The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Prawn fills a niche that I didn’t even know existed: the swimming pool larp. Yup, that’s right – you need a swimming pool to play the game in. Well, you don’t really need a swimming pool, but it’s designed to be played with one, and I suspect loses much of its charm if you don’t.

In Prawn, the players take the role of fish in a fish tank. There’s Angel the Angelfish, Shelly the Oyster, Mr Pinchley (a crab) and more. There are rival gangs, star-crossed lovers, a secret society, “family” business and all the usual larp stuff.

Prawn covers everything you need – how to run the game, sorting out props, adding extra characters and plots, even how to run a Prawn campaign. (A frankly amazing thought. A Prawn campaign – my mind reels at just the thought of it.)

But is Prawn any good?

First up – I should admit that I haven’t played or run Prawn. No handy swimming pool, unfortunately. (That’s probably its biggest drawback – it’s hard enough finding players much of the time, let alone a pool as well.)

The game itself is pretty light. Deeply silly, of course, put pretty light all the same. There’s enough in the game last a couple of hours in a swimming pool, but I’m not sure that I’d want to play it outside of a pool.

Having said that, the characters look like they are lots of fun to play and the instructions for the GM (known as the “Tankmaster”) are clear. A few props are required, but they shouldn’t be too hard to find. The advice on adding more characters and plots is also pretty good – although I’m not sure I’d want to add too many more characters as I can imagine the pool getting pretty chaotic.

All in all, Prawn looks like a delightful way to spend a couple of hours. I just wish I had a swimming pool in which to play it.

Prawn
Prawn Capsule Review by Steve Hatherley on 07/07/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) Play a fish in this deeply silly but rather charming larp. Product: Prawn Author: Mike Young Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Interactivities Ink Line: Cost: Page count: 44 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 0-9708356-4-7 SKU: IAI0005 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Steve Hatherley on 07/07/02 Genre tags: Modern day Comedy Diceless Live-action	Prawn fills a niche that I didn’t even know existed: the swimming pool larp. Yup, that’s right – you need a swimming pool to play the game in. Well, you don’t really need a swimming pool, but it’s designed to be played with one, and I suspect loses much of its charm if you don’t. In Prawn, the players take the role of fish in a fish tank. There’s Angel the Angelfish, Shelly the Oyster, Mr Pinchley (a crab) and more. There are rival gangs, star-crossed lovers, a secret society, “family” business and all the usual larp stuff. Prawn covers everything you need – how to run the game, sorting out props, adding extra characters and plots, even how to run a Prawn campaign. (A frankly amazing thought. A Prawn campaign – my mind reels at just the thought of it.) But is Prawn any good? First up – I should admit that I haven’t played or run Prawn. No handy swimming pool, unfortunately. (That’s probably its biggest drawback – it’s hard enough finding players much of the time, let alone a pool as well.) The game itself is pretty light. Deeply silly, of course, put pretty light all the same. There’s enough in the game last a couple of hours in a swimming pool, but I’m not sure that I’d want to play it outside of a pool. Having said that, the characters look like they are lots of fun to play and the instructions for the GM (known as the “Tankmaster”) are clear. A few props are required, but they shouldn’t be too hard to find. The advice on adding more characters and plots is also pretty good – although I’m not sure I’d want to add too many more characters as I can imagine the pool getting pretty chaotic. All in all, Prawn looks like a delightful way to spend a couple of hours. I just wish I had a swimming pool in which to play it.