Nordic Larp

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  • Blue Valkyrie Needs Food, Badly!

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    Blue Valkyrie Needs Food, Badly!

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    (From the 1985 fantasy-themed arcade game Gauntlet by Atari Games, a warning that one of the players’ characters was running out of energy and would soon die)

    Many different types of energy come into play during a larp. This short article surveys some of the terms larpers have used to describe the types of energy they bring to a larp. It also considers why understanding this may be important for our ability to larp effectively and safely. This is not intended to be a prescriptive taxonomy, but rather a starting point for discussion. The survey consisted of a single open question posed to larpers from a selection of different nationalities and larp traditions: The majority of respondents were European from the Nordic tradition.

    Larping can be hard work. In many cases it can be very physical; we spend many hours moving around, often outdoors, and our sleep is not as good or as long as it may be at home. But what types of energy do we use? I’m looking to collect words that describe our collective fuel for interactions. What types of energy do you expend on larping?

    Where necessary I asked additional questions to ask those who did respond to qualify or unpack their responses prior to classifying them by type.

    Physical Energy

    Larping can be very physical: we spend many hours standing and moving around. We may be outdoors, in the cold, or the dark. We get dehydrated, we tend to eat at irregular times, and our sleep is not as good or as long as it may be at home. But beyond these more obvious forms of exertion, players report some larp-specific bodily activities that used up energy.

    We may use our bodies in different ways, either by standing or moving in an unfamiliar manner leading to sore muscles and stiffness after the larp. Some players have suggested they don’t speak as much in their daily life as they do at larps, others sing at larps but never out of it. In these cases, they have suggested that they have lost their voices during or immediately after the larp.

    Even for larps that are not particularly physical or directly combative, the twin pillars of conflict and stress can lead to the release of adrenaline. Sometimes this is akin to stage fright, sometimes it comes from the physicality of the event, and sometimes it derives from the simulated conflict of the larp. While this can be an intensely pleasurable experience for the player, leading to sensations of fear or excitement and a sense of drive focus((When endogenous adrenaline is released due to stressful events (or simulated stressful events in the case of larp) it seems to focus the moment in order to modulate memory of the event. We need memory to be proportional to the importance of the event. There is evidence that suggests adrenaline does have a role in long-term stress adaptation and emotional memory encoding specifically. (Dornelles A, de Lima MN, Grazziotin M, Presti-Torres J, Garcia VA, Scalco FS, Roesler R, Schröder N (July 2007). “Adrenergic enhancement of consolidation of object recognition memory”. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 88 (1): 137–42. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2007.01.005. PMID 17368053. ) )), it is very hard to sustain this and, although the fight-or-flight response is useful when it comes to role-playing a moment of conflict or escaping from an antagonist, it can lead to anxiety and the release of other hormones, such as cortisol (the stress hormone). This can lead to an inability to sleep as players focus on conflict that has happened that day or worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow.

    Social Energy

    Introvert / Extravert Energy

    We have Carl Jung to thank for the concepts of introversion and extraversion, he suggests that we possess both traits, but one is usually dominant, although most non-Jungian theories suggest that it is a linear scale. In simple terms, extroverts derive energy from interaction with others, and introverts from an opportunity to reflect((Laurie Helgoe (2008). Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc)) If this is the case then there is an energy exchange going on between players. Finding the balance between interaction and reflection is important,and it will be different depending on the player and their needs at the time.

    Respondents talked about the cost of interaction, reflecting that being around people all of the time when larping was exhausting. One explained that although they need alone time they consciously neglect this need for fear of missing out. Introverts talked about the energy required to focus one’s attention on engagement with others, with close listening and attempts at influencing, but without a pause.

    Interestingly enough, the role of the antagonist is challenging for both ends of the scale. For the introvert it is hard work to enter or escalate conflict, to take up space and to deal with being judged; for the extrovert, fighting against the beige entropy of ‘larp democracy’ — where players seem to play towards an inert and inclusive outcome rather than a dramatic one — and also dealing with the isolation that comes with being the antagonist. Having interactions shut down — because you are playing a hated or distrusted character for example — drains the extrovert in much the same way as playing direct conflict does the introvert.

    Emotional Energy

    While most respondents who self-identified as introverts considered social interaction to be emotional energy, others made a clear differentiation between the energy cost of social interaction versus the effect of intense ingame emotional responses.

    In a larp we are called upon to care about things faster and more intensely than in real life, and this idea of experiencing things intensely in a short period of time, takes effort to be receptive to the experience. We must regulate the intensity of experience and our own reaction to it, both ingame and offgame.

    Players also talk about compassionate energy, the expenditure of effort in terms of giving emotional energy ingame and being aware of other player’s offgame needs and wants during a story.

    Mental Energy

    We know that high level chess players can burn 600 calories sitting at the chessboard so it should come as no doubt that we expend energy on larping. If emotional energy handles feelings, mental energy handles facts and thoughts. There is always a background level of concentration required to larp but we have broken down the mental effort further as follows:

    Memory Energy

    This refers to the work of remembering information that is relevant to the larp. Of retaining character names, and plot, and safety mechanics and meta-techniques and putting names to faces.

    Cognitive Energy

    This is the energy we use in-game for steering and pacing and managing character arcs. It is what it costs to make use of the facts we have recalled. It includes the constant mapping of the larp, the assimilation of information, our steering of the character. It also includes cognitive decisions pertaining to the storymaking process. From deciding what our character should do next, deciding what to say, or composing a speech on the fly. In some cases, players are doing this in a second or third language.

    Immersive Energy

    This is the effort of being someone who you are not, the literal cost of role-playing. One respondent suggested that this is the same sort of energy that one spends on lying. Another suggested that they derive energy from anything that happens in character — including negative emotions — but that anything that happens out of character is draining. Another suggested that anything that breaks immersion has a cost in terms of re-engagement.

    The Fun Tax

    There are some types of energy that only certain players need to expend.

    Some respondents who self-identified as non-neurotypical argued that activities others described as requiring social energy, were more a cognitive function for them. One such respondent suggested they spend a significant amount of energy on “Processing” the noise, different smells, bright/shifting lights, foreign languages, unfamiliar or itchy clothes.

    Similarly, some players identified a combined mental and emotional cost of Spatial energy, described as processing a new physical space. This could be an uncertainty of where are the bathrooms, not remembering the way to a particular room, remembering which stairs creek, or struggling to find something in their luggage. For players with other marginalised identities, there is the concept of Othered Energy which Jonaya Kemper describes thus, Othered folks have to still wear their identities, which means they must expend extra energy and time navigating the play space, people, and their characters in addition to the non-diegetic environment and players.((Personal correspondence.))

    Some respondents talked about the energy they expended because they did not feel safe, suggesting they needed to be constantly on their toes, ready to be intimidating as a survival tactic. Others agreed that threat awareness and the need to keep track of where specific people were, combined with low-level anticipatory anxiety, cost significant energy out of the player of all types.

    How to Renew and Replenish your Energy

    Different players use different amounts of energy for different activities. Some will be recharged by conflict, others by physical proximity. However, if we examine our preferred playstyle and understand where we spend and where we recharge our energy, it is possible to mitigate the point we run out of hit points. Some players can recharge their social energy by engaging with others, but some of those engagements have an activation energy cost higher than others, and some of them will overall deplete the amount of social energy available to you for other things later, while others will not. Reflecting on this and understanding your own needs is similar to understanding when we are hungry, tired, or thirsty. It is not as sexy as steering, but it is about keeping fuel and oil in the engine to keep it running.

    For example, to help deal with adrenal energy, you’ll need to engage your parasympathetic nervous system. The rest-and-digest response it is responsible for is the opposite of the adrenal fight-or-flight response. Slowing your breathing, meditating, or talking about stressful moments can help. If you think you need to do it, but find you are unable to do these in character then take an off-game break and do it out of character. Because if you don’t practice self care then you might run out of energy, and then — like in the classic coin-op — the game will be over.

  • Reading Others for Interaction

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    Reading Others for Interaction

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    When we larp, we make deductions about other characters and the types of role-play they will provide. Through speech, costuming, body language, and other signs, each player signals to others how to interact with their character. As you play, analyze what a character looks like, wears, and does with their body to learn important clues about status, affiliation, role, and personality.

    Wearable Cues

    Name tag: If the larp uses them, a name tag is a shortcut to critical information for play.

    Costume: Clothing and accessories provide discrete details about the character. React to the most obvious explanation for a costume choice until you have reason to believe differently.

    Affiliation markers: Some larps use colors or fashion guidelines so players know a character’s affiliation or status on sight.

    Body Movements

    How a character stands, sits, walks, and interacts with others reveals a great deal.

    • Space: Characters who take up space, such as with a wide stance, large gestures, bold strides, or manspreading are projecting authority, power and confidence. Characters who demure to others, step aside, or sit or stand on the edges are demonstrating lower status or discomfort.
    • Posture: Nobility, military, upper-class, and authority figures tend to stand straight and tall and look others in the eye. Servants and lower status characters tend to keep their heads down and eyes averted.
    • Directional stance: Face-to-face can reveal confrontation. Side-by-side can indicate alliance, and back-to-back or leaning-in can suggest covert communication.
    • Stealth: A sneaky character wants you to think they are up to something. Actions include: looking around to see if someone is watching, moving in the shadows, or ducking behind people or objects.

    Facial Expressions

    When portraying a character, deliberate facial expressions convey information to others.

    • Smile, light in their eyes: This character is friendly, approachable and eager. They are often looking for someone to converse with, spill secrets, or go on an adventure.
    • Scowl, dark eyes: This character wants you to know they are dangerous, villainous, or angry. Does your character dare to approach them to discover the source of their anger or their secrets?
    • Furrowed brow, wide or darting eyes: This character could be anxious, frightened, or confused. They are demonstrating discomfort and hoping someone will ask them about it. Is your character caring? This could be a good time to display it.
    • Deliberate warm eye contact, calm and inviting expression: This character is projecting safety and approachability. They likely want to help others and/or have information to share.
    • Hard eyes, set mouth: This character is projecting authority, intimidation, or disapproval. To play into this, approach with deference, look scared, or gossip about how you hope you don’t get in trouble with them. If you are playing a rebel, use disrespect to get reprimanded or put in your place.

    Eye Contact

    Knowing what to do with your eyes and paying attention to another character’s eyes creates play.

    • A person who makes deliberate eye contact is inviting you to interact with them.
    • In an interaction with an authority figure, avert your eyes to show respect. Either do not meet their gaze, or if you do, look away quickly or before they do.
    • As an authority figure, use eye contact to establish dominance and intimidate others. Extended eye contact can be uncomfortable.
    • Eye contact with eyebrows raised is a question. Go see what they want to ask you!
    • To show disrespect to an authority figure, refuse to look away from their eye contact. If/when you finally do, make sure it appears reluctant or sarcastic. Breaking eye contact with an eye roll will make an impact!
    • A wink is a sign of a secret, either between characters or one begging to be shared.
    • Blinking without speaking is a sign of confusion or can be coquettish if flirting. You’ll need to roleplay further to find out.

    Read the Character, Not the Player

    Diegetic clues are deliberate choices made by the player that belong to the character, such as those above. Don’t make the mistake of initiating roleplay or making deductions about aspects that belong to the player, but not the character.

    You should disregard factors about the player such as:

    • Size: A large or tall person does not automatically mean an intimidating or powerful character. React to the roleplay and the character clues, not assumptions about the player’s physical body.
    • Age: The age of the character is not the same as the age of the player. React to the stated age of the character and do not make comments about someone’s out-of-game age.
    • Body type or fitness: The shape of a player’s body does not indicate any measure of power, stamina, or health. Use other clues, such as weaponry, costuming, and reputation of the character.
    • Skin tone: Do not make diegetic assumptions from a player’s natural skin tone.
    • Gender: The player’s gender and the character’s gender are not always the same. Use the correct pronouns and accept the character as presented. The player’s gender is not relevant.
    • Accent, speech difficulties and grammar: Do not make assumptions about accent or grammar at international larps played in English. The manner of speech often has nothing to do with the character, but is instead the player communicating in a non-native language. Do not react or remark about speech unless the player makes it clear that this is part of the character.
    • Birthmarks or physical disabilities: Ignore things a player cannot change, such as medical or accessibility devices. If you are unsure whether an attribute belongs to the player or the character, wait for the character to bring it up during roleplay. If it never comes up, use other attributes to make your deductions.

    Conclusion

    Learning how to read other characters to know how to interact is a skill that is honed the more you play. Misreading cues can lead to awkward roleplay or even hurting someone’s feelings, especially if you react to them as a person instead of their character. If you’re unsure what to do, go with the most obvious archetypal interpretation of a character and assume that attributes of the player are not in play until you are certain they are available for interaction. And if you make a mistake, apologize and move on. Honest mistakes happen and are part of the learning process of collaborative play.

  • Writing a Life

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    Writing a Life

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    In the summer of 2018 a middle-aged Danish woman, Inga Wilson, married to an English tattoo artist, moved into a house on the outskirts of Tintagel with her husband and three teenage children. In the attic she found an old journal, and in the following years she wrote in it as her children grew up, got married and moved away.

    The journal was written as preparation for The Quota (2018). This is just one version of the content. There is another one, which follows her through the years as the country breaks apart, fascism shows it ugly head and she ends up in a detention center, utterly broken and alone. Both stories are part of her journal. Both experiences can be read from her journal. But why is this interesting?

    When you write by hand, you remember. Research has shown (Mueller & Oppenheimer 2014), that the best way to remember the substance of a lecture is writing notes by hand. Handwriting is a medium between the body and the mind. It is a physical manifestation of your thoughts. When you write as the character you are going to play in a larp, you remember — not just the background and story of the character provided to by the organizers, but the mind of the character as you want it to be, with the knowledge and quirks characterizing this person. You start to know the character, not just in your mind but also in your body. You learn.

    On receiving your character, you start the arduous work of creating a persona that is both you and not you. You choose your costume, the props you want to use during the larp, contact your relations — and if you have the time, you start to write. You must now choose the form your writing is going to take. Is it going to be a journal, a diary, an essay or maybe letters to your contacts? And you must choose your tools according to the setting of the larp. If you are a noblewoman around 1800 you may want to use pen and ink. And if you are Granny Weatherwax, you will probably go to the nearest farm and grab a tailfeather from the rooster((Do not try geese — much too angry.)). This is not a reenactment, nobody will comment on what you use or how you use it, but your choice will be part of how you build your character. So will the paper you are using and the handwriting skills of your character. Handwriting is a very tactile medium. You feel how the pen moves over the paper as you start writing. You may find out that your choice of pen and paper will impact your calligraphy.

    Now you must decide what you will be writing. When will your journal start? Is it an old diary, started a long time ago? Are you writing to friends or foes? Is it private or public? This will be the start of a long list of choices you have to make on behalf of your character as you start writing. It will start dawning on you that there are things missing in your character sheet essential to your writing and your story. You start to look up clues, to find the missing links to your character on the internet or in books and journals. As you start exploring, your character will start to awaken.

    Now you and your character are ready to start the larp. Your writing will become part of your play, a way to pick up clues and relations, or to take a break in a space of your own if you need to. You can write your deepest secrets or comment on the shenanigans going on around you in your journal, diary or letters and leave it to be read by others or keep it private. How, when, where and if you use it is up to you and your character in the larp. Writing is not a goal but a tool to immerse yourself in the larp and maybe recognize patterns and relations that you might otherwise have overlooked.

    After the larp you may want to write your last entries. This could be the next day or maybe later. But always say goodbye to your character — if possible, in handwriting. Just as the character is created using your body and mind, you send it away.

    Bibliography

    Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer (2014): The Pen is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 6.

  • Larp-Related Stress

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    Larp-Related Stress

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    Larping has been described as an extreme social sport. Players often get the most from games they devote time to and when they expose themselves as characters to situations that are both pleasant and distressing and attempt to immerse themselves in the experiences. Players are expected, or expect themselves, to put quite an effort into the larp. These expectations can include cognitive demands (such as ability to memorize background materials and switching one’s attention between relevant information during the game), emotional demands (for example, immersion into the character and how the character feels about the transpiring events), physical demands (including preparing props or doing physical feats in the game), and social demands (getting to know new people and adapting one’s behavior to new social setting). These expectations may cause stress for the players.

    Players may also stress about whether the larp is organized in an effective and practical manner, about catering and sleeping arrangements, and even about whether they will feel lonely before, during, or after the game, among other practical and personal issues. Often larp related stress is centralized around the larp event and isn’t expected to be prolonged.

    Not all stress is harmful. Potentially stress-generating events, or stressors, can even be positive life events (such as a wedding or a graduation cere-ceremony). Stress generated by positive life events is often labeled positive stress and typically has little long-term effects on well-being (e.g., Lin et al., 2013).

    Richard Lazarus (e.g. Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), suggests negative stress occurs when a person appraises an event as a negative or dangerous (versus positive or irrelevant). In Lazarus’ model, stress is a resource issue; if task demands exceed the available resources, a person may become stressed. A person’s response to stress varies based on both their specific coping strategies (adaptive, i.e., constructive versus maladaptive, i.e., harmful) and how their individual characteristics predispose them to stress or, how resilient they are to adversity.

    Figure 1. Factors of the larp-related stress according to preliminary analysis. Arrows denote relationships between the factors.
    Figure 1. Factors of the larp-related stress according to
    preliminary analysis. Arrows denote relationships between
    the factors.

    Aspects of Larp-Related Stress

    Larping is a recreational activity, and larps are positive life events. However, larps can be more demanding than the player expects, and thus create stress. To assess how larps generate stress, we conducted a comprehensive online survey amongst Finnish larpers, to which we received more than a hundred responses. We investigated how stressful larpers consider different situations that can occur either before, during, or after the game, and assessed what types of coping mechanisms larpers use to alleviate that stress. Respondents also answered questions about relevant background information that might protect from or alleviate stress (like relationship status, personality and wellbeing, predisposition to anxiety etc.). Finally, we examined the symptoms larpers generally experience from larp-related stress.

    Preliminary analysis of our data shows eight distinct categories of larp-related stressors (see Figure 1). The category explaining most of the variance in the data was feelings of failure. This means stress generated by larper’s own feeling of not performing to the expectations either before, during, or after the game. For example, not coming up with a good enough backstory, forgetting relevant information during the game, or making mistakes in scenes during the game. Feelings of failure seems to be associated with other stressor categories: sexist and discriminatory themes in the game, feelings of bleed or post-low, and disappointment with the game or character. These four areas represent stress generated by internal experiences of the events or themes in the larp. We found four other distinct categories: events related to design and practicalities of the larp, loneliness, demanding or distressing characteristics of the game, and harassment or worry for safety. These factors seemed less associated with other stressor categories than the first cluster of stressors.

    In terms of experienced stress on a scale from 0 to 10, larping was perceived as quite stressful (mean 5.2), but larpers also found themselves recovering from this stress rapidly. Based on a preliminary analysis, stressor groups harassment or worry for safety, sexist and discriminatory themes in the game and feelings of bleed or post-low seemed to generate less stress on average than other stressors. We want to emphasize that these are averages and can be misleading: our data shows that while most players don’t experience harassment or worry for their safety in larps, a minority of players suffer a great deal of this type of stress. The players for whom harassment and insecurity is a large stressor are generally women or of non-binary gender((We expect minority-related stress applies to all marginalized groups, e.g. PoC players in a predominantly white environment. However, since our questionnaire only tracked the responders’ age and gender, we have no data for other demographic sources of minority stress.)). This aside, gender does not seem to play a large role in terms of the causes or intensity of stress larpers experience. A comparison of averages suggests men may experience less larp-related stress than other genders, but our data was inconclusive. Youth seems to predict stress: younger larpers seemed to experience more stress over loneliness, which is understandable as older larpers are likelier to be established in the community and to be familiar with their co-players. Finally, larpers in relationships seemed to experience less larp-related stress than those not in a relationship.

    Factors Predisposing Players to Stress

    Five general background factors seemed to have the most impact on how much stress respondents reported: low self esteem, predisposition to anxiety, stress related to other aspects of life, poor experienced quality of life, and emotional instability.

    Low self-esteem is associated with stress in many studies, although it is not always evident whether experienced stress or coping failures reduces self-esteem or vice versa. Low self-esteem may predispose people toward low self-efficacy and make it harder to use constructive coping mechanisms. Predisposition to anxiety can color a person’s perception of whether future events are likely to be positive or potentially threatening, which makes it more likely that they will experience related stress. Stress from other aspects of life may increase larp-related stress by reducing the available mental, physical, and emotional resources available to manage it. Poor quality of life is characterized by unhappiness related to some aspect of life: work, health, friendships and so forth. This unhappiness may increase stress experienced from other sources as it reduces the stress management resources available. Finally, emotional instability((For emotional instability and other personality personality factors, we used the 50-item questionnaire from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP – https://ipip.ori.org/ and Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. C. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 84-96. ))) is characterized by frequency of changes in mood and the frequency of feelings worry and concern. This may either make larpers more sensitive to stress or also reduce the available resources for dealing with stress.

    Constructive and Harmful Coping

    Even if players are similarly predisposed to stress, they subconsciously or deliberately use different approaches, or coping mechanisms, to ameliorate the effects of stress. Using a battery of questions((Coping was assessed using COPE-inventory; http://www.midss.org/content/cope-inventory (Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267-283.))) we assessed respondents’ stress coping approaches and compared them to the reported stress symptoms.

    These harmful behaviours were associated with reporting more stress-related symptoms:

    • denial (not acknowledging the feelings of stress)
    • avoidance (not confronting the feelings of stress)
    • substance use
    • externalization (blaming others)
    • paralyzation (to avoid or to be incapable of taking an action related to stress)

    In contrast, these constructive behaviors were not associated with reporting more symptoms:

    • humor
    • planning or taking action to alleviate stress
    • recognizing mistakes made and attempting to remedy them

    Generally, constructive coping strategies require more resources, while harmful ones avoid confronting the feelings of stress. As expected, our data suggests harmful strategies are more common among larpers who reported more life stress, poor self-esteem, or a predisposition to anxiety. In short, larpers with fewer resources to spare use harmful coping strategies, unintentionally increasing the experienced stress even further.

    Figure 2. What larp related stress consists of. Arrows denote relationships between the factors.
    Figure 2. What larp related stress consists of. Arrows denote relationships between the factors.

    Tips for Players

    How to Recognize Larp-Related Stress

    Recognizing stress is paramount for coping with it. Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and current psychological state allows you to plan your activities effectively.

    Larp-related stress manifests much like stress from other sources. According to our data (Figure 2) there are four interconnected symptom categories: depression, anxiety, physical symptoms (such as loss of appetite, fatigue), and sleep disturbances. Another symptom category, tiredness and social avoidance, seems to be separate from the other four.

    Keeping a diary of stress symptoms, eating habits or sleep rhythms and looking for changes can be a useful tool for identifying how stress affects you: looking back, you can learn evaluating when you’ve felt most or least stressed, and what was going on. Monitoring your body sensations and anxiety levels before and during the game can help you manage your stress levels, reduce symptoms, and calm your nervous system by e.g. doing breathing and mindfulness exercises. It is also worth noticing how you interpret stress related sensations — as positive excitement or as negative and overwhelming symptoms?

    How to Cope with Larp-Related Stress

    For most players, larps are moderately stressful but the stress is not long-lasting. For players predisposed to larp-related stress, the impact may be more significant and prolonged. If this is you, recognizing the stressors affecting you the most can let you plan coping strategies more effectively.

    Almost 80 respondents described in their own words how they actively dealt with stress. Coping strategies could be roughly divided into planning ahead, reducing stress-related symptoms, controlling the source of stress, dealing with the emotion itself, and compensating for lost energy levels afterwards. Using these strategies in advance, during the game and after may help you cope with stress.

    The most common strategies were social coping approaches — talking to other larpers, friends, family, and organizers to ponder, analyze, and rant about the experience. Talking things over can help reframing a stressful situation and put it into perspective. Respondents talked about seeking support or advice from others on specific issues. However, social coping can also mean socializing with others to take one’s mind off of the stressful experience. Social support structures can give players the resources they need to be able to use more constructive coping strategies, which require them to confront the causes of stress, and make plans for using mental resources to cope with it.

    Players also reported using a wide range of internal strategies for dealing with feeling of stress. They could e.g. analyze and ponder the situation by themselves, write about their experiences, try to tolerate and accept the emotion, change their focus to something else, try to think positively, or lower their expectations. During the game players also dealt with stress by regulating their energy levels, emotion intensity, and focus by, e.g., taking scheduled breaks and carefully picking the content they wanted to focus on. Players also found that sleep and rest, as well as eating and drinking enough during the game, improved their coping ability. Some reported planning for upcoming stress or choosing games carefully based on things like game themes and design, to reduce the possibility of excessive stress. Some players also planned for stressful, taxing, and demanding larps and scheduled themselves post-larp time for recuperating physically and mentally. They took days off after games to do pleasurable, low-stress things: watch Netflix, sleep, do self care, and generally recharge. If you are planning to play a larp you expect to be stressful, plan ahead for recovery too!

    Bibliography

    Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer publishing company.

    Lin, N., Dean, A., & Ensel, W. M. (Eds.). (2013). Social support, life events, and depression. Academic Press.

  • Playing an Engaging Victim

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    Playing an Engaging Victim

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    [This article is also available in Spanish, at: http://vivologia.es/como-ser-una-victima-participativa/
    Thank you to Vivologia for translating it!]

    Many Nordic larps portray instances of one character oppressing another — individually, not as in systemic oppression — including abusive relationships, uneven power structures, and perpetrator/victim dynamics. Some of us like to explore the victim side of these dynamics, but there is a risk that responsibility for advancing the story falls entirely on the perpetrator’s player. This means the victim character’s game becomes a long wait for the perpetrator to act or approach, which can be frustrating for everyone.

    Some great articles have already been written on how to play the oppressor (e.g. Dalstål 2018). But in this piece, we’ll draw from our experiences to give you tools as a victim player. What can you do to help tell the story of the relationship? How can you support the perpetrator’s game or have agency even when your character doesn’t?

    Types of Victims in Larp

    There are different types of victims and they create different kinds of play. How you approach your character’s lack of power will change your story. When we think of a “victim”, we first imagine someone who is mainly afraid of the abuser — the passive victim. The passive victim is the biggest challenge for player agency, because their main drive is to stay away from the abuser but the story you want to tell as a player requires seeking them out. Constantly doing something your character doesn’t want can be both hard and draining. There are tools that can make it easier, but first, let’s see if another type could be the answer.

    Someone who fights their perpetrator but is destined to lose anyway can be the defiant victim. The defiant victim has agency and can act independently, but they might have fewer resources or less strength, status, or willpower than the perpetrator. Regardless, you aren’t a poor, frightened thing. You will actively seek the other character out and shout or fight, making it clear you are not afraid. A few of the prisoners of war in Spoils of War (2019) are an example.

    Relationships are complex, so you can have some warm feelings or even genuine interest in the abuser’s character — the ambivalent victim. You can be drawn to them even as you’re disgusted. Fighting your own emotions as well adds a layer of dilemma and complexity to the character, whether it’s Stockholm Syndrome or an abusive partner who your character still loves. This ambivalence both gives you agency and gives the abuser more power over you. It also can prevent other characters from saving you from the abuser permanently.

    Offgame Tools

    Ask for specific scenes. As in many other aspects of larping that try to explore hard dynamics without crossing boundaries, communication, collaboration, and calibration are essential.

    Don’t be afraid to ask for specific directions or scenes . This makes it easier for the perpetrator’s player to provide, because they don’t have to come up with all the ideas and they know they have full consent. Calibration goes both ways, though — make sure that they don’t feel pressured into play they don’t want. The perpetrator’s player has boundaries too.

    Give enthusiastic consent! As always with edgy content, it’s important to stress that you want the play. If they are dragging you by the wrist and you struggle to get out, signal or use mechanics to communicate that you as a player are happy even though your character isn’t. This makes the other player feel safe and encouraged.

    Ingame Tools

    Vary in your reactions. The two extremes of freezing/just taking it or shouting/fighting physically are opposite and valid reactions to abuse. However, without variety the first option can lead your character to become entirely passive if it’s your only reaction during the game. However, only doing the latter creates an adversarial dynamic, not an oppressive one. Quiet reactions — long haunted looks when they aren’t looking, whimpering, shaking a bit while holding someone’s hand, or just a moment of sympathy or pity — will give nuance to the fear or fighting.

    Let them win (sometimes). Collaborating toward losing is valuable in this dynamic. Your character may think that giving in a bit will get them off the hook, but it will only draw them further in. For example — if an abusive and controlling boyfriend insists you wear certain kinds of clothes, agree to change your clothes because your character thinks it will make them stop and it’s such a sacrifice. Really, it just encourages the perpetrator character, and also encourages the player, offgame.

    Fail to avoid your perpetrator. It’s easy to avoid someone at a larp. You can hide in the bathroom or the forest for the whole larp, but this isn’t an interesting conflict. It’s hard to be scary or abusive when you’re being avoided all the time, and it takes a lot of energy to constantly seek out the victim. Help your abuser by seeking them out or make other characters push you into being near them. Your character can still want to stay away, but use your fear to create an active connection. For example, look in the perpetrator‘s direction too often, or always keep them in line of sight but never look at them directly. Walk into a room you know (offgame) they’re in, and then act shocked and try to sneak back out.

    Be a bad liar. Tell different versions of the same story to the same person, or get others to spread conflicting versions as rumours. Be really obvious or flag it offgame, so players know it’s not just you being confused. When the perpetrator finds out you were lying, you give them an extra tool to be angry at your character and maybe even to be in the right. You were the one being dishonest. This gives them some moral high ground to work with later in the relationship.

    Involve other characters. You can draw people into your scenes with the perpetrator. Show others how scared or powerless you are. Tell somebody what is going on in confidence, or make sure that they witness something they shouldn’t have. Maybe they can become a victim too, and sharing the experience of being oppressed can be very powerful.

    Delay the “Hero”. Involving others can mean that unwanted heroes step up. If other characters try to fix things at the wrong time, it can make a victim dynamic blurry or difficult to play on. Explicit calibration can help — ask players to support the relation — but so can working to make sure the hero isn’t in a position to fix things. Being powerless to intervene or having to work around the victim can also make great play for others.

    Have allies keep the two of you together. For example, calibrate and make sure that some of your character’s loved ones like the perpetrator and keep them around. Or have the perpetrator’s allies notice you can help them, and decide to work with them.

    Defend the perpetrator. Take care of the abuser’s reputation. Things like making excuses for the perpetrator or making sure they don’t do anything unambiguously wrong for as long as possible can prolong and intensify the dynamic, and help stop unwanted heroes.

    Bibliography

    Dalstål, Elin (2018): Playing nasty characters, https://nordiclarp.org/2018/01/31/playing-nasty-characters/ ref. March 12th, 2020.

  • Playing a Sex Worker

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    Many larps I’ve attended have had at least one character who did some kind of sex work, whether it was their primary job or not, regardless of the setting or era. I’ve played these roles too, but before I started to do sex work I didn’t understand how important those characters — and their portrayals — actually were. The way we portray sex work can reproduce harmful biases in the world, and can also alienate and isolate your co-players — more of whom than you expect may have themselves done sex work. My experience with sex work showed me the harm these characterizations can cause. I also realized how often players aren’t aware of the way they’re portraying sex work or sex workers, and how tropes about sex work are reproduced without examination.

    Respect

    First, consider your language. In some games, especially in historical settings, we refer to people or professions using language that has negative connotations. Consider taking the word prostitution out of your vocabulary. It has negative connotations for most sex workers, and in particular is used as a rhetorical device to deny them agency in the world. Words like “hooker” and “whore” are no better. You might use those words ingame, but I suggest you not use them offgame to describe your character, and that you be clear about the difference in language.

    Avoiding Stereotypes

    It’s easy to create a caricature of sex workers if you have a limited understanding of real-life sex workers (in their voices, not those of people who claim to speak for them) or you if haven’t considered stigmas you may hold against them. Sadly, few public officials and journalists choose to resist that stigma, which sometimes rubs off on us — the players — when we decide how to portray sex workers. Sex work is complex, and while there are negative sides to it — often coming from interactions with social bias — if you fixate on one part of what it can be, you won’t be able to portray a whole character or a role with any emotional depth. If you don’t interrogate the messages you receive about the profession, ideally in contrast with what sex workers actually say about themselves, you’ll just reproduce biases.

    Ask yourself why you want to play the role. Is it because you believe the role will include trauma or a sad past, or do you want to play a marginalized person trying to be independent in a time where it might have been challenging? It’s easy to tell the other co-players that you yourself would “never” do this kind of work in real life, but difficult to judge or know what you would do in a situation until you’re in it. Playing someone who is involved in sex work should hopefully assist you in understanding those who are, even if it’s not something you think you could do in your current life. It’s common to approach sex worker characters with the assumption that their work must involve trauma or human trafficking. While these are both perspectives and problems that exist in the world, they are not even close to the majority experience. It also should go without saying (but doesn’t) that playing a sex worker for in a manner that’s primarily about fetishization is just as reductive. Build characters who are human first, even if they’re glamorous or flirtatious, and don’t use it as an alibi to bring sex into a game without considering the rest of who they are.

    Nuance

    The good news is that you have the power to insert nuance into your character in almost every game. What kind of sex work do they do? Are there some things they do and other things they don’t? Why do they do this work, and what do they think about it? Is it a thing they enjoy, or just a job that gives them agency in life they wouldn’t otherwise have? You can be as creative as you want with deciding what your character does when they do their job — like any other profession. If you were playing a door-to-door salesman, you’d think about what they sell and whether they see their profession as something they want to do for the rest of their life, or just over the summer — do the same with a sex worker.

    Much of this comes down to doing your research. Watch shows or movies that showcase different types of sex work and have characters with agency who aren’t just sexual objects. I recommend Pose, The Deuce, Euphoria, and Harlots here. Confront your own biases, don’t just search for things that confirm them. Listen to sex workers and their experiences, no matter what type of sex work they do — be it porn, full-service sex work, domination, erotic dancing or webcamming. Sex work is an varied field, and I recommend you research which types of it your character may do or have encountered. If you’re playing in a fantasy or science fiction game, first understand the diversity of sex work in the real world, and then think about how that might translate to the fiction. Reading background material that looks at sex work from an economic and labor rights perspective can add depth to your understanding of their lives, like Melissa Gira Grant’s Playing The Whore (Grant, 2014).

    The biggest real life danger to sex workers is the prejudice societies hold against profession. It’s the reason why few laws that try to regulate sex work protect workers from violent clients or give them the same worker rights as other professions. It’s also the reason why many people feel they need to “save” sex workers from their profession when they don’t want or need saving. This prejudice is the reason why I’m not using my last name here, as I don’t know how accepting future employers will be. Fiction, and especially larp, can be a powerful tool for understanding lives and breaking down biases. If we start portraying sex worker characters in a respectful and nuanced light and as whole people, it can help us get past our own preconceptions and inspire those around us to do the same.

    Bibliography

    Melissa Gira Grant (2014): Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work, Verso.

    Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals (2018): Pose, FX.

    George Pelecanos and David Simon (2017): The Deuce, HBO.

    Sam Levinson (2019): Euphoria, HBO.

    Alison Newman and Moira Buffini (2017): Harlots, ITV and Hulu.

  • Your Body Is Your Body

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    Your Body Is Your Body

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    This piece tries to provide a practical tool for overcoming machismo, internalized norms, and other patterns that can lead to physical injury to the player’s body.

    I have injured myself larping, and I know several other larpers, often men who have hurt themselves during larps. Often, this was due to taking physical risks and then downplaying the severity of the injury or hiding it altogether. Using the tools described here will help you both make more risk-aware decisions and overcome any learned response you have to downplay or to hide injury. Accidents can still happen, but we can decrease their likelihood by not creating circumstances that contribute to them.

    Preventing Injury

    Preventing injury is about both taking an internal stock of your body’s weak points and being honest with yourself. This means not looking at your body as you wish it was, but at the way it is when the larp starts. If the larp is some time away you might even have time to lessen your injury risk through training, if you decide it’s both important and possible for you. The other part is taking external stock of what risks will be present at the larp site or the way the larp is organized.

    • Is my body at the start of the larp in worse shape than I am used to? Do I have an old injury that hasn’t healed yet? Do I have chronic issues like weak ankles or night blindness? Will these be an issue at the venue?
    • Are there reasonable, easy to use assistive devices I need at the time of the larp? Use them. My experience as a player and designer has shown me that everyone has a better experience when they’re used, larp cultures notwithstanding, and that the impact on the game is minimal. Examples can be CPAP machines or glasses, braces or walking sticks.
    • Do the activities my character performs during the larp have inherent risk? Fighting, heavy lifting, roaming the forest at night? Will you work tools which are unfamiliar to you? If you have time before the larp, you can manage these risks by training for these activities.
    • Make a plan. If you know there is a possibility you might hurt yourself, making a plan can work like a promise to yourself. If you are going with a group you can share the plan with the group. It can be something like this: “I will use my knee brace to prevent injury and I will ask the group to remind me in the mornings to put it on.” or “If I hit my head I will go to Martin and have it checked out”. Plans also make it more likely that we’ll do the right thing in the moments right after an injury.

    Reacting to Injury

    So an injury has happened. First comes the pain, and then you may get overwhelmed by feelings of anger, disappointment, or even shame. Will you be able to stay in character? Will you be able to even stay at the game? Maybe the organizer team will force you to go home? For some people in this moment it can be a reflex to pretend as if nothing happened, that they are “fine”, or to downplay the injury and refuse to accept help. I’ve also seen the reaction to immediately spring into action and run for the first aid station. This can make a concussion or a foot injury worse because the player didn’t want to be the one to disturb other players or a scene. Here are some things you can do instead:

    • Remind yourself your real body was just damaged. Your body is your body and self care comes first. That means that the larp can pause for a few seconds, or longer. You taking a few seconds to check how you were hurt might not even disrupt the game. Questions to ask:
        • Are your airways affected?
        • Are you bleeding anywhere?
        • Is there intense pain or numbness anywhere, especially in joints?
        • Are you going into shock? Rapid breaths, cold hands, high heart rate, nausea.
        • How is your head?
    • If you need help and there are people around, be brave enough to ask for it. It’s very unlikely that anyone will think less of you for this. Accept help from those who come to you and say they want to help. There may be a voice in your head that tells you that shouldn’t burden other people, but please remind yourself that they are here to help.
    • If the larp has a designated first aid area, or a designated first aid person, make your way there, with assistance if needed. For some injuries it’s best if someone walks with you.
    • If you can’t walk then don’t force yourself as that can make an injury worse. Wait for the first aid person responder to come to you. Many sprains will heal faster if secured tightly as soon as possible after they happen.
    • If the event has a first aid person and they want to take you to an emergency room off-site, just let them((We’re assuming you’re in Europe, where sane medical care is normal.)). If it’s not a problem, you will come back to the larp.
    • Pain is the body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Many of you live with chronic pain, but if you do, you know when there is extra, uncommon pain. Even if some injuries will heal better if you “walk it off”, this first acute moment is not when you do that. Assess the injury properly first, with help if needed.

    If you made a plan in the first step that applies to the injury you sustained, follow the plan. You promised yourself, and maybe your group.

    Happy larping — with less time lost to avoidable injuries or unnecessarily prolonged recovery.

  • Sketch Comedy Characters

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    Sketch Comedy Characters

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    As a player, I build my larp characters using the tools of sketch comedy. The style may be different, but the toolbox is the same. The crude basics offered by sketch comedy provide a functional basis on which to build more nuanced play during the larp.

    The sketch comedy character building method is a hack. It means breaking down the character into repetitive concrete actions that make the character recognizable in the eyes of others and give you something to do when you’re uncertain and confused. How do you build a character for sketch comedy? Here are some of the basics:

    • A visual hook. This is not the same as a good costume. Rather, it means that your costume has a few distinctive, memorable elements and the rest is unobtrusive. The goal is for people to remember the hook and forget everything else. (I’m not a costume oriented player and this is my cheat method.)
    • Patter. What kind of things does the character say? Catchphrases, standard reactions, repeating subject matter, stories, anecdotes.
    • Distinctive reactions. This is even more basic than what the character says. A good reaction or two can be milked endlessly through the larp. They can be things like surprise, excitement, or fear.
    • Irrational opinions. One or two extremely strong irrational opinions about something peripheral are great for creating quick drama and making the character distinctive.

    I played a teacher in one of the early College of Wizardry (2015) larps. My subject was combat magic. I was also secretly a vampire.

    Creating the character based on the text provided by the organizers, I decided that my irrational opinion would be about how to properly hold a wand. I came up with a bunch of ways to hold it that I approved and one that I detested. I called it the “Farmer’s Fist” (the same grip you’d use with a hammer) and every time I saw someone do it, I would start an overblown lecture.

    The distinctive visual element was easy: Sunglasses. Because of the vampire thing. No points for originality, but it worked.

    In 2019, I played in the larp Grums By Night in Stockholm. It was a comedic larp based on Vampire: the Masquerade and my character was a violent idiot. For him, I created a distinctive reaction: Every time something he liked happened, he punched the air with both hands and yelled: ”Yes!”

    It worked wonderfully, although it proved embarrassing after the larp was over when I found it hard to shake.

    That character had a simple default shtick: He wanted to punch people, or for people to punch him. Both were okay. Thus when I didn’t have anything else to do, I started on that.

    In a 2019 run of the Danish larp Baphomet, I played a travel writer. To get the character going, I developed a line of comedic patter about a trip to the Amazon. Then in the early parts of the larp I’d talk about that to keep social situations going. Later I discarded the Amazon line because the larp had provided other, more interesting subjects for conversation.

    In another Danish 2019 larp, House of Craving, I had an even simpler catchphrase, describing everything as ”A beautiful, beautiful thing”.

    The key to successfully building a character using the sketch comedy method is endless repetition. You have a limited number of reactions, phrases, and other elements and just use those all the time. In some larps where I’ve done this I’ve felt like I played for two days using a vocabulary of 200 words, but it doesn’t come across like that from the outside. It looks like consistency.

    My personal measure of success for the sketch comedy method is when other characters start to make fun of me by imitating the defining elements of the character. This signals that the character has been drawn clearly and distinctly in their minds.

    You’ll note that the sketch comedy method says nothing about the personality, motivation, relationships or any of the other elements we usually think of when we consider what a character is. Indeed, it resembles the experimental character building methods of larps like White Death where the character consists of repetitive physical action.

    When I use this method it connects strongly to the larp’s pacing. Early in the larp I’m all about the repetitive character tics. This is because I haven’t internalized the character or the larp, and the tics give me something to do. As the larp progresses my internal play becomes more nuanced and I’m caught up in the events of the game. At this point, I don’t pay so much attention to sketch comedy characterization but usually I do it anyway because I’ve internalized it during the early game.

    The best type of larp for the sketch comedy character is a sandbox-style, loose design where you have the space to play around with the character’s tropes. It doesn’t matter whether the larp is serious or lighthearted. Once you’ve internalized the tics, you can use the bandwidth this frees for other aspects of the larp, whatever that is in each specific design.

    The method works less well in larps where you have to produce concrete in-game results, do work or solve plot. In such cases, there is less social space for the kind of social freestyling required.

  • Performing Dominant

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    Performing Dominant

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    [This article is also available in Spanish, at: http://vivologia.es/interpretando-a-un-personaje-dominante/
    Thank you to Vivologia for translating it!]

    Playing a dominant character comes with its own set of challenges. Dominant characters come in different forms: authority figures (benevolent or not), antagonists, or outright villains. However, each of these figures presents the same challenges: establishing and displaying dominance in a credible manner, managing interactions with dominated characters, and balancing character domination with respect for player agency.

    Roleplaying dominance can discomfit some players who feel they don’t belong in these roles, whether for physical or personality reasons or simply a lack of experience. Another perceived obstacle is that playing with status requires buy-in from fellow players. These factors have led to a widespread belief that playing dominant characters is overwhelming and difficult.

    Contrary to this, we believe playing dominant is essentially performative and achievable through a series of techniques. We’ll provide you with practical tips to this end, on three topics:

    1. Understanding your character’s function; and how you can calibrate for the part and structure your personal narrative
    2. How to play on physical dominance when you can’t rely on an imposing physique to do the work for you
    3. Tips and challenges for dominant play

    The Function of the Dominant Character

    Dominant characters have a variety of roles and functions that determine how they fit into a larp, and you should start by looking at your character in that light. The character can be a leader, an antagonist, or an oppressor, and they might be bringing the group together or providing dramatic conflict. Understanding where your character fits and what they need to do can support both pre-game calibration with other participants and character adjustments you might need to play. Ask the following questions and try to understand where your role fits on these scales:

    Active ↔ Disengaged

    Leadership: Is the character supposed to exercise authority, distribute tasks, take decisions, and make plans, or do they just occupy a privileged position where they are not expected to take an active role in decision-making? Are they part of enforcing the system or do they just benefit from it?

    Brilliant ↔ Inefficient

    Efficiency: Is the character good at using their power to achieve their goals, or have they ended up with power they don’t use well, like an officer placed in a position of command due to rank or family connections?

    Benevolent ↔ Sadistic

    Oppression: How does the character exercise their power in a dominant position? Do they only exercise power when confronted or pushed, will they try to intimidate or command others, or will they abuse their power for personal gain or just out of cruelty?

    Legitimate ↔ Usurper

    Legitimacy: For obvious dramatic reasons, a dominant character may face a challenge in some form or another. This question is important to examine closely, as it may determine the arc of your larp. A character who faces too much opposition might end up alienated from the rest of society.

    Status quo ↔ Downfall

    Trajectory: A character’s relationship with their own authority defines a lot about them. Are they trying to hold on to power? Are they trying to gain more power? Are they heading towards downfall? Do they suffer from power fatigue? This aspect of course is fluid, and prone to evolving over the course of the game in response to other players. However, considering potential narrative arcs in advance helps to calibrate and steer the game in the desired direction.

    Once you understand these elements, you can figure out where you need to calibrate with other players:

    • How much will you need them to “play up” your character’s status?
    • How much delegation of tasks or power will the players of subordinate or submissive characters expect from you?
    • How much gamemastering does the dominant position entail and how can you make sure your needs for this function are met (ask the organizers)?
    • Is the character at risk of being isolated or alienated in ways that you don’t want to play out, and if so, which characters could work as a safety net for them?
    • Is there any aspect of the character that feels hard to play and that needs extra support or adjustment?
    • How will you display the emotions of your character? Do they have a public facade that they only abandon in more private settings? Will they try to keep face at all times? What could make them break?

    There are several things you should track when looking at the function of your role and during calibration. First, you will want to avoid situations where other players do not seem willing to “play up” the character’s status, and if you don’t feel like you’ll be well-enough supported, you should request more “play to lift” to support your character, both from organizers and other participants. Second, dominant characters in leadership positions in particular run a risk of needing to perform runtime gamemaster functions. Try to anticipate these requirements and ask for support from the actual gamemasters as needed. Third, you need to understand how the dominant position will impact your character’s relationships with others, so you can steer toward interactions that will work. Finally, you should try to anticipate where the character’s narrative arc may go and specific challenges they may face, as you’ll need to direct your play more than in a less-dominant role.

    The Physicality of Dominance

    Dominant characters have power. Power, socially, almost always shows in the body. Self-assured people who feel power over those they’re in a social situation with take up more space. Physicality in larp is a useful tool. It conveys information non-verbally about who your character is, it signals how you would like to be played up, and it’s the basis for all emotionally-nuanced play. If you are playing on dominance, you are relying on other players to confer status on you or on your ability to wring respect out of them.

    One of the main challenges in dominant play is tailoring it to bodies not commonly perceived as powerful. Younger, non-male, or smaller players may find it more difficult to convey something that will be read as the physical gravitas of a dominant figure. Even in larps where participants are not supposed to play to your real-life body, it can be difficult for players to eliminate the impact of unconscious bias on how they react. A useful tactic to work around this can be modeling your presentation on an example of a fictional character in a position of dominance analogous to what you will play, and also explicitly telling your co-players about what you’re doing to get the picture in their heads too. Good examples, depending on genre, might include Lyanna Mormont (from Game of Thrones) and Susan Calvin (from Asimov’s short stories).

    Some suggestions on how to convey dominance in your character’s physicality:

    • Dress to impress. Make sure your costume stands out with visible accessories. Think crowns, tiaras, capes or billowing cloaks — elements that set you apart from everyone else or make you feel powerful.
    • Physical demeanor. Stand straight, shoulders back, head high. If you can’t look people straight in the eye, look at the point between their eyebrows. Do not smile just because of social conventions or out of politeness.
    • Placement. Place yourself in the center of the room, on the best seat. Surround yourself with your entourage. Do not make way for others. Keep others at a distance if you want to emphasize your superiority, or get right up in their personal space if you want to emphasize your ability to affect them.
    • Voice and language. Use a loud, projecting voice when you speak in public. Alternatively, speak quietly and force people to lean toward you, or have an underling speak in your place. Make pronouncements and do not waver in public.
    • Touch. The way we touch each other conveys a huge amount of status information and will affect both you and your co-players emotionally. Be careful about calibration and consent, and then look at how you can physically demonstrate dominance by how you touch your co-players.
    • Reaction. If you think your character is likely to be challenged during the game, plan your emotional reactions in advance to give the impression of unquestioning authority, regardless of what you’re feeling as a player.
    • Practice. If these tips do not come naturally to your body, practice in front of your mirror or with friends. Decide on a few gestures or expressions that you can base your performance on. This is significant if your body type is not conventionally read as dominant or you are not routinely rewarded.

    Rules of Interaction

    As a dominant character, some of the action in the larp will revolve around your character’s power and how they use it. This can include delegating tasks, social hosting duties, conflict management, bullying or hazing, and enforcement of rules, whether they’re pre-existing or just your whims. Looking at the rules that will structure your interaction with others can also be a good way to establish your character.

    Here are a few things to think about around how you engage with others as an authority figure:

    • Start things. Don’t hesitate to generate conflict when it’s useful for you, or simply to initiate play — you have all the cards.
    • If you’re acting as a leader, delegate as much as you can, but remember to make the tasks playable.
    • Take breaks and rest; being dominant can be exhausting (especially since players in dominant roles need to devote more mental space to emotional safety and care in handling conflicts, emotionally charged or violent scenes).
    • Wear a watch — you’re more likely to need to set the pacing of play in a dominant role.
    • Again, prepare in advance. For example, if you know you need to deliver a certain scene, it may help to have brainstormed some ideas for it.

    There are some unique challenges for dominant characters:

    • Managing adrenaline levels and “villain fatigue”. Playing an outright villain, or even an antagonist can be draining. If you have a lot of victim players to interact with who are all be interested in similar abuse stories, it can also be quite repetitive. It can often be lonely at the top — social exclusion and conflict play can take a lot out of you, emotionally. Self-care and rest is important when playing dominant. Consider making sure you have a positive ally playing close to you for emotional support. If possible, also have someone you share power with so you can tag each other in and share responsibility.
    • Work with your victims to share the burden of arranging scenes.((See Playing an Engaging Victim by Katrine Wind and Karijn van der Heij in What Do We Do When We Play?)) Inside the fiction, the dominant character may be initiating a scene, but (especially on a meta-level) it doesn’t have to work this way. In particular, you don’t always need to be the one who comes up with the ideas. Encourage players of lower status characters to talk about how they want their characters to be ordered around, dominated, or abused — this will make your job easier and make their games better.
    • Think about what happens when you’re
      “off the clock” in character if you’re playing someone with formal authority. You probably don’t suddenly start treating other characters as your peers, even if you’re playing a kind leadership figure. There can be a lot of interesting play in the subtle friction here, especially if your character’s status conflicts with their own needs or desires.

    Conclusion

    Not everyone enjoys playing dominant, but it can be accessible for anyone. Playing dominant means using a specific palette of social dynamics when you engage with other characters and shapes which kinds of narratives and challenges you will play out, but with a good foundation, you’ll both have a lot of room to improvise and the confidence to do so . Having a good grasp of how to perform dominance will make your play both more credible and more interesting. Thanks to Simon Rogers for some of the ideas in this piece and early discussions about it.

  • Learning from NPCs

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    Learning from NPCs

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    Non-player characters, even when inhabited by players, are less than human. They are props and toys for the player characters to do with as they please.

    Keynote: Nordic Larp, NPCs, and the Future, Jaakko Stenros, Oslo, 2017

    The Non-Player Character is an interesting legacy of table-top roleplaying games where the gamemaster would play all of those characters not under the direct control of the players. For larps they have proven useful as plot devices, as functionaries of the game used to make a specific event happen at a specific time or in a predetermined way; or as short term characters who may only be present for a part of the larp. They exist at the service of the larp, and their existence and agency are secondary to those of the player characters. For the purposes of this chapter we will use the term “supporting character”.

    For example the Krampus in Midwinter (2020) are supporting characters whose function is to torture, terrify, and re-educate Santa’s elves when they are naughty. The design suggests that all players must visit the Krampus at least once during the larp, and thus the people taking on the role will find that their (functional) play will be intense and unrelenting, but that they will have little time to simply play the character. From a design point of view the Krampus should not have full agency to affect the outcome of the larp, because they have too much power and too high a status.

    Similarly guards in a prison larp may spend much of their time moving inmates from one place to another, or teachers in a magic school may have little time to explore personal plots. Antagonists often find themselves falling into a purely functional role, even if they are not supposed to be supporting characters, for much the same reason. However, a larper who takes on a supporting character is role-playing, embodying and experiencing a character with their whole body; so the experience can be just as powerful, or traumatic, or bleed-inducing as playing a full player-character. This short piece asks what we can learn from the NPC, and whether there are any techniques and methods that we can adopt for normal play.

    Making Game for Other Participants

    Some supporting characters are net producers of alibi, designed to create opportunities for play, to offer that invitation to the players, and to give them explicit permission to engage. A supporting character would not normally directly affect the story of the larp,unless specifically designed to do so. A supporting assassin who murders the queen is less interesting than one who tries to blackmail a player character to carry out that murder, as this second approach creates play for other participants. For example, in Countdown (2019) the host of a live TV show knows that one of the contestants is pregnant; a fact that she is unaware of. Whilst it would be a dramatic reveal to announce this to the world, doing so would reduce the agency of her player. Instead, the host whispers in her ear and leaves it up to her whether or not to let the secret out. Her character arc is her own, and her play — and moments of dramatic revelation — are more important than his. For players this is a generosity of spirit, an acknowledgement that the shared experience of larping is significant and that sometimes our own experience is not paramount.

    Providing Alibis for Interaction

    In addition, this idea of producing alibi is a useful tool for all larpers; we may create opportunities and invitations for interaction every time we speak to another player, but some larpers may need a more explicit invitation to engage.

    “Would you like to dance?” Samuel asks William. This is a literal invitation to play, but William’s player is nervous. He wants to engage, but has not yet made the step from audience to participant. It is very easy for William to say “no,” to look away, to stutter an excuse.

    “Can you dance?” is a more interesting opening. If William says “yes” Samuel can follow it up with “Well I can’t! Can you show me how?” and if William says “no” Samuel can either offer to show him, or can admit he is also gifted with two left feet and they can learn together. In every instance the supporting character is offering the player a reason to say yes. A nuanced version of this can be used for oppression play; the antagonist offers a reason to escalate in their line of questioning,

    “There are people who you care for?”

    “Yes”

    “Well if you don’t answer my questions, we will come for them next”

    or

    “No”

    “Then why resist?”

    offering the victim both something to fight for and a reason to capitulate.

    The supporting character creates new stories and activities, but when these opportunities arise, they pass them over to players and step away. The supporting character creates opportunity for play (makes game), cedes opportunity for play (gives game), and encourages play from all parties (produces alibi). But we can all do this, it simply involves a little extra work: steering for generosity.

    Avoiding “Blue-on-Blue” Action

    One of the pitfalls of having supporting characters is that they can end up playing scenes amongst themselves. This is particularly common with high status characters. It makes sense to the story for the king and the wizard to argue in the throne room, but their high status tends to force everyone else to become an audience.

    High status characters take the spotlight simply by existing. Players want to talk to them. They have access to information and contacts, and they are responsible for taking decisions. Sometimes a co-dependency emerges. Players bring information to the supporting characters rather than sharing it with their co-players, although the supporting characters often have insufficient capacity to assimilate and disseminate the information; so the information gets lost. This bottlenecking comes from poor management or poor design.

    Finally there is a high-status tendency to perform; to deliver a speech that takes ten minutes when it could probably have been done in thirty seconds, and when a high status character is talking it is difficult for a lower status character to interrupt. Instead they can facilitate conversation to ensure that everyone who wants to be heard has an opportunity to be heard.

    There are lessons here for players, as every criticism aimed at high status supporting characters applies to any high status character. High status players need to be aware of their privilege and use it to create opportunities for everyone to engage.

    A larp is a compressed fiction; it offers a finite amount of playable dramatic space which is shared by all participants. An experienced player should be aware of the space they take up and look for ways to share or cede that space.

    Hug Your Antagonist

    Antagonists are often written as supporting characters because they perform a one dimensional, one directional, or disposable function. An oppressor may do terrible things to generate game for their victims, but it is hard for the victims to willingly engage with their oppressors outside of this context. Indeed characters who are dangerous and powerful can end up isolated. Their energy is directed at their victims, but beyond that interaction there is little opportunity for them to engage with the story. It is a lonely experience to play the sociopath bully.

    I was playing an oppressor, and I honestly felt like a ‘Service Top,’ I never really got to play the character at all.

    Aleph Behaviour Player, Conscience (2019)

    It is easier for a supporting character to interact with an antagonistic player character. Perhaps the alibi of being in a supporting role and thus not having to find a good diegetic reason to interact with the antagonists helps. Because supporting characters are not fully in play, they are in a position to notice when a player character is isolated or disconnected from play and can engage with them and bring them back into the fold.

    Recognising the narrative labour carried out by antagonistic co-players is important. Players can engineer interactions with characters who are awful, without expecting awfulness or oppression in return. If we fail to do this, we are treating our antagonist as a supporting character, not a co-player.

    Serial Focus

    Some players are willing to interrupt what they consider to be a non-dramatic scene in order to inject their own drama, or to further their own play. Supporting characters sometimes adopt the “nothing is more important than the player I am talking to right now” technique; this is a strictly serial order of interaction — essentially a queue — which means that they will always finish the scene or conversation they are having before moving on. The news that another character is bringing might be important to your larp, but it is not as important as the play you are having right now.

    Creating an Accessible Character

    A well designed supporting character heuristic is to always engage, to always make play, to always have a conversation. Supporting characters tend to accept invitations to play more easily than some player characters (or some players.) This is the most important lesson we can learn from supporting characters: to always find a reason to engage, to initiate play, and to offer other players alibi to engage with you.

    We do not want to emancipate Non-Player Characters, we want Non-Player Characters to have the agency to emancipate themselves.

    Celtic larp communique #3