Created 99 days ago
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Fetch
Greetings,
I'm Fetch an avid fan of gaming living and working in New Hampshire while I take classes in Creative writing at a local college.
I've been gaming for 17 years and have played a little of everything (both off and online) from D&D and Everquest to the World of Darkness and Eve Online. My favorite game right now is White Wolf's Changeling: The Lost and its one of the few games I have every book for. I look forward to writing for you all and I hope to hear your comments on my work so that I can continue to grow, and improve. Both as a gamer and a writer.
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Tips For Creating Immersion in Larps
Part Two: Gameplay
Staying in Character
Staying in character is perhaps one of the most obvious and most difficult thing you can do to make larps more immersive. We all break character sometimes, I do it, you do it, your storyteller does it. Breaking character happens, and its unavoidable.
There are however some ways to keep this distraction to a minimum and keep your game on track. Nothing is fool proof and getting caught out of character will always happen once in a while. Some larps make rules that you are “never out of character” and anything you say or do will always be considered in character. I find this rather punitive and doesn't really sit well with me. Some players will take advantage of this and use information gained while ooc and use it against other players. In short I find it creates a rule backed precedent for meta-gaming. Instead of “punishing” players for being out of character, why not give them more ways to stay in character?
Costuming and Props
This is the easiest way to give your character more personality and help you to stay in character. It is very common in fantasy games, but I find people playing in modern games usually don't put as much effort into their costuming. So here are a couple tips one for players and one for storytellers/narrators.
For Players: Try to dress differently than you might normally. If you are playing a well to do gentleman, dress the part. Even a shirt and tie can add a world of difference to the way to portray your character. More than once I’ve run games and had a player make a character with a very specific concept and dress in than normal street clothes. You're playing this game to be someone else? Why don't you dress like someone else? If you're playing scientist then why are you dressed in a torn rock band tee shirt, excessively baggy jeans, and a black trench coat?
For Storytellers: Especially in games where you or your staff is playing multiple npc costuming can make or break immersion. Its hard enough to get players to believe you are four different people, its much harder when they are all dressed in the same jeans and a tee shirt. Try to at least have a different shirt or coat for each npc, and make sure you always wear that particular shirt or coat when playing that particular npc. It will make it 100% easier for your players to recognize what npc you are playing even at a distance.
Make Food Breaks In Character
This is a simple way to give players a chance to get to know their coterie or cabal and have in character meetings to discuss events and make plans for to save (or enslave) the world. A storyteller might even be able to work it into the game somehow. He may be able to work in your groups meeting into the plot or plan his own things around it so your group doesn't miss anything while they're off eating. Giving yourselves an in character reason to go meet and eat will help keep the flow of the game going even if you're just at Five Guys eating a tasty burger. You could be a group of Ghouls at Five Guys plotting to overthrow your master and steal immortality for yourselves!
Mediation
This is my favorite and sadly the most overlooked feature of the Mind's Eye Theatre rules. If you are unfamiliar with it go look it up and try working it into your game if you aren't already. Just letting players know mediation is an option isn't enough. You have to employ it yourself and let players to catch on, and start doing it themselves.
I think some players might feel like they're giving up “winning” because it involves some give and take with the other party, but its okay. The bottle line is mediation speeds up the game play, and creates a collaborative roleplaying environment that benefits the story. I've seen it turn a combat that would have taken 45 minutes into a 5 minute chat and some very good roleplaying.
Try it. It works. I promise.
Next Week I'll conclude this series with Part Three: Storytelling with some advice for storytellers!
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