LARP Characters

Community Larp discussion
#1

In Germany LARPers create characters with the aim that they “live” for severals years. You create also an extensive background story, get certain costumes and weapons matching the char and the chars background. It’s possible that your character dies in German LARPs but not likely. We normally also play with an extensive point system and have many fictional LARP countries from which you can choose or you just invent your own.

How long do your characters normally “live”?
How likely is it to die on a convention?
Is it possible to convert your characters from one “campaign” to another(with the same setting :wink: )?
What about tavern nights and roleplay, like sitting around, drinking and just playing your role without solving plots, fighting and that?

#2

I think character life depends on the larp game & its setting.
In Hamilton, Quest (fantasy game) usually runs games of 4-6 hours only in city parks generally around dusk, when public traffic is minimal. Plots are freeflow but the main plot line is usually not exceptionally complex, though some recent games have been better as our kit has improved.
Quest organisation has not got to the point were a weekend long game has been run, though that is mostly due to numbers (10-30players max)… now that we are part of nzlarps that is likely to change as it expands the player base quite a lot.
Characters usually live a long time in Quest & resurrection is almost always an option.
Could you post a copy of the rule set you guys use? There may be some real gems that we haven’t got in our systems that we could use. That being said 50-80 people is probably as large a game as you’re going to get in New Zealand at any one time… maybe 2-300 larpers in New Zealand total? Thats a guess from what I have read here on diatribes though so I’m far from an expert there.
Hope this helps.

#3

Yeah, we use two or three bigger rulesystems. The most common system I think is called “DragonSys” - it’s only available in German at the moment. DragonSys is nearly like the Mordavian rules with some differents:

You don’t have to pay for start equipment and more skills and magic spells with points. You have three classes: Fighter, Adventurer, Mage. If you are interesting in this, I can translate the fundamental points into english.

Another rulesystem inside the German LARP community ist the DKWDDK rules. It’s meaning “Du kannst was du darstellen kannst” - “You can do what you can represent” is the translation I think. It’s a game without points, special abillities (except you can represent them) and that.

#4

[quote=“Isaac”]1)How long do your characters normally “live”?

2)How likely is it to die on a convention?

3)Is it possible to convert your characters from one “campaign” to another(with the same setting :wink: )?

4)What about tavern nights and roleplay, like sitting around, drinking and just playing your role without solving plots, fighting and that?[/quote]

1)Some characters can live for a long time, Others one game. We’ve had characters that have died after a day, others who have been around 3 or more years. We realy dont know how long the average time is as most of the newer games have only been around less than a year.

2)The Likely hood of dying varies from game to game and your sometimes informed before hand if the game is “highrisk” (lots of fighting) “medium risk” (a mix of both fighting and lots of breaks) “low risk” (you dont expect any deaths unless the players go nuts on each other).

3)Most campaigns have their own rule systems and there is usualy only one campaign per setting, as we prefer to make new settings and have our own visions when we make campiagns

4)In Games there is often pleanty for time for this…I found in weekend larps dinner is a fantastic time for this, but besides this the GM’s give “downtimes” in which to chit chat and make your own storylines…Which i find some of the most fun.

#5

[quote=“Cameron”][quote=“Isaac”]1)How long do your characters normally “live”?

2)How likely is it to die on a convention?

3)Is it possible to convert your characters from one “campaign” to another(with the same setting :wink: )?

[/quote]

[/quote]

  1. In our system (Quest), being based on AD&D, it is normally impossible to permanently kill a character. (There are some magicks that can do it, but they are at the Game Admistraters discretion only). Players can create new characters, but they will always have a large proportion of their xp credited to the new character. This is to prevent uber-powerful first level characters. Death tends to cost you XP and GP. Also you can lose all the equipment that you went adventuring with. We have some characters that have been played for over 10 years.

  2. If a Quest player dies at a convention, it would not be a permanent death in our system. This is what they created “Raise Dead’ and 'Wish” spells for.

  3. We will try and accomodate already existing characters. You will be give a similar amount of XP and it is up to you to try and recreate the character in our system. You can even keep your history. We just say that you are from a realm on the other side of the sea.

#6

I think if you can spare the time, a brief summary of the dragonsys game system would be nice. And anything you think makes it stand out as a system also. We have a ton of systems over here… all with their own strengths.
I’d like to see the entirity of it but I wouldn’t expect you to translate it all.
Cheers

#7

Mordavia ran for a few years and had some characters who made the distance. Death was reasonably common with maybe 10-20% of PCs dying per game (???) Thankfully, resurrection was impossible or very very rare. I say thankfully because I find games where it is impossible to die also mean it is impossible to be brave.

My characters never seem to last more than a few games because:

  1. I tend to get stuck in when there is fighting to be done
  2. I can count my HP correctly

I do enjoy the costuming aspect of characters and the only down side of dying is I like to have a new costume for my new character and this can be expensive. Fortunately, much of the generic costume elements like mail hauberks and swords can be retained and changing things like your shield, hat and cloak can make you look like a different person…

#8

You can always choose how much you want to endanger your character. Of course, total avoiding of danger is disapproved by GMs, but there is a difference between a knight and a monk. Knights are usually more endangered than monks. Men are often more endangered than women, because our guys protect us :unamused: Mad and weird characters can be more endangered than others, as they often run into the danger. Also you can have someone with you to protect you - usually a retainer (or a few), but can be a friend or a lover. This will increase your chances to survive.

#9

Plus you can always play the sneaky weasle :slight_smile:

The sort where you avoid combat but are more likely to get your head smacked in by the players than the NPCs :slight_smile:

#10

I don’t know about other people but I don’t think resurrection precludes bravery at all.
I have seen every evidence that this isn’t the case, though I can understand it may influence some of those who would metagame in this way. In the DND games I run weekly I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a character making the ultimate sacrifice just because they can be raised.
I have seen genuinely frightened players (in Quest games) (scared people make the best heroes), reacting just how a frightened person should, with no choice but to face evil or die (since I had just vampire charmed or killed his entire party, damn elves & their immunity to charm).
Even in games with resurrection, that certainty is uncertain… you do need a body for it to work (generally)… has anyone ever died because they knew they’d be raised? I never have.

#11

Yup, exactly! That’s why people take skills that can protect them, and that’s why they also wear ARMOUR! :open_mouth:

#12

A resurrection is no way for me because i just have the zombie feeling about this. :wink:

In Germany it’s common to use resurrection, because players invest a lot of money in their costumes etc - normally a player decides himself to die and the gamemasters create a heroic or special situation. That usually happens only when the character is played several years.

In most games character death in Germany isn’t very likely as you have a lot of abilities and spells that prevent your character or your friends from dying. You can loose all your hitpoints but are still not dead - just unconscious. If somebody heals you (with magic, alchemy or just by his hands and skills) or you have the ability of regeneration, then you’ll be fine. That is why a lot of people decide to go for a healer, mage and all sorts of non-fighting characters - they are needed.

#13

Don’t you find that removing the danger (i.e. permanent death) from the game also makes it less satisfying when you “win”? It seems to me that if you always get healed / raised then you can just keep playing until you kill all the baddies.

I think that unless there is a genuine risk of losing you can’t really say you won…

#14

Hm, i think in Germany it’s not about “to win” the game. It’s in first line to roleplay. And for me it is more roleplay to lie down on the battleground, full of fake blood and screaming for a healer than ordinary dieing. Also the roleplay with the healer, get bandaged and splinted, “live” with the injuries.

Most plots I think are not only laid out to fight. You also have plots for non-fighting people. Often you can fight, but don’t have to.

People are still afraid in the dark. It doesn’t matter whether there’s a risk of the character dying you still get frightened by orcs, drow (do you have these at all? Can’t remember to have seen them in your pictures or read something about them…), other enemies or what ever. On most conventions there is still a good chance that the player side doesn’t win. Only because you can’t die doesn’t mean that you can’t be unconscious, loose a leg, get a oger kidney with different consequences implanted by a mad alchemist or that. I think the relatively long life of a character benefits the roleplay as you have more time to adapt a character and are willing to spend more money (as you have more time) for his clothes, weapons, and accessoires.

#15

Even though I used the term “win” that’s not really what I mean. I don’t think in terms of winning or losing a game. However, if you manage to survive some terrible danger in a game where characters die for ever, it is a greater accomplishment than surviving in a game where you get resurrected when you die.

It’s kind of like the difference between gambling with real money and gambling with free poker chips. If you can always just grab some more free poker chips, it takes the tension out of the game.

#16

Being heroic without risking the death of your character is like gambling with fake money. Would you still make the same choices if the consequences were permanent ?

Not that there’s anything wrong with games that have no character death, just that I think it’s not the same.

Skirmish has character resurrection, but the characters have to manage it (either cast a Raise Dead spell or get the dead PCs body back to the Keep) - it’s not automatic, but it is accessible. Despite this, heaps of PCs have died and not been resurrected, such as the party that got cut down on Saturday’s game. So I think we’ve achieved a workable balance.

#17

Even when there is no permanent death, there is still risk.

You die and you are :
Out for the rest of the game
You receive less xp and less treasure
Can have all your magic items looted and lost to you forever
And you know that you have failed.

We have found that if a charcater is removed from the game, then that player cannot start as a beginner character. Not only does a character gain skills in the game, so does the player. If you let that player start again from scratch, with all those skills and knowledge, they can outplay all the genuine beginners and it is unfair to them. Power play at its finest. While this situation seems to please some players, it is not satsifactory on the whole.

Also if you have a permanent death, there is very little to stop you from making exactly the same character again and again and again.

in most cultures, there is the thought that death is not permanent. I.e.
In greek culture you went to the the Alyssian Fiels
In Norse culture you went to Valhala
In Japanese culture you were reborn
In Christain culture you go to heaven
In Muslin Cultures you reside with Allah

Does this mean they show no bravery just because they believ that death is just a door and not permanent.

#18

I agree with the risks you identified, yet I think that the really big risk is the risk of losing your character, including accumulated XP and the relationships/standing that character has in the game. The ones you list can, I suspect, be re-obtained by the character by active roleplaying, and would therefore be more of a temporary setback rather than a permanent setback.

Seems this is an artifact of your game design, and you have specifically designed the game to advantage more experienced players over newer players. Is this a problem because you like to have characters of the same level in the same party, and an experienced player would have a stronger new character than a new player ? Perhaps you could dole out this Player XP as a bonus at the end of each module, over several modules rather than as a lump sum at character generation.

Consider the alternative:

if you have no permanent death, there is very little to stop you from playing exactly the same character again and again and again

[quote=“Alista”]in most cultures, there is the thought that death is not permanent.

Does this mean they show no bravery just because they believ that death is just a door and not permanent.[/quote]
And all of these cultures grieve for their dead, which implies they understand that whatever their fortunes in the Next Life, they have permanently left this life when they die. Ergo, the heroic dead are brave because they gave something up forever - the same can not be said for a character who “dies” with the expectation for always being resurrected.

#19

It may be that possible resurrection lessens the true value of a heroic sacrifice. The same may be true of magical healing. These points really depend on the individual roleplayer really. But they are part of basic fantasy elements. Some people don’t choose resurrection even if offered & in almost all cases reaising the dead is fairly costly in terms of resources.
By being to play a long lived character we would expect the long term player to be significantly more powerful than a n00b would we not? A novice mage vs the canny old veteran sorcerer?
I think the essence is that bravery comes from the roleplayer & their roleplaying… the fact that I might fail & be returned doesn’t come into my mind when I play.
I am more likely to think, oh well, time to try out that new concept than oh well it doesn’t matter I’ll be raised.

#20

I personally wouldn’t mind a setting with resurrection. I see and understand the points Derek and Mike are making about heroism, but at the same time, I wouldn’t feel my gaming experience to be cheapened by the possibility of resurrection.

It would certainly make dealing with your enemies more of a challenge…