Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Holy Texts: Worldbuilding through in universe literature

The Elder Scrolls series is one of the most popular franchises in gaming today, with the fifth game: Skyrim, being universally acclaimed by both gaming and mainstream media. A lot of people will talk about all the things you can do: archery, hunting, magic, fighting, blowing cows and animals off of cliffs through the forceful power of your magical Shouts. But in all intents and purposes, you're playing a cypher. Your character is riding a series of rails that, in the grand scope, will end with you victorious and ultimately nothing changing to them. The player interacts with the environment, and it's the environment that is the star.

The main attraction is the realm of Skyrim, a Nordic culture at war with itself. Each area has it's own history and foibles, and scattered throughout the country are various texts that flavor the history and attitudes of the land. 820 books to be exact, all of them containing text that was written by the studio that developed the game.

Let's put that into perspective. Someone wrote 820 books (okay, exerpts of, but still) for a fictional world? Each one in it's own format, with it's own voice and perspective. That makes the world all the more real to me.

The same thing happens in a lot of the novels I read. Frank Herbert's Dune has, at the beginning of every chapter, an excerpt from one of Princess Irulan's many books on Muad'dib giving us an after-the-fact perspective on the story we're looking at. The Kingskiller Chronicle has the various stories, songs and legends both oral, sung and written about the world and how the fit into the world as it might be. Newsflesh features the blogs of the main characters reflecting publically and privately some of the information we see in the narration. We're seeing the difference between the experience and the news being put out. Daniel Wallace wrote three books for Star Wars, illustrating the inner workings of the Jedi, Sith and Bounty Hunters by writing them as in-universe textbooks (of which I use religiously, because duh)

Written media is different than most others because, for the most part, all visual aspects are parts of the imagination, you're filling in the blanks and pictures. So now you're reading a book in another book, or video game. It's a risk, because you're adding depth. So to make the main media you're dealing with believable, you need to make the in-game book credible. The ultimate reason to use this is to add depth and also to give background information in a way that doesn't require characters to give an information dump that they otherwise wouldn't give. It also, sometimes, adds importance to the words inside the book. And this is why some of them I call the Holy Texts.

When I first started playing Vampire the Requiem, I played a member of the Ordo Dracul. The Ordo was founded by Vampirism's biggest bad boy, Vlad Tepes aka Dracula. In the universe of Requiem, Dracula awoke as a Vampire, with no known Embrace. He had become a vampire by unknown means, and in the course of his existence, learned how to transcend his nature and his experience with the aid of his Three Wives. Together, the form of them founded the Ordo Dracul in the attempt to explore and experiment with the vampiric condition.

We know this information from the textbook writings of the corebook. We know this in further depth by the book known as the Rites of the Dragon. In universe, it's the 'holy text' of the Ordo Dracul. It's the first thing sworn members read when they join (membership is permanent. You leave when you die, and die when you leave). It is written by Dracula himself, chronicling his journey. In the Real World, the Rites of the Dragon exists, written by White Wolf. There are players who bought Rites of the Dragon and brought their copies with them to stay in character, to maintain the sense that this text is important to us as characters.

Things like this add another layer of a world, a sense that people existed. Here, we have proof that someone's thoughts have been written on a page and has stood the test of time. They don't have to be actual 'holy texts' (hello Book of Eli, I'm looking at you) but they can be diaries, journals, letters, recordings. Cloud Atlas basically takes this concept

As I develop materials for Kensei, and developing the backstory of the world and the various martial arts schools, I realize that for me to put the point across, I would need to write the (albeit truncated) documents of the various schools, corporations and other materials. That's a lot of depth, and some games don't even bother with that. But I prefer the method as it gives in coming players an in depth attitude to what exactly it means to be in this thing.

This is all a part of what draws me in to games lately: Immersion. I'm more likely to be able to immerse myself if I am able to have in-universe information before, during and after my character begins play. The more information helps me as a player make my decisions about how my character would react to that. How would he have interpreted the Rites of the Dragon? Would he have dismissed them as a fabrication of some enterprising young Acolyte? What if he wrote his response to that book, what if he made his own book depending on the information. Going that deep in allows for a lot more indepth discussion both IC and OOC and allows for some interesting conversations/arguments that may have long lasting repercussions on the other characters and the game as well.

Do your games have in-universe texts? How indepth are they? Do you prefer an FOIG (Find Out In Game) method, where your PC is basically walking in blind? Is your character writing one? I'd love to hear examples.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

To the Waters and the Wild: A Sidhe Nordic LARP concept

This was an idea that formed this week, and wanted to write it down and write it out. It had originally started as an idea for the Changeling game I take part in. I play the Emperor of the West Court in New York City, and a Merchant in one of the local Goblin Markets, where anything can be bought and sold

Anything.

The stories are varied. Goblin markets are sometimes where stories begin, or sometimes they are the stories themselves. I had started getting ideas about scenarios in them, about mortals who slipped in and had to deal with the bizarre rules and even more bizarre people who run the market, about dealing with the devils and possibly buying and selling more than they realize.

Then my brain changed a turn, I'd always wanted to do something involving a college setting. High School and College (to me anyways) is where normative social rules are hammered down. What if a college campus had a brush with the weird, or odder yet, the Wyrd. What if the artist students met a leanansidhe? what if the jocks, idolized in the normal world, was quested and challenged in the weird. What if the popular kids now contend with the courts of the High Sidhe? What if some of the students revealed themselves to be Sidhe?

Then my thinking turned around. What if this was a larp? I mean, yes, Changeling has the mechanics for it. They have an entire book dedicated to the Goblin Markets. But I didn't want it to be a game about mechanics.

My heart has been grasped by the clutching allure of Nordic Larp, that great dream of Live Action Roleplay, where the focus is on deep immersion and bleeding the lines between character and person. Where games are given government sponsorship in some ways and seen as an artform. I'd dearly love to try it.

So here's my thinking, a one night game: from dusk until dawn. Players will play either human or Sidhe, explorers or dancers of a strange game. Human players would explore the magical realms, and in a way explore themselves. The Sidhe would play their various games, with the humans and with themselves. Some will triumph, some will fail tragically.

The setting would be as such, the mortal players would receive a message inviting them as friends and guests of one of their friends, who it strangely says it to be crowned a Lord in the Court of Nine Lights (Fictional, but I like the ring of it) at the promised place, at the promised night, their friend leads them into the land of the Sidhe. During the night, the mortals deal with the Sidhe, dealing through the wide and varied stalls of the market, spinning in the dancer's garden, engaging in bawdy singing, and engaging in the duels that spring up. Meanwhile, the coronation of their friend and the ritual behind that takes place. When the sun rises, the revels are over and the humans go back to their lives. Some may not have learned anything; some may have been transformed forever; some may not have gone back, having been claimed by the waters of the wild. And still the Changelings dance on.

In my head, this combines several aspects I've witnessed over the years. The first is the clash of odd vs normal in Changeling: The Lost, especially with their concepts of the Goblin Market. It also mixes the concepts of a real life Goblin Market that was put together with performers portraying the merchants and selling/bartering things like the whisper of a lover or a memory of a childhood joy. It could also bring out the ribald performances of my friends in the Ren Faire circuit except  not performing for paying normals, but for each other as performers. It also brings out the concept of ritual, which is something I want to see more in Larps.

This right now is a sprawling rant, I've put this together in my head in the odd hours between work shifts. But if this were fleshed out, what would you like to see. What questions do you have?

Later 

Friday, November 29, 2013

Kensei: A Vignette

       This story is based on Kensei, the Boffer Larp I am trying to design. One of the things that I'm trying to focus on in this game is that while the game center's around a Martial Arts Tournament set in the not too distant future. Fighters and Martial Arts Schools vie for fame, money and influence while Merchants, Managers, Reporters and Gamblers all do deals behind the scenes.

     This is a scene of what could be. I hope you enjoy.   




  
            "Jesus fucking christ," Parker said, watching the carnage go on in this dirty, dingy cabin. On the table was one of her prized rookie fighters. Case was young, red hair, green eyes. Would have made Ireland proud if he was smart enough to know where the fucking island was. Parker had recruited him into her stable last month for a song. 

            And he was dying. The fucking idiot.

            Rune, The man barely struggling to keep Case alive, made a short laugh. About ten years ago, Parker would have found Rune attractive. A surfer type with sunbleached blonde hair and athletic body, but his face was covered in enough pale scars to tell you his education in Medicine was mostly from first hand experience. "Lady, I don't think He's here at the moment. So please shut the fuck up while I try to save this kid."

            Parker made a motion for him to continue. How could the kid be so fucking dumb, challenging one of Rayse's boys? The members of the Arena of Blood aren't playing for money or fame, the nicest rumors she'd heard about them was a step above cannibals and the worst made them nothing short of monsters. Did he think he'd carve a name out of that School? You don't carve them, they carve you.
            
            The cabin stank of disinfectant and horseshit. The Crucible's facilities were on the other side of the territory, and there were things between here and there that would have made sure Case didn't make it out alive. Killing was against the rules on the Kensei tournament grounds, but that didn't stop accidents from happening.

            As if sensing her dread, the door knocked three times. Her heart sank.

            "It's Jin, let me in."

            That gave Parker a moment of hope, she moved over and opened up the shed door. Jin was a stout fellow, with goat-thick black hair and thick slabs of muscles. She found most of the weapons merchants always looked like that, the best merchants always looked like they knew their trade. He moved in brusquely, as if Parker couldn't really keep him back. She probably couldn't. He stopped and looked at Case,  he and Rune sharing a look. For a second, Parker was scared these two would start their rivalry all over again. They'd been partners once, but Rune's showboating with the Crucible clashed with Jin's more honorable adherence to the Way of the Dragon King. It broke down violently, and in their twilight years, they sat in their respective corners of Arms Seller and Medic and left it at that.

            The moment passed, and they both looked at the boy. "Jesus Christ," Jin said.

            "You're the second person to try calling Him and He isn't answering," Rune said. A spurt of blood shot over his shoulder from case's stomach. "Inside, you fucking moron. Blood is supposed to remain inside!"

            Not according to the Arena of Blood. Parker's stomach churned. Rune was too busy saving the poor kid's opened stomach. Jin took out a cigarette, and lit it. Rune looked at him.

            "At this rate," Jin said. "Second hand smoke is the least of his problems." He offered the pack to Parker, who gladly took one and lit it. "I got a look at the weapon that Arena fighter was using. Pure steel."

            That made Parker take a larger drag in her cigarette. All weapons and Armor were designed to simulate hits. They produced shocks, and once you were down, you were down. Oh, you could dress  them up to make em look as real as real could be, but in the end they were shock pads . Live weapons weren't allowed in the tournament.

            "Please tell me you--"

            "The committee has already been informed," Jin said.

            Parker nodded, then at least it wasn't a complete loss. Rayse and his goons would lost the match, and probably forfeit for the entire event. If it didn't kill Case, that was. If Case died, all forms of hell would break loose. The Arena of Blood would be shunned by the Kensei Council, not to mention any reporter worth their salt who smelt the blood in the water.

            There were things that could have been said, but they held their silence. That silence lasted until, after what felt like eternity, Case gasped and sat sharp up.

            "Whoa!" Rune said, pushing him back. "You start moving too fast and you'll blow a vessel."

            "You got him back," Parker said, clearly astonished.

            "It wasn't easy." Rune muttered. He gave Case a vial of green liquid. "Drink this all, or I will make you. Don't talk, just drink." Case complied. The look on his face told Parker all she needed to know about it's taste.

            When it was over and done, Case looked up to Parker. "I guess I lost the match."

            "You made an open challenge to Rayse and his entire stable, and someone who is ranked at level 15 accepted the challenge."

            "I didn't see it as such a bad thing,"

            "Aren't you level 4, Case?" Rune said dryly.

            "I thought we're supposed to go for challenges in the Crucible,"

            Jin groaned. "Russian Roulette isn't a Challenge, it's suicide you fucking moron."

            Case had nothing else to say, and Parker just smoked furiously at her cigarette and smashed it out onto the floor. "So," Case said finally, "What do we do from here?"

            Jin spoke, "Well, the Investigators already have the knife Creed used on you, and the Council will probably smack Rayse around for a little bit. Actually--" He pulled out his radio and turned it on. The only station in the area was WTKN. It was nearing midnight, and that meant Cassius Rite was still on. One of the last true independent reporters out there, TKN makes it a point to hire out the neutral ones for the mi

            "--and we hope very well he finds his pants. In other news, just a few minutes ago the stable run by Arena of Blood acolyte Rayse was suspended from any and all events for the rest of this weekend on grounds that live steel was used during a match against Crucible Rookie Case. Rayse, you and your boys have done wrong, and it's time for a spanking. Rayse had this to say from his cabin in the darklands."

           
There was silence at first and then a husky voice boomed, "I find the Council's decisions....disappointing. This is a time for competition, this is a time for testing. Case wished to test himself against my men, and Creed found him wanting. The rest of the 'Schools' in this Network think that you can beat your opponent and he gets up and all is well in the world. It is not...well...in the world. I will show you the truth. The weak are meat, the strong need to eat. Blood is the only thing that matters."

           
Cassius' voice came back on, "Case, if you're out there, and you're not dead. Either you or your manager should come to Network Central and make your presence felt, your name is still on the Lists if you want it."

            Case looked to Parker, eyes hopeful in the way only the new up and comers get. "Fine," She said eventually. "I'll go and tell them to hold your name."

            "No," Case said suddenly. "I'll--" He was cut off when Rune touched the freshly bandaged wounds on his chest.

            "I'm sorry, did that hurt? Maybe because you were gutstabbed an hour ago. You're staying here and healing."

            "We also need to get your swords and armor repaired," Parker said. She looked to Jin, "I assume you're about to make me a deal?"

            He smiled, "How about this: I walk you to Central, and you talk me into it."

            Parker smiled back, and suddenly the options for tonight didn't look so grim. "You got another smoke?"

            The grizzled weapons merchant laughed, "I'm pretty sure I've got a few left. Come on."
           
           As he lead her out, Rune called out to her. "I'd be careful, Park, Jin's a tough bastard to talk under. But suit yourself." He slapped Case on the back, "See, kid? That's a real Challenge worthy of the Crucible. Now stop seeping into your bandage."

           

            

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Licensing Be Damned (pt II)

After my last post, I got a lot of comments about possible other materials that could be added. Some of them I really liked and I wanted to talk more on, plus add a few more.

Ghost in the Shell

Whether you're a fan of the original 1996 movie, the manga, the Stand Alone Complex iteration or whatever incarnation this prolific series has become synonymous with the cyberpunk genre. Set near the end of the 21st century, Ghost in the Shell focuses on the actions of Public Security Section 9, a clandestine government military for a post World War 4 Japan. It's a world where most of the population has wired their brains to be digita, communication is a cross between telepathy and video calls and with that comes the threat of hacking. Androids, cyborgs are replete throughout the series. It's action packed and never pulls it's punches.

One of the draws in GitS is that, at it's core, it is highly philosophical. Some episodes of Stand Alone Complex (which describes a trend in behavior that cannot be traced to one individual creation) are in themselves a treatise on existentialit concepts. What is the soul, when everything is digital? What happens when we drift in the Net for so long, are we native to our bodies any more?

Ghost in the Shell is a great game for a Salon LARP, I could see scenes being done like some of the airsoft LARPs in Europe, but the special effects are too wide scope and prevalent to be done as an immersive game. Our technology would have to be improved for us to even mimic their technology.


Full Metal Alchemist

In the same vein, you have Full Metal Alchemist. Full Metal Alchemist is set in an alternate world where alchemy, not science, is the predominate means of understanding the physical nature of the world. This has lead to bionic arms and improved technology in a very steam/diesel punk fashion. Of course, where there is Alchemy, there is the hunt for more. Gold, power, and Immortality.

FMA is all about where the line is in what should be done, and what the cost is during that. The first line in the series is about the law of Equivalent Exchange. To create, something of equal or greater value must be lost. This is evoked, subverted, examined and deconstructed throughout as powers vie for truth, redemption, and salvation.

Actually, FMA has a lot of similarities in Mage: The Awakening. Universal Truth and the discovery of where the line is and how much of yourself you're willing to give up. It also has the added effect of their being this rule that, with enough research and experience, you can do damned near anything. Creative Thaumaturgy, it's called. If it makes rational sense, you can probably do it. I've seen people make trucks in minutes, or search for magic in the city by magically hacking the streetlights. The magic of Full Metal Alchemist is about possibilities and exceeding those possibilities.

As such, again, the special effects is too much for a boffer larp or a Nordic Style, but it would do wonders as a Salon Larp, especially with the factions and antagonists that it contains.

Harry Potter
This was mentioned to me after the last blog post, and I sat there gobsmacked as to why I had never thought of it. Setting a game in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would be completely fun and enjoyable. We all know the story, we haven't been raised in a damn hole for the past decade. Wizards, Witches, School, the struggle between pureblood wizards and mortal/muggles.

This can go in a lot of ways. Do we do a LARP based in Hogwarts, and in that case this becomes a school LARP? that could be interesting. Would we set it in America, and the Salem School? Would we play before, during or after the events of the series? JK Rowling made a world that was only barely touched, limited by the knowledge and experiences of the main character. We could expand that out a bit.

Depending on what you wanted to do with it, this would make a for a great Salon or Boffer style. Salon styles focusing more on the action or the social aspects of it. A boffer LARP would be interesting, in that with the longer amounts of time you COULD do a school day or so at Hogwarts/whatever school. Salon style I could see as "The adventures of...".


24/La Femme Nikita
It struck me a little bit as I was going through my Netflix and reading about Panopticorp that we could do a Nordic Style game based on the series 24. The of the show is that it is in relative "real time", and that each hour of the show is an actual hour of the day and the season is one whole day. During that day Counter Terrorism Unit Agent Jack Bauer (played by the intense Kiefer Sutherlan) must save the area from a massive threat, meanwhile in CTU headquarters, while everyone is doing their jobs, someone is invariably the mole, someone is trying to take over and there is a bunch of polticking going around.

So why not have CTU as a Nordic game? Set it up for a 30 or so hour game, have players develop these specialists, agents, analysts and liaisons while also helping the invariable mission of the Jack Bauer-expy.

Likewise we could base it off of La Femme Nikita, the USA produced show starring Peta Wilson, in which she plays an black ops agent who was recruited when accused of murder. Her death faked and her records expunged, she and her entire co-workers are all men and women who can be killed at a single notice, so all of them try to do their best and sometimes one up one another. It's similar to 24 (both were produced by Joel Surnow) but LFN would be considered a much more 'morally bankrupt' version.

The trick would be the equipment. Computers, software, capital and money. I'd love to get my hands on the people from Monitor Celestra and figure out how they did it. This would be an impressive undertaking...

But I'm sure someone is willing to try.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Licensing Be Damned

In a bit of a discussion with members of a LARP facebook group, we were asked "if licensing were never an issue, what properties would you love to see turned to LARPs?"

This is something that I'd always have fun considering "Ooh! this would be fun." Playing in this world, playing in that world. I've mentioned it before, but that's what I used to do as a kid. I'd read something, watch something, play something, and then I'd pretend I was in that world. Not as one of the characters, but as my own character alongside them. I didn't want to BE the main characters, I wanted to share in their adventures and their world.

This is a list of properties I would love to see as a LARP setting, as well as my discussions on how they'd work in different settings. This is by no means complete or definitive as if to say "This is the only way this could be played" This is how I see them being played.

I. Final Fantasy VII

One of the video games that started it all for me, and quite honestly for a lot of people. Final Fantasy VII was the first of the Final Fantasy Games to take a modern approach, mixing elements of Steampunk, Cyberpunk and Biopunk into a blender and coming out with an epic story that broke a lot of rules and made new ones.

Set on Terra, Final Fantasy is a story about the Planet, really, and the Lifestream. The Lifestream is Life, all Life, creating and dying again and again in a beautiful cycle. In the time of the games, a corporation called the Shinra have found a way to extract the Lifestream into what they call Mako, and using it to fuel their Cities and technology. The main characters are members of AVALANCHE, who are trying to usurp the Mega Corporation and save the planet. During their adventures they run into a threat that threatens the fate of the Lifestream and the World beyond the means of industry.

In this game, you have warriors with swords the size of car doors, men with gatling guns for arms, martial artisits, beasts who talk, ninjas, shapeshifing gunmen, airship captains and dolls able to be piloted through magic. While each has their strengths and weaknesses, neither of them are technically a specific class. Everyone can do magic thanks to manufactured pieces of the Mako called Materia, which they insert into their weapons and armor to use their affect.

In all honest, I see this game going one way really, as a boffer Larp. It makes a sense, because there are small towns and villages in the games that experience parts of the story, part of the details while the main characters move through each town. The player town has the same problems most of the towns have, the monster attacks, Shinra muscling their way in, and eventually the ultimate battle coming in.

By it being a boffer LARP though, we've basically cut off access to most of the main places. No trips to Midgar, the cyberpunk inspired capital of the world. Cosmo Canyon, where the World is explored, is a distant memory, and Nibelheim's ashes are a rumor in the wind. Could those places be visited? Yes, as a table top game, I could see it. But to me, building a contained world based on Final Fantasy may make things easier to control and maintain rather than a spanning the world event.

I could see in a boffer larp, you picking archetypal stats. What do you excel in? Combat? Defense? Magic? Magical Defense? Speed? Etc. You chose the strengths and drawbacks, you pick the materia to affect your weapons. You pick what you have and can do and you grow from there.

Ultimately it's a game whose themes of environmental harmony, inevitability, memory and sacrifice are themes worth playing with.

Final Fantasy VIII

I'm biased to VII and VIII as these were the games that reared me, and VIII was the one wear I stopped and became truly and utterly emotionally invested into the character arc of a game.

Set on a different world than VII, Final Fantasy VIII is focused around SeeD, a group that trains orphans and children as mercenaries in a bid to prevent a future war with Sorceresses. Trained in large communities called Gardens, these mercenaries are hired out to highest bidder.

The world of Final Fantasy VIII is one of the closest to the modern world we live in, with train systems, cable relays and cars being prevalent throughout. Magic only exists through two means: Sorcery, which is rare, and junctioning one's self to a Guardian Force, a creature of immense power who can be summoned or improve a fighter's stats, but at the eventual cost of ones memory. Magic, in it's most common form, is a form of science that mimics the sorceresses magic, but instead Draws those spells out of natural areas and from other creatures.

Again, I see FF VIII being a great boffer Larp, surrounding a training academy attached to one of the Gardens. One of the reasons I want to do this is because I want there to be a sense of interpersonal interactions, which is a theme of the game as the Main Character is a sheltered young man who has to struggle out of himself into a mature adult. So, as a SeeD in training, you learn, train, practice, and use the grounds to challenge yourself and each other. Support teams such as Instructors and Medical exist to help and aid.

The problem is this is the Mercenary part, being sent out to places to do jobs that require a lot of heavy lifting. Boffer Larps don't normally deal in Downtimes, actions between games, and so how would that work for games? Or would it be just a method of "I need a bunch of Licensed SeeDs to come with me on this event" and then maybe have the yearly event become a Licensing for trainees to become full SeeDs, it's a thought. That's the trade off with Boffer Larps and Table Tops, ultimately you give up scope for immersion. And Again, it becomes less of a "Rock Paper Scissors" game and more of a "You choose what you can do".

One thing it would require is the use of Draw like Dystopia Rising has Scrap and Herb cards. Periodically, the STs and Coordinators for DR go through the camp and disperse these cards into the wild, and those with the ability to scrounge or farm can find them and collect them. Draw can work like that, except with more interspersing, and it's easier than both as you can do it from NPCs if you want.

As an experience, I would want to focus on the themes of preparing for combat and war and how people cope with that, maturity, fate, and memory.


III. Dune

Dune is one of those stories that has everything, action, business, politics, mythology, prescience. It has an appeal to me as it was the first Sci Fi/Fantasy series I ever tackled and read in my teens. The Dune series takes place over thousands of years in a Galaxy deominated by it's need for Spice. Spice is a drug that enhances the senses, further expanding into the ability to see through time and space.

Dune is about the agendas of rival groups and those that get caught in it's snares. It's about plans within plans within plans and how those plans conflict with others. In the world you have the Major Houses, families and dynasties whose interests govern various worlds, space travel is given by the Spacing Guild, whose Navigators have been mutated by the Spice and are the only means of folding Space/Time. All of those Houses answer to the Padishah Emperor, and the Padishah Emperor Deals with the Directors of CHOAM who govern the Markets and the Spacing Guild, and in the Shadows you have the schools of the Bene Gesserit, an all female Sisterhood whose plans to produce and train the ultimate being, the Mentat Order training humans to perform like machines, and the Tleilaxu whose bio-engineering can create damn near anything.

And at the center of all of this is Spice, mined only on the desert planet of Arrakis, also known as Dune. Arrakis is the native world of the Fremen, desert nomads who live a simple life based on pragmatism and mysticism. The Spice is the center of commerce, and is addicting to all who take it.

If made into a LARP, it could be used in multiple forms. It ticks on the combat and action levels of a boffer Larp, the immersive nature of a Nordic Style, and the social settings of a Salon style.

If a Salon Style, I could see it being set on Arrakis, with the players taking part in a House War while the Spacing Guild, Bene Gesserit and Fremen all fulfill their own plans (with the players being associated with all of them). This way people can go and 'explore' Arrakis, and possibly get threatened by a Sandworm or two. This is the only way I can see Arrakis being a setting in my area, as Nordic or Boffer LARPs do rely on an immersive setting (Well...unless I set it during a certain point of the book series). Unfortunately, the Bronx is a bit short on the desert area. So if you've got some property in Death Valley, call me, I have a plan.

If a Boffer Style, I can see it set on a planet the Houses need, like Rossak or Chusuk or some kind of smuggler's moon. The House struggles play out around them and with them, while the Fremen Crusade drives through. The Spice would be used like Oil is today, always stockpiling and used as a bartering chip sparingly. People make names for themselves as swordmasters, trubadours, smugglers, mystics, politicians, doctors and madmen.

I think Dune would be a terrific setting for an Immersive Nordic Larp. Imagine a lavish scene where players play various Houses in the presence of The Emperor, taking a Mock United Nations approach on various subjects. Imagine being villagers of Geidi Prime, or slaves in their pits waiting to be abducted to pleasure warrens or the fighting arena. Or, quite possibly, a Reverend Mother visiting a Fremen Sietch, performing a mystic rite with her people and praying for the coming of the Mahdi.

Dune is one of those realms where you can do anything, so long as you keep to the realm of Power and Prophecy.


IV. Star Wars
Oh, come on, like you didn't see me saying this. George Lucas made too large of a Universe with too broad a set of ideas and archetypes for it to ever just be a movie. Of course, I'm biased, I've played and still play a Jedi for the stage for the past five years. Imagine the species, races, and professions one can play. Smugglers, Warriors, Dipomats, Droids, Guards, etc.

It can go the same amount of routes as Dune, It could be an 'okay' salon LARP. I say that because in the end there are two groups: Light and Dark. Republic and Empire. If you want to through in the Hutts, that could make things interesting, but I don't think it would get as interesting as it should be. Star Wars is about exploration and adventure.

So it could be a boffer larp, most likely. Republic and Empire forces on a planet like Myrkr, Alderaan, or any of the various worlds (depending on location of site) and dealing with one another in various ways. There is an argument of political and philosophical disagreements, especially when you take into account that Jedi Knights serve the Republic and the Sith control the Empire. Again, the Criminal enterprises of the Hutts could give people a gray area to work with.

If done in this area, I would honestly work with what the online Old Republic Game has done. Two or Three sides, and classes like Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler, Commando, Bounty Hunters, Agents, Sith Warriors and Sith Inquisitors. Except I would do it differently. The Old Republic has it as a 'one or another' deal. If you pick the first four, you have to be Republic. If you're the last four, you half to be Sith. But Smugglers and Bounty Hunters are inherently grey while Agents and Commandos are just doing their jobs. I'd open the game up to be about Choice. You choose what side you're on ultimately. Smugglers and Bounty Hunters can flop back and forth, Commandos and Agents have political hoops to jump through. The Jedi and Sith however, that is a major act in and of itself. You aren't just compromising your politics, but your core philosophy on the Force.

Having it as a Nordic Style Larp would be interesting, with a Jedi or a Sith coming to a village to help/corrupt it's members in a sort of Good vs. Evil/Light vs Dark fight.

V. Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson created a world covered in mist. A thousand years after the Lord Ruler, immortal and a sliver of God,  defeated "The Deepness", the world became divided into two groups of humans. The Nobles, who were scene as the descendants of those who aided the Lord Ruler at the beginning of the Final Empire, and the Skaa, a slave race. The Skaa worked in plantations or in the cities doing menial labor, either being ignored or exploited by the Nobles. It was common practice for the Nobles to bed with the Skaa, but they were required by law to kill them afterwards to prevent a child being produced. This was for one simple reason:

they did not wish their powers to be passed on.

Mistborn is a high fantasy series that, while filled with high action, is a very character driven approach. I see this as being a great Salon Larp as a lot of the focus is on the interactions and social dealing as opposed to going out and hitting something. The action is meant to be covert, and hidden at night while dealing with each other in the light. THe themes of being a hero, of faith, and class relations are a fascinating subject.


VI. Codex Alera

So I'm a Jim Butcher fan, and while I would add The Dresden Files as a LARP, a friend of mine is already on that job. So, I'll talk about Jim's second series: The Codex Alera.

Alera is a country on a distant world that mimics a more advanced version of Rome if it caught up to the Medieval Ages, using terminology but definitely keeping the Roman Aesthetic. Alerans are surrounded by species such as the Yeti-like Icemen to the North, the Wolf-men Cainim to the West and the Marat, tribesmen who derive skills through symbiotic link with animals, in the East. To combat these hostile and dangerous forces, the Alerans can use Furies, energy in the are corresponding to the Elements of Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Metal and Wood. Internally, however, they are a fractured lot, all vying for power as the First Lord, their emperor, has become frail.

Like Dune and Mistborn, this can be a great setting for Salon, Boffer or Nordic LARP. Salon LARPs can be the various dealings with the Houses as they try to shore up their resources against more attacks as they bandy barbs with one another both overtly and covertly, employing their furies and the furies of their mancipals. Or so forth.

You could have it as a boffer game as you're members of a steadhold (farmland owned privately) or an outpost on one of the borders and you have to deal with the invasions of one of the species, or by the harassment of slavers, officials, bandits and the governments Cursors (messenger/Spies).

The themes of the series revolve around innovation versus stasis, and about power being earned, and not granted.

VII. Newsflesh 

I am a major fan of Mira Grant (The pen name of author Seanan McGuire) and her Newsflesh series. Set in the near future, it depicts a world where the Zombie Apocalypse did in fact happen and the world is coping. The News is now split into traditional Media and the New Media: Blogging, which told the truth during the outbreak instead of going dark about it. Blood Tests are rampant as everyone in the world is infected, waiting for the day that the virus inside them amplifies and they become the walking dead. People live in fear and in xenophobia as interactions could lead to amplification, and they rely more deeply on those who go outside to give their lives meaning.

This level of fear is key to the series, as well as the means of finding and covering up the truth by various parties throughout. The story focuses on the Masons, Georgia and her brother Shawn, two bloggers as they and their team are tasked with following an upcoming Presidential Hopefuls campaign trail. Political Thriller in the midst of Zombie Horror.

This is something I would say could only be done right as a Nordic Style LARP, in the same vein as Celestra and Panopticorp. To have people interacting as reporters, politicians, security and so forth at a meeting as a zombie outbreak happens. The use of media, of trying to learn the truth, hide the truth, and convey the truth all becomes a struggle as the end is surely near. It's all about the immersion, as fighting Zombies is usually a one and done. You can kill them all, but you could still be infected by them and risk amplification, if they touch you, you're almost assuredly considered infected and everyone is in their right to kill it. Salon styles larps would make simple interactions too complicated with mechanics and the themes of the books aren't focused on the fighting of the monsters.


There are many worlds in which to live in, and many ways to live in them. I know for some of these it'll be nearly impossible. But some of them, some day, may be worlds we can hop in to.

Later.


Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Role of Leader

I had two conversations this week with a few friends that made me think. The first conversation was with my friend Kevin, who plays the head of the Cell for The local Accord game. He had said that In Character Leadership is partially NPC. This implies that there is a level of responsibility that you are working with the ST and therefore the setting of the game. Because the world they control isn't just what the players are doing, it's the entire world in regards to the stuff that can't be seen.

That made me think about the role of leader in the games I've played. It's interesting and it's fascinating, it's one part "my character wants this" and two parts "I as a player want to do this". It's a social function, as you are the face and the will of the local group of players to anything that gets thrown out by visitors or the ST. You're the figurehead, the diplomat,  the warleader, and the commander in chief and some times all at the same time.

The most prominent of these roles in the Mind's Eye Society is the Vampiric Prince. The Vampire games focus around Predation, both physical and social predator. To be Prince is to both signify your status as the Alpha Predator as well as the Man everyone must beat. I've seen games for runs for Prince be, both ICly and OOCly, the ugliest things ever. It's the kind of position you don't take if you don't want your PC in the line of fire.

It's the exact reverse for the Sovereigns in Changeling. Each Court has their own Sovereign, with the system behind it denoting who exactly is the presiding Sovereign at the time. The rulers of the Seasonal Courts reign the freehold throughout their respective season, transitioning at the equinox. The Diurnal Sovereigns exchange roles at the rising and setting of the son. The Directionals are always in power, and therefore must work at central purpose to attain anything. There are currently 7 PCs in the local changeling game wearing the Crown of a Court, I hold the Western Crown. It becomes a game of foreign dignataries, in a sense, where even if you're a part of the same freehold, doesn't mean you're on the same page.

In Mage, the Hierarch represents the Authority of Magic in a Consilium (council of Mages and Cabals). It's position is usually as moderator and chair than supreme overlord, but I've witnessed more laid back planners than I am the Alpha Mage style of thinking. Right now, New York has no Consilium, so the role of Hierarch is unfulfilled. This has lead to drama, and it's one of the points that needs to be hashed out as time goes by in a war ravaged game.

In Accord, the players are part of a multi-species (Mage, Hunters, Werewolves, and mostly ever template) Cell that is dedicated to eliminating the truth. Every Cell has a Cell Leader, and that's currently held by Kevin, who plays the century old son of the Devil. He's in a position to know everyone and to have seen everything, which is useful for someone who has to deal with Telepathic Hunters, Computer/Human Changelings from the Hedge, Asshole Demons and Immortals of one stripe or the next.

Then you have the various factions bread into most games that are pre-disposed to lead. I'll use White Wolf for the sake of arguement:

Vampire The Requiem has the Invictus, the Vampric Nobility that rules and deals through Oaths. They want to be in power, they need to be in power and god damned the high most.

Mages have the Silver Ladder, they are the philosopher priests of the old culture of Atlantis. They have the double whammy of being the religious group as well as the political group. The rule through cults and politics and not everyone can do nearly as much.

We don't get many people these days wishing to play those roles. Playing someone with a Crown though and being responsible for others has made me think more about it. Personally, I don't want to play in the Invictus as too many A-Type Personality Players have soured that Covenant for me. The Silver Ladder however is an interesting thing, and possibly beneficial one to the local Mage game. The Silver Ladder is non-existent and no players have taken them. As the storyteller who founded the setting, this allows me to play a more passive role, upholding the themes of the game in a position built to do that while not using too much of the world I helped build. It's sad though, at some point, I fear this would lead my PC to be hierarch.

And then there is Requiem. The other conversation that precipitated this article was a comment a friend made about Owen, my Mekhet PC. He said that Owen would make a great Prince. There is something interesting in that. Owen would want the throne, he has the ambition. Craig isn't too sure. Keep in mind that I'm what I'd like to refer to as a Shy Megalomaniac. I like being in control, but get very anxious and self conscious when I do. That being said, Owen would, if he could or wanted to, make a play for the throne. And god save anyone who got in his way.

In short, the role of Leader is an important position in the game and it takes a player and a character who is capable to lead the group. There is risk, there is drama, and there is a threefold responsibility to the players, the PCs and the Setting.

Later.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

In Remembrance

I realized a few days ago that as of December 5th, I will have been larping for 3 years. I know that's nothing major to some of the people around me, but it means a lot to me. I've been a geek my entire life, but up until 5 years ago, I never had an outlet to express my geekiness. Then I found friends in the Dresden Files online sites, from there I found friends and became a member of New York Jedi, from them I joined the Camarilla (now Mind's Eye Society). It was a radical notion to me back then. I had been writing and acting out my own characters my whole life, conducting battles and scenes with only the images in my head. I fought monsters, I died and was buried. I loved, and lost and was betrayed. I played the Arrogant, the Fool, The fighter, the Mage, the Guile Hero.

So imagine my surprise and amazement when I found out that people not only did this as well, but with each other.

I was dimly aware of Vampire the Masquerade in High School, with my friend Dave playing Giovanni and talking about the play space. I thought it was cool, but it didn't register much (High School was weird for me, okay?). College I played The Matrix Online with a bunch of people who, even eight years later I'm still friends with. We roleplayed a lot of our parts and I'm responsible for a lot of their backstory stuff for the group. Then I joined New York Jedi, a swirling vaccum of "don't dream it, be it." and building our own characters that got to write and then act out our scenes and conflicts on stage. Then I came back to it, with several of the older members telling me they played Vampire.

Initially, I thought they meant Masquerade. While they explained that they played Requiem, I decided to still go for it. I studied, and made up my mind and went to the November Downtimes session. That's where I met my friends Chris and Brendan, who showed me the ropes and helped me nail down the depressed lush that was Vincenzo Taglia. Brendan invited me to the Ordo Dracul meeting the next week, where I met Abby, Greg, Margaret. Three years later and I'm *still* playing with these lunatics.

I remember the first game, being nervous as hell.  I grabbed dinner early at the nearby diner and waited, almost debating whether I should have gone or not. What if I fucked up, did I really understand what I was getting myself into? What was I getting myself into.

Eventually I went in, helped Matt and Dan arrange the space, and then prepped for game. It went well, really. I had a bit of plot, being a Mekhet gave me Psychic Dreams for Everyone, which then got pried out of my head by Matty who was a Ventrue. At some point I realized someone brought wine and I, playing (and being) the good Italian availed myself of some of it. The Ordo Dracul, being the largest covenant in the City, gathered and learned that one of our own had been abducted, beaten and left for dead in Queens. We underwent a rescue mission, where we extracted the Covenant Mate and arrived back before the night ended. My character's defining moment was when I found out the wine was gone and deciding "Taglia should be pissed by this." He preceded to berate the abductee for making him miss his wine. This lead to Brendan giving me a shout out and pretty much affirming a very nervous geek that he was doing alright.

The next year was all Requiem, all the time. 2011 was me figuring things out and juggling grad school with geek world. That first year was me running around and enjoying it, and enjoying the people I was with. Eventually I met and befriended Ilan, dragged my oft time writing partner Brandon into the club, and was witness and party to a lot of fun and dramatic things. Taglia at this point had become a Priscus, and the social game was pretty dynamic. I've stated before that Craig as a Human does not have high social Stats, so it became a sense of lack of direction for him as a character and me as a person. In some ways going to Requiem began to be a job. 

Eventually I joined Mage the Awakening, and I fell in love all over again. I could write an essay all of it's own as to why I love the venue and hug it with my brain. Rhys was a fun character, and was an overall joy to play, until I decided to do something that was, in hindsight, inevitable.

I decided to be a Storyteller.

Becoming Storyteller has been frustrating and exhilirating at the same time. I was responsible for running and writing worlds. This was writing in action. I realized early on at the beginning that I knew nothing about Storytelling from a larping perspective. It was rough, and some of my players didn't believe in taking it easy. Which brought about this blog as a means of me dealing with my thoughts instead of garroting some of the people I had to deal with.

During that time, I also began playing Dystopia Rising, that bunch of lunatics that went into the woods and dealt with shambling hordes of zombies, raiders, and whatever the fuck the Storytellers could chuck at them. They inspired me, but Time, Money, Energy, and other factors have prevented me from sinking into what is a highly evolved game.

As time went on, and the several year Chronicle ended with a sickening clank instead of a bang, I felt tired and drawn. I built a world for the New Mage and populated it with characters. I should have instead taken a break. Didn't happen. By August, I found myself just not feeling the same joy and wonder as I felt three years ago. I was familiar with the program, and the people in the room. Since I couldn't change them, I decided I needed to change myself. I've gotten more into the Nordic Scene and I want to develop one, with a possible basis in Mira Grant's Newsflesh Series. I have an idea for a Boffer Larp , but that will take time.

But playing, and interacting. I grown tired. The best moment I've had in almost a year came recently from a moment where I just said fuck it and went into the scene. You see, that same fear and nervousness that I had when I was just starting out, the one that said "what if I fuck up?" never went away. To this day I still have that both in game and in life. And when I stopped that, I touched something different, and something I want to hold on to more. I spent the first year going "yay geeks!" the second year going "yay game!" the third year going "Yay storytelling!" and now I'm searching for the next high.

Now I'm trying to find out why I'm still here. I've been dancing around it for a while. I want to create something, I want more than just the 'my character shows up and does a thing'. I want to do something that will have players talking ICly and OOCly about for a while. I want to make an impact through my characters and my deeds. Now I think I want to play for the challenge of it. To challenge myself and the players around me. I want to build an environment, either as an ST or a player, where we can tell stories three years from now.

Maybe I'm just looking for the next high, or maybe I just need to get higher. I'll find out, but I'm still in love with this crazy little group of ours.

Later.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Narrativist Storytelling


During a dinner conversation with a bunch of friends who are slowly teaching me the wonderous thing that is Nobilis, we had a discussion about RPGs and LARPs. During the conversation--I forget precisely what the impetus was, but at one point I barked out this:

Do you notice that while most Live Action Role Play events are based on Role Playing Games, that there is no 'G' in LARP? I feel this is intentional. That the focus is Role Play in a Live setting.

There was much nodding of heads and agreement, but the notion stuck with me. I've talked ad nauseum about the GNS Model. It's a flawed system, but it's a convenient one, used to delineating three separate means of behavior in terms of gaming. Gamists play to attain a goal, complete an obstacle or to build an effective strategy to attain their goals. Narrativists are focused on story and plot and mainly do things because it leads to development or challenges to their character as well as them. Simulationist is the adherence to a specific theme or setting and adhering strictly to the rules those settings would have allowed.

I'm a decided Narrativist, both as a player and a Storyteller and a Simulationist as a Secondary. I don't care what dots you have on your sheet, I don't care if your dice pools are fucking righteous. What I care about is that your PC has an arc and is interacting in the world. The only time I use any Gaming principles is in terms of balancing the game to keep it 1) Challenging and 2) Fair. I'm not out to screw the players, they can screw themselves as much as they like. My job and goal is to make sure there is an interesting story with a plot that people are invested in and want to follow, not because there will be some cookie at the end, because they want the challenge and the development for their characters and entertainment for them.

That doesn't mean that things are all story time fun. There are still rules and boundaries of statistics and genre that have got to be kept in line. The Antagonists have to be balanced to keep it a challenge without being totally unkillable, the mystery has to be plausible and have multiple tracks, no small feat when magic is involved. And ultimately, what matters is that the story is driven by the characters first.

This is the one major weaknesses of Narrativist Storytelling, Railroading. It's mightily condescending and entirely too much work. I like being a lazy storyteller and not having to come up with the next plot, save the writing for my novels and this site (like I would ever stop).

So I can't really give much advice on what makes a good Narrativist plot. All I can do is give a few examples and anecdotes:

One of the best Narrativist tools in storytelling is the Conspiracy plot. Who is working for the bad guys, who is working for themselves. Enemies and Allies are sometimes one and the same and that makes interaction and development of ideas major thing. I made this Chronicle of Mage, at least at the onset, by basing the Seers on the Syndicate, the human conspiracy based in the X-Files. However, there is a lot of history and there is definitely an endgame...just not entirely sure how it will manifest itself. This is the simulationist part of the story as it endgame should be totally driven by the PCs, not by me. I just get to referee...

I get to drive the aftermath.

Another thing I try to keep in mind is making plot specifically for some characters. I'm of the mind that unless you have a rather large staff working with you, it should somehow tie in to the plot of the game in some way. One of the challenges I'm facing is with a player's plot tying into his (soon to be) Legacy, which for those of you not in Mage (seriously, get in my game. All operators are waiting) is a secondary type of magic some people can do. It basically hammers down their class and the themes of their magic. This magic is based on Clarke's Law that Advanced Science is indistinguishable from Magic. I suck at any science that is dependant on numbers (x+y= nosebleed), so I'm more or less re-reading my Clarke and re-watching COSMOS before I start again.

As an aside:  to the player in question, I know you're reading this, shut up.

Continue shutting up.

Thank you. The plot will continue until my morale improves :P

Also, and I think this is important, Narrative has consequences. Telling me you wanna do the cool thing because you have the dots on the sheet and wanna do the cool thing is not going to get me to follow with it. Telling me your character wants to do a thing and you're willing to roll with the consequences for them is what is going to get me to go with it. Doesn't matter if that's what the game says. Your PC just did a thing that should have consequences.

I'll give you a for instance. My Requiem PC last Chronicle was tasked with helping an Elder member of his Covenant back from the brink of sanity...or hypersanity, it's a bit wonky what was going on but all that I remember was Taglia went into a PCs brain and saw EVERYTHING in stereo. Taglia brought him back using mental exercises and telepathy to do it. Now, Telepathy doesn't work like that, but the ST was cool with it and ran with it. But to me it felt too easy. My PC is a relatively weak Mekhet compared to this guy and doesn't have enough of a buffer to effectively face what is essentially The Untempered Schism . I got permission to have my PC have a brain hemorrhage every time he tried Telepathy for two months after the event. There was nothing in the mechanics that said that should have happened, there is nothing in it that says I couldn't either. But he did something that frankly Could Have and Should Have put him in a fucking coma himself. He needed to pay the cost for doing that as a person.

For those of you who haven't figured it out, I'm a strong proponent of the Jim Butcher school of protagonism: You want your protagonist to do the cool thing? Great. Make em 1) earn it or 2) pay for it. Again, I'm not out to screw my players, but I do want you guys to know that it is impressive that you've just done a thing.

In the end, and I'll repeat, I am mainly concerned with the story of the game and it's players. If someone is going "I have nothing to do" or "I don't know what's going on" I can plug them into the story. Hell, they are all part of a story. Does that mean I'm going to snub Gamists? Hell no. I'm going to have a challenge with them but as long as we can come to an agreement that's what matters. But in the end, this is a Live Action Role Play

Everything else is just a game.

Later.





Thursday, October 10, 2013

Hypersigil: LARP as Ritual

Note: this is the second time I've written this article. I rewrote it because the last one was "a bit manic" and not even close to being remotely interesting. I enjoy writing convoluted screeds, but there is an audience involved, and I'm not assuming you're into that sort of thing.

So, I spoke about my recent trip to Changeling, and how such an intense scene gave me a rush and a high like I've only really felt once before in a game, right? It was something that, truth be told, I had been hoping for since I first created Jin. There was a moment of Bleed, a term popular in Nordic and Jeepform LARPs where the emotional content of the PC is what drives the players actions, not vice versa. I was not reacting, Jin was. I consider this one of the higher points of my experience in LARPing.

When I write a character, I usually take an aspect of myself, fragment of my sense of Self and make it into a Persona. It's still me, in some ways, but just a form of me put on. Jin is the face of the very basic sense of Honor I try (key word) to maintain, Taglia was the self destructive tendencies, Declan was cowardice, Rave was sarcasm and secretive nature. Rhys was the asocial type who could do anything he imagined finally. All of these are facets of me.

I should say that not everyone does this, nor should they. If you're going out there and essentially playing yourself, you're causing more problems than good things. You're playing a role, distance yourself a bit, go out a bit. This is where Backstory takes a lot of importance as it acts as a major buffer. At their core, you have a connection to these characters, but there is enough in between that you aren't casting yourself out into the void of LARP. Your PCs are Masks, not Faces.

During the writing of this Chronicle, I created my new PCs as explorations of myself and means of evoking new senses from within. Jin was created as a sense of Honor, of dedicating oneself to a decision and accepting it's consequences. Owen was a delving into the dark recesses for a sense of Power, Sex, Strength, all of the things the Id enjoys. I didn't build them because they were aspects of my day to day personality (as is my usual tack). I built them to try and evoke those concepts for me in my day to day life.

My life is strange. I'm Catholic with some strong Pagan leanings, with many saying I'm stuck in the Broom Closet. The point being is that I enjoy researching the Occult. One of my favorite subjects is that of Sigil Magic. I was first introduced to the subject of Sigil Magic through a video by comic artist Grant Morrison. Sigil Magick is a form of Chaos Magick, which looks into hacking reality and psychological paradigms to achieve a goal and result. You take a phrase, more often than not a goal, and you take components of that phrase and create an artistic representation of that phrase or the letters. After that, you charge it off, putting in your energy and send it off in the moments when your consciousness slips through cracks. We do this all the time, like hitting a natural flow where you do thing autonomically, without conscious effort.

It's a lot to process, but the point is this: You create a goal in your mind, you make it important, you give it some energy, and you absorb it until it's no longer in the front of your mind but still active. The Artistic Design that represents that goal is a Sigil. Now, Grant Morrison introduced the concept of the Hypersigil. A Hypersigil is a complex visual representation of a goal or concept. Morrison wrote several works, most popularly The Invisibles, which he designed as a sigil that embodies his goal, his will and his intent. The Main Character of the Invisibles, King Mob, is a bald headed shamanic badass. Morrison gave him a similar look and charged his image in the hopes that he would change the world around him through this character. At one point, he writes his character going through a major torture as his flesh is being eaten and his lung collapses. Several months later, Morrison goes septic, his flesh is being eating by necrosis and his lung collapses. Aware of the situation, he writes King Mob in different ways, giving him a redheaded girlfriend, which in turn results in similar red headed girls walking into his life.

The Character of King Mob is a Hypersigil, a fragment of the artist himself engaging in a multi leveled story. It's a major working through challenges and triumphs. By allowing a bit of King Mob into himself, and himself a bit into Mob, his reality and ways of interacting with the world change.

So, why can't that work with a PC?

As I said before, I know what I am. I'm a geeky goofball who plays the role of support and clown. One friend is convinced I'm his sidekick. I'm fine with that, but when it's a perpetual image and not just a role I slip into. After a while, you get tired of playing second banana, and it's time to get behind the wheel of your own car. So, I drew up a Sigil, I created characters I could slip into, a persona. I created characters that were, finally, meant to be more detached from my general outlook and being. I was trying to see if I could do it, I was trying to maybe bring something out of myself I hadn't seen before.

The first few months of Chronicle were tough, and I think a lot of it had to do with one simple fact: We're a group of people who see each other at least once a month, who hang out afterwards. We're friends, family, lovers, enemies and rivals. We know each other, and that makes the suspension of disbelief even harder. Which probably makes my burnout and backing away from game probably the best decision I could. Make, the decision removed me from being "Oh, Craig is here" to "Oh, Jin is here".

People will probably go, "Craig, these are characters, not magic". Well, you're right. I'm not completely drunk on the cool-aid to think that this is exactly what it is: me playing in a live action game with a bunch of fellow geeks. But it can be more, we bring into it what we bring into it. I'm bringing into it a place to explore and evoke aspects of myself I never thought I had. I put on a costume, I observe the rites and for four hours I weave a ritual with other people in costumes and with goals of their own, building up into a crescendo at the end of the night. And in those hours, in those interactions, you get those moments of Bleed, and the line between you and your PC dissolves, and suddenly you feel it. So yes, it's a game. It's also a ritual, if you look for it.

Of course, this is all hypothetical and completely an experiment. If it doesn't work, eh, I have two characters I'm going to have fun playing. But if I can use this as an experience, maybe I can do one more. Either way, I'm going to play the fuck out of these guys and make something special out of the process.

Hope you stick around to watch.

Later

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Agents of SHIELD and Storytelling

My friend (and resident LARP scholar) Shoshana wrote up a review of ABC's Agents of SHIELD. It hit on a few points that I had noticed and several more. As some of you should know, I enjoy comic books. I'm not a major geek on them, but I enjoy them nonetheless. So I go into the Marvelverse Movies with a sense of Comic Book fandom but casual viewer mentality. I don't care if this scene is exactly like panel thirty seven of issue 1,232. I care that it's a great movie. Thor was the movie that had the least going for it in terms of fanbase and it is, to my opinion, the one of the better films in the entire Marvel Catalog. It could have been cartoonishly bad, but it was handled with a sense of "yes this is a comic book movie, what story do we want to tell with it?"

Of course, this all leads to the Avengers, which is the culmination of the movie series premise and the confirmation that Joss Whedon knows his shit. It not only introduced and reintroduced characters, it introduced to us, in full, SHIELD. SHIELD is a group of spies, secret agents, and so forth that deal with deep classified material. They are the CIA and FBI combined in a sense. The is embodied in two characters, leader Nick Fury (played by Sam 'mothafuckin' Jackson) and the unassumingly awesome super spy Phil Coulson (played by Clark Gregg). These were guys who could handle situations, but realized that some things required some superheroes.

Now, after the success of the Avengers comes Agents of SHIELD. Which continues the story after the Avengers, eventually tying into the second Avengers movies (and probably some of the other films). It stars Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson again, as the head of a team who investigate deep cover items for SHIELD. There was a lot of hype going on about this show, and like Shoshana, I reserved Judgement until after the third episode to see what threads had begun to form.

In truth, I hold some reservations.

Most of it comes from the fact that the show is set in a rich and lush universe with the potential for hundreds of characters, themes and other things able to be played with and thought about. So far, I haven't seen that in the show. They've made very oblique mentions to the movies, which is a given considering that Agent Coulson is directly from them. But there is no sense that this is set in the Marvel Universe. So far we've seen several plots:

1) A man given super powers through technology and becomes a danger to himself

2) A struggle for an ancient alien device

3) A new element is being created and used for nefarious purposes.

These are standard, sci fi tropes that, unless tied down to a really good arc, are just formulaic and shoddy writing. So far, we only have one arc, that of the hacker character Skye's group the Rising Tide and their actions. But there isn't enough drama in that, and I'll get to why in a few minutes.

What hurts is the fact that, while they are in the Marvel Universe, there is no sense that they are IN the Marvel Universe. No mention of Stark Industries, groups like AIM. You could remove the name SHIELD and you'd get the same affect. This is a product OF the Marvel Universe, but it doesn't give you the sense that you are IN the Marvel Universe. They are working in a Vaccum, literally. The team is transported in a private plane, they aren't rooted anywhere. So they just touch down in whatever location of the week and then pick up and leave. There doesn't seem to be any long term consequences, no overarching events. There is a sense that Status Quo is God, and that's something that Marvel doesn't do well. When shit happens,  it has a tendency to have consequences.

The main problem, however, is with the main cast. You could do episodic drek if you have a decent cast of characters. Look at NCIS, Warehouse 13, Stargate SG-1. The plot in most of these episodes don't matter, it's the interactions between these characters that drive the show. Right now...we don't have that. I'm going to run down the main cast and go from there

Phil Coulson: played by Clark Gregg. From his last few scenes in Iron Man I to his triumph in The Avengers, he proved that you don't need a costume to be a badass. There is a lot of mystery considering his status post Avengers, and that's one of the major draws. He's the only major movie character shown on a constant presence and when the next Avengers movie comes out, it's probably guaranteed he'll be involved (I'm of the numbers that believes that he's the new Vision). But so far, he's the only one that I'm personally invested in, if nothing because there is a pay off in his story down the aisle.

Melinda May: played by Ming Na. My second favorite character. She comes off as the veteran badass tired of being a badass. She's the one driving the bus (the plane that they work out of) and every so often reveals that yes, she still has it. Unfortunately, it doesn't come off as an arc for her one way or the other. She's retired because she says she's retired, but is right there kicking ass. There is no mystique because she spells it all out. We're told all of this information, and there is no pay off

Fitz/Simmons: Played by Iain de Caestecker (Fitz) and Elizabeth Henstridge (Simmons). I mention these two in the same breath because so does the storytelling. I'm almost convinced that the script initially called for one character, but somewhere they forgot them and made them two and then continue to forget them. They play the resident techie, but in stereo. Their dialogue shows that they are clearly a unit, but they are so involved in their own discussion that there is no room for them to grow. They feel like functions, NPCs, there is no growth. In the third episode of the series, one of their professors is a person of interest, there is no drama, no sense of tension, no fallout when the episode is over. They aren't *real*.

Agent Grant Ward: played by Brett Dalton. Ward is the squared jawed hot-shot agent that follows his own badass path. He's no Clint Barton or Natasha Romanov though. He's a broody, asocial man who fills out the role of the "hero" in the group, but little else. There is no sense of who this man is, where he is coming from. He's just there, and we're informed about his prowess in the pilot as being "in league with Romanov" in terms of marksman ship. Natasha could convey more emotional impact by dead panning than this Ward could with a taser to his balls. Don't tell me you're badass, SHOW ME.

And finally, we have:

Skye: played by Chloe Bennet. Wikipedia describes her as "bubbly but goofy" but also "warm, edgy and witty". She can hold her own in any situation." (1)

So what I'm hearing is that she's a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who will serve whatever function to foil off of Agent Tightpants Ward. Right. Got it. I'm a guy and I'm insulted by that. Her charm and appeal come off more as pandering for the audience than the characters in the show. She has been compared to Eliza Dushku, which is a bit unfair to both of them, but I can see the point. She comes off as a Faith Lehane "I'm a badass outsider with moments of vulnerable adorkability". The only thing about her is whatever the hell Rising Tide is and what they wish to do. Other than that, they have given me NOTHING to root for this girl. She plays the role of the new guy on the team, except there doesn't seem to be any exploration of the team.

The reason I bring this up on my LARPing/Gaming blog is because I see this an example of how not to tell a story. Here you have a rich, lush environment to work with, and each episode is just going to be one new thing after the next. You're not making it a credible threat, as we all know that if you give it an episode or two, they'll clean it up with little fuss and hardly any damage that lingers. You also need to make characters that show you that they are credible in their roles and positions, not just telling us. When building a team, they have to work off of each other, and instead of getting Firefly, I'm seeing stock dialogue. I don't feel like this is a team, I don't feel like I'm watching something credible.

That being said, I desperately want to love this show. I want this to be something that people want to see, and that when the movies come out they want to see those too, feeding into each other like an ourobouros on gamma radiation. I want this to be Marvel's Agents of Shield, and not just in name only. Help me out here, ABC, you're my only hope.

Later.



Monday, October 7, 2013

Going There

Friday night, I was aikido'd into going to Changeling by my dear friend (and resident Changeling the Lost ST/Groupie) Abby. Abby knows my pressure points, because she said simply "Empress Song will be there." For the two or three of you who don't play Changeling in the New York Game, Empress Song is the leader of the Southern Court of New York, and is a major player in the group that my PC, Jin, is a part of. Unfortunately, Song is an NPC, Jin is currently the only PC member of the Directional Courts. So, when Abby says that another Sovereign of the Directions is making an in the flesh appearance, I will snap to.

God damn you Abby.

The game began as most games began, with me just kinda costing with the group to do a thing. Unfortunately, the scene was fueled more by Out Of Character ennui than anything really IC. I couldn't really care about what was going on. To me it was just a bunch of geeks sitting around a table fucking about. As time and time again has proven, I suck at doing that as myself let alone as my characters. We got shit done and we carted off into the room again. It was there that things got interesting. I sat down with Shawn and Ephraim, whose PCs Ciar (the Autumn Sovereign) and Lachoros (Winter Sovereign) were having a discussion. The three of them have collectively had a shitty month, with them losing a member of their freehold to Keepers, while Jin suffered insult by their freehold personally (he was once a member), professionally and they approached him solely as a means of arming their stupid plan, and as a delegate of another freehold altogether he was ignored on a matter which involved all of them. Those two sovereigns weren't at the gathering this all happened at, but they were also responsible to other activities that have left the Freeholds ill at ease.

There came a point somewhere between Jin's conversation with Ciar where both of them made it personal. Ciar is a Fairest Shadowsoul and could give Tolkien's Elves a run for their money in the haughty department. Jin is a soldier, a killer, and a man far too tired and covered in blood for this bullshit. It ended with Ciar selling one of his people (and Jin's best friend) under the bus on the whole matter while agreeing that things will not be done as if their Freehold is to blame. Jin agreed with him...and then promptly told him right to his face that if war should happen, as the Emperor of the Court of War, Jin would be forced to dedicate his life to the ending of the freehold, which is the last thing Jin ever wants. It ended with Jin begging Ciar to make his attempts to rectifying the problem, as the alternative is something that no one in that room wants at all.

There was a point during that conversation, I don't know when, where I realized that the room stopped. Everyone, every single player and character, stopped and watched the two of us have this heated conversation dripping with emotion. When Jin got up, and believe me when I say Jin and not I is intentional, the entire room exhaled sharply. For several minutes, an entire game of Changeling stopped for two people. I walked out of that scene, and into another one with the first West Court PC I've met other than Jin, where we have had this intense conversation/walking around each other. August, played by the awesome Scott, and Jin both had the scent of blood in the air and while August called for immediate action, Jin called for deliberation. Jin is pissed, and everything in him knows that Ciar will eventually need to be dealt with, but he will not risk open war with Seasonals and risk losing his friends and loved ones.

Game ended there, and I remember feeling this high. I don't remember my words, as I often don't when either reciting lines for a show or having written them down in a story or a blog. I felt emptied out, I felt satisfied. I realized that for the first time in five months, people saw Jin. Not Craig Page-playing-Jin, but the man himself. I felt like I was on autopilot and I just did it instead of overthinking and trying to go "well this would be cool". I hit a mark and I ran with it.

I've been LARPing for three years now and Roleplaying for nearly five. I've seen players hit that high mark where you feel that they are these characters, you are drawn into the world with them and it becomes a bit more real than it was before. I saw it all throughout Requiem, watching the power players bring a level of intensity publicly and privately where you are compelled to react in the world. I've also heard stories about players who through sheer force of will made their characters live. The key example I've heard being Dain, a former NYC player, playing Simon Cassio. Cassio's reign as Prince of New York, and his level of intensity and the sense that this is a being who will kill you if you present yourself as a threat to the City, was lauded even three years after his departure. LARPs can get dodgy with the memory thing as we often deal with the Here and Now. People were still referring to Cassio with legit, OOC fear. I've had the privilege of working with him on email scenes, as well as his wife Rachel. Rachel, this time around, plays my cousin Juniper. Madwoman, Seeress, She speaks in riddles and only she knows the true meaning. We finally met and worked during NERE and watching her interact with people and how through her performance sucked them in and, through that intensity and commitment to the character, improved their roleplay.

And I'll be honest, I want more of that. One of my larger fears is that LARP groups, once they've settled in and gotten to know each other, tend to just repeat the same routines and it becomes more about the players than it does about the characters, thereby making it less of a LARP and more of a social club with funny costuming policies. In an isolated system, entropy can only increase. So I want to open up more and focus more on these characters. One of the reasons I took a break was so I could 1) rest up because burnout is a thing and not something I like and 2) remove my PCs from the Here and Now, allowing me to come in with fresh eyes for everyone (including myself) in regards to these characters. I know how I present myself to people. I'm a goofball, a snarky cloudcuckoolander who is mostly harmless but goddamit I try. I'm aware of this.  However, I'm playing characters who aren't, and sometimes it helps to remind the other players as well as yourself of that fact.

So, in short, I'm aiming for more intense scenes, and more intense character work other than "I have a thing, I do a thing" While snarking with my friends. I can do that (or not, depending on the mood) outside of game. But If I'm showing up to a game, I want to make sure that people are getting my A game, so I'm not just sitting there IC and OOCly bored.

Later.



Sunday, September 15, 2013

Character Creation

My friend Paul asked me to talk about my method for character creation in a Live Action Role Play. That gives me some pause, because it's difficult for me to describe. I will preface all of this by saying that this is solely my opinion, and I'm still exploring the process myself. This is not a "How to guide", it's just me expounding my own madness.

Step One: Read the Setting and Themes
Know the game you're walking into and the themes that exist in it. Ask questions of the players and the storyteller to get a sense of the vibe and gib of the game as it's played as much as it is written. I spent the better part of a month going through Mage before I figured out what I wanted to do. I read it so much that I fell in love with the damned venue, but have an idea of what you want to go into.

Step Two: Form a Foundation
Now that you know what you'll be dealing with in this world, now is the time to set what you want to do with it. Most of my foundations begin with "I want to explore this..." Taglia was all about exploring Vampire Psychology, Rhys was about exploring the city, Owen about the darker side of life, Rude about the nature of his people. This is the Macrocosm of your character, the broad scope of where they will be in this world you've studied. This part isn't as much about your character as it is about you. What about this game do you want to invest yourself in? What is the story you wish to tell?

Step Three: Concept Creation and Functional Themes
This is where we start talking character. Most of the Character Concepts can be anything from two word phrases (Hardboiled Jedi, Burned Out Therapist, Street Mage, etc) or inspirations (John Constantine, Lex Luthor, mine was 'Write Petyr Baelish a check'). This will inform your decisions as to what you do next. It's both easy as sin and difficult to hold on to. Concepts may change over time as your Characters evolve. Taglia went from Vampire Therapist to Beleaguered Priscus, and his whole dynamic changed. Your concepts are capable of change, as are your characters, if given strong impetus.

There is also the exploration of what their function is in the game. I tend to take the Tarot Card route, using the Major Arcana. Are they the Fool, just aimlessless seeing what's over that hill/cliff? Are they the Magician, already established and there to give characters the tools for the trade? Are they the Emperor, official and imperious? Are they the Hermit, reclusive but full of vital information (these should be rare) are they the  High Priestess, keeper of Rituals and Mysteries. Are they the Devil, Master and Controller of Vices? Are they the Tower, the destroyer of order?

Keep in mind, these are broad concepts, and while they make up the core, they aren't all or the sum total. I'm gestalt, the parts added does not equal the sum.

Step Four: Who the fuck are you?

This one is split up into three interconnecting points

Present: What does your character do? What do they do for a living? Do they have a job, family, friends outside of direct play? What do they do during direct play, this is tied mostly to their fucntion, but what is going on laterally in their world. Rhys had his coffee shop and a girlfriend, Rude had his siblings and father, Taglia had his psychology practice. Owen has his hotel and his Ghoul.

Past: What has lead these characters to this point in their lives? This often includes their induction to whatever super natural status they now hold, what was the nature of their Vampiric Embrace? What experiences did they go through during their Awakening as a Mage? What was their Durance and Abduction like? These flavor your present, as these can reoccur and cause for good drama

Ties: No one lives in a void. Even if a character does, they didn't start there. Likewise, you didn't get there alone. People have friends, loved ones, family, enemies and associates. They can have existed in the present or in the past, and often then not they influence and add flavor to at least a one person show.

The trick of these is that in Live Action Roleplay, this is not a linear process. Case in point, I was starting in Requiem as Taglia, and given ties to my friend Jenn's PC Mirandia as her Childe. Mirandia had been dead two years already, but we were both playing characters old enough (read: we both lived in Venice during the Napoleanic Wars) that she could have sired my PC and live a long fruitful life as a blood sucking fiend. That tie alone helped me form the basis for Taglia's past, as it required him to do or be something that would have set him at distance with her.

These parts are key in development, because if you're just showing up just to show up, then you're there for less than half the full experience.


Part Five: Goals

Everyone needs to have them, whether they are short term, long term, impossible and shared. Short term goals are ones that can be completed anywhere between hours and months, long term goals take from months to years, shared goals are ones you share with crew mates or likeminded friends.

I can't stress the need for an impossible goal. An impossible goal is something that should be nigh unattainable by a character. Why? Because when the short term goals are gone, and the long term goals are tucked away and everyone is celebrating the success of accomplishing their shared goal, their is still something itching in the character to accomplish. I also should stress the "nigh" part of "nigh" impossible. It should not be something that can be given up so easily, it should be something just barely out of reach, just to keep the character reaching out for it. Taglia, who through two years of interactions went from reclusive psychologist to someone who had responsibility thrust upon him started to find himself sympathizing with and (unbeknownst to him and me) mimicking his late Sire in some ways, wished to make peace with her. Unfortunately, she was dead. But death is a loose concept, and one night he (and I) get a phone call with Her on the line, and her expressing approval over his choices and situation. It was brief, but the impossible CAN become impossible.

And when you've run out of stuff, find new stuff, even 'escape from Ennui" can be a goal.

Part Six: Flaws

What about your characters gets in their way to achieving these goals. Now, when it comes to New World of Darkness, I'm not talking about anything necessarily mechanical. I am talking about Character Flaws, things that players can call upon to cause a dramatic issue. Taglia had his suicidal ideation, Declan was a Coward, Rude was both fascinated and repulsed by Death, Jin has Post Traumatic Stress, Rhys is consistently haunted by his family's tragedy and Owen's own moral ambiguity. These are treated the same way a novel's characters have flaws, they aren't game derangements and they aren't mechanical errors...for the record I'm not a fan of how White Wolf has handled either.

More often then not, I've used the Vice/Virtue system to help assign these Character Flaws. Lust for thrillseeking/sex, Gluttony for addiction, Wrath for destructive/self destructive attitudes, Sloth for Apathy or Cowardice, Pride for Vanity or Unreasonably high opinion of oneself. Likewise, the Virtues are the aspects that help redeem these characters...or get them into more trouble. Jin's sense of Benevolence (which I broke down as the Virtue of Charity) is most likely A) going to get him killed or B) drive him into a bottle of something likely to kill him.

Part Seven: Methodology

Welcome to the end of the beginning. Now that you have a character with a background, ties, goals, and flaws, now comes Methodology. How the hell are you going to 1) Portray this shmuck in a live action roleplay setting, 2) convey the goals, flaws, and ties and 3)interact with the other people playing pretendy fun times. That's up to you.

Some of you may have noted that I didn't mention "What powers does your character have, what abilities do the do." That's up to you, really. The focus of this piece is to speak on developing a Character, a Character that will be performed and portrayed in. The Powers, to me, are the flavor. They are the tools you use in your methodology, they are not (should not) BE your methodology.

When I say methodology, are you going to use guile to trick your way through? Will you let two parties fight it out and scavenge the spoils? Will you go head in, guns blazing? This is what should be considered. Powers, I think, get too much focus. You want to sit and talk about actions and powers, then I would recommend Table Top.

Later

Saturday, September 14, 2013

NPC Based Merits

"Allies, Mentors, Retainers and similar Merit-based NPCs are created and portrayed by the Storyteller." 
- Mind's Eye Society Universal Addenda


A recent development came up as the new chronicle rolled in, it has a lot to do with the discussions I posted previously about NPCs and how they should be handled by the STs. The ST chain of the Mind's Eye Society has made a point of stressing that the NPC based Merits. For those of you who do not play in the New World of Darkness Games, Merits are defined in the corebook as "Merit: A character trait representing enhancements or elements of a character’s background, such as his allies or influence." So when I say NPC Based Merits, I mean items that tie a PC to a character inside the setting. They come in different flavors:

1) Mentor: A teacher and guide to the PC. Mentors often take the tack of teaching through subtle means, Daniel LaRusso had Miyagi on his sheet. The Mentor acts as teacher, though the caveat of agenda of their own is always on the table.

2) Contacts: A bit more passive than the other merits. Contacts give information, but not much else, they can be anywhere from a group, a demographic or a single person in the know.

3) Allies: More active versions of Contacts, Allies allows you to gain assistance in a certain area (multiple purchases means multiple areas). You can have Allies in Streetgangs, Allies in the Police, and if you ask for favors that are in their area, they can (note that word) do it. It's wise not to abuse this as they do have lives of their own.

4) Retainers: These NPCs are a PCs go to NPCs. They are their valets, drivers, managers, slaves, investigators. They work almost exclusively for the PC, if not outright. Almost each major template has a sub-class that act as perfect Retainer types (Ghouls for Vampires, Wolf-Blooded for Werewolves, Sleepwalker/Proximi, Fae-Touched for Changelings). This is the most ubiquitous of the Merits, and is also the most fun to roleplay with as you're effectively making a secondary character to assist you.

5) Familiars: Entities that are bonded to the PC. These include Familiar's of the Spirit Realm, the Ghosts of Twilight Realm (no, they do not sparkle...okay, some of them do), the Goetic Summonings of the Astral, Zombies, Hedge Beasts, Hedgespun Automata, etc, etc, etc. These are overtly supernatural entities and are usually beholden to esoteric rules that keep them in check.

As the Mage Storyteller, a venue that has ready access to nearly all of the realms, I have to deal with most of these types of Merits (barring the venue specific varieties). In my time as a player and as a Storyteller, I've seen these Merit Based NPCs used in two ways: Fully fleshed out concepts, and dots on a sheet. An example of Dots on a Sheet were my experiences with Jack on Duck Island. Jack was a consistently exasperated Retainer for the overly dramatic escapades of what was a Vampire Sitcom. Then I've run into it where someone goes "I have five dots of Allies, they're going to back me up" And that's that.


Can you guess which version I like better?

NPCs, as I've stated before, represent your setting. If you're playing a game that is based deeply on your settting and on themes, that will reflect in how these NPCs react to others. NPC based Merits is access to the Setting for aid and assistance. Further tying this down, NPCs are to be written by the storytelling staff, an aspect that is being hammered home a lot more closely than it was last chronicle. These are, for all intents and purposes, part of the setting.

This gets to be interesting as I've said before, Mage deals with creatures and characters on multiple Realms. Each one has their own flavor and their own sort of themes. The Spirit Realm is the most obvious of them, but the Astral has it's own David Lynchian quirks. I can't speak for other storytellers, I'm not them, but if I'm expected to write them and portray them, you'd better believe I'm adding Depth and Consequences to them. NPCs are not just functions to be used at the players convenience, they are the population of your game world. They react when you do a thing, they do things when you aren't even around. So while a PC's sheet has dots that denote access to them, that's exactly what it is: Access.

Things to keep in mind.

Later