Designing a LARP

[Koumei]

So, I'm writing up a LARP/freeform. for a future convention. These are invariably one-off things, and tend to be only run once or twice in the entire con, with anywhere from ten to thirty players apiece.

Now, I've run con games before - in a couple of cases, with huge success. But this will be my first time doing a freeform/LARP. I mean, the tabletop ones were still magical tea party instead of explaining the system and using dice, but freeform in this context means LARP but without connotations of Vampire the CRAAAAAAAAAAAWLING IIIIIIIN MY SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!!

I wonder if people here have any experience in it and would be able to provide some pointers? I'm aiming for around 20 players, and probably a standard single-session game (that's around 3-4 hours IIRC - subtract 10 minutes for a late start, another 10 for people to get organised and the ball to get rolling, and as much as 30 minutes at the end to wrap it up, let people explain their secrets, and pack everything up).

Problems I've witnessed in previous con games:

• Often individuals would just be wandering, having only one or two people their sheet tells them to interact with, or they achieve their goals too quickly.
• Sometimes, everyone is left standing, with something needed to kick everyone into motion again.
• Getting the whole cast filled can be tricky sometimes, and this is problematic when Person A relies on Person B who isn't there, or spends an hour just looking for Person C who isn't there.
• Likewise, with many people, getting everyone's attention can be tricky.

I intend on every character sheet having the basic info of the character, including a picture, and the motivations/reason they're there in the first place. There will also be a minimum of three goals, preferably with each specifying certain other characters to talk to/avoid/investigate. There'll also be a quick list of "What you think you know about everyone else".

I'm also thinking of perhaps giving everyone a "make something happen" ability as a back-up. This ability is in a sealed envelope, and they may or may not know what it does beforehand ("Call an air strike" as opposed to "Push the red button"). They take it to the person running the game, and open it there, so the person running it can let everyone know. I'm toying with making the game a semi-musical for extra laughs, so the envelope will also contain the lyrics to a song they have to sing to use the ability - bonus points if I can get a spotlight.

So, other advice or problems?

[angelfromanotherpin]

You've already covered the most important parts: That everyone have a lot to do, and that they be connected to other characters. Those two things go really far in making a good LARP experience.

How many assistant GMs are you using? No matter how small the LARP, there should always be at least 2 GMs. At 20, 3 is optimal, but 2 will still be fine.

[Koumei]

Yeah, my plan is for a minimum of 2, preferably 3 GMs. That being said, nothing is set in stone just yet. I might end up saying "Man, it's so much easier to just run An Illithid Affair again. A number of people missed out on that when it was first run and wanted another chance to play."

[Jinerviet]

A neat idea from the last LARP one-off game I was in- everyone has a number, this goes on their name badge (that is, no name on the badge). This is good because you can identify other characters you should know, and if a character has pseudonyms he/she is known by in different circles that's fine. Another game I was in had normal name badges, but with different symbols that you'd only recognise if you were also part of that group.

Since it sounds like you don't have much experience of LARPing, I'll mention that good set dressing can make a world of difference. What's your venue like? If you have a few rooms you're using, theming them is cool (eg for cyberpunk mafia game- one main room, one for the body, one for the infirmary, small altar room to pray in, etc.) Also interactive props, like players having to reach into the dead mob leader's head to find his cyberpunk eyes that recorded what he saw.

Goals work best when the character has a reason to involve other characters in solving them, but that often arises simply from good role-playing (eg mother thinks her daughter's partner isn't being faithful and asks a good friend or peon to keep their ears peeled).

I know someone else who's planning a game for around 20 characters. He's writing 18 essential characters and 6 optionals (3 of each gender). This should solve problems with getting the cast list filled, and gender balancing can often be tricky.

As for the problem of getting everyone's attention- generally this should be happening, and will make things a fun challenge. One-off games are ideally going to be big events like a mob leader's funeral, the flight of the Hindenburg, the coming out ball of a prominent judge's daughter, etc.

I'm now going to steal comments from http://www.nzrag.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2626.
Fans are a good thing.
Each character had a "Moment in the life of" which we wrote to give a glimpse of how the character thought. These weren't too hard to write, and were probably of varying use. THese had a couple of positive comments.

An alternative theory to what I've described above: Rather than tie characters to a main plot, write an interesting set of PCs with interconnections both factionally and personally - give the players three goals each and let them choose to follow those goals or make their own.
Give them enough information and resources to allow them to get involved in stories outside of their own subplots and then it doesn't matter if one or two don't get cast.

That's all I can think of at 4.55 am. Jeepers. But I look forward to discussing this with you- I love LARP (have been doing it since 2005, been to 3 cons now (NZ's community means I couldn't have been to many others without travelling), I'm on the NZLARPSociety committee, I wrote my project essay in my sociology of subcultures paper on the LARP community, etc.)
Oh, and if this had absolutely no coherence, take into account the time. Mister Sinister can vouch for my brain failing at this time of morning/night.

[koz]

Oh, and if this had absolutely no coherence, take into account the time. Mister Sinister can vouch for my brain failing at this time of morning/night.

Duly vouched.

[cthulhu]

In my very limited experince, there needs to be a clear objective, and preferably a sense of urgency.

A crisis.

[Fallen Hero]

I suggest not getting too heavily into magic and complex combat skills and etc. because having been in a Changling LARP one-off, it was confusing as hell, especially since it was the first time I had ever encountered Changling.

If you are making the rules up specifically for this one-time thing, try and make it quick to learn rules.

Another suggestion I have is this: if possible bring some costuming for drop-in's who've never heard of LARP.

[Koumei]

Hmm, costumes, good idea. Even if it's just some basic thing to help identify them, that could really help. And numbers/symbols on badges, good idea.

I don't intend on having any kind of system for this, simply information to give people, and possibly handing out "the ability to make something happen". I was once in a Discworld LARP where all wizards just had a bunch of cards with quick "This spell does X" descriptions on them.

I'll only have one (fairly large) room for this. The best I'll be able to manage is to section things off with cubicle walls.

[Fallen Hero]

Hmm, costumes, good idea. Even if it's just some basic thing to help identify them, that could really help. And numbers/symbols on badges, good idea.

I don't intend on having any kind of system for this, simply information to give people, and possibly handing out "the ability to make something happen". I was once in a Discworld LARP where all wizards just had a bunch of cards with quick "This spell does X" descriptions on them.

I'll only have one (fairly large) room for this. The best I'll be able to manage is to section things off with cubicle walls.

If possible, make 4 seperations. 2 will be change rooms (one for men and one for women. The other 2 will make 2 rooms, that way, if you want to develop a story with multiple rooms/locations, you can set up one room while the people are in the other.

/2 cents