learnedax | (no subject)

(no subject)

So, thinking back over the couple of dozen LARPs I've played in the past sixish years, there really aren't that many which I both enjoyed and thought were well-written. Perhaps two or three, in fact. Frequently I run into what seem like the same problems repeatedly, particularly winding up locked out of the central action of the game, even when I am fairly certainI have done as much as possible to fix my inherent lack of plot by tying myself to others. I begin to wonder whether the problem here is, just possibly, that I'm not a good LARPer. Or at the very least not well-suited to the majority of games I have found.

Now, there have been perhaps half a dozen games where I was involved in major plots, and half of those I was happy because it seemed like everyone was involved in something, and they were good games all around. The remainder seemed to suffer from the usual swath of characters locked out of anything truly interesting, I just happened to be one of the few who got lucky. This does not make a very fun experience for me either, really.

In light of this it appears my odds of getting real enjoyment out of a (serious, at any rate) game are rather low. Maybe this is because most games are badly written from my perspective, or maybe I am not good enough to do anything useful if plot isn't handed to me on a platter. In either case it's very tempting to put a moratorium on my LARP involvement.

At the same time I'm having lots of interesting ideas and revelations about writing LARPs. And I feel a certain trepidation about becoming only a generator and not a consumer in the field. So I'm stuck then, I guess.

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It's all down to practice, eh?

You're probably right that I should be doing more myself to fix these problems. I ought to try talking to the GMs about it, I just always feel like a prima donna doing that (when I even get my character info sufficiently in advance for that to be viable). When I have no plot I will be character-driven, but it's not really what I'm looking for. I have tried pushing myself into plots with varying degrees of success, but in a four-hour game it can be very hard to dig your nails into plots before everything gets bogged down in secret meetings. Conversely, I've only played two weekend games (and they were by

drdt and

kviri, so that's really not a large sample set), but I have run into somewhat the same problems. The scale gives me more to work with, and I tend to like the feel of them more, but e.g. after 48 hours of furious work winding my totally-shafted character into half the plots in Six By Nine I still wound up locked out in the end because the main characters had gone off into a locked room. At least I was in good company that time: half the game sat around playing poker for the last two hours because there was literally nothing to do.

I thought you cowrote a BYOG at one point...? Maybe I'll try to drag you into a writing team at some point.

As a general comment - there's Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crud. While perhaps not literally true, the tendency for the greater part of all things to be mediocre at best. This especially goes for first-run games, games by new writers, short games, and games created by a small writing staff.

I ought to try talking to the GMs about it, I just always feel like a prima donna doing that

I'm not a big writer of larps, but I've helped run my share of them. The GM's whole purpose is to help you have a good time. You are not being a prima donna for giving them what they need to do their job.

It is wonderful when a game can run as initially written without any GM intervention other than rules ajudication, but few games are that perfect. A good GM knows that a little "lubrication" is sometimes required, and that an occasional nudge to keep things rolling for everyone may be necessary. But their ability to guess or or see what needs nudging is limited - there are many players and only a few GMs in most games. So, a GM rather depends upon the players to let them know what's up.

Longer games certainly do have their advantages - with more time, more mixing is likely to happen. With more convoluted plots, more mixing is likely to happen. But sometimes the "secret meeting syndrome" does still develop. Part of that is a player problem, and part of it is a GM and game structure problem.

I ought to try talking to the GMs about it, I just always feel like a prima donna doing that

Don't do that. Feel that way, I mean.

A well written LARP should have plenty of things to do for all of the player characters that if not directly addressing the main plotline at least keep you busy. One trick in writing a good LARP is to make sure that some of the characters don't become a tremendous focus. ("Elfwhere II" springs to mind: the PCs are almost all faeries attending a masked ball in Auberon's court. Everyone of course must pay fealty to the Summer King at some point but the majority of the faeries running around have their own reasons for being there and, in truth, probably wouldn't want his attention.) We've left ideas on the shelf when we couldn't break this problem.

Talk to a GM. Briefly, of course, but let him know that you're wandering aimlessly or (pre-game) that you don't see what you should be doing. The GM knows all of the plots and may be able to adjust things that are keeping you from your plot, give you an idea about what he saw as something you should do as your character, nudge you into looking at something that really hadn't been well investigated yet to give you a new sub-plot to work with or even just hint that if you wait ten more minutes something interesting will happen involving you.

You are providing important feedback for the GMs as well since the majority of them lack a dozen eyes to keep track of everything. You would make my day with such feedback.

I did help write a BYOG, but I attribute that decision to severe sleep-dep, and will go to great lengths to avoid it again. I'm okay at writing character sheet, but my grasp of plot, balance, interaction, and what other people want is lousy.

Learning to tell the GM's what you want, and when you're having trouble, is a difficult thing. It's hard not to feel like a whiny self-centered prima donna, but... it's necessary, it's not self-centered, and it works. A game is a collaboration between the players and the GM's, and you won't get what you want without asking.

As for seeing the same problems in weekend-long games... they do have problems, yes, but the more you play, the more you learn how to predict the good games. And, overall, I do like the pacing better on longer games. I think you and I have a lot of the same interests and issues in gaming, and I'd love to work with you at some point - if there's ever a weekend-long game around here, would you want to try to get cast together?

I'm okay at writing character sheet, but my grasp of plot, balance, interaction, and what other people want is lousy.

Hmm. This indicates to me that maybe you shouldn't write characters alone. OTOH, you are quite good at the kind of evocative prose that can help the player get into their character's head. So you might be a real boon working with a game writer who is good at the mechanical stuff, but not so hot at the emotional level. (Which is actually more common in my experience.)

Plot, interaction and stuff like that are the essence of character design. But skill at prose is the heart of actually writing a good character sheet. I suspect you'd do well at the latter, if you were working with someone who is good at the former...

But.... what about the fact that I don't *LIKE* writing games?

I like playing. Writing means you don't get to play. I'm happy enough helping run games that I've already played, since I don't really miss anything that way, and I'm more than willing to help rewrite (like I've offered with Celebration - I'd love to pretty up some of the sheets for that).... but outside of those situations, writing a game would feel like a chore for me and a punishment for the players.

if there's ever a weekend-long game around here, would you want to try to get cast together?

Sounds like a good idea. Just probably not a love plot, for

tpau's sake. Maybe we should try to get a decent weekend to run, there haven't been many of late.

Don't worry, I do play more than just romance plots. :) They're my favorite for acting, but they're generally not enough to carry a game. Besides, somehow they don't strike me as the sort of plot that you'd truly adore.

As for getting a good weekend-long game to run.... I'm honestly not a big fan of reruns, so it would be more an issue of finding people to write a good weekend-long game. If you do, let me know.

I ought to try talking to the GMs about it, I just always feel like a prima donna doing that

I agree with the others -- it's never wrong to tell the GMs if you've hit a dead end, or even just a slow bit. They may or may not be able to help, but it's useful information to them, beyond even the fact that you are getting bored: it can indicate that plots aren't materializing, and that things need to be finessed.

A good example is this past weekend: I actually had no idea that you'd hit a slowdown. There were players I was concerned about, and was trying to help a little, but I really hadn't realized that you were snagged, and it would actually have been useful to know. (It was closely tied into the Sarah plot not going quite as I'd expected.)

So do tell the GMs, although be understanding if they come up blank on how to help at just that moment. They're often pretty clueless about how the game is really going, and additional information can frequently help a lot.

Alright, alright, I bow to consensus, I will feel freer to complain (not a usual problem for me).

As I said elsewhere, the main reason I didn't talk to y'all on Saturday was because it was a four-hour game. On that small a scale things happen too fast to easily correct, if I don't have much to do I can still Act (which is largely what I did), and if I *really* have nothing to do it will be over soon.

As an aside, I really do think Celebration worked out well for all but a very few, probably much better than average player satisfaction. It's just that I had some bad casting karma.

It's just that I had some bad casting karma.

Ah, well -- a bit of bad casting always happens. For what it's worth, you were a hell of a lot of fun to watch and listen to. (Your bit in the play was the one point during the game that finally got me into helpless giggles...)

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