"Parlour LARP"

[the_eggwhite]

So...

An idea that I've been messing around with for a while, and may look at doing from time to time. One off freeform/rules light LARPs, run in a house or other freely available space...

Obviously I plan to get UA up and running first, but I'm thinking of these as one-off "event" style things. Lots more prep than usual, set dressing, dirty tricks to creep people out, etc.

Characters would all be pregens after a fashion, but either tailored to the individual players or left broad enough for the players to put their own spin on it. In the latter case it'd be something like "You're a relatively high earner in a field where you get to find out a lot about important people. You know these things, and would give your eye-teeth to find out these other things. The rest is up to you."

I'm also wondering about the idea of multi-tiered games. Basically, two or three groups of players all sharing a gamespace, but with each of the groups having it's own distinct concerns. This would leave the way open for each group to have totally different power levels, or levels of knowledge, but still be playing in the same game...

I currently have an idea for such a game which would be set at a seance, taking place in a suburban house some time in the latter half of the 20th Century. PCs would be guests at the seance, and would all recieve a fairly loose brief... The intention would be that there is no PC/NPC divide, and that the GM (me) would only be there to handle disputes or help steer the direction of events if they're slowing down too much.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[davedevil.livejournal.com]

on a completly unrelated not Big Finish are doign a bundle on all the Saphire and Steel audios ATM.

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Good to hear it... My copy of "Daisy Chain" (the second one) arrived a few days ago and I gave it a listen. It's Sapphire and Steel alright - kind of confusing in places, but utterly, utterly broken. Especially the ending. There was a definite reminder there that Sapphire and Steel do not think like human beings.

Now I just want the first one to turn up... It was out of stock when I ordered, alas...

[reindeerflotila.livejournal.com]

with the right palyers, it could be fabulous, I have similr plans for a greek gods based free form larp also.

wrong players, could be evil. Good luck with it, i am quite interested in being there myself.

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

I suspect it'd be invite only, but you'd quite likely be on the invite list... As for players, I think it'd actually be fairly forgiving of player quirks so long as you get a decent mix and allow people to tweak characters to suit. Also, with a lot less rules there's a lot less rules-lawyering. Instead I would rule by GM fiat.

[reindeerflotila.livejournal.com]

ah, the totalitarian dictator GM. oddly enough I had decided on that method myself :P If not on the list that is cool as it occurs i live very far away and would likely be a naff non committing creature :P

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Well, it would be a one-off, so if you could make it once, that's all the commitment required. Once we've quietly taken Mage out to the woodshed and shot it lovingly in the back of the head, and once I've dredged Unknown Armies out of the primordial gaming ooze and kicked it to life, I'll start working out details for the first one of these (the seance one... although it may end up not being a seance... my game ideas tend to mutate in the planning.)

[reindeerflotila.livejournal.com]

groovy :P

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

i could be interested...

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

I would be surprised if you weren't!

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

The only problem is character ideas! I haven't played much of late as I can't think of anything to play! :'(

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Well, characters would be either pregens or halfway to pregens anyway. I'd provide goals, secrets, knowledge and some basic information (income bracket, type of stuff you're good at) and you basically wing it from that.

I'll probably provide some ideas along with the brief, which you could then use or ignore according to whim. to use the example I gave in my original post:

"You're a relatively high earner in a field where you get to find out a lot about important people. You know these things, and would give your eye-teeth to find out these other things. The rest is up to you."

You could chose to make that character a successful freelance photojournalist, out looking for dirt on a certain (currently whiter-than-white) Celebrity.

Or you could be a lawyer, who gets told all kinds of things by the important people they represent. You might have a client you think it lying to you, and you want to know why, or you might have an ex client who won't tell you why they let you go...

Basically, so long as you stay consistent in game time, character is likely to be prompted but very flexible.

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

I shall have to think about it... At the moment I don't feel as if I could roleplay anyone remotely competent :'(

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm pretty sure you could. But if you'd prefer to roleplay somebody incompetent then that's a possibility too. You've roleplayed a girly pop-singer before... how about an inbred heiress or a gullible old woman?

Or have a crack at playing somebody utterly abhorrent? Roleplay your old manager. Playing her as she gets her comeuppance could even be cathartic!

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Of course, depending on who else is playing, I may have something a little stranger in mind for you anyway...

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you do...

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

hehehehehehhe *laughs*
someone really rubbish could be quite funny :)

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Well, as an example of how things can change over time, Jarvis was originally created to be Jarvis the Crap Nos. I worked with the system to try to create a well rounded but ultimately useless character who's only real advantages were knowing things that he couldn't tell anyone (he knew about the Niktuku, for example - you don't go round discussing them. Well, not twice, anyway).

When I stopped STing I started to make him more useful and easier to drag into things, but before that he really was a bit poo.

I also seriously considered playing a six or seven point character at the Gathering...

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

awww, Jarvis was great. I just wanted to hug him! But he did get rather a lot better!
I liked my incompetent dilletante occultist character I played for a Cthulhu one off a while back, he was very fun :)

[lucifermourning.livejournal.com]

intriguing...

[izzy-stradlin.livejournal.com]

Cool...I want to run parlour larps too. I definatly think a mage/Jonathan Strange crossover is what I'll do first, if you're interested...

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

I would indeed be interested... Although as ever I don't really rate myself as a player. I think I'm better at running things than playing them.

[izzy-stradlin.livejournal.com]

You'd be fine....

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

whyever not? Jarvis was the most competent thing in the C/A venue . . .

[eggwhite.livejournal.com]

Largely by accident...

Actually, I think I did okay with Jarvis. Basically, if I can get hold of some plot I can follow then I do okay, but when it comes to generally being in character and knowing what my character would do, I tend not to be that great. I'm terrible at most of the stuff I tell players to do, like coming up with goals (realistic and idealistic), identifying core ideas (so you can stick to them when the crunch comes) and bullet point summarised backgrounds (actually, this bit I can do) so that STs can identify things to abuse.

I also have a very limited range... I can play "nice guy" or "put upon", but have real trouble with playing other concepts without a lot of psyching myself up, and even then they tend to devolve into either "nice guy" or "put upon" over time... Something I need to rectify with Prince Gillebert in Dark Ages. He's become too reasonable of late, slowly defaulting to "put upon". I doubt he'll ever make it to "nice guy", though.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested, but I doubt I'd be able to make it. Also, I've never really LARP'd.