I played New World Magishcola July 21-24, 2016 (NWM3) and this post will be my story about why I only had an ok time, and what I learned about this game, myself as a larper, and larp in general to try and help myself and others have more fun with NWM games (and other larps) in the future.
I'm watching my new friends totally freak out on FaceBook about how much they loved this game.
People are talking about how it transformed them, restored their faith in humanity, what sort of tattoos they may get to commemorate it. I'm over here experiencing a little post larp depression, and wondering what the hell just happened.
I didn't have the transcendent experience that so many have had. I gave it a C+ in my initial Facebook post and I may bump that to a B- after writing this. Don't get me wrong I had some serious fun, just not the earthshakingly awesome time that it seems many other people had. There are a lot of things that went awry with my experience, and some were on me, a lot of them though, I feel were on the game runners and a couple of other players.
Glossary for the non larper
People are talking about how it transformed them, restored their faith in humanity, what sort of tattoos they may get to commemorate it. I'm over here experiencing a little post larp depression, and wondering what the hell just happened.
I didn't have the transcendent experience that so many have had. I gave it a C+ in my initial Facebook post and I may bump that to a B- after writing this. Don't get me wrong I had some serious fun, just not the earthshakingly awesome time that it seems many other people had. There are a lot of things that went awry with my experience, and some were on me, a lot of them though, I feel were on the game runners and a couple of other players.
Glossary for the non larper
- LARP = Live Action Role Play - a style of game where you pretend to be a character and act out what your character would do
- RPG = Role Playing Game - a style of game where you portray a character but aren't necessarily in costume and acting (often a tabletop or video game)
- PC = Player Character - this is the persona you play at a larp (you are the protagonist of your own story)
- NPC = Non Player Character - this is a persona played by someone who is part of the staff, or just helping the staff of the larp - this is not a protagonist but an antagonist or minor character in the story
- OOC or OOG = Out of Character or Out of Game - describes something taking place not in the game world - something happening in the "real" world
- IC or IG = In character or In game - describes something taking place in the game world - the IG world is considered reality for our characters when "game is on" aka while we are all playing pretend
- Boffer = foam weapon to hit your friends with to act out combat in a safe and fun way
- WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get
- Monster Camp - Game Headquarters for the people running the game, logistics, first aid, lost and found etc. Where NPC Monsters come from.
- IRL = In Real Life (see OOG)
- IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
Where I'm coming from.
I was a theatre kid - it's what my bachelors and masters degrees are in so I know at least a little about acting, and story craft, and creating experiences for audience/performers. Its a big part of why larp is my primary hobby as an adult (who no longer works in the arts). It lets me regularly participate in theatrical style events for fun.
After loving some tabletop RPGs I started my larp career in a theatre style larp that was very PVP based. For non larpers this means I was in a game that consisted mostly of "staying in character" (pretending to be your character, wearing a costume etc.) with "simulated combat" where we would draw cards to determine who won challenges. So if someone else's character was punching my PC in the face we would look at our character sheets (which represented how good your character was at certain skills and spells) and draw cards to determine how the story went. If their character was good at punching, better than mine was at dogging, than usually they succeeded in punching my PC - and so on. Players have little to no agency of the world around them and storytellers explain to players everything about the world around them (from the weather to the location, to the actions of the crowd on the street) literally everything that is not what your PC is doing is up to Storyteller discretion and requires their explanation. Any plot that is not PCs being up in each others business is driven by the storyteller. These games typically played in peoples homes, lasted 4-6 hours each and cost me less than $50 a year to play sometimes as frequently as every weekend, or every other weekend.
I left that gaming group after about 6 years largely because I felt the culture of the organization was toxic on an out of game level. I've been boffer larping for a few years now and have enjoyed Accelerant boffer games quite a lot. The basic structure of these games is quite different. What you see is what you get in Accelerant. So if a character "has wings" the person playing them will have actual wings strapped to their back. If they don't, (if they forgot their wings at home) than the character does not have wings today. Period. If the storyteller wanted it to be raining during game tonight, if it's not ACTUALLY raining where you are playing than its just too bad - what you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG).
The play of these games usually goes like this: the players get into character (and costume) and then hang out in a central location and wait for NPCs to come find them and take them on adventures (story modules "mods"). The plot is very mysterious to the players until revealed in game, and while much of the play at events is inter-player-character relationship RP, the core focus of those games is often fighting bad guys and solving mysteries. Players have agency over their characters, but not the world around them. There are no character cards (or character sheets), and there is a HUGE focus on staying in character. The fighting mechanics of hitting people with foam swords (light touch) is largely built to never need to interrupt IG actions with OOG explanations or conversations. They don't want to break immersion. These games, typically played in campgrounds with bunkhouses for sleeping in, last from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, and cost typically $100 or less per event (4 events a year) This is the style I've been playing for 4+ years going into NWM.
I knew NWM would be a very different kind of game and that was a big part of why I wanted to give it a shot!
After loving some tabletop RPGs I started my larp career in a theatre style larp that was very PVP based. For non larpers this means I was in a game that consisted mostly of "staying in character" (pretending to be your character, wearing a costume etc.) with "simulated combat" where we would draw cards to determine who won challenges. So if someone else's character was punching my PC in the face we would look at our character sheets (which represented how good your character was at certain skills and spells) and draw cards to determine how the story went. If their character was good at punching, better than mine was at dogging, than usually they succeeded in punching my PC - and so on. Players have little to no agency of the world around them and storytellers explain to players everything about the world around them (from the weather to the location, to the actions of the crowd on the street) literally everything that is not what your PC is doing is up to Storyteller discretion and requires their explanation. Any plot that is not PCs being up in each others business is driven by the storyteller. These games typically played in peoples homes, lasted 4-6 hours each and cost me less than $50 a year to play sometimes as frequently as every weekend, or every other weekend.
I left that gaming group after about 6 years largely because I felt the culture of the organization was toxic on an out of game level. I've been boffer larping for a few years now and have enjoyed Accelerant boffer games quite a lot. The basic structure of these games is quite different. What you see is what you get in Accelerant. So if a character "has wings" the person playing them will have actual wings strapped to their back. If they don't, (if they forgot their wings at home) than the character does not have wings today. Period. If the storyteller wanted it to be raining during game tonight, if it's not ACTUALLY raining where you are playing than its just too bad - what you see is what you get. (WYSIWYG).
The play of these games usually goes like this: the players get into character (and costume) and then hang out in a central location and wait for NPCs to come find them and take them on adventures (story modules "mods"). The plot is very mysterious to the players until revealed in game, and while much of the play at events is inter-player-character relationship RP, the core focus of those games is often fighting bad guys and solving mysteries. Players have agency over their characters, but not the world around them. There are no character cards (or character sheets), and there is a HUGE focus on staying in character. The fighting mechanics of hitting people with foam swords (light touch) is largely built to never need to interrupt IG actions with OOG explanations or conversations. They don't want to break immersion. These games, typically played in campgrounds with bunkhouses for sleeping in, last from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, and cost typically $100 or less per event (4 events a year) This is the style I've been playing for 4+ years going into NWM.
I knew NWM would be a very different kind of game and that was a big part of why I wanted to give it a shot!
What NWM is as an experience
NWM is billed as a "Nordic Larp" Nordic as a term has a lot of baggage, which I have no interest in diving in to - and so all I can tell you is what I thought it meant going into this. WYSIWYG, Serious RP focus with light rules/mechanics. NWM delivered on that expectation 100% though to hear it told, it was somewhat different from other Nordic style games in their approach to immersion and player's emotional safety.
Process (as it was for me):
- Buy the ticket (thru kickstarter) $500 a person for Thursday afternoon through Sunday afternoon event, including room and board on a pretty nice college campus
- Eventually get your character survey - this is where you fill out a form to tell the game what your preferences are as to what/who you play. The following are your options on this and they have ZERO mechanical effect on your PC. THIS IS ALL STORY. The game is rules light - so there are no rules that govern any aspects of your PC. Options: What House in the school your PC belongs to (for 2&3rd year students), what's your PC's major, what year in school (meaning, are you getting sorted into a house at game or not) are you mundane born or from a wizarding family.
- Wait a couple months and then get your character assignment from the game. It looks something like this: You are playing M. Playerkins, second year, House Awesomesauce, you are from a wizarding family and study Alchemy. Also included here are a couple of paragraphs to get you started fleshing out the character, including a brief background and some general possible motivations of in game actions/conflicts/role play.
- Work with your character coach to refine your PC if you need/want to. (and if your coach replies to your emails, they are volunteers after all)
- Hopefully you manage to read the 200+ pages of player handbook and world setting materials.
- Hoefully you have the time to get into conversations with other players on FaceBook and make some character ties / come up with cool ideas for what you want to do in game.
- Show up at game - check in - sign an 8 page waiver/agreement to not be a dick to people at this game
- Workshops about how to not be a dick to people at this game, icebreakers and if there is time (which there wasn't for us) some going over how to play
- Game on Dinner Thursday night
- GAMEPLAY
- Game off Midnight Saturday night
- Workshops and debrief Sunday morning
NWM GAMEPLAY and Being Excellent to one another
Here is what the game is:
- Improvised and Pre-Negotiated Role Play
- No mechanics
- Major focus OOC on respecting other players emotional needs.
- Opt In
- Yes And
Q. There was an IC conflict and there are no rules so HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?
A. The same way you know what's going on when you're playing tea party with a 5 year old. They tell you. You tell them. You act it out. You say YES to their ideas AND then add to them. You trust the people you are playing with to make cool choices and to respect you and try to help make your game cool. You make shit up and roll with it.
(To address my boffer/vampire larper peeps for a minute) Part of why I think this is hard to wrap your head around is that our games are often centered around very clear conflict. That guy wants to stab me in my face and the feeling is mutual. The mechanics help us manage that conflict and arbitrate who "wins" in a fight. My PC is really great at stabbing things in the face b/c that's what my character sheet says so - yay- I win.
The story of NWM is not inherently about "fights" - its more personal story than that - it's about making friends, getting good grades in class, finding a date to the dance, pulling pranks, learning about the nature of magic, arguing about the rights of mundane humans and sentient magical creatures... the stakes are not that high. Or rather, they are as high as your character feels they are. The RP isn't about the end of the world, it's about who wins house cup. PC harm or death is not on the table unless you choose to make that your character's story.
This game doesn't NEED mechanics because it doesn't need an arbitration system to figure out who "wins" anything - and frankly it doesn't want one, because when there are winners there are losers and NWM wants an event where, OOC at least, everyone wins. And kudos to them, I'm fairly certain they pulled it off!
There is a TON of writing in the players guide about how to not be a jerk to people. Pages and pages of it. It is very social justice oriented (w00t), close to my heart the use of proper pronouns is very important, and its overall a smidge touchy feely. So much so that, despite the fact that I'm a pretty nice respectful human by default, after page bazillion of ways to not be a jerk to people at this game, I was starting to get a little concerned that I would wind up in a problem situation at game because what if I offended someone on accident? What if someone started something and b/c I am totally that person to jump in to defend someone, (or myself) and I could see me winding up "hurting" some assholes feelings and what if I got kicked out of game?? This was nonsense to worry about because as a community these people are smart and chill - but I like to worry about stuff... Also larping means being over tired, emotional, it was a record breaking heatwave that weekend, a recipe for OOC drama.
It was fine.
Now, I do think trees could have been saved with simply writing "Don't be a dick" on page 1 of the handbook and moving on, but given how absolutely critical being excellent to one another is to the base line functionally of the game, I don't think I can fault them for going overboard with this. It's entirely possible the success of these events can be credited to the overzealous focus on everyone's emotional needs and the very clear statements that if you are an ass to people at this game we will kick you the hell out with no remorse and no refund. I love games that kick people out. There are some truly scummy humans in the gaming community and I actively want to be at a game that will not tolerate that shit.
This style of game depends on the players to negotiate stories that are cool for everyone. For example: If I want my PC to get one over on their rival I need to ask that player "Hey, OOC, can my character trick yours into wearing this hexed necklace sometime in class next period?" If they say yes (and there is a GOOD chance they will say YES because they want the story/drama/amusement) then it happens - My PC would offer them the necklace with some story and they would put it on. If they say no, than we could work together to find a way for my PC to get one over on theirs that is fun for them and for me. If we can't figure out anything, maybe the "rival" character tie isn't something we will be playing with each other this weekend - and that's ok.
This means you can not force another player to do anything
- and that's a two way street.
It's a two way street where people on both sides have fun.
I think that's kind of magical.
Making stories happen in NWM
So there is no "plot" in this game. No meta-plot that the staff of the game are running. No mysteries that must be solved. No bad guys that must be stopped.
So what the hell happens?
Players make shit up and the staff helps them make it happen.
If you have an idea for something to happen to your PC, or for your PC to do, you have 3 ways to handle it:
- Just do it. I charmed this amulet to give the wearer courage and now my PC has the guts to ask them to the dance. (Or I left it laying around with a tag on it to explain to whomever picks it up what the enchantment on it is)
- Negotiate with another player. Either in the moment "Hey buddy, do you want to drink this potion of extra confidence with me?" Or by dropping OOC (Using the hand-sign for "I'm speaking OOC now") and talking briefly before the scene "Hey, my PC wants to have more confidence, but is afraid to do that alone. Would your PC join mine?"
- Go to Headquarters and ask the staff to send you an NPC for whatever reason. "Please have my character's sister visit the school at 2pm in the courtyard by the dining hall to give my PC an amulet of courage from our parents. Role play will be about how my PC is not confident in themselves and she should be encouraging that my PC doesn't need the potion, but she supports whatever choice my character makes."
Then that thing happens - it's fun - and you move on to the next thing.
The structure of the game builds in some natural stories. Getting recruited/sorted into houses. Asking people to the dance and so on. The best stuff I got involved with was players wanting to have something crazy emotional happen, and they were gracious enough to include my PC in some way.
To demonstrate how this worked for me, here are some of my game highlights:
- My PC had a "vision" at the party Thursday night that was a critical part of someone else's story. The players involved emailed me about it ahead of time. I got to act out having an intense vision that was super relevant to someone's story. It was a blast.
- In potions class I drank a mystery potion that turned out to be a love potion. The first thing I saw after that was my friend's PC and so my PC became not just in love, but OBSESSED with him, flying into a jealous rage so that the other people in our study group had to deal with my PCs shit until they managed to finish preparing the antidote.
- Acting out an initiation ritual with the other members of my house to welcome our new first year students to the nest. It was a reverent and warm scene that reinforced the theme of family within houses and really touched many of the participants, myself included.
Having explained the game play, and some of my highlights, I think it's time to get into why I didn't have the greatest time in the history of larping.
Buying the Kickstarter Add Ons was a huge mistake.
When the Kickstarter for NWM launched we were SO excited. I had a whole bunch of larper friends who were either in on this game or seriously considering it. So many in fact that we got each other hyped so much that we teamed up and got the special 10 person kickstarter package to be part of a "secret society". This ticket upgrade cost $250 per person over what everyone else paid to play.
In addition to that I purchased an in Game "Care Package" for $100.
The care package was admittedly neat, but not $100 neat. Contents: Some candy (I left most of the chocolate behind b/c it was so hot - I took 2 pieces which promptly melted in my bag *gross*) Several snacks with IG printed labels on them to be wizarding world branded stuff. That was really cool. A IG coloring book. An inexpensive but IG necklace. An IG mini black-light flashlight for finding hidden codes (there were no hidden codes to find in the box or on anything in the box... I looked - huge waste of an opportunity there)
This game was already an expensive undertaking compared to the games I normally play - but I thought about it in the context of a convention. I got room and board in addition to the game (which is no small logistical undertaking!) I was ok with the expense, however, it made me pick up some emotional baggage about this game that was really un-fun.
WHY DID WE DO IT? Our thinking was that buying this "special plot" upgrade would be setting us up for success in a new game environment. We knew it was plot light, we knew we are accustomed to having plot run by staff. By going out of our way (and paying more) to help make it a little more like the games we are accustomed to, it would help us have fun, help us ease into the Nordic style.
We were so wrong.
Much to the frustration and dismay of my friends (and I venture to say the game runners too), by being a part of the secret society we got quite a few road blocks thrown down on our path to fun.
Road block to fun #1 Being in the secret society meant people were handed characters to play that they didn't like.... or so we thought.
It was totally a culture change to be handed my character. I come from games where building your PC is a big part of the player's creative input into the game, so to be told "this is who you're playing" was one of the new and interesting (and let's face it, uncomfortable) things about trying this game. I had a hard time in the first few months after buying the tickets getting excited about the game because I didn't know who I would be playing. I couldn't remember anything about the world when I read it because I didn't have the framework of my PC's perspective to hang the information on in my head.
We waited with baited breath for months our character assignments.
When they were finally handed out it was a total logistical clusterfuck as players saw info starting to populate in the database before the game runners meant to release the info. People crashed the DB with so many log ins. Bad info got out about who would be playing what. Then when the characters were officially released my friends stopped talking about this game as a group. All chatter just died off. A week or so later I finally managed to figure out that many of my secret society peeps were so disappointed in the character they'd been given that their enthusiasm for the game had tanked.
You see, the way character assignments were done for NWM, everyone filled out a survey stating their first and last choices for house, year, and major. Several members of the group were sad to see, not only NONE of their first choices, but several of their LAST choices. "The one thing I said I didn't want, that's what I got."
It was like popping a balloon. Their excitement about the game just vanished.
It was like popping a balloon. Their excitement about the game just vanished.
Some of my group talked to other players from other runs of NWM (there were 4 runs all together) and from that pieced together that some of the same 10 characters were assigned to be in the secret society for each run of NWM. So we then thought that by purchasing the special ticket, more than half the people in my group were handed characters they had a hard time getting excited about. At least, that's what we thought leading up to the game, and were still thinking when we arrived on site. It was a major factor in why some of my group didn't push to make changes to their characters, as we assumed we had these specific characters for reasons that would be revealed in game. There was also, I think, a lack of will on the part of now deflated players to put in the work to try and change their PCs, knowing there was a good chance they would be told "no" because there had to be a reason that they got the short end of the stick for this PC. Especially after spending extra money on the ticket, surely they would pay a little bit of attention to what we wanted... The thinking that we all had these *specific* 10 characters, that it had to mean something, was an idea that took hold. If we tried to change them too much we may break the workings of that story.
Yeah... that was all wrong.
I've spoken to the 2 people who played my character in NWM1 & NWM2 and neither of them purchased the secret society upgrade.
Having now gone through it, I can point to no piece of the story that required anything specific to any of the PCs in the group. Which makes sense - because it was never true to begin with.
We could have changed our characters but didn't understand that in time. In part because, yes we thought we were special. In part because OMG the communication pre-game was pretty much non existent.
Yeah... that was all wrong.
I've spoken to the 2 people who played my character in NWM1 & NWM2 and neither of them purchased the secret society upgrade.
Having now gone through it, I can point to no piece of the story that required anything specific to any of the PCs in the group. Which makes sense - because it was never true to begin with.
We could have changed our characters but didn't understand that in time. In part because, yes we thought we were special. In part because OMG the communication pre-game was pretty much non existent.
Figuring out how to change your PC was a tad difficult for NWM. Character coaches were not always responsive. (They were volunteers, it happens y'all) The game runners have been up to their eyeballs for months, and in general I think some people didn't want to be "that guy" complaining about their character. It's a new style of larp, suck it up and enjoy it. Communication was happening on FaceBook a ton - which is hard to follow when the signal to noise ratio gets out of control... spoiler alert: it totally did! They didn't use email very much - not that would have necessarily helped. By being in a group ticket the game didn't quite know who the 10 of us were for a while, so I don't think they even had all 10 of our email addresses until later in the process.
Had there been more (or any) communication with my group of 10 players about what we should or should not expect regarding our PCs - had my friends known they could make drastic changes to their characters and it wouldn't hurt anything with the plot - that would have gone a long way into helping us as a group get excited about game again.
As it was, we went into that weekend feeling tentatively hopeful that maybe game wouldn't suck.
What you want going into a game like this is the overwhelming sense of excitement that prevents your socks from staying on even before game begins. We were already emotionally prepared to be disappointed, but screwed our courage to the sticking place and got to a place of neutral to vaguely positive feleings upon arrival.
A ton of my friends were late to check in. They didn't want to be but shit happens.
Now, when you are running an event for over a hundred people who are traveling to an unfamiliar place for fun and recreation, your logistics should involve a late check in process. Instead NWM didn't leave anyone competent around headquarters to handle late check in, and several of my friends went for hours without having the parking pass. We are from Washington DC. If you've never lived in a major metropolitan area let me tell you honey, we do not fuck around with where we leave our cars. Having your car towed is expensive and a huge pain in the ass to have to deal with on vacation, while all your luggage is in it. Getting told you can't check in and your car is "PROBABLY gonna be fine" is not a great way to set the tone for people who are, admittedly, already a smidge on edge b/c they are late and pissed off/embarrassed about that fact.
Why am I carrying on about stuff that wasn't my problem?
Because it impacts my game if my friends are not having fun. Big time.
In a setting like this where everyone comes together in a community the feelings of the people around you are a HUGE influence on your feelings. I really do think that's part of why I'm having some post larp depression this week. I was around tons of people having a BLAST and feeling loved and welcomed and that shit is powerful.
Had there been more (or any) communication with my group of 10 players about what we should or should not expect regarding our PCs - had my friends known they could make drastic changes to their characters and it wouldn't hurt anything with the plot - that would have gone a long way into helping us as a group get excited about game again.
As it was, we went into that weekend feeling tentatively hopeful that maybe game wouldn't suck.
What you want going into a game like this is the overwhelming sense of excitement that prevents your socks from staying on even before game begins. We were already emotionally prepared to be disappointed, but screwed our courage to the sticking place and got to a place of neutral to vaguely positive feleings upon arrival.
Road block to fun #2 Check In Drama
A ton of my friends were late to check in. They didn't want to be but shit happens.
Now, when you are running an event for over a hundred people who are traveling to an unfamiliar place for fun and recreation, your logistics should involve a late check in process. Instead NWM didn't leave anyone competent around headquarters to handle late check in, and several of my friends went for hours without having the parking pass. We are from Washington DC. If you've never lived in a major metropolitan area let me tell you honey, we do not fuck around with where we leave our cars. Having your car towed is expensive and a huge pain in the ass to have to deal with on vacation, while all your luggage is in it. Getting told you can't check in and your car is "PROBABLY gonna be fine" is not a great way to set the tone for people who are, admittedly, already a smidge on edge b/c they are late and pissed off/embarrassed about that fact.
Why am I carrying on about stuff that wasn't my problem?
Because it impacts my game if my friends are not having fun. Big time.
In a setting like this where everyone comes together in a community the feelings of the people around you are a HUGE influence on your feelings. I really do think that's part of why I'm having some post larp depression this week. I was around tons of people having a BLAST and feeling loved and welcomed and that shit is powerful.
Road block to fun #3 Secrecy has no place at NWM
One of the real triumphs of NWM is the culture they have created. It's very open, welcoming, progressive, and super dedicated to being all those things OOC and (for the most part) IC as well. part of the workshops was to explicitly tell players to be inclusive with play.
"If you are sitting and talking with a few people, leave a chair open so someone can join you."
"If you are sitting and talking with a few people, leave a chair open so someone can join you."
"If you are walking across the campus than walk with others, welcome others to walk with you. RP as you go!"
"No one should ever worry about being excluded at this game! That's not what we are about!"
.... do you see where this is going yet?
Secret Society
I was part of a group that paid extra to have plot. That plot was being part of a secret society.
Our secret society was called The Magimundi United.
Our secret society was called The Magimundi United.
It wasn't even on all our character write ups. The only reason we got the paragraph about what society was about, is because one of our members was a character coach for someone in the secret society in another run and they shared with the rest of us.
We expected SOME sort of expiation of the MU (aside from the one paragraph) pre game. How does one join? How are they as a group pursuing their goals? Are there other cells?
We got no pre-game communication about the MU. Zero. We didn't make stuff up among ourselves because A. people were deflated about the game B. we didn't want to step on the toes of whatever the plot was (this is the culture of our home games, staff makes the world, your PC responds to it)
This failure to communicate added a lot of concern about WTF this plot/game was going to be and worst of all it undermined the trust we had in the game runners.
Then we finally made it to game and were able to express our concerns directly to them. We were assured that they were rewriting the plot to be more successful than at NWM1&2, and something was totally going to happen. It would be awesome. Don't worry.
Late Thursday night after game had started, one of the game runners came in as an NPC who took us away to a secret location. We were followed by other players who tagged along. This was a reasonable thing for them to do b/c (OMG see above) it is that kind of game! (also the super secret IG code phrase supplied to us that the NPC was using was, I shit you not, "Are you looking for a friend?" Which anyone at a larp will say yes to. I love friends! Lets go into the woods creepy dude, what could possibly go wrong!?)
Now, the game runner couldn't have known this (ok maybe a conversation could have happened before game, but it didn't, see above about lack of communication) Our take on this plot was that it was a secret so we were not telling anyone. Several people in my group felt like "we paid for this thing" and they didn't want to give it away to other players for free at the very beginning of the game. I waffled on the point, and usually fell down on the side of "scarcity creates value" and agreed with this plan. In our home games if you tell something to someone OOC their character can know. So we told no one thinking that we were doing it right...
Le sigh.
In the end, we all wound up at the secret location and getting into a confrontation with the players who had just started following us when we were walking to the secret meeting. The hook (the NPC who took us there) didn't make any effort to only take people who had purchased the secret society tickets, and had no idea of who belonged there and who didn't.
In a game where the whole culture is based on inclusion and welcoming and that sort (consetual) touchy feely stuff, this put us in a super awkward and awful position. We collectively chose/felt forced to reject the players who hadn't purchased the secret society tickets because, well, we paid for them and they hadn't. The RP started to go south when they realized something weird was going on and finally asked "Do you want us here?" and we said "No." They left. They didn't seem to be enjoying their larp at the time. I can't blame them.
No one wanted to break character to say "Hey, we each paid $250 to be in this room right now." Because to do so would have 1. Broken immersion & 2. Tipped them off that we were indeed THE Secret Society that one had to pay to be involved in.
It was really gross, and a little traumatic for me to feel like we were justified in rejecting these people (it was an IC rejection, but also an OOC rejection because of the money - not that they knew that's what was going on). I've played it over in my head a hundred times how we all could have done something differently. It all comes back to me feeling that the game had a responsibility to better manage this so we didn't wind up there in the first place. And that the game runner had a responsibility to handle it in a way that was good for everyone when we did wind up there. The hook tried to hep us out, but it was pretty clear that his only solution was to bring them into the secret. Which we weren't willing to do 6 hours into game because it was what we had agreed upon as a group: to keep it secret.
If something like this had happened Friday night I think it would have been a different story. I think we would have brought them in and let the chips fall where they may. When this was literally the first thing that happened with this plot we weren't willing to give it up so easily.
I felt like the hook made us be the bad guys. I felt like I was falling into toxic habits from other PVP games I used to play. It was awful. It was counter to the culture of NWM. It led to at least one person in my group having a full on anxiety attack the next morning because we then got freaked out about whether not we had just ruined someone's game. (and had some confirmation about that from a FB post #thankstechnology) I wound up in monster camp that afternoon on a crying jag about how bad I felt about turning them away... but I also don't blame myself or anyone else for making the choice in the moment. We paid for a special thing and were (rightfully) entitled to the thing we purchased. It was after midnight and maybe everyone wasn't thinking as clearly as they would have liked.
The drama kept me from enjoying much of Friday's game because I was emotionally pretty screwed up over it, and couldn't get into character much, or for long.
After the tag alongs left, and we had some privacy on Thursday night we were told that the plot itself was "gather these four items and do a ritual to achieve the objective of the Secret Society of bringing an outlaw city into the rule of law that the rest of he Wizarding World follows"
So we went to monster camp and told them to run mods to get us the items for the ritual. And they did. And we got them. And we did the ritual in secret. And succeeded... And then it was over.
We got the task Thursday night. By bedtime on Friday we had completed it and the plot was ended. They put out a newspaper at lunch Saturday with an article about how the outlaw city was now forced into the laws of the Wizarding World. This was pretty anticlimactic.
Everything in NWM is only as cool as we make it.
Since we didn't tell anyone else in the game we had done it, we didn't really get any more role-play out of it. Since half my group was disillusioned and checked out of the game I didn't get much RP with them about it...
Since the mods we asked them to run for us to get the items left out any conflicts, they were not exciting. To get 2 of the 4 items we just wrote letters home asking our parents for the thing and they sent it. Including one super crazy dangerous forbidden wand... here you go sweetie. The one major awesome RP success was in getting the potions needed b/c the potions professor was very good at yes and, and helping students do things. The fourth component was a spell and we asked to scry on the past to see it being cast. This was also well executed by staff. They gave us what we asked for.
For me, nothing about the mods was compelling in the way my home game's mods are, because we knew what was going to happen. We wrote it.
It wasn't until after game that we realized what we should have been asking for was
"SURPRISE US"
"Make us work for it"
"Make it feel like it was hard to accomplish so it felt worthwhile to do!"
I have come to learn that in run 1 & 2 of NWM the Secret Society didn't complete the ritual. Mostly because they didn't keep it a secret. There was a lot of drama about it. And in the end, I think maybe they had more fun because of it. "Play to loose" because it is FUN is a hard lesson to learn. Maybe it was worth spending $250 to learn that lesson... maybe.
Roadblock to fun #4 time management is hard
I feel like buying the upgrade stood between me and engaging in the larger game because it took time away from other stuff. Yes, I'm disappointed with how little of the plot there was, but at the same time, anytime things were happening with the lame secret plot I was forced (as one always is in a game) to make the choice between the secret plot and something else. I always felt like I needed to do the secret thing since that was my special thing that I paid for. So I did not participate in the other clubs I wanted to, nor did I get to be as helpful for my house stuff as I wanted to be. I watched many other players have a very different relationship to the game than I did because they didn't have the choices on what direction to run made for them in advance by the OOG choice to spend money.
Q&A - Questions I've been asked
Q. What will/would you take from your experience and put into a different game that you play or staff?
Staff: The incredible importance of creating the community of players in your game. Rob C. mentioned this point in an interview I heard recently on Larpcast and it has really stuck with me. When I was doing parlor larps with one Storyteller and 25-50 players, the importance of the quality of the humans you were playing with was really highlighted. I thought of it less as I moved into gaming styles that have a higher staff to player ratio. It is critical no mater what size the game is. Players enjoy playing with one another. If they aren't enjoying that, no amount of awesome staffing/plot/etc will overcome it.
Say yes. When you are on staff you must say yes to your players.
No is the worst.
Sometimes "yes and" is best explained with an example of "No"
Once upon a time I walked up on a group of my housemates discussing the problem of our house ghost. She was now corporeal, had been for a few days because reasons, and would soon be going back to ghostliness. When she did, her memories of her time in corporeal form this weekend would vanish! This was troubling them. I suggested we use magic.
Me: We can put her memories into a vessel, and then give them back to her when she's a ghost again!
Them: Well that won't work. Magic doesn't work on ghosts.
Me: Well magic made her corporeal this weekend. How did that spell work? Was it the ley lines?
Them: .....
Me: We can use the ley line energy to infuse the vessel with magic that CAN work on ghosts and then give her her memories back.
Them: You make it sound so easy! But that won't work.
Me: Ok. Walks off.
Play: Play to loose. Bad things happening to your character really does make for better stories and I am constantly trying harder to be good at this. My early gaming trained me to not take risks in character for fear of "loosing" and being ridiculed OOC for being dumb b/c your character "failed" at their objective. When really the opposite is true, having setbacks makes for drama. Drama is pretty much the whole point of larping. Waving a magic wand and getting what you want is boring.
Q. I'm intrigued by the system and how you think it would work on different ratios of staff to player or populations of players. I'm also intrigued by the level of immersion. Did people have random roommates? Were you in character all day, including the living areas?
Q. I'm intrigued by the system and how you think it would work on different ratios of staff to player or populations of players. I'm also intrigued by the level of immersion. Did people have random roommates? Were you in character all day, including the living areas?
We were all ostensibly "in character" all the time - but like any game - if you were with people who were happy to be not in game with you, then people would fall out of character. I requested my hubbs and a friend as roomies so that's who I had. We were very OOC in the room, but that's how we typically roll at other games we play when no one is looking. I know other players who chose to be IC the entire time. The environment was set up well for it if that's what you wanted to do. IC all the time is the default setting.
There was also some overuse (IMHO) of the OOC hand sign during regular play. This is a big byproduct of inexperienced or insecure players who feel need to drop OOC to explain things IRL - or who can't help but make IRL jokes over and over and can only get away with it by dropping OOC because the joke makes no sense IC. If you want immersion do not create a game culture where OOG hand signs are a "normal" thing. If you feel like you need them for your game, and immersion is important to your game too, you have to make a serious point of building into the game culture to NOT use the hand signs too much. I prefer games without hand signs for high immersion. It's much easier to fall on the strict side of "always in game" because breaking game is always an option. It is an option used far less frequently when there isn't an easy shortcut for it. Also hand signs tell everyone around you that you're OOG - meaning you can break immersion for people across the room trivially (to make a dumb OG joke) which is disrespectful to fellow players.
Ratios - there were tons of players and not much staff, so I think this structure would work with other ratios. There is some argument about what the ratios really were since the game chose to have the professors all be played by players. I think that this was a waste of an opportunity and there could have been some amazing scenes crafted to guide the student's RP by having the faculty all be game directed NPCs. The quality of the players portraying professors varied wildly. Best I could tell they were all players who just got extra work to do. Same goes for the House Presidents.
Populations of players - if players are scummy humans this game would fall apart quickly. There is some self selection based on the, for lack of a better term, aggressive niceness mandated in the player rules. Accepting and buying into that long document is a cost of entry that I think goes a long way to helping he community of players be cool people. Other than the buy in to being excellent to one another I can't think of a single factor that a player would NEED to have to enjoy this game. The more invested in creating story and scenes one is, the better time I think they'll have - but to each their own.
Q. How were the monster costumes and such, if they even had such things?
Monsters were pretty good. Some were a little cheesy to me, but then I have been very spoiled by my theatre background for such things. The Chupacabra was the centerpiece monster Full body shot here.
The makeup was excellent. The ghosts were a huge hit. The props were also overall very well done.
The paper props were all A++
Q. How did the competition feel, was it PvP-like?
The competition for the house cup was, for me, pretty on point. Friendly rivalry is what they are going for and from where I was standing we got it in my run. Players focused on doing cool shit to earn points instead of trying to break down other houses. This resulted in the most points awarded to any house in any run this summer going to the winner of the session I attended.
I saw some hurt feelings on FaceBook from other runs that the House competition turned a little sour and was perceived by some as bullying in earlier runs (everyone ganging up on and talking smack about one house in particular) but I think they managed to course correct for that by making a point to tell everyone before game on that this is not what we are supposed to be doing - so don't. I don't think we did in my run.
I saw some hurt feelings on FaceBook from other runs that the House competition turned a little sour and was perceived by some as bullying in earlier runs (everyone ganging up on and talking smack about one house in particular) but I think they managed to course correct for that by making a point to tell everyone before game on that this is not what we are supposed to be doing - so don't. I don't think we did in my run.
As for PVP - no one could make you RP anything you didn't want to, so PVP wasn't a thing. When two PCs got into it with one another, everyone knew it was OOC negotiated (or at least cool or the players would just leave the scene) so from what I know there wasn't any rancor OOC like I've seen after PVP in other games. I did see the occasional conflict and ranting, but I'm not aware of much OOC drama that came from it.
I think it does help minimize PVP that the stakes of this game are low. Players are not saving the world from evil, they are wondering if someone will they go with them, or if they'll make good grades. It's a lot easier to deal with conflict over who eats a sandwich VS a choice that results in possibly your whole family getting killed, or your best friend being forgotten forever, or something tragic and horrible like that (high stakes are often used in other games I've played, in part because they are a mainstay of fantasy tropes, but also because they are a shortcut to high drama).
I think it does help minimize PVP that the stakes of this game are low. Players are not saving the world from evil, they are wondering if someone will they go with them, or if they'll make good grades. It's a lot easier to deal with conflict over who eats a sandwich VS a choice that results in possibly your whole family getting killed, or your best friend being forgotten forever, or something tragic and horrible like that (high stakes are often used in other games I've played, in part because they are a mainstay of fantasy tropes, but also because they are a shortcut to high drama).
Q. What was your drink of choice and how often did you re-up your buzz?
Vino Verde, light, summery, refreshing
Not often enough b/c it was a record breaking heatwave and I wanted to live to game another day.
I get bonus points because I built some party girl and heavy drinking behavior into my character so it really helped me get into her headspace and enhanced my game.
Q. From what I read, the rules system was "you do this and if they react, then it worked."
If so, was this abused?
I think I've well addressed the nature of the gameplay earlier. In the context of a game like this it's hard to define "abuse" - I really can't even imagine what abuse would look like. You can't cheat. If you try to do a shitty thing that other players hate it just doesn't work.
The game was full of players fixing huge magical based problems with magic and creativity and heart. And they all succeeded. They all got to be heroes.
So, could you sit in a corner by yourself and decide you just cast a spell that cured cancer? I guess so... How would you know it worked without talking to game staff? I honestly don't know how they would react to that, but my guess is that these sorts of issues will arise in the future as players try to test the boundaries of the style.
So, could you sit in a corner by yourself and decide you just cast a spell that cured cancer? I guess so... How would you know it worked without talking to game staff? I honestly don't know how they would react to that, but my guess is that these sorts of issues will arise in the future as players try to test the boundaries of the style.
If anything my group abused it by having them hand us all the McGuffins we needed for the secret society plot. We went to monster camp and said "hey, bring us this" and they did. It was anticlimactic. It was actively shitty and boring to not have to work for it. If abuse is possible in this game, and I'm not convinced it is, it only hurts the abuser because it means they are probably creating boring stories like we did.
Q. Did you have any fun?? Was there structure? Plot? A hierarchy of NPCs?
Q. Did you have any fun?? Was there structure? Plot? A hierarchy of NPCs?
I did have fun. We are considering playing again next summer, though the appeal has worn off over the months as we've had some distance and there has been some drama in the community.
I do think knowing what I know now I would have MUCH more fun next time.
I do think knowing what I know now I would have MUCH more fun next time.
The structure was the story of the first few days of school:
- Day 1 - OOC welcome and workshops to help break the ice and prepare for play
- Night 1 - welcome back parties where everyone wants to meet the first years and determine who should go into what house
- Day 2 - classes
- Night 2 - the sorting event and house induction ceremonies
- Day 3 - classes
- Night 3 - the dance - game off at midnight
- Day 4 - check out and exit workshops designed to help unpack the emotions of the experience
Hierarchy of the characters:
- The Chancellor is the head of the school (and he crushed that role - his performance was a huge game highlight for me)
- Professors are more powerful/ in charge than students
- House Presidents are respected, but not necessarily more powerful
- Third years are ostensibly more powerful/respected than 2nd years with first years coming up after that.
- In reality all students were treated very equally from what I saw.
All of those people were players.
NPCs were used for monsters, House Ghosts, visitors to the school, and so forth. There were not many NPCs from what I could tell. It seemed like maybe 15-20 for the whole event of 150-200 players (Sorry - I can't remember how many players there were.)
NPCs were used for monsters, House Ghosts, visitors to the school, and so forth. There were not many NPCs from what I could tell. It seemed like maybe 15-20 for the whole event of 150-200 players (Sorry - I can't remember how many players there were.)
Q. Did you go through a process to match up with a wand? Sorting hat?
This was a bit of a wasted opportunity I think. Students brought their own wands and created those backstories as they wished.
The sorting was more like rushing a frat. The 1st years got to tell the game what house they wanted. The houses got to decide who they wanted, and the house presidents all met privately to get everyone assigned to houses. Then there as a big public ceremony in the chapel where it was announced, one by one, what your house would be. Your president gave you your house tie and you got to go sit with your new house. We then had elaborate initiation rituals that night. The personal RP of those rituals, the welcoming, the "we are a family now" RP of that was a very emotional and powerful thing for many players. <3 <3 <3 #birdhousebesthouse
From where I was standing there was nothing magical about who went into what house.
Your wand was only as magical as you wrote your backstory to be.
From where I was standing there was nothing magical about who went into what house.
Your wand was only as magical as you wrote your backstory to be.
Other misc notes:
I walked 7-8 miles a day in record heat at this game. The parts of campus we were using were very freaking spread out. This was a real hardship for many players who are not accustomed to that amount of walking. I'm mostly just sad that I look silly in the photos b/c I wore my sneakers all weekend. #diva It also sapped my energy somewhat. I would have had more spoons for role-play if I wasn't so worn out at the end of the day.The all you can eat college dining hall was kind of amazing. They had a massive variety of food to choose from. My personal relationship with gluttony was enhanced by this experience.
Logistics - I thought the overall scheduling of the game was poorly done. The pre-game workshops were rushed almost to the point of being useless. With the heat, and being an out of shape nerd, there was not nearly enough time to figure out where you needed to be and then get there. Heaven forbid you need a pit stop at the restroom on your way b/c you are staying hydrated in record heat. I got shit from teachers (who ignored OOG hand symbols) for being late to class and I was livid about it. Given how much game play is negotiated scenes between players I really think this game would benefit from having "act breaks" and designated OOG time set aside throughout the event for crafting tomorrows action with other players.
Class quality varied widely because the professors were players and not game staff. I also think it's rather problematic to ask someone to buy a regularly priced ticket, and then bust their ass with extra work the way the professors and house presidents were expected to make game happen for others.
I saw on FB that they also asked NPCs to pay. I can't imagine spending volunteer hours to work my ass off for a game, and also pay for the privilege. Covering one's room and board I can understand, buying a ticket for the privilege of working seems absurd to me. [ Edit: This is still not sitting well with me months later and is factoring into my choice about playing again.]
In closing
It's been a few weeks since game now and the glow of the good stuff and the low grade depression have worn off. My thoughts are fresh again because the photos have just been released. It feels like looking back at pictures of summer camp.
Even though I didn't have the transformative mind blowing experience some of my friends and lovely housemates did, this game gave me the sort of hangover you get from a good busy vacation, or from a good larp. My head was, by and large, somewhere else for a few days. When you get to have that, the shift back to the world you lived in before can be a bit difficult.
I still believe a lot of what many players new to larping are experiencing with this is not some sort of magic unique to NWM (though it is magical) but the magic of larp in general. Getting to PLAY again as an adult is a powerful experience. It's joyful. It's FUN! And it's an experience you can only really have in a place full of other adults who will also PLAY. Anyone who is new to larp who may be reading this - go find a local game that you can afford and GO. Don't wait until next summer and you've saved up to go to NWM - there are hundreds of larps every year. Many will let you volunteer for free. It may take you a few tries to find the right game for you, but they are out there waiting and would LOVE to have you!
I was really pissed I didn't have a better time at NWM - but some of the anger and disappointment has worn off now too. *Just the extra money* my husband and I spent on this game would have paid for more than half of our typical larping for the year. What we received in return was embarrassing and I would feel like a sucker if it weren't for my genuine belief that the game-runners really did want to make good on their promises (both overt and implied). I think they tried, but were simply in way over their heads when it came to running a plot in a game not designed for plot. I'm heartened that they seem to have changed tactics for the next event and have only one IG add on: a ticket upgrade of only $125 extra for attending the "Deans Dinner"at the next game. It's an IG public thing (so yay no secrecy!) and invite only.
With the release of the photos I'm now reminiscing fondly about NWM.
There are countless things I would do differently if I had it to do over again, to try and have the game I wanted. But I think maybe some of the real magic of NWM for me, was the stuff I've managed to learn about myself, and about larping, in the process of accepting the game I did have.
So - thank you for the wisdom and the foresight (for next time) NWM.
