So, the time is nearly upon us. New Chronicle. That time in the Mind's Eye Society (nee' Camarilla) where all of the stories go back to the beginning. Everything is rebooted, and we all make new characters. I have been preparing for the New Chronicle in one form or another since August of last year, building and defining ideas for my characters in the various venues as well as the setting for Mage. I have built, organizes, planned and disseminated information.
One of the projects I've been working on is a setting document for the venue. It started when the Changeling the Lost ST made one, and then every other Storyteller in the room (past and present) collective said "I hate you". So I made one, aided and abetted by said Lost ST Abby with assistance from my friends and fellow players Brandon, Ephraim, Greg and Matt. It's pretty cool and I love to share:
The Supernal Stage Handbook
But, that being said. I still don't feel prepared. In fact, two weeks before game goes live, I'm pretty fucking terrified. These are my fears
The first is that The game tanks. Mage just isn't that popular of a game in the city (or really the Region). Most of the players are those who loving LARPing in general (god love em) but in a town where studio space costs to play it gets to be a matter of "Can we afford to hold this small game that isn't bringing much of anything in?" I know I'm a lone few who can say this, but I love Mage and would actually be disheartened if I couldn't play/run in it. I've been dealing with the Coordinator in making concessions to keep Mage strong, as well as trying to use the small size as a way to recruit people into the club. It's a shitty feeling knowing your game is on the chop block, but this is actually something I will fight for to keep.
2) You know that handbook I just posted? All of that material and background going for shit. I don't know how, I don't know where, but just the thought of that amount of work being disregarded. It's just a fear from last chron where there was no sense of personal agency and everything had to be doled out to the players. A few of them are playing a very "a Mage can be an island". My counter point, and ultimately my plan to prevent this is to remind them that "For those that remember Atlantis, Mages have never had any sort of luck with islands." I plan on making an invested plot for each one, bringing them in a bit further. But this is going to be a lot on me, and I hope I can do the job.
I don't know, I hate this feeling. I've prepped, I prepared, I love this venue, but I feel like I have less of a clue now than I did in October.
Man plans, Fate laughs. And Fate is a very active things in Mage.
later
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Putting on the Mask: Prepping for Roleplay
So in my last post I talked about giving your character attitude to enhance your performance and to make roleplay better. I didn't do much of a good job in saying how. The reason for this is simple: I can't speak for you. I can only speak for myself. I hate writing something and making people feel like I mean "And thou shalt." If you have a different method and it works for you, do it up. Hell, TELL ME ABOUT IT. I like hearing new things.
So this post is going to be more about the development of attitude for a character, which dovetails nicely into another discussion: preparing for RolePlay. Ready? Good!
As I've mentioned before, I'm a Jungian Counselor in my day job. One of Jung's many contributions to psychology was the concept of the Persona. The Persona is described as that aspect of our Self (Capitalization intended) that we put on when interacting with others, and is commonly depicted as a Mask. Every day, we put on the Mask of the Student, the Teacher, the Artist, the Worker, The Spouse, The Lover, the Fighter, the Dreamer. We wear Masks that are mixtures of these things depending on who we are with and the setting we find ourselves in.
As a roleplayer, I find it easier to play characters that hold a kernel of myself in them. Taglia was the part of me that wished to help but did not wish anyone to discover his own weaknesses, Rhys was the socially outraged New Yorker, Declan was the writer who never wanted responsibility, Rave was the snarky wiseass who kept secrets to protect himself and ended up bleeding for it. These are all aspects of Me, the Self as I see it. I'm not saying that there isn't anything to be said of creating a character wholecloth. As I'm discovering with Owen, my upcoming Littlefinger-as-a-Sith-Lord Vampire, being a morally grey character after years of playing White Hats is interesting and challenging.
My default method is to take a part of me and build with that as the premise. The one thing I truly and totally do not approve of is playing an avatar of yourself with a sheet. I've noticed far too many people who put too much of themselves into their characters take things far too seriously than fun-pretendy times. You are portraying these characters, you *aren't* these characters. So in my humble experience, always build a character that, while in some ways similar, is not inherently you.
So now comes the question: How, Craig, do you do this?
A few tricks, a lot of them coming in the development and referring back to them on the way to the next game. The first is simple: Have a background, write it out, keep a copy with you. Remember the details to remember where you character is coming from. Rhys came from a family without a father and a negligible mother, a manipulative grandmother and a secretive grandfather. As such, his past was laden without trust. Write these out and read them as you start your prep, write out new ones as time goes on. I usually do written reaction papers on the way out of a game or in response to a scene. Sometimes it's easier when your game allows online scenes where you can act out their reactions, have a record, and still be able to walk away from it. But if a game does not generally hold an online aspect there is usually some form of journal or scene written that describes the PC at this point in their life. You take these and you read them to remember who they are and where they are, so you know how they would react to related (and sometimes unrelated) things.
Rhys was very close to becoming a player Avatar, as was Rave. Both of them had my core reaction of analysis and snark. But I put enough history into their backstories as to make their motivations and reactions distant from my own. I'm a writer, I do not write my protagonists to win and they will often suffer even if I have to do it myself. This requires a lot of sitting in the metaphorical mirror and getting real with yourself. Rhys was decidedly more screwed up than anyone care to notice and Rave never finished a story unless he was broken and bleeding either metaphorically or physically.
Another trick I do are playlists, all of my characters have a playlist. Rhys was mostly Muse and classic Rock, Owen is mostly Rza, Kanye and a few others, all describing sex and power. Rude is mostly Thrice and some Imagine Dragons, earthy tones but with an acid kick. Rave was fueled by Yuki Kajiura, especially the track Cynical World. This is to help me get into their mood, tempos, upswings. I live in the North Bronx, meaning at best I have an hour train ride into New York City. This gives me plenty of time to put the music on, read my material and go in guns blazing
Another thing, and this is the one thing that if you learn nothing else from: Make Ties. Nothing enforces your character more than other players and their characters being in on it. Reality is based on perception, a thing becomes more real the more people agree that it is real. Somebody thought of it, and someone believed it. Right now I'm in the process of building Jacob Rude, my Retrograde Tinker (Who, by sheer nature of being a Retrograde, gets to wear a literal mask) in Dystopia Rising, one of the things that I must do as a player is create ties for him so he can enter the space more readily as other people know him and his story. His credibility as a character is maintained in no small part by the other characters around him.
And having character ties, especially historical ones, helps in building them. Rude had a mother and a father, some siblings. A tie with a PC made another character his uncle on his mother side, gave him a location as his home. Their tie comes in at the Uncle's death, peppering that relationship. My Mage in the Accord venue has romantic ties with at least one PC, which began and end messily in the bathroom of the club he was DJing in. That tells me he's the kind of person who fucks around, and having another PC to attest to that reinforces it. Maintaining this part of the character is easy, you just play. Creating ties nails down aspects of your character into solid ground, because now other people are involved.
Finally, and often something I forget, is the physical build up. By this I mean trying to get a few ticks down in my head well enough so he is distinguishable from me. Rave, my NY Jedi Persona, was a master of Shii Cho, a style of lightsaber combat. I prefer the form myself, but while I am definitely more analytical and observant, Rave was the one hauling through the battlefields after only a quick decision. So before I had to perform for a show, I would do the sword form of Shii Cho we made in Jedi. The first time would be as me, the second time as him. I would do this over again until a little bit of the outward swagger and the snarl formed on my lips, until the careful step forward was a committed lunge. While it was subtle, I felt the shift, and that is all you need sometimes.
All of these things help to build and enhance your character's Mask and keep it going. Congratulations, you've got a character Persona you can portray. I think this method is healthy because you've built up something that is insulated from your personal Self. I can't imagine playing Dystopia Rising, a game that is as much physically taxing as well as it is emotionally taxing. My friend Ericka plays a charcter who, in one of the more recent games, was executed on the steps of the main building by an invading army. She also recounted the traumatic experiences of her character (she got better after her brains were blown out) in the more previous game and decided to back out because it was becoming too much for her. She decided to take off the mask of her PC and be herself for a while/do things she as a person wanted/had to do. Imagine a player whose character was only a weakly veiled version of themselves. Imagine someone who was Too Far in the head of their characters in a full Method Acting overboard Tom Cruise kind of way? How ugly could that turn if their character went through that? How much damage? Having a metaphorical mask to put on and take off helps protect you from the wear of this other poor bastard you're playing.
Now, for the most important trick, what to do after the game. I like to call it the Debriefing Process, in which a person comes down from playing their characters, effectively removing their mask until they need to put it on again. A lot of this is doing the reverse of building/putting on the Mask in the first place. Write out your character stuff as soon as you can and then set it aside until the next game. Pour the memories out and then put them aside. Listen to music, but put it on shuffle, let other themes and tracks be heard. The idea is to reassert yourself as your dominant Persona and not the one you've created. Debrief and take a break.
It's not a perfect system. I had a hard time doing it when I first did Dystopia Rising, it's the shock of the immersive LARPing experience. It's easy to throw yourself into hypothetical scenarios when you aren't actually in the woods in the middle of the night with things chasing after you with malicious intent. It took me a weekend of NPCing to get to that point, with the key moment of me putting on the mask of an outerguardsmen and knuckling up to the front lines of a battle.
Live Action Role Play is all about exploring situations and scenarios, some of them maybe be a little too far out but that's what the extra padding of the Persona is for. It's the land of make believe, and you get to play whatever roles you've always dreamed of in worlds you may or may never have for a few hours, or a day, or a weekend with other like minded people. We enhance our time together by making the veil of disbelief as see through and raised as we possibly can and then share in the communal come down once veil has lowered. That is the core of what we do, in my opinion, take with it what you will.
Later,
So this post is going to be more about the development of attitude for a character, which dovetails nicely into another discussion: preparing for RolePlay. Ready? Good!
As I've mentioned before, I'm a Jungian Counselor in my day job. One of Jung's many contributions to psychology was the concept of the Persona. The Persona is described as that aspect of our Self (Capitalization intended) that we put on when interacting with others, and is commonly depicted as a Mask. Every day, we put on the Mask of the Student, the Teacher, the Artist, the Worker, The Spouse, The Lover, the Fighter, the Dreamer. We wear Masks that are mixtures of these things depending on who we are with and the setting we find ourselves in.
As a roleplayer, I find it easier to play characters that hold a kernel of myself in them. Taglia was the part of me that wished to help but did not wish anyone to discover his own weaknesses, Rhys was the socially outraged New Yorker, Declan was the writer who never wanted responsibility, Rave was the snarky wiseass who kept secrets to protect himself and ended up bleeding for it. These are all aspects of Me, the Self as I see it. I'm not saying that there isn't anything to be said of creating a character wholecloth. As I'm discovering with Owen, my upcoming Littlefinger-as-a-Sith-Lord Vampire, being a morally grey character after years of playing White Hats is interesting and challenging.
My default method is to take a part of me and build with that as the premise. The one thing I truly and totally do not approve of is playing an avatar of yourself with a sheet. I've noticed far too many people who put too much of themselves into their characters take things far too seriously than fun-pretendy times. You are portraying these characters, you *aren't* these characters. So in my humble experience, always build a character that, while in some ways similar, is not inherently you.
So now comes the question: How, Craig, do you do this?
A few tricks, a lot of them coming in the development and referring back to them on the way to the next game. The first is simple: Have a background, write it out, keep a copy with you. Remember the details to remember where you character is coming from. Rhys came from a family without a father and a negligible mother, a manipulative grandmother and a secretive grandfather. As such, his past was laden without trust. Write these out and read them as you start your prep, write out new ones as time goes on. I usually do written reaction papers on the way out of a game or in response to a scene. Sometimes it's easier when your game allows online scenes where you can act out their reactions, have a record, and still be able to walk away from it. But if a game does not generally hold an online aspect there is usually some form of journal or scene written that describes the PC at this point in their life. You take these and you read them to remember who they are and where they are, so you know how they would react to related (and sometimes unrelated) things.
Rhys was very close to becoming a player Avatar, as was Rave. Both of them had my core reaction of analysis and snark. But I put enough history into their backstories as to make their motivations and reactions distant from my own. I'm a writer, I do not write my protagonists to win and they will often suffer even if I have to do it myself. This requires a lot of sitting in the metaphorical mirror and getting real with yourself. Rhys was decidedly more screwed up than anyone care to notice and Rave never finished a story unless he was broken and bleeding either metaphorically or physically.
Another trick I do are playlists, all of my characters have a playlist. Rhys was mostly Muse and classic Rock, Owen is mostly Rza, Kanye and a few others, all describing sex and power. Rude is mostly Thrice and some Imagine Dragons, earthy tones but with an acid kick. Rave was fueled by Yuki Kajiura, especially the track Cynical World. This is to help me get into their mood, tempos, upswings. I live in the North Bronx, meaning at best I have an hour train ride into New York City. This gives me plenty of time to put the music on, read my material and go in guns blazing
Another thing, and this is the one thing that if you learn nothing else from: Make Ties. Nothing enforces your character more than other players and their characters being in on it. Reality is based on perception, a thing becomes more real the more people agree that it is real. Somebody thought of it, and someone believed it. Right now I'm in the process of building Jacob Rude, my Retrograde Tinker (Who, by sheer nature of being a Retrograde, gets to wear a literal mask) in Dystopia Rising, one of the things that I must do as a player is create ties for him so he can enter the space more readily as other people know him and his story. His credibility as a character is maintained in no small part by the other characters around him.
And having character ties, especially historical ones, helps in building them. Rude had a mother and a father, some siblings. A tie with a PC made another character his uncle on his mother side, gave him a location as his home. Their tie comes in at the Uncle's death, peppering that relationship. My Mage in the Accord venue has romantic ties with at least one PC, which began and end messily in the bathroom of the club he was DJing in. That tells me he's the kind of person who fucks around, and having another PC to attest to that reinforces it. Maintaining this part of the character is easy, you just play. Creating ties nails down aspects of your character into solid ground, because now other people are involved.
Finally, and often something I forget, is the physical build up. By this I mean trying to get a few ticks down in my head well enough so he is distinguishable from me. Rave, my NY Jedi Persona, was a master of Shii Cho, a style of lightsaber combat. I prefer the form myself, but while I am definitely more analytical and observant, Rave was the one hauling through the battlefields after only a quick decision. So before I had to perform for a show, I would do the sword form of Shii Cho we made in Jedi. The first time would be as me, the second time as him. I would do this over again until a little bit of the outward swagger and the snarl formed on my lips, until the careful step forward was a committed lunge. While it was subtle, I felt the shift, and that is all you need sometimes.
All of these things help to build and enhance your character's Mask and keep it going. Congratulations, you've got a character Persona you can portray. I think this method is healthy because you've built up something that is insulated from your personal Self. I can't imagine playing Dystopia Rising, a game that is as much physically taxing as well as it is emotionally taxing. My friend Ericka plays a charcter who, in one of the more recent games, was executed on the steps of the main building by an invading army. She also recounted the traumatic experiences of her character (she got better after her brains were blown out) in the more previous game and decided to back out because it was becoming too much for her. She decided to take off the mask of her PC and be herself for a while/do things she as a person wanted/had to do. Imagine a player whose character was only a weakly veiled version of themselves. Imagine someone who was Too Far in the head of their characters in a full Method Acting overboard Tom Cruise kind of way? How ugly could that turn if their character went through that? How much damage? Having a metaphorical mask to put on and take off helps protect you from the wear of this other poor bastard you're playing.
Now, for the most important trick, what to do after the game. I like to call it the Debriefing Process, in which a person comes down from playing their characters, effectively removing their mask until they need to put it on again. A lot of this is doing the reverse of building/putting on the Mask in the first place. Write out your character stuff as soon as you can and then set it aside until the next game. Pour the memories out and then put them aside. Listen to music, but put it on shuffle, let other themes and tracks be heard. The idea is to reassert yourself as your dominant Persona and not the one you've created. Debrief and take a break.
It's not a perfect system. I had a hard time doing it when I first did Dystopia Rising, it's the shock of the immersive LARPing experience. It's easy to throw yourself into hypothetical scenarios when you aren't actually in the woods in the middle of the night with things chasing after you with malicious intent. It took me a weekend of NPCing to get to that point, with the key moment of me putting on the mask of an outerguardsmen and knuckling up to the front lines of a battle.
Live Action Role Play is all about exploring situations and scenarios, some of them maybe be a little too far out but that's what the extra padding of the Persona is for. It's the land of make believe, and you get to play whatever roles you've always dreamed of in worlds you may or may never have for a few hours, or a day, or a weekend with other like minded people. We enhance our time together by making the veil of disbelief as see through and raised as we possibly can and then share in the communal come down once veil has lowered. That is the core of what we do, in my opinion, take with it what you will.
Later,
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Walking the Walk: Attitude in LARP
Last week, I did a class for New York Jedi. The class was about doing quick solo performances that display your character (Shameless Plug Here). In the end, it wasn't what I expected. Everyone did sword demos and movements, but there was something missing for quite a few of them.
A few years back at New York Comic Con, my friend Rob watched us perform. Also a performer, Rob mentioned that the fight choreography was mechanically sound, but it was clear that it was stage and choreographed. It was missing character. Showing off the videos from the class, I realized that this was the same thing. Characters have ticks, small little things that make them their own. This can be as simple as a repeated flourish of a saber, or the bark of laughter to punctuate a strike, or the snarl of a fierce competitor. Without those beats, those little nuances, what is the difference between your character and you?
The reason for my belief comes from he fact that we as performers have the task of making the audience, that nebulous clutch of people for whom we don't exist, complete the circuit to lift of the veil of disbelief. They've come to see and to try, we have to give them the boost. In Jedi, our audiences are usually fan boys at conventions or passersby on the street. They've seen it before or they don't know what they're seeing or expecting. So we as performers need to give them as much of a boost as possible. We need to give them the illusion that this is a fight and not just a staged fight. There's a difference. The difference is Attitude.
But wait, this is a LARP blog.
The same principle extends to LARPing, how does your character comport themselves when interacting? What are their ticks, their reactions? I've seen players come in and just portray themselves cranked to eleven. While this is all well and good, it gets boring if it's the same character all the time in and out of game. So what makes your character distinct from the other characters and yourself?
Let me take a look back at my past PCs and some of the future ones.
Vincenzo Taglia: The phrase "drink to forget" didn't apply to uber-eidetic vampire, but like hell if he didn't try. The need for a drink was strong in Tag. His major character moment came when in his first game the Ordo Dracul went out on a mission to rescue a missing Dragon. They returned and the wine had been drunk. Taglia went on a five minute rant in broken Engilish/Italian (another tick, he would slip into his native Italian when upset) to the rescued Dragon about the wine being gone. Wine/Lacrima became something of his tic. To the point where when three other Mekhet came up to him with plot, they asked if he was ready to listen. "No," he said. He drained his glass of wine and filled up the next one. "Now, I'm ready."
Rhys: The stereotypical New Yorker. Nothing shocked him, he saw it all, he'd seen it all. Even if he hadn't. It didn't help that Rhys was tethered to the will of New York City. He'd walk, in, see the situation, sigh and then go off. The phrase "I'll ask"/"I asked" became his thing, as he went off to get information from the City. His identity as a New Yorker in a game trapped in a train station helped set him a part from the other Mages. This character and his attitude will be coming back to the Accord venue.
Now, the problem comes in the development of the next characters. How do they carry themselves?
Jin: My West Court Lost, is the designated Common Sense in the room. While I tend to play things frustrated, Jin is more stoic and direct. He follows the attitude of the knife, the answers are simple once you cut away all of the rubbish. So his tone is direct, his motions sure. He doesn't do anything that isn't being fully committed on.
Owen: Owen lives in the world of Greys. He's neither actively evil nor openly good. His tone is usually ambiguous, and his mannerisms passively flippant. A lot of Littlefinger and Alan Rickman, the shrug of death to morally questionable things. "What is his talking about?" /Shrug "No Idea".
Jacob Rude: Oh dear sweet, half rotted off Jacob Rude. Acerbic, speciest, pragmatic and with a survival track a mile wide. Jacob's main trick is always being mindful of the exits. He's not a coward, but he's not stupid. He's not a fighter, he's a fixer. He knows when it's time to cut and run. If he's in a room with multiple exits, be sure he'll try and stay in the center. If he's in a room with only one exit, his back will never be turned to it.
So with these in mind, how does one go about having attitude?
It's simple: just do it. Don't make a show of it, don't explain to people what you're doing or be obnoxious about it. It sucks to beat your audience (in LARPing, your fellow players are the audience) over the head with what you're doing. Just do it, it's natural to your characters, make it natural to you. If Rude is going to check for all of the exits, then I'm going to do a cursory scan, maybe calmly peek into a a room. Someone calls me out on it or brings it up, you answer. It's not a big thing to him, it's natural. That's what attitude is about, you don't broadcast it, it just is. It won't be perfect at first, it never is, but you work through the kinks and you make it more natural until you can get it. I do recommend preparing and post-game. But more on that in another post.
Later,
If you want me to go into this more, or wish to add to it, please comment. This blog is me trying to put my thoughts in order, and having another voice always helps - C
A few years back at New York Comic Con, my friend Rob watched us perform. Also a performer, Rob mentioned that the fight choreography was mechanically sound, but it was clear that it was stage and choreographed. It was missing character. Showing off the videos from the class, I realized that this was the same thing. Characters have ticks, small little things that make them their own. This can be as simple as a repeated flourish of a saber, or the bark of laughter to punctuate a strike, or the snarl of a fierce competitor. Without those beats, those little nuances, what is the difference between your character and you?
The reason for my belief comes from he fact that we as performers have the task of making the audience, that nebulous clutch of people for whom we don't exist, complete the circuit to lift of the veil of disbelief. They've come to see and to try, we have to give them the boost. In Jedi, our audiences are usually fan boys at conventions or passersby on the street. They've seen it before or they don't know what they're seeing or expecting. So we as performers need to give them as much of a boost as possible. We need to give them the illusion that this is a fight and not just a staged fight. There's a difference. The difference is Attitude.
But wait, this is a LARP blog.
The same principle extends to LARPing, how does your character comport themselves when interacting? What are their ticks, their reactions? I've seen players come in and just portray themselves cranked to eleven. While this is all well and good, it gets boring if it's the same character all the time in and out of game. So what makes your character distinct from the other characters and yourself?
Let me take a look back at my past PCs and some of the future ones.
Vincenzo Taglia: The phrase "drink to forget" didn't apply to uber-eidetic vampire, but like hell if he didn't try. The need for a drink was strong in Tag. His major character moment came when in his first game the Ordo Dracul went out on a mission to rescue a missing Dragon. They returned and the wine had been drunk. Taglia went on a five minute rant in broken Engilish/Italian (another tick, he would slip into his native Italian when upset) to the rescued Dragon about the wine being gone. Wine/Lacrima became something of his tic. To the point where when three other Mekhet came up to him with plot, they asked if he was ready to listen. "No," he said. He drained his glass of wine and filled up the next one. "Now, I'm ready."
Rhys: The stereotypical New Yorker. Nothing shocked him, he saw it all, he'd seen it all. Even if he hadn't. It didn't help that Rhys was tethered to the will of New York City. He'd walk, in, see the situation, sigh and then go off. The phrase "I'll ask"/"I asked" became his thing, as he went off to get information from the City. His identity as a New Yorker in a game trapped in a train station helped set him a part from the other Mages. This character and his attitude will be coming back to the Accord venue.
Now, the problem comes in the development of the next characters. How do they carry themselves?
Jin: My West Court Lost, is the designated Common Sense in the room. While I tend to play things frustrated, Jin is more stoic and direct. He follows the attitude of the knife, the answers are simple once you cut away all of the rubbish. So his tone is direct, his motions sure. He doesn't do anything that isn't being fully committed on.
Owen: Owen lives in the world of Greys. He's neither actively evil nor openly good. His tone is usually ambiguous, and his mannerisms passively flippant. A lot of Littlefinger and Alan Rickman, the shrug of death to morally questionable things. "What is his talking about?" /Shrug "No Idea".
Jacob Rude: Oh dear sweet, half rotted off Jacob Rude. Acerbic, speciest, pragmatic and with a survival track a mile wide. Jacob's main trick is always being mindful of the exits. He's not a coward, but he's not stupid. He's not a fighter, he's a fixer. He knows when it's time to cut and run. If he's in a room with multiple exits, be sure he'll try and stay in the center. If he's in a room with only one exit, his back will never be turned to it.
So with these in mind, how does one go about having attitude?
It's simple: just do it. Don't make a show of it, don't explain to people what you're doing or be obnoxious about it. It sucks to beat your audience (in LARPing, your fellow players are the audience) over the head with what you're doing. Just do it, it's natural to your characters, make it natural to you. If Rude is going to check for all of the exits, then I'm going to do a cursory scan, maybe calmly peek into a a room. Someone calls me out on it or brings it up, you answer. It's not a big thing to him, it's natural. That's what attitude is about, you don't broadcast it, it just is. It won't be perfect at first, it never is, but you work through the kinks and you make it more natural until you can get it. I do recommend preparing and post-game. But more on that in another post.
Later,
If you want me to go into this more, or wish to add to it, please comment. This blog is me trying to put my thoughts in order, and having another voice always helps - C
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Genre Appropriateness: It's not what you do, it's how you do it.
This blog comes from something Michael Pucci, game developer and founder of Dystopia Rising, had said. To paraphrase, he commented on the act of players watching movies and taking in media to get into the mood before a game. He mentioned that the popular movie of choice was "Zombieland", a comedy/action movie about the Zombie Apocalypse coming in and survivors with their own agendas.
It's nice, it's got Zombies, Tallahasee is definitely a Merican if there ever was one, but it doesn't nail down the Genre. What the story is at it's core.
A few years back I taught a class at New York Jedi about Psychology and Storytelling of Star Wars. I open it up with one simple question: What genre is Star Wars?
It's a fairly simple question, right? Wrong. I got Sci Fi, Space Opera, Adventure, Mythic Epic (someone was trying to appeal to the teacher). In the end, Star Wars is a Fantasy-Adventure story. Yes it has Aliens and Spaceships, but that could just as easily be Races and Ships in a more medieval setting. Star Wars took elements from several genres, Western (Tattooine), Jidai-geki (The Jedi), WWII films (the trench run and the Empire in general) and a bunch of other sources and mixed them in a bowl. At it's heart, it's a Fantasy-Adventure tale.
Why Fantasy instead of Sci Fi? Because the Force is explained in great length (some times too much length, Episode I) and the technology is never glanced at. Planet Killers? Sure. Swords made of expanding beams of laser that can somehow stop? Done. No questions asked. The Force is gone to at great lengths by Yoda, Obi-Wan, Vader and the Emperor. It's their magic system, and that makes it a Fantasy.
So what is Dystopia Rising at it's core? It's a Survival Horror game. Here you are, at the end of it all, with low resources, the clothes on your back, and an entire world that wishes to rip your face off and eat it/wear it/wipe it's ass with it. Zombies are just the more obvious attraction, cockroaches in the grand scheme that just seem to multiply and swarm.. You've also got Raiders, Nazi's, Pikies, G-Men, Stephen King's managerie of Oh My Fucking Christ You Sick Bastard, and anything else coming out of the minds of the sick puppies running the show.
Hi Guys.
So is a game that has Zombies in it a Zombie game? Up to you. Me, Zombies may be a common occurrence, but the themes of the game are survival and community. One of my favorite novels is the Newsflesh trilogy, written by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire). Beautiful political thriller about the media, it just happens to be during the Zombie Apocalypse, except the Apocalypse happened and people just moved on with their lives a lot more paranoid and very armed. I love the series and would love to play DR to the effect of the series, but it doesn't mesh because the themes in it do not jive fully with Survival Horror.
So to counter that, people suggested a few other sources. Spaghetti Westerns (The Original Django comes to mind, look it up); Deadwood, with it's backwater encampment feel and ensemble cast of bastards, fuck ups, and the odd decent person is actually perfect for reference; Book of Eli, a Post Apocalyptic movie starring Denzel Washington nails most of the aesthetic of being in a "after the end times" scenario. Hunting cats, trading, scavenging, moral ambiguity and a sense of nihilism vs. higher purpose; the Original Evil dead, cabin in the woods with unspeakable nightmares just waiting.. There are dozens of other sources, but I think at it's heart you have to focus on the elements of Survival in nightmarish times.
This whole talk got me to thinking about my game: Mage The Awakening. What were 'It's Themes? It's genre? The story of Mage is, at it's core, a story about the corrupting nature of Power and the corruptibility of the Soul. You have access to the powers of magic, can sense, nudge, shift, control and hack the very fabric of Reality. How does this affect you? What happens when you fuck up? Last chronicle, the game had taken a very strange "Superfriends" vibe. These were people who joined together to do battle against evil...except they had arbitrarily declared himself "Good". That was boring, because what is the point of playing in the world of Darkness when everyone is playing the hero?
So, I reminded them of the problems of the soul. And corrupted ta number of them to the power of the Abyss. This chronicle, I'm building a setting where the enemies have taken over the City and the players need each other and the NPC factions to stamp them out. Power is not just who can use the biggest spell, it's how they're used. I drew a lot of inspiration for the Seers of the Throne, the mega conspiracy that attempts to rule mundane and magical societies, from the Syndicate, the conspiracy in the X-Files. These are men that may never be seen or heard from the players, but their agents and influence are always felt.
I also, personally, find the nature of the soul a fascinating and key topic for the venue, especially when most of the threats to Mages are often ones that seek to eat/corrupt/control their souls. I tend to find the esoteric discussions of Ghost in the Shell (both movie and the Stand Alone Complex Series) as well as the Matrix Series (minus Keanu 'I know kung fu' Reeves) as good examples of this. Mage deals with the concepts of Reality, Perception. There are no hard truths except the ones we make, how do we deal with that when it is shown that we can be wrong about how we see the world? These sources are actually listed in the core book of the game as being inspiration.
So what am I saying with all of this? Be mindful of the genre in which you are playing, discern and parse through it. Does this mean that those wanting to use Zombieland to psyche up for DR? Or Chinese Wuxia for Mage? Hell no, you add to the palette and sandbox of the game. However, always be aware of what the game is at it's core. This runs the risk of lockout or hijacking a game.
But more on that in another post.
Later
If you liked this article, disagree with it, or just wish to throw your love and devotion (or even your hatemail) comment down below. If you have a topic, or would like me to follow up, shoot me a comment here as well. - Craig
It's nice, it's got Zombies, Tallahasee is definitely a Merican if there ever was one, but it doesn't nail down the Genre. What the story is at it's core.
A few years back I taught a class at New York Jedi about Psychology and Storytelling of Star Wars. I open it up with one simple question: What genre is Star Wars?
It's a fairly simple question, right? Wrong. I got Sci Fi, Space Opera, Adventure, Mythic Epic (someone was trying to appeal to the teacher). In the end, Star Wars is a Fantasy-Adventure story. Yes it has Aliens and Spaceships, but that could just as easily be Races and Ships in a more medieval setting. Star Wars took elements from several genres, Western (Tattooine), Jidai-geki (The Jedi), WWII films (the trench run and the Empire in general) and a bunch of other sources and mixed them in a bowl. At it's heart, it's a Fantasy-Adventure tale.
Why Fantasy instead of Sci Fi? Because the Force is explained in great length (some times too much length, Episode I) and the technology is never glanced at. Planet Killers? Sure. Swords made of expanding beams of laser that can somehow stop? Done. No questions asked. The Force is gone to at great lengths by Yoda, Obi-Wan, Vader and the Emperor. It's their magic system, and that makes it a Fantasy.
So what is Dystopia Rising at it's core? It's a Survival Horror game. Here you are, at the end of it all, with low resources, the clothes on your back, and an entire world that wishes to rip your face off and eat it/wear it/wipe it's ass with it. Zombies are just the more obvious attraction, cockroaches in the grand scheme that just seem to multiply and swarm.. You've also got Raiders, Nazi's, Pikies, G-Men, Stephen King's managerie of Oh My Fucking Christ You Sick Bastard, and anything else coming out of the minds of the sick puppies running the show.
Hi Guys.
So is a game that has Zombies in it a Zombie game? Up to you. Me, Zombies may be a common occurrence, but the themes of the game are survival and community. One of my favorite novels is the Newsflesh trilogy, written by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire). Beautiful political thriller about the media, it just happens to be during the Zombie Apocalypse, except the Apocalypse happened and people just moved on with their lives a lot more paranoid and very armed. I love the series and would love to play DR to the effect of the series, but it doesn't mesh because the themes in it do not jive fully with Survival Horror.
So to counter that, people suggested a few other sources. Spaghetti Westerns (The Original Django comes to mind, look it up); Deadwood, with it's backwater encampment feel and ensemble cast of bastards, fuck ups, and the odd decent person is actually perfect for reference; Book of Eli, a Post Apocalyptic movie starring Denzel Washington nails most of the aesthetic of being in a "after the end times" scenario. Hunting cats, trading, scavenging, moral ambiguity and a sense of nihilism vs. higher purpose; the Original Evil dead, cabin in the woods with unspeakable nightmares just waiting.. There are dozens of other sources, but I think at it's heart you have to focus on the elements of Survival in nightmarish times.
This whole talk got me to thinking about my game: Mage The Awakening. What were 'It's Themes? It's genre? The story of Mage is, at it's core, a story about the corrupting nature of Power and the corruptibility of the Soul. You have access to the powers of magic, can sense, nudge, shift, control and hack the very fabric of Reality. How does this affect you? What happens when you fuck up? Last chronicle, the game had taken a very strange "Superfriends" vibe. These were people who joined together to do battle against evil...except they had arbitrarily declared himself "Good". That was boring, because what is the point of playing in the world of Darkness when everyone is playing the hero?
So, I reminded them of the problems of the soul. And corrupted ta number of them to the power of the Abyss. This chronicle, I'm building a setting where the enemies have taken over the City and the players need each other and the NPC factions to stamp them out. Power is not just who can use the biggest spell, it's how they're used. I drew a lot of inspiration for the Seers of the Throne, the mega conspiracy that attempts to rule mundane and magical societies, from the Syndicate, the conspiracy in the X-Files. These are men that may never be seen or heard from the players, but their agents and influence are always felt.
I also, personally, find the nature of the soul a fascinating and key topic for the venue, especially when most of the threats to Mages are often ones that seek to eat/corrupt/control their souls. I tend to find the esoteric discussions of Ghost in the Shell (both movie and the Stand Alone Complex Series) as well as the Matrix Series (minus Keanu 'I know kung fu' Reeves) as good examples of this. Mage deals with the concepts of Reality, Perception. There are no hard truths except the ones we make, how do we deal with that when it is shown that we can be wrong about how we see the world? These sources are actually listed in the core book of the game as being inspiration.
So what am I saying with all of this? Be mindful of the genre in which you are playing, discern and parse through it. Does this mean that those wanting to use Zombieland to psyche up for DR? Or Chinese Wuxia for Mage? Hell no, you add to the palette and sandbox of the game. However, always be aware of what the game is at it's core. This runs the risk of lockout or hijacking a game.
But more on that in another post.
Later
If you liked this article, disagree with it, or just wish to throw your love and devotion (or even your hatemail) comment down below. If you have a topic, or would like me to follow up, shoot me a comment here as well. - Craig
Saturday, April 27, 2013
The Art of Geeky War: Tactics in LARP
First off, I apologize for the gap in posts. I'm prepping for the New Chronicle of Mage the Awakened here in New York and it is currently kicking my ass. I'm almost done, and to reward myself from work on Larping I've decided to do some blog posts...about...Larping.
Wait...how is that right?
Wait...how is that right?
Anyway. One friend in the community asked me my opinion on, what is essentially, party tactics during a game. In specific he asked me for "Your feelings on groups going out, balanced group with the whole tank/healer/dps types or just bring whatever is around due to town having healers and such that tend to stick around."
Well to begin with, keep in mind that this is subjective, I'm usually the player that supplies back up. I'm not usually the front line. I'm usually the backline or someone who does their job either way before the advance or well after the advance. My Mekhet was the one using Astral Projection to gather information and form profiles of other players before major actions was taken, my Tinker is in the back line making sure there are at least three exits other than the one he's facing with a back against a wall. I like tactics, I like information gathering and ways of assuring I won't be ganked in the night.
That being said, in special regards to Dystopia Rising, you're playing a game based on the concept of You Work With What You Have. Somedays you'll have a group with a medic, a soldier, a sniper, a brawler with enough Iron Rations from a cook to keep you going for hours. Other days, you're stuck with a bunch of Publicans and a Clown that won't shut the fuck up. The idea is what the hell do you do with this?
Well to begin with, keep in mind that this is subjective, I'm usually the player that supplies back up. I'm not usually the front line. I'm usually the backline or someone who does their job either way before the advance or well after the advance. My Mekhet was the one using Astral Projection to gather information and form profiles of other players before major actions was taken, my Tinker is in the back line making sure there are at least three exits other than the one he's facing with a back against a wall. I like tactics, I like information gathering and ways of assuring I won't be ganked in the night.
That being said, in special regards to Dystopia Rising, you're playing a game based on the concept of You Work With What You Have. Somedays you'll have a group with a medic, a soldier, a sniper, a brawler with enough Iron Rations from a cook to keep you going for hours. Other days, you're stuck with a bunch of Publicans and a Clown that won't shut the fuck up. The idea is what the hell do you do with this?
A few friends of mine joined the game a few months back as a 7 man team. I've not heard of this before, and I knew that as new players they were walking in with a sizable advantage. We talked about Professions that were essential for being a good team. I told them you needed a Medic and a Cook. They asked me why a Cook. They were one of a few that could restore Mind Points. I said that the first thing you need to do, before you do anything is network to get the people you don't already have. Barter, trade, talk, network. Sell the professions you do have to acquire the ones you don't. Tactics begins before a fight is even conceived of.
Yes, I've read Sun Tzu. Personally, I prefer Musashi myself, why do you ask?
Of course, there are also situations where the good 'ol "For Frodo" approach takes precedence. By 'For Frodo'...oh hell, if you don't know what I mean then you're reading the wrong blog, and it's nicer sounding than "LEEROY" fucking "JENKINS" Okay? One giant rush towards the enemy head on in a decisive fight. That has it's own place.
Yes, I've read Sun Tzu. Personally, I prefer Musashi myself, why do you ask?
Of course, there are also situations where the good 'ol "For Frodo" approach takes precedence. By 'For Frodo'...oh hell, if you don't know what I mean then you're reading the wrong blog, and it's nicer sounding than "LEEROY" fucking "JENKINS" Okay? One giant rush towards the enemy head on in a decisive fight. That has it's own place.
Of course, this brings to question in character/out of character lines bleed in. I'm of the mind that most planning should be done In Character. This is easier in an immersive LARP like Dystopia, because you ARE in character during game at all times and planning in between games is not looked kindly upon. It's a bit harder when you're doing salon style and scenes can be done online and in between games during the month. This leads to a lot of "Okay, this is happening, call this player, that player, those two players and we'll be covered." There tends to build a lot more clique like mentality that is just players calling on their friends than characters calling on their allies. It kills the feeling of Role Playing, and is in fact one of my major issues with Salon/Theater vs. Immersive. But I digress.
I should reiterate that despite my being a right brained creative writer who knows everything and forgets all of it, I do appreciate and like logistics. If you want a job done right, do it right. As a storyteller I love it when players come to me with a plan, because it usually A) gives me a chance to see if I've planned it thoroughly enough and B) make sure that what I do have planned is adequate as a challenge. There was one incident during Requiem where I was in charge of any and all plots that revolved around Ascension Church in New York City. A series of Sin Eating Vampires had started poaching from the regular blood drinkers, and the Sin Eaters had proven to be a problem. The Invictus in the area banned together and send me a report telling me their plans and goals. From the preparations to the aftermath, beautifully thought out and beautifully handled. I knew their resources were more than efficient than the information I was given the church. I wrote up a pretty decent mediated fiat where I narrated the proceedings and tied it off very nice and sweet, using their plans and my plans to get an outcome in a story.
Also, it's probably why I was/am such a big fan of EVE online. You can do anything in that game from merchant to miner to police to pirate. You need to plan ahead and plan accordingly to keep up and to help your comrades in their actions. I worked with a mining group in game, and we had all marked out all of the asteroid belts that were deserted saturday nights. We would map them out, and make runs through them, effectively emptying out entire star systems of minerals and ore. Collect, parse, give a cut to allegiances who protected us, then we'd transport the materials to systems where there was a high demand for the materials to make the most money. We'd go in (I was one of the freight pilots) with enough support to make attacks unfeasible and we'd usually come off with about 20 million ISK (game currency) a night a piece for about 12 or so players. It was work, it was planned, and it was fun because it worked and we were making it better than if we were doing it alone.
As I write all of this, I have such the urge to do write up now of The Book of Five Rings as it would have been written in a universe like Dystopia Rising. To write a tome on strategy as one from that world would see it. I did something similar for Jedi when I wrote a Discourse on the Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat (I shit you not), and I'd love to do it again.
To close in summation, tactics are a good thing in gaming. But there is a line somewhere that separates when it's part of the role play and when it's part of trying to play the game. Working things out as your character would is part of the role play, and should always be applauded. Trying to set stuff up to win as a player is anathema to the spirit of most LARPs being played.
Later,
C
Much love to Sean and Peter for setting the subject and tone of this blog. I appreciate it, guys. If you have any other topics, or wished to discuss more. Please comment. I'd hate to think I'm talking to myself any more than I already am. - C
I should reiterate that despite my being a right brained creative writer who knows everything and forgets all of it, I do appreciate and like logistics. If you want a job done right, do it right. As a storyteller I love it when players come to me with a plan, because it usually A) gives me a chance to see if I've planned it thoroughly enough and B) make sure that what I do have planned is adequate as a challenge. There was one incident during Requiem where I was in charge of any and all plots that revolved around Ascension Church in New York City. A series of Sin Eating Vampires had started poaching from the regular blood drinkers, and the Sin Eaters had proven to be a problem. The Invictus in the area banned together and send me a report telling me their plans and goals. From the preparations to the aftermath, beautifully thought out and beautifully handled. I knew their resources were more than efficient than the information I was given the church. I wrote up a pretty decent mediated fiat where I narrated the proceedings and tied it off very nice and sweet, using their plans and my plans to get an outcome in a story.
Also, it's probably why I was/am such a big fan of EVE online. You can do anything in that game from merchant to miner to police to pirate. You need to plan ahead and plan accordingly to keep up and to help your comrades in their actions. I worked with a mining group in game, and we had all marked out all of the asteroid belts that were deserted saturday nights. We would map them out, and make runs through them, effectively emptying out entire star systems of minerals and ore. Collect, parse, give a cut to allegiances who protected us, then we'd transport the materials to systems where there was a high demand for the materials to make the most money. We'd go in (I was one of the freight pilots) with enough support to make attacks unfeasible and we'd usually come off with about 20 million ISK (game currency) a night a piece for about 12 or so players. It was work, it was planned, and it was fun because it worked and we were making it better than if we were doing it alone.
As I write all of this, I have such the urge to do write up now of The Book of Five Rings as it would have been written in a universe like Dystopia Rising. To write a tome on strategy as one from that world would see it. I did something similar for Jedi when I wrote a Discourse on the Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat (I shit you not), and I'd love to do it again.
To close in summation, tactics are a good thing in gaming. But there is a line somewhere that separates when it's part of the role play and when it's part of trying to play the game. Working things out as your character would is part of the role play, and should always be applauded. Trying to set stuff up to win as a player is anathema to the spirit of most LARPs being played.
Later,
C
Much love to Sean and Peter for setting the subject and tone of this blog. I appreciate it, guys. If you have any other topics, or wished to discuss more. Please comment. I'd hate to think I'm talking to myself any more than I already am. - C
Sunday, March 17, 2013
LARP: Living in Myth
Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
And look what it's done so far.
- The Rainbow Connection
One of my passions growing up was reading Greek Mythology. I've loved it since I was in third grade, telling stories about Heroes, Gods, Impossible things and explaining the world around us. To this day, I still have the copy of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths from PS 71's library on my shelf (I consider it payment for putting me through hell during puberty). My favorite Myths were the descent into darkness, the tale of Persephone's Abduction and Orpheus and Eurydice. Since then I became a de facto Classics Minor (I did not take Greek or Latin, which was the only other requirement), and I studied the works of Aeschylus, Homer, Virgil, Hesiod. I studied the Gods, Monsters and Heroes of the Golden Age.
I've also added to my library other cosmologies: the exploration of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven by Dante Alighieri, I studied Jung and his concepts of Archetypes and the process of Individuation, and the more modern fare of Neil Gaiman's Endless, of Jim Butcher's Dresdenverse, Frank Herbert's Spice Addicted Universe, Tolkien's Legendarium, the Cosmere of Brandon Sanderson, and forays into other works of Myth that explain, through some detail, the nature of man and the transformation into something greater. Through these readings, I've come to one conclusion:
Man requires Myth. Even when we don't deal in religion, we still build myth. How much of our behavior is based on the stories or actions of those we've placed higher than ourselves, like our parents or personal idols and role models? We, as a species, require information and explanation from sources outside of ourselves. Unfortunately, I was also aware that most of the Western World is bankrupt of any solid Mythological sources. Religion has been very much on the decline since the enlightenment and industrial revolution. Both Religion and Technology have taken the notion of fact, rather than Belief. And Belief is more important than Knowing the answer than believing in it to enhance their growth.
Which is where I think the geek world has taken over. With various new forms of media, each with their own set of rules and laws inherent to each system, mythologies are forming everywhere, and people are taking things out of them and adhering to them as if they were pantheons of old. People require Myths, and they will take it from wherever they come. And through the formation of groups that practice role play and scenario work, those influences become personal yet shared myths between groups.
I became fully aware of this process shortly after I joined New York Jedi, a Stage Combat group that focuses on the universe of Star Wars. First, I was more than aware of the mythological inspirations George Lucas implanted into the original trilogy, this is a given and goes into a lot of what made Star Wars so universally popular. One of the key things in New York Jedi is that we build and create our own characters, complete with history and interconnections between each other. From there, some characters become infamous even in a shared world.
One such character was General Sun. General Sun was a Jedi Master, and one of the most powerful figures in NYJ's cosmology. There are many stories, myths, and outright lies about his exploits. One such is his impromptu visit to an idyllic tropical planet that did not acknowledge his presence, and using his great and terrible power rendered it into the volcanic Hell that we know Mustafar to be today. There is also the Chuck Norris fact that General Sun and Chuck Norris had met once, in a temporal void. In one moment, they nodded, and proceeded to roundhouse kick each other. This is how we believe the Big Bang created both the Real Universe and the Star Wars Universe.
In Real Life, General Sun was created and portrayed by Damon Honeycutt. Damon is a performer, instructor and a master (my terminology, he's decline the sentiment) of monkey-style Kung Fu. A humble man, an enlightened person. If Star Wars were real, Damon would be on the short list of people I know who qualifies legitimately to be a Jedi.
Conversely, we have Jinduri. Created by my friend Paul, Jinduri is a Sith Alchemist of immeasurable power and ferocity. He is dangerous and charming, Nigh Immortal and completely devoid of sympathy and compassion. He has with him at all times a cadre of fellow Sith known as Jen'Mas, who act as his will and his intent throughout the Galaxy. If General Sun is the pinnacle of Light, Jinduri is very much the pinnacle of Dark.
This phenomena is impressive. Here we have a universe already fleshed out for us by Movies, Books, Online Resources and fan groups, and now we've created characters that interact with that world and inspire/create/alter the world around us and for newer members.
Which brings me to the ultimate point: LARPing. New York Jedi wasn't about LARPing, it was about performing these for the benefit of a passive audience. As Sarah Lynne Bowman states (paraphrasing) that the difference between theatre and LARPing is that in theater, the audience are passive observers while in LARPing the audience is in the scene and interacting as well as their own characters.
When dealing with a LARP, we're dealing with three kinds of Myth. The Canon Myth, which is the source material set forth buy the developers of the game. Using Requiem, this is the founding of the Clans and Covenants of Vampires; for the Changelings the founding of the Courts; for the Mages, the Awakened Island and the Fall; For Dystopia Rising, it's the fall of civilization and the Rise of the Zombies. That is the mythology that has been created for us and which we all go in (relatively) knowing. This is the World Myth.
We engage in the World Myths by following the rituals and protocols that they dictate to us. As a PC playing in the Ordo Dracul, that's the Serpent's Tail, following the ripples of a single event, and the Titles and Oaths, as well as following the tenets Vampirisms's Original Bad Boy, Dracula. In Changeling, there were the protocols of the Courts, the oaths sworn and the ways of the Hedge and Wyrd.
Then there is the Local Myth, the myths that we create together. Requiem in New York had a figure like Simon Cassio, Khaibit Prince of New York for a chunk of game. I never got to interact with Cassio in game, I started playing shortly after his player, Dain, had moved to Texas. However, before I even joined the game, I was told one main commandment: Tell Cassio. Cassio was considered with legitimate reverence as he was the Benevolent Tyrant that kept New York in check. Even when he was gone for two years, "Cassio's New York" was still seen as the ideal Camelot for Kindred Society.
Then, at the tail end of the Chronicle, my character was tasked with going to France to find Simon Cassio. Both myself and my character shared nervousness and apprehension. This was a globally famous character, whose presence was ubiquitous around the venue. His legend preceded him and the weight oh his return affected the game as much as the players who knew. This was the local Myth, dealing with those who have altered, challenged, or were forces of nature in the venue and existing with them in place.
Finally, there is the matter of Myths being made of players. We all have stories and exploits of what the players do as much as the characters they portray. Through speaking with players, we learn of the reputations of others, of anecdotes. We learn, we absorb, and we take aspects of what we absorb into how we perform. In this way do other players take on the roles of mythic figures. We take part in these by making friends, learning the customs of the players around us, like an initiate learning mysteries and rituals of a private religion. We learn their secrets and interpretations, and things take a weight of their own, including their own opinions of players they keep in high regard. This all goes back to the sense that People Require Myths, and will use their own experience to create them when one does not present itself.
To conclude, I think that the world is suffering from a dearth of something to believe in. Science deals in fact, and Religions seemed to be following suit. There is no real centralized system of beliefs, and as the more secular we become, the more we need to require something to believe in. The Geek culture, with the various mythologies and cosmologies floating around both traditional and modern, have a headway in terms of finding a system to have a basis for morals and ultimately inspiration. LARPers have the edge in actively dealing with these concepts and effectively assist in gaining skills, morals, growth in a way that modern society is some times ill equipped to handle.
We are all creatures of Myth, and we're living the most Epic of Tales every day.
Later.
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
And look what it's done so far.
- The Rainbow Connection
One of my passions growing up was reading Greek Mythology. I've loved it since I was in third grade, telling stories about Heroes, Gods, Impossible things and explaining the world around us. To this day, I still have the copy of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths from PS 71's library on my shelf (I consider it payment for putting me through hell during puberty). My favorite Myths were the descent into darkness, the tale of Persephone's Abduction and Orpheus and Eurydice. Since then I became a de facto Classics Minor (I did not take Greek or Latin, which was the only other requirement), and I studied the works of Aeschylus, Homer, Virgil, Hesiod. I studied the Gods, Monsters and Heroes of the Golden Age.
I've also added to my library other cosmologies: the exploration of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven by Dante Alighieri, I studied Jung and his concepts of Archetypes and the process of Individuation, and the more modern fare of Neil Gaiman's Endless, of Jim Butcher's Dresdenverse, Frank Herbert's Spice Addicted Universe, Tolkien's Legendarium, the Cosmere of Brandon Sanderson, and forays into other works of Myth that explain, through some detail, the nature of man and the transformation into something greater. Through these readings, I've come to one conclusion:
Man requires Myth. Even when we don't deal in religion, we still build myth. How much of our behavior is based on the stories or actions of those we've placed higher than ourselves, like our parents or personal idols and role models? We, as a species, require information and explanation from sources outside of ourselves. Unfortunately, I was also aware that most of the Western World is bankrupt of any solid Mythological sources. Religion has been very much on the decline since the enlightenment and industrial revolution. Both Religion and Technology have taken the notion of fact, rather than Belief. And Belief is more important than Knowing the answer than believing in it to enhance their growth.
Which is where I think the geek world has taken over. With various new forms of media, each with their own set of rules and laws inherent to each system, mythologies are forming everywhere, and people are taking things out of them and adhering to them as if they were pantheons of old. People require Myths, and they will take it from wherever they come. And through the formation of groups that practice role play and scenario work, those influences become personal yet shared myths between groups.
I became fully aware of this process shortly after I joined New York Jedi, a Stage Combat group that focuses on the universe of Star Wars. First, I was more than aware of the mythological inspirations George Lucas implanted into the original trilogy, this is a given and goes into a lot of what made Star Wars so universally popular. One of the key things in New York Jedi is that we build and create our own characters, complete with history and interconnections between each other. From there, some characters become infamous even in a shared world.
One such character was General Sun. General Sun was a Jedi Master, and one of the most powerful figures in NYJ's cosmology. There are many stories, myths, and outright lies about his exploits. One such is his impromptu visit to an idyllic tropical planet that did not acknowledge his presence, and using his great and terrible power rendered it into the volcanic Hell that we know Mustafar to be today. There is also the Chuck Norris fact that General Sun and Chuck Norris had met once, in a temporal void. In one moment, they nodded, and proceeded to roundhouse kick each other. This is how we believe the Big Bang created both the Real Universe and the Star Wars Universe.
In Real Life, General Sun was created and portrayed by Damon Honeycutt. Damon is a performer, instructor and a master (my terminology, he's decline the sentiment) of monkey-style Kung Fu. A humble man, an enlightened person. If Star Wars were real, Damon would be on the short list of people I know who qualifies legitimately to be a Jedi.
Conversely, we have Jinduri. Created by my friend Paul, Jinduri is a Sith Alchemist of immeasurable power and ferocity. He is dangerous and charming, Nigh Immortal and completely devoid of sympathy and compassion. He has with him at all times a cadre of fellow Sith known as Jen'Mas, who act as his will and his intent throughout the Galaxy. If General Sun is the pinnacle of Light, Jinduri is very much the pinnacle of Dark.
This phenomena is impressive. Here we have a universe already fleshed out for us by Movies, Books, Online Resources and fan groups, and now we've created characters that interact with that world and inspire/create/alter the world around us and for newer members.
Which brings me to the ultimate point: LARPing. New York Jedi wasn't about LARPing, it was about performing these for the benefit of a passive audience. As Sarah Lynne Bowman states (paraphrasing) that the difference between theatre and LARPing is that in theater, the audience are passive observers while in LARPing the audience is in the scene and interacting as well as their own characters.
When dealing with a LARP, we're dealing with three kinds of Myth. The Canon Myth, which is the source material set forth buy the developers of the game. Using Requiem, this is the founding of the Clans and Covenants of Vampires; for the Changelings the founding of the Courts; for the Mages, the Awakened Island and the Fall; For Dystopia Rising, it's the fall of civilization and the Rise of the Zombies. That is the mythology that has been created for us and which we all go in (relatively) knowing. This is the World Myth.
We engage in the World Myths by following the rituals and protocols that they dictate to us. As a PC playing in the Ordo Dracul, that's the Serpent's Tail, following the ripples of a single event, and the Titles and Oaths, as well as following the tenets Vampirisms's Original Bad Boy, Dracula. In Changeling, there were the protocols of the Courts, the oaths sworn and the ways of the Hedge and Wyrd.
Then there is the Local Myth, the myths that we create together. Requiem in New York had a figure like Simon Cassio, Khaibit Prince of New York for a chunk of game. I never got to interact with Cassio in game, I started playing shortly after his player, Dain, had moved to Texas. However, before I even joined the game, I was told one main commandment: Tell Cassio. Cassio was considered with legitimate reverence as he was the Benevolent Tyrant that kept New York in check. Even when he was gone for two years, "Cassio's New York" was still seen as the ideal Camelot for Kindred Society.
Then, at the tail end of the Chronicle, my character was tasked with going to France to find Simon Cassio. Both myself and my character shared nervousness and apprehension. This was a globally famous character, whose presence was ubiquitous around the venue. His legend preceded him and the weight oh his return affected the game as much as the players who knew. This was the local Myth, dealing with those who have altered, challenged, or were forces of nature in the venue and existing with them in place.
Finally, there is the matter of Myths being made of players. We all have stories and exploits of what the players do as much as the characters they portray. Through speaking with players, we learn of the reputations of others, of anecdotes. We learn, we absorb, and we take aspects of what we absorb into how we perform. In this way do other players take on the roles of mythic figures. We take part in these by making friends, learning the customs of the players around us, like an initiate learning mysteries and rituals of a private religion. We learn their secrets and interpretations, and things take a weight of their own, including their own opinions of players they keep in high regard. This all goes back to the sense that People Require Myths, and will use their own experience to create them when one does not present itself.
To conclude, I think that the world is suffering from a dearth of something to believe in. Science deals in fact, and Religions seemed to be following suit. There is no real centralized system of beliefs, and as the more secular we become, the more we need to require something to believe in. The Geek culture, with the various mythologies and cosmologies floating around both traditional and modern, have a headway in terms of finding a system to have a basis for morals and ultimately inspiration. LARPers have the edge in actively dealing with these concepts and effectively assist in gaining skills, morals, growth in a way that modern society is some times ill equipped to handle.
We are all creatures of Myth, and we're living the most Epic of Tales every day.
Later.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Goodnight but not Goodbye
This weekend was the close of the New World of Darkness venues in Domain of New York City. It's been a long run, two years for me and nearly a decade for some. This has been a very trying and emotionally draining weekend for quite a lot of us. This blog is me processing that weekend from my perspective.
Friday Night- Changeling The Lost
Oh Lord. So New York was faced with dealing with a Keeper. One that ran on Narrative and used Toy Soldiers to do his bidding. So, in preparation, the Freehold started making Goblin Vows. These vows involve making deals with Concepts.
Let me explain, in World of Darkness, there is a hierarchy of Spirits. Rank 1 Spirits are very basic beings of the Shadow Realms, Ten are Unknowable Concepts like God. Most Mages, who have access to Spirit Magic, rarely deal with anything higher than Rank 4 or 5, Lesser and Minor Gods. In Changeling, they can make deals with Concepts, which are technically speaking Rank 8 Spirits. Those don't have stats. They can't be killed or fucked with.
And we're making deals with it. Now, Declan is an Author in both occupation and Kith. So when it came time to make a deal with the concept of Narrative to make their plans as Narratively succinct to counteract the Keeper's Narrative Causality. However, Magic comes at a Price. Declan made a deal with Narrative to write the story of the Changeling he came in with at the beginning of his chronicle, who was part of a major plot that he was emotionally invested in. He rights the novel to that, and everyone involved forgets it until they read the novel.
So in short, Declan doesn't remember the details of his coming into game. Keep that in mind as I go on.
The night went by quietly as the Sovereign's all plotted and planned. When it came down to it, and everybody rolled out, Declan was the only one that stayed behind. My PC is a non-combatant, and since his main function is basically a Living Black Box for Lost. The idea is for him to survive and move on. As such, I moved myself out of the room to speak out of Character to a friend. Before hand, Declan runs into his Sovereign, Erised of the Spring Court. At this point, Erised has made a plan to try and take the True Fae's place and then sacrifice himself. Declan, who was just named Erised's successor, does not want this to happen. Declan doesn't want the Throne, especially since the Throne was recently burned down.
So, when it came time for the final dungeon, Declan stayed behind and Craig went to another room. I spent the next twenty minutes speaking to a friend in the Out Of Character room, talking and bullshitting. Then, a player comes in, in character, holding a long white coat with green flames on it.
Erised's coat.
I don't actually remember my reaction, but from what I was told, it was just stunned silence. I had no idea what had gone on in the room, I had no idea. So when Declan is being informed of the situation, I'm being informed. The look of abject shock and sadness was probably the most in the moment acting I've ever done and franklly it was the sweetest thing.
AND THEN GAME ENDED.
I walk into round robin after game was called, and people saw me walking in wearing Erised's coat, and the reactions out of character were just as real as IN character. And I was just one of a few horrible tragedies that happened that night. It ended on such a high note that it may continue next month just to wrap up, which, in a way, I'd be for, since I want to play Declan-as-Sovereign. This is Changeling, where they can never have nice things. But it isn't about Changelings always lose, it's about Changelings getting further fucked and dealing with it.
During round robins both Greg and Chris, who were responsible for building the Lost venue six or so years ago, were at the point of tears as they said their goodbyes. And I'll admit it, by the end of the night, on my way home, I cried to.
Fuck you Changeling, that's twice now you've hit me in the feelings. Stop that.
Saturday Evening- Mage
This is the one I was running. In a way, this is the game I've felt the least bit nervous about running, because the players had something to work with already going in. There was a purpose to the whole thing and not a Monster of the Month game.
A lot of the plot of the game has revolved around the concept of "What would happen if the Abyss were gone tomorrow". There has been a lot of discussion about how that would reflect, what would happen to the Sleepers, would they all wake up? How would the Seers react. It got to the point where the Abyss was seen as a levelling tool for all the Mages. Last month, two PCs took it upon themselves to enact a ritual designed to eliminate the Paradox from a City. When they pulled it off, the City was plunged into perpetual Paradox and Abyss.
Mage: Infinite Cosmic Powers, and the reason we can never have nice things.
This month, the plan was to fix that, using the surviving of the two PCs. They drugged him, controlled him, and sent him willing back to the site of the ritual to sacrifice himself to shut it off. They did that, with some trouble caused by what I can only describe as "Abyssal Shamblers". I figured there needed to be combat at the end, and I was missing out on Dystopia Rising. So having constructs made out of the metaphysical and physical Pattern of the Abyssally Ravaged New York Consillium building made a good final encounter, especially since it took forever to get them out of there in the first place.
In the end, when the PC made his sacrifice, the Paradox stopped. All of it. This lead to one of the other PCs going "Wait...were those two RIGHT!?"
From then on, Anarchy reigned. Because the one thing that kept Mages in check was GONE. SO it became asshole central. This lead to the consillium edging towards fighting each other. So, like the responsible ST that I am, I did the only sensible thing.
I pushed them off the edge.
The player of the Hierarch wanted to kill his character off. He had purchased a Merit called Destiny, which while it gives you points to add to any pull, comes with the Catch of a Bane. The Bane can be anything thematically speaking and agreed upon purchase with the Storyteller. So, in short, the player was cashing out his Destiny. So as everyone was talking about all to whatfores and whyhows of a Paradox free New York, the Hierarch went outside, where by coincidence (hey folks, Fate magic. This shit is WEAPONIZED COINICIDENCES) the husband of a woman he had an affair with recognized him. This was the same man who shot him, thereby initiating his awakening in the first place. In a split second, Doc was shot in the head. The man shot himself.
The mages, stuck with leaving Doc outside to not arrise suspicion, stayed downstairs and began arguing over the top spot. Now it was getting to be an arguement and Mages started leaving. Historically, this is in keeping with New York's tradition of actually not having any form of centralized government in it's magical circle. So the game ended with the Consillium collapsing around them, all while the Mages got the greatest boon of their existence.
At the end of the game, the Hierarch's death was called "The Joss Whedon ending". I take this as a fucking compliment.
Saturday Night- Requiem
Requiem was a subdued game. And by game I mean that it was to resolve a scene that was put on hold due to massive combat scene (read: 50 characters involved, those are convention numbers). I was part of the plot scene, defeating a Spirit created by an artifact running on Narrative Causality by using Narrative causality. I was a tertiary character, not doing much but staying in the back line and roleplaying. By the end, the monster was destroyed, the players got some jollies in about the delay. It felt more like a series ending, because of all the Narrative Causality, and my PC just walked away with a smile on his face as he has one more scene to do before the end.
The bulk of the night was about establishing the settings and introducing everyone to their New Chronicle characters. It'll be fun, but I still feel a lot of ennui about Requiem. A lot of the reasons I won't go into in this blog. Requiem is a game I loved since I started playing it two years ago. I have a lot of faith in it, but it has just as much going against it.
In the end, I'm sad to see the old Chronicle go. My characters, even the ones I didn't like, ended up in odd places. Declan, even if I don't get to play him as Spring Sovereign, is due a story about the aftermath. Rhys is getting imported over to the Accord venue when it starts. Taglia still has one more thing to do in the end. And then I have Jin, Ides and Owen to work with for Lost, Awakening and Requiem.
Goodnight but not goodbye
C
Friday Night- Changeling The Lost
Oh Lord. So New York was faced with dealing with a Keeper. One that ran on Narrative and used Toy Soldiers to do his bidding. So, in preparation, the Freehold started making Goblin Vows. These vows involve making deals with Concepts.
Let me explain, in World of Darkness, there is a hierarchy of Spirits. Rank 1 Spirits are very basic beings of the Shadow Realms, Ten are Unknowable Concepts like God. Most Mages, who have access to Spirit Magic, rarely deal with anything higher than Rank 4 or 5, Lesser and Minor Gods. In Changeling, they can make deals with Concepts, which are technically speaking Rank 8 Spirits. Those don't have stats. They can't be killed or fucked with.
And we're making deals with it. Now, Declan is an Author in both occupation and Kith. So when it came time to make a deal with the concept of Narrative to make their plans as Narratively succinct to counteract the Keeper's Narrative Causality. However, Magic comes at a Price. Declan made a deal with Narrative to write the story of the Changeling he came in with at the beginning of his chronicle, who was part of a major plot that he was emotionally invested in. He rights the novel to that, and everyone involved forgets it until they read the novel.
So in short, Declan doesn't remember the details of his coming into game. Keep that in mind as I go on.
The night went by quietly as the Sovereign's all plotted and planned. When it came down to it, and everybody rolled out, Declan was the only one that stayed behind. My PC is a non-combatant, and since his main function is basically a Living Black Box for Lost. The idea is for him to survive and move on. As such, I moved myself out of the room to speak out of Character to a friend. Before hand, Declan runs into his Sovereign, Erised of the Spring Court. At this point, Erised has made a plan to try and take the True Fae's place and then sacrifice himself. Declan, who was just named Erised's successor, does not want this to happen. Declan doesn't want the Throne, especially since the Throne was recently burned down.
So, when it came time for the final dungeon, Declan stayed behind and Craig went to another room. I spent the next twenty minutes speaking to a friend in the Out Of Character room, talking and bullshitting. Then, a player comes in, in character, holding a long white coat with green flames on it.
Erised's coat.
I don't actually remember my reaction, but from what I was told, it was just stunned silence. I had no idea what had gone on in the room, I had no idea. So when Declan is being informed of the situation, I'm being informed. The look of abject shock and sadness was probably the most in the moment acting I've ever done and franklly it was the sweetest thing.
AND THEN GAME ENDED.
I walk into round robin after game was called, and people saw me walking in wearing Erised's coat, and the reactions out of character were just as real as IN character. And I was just one of a few horrible tragedies that happened that night. It ended on such a high note that it may continue next month just to wrap up, which, in a way, I'd be for, since I want to play Declan-as-Sovereign. This is Changeling, where they can never have nice things. But it isn't about Changelings always lose, it's about Changelings getting further fucked and dealing with it.
During round robins both Greg and Chris, who were responsible for building the Lost venue six or so years ago, were at the point of tears as they said their goodbyes. And I'll admit it, by the end of the night, on my way home, I cried to.
Fuck you Changeling, that's twice now you've hit me in the feelings. Stop that.
Saturday Evening- Mage
This is the one I was running. In a way, this is the game I've felt the least bit nervous about running, because the players had something to work with already going in. There was a purpose to the whole thing and not a Monster of the Month game.
A lot of the plot of the game has revolved around the concept of "What would happen if the Abyss were gone tomorrow". There has been a lot of discussion about how that would reflect, what would happen to the Sleepers, would they all wake up? How would the Seers react. It got to the point where the Abyss was seen as a levelling tool for all the Mages. Last month, two PCs took it upon themselves to enact a ritual designed to eliminate the Paradox from a City. When they pulled it off, the City was plunged into perpetual Paradox and Abyss.
Mage: Infinite Cosmic Powers, and the reason we can never have nice things.
This month, the plan was to fix that, using the surviving of the two PCs. They drugged him, controlled him, and sent him willing back to the site of the ritual to sacrifice himself to shut it off. They did that, with some trouble caused by what I can only describe as "Abyssal Shamblers". I figured there needed to be combat at the end, and I was missing out on Dystopia Rising. So having constructs made out of the metaphysical and physical Pattern of the Abyssally Ravaged New York Consillium building made a good final encounter, especially since it took forever to get them out of there in the first place.
In the end, when the PC made his sacrifice, the Paradox stopped. All of it. This lead to one of the other PCs going "Wait...were those two RIGHT!?"
From then on, Anarchy reigned. Because the one thing that kept Mages in check was GONE. SO it became asshole central. This lead to the consillium edging towards fighting each other. So, like the responsible ST that I am, I did the only sensible thing.
I pushed them off the edge.
The player of the Hierarch wanted to kill his character off. He had purchased a Merit called Destiny, which while it gives you points to add to any pull, comes with the Catch of a Bane. The Bane can be anything thematically speaking and agreed upon purchase with the Storyteller. So, in short, the player was cashing out his Destiny. So as everyone was talking about all to whatfores and whyhows of a Paradox free New York, the Hierarch went outside, where by coincidence (hey folks, Fate magic. This shit is WEAPONIZED COINICIDENCES) the husband of a woman he had an affair with recognized him. This was the same man who shot him, thereby initiating his awakening in the first place. In a split second, Doc was shot in the head. The man shot himself.
The mages, stuck with leaving Doc outside to not arrise suspicion, stayed downstairs and began arguing over the top spot. Now it was getting to be an arguement and Mages started leaving. Historically, this is in keeping with New York's tradition of actually not having any form of centralized government in it's magical circle. So the game ended with the Consillium collapsing around them, all while the Mages got the greatest boon of their existence.
At the end of the game, the Hierarch's death was called "The Joss Whedon ending". I take this as a fucking compliment.
Saturday Night- Requiem
Requiem was a subdued game. And by game I mean that it was to resolve a scene that was put on hold due to massive combat scene (read: 50 characters involved, those are convention numbers). I was part of the plot scene, defeating a Spirit created by an artifact running on Narrative Causality by using Narrative causality. I was a tertiary character, not doing much but staying in the back line and roleplaying. By the end, the monster was destroyed, the players got some jollies in about the delay. It felt more like a series ending, because of all the Narrative Causality, and my PC just walked away with a smile on his face as he has one more scene to do before the end.
The bulk of the night was about establishing the settings and introducing everyone to their New Chronicle characters. It'll be fun, but I still feel a lot of ennui about Requiem. A lot of the reasons I won't go into in this blog. Requiem is a game I loved since I started playing it two years ago. I have a lot of faith in it, but it has just as much going against it.
In the end, I'm sad to see the old Chronicle go. My characters, even the ones I didn't like, ended up in odd places. Declan, even if I don't get to play him as Spring Sovereign, is due a story about the aftermath. Rhys is getting imported over to the Accord venue when it starts. Taglia still has one more thing to do in the end. And then I have Jin, Ides and Owen to work with for Lost, Awakening and Requiem.
Goodnight but not goodbye
C
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