At the Closing of the year

This is the obligatory "End of the Year Summation" blog. It will involve sarcasm, self-deprication and personal insight.

You've been warned.

It's been an interesting year, filled with ups and downs and sideways. It's not unlike a Wonk-vator. A fair chunk of it was spent gaming. The problem with being unemployed is that you have a lot of time on your hands. Gaming actually helped do something productive, from prepping for the next chron, to writing plot for Mage, to going to Dystopia Rising. It gave me a chance to be creative and constructive while I waited for interviews and shipped off resumes.

During the year, I've learned a lot about myself in the LARP circle. I figured it would be worth to Share.

The Wrathful LARPer's Top 4 Life Lessons in LARPING 2012

Lesson 1: Knowing how I play the game.

I know, it's in fashion to not adhere to labels. Well, as my Classics professor once told me "you have to learn the rules before you can break them." Using the GNS theory, the best way I can described myself is as a Narrative-simulationist. My main focus is on the Narrative of the game, where is this story going with these characters and how does that affect/change/alter/end that story? I add Simulationist in that a lot of the games I play runs almost entirely on decided source material and in a specific space. There is a lot of "I do this, this happens back" in the games and I tend to enjoy it.

This has become apparent over the past few months as I've explored games like Dystopia Rising and De Profundis, which strip the Gamist out the the GNS theory to give a chance for exploration and narrative. My love of Mind's Eye is still strong, but it's my goal to run a game like Dystopia Rising where people can play their characters in setting and make it less about playing a game and more about becoming these characters. Which brings me to.

Lesson 2: I love being an ST

It's been a bit rocky, still trying to get used to being in charge and having to be The Authority in the room. It's been a challenge, but things could be worse. Mage is one of those games where you have to be aware of your rules the closest, because the question of "What can these characters do" becomes closer to "what *can't* they do" Very. Freakin. Quickly. You have to know what the rules are, and fill in the gaps in them where they are brought up.

One of the other fascinating things about being an ST is the approvals system. As a Venue Storyteller, you're the first person whose gotta see these plans, whether it's just for stuff that is in your game or has to be sent out to Regional or National. It becomes very interesting to see how players see their PCs and their views on the abilities/items/whatever they are applying for through their approvals. This has also helped me figure out my concept as a gamer, as my main focus tends to be "What is your character's purpose in having this? what is being told here? How does this affect the story of the City? What is the story of this character attaining it."

Lesson 3: Upping my game.

I've been LARPing for exactly two years now. I walked into the December 2010  Requiem game with my Mekhet Dragon, Vincenzo Taglia. I knew dick about a lot of things, like how to write and effective sheet and knew only marginally more about the world around me. The Ordo Dracul in the City is played by a team of some of the most dedicated players and MES club members around. I've learned a lot about the Venue, the Club and LARPing in general just by hanging out with them during Covenant meetings or just hanging out.

Most importantly, during these travels I got to meet with Class A players and their legendary characters. I got to be a part of these plots from the far reaches of the Club and getting to do things with people I'd only heard about vaguely. Working with them, and especially their dedication and ethic towards LARPing has upped my game as a player enormously. Having my Mage character get trained by an awesome PC, run by my now-friend and ooc mentor Ericka, helped give me a deeper sense of the world I'm playing in and what I can do with it. So if anyone asks about my concepts on Mage and gaming: blame her.

Lesson 4: I like the global Chronicle

I know there is a lot of screaming going back and forth with the people running the global chronicle. That's not what I'm talking about. Keep that and never bring it up again. What I'm talking about is the ability that my character, and by extension me, can play with players in other regions around the world, that we're all in this together. My Mekhet can counsel PCs in Seattle, My Mage can Attune to Cities around the World. My Changeling can record the stories of others. I like the fact that my Retrograde Tinker can roam around the Caravan's of Dystopia Rising and find himself along the East Coast settlements, and if he's less than lucky, to the Lone Star settlement in Texas.

I like the fact that I can travel across the world and still get to play. I like the fact that I can see how other players play their games without having to roll a new one every time I'm in town. I like the fact that, sooner or later, I'm going to be at  convention where numerous players from everyone show up.

Those are the four main points. My plans for the next year include new challenges. The Chronicle begins in June and I'm ready to prepare my characters as I've written in a previous post. It's going to be interesting playing characters out of my usual range, but that's the challenge. The other is to visit Dystopia Rising more often and bring in my Retrograde for some  fun. I also have the challenge of potentially building the next Mage game from the ground up. How will that go? I'll probably report here.

It's been fun, 2012.

Later

The GNS Model and Mind's Eye Society: Balancing the Scales

 Lately, I've come across a lot of discussions about how people play in the Mind's Eye Society (formerly The Camarilla, God rest it's Zombie Bones). The most common discussion I've noticed is the rise in people playing a Game that is meant to be won, using the system of the LARP, the straight up numbers of the characters sheet to justify their actions.

However, there is a not so silent minority that believes that LARPing is about a story being told and a world to explore. These players coming from a literary and artistic background, the actors and theater fans who enjoy being a part of an ongoing narrative based in a fictional world.

As I said, there is a very distinct opposition between Playing a Game and Playing a Character in the White Wolf based LARPs. Those that tend to Play the Game site the system of rules in regards to card pulls, actions, and modifiers as justification of using them. Those that like to Play the Role use the system to justify their actions, but not dictate them. Fine line walking? Indeed. Which one is right?

Well, According to the GNS Theory, the answer is  both. The GNS Theory, written by Ron Edwards, states that there are three separate types of goals: Gamism, Narrativism and Simulationism. I'm going to explain these parts and then go into depth about how they relate to us as a club.

Gamism: As described by Edwards, Gamism is expressed by competition among participants (the real people); it includes victory and loss conditions for characters, both short-term and long-term, that reflect on the people's actual play strategies.

Simulationism: heightens and focuses Exploration as the priority of play. The players may be greatly concerned with the internal logic and experiential consistency of that Exploration.

Narrativism: expressed by the creation, via role-playing, of a story with a recognizable theme. The characters are formal protagonists in the classic Lit 101 sense, and the players are often considered co-authors. The listed elements provide the material for narrative conflict (again, in the specialized sense of literary analysis). 
 Let me clarify that these aren't entirely personal philosophies. They're way of seeing and attaining goals in a game system. We each have a profound way of handling things, and each have an innate tendency towards one or two of the three.

I'm clearly a Narrativism-Simulationist. I want a world that is fleshed out or that can be fleshed out while exploring questions and seeing how people interact with each other. I'm not really interested in Winning a Game, I want a playground to play in and interactions. I want my characters, who while fictional do live in the world they are placed in, grow.

This is reflected in my Storytelling style, I hope. My focus is on telling a good story, and allowing my players to grow and explore as much as they possibly want. It's been pretty light lately, but I leave the door open. Mechanics, the game part of the game, is tertiary, and is often used more for scaffolding than anything. Do people play this way? Absolutely. Do people play in a way that heavily favors mechanics? Absolutely, the job for me is to balance it without killing my own creativity.

So, going back to the problems in viewing this in club terms. Which side is right in regards to the dispute? The Gamists or the Role Players? The problem, looking at it through GNS, makes it a matter of the system for which the World of Darkness games are played. The World of Darkness games, and by extension the LARP clubs that play, is practically built on the concept of the GNS. The gaming system, with it's focus on Attribute+Skill, appeals to Gamist goals. "I have this and this, therefore I can solve this."  The background of the games however, from the sourcebook to the expansion books, each one focuses on allowing for a rich potential for a simulationist game. Considering the Addendums for the Club, we're all deciding how and what we base our simulations on, trying to keep and maintain the internal logic and balance of the world we're in. But finally, we have the players themselves, who after years of playing and getting to know one another, see these characters as living beings living side by side. They each have their own foibles, theirs dramas, and their own stories. More often then not, these are all things that are played out in smaller groups, but those scenarios can reach out and affect entire regions, maybe even the entire club.

So the question doesn't become "Which one is right?" but "How do we balance this out." Unfortunately, the first thing that will get supported is the mechanics aspects of the game, the information is Quantitative, easily measurable and controllable. That gives Gamists a lot to work with right there. However, that sets a covert gaming culture that rewards people who favor the mechanics over those wanting to tell a story or explore the source material, both things which are Qualitatively measured, making it more difficult to predict. Storytellers have to decide how their games function. I know firsthand how difficult it is, it's a pain in the ass, especially in the presence of people using Gamist goal solutions. But the World of Darkness is based around all three methods, and that requires balancing the act.

There are of course games that don't follow the Theory, or downplay a method. In playing Dystopia Rising, I know that the mechanics are severely lessened from systems like World of Darkness (considering that the creators was a WoD developer originally, this isn't surprising). By limiting the mechanics to Health Points, Mind Points and what equates to Skill Licenses, they are focusing more intensely on Simulationist methods, using the world of the game and the setting around them, and the Narrativist methods of letting people run around an area and dealing with situations on their own terms and, most importantly, creating their own. A lot of the RP I saw, and the sheer amount of emotions visible made the game intense and incredibly personal. Through in the fact that you are literally IN the game space, and this is a pretty decent Simulationist Game.

Another example is De Profundis. De Profundis is a letter-based LARP that emulates Lovecraftian horror. The entire game is based on players letters to one another. In this, we have a game that espouses an almost purely Narrativist gameplay. Each letter enhances the world, and each letter is written by a player. The whole scenario becomes one gestalt storyteller and enforcing of the world/game they are engaging in.

Gamist games are the most abundant. Go ahead, turn on your game console. Crack out your chess set, or board game. If the idea is to win, to solve the puzzle, then it is evoking the Gamist in people. It's one of the reasons I don't like using them in a LARP. If I wanted to just grind out xp for killing monsters, I'd hit up World of Warcraft (ugh) or Skyrim (yay!).

The reason I brings these games up now is to drive home to point I want to make in regards to the Mind's Eye Society as a whole and to each separate person in it, Storyteller or Otherwise. Know what kind of game you want to make, promote it, and enforce it. If you want a game where Gamist solutions are going to work, then be upfront and honest about it so everyone can adjust. If you want a game where Narrative or Simulationist actions are more preferred, please speak up. Balancing is a pain in the tits and while you can try, you're human and therefore may not be able to make it. But at least make the effort and be honest about it. Because this game is about the people in it interacting with the world, with mechanics built to help enforce those interactions. If we didn't want to be here, we'd be home alone playing something else.

Like World of Warcraft. Ugh.

Later.



http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/1/

Allow me to reintroduce myself...

After a month away whilst doing NaNoWriMo, I have returned to you my faithful few.

Be grateful, I could have been sleeping.

So there are a few things that have happened this month that I'd like to talk on that is Cam or LARP related. Since I'm starting to warm back up, let me go through them.

First things first. NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month. The annual event where writer's write a whole draft of a novel in the 30 days of November. Last year I had written a diesel-punk (think steampunk, but set in the 20's-40's), this year I decided to do something less originally. I wrote about my Mage character. It was an experience, because at the time, I had never heard of a New World of Darkness novel, or anything this level that wasn't part of the corebooks. I thought it would be a good challenge.

It was.

One of the most challenging things was translating game mechanics into story mechanics. Mage has a lot of mechanical considerations, the Arcana, the Imago, the Rotes and Improvised Spells, the Paradox. A game is all about mechanics and chance, a story is all about drama and theme. I needed to make the magic mean something more than "I'm going to use this spell to do this". Having a character who was a literal Master of Time also was a problem because many of his abilities are cheats in a dramatic sense. He can remove himself or his enemies from Time. He has a spell that can rewind himself back in time. For a player in a game, that is a wonderful spell to have

For a protagonist in a story, that's a pain in the balls.

So I wrote the book in three Acts. The first Act is how magic works well for Rhys. The second Act is that going to shit. The third Act is the aftermath.

Hopefully, it worked.

So that was the long project. Let's get into this month's games.

Friday was Changeling. Now, I've said it before and will continue saying it again, Changeling is probably the tightest game in the City. By this I mean that it has a fully fleshed out world complete with NPCs and territories.

Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of my character. He got shoe horned into plot but has since ended. So I opted to NPC. The NPC I was given was Hamilton Halloway, the king of the Sun Court. The Sun, or Day Court are one of the side courts in game. They are focused around traditions, laws, and doing the right thing and their trademark emotion is Shame. Hamilton is an Gargantuan Ogre, meaning he is the size of a mach truck and twice as strong. His Shame comes from him not being able to do anything without destroying it. He serves mostly as a supporting figure, guiding others.

He walked around and dropped some plot, and dealt with his Moon/Night Court counterpart, Marty. Night Court uses disgust, and basically lives up to that. Considering he's a walking Rat, yeah. It was interesting, because while the other Courts have their niche's, the Day Court has an opposite but equal number. My acting was improved because I was riffing off of Marty's player's actions. The more disgusting Marty was, the more amenable Hamilton became. It gave me new respect for the both Courts.

Because of Plot, my character got called in to be used. Declan is a Wizened Author, which grants him bonus' in translating any written text. His Entitlement (an order one can belong to) grants him perfect memory. So he had to remember and translate and entire Japanese ledger. So yes, I had to not come to game as my character for my character to be useful.

Near the end, I played a mortal NPC. The game was set in a Marketplace that bordered the normal realm and the Changeling's Goblin Market. He made a deal to find his son, lost during the Hurricane (more on THAT later). Making a deal with Faeries, even their runaway slaves, is a bad-bad idea.

It was fun playing all of those roles, and made me appreciate NPC play even more. NPCs help flesh out the world of the game more, as it gives  you information that doesn't come from the players and gives it in the context of the world around you. This is why I've opted to do NPC shifts at Dystopia Rising, this way I can better understand the world and the way the game is played.

Saturday morning was Mage. This was the first game where I felt comfortable going in. It was a smaller game, a more sedate game, but a good one. Chris St. Louis, one of the best players I've ever met, came in to play an NPC from way back at the beginning of Mage's inception in the City. The first hour or two was pure Roleplay, followed by introductions to a new NPC. His name, or at least the one that the players know him by is Sellers. He basically laid out the goal of the 'antagonists' and basically gave it to them swift, but also laid out that these aren't antagonists. He also brought in two interesting points to game. Despite the fact that the PCs have dubbed themselves the heroes and protectors of the City, what have they done to help the City?

The other question, the one that lead to an interesting discussion that ended the game, was what would  happen if the Abyss, that sprawling source of Anti Reality and Magic that keeps the normals from understanding Magic and the Mages from becoming literal Gods. In the end, people came to a disturbing conclusion: The Abyss may in fact severed a regulatory function that helped make sure that the world was ripped apart by nigh-omnipotent Mages.

To finish off the weekend was Vampire. The game was tense, with a lot of work for me. Let me explain. My PC, Taglia, is the Priscus (think Senator) for the Mekhet Clan of vampires. Mekhet are known for being highly intelligent, yet wholly eccentric. Boy howdy. Three of them have been investigating a strange obelisk underneath the City, and are now being haunted by the Vampire-cum-demigod who resided in it. Another one is engaged in a war of words with the Prince's Harpy (court-reporter) which almost became a full war. Another was nearly killed in a plot involving his Sire-surrogate, who is also a Mekhet.

In short, I had to be a responsible adult. Which sucks, but I think I managed. Now next month is the Mekhet gathering, which brings with it a lot of potential interesting things. More importantly, I have to plan for it.

In the end, one of my busiest, and most fulfilling games. However, I've been noticing it in a lot of players and just in general a sense of ennui and lack of enthusiasm. A lot of it I think comes from the fact that we know the game will end in May. The end is nigh, what is the point? The rest I think is just years of drama in a global club coming to a head. It's still fun, but it's clear people are looking forward to the new games.

Welcome to the Global LARP

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?

My third game in Requiem had been preceded by a one-to-two month absence. I knew that I needed some excuse as to why I was absent. Fortunately, my character's nationality was Italian, and he had already come from there, so I said I went back and had some mis-adventure.

As a new player, I didn't know the protocol of the Club. I didn't know about Venue Style Sheets, how I factored in to it. I didn't know my character was registered to New York and that if they left, I had to notify the Storyteller of my domain and the domain I was going to if they were in the same region, or the ST's of my Region and whatever Region I was going to and then the domain, and so on and so forth until I find myself back in Venice which last I heard was half a world away.

This is the price of playing in a global Larp. We each of us have the potential to affect the world around us and to travel to the corners of the globe. However, who is to say that we've done any of these things, who is there to say "Yes you  were?"

The Storytellers.

Flash-forward two years, I'm now Storytelling for Mage in New York. I had an heated discussion about one person's character action during down time. He had stated that his character would have been in Salem, Mass during Halloween, banging wiccan-wannabes two at a time. This was all well and good, but did he inform the Salem ST (North East Regional Storyteller if there isn't one) that he was sending his character there?

And then he asked "Why should I? My character isn't doing anything there other than sleeping with  nobodies, not even NPCs"

And this is where I step in. The whole point of the Club's Proxy system is to know who is where in case something happens, or to know someone is there to make something happen. I can't say that my Mekhet went down to Georgia looking for a Soul to Steal without the folks running Georgia knowing and saying "Yes you did".

I had to explain to my friend that (in my opinion) the Storyteller is responsible for two things. 1) Managing the story of his venue, whether it be generated by me, the players, or the Domain. and 2)Managing what comes in and out of this venue. I have to work directly with the internal mechanics of the City as it pertains to Mage, I then also have to deal with other Mage related things that come from anywhere outside the city, whether it is plot from the higher ups.

And then he replies "Well, I'm not planning on doing Magic in this place, I'm just going there."

My reply to that: Do you honestly think that no-one in that city wouldn't notice a Mage entering town? You're a character in the World of Darkness, you may not Role-play 24/7 (and I hope you don't, it gets draining fast), but it's established that your character is in this world 24/7 with other supernatural creatures, and each one of them has ways of looking at you and going "Mage" and to many that will register as a threat or a treat.

And my jurisdiction extends only to the five boroughs of New York City, the moment you leave the borders you are out of my consequences and in the hands of other ST's and it's their job to know who and what are in their jurisdiction.

My friend replies: So my character is basically trapped in a domain? What is this, some kind of dystopia?

My reply: Well...yes, It's the World of Darkness. Out of Character, your character is registered to be recognized as a character in the Global Game. That needs to be tracked and traced. Your character doesn't have to leave the City, but if he does, his movements need to be kept record of because you do run the potential of effecting plot wherever you go. You're not some Joe-Shmoe in this world, you're one of the few Chosen (however they got there, whether you want it to or not) You're a protagonist in this story, you affect the world and it affects you. You move, and the storytellers need to note it, so you can still affect the world.

In short, the Proxy system is all about keeping track of everyone, and making sure they are still relevant. I know there are many out there who hate the system that is up. Siting partiality, xenophobia and outright corruption amongst the STs. That's expected, it's a System. The Anarchist in me would like to remind you that all systems have flaws and are inherently doomed to Entropy sooner or later. So far it does work and it does keep most of us in line. This is the price of playing for a club that spans the world. If I didn't want to do a global game, I could just sit down with some friends and do a tabletop.

My next blog will be more musings on the role of an Storyteller, in which I get very philosophical about it all. You've been warned.

Later

Prepping for the Next Chron

Ok, so everyone has been talking about it. The Next Chronicle is coming.

What this means is that the entire game is getting restarted, and all of our characters effectively get retired. There is, of course, nothing to stop us from making the exact same characters with minor cosmetic alterations, but those dynamics we had will be gone for good.

So what do we do?

We make new ones.

These are my plans for next Chronicle in the three venues I play in nWoD. Now, I listed my current line up of PC's in another post. Those guys, as stated, are very much close to my personality or aspects of them. For this upcoming Chronicle, I want to challenge my self as a role player. As such, this post is my posting my plans, dreams and aspirations. Come May, we'll see what I can do with them.

So let's get down to brass tacks.

Requiem

PC Name: Owen Asteria, formerly Owen Lean

Clan: Mekhet, shadowy investigators and intelligence gatherers

Bloodline: Khaibit, those who can control the literal shadows. If I can't get that approved, then I'd go Alucinor, who focus on dreams, but are inherently insane. I wrote about them a while back, too.
Covenant: Circle of the Crone, of the Semiotician sect. He believes in the power of the rituals, not necessarily the source.

Role: Contacts and Influence.

Profile: Owen is a member of a large Mekhet family known as the Asteria. He's the childe of Genevieve Asteria, played by my awesome friend Abby and the Grand Childe of Ramiel Asteria, played by my also awesome friend Greg. The family is thousands of years old, with Owen being one of the youngest. He's effectively Ramiel's right-hand vamp in the modern day, and serves as an anchor for his GrandSire's interest in things. He's Ramiel's bonsai plant, basically.

Now, Owen is built in mind for deals and politics. He's mostly Social/Intelligence with Physical as a Secondary. His concept is called "The Boon Collector", garnering information and deals from other Vampires. He's effectively a Black Hat, at best Dark Grey.

Goal: To have enough influence in mortal society to make un-life difficult for other vampires in the City.

Means: Blackmail, corruption (through drugs, sex, threats of violence), using his Hotel Monolith as the center of Operations.

Inspiration: Littlefinger from Game of Thrones (this video is what inspired me, NSFW), Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time (Example) and Pontius Pilate from Jesus Christ Superstar (Example) if he ever comes into power.

And maybe Christopher Walken.

Certain Elements of PCs from this previous chronicle have made their way in. Including :Sebastian Sutter (played by my friend Greg) Power and Social grace, runs a hotel; and Simon Cassio, (played by Dain Geist) one of the more prolific Characters that existed and also a Khaibit.

Playlist: Owen's Playlist is all about Power and Ritual. His Religion is power in all of it's forms. No church in the Wild is probably his unofficial theme song.

Distinguishing Marks/Mannerism: Wears the color purple, moves very coolly and calmly, often using his hands for further expression. Can be explosive.

Challenge: This character is outright evil. All he wants is power, and he'll use anything he has to acquire it. There is some redeeming qualities, in that he's gathering power for a purpose (he's Khaibit after all) but he's going about it the dark way. I tend to play White Hats, good guys, and it takes a lot for me to actually sit and go "how can I be evil?" The challenge will be to be a bad guy.

Rate of Survival: Owen has the most chances of dying. It won't be graceful though, and it won't be alone.

Changeling
PC Name: "Jin" (in Japanese 仁, meaning "Benevolence")

Seeming: Wizened, changeling workers.

Kith: Smith/Soldier, crafter of (mostly) weapons and armor and an expert in using them.

Court: West, the Court of Honor. Experts in Warfare. (Jin will probably be Emperor of the West in New York)

Motley: a group of PCs who work a Goblin Market Stall, including the aforementioned Greg and my friends Ilan and Jill.

Role: Armorer, Engineer, and Instructor. Possibly War-Chief.

Entitlement: (Possibly) Hedge Warden, Guardians of the Freehold from the Hedge-side of things.

Profile: "Jin" was the name given to the man when he was placed into his Durance by The Grand Shogunate, a Gentry who stylized himself after the Samurai of old. TGS waged endless wars, and always needed Soldiers in his army. The man who became Jin was a soldier in the Iraq war. Jin became good at his work, and spent decades as an ageless soldier,fighting against other Wizened. Where many died, he lived, and soon became highly regarded in the Shogunate's Army, and effectively became a retainer (the word Samurai never really enters it, but go for it). He then begins to take on the trade of a Smith, and becomes less killer and more maker.

After attaining as high an Honor as he could attain, Jin is granted a boon from the Shogunate. Anything within his power was his. Jin decided to go home. The Shogunate, who actually values honor (they mimic their sources, this Fae actually understood Bushido to a degree), released him. Jin returned to the normal world. He now serves to arm and train the Changeling's he once fought against any threat to the Freehold.

Goal: Atone for his past as what is effectively the "House Slave" for Changelings.

Means: Producing and making weapons, especially Cold Iron ones, which are supremely damaging to Fae. Also training people as (possibly) Wardens to defend the Freehold.

Inspiration: Miyamoto Musashi, legendary Samurai ( Watch this Documentary), traditional sword smiths (http://youtu.be/PSZKGzGqOt0) , and Hattori Hanzo (Example, and Example)

Playlist: Jin's Playlist, is still in development. This man is born to violence, but there is a quieter edge to him. He's tempered Steel. Iron, by Woodkid, is undeniably his theme song as it touches a lot of point that go into his background and his Court.

Distinguishing Marks, Mannerisms: Preferred colors of black and white (and some blue), bears a brand on his cheek that is the japanese character of his name, a token of his Durance.

Challenge: Jin is a tough act, as he's not a boisterous fighter. He's a cool individual, and deeply intense. How do I temper that intensity? Also, this one is clearly a hitter and will have a lot of weapons. He's not a "grr! You hit me! We fight now!" kind of character. He's read Art of War, he's read Book of Five Rings. He's the long term "I will destroy you, your strongholds and your legacy." I think I may have to go Adlerian for him and channel an animal into the act, maybe use the Court as an example and watch Tigers. Hrrm....

Rate of Survival: He's the flipside of Owen. Jin will probably die, but from doing The Right Thing.

Mage
PC Name: Ides (Real Name is Dylan Swan)

Path: Mastigos, masters of Space and Mind

Order: Guardian's of the Veil, keeping magic safe from Mortal Minds since the founding of Atlantis.

Legacy: The Subtle Ones

Role: Information, Intelligence, Scene Cleaning

Profile: Ides (as in  "...of March") is an Operator. Most likely from one form of Intelligence Agency or another (if I can get an Approval, that Agency may be Centrally located), and is naturally adept at having multiple identities and roles to perform depending on the situation. So when he Awakened to the Realm of Pandemonium, it became very easy for him to continue his work, especially as a Faceless in the Guardians of the Veil.

Ides is a practical man, all business. That's not saying he's without morals, but there less cleanly defined than Owen or Jin. His existence is the job, and he has several different Identities that he keeps going just to keep appearances up. His story is one of Identity, and who he is is a greater mystery.

Goal: Keep the Mysteries of Magic safe.

Means: Cleaning up the scene of Vulgar Magic use. If that means bribing/confusing Witnesses or or the Authorities, or burning the sympathies from the scene (mostly literally), so be it.

Inspiration: Michael Westen from Burn Notice (Example, and Example), Winston Wolff, as played by Harvey Keitel (Example), The Lone Man from The Limits of Control (Example), The Narrator of Fight Club.

Playlist: Ides Playlist is about Action and Identity, there is a noir and investigative slant.

Distinguishing Marks: The focus on Ides is that he doesn't have many distinguishing Marks of his own. His Cover Identities/Masques do. One has a prosthetic leg, another wears only the finest suits, the other wears Darkened Ray-Bans.

Challenge: The Challenge here is that Ides isn't one character, but the base for several. Each Masque will have his own unique background, abilities and flaws. If Ides ever gains a derangment, it will clearly be Multiple Personality disorder. So for him, I will effectively be RPing for at least four.  I need to make each one stand out and be interesting for me to perform.

Rate of Survival: Unknown.


Conclusion: Next Chronicle is going to be very interesting. I know that a lot of people are worried about being up to the task of surviving the game the first few months (a topic I'll address in a later post). I'm more looking forward to these knew roles I have. It'll be a challenge, and definitely out of my comfort zone. But that's why I got into this scene in the first place.

Later.

Deja Venue

So after breaking down my Characters in each Venue in New York, I decided it was time to go through the Venues.

Now for those of you tuning in from the Non-Larping world...boy, you really took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. But in all seriousness, a Venue is what we call the different games that exist in the World of Darkness. So when I say "The Mage Venue" I'm referring to the game that we're playing in. For full effect, I am the Venue Storyteller, or VST for the Mage Game in New York City. So that means within the boundaries of New York, I control everything involving Mage.

Yes, I do love saying that. Why do you ask?

Anywho. December will mark my second anniversary with the club, and I'm only now getting the full hang of things. So before we begin I'm going to give a brief rundown of the Setting.

The Bronx is Up, the Battery is Down

New York City prides itself on the town that' been there and seen it all. Broken down into 5 boroughs and several islands, there is a lot of ground to cover. There is also a lot of history. This was native ground before the colonials bought it almost 400 years ago. In a world where characters can be that age or have access to the information through magic, that's a lot of potential ground to cover. Not to mention you have varying neighborhoods of varying temperaments and cultural backgrounds. You have 200 separate languages being spoken every single day, you have the highest of the high and the lowest of the low. You have the powerful and destitute, the famous and the infamous. It's trite but it's true, we're the center of the universe in the new millennium.

And that factors a lot into our games. Many of our players have contacts to the rest of the game on a Regional, National and Global level. Many of the locations we use as settings run the risk of requiring National level approval because potential damage would be that widespread.

So, let's get cracking. I'll be breaking it down in order of the Venue I started in. I'll give the setting, my interpretation of the venue, my pros and cons for each individual one and my overall opinion on it. Note: This is my opinion of the New York Venues. This is not fully indicative of the Here goes:

Vampire the Requiem

Setting:
Requiem is the story of the Beautifully Damned, Vampires. Blessed with Strength, Immortality, and Power over the Body and Mind but Cursed with the thirst for blood, an aversion to the sun and fire, and enslavement to the whims of the Beast that lurks in their soul. Vampires are now the top of the food chain, Predators amongst sheep, with only themselves as their worthy rivals. There are five clans of Vampires and most hold allegiance to one of five Covenants.

Fuck Mortals, I'm a Vampire!

The Clans
- Mekhet: Adepts at hiding and finding things, be it information or their prey.
- Daeva: the Social elite. The seducers and natural politicians.
- Ventrue: Born to power and rule, capable manipulators and commanders.
- Gangrel: Rougher than the others, and closer to their Beasts. Even the more genteel are dangerous.
- Nosferatu: The physically or subconciously repellant. Nocturnal stalkers and hunters.

The Covenants:
- The Invictus: The old Nobility of Kindred Society. Often the ones running things, or at least thinking they run things. They value Power and the Strength to wield it.
- The Lancea Sanctum: Religious Group founded on the teachings of Longinius, who stabbed and was cursed by Christ. Representing the Western Abrahamic Traditions. They believe God cursed vampires as a test of redemption
- Circle of the Crone: Religious group founded by the myriad pagan religions not affiliated to the Lance. They believe being a Kindred is something to revel in.
- Carthian Movement: The Progressives who feel that Kindred society can blend more into Mortal Society.
- Ordo Dracul: Academic group founded by Vlad Tepes and his Brides after their miraculous Embrace. They believe in change and transcending the Curse of Kindred.

My interpretation:
Without argument or question, Requiem is the flagship game in New York, Mind's Eye Society and White Wolf. You will very rarely see as many players in this game as you will the others, or players who come to play solely Requiem. This is the top of the list.

The game is Control. Vampires are the top of the food chain, they control the mortals and can feed on them at will. The only thing that stops them is each other and their own will. With the Beast always in the background. As such you get to see about every form of combat you can think of as everyone vies to get their agenda through.

As such, this is one of the more politically active games. It's very easy for people to get picked up into plot simply because of their usefulness or because they add number to a Clan or Covenant, and therefore the opportunity for Status. However, if you do not fit into a specific mold, i.e; have anything clear that can be brought to the table or haven't established your character as being useful, then you can look forward to a few sessions at what is effectively the kids table until you're no longer involved.

And this can be a wait. With many people, this is their first venue, and some characters may be years old and then some, with added history and ties that unless you've been playing as long for, you will never know or hope to crack. As such, there tends to be a distinct sense of what people call "the 'ol boys" club, where the veterans tend to hold all of the power and plot and let the junior players hit a form of Glass Ceiling. I've seen cases that both support and refute this in New York. As my character celebrates his Second year in play, I've only just felt like I've cracked into relevance, but compared to others I'm still far out of my depth.

Overall, I think out of the sanctioned games we have, this is the most mechanically simple. The disciplines are clearly spelled out and easy to understand (for the most part) and the Clans and Covenants are distinct enough to add flavor without being too generic. Some people may experience The Glass Ceiling while others flourish. My suggestion is to make the best of it and create your plot. I created a sister who wanted Taglia dead simply to have some plot, and it worked out.

Pros:
Comparitively Simple Mechanics, stories spanning the globe. Great Political and Social game.

Cons:
People may have a hard time fitting in, or hitting The Glass Ceiling.  

Fuck Reality! I'm a Mage!

Mage: The Awakening
Setting:
You know Reality? That thing that tells you that you aren't special, that the world is nothing special, that there is no such thing as Magic? Well, guess what. You're dead wrong. Mage is the game of people who have Awakened to the Truth of things, that the world was once beautiful and full of Magic but had Fallen. People as a whole have become innately infected with this Lie that magic isn't real, and because they think it isn't, it has a harder time of working. Mages are the grand-Hackers of Reality, able to effect the world in major ways. Need to Curse someone into having the world's worst luck? No problem. Need to summon up Ghosts or Spirits? Can be done. Need to create the sunlight during the night? If you learn it, you can do it. Even the world's worst Mage has the potential to make a lot of lives very difficult.

The game is made up of five Paths, Mages who derive their Magic from different Realms. There are also five separate Orders, factions that serve different functions for Mages. There are Ten different Arcana. While each Path are experts in two specific Arcana, they can potentially learn all of them.

Arcana:
Fate: Mostly deal in Probability and Conditions. Luck, Oaths, and Probability.
Time: Premonitions and Postcognition, able to control the flow of time.
Mind: Telepathy, Thought Processes, Astral Projection, Empathy, Mind Control, Possession.
Space: Remote Viewing/Scrying, Teleportation, Small on the Outside, Larger on the Inside. MC Esher Geometry.
Death: talking and controling Ghosts, Shadows, Illness.
Matter: Creating and controlling Solids, Liquids and Gases. Alchemical alterations.
Forces: Controlling, Harnessing and manipulating Light, Sound, Heat, Energy, anything that would have been covered under a Physics curriculum.
Prime: Pure, unadulterated Magic. Prime magic helps in replenishing and controlling Mana, which fuels spells.
Life: Health, Body Functioning, Shapeshifting.
Spirit: The ability to see, control and talk to Spirits, and possibly enter their realm.

Paths
- Acanthus: Derive their power from the (possibly) Faerie Realm of Arcadia. They are Enchanters, and are adepts of Time and Fate magic.
- Mastigos: Derive their power from the Nightmare Realm of Pandemonium. They are Warlocks, and control the powers of Mind and Space magic.
- Moros: Derive their power from the funereal Realm of Stygia. They are Necromancers/Alchemists who control Death and Matter magic
- Obrimos: Derive their power from the heavenly Realm of The Aether. They are theurgists who control Forces and Prime.
-Thyrsus (some people call it THRYsus): Derive their powers from the Primal Wild. They are shamans who control Life and Spirit.

Orders
- Silver Ladder: The Political branch of Mages in the City. They are often the Leaders, Ambassadors and Policy makers
- Adamantine Arrow: The Military Branch. Often the security, police and Army of the City.
- Mysterium: The Researchers and Relic Hunters. Often the historians and investigators.
- Guardians of the Veil: The Secret Police. They make sure that Paradox (what happens when Reality no longer likes it when you fuck with Magic) happens little or at all.
- The Free Council: Progressives who try to blend Magic and Technology.

My InterpretationMage is a game of Wisdom. You have access to the forces of Creation and Reality. What the hell do you do now? Do you control magic or does it control you? This leads to most conflicts being more about ideology as people than as political factions.

This is made easier considering that in New York, there really isn't much of a political game going on. Of course as I say that, one is under way, because I forget to knock on wood. One of the major reasons for the lack of political game is because Mage had the smallest attendance numbers of the other venues. That's changed now, as our numbers have doubled. So the chances for political fuckery have now begun.

Mage as a game is my favorite venue. I love it so much, I wanted to become Storyteller for it (and I am...God help me and the poor bastards who play for me). One of my reasons for liking it revolve around the fact that these are both the most powerful and most human characters out of the venues. You're still physically human, for the most part. A gun will kill you just as dead if you get shot enough times. You can live, grow old, marry, have children (other venues make that last one very difficult) and die naturally. Mages aren't immortal, and those who try end up becoming monsters.

One of the precedents of Mage coming in was that the journey of each player is a personal one. As you gain in power, your soul becomes more attuned to the Universe. This can lead to wonderful, terrible scenes where your character is not only the focus, but the plot itself.

One of the problems with Mage in New York, or at least my biggest tiff with it, is that the there is a sense of informality about the venue. There is only one real meeting location, one real core group. Where Changeling and Requiem have different political bodies, and they all have their own private holdings for gatherings, there is only really one for Mage and it is a guarded secret. This leads to the interesting notion that visitors coming into the city either need to be brought in or have to come to the attention of others by chance or occurrence. This becomes a challenge to keep the setting from not being static, while also allowing things to not be contrived.

Of Course, this is a game where Fate is an active Power in the game. Contrivances is part and parcel :D

Mechancially, Mage is one of the more complicated games. Whereas in Changeling and Requiem, a specific dot in an ability denotes a specific skill, in Mage it means a specific range of skills. While it's true that you can specialize, you effectively have access to dozens of abilities, with some of them being used conjunctively. This adds a level of "you really need to know what the hell you're doing" as you play.



Pros:
Wide Range of Abilities. The Powers don't matter as much as the characters. Able to do very intense personal scenes.

Cons:
The setting can be static. You need to know precisely what spell you're using

Fuck Sanity! I'm a Changeling!

Changeling the Lost
Setting
Lost is the story of the Beautiful Broken. Changelings are humans who, for various reasons, are abducted by Fae into the realm of Arcadia (whether it's the same Arcadia as the one the Acanthus Mages work off of are completely different is unknown) where they are changed at the whim of their new Keeper and then subsequently escape back into the mortal world.  Too wierd to live, to rare to die.

Changeling is a game about Surviving. Every single one of the characters has escaped (or are working for) extradimensional captors. That has lead to a lot of scars physical and metaphysical. As such, the Changelings try to cope by banding together, but in many ways take on the strangeness of their abusers. Changelings are made up of individual Seemings and Courts, more Noble House than Political Bloc.

Seemings:
- Fairest: The Beautiful People. From the outwardly flirtatious to the Beautiful and Terrible. They are blessed with beauty and grace.
- Ogres: The lumbering brutes. They are the muscle, the giants and trolls. They are the most fascinated by Oaths.
- Darklings: Creatures of the living night. They take on the more dark and overtly nightmarish qualities.
- Beasts: Changelings made to resemble animals, creating strange hybrids.
- Wizened: Changelings press ganged into serving specific jobs and functions while being lessened in some way.

It should be noted that each Seeming is broken down into a Kith, a specific sub-section that explains precisely what. These Kiths range in the dozens.

Courts
- Spring Court: The Court of Desire. Many see the Court as hedonists. Revered Healers.
- Summer Court: The Court of Wrath. Often the more aggressive characters will gravitate towards them. The militaristic inclined.
- Autumn Court: The Court of Fear. The Academics, if teaching out of Miskatonic U.
- Winter Court: The Court of Sorrow. The Formal Traditionalists. Keeper of the Forms and Ways.

other Courts include
- Dawn Court: Representing Hope. A Rare court that few belong to.
- Dusk Court: Representing Fatalism.
- Day Court: Representing Shame, believers in Order
- Night Court: Representing Disgust, agents of Chaos
- North Court: Ascetic Order, representing Suffering
- East Court: Wealthy Order blending in Mortal Society, Representing Envy.
- South Court: True Hedonists, representing Ecstasy
- West Court: Virtuous Warriors, Representing Honor.

Interpretation
I have a strange form of ambivalence towards Changeling. I love the venue, and I fully believe that out of all of the venues we're playing in New York, Changeling is by far the most tragic. In Requiem, Vampires have the potential for Golconda, that mythical transcendence out of Vampirism and Mages have the ability to ascend to the Supernal Realms where they belong. Changelings don't have that. There is no endgame. When all is said and done, they are still runaways, and the next day is another chance to survive. That leads to very interesting dynamic.

I've said it before in an another post, Changeling has been the one venue that has left me tearful as you're a member of a group of trauma survivors. It's tragic and it's wonderful to be a part of.

Lost's main strength is it's weakness: Variety. With the various Seemings, Kiths, Courts, and Entitlements, the combinations are the largest than they are in any other game. However, sometimes those combinations will lead to fruitless choices, or are merely there to add flavor. This is where the other side of my ambivalence comes from. Either you're useful, or you aren't in this game.

Changeling in New York is known for it's strong Worldbuilding. With numerous Courts and entities running around, it has the most distinct lines drawn as to where everything is. It also has a large assortment of NPCs belonging to various Courts, each one adding to the depth of realism into the world. When I look to worldbuilding in a LARP, I look to Changeling.

In short, Changeling is a lot like Requiem in that it's one of the go-to games. I actually recommend this game to first time Role Players. Memory loss is a common occurrence for those escaping Arcadia, so it's normal for a new Character to not know anything. It's also more communal, where people are actively trying to help one another, this lends to a less hostile environment to learn and grow in

Pros: Beautiful Concept, rich world and cast of characters. More communal nature allows people to get involved in plot, Easy to start in.

Cons: wide a range of abilities can make some combinations redundant and unnecessary.






That's my views on the venues in a nutshell. For further details, just ask.

Later.

Breaking Down The Characters: What, How and Why of me in the Scene

I wanted to write this blog for a while now. This blog, as far as I can tell, is gearing up for one core discussion for LARPing: Is it a game, or is it a story being told.

For me, it's the latter. I'm a writer, I see this as an acting exercise where we create and portray versions of our characters and have them interact. As such, I follow one basic rule of writing: Each story has it's own internal logic, and must run off that logic. It's working with that logic and the rules of the world that make things interesting for me. If a venue doesn't inspire me, if I don't have anything that grabs me and makes me want to play, then I won't. Much to the consternation of my friends and fellow gamers.

So when I make a character, I try to think about certain things. Who, What, How, Where and Why? We know this system. Who are they, What are they in the Venue (their Role?), How do they go about doing it in the system provided, Where in the venue are they located, Why do they do it (their Motivation). I then throw in, what is their Flaw? This may not be a mechanical problem, but it is clearly a problem that can lead to ramifications. Ultimately, the last question is this: What the hell is their story?

Also, it should be noted, I come from the school that these characters have aspects of mine. Drips and drabs of my life mixed into this character. Nothing major, just their Concepts. Something to work off of at their base.

Also to note on terminology. I list characters under three headings, these are based off of the World of Darkness break down of Skills and Attributes. They rank as

Intelligence: The Research, Investigation, Academics, Crafts, etc. Intelligence characters are the one who learn the rules of their venue, understand it, control it, and explore deeper. They deal more with the Environment of the game than anything else.

Physical: Fighting, Weaponry, Athletics. These are the go to guys for action. They affect the world through their actions. The most popular of these characters is the Hitter, the first line of action and fighting. They interact with both the Environment and other Players as necessary.

Social: Politics, Intimidation, Socializing, etc. These are the people who interact with others to ascertain and make deals on behalf of themselves or their agendas. They deal mostly with other Players.

These classes clearly mix and match, with one normally primary and another secondary.

So here it is, a look at the three Characters I play in the World of Darkness, including my notes on each character, there is some commentary on each venue, but I will do a more in depth review of each three major New World Venues in New York City later. Here goes, in order of Creation:

Vampire: The Requiem
-Character: Vincenzo Taglia; Clan: Mekhet of the Agoniste Bloodline; Member of the Ordo Dracul

-What: Taglia is a therapist, first and foremost. His job is to understand and help other Vampires.

-How: As a Mekhet, Taglia has access to Auspex. He's a Telepathy expert and is usually the first person asked to enter a particular person's mind.

-Where: Taglia is the one character I have that is hard to pin down a location. He has several offices, several are jointly held by other Kindred. He's effectively a Lord of Governor's Island, which he uses rarely.

-Why: Taglia's spent roughly a century in Torpor (vampire deep sleep, fyi) and as such, he's had some traumatically life altering dreams and images. He took up psychology to understand and assist others to help them.

-Role: Taglia is an Intelligence-Social character. His role is to Investigate Areas and People and to asses the situation. His abilities are used to explore both the environment and other players.

-Flaw:  Taglia isn't suicidal, but if he had nothing better to do, Death wouldn't be a problem for him. This actually worked with his Bloodline. The Agonistes are prone to enter Torpor more so than others (because they effectively get rid of the problems of Memory and Ability loss through Torpor), Taglia just takes it one step further. A lot of his problems come from his Vice of Wrath: After a century of having nothing but his mind to contend with, he isn't his biggest fan.

- Story: Taglia started as a pure researcher character. Nothing really interesting and dragging. Then the VST at the time, Isaac, and I began to talk about who Taglia's sire was. It's preferred for players to have other player character Sire's. The idea is that if everyone rolled with unnamed progenitors, then we'd be dealing with an out of control vampire population. Taglia was Originally meant to be an Alucinor, a Mekhet who focused on Dreams. Isaac had come up with an alternative to that, a prestigious Character who had died the year before, but was old enough to have Sired Taglia two centuries ago. This character was Mirandia Blake, and the player was the awesome Jenn. By sheer dint of her agreeing, Taglia's dynamics changed sharply. He had gone from a Mekhet Dragon to a person with a past that included Family, conflicts and possible ties. Mirandia knew everyone, for good or ill.

This also set up an interesting Dynamic for him. Taglia was now a part of a heavily involved Invictus sire, and her Sire was also Invictus. By some accounts, Taglia was originally an Invictus by sheer Embrace. This has come in as the Invictus have a strong presence in the city, and it doesn't jive with what he was indoctrinated growing up. He never liked the Invictus, but he believed they stood for something. As time went on, Taglia was given Domain over Governor's Island, effectively making him a Lord in the eyes of the Invictus and then eventually the Priscus of his Clan. He's been ducking Power all of his Un-Life, and it seems to have found him. And as time goes on, he's realizing that 1) he's mimicking Mirandia in some way, 2) He's actually good with power, and 3) He likes having power.

Notes: Taglia was my first PC in the Cam, and as such is the one I have the most investment in. He has the most inconsistencies in his sheet, as the plan has changed for him. He was my learning curve in the club and in gaming in general. If not for him, wouldn't have gotten to meet and interact with most of the players in the club I consider friends, colleagues and idols.

Taglia represents my profession of being a counselor and therapist, and I've used PC sessions as mock sessions. It also explores my conflict with taking initiative and not relying on the judgment of others as much to make my decisions.

Mage: The Awakening
Who: Rhys (birth name is Sean Jacob Evans) Acanthus Path, No Magical Order Affiliation, Member of the House of Ariadne Legacy

What: Rhys is, first and foremost, a New Yorker. He has skills as a philosopher, cafe owner and Tarot Card reader, but he is a product of New York and his powers very much reflect that.

How: Rhys' main power comes from his Legacy, The House of Ariadne. Rhys is able to attune himself to a City, and from there he is able to learn it's past and also to ask the City questions. He knows his City well from personal and magical experience. He essentially has a symbiotic relationship with New York, and if asked, he's more in touch with the City than other Mages. He's also been bonded to Atlantic City, but New York is his heart and Soul.

Where: Rhys lives in and runs a Cafe in the West Village. The Tarot Cafe'. He manages the cafe' silently in the back, while everyone thinks that he is just a tarot card reading busker the managers have allowed to stay.

Why: Rhys doesn't know where he fits in. He was a philosophy grad student when he became a Mage. He took to it easier than others, but he never fit in afterwards. His connection to the City gives him something to work for and with, but does give him a more isolated feel.

Role: Also an Intelligence-Social character. Rhys' main abilities as an Acanthus and in his Legacy help him in exploring and investigating. He sucks as a combatant, and tends to play smarter than harder. He'll often buff the hitters with Fate magic and de-buff enemies with Time and Fate. He also serves as a voice of conscience.

Flaw: Rhys' main problem is that he's stubborn and doesn't like unreasonable authority. He frankly could take or leave the Consillium at a moments notice. He's not a loaner, but his trust and faith in others are supremely lacking.

Story: Rhys' story really benefited from my predecessor, Matt. As VST, Matt gave my character pokes and prods to make decisions. Rhys was originally going to be forcefully Awakening people to becoming Mages. The story he did steered him clear of that. He also gave my character something that I don't have in other venues: An enemy. Through the Mage Clockwise, Rhys was able to show both his arrogance, distrusting nature but also his clear judgement of "this is wrong". The granting of his Legacy by Liz (played by the awesome Ericka) was what cemented him. Rhys has a purpose, and he (and I) see him as the soul and will of New York City. For all of his powers, he might be.

Rhys is the part of me that loves New York as well as the moral core. He's the New Yorker/Bronx in me that could would shoot himself in the shoulder to prevent a possessed gun from hurting others. Rhys is by far my most favorite PC, and the one I'll miss the most. I'm in fact doing my annual National Novel Writer's Month novel on him, as he's effectively taken out of the main action as I'm the Mage Storyteller.

Changeling the Lost
Who: Declan Loch (not his real name) Wizened Author of the Spring Court, Lord of Eternal Echoes

What: Declan is an Author, a recorder of Changeling society. As an Eternal Echo, he has perfect memory, and is essentially the living record of what goes on around him.

Where: Declan lives in Reverie, a beer-house/cafe' area in the Village owned and run by the Spring Court. He serves as a waiter there during the Day, what better job for a person with perfect memory?


Role: Declan is a Social-Intelligence character. His main job is to sit and record the goings on of the City. Just by being present, everything is remembered. He's definitely more grounded than the rest of the Changeling's in New York, probably a sign of remembering so clearly the triumphs and tragedies as others. He's more humble, and by extension is burdened with Common Sense. Something that can be lacking to the Lost.

Flaw: You'll notice I didn't add a Why to this one. That's because he doesn't have one. Declan doesn't have a past as such, his Fae Keeper has his story (or History) in her possession. He doesn't have a motivation other than his job. This has left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, and a more tragic air. He's watched enough train wrecks.

Declan is my least favorite character. I had written him too late into the Chronicle, and there really is no sense of growth to him. I often bemoan how his function has become "Just sit here and watch" There's no real growth to him and it makes the scene feel like a drag. He's a utility, nothing much else. He does represent the sense I have some times that I am to bear witness to events and not effect them and the bitterness that comes from them.

As you can see, I tend to favor Intelligence based characters. I like to explore my surroundings as a player, I like to know the world I'm in and I'm dealing with. This is a part of what draws me to games, the World that makes it up. I've stuck to them because I was always comfortable with them. Next Chronicle, when all our characters are retired and we make new ones, I plan to make roles out side of my comfort zone. More on that as time goes on.

Later

Playing to Type: a Role Play Discussion

This post is dedicated to Ericka, Roo and Rachel, who suggested this. Ladies, you're to blame :P

God Please, Kill Me Now

You're in a room, dealing amongst the power elite as you usually are. You meet a person you've never seen before. He's a tall man, easily 6 and a half foot. He has dark, dusky colored tone to him and carries himself well. You approach him to get to know him better, he could be a tremendous asset, or at least a minor diversion from the normal drawl. You look to him and smile. Before you say anything, you see a note pinned to his t-shirt..

My Character is:
- 5' 3''
- Asian Gentleman, twitchy and neurotic
- Wearing a Suit

Well, you think, shit.

This happens sometimes in LARPs, when the player doesn't match the character he is playing. It's to be expected. We are, every one of us, playing a game of make-believe. A very mechanical game of make believe, but make believe nonetheless. We can be whatever we want in the game space, many people build characters that appeal to certain aspects of their lives, some do characters as escapes of their real life and give them aspects that couldn't normally have. Some make characters that are, with minor cosmetic exceptions, merely avatars of their real world selves.

In the show that is our game , and let's be real that while we are playing a game we are also characters and performers of theater in which we are also the audience, there requires one thing that all shows need: The Veil of Disbelief to be suspended.

I know what you're saying, "Craig, you ignorant slut. Are you seriously telling me that you can buy that we're centuries old vampires, but you can't buy that I'm playing a twelve year old boy when I'm a forty year old man?"

Well, the answer is I can. But I'm expected here to believe that we're all vampires. We have mechanics and everything to support what we can do. Why are you playing a twelve year old boy?

We in LARP have to play things in a slightly Dissociative way. We're not just thinking for ourselves, we're thinking for our characters. So during game, we're thinking for two. Play a series of games, and you're thinking for several people. That's a challenge in of itself.

These are the thoughts that keep me up at night, folks.

But my point is this: Having to take the description of your character, subtract it from your physical body, and extrapolate a mental image is taxing and detracts from the rest of the make believe.

So where does that leave us? Well, it leaves us with you.

A popular theory, or at least one I've heard a few times is this: "Would you cast yourself for this character if you were a director of a play?" This of course appeals to the theatrically inclined members of Role Playing (which hey, there's a shock), but it does lend some credit. You can change your face with make up, your voice with training, your posture with practice, but your body is still your body and there is very little that can be altered on the fly. The character you create should at least be in the ball park of your general physical appearance, especially your build. A forty year old guy who weight-lifts every other day is going to find a hard time convincing people with his twelve year old character who looks like a stiff breeze would blow him down. It's not impossible, but it's not easy.

Let's take me for example. I am 5'10''/5'11'' Two hundred and *grumble grumble grumble* pound man in his late twenties. I have a pale complexion, dark hair, hazel eyes with one eye being browner than the other and slightly lazy to the right. My voice is a nasal tenor that has a slight Bronx accent (the "slight" part disappears at times). I tend to talk a lot, and be funny or try anyways. If I were a director, I would be a supporting character, a sidekick or ally to the main character(s) and aiding them along the way. I am not going to be playing an olympic swimmer or gymnast. I am not going to be playing "The Popular One" at least by a glance. So that leaves me with characters that deal mostly behind the scenes, who find stuff and bring them to others, or go out and do things for those who know what to do. I would have to push myself very hard to play other kinds of roles, I can, but it's a bit out of my comfort zone.

Those of you reading and following with me, keep in mind that I'm saying "Roles" and "Characters". This is in no way me saying "Go ahead and play yourself." This to me is worse than playing a character that shallowly doesn't resemble you. I've met people who have played what is effectively them with supernatural powers. I find them to be annoying and tend to be ones who take the game too seriously because it is in fact them in the scenario and not the character.

What I'm saying is this: If you're going to play, realize that other people are reacting to it based on what they see of you. Does this sound shallow? Yes it is. We're humans, this is part of the bag.

An exception to this are NPCs. The reason for this are because, well, they're NPCs. They are not Player Characters. They are assigned to fill a specific role and the person playing them isn't necessarily the same every game, which leads to a very interesting discussion about Long Term NPCs and consistency that I'd like to bring up one day.

So where does this whole diatribe lead us? Ultimately, it leads us to the balancing act of playing a game or playing a role. In one, we are trying to "win", or as much as one can in an open ended scenario. In the other, we are all pieces of a greater story being told on a personal, local, regional, national and global scale. We play the game, but we tell a story while doing it. How do we balance it? It's a discussion for a later time, though. Let's keep the focus on playing type.


Here are some tips to help in building characters that work with you:

-Think of the character as a costume. You put them on, wear them for a few hours, then slip back into yourself when you're done. The thing about costumes is that they are meant to fit on you. See yourself as the frame, and build the character around yourself.

- Since we took it metaphorically, let's get literal. Costuming helps. It's the adage that the clothes make the man/woman. In many regards, this is true (the reverse is also true, but that's neither here nor there). Me for example again, I tend to hate, hate, Hate wearing suits. There is just something so stiff and formal and suffocating about them. So I tend to prefer to wear regular street clothes, or at the most, business casual. Lately, I've been suiting it up for my Requiem Character, Taglia.

Taglia is a Doctor, a studier or mythology, and a lush. He's more comfortable in dress down and prefers to go for the "Teacher's Assistant" over "Professor Emeritus." Lately however, with the Invictus breathing down his neck, he's been playing their game a little and putting on the shirt, tie, clan and covenant pins. As I said, shirt and ties make me feel claustrophobic and immobile. That's good, because that's how I want Taglia to feel. He is uncomfortable, and he is suffocating.

Now, there are of course exceptions to this that I've noticed. Some venues need to Suspend the Veil of Disbelief with a lot more industrial clamps than most. Changeling is the most egregious, but then again, it has to be. Changeling is built around the concept of "you were irrevocably altered by the True Fae Forever." When most people introduce each other in character in Changeling, they step out of character and ask the million dollar question:

"What am I seeing?"

Sometimes you'll get really profuse descriptions, very rarely will you hear "Just like this". Some people hit up the make up and costuming for the venue. In terms of the discrepancy between what I'm seeing and what they're describing, the game gives us a brilliant way of dealing with it. We're not seeing them, we're seeing their Mask. We're seeing the thing that they wear for the normals, because OOCly we are normal (work with me here) people. So we as players see their Masks and part of their Mien, while we as Character's see their Mien.

Another thing to consider when playing outside of Type is duration of play. I recently played Dystopia Rising, in which you were in character from 9pm Friday until Noon Sunday. With very few exceptions can I see players staying in character for the full 35 hours. For incoming players, I'd suggest keeping the character...I guess Trimmed Down is a good term. Keep it as close to you as you can. This is also considering that DR is a game that makes you rely more on natural ability than Stats on a sheet. Both you and your character are in the woods at night, with things may or may not be in there with you. You need to be ready, you need to react and attack. And this goes on for a day and a half. It's comparatively easier to play outside the box in a studio for four hours.

So, Build around yourself, Dress the Part, Know your venue. This discussion can go on forever, there is no hard answer for this. I'll most likely come back to it from time to time, while also addressing the big question I mentioned before. Is LARPing a Story To Tell, or A Game To Win.

Later

Role Playing Disabilities: Considerations and Concerns

I know I said that my next post would be a reply to The Letter, and that I would go into depth for what I want to aim for being an ST. I had intended that.

This is not that post.

My friend Kat re-activated his own larp blog called "Dealing with Aces". His first post is one that I find not only dear to my own heart, but I think is a major concern in Role Playing. His post was about playing disabilities, or "derangements" as they are mechanically known in some gaming circles. In his blog, he comments about playing those derangements and the consideration one should put into it, especially if one is playing it seriously. He can say it better than I can

Here's the thing. I'm a psychologist, I've dealt with people who have schizophrenia, autism, major depression, bipolar and shit I'm not sure are named yet. Each and every one of them all have one thing in common. It's a simple thing, and by far the most difficult.

Each one of them limits the person's ability to function in normal society.

This is a major issue in a game which is based around social interactions and and networking. A character, such as Kat's, is suffering severe mental and psychomotor issues. In a game and club that rewards actions and interactions, playing a legitimately ill or disabled person is limiting for both the player and the player around them. It's difficult to work with Kazuo (Kat's character), especially when my character is torn between his role as his therapist and one of his handlers and the role of the Prisci of his Clan. During last month's Requiem game, Kazuo had entered (plot related) convulsions. My character, Taglia, was seeking to help him. Meanwhile, Taglia was approached by the Keeper of Elysium, who demanded an immediate audience. When Taglia says he's trying to help Kazuo, the Keeper offhandedly offers that he can kill Kazuo to lighten my schedule.

The Keeper is dead, btw, Kazuo lives. Irony, kids.

But the point I'm getting at is that I can definitely feel the awkwardness of dealing with Kazuo on a regular basis. In all honesty, it's the same feeling I get when in the ward and helping patients. It's that level of disconnect between me and them, and that in some imperceptible way, our views of reality are skewed without context. In Cam, though, I know that Kat is Role Playing, I can seperate enough of it. But that's meta gaming, and frankly isn't fair to him, me or the game.

Kat plays derangements like they should be. Another example is my friend Brandon. Brandon plays Alan, a drugged out pastiche to Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Hunter S Thompson. This is the character that walks around with ayahuasca lacrima (drink that a vampire can ingest) and talks about being sired by Aliens from the fifth dimension. He's the flip side of the argument, where Kazuo is borderline Catatonic, Alan is Manic and high energy. Both are played seriously though, and that's the point.

Most derangements as I've seen them are often played for laughs, or when a player is bored. There is a term for these kinds of players: Fish Malks. The term comes from Clan Malkavian in Vampire: The Masquerade. The Clan's main weakness is being completely and irredeemably insane. In my mind, Christopher Walken plays a lot of Malkavian roles, and takes both tacks. In some, he's the alien mad man. Think Gabriel in the Prophecy:

Catherine: Go to hell!

Gabriel: Heaven, darling. Heaven. At least get the zip code right.

Catherine: It's all the same to you, isn't it?

Gabriel: No. In heaven, we believe in love.

Catherine: What do you love, Gabriel?

Gabriel: Cracking your skull.

In some, he plays just a wacky old man. He's the Continental. Detached from reality, but effectively harmless. These are fish malks, deranged, harmless and essentially exist as attention grabbers. No one knows the exact origin of the term, but many suspect this photo...

This is a picture that exists

This goes back to my discussion that many of us are playing in the World of Darkness, almost everything and anything is in fact dangerous. What is the point of playing Edd the Hyena when he exists as a convenient laugh to the audience of players?

One of my favorite characters with Derangements is Vampire The Requiem's Rebecca Allen (I'd post her playr's name but I'd rather permission first.) Aunt Becky, as she's sometimes called, has Dissociative Identity Disorder, more colloquially known as Multilple or Split Personality's. Many people would play it as a joke of one body with two different voices. I've done scenes that were resultant of her triggers and her alters. While Aunt Becky is abrasive, some of her Alters are complete monsters. Even when culpable in damaging offenses, it is most likely her alter personality's than herself...we think.

This all comes down to one major things that should be prevalent and essentially the point of bringing a character with a disability in the game:

What are the consequences of this character being in the game?Actions should have consequences. A joke is terrible circumstances that excuse consequence for the punchline. A lot of people will decry that a lot of this goes on in Changeling, that the venue is inherently wacky. This is wrong. It allows for more whimsy but you need to keep in mind that this is a venue entirely filled with abduction and abuse survivors. The game is one giant exercise in coping when Normalcy is shot in execution style.

Thank you, this was your downer moment of the evening.

So, when introducing characters with clear and present derangements, always ask this question: how will it affect my performance and the game? What are the consequences?

And now for the list of mentally ill I'd be interested to playing in the future for Requiem:

- Moroi: a bloodline relatively exclusive to the Ordo Dracul. They are a combination of Gangrel and Nosferatu. These are the Order's shock troops, and they're titles are Hunters. They exist for one real purpose: Kill the Enemy. I mentioned it once to a fellow player about possibly playing one, and he told me "Why? You'd never get any interactions because of what he is." Well, why the hell not? A lot of other players walk in as clear Hitter's, why not him? He's a monster to monster's, that's wonderful to work with especially if he's in a social setting. What if his superior is out of the way that evening and he's expected to deal with it? What if a fellow Kindred somehow appeals to something deep inside him, humanizes him? It would be ironic, and definitely grounds for good RP. For a good inspiration for a Moroi, watching Jet Li in Unleashed (aka Danny the Dog)

- Alucinor: I feel like they are the second cousin to the Malks. The Alucinor are Mekhet based around dreams. Their main weakness is that dream and reality tend to bleed in. Think of Cobb in Inception, how by the end of it dreams and hallucinations were bleeding in every where. The weakness is debilitating, especially considering that the power of "go to sleep" is so damaging. However, I see the weakness glossed over for minor, Fish-Malk Funny moments. This was the bloodline Taglia was originally going to be, but then he picked Agoniste (because they are both, in a sense, death seekers).

Allow me to finish this post with one final word: playing a derangement is harder than it looks. Like Kat says in his post, it's exhausting after four straight hours and is draining because of the effort it takes to limit yourself on a physical, emotional and mental level. You need to constantly be aware of your physical positioning and your emotional affect. I can appreciate that level of detail, I'm not sure if I could pull it off. It's not recommended for everyone, but damned if I don't love it when it works.

Later

Storytelling Advice Part 1: The Email

 Immediately after I was elected ST, I recieved an email from a fellow Cammie and a former ST for changeling. He gave me a few words of wisdom, and figured I'd share. Names have been omitted due to lack of permission.

So I'm not worried about you as an ST, like honestly man I have full confidence in you, your abilities, and what your crazy brain can cook up with for mage. No pressure, but I've got faith in you. Now below is a list of things I wanted to throw your way as advice because being an ST isn't easy, and as you're a first timer here, it's going to be… let's say… fun… sure let's call it fun. 

As for ST duties (& stuff): 

1. Get to know your players & their characters. People are genuinely lazy when they put stuff up onto the database, and as a result the write ups and such that they have in there are not really the same as what they have in the game itself. So getting to talk to and ask everyone what the deal is with their character is probably 1 of the most important things i could ever suggest doing.
2. Figure out your ST style. By this I mean: Matt's style was heavy on plot bus that had individual tie ins. I was heavy on what I call plot land mines, you start walking through and OH SHIT WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED??? WHY ARE THERE CLAYMORES AND PUPPIES EVERYWHERE NOW???? Abby is huge on crafting the world and having it respond back in a conversation with the players and their interactions. So once you know what your style is, this helps dictate for you what everything else is going to be.
3. Don't take it personally. No really don't. I spent 1 full year at Changeling panicking before every single game the day of wondering "did I do enough, what can I do more of… oh crap they are all going to hate me, no wait, they do just hate me… FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK" However, we all do understand there is a difference between you and the position itself. We love Craig, and sometimes Craig is going to have to make some tough choices. We may like or not like those tough choices. So as a result, don't take it personally man. The gig comes with this and every ST has to deal with it. So just remember, we love ya, and when your ST hat is on, that's 1 thing, and when it's off that's a different person all together. 
4. Don't commit yourself to any plot, NPC, or plan. Players will always find a way to simultaneously turn any plans you have both inside out and sideways. No plot will ever go the way you plan, and because of this as an ST you can't get too attached to what you have planned. 
5. Remember to make time for yourself and for being an ST. I love ST's that can be on top of emails and such 24/7, but burn out does exist and stuff can just get to be that difficult if you don't give yourself some time to breath.
6. Question everything. If there is ever an app that is in the DB, question anything in there even if it seems like the app is air tight just because the higher in ranks the approval can go, the less and less the higher up officers will know about this person and their character. So you'll want to help paint a bigger picture each time. Same applies to even in game. No player is perfect, and I'm not saying folks will try to pull BS on you hoping your gullible, but players and ST's make mistakes and it's sometimes better to waste time to be clear about something than it is to just have something happen that no one was clear on and have it bite you in the ass later. So don't be afraid to scrutinize players when you feel it's appropriate.

As for aVST advice (yea it's special enough that it needs a separate list):

So the current situation you have for aVST is this:

1. So you have a game where almost every person is involved in some way shape or form in important plot.
2. Unlike the other games, we aren't at odds with one another but are a lot more in super friends mode with everyone having a position to play in the game.
3. You're in a rock & a hard place here. 

My advice is: 

1. Spend at least 1 - 2 games on your own to just get a feel for the game, how it runs, and what you see yourself needing. This is something that will ALWAYS be new and different per ST and I only really ever found comes up once we are in the saddle. 
2. Make a list of the things you know for a fact you're going to need help in.
3. Ask individuals that you already know off the bat that you can work with, have offered, or you would like to help you out if they can come help you as an aVST.
4. Put an all call after month 3 or 4 if you see that the folks you hand picked aren't going to be able to help you out.

I know it's tough, it really is, but I really also can't stress enough parts 1 & 2 of my advice list along with just being able to give yourself and others some breathing room to see what's up.

My next blog will be the reply to this, using what I want to do and have done since I've started work.

Month One and Done, First month as an ST

This weekend was my first game as ST for New York City's Mage venue. It was intense, and exciting, and definitely very interesting. Here comes the run down.

Oh, and while I will be discussing things from the game and not the plot, this is all Out of Character information, for those of my players reading this.

I woke up at 6am to finish prepping for the scenes. This is in-of-itself a sign of how much I take this position seriously. I am not a morning person, I love sleep, and breakfast is more of a concept and less of a reality. This is TRIPLY so on Saturdays. Of course, even when I'm early, I'm late. The person with the keys to the studio did not show up until 12pm, which was when game started. So we began game about a half an hour late. Not ultimately a problem, it just ups our timetables.

As people check in, I receive a surprise. A player came in with a werewolf sheet. That makes life a little interesting. They had an approval for permanent cross venue, meaning that the werewolf they were playing is allowed to come into the Mage Venue (cross venue is srs bizness in Cam), so it's all legally copacetic. However, it came without notice and without information to the new VST. I allowed it, and truth be told the player did well, and enhanced the situation. It was lucky that the plot was Spiritual in origin (in World of Darkness, Werewolves are partially creatures of the Spirit Realm), but there are a lot of ways that can go wrong. It doesn't help that there isn't a Werewolf game in this City, making my resources limited to the few who play and the corebook.

The game was held one week after the major National Convention Atlanta by Night. During the Mage part of the convention, several players made their way to Atlantis, the capital of Magic which had been decimated before the world became the world...yeah, I know. Anyway, the point is that it was a religious experience to a lot of people and it lead to a lot of decisions to the Hierarch/Leader of the New York Mages, which of course leads to in fighting. This is unheard of in the year or so I've been playing, since we've all had a common enemy. You kill ONE Police Commissioner who was a part of a global conspiracy and suddenly you turn on each other. Sheesh. So yes, I get to have political infighting, which is WONDERFUL, helps take the load off my case.

Secondly came my plot, or at least two of them. The B plot was the return of Spirits in the City. They ran after a Death Spirit started manifesting into the world and using a Mage to birth itself (Mage is one giant "you'd have to have been there" moment). Anyways, one of them (played by my friend and Assistant, Ben) comes in as a Spirit, which several people, including the Hierarch and Werewolf, can see. The Werewolf, partially being a creature of the Spirit Realm, is able to question name, rank, classification and shoe size from most spirits. She gets it, Osveta, which is Croation for "Revenge" is just that. She is a Rank 5 Spirit of Revenge.

To give you an idea of Ranks in the Spirit World, 5 is in the range of Minor Gods, 6 is a Lesser god, 7 is a greater God (think Zeus, or Odin), 8 is  Celestial Beings (Gaia would be an example, possibly) 9 are Platonic Forms, The Endless would make good 9s. Finally is Rank 10, which is God and other Absolute Beings beyond manifest understanding.

So what the Consilium has run into is a Lesser God of Revenge and Wrath, and all the Rank 4's, 3's, 2's and 1's that answer to her. She takes the form of a Little Girl, she likes sundaes...really.

Actually, Osveta was a character in the first story I ever wrote for my Mage character. It was something I was worried about doing, and I'm truly very touched that people liked the character (the story is on other Blog: Boy The City Talks To) I have several stories, and many of these characters may make a return in the venue.

The highlight of my day was the plot I personally ran. In a bid to find a way to banish the Death Spirit still attached and growing through the Mage, three members of the Consillium find themselves at a mental home for those who had Seen Too Much. Magic and Reality don't get along much in Awakening, and the concept of The Lie will make sure that it never goes noticed. What happens if the only way that works is to make the non-mages go insane? They say it, but they're brains can't process it.

So, I let the players walk through that. literally. The site we had was in fact two different rooms. I took the larger room and scattered around it index cards describing each individual patient they saw, some had plot attached, some didn't. The idea came from my playing Dystopia Rising, which used Item Cards and had pieces of salvageable items littered throughout their Site. This is the kind of game I want to play, one that involves investigation and depth, as opposed to just modules that involve hitting things with my axe.

 In this scene I played Dr. Chase Alain, a genial doctor with a prosthetic leg. He required the use of a cane, which was designed with flame stripes (it's the cane Dr. House uses, fyi). Unfortunately, not much is what it seems. The Doctor is a Scelesti, a mage who has dedicated itself to the Abyss, but for all the right reasons. He went...a little insane, and dropped a siginficant plot onto the doorsteps of the players. Then he blew himself, the building and his charges up.

It was during this part that one of the characters realizes something, and realizes what plot is going on. The look he gave me was the one of understanding and one that says in any language "Oh Shit". It was a rush, to be able to illicit that response from a player.

The mages, being Mages, were unscathed. Save one. A new player who admitted to me during the game that he wasn't able to wrap his mind around the concept of Mage and wanted to put his character away without killing him off. We arranged for him in the blast to be knocked out of the setting and making a run for it. No one knew him, and really no one noticed his disappearance, which makes me want to have him come back at some point and fuck with that. But I digress.

The game ended as the consillium put together the pieces. What was the point of the House, what were it's connections to the Abyss? Only downtime actions will tell...MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

All in all, it was a great game,  and definitely some of the most intense Role Playing going on I've seen in game. This thrills me. There were a few problems, opening up on time being one of them. The other problem comes from the transition of one Storyteller to the next. My predecessor is the new Storyteller for the domain of New York City, meaning he is responsible for the story of the City, while myself and the ST's for Changeling The Lost and Requiem are responsible for the stories of our respective venues while inside that. When he became DST, he took the previous Mage plots with him. This lightens the load for me, but the plots are not resolved yet and they were highly involved. So a lot of questions had to be diverted to the DST. I think we both realized at the end that some of those plots need to be put away.

That was the first month, the first hurrah. I won't be in New York for November's game, but that gives me time to build a few ideas, especially a certain prop, using certain designs, to mind fuck a certain group of players.

Remember, Can't spell 'Sadist" without "ST"

Later,

C