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Davis Chisum
Lurker

Joined: 20 Nov 2007
Posts: 2

Location: The Righteous Indignation

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:01 pm Post subject:

Hi there,

This was also my first Serenity event and, by and large, leaving aside the weather (which was Ri Shao guo shi bing) I thought it was terrific, it had a terrific atmosphere created by the committment of the players to their characters and the depth to which the crew played theirs.

That said I do agree with you on a number of points - firstly I do think a quick Q & A with new players might be in order, it was quite difficult to contact the refs before the event and some of the things to do with the characters weren't at all clear from the online rules. In events like Maelstrom, with hundreds of participants, it's obviously not possible to do that but it would have been nice to find time to make the new players feel a bit more at home.

I also felt that, certainly at the event, some skill sets were more useful than others - being able to kill and maim people is a universally useful talent and the ability to heal said maimed individuals also seemed much in demand. Beyond some of the skills seemed less useful, although I appreciate that I might discover more once the downtime appears.

Anyway those are my thoughts,

Pete C. aka Davis Chisum

Shikoba
Pilot

Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 226

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:09 am Post subject:

I certainly agree about the skill sets. Shikoba is a pilot, a skill which has uterly no use what so ever to the game system beyond each ship must have one. It's one of the reasons I work hard to find other things to do.

a Q&A section on the website would be handy or maybe character suppliments if folks would be willing to volenteer to write them.
_________________
Shikoba Cheng - The Jien Huo

Fighting makes Buddha cry.

Xian Fei Kalavati
Mook

Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 16

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:27 am Post subject:

What do you mean by character supplements?
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Xian Fei - Vital Spark

Medic-Midwife

Tiahne
Mook

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 28

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:18 am Post subject:

My 2 cred's worth...

I agree it'd be a good idea to have a player point of contact on site prior to time in - not only to welcome new players but also distribute character info & real world advice (character briefings, directions to car parks, toilets, etc). I know I didn't get my character cards until halfway through the game, and a friend who came with me didn't see them all game - it wasn't till we were talking afterwards we realised he should've been able to at least log into the cortex...

If you're new, or shy, and you don't know quite what to say it can make things hard - I know from personal experience. Plus it's very hard to tell when you don't know people OOC, whether IC attitude is representative of the person or the character. To take the most obvious example - I don't know Matt OOC, and only hope that the character of Ryan Su isn't representative of the player... Wink

Going on what Bar's said (sorry to use you as an example chap) he's deliberately playing a surly character, so it might well be you don't get the response you're hoping for - but this isn't necessarily the fault of either player, just the character situation you're in. I guess my advice is to persevere. If you've tried talking to some groups and found them insular, or been talking to people and found them polite but not really interested, find some other folks to talk to - not everyone will be like that, I guarantee you. Smile

I'm *not* saying anyone's deliberately like this. But it is a game setting where the crew mentality is a factor. If I try to chat to a bunch of folks, and they're busy or involved in a crew relevant plot, they're not gonna want to welcome me with open arms. I've found Serenity to be a really friendly game, but it would be a lie to say that everyone's immediately approachable.

Oh, and by all means change your name - or spend any amount of time with the Gunsharks and they'll change it for you ... Wink

Kali/Tiahne/Doc Rock Smile

Bar
Not-so-green

Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 31

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:39 am Post subject:

Doc Rock wrote:

Going on what Bar's said (sorry to use you as an example chap) he's deliberately playing a surly character

Well i've never been so insul....wait no, yeah guilty as charged.

Yes I play a horrible mean disgusting little redneck which can seem as if I am trying to ostracise certain parts of the character base from intereacting with him but at the same time I will deliberatley avoid "high falutin" situations as well due to being made to feel uncomfortable in them. See Shikobas long suffering attempts at getting Bar to interact with the party or attempting to get him to enjoy himself every once in awile. It works both ways. You can't have everyone getting on with everyone otherwise you just get "super-happy-funtime" or a "bluepeter lrp" and that would be rubbish.

Doc Rock wrote:

spend any amount of time with the Gunsharks and they'll change it for you

Easier than remembering Laughing

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Grace's Gunsharks

Y'all be leavin me be, I told you it be mechanic not wechanic

choccoweeble
Lurker

Joined: 21 Nov 2007
Posts: 2

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject:

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good time, but I hope that the stuff other people have said will reassure you enough that you'll keep on coming. I'm relatively new to LARP myself, but each event I go to convinces me more that it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on!! (or off depending on the character... ;P). Things to remember :
1/ If you're the kind of person that needs quiet and goes to sleep relatively early then camping ooc is advisable. You will find, however, that the more you get into the hobby, the more you will find the adrenalin buzz keeps you going so much that you hardly need to sleep.
2/ Layers are paramount!! Whatever your costume, make sure you have plenty of things to put on underneath, especially at this time of year.
3/ Everyone is there to have fun. In my experience, larpers are a decent bunch and everyone is happy to help newbies out - We've all been there!!
4/ This event was my first ever experience of crewing, and quite frankly some of the stuff I was asked to do made me shake with nerves. The only thing I can say is that you have to push yourself, go outside your comfort zone, the buzz you will get from it is incredible. There is nothing better than a game where people are totally absorbed in the scenario and really into their characters. It can be a really intense experience - at Artificer last month I got so involved at one point that I started hyperventilating. And I know of at least 3 people that actually cried IC.
5/ If you have any problems, please, please tell a member of the crew or a ref straight away so we can help you out. The number 1 most important thing for everyone involved in running the event is that the players have fun. And don't be intimidated by the ref hut. Just come up, knock on the door and someone will have a chat with you. The only reason we are reluctant to let players in sometimes and go quiet when you do come in, is that we might be talking about plot, and don't want to ruin the game for you.
6/ I would recommend that you have a go at crewing. It will give you the opportunity to try out different types of characters, and also let you roleplay in small doses, then have a break for a while and generally socialise. It will also mean you get to know other people OOC a lot quicker, which should make things easier for you. You will find if you go to different LARP events that you will know people, as there are quite a lot of hardcorers on the circuit!!
7/ (Apologies for the slight pimping here) If you have considered other systems, just to let you know, we have a group at Maelstrom which is relatively small and we would really love more players. If you are interested PM me and we will go through everything. It will probably suit you quite well as we are fairly relaxed about being IC when it is just our group in the camp with no other players there, so if you need a break no worries. We also tend to do things together being small, so there will not be too much pressure on you to go out and do things on your own unless you feel comfortable with it.
8/ Please, please stick with it. A lot of larpers are geeks (sorry guys) and can therefore seem very intimidating, especially with the amount of jargon that gets bandied around. No one is going to berate you for "getting it wrong" there is no wrong way to roleplay. As I think people have already said, the whole fun of roleplaying is escapism, playing a character that is unlike yourself. This does not happen over night. It takes practice and experience to be able to let yourself go that much and really immerse yourself in the whole thing.

I hope you can look back on the event positively, and let the experience help you improve the events you go to in the future. Remember, there is no such thing as an unimportant character. Every player / NPC adds something to the game and carries the fantasy.

Welcome to Larp. May you have many happy years together...

Katherine ("Poontang Sally")
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"Is it real or is it in my head?"
"It's in your head, but why on Earth should that mean it isn't real"

Jon
It's all my fault

Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 149

Location: Londinium

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject:

Rightio, so in summary (amoungst other things..)

1) Full contact details to hit website
2) Explore character skills outside of those commonly used so far (Pilot is set for a major re-write)
3) Develop orientation and welcome for new players
4) Ensure those who are a little apprehensive are engaged
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"I aim to misbehave..."

Tobias Rieper
Seasoned

Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Posts: 76

Location: Outbound from Ariel......

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:09 pm Post subject:

[quote="Jon"] Explore character skills outside of those commonly used so far

lockpick/bypass skills don't seem to be much used either.....
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Tobias Rieper - The Vital Spark

Captain & Errant nephew of Blue Sun Chairman!

Shikoba
Pilot

Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 226

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:03 pm Post subject:

I'm happy for new players to come speak to me if they're feelnig a little lost, heck I'm happy for any player to come speak to me if they're feeling a little lost, you're most welcome.

By suppliments I mean the little additional booklet or sheet of information explaining how that character type works. I think there may be a few that could do with it, companions being the most obvious. for instance Companions don't ever solicite, thats for whores to do Razz

Bar wrote:

See Shikobas long suffering attempts at getting Bar to interact with the party or attempting to get him to enjoy himself every once in awile. It works both ways.

Attempts? I find the phrase "Bar you want a drink" seems to do the job just fine. He's happy in his surly skin and what matters is he knows I care Razz

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Shikoba Cheng - The Jien Huo

Fighting makes Buddha cry.

Capt Tom Crowson
Not-so-green

Joined: 01 Mar 2007
Posts: 68

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:04 am Post subject:

Jon wrote:

Yep think that pretty much sums it up. To expand.....
1) Your web-site and word of mouth are going to be the two main ways that people will find out info on the game. People will always have questions so will want to get in touch. Admittedly the more information thats on there the better.

If possible see if you can get on-line payment set up. I know it takes a little slice off your profits (think its about 3%) but i know half the reason I didn't book til last minute was because I had to find my cheque book

2) Yep. I'm sure skills are up for a re-write. I don't think that theyre bad as such, just that there hasnt needed to be much opportunity to use them. None of the chests I've come across have been locked, I've never seen an electronic lock, and pilot is mostly a downtime skill

3) This is always the hard one and I can't talk cos I'm really terrible for not doing it as well. I think you need to allocate one person as your greeter at the event. They're not to get involved in anythng else apart from sitting at the car park 3 hours before time in and possibly a bit after was well. All they do is say "Hi Welcome to BDH. Crew or Player?. Okay your field is over there. Let me give you your character sheet, toilets are over there, water stand is over there. Do you understnad the rules? Happy with everything else? Time in is at 9, any questions?"

Don't do it yourself cos you'll get distracted. Get someone who's got a good knowledge of whats going on but isn't needed for the last minute "headless chicken" run that we all get at T minus 2 hours.

I personally dont think that you need a character booklet type as such (I'm not sure you could have a "How a medic should act", but more world background would help the people who havent seen the series. Some people have only seen the film and that only gives a flavour for it.
Maybe something like "A Beginners Guide to the 'Verse".
Explain who the Alliance are, what Reavers are, how Companions find their clients, why Browncoats don't like Unification day and so on.

We did one for our Vampire group. It was about 4 sides of A4, so easily readable in 10 mins but really useful for "Joes mate who's never done LRP before and doesn't entirely know what he's doing"

4) Those who are a little apprehensive don't necessarily stand out to players. I say people wandering around not talking much to people, or just talking to the same few, and I must admit that it never occurred to me that they might be a bit "lost". Mostly cos I'm ignorant I think but....
As a solution, have a question on the booking form of "Do you want some help to get started in the game". If the person ticks yes, then have an NPC (someone who's a bit more outgoing) who has some business with them, an old friend or something who can say "Hi its me your old friend from the academy, let me introduce you to a few other people.....". They can stick around for a little bit just to make sure that the persons settling in.
You don't need lots of people, and NPCs can probably do multiples. I don't personally know how much time the crew spent sitting around (if at all) but I'm usre its easily to allocate a couple of people to help keep an eye on the errant sheep

Sorry for the long post. Will keep chucking out ideas as I think of them. Overall I thinik the games working brilliantly. If it falls down anywhere at the moment its more the logistics and planning of the event. Everything else like the plots and feel are absolutely spot on

flannelcat
Mook

Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 12

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:03 am Post subject:

"... then have an NPC (someone who's a bit more outgoing) who has some business with them, an old friend or something who can say "Hi its me your old friend from the academy, let me introduce you to a few other people.....". They can stick around for a little bit just to make sure that the person's settling in. "

Or even a PC, if it's appropriate - on the Saturday, we had our backgrounds tied neatly in to one of the other crews, and it's made our game so much more interesting for it.

I really like this idea. Smile

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Ben Su Tiao - Chang'E - 嫦娥

Blibs
Recruit

Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 6

Location: Shaft 15

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:04 pm Post subject:

Some of this does rely on a member of crew being available and not trying hundreds of chinese lanterns up. Shocked

Capt Tom Crowson
Not-so-green

Joined: 01 Mar 2007
Posts: 68

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:28 pm Post subject:

I'd say not a player to be honest, as they have other things to be getting on with, though I do heartily agree that if theres some connection between crews then they will certainly help.

NPC's who are specifically given the job of keeping an eye on the quiet ones won't get distracted. And technically you can have the same NPCs looking after half a dozen people each.

And yes it does rely on not having people tying up hundreds of lanterns instead (and I did notice that they were all individually tied up there).

It did really help the atmosphere though having such a fantastically decorated room. Again this comes down to the best use of time. The lanterns could have been tied onto long pieces of string before the event, and then you're only tying up a 6 or 7 long strings when time is pressing.

I know at the last Brighton Below I was snipping up bits of paper in the morning when I shouldve been packing and checking over other more important bits. The snipping should've been done the week before whilst I was watching TV. So I'm guillty of it too

DrugCrazedPony
Mook

Joined: 19 Nov 2007
Posts: 20

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:44 pm Post subject:

Capt Tom Crowson wrote:

I personally dont think that you need a character booklet type as such (I'm not sure you could have a "How a medic should act",

True, but I think a piece of general advice for first time LARPers would be useful though. I'm in the process of writing some beginners tips on what to include in a character profile, how to act, how to get involved in plot. That sort of thing. Preferably kept down to one page of A4 in 12 pt.

If anyone has any thoughts here I'll be happy to include them.

Thing is, it's not easy the first time, especially if you're shy, but ultimately it's up to the player to get involved. This is tricky woithout a little more knowledge.

Capt Tom Crowson
Not-so-green

Joined: 01 Mar 2007
Posts: 68

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:53 pm Post subject:

Yep don't disagree at all. Info on how to create a balanced character which will be playable is always useful. I personally have to give kudo's to the guy who was playing Hooch. Can't imagine how difficult it is to play a character who is mute. Sure its an interesting challenge, but probably one that an inexperienced player should steer away from.

Potentially you could actually have some "initial contact" scenarios for the new people. i.e. you're coming to St Albans because theres a man there called Mr Tofu who's heard that you've got a fast ship and low morals and might have a job for you to do.
Just gives them something to get their teeth into just to start them off, especially if the plot requires them to enlist the help of other people. Make them need a cortexer to help them with it, and force them to interact. I'll admit that there are certain people who will flee when they see plot on the horizon but the ones who are genuinely interested in getting involved but are just a little unsure of themselves will appreciate the leg up

Tobias Rieper
Seasoned

Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Posts: 76

Location: Outbound from Ariel......

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:28 pm Post subject:

"A Beginners Guide to the 'Verse".

hmmm,

i do in fact believe that i made one of those, as a "tourist guide" -
something i did when i was bored, and creating my character concept.
i'll have a look on my pc to see if i can find it....
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Tobias Rieper - The Vital Spark

Captain & Errant nephew of Blue Sun Chairman!

XavierYu
Mook

Joined: 09 Jul 2007
Posts: 23

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:08 pm Post subject:

Quote:

I was thinking of that as well, Ben!

That was really well done. We were a new crew, and slightly lost but just getting our feet. And suddenly an NPC came along and gave us a major job to do. Which involved going out and getting friendly with a ship's crew we hadn't properly met before. Brilliantly done! Absolutely spot-on way to introduce a new ship to the 'verse, wonderfully handled. Made us feel useful, made us feel the background we'd established had been picked up by the bosses, gave us a perfect excuse to meet new people, made us very happy.
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Xavier Yu Ji of the Chang'E. "Pointy Hat Man"

When the Master, Kong Fuzi, was asked about governing he said, "Provide food, enrich the people, maintain rituals, promote men of capability, forgive mistakes, observe promises, take the moral lead."

Tobias Rieper
Seasoned

Joined: 22 Apr 2007
Posts: 76

Location: Outbound from Ariel......

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject:

Tobias Rieper wrote:

Found it, read it, canned it.
hmmm.

Right, For the tourist guide bit, i suggest you use Josh awtry's brief tourist guide to the verse - availible as a free RPG resource on the net. It's designed for the use of new players as an intro to the setting of the table top rpg.
Just re-read it, and it should be perfect for this system too, with no alterations - and best of all, it's free to use!
Here's the link:

http://www.awtry.com/rpg/Verse%20Maps_files/worldguide.pdf

Think i'll write a "brief history of the verse" sheet as a companion to this.
That should make for a decent intro pack, with alliance/unification info added as needed.

++Edit++

Done, at least the first bit anyway. still needs finishing.
what do you all think?

http://www.starchaser-network.btik.com/documents/1690614386.ikml
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Tobias Rieper - The Vital Spark

Captain & Errant nephew of Blue Sun Chairman!

Coben Dane
Not-so-green

Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Posts: 44

Location: Anywhere but Athens

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:58 pm Post subject:

I have to agree with a lot of people here in that I'm shy too, but you just have to push through it. I was eased in a bit because I was crewing, and my frist role was a bodyguard who said very little and just stood around looking vaguely tough. That said, I did have to rebuke someone sharply for use of inappropriate language towards my ward - I remember that made me quite nervous, but luckily the guy rolled with it and didn't escalate things.

You've chosen a tough way into the game, as a companion could really do with being quite outgoing and good at putting people at ease, and on top of that the scheming part requires you to be quite proactive and ready to take the (IC) anger when you're found out. A good thing to remember is that noone's ever etting angry at you personally, just a character you're playing.

Some of the roughest, foulest-mouthed people at the event were really nice and friendly after time-out last time. In short, it's great fun but you have to grit your teeth and jump in there at first.

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