Running a LARP Event - Phase 4 - Abandonment

 

Okay. Now that you’ve got something that can keep you calm, let’s talk about what happens when things go a little big off script, or more likely when things go a lot off script and you are left standing in the shattered ruins of all of your wonderful and glorious plans.

Before we look at how to address each possible issue, let’s look at their root causes and see how we can handle them.

PC Revolt

Sometimes players just do stupid things. Sometimes they do completely genius and unexpected things that just screw up everything you’ve got carefully planned out. Since the PCs are your enemy, this is to be expected, and will require you to develop some improvisational skills. Really, this is something that you will get better at as you do it more often, but there are some tricks that I can help you out with.

Never force PCs to do anything. No one enjoys a scripted game.

If you lose, you lose. Live with it and try again later.

Players have more fun if PCs live longer than NPCs. Don’t over power them unless it’s to get them to work together.

They might be your enemy, but your goal is their enjoyment. Keep that in mind.

Have some back up plans.

If all else fails, do your best to get them to fight each other (IN CHARACTER)! This will give you some time tot think.

Let the players guide you. Give them the rope, and let them hang themselves.

NPC Revolt

If you’ve done a great job of recruiting good players to play your NPCs, then you won’t have to worry about this one, if you haven’t, then you might be really screwed.

NPC Revolt is when the people playing your NPCs decide to do something more PC like, which is screw you over in some way. There are some ways to avoid this:

Keep your NPCs as informed as possible, the more they know the better.

Keep an eye on how things are going down.

Make yourself easily reachable in case they need to make a decision you should be part of.

Of course, no matter how much you try to micromanage, this is probably still going to happen, especially at larger events with tons of players running around on the field. Once it happens, you’ve got a whole can of worms to work with.

So, how do you handle it?

Well, if you’ve got a good player playing the NPC, don’t worry about it, especially if you’ve kept them informed about what your goals are. A good player will take the motivations you gave the NPC and breathe life into it. There is a good chance that they’re following a plan that you just aren’t fully aware of yet and will fill you in when they get a chance. Roll with it, it takes a bit of burden off of you and everyone has more fun this way.

If you’re player isn’t as responsible, then you might have a real problem. Each problem has a completely different solution of course, they usually just take a bit of creative thinking. It’s more work for you, but nothing you can’t handle. Just treat it the way you would a player doing something unexpected and improvise.

Something you should NEVER do, though:

NEVER OVER REACT. No matter how tempting it might be to freak out, stop gameplay, scream at your NPC or try to retcon something, DON’T DO IT!

STORYLINE SHOULD ALWAYS MOVE FORWARD, ALWAYS.

Everything Else

Those two scenarios just about cover everything in your power. You can’t do much about weather or accidents except to recover and carryon afterwards. Still, be on the lookout for things that might cause a problem and deal with them when they arise.

You might be there to run the story, but player safety lets the story happen.

One last thing:

You are there to make sure everyone has a good time, but you are also the person in charge of the event. That means if you have to be the bad guy mundanely, do it.

I don’t think nearly enough game officers are prepared for that little fact.

You’re the Sheriff around these parts, be prepared to be the bad guy out-of-game as well as in it.

Running a LARP Event - Phase 3 - Execution

The big day is here, are you ready for this? Let’s hit the checklist of things you’re going to need to get through the day.

• Vodka
• Shotgun
• Alibi

Got that all gathered?

Good, Let’s do this thing.

Execution

Gather your minions, your weapons, your potions, and your pungi sticks. It’s time to get real up in this mug.

Handle the Mundane Details

Send one of your most patient yet mentally unstable minions to go and handle the registration. That way the players will already be cowed by your first boss, the deranged sign in. It’s good to keep them afraid as long as you can. Hopefully they’ll wet themselves.

Take the rest of your crew and get them sorted out into what they’ll be doing. Get your combat and safety guys in place quick. They’ll have a flood on their hands soon enough. If you’ve picked well you can forget about them. They’ll get their jobs done. Most combat marshals take enormous pride in what they do. It’s not something that’s easy to achieve, so trust them to get things done the way they need to be done.

It’s your job to focus on the actual running of the event now.

Set up your NPCs

Make sure the conscripts volunteers playing them know what they’re doing and give them an idea of why they’re doing it. Then, if you’ve got a good crop, you can pretty much let them go about doing their thing. Most veteran players that volunteer to NPC will make that NPC their own. They’ll give it life, and the more life they put into that character, the more fun your party will have with less work on your part.  Give them the freedom to do it their way and you’ll be rewarded by it.

Just make sure that you tell them anything you don’t want them to do. These are still players, after all, if they can find a way, even inadvertently, to screw you over, they’re going to. They just don’t realize what you’ve got in mind on the grand scale yet.

Now for the Players

Head back to where the soulless monsters are waiting for you, and if you’ve got the spare time, gird your loins or what have you. Put on the maniacally confident face and make sure they feel that you’re going to burn alive with just the power of your mind. They like that. Remember. Soulless monsters.

Give them a brief rundown of the scenario, or don’t. This is your call. You can either send them in blind and let them fumble around for themselves, or you can give them a bit of direction.

My suggestion is to only send them in blind if you have aggressive NPCs ready to smack them down and give them a reason to go off in search of the dark and dangerous world you’ve prepared for them.

If that’s not on the menu, then you might want to consider giving them a bit of a hook to get them started. The size of your player base will probably have a pretty big effect on what that hook is. The more players you have the less specific you need to be with why they’re out here in the first place.

Give them the freedom to hang themselves.

Remember, someone hiring a group to kill a monster will attract a handful of people, the whisper of gold somewhere in Alaska will attract an army of them.

Blow your horn or raise your arm, whatever it is you do to signal the start of the slaughter and send them off to do their thing.

You’re now ready for Phase 4.

Running a LARP Event: Phase 2 - Preparation

Now that you’ve got a rough outline of what you think will go down at your event, you’re ready to start doing the prep work. This can pretty easily be broken down into a handful of easy to swallow chunks. Actually while on the subject of things that are easily swallowed, make sure you put “hard liquor” at the very top of your “to-buy” list.
Trust me on this one, you’ll probably want it after the event.

Prepping Your Event

There is an easy way and a good way to prep an event. My personal philosophy is that if you’re going to do anything that’s worth doing, being an event marshal isn’t on that list, so I go with the easy way. However, I’m not running a game for hundreds of people that have paid money to get into the event, so you might have a slightly more demanding burden than I do. So, I’ll outline the best way I know for preparing for an event, and I’ll casually mention all of the shortcuts I take.
That way, all of my players that might read this will finally realize how much goes into running an event, and also how big of a lazy bastard I really am.

Step 1 – The Easy Stuff

Step 1 is easy. It’s  series of questions you need to answer based on what you put down in your plan. You do have a plan, right? You didn’t think you could get away with skipping Phase 1 of running an event did you? Well, pretend like you have a plan and answer these questions.
What makes this step extra easy is that some of these will be answered for you by the game or other officers.

Pick a Date, Any Date:

If you are planning on having a nighttime event then try to pick a date as close to the full moon as you can. If it’s a daytime event, then really, I recommend picking a weekend, but any day will work. Generally speaking, this is one of those questions that will be answered for you. I would recommend picking a date that is decades into the future, too, so you have plenty of time to plan, but that’s not really going to happen, so, good luck.

Pick a Place, a Good Place:

I’ve been spoiled from years of playing and running a game with a permanent event site. One of our most active players and supporters has a huge tract of land. It makes it easy to know where we’re going to have events. In the last couple of years, though, we’ve grown to areas well outside an easy 15-20 minute drive to that site, and I’ve learned a thing or two about how tricky it can be actually finding an event site. Fortunately smaller games have more options in this, and bigger games generally have sites they frequent.
State Parks make a great place to camp and fight, and are generally free most of the time. There might be a small fee for camping. This is probably the best option if you don’t have access to a large hunk of private land. The downside is, not all states and county parks will allow boffer fighting in them. Make sure to check with the Parks Authority before assuming everything is okay.
Also remember this very important rule: No Alcohol allowed. I know for a fact that State parks in Missouri and Kansas are dry zones, and I suspect it’s going to be that way everywhere in the US. You can check on it, but don’t get your hopes up.
Of course, the best place to play would be someone’s private property. Of course, that’s assuming that they are willing to let you borrow or rent it. Don’t just go and set up camps on some dude’s land. That’s a dick move… and illegal.
As a last resort, there are plenty of places that you can pay to camp, and quite a few of them will let you fight there without a problem. Just make sure before your players drop down a site fee on the camp ground that you are going to be able to play there. Camping is fun, but it’s not what us stick-jockeys are coming out for.

Blow the Horn to Summon Your Minions

Let’s face it, unless you’ve only got a group of 2-3 guys, no one is doing this alone. You’re going to need some back up. Now is the time to guilt your friends into helping ask for help from other veteran players. Most of the time they will be eager to help out, if not, blackmail convince them how much you’d appreciate it.
A bit of advice, double the number of people you think you’ll need when you’re recruiting help. Some of them will be no-shows. They might just flake on you, or they might have a helicopter land on their car. Maybe it’s something as mundane as a medical emergency or getting grounded by their spouse. You’ll be better up if you have redundancies in place.
Again, some of these positions will probably be filled by the game officers, so you might not have to worry about it, but there is a list of people that you need before you even start the actual event itself:

• Registration Table – Preferably x 2
• Combat Marshal- You’ll want 1 for every 20 combatants. Less makes things go slower, more makes them go faster.
• Goblin Wrangler – This is a selfless person that has the only job less enviable than yours, wrangling children. You now owe THEM a favor.

Of course, you’ll also want to get in touch with the people who will be playing NPCs if you have any. Make sure you get with them as far in advance as you can. That way they can ask you any questions they think of that you might have missed.
The more your NPCs know about themselves, the better they’ll be able to react when the party burns all of your precious plans in the fires of their evil hearts.

Step 2 – Purchase Your Supplies

Ok, you’ve got the logistics taken care of, now it’s time to hammer out the real brass tacks so to speak. You’ve got a list of everything you’re going to need to run this event, now is the time to hunt it all down.
Now, when I say “purchase” I don’t actually mean buying something, unless you can’t find another way to get your hands on it. Mostly, I mean “Scavenging,” but since you’re a LARPer, you’re probably already pretty used to that.
Really, you just need to gather all the things on your list, then prepack them into your bags.
Then Prepack your bags into your car.
Then preferably drive them out to the site now and store them in a hollow that is both well hidden but easy for you to find again.
Failure to follow all of these steps will result in “Little Damnits.”
So, basically what I am saying is forgetting something minor is going to happen. Don’t sweat it, but do your best to avoid it.

Step 3 – Wonder Around Your Site

It’ s a good idea and a good practice to head out to the event site the week before the event and get a feel for the land.
Figure out where everything should go down.
If you can, hang your signs and things.
This is the last chance you’ll have to really feel like you’re actually in control of any of this so enjoy it.
Meditate under a pretty tree.
A week later, you’re going to be sobbing under the same tree, so pick a comfy one.

Step 4 – Head out Early and Get Set Up

The night before the event is preferable, but if you can’t than the morning of, head out to your site, set up your own camp, and get ready to spend the next day working your ass off for little or now gratitude.
Congratulations, it’s here.
You’re in the driver’s seat now.

Running an Event - Phase 1: Planning

Okay, you’ve chugged a few pots of coffee, six cans of supersized LiquiCrack Energy Drink and have become one with the universe due to the speed with which your atoms are vibrating.

Now is the time to begin what is ultimately the futile task of planning a LARP event. So, grab you trusty notebook and get ready to pull all of your hair out in frustration, because, friends, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and from here on out, it only gets more and more painful with fewer and fewer thanks.

Actually, this is the easy part.

Plan to Succeed

The more you have planned out, the better off you’re going to be when your players decide they hate you. Which is the only explanation for what they are going to do to you at your event. They’re going to figure out what you had in mind for them to do. They’re going to see exactly what you’ve got ready and realize how many days of thought you must have poured into it, and then they are going to go off and do something completely different.

Later, at the post event, they’ll poke you with sticks.

It’s inevitable.

But, you can fight their evil machinations by planning ahead for everything. Or conversely you can skip all of this and go straight to phase 4: Abandonment.

I like to mix up the two.

Planning pretty much comes down to a formula, answer these questions and you’ll be ready to handle anything those evil bastards we call players can throw at you.

1) What Type of Event is This?

There are as many different types of events as there are games, but they basically fall into a handful of categories:

1. Killing Things – Usually PCs vs NPCs. Like, you know, “KILL DE DAGRON!”
2. Killing Each Other – PCs Vs PCs. The easiest for you, because, face it, they’re all doing your bidding now!
3. Eating Things – The HARDEST event for the person in charge. You have to make sure every little minutia is covered, and we’re going to ignore this event type and come back to it when we can concentrate on it in depth. I mean, it might need it’s own series. I might need help writing it.
4. Drinking – Basically this event is an excuse to party together with your LARP friends. Often combined with the Eating Things Event, but not always. This even requires you to think of enough things to keep everyone entertained until they get tired and start fires. Eventually all players start fires.

Since Killing Each Other is pretty easy to do, just sit around and count who dies win, generally, and Eating Things is so impossible that I prefer to push these events off onto a professional event planner, we’ll focus on what we need to plan for Killing Things events.

You can pretty much just play any games you want at a drinking event. Or, if you’re players have been really horrible to you in their sadistic cruelty this year, find chores for them to do. Gathering Firewood and digging latrines are on their level. Manual Labor, always.

2) What Are We Going to Kill?

Killing things of course is really just a broad analogy for dealing with NPCs. I prefer to come up with a reason for the NPCs to be around and let the players decide what they want to do with them.

If the decide to ignore them, I smite them with Undead or Elementals, then I cackle as they die horribly.

If that doesn’t work…. DAAAAGROOOOON!

For our example, we’ll throw a couple of NPCs out there as, oh, a Goblin named Shiney Rock and his owner a Troll named Eats Shiney Rocks.

For poops and giggles we’ll throw in a wizened old man we shall call the Pot Stirrer.

3) Why are We Killing it?

We need a reason for NPCs to hang around. So, We’ll assume that Eats Shiney Rocks is hungry and Shiney Rock is trying to find something else for him to eat. We’ll also give Shiney Rock and actual Shiney Rock. I’m going to call it a sunstone.

You can have your own McGuffin of course, but it’s always a good idea to give the players something to fight over. They won’t care what it is because they don’t have emotions. They only feel evil.

Of course, Pot Stirrer also wants the sunstone. Why? So he can perform a purposely vague ritual.

I’ll leave it up to you what the ritual does, but I’d recommend summoning one of the following:

• Zombies
• Elementals
• DAGRONS!
• Piles of Gold  Don’t use Piles of Gold

4) Contingency Plans!

Bad things happen. When your players are involved they are guaranteed to happen repeatedly. You think I am telling you to have contingency plans in case your party gets killed off by monsters.

NO! Don’t think like that.

Kill those jerks dead. The Deader they get the less work you have to come up with for the next event because your NPCs are already wondering around needing to be killed in revenge.

No, the contingency plans you need are incase the party kills off all your NPCs for no reason other than because they’re murderous dicks.

I already suggested Zombies and Elementals, right?

You should probably come up with some other things to keep in your box. You don’t want to get stale.

A good idea is to find one of your players and get him to turn on the others. This not only keeps them entertained but sets up further “Kill Each Other” events and less work for you.

It is very easy to get them to turn on each other. They are evil by nature, you know.

5) What Do I need?

This is the last step in the planning phase: Make a list of everything you need for the event. In the above mentioned event example it basically breaks down to 3 NPCs and a shiney rock.

Make sure your list is comprehensive. You want more things on it than you could possible ever need.

This is because you are going to leave a bunch of important things at home and end up improvising props.

This is inevitable and we’ll cover it in the Abandonment phase in a couple of weeks.

For now, have a little fun and get ready for the slaughter.

If you’ve planned right, it will be theirs, and they deserve it. If you have failed, you will only have to survive long enough to drink the pain away at the post revel.

See you next week when we cover Phase 2: Preparation!