Ever Shambling Onwards...

So, I was ill yesterday with a stinking headache. I've still got a bit of one today, but it's entirely manageable.

Other days:
Saturday was spent largely watching some episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2nd Gig, playing UFO: Aftermath and planning the UA game for Sunday... and having a headache.

Sunday was spent planning and running a UA game, as well as watching a bit of GITS:SAC2. I am also amused at that abbreviations. GITS is bad enough, but GITS:SAC just amuses me further. Anyway - UA game went well, and involved the first field excursion of the game... Which is also the furthest that I expect any players to have to walk at any point. I still think that location is fantastic to use in games, though. Oh, and I had a headache too.

Well, I've had a long weekend, so here's an update:

( Thursday )
( Friday )
( Saturday )
( Sunday )

So, I now have a userpic for Unknown Armies related posts.

[UPDATED AGAIN!]
Updated PCs and the like... groups:

barty - (Character has no name!) - Missing persons - Statted
cream_horn - Christopher Parker - Missing Persons AND Weirdshit Investigators - Statted
cryx - Alice Winters - Missing persons - Statted
izzy_stradlin - George - Weirdshit Investigators - Statted
lawrencegillies - Ben Fox - Missing Persons OR Weirdshit Investigators - Statted
lucifermourning - Laura - Missing Persons - Statted
thankyoukindly - Whitfield Keating - Weirdshit Investigators AND Missing Persons - Statted
themadone - Robin Slater - Missing persons - Statted

darklittlefox - (Character has no name!) - Group Undetermined - Planned

Additionally:
anonymous_james - Matthew Hammet - Weirdshit Investigators - Statted, but unsure if he'll actually make the games...

First game is This Sunday, probably starting around 2:30ish. If all goes to plan, one group will meet at HoP, the other elsewhere (themadone & darklittlefox? Your place likely to be usable by a group of three to five folks and a GM?). There is a chance that we'll start all at the same location OOC and then transport one mob elsewhere after a bit of a chat about rules and how the game will work etc... more information will become available through the week. Bringing packs of normal everyday playing cards would be handy!

Anyone not in the list above and wanting to play, leave a comment.
Anyone who needs to gen their characters, leave a comment with available times!

So, today I've been spending money again. I really need to do that less often, but hey, it was payday on Thursday.

Picked up four CDs in the MVC closing down sale. Cost me about the same as I'd normally spend on one CD, so I think that's not too bad... Two Mercury Rev CDs, one The Church CD and one Led Zeppelin CD.

Then I went to Rymans and bought a bundle of bits and bobs for use in the UA game, which I will refund myself for out of the game's funds when it has some (after the first game, most likely). Some of these supplies will quite likely go on to be used in subsequent games as well, as I do plan on running a lot of short-run or one off LARPs, and resilient folders for character dossiers are generally going to be a good plan I feel. Especially as I'm not planning on re-printing character sheets every game... the same sheet should last all the way through. If new sheets are needed then they can be printed, but they won't have all of your XP and skill progression on them... basically, losing your character sheet will mean losing your XP. So don't do it!

But I digress.

After Rymans, I decided it was ages since I'd had any dried banana chips, which I quite like. So I popped into Julian Graves to get some and found that they stock Boaters teas and coffees too. So I acquired a few boaters bits and bobs for experimental purposes.

I am now home, and testing my new CDs before embarking on a mammoth UA prep-session... about which, more shortly!

I'm thinking of postponing the UA game until the first sunday in February, mainly due to the following:

• A whole bunch of stuff I need to get sorted that probably ought to take priority over the game
• Difficulties caused by an awkward first sunday in january and GM unavailability on alternate dates, meaning that the second game probably wouldn't happen until feburary anyway - 2 month gap between first two games = bad
• We're already a bit short on time for me & urizen to tie all of the characters into the plot. We're aiming for everyone to be involved in some way from the outset, hence pushing people for characters quite early.

Having said I might postpone it, I may be prepared for some characters to do a bit of soft, plotless RP beforehand so that they can get to now each other a bit. Although, that'll depend on how much I think it'd detract from the first game. I want revelations to happen and character links to be discovered in game if possible.

Does the delay sound bearable to player types? It should result in a better game and a smoother start.

In my usual manner, I am having far more ideas than my meagre brain could ever conceive of holding. Despite already having LARPs queued up waiting to happen (Dark Ages in progress, UA starting soon, rubber-swording/fantasy lurking for future development, several one-shot parlour LARPs), I am having more ideas.

This time I'm getting a hankering for something that's neither modern day or fantasy. I'm thinking SF of some kind, although exactly what flavour of SF is still eluding me. Bizarrely for me, I'm also thinking of making it non-horror oriented. Post Apocalyptic is an option, but I'd prefer something a little less gritty. I'd also like something which is more adventure or story based rather than political/social backstabbing - we've had quite a lot of that already. Maybe a tweak of my Olive Branch setting, which would allow for varying player base and would focus on a mix of shipboard and planetside plots without much taking place floating about in space...

I'm also (as a direct result of this) wondering if I could come up with a basic LARPified version of the FATE system I've been using for Transhuman Space. Basically, if a larp friendly randomizer can be created for it - one which creates a bell-curved -4/+4 range - then there's no real reason that the system wouldn't just work pretty much as is. It's a pretty lightweight system, after all.

Venues would also need to be considered quite heavily...

Of course, this would not even come close to happening until after Unknown Armies is done, and possibly not until after the fantasy/rubber swordy game is up and running. Right now I'm just intrigued by the idea and was wondering what people would think...

Any comments or thoughts?

So... How will I be handling character death in my Unknown Armies LARP?

UA is a dangerous setting. You can easily die from a single gunshot. It's possible (but unlikely) to die from being punched. If your character gets into a fight without having the drop on their opponents, they will suffer for it. Even if you do have the upper hand it's entirely possible that you won't come out unscathed.

There is a reason that Unknown Armies is the game which has a section in the rulebook (in the player section) called "six ways to stop a fight". Getting into fights is risky. You get hurt. Even if you win, you quite likely get hurt. I expect characters who get into fights to quite possibly be nursing wounds for the rest of the game. Not the rest of the session, but the rest of the campaign.

However, I prefer dramatic tension to a sudden character death. As a GM, I won't be setting out to kill characters. Characters will die because they did something dumb or heroic, or got into a fight when they should have run away.

Punches won't be pulled, but there will be ways to dodge them, or punch first. If you walk into a straight gunfight, you are quite likely to die. If you walk into a gunfight with two snipers positioned nearby and aiming at your opponent, you are still quite likely to die, but he's more likely to. If you just send the snipers and trick your opponent into thinking you're there, you're not likely to die, but he's still quite likely to.

Of course, combat is only ever going to be a part of the game. You could go all through it and never get into a fight of any kind, if you're careful.

To sum up: Character death is easy, but avoidable. GMs will not godstrike you out of existance unless you ask us to, or unless you act in a way so foolish as to demand it. Permanent injuries and mental problems are a different matter, however. Those we can hand out like candy.

Additionally, if your character dies the GMs will try to ensure you understand why, provided that doing so does not spoil the plot. In general, you would probably already know.

Just a quick reminder that the next Runnymede Dark Ages game will be at the Englefield Green Social Hall, we've got the upstairs of the hall as the downstairs had already been booked, so please could everyone be careful when coming and going not to scare the kids attending a birthday party there!

The doors will open at 5:30pm, with us aiming to time in at 6:00pm, please could everyone do their best to be there and ready as soon as possible, as the earlier everyone is ready the more RP we can all get.

There are people who don't read this or the Dark Ages community - so please pass this on to anyone else who is a regular / would like to try it out!

If anyone needs help getting there or has questions, feel free to comment on the runnymede_da community...

What the hell... Everybody else is doing it...

Post a comment with one or more questions for a LARP character of mine.

The responses will be IC but will not be fair game for further RP.