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.