Running a Weekend Long Larp

Josh and I helped Andrew Zorowitz run a weekend long larp, which was also helpful to us, as we have been writing a weekend long larp for quite some time.

Before the Run

The game we ran was a pre-existing weekend larp. So, first Andrew negotiated for the rights to run it. Then, all of the Foam Brain gms read all of the material, something Andrew absolutely required. Questions about the game were asked of and answered by the authors.

Next and concurrently, we -- Andrew, Josh, myself, and the other 5 gms -- discussed our concerns and made a few decisions. Andrew was the final arbitrator. While I did not necessarily agree with all of his decisions, I agreed with the majority of them, and all of them were reasonable. It was also a great relief to me that there was a single person in charge and that this person was not me. Also, as Andrew pointed out, Foam Brain has a particular style, and it was important to stick to it, especially as the players are used to that style.

Players had to be cast, and this took, I am told, about 4 hours. Josh and I were there for, I think, at least half of that. We were impressed by how quickly it was cast; Andrew said that they usually did much faster casting. Players had filled out casting questionnaires. I was able to help in the same way I help pair review books with authors even when I know far less about the author than the editor does. I pick a book, or, in this case, a role. More precisely, Foam Brain as a whole picked a role to cast. I asked about people whose questionnaires seemed to fit. In other words, I did pattern matching. Every so often, I got a match the others thought would work. More often, of course, they fit person to role or vice versa without needing the extra input. As Andrew noted, they'd been doing this for some time and had gotten to know the strengths and weakesses of their players.

Not all roles were cast at first. But, new people joined. A couple of people dropped. The Sunday before the game, to Andrew's surprise, two more people signed up. I think this brought the total number of sign ups to 50. Andrew pronounced the game closed, and saved the few remaining roles for replacement characters.

During all this time, props were gathered, both in NYC and at the college campus in Troy, NY where the game would be run. The folks in Troy tested a couple of walkie talkies, then bought more after deciding these were good.

The weekend before the larp, Josh and I went to Andrew's apartment to help stuff the larp. This went more smoothly than we'd ever see. Andrew had been hard at work long before we arrived, and he had a firm agenda in mind, so he knew how to direct our efforts. He also had two printers and an optimized set up for using them. It did look like we might need a new computer, as the one printing out index cards was being stubborn. Andrew set it to print draft quality, which made it happier. We had yellow character sheets, blue special information sheets, white item cards, and blue special ability cards. We later added green cards to handle money mechanics. We also had badges and badge holders, and manila envelopes.

Despite a few delays and breaks taking longer than they ought, despite my double and triple checks which proved necessary just often enough that I did not want to skip them, we had the game stuffed before 6 pm on Sunday. Andrew mailed off the character packs.

I believe that the character sheets were sent out the Saturday before the game with one exception. One file was corrupted in all existant versions of the game. Josh did a very good job of recreating the information, and I believe that the final sheet went out the next day.

Andrew reserved hotel rooms. We all reserved Amtrak train tickets. We met the day of the game, boarded, and arrived about 90 minutes before game start.

The Run

The larp itself ran 6 pm to midnight on Friday, 10 am to midnight on Saturday, and 10 am to about 4 pm on Sunday. However, our days were far longer.

First, we made a store run to Costco for sodas, chocolate, and cookies. I grabbed brie, a total indulgence. It was good to put on the bagels that would make our breakfast, and I covered the cost. Next time, though, peanut butter would be a better idea. I also asked for water, as I'm not a big soda drinker. We got a case of small bottles of Poland Springs water. Josh told me that this was an amazing idea. It meant there was water in the room we'd staked out as gm space.

When we got to campus and to the building we were using, one of the first tasks was to do signage. We went around taping up signs identifying game space ("Hotel Lobby", "Outside World: Currently:") and boundaries ("End of Game Space"). As players filtered in, some GMs handed out the game packs. I helped get out the props that would go to the various players, gradually learning the best ways to get props to players (in advance, one by one, from gm space).

Official game actions could begin at 8 pm, iirc. GMs shouldn't bunch or form flash gm crowds, but they should all be seen at opening ceremonies. I walked the floor after opening speeches, trying to be where needed. I called in a little more often than I should have on the walkie talkies.

Ah, the walkie talkies. Andrew told us all that we were not to leave the room without one. He praised these things as the best Foam Brain had yet used. I hated them.

I hated the ear bud. By Saturday night, I felt it in my ear even after I took it off. The walkie talkies were loud enough to be distracting when someone used one while I was talking to a player. But, when I asked a question via walkie talkie or tried to listen to someone else's message, much of the time, the sound was indistinct enough that I could not make out what the other person was saying. I spent much of Friday tripping when the cord of my walkie talkie tangled on a chair and the thing fell from where I'd clipped it. I spent more time than I liked figuring out volume and channel settings. I hated, loathed, and despised the things.

And I wore one at all times during the game. They were absolutely essential for giving and receiving advice and information. I learned that there's a reason to use longer phrase -- "Say again?" was more likely to be comprehensible than "What?", and "Check copy" or "Roger that" more likely to be comprehensible than "Gotcha" or something shorter.

I also hated, loathed, despised, and totally agreed with the dress code: GMs who are gming wear the official game gm shirt and badge. GMs who are being NPCs DO NOT WEAR THESE. I put on a jacket and zipped it, and, where appropriate, used a name badge.

The game shut down at midnight. We then spent time doing a quick review / overview and a bit of speculation. By now, the blackboards were covered with gm notes.

It was 2 am by the time Josh and I were in our hotel room. We met Andrew in the lobby at 8:05 am.

The three of us got into his car, and picked up another gm and bagels. We ate and reviewed stuff. The game opened at 10 am.

The game closed from 6-7 for dinner, just as one group of PCs was about to start combat. When the game picked up, I headed for the combat, but there were one or two gms already there, so I moved on.

When the game closed at midnight, Andrew said that things were going surprisingly well and that Sunday should be a straight 6 hour run. We reviewed a few plots and headed out. Josh and I got to sleep around 2 am, and met Andrew in the lobby at 8:20 am. Note that he had gotten less sleep than us, both nights.

Again, we collected another gm and bagels. As Andrew expected, it was a straight run, leading into game wrap, followed by clean up. As we had a train to catch, we had to skip the dead dog and post mortem. Josh and I left around 5-5:30 pm with a player who offered to drive us to a much closer train station. We got home around midnight.

Best Advice I Got From Andrew

1. Our ways may seem strange, but Foam Brain has a certain way of doing things.
2. Don't glom onto the big combats.

I think I was good about that. I never actually wound up gming any big conflicts, though I did run a couple of smaller ones.

I quickly got in the habit of counting the gms in the area. If there were more than two, that usually meant I moved on. There were a couple of exceptions.

1. Someone approached me with the cry of "GM!"
2. Nearly all the players were in one room. This happened a few times. Even then, I went in and out as needed, especially the last time most of the game was in one room.

Where I think I'm likely to improve next time

• I've a better sense of what Andrew does -not- need to be updated on in terms of stuff happening in the game.
• I now know not to run interference between Andrew and game to allow him to do task X.
• When in doubt on what decision to make, consult the following printed sources before asking fellow gms for help:

1. The printed rules
2. The player's character sheet. It is amazing how often the answer is right there.

Tip for larp players: Reread your character sheet. In a weekend long larp, reread it just before opening on Friday, sometime Saturday morning, and early Saturday evening. Go out of game to do this. The bathroom will usually suffice, if need be, but go somewhere you find conducive to reading and focusing on what you're reading. It won't take long.

1. The player's supplemental materials, e.g., special ability cards, item cards, et cetera
2. GM supplemental material.

Afaik, it's better to use printed material than to pull out a pda or laptop, at least while dealing only with players. There's a lot of material, so no shame to not having it memorized, but do have it available.

• Follow the rules.

This seems like a no brainer. Heck, it is a no brainer, until I find myself on the floor getting questions like the one I got at the first 4 hour larp I ever helped run:

Player: I just snuck up on him, and he didn't notice me, so can't I just knock him out?

Unless combat actually works that way, the correct answer is: No. That is not how combat works.

Under other circumstances, one might say: Do you have a special ability card that allows you to do so? Show me the card.

In this case, if the answer is anything other than, "Yes. Here.", followed by showing the appropriate document, the correct response is: No.

If the answer is, "Well, no, but it says I know this place, so I think I should be able to do that," the correct response is: No.

If the answer is, "Well, no, but my character was a Green Beret, so I think I should be able to do this," the correct response is: No.

If the answer is, "Well, no, but the player didn't see me sneak up on him," the correct response is: No. It doesn't matter what the player can do; it matters what the character can do.

If the answer is, "Well, no, but this rule is totally unrealistic," the correct response is: No. Realism be damned; fairness is all.

Other Notes

There are exceptions to many principles of larp gming. Fr'ex, Josh explained that PC vs NPC / Environment allows for more improvisation because one is not bound to be fair to npcs.

GMs are not there to indulge in roleplaying. This doesn't mean there are no opportunities. I had a lot of fun with a brief role on Saturday, but I also kept firmly in mind that I was not there to chew scenery, but to give an infodump.

Identify roles where you can put weaker players. This includes players who warn in advance that they do want to play, but may not show up, may show up late, or may leave early. These are not necessarily lesser roles, but they are roles that are not crucial to the game. Thus, if the player winds up ineffective, the rest of the game will not suffer, but if the player surprises you, that's great.

Identify roles that make good replacement characters for players whose PCs get killed before the end of the game. Again, these are not necessarily lesser roles, but they should be roles that are not crucial to the game.

Addendum: Josh enjoyed the game, finding it draining, but exhilarating. I found the morning wake up utterly hideous, but I guess I must have enjoyed the game. After all, when Josh said he wanted to convince Andrew to let us help run the game with him again, this time in a hotel, my response was not, "No, no, dear God, no," but, "We've got the resources, but -- there's a lot we want to spend resources on, so we'll have to consider this." Andrew may take some convincing, in any case.