Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Guest Post - Larry, CM of St. Augustine, FL

Alan here - This was posted else where and while not Camarilla specific, it does speak to the differences between LARP and table-top and why what may work in one format doesn't work in another. I'll have a new post later this week.


I think I've come to the realization that one of the big stumbling blocks a lot of players/CMs/STs have is determining the difference between playing a table-top game and playing in a multi-chronicle LARP.

In a table-top game, I can play an 8th generation Tremere that had something go horribly wrong from his embrace and actually becomes a Salubri-AT that's unbondable (Salout happened to be flexing his Tremere muscle the moment of the PCs embrace), and from his underhanded ways, my PC picks up Obtenebration, Daimionion, Vicissitude and learns Tremere thaumaturgy because he's able to hide who he really is. With the help of his coterie (my fellow table-top players), he becomes an Archon to the Tremere and slowly works his way up the Pyramid in such a way as to assassinate someone of The Seven and with Saulot's help, infiltrates the highest echelon of the Tremere. It's an awesome story and I'll bet it would be a blast to try and play it.

That story is may work in a table-top setting, but should never exist in a multi-chronicle LARP.

In a LARP that is contained within a larger organization such as OWbN, all of it's members need to realize they need to subvert some of the "cool plot ideas" for stories that mesh better with the World of Darkness genre that all the games share. Our LARP happens to exist within the World of Darkness, that means there's always something (a lot of somethings, actually) that is much smarter and scarier out there pulling your strings. Being a member of a multi-chronicle LARP also means a player should try to give at least some recognition to maintaining some level of genre regularity. Each player and ST is not only responsible for, but a caregiver to making sure the game setting stays WoD. If we were playing a Champions LARP or a D&D LARP, sure! The PCs can be the 'biggest and baddest and most unique snowflakes that imagination can create.' In WoD, that doesn't happen. There also has to be some regulation of the 'zany' or else games or PCs get so out of whack that the game becomes unrecognizable. Sadly, there's lots of folks who don't seem to understand this concept. The rule of thumb should not be "we will do whatever the players want, because they're having fun!." Following this prescription means we're basically deciding to totally throw away the WoD. It's a concept I'm afraid many have forgotten, but the game is also fun when it's actually set in the WoD and players are given boundaries to play within.

I love the setting of the World of Darkness, it's got all sorts of interesting intrigue, there's a bunch of cool background stories, and I think White Wolf created a fabulous universe (and sure, it's not necessarily consistent on all things, but the basic flavor is mostly consistent). There's plenty of exciting and fun stories to participate in or tell, it just takes a little more restraint than a table-top game.

Larry of StAug

Too often it seems folks clamor for their 'rights', and not enough about their responsibility. When you're in an international org such as ours, which covers 96+ games, over five countries, you have to make concessions to the whole. Too often it seems a the responsibility to the organization is shuffled way down on the list of priorities of its members, and that's just backwards and sad--and won't work for our org.

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