[Nerdy] Just thought I'd share these

I returned from my first LARP con a few days ago; I spent most of friday, the actual weekend and monday morning in a little village in the woods, role-playing the proper way. As some of you might know, I always want role-playing games to be a very specific sort of games. I don't like the WoW-style "role playing" that has become popular nowadays, I am more into classic roleplaying, such as pen and paper and, now, live role playing.
LARP is swiftly explained to anyone who has played a computer RPG; it's basically the same thing, except without computer. There are player characters and non-player characters, the former always staying in their same roles for the duration of the entire con, getting experience points, and then joining more cons if they wish, with improved skills. Non-player characters are briefed by the game leaders and can change roles as required; they usually play characters who only make short appearances or are unimportant, such as travelling merchants or cannon fodder.
Skills are less important than in P&P or cRPGs, because most of the skills are simply directly simulated by the player, including combat. Some skills, such as magical skills, dressing of wounds, smithing etc. as well as some rare special attacks (that increase damage, or disarm) can be obtained through skill points.
These are not used very often, though, and generally "telling" is kept to a minimum; that means, saying "+1 damage" in the middle of a fight is not something people like to see, damage is handled in a more realistic manner. If one has a power strike ability, he'll just have to act in a way that makes the enemy understand he's being hit by an especially powerful strike. Magic is handled by actual spell formulas being used (that are generally more complex and well-sounding than the infamous "lightning bolt"), and magic attacks are assumed to always hit, so there's no throwing of balls or anything along these lines. Also, in this specific setting, magic is very powerful but also very rare; you'll rarely see more than one or two spells used by the single mage who is present, over the course of a day. Healing is also simulated with actual fake-blood, bandages etc, and wounds are very serious conditions.

Anyway; the con was based on the setting of the largest german pen and paper role playing game, which I also play since a couple of years, so it was very easy to get into and had a rich background.

The general idea for the con was as follows;
It is set in a small village in an oppressed country. The baron of this specific part of the country, Baron von Halkenhain, has surrendered his soul to demons and obviously, the people have to suffer under his rule. He has a son, however, who is leader of a group of rebels, and who has the intention of leading his small war party against his fathers castle, after meeting with reinforcements and recruiting more people. It happens that this warband comes across the small village of Wiesengrund.



(Parts of the rebel war party)


(Some of the rebels, including a priest of the goddess of wisdom in the center)


(More rebels, including a mage and some civilians)

The village however (I played one of the villagers) was just recently visited by a patrol of troops of Baron von Halkenhain, and the villagers were very afraid of the 'hostile' rebel party entering the region, so at first, we all hid in the forest and left a ghost village for the rebels to enter. After a while, though, we had to get back into the village because of the dangers of the forest, and unlucky as we were, the rebels were still there. It took them quite a while to spot us, but eventually they did. At first we were simply afraid of them, but we had no choice but to hide them and offer them to sleep in the village - well, actually, they didn't really ask.


(The "tavern" at night, with villagers and rebels inside)

Over the course of the few days they were there, we got used to them, and they got used to hiding every time someone thought a patrol might come along. While staying in the village, the rebels helped us with some of our problems, including a ghost they dealt with (a story that is not over yet, because the ghost left a message for one of the villagers) and an assault they pushed back; we were too afraid to face the undead the necromancer residing nearby sent and always gave him what he asked for, but the rebels stood their ground against the attack; and found out that the undead, in fact, were quite alive and simply robberers who only came at night and made up the necromancer story to get what they wanted without having to fight.


(Travelling merchants visiting the village and selling us cloth)


(Some of the rebels, hiding without their armor while the merchants passed through the village)


(Some rebels and villagers after dealing with an actual undead intruder; he came alone, at day, and unarmed. We didn't quite understand why; he was easily dealt with)


(Daily work in the village)

One evening however, things suddenly turned very bad.
The rebels were helping some of us out far away in the forest, and they only left three of them in the village; the son of the baron (a wanted criminal), a knight and ally of the son of the baron (a wanted criminal) as well as the (combat-ineffective, because trained mainly for arcane analysis) mage.
Of course just then, a nine-man-patrol of Halkenhain's troops arrived in the village. We (the villagers) quickly hid the rebels and the two village guards (me and another player) ran to meet the patrol before they entered the village, so there was more time for the rebels to hide. They had come because the merchants who visited town had spotted some suspicious activity, but we assured them everything was in order. Then, they saw an armed man running behind a building in the distance. They instantly started moving into the village - all armed to the teeth and wearing maille - and us two guards (the other guard forgot his main weapon and only had a sword, I luckily had my weapon with me) followed them.
To our luck, they didn't instantly kill or disarm us, but went straight for the armed man. They spotted another armed woman (the knight) as well as the mage, split up in three groups, and attacked. Every one of the rebels had to deal with three well prepared, well armed and well armored troops and they wouldn't stand a chance.
While the fight was going on (the baron's son had already been wounded and arrested, the knight was still fighting, I didn't see the mage), one of the villagers, my characters aunt and the local charcoal burner, who was armed with a hand axe, hit one of the soldiers in the back. This distracted them and gave the knight more time, but they obviously now threatened to kill my aunt. I was forced to act - at first I stepped in between them, but before I was killed, my characters aunt pushed me aside and hit the soldier again.
Then I found myself attacking the patrol, and suddenly, the entire village was fighting. A few moments later, nine men in red surcoats lay on the ground. However, the rebel knight, the son of the baron, and several villagers were badly wounded and we only had two people (the mage and one of the villagers) capable of healing present.
A while later the rest of the rebels arrived - too late for the fight, with wounded leaders and an angry village.

We finished off the surviving soldiers, but on our side, we also had a casualty; the village 'elder' (he wasn't old, but he was the boss) and blacksmith had given his life in the fight. It was especially bad because he had never trusted the rebels. The rest of the wounded villagers and rebels survived because of the quickly arriving medical aid, but for the blacksmith, that help came too late. The priest of the god of hunt who came with the rebels only had enough energy for one liturgy; the blessing of the grave.


(The blacksmith, may he rest in peace)


(Some of the villagers, ready for combat - that was the day before the troops of Halkenhain invaded)

Now, after so much blood shed in the village, we didn't have much more of a choice; the entire village joined the rebel force, and now, we're first going to meet more reinforcements, and then we'll be heading towards castle Halkenhain (In the course of the following two conventions of this campaign).

If I survive, perhaps, I'll serve under the banner of the rightful lord of the barony (which'll then be named Winterfurth again). Or perhaps, I'll leave and go my own way. But we'll see; the next con awaits, and it's going to be a lot more dangerous than this one, because we won't have the element of surprise anymore to turn the tide in a battle like we did this time.

That guy on the right is asking for a stabbing, he's clearly a bandit.

Very interesting reading Spec, sounds you got lot of fun

Heh Tom. Well, he might just have been one. The rebels take every fighter they can find I guess :p

wtf girls at LARP???? o___O

If it's not just random fighting but actually has a story, you'd be surprised how many female players it attracts. I think there were almost as many female villagers as male ones. Only among the fighters the male rate was higher.

I guess the non-fighting part of it is just like some fun cosplay, I can see why the girls might be into it. I've never done any LARPing but some buddies I had at school did. It was the ONLY get drunk and fight kind so it was a wurst-fest ;p

Well, yeah, it's a quality difference too between the different kinds of larps. I had to drive halfway through germany to just get to the location there, plus 75 € for playing, plus several hundred for my equipment. If I just wanted to get drunk and fight, I could have that for 100 € including all equipment.

I drive halfway through Germany every time I want to get drunk and fight.

You're not exactly making any sense :p

Spec wrote:You're not exactly making any sense :p

Bleh, I blame tiredness without any coffee to make up for it. D=

They say sleeping helps. But lets not turn the forum into a chat :p

Spec wrote:saying "+1 damage" in the middle of a fight is not something people like to see, damage is handled in a more realistic manner.

This sounds rather like when I tell people IRL that I just passed a Speechcraft check or that they're Charisma Skill isn't high enough to ask me about a particular topic.

Telling people you passed a speechcraft check always means you didn't pass a speechcraft check, sadly :p

ah, thats the stuff mate hehe, i used to play those, exept we had wooden swords instead of foam

It's amazing what can be made out of foam. I've seen a foam flail even; I'd get it as secodary weapon, but I'd probably only hit myself and I'd need a shield because you can't parry with it properly, so I'll probably get a hammer, axe, mace or a nice dagger instead, those are easier to carry and, in the latter case, to conceal. And if it's a coreless dagger, I can even thrust with / throw it.

Spec wrote:It's amazing what can be made out of foam. I've seen a foam flail even; I'd get it as secodary weapon, but I'd probably only hit myself and I'd need a shield because you can't parry with it properly, so I'll probably get a hammer, axe, mace or a nice dagger instead, those are easier to carry and, in the latter case, to conceal. And if it's a coreless dagger, I can even thrust with / throw it.

Lol sounds dangerous, do people die in such places? xD

If they have a lethal latex allergy, they might :p

How is the combat solved? Do you hit someone and hes "dead" then and has to drop down and wait until combat is over? How many hits are necesarry? Do you hit with force or just symbolic?

There's rulesets that vary. In this specific case, there was a rule set, but it was agreed to largely ignore rules and handle damage in a more realistic manner; everyone reacted to hits in a manner he/she thought would fit. (In the rest of the text, I'll say "he" instead of "they" or "he/she" just to make it more simple to write and read, please forgive me :p)

The main rules that always apply are;
- No "I want to win" attitude.
- No attacks to the head, throat or other very vulnerable body parts, avoiding of attacks to the hands, elbows, knees and other slightly vulnerable body parts, although those latter ones are not forbidden, especially not when armor is worn
- No thrusts unless the weapon is coreless (which means it has to be a short weapon, such as a dagger)
- No charging or "in-fight" (that is, using hands etc.) unless agreed to.
- Slow down strikes, don't hit with full force

Normally, there is armor points depending on how much armor you have. If you wear, for example, a gambeson that covers half of the arms, half of the legs, and the entire body, and a mail shirt that covers half of the legs, the entire body and all of the arms, as well as a padded arming cap that covers the head and a kettle hat that covers the head, the armor value of all those is added up (the armor value depends on material and on the body parts covered; a long mail shirt has a higher value than a short one). When you are hit at ANY armored part, the full armor value applies. When you are hit anywhere else (in this example, lower legs or feet), the armor value does not apply at all.

So, let's assume you have an armor value of six. Then, you also have health points, let's say those are six, too.

Then, there's different damage points depending on the weapon. Short bladed weapons deal 1 point of damage, long bladed weapons (1m+) deal 2 points of damage, blunt/axe-like weapons deal 2 points of damage, staves deal 1 point of damage, polearms with blades/axe heads/spear heads deal 2 points of damage, really heavy two handed hammers, axes and swords can deal 3 with a special skill.

Now, let's assume the guy in the example armour is hit by a spear. He knows that a spear causes 2 points of damage, so the armor value is reduced by two. Four points of armor rating remain. He's hit two more times and his armor is now useless (That's where the blacksmith comes in; with some skills, you can 'repair' certain armour types and restore their protection value).

Another hit is directly subtracted from his health. He has to act out the injury, which means even though he still has four health points, he'll be combat ineffective and will probably retreat or fall to the ground. If he was already injured when he entered the fight or if he's being finished off, his health might drop to zero, in which case he has to count to 600 - after 10 minutes, he's dead.

Within these ten minutes (or if he was not fatally wounded), help can arrive and he can be healed, although normally only one or two health points can be restored per night, so if you fight every day, you might end up walking around with only two health points (and have to act out the injuries, so you won't really be walking anymore at all).

This means, unless the winners finish off all enemies or let them bleed to death, you can always be saved. So, even if 90% of the fighters of your party fall in a fight, the other 10% (if they have enough healers to give first aid within 10 minutes) can save everyone.

BUT

This is not a game about winning or losing. Most deaths are simply decided upon by the player him/herself. In the example of this very LARP, the player of the blacksmith decided that it'd fit the story if his character died, even though he was only hit once. He was healed by several healers, but he decided that he bled to death internally. We also ignored armor and health points; we simply estimated how well placed and dangerous a strike was and then reacted accordingly; which meant most people were out after the first blow, unless they wore proper armor.


EDIT:
There's two more things you can do with a weapon:
If you sneak up to someone and hit him on the shoulder with a blunt weapon, you can (if you have the skill for it) knock him out without causing damage.
If you sneak up to someone and "backstab" him with a dagger or such, you can instantly drop him to zero health, although he still has 10 minutes to be saved, so you better not be seen. He's not allowed to cry for help.

EDIT2:
Thrown weapons cause 1 point of damage, arrows and bolts cause 2 points of damage. Arrows and bolts ignore armor but can be blocked with a shield.



Then after the fight, if you were wounded, you'll be treated in 'real time' as I said. With bandages, fake blood and all that. You probably won't be able to fight again for at the very least the rest of the day, and that's with minor injuries. Although, magic exists, and so do miracles that can be used by priests, so there is ways of healing. But priests have other duties as well; the priest of the god of hunt, for example, used up all his power to heal the demonically infected eye of one of the villagers, initiate my character into the cult of the twelve, and bless the soul of the dead blacksmith. There was no more power for healing the smith or anyone else.

If you're dead, you lie there until someone actually gets rid of your corpse in-game, or, as non-player character after large battles especially, until you feel uncomfortable enough to just leave (although getting rid of your corpse will usually still be somehow acted out).
As player-character, you'll normally not just leave at all. You'll always stay for the chance of being healed or at least a funeral ceremony.

Ah...larping...my first session was last month. your storyline is amazing, alot better than the war-torn world of legion that I bloody my blade in daily.