Hey, I’m Hayley. I’m going to be a new player at the upcoming event and this is my first larp ever. I was wondering if anyone had any advice/ pointers for the game or for larping in general?
I do have one specific question at the moment, and that is how do people handle carrying around water in game? I’ve seen glass bottles, but that seems like it might go poorly if you were to fall and the glass broke.
Hiya!
First the bottles: I just wrap a plastic bottle in fabric with a rubber band because I’m cheap. Absolutely no one will worry about a modern bottle breaking immersion even if you don’t dress it up though. Hail Hydrate.
Now, onto the next points:
The two most important things I always tell new LARPers is that it’s a weekend hanging out with friends and collectively playing cops & robbers. It’s meant to be a really good time, so:
No matter how detailed a character design (or total lack thereof) you enter game with the real story/soul of your character will develop organically by the experiences they have over time. So don’t worry if you come into game with nothing but a name, or if you come in with a lot of ideas that don’t pan out. See next point:
Don’t let any “artificial” aspects prevent you from having fun. Never “role-play” yourself into a corner. AKA, if YOU really want to do something or engage in a plot, but YOUR CHARACTER would act differently, and that’s less fun? do it anyway and with some time you’ll be able to rationalize it, or you can have had the moment of “bad” judgement result in personal change/growth.
The very most important thing about LARPing isn’t to get really good at pretending to be someone else, It’s to have fun fantasizing about a different kind of you! You should be comfortable in your own skin so to speak and free to enjoy exploring a new world!
Also eat, drink and change your socks regularly. It’s shocking how hard that is when you’re very distracted, busy, and staying up super late.
((As an example, my character, “Seren” is technically very not like myself; but I gave her a reason to be able to put on an energetic and social face when required so that I can still be me sometimes. So sometimes I’m Me, Pretending to be Seren, pretending to be like me. This keeps me from worrying all weekend about breaking character, or denying myself happy fun social time despite it not matching my character’s disconnected seriousness))
Honestly, as long as you stay “meta” just enough to remember that LARP is a gift you give yourself and fun is the aim, everything else unfamiliar about the hobby will fall into place overtime.
Yeah I got some advice for a new player for PK.
1.) Fish BOI!
2.) Bring Extra socks.
On the point of water I’ve been able to go back to the bar regularly enough at PK to not need to carry my own, but carrying a waterskin (there are soft bottles made to look like leather waterskins some people use) is not a bad idea.
Other than that my best advice is to actively seek out involvement. If plots aren’t finding you, insert yourself into conversations or excursions, or even gather people to go out looking for things on your own. There’s too much going on and too many people for everyone to be involved in everything, so don’t worry about missing some stuff for the plots you’re most interested in.
Be careful and take your time on the hill.
On the note of water bottles, I - along with several others - have a modern water bottle tucked away in a bag my character carries so that it isn’t out at all times, but the rubber band trick described above also is good. As a general rule though: Safety first, then immersion.
For example, wear the shoes that are most comfortable and reliable rather than “accurate.” The camp ground is hilly with a lot of loose rocks and protruding tree roots and you’re going to be on your feet a lot. There’s also a good chance of rain for this event. Sneakers or hiking boots are the way to go.
Also, just a note on stuff to pack:
*Bring a sleeping bag and extra blankets since it always gets colder at night than you think it will.
*Extra socks are good but extra layers (shirt, pants) are also nice to have just in case. Especially since it’s supposed to be rainy and fluctuate between really nice to kinda chilly for this event.
Note for larping in general stuff:
*Don’t be afraid to approach other players or plots or whatever. In the world of Port Katherine (in-game), Spring is a time about beginnings - making new friends, learning new things, etc, etc. Also the players (out-of-game) are all super nice folk who want to also make new friends. So both in- and out-of-game, you have reason to interact with people and the world - make the most of it, however you choose to do that.
*Ask questions if you’re ever confused about a game mechanic. We’ve got the call “Clarify” for a reason. Definitely familiarize yourself with the calls and skills that are relevant to your character, but if you’re confused about rules or anything, ask questions. Some of us have the rule book memorized, but the majority of us only really know the calls and skills relevant to our character/plots/that get thrown at us a lot. Even the so-called veterans forget how a skill works.
So in short, have fun and don’t stress about stuff. Mistakes might happen along the way, but just roll with it and do your best and it should be a good time!
Definitely bring some synthetic underlayers to keep you warm if it gets cold or wet, and enough socks to change if your feet get wet or sweaty. Seconding sturdy hiking shoes. Bug spray.
If you have nowhere to be, hang out in or around the tavern, watch people, ask about your new home and neighbors, buy someone a “drink”, ask around for the guild for your header, follow the mob of people that’s excited about something.
Bring a bag or utility belt or something that has pockets. You’re going to need to store money, random rocks and flowers that you find, your water, snacks, etc.
Try not to break immersion, it’s way more fun when it’s believable, but keep yourself safe above all else. Bring gloves/hats/scarves if you’ll be freezing, modern water bottles if you don’t have anything better yet, comfortable shoes. You can work on finding more in-period alternatives as you play more, but don’t make yourself unsafe until you find the right props. There’s going to be mud this season. Wear shoes that can get dirty and probably a little wet.
The number of different calls confuses me sometimes, but it’s generally safe to assume any attack that hits you does 1 damage. Most attacks are uncalled: nobody says anything when they hit you with a sword. Some attacks have an elemental prefix (fire, ice, earth, air, others), which you can safely ignore unless you know better (except Spirit. Don’t take spirit damage or effects unless you are a ghost). Taking 1 damage of fire is no different than 1 damage from a sword, unless, for example, you have a fire-proofing thing on. Some attacks have an effect (pain, maim, pierce, cleave, etc) which makes it do a different thing. Pain: instead of taking damage, roll on the ground in pain. Maim: instead of taking damage, lose use of your limb. Pierce: I clearly need to go refresh myself, what does this do, ignore armor? Cleave: instead of taking 1 damage, take 5 damage. Familiarize yourself with those ones (I keep a printed list in my pocket, just in case).
Die loudly. If you get knocked to 0 hitpoints, make sure someone notices you fall down, so you don’t have to wait 5 minutes to get up. If you get critical’d while unconscious and defenseless, you better hope someone knew where you fell.
Oh! I thought of another one!
Do NOT lose your surgeon’s bag. Each character gets one, and their contents determine how healthy you are and how likely you are to survive surgery. Your bag starts pristine, but if you lose it, the replacement probably WON’T be.
I’ve currently got a glass wine bottle that I tied a jute net around, which (I hope) will insulate it from a fall. I want to upgrade to a wineskin or canteen at some point. I’m disappointed that I can’t find a solid plastic bottle that doesn’t look like a nalgene.
(Pierce maims the limb if it hits a limb, or drops you to zero vit if it hits your chest. Also it breaks chest armor if you have it. It’s the thing bullets do.)
In my experience, Red Feather players are super happy to talk to new characters and help them figure out what to do next, but if you’re stuck trying to figure out who to talk to, try asking after other people with your headers and you can get directed to a group of like-minded people.
So, “Do you know where the solider types like to hang out around here?” or “Are there any surgeons in town? I’d like to compare techniques” or “I’m a farmer by trade, do you know any others?” will get you involved in some group or other quickly.
There’s a very handy appendix called “Condensed List of Calls” in the standard Rulebook that I highly recommend printing [it’s only one page] and storing somewhere on your person.
i highly recommend printing!