Al Shir-ma is a short (3 - 4 hour) 66-player theatre-style Arabian fantasy larp. Originally written for
KapCon XX, it has now been published as a PDF by Imaginary Empire. The game is inspired by the
Thousand and One Nights, and is set in the mythical city of Al Shir-ma, a rich trading oasis in the desert. But the city has been abandoned by its magical patrons, the Djinn, its Sultan is gravely ill (some whisper missing), and its water source is drying up. The larp tells the story of the return of the Djinn and how these problems are solved, for good or ill.
The game is available as a download from RPGNow.
(Disclosure: I am associated with KapCon, know the authors of this product, played it, and received a review copy after the game).
The product
The game is sold as a 257-page PDF download, consisting of a 26-page GM's section, 10 pages of supporting material, and 210 pages of character sheets. The GM's section includes an overview of the game's structure, a plot summary, a timeline, staging notes, and faction maps - White Wolf-style diagrams showing the relationships of all the characters and their secrets. The supporting material includes simple rules, name badges for all characters, and a 2-page in-game newspaper, the "Al Shir-ma Gazette", which summarises the situation in the city at the start of play. The bulk of the game however is in the characters. These are divided into seven factions - the court, the slaves, the merchants, the townsfolk, the traders, the desert tribes, and the others - and each has a one-page character sheet, several relationship maps showing who is in their social circle (typically their faction and one or two others) and what they know about them, and a one-page summary formatted as an A6 brochure to be used in play. The latter is handy, but doesn't contain all the information - players will have to have read their character sheets beforehand to get the context.
Apart from the cover art (a portion of which is repeated on each character sheet as a logo) and relationship maps, there's no artwork. The layout is clean and unintrusive, particularly on the character sheets. However, there are noticeable spelling, grammatical and formatting errors throughout the text, and it could clearly have used further editing.
The game
There are three core questions I ask about any commercial larp product: does it have enough plot to provide the players with enough to do for the expected length of play? Does it have enough staging information for the GMs to actually run the game? And does it have enough parts for women so that it can be run in my local larp community? Al Shir-ma succeeds on all three counts - though the latter is a bit of a cheat, since it was written for my community.
Surprisingly, there are only 20 plots - though some of these are large and combine multiple aspects of the same story under one heading. While there is definitely a "main plot" - saving Al Shir-ma - it avoids the usual pitfall of that being the only game in town. And in actual play, the plots many players focused on and remembered were their personal relationships. The entire town is tied together in a giant web of romance, treachery and revenge, and this provides plenty to do even if you completely ignore the big mysteries.
The staging information is fairly complete and lays out the basic requirements of the physical setting and gives advice on set-dressing / scenography. The game actually starts in two parts - one in the city of Al Shir-ma, and one on a modern tour of the area - and there is good advice on managing the transition to merge the two. However, there's an obvious omission, in the form of a handout mentioned in the text which is not included in the game. One less-important omission is a costume guide. It would have been handy, and other larps frequently include them, but this is ultimately information which can be sourced by the players.
The game includes 32 male characters, 27 females, and 7 of undefined gender, allowing a natural gender ratio with some flexibility either way. This is good to see. Too many commercial larps underprovide for female players, marginalising them within the hobby and significantly reducing those larps' usability. By avoiding this pitfall, this game widens its audience as well as doing its bit to reverse this problem.
There are problems with the game. The rules are simple, but require GM intervention for almost anything - something which should ideally be avoided in this sort of larp. Marriage contracts, mentioned in the rules, are not included. More seriously, the game economy is under-defined. Characters are explicitly supposed to have money and debt-markers, with which to bribe one another and smooth the process of deal-making, but there is no information on who is supposed to have what. Which makes it rather difficult to play a greedy merchant or corrupt guardsman. GMs can of course make these details up, but it’s difficult to get right, and can cause problems if you get it wrong. The overall impression is of a game which isn't quite finished. And yet it works well enough in play.
Overall
This product could clearly have used a bit of polishing, but it’s basically solid and works in play. It has good characters, strong plots, and will hold the players' attention for the required length of time. And it’s a steal at US$10. I have my doubts about whether there is much of a market for a published larp this big - 66 players means it will really only be run at conventions - but I'm glad it’s being offered. At the least, it shows potential larp GMs one way of putting together a big game, which can help with their own offerings.
Review Summary