OK, so I ran a Kids Skirmish in the weekend and it got me thinking about a LARPS project that I would like to propose.
Did anyone go the The Genie and the Lamp at North Head Tunnels event that was part of the AK 05 Festival ? No ? Well Beccah went and she said they had the whole of North Head sectioned off for two days (and probably 3 nights too).
The basic proposal is to set up a linear (plotwise & geographically) game where ordinary non-larpers can experience a larp game without all the effort of preparing a character or even having a costume or weapons. It would be a one-stop, all inclusive event.
Here’s how I see it working:
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We would secure North Head for a weekend
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We would get a serious number of Mordavians and other larpers enthused in the idea of generating some serious cash for LARPS so we can purchase some serious gear (my pick would be lighting gear, generators, sound gear etc). They would be our crew for the event. We would need lots of crew.
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We would use our prodigious supply of weapons/armour/costumes/creativity to create a linear plot based around the various emplacements/natural features at North Head.
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Participants would book timeslots and we would organised parties of about 8 or so to leave every 10-15 mins. Each participant would be offer one of 3 roles to play:
- Fighter (general combatant)
- Mage (non-combatant healer/sorceror)
- Rogue (optionally non-combatant thief/armourer)
The exact makeup of the party would not be important since all encounters would be designed to cater for any party configuration, and the NPCs would know in advance any party’s config, and would alter their NPC config to suit. Also, I proposed providing a Mercenary to act as a guide/protector for each party. In the event that no participant chooses a fighter, the Mercenary could do all the fighting (but would require lots of support from Mages and Rogues)
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We would equip participants with weapons, armour/costumes as needed. They just need to turn up and pay they entry fee in order to play. Gameplay would be from 10am to 12noon and 2pm to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. If we wanted, we could hold some night games (harder to do).
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Each encounter would provide a party with the opportunity to obtain some items and/or currency. All encounters will reward the participants, although we will likely reward organised/brave participants with more items/currency.
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Some encounters will favour Fighters, some will favour Mages and some will favour Rogues (maybe they will be given grey cloaks that will be ignored by the NPCs). The Mercenary will advise the party regarding who should attempt what. Perhaps the more you have of any character class, the easier it is to overcome a specific challenge. I’d quite like to see at least one encounter where a rogue could short-circuit any combat via some sneaky sneaking.
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I would suggest that PCs can’t die in this game, although they can be made unconscious for a given encounter.
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We would need to plan the Final Battle encounter to contain lots of NPCs and be challenging to all party configurations. Lots of playtesting methinks. This battle would be affected by the successes the party had during the previous encounters.
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The game system would be a basic one, and would favour playability over immersion/realism.
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I reckon a $15/adult, $10 per kid charge for a 60min game would not be excessive.
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At the end of the game, we would give the participants info about Mordavia/Skirmish etc. Also, they would each be given Achievement Cards that would present their score as a party. The true reward for a good party would be a high score.
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This is a 12+ month project, and should be timed to occur between major games (such as Mordavian weekend games).
Thoughts ?
Mike