Whipping up a Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) game can add a whole new flavor to gaming. This guide is intended for gamemasters who want to run a live game. One gamemaster can cook up a game for ten to twenty people; even more with assistants. There is a bevy of choices to be made when mounting a live game, in addition to the strong infusion of creative thought which is required when running any game.

In this guide, the creativity is assumed to be supplied by the gamemaster. The structure of a live game is easy to outline: the basic ingredients are Genre, Mechanics, Plot, Characters, and Logistics. Baking time is several weeks. The scenario following: The Jupiter Effect (referred to as Jupiter hereafter) is offered as sample fare.

Genre:

The first and easiest decision is the Genre to cook in. Live games work well with horror, espionage, cyberpunk, fantasy or any system, published or unpublished. The genre is the heart of the game. Players who enjoy the genre will be instantly attracted to the game, and it gives players an idea of what to expect. Let inspiration guide you in choosing your favorite genre, and the mechanics and plot will flow from it. Once the genre is decided, it's easy to determine the types of characters, reasonable plots, and which skills and talents are needed. Jupiter begins as a spy genre, but conceals a horror/occult plot, giving us a clear picture of the characters (normal people), plots (intrigue! magic! doom!), and skills (combat, escaping, interrogating, a little magic) required.

Mechanics:

Next, the mechanics must be chosen. One important decision in LARPs concerns the player/character connection. There are two main approaches to choose from: The Interactive Literature (IL) school of thought represents combat and skills by simulation. In opposition to this, the Live Combat (LC) school lets physical realism dominate-- if you can swing a sword well, your character will be a good fighter. In other words, for physical actions, the LC character IS the player. Often the focus in combat requires special props (safe foam swords, for example). In the LC genre, campaigns (series of live games) are often played, with characters improving as they gain experience.

Our recipe will focus on the IL system, in which characters are both more and less than their players. Physical actions, such as fighting, lock-picking and escaping are handled via character traits, typically written as numbers on the player's character sheet. The rules must be kept very simple, but one great advantage of this system is that characters can possess abilities and talents that are far beyond the reach of modern 20th century people. Thus IL characters can be made for any genre and played by nearly anyone, independent of age, physical condition, and personal training. For a live game that runs only once (Jupiter and most IL games), this system works well; allowing a player to start the game with a totally new character and yet be able to play effectively from the start.

The minimum statistics needed are fighting prowess and the ability to escape fights (survival's Fight or Flight reflex). Depending on the genre, characters may also possess talents which allow them to cast magic spells, steal items from others, engage in net running, resist interrogation, and many other abilities relevant to the plot. Some of these abilities are competitive-- you compare your ability against that of your opponent. Others are predetermined-- if you possess the ability, you succeed. Adding a random factor to competitive events is recommended, and RPS (Rock/Paper/Scissors) is a popular choice. For example, a combat between Natasha the Spy (combat skill 2) and Red the Enforcer (combat skill 4) would be conducted as follows: Natasha, with skill 2, can only lose two rounds of combat before defeat. Red, at 4, can afford to lose 4 rounds. Each round is a player of RPS, and rounds are played until one person has triumphed. [For those who never went to kindergarten, in RPS, on the count of three, each person makes either the shape of a rock, a piece of paper, or scissors, with their hand. Rock breaks Scissors, Scissors cut Paper, and Paper covers Rock.] The combat loser is either defeated or leaves the game to create a new character (just before combat, both players must state their intent to either remove their opponent from player permanently or to capture them.) After combat is resolved, play continues for the survivors. Other randomizers include playing cards, tokens, memory games, riddles, or using luck pools that you can spend to temporarily improve your ability for a single trial.

For predetermined effects, typically, the character will possess a card allowing a limited number of uses of a skill. For example, Natasha may have 2 Escape cards. In any problem situation Natasha can choose to play (and then discard) one card to escape. No one can stop her from doing this or follow her for a set period of time (say, 2 minutes), unless their character has a special ability of its own, such as Stop Escape. So, in the above combat, Natasha takes 1 hit from Red, and in desperation plays an Escape card POOF. Red is amazed as Natasha disappears into the distance.

Two other factors also need to be considered for combat situations-- range and groups. For range determination, it is important to decide how close characters must be for a fight to occur. Two good rules are either touch or 10 feet. For touch, a character must be within touching distance for combat to occur. This results in most combat being by mutual consent, or by one person being chased down by the other. One player initiates the fight (saying "Wanna Fight?" or some other clear indication). The other player then either remains to fight, or flees and must be chased down (like the game Tag, LIGHT TOUCH ONLY.) Fearful people can always remain at a good distance from others (and speak loudly).

For 10 feet, you must rely on players' abilities to judge distance. As soon as one player declares "I attack" to anyone within 10 feet, the fight has begun. The target has no choice but to participate. For this system, you can add rules allowing escapes, ranged weapons versus hand-to-hand combat, and reflex considerations. You can make it as complex as you wish. For a first game, it is easiest to start with the touch rules, then customize the system later on according to player response.

Group combat is not difficult to handle. For a group fight, each person can choose only 1 target. If one unlucky person is the target of more than one person, combat is done at those unfair odds. For RPS, someone who is attacking without being attacked can never take a loss, but can only inflict damage on an opponent. For example, Natasha and Boris team up against Red. Red decides he will strike back at Natasha. They engage in a round of RPS, where Natasha throws 'rock', Boris 'paper', and Red (by coincidence) 'scissors'. Since Natasha was attacking Red, Red takes one loss. Boris technically lost to Red, but since he was not being personally attacked, there is no effect. Natasha was not affected by Red (he lost), so of course she takes no damage. Player would continue like this, with Red allowed to choose a different target each round, if he wished, until combat concluded.

The mechanics of the game are the hardest part to test, since they must be simple enough to learn in minutes, but complete enough to cover almost every situation. Make sure that you practice the mechanics with some of the players beforehand. This will ensure there is at least one other person who knows how the game physics works.

Plot:

There are two simple plots that work well for live gaming. The first is The Ticking Bomb plot, where the characters must prevent or accomplish something by a set hour. The game hinges on their success or failure at this task. The actual event can be either from a source beyond the game (aliens conquer earth unless a device is found) or within the game (in Jupiter, evil scientist characters cast a deadly spell unless a book is stolen back from them or a counter charm is found.) The advantage of an external opponent source is that; not only can everyone team together, but everyone will win or lose together, and tensions will be high. The advantage of an internal source is that people will be competitive, there will clearly be a winning and losing side, politics between groups will be popular, and tension will still be high. It is a matter of personal taste which to chose.

The second, good simple plot is The Contest plot. For this, a time limit is declared by the Queen/God/Illuminati/Cthulhu/Democrats, and whoever best achieves some set criteria, within that time limit, wins. This can range from points in various contests, to most battles won, to finding objects, to an election of a new leader. The advantage of this plot is that there can be multiple teams, and multiple approaches. Also, the characters will generally know what is expected of them and can plan towards the goal.

In either case, the plot should have a clear beginning and ending and, if possible, a two-level structure. The first level of plot is the initial setup of the game. This should be simple and easy to understand-- good versus evil, heroes versus villains, allies on a sinking ship, hunters of the Necronomicon and candidates vying to win the election. The Contest plot works well for this. At some point, characters should have gained enough information so that the true, second plot appears, typically of the Ticking Bomb variety. This intertwining of plots provides stimulus for players to interact. There should be a culmination to the plot(s), which, coincidentally, should happen at the real world time the game must end. Structure the revelation of information so the events keep building. This easiest way to control the game is through information. Otherwise, gamemasters should not get involved in the workings of the characters, but give them free rein. Thus the plot must be strong enough to withstand setbacks and spontaneous player creativity.

For Jupiter, the initial setup was to find a stolen book. Good could stymie Evil with it, Evil could rule the world with it, and Neutral could make much money selling it to Good or Evil. The second plot appeared soon after, as the characters discovered that the book was actually a spellbook, and that the spell had been started. Unless certain items were found and used, Evil would zombify the town and win. Thus the initial contest over the book became a ticking bomb plot, with evil set against good.

Lastly, there should be subplots for each character, to help guide their motivations and alliances. Giving each character a separate plot ensures that all players will be involved to some degree. While Natasha is not interested in finding the spellbook, for example, she does want to find out who her father was... and if it ends up that only Red the Enforcer knows, and he needs help to pay back the local crime boss... and so the game develops.

The role of the gamemaster can either be part of the plot or outside the plot, but should never be a character in the plot. Positioning the gamemaster as mystic oracle, central computer, or local bartender is a good way to arrange this. If running the game alone, the gamemaster should be easily accessible in one place at all times. If there are co-gamemasters, they should freely wander about and help situations as they arise. Having many gamemasters is always useful. As a rule of thumb, there should be at least one gamemaster for each 20 players (one for each 10 players is better). Try to put gamemasters in the setting as incorruptible, neutral, helpful, yet omnipotent (or at least indestructible) people. Make it clear people can approach gamemasters without worrying about having their character suddenly changed. Also, for the main gamemaster, make the meeting place a no-combat zone.

Characters:

Characters and plot are naturally intertwined. Characters should evolve from the plot, and the plot threats should intertwine about them. In addition, force the characters to interact by giving them subplots of their own. The beginning of the game should focus on the characters. Each character should be acquainted with at least 2 other characters. This small group of characters should begin with some information relevant to the overall plot.

Characters are a combination of statistics, special abilities, initial information, and initial goals. You should provide a brief character sketch, which can range from a one-line description to a 2-page history. Power balance is important, and no character should be omnipotent or useless. A rich, corporate-type should be balanced by having poor combat skills and many enemies; the best assassin should have a weakness against attacking blondes; the helpless priest should have the loyal aid of all good Discordians in the group, and so on. All characters should be useful for the plot(s), but no one character should be absolutely required for the main plot(s). This is because characters all share one major problem-- the possibility that, by their opponents' action, their character will be removed from the game.

Characters tend to leave the game, and usually at inopportune times for the plot. The handling of the absent characters must be integrated into the game. Leaving the game should not be made into a sham that one one fears, but should have a cost and be avoided by players. A character with infinite lives would get boring. However, a game designed with characters who have only one life is risky, potentially alienating players who are unlucky and are forced to leave the game early. The solutions depend on the genre.

Possible solutions include allowing a number of limited reincarnations per character, decreasing power/ability with each character loss, or introducing new characters ("Hi, this is Natasha's twin sister!"). All of these have their own flaws, and keeping players interested in a new or de-powered character can be difficult.

If possible, deal with character death in-game. For a horror game such as Jupiter, dead characters either become zombies under the control of the Mad Scientist, or discovered they had an unknown number of second chances at life. In a cyber game, revival might cost money and put the character into debt, saddling them with a new subplot to deal with. For Vikings, the dead fight in Valhalla, where the winners are allowed to return to Earth and the losers remain to fight again. With these approaches, character loss becomes part of the plot and adds possibilities to the game. It is quite acceptable to define a final time, when no more characters can return-- the last hour of the game, for example. This heightens tension as things build to the final moment, without overly ruining the day for unlucky players whose characters leave the game early.

Logistics:

Logistics is a catchall term referring to the real-world efforts required to run a game. This includes finding a site, setting a date, advertising, contacting people, getting props and deciding if you are going to charge for the game or just for expenses. All of these are highly situational, dependent on your local county laws and your local gaming scene. In general, it is easy to run a small game in a local park without any advance permission, but for larger games or indoor games, you should ask first. Also, you should recommend that people bring watches, since most games have a time limit. If someone is out of contact, it is good that they know when the game ends.

Before the game, players must be assigned characters. The gamemaster should ask the players beforehand for their preferences. This can range from posting a list of available characters and letting the players choose, to asking questions on general character types and assigning them yourself. It is preferable to let the players know beforehand what their character is, at least generally. Saying: You will be Natasha the Spy gives the player time to think about the game, prepare mentally for the role, and anticipate the joys of being a spy. Adjust this according to your player's expectations and your own gaming style. For Jupiter, players were allowed to choose from a character list (first come, first serve), with gamemaster guidance when the alliances (Good/Evil/Neutral) had different numbers of people. The players received only a character name and a one-line description, and the rest of the details were given at the start of the game.

Identification is also very important. Everyone in the game should have a specific token to identify that they are in play. This can be a badge, button, ribbon, or anything you believe they will wear. It must be distinctive enough to separate the players from local passerby and other non-gamers. Be sure to define what is in-game and out-of-game, and let the players know how they can step out-of-game if needed (typically, by removing their game ID). Make sure everyone knows the end time, and where to meet afterward. Anyone who plans to leave early should inform you, and everyone else should meet at the end of the game to ensure that no one is list. It is worth discussing how to deal with passerby and non-game people (locals) during the game. Players should not interact with locals during a game, unless the person approaches them first. Acting weird or trying to scare the locals is a very, very bad idea, and could have repercussions when trying to run games later at the same location. Similarly, using locals as cover during combat, or enlisting their help in a plan, are definite reasons for the gamemaster to throw a player out. For this reason, props for combat (toy guns, fake swords, or anything else) should be planned by the gamemaster to look innocuous. While the idea of using cool-looking guns might be appealing to players, it is not worth antagonizing city officials and trigger-happy policemen. For Jupiter, guns were represented by bananas, and the initial silliness quickly faded as people got into the game spirit and realized that innocent bananas were capable of eliminating them.

As the bananas are guns example illustrates, props are a useful addition, but need not be expensive or complex. Using index cards with the item name on it (Gun, Lock picks, Truth Serum) is perhaps the easiest method. Adding a little artwork and laminating the cards greatly improves the look, and this makes players take them more seriously. Using toy props is an excellent (but potentially costly) way to increase in-game spirit if the gamemaster can manage it. Players may wish to bring their own props, and the gamemaster must make clear that all items used must be approved by the gamemaster. Thus Natasha the spy, could not bring real handcuffs to use, as her character isn't supposed to possess them. But, if the gamemaster gave Natasha a handcuff card at the start of the game, she could ask to substitute her costume prop for the card. In these cases, attaching the card to the item is recommended so other players realize the prop is in-game.

Costuming is a debatable issue. Some games (Jupiter, for example) allow the players to wear anything they want, for comfort and convenience. Other games will request players to come in an outfit appropriate for their character. Your choice depends on the amount of time and money you and the players have, as well as how into theatrics you are inclined to be. Remember that, ultimately, the spirit of the game will be created in the minds of the players, not in excessive props and costuming. Once the players start arriving, one mundane detail is gear if the players bring backpacks or stuff to the game, you will need a place to keep it safe while they play. If paid lockers or someone's home are not available, the main gamemasters can keep the items at their in-game location to keep an eye on them. As a safety point, make sure that players can get drinks during a game, especially in summer. Running an in-game inn or nonalcoholic bar is a good way for the GM to be available, as well as giving players a reason to check in periodically (for thrifty gamemasters, water is an inexpensive drink.)

The start is important. Meet. Explain the Genre. Explain the Mechanics; do demonstrations; have a few people practice some of these for the group to see if you missed explaining anything. Explain the site, the space limits, the time limits. Explain in-game and out-of-game. Then, and only then, give out the character sheets. If you give them out earlier, many people will read them intently rather than listen to the rules. Try to keep all this introduction short, since people prefer to game than to listen. When at last you are ready to start, begin with a neutral time, where the game doesn't officially begin for 15 minutes. This lets people read their sheets, explore a little of the area, and get into the game mode before the action starts and it is too late.

At this point, you are ready to write and run your own game. Bon appetite!

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And now some backstory. The above piece was my first paid RPG work, and was originally published in the long-defunct print magazine "Cryptych", Vol I/V, 1994, by editor J.M. White, aka 'Switch'. It was based on the LARPs we ran on campus in Pennsylvania and in public parks in Japan, and one odd necessity of editing is the fragmented nature of the "Jupiter" scenario it references yet never fully describes.

I decided to reprint it, exactly as it originally appeared, to start my 2008 run for several reasons. Primarily, it's still (to me) a tremendously relevant piece, and would be lost as a reference work if I did not act in placing it here. And second, I feel that much older content is often ignored solely for being 'older'. In particular, there is a stigma against reprint material-- even if the material was small run (for early Cryptych, perhaps a few tens of thousands of readers) and no longer available.

Retro or relevant, reprint or new, I feel that roleplaying is a young field percolating over a core set of unanswerable issues. This column is both my newest and my earliest contribution to the field.

Until next month,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net