The Dreaming LARP

[Cramulus]

games NEED breaking while they're being designed. Every time I write a rule, I have to think "How could this be horribly abused?" more brains can generate more abuse, so this is helpful feedback.

Also, could you Summon, Take a Breath, and then Summon again, to control 2 Imps at once?

I'm going to clarify that you can only summon 1 shade at a time, even if your skill was recharged by taking a breath or being granted a boon from a Dead God.

Do Imps die if the summoner dies WHEN the summoner dies, or does it fall under the "10 sec. out of line-of-sight"?  (10 seconds of berserk shade ?  ) 

Yeah, kill the summoner and his minion dies too... about 10 seconds later. This will also be clarified.

[/quote]

[Cain]

Maybe summoners could have defensive and/or illusionary skills as well?  That would put it in a different class to both the sorceror and the shaman.

[Richter]

Like summoning being an Evocation, and having another evocation possibility?  Tricky to play balance that, but it's an idea.
 
Someone needs to die or walk in before a summoner can be employed, (kind of like how peopel need to have taken damage before healers or armor repair skills get needed), but when they do, putting one person back in during a 2vs2 or even 3vs.5 fight can be invaluable.
Other spell options WOULD boost the class's flavor.   
The existing use of rooting / arm binding spells do give them a few quick "OHSHIT!" defenses, while keeping the number of spells / effects for players to remember minimal.   

[BabylonHoruv]

Why would you want to make toys that safe?  When my group does boffers, we just tape some pipe insulation to sticks and hit as hard as we can.  People get stung, sure, but it's quite invigorating.  We're realism fans though.  If your blocking form was crap, then the fact that someone powered through it and cut your head off is how you know.

ETA:  I'm reacting to the Dagorhir site that said "don't hit hard".

Does it say that? The group I play with explicitly tells people to hit hard but to accept soft blows as hitting.  (cause they wear armor so you can't always feel soft blows)  they are real sticklers for safe weapons though.  I can't blame them in some respects, a piece of PVC sticking out can cut.

[BabylonHoruv]

I think that weapon styles will probably be class based.

Everybody can use any kind of one handed weapon.

The mage classes won't have any additional access, but may have a special power they can use while holding a staff.

The rogue classes will have access to two-weapon fighting styles. One rogue class will also have bows (you'll throw spell packets to represent arrows, and you also have to hold a bow prop)

The fighter classes will have access to two handed weapons and shields.


If you want to switch up your style, you can rebuild your character (or start a new one entirely) once per month.

Drawing on dagorhir again, bows are doable in a safe way,  you just have to pad the hell out of the arrow tips and not use too heavy a draw on your bow.  I think that would give a better look and feel to bow fighting personally.  I don't know all the details but I can try to get in touch with the archers i played with and ask.

[Jasper]

Why would you want to make toys that safe?  When my group does boffers, we just tape some pipe insulation to sticks and hit as hard as we can.  People get stung, sure, but it's quite invigorating.  We're realism fans though.  If your blocking form was crap, then the fact that someone powered through it and cut your head off is how you know.

ETA:  I'm reacting to the Dagorhir site that said "don't hit hard".

Does it say that? The group I play with explicitly tells people to hit hard but to accept soft blows as hitting.  (cause they wear armor so you can't always feel soft blows)  they are real sticklers for safe weapons though.  I can't blame them in some respects, a piece of PVC sticking out can cut.

Painful practice weapons teach you how to dodge.

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

I CAN USE SPATULA AS WEAPON?

[Cramulus]

Drawing on dagorhir again, bows are doable in a safe way,  you just have to pad the hell out of the arrow tips and not use too heavy a draw on your bow.  I think that would give a better look and feel to bow fighting personally.  I don't know all the details but I can try to get in touch with the archers i played with and ask.

I agree 100% that real bows look better and feel cooler. In NERO, we use that lame "packet bow", system where you throw a spell packet instead of shoot an arrow. (I've fought against this for years) I've played LARPs with draw bows, and I do agree that bows can be done safely in a LARP setting.

However, the Dreaming takes place in public places. The odds of a non-player getting hit by an arrow is higher in public than at a controlled larp campsite. If a bystander gets hit with a birdseed spell packet, it might be an annoyance, whereas being shot with an arrow is a potentially serious legal matter.

Also, many players will join the game without having met other LARPers or being exposed to safe weapon procedures. I don't trust that everybody can make a safe arrow based purely on an internet document, I think you have to see one in action before it clicks.

[LMNO]

I'd also like to point out that since this is taking place in public, you should probably make sure that any weapons you have don't actually look like weapons.  Cops can get skittish.

[Jasper]

Especially if they can count. 

"Oh shit, do I have enough bullets if this gets ugly?!"

[Richter]

If you're only carrying boffers, keeping safe and clear of others, and are not drunk, they'd really have no reason. 

I've been stopped or questioned by police sparring in a public park on a few occasions.  A quick explaination of what you're doing safety procedures, and making sure everyone STOPS and makes their weapon props safe / nonthreatening while the office is around has always kept them from freaking out.    ("It's like Dungeons and Dragons live" is a good diffuser)

If it's a public space, you've got every right to use it as long as you're safe to self / other palyers / passers through.  The harshest I've ever seen a cop get is telling us to contact the parks office at city hall and get their OK.  (FYI: this was for SCA heavy fighting.)  The other times the cops have either been amused, dismissive, or asked how they can learn.

Make SURE everyone stops and pays attention, as described for calling a CUT.

[Cramulus]

^

I've thought a lot about this during the game design. It's actually going to be a fairly common problem:

most dreaming communities will start off as one individual who heard about the game via the net. So I want to give players tools to help them recruit other people.

Right now, this is what I've got: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/cramulus/index.php?title=Awaken_the_Wakes

But I am looking for more ideas about SINGLE PLAYER DREAMWALKS - game activities you can do if you're all alone. What kind of adventures can you get into without needing other people?




last week, Cain linked to a discordian blog where they supply these zombie preparation posters. There are five different posters, A, B, C, D, and F. So you go around putting these grades on buildings to indicate how prepared they appear to be for a zombie outbreak. Each page has the criteria -- for example, a house that gets a D only has one exit.

I really liked this twist on postergasm - that putting up posters is structured like a game-like activity.

I wonder if there are ways you could create dreamlike environments where people will see these posters. For example, I've always wanted to hide a CD player somewhere playing eerie music, and then put some lights up in trees, so you get this moment of surreal atmosphere in the middle of a pedestrian walkway...

The best products (according to Seth Godin) are ones that advertise themselves. To use the product is to advertise the product. I have a feeling single player missions will be based around recruiting new players, but the recruiting should be a fun / interesting part of the game itself.


you guys have any thoughts on that?

[Cramulus]

my god man, you really are a mad scientist!

are you needing verification of said quest completion or not/? basically is it trust or evidence.

in order to gain Resonance (which is a little like XP), you have to Archive a Dream Walk. This means posting a blog entry about it which hopefully includes pix or vids. The archive is the evidence that you've actually gone on the quest.

The Single Player Dreamwalk is basically any solo activity which advertises the game AND fits into the game's story.

for example, the Awaken the Wakes dreamwalk (which I linked in my last post) is an activity that characters in the dreaming do in order to draw more dreams (ie players) to the area. This act of putting up posters is given a new meaning/context within the game's setting. The action has to be fun in of itself, even without the fictional backdrop.



as far as recruiting people goes -- this is the tried and tested way of doing it, which has had a lot of success on college campuses.

You find a game store. You get permission from the owners and then put up a poster that says "boffer sword making workshop". Maybe a note about starting a local LARP troupe. Put up posters in the library, at local colleges, and post it on meetup.com too.

So you get everybody together and show them how to make boffer weapons. While this is happening, you're laughing, you're getting on a first name basis with everybody. Then something magical happens. People start playing with their new toys. They pose with them. They fantasize about beating the shit out of somebody. They suddenly get this itch to USE them. When do we get to use them?

At the LARP! you say. Come to this park on Saturday night...

[Cramulus]

Implementing this would be tricky, unless you worked on a generic specification that every town in the US had, like, photo outside City Hall, or, somewhere. sounds liek brilliant fun

woah, that's a cool idea...

take a photo of yourself holding a flag in front of city hall, and the city goes to whatever that flag represents...

...until somebody else shows up with a flag and a camera.


flags could represent races, guilds, organizations, etc..


I imagine that could generate a lot of drama, too. If your group "owns" your city, they'll want to get back at whoever stole it from them...

[BabylonHoruv]

Implementing this would be tricky, unless you worked on a generic specification that every town in the US had, like, photo outside City Hall, or, somewhere. sounds liek brilliant fun

woah, that's a cool idea...

take a photo of yourself holding a flag in front of city hall, and the city goes to whatever that flag represents...

...until somebody else shows up with a flag and a camera.


flags could represent races, guilds, organizations, etc..


I imagine that could generate a lot of drama, too. If your group "owns" your city, they'll want to get back at whoever stole it from them...

I really like that.  It's simple, generic, can be done by one person (assuming they have a camera with a timer)  Although it should also be backed up by a blog that builds some plot IMO.