Running existing games at Chimera 2010

Auckland Chimera
#1

Is there anyone who would like to run an existing game for Chimera 2010, rather than writing a new one? There are heaps of existing scenarios, especially UK and Australian freeforms and US theatre-style larps, that could be run at Chimera.

This year there was The Curse of the Pharaoh and The Last Voyage of the Mary Celeste, which are from the UK and US respectively and ran well.

The only problem was, there was no process to match up scenarios with people to run them, so the existing games ended up being run by the convention organisers Anna and Moo. It’s often the case that the main organisers of an event get stuck with any jobs that no-one has volunteered for (because they tired of asking people for help so they just do it themselves), but I reckon those folks have more than enough on their plates running the whole convention.

This year let’s try to match up some existing scenarios and people who want to run them in advance. Existing games are excellent for filling in gaps in the timetable, and they give us exposure to games from different larping cultures. Running them is great experience, it helps you learn what works and what doesn’t. Some of these games are ready-to-run, but some may also need work to bring them up to Chimera standards. Fixing them up or adapting their rules is also good experience.

I’m happy to help find games for people to run. I’ve got some good contacts for getting hold of existing larps, and a few games already to hand.

#2

Yeah I’m happy to do that next year, I will be at Chimera again and I don’t have to do any organising up there so happy to take a round of running something.

And this way I don’t have to write anything from scratch, which I struggle to find the time to do nowadays. Have time to modify an existing game though.

#3

Guess I’ll give one a go. It’ll give me something to sharpen my teeth on…

#4

Ditto. As for games for next year, quite apart from any local re-runs, I’d recommend “Prayers on a Porcelain Altar” by J. Tuomas Harviainen (who wrote “Serpent of Ash”; this one is about hung-over drama students) and some more JeepForms. The latter are smaller games on the cutting edge of larp design ATM. They’re small (most are ~4 players) and short, and so could be used to pad out the margins of the timetable, but also are likely to do better from an experienced facilitator.

(I haven’t played any yet (hint, hint Morgue) - but if I fail to write anything for next year, I can happily facilitate Serpent or Prayers)

For larger games (and with expected growth, some miht be needed), you could try one of Skirmisher’s Cthulhu Live scripts, though IMHO these are seriously flawed, don’t match the demographics of Auckland larpers (they have ~20% female characters), and would need serious work. The best one I’ve read so far is the Green Fairy.

Other places to look: Irish Gaming, larpa gamebank.

#5

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: That’s the theatre major in me giggling.

#6

I’m getting in contact with one of the authors to see if this this P G Wodehouse inspired larp can be made available:

uk-freeforms.wikidot.com/midsummer-mischief

#7

Another set of games we can plunder is the Freeform Games scenarios. NZLARPS could purchase another one of these for Chimera 2010. The games are on the expensive side, but they have replay value and once NZLARPS owns one it could rerun it anywhere in the country.

nzlarps.org/freeformgames.php

The genres include pirates, crime, Elizabethan, Hollywood, car racing, pre-WWII, Dallas-style, Hawaiin, circus, and western. As someone noted about Curse of the Pharaoh this year, the mechanics need some work to be suitable for our audience. But the characters and scenarios seem good, and the rules could easily be converted to the “kick ass” resolution system or to live combat, depending on what suits the genre (live combat is not as well suited to settings with lots of fisticuffs, but it’s good for settings with weapons). The rules for getting info out of people in particular need revising.

EDIT: and I already own the Dazzled to Death scenario, which is set at a rich family gathering in 1948 at a hunting lodge near Boston, for 12-15 players.

#8

I’ve had some suggestions from Steve Hatherley, who writes freeforms in the UK and is one of the owners of Freeform Games.

He says that Midsummer Mischief (see link in previous post) can be made available to a GM who has decided to run it. If anyone decides they’d like to run a P G Wodehouse larp, I can put you in touch with him to get the materials. It’s supposed to run over 4 hours, so might need some compressing to fit into the 3 hour slots.

He has also pointed out these three scenarios for sale online, which will apparently run easily in 3 hours:

Carry on at Camp David
Light-hearted Cold War crisis for 15-18 players.
lulu.com/content/paperback-b … vid/867550

Diamond Geezers
East London Gangsters (i.e. “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”) for 10 players.
lulu.com/content/paperback-b … rs/5741244

An Ecumenical Matter
Light-hearted religious-themed for 15 players.
lulu.com/content/paperback-b … er/2283172

Don’t worry about the prices, I’m sure NZLARPS will be happy to make one or two investments in scenarios if people want to run them, especially as they can be re-run by the society anywhere in NZ later.

#9

The man speaks truth!

#10

Sounds like much fun…

#11

For next year, I’m looking at having 65 player spots available each round, roughly. Some rounds tend to have more people than others, I’ve noticed over the past two events. Saturday night is always geared to be the biggest round, it’s the only round that invites single-game attendees. After that, Friday night and Saturday morning have the most players. There is a slight dip in numbers for Saturday afternoon, as some people opt to take the afternoon off to prepare for the evening game. Sunday morning has the lowest numbers, as I presume people take the morning to sleep in, and numbers bounce back by Sunday afternoon to roughly the same levels as Saturday afternoon.

I wonder if small games that prove popular might be worth scheduling more than once in a weekend, or if people would prefer variety instead? For example, if we schedule a 10 or 12 person game and there’s a lot of demand for it, scheduling a second run at another point in the weekend might be an option.

All of the games that Ryan mentioned above sound great, especially that P.G. Wodehouse game, and the East London gangsters. That reminds me, there was a very famous 1930s gangster game written for AMERICA about seven or eight years ago. I wonder if we could get a hold of that.

#12

I’ve been chatting with Mike Young who writes theatre-style larps in the US, and he’s recommended some scenarios too.

Colonel Sebastian T. Rawhide’s Circus of the Spectacular
Join Colonel Sebastian T. Rawhide and his Circus of the Spectacular as they return to America from their TRIUMPHANT tour of Europe where they performed for Kings and Heads of State. But… the Circus is ailing financially. Can the valiant members of the Circus save the show from the clutches of the nefarious Bungling Brothers? For 14-22 players, written with a simple card-based combat system called MENKS which involves yelling out stuff like “POW!”. The scenario is not available online but Mike is willing to send to a GM who wants to run it at Chimera. Contains high weirdness in the style of the Mary Celeste scenario.
interactivitiesink.com/larps … whide.html

The Road Not Taken
An experimental LARP of decisions and emotions for up to 12 players. Each player takes a turn in the spotlight in a 10-minute scene that’s specifically about their character, who must make a tough decision, while the other players play voices in your head. Note the link below is the whole game, don’t read past page 4 if you want to play it.
interactivitiesink.com/larps … d/trnt.pdf

Dark Summonings: The Uncivilized Guest
Occult adventure set in 1926. For 10-20 players, usually takes 4 hours. Written for Rules to Live By, but could be adapted to simpler mechanics like our “kick ass” system.
interactivitiesink.com/larps/guest.html

Marin County New Age Society Cocktail Party
Set at a high-society cocktail party, another classic US theatre-style scenario by the people who wrote Mary Celeste. For 10-15 players and 2 GMs. Available free online from the LARPA Game Bank I think, but can also be bought as a book.
interactivitiesink.com/larps/marin.html

#13

An Australian freeform writer called James O’Rance generously sent me some nicely-formatted scenarios that he has run at Aussie roleplay conventions like Necronomicon and Sydcon.

In addition to the ones below, there is a Planescape scenario called “The Door to Everywhere” set in Sigil for 60 players to be played over two 3 hours periods, which is presumably too big for Chimera. Could be run separate to Chimera though.

City of Blood and Darkness
In the multiverse are many cities where beings
both mortal and immortal dwell. One such is Sigil, the City of Doors. Another is Ribcage. A city of evil, oppressive Order. Of blood, and of darkness. Ribcage teeters on the edge of a Lower Plane of evil, the fiends held at bay only by the efforts of Lord Paracs. If this sorcerer falls, Ribcage will plunge into the Nine Pits of Hell. Yet surely the celestials would not allow such a victory for evil? City of Blood and Darkness is in the Planescape setting, has 40 characters, and is designed for a three hour slot. It comes with moderately simple “pack of cards” mechanic that uses each suit for a different type of ability: Fighting, Magic, Thievery, and Will. This could easily be swapped out for an even simpler abstract or live combat system, as no mechanics are mentioned on the character sheets.

The Shadow Play
A Victorian freeform for 24 characters with supernatural stuff, remniscent of some of the darker themes at the Great Exhibition. The system is unclear, looks like Mind’s Eye Theatre but I’m not familiar enough with that to know. It also has this curious system of tradable objectives, which you receive Plot Points for achieving, and once you get three points a new side of your character is revealed. This scenario might require figuring out of how it is intended to be run, or emailing the author, or just creative license.

Very Bad Things
In an unnamed generic English town, some Very Bad Things are going to happen. Some of those things are sordid and petty, among the many common sins of modern life. Some of them are all–but unbelievable. Most of the really bad things are going to happen to you. Sorry. Very Bad Things is a trashy daytime soap opera freeform for 21 players. Contains high weirdness. The characters are detailed, but there is also a system in which characters get random connections to each other. The system also contains other unusual stuff, but it could be changed easily.

Clandestyne by Gaslight
Set in an alternative 1899 with occult themes. For 40 characters, many inspired by famous figures from literature and history… including Fu Manchu and Pope Leo XIII. :wink:

#14

Are these the games you sent through to me a few months ago?

#15

Yes, that’s them.

#16

WIN!

i want this like a floral motif wants a cream background.

#17

I also have the following scenario by a guy called Randy Miller from RPGnet.

Murder on the Horizon
The earth year is 2231. New Horizons is the name of the largest space station in the solar system. It sits on the asteroid Ancorra, the largest stable asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was built to ship the ores that are mined here—Iron, Titanium, Gold, and Uranium being some of the most important. In the time since the founding of the station 56 years ago colonies have sprung up on some of the moons of the outer planets, and the station is a critical way-point for all ships inbound or outbound. A murder has taken place on the station, and some of the 1500 inhabitants have gathered to investigate. A hard SF scenario written for 10 characters, no system. It is a little incomplete, but the setting and character material that exists is nicely written, could be played at that size or expanded with some more character writing. NZLARPS has access to some SF costumes and props, and asking Craig (Exquire) for help would be a good idea on the props and special effects front. The scenario is has never been run, so would need a good proof-read at least.

#18

There is also this:

City in the Sand
A New World of Darkeness Vampire scenario for the Mind’s Eye Theatre system, with 50+ characters but not all are required to run it. The preview page seems to be broken at the moment, but when the preview PDF was available it looked very nice. Is set in the US.
flamesrising.rpgnow.com/product_ … s_id=63660

#19

That’s about it for existing larp scenarios that I know of. I’ll continue to ask around - I know there is a strong pregen larp tradition in France, am trying to following that up although the scenarios may require translation.

So anyhow, do any of the scenarios outlined so far appeal to people to run at the next Chimera?

#20

I could be perhaps be up for running horror-y ones (and maybe that one where people have voices in their head).

Although I’m not so enthused about being the one to down-complexity-ify the rules…