Pregen larps

Community Larp discussion
#1

With the success of Chimera, which is intended to mostly consist of pregen larps (where the organisers write all the characters), it might be a good time to discuss what makes a good pregen larp. Especially as they’ve been relatively rare in Auckland.

Note that this isn’t about whether the rules use physical or astract mechanics. That’s another question, as pregens can have either.

Be interested to hear thoughts on pregen design from people with experience writing and playing pregen larps at Chimera or elsewhere.

#2

I’ve helped written and written myself a few pregen larps for America’s Cup and have played in many.

I find a good plot is the biggest key, something that grabs the players and brings them all into the game.
The characters themselves need to have a buyin for the people playing them. Whether it be a simple quirk or someway they can relate to them.
Setting the stage can be quite important as well, it helps players to get into character a lot faster and makes the game run smoother from the start.

#3

Different levels of intensity and difficulty. Some people want to be pivotal to the plot, others really just want to hang out enjoying the atmosphere, and shoehorning someone into a poor fitting character can make for a miserable session.

For big pregens, it helps to have groups with strong intra-group ties and a variety of inter-group ties. I found that having a warm-up roleplaying period where people interact with just their own group gives them an identity to fall back on when they’re let loose on the game proper, which also helps.

#4

Steve Hatherly, a UK larper who runs Freeform Games, was written a lot of notes on writing pregen larps. They’re some of the better stuff I’ve seen on this. While he’s big on using a formal process, even if you ignore that stuff there’s good advice to consider.

flar.demon.co.uk/freeform/
flar.demon.co.uk/freeform/ar … ocess.html
flar.demon.co.uk/freeform/ar … -tips.html
flar.demon.co.uk/freeform/ar … heets.html
flar.demon.co.uk/freeform/ar … onomy.html
flar.demon.co.uk/freeform/ar … iting.html

One cool idea in his essays is for characters to have a “public face” (how they want to be seen) and a “private face” (what they don’t want others to know about them). This is actually very good advice for player-generated characters too. It’s psychologically realistic, enjoyably complicates social problem-solving in the larp by concealing information, and creates secrets to uncover or dramatically reveal.