Dark Before Dawn Session Summary: Meeting Nurse Cassandra

The Angel of Mercy came to collect votes.

All LARPs run a little differently.  Some use dice and others use boffer swords.  Some use narrative devices to guide the game (i.e. lighting changes) and others throw in external events.  Therefore it can be enlightening to read about the ins and outs of other LARPs to understand more about the format and all it can do.  In the interests of sharing information on how different LARPs can run, this will be the first of a 25 week series of posts on a Dark Before Dawn campaign summary.

The Dark Before Dawn campaign is a Vampire: the Requiem LARP which focuses on the unlives of the Adelaide court as they come to grips with terrible conspiracies and incredible finds and sits as firmly in the occult investigation genre as it does in the tragic horror genre.  Since this campaign is actually the second in the same setting, but most of the players from the first campaign couldn’t return to reprise their roles, most of the vampires were either new to the city or had returned after years inter-state or in torpor.

The game began with one Carthian (original campaign), two Circle of the Crone (one from the original campaign and one quite new) and the rest belonged to the pseudo scientific Ordo Dracul.  For a time new players could only bring in characters for the Ordo Dracul but later people could create characters for the Circle of the Crone as well.

Although the Dark Before Dawn is multi-modal, using forums and tabletop sessions to solve plots and deepen character connections, this series will *only* provide summaries of the LARP sessions although the final two posts will discuss how including a forum and a tabletop component affected the LARP.

On Saturday, 5th December 2014, we began with an occult mystery where a dozen vampires (either pre-generated with some advice from the players or returning from the original campaign) who all expected a different event, location and even era when they arrived.  There were folk in lab coats, police uniforms and masquerade ball gowns, and each vampire was shocked and confused at the situation they found themselves in.

The Ordo Dracul.

After the initial confusion, the vampires quickly realised that the location held many clues in the artwork, alchemical solutions and even spirit-possessed shrines that populated the hall.  They also found a warning, or perhaps a threat, written on both the chalkboard and even projected onto a screen at various points.

Soon they came to realise that four possessing spirits of darkness (strix) would be released into the venue to possess one of the vampires every hour and twenty, give or take.  These spirits would have vital information they would be compelled to provide to the vampires in their own way but they would also be vicious threats if allowed to linger too long.  Should the vampires fail to root them out and exorcise them, they will find themselves quickly overwhelmed as each additional one is released to possess another vampire.

The vampires were informed that they had been provided with several exorcismal techniques which lurked within the hall but each technique could only be used on one person.  If an exorcism was attempted on the wrong person, the entities would adapt and the technique would cease to work.
The unafflicted vampires performed admirably under pressure, though the first possession turned to be a very tricky beast indeed, but as their own secrets began to come to light they started to turn their attention back to the greater question: Why had they been brought here?  Who was the person who had done this to them?

The words projected on the screen revealed themselves to be sent by Nurse Cassandra, a ghostly victim of a mystical accident caused by one of the characters, who had been flung into some kind of arcane machine deep within the city and who had constructed this realm to communicate with them.
Things finally came to a head when a mysterious stranger arrived with a choice for those present.

Would they empower Nurse Cassandra or would they allow an ancient deity to slowly regain control of the city?  A few picked the ghostly figure, still fewer picked the deity.  Most chose to walk their own path and refused to choose at all.

In the end, the ancient occultist, Yzador, of the Circle of the Crone made a  deal with the angelic messenger that was an abjuration in disguise.  She was banished from their realm.

The doors to the outside world finally opened and the vampires were allowed to leave.  Many did so in silent contemplation, a great contrast to the chaos and confusion that had reigned for hours earlier.

Since their pre-generated characters had history in Adelaide and connections to each other, many of the players then chose to keep their characters rather than make new ones for 2015.

The Rack Mini-Game

In my vampire: the requiem LARP, because I just love accounting or perhaps just love to torture myself, keep a separate set of calculations for each of the Racks which show how many points are necessary to raise or lower the rack to the next level.  These Racks are represented by suburbs and have two values - one for animal blood and one for human blood.  The North Western Barrens, for example, is good for animals but bad for feeding on humans.  Each Rack has a particular Rack value which also represents the number of vampires it can freely support without losing any points due to humans growing suspicious, animals become skittish, or the overall vibe of the area changing.

                It takes 10 points to raise or lower a Rack with a value of 1.

                It takes 15 points to raise or lower a Rack with a value of 2.

                It takes 20 points to raise or lower a Rack with a value of 3.

                It takes 30 points to raise or lower a Rack with a value of 4.

                It takes 50 points to raise or lower a Rack with a value of 5.

                Consider the Rack value as a range of feeding checks it can take before losing any points.  So if the CBD Rack has a 2/2 rack value, 2 feeding checks can occur there without any problem.  If there are three OR four feeding checks, the rack loses a single point.  It's only when a fifth feeding check occurs there that it would lose an additional point.  So long as a rack is being groomed, it can take a few hits without faltering.  Each downtime spent on boosting or damaging the Rack typically provides a single point though additional points may be added or taken away for truly spectacular actions.

                Methods of boosting a rack include:

·         Increasing tourism.

·         "Safe" supernatural encounters or expectations (i.e. ghost tours).

·         Scandal.

·         Drugs that increase risk-taking behaviours.

·         Drugs or events that reduce helpful bystander actions.

·         Encourage public use of "owned" security / medical personnel on the streets.

·         Encouraging homeless populace to settle in that region.

·         Keeping said homeless populace out of the public eye.

·         Festivals and nightclub strips.

·         Summer season (for beach Racks).

·         Late night shopping.

·         Late closing.

·         Ennui and indifference to other people.

·         Indifferent police.

·         Parklands that are not dry zones.

·         Car parking in dark and out of the way places.

·         Animal farms (for animals).

·         Rubbish strewn streets (for animals).

·         Access to more Barrens (for animals).

 

                Methods of damaging a rack include:

·         Recent murders.

·         Public violence.

·         Visible criminal activity.

·         Winter season (for beach Racks).

·         Sobriety programs and designated drivers.

·         Encouraging people to stay in groups.

·         Terrifying supernatural encounters.

·         Effective communities and neighbourhood watch groups.

·         Active hunter cells.

·         Uncontrolled security guards and cameras.

·         Early closing of shops and clubs.

·         Motivated and reliable police.

·         Pest control programs and stray catching (for animals).

·         Feeding check mishaps.

·         Overfeeding.

 

Thus it encourages a rack mini-game among the players to sink in enough downtimes to off-set the huge amounts of blood they have to draw off the locations in order to heal, use their disciplines and otherwise deal with all of the monsters lurking around the Adelaide plots.

Vampire: the Requiem (Status Perks)

Since status isn't something purchased but earned during gameplay, it can be difficult convincing people (especially Australians) of the value of seeking out such status.  After all, if you keep getting invited into the back rooms, your status is ranked at a higher level anyway so why push it?

 So here are some of the perks of city status: 

The current city law entitles vampires to a block of feeding grounds per rank of status which is enough to provide a feeding check bonus on the Valued (+1), Respected (+2), and Admired (+3) levels.

The higher ranked kindred become sensitised to their underlings and so get a number of points equal to their Status -1 to learn tidbits about their underlings on a successful Wits + Politics roll.  The cost to gather this information is also dependent on the target's status.  The cost per hint is equal to the target's Status so none can use this strategy to learn details of the Admired Kindred in the city.

Finally kindred are innately hierarchical in order to keep the Beast at bay.  The nature of those hierarchies and the meanings behind them may vary, but they still form a vital structure.  Therefore Kindred regain a point of willpower whenever they accept a valid order from above or when the order they give is accepted.  If the Kindred is already full up on willpower, they instead immediately spend it on an action or a tip to how best to fulfil or assist with the fulfilment of the order.  This doesn't count for boon trades unless the lesser ranked vampire accepts a far more trivial boon than what the task is worth.

I'm trying to think up a few more small but interesting ways to attract interest in city status itself because it provides an information struggling point.  It doesn't just encourage politics in a PvP sense.  Simply by revealing your successes and accomplishments, taking charge of difficult situations and successfully resolving issues between rivals, you can increase your standing so even in a deeply PvE game there are benefits to an urge for hierarchy.  

Otherwise there's surprisingly little incentive to share plot other than being a good gamer since letting others know about particular plot lines you are following means that it may be changed, warped or even stolen away from your character.

What are your thoughts?

Feeding Checks in my Vampire LARP (Take Two)

Since the main way to trouble a vampire is to lay the pinch of it's blood supply, I have been giving each character a feeding check prior to each game.  These feeding checks take in a lot of information to come up with a fair analysis of different people's abilities.  There's an article somewhere within this blog about how it works but it's become all the more complicated so I thought I would regale you all again.

First you begin with the amount of blood they had from the last session.  Unless they need to feed off vampire blood, it is assumed that they are capable of maintaining their current blood supply minus any healing required.

Then we move onto the typical Attribute + Skill roll to reflect their hunting technique and gain the successes in blood.   Record both the bonus and the actual number on the dice to check for feeding mishaps.

Add the bonuses from certain disciplines that synchronise with that skill (+1 blood for the use of Majesty, Dominate or Obfuscate).

Subtract a -2 penalty for any feeding restrictions taken (not including animal or human basic restrictions but does include attempts to avoid the Daeva bane triggering).

Add the Rack bonus (ranges from 1 to 5 with all racks beginning at 2 at the start of the campaign) as a single use blood bonus.  This encourages PCs to build up their own racks and perhaps undermine the racks of other people.  Since my Adelaide is divided by gloom patches which crisscross the city and can wipe out an errant vampire attempting to cross them … rack accessibility becomes very important.

Add +2 bonuses for the custom Coil of Ascetic at both the Binge Drinking and the Carrion Feeding levels (presuming they can eat their victim's carrion).  Having to use Feeding Below One's Beast overwrites the use of Binge Drinking as they cancel each other out.

Add the feeding grounds bonus as a single benefit for the first feeding check.

Use Herd only if there's a need for it.  Otherwise do not use Herd so that they can sell them later on or call upon them during the session.

If more blood is required, ask the player if they would like to spend further downtimes on feeding.

A very complex system but one that makes the Rack Building Mini-Game, Herd and Feeding Grounds more important.   Bear in mind, also, that the current city law entitles vampires to a block of feeding grounds per rank of status which is enough to provide a feeding check bonus on the Valued (+1), Respected (+2), and Admired (+3) levels.

The Highs and Lows of Being Prince

While many LARPs have a titular leader, my only experience has been with Vampire: the Requiem LARPs so I can only really speak for that format.  Naturally very Player versus Player oriented varieties of that game will be a little different.  Mine involves a fair bit of Player versus Environment in a relatively open sandbox world.

Now prince is known to be a high stress position, especially in Australia where firm hierarchies with strong dictatorial leadership strategies are very frowned upon.  We like to call our bosses by their first name and feel consulted on just about every pertinent decision that affects our job.  We feel that the extra time taken to do so is well worth the feet-on-the-ground perspective that can be tapped by such consultations.

While the primogen council fulfils some of that function, since Australians are also unused to bringing their problems to delegates and instead attempt to either directly contact the official or solve it themselves when the official is within sight, things can get a bit problematic as in a 15 - 30 player LARP there are no physical barriers preventing them from reaching the prince directly other than protocol. 

It's not too difficult to remember to use the appropriate procedures for speaking with the prince, and Australians generally love falling back on "policy said so" as a sword and shield for when we have to put our foot down, but these elements run counter to our egalitarian expectations and so load the subject of prince with greater tension in Australia then perhaps elsewhere.

As an example, I have had a couple LARP groups of 20 players where we maybe got two to three players who actually wanted to play the prince.  Some groups will have had different experiences, naturally, but it has been mine that most players will avoid trying to topple the prince simply because it means they would need to step into the position.  Naturally the ratio would be higher in PvP LARPs as they attract more politically minded players but even there I've found the preferred positions are things like Seneschal where you can blame the leader while potentially still controlling the city yourself.

So other than some cultural baggage that surrounds the issue of prince, there are the real actual play issues.  Some of the tricks and troubles that need to be considered include:

• Accessibility.  Can you, as a player, be reached between games?  Do you attend enough games?  If not, other players must choose between freezing their own roleplay and aspirations until they can next reach you OR proceeding until apprehended and ignoring the position of prince.
• Bottlenecks.  This is why the aforementioned Accessibility situation matters but even when you are present and contactable, you may be busy huddled away in the corner with a few key characters while everyone else sits on their thumbs unable to move forward until they can tap you on the shoulder.  This can breed frustration and boredom in the main room.
• Delegation.  This is a key management skill and not one that everyone has in spades.  If you're unavailable, is there someone else who can confidently act in your stead?  Have you briefed them enough that they can predict your own choices and decisions with some accuracy?  Are those with delegated authority likely to be locked in a back room with you and therefore defeating the purpose of the delegation?
• Consequences.  Your role necessarily balances the need for drama, conflict, consequences and opportunity for other players to actually be able to do things.  Have you left enough wiggle room for players to have fun without necessarily going against your authority?  And what do the consequences mean both in and out of game?  While character death or enslavement is the clearest example of this issue, killing off key NPCs and destroying or taking away favourite assets also count as that shuts down whole arenas of gameplay for other players.
• Opportunity.  Your actions and directions to the court will naturally sculpt the sort of gameplay opportunities that are available to the other players, to a sizable extent.  If every non-vampire supernatural that attends the court is slain or blood bound, they'll stop coming.  If murdering humans leads to death or torpor, than villainous characters are quickly outed and removed.  If neonates are forbidden from interacting with other supernaturals or if all dangerous areas are forbidden without a court-mandated assault by a specialised team, then gameplay is restricted in downtimes, RtRs and in session to one particular mode - unless your point, of course, is to have your orders disregarded but that's not a style of play that suits every player of a prince.  Of course, as with Consequences, treading too lightly in this area kind of negates the point of having a prince, though.

So what do you do if you're playing a prince?

Firstly, be mindful that you have a position that has the potential for the greatest control over the game as a whole and that's one of the main sources of suspicion and contention.  In a PvP LARP, this won't be such a concern because many of the other PCs are, at least in theory, out for your throne and so the consequences are just more plot and the opportunities you restrict are minor inconveniences.  Being the biggest bastard around allows you to be both protagonist and antagonist and give everyone oodles of joy.

In a primarily PvE LARP, you can literally sculpt the gameplay itself to suit your whims and your characters' wishes with any real platform of support and so, just as with a Game Master, it's important to build trust and to consider the ramifications of your characters' actions as a player for the other players if you don't want an insurrection on your hands and aren't eager to gamble your character's unlife in an antagonist role.

It's a hard position to be in when you're hoping / expecting to maintain a praxis for a long period of time in a PvE LARP.  A hard position, indeed.

VtR: So what could a herd be?

A vampire's herd includes either a steady stable of humans or a varying array of humans who are consistently put into a vulnerable position.  The situation must be well-considered because overdrawing from the herd can put the individual members at serious risk which can affect everyone included.  Unfortunately for vampires there's only so many people who are either the right sort of people who would willingly enter their parlour or the sort of people who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Each type of herd can be affected by changes in society, i.e. herd from homeless shelters will improve if the homeless rates go up and will decrease if people start dying or starting rumours of a particular shelter.  Each form of Herd will have their own issues, as well, which need to be sorted out either by the vampire concerned.

Herd could be a group who are willing to give up their blood:

• Religious Cult
• Sexual fetishists (club members)
• Groupies (if you're a performer)
• Blood Donors
• Secret Society with bloodletting ritual

Herd could be relatively aware of the wonderful necking potential:

• Blood Dolls (blood bound or simply lovers)
• Blood Donors
• Romance (black book, cheating spouses, swingers)

Herd could be locations that allow good access to a variety of mobile yet accessible prey at night:

• Caravan Park
• Large Hospital
• Large Low - Cost Hotel / Motel
• Pub or Nightclub
• Animal Shelters (low level) or Farms
• Abbattoirs
• Homeless Shelters
• Brothel
• Slum Housing

Storyteller Base Assumptions Behind The Dark Before Dawn LARP

This picture sums up my thematic desire for this campaign.

I'm still in the design phase of my Vampire: the Requiem (Ordo Dracul) LARP chronicle in terms of figuring out what custom mechanics, covenant positions and activities would best support an interesting LARP experience.  I've played and run full court games before, but I wanted to do something different this time - focus on the Ordo Dracul and their reactions to a series of strange occult situations. 

It is still very much a theatre LARP and as I want to run it monthly I need to make sure that there's enough to do in-game to keep people entertained.

And yes, players will find ways to keep themselves entertained but a) the primary arena of PvP in a vampire court is about becoming prince which isn't an option for the Ordo Dracul, b) the secondary arena of PvP in a vampire court is about gaining status or eroding another's status while Ordo Dracul status is more dependent on number of coils earned and sworn status, and c) plenty of players do end up bored in the average Elysium game which encourages all sorts of trouble as the players try to remain occupied.  Sometimes this trouble is beneficial, canonical, and adds to the experience.  Sometimes it's just plain silly.

So I wanted to make sure there were plenty of different things people could aim to achieve and that there would be real rewards for achieving those goals that are canonically accurate and interesting to examine so that both the gamists and the simulationists can have something to do.  I also want to encourage certain behaviours (i.e. the higher ups giving objectives to lower status members) and knowledge (i.e. elders should be able to tell anecdotes about their history and Dragons should have something to say about their experiments) which should please the narrativists as they'll have more to connect with.

And yes, I know that GNS theory isn't the Be All and End All but casting a thought to any and all different cross sections of players is a good idea.  At the very least if a category of player doesn't suit the game, or a particular game role, then I can direct them to another LARP or role which would suit them.  As an example, if authority figures are meant to avoid the action in favour of sending their underlings to investigate, and this choice is a big part of the social contract around ensuring all players remain relevant, than it would be unfair to let an action-oriented player take a major position of authority without knowing what they will be losing and without suggestions for how they may have political influence *and* stay involved in the section of the game they love the most.

So I've put up an entire article on my main considerations and how these affect the game over on my Dark Before Dawn campaign blog.  Feel free to take a look.

I'm happy for any questions, comments or critiques on the article, either here or over there.

Vampire LARP: Blood-based Mini Games, Part 2

In my game, each vampire gets one roll prior to each session to determine howmuch blood they have gathered for it.  The city is now a dangerous place so it's not so easy to spend as many hours cruising and feeding without risk so one can't assume one will be arriving full at every gathering.  Any character may spend an additional downtime hunting.

Since you don't have to spend experience points on your hunting methods (except to boost relevant traits), it's well worth your time to invest in it with effort, downtimes or subtle manipulations at court to convince others to shift the economic landscape for you.  After all, if a charitable organisation gets most of the homeless off the streets then you're out of luck if they're your main prey, while if you demolish a large chunk of slum housing to put up a few larger single family dwellings OR shut down the psychiatric facilities and care homes then you'll have more food on the streets.

If too many people hit the same targets, then there's likely to be myths (campers have been more susceptible to flu lately) and also a reduction in targets (campers feel too uneasy to camp anymore).  There's also an increased risk that two vampires will hit the same target.  After all, even if there are 1000 campers in the Adelaide Hills in a single week there's a good chance that only 10 - 20 of them are in a convenient spot at any one time.  Problems can also arise if a vampire significantly fails their feeding check (roll a 1 on a d10 followed by another 1 on the reroll) which will generate either a personal plot (even on the dice) or a regular plot affecting the whole court (odds on the dice).

One of the questions asked of each player when they arrive is their preferred prey, area and hunting style and this default will be used until I'm informed of a change in tactics.  If too many vampires are attacking the same sort of people, areas, or (in some instances) using the same techniques, they'll generally all get a warning and will need to determine whether they themselves will change tactic or whether they'll force another to do so. 

 Techniques.

The first four of the below feeding techniques can be used on humans or animals (replace persuasion with animal ken and streetwise with survival) while the last option may only be used on animals.  The technique determines the dice roll used.

• Ambushing a victim (stealth, grapple, risk of discovery)
• Attacking a victim (brawl, weaponry, risk of victim's death)
• Convincing a victim to go with you to a bad location (persuasion, streetwise, risk of later retaliation)
• Feeding off an unconscious / sleeping victim (larceny, stealth, risk of discovery)
• Seducing a victim (empathy, socialize, risk of victim seeking you out)
• Majesty blasting a victim (Majesty, risk of victim obsessing over you)
• Dominating a victim (Dominate, risk of victim noticing memory gaps)
• Paying a victim, i.e. prostitute (resources, persuasion, risk of gaining a reputation)
• Animalism to call / subdue enough animals (Animalism, risk of myth making)

Prey

Some prey are easier to feed on than others, generally because they are either more numerous (allowing a single Kindred to reach more prey during the week) or because they are particularly vulnerable (allowing a single Kindred to feed more during the week).  The vampires' activities will affect the benefits and penalties involved, often in unexpected ways.  The precise bonuses / penalties will not be released to a player unless their character makes it their Lesser Work to study the herd.  The techniques chosen will also impact the bonus or penalty.  It is, after all, easier to attack an unsuspecting tourist than a petty criminal.  Thus only the first option will have an example.  The others will be listed simply as the general opinion of difficulty.  Naturally certain

• Homeless (+4) (approx. 500 highly vulnerable and accessible people)
• Intoxicated
• Campers
• Tourists
• Patients
• Lonely Singles
• Petty Criminals
• Prostitutes
• Junkies
• Nightshift Workers
• Opportunistic
• Livestock
• Pests

Location

Certain areas include a feeding bonus which actually provide extra blood earned per roll as though they had gained an automatic success.  These bonuses are divided by the number of vampires hunting there.  Thus, if the CBD rack has +6 blood attached to it and five people feed there than the first vampire to feed there gains 2 blood while the others gain 1 extra blood apiece.  Initiative, in this case, is determined by a Wits + Streetwise roll.  These areas include (with numbers being examples rather than what I will necessarily be using):

• CBD Rack (9) +3 in late February / March
• Glenelg / Brighton Rack (6) +3 in warmer months
• Livestock Farms (6)
• Abattoirs (5)
• Burgeoning Port Adelaide Red Light District (4)
• The Parade (2)
• Other range of pubs (2)
• Late night cafes, restaurants and coffee houses (2)
• Slum housing (2)
• Medical Facilities (2)
• Warehouse districts (1)
• Adelaide Hills (1)
• Office Car Parks (1)
• Beaches (0) +2 in warmer months

Bear in mind this is all just examples as I'll doubtless alter them as I get closer to the game creation time.

Vampire LARP: Blood-based Mini Games, Part 1

LARPs need competition between the players to survive (more often than not).  How much competition and the kind of competition may vary from simple and relatively benevolent (kill more zombies than your colleague) to complex and relatively malevolent (insidiously affect your life so that your child rejects you).  When a particular game setting puts a lot of emphasis on a certain resource, it's certainly worth using it as a goal to compete over.

With vampires, that resource is: blood.

In my LARP, blood will be sourced through a few methods and each one has it's own sort of mini-game attached.  I'll chat about them more specifically in later posts.  For now, the primary three folks need to worry about include:

• Hunting.
• The Rack.
• Herd.

Developing a One Shot LARP: Main Event Bookings

I'm going to be using Event-brite for bookings, since I have some familiarity with the system, but I have learned a lot more about the program while establishing the event which I thought I would share. Initially I thought about creating a different Event-brite event per session but that became clunky fast so I looked at having three different sessions on the one event. The only trouble with this is that you can't just have the early bird tickets roll over to the right category so you have to guesstimate how many Early Bird bulk tickets you want to offer and subtract it from the other ticket types.

Luckily I'm now doing one looong event rather than three sessions so this is no longer a problem for me.

I considered creating tickets so people could 'purchase' a character based off a brief line of description but that would lead to a *really* long list of tickets. This wasn't so much of a problem, necessarily, except that the players couldn't really judge each character properly by the small string of spoiler free nouns and adjectives.

When I discovered that you could ask questions of those who purchase a ticket, I had a better idea. Each question asked could lead into sub-questions to allow two level questions. This could be used for people to select their character, though I wasn't sure if I could make it so that the same character could only be selected once. It also doesn't change the fact that it only gives the illusion of player choice -- the real juicy stuff about each one is hidden.

On the other hand, the ability to ask questions meant that I could ask questions about player preferences in terms of clans, covenants and play styles. A player who's after competition may like a different character to one who wants to trawl through clues. This also gave me the chance to gauge interest in pre-event ten minute training on the setting or system.

I can also sell merchandise through the web-site, which is pretty neat and a good way to fundraise -- especially if the objects can be obtained / made post-purchase because then there's no net loss if no one's interested in them. Some people love collecting merchandise (i.e. T-Shirts, key rings, magnets and temporary tattoos) especially if the cash is going to a good cause, such as a persistent LARP.

The booking system is not yet live because, alas, I still haven't had the chance to start visiting venues.

Developing a One Shot LARP: Coping With Complexity

Developing a LARP is tricky business but it's also quite simple. I've been getting ready. I've rustled up all the odd and quirky things in my house which I think could have decorative or prop value. I've started collecting coffee jars. Why coffee jars? You'll need to wait and see. I'm trying to use up a few spice bottles in the next month or so as they make good die roller containers (so I bought pizza topper since my husband smothers that on everything). I've cast my eye across potential venues to investigate a few times (though I've yet to actually make appointments and start rocking up).

I've also read a lot of LARP articles (not that there are very many) to better understand different styles of LARP and their issues so that I can better knuckle down on just what I want out of a LARP, the kind of players who would enjoy that, and the kind of traps which would arise. If I can't tell the players exactly what they're signing up for, then I may get some very frustrated players who might otherwise have either avoided the LARP or simply changed their expectations.

Plus certain LARP styles stand at odds to each other. LARPs with great rules complexity (like World of Darkness) really don't suit high combat LARPs (which you want to be snappy). I've arranged to have a Combat Helper stand with the player who's turn will follow the current one so that we can speed up the combat. The Combat Helper is also a player but knows rules well and, most importantly, has no combat skills himself to speak of so will have no real part to play in the grand majority of combats.

Complex rules are also not great with investigative LARPs where you don't want to have to hand hold the players through everything they do but you also want to quickly signpost who can read the Ancient Greek and who can decipher the occult text. Checking to see if you have a relevant skill buried among the powers, combat skills and social skills could be irksome for some players. You also want to make sure the skills divide down enough that anyone with, say, a dot in Academics due to their document analysis skills can't open that Archaeology skill envelope about that obscure Mayan death cult. World of Darkness has skill specialties which help with that but changing the mentality of players used to being able to at least "try an Academics roll", especially if they're heaps excited by what's in that envelope, can be problematic. So with the one shot LARP, at least, I've hidden all the character's skills. They have enough on their character sheet booklet to worry about. Instead of a list of skills that won't come up in this session (i.e. outdoorsy ones like Drive or social ones good for downtimes and NPCs like Expression), they only have a list of 4 - 7 skills, specialties and languages which are on the envelopes. If you have the right one, you may open the envelopes. There's no temptation to argue.

Complex LARPs are also not heaps beginner friendly, which is why I'm making a booklet, rather than just handing out sheets. These booklets are only 2 2/3rd of an A4 page but will be divided up so that you get a nice pocket-sized booklet which contains your Bio, History, Connections, Goals, Relevant Disciplines & Rituals (since rituals now take 15 minutes per roll, I only list the pre-cast ones). The disciplines identify your + Number that is your dice pool. There's even a page that shows your Attributes and your Skill Envelope Skills as well as a page that shows all your combat stuff from Blood Potency to Initiative to Defence to Combat Skill bonuses (divided by type of weapon where you have multiple attack skills). There's also a page on vampiric banes, personal banes and inherent abilities such as the Blood Buff.

As a complex LARP, the game also involves expendable resources - health, blood and willpower. Health is represented by a set of marked squares. Since storytellers mind the combat quite precisely, we have the pencils and we can mark off their health or provide them with a pencil and instructions to do the same. But what about blood and willpower? They can be gained and lost very quickly. Well, I went with stickers. I used Google Images to track down a blood spatter mark and a brain image, shrunk them down, and printed them off on envelope labels. I used a stanley knife to score the edges so that each icon can be more readily removed.

Voila!

I will paste these sections on onto their pages, including the label backing, so that you can remove them, replace them, and remove them again without ripping off any paper.

Developing a One Shot: Am I digging my own unmarked grave?

Oddly enough for a game that is set to re-launch an existing campaign, I've decided to go with a historical session. "Are you mad?!" I hear you saying. The players will change things! There will be unexpected divergences in the timeline.

For fear of giving anything away, let's just say that I've already factored in that possibility and look forward to it. I'll give you guys an update after the session to show how I managed any changes (if any came). Of course, knowing my players there's every chance that it'll all go according to the historical plan.

So that's the detriment. What about the benefits?

Historical sessions allow dress ups. Need I say more?

No, really, a lot of folks who want to play vampire really see it as an excuse to also wear historical clothing. That's why you might see the vampiress in the Victorian dress and even the man in the Medieval wear. Does it make sense to have a few anachronisms to walk about? Especially if the fashion is clearly skewed towards black street wear?

Maybe not, but it's fun.

In this case, everyone is strongly encouraged to wear historical clothing that matches a particular era. The clothing they wear and the ideas they have can really put together a very fascinating visual scene and so long as I pick an era that is post-1920s it's not too hard to dress for if you're willing to check out a few opportunity shops. Hell, a high-necked blouse and knee-length woollen skirt could work for multiple eras, though it might not be the high fashion for them.

Besides, it may attract folks who are interested in the historical nature of the game, even if they wouldn't normally LARP. It provides a firmer connection to murder mysteries, as well, which isn't a bad thing considering some of the plot lines (and no, this isn't yet another Who Killed The Prince game).

And most importantly, I want to see folks dressed up and looking brilliant.

Developing A Persistent LARP: Starting with a One Shot

When aiming to launch a LARP when you don't already have a ready player base, you need to think a little bigger. In my case, I think the best way to recruit for my LARP is with a LARP. Yep, you heard that right and I don't mean an already existing LARP. I will be running three interconnected yet largely stand alone sessions that will be advertised as a largely separate event.

Why do this?

It will give folk a taste of my LARP ST style, give me some extra practice, and help publicise the word of my persistent LARP.

Why do I think this will work?

Well, it's easier to advertise once offs. Players don't have to worry about whether they might like to commit in the long-term. The fact that it's a limited time offer (by it's very nature) also encourages people to give it a try *now* rather than waiting around ... and maybe forgetting about it. The fact that it's an enclosed session also promises a more exciting session. In other LARPs there's a chance you'll just sit around and have nothing to do all session. If you have goals in a one shot, you need to accomplish them now!

The pre-generated characters most folks will be playing also means that I can introduce them to the various PCs and NPCs from the old chronicle while still giving them a chance to dive in without having to worry about how well their character would gel with established characters and, again, whether they'd have anything to do. I can also guide them on the kind of campaign they can expect to play through the goals and revealed plots at work here.

Plus a one shot gives me opportunities that a persistent campaign does not. In large part this is the Preparation Time to Game Time ratio. I have months to prepare for the one shot while in a persistent campaign even if I earmark one particular session to be special in the months to come, I still have to invest part of my Preparation Time into the persistent campaign's next session and the downtimes in between.

I can also be experimental and trial things that don't need to appear in the persistent campaign if they don't work out well. It's far less confusing to change a few rules between the clearly marked one shot and the clearly marked persistent campaign. It's far more annoying to have those rules change for some reason between Sessions 4 and 5. Yes, it happens. No, it's not fun for anyone.

Anywho, I have a couple more articles on this that will take me through the weekend as I have no further Dystopic posts just yet. At the very least this should give you all more information on LARPs and LARP creation.

What To LARP?

Isn't it terrible when you have two or three equally cool persistent campaign ideas where all three run at cross purposes to each other? Especially when it's a LARP game. It's not like you can just end the LARP after a few sessions because "it's not quite cool enough" and then start running the other style. That loses you a bit of credibility. And as they're persistent styles of play, it's not like I can do a few one shots and pick the one that suits my interests the best.

As I have learned while developing my one-shot introductory "The Dark Before Dawn" game in preparation for the persistent LARP game which will follow on from it, a one-shot and a persistent LARPs are two very different beasts in style, delivery and preparation. For starters, you have loads more time to develop a one-shot and that extra Time to Game ratio allows for more intricate planning and propwork.

So what are my three LARP ideas, you ask?

The Court & The Coterie Game

Every month there is a court game (which everyone attends) and a coterie game (which is restricted to members of a certain clan or covenant). The monthly game involves all of the politics, deliberations and court-based information sharing. The coterie game allows for politics (i.e. Invictus board meetings), lived experience (i.e. LARP a "Dark Mass" followed by Lancea Sanctum deliberations) and plot (i.e. Ordo Dracul go and clear out a wyrm's nest). This system allows for a little bit of everything, maximum player choices and creates quite a deep and immersive VAMPIRE experience but gives me fewer horror story moments to shine and creates the possibility that some players will have no other clan or covenant members to play with. Balancing everyone's needs in such a diverse play space can become more difficult as conceivably the game should suit everyone ... just at different times ... and thus there's more encouragement to play a game of tug-of-war. Also, even allowing for two coterie sessions a month people are looking at a 10 week turn around between coterie games.

The Covenant Game

The game is broken up into separate covenants who occasionally meet every three months. Since I'm only one little Storyteller, this would likely involve only two covenants (Circle of the Crone and the Ordo Dracul) though other Storytellers might want to come along for the ride eventually and run the other covenants. This means that everyone gets a more focused game, finally you can play in covenants with all of their positions filled out (even with only 15 players most would be full) and you can experience what it's like to truly be in a covenant. As a more heavily occult game, I can intersperse the lived experiences and political spaces with investigations that most folks can participate in to some extent. While covenant politics would still be a thing, most folks understand that killing off other covenant-mates or playing too hard with those in your same posse is a bad idea (especially as the covenants wouldn't be big enough for semi-anonymity) so it would be less of a brutal political game. Unfortunately players would be more limited in their character ideas, though there would still be space to have someone with dual covenant status due to the nature of the Adelaide setting - a Carthian might take sanctuary with the Crone or the Ordo Dracul. Still such characters would have to be rare. As a benefit and a detriment, only certain types of players would be best served by this style of game which again allows for more focused play but also limits the prospective pool of players potentially.

The Highly Focused Covenant Game

As before but just focus on one covenant and have the other session free for whatever needs to happen. This would most likely involve the Ordo Dracul as they mix a highly structured covenant with obvious work divisions, internal politics and an external focus on orchestrating change. This would allow for sessions where a coterie of guardians checks out a wyrm's nest while the other available and interested players assist with NPCs, storytelling and scene changes. The trick would be ensuring everyone has their chance for involvement as a core PC in this. Also, it's the most restrictive style of game, though that's not necessarily a bad thing because every game doesn't have to be for all players. There should be a multitude of LARPs for a multitude of players. Still, it's an issue that needs to be considered, especially as it would be difficult for some of the previous characters to continue their participation in the game. Not impossible (see dual covenant status - though this time only for characters from the previous campaign arc) but still a problem.

So yes, this is the dilemma I am currently considering.

My Vampire LARP In Adelaide

Something suspicious about that sign...

Well, it's semi-official.  I am going to run a LARP.  My husband wants to run a Changeling: the Lost LARP too.  In fact, he gained inspiration for it first though wants more time to set it up and let all of the ideas bounce around in his head.  Together with a couple friends, we're actually considering going the incorporated not-for-profit route to ensure we have all the insurance and other details covered.

I want to relaunch my Vampire: the Requiem LARP but make it bigger and better next time.  The game developed a pretty neat history with some fun occult twists and turns, some interesting political connections and some hidden secrets that had only just come to light before the game ended.

I'm going to start with a single day session set in historical Adelaide for up to 40 players.  The funds raised from these tickets can go towards incorporation and public liability insurance. 

Initially I was going to have it broken into three sessions with each session set in a different time period buuut that seems pretty problematic to constume for.  Odds are the costume changes would take far too long to get back into the game.

As with most single shot games, each player will receive a set of goals to achieve and a set of abilities rather than a character sheet.  Players who are accepted into the persistent campaign may
use their current characters for it.

The persistent campaign will begin after this single day session.  Since there'll be fewer players and less of a plot focus during the main sessions, people can use their regular character sheets.  There'd be a monthly Elysium / Salon game with a heavy political and information sharing focus followed by coterie sessions which'll generally be a bit more tabletop in style and which will allow the players to do things that match both their covenant and clan unlifestyles.

The campaign itself will focus on the "lived" experience of being a vampire.  Therefore there'll be plenty of opportunities for feeding checks, interesting events and covenant-based activities such as religious ceremonies, Wyrm's Nest investigations and the destruction of court enemies.

The city of Adelaide in-game is also in a very precarious and dangerous state with three angelic figures threatening to wipe the vampires off the face of the city if they cause further problems and don't manage to halt the spread of abyssally tainted horrors.  You see, the void beneath the Adelaide Hills is releasing shadow manifestations through the ley lines of the city which means that those who spend too much time in darkness risk assault.

The people of Adelaide have responded to these risks (which few identify as supernatural) by increasing the amount of sensor lights in residential areas and neon lighting in commercial areas.  Those who have to travel at night for work purposes can also now more readily get a firearms license.  This is the Adelaide of 2044 where technology hasn't progressed in line with science fiction expectations but rather has increased predominately in the medical and communication fields as it has been doing for decades.

So, in short, I am planning to run a more investigative and occult-focused Vampire: the Requiem game with a backbone of political horror.

Considering a LARP of my own

A few years ago I ran a pretty successful low-key LARP involving about fifteen pals and acquaintances in a free city venue under the banner of the Adelaide University Roleplaying Something or Other. It was a lot of fun but since it was a pretty closed group the membership dwindled away over two years until I had five regular players whose characters didn't get along.

Now I've gotten the itch again

So naturally, I start thinking back to how much fun my previous vampire LARP was. I mean, sure, you always get some kooky players with some kooky character concepts, but so long as the majority work out then it's fine. If the characters don't get along due to innate differences ... great! They can perpetuate their own stories.

Plus the end of my last campaign introduced a neat concept involving manifestations out of the shadows themselves that was inspired by Alan Wake (though most assuredly different from it too). Why not take that same Adelaide court, leap it thirty years in the future, get some new players and characters to populate the ruins of the old court and go from there?

Of course, everything seems a bit more complicated now.

I can no longer simply register is as part of the university gaming club, which means either seeking out Public Liability insurance and Incorporation *or* paying the higher venue costs and risking greater personal liability. These two elements create a barrier of several hundred dollars.

Since the majority of gamers are either broke or cheap and enough players aren't exactly kicking down the door to pay an up front membership fee of $25 plus session fee for an untested game that doesn't exist yet, it puts me in a bit of a bind. I decided to create a three part semi-standalone series of historical sessions to try to raise money but on further examination found that I'm likely to raise only a little more cash than the cost of the events.

The last time I ran a Troupe Vampire LARP, there were plenty of people looking for a different kind of experience to that presented by the Camarilla (less political, more of a gilded cage, less paperwork - which is an essential part of a global game). However most of those players got what they sought from my campaign and scratched that itch *or* they found my game style wasn't for them and left. This means that I don't have a ready cast of players.

While the rules aren't so much an issue, trying to balance the characters which have been submitted with an eye to creating a fun and coherent game is tricky. It's not that *I* particularly care about a custom ability or a potent combat wombat, it's more what it could do to the game. If one person sinks loads of dots into combat, then anyone who has a mere 3 & 3 (rather than 5 & 4) can end up feeling (or worse, being treated) like a joke. Custom mechanics can also affect the themes of the game in a way that the other players might not like, especially if it unfairly makes one character seem way more special than any other from the get go.

Trying to explain how someone's funky concept or highly focused stat lines could actually shatter immersion and ruin the game for other players is ... well, suffice it to say, it's often kinder to just spout some banal line about "It not being a good fit," and making it sound like I'm being a precious ST trying to protect my own artistic credibility.

So yeah, a lot of complications here. I'll have a chat on the upcoming weeks about the work I've put into it thus far. A Glimpse Into The Life Of A Start Up LARP Organiser.

Hunter & Vampire LARP in Theory

On the way to work today I got to think about why I'm currently planning on running a Vampire game. I mean, my love and adoration is for the occult paradigm, mundane conspiracies and investigative dilemmas so why do I want to run a LARP involving curmudgeonly vampires being all cranky at each other? While the answer to that question probably involves the variety of occultists, the fact that vampires can actually be the source of those occult blow ups, conspiracies and dilemmas I love so well and, well, the fact that they can mostly entertain themselves with socialising, politicking, and ruminating about history while I go off and have a doze (just kidding), where necessary helps as well.

I mean, straight up investigative games are *haaaard*. Especially LARPs. How do you provide enough clues for everyone? How do you make an interesting enough location? If the sessions themselves don't revolve around working a case by hitting the streets, then what could that session be about? Without city positions, inter-covenant rivalries and status climbing to occupy your time in between the real hard yakka sessions, why bother having a LARP at all?

So I was thinking about the framework for the current vampire game I'm planning and realised that with a bit of work it *could* be adapted to Hunter. I'm figuring on having it be a monthly game with the Kindred gathering as a city for various occasions hosted by the PCs where they gather together, connive for positions, build the reputations of their clan and covenant, swap resources, and also share information and request assistance on a variety of personal projects supported through merit purchases (gotta work for your Cruac), downtimes and the forums. There are mysteries that can be solved, wyrm's nests to clear, and hidden stockpiles of information to locate.

For those who don't want to use the forums, or need a face-to-face approach, I'm planning on including a coffee hour pre-court session where folks can come in, shoot the breeze, and book me for ten minute periods per person (multiple time slots could be booked for pairs or groups) to do downtimes or resolve minor RtRs. Finally, there'll be space on the other fortnight of the month for coterie, clan and covenant sessions which allows for either politicking and socialising to ensure tighter covenants, thematically important situations that don't make as much sense in city gatherings (i.e. Circle ceremonies and Ordo Dracul meetings), and, of course, the hard yakka of investigative or violent work. The aforemention Wyrm's Nest clearing, as an example. There would most likely be treated more as tabletops for simplicity's sake.

It would mean that most players spend most of their time in a monthly game but with two coterie spaces (three hour time slots) on the spare fortnight, they'd get something a little extra every five months or so. If there was something really pertinent that needed doing, I might do an additional coterie session to allow for it though I'd make an effort to spread the time around. Any really keen group can always meet up together to politic or work via the forums to get extra stuff done.

So anyway, keeping this LARP model in mind it's certainly possible to do a Hunter: the Vigil game as I could justify why the various hunter groups would create a central group better than I could with Call of Cthulhu (a beautiful game with very high standards and thus workloads for a LARP). Now I won't be doing this anytime soon. I've put far too much work into the vampire game. But it's something I can toss around and maybe try it out in a few years once this Vampire campaign has run its course (my plans include about two years for this LARP with the option of extending it).

Fianyarr Vampires

Whatever you do with vampires, make them dramatic....
(Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2)

While I could give you statistics for each of these creatures that would take up a lot of room and anyone using these creatures could easily come up with attributes and skills themselves.  So instead of doing that I'm going to give you a couple of interpretations / myths and the rules used to create them for Fianyarr and you can take it from there and customise it to your heart's content.  That way I can fit in more content without making this article ridonculously long (that's a word now).

Charismatic Vampires

There are those who feared the penalty of aging and grew terrified of wrinkles, weakness and infirmity.  So desperate were they to keep their young looks that they made pacts with terrible unseen things and dabbled with blood magic to find the secret to eternal youth.  While many people may have done the same, those who would become vampires did it with a purity and dedication that surpassed any other.  For their efforts they gained eternal youth but at a terrible price ... their bodies are locked in a stasis that only the sun can unlock and the sun gives nothing without a price of its own.

Creation: Charismatic vampires can infect another with their curse by biting them over three successive nights but their victim must either love the vampire or be enthralled with a need for eternal youth.  If either condition isn't met they will simply waste away and die.

Signs: Pallor due to a lack of sunlight, clear pale eyes, fangs in place of incisors, cold skin, faded aura.

Powers: 10 dots (elder), 7 dots (ancillae) and 5 dots (neonate) worth of Majesty, Nightmare, Animalism, Vigor, and Dominate from Vampire: the Requiem.

Attributes and skills: 10 / 7 / 5 attributes and 16 / 11 / 7 skills for elder vampires.  7 / 5 / 3 attributes and 13 / 9 / 5 skills for ancillae.  Neonates share the same character creation dots as regular characters.

Power Level: Epic (elders), Overwhelming (Ancillae) and Powerful (Neonates).

Useful Bloodlines

Some bloodlines are more useful than others to a fantasy world so I thought I should include them here.  Unless you're planning on a more expanded and intellectual society of vampires I would recommend using each bloodline as a separate and distinct group of bloodsucker rather than throwing them all in together.  You could also go through all of the bloodline weaknesses and swap out existing vampire weaknesses for a new bloodone one.  Thus you could remove vitae's addictiveness, binding nature, fire's damage, sunlight's damage, risk of frenzy, ability to be staked, bashing damage from arrows or ability to enter into torpor.  You could add additional powers (only take one point of damage from each source of damage); change the fluff (must feed from the liver rather than a vein); or make it more difficult to kill them (ash stake, dead man's blood, or beheading).

The Carnival

If you want a darker form of circus with some more interesting relics, potions and fruit to sell you can look no further than including a few denizens from The Carnival among their ranks.  With all of the benefits of Clan Daeva, Nosferatu flaw on top of the Daeva one due to some freakish aspect of their appearance, as well as a custom discipline these guys can provide you with a lot of interest.

Children of Judas

Some vampires spontaneously arise from those who died unclean and miserable deaths.  Those who died from suicide sometimes have a sudden moment of clarity before their death where they realise the solution to their problems.  Despite their desperation to suddenly live, most still pass on to the other side.  Some come back.  These vampires feel a need to explore other people's pain but it's recommended that the Zelani weakness of requiring an invitation to enter a home and sunlight simply making the vampire sleepy (halving all dice rolls) would give them sufficient distinction.  Perhaps also they can only be killed through a recreation of their method of suicide - though the latter would work better for a darker game.

Spina / Toreador / Zelani / Kallisti / Taifa

These vampires work well for a nobleman turned vampire - perhaps due to a curse or some terrible tinkering with alchemy using the deaths of others to extend their lives.  If you want to have a society of similar (or slightly different) vampire families then these five would do well for it without allowing knowledgeable players to make assumptions.  In fact, if they hear that there are five families most players will leap to the conclusion that they will be the five core clans and will be in for a rude surprise.

Mara

In a world with Nixies there is a need for underwater kindred and what better than a race of vampires that need to feed while utterly submerged?  If you would like to provide a more confusing title, the characters might confuse a Mara with a Rusalka.  It is recommended that you remove a vampire's issues with fire an replace it with similar fears of salt for freshwater Mara and an avoidance of certain symbols for saltwater ones.

Vedma / Dragolescu

These  vampires could theoretically make a decent guide or advisor, providing a less evil or sociopathic vampire type if you have a need, with individuals visiting them to learn secrets much as one might a strange witch.  Vedma should have the Zelani weakness toward entering homes uninvited though they should be able to sustain themselves on animals.  Vedma might also retain their clan blessings though they may not cross a line of seeds thrown in their path nor may they approach a religious symbol nor tread the floor of a religious institution.  Dragolescu work well for monasteries run by the undead and might lack a reflection, fear direct (though not indirect) sunlight but be repelled by certain herbal concoctions and be unable to face their own reflections.

Morbus

Those infected by disease can develop a tenacious will to live and if they have a little knowledge of the darker arts then possible they can transcend the effects of illness - while remaining a carrier themselves.  Such a figure shouldn't be allergic to sunlight (too easy to spot) but should retain the pallor and vague appearance of death.  Perhaps replace the sun allergy with a lack of a reflection.  Issues with fire remain useful with this type of vampire.

Noctuku

These flesh eating vampires make for good foes for adventurers as they lurk in crypts and devour the dead.  If you liked, however, such a vampire might not be evil and might even be performing an important function as corpses provide nourishment for the vampire and can breed diseases for everyone else.  Of course, people tend not to like creatures defiling their dead which could create an interesting moral dilemma for those so disposed.

Melissidae

A vampire that buzzes with bees that live within their corpse?  A vampire that obsessively tries to maintain order over a good little group of obedient humans?  You can imagine the story potential when the players arrive at a hamlet that belongs to one such vampire or deal with a set of caravans that are, in truth, the procession of a new Queen in search of a hive of her own.

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And, of course, there are many more bloodlines that could each be pulled forth and turned into a type of vampire all of their own.  Which bloodline do you think you would use and what story would you put behind them?