Volume 2, Issue 3: Types of Larp, Son of Sam (one trick pony players)

Types of Larp: Pages 64-65

Types of larp: more than meets the eye


There was a time when Larp pretty much just meant “a bunch of folks in a field with boffers”.
Fantasy larp at its most basic, it didn't take to long for spells to be made, the good old fireball, lightning bolt and healing sort of spells.


Since those days however the realm of Larp has dramatically changed.
No longer mere fantasy, but as groups started making their own systems worlds and genres became as diverse as the players themselves.


Historic
There are some who feel that the Re-enactment scene is just a bit to structured and rail roaded, so instead they devised rules to allow themselves to play inside the world we know, during a key historic period and play out scenarios to see what would of happened if a slightly different tactic was used. After all, what would of happened in Hitler didn't try to invade poland but instead sent a small crack team of experts to remove the infrastructure of the country, who knows how differently the world would of ended up!


Fantasy
Perhaps the single largest concentration of the larp community fills the Fantasy section. There are quite frankly a staggering number of systems and games being run in the UK alone that are predominantly and quite clearly within the fantasy bracket.
Whilst they may not all have elves, dwarves and orcs they all follow a general theme.


That said, even within the Fantasy sector of the hobby there is a large degree of different genres...


;High
High Fantasy is what perhaps the large majority of games may count as. There are lots of different races, a really good selection of classes and it has a large number of magic user types, from the wise cleric, the sagacious mage, the charming bard or the pious paladin or vile necromancer, demonologist and unholy champions.
High fantasy is what the greatest number of larpers known if only because they come in to the hobby via tabletop gaming, and high fantasy can easily be identified with such games as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder or even Warhammer.


What sets a High Fantasy game apart from other games is the sheer abundance of magic, weird and wonderful creatures stalking the land, potions to replenish ones health or even the ability to hop from one plane of existence to another with it almost being un-noteworthy.


;Low
Low Fantasy games however tend to have far less magic available to the players. Magic may require lengthy rituals to enact, strange creatures may only stalk the land in myth, and even those myths have a basis in the more mundane world.
Low Fantasy games game have a smaller selection of unusual races available to play, with more focus on different tribes of humans filling many of the niches other High Fantasy races may usually occupy.
After all, why have wood elves when you can have a tribe of humans who settled in the forests that fill the lands, and have over time become expert trackers, hunters and who happen to be just ever so slightly better with a bow than the humans who live in cities..


Low Fantasy games also fit the Fest style of games as many Low Fantasy games tend to be quite deadly, less about mass combat and more about politics and small skirmishes where you never know if you really will be going home on your shield or horrendously maimed but with a glorious tale to tell round the fireplace that evening!


;Alternative Historic
Falling between the Fantasy and Historic border are the Alternative History games.
The world is pretty much as we know it, but magic does exist, strange things do stalk the land, and a few key differences are in the time line of history.

Whilst not always confined to the Fantasy era the style does lend itself wonderfully to the genre as a whole.


After all, what if the Viking Jarls had a Stormcaller or Weather witch at their command? Perhaps the reason Winston Churchill was so successful was because he launched a series of occult forces against the Axis forces (which if you know anything about history you'll know to be actually true, but what if they could throw lightning bolts, summon back the soldiers slain on the battlefield to keep fighting and so on..)


Modern
Many modern games tend to be considered more along the lines of a Social Larp, more about personal agendas and less about running round the woods with a nerfgun and foam sword.
That said, like the Fantasy genre there are a large number of different types of Modern games.


By the term “Modern” we dont strictly mean the 21^st century, anything really from Victorian era onwards could count as a modern larp. Modern era based larps are significantly easier to find props, costumes and character concepts for, after all a quick trip to a charity shop or maybe a flea market and you can net a lot of good stuff for all sorts of games!


;Horror
Horror based larps are great, they encompass a little bit of Investigation and sometimes a little bit of politics or even combat.
Combat in Horror based games tends to be quite onesided, especially if you're just a regular human being going up against elder gods and ageless things that live in cities made from impossible geometries..


Horror based games tend to have a nifty little mechanic where it's possible for your character to lose their sanity from coming up against things that should not be, or from reading mystical tomes which impart a terrible knowledge and shatter the mental barriers against all the things we're told don't exist.


Within the Horror Genre are also the World of Darkness games, where you can play a Vampire, Shapeshifter, Mage, Mummy, Ghost or Fae. All of which have their own agendas to change or control the world around them. And whilst these games are also very political they are always based in the core theme of Personal Horror.


;Armed forces
There are those who like to play soldier, and whilst the genre can fit in anywhere it tends to be a Modern or Futuristic game where this character concept really comes in to its own.
You could get missions any where from invade the tank factory and steal the blue prints through to assassinate a major figurehead person (often based heavily on a known historical figure to be better able to give reason as to why your C.O want them dead).


Armed Forces games also encompass the very niche Spy setting, where espionage is the order of the day, indeed you may be flung in to a military group as the spy with your own objectives, or you could be the next 007..


Armed Forces based games also tend to use real paramillitary uniforms, a strict rank system and Airsoft weapons in place of the standard foam latex weapons.


;Noir
A Noir game is a rather unusual style of modern game. It's more of a specific setting that it is a game type. Set around the 1930's, with some defining substance that has been embargoed by the Government or the Crown, with gangsters, molls, hitmen and dodgy dealers of rumours being the chief style of character that is played.
Noir games tend to fit in to the Horror genre very well, there isn't lots of technology that allows you to instantly solve a clue, science and the scientific process is some what long winded and mankind is just that bit more reluctant to believe in certain facts than they do in our modern day and age.


;Steampunk, Dieselpunk & Victorian Futurist
Steampunk (and associated genres) tend to be quite fast paced, high on action, romance and more importantly Tea!
Strange things exists like walking tanks, dirigibles, machines that can tunnel to the center of the earth and even crude (by Cyberpunk standards) body replacements, gatling guns for an arm, or a steam driven vibrating sword inplace of a hand.


For many people who enjoy this style of game it's more about the look than anything else.
The iconic tophat with some goggles on them, ladies in leather jodhpurs and a corset with a parasol.
Indeed, it's easy to source outfits for, a well cut old suit, a tophat, a keyfob watch and cogs on everything!
You even need cogs on the cogs trust me!


Steampunk is as much a lifestyle as the Gothic, Burlesque or Punk movement.


Investigative
Games based heavily in Investigation fit well in to many catagories, and indeed a large number of systems may host an Investigation based game as a prelude to other events that year, after all if you don't plan something well then who knows just how it may mess up..


Zombie
Zombie games these days are big business. Hollywood has done a lot in the last 10 years to help out. From the Resident Evil series through to shows like Walking Dead.
Zombie games, like many other genres, fit in to many different settings as a whole.


They can run as short as just a couple of hours (get through the woods and escape the zombies) through to a few days (you wake up and the world as you know it has gone to hell).
For many the Zombie game is about over coming that personal horror of “what if I got infected, what if my best friend or partner was infected, could I do what it takes to survive, do I have what it takes to survive in that sort of world.” and during the game you have a lot of hard choices to make. Ammo can become scarce, and you really don't want to get all up close and personal with a zombie..


For many the thrill of the game comes from being totally outnumbered, under prepared and with just not enough resources as might really want to have.


Post Apocalyptic
Another very good style of game, the Post Apocalyptic games tend to take their cue from the popular Fallout and Borderlands computer games.


Its however many years after humanity managed to press the big red button and nuke itself.
You play the survivors and descendants of that terrible time. You are constantly struggling to survive. Finding food, medicines and clean drinking water is a large part of the game. The land is filled with radioactive hotspots, where bizarre mutants roam, and other groups of people,like yourself who just want to survive.


Usually a Post Apocalyptic game is based around the more unmentionable (and least desirable some might say) sorts of people. Those who don't have a problem with killing, maybe some one who had a large family and now is a very good butcher and never seems to be with out some meat in the skillet. Traders also tend to thrive in these games, you never know what they'll have on them, perhaps they have exactly what you need or maybe it's all just junk. And they can often be about ensuring your encampment has enough to survive for just that bit longer and screw everyone else!


Sci-Fi
Unlike Fantasy there are not as many sci-fi settings in existance. A few notable ones are based heavily on tv shows or films, such as Stargate or the wonderful anime Ghost in the Shell.
They can be pretty easy to source props for and tend to fall in to the Armed Forces style of game play.


;Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk games are set just a short distance in the future. You're essentially a group of hired hitmen and problem solvers. Your bodies are not entirely flesh however, you may have bigger and better limbs, be able to go online with but a thought, or have a dozen deadly weapons hidden about your body. At the most extreme you may even just be a brain encased in a fully robotic body..
They lend themselves heavily to the Goth & Punk milieu, taking a lot of their look and feel of a dystopian world where large companies control every thing and you're all that stands between the common man and the march of so called progress..


These games are often about the struggle between the cold logic of machines and the emotions both warring inside the same body.


;Hard Science
Hard Science games are similar to Modern games, however the creators go to exacting lengths to ensure the game is as deadly as real life is.
Theres no holding your breath as you jump from an airlock in a spaceship and land in another one a hundred meters away. If decompression doesn't kill you the cold will, as might micro meteors or any number of other things.
Hard Science games tend to be about Exploration, discovering a new planet and going there to find out what its like.


There are very few settings that are Hard Science within the UK, especially when compared to the other game types.


;Far Future
Far Future games can often end up looking like a Fantasy game, strange alien races, unusual weapons, people who can kill with just a look or spit arcs of lightning from their fingers.


What distinguishes a Fantasy game from a Far Future game is quite hard to pinpoint.
Fantasy games tend to be set on one planet, where the majority of the races all dwell where as Far Future games tend to be galaxy spanning and use a lot more ranged weapons.


Other than that, at first glance they can look pretty much the same and its really just the background that distinguishes them as separate things.


Jeep/Nord
Still very new in the UK is what could best be described as an emotional theatre game.
You are given a role, lots of hints and tips on how to act, but there are no real “Rules”.
They do not play like traditional games and to be honest a large number of people liken them to little more than group therapy sessions.


In a Jeep/Nordic Larp you come pretty much face to face with your fears. Theres no letting up, no getting away from it.
For example one Jeep i've seen spoken about online quite a bit was as follows:
It's the 80's, you're a hard partier, you do drugs and you're in the gay scene.
One of your friends becomes HIV positive, unknowingly they spread it around, and they soon develop full blown aids.
You basically play a person at a party getting drunk and having unprotected sex.
Theres a brief time jump of 5-10 years, many of your friends now have HIV or Aids, and so do you.
For this part of the game you have to act like you're slowly dying and you know theres nothing you can do about it.
By the end of the game you may die, or you may not.
You may have already died in the first act of the game and thats it, game over for you..


Nord larps of this sort are still regarded with much scepticism within the UK and within the online larp community.
Whilst there are those who would love to try this sort of interactive theater there are a greater number who see it as little more than emotional torture and could cause some potential damage to those who're not stable enough to handle being emotionally broken down.
There are those who have done them and claim them to be incredibly cathartic, allowing them to see the world through truly different eyes.


~~



And whilst this list is not extensive it should give you an idea of the sort of game styles out there that you may have never considered before, and who knows you might like to go and try some..




Son of Sam (one trick pony players): Pages72-73
Ok, this one was a massive balls up of royal proportions!
They'd put in some one else's article which had been published the month before but with MY title..

Here's what it Should have looked like...


Son of Sam: 1 trick pony players

As some one who's been gaming for a good 25+ years i've come across a dearth of players, good ones, bad ones, ones who make you face palm so hard you're certain you hit the neighbour as well and so forth.

One sort of player i've always felt rather sorry for are those who play just one thing over and over again with little to no variation in the theme at all.

I've seen them in all sorts of places, tabletop games, wargames and especially at larp events.

The dreaded Son of Sam player!

What is a Son of Sam player I hear you ask? Well, at the core they're some one who plays one character no matter what system they are playing.
They try to keep it as close to the same background, the same class and same race.

So a pretty typical SoS player might always play the half orc fighter who doesn’t like metal armour and always fights with two stone axes.

Or they may always be the son of a wealthy noble who was dispossessed of their title and deeds and is now fighting to get what’s theirs back regardless of what system they play in (i've personally seen that one done by one player in a AD&D game, a DnD game, a Shadowrun game, a Battletech game, a Starwars game and even in 3 different MMO's. All had the same name, the same rough background and the same likes & dislikes.

I decided to ask the player about this little foible of theirs and they said they had never noticed it before, they just liked the concept and just wanted to play that.

Now theres absolutely nothing wrong with that in the slightest really, after all if the players having fun who's to stop him and pull him up on it?

After a few more games however the player began to not enjoy it anymore and asked me what to do about it.

I asked him why he was no longer enjoying it, his reply was pretty much “it's all i've ever played and it's all a bit routine now, I just didn't know it until you said about it”.

I gave what I thought to be fair advice: play what you know but with a dramatic twist on it.

Still play a dispossessed noble but instead of the chatty and charismatic character, play one who's sullen, angry at what happened and out for revenge, so much so they took up the sword and shield so they might be better able to turn the tide on the people who caused their downfall.

The player took that advice to heart, and with the next character they made they recalled what I said, and since then they've gone on to have a whole lot more fun again and have left the same old concept long behind them, no longer are they a dispossessed noble, but now they're a cunning bard, sowing seeds of rebellion, a jedi with a secret love, a troll shaman who sees mankind as the biggest threat to his beloved swamp and an ace WWII fighter pilot who came from very humble beginnings!

How Convenient!

One thing that's always really irked me as a GM and a Player is when some one dies in a game, goes off to make a new character, and some how all the magic items and armour the last character had is just so very conveniently perfect for the new one.

“Whats that, the plus 5 holy avenger our last paladin had and we're keeping to take back his church is exactly what you've been questing for.. here have it, the dead guy wont want it will they...” *Shudder

Players and GM's who allow that sort of behaviour from fellow players need a sharp slap round the back of the head. It really is lazy and adds nothing to the group at all, it doesn't change the dynamics of the party, it doesn't allow for old unsolvable challenges to suddenly be solvable, it doesn't allow for growth or real learning, and ultimately starts to kill the fun of the game.

How to handle it

GM's have the single greatest power to prevent this sort of play. The power to say “No, that character doesn't pass muster..”.

Plenty of GM's use that power, especially if they recognize that a player is becoming a Son of Sam..

However some GM's don't like to say no, ever. They think they're stopping the player from having the kind of fun they want to have.
Sadly at some point those sorts of GM's need to learn that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and stand up for the good of the group.

Some players may not like that, accuse the GM of bullying or of playing favorites with others in the group, and theres not much that can be done about that. We all play to have fun, but anyone who thinks only of themselves is being rather selfish when it comes to the game.

Maybe that group isn't right for that player, or maybe, just maybe everyone else is right and that player is wrong and the player needs to learn that.

No matter how a group approach the matter it should always be done in confidence, with no heated arguments, but with reasoned discourse and friendly banter.

No Means No

Some players however will not heed all the most well meant and well given advice the world has ever seen, not even Ghandi could reason with them, and they will keep pushing and pushing until something breaks.

Usually it's the GM and other players that and just allow the behaviour to continue, after all they may feel like they owe it to the person to keep them in the group, they don't want to be accused of bullying or being bad players by some one with sour grapes.

At times like that though they need to recognise what they're doing and stand their ground.
No one likes it when a group loses a player, it can be campaign breaking (and some players will use that sort of threat to get what they want) and ruin the game entirely.

Some times however you have to accept that, the GM needs to stay firm to the rules and guidelines they have in place.

Article written by Nick Sands, who's been gaming for the last 28 years and still forgets some rules. He's also in desperate need of a decent Battenburg and mug of Tea...