Last Week In LARP
Did you attend a LARP event last weekend? Let us know how it was in the comments!
This Week In LARP
We're almost through this mucky, cold weather. Get your final doses before the heat hits!
NERO
WAR will be hosting a 2-day event this weekend starting on Friday, March 11th and ending Sunday, March 13th. The game will be held at Camp Oyo at the IG location of Ashton. It is $50 to PC ($30 with a good NPC ratio) and is free to NPC. This event will be using 8th Edition rules.
If you've got a game running this week and we didn't mention you, either drop a comment here or shoot an email to larp.plot.tips@gmail.com, and we'll add you as soon as possible!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
YouTube Friday: Super Meat Boy LARP
I'm not sure why I really enjoy these videos, but here's another one from Gary Bigham - Pro LARPer.
This one mimics the video game "Super Meat Boy," which I have not played yet. However, after watching this video I might have to give it a shot. Enjoy!
Note: I moved YouTube videos to Friday. We don't get as much traffic on Friday's, so I figured this was best.
This one mimics the video game "Super Meat Boy," which I have not played yet. However, after watching this video I might have to give it a shot. Enjoy!
Note: I moved YouTube videos to Friday. We don't get as much traffic on Friday's, so I figured this was best.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Sources for insight: Fairy Tales
"The definition of fairy story--what it is, or what it should be--does not, then, depend on any definition or historical account of elf or fairy, but upon the nature of Faerie, the Perilous Realm itself, and the air that blows in that country. I will not attempt to define that, nor to describe it directly. It cannot be done. Faerie cannot be caught in a net of words, for it is one of its qualities to be indescribable, though not imperceptible." JRR Tolkien
Tolkien understood that fairy is not just the pixie, the tiny translucent women who dance upon the moonbeams. Fairy is a realm, a place of possibilities and one of the greatest sources of larp adventure available to the plot person. The essay from which this was pulled is entitled "On Fairy Stories" and I recommend it to anyone who loves the fantastic. It is not a fictional tale, instead it is the primer by which Tolkien evaluated fictional tales and it has value in its classifications. Fairy stories then, per Tolkien, are stories that remove us from the realm of the natural and place us in the realm of the fae. A classic example of a story like this is "Alice in Wonderland"
Alice in wonderland removes the main character from the realm of men and moves her into a realm of playing cards and mad hatters. The story line is a relatively common quest archetype but the characterizations and situation that are encountered are very bizarre and strange. Borrowing from a story like this, a plot person can remove his players from the standard fantasy realm that they understand and move them into an infinite number of possible locations. For instance, in a relatively famous book, the author moves his characters into a bar populated by characters from Alice in Wonderland as the result of hallucinogenic drug use by a magic user. This would be an awesome way to introduce a new intoxicant to the game, and make the players aware of the dangers inherent in the substance.
Other presentations of the Fae are seen in stories like a Midsummers nights Dream. The puckish type troublemaker character is pretty much a larp standby. Tricky promises and oaths and the whole nine yards. These types of characters can be fun in moderation. If you run them too frequently then players will begin not speaking to anything that resembles fae. There are other fae in that story, Mab and Oberon? The Lord and Lady of the wood, so often in larp we ignore this other side of fairy. The dark and mysterious queen of the fae whose power is matched only by her capriciousness. The Lord of the Hunt whose dogs chase mortals for sport and change them into dogs for an year and a day. These types of encounters, pure power outside of the elementals and undead norms can be amazingly useful counterpoints, enemies, or even allies in a campaign. Plot people should consider reading some of the fairy stories that present this other side of the fae.
Overall the fairy tale is as broad as any other genre. Plot people should take advantage of this breadth by making their fae realm as varied as the one in other stories. Do not limit yourselves to the trickster, but keep him in mind, levity can be valuable as a tension break.
Tolkien understood that fairy is not just the pixie, the tiny translucent women who dance upon the moonbeams. Fairy is a realm, a place of possibilities and one of the greatest sources of larp adventure available to the plot person. The essay from which this was pulled is entitled "On Fairy Stories" and I recommend it to anyone who loves the fantastic. It is not a fictional tale, instead it is the primer by which Tolkien evaluated fictional tales and it has value in its classifications. Fairy stories then, per Tolkien, are stories that remove us from the realm of the natural and place us in the realm of the fae. A classic example of a story like this is "Alice in Wonderland"
Alice in wonderland removes the main character from the realm of men and moves her into a realm of playing cards and mad hatters. The story line is a relatively common quest archetype but the characterizations and situation that are encountered are very bizarre and strange. Borrowing from a story like this, a plot person can remove his players from the standard fantasy realm that they understand and move them into an infinite number of possible locations. For instance, in a relatively famous book, the author moves his characters into a bar populated by characters from Alice in Wonderland as the result of hallucinogenic drug use by a magic user. This would be an awesome way to introduce a new intoxicant to the game, and make the players aware of the dangers inherent in the substance.
Other presentations of the Fae are seen in stories like a Midsummers nights Dream. The puckish type troublemaker character is pretty much a larp standby. Tricky promises and oaths and the whole nine yards. These types of characters can be fun in moderation. If you run them too frequently then players will begin not speaking to anything that resembles fae. There are other fae in that story, Mab and Oberon? The Lord and Lady of the wood, so often in larp we ignore this other side of fairy. The dark and mysterious queen of the fae whose power is matched only by her capriciousness. The Lord of the Hunt whose dogs chase mortals for sport and change them into dogs for an year and a day. These types of encounters, pure power outside of the elementals and undead norms can be amazingly useful counterpoints, enemies, or even allies in a campaign. Plot people should consider reading some of the fairy stories that present this other side of the fae.
Overall the fairy tale is as broad as any other genre. Plot people should take advantage of this breadth by making their fae realm as varied as the one in other stories. Do not limit yourselves to the trickster, but keep him in mind, levity can be valuable as a tension break.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Plasti Dip = Prop Magic
I know we've had a number of occasions to talk about various methods for creating boffers, but we've never really had an occasion to talk about general prop making. Even in combat-oriented games, we often use props and objects as important tools for storytelling.
This topic started when I was making my character for the Wastelands portion of the Joint Game this weekend. I decided to play an Orc, as I love the rough and tumble culture that surrounds them in the Shadowrun stories. Before I went to buy some tusks online for an absurd amount ($20-30 after shipping), my friend Karin mentioned that she was just making foam tusks.
What a novel idea!
While I consider myself a tape jockey and I even have some white gaff tape available, I didn't think it'd look the way I wanted. So I finally broke the seal and bought some Plasti Dip for my tusks. The goal was to make foam tusks that are Plasti-Dipped and painted white.
The setup was pretty easy, all things considered. I carved a couple of tusks out of a part of a pool noodle, hung them on a wire, and dipped them in. While they looked pretty rough after the first coat, most of the imperfections in the foam were gone by the second coat.
The next day (it takes at least 4 hours to dry per coat), I busted out some white acrylic paint and gave them a once over. As I'm writing this, I'm waiting for them to dry to see if I need another coat. The black primer behind the white paint allowed for a grainy look, which actually looks pretty good on tusks.
I'm definitely going to be adding Plasti Dip into the rotation when I make my non-combat props from now on. If you consider yourself a prop wizard, I definitely suggest giving it a shot. You should be able to pick up at least the 14 oz. black primer at your local Home Depot/Lowes for about $7.
Anyone else have any experiences with Plasti Dip, good or bad? Let us know in the comments!
This topic started when I was making my character for the Wastelands portion of the Joint Game this weekend. I decided to play an Orc, as I love the rough and tumble culture that surrounds them in the Shadowrun stories. Before I went to buy some tusks online for an absurd amount ($20-30 after shipping), my friend Karin mentioned that she was just making foam tusks.
What a novel idea!
While I consider myself a tape jockey and I even have some white gaff tape available, I didn't think it'd look the way I wanted. So I finally broke the seal and bought some Plasti Dip for my tusks. The goal was to make foam tusks that are Plasti-Dipped and painted white.
The setup was pretty easy, all things considered. I carved a couple of tusks out of a part of a pool noodle, hung them on a wire, and dipped them in. While they looked pretty rough after the first coat, most of the imperfections in the foam were gone by the second coat.
The next day (it takes at least 4 hours to dry per coat), I busted out some white acrylic paint and gave them a once over. As I'm writing this, I'm waiting for them to dry to see if I need another coat. The black primer behind the white paint allowed for a grainy look, which actually looks pretty good on tusks.
I'm definitely going to be adding Plasti Dip into the rotation when I make my non-combat props from now on. If you consider yourself a prop wizard, I definitely suggest giving it a shot. You should be able to pick up at least the 14 oz. black primer at your local Home Depot/Lowes for about $7.
Anyone else have any experiences with Plasti Dip, good or bad? Let us know in the comments!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monster Mash: Stats for class fights
Someone mentioned to me last week that a lot of plot people do not understand how to target a fight at a particular class. They know the general basics of scaling but cannot create creatures who's purpose is to challenge a particular member of the player party. taking a quick look at this by class may be helpful to those of you who are just starting out in the plot game. As a note, these are my ideas and they seem to have worked out fairly well, feel free to disagree.
Fighters- Fighters are the basic stick class. They have essentially three strengths, repetitive damage, high body, and close range burst damage. Fighters generally have no packet defenses outside of those given to them by others. Players who play pure fighters often are or aspire to be better at the physical side of fighting as well as the statistical side. A fun fight for a fighter therefore fits into two categories high body low damage monsters, and medium body monsters that require burst damage to kill. A perfect example of these two things are the Revenant and the Golem. The Revenant(Giant Skeleton) generally swings for 7 or 8 and has between 50 and 100 body, a tough fight for people in the lower level range, a good crunchy for higher level folks. If you want to target the fight directly at fighters give the mobs some spell defenses, judiciously or you will turn off your caster players. The Golem is the threshold monster, generally they require burst damage to kill due to a high threshold that reduces damage. To increase the difficulty of a fighter fight while still maintaining its integrity, increase body or threshold, or increase damage to the medium range for the scaling.
Rogue fights- Rogues are the only class that requires a non statistical element to some of their encounters in order to best please the type of player who plays the class. I am going to look at the numbers side of these fights, leaving the sneaky stuff to another post. The rogue excels at two things, very high repetitive damage from the back and the best packet defense in the game(Dodge). The rogue class can fill different roles at different levels, at low levels they are the primary damage dealer, at mid levels they act as a secondary fighter or a tactical advantage fighter, at high levels they can act as fighters outright while still maintaining the high damage from the back. One type of Fun fight for rogues can look like a fighter fight, they enjoy taking tactical advantage of mobs that fighters can kill and killing them twice as fast. If you use this type of fight to challenge a party that includes a rogue or rogues remember to increase the number of mobs to still allow the fight to be challenging. The other type of fight that can make a rogue feel awesome has a mob with ridiculous packet attacks that they can dodge. Everyone loves telling the story of dodging the packet delivered obliterate. This fight MUST be used judiciously, too many of these attacks will feel like mis scaling. To increase the difficulty of rogue fights increase body on the monsters, increase damage output into the medium to high range( To take advantage of lower body), or increase ridiculous packet attacks( CAREFULLY).
Earth Scholar fights- Earth scholars are the healers of the NERO game, they have two primary skill sets, healing and utility spells. It is difficult to target a fight directly at earth scholars without the inclusion of undead. Earth scholars have very high damage spells against undead in two spell slots that are generally underutilized. A fight targeted at earth scholars can give them some big bad, slow moving undead to blow up with destroys. There is a subset of players who play earth scholars who want to be battle casters and not healers, this type of fight will appeal most to them. The other type of fight takes advantage of the earth casters superior healing. The grinder fight has high damage, low body mobs that reset a lot and very quickly. The earth scholar is challenged to keep the fighters/rogues/templars alive while they are taking repeated high damage attacks, this fight is particularly slanted towards the cantrip healer. Fights with a lot of packet delivered takedowns can also be used to target earth scholars, as they attempt to fix the front line to keep them fighting. This last strategy must be used carefully, since the number of fixes at each level is limited and you can quickly go from challenging to impossible with mis scaling. To increase the difficulty of the battle caster fight, remove the slow moving criteria from the target of the destroys, to increase the difficulty of the grinder increase damage on the mobs( Don't increase body, that will slow down the pace), To increase the difficulty of the packet fix it fight increase the number of packets very carefully.
The celestial caster fight: affectionately referred to as Sack the Quarterback- Celestial casters have a similar utility skill set to earth casters, they have only one primary strength, the highest ranged burst damage in the game. Celestial casters have a limited number of modules that they can run per weekend because they have a limited number of spells, they have no form of repetitive damage unless they step outside of their skill set. Therefore the fights that target celestial casters must be carefully planned to allow this class to feel as cool as possible and the best way to do that is to give them a quarterback to sack. This means, a high body, low spell defense, high damage mob that keeps players at a distance in some way. Generally this mob should be important to the weekend or campaign story line to insure maximum cool feeling. The rest of the fight can be structured to target any other class type but the quarterback should not be killable by fighter/rogue repetitive damage without great difficulty. Basically the resource cost for killing the boss should be exponentially higher without a celestial caster. One note about this fight, it is sometimes advisable to use an alternate treasure distribution method here, because it can be very difficult for the celestial caster who blew his tree to kill the big bad to get to the body first to get his treasure. To increase the difficulty of this fight, increase the body or damage output of the boss, not the spell defenses. Spell defenses are incredibly frustrating to casters and will generally cause them to get discouraged and let the fighters try to kill something.
Templar fights- Templars get to feel cool more frequently because they fit into other classes fights, they can be a secondary fighter or a secondary caster. There is really no need to directly target them, nor is there any good way to do it.
Overall remember that these fights still need to fit inside the weekend and module scaling. The resource management part of the game must be kept in mind throughout the weekend and each module must still be scaled based on average party level( Unless it is an unscaled module). How do my fellow plot people feel about this? How do you guys who just play feel about it? Let me know.
Fighters- Fighters are the basic stick class. They have essentially three strengths, repetitive damage, high body, and close range burst damage. Fighters generally have no packet defenses outside of those given to them by others. Players who play pure fighters often are or aspire to be better at the physical side of fighting as well as the statistical side. A fun fight for a fighter therefore fits into two categories high body low damage monsters, and medium body monsters that require burst damage to kill. A perfect example of these two things are the Revenant and the Golem. The Revenant(Giant Skeleton) generally swings for 7 or 8 and has between 50 and 100 body, a tough fight for people in the lower level range, a good crunchy for higher level folks. If you want to target the fight directly at fighters give the mobs some spell defenses, judiciously or you will turn off your caster players. The Golem is the threshold monster, generally they require burst damage to kill due to a high threshold that reduces damage. To increase the difficulty of a fighter fight while still maintaining its integrity, increase body or threshold, or increase damage to the medium range for the scaling.
Rogue fights- Rogues are the only class that requires a non statistical element to some of their encounters in order to best please the type of player who plays the class. I am going to look at the numbers side of these fights, leaving the sneaky stuff to another post. The rogue excels at two things, very high repetitive damage from the back and the best packet defense in the game(Dodge). The rogue class can fill different roles at different levels, at low levels they are the primary damage dealer, at mid levels they act as a secondary fighter or a tactical advantage fighter, at high levels they can act as fighters outright while still maintaining the high damage from the back. One type of Fun fight for rogues can look like a fighter fight, they enjoy taking tactical advantage of mobs that fighters can kill and killing them twice as fast. If you use this type of fight to challenge a party that includes a rogue or rogues remember to increase the number of mobs to still allow the fight to be challenging. The other type of fight that can make a rogue feel awesome has a mob with ridiculous packet attacks that they can dodge. Everyone loves telling the story of dodging the packet delivered obliterate. This fight MUST be used judiciously, too many of these attacks will feel like mis scaling. To increase the difficulty of rogue fights increase body on the monsters, increase damage output into the medium to high range( To take advantage of lower body), or increase ridiculous packet attacks( CAREFULLY).
Earth Scholar fights- Earth scholars are the healers of the NERO game, they have two primary skill sets, healing and utility spells. It is difficult to target a fight directly at earth scholars without the inclusion of undead. Earth scholars have very high damage spells against undead in two spell slots that are generally underutilized. A fight targeted at earth scholars can give them some big bad, slow moving undead to blow up with destroys. There is a subset of players who play earth scholars who want to be battle casters and not healers, this type of fight will appeal most to them. The other type of fight takes advantage of the earth casters superior healing. The grinder fight has high damage, low body mobs that reset a lot and very quickly. The earth scholar is challenged to keep the fighters/rogues/templars alive while they are taking repeated high damage attacks, this fight is particularly slanted towards the cantrip healer. Fights with a lot of packet delivered takedowns can also be used to target earth scholars, as they attempt to fix the front line to keep them fighting. This last strategy must be used carefully, since the number of fixes at each level is limited and you can quickly go from challenging to impossible with mis scaling. To increase the difficulty of the battle caster fight, remove the slow moving criteria from the target of the destroys, to increase the difficulty of the grinder increase damage on the mobs( Don't increase body, that will slow down the pace), To increase the difficulty of the packet fix it fight increase the number of packets very carefully.
The celestial caster fight: affectionately referred to as Sack the Quarterback- Celestial casters have a similar utility skill set to earth casters, they have only one primary strength, the highest ranged burst damage in the game. Celestial casters have a limited number of modules that they can run per weekend because they have a limited number of spells, they have no form of repetitive damage unless they step outside of their skill set. Therefore the fights that target celestial casters must be carefully planned to allow this class to feel as cool as possible and the best way to do that is to give them a quarterback to sack. This means, a high body, low spell defense, high damage mob that keeps players at a distance in some way. Generally this mob should be important to the weekend or campaign story line to insure maximum cool feeling. The rest of the fight can be structured to target any other class type but the quarterback should not be killable by fighter/rogue repetitive damage without great difficulty. Basically the resource cost for killing the boss should be exponentially higher without a celestial caster. One note about this fight, it is sometimes advisable to use an alternate treasure distribution method here, because it can be very difficult for the celestial caster who blew his tree to kill the big bad to get to the body first to get his treasure. To increase the difficulty of this fight, increase the body or damage output of the boss, not the spell defenses. Spell defenses are incredibly frustrating to casters and will generally cause them to get discouraged and let the fighters try to kill something.
Templar fights- Templars get to feel cool more frequently because they fit into other classes fights, they can be a secondary fighter or a secondary caster. There is really no need to directly target them, nor is there any good way to do it.
Overall remember that these fights still need to fit inside the weekend and module scaling. The resource management part of the game must be kept in mind throughout the weekend and each module must still be scaled based on average party level( Unless it is an unscaled module). How do my fellow plot people feel about this? How do you guys who just play feel about it? Let me know.
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