D&D setting I have no experience in this field.
Currently the system is more important than the setting & plot because players can generate somewhere near 90% of these for you.
I welcome input on setting & plot, I’d love other GM’s who have run big games to help me. In my mind that means you Ryan, Anna K, Lucyfur & any others who have run games in the past.
Everyday is another step closer.
Cheers

If i said to you

Here is Earth my setting and You Asked me what could I do in said setting
I would say what do you think can happen.

Unless you wan Jared to write an essay long list of interractions your question is nonsensical. I would assume as a person with experience you understand what kind of interractions can happen in LArp (Almost anything a GM or writer finds within the bounds of their setting)

So without a fully realised setting the question is moot. What your asking is to make a game interraction up rather than setting down. HAve you ever done that? Interractions are generally impolicit with a setting.

Ie you are in a tavern in the city of X beside you is a dwarf who is drinking (Setting down) now ask me what sorts of interractions can occur) vs

There is a bearded individual beside you (No implicit setting at all except that there is obviously some spatial void) what sort of interractions can occur ?)

[quote=“Jared”]Zap How does “Chimera” sound? This is a merging of 2 or more systems, so I think it fits.
[size=150]Chimera?[/size] Thoughts anyone?
[/quote]

LOL :laughing: That’s what I was going to call the larp convention!

Great minds…

nice and appropriate

Well I’ll bow to experience Anna, otherwise, sold… I place a tentative hold of Chimera for my system name, pending Anna’s decision.

As Anna says, she’s been working with the name “Chimera” for the larp con. :wink:

Ninja123 - I’m asking what the themes of the larp are, what the PCs tend to be doing. If the answer is “the usual generic fantasy themes” like killing monsters that’s fine. But not all larps are made that way. In St Wolfgang’s Vamprie Hunters the PCs are holy warriors of a secret Catholic order who seek out the unholy and vanquish them. That’s the “action” of the larp, of course there’s a lot else happening but when you go along to play you can be sure that you’ll be a “good guy” dealing with the minions of hell.

Likewise, the UK larp Maelstrom has themes of colonialism and native peoples, trade and piracy, faith and heresy, magical discovery, politics, and war. That’s a much broader set of themes than St Wolfgang’s, but it still gives you a good idea of what sort of action and interaction will be the basis of the larp. And for that matter, they tell you up front that almost all of that action and interaction will be between player characters. Which implies a very specific sort of play, so you know what you’re getting.

Not all larps are the same, I’m just trying to tease out what this one is intended to be about. For example, if I form a posse of militant greenskins(or whatever) and we attempt genocide on all the members of an enemy race including the PCs, would that be considered appropriate for the larp by the GMs? At St Wolfgang’s it would not. At Maelstrom it would. What about at this larp?

Ah well, there goes all of science as we know it. I think I’ll grab my rock and go back into the cave by the fire.

Ok, so that means Chimera is out for me then?
Bugger, it was a bloody good name.
Similar mythological beasties are Doppleganger (thats a joke by the way), Hydra, Medusa, Maentwrog (thanks Terry Brooks).

The system formerly known as Sundereth, was to be a GM & player defined generic fantasy ruleset, capable of virtually any fantasy theme.
What I’m getting at, is that I haven’t got that far really.
My view extended to: a multi factioned, multi cultural world setting in which a multitue of interactions were possible. Originally I had thought that there would be a nervous peace between all races & societies but which all balanced on a knife edge of tension & small conflict.
The game world (previously known as Sundereth) was to provide a range of fantasy settings, from those with a dark almost Ravenloft type feel, to those a bit more chaotic, like the Warhammer world, the variation being much like the difference between NZ & Egypt for example, same physics, dynamic landscape.
So in any given scenario a GM (or GM’s)there would set an ultimate goal, a point for turning up, a kernel of plot or something. Some would be, go forth, rescue the monster, defeat the evil damsel & slay the treasure.
Some would be a bit more involved than that.

Scylla and Charybdis?
Cerberus?

Frankenstein?

He was assembled from lots of pieces…

How about [size=150]Knightshade[/size]?
Some start yelling when they hear something they like ok?

Oh, I like Knightshade. It sounds like the deadly plant nightshade, which I’m sure was the intention.

Ephemeral Realms?

Eldritch Lands?

Chrysalis?

SpellWarp?

Only if Cthulhu and co live there :laughing:

Nice, but I still like Knightshade.

[quote=“Alista”][quote=“Derek”]

Ah yes, research. Funny stuff that. Did you know research has proven that ashtrays cause lung cancer?

[/quote]

Ah well, there goes all of science as we know it. I think I’ll grab my rock and go back into the cave by the fire.[/quote]

Wow, your cave has a rock??? :astonished:

Chimera has a good ring to it on the grounds it’s a mish-mash of a whole lot of things, but if the name’s taken then sucks to be us.

I do notice a trend that most of your names are “place names”, suggesting the setting of the ruleset. We could try finding a name that’s just for the system and not the setting - like Quest is the game, not the place. That way it leaves it open for people to create new realms/setting etc to their hearts content (which sounds like something Ryan does until the wee hours of the morning…)

Knightshade sounds awesome, but looking at the system there is very little to do with knights or the dangerous plant :stuck_out_tongue:

Jared you have my emails on the name idea. Pick one and go to, we still have time to change our minds :wink:

Oh and Derek - the bit about people crying “help” and the “i don’t want to deal with it” mentality vs the “shit if it’s a fire I better go look” is actually exactly what the study found - and yes it was a US based study :smiley:

[quote=“Jared”]How about [size=150]Knightshade[/size]?
Some start yelling when they hear something they like ok?[/quote]

You know there was a Hamilton metal band called Knightshade?

I liked Knightshade because of the layers of meaning. Layers like an onion.
Themes of light & dark. Of metal covered warriors & of deadly poison.
So for now we’ll go with it.
The system previously known as Sundereth will be reborn as Knightshade.
My poll results kind of suck though… so lucky I am changing it so completely really.
Can people give me some reasons for their poll results?

manticora

You’ll be playing Og then I guess.

There is a reason Benjamin Disraeli and/or Mark Twain said “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

The most fundamental aspects of true science is to challenge beliefs and to not just take peoples word for things. To be able to reproduce an experiment and recognise what data means.

Magazines and newspapers like to grab statistics and twist them. They will almost always try to grab the most sensational statistic in a report and twist it. They do this because the more people who look at outragous headlines, the more they can charge for advertisements. For example, if a scientific study found that:
81% of people would come running if you yelled "Fire!"
80% of people would come running if you yelled "Rape!"
65% of people would come running if you yelled "Help!"
01% of people would come running if you yelled “Terrorist Attack!!!”

Then the New Zealand Herald is likely to run a headline like “Scientists prove yelling ‘Fire’ more effective than yelling 'Rape!”. You’ll have bought the paper and be halfway down the road before you get to the truth of the matter. If you ever do.

What they fail to think about is things like the breakdown of people who actually come to help. Lets assume that about 50% of people would be physically able to help a person beat off an attacker. It may be that:
81% of people would come running if you yelled “Fire!” of which 50% are able to beat off an attacker
80% of people would come running if you yelled “Rape!” of which 60% are able to beat off an attacker
So, it may be that yelling “Fire!” will have a better chance of getting someone to come running, but it might still be less effective.