Larp Advice for Malkavians and other crazy people

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THIS

Do that. With every character not just the malkavians.
specifically this quote

What's the point - of you in particular?
Actually, this is a valid question for any vampire character, but it’s worth repeating here. Vampires hardly ever Embrace someone on the spur of the moment - particularly not in a Camarilla city. The Malkavians have a particular reputation for watching their would-be childer for a long time - even years - before their Embrace. A would-be childe must possess some extraordinary quality, something that simply demands it be preserved for the ages. Anything less, and the subject could just be ghouled - or even Dominated - to whatever purpose the would-be Sire has in mind. After all, it's a lot easier to obtain a ghoul in a Camarilla town, than to receive the right to Sire childer.
And don’t cop out with that “My Sire Embraced me without permission” copout – unless you’re playing in an Anarch troupe. Put some thought into why you were created.

I thought this might be helpful

A larp conversation with a group of prospective players. I think this may be helpful to others, new and old. if you know any newbs, point them this way

Hi *** and Gang,



A fellow office member expressed some interest about D&D, Gaming Groups, and LARPs.



As to D&D, I can loan her the player’s handbook to give her a general idea. As to describing the current game we are playing, I am at a bit more at a loss… Any comments, observations, etc will be passed on as will your email addresses (if, of course permission is given to share them).



As to the LARP; she expressed interest in attending one also, but here (in addition to your general description and responses on LARPs in general) I would appreciate several specific questions answered:



1) If she were to attend for the first time, could a player-character be created so that she could participate?

YES

a. If yes, about how long does this take?

Depending on pre-reading 30 min to an hour

i. Any reference material she should/could pre-read?

Why, Yes. All of the rules and detals of our larp are available at http://vampire.echoesofempires.org
If she has questions or needs feedback we have a Larp Advice Blog at
http://malkuthmadness.blogspot.com
you're both welcome to use these resources.



2) How long does the gaming session last?

4-5 hours

a. Average start – finish time?

People are encouraged to arrive at 7 for check in and back actions, official game clock starts at 8 but play can begin sooner and if you have backstory or between game scenes to run 7-8 is really the right time. some players arrive earlier but the staff does not guarantee that they can be super hepful during the 6-7 setup hour.

Game ends officially at midnight, usually we'll do cooldown and closing announcements at 11:45 ot 11:30 but sometimes we'll go as late as 12:30-1. Aftergame events happen at the newark diner until 2, some scenes are handled as well as setup for the next game. participation in after hours diner chat is super optional buit often helpful for new players



3) What is the real (physical) setting for the game (a bar, night club, gaming room, college location, etc)?

The larp has 3 locations to serve you better. Saturday night larp, the main larp that I have been discussing is on the college campus of Udel in a building called Purnell hall. its a big building with senate chamber-style seating and several courtyards and fountains.
The Chester game a different sub-larp happens once a month on mondays it is held in a nice suburban home, a little more cozy than the wilmington larp, but a good place for the feel of immediacy and paranoia a sabbat game deserves.

Incidentally we're currently doing an experimental 3 rd changeling larp. the rules for it are not on the echoesofempire site but are present as expansion posts on the malkuth madness blog. this larp takes place once a month and goes from 4 pm to the mid to late evning, it is at a beach house in Lewes Delaware a colonial manse with english gardens and a few acres of property to realy get that Arcadian changeling feel.. rides can often be arranged

The dates, times and locations of all three larps are in vampire.echoesofempires.org in the ooc section for out of character.

a. Admission fees?

None, all of the larps in the EoE family are free, People sharing rides to he beach game may be asked to contribute gas money if they are being driven however. Donations are accepted to help keep us in ink, paper, and such, with every $10 donation you get a free copy of our Larp rulebook

b. Does the action all take place at one location or throughout DE

EoE is a shared universe larp system. the action takes place throught delaware and areas called the 'philladelphia Compact' each city has zones it regularly uses, for example, the monday, chester, sabbat larp takes place mostly in chester, west chester and media, even though the larp is held in neark de, the wilmingotn game, th emain game takes place thoughout all of delaware but mostly north of thre c&d canal, although the acton can take people as far as baltimore or new york. The changeling larp takes place in the tourist areas in and around rehobeth and tends not to move around much beyond that.

?

c. Is a “costume” required/suggested?

this is a complex question. a costume is not required...unless.. if you are playing a character with horns it is required that you at least twirl some pencils into your hair or stykle it to look like horns. if you are playing a character that is scarred or hideously ugly you should wear a mask or make sure the character has a power that lets them change into a less ugly shape. if you are playing a character with a sword, you should at least have a broom handle or cardboard tube to act as a prop for the sword for blocking purposes. more details on this are on the site but by and large we try to follow the 10 steps rule. If I can't tell what your character is supposed to be from 10 steps away, you need to change the costume or the character. With some people you wouldn't be able to tell that their costume was a costume. A character, ****, dresses in shorts, a t shirt and flip flops because that is what his character wears. his player, out of character usually doesn't wear shorts and definitely prefers boots, a very industrial goth look, Costumes don't have to be difficult or complicated but be aware your character will be perceived however it is you present them.



4) How friendly (helpful) is this group to newcomers?



I like to think we're quite helpful but this requires many caveats. Most vampire games are closed, cliquish and mean to newcomers. This group has been far less cliquish than any vampire larp I've ever seen but the people involved are still gamers, so some of them are rude and some of them are jerks. That having been said, We try to make sure there's someone in and out of character to help guide and assist any new players up until the end of their first year or so of play. Also most of the larp environment is a vampire environment. the people out of character may be nice and friendly and never hurt a fly, but in character they are playing soulless, undead, monstrous bastards. This has led to some misunderstandings. **** is a staffer and a schoolteacher and one of the few genuinely kind people i know. Her character is a enchantress, seductress, poisoning, backstabbing witch. so some people have trouble differentiating. In one case she pretends to be nice and then can be cruel. In another case she is about the best help for new players I know. As long as you make it clear that you need help or assistance out of character, say by making the various out of character handsigns, I have found this group to be helpful, friendly and willing to give new players the benefit of the doubt at the expense of their own character's well being. But if you ask them for aid in character, this is a game of politics and paranoia and some of these people have been playing a long time and playing for blood.

(**, *****, and ***) A collective answer to my questions would be nice, but three individual impressions might be more useful.



I hope this is helpful. feel free to email me with any more questions and post comments to the blog if you have any.
Hoping to See you all at Game
Ben

Thanks alot,



Unknown Newbs

Larp Location/Directions

View Directions to 334 mulberry street Lewes delaware in a larger map


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Alternately there's a way to get there following route 13. I'm not sure how but I've heard it bypasses beach traffic.

Changeling Tokens 1 of 5

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Tokens, Other Wyld Forged Goods
All Tokens or other magic items must be made of some physical earth substance which is then treated in the Wyld. There are 2 extended static checks for any item. the first is to make the physical object. The requires a crafts or scrounge challenge of a level of complexity equal to the level of the item. There is then a Craft Wyld challenge of a level of complexity equal to the level of the item to make sure you get the item properties you want. e.g a sword which wields itself instead of a dancing sword that tap-dances. The item must then be placed in the Wyld to gather a number of mutation points equal to the level of the item. some sort of guard or precaution should probably be taken to ensure the crafter does not also mutate and to ensure the item stays put and is not stolen by goblins or something. A character Must Attune all items before use. A character may have a number of attuned items no greater than their Valor + Wyrd. It takes 1 hour per level of the item to attune it. A point of glamour may be spent to reduce this time by one hour per point. Once an item's effect is activated that item slot is full until the effect ends. e.g. if a person has a sealing wax block attuned and a Wyrd +valor of 2. They cannot attune their level 2 sword until all of the seals have been broken or removed.

Thaumaturgy

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God Willing and all his little angels, we'll have all of the thaumaturgy rituals currently allowed in game all types up for your perusal on the vampire wiki and possibly on this site.

Changeling life 2 of 4

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Changeling Citizen
Early Morning: Wake up, prod my dreamer to make breakfast, go back to bed. Soon s/he will go to work and I'll get showered and dressed. Brush teeth and give them a kiss goodbye before they go. Spend an hour doing whatever the day's chores are or calling one of my bonds(wo)men to do them for me.
Midday: Begin exercising check weapons, recite spells, a prepared changeling is a living changeling. Head over to the local court to see what crap job they have for me today. Check my fetch's facebook and twitter to see what they're up to.
Afternoon:Listen to some noble jackhole go on about honor/compassion/Science!/piety or whatever I knew them last month when they were doing my job. See if I can't put on the recruiter face and wrangle some courtless schlubs or wyld creatures to help me kill this beast/rescue this jerk/fulfill this oath/complete this quest that the higher ups can't be bothered to do themselves.
Evening:Crap, my circlemate/lover/oathbound/fellow courtmember is dead. gotta hide gotta hide gotta hide. This is why we always tell people not to go out without a fellow courtier. Better him than me. Ah the freehold, now the people with real rank can solve the real problems, I'm going to get some glamour.
Night: If I'm lucky, back home to dreamers and my happy fake life. If I'm not Sir/Lady jackhole is dead and now I've got to stay in the freehold, guarding it at night while lord/lady badass recovers from the day. Either way, I'm not going outside at night.

Day In The Life 1 of 4

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Categories of Changeling Living
There are basically 4 levels of life as a changeling: Refugees, Citizens, Gentry, and Landed Gentry. Over the next little while we'll be looking at a day in the life of each of them.
Changeling Refugee
Early morning: Wake up, fall out of someone's dream, maybe make them breakfast, maybe start a walk of shame home, maybe just run away before they notice a stranger in their bed. First thing's first, find something to eat. If whoever's dream that was slept in has food, maybe take some. Otherwise go out and sneak my way into a job. Sometimes it takes them all day to notice that I'm not the real dishwasher at that bar with the fancy fries, just steal an apron and the food is free. Maybe if I'm lucky I have a job as a nameless temp to pay for a car to go to work.

Midday: Run, from what I'm not sure, maybe its the cops, an angry chef, something out of the never never, another changeling whose dreamer I propositioned accidentally, or maybe some crazy hunter. But run, whatever I was doing earlier in the day can wait while I drop it and hide. Can't afford to use magic to escape or disguise myself, not enough glamour. Head for a crowd and hope the mists handle it.

Afternoon: Find someplace to sleep for the night. Bums in the park have scary dreams and I don't want live through Vietnam again. Maybe case some houses and make sure bedroom windows are open, maybe spend a few hours finding someplace to clean up so I can hit the bars and go home with someone. This could only be helped if I scored some drugs, pot, alcohol or in the worst case rohypnol will get me what I need.

Evening: Eat and hide. I've found someone or someone's found me. I'm either eating or avoiding being eaten. Getting dinner and maybe a bit of glamour is pretty easy if you're willing to owe someone in a court. They'll pay for food while they talk and talk about why their philosophy is important. Be careful though, can't agree to anything, or disagree either, that's how they get you. That's something that's wrong in the stories, their food is fine, its the words you have to watch out for. Avoiding whoever finds me in the evening is easier, rush hour means I can go faster and get lost quicker.

Night: Go home with someone. If I'm lucky I can spend the night in someone else's freehold but they'll make me pay for it...somehow. Otherwise I need to follow home that guy from earlier or head to someplace where people sleep in public and try not to be noticed crawling in someone's ear for a bit of rest. If I'm really lucky nothing out of the Wyld will jump me and my blights won't act up.

Guess It Didn't

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The Changeling Larp was awesome, thanks everyone who came, next time The Beach!
to hold you over while I have finals this week, watch this


oh and watch this space we're going to be doing some context and flavor text stuff for changeling.

Hazy Shades of Winter (Courts 4 of 5)

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The Court of Winter is a society of Philosopher Warriors, Scholars and Scientist soldiers. They believe in the triumph of Reason over madness, of Order over chaos, and Temperance over passion
1. Destroy all manifest creatures of the Never Never in the true world
2. Understand the ways of your enemies. Teach others to defend themselves.
3. Do not succumb to overwhelming passion or frenzy
4. Suffer not the Life of those who would Challenge the Supremacy of the True World and call the Fey to Earth
5. Protect the dreams of mortals from the Morphean Bile (Dream Venom)
6. Increase the knowledge of the court, study the world both magical and mundane.
7. Maintain Clarity of Thought, do not allow your senses to deteriorate.

Summer Court part 2 of 5

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The Court of Summer is a Military order Devoted to slaying monsters and fighting against impossible odds. They believe in honesty loyalty and above all Valor. Their seven Tenets are as follows
1. Never Refuse an Honorable Challenge
2. Always Speak the Truth
3. Always Keep Thine Oath
4. Always Respect and Protect your Lessers in the Court
5. Always Respect and Obey your Betters in the Court
6. Do Not Show Fear Before a Foe
7. Allow an Honorable Surrender

Kiths 6 of 6

Wizened:rumplestiltskin, shoe gnomes, servant beings and crafters. Blessing: can spend glamour on mentals as vampires do on physicals. gets a merit retest to crafts and etiquette (can call etiquette as many times as they like) . Curse -3 socials on any non-etiquette social challenges. Their contract is artifice.
Artist: makes art objects. Blessing: discipline retest on expression challenges
Brewer: Makes drinks and drugs. Blessing: Cannot become poisoned or intoxicated
Chatelain: Butlers, servants. Blessing: discipline retest on empathy and politics.
Chairurgeon: doctors. Blessing: discipline retest on all medicine challenges, all patients heal as though they had the benefits of the best equipment during convalescence
Oracle: seers, astrologers, Blessing: Discipline retest on all perception based challenges
Smith: smiths Blessing: all crafts challenges are one category lower in difficulty.
Soldier: soldiers Blessing: Character is considered to have a specialty in any weapon they are wielding including improvised ones.
Woodwalker: wardens, rangers, Blessing:Discipline retest on all survival or animal ken challenges

image is from http://www.globalpov.com/archives/2006/08/post_17.php

Wyrd Science

Wyrd is a measure of how much Wyld or Dreaming or flat out supernatural energy is in the changeling. how close they are becoming to being a creature of pure idea no longer clad in flesh. Wyrd is also one of those words like faerie, or wyld or olde tyme that has an extraneous and pretentious y to show that its all mystycal and magykal. Its moderately irritating but it does help differentiate it from being just plain weird or wild. All Changelings with a high Wyrd are very weird but not all changelings or people for that matter who are verry weird have high wyrds and acting weird won't particularly help your Wyrd. The difference between a girl gone wild and a girl gone wyld is that a girl gone wyld may well have piranha teeth or a third breast or breathe fire. Either way its a better video series than just some college lesbian experimentation on camera at mardi gras. Although I think I might pay to see Brian Froud's Girl's Gone Wyld with maybe Neil Gaiman or David Bowie as Snoop Dogg.





Now Game Mechanics

Wyrd costs 8 exp times desired level to increase, Wyrd can only be increased by spending a month in the Never Never in an area at least as deep as the dreamtime. A changeling 's Clarity cannot exceed 10 - their Wyrd. Wyrd costs 10 points per level to buy down. A character can buy off their first point of Wyrd for 30 exp and upon achieving clarity 10 become mortal. They must not have any supernatural intimacies, and must not have a living fetch in the physical world. At a Wyrd of 6 a changeling's trait max increases by 1 and they gain access to lvl 6 powers, and lvl 6 abilities. at Wyrd 8 they get access to level 7 powers, at Wyrd 10 they become a Denizen, their mortal body crumbling before the might of their glamour.


A changelings Can only have a number of vows active equal to Wyrd + intimacies. Any attempt to forge a vow beyond the character's maximum causes all involved to know the vow has failed. A changeling's Wyrd rating


A character ages at a reduced rate per point of Wyrd, 1/2 speed at Wyrd 1. 1/3 at Wyrd 2, 1/4 at Wyrd 3 and so on.


Creatures of Wyrd 6 and higher cannot catch mortal Diseases

Creatures of Wyrd 8 and higher cannot be poisoned by mundane means.

Creatures of Wyrd 6 or higher must gather their Wyrd -5 in glamour per night or their Wyrd drops by a level permanently.

Mists of Memory

Masks/Mists
every changeling has a mortal mask and a changeling Seeming. Their seeming gets its own chapter later but the mortal mask is what people without supernatural powers see. A changeling looks like a normal human in all ways. when a changeling attempts to spend a point of glamour for any reason their seeming 'slips' causing them to briefly appear blatantly supernatural. spending an additional glamour when using a power or performing other glamour intensive task can strengthen the mask causing the changeling itself not to appear bizarre and outlandish. however spending an extra glamour when throwing a fireball will keep people from seeing your elven ears but it will in no way disguise the fact that you have thrown a fireball.
The mists are an effect that erode the name of the changeling in the world. Since they have been kidnapped and a fetch placed in their place their names have been overwritten in the tapestry of fate. Any changeling can only be remembered by those they have ensorceled or Dreamwoven into remembering them. sea oaths and dreamweaving respectively. Records of the changelings name including titles and property deeds become blurry and fade, police records, personal memories, all fade. This does not keep a changeling out of trouble. if they are arrested and put in jail the jail will lose the records of who they are and why they're there leaving no way out. their lawyer will lose their case, it's a bad scene. Any changeling that wishes to maintain an influence above 1 must do so through a retainer or enchanted mortal. This has its own problems. A changeling cannot have a number of retainers higher than their leadership nor a number of ensorceled higher than their Wyrd. This forgetting extends to other supernaturals although they may spend a willpower per 3 days to remember the changeling the documents will disappear by the end of the lunar month.
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Yet More Changeling Rules

Fetch
    A fetch is a creature left in the place of a changeling by their fae kidnappers it doesn't show up all of the time but most of it. it lives their life without them. It takes their place and their name. The fetch is tied to the changeling, twinned to their soul. The changeling always knows the direction and distance of their fetch and vice versa. the Fetch is primarily interested in maintaining the deception that they are the changeling's previous self. Its secondary drive is the elimination of the changeling. this it usually accomplishes through a proxy or proxies due to conflicts with its primary drive. A changeling can upon creation take the background Fetch at any rating form 1 to 5. A changeling loses a number of glamour per night equal to their rating in fetch. All changelings start with 1 level of fetch on creation and may buy off this dot for 3 freebie points. When a changeling kills their fetch through game play. they gain a dot of Wyrd.
Taking the Fetch flaw at levels past 1 grants the  user 2 freebies per level. A note to staff, a level 1 fetch has an exact duplicate of the changeling's character sheet. a lvl 2 fetch has all traits 1 higher, all skills 1 higher. a level 3 has all traits 1 higher, all skills one higher and all compacts the player has at 1 higher. A level 4 has  2 higher on traits  2 more dots of skills  one more do of compacts and an additional compact up to level 4. At level 5 a fetch  has any compacts the character has at 5. and 2 additional compacts at 5. All traits maxed and their trait max is two higher than the character. All skills at 2 and any of the player's skills at 5.
ALL Fetches of any level have a Wyrd of 5 and clarity of 5.

Things To Do at The Table When You're Dead

If you are going to be a gamer there is going to be a lot of downtime. There is only one Storyteller and as a rule there are at least three players. As your characters are not likely to be joined at the hip at all times the storyteller is going to be running a scene for one or two of you and not the other. Sometimes your storyteller will commit the cardinal sin of having the person they are running for not be you. All is not lost. I have seen several players use downtime productively and several others not. Here are the seven habits of highly effective downtime. You can do one or all of these during a lull in play.

1. double check the math on your sheet, when you last leveled or gained exp did you change all of your derived values? When you got that last magic item did you factor its bonuses into your various abilities? if not the time to do so is now, not in the midst of combat when it will frustrate and annoy everyone as you do math in the midst of what is supposed to be a tense fight for life.

2. Actually read the rulebook, if not for the game you're playing now, for some other game that you are currently in. Believe me, knowing what your powers do or don't do can save your character's life.

3. Stat out something you have left fuzzy and vague. DO you know your familiar's will save? how about your cohort's feat selection. Do you have followers? Making actual sheets for these people can be a very very effective way of getting more in character and getting more of a sense of scale for the world in which you play and the people your character meets each day.

4. Do homework. Many if not most gamers are in school of some sort, take this time to do a few problems or read a textbook. Gameing can overwhelm the study schedule of even the strongest minds.

5. Talk with the other players who are out of the scene, if possible and if it makes any sense talk in character. This helps the mood of the game and more importantly this will help you get a better feel for the other pcs. Also helpful, the noise of talking will keep you from hearing what's going on in the other payer's scene and if you're polite and o it right you won't drown out their scene.

6. Learn a simple craft, no really. I have seen the following things learned while at the gaming table, figure drawing, painting, sculpting, crochet, needlepoint, origami and on two memorable occasions juggling. Useful skills that will serve you elsewhere, but keep in mind if you juggle, learn to juggle away from the battleboard.

7. Plot. If there are any other players out of the scene, or even if you're all alone, use this time to plot and plan what you will do against the next big bad guy, spend this time trying to puzzle through any mysteries that remain. if you can use this time to prep your battle plans or so the math for the various situational modifiers and buff spells your character will need for their next challenge. Or if its not that kind of game just plot against someone, maybe the person in the scene, preferably an npc because in many games party unity is important.

Whatever you do, try not to fall asleep. everyone does it, game narcolepsy happens a lot, storytellers stay storytellers because they have nice or soothing voices, the chairs are comfy and the game room is warm. Still nothing tells a storyteller to stop storytelling and makes them feel bad like a player falling asleep.

Sugar We're Going Down

Downtime is a tricky issue in larps and tabletops. Some points of view favor more downtime, some favor less. I personally like having as much of it as I can reasonably get away with. Some of the best games I've seen basically could have been just talking heads exploring character and nuance of a game world. Now this doesn't mean I'm some kind of pantywaist, artiste, role-playing-not-roll-playing wussbag. I love D&D I like MechWarrior. Battles are awesome and frequent and ignominious character death makes for a tense and exciting larp. It boils down to an amount of simulation and verisimilitude in games. Most people most days don't do much, they don't fight or change careers or fall in love. and from time to time exploring what a character does on a typical day in their life really helps flesh out the world. Exercise for the day for new players or staffers: write down or try to take note of any time in your day when you do something hard, something where you have a real chance of failure and where that failure has consequence. At the end of the week see how many times that has happened. Think about what your character does when the game is not in session or what they did before the game was in session. What did they do easily, what are they like at home?

Larp Tonight

Now I'm going to tell you a timeline of what was neccessary to prep as a player in a larp. I went to a fine larp tonight, also in the echoes of empires shared universe. I played a Nosferatu Bahari. more on that another day.

6:30 - get sandwich, change shirt, grab sword

7:00- larp starts

8:0o- everyone gets there

11:00 - larp ends

conclusion, playingis awesome, and easy.

Calm Before the Storm

I have looked at the blogs and webcomics and suchlike that I want to emulate, it turns out they have something in common, they take one to 2 days off a week. I'm not sure when my day off will be, either Saturdays or Sundays, so until I figure that out I'll give you the reader an idea of how to set up before a shared universe larp.

12:00 noon, wake up, shower, prep any costume pieces you might need

1:00 breakfast, and by breakfast I mean no more than a single piece of toast and some oj as lunch wil be heavy, deal with angry and confused calls that you ignored the night before asking about character actions before game start, calm the masses, breathe.

2:00 chase down other staffers, make sure everyone is briefed for their roles, fix any problems on wiki (see 2 blog entries ago)

3:00 Ultra-lunch, carb and caffeine load a luncheon, save some for later for the nights will be long. Discuss metaplot and plan for games, also schedule of the evening with players and/or staffers over stromboli.

4:00 type, print, and cut all the scene reciepts, schedules for the night, see if there are any last minute changes, call stragglers that may not have rides, arrange rides for up t 10 peopleif unlucky, self if lucky.

5:00 breathe, organize backpack, do equipment check, does laptop work, does backup laptop work, do walkie talkies work, are backup batteries prepped? call other staffers, make sure their equip works, (printer, other computers, etc)

6:00 go to site, remove squatters , make sure security knows we're supposed to be there, check to see correct doors are unlocked, clear room of trash, check lighting, check sound system at site.

6:30 bind and package, receipts, schedule, walkie talkie for staffers, prep sign in sheet, load web documents, (wiki, maps). find/purchase/borrow pens,

6:45 first players arrive

7:00 players are allowed to begin sign in and get sheets,

8:00 in-game clock starts

9:00 most people are there

10:30 second wave of people arrive

11:30 things either wind down or explode

12:00 midnight end of game announcements

12:30 clean up site, shoo others out

12:45 post-game analysis at diner

1:30 am post diner analysis at home, drinks provided to those who are of age, staff drinks free.

4:00 am sleep

5:00 am breathe