New LARP idea based on Capture the Flag/King of the Hill

Auckland
#1

I have come up with a monolith of an idea, I think. THIS IS BEGIN BUILT AS A ONE OF TO SEE IF IT WORKS.

The setting for this new LARP will be during the Teutonic Crusade/Mongol Invasion and will be set in Eastern Europe around the Baltic States and going towards Novgorod and Moscow. This will be a medieval style game with no magic, involving swordplay combat and diplomacy as well as assassination.

The game will be based on Capture the Flag and King of the Hill gaming systems like on video games. Players will be divided into factions on a map. The map will be divided into regions and each faction will have a set number of flags.

The factions will have group objectives while the individual characters will have their own objectives as well. Factions will be spread out and will enter the game already in open conflict with others and have the ability to manipulate diplomacy at will.

The combat will not be located in juat one place but will be free flowing, with chracters and factions able to attack, lay siege or over run a territory. Flags will be stationary and their capture will increase the prestige of the faction or individual who captured it. Players will be divided into ‘heroes’ and ‘regulars’, heroes will have proper characters while regulars will beT general troops of the factions. If a hero is killed that player may respawn at the faction respawn point as a regular unit.

Factions will be differentiated based on their colours and weapons as well as skills and strenghts. For example a Teutonic Knight will have a very high attack and hitpoint count, but this will be balanced by the fact that they are few in number, while Novgorod Militia will have a far weaker attack and hitpoint count byt may be in greater numbers.

Factions are as follows…
-Teutonic Knights.
-Guards of the Holy Roman Empire.
-Novgorod Militia.
-Moscovites.
-Diplomates of the Golden Horde.
-Various tribes of the Baltic States.
-Nomadic peoples of the East.
-Duchy of Poland.

If your interested let me know. Am building this as a one of to see if it works. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Am hoping to try and run this early 2013.

#2

Awesome! Sounds like one of those strategy computer games- Rome: Total War.
Would love to play if I’m in town during that time.
Have you considered a small trial of the game mechanics, with only a few factions?

#3

I’m pitching this as “Medieval Total War” meets “Assassin’s Creed” meets “Game of Thrones”.

And ya am planning a systems test in January with maybe 3 factions and a very small scale. Then will expand it to the proportions an idea like this deserves.

Already worked out the mechanics more or less.

#4

Sounds fun, I’d be keen to try it out. Are you going to have magic and/or healing ?

Feel free to post your rules here if you like some constructive feedback or munchkin proofing :wink:

Have you thought about locations ? This could work well at North Head or Western Springs, or anywhere that has terrain that visually breaks up the field, but lots of interconnectivity between the bases.

#5

Am working on the rule systems and have to balance the strenghts of the hero and normal characters as well as the factions…

Will have a full rule set up and posted bu this weeks end I should think.

#6

Full faction list now up.

Teutonic Order
Holy Roman Empire
Duchy of Poland
Kingdom of Lithuania
United tribes of Estonia
Latvia
City of Novgorod
Exiles of Alamut
Vikings
Nomads
Mongol Horde

Full literature on rules and systems to be up in 2 days.

#7

Here we have it. The basic write up for my idea for a LARP built on a mash-up of Total War, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Game of Thrones and Assassin’s Creed. Please be nice and be constructive with the criticism…

#8

Hi Kirk,

I’ve perused the Blood & Iron Teutonic document (attached for ease of accessibility) you recently posted on FB, and thought I’d continue discussion here (FB is better at comments, less good at discussing ideas).

I agree with TinTango - this game concept has the feel of a large-scale computer game - and I was wondering how you see the gameplay being executed ? Do you see a “between battles” part of the game where the various factions decided which parts of the map they are going to attack, resolve alliances etc and then at the actual larp the battles take place ?

Questions / Comments:

  • What are the + x Att attributes ? Do you do that much in damage from a successful strike ? If so, see how it goes in playtesting because this kind of mechanic tends to make combat more complicated.

  • I didn’t see any prices for any items, so is it worth including the concept of treasure if it can’t be spent ?

  • If it takes 1 minute to heal 1 HP, wouldn’t it be easier for the footsoldiers to simply die and respawn, saving 15+ minutes of healing ?

  • How many participants do think you would need to make the game viable ? There are a lot of factions and crew as well.

#9

We used to do group melee tournaments in the SCA. We’d limit unit size to 6 people and have a group of scenerios (open field, woods, bridge, at the barrier etc) which we’d fight through in turn.

Lots of fighting. Lots of fun if you like fighting.

#10

Hey mike, cheers for the comments, really need them as am desperate for feed back from others.

  • the + x atk is a total attack so if they have an attack of 3, then they will always have an attack of 3+x with every attack. I am however currently working on slashing the hitpoints and attack of all players to a lower and more manageable number.

  • the gold and treasure was devised as a bribery tool for heroes to bribe allied or enemy non-hero units for whatever political or military scheme they might have had in mind.

  • Am also working on making the healing traits more effective, but were considered originally for just the Heroes as they don’t respawn like the basic units.

  • as for numbers I considered a minimum of 60 players. Yes I know that’s quite a number for a one off game, but if the system works then all that needs to be done is that one needs to change the details and settings a little and then there is a brand new game, had the idea for similar games played in different regions/historical times and possible constructing a larger grand campaign similar to a Teonn-like world.

  • and yes I know, ambition is the enemy of success.