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

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

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?

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? 

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.

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

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.

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

Non-Players in a Players World: Playing NPCs

So, we've gone over the importance of NPCs, the practice of writing NPCs and now we finish with the last point: playing NPCs. You can write them, you can plan them, but eventually you've got to let them run free in the wild. Sometimes literally. This post is about

But first, an anecdote.

I was aVST for Vampire the Requiem. Still am. The player who portrayed our Prince was on tour in the Middle East, and as a result wrote up a plotkit explaining where he had been and making it relevant to the New York venue. When I tell you how magnificent this plotkit was, let me tell you, I keep a copy of it and use it as a template for MY plotkits. The detail that went into this, with the characters, their motivations, their goals, their quirks, and their relationships with each other. It was beautiful.

Now, it was my luck that I would be running the particular game that this plot would be introduced. Sure, I thought, not a major problem. It was to be a light game, Easter and Passover weekend. Shouldn't be a problem. My VST had contacted players to portray these characters, but he didn't give them the info about them to prep.

And that's when everything went downhill.

One of the players was very intense in his performances, too intense. He was physically touching other players in a manner the player in question wasn't comfortable with. He had gotten too far into it without realizing what the goal was. The court was actually amenable to his demands, but his pushing behavior was shooting him in the foot with a shotgun. The other player, oof. The other player had the directions, read the information sheet and had a copy in case he was confused. He ignored all of it and instead decided to use the abilities on the sheet, and failed. Badly.

By the end of the game, the players and their PCs were equally ready to kill these characters, and killed them they did. Hard. All of that plot the Prince's player put in was shot and killed because bad management and bad roleplaying. My first hour was not my finest hour.

Since then, I've experienced different opinions about NPCs and different ways they are done. From the idyllic synergy of Changeling the Lost, to the shambling hordes of Zombies in Dystopia Rising to the trebuchet I use to launch them at the Mage game, there are numerous ways to prepare them and numerous ways to play them.

So here it is, my guide to portraying NPCs. I'm going to be doing this as both a player and a Storyteller because you need both to pull this off. The NPC is the Storyteller's character in this scenario, and you need one to get the other done.

This is the most important point, and I can't stress it enough. If you're playing an NPC, know who the fuck you are playing. These characters have abilities, skills, stats and most importantly they have lives of their own. Know them.

I mentioned in a previous post doing one game of Changeling as Hamilton, New York City's King of the Day Court. Before I went in, Chris, the man who founded New York's game and most of the NPCs in there, sat me down and gave me the man's history, motivations, relationships and hang ups. I knew his tendency to act as front man for his partnership with the King of the Night Court, and that he was a guidance counselor and PE teacher during the day. I knew he was dominated by the Vice of Sloth and needed people to come to him and do their own thing.I knew he had hero worshiped Erised, the Spring Sovereign. I knew these things, and therefore was easier to understand how to play with him..

I've also gone in with just the sheet of a character and no real information. A character who has history in Requiem's Clan Mekhet. I had a player with history with the character flip some bit of information that I didn't know, so I had to improvise something and quickly. A snide comment to dismiss them.

Roleplaying characters should not be so dismissive, especially not NPCs, who are suppose to act as hooks. You can evade, you can be elusive, but you should not dismiss an NPC unless there is a damned good RP reason why.
In my case, there was a reason, my NPC was a Lancea Sanctum member and the other was a high powered, and particularly antagonistic member of the Circle of the Crone. They don't get along ANYWAY, so history really did play out.

I should note that most of this is in regards to Named NPCs, which is the standard operating procedure for White Wolf Games. In games like Dystopia Rising, where there are hundreds of players across acres of land, being a named character sometimes doesn't have a lot of weight unless there are months of play involved. However, the point still emerges. Know as much about these characters as you can. Know how their Nationality works, what they can do, know what their goals are, as well as background stuff.

I went out as an Outer Guardsman, just a member of an NPC group sent to warn the players about a massive breach of Zombies. Having never really played the game much, I asked for a general rundown of what the Outer Guard was, and what my character could do.

Ask questions, please. If an ST is giving you this character, they should have at the least enough information to play this role accurately.

Another point, if you're playing an NPC, you have to actually want to play an NPC. I've seen too many plots die quickly and abruptly because they just didn't like the characters they were playing. With the above story of the Requiem players fucking up a plot, I did one plot which had gotten so obnoxiously convoluted that I frankly didn't care that I was in it. The ST at the time gave me the plot, but little information. He told me less than nothing about why. So I had no real way of even faking it like an actor and just run with it. I played the character, and that night saw the end and death of the NPC and plot.

One of the reasons why I think Cam/MES has kind of lost it's grip on NPCs is that, frankly, people just want to play their characters. And also that there seems to be a general lack of giving a fuck about the venue as a whole. Most just want their character's XP, their Prestige to make better. In short, there really isn't a sense of civic duty to the club, and performing an NPC is a sign of civic duty to the venue and the club. Dystopia Rising, on the other hand, it's part of Civic Duty. In game, when players go off on their mandatory NPC shifts (unless they buy out of it) their PCs are considered to go on, I shit you not "Civic Duty" which is seen as something important and sacrosanct. The culture actually rewards going off and playing other characters for four hours.

Another point to note, your job as an NPC is not to win, but to Challenge. That's not to say an NPC can never kill, but the idea is not to use the NPC to do just that. Give you a for instance, in Mage, one player's PC had opted to be an NPC so he could become an Antagonist. He got his hands on some plot-level wooj that could (and did) fuck up the venue. He also had access to a lot of things that could have killed three players. At one point the player said "Here is how I would play this, but since this is an NPC, here's how I'd like to evade this." And with that, he took the character and sacrificed himself. The NPC was about to win, it shouldn't.

Finally, there is one thing that all NPC players should do. Debrief. You need to sit down and talk to the Storyteller and explain what the situation was like and what those characters did. In the end, they are responsible for those character. They need to know because continuity is a thing.

So those are the four main points of NPCing. Know as much of your NPC as possible, Care about playing an NPC, Drive your NPC Responsibly, and Debrief your ST. Those are the things that are essentially. There are definitely others, but this is what I'd say is key. A lot of this comes down on the Storytellers as much as the players. If they aren't doing their job right, then there is nothing a player can do other than act their ass off and hope for the best.

For STs reading this, if you're taking the time to make an NPC, do it right. Yes, you can throw a few nameless mooks into the world, but if you actually want to give the players something to follow, they've got to give a damn about what they're chasing.

Otherwise, you just let them play with themselves.

Later

Non-Players in a Players World: Writing NPCs

"I'd love something more sculpted as to how to write and play good NPCs. A Wreck-it-Ralph post, if you will. For Dystopia, but especially for the Cam, where I think NPCing is a rare and lost art form these days" - Ericka

"I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. Because there is no NPC that I'd rather be than me." - Shoshana, re-appropriating Wreck It Ralph for NPC support.

So, last time I spoke about the benefits of NPCing. Now let's get to the practical: How to write and play an NPC in a room. I'm going to keep these seperated to two posts to keep the thoughts clear and separated  I don't much guarantee they won't overlap.

Writing NPCs

I write NPCs like I write supporting characters in a novel. Supporting characters are just that: they support the main characters. In this case they support the PCs. They help give the characters something to work towards and sometimes against. They provide a different point of view, or enhance the mood. They also allow the protagonists in expressing themselves outwardly instead of internally.

 I know, I know, Craig, you're a writer and a Narrativist gamer. OF COURSE YOU LIKE TO WRITE THESE NPCs LIKE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS. Work with me here, folks, I'm trying my best. Let me give you an example, without NPCs or Supporting Characters, the protagonists only have themselves to work with. In a story, that's a lot of internal monologue and less external exposition. You're telling, not showing. Same with players, eventually they just start eating each other when there is nothing else out there to work with. NPCs add an external outlet for the players game.

Now, one of the main things  to figure out is what is the Role of this character, what purpose do they serve in terms of a Protagonist's journey? I should explain, one of my go-to writer's documents is Dramatica, not Encyclopedia Dramatica, dear christ not that. Dramatica talks about eight Archetypal Characters in a Story, ranging from the Protagonist to the Antagonist and everything in between. Here's the list and how it helps in developing NPCs.

I. Protagonist
Protagonists are, in their core, the character with whom they have the most affect on the world and are affected most by the world. I'm going to use Star Wars for these examples because, well, I'm a Star Wars nerd, and if you're reading a blog on LARPing, I'll be dollars to donuts that you're one too, or at the very least get the references. The Protagonist is Luke, learning about the world around him and the Force, and ends up being a Jedi Master. He also affects the world around him, as he is directly responsible for thwarting the Empire's plans.

In gaming terms, the Protagonist is always the Player Characters. Where the other Archetypes can be PC and NPCs, the Protagonists are the PCs. The World does literally hinge on their actions. They learn the most about the world around them, and change the most about the world. This has to be the case, or there is no development and growth in the character. I can't repeat that enough: Characters need to grow with time, they have to or it's just about builidng powers: and I refuse to accept powergaming as a rule.

II. Guardians

Guardians serve one real purpose: To teach and guide the Protagonists in their goal. This is Obi-Wan and Yoda teaching Luke about the Force. This is Virgil giving Dante his tour of Purgatory and Hell. They teach the characters the inherent rules about the world around them. The World of Darkness actually has a mechanic for this role, called the "Mentor" Merit. They are a PC's go-to for advice and learning.  They provide sound support for the Characters, but sometimes not always in the way they want them to. One doesn't need a Merit to have a Mentor, character ties and building always happen, even with NPCs and PCs.

PCs can definitely be Mentors. One of my best gaming experiences is my Mage's relationship with his Mentor, Liz Parker. Liz is a Free Council Acanthus in the Legacy of the House of Ariadne who met my character, Rhys, and taught him about her Legacy as well as teaching him that there are Mages who aren't complete assholes (his opinions of his Consillium are not the brightest). Her presence actually has lead to terrific Roleplay. Ericka, while also being a kickass friend, is also my Mentor in LARPing in general. Blame her, folks. Because of this role, I'm building an NPC for Next Chronicle Mage for a Venue-Wide Mentor who is out teach PCs about Magic and the City.

Guess what his Legacy is, go on. I'll wait.

III. Sidekicks

Sidekicks are characters who either junior or equal to the protagonist in skill, and serve as backup support to their endeavors and goals. This is C-3P0 and R2-D2, the translator and hacker, aiding Luke on his goal. They have skills the others don't, and that makes them invaluable. Note: I don't say that they are inferior, as is usually the way most Sidekicks are depicted. They are sideline characters only because the narrative is focusing on the Protagonist. Ron and Hermione are Sidekicks, but they also go through development and are in some ways better than Harry too. Also, the Sidekicks can just as easily be on their own adventure while the camera is off them

World of Darkness, again, has this mechanic in terms of Contacts, Allies and Retainers. Minor NPCs that the PC owns that give aid in small but important ways. Hackers, Concierges, bodyguards, the list goes on and on. An NPC I had for Mage that worked as a Sidekick was Sellers. Sellers was a Mage who sold his services to the highest bidder, but he also had a high moral ground. His goal was to assist the Mages, or more specifically Not Blow the City Up in Abyssal Shite. Many of the players, due to his attitude, felt he was in fact an Antagonist. He wasn't, he shared traits with another Archetype.

A PC that was a Sidekick was, ironically enough, my Vampire. Taglia was designed to provide backup, being the go-to Telepath for the Ordo Dracul. He aided in different PCs stories and actions. As time went on, he had his own adventures, and in a way had gotten to see things that many players introduced that late into a chronicle didn't get to see or do. He got to do it because he (and I) got to get a feel for the different experiences that happened before him.

IV. Skeptic

The Skeptic exists to challenge the thinking of the Protagonist's worldview. This is Han Solo undercutting Luke's naive beliefs in the Force (and really everything else Obi-Wan said). They aren't Antagonist, necessarily. Their goal is to calibrate and give the Protagonist the opportunity to rethink themselves and not look at something blindly.

An example of this is Sellers. Yes, he was a Sidekick, but he was also a Skeptic. The Mage's view seemed to be based on the principal that the ends justified the means. Sellers disagreed. This lead to Sellers being very sharp and sarcastic whenever a PC made an overly naive comment. This, plus the general "anything from the outside of the consillium is a threat until otherwise noted" attitude of the Characters garnered him the sense that he was Antagonistic. But he appeared to give aid, advice and assist in any large scale magic they needed. He just didn't do it as a simp.

V. Reason

The Reason Archetype is a character who is rooted firmly in Rational/Logical Process. Their goal in a story is to accentuate the logic and high concept thinking to the protagonist. This is Leia, who while the boys are shooting it out with stormtroopers, she's shooting out grates to get to the goal of escape. The Reason is sometimes seen as Cold and Calculating, but not always.

In Mage, I had written a Spirit named Osveta. Spirits are all Reason and Logic. They have to be. They are defined by their function and can even manipulate events to better suit their view on the world. Osveta was a Spirit of Revenge, focusing on child abusers/molesters. Her very being, like all Spirits, was grounded on this principal, anything that deviated was seen as a potential threat. This came up when someone got a Hold of Her Ban, and imposed his Reason on her, changing her actions. When he died and her Ban was destroyed. She returned to her default Reason and continued in aiding characters along their way.

VI. Emotion

The Emotion is a Character who is dominated by pure emotional response. This is Chewie, whose only means of communicating is through emoting. Their goal is to undercut the emotional tone of the scene. This is the McCoy to the Reason's Spock, who replies with Emotional Intuition against Logical Reasoning.

One of the more compelling NPCs I've encountered is from New York's Changeling game. NYC Changeling should be a master study in crafting a world through NPCs. They do it right and it is by all counts one of the most consistent histories I've ever played. One of the NPCs is Emma, a (as of February's game) 14 year old Changeling girl in the Summer Court. Let's make that clear. Pubescent girl+Changeling+Court of Wrath= really interesting interactions. She's a ball of emotional wants and needs. Reason and Logic, as far as they really go in Changeling, don't much factor in to her character.

Interlude: Cute little teen girl being launched into the air by a slingshot towards a monster, her hands are on fire and she's going "WEEEEEEEEEE!!" the entire time. It's adorable, you know it is.


VII. Contagonist

The Contagonist is an interesting one that doesn't get much play. The Contagonist's goal is to divert the Protagonist's goal. They don't seek to end the Protagonist's goals, but to delay or detour for some reason. This is Vader, trying to bring Luke to the Dark Side. He doesn't want to slow Luke's progression, he wants to dictate the road on which he progresses. A more neutral or positive example is Luke's Uncle, who wanted him to be a simple NPC on the farm and not the Protagonist.

In Mage, and really one of the things that sucked me in, was an NPC named Clockwise. Designed and played by my Predecessor, Matt, Clockwise was a Seer of a Throne who specialized in Time Magic. He had taken a shine to Rhys, and wanted to teach him. Of course, there was something very off about Clockwise, the fact he was sucking the Magic out of people being chief among them. Rhys opted not to take evil bastard lessons, and that lead Clockwise to become Rhys' Antagonist.

VIII. Antagonist

This is pretty straight forward. The Antagonist's goal is to stop the progress of the Protagonist. Period. Not divert, not slow down. Stop. This is the Empire, who sees Luke's bullshit as being directly problematic and want him out of the way.

Most RP games have built in Antagonists. In Mage, it's the Seers of the Throne and the Left Handed Legacies. In Dystopia Rising, it's the Zed and the Raiders. PC's can absolutely be Antagonistic, as eventually it's going to happen that one PC opposes the progression of another PC. However, an NPC Antagonist should not be designed to win, not completely. Make the players work for it, make them feel good about winning. In the final reel, it is the PCs who have to stand on top.


To tie off this section, let me say the point. An NPC should have a decided Role. They can serve multiple, but they should not be there for the sake of just being there. It doesn't have to be immediate, it doesn't have to be blatant, but there has to be a Role they serve and a Goal they have. 

Some will notice that I used a lot of World of Darkness references in my examples of Arcehtypes. That's because, as far as I can see, DR and WoD actually have opposite policies on NPCs. In Dystopia Rising, they have hundreds of NPCs. They kind of have to cover such a large player base. Very few of them are named, though, which makes sense since the NPC rotations make playing roles less consistent. Storytellers, for the most part, play the Named NPCs. However, when they do hand out NPCs (and they do, with gusto) they give you ALL you need to know about the characters, and then improv the rest.

In most of the WoD games, most of the characters are named NPCs in these long archs that span months and even years. However, they are often given to players without any real concept of who or what they are and any real history with the players. They almost feel more throwaway than DRs Throwaway NPCs. Again, this is with the exception of Changeling in New York. Where the history of these NPCs enrich the city itself. Example, I played the King of the Day Court in the City. Chris, one of the people who built the venue in the City, gave me the full run down on the character, including history, likes and hero worship of the Spring Sovereign. It was probably one of the most fun times I've enjoyed NPC shifts during WoD related LARPing.

When writing an NPC, be mindful of their history and their ability to acquire history the more times they specifically go out into the game world. While they aren't players, they are portrayed people. There is a level of growth going on there as well, but they are not the focus of the LARP, the players are.
Another touch I'd like to throw in is just that, a touch. An NPC should have a Theme, a motif they carry with them. The Day Court King had his Theme, with the Court of Shame and all. But Sellers had his insignia pop up in random places. Osveta's broken dolls. Clockwise's had a watch motif. Small little pieces add flavor and tone to any character. There should also be a tone. Sellers was very based on political thrillers, Osveta was horror. Clockwise was Conspiracy. So on, so forth. Hell, most of these characters have established playlists.

Finally, let me reiterate this: NPCs are characters,they should have a life and weight of their own. But they are not the focus of the game, they should not outshine the PCs. They should guide, support, add depth and challenge the PC's world. But it's still a players world.


Later