SquirkTalk: Story, Let’s Go LARPing
Story, Let’s Go LARPing
posted at Johannas Corner
LARP is a fantasy game in which players take on the physical and personality traits of particular characters. One player, the Game Master (GM), is responsible for creating a plotline for the rest of the participants, who are divided into Player Characters (PCs), the heroes and Non-Player Characters (NPCs), the supporting roles. The game follows basic rules established by the New England Role Playing Organization (NERO), but the specifics of the plot are determined by the individual players. 2
Larp is a game where you create and play a character of your own choice. Mostly acted out in the open fields and with other players within that group. The theme and tribe depends on which group you join. They come together from once a week to monthly, or a couple a times within a year. The duration of this game can last 3 hours to a weekend or a whole week! 1
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There is a camarilla LARP based out of cork, dunno a general email, but the vampire one is Requiemcork[at]gmail[dot]com. Drop an email to the requiem one anyway, they’ll point you in the right direction. 4
Nate Brengle ‘10 is a seven-year LARP veteran and the founder and GM of the St. Olaf group. As GM, Brengle comes up with a rough plot outline for the group’s Saturday afternoon events. The same story continues from week to week, with new sub-plots emerging on a regular basis. The PCs may have a feel for the story’s general direction, but don’t know the specifics of play each week. Because of this, many people liken LARP to a form of improvisational theater. 3
“Very few people are left who pre-date Mordom,” says Skip Lipman, who leads his country of Laconia against Mordom in the documentary. “They helped create Darkon, which is one of the most successful and longest-running LARPs. They’re arguably the greatest LARP nation there ever was.” They are also depicted as being relentlessly evil. Starting as allies, Laconia turned on Mordom after an earlier campaign against another group of players known as the Dragonhood. “The Dragonhood insulted the Mordomian gods, so Mordom destroyed everything they had. It was really tough on those guys. They never came back in the same strength as before. LARPing, like the real world, has a good-old-boy network, and Mordom was in control of the realm and of the game at that point.” 5
Fateplay (Norwegian: “Skjebnespill” or “Lagnadsspel”) was developed during the work with the “Troyan War” LARP, an over-ambitious project aiming to bring Homers Illiad to life as a LARP. The problem faced by the organisers was simple: Although one could recreate the atmosphere of the Great Battles, as well as some of the characters, one could not recreate the complex and epic storyline which is the real attraction of the Illiad, or greek mythology in general. Any attempts of this would violate the “freedom of the player”, a traditional larp axiom. The fateplay method was developed to allow the game to follow the storyline of the Illiad without loosing the elements of improvisation and surprise that many hold to be essential for LARP experience. 6
For that matter, why can’t it be done effectively within UO and EQ with game staff? Is it because these games were never designed to carry a story in the first place? 7
According to some, MMORPGs are, by their very non-linear nature, not made to carry a story line. However paper D&D games are non-linear too — and they do story very well. Even large LARPS [Live Action Role Playing] do story very well, albiet oftentimes the ending that the GameMaster envisioned and the ending that actually happens are two different things — making for some very tired GMs on the last day of the LARP as they stayed up all night rewriting the story. And LARPS and paper games, even very large LARPs and paper games, don’t have two hundred thousand people in them. But you know what — neither does any one event ever held in an online game to date. 8
The world of LARP extends far beyond the St. Olaf campus. The Live Action Roleplayer Association (LARPA) is a non-profit organization that promotes LARP by educating the public and providing players with schedules of events around the country. NERO, founded in 1989, sponsors LARP weekends around the country, in which participants stay at campsites designed to look like medieval towns. A typical NERO weekend, involving constant play Friday through Sunday, costs $60, while a single day event is $20. One of many NERO headquarters throughout the country is located in Hibbing, Minn. 9
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Tags: afternoon events, brengle, camarilla, darkon, fantasy game, game master, improvisational theater, laconia, larp, Let's Go LARPing, lipman, nate, personality traits, plot outline, plotline, requiem, right direction, saturday afternoon, specifics, st olaf, Story, undefined, week 1
Tags: afternoon events, brengle, camarilla, darkon, fantasy game, game master, improvisational theater, laconia, larp, Let's Go LARPing, lipman, nate, personality traits, plot outline, plotline, requiem, right direction, saturday afternoon, specifics, st olaf, Story, undefined, week 1