Magic in Hit Location Larp

Call it magic, call it skills, or call it technology, it all boils down to one thing in larp. A way for players to break the rules of the game. Whether the game your building is sci fi, high fantasy or modern horror you'll probably need some game mechanics beyond combat. Especially if you want to build a game which is not explicitly combat focused. Whatever your theme is, we're going to talk about what is called Magic in a fantasy larp.

1 Complex type of battle.

There are 7 staple types of battles in combat larp, but that's not all. It just scratches the surface of possible types of conflict. While the previous post was about seven simple kinds of battles, this post is about one which requires a bit more gear. For certain themes of larp, this type of battle may be crucial. Careful though, if you want 'simple' or 'low set up', probably skip this one. But hey, larp is all about logistics, right!?

Still Alive!

Hello!

So selling a condo and buying a house is a lot of work! Who knew. We're inching closer to selling our current home and buying a new home. Which means half our lives are packed up in boxes, and the other half has to be packed up during this week. Over the next month we'll be staying at relatives houses, so posts might still be spotty.

But the good news is that after we move I get a room to decorate as I please! 'Larp Cave'? Yes! Workbench, raw material storage? Yes! The finished basement room itself is 22 feet by 16 feet. It has wood paneling with a fireplace. I plan on making a workbench, in the unfinished part of the basement, an armor stand (that can display my armor and the helmet I never use). Decoration will mainly be banners that can be used for NPC houses.

So needless to say, I am super excited about the move. It's a ton of work, but changing from a condo to a house means I can have space to get crafty! So, despite not having time to blog, I am still working on larp stuff, and once we get moved in there should be a ton of content to share here. In fact I have to cut this post short, it's time to practice!

Some thoughts on Writing a Larp.

Thinking about and working on the 4x larp rules set is interesting to me. Unfortunately it seems like it's not very interesting to many other folks. It is beginning to feel like too much work for too little audience. But it would be a shame to abandon the project completely. In the parlance of Entrepreneurship, time to pivot.

House and Character Preparation for a 4x Larp

Hypothetically you're joining a 4x larp. You've collected a number of friends, formed a house, and have decided what the general outline of the story for that house is... But what are the Houses from a rules perspective? Why are they formed, and what do they accomplish in game?

Are Mega Games Larp?

The Condo Selling/Home Buying is going well. But it's still massively distracting. As you can imagine I have little time to be writing larp rules at the moment. One of the distractions lately is Shut Up and Sit Downs annual attending of the Watch The Skies Mega Game. Part board game, part theater, packed full of mini games... Is Watch the Skies actually a larp?

1 Free Charter for your Non Profit Larp

Larp is a resource intensive activity. Developers take time to write and edit a game system at their own expense. Event holders find locations and run logistics. Players build or buy their own gear. Everyone puts in time, money or both. Like all things in the hobby category there are few monetary rewards for spending all this time and money. Camaraderie, excitement, suspense, separation from modern stresses. The rewards of larp are emotional, not financial. Which makes a non profit structure perfect as the business model for a larp.

I've had this charter kicking around for a while now, and it hasn't changed much lately. Which indicates to me that it's 'done' for all intents and purposes. As my wife and I are selling our condo and buying a house that precious resource time is in scare supply. Hence posting a document created a while ago. I can think of no better way to express what a larp should be about, then what I've included in this document. But it can be polished even more. Tweet me, comment on Google+, or post a message on the Facebook group. Our first 2015 practice event is posted as well, so check that out while you're on the FB page.

And now, below the break, the charter.

Editing a larp.

One of the most difficult things to do is write a larp. It's a challenge because there are so many assumptions and biases that we write into our rules sets which we can't see or assume aren't there. Writing and editing your own work can be frustrating. Editing someone else's content can help point out flaws, errors, and omissions in your own. It's a good way to train your brain to find the missing pieces of your own larp system. Instead of pointing to my own work on the 4x larp today I want to highlight work someone else is doing. Pointing out those gaps, providing suggestions, and tips has been really fun.

Getting back to larp!

Today is the first day of Spring. Which makes it a great time to talk about getting outside and being active after a winter of hibernation! Time to get the gang back together, and help each other lose the winter weight in a fun way. When it comes to larp, and kicking things off, that means practice. As a new season starts I always get excited to play again!

Beginners Guide to Larp: Choosing.

New players want to larp but don't know where to begin or what they might like. They see Geek and Sundry's videos online, or read local news articles about a small but growing local battle game scene. After scratching the surface with one game, newbies often find larp is a surprisingly general hobby. To an outside it may seem very specific, but then you find all these different varieties. Maybe that first found style or flavor of larp is appealing... Maybe it misses the mark a little. How to pin down where to begin? Fortunately there is a style of larp for many different tastes.

Let's Get Meta (data).

This winter is taking it tole on my interest level in Larp. Fear not it will bounce back in spring. But writing when you have less passion for the topic seems like a bad idea. Today we're going to get meta and talk about the blog itself. There have been some odd traffic spikes. Maybe someone can figure out why?

After posting I just reread the original title of this post "Let's Get Meta" and realized that was a really dumb title for a blog about larp. Meta gaming is a huge topic in larp, and the title is totally misleading. Instead of writing about the topic of the blog, this post is about weird traffic on the blog. Sorry readers if you were hoping for a blog post about meta gaming. If you have questions about meta gaming send them my way. That should totally become a blog post.

Core Hit Location Larp Mechanics

Recently a redditor had an idea for an event. Unfortunately what they didn't have was a game system to set that event in. There are tons of people out there just getting into larp who are trying to build something but don't know where to start. If you need core mechanics to build a Hit Location combat larp, here is an index of critical posts needed to build that core. Keep in mind this is not one document with all the rules, but rather an index linking to the rules.

TempleCon 2015

TempleCon 2015 was a blast. I really had a great time. It didn't turn out at all like I expected, but it was fun. Sometimes you just have to abandon the plan and have a good time. [WIP]

Relational Character design in a 4x larp.

Applying 4x to combat larp changes the perspective of play. Most larps focus on the individual player/persona combination as the fundamental unit of game play. Scenes, mods, plot lines, story what have you is all based on individual characters concepts. For this larp we're going to take a step back and have the House be the basic unit of character recognized by the game system. So lets take a look back at Relational Character Design in Larp, and use that to build the foundation of character creation in a 4x larp.

A Paper Prototype, or a Quick Break from Larp.

As work continues on the 4x Larp, let's take a little break to look at a prototype game. When I first started this blog digital game design was the focus where pretotyping and prototyping was big parts of that process. Here is a game idea which reached the prototype phase and is going to TempleCon with me to play test. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with an old acquaintance from larp who started a new game company, Gooder Games.

Siege Damage in a 4x larp.

The basis of Hit Location Larp is that all weapons deal one point of damage. No matter how experienced or how strong a players persona is, they still only deal one point of damage. What about portraying a character with "The Strength of 10 men", or a monstrous troll that attacks not with clubs but with whole tree's? Siege damage, or damage caused by massive weapons is the representation of massive damage. The combination of 4x larp and Siege damage should be interesting. Let's take a look.

Thoughts on Saftey

We've already discussed the specifics of safety during interactions between two players, but what about at the event level? When running an event some additional safety concerns arise. An event holder needs to be prepared. At the moment I'm not actually ready to write rules of safe play for a 4x larp. But here's what I think is important when writing considering writing safety rules.

Getting Started in 4x larp.

How does getting up and running in a 4x larp differ from getting started in a combat larp? There are many posts on /r/reddit asking for help getting started with larp. So many that I made my own getting started post, so I didn't have to keep repeating the same info. So lets head off that inevitable question by discussing how to get started with a 4x larp.