E M E R A L D  C I T Y  C H R O N I C L E S

 

10:05 - Shortly After Announcements - Storyteller table opens - After announcements the storytelling staff will open their table for players to ask questions or to do a variety of things, such as:

• Sign in for XP. Players gain experience points for participation each week. In order to gain these, write your name down as having attended the game. If you don't write down that you played that night, XP won't get reported correctly. There's a sign-in sheet at the Storyteller's table each week. If you don't see one, just ask. :)

• Speak with a storyteller: Ask basic game questions or get help creating a character. Staff is present to help. Please be patient if there is a line.

• Magic List: Sign up for a scene with the Storytellers on the 'Magic List' (it's just a list on a clipboard that is separate from signing in for XP). If you would like your character to interact with the imagined world in some specific way that needs staff adjudication, sign up on the 'Magic List'.

• Magic List: Blood Points are a valuable character resource in our vampire LARP, so it's possible to step out of game for a bit to indicate your vampire character is feeding. There's more about how this works later in the website.

• Mini-plots: Many players have a lot of goals and motivations for their characters and what they want to accomplish, but staff also has many small 'side quests' available for players that are looking to have their characters engage with the world.

• Character plots: Some plots are personal to the individual character and are represented by the Staff using aspects of a character's background to engage them with the world. Not every player wants the staff to actively engage them with story like this, but if you are one that does, please feel free to let staff know.

• Larger world plots: Staff has crafted in-character imaginary locations and antagonists that your character could encounter in their travels. Players could be called on to role-play out their character overcoming various physical, social or mental challenges throughout each game.

 

10:05 - Shortly After Announcements - Live play starts: There are lots of things for your character to do, see and interact with. Our vampire LARP is one of crisscrossing loyalties, politics and intrigue as described in the vampire books we use for our setting and rules. Interact with characters as your character and get to know characters, their roles and titles within vampire society and where your character fits into that. Here's some things to keep in mind about live play at Emerald City Chronicles:

• We don't use weapon props or run live combat. There are some games that do, often called 'boffer larps', that use foam swords called 'boffers', however we don't do live combat, instead using electronic dice rolling apps to manage combat, and staff approved note cards with weapon descriptions to represent weapons and their statistics in the game world. This style of LARP is known as a 'theatrical larp'. We often play on the UW campus and there are police and other non-players nearby that don't want a bunch of folks that appear to be carrying weapons around in the middle of the night.

• We are a 'dry' game. No drug or alcohol use on site, nor may you arrive under the influence. While you're at it, don't break any laws please. :)

• Characters might be mean, even cruel to your character, but it's just a game and the players are not being jerks. Getting in touch with your inner vampire villain is part of the fun.

• There's a 'fade to black' clause. If things get too intense for any reason and you need to take a break and catch your breath, please just ask. Stepping 'out of character' is easy, just place your hand over your heart like you're pledging allegiance to indicate you're out of game.

• It's just a game, but it's one that people put effort into preparation, costuming and character, so be respectful but still have fun! Basically don't be a jerk out of character and people at the game will be warm and inviting in return.

• If you are in the middle of playing and you have a question about a rule, flag down a storyteller, or just pause and look in the book (or on the .pdf).

• The best way to have the best possible time is to read the source material and understand the goals and motivations of your character type and play them to the best of your ability. If you don't read the books that describe the game, you'll be missing out on some very important information. Nobody expects you to memorize the info though.

• Find out where 'in-character' scenes are taking place, and think about how your character got there. Make an entrance!

• New characters might be taken under the wing of existing characters. If there's someone you share a Clan with in-character it will likely be one of them that helps shepard your character into the game world. Feel free to introduce yourself out of character. :)

 

10PM - 2AM - All game long - Storytellers may approach your character to see how they react to a stimulus going on in-game, such as reactions to seeing an in-character fight break out, or a social or political situation, or to roll some dice on an app to see what your character does or how well or poorly they react to a given scenario. Here are some things to keep in mind when interacting with the Storytellers while at game:

• Dice are sometimes pretty random. Don't be disheartened by that, some of the best stories ever written involve some kind of conflict or hardship to overcome. If you roll dice to see if a character action succeeds or fails, even if the dice cause a catastrophy in the short term, there may be other ways to accomplish something similar.

• There's no way to 'win' in a LARP. You as a Player set your own goals for your character to achieve. Maybe they succeed, maybe they don't, but that's not really the point either way. The idea of an open-ended LARP world is to express a character and their point of view in an immersive way. Much like other forms of media, you empathize or put yourself in the shoes of a character that you see, only in LARP, you can embody a character that you have uniquely created. Conflict and resolution are at the heart of all good stories. Enjoy the story as it unfolds. Choose dramatic paths that fit the character's mindset, and worry less about success or failure.

• Staff are often mostly the 'physics' of the world. If your character attempts to jump, we're there to adjudicate the dice roll to see how high and how far. Much like the laws of gravity, vampires have laws too, but also prejudices and traditions. Those are more fluid. The game rules are pretty set in stone, but the in-character rules are a bit more fluid and 'what you can get away with, without getting caught'. Please don't mistake one for the other! Staff will act as those kinds of 'character physics' as well, using tools like scene descriptions, background music, set pieces and props, as well as using the in-character political structures in the game to achieve a sense of drama in keeping with how we interpret the setting from the books.

• Some things are better suited to midweek 'downtime' interactions. Staff might ask for you to 'submit a downtime action' for certain long-term tasks you want your character to perform. This is done online via a simple form.

 

10PM - 2AM - All game long - Players, embodying their characters may approach your character to interact with them in some way, perhaps to trade rumors or make political alliances, or to gain some other kind of advantage in the struggle that takes place in the game world. Keep in mind they have to play the same game that you do, with the same rules, but they could have different abilities and powers depending on their character type.

• If another character is using powers on yours, feel free to have a Storyteller come over and run those checks and give you some role-playing notes. Some powers, and even certain states of being (like Frenzy) effect the behavior of characters, so be prepared to play a PC whose very thoughts and emotions might be at the whim of rival characters from time to time. Challenging, huh?

• Your character sheet is online (once the bookkeeper has entered it in), so it's useful to have it handy on your phone, sort of ready to connect. (In Google Sheets, which is free for all smart phones.

• Player characters will want to talk about in-character politics, share information about their back-stories and generally get to know your character. Don't forget you're playing a sneaky vampire who can withhold information or even lie to get their way.

• If your character would initiate combat with another character, ask the others in the scene to pause and go get a storyteller. (same in reverse, if someone is attacking your character there should be a Storyteller present).

 

2AM - 2:15 - End of Game: Post Mortem - Players come together with storytellers to show  appreciation for each-other's role-play.

• We 'nominate' other players for exceptional role-play, to shake off in-character rivalries and remember we're all here to have a good, immersive, dramatic adventure together, and that the intrigues of the evening are that of cutthroat vampire characters - not players!