[Gaming & LARP] The Newcomers

[baronessv]

Something I'm thinking about this morning, because I don't wanna do homework, is how to introduce a LARP character into a new game. I've only had to live through this once, at Shadows of Amun, but it was pretty awkward. I feel like there should be something more than just "Your character shows up. Go

Comments

[zapf]

When I joined Endgame, the handful of new PCs (almost none of whom other than me stayed in game) got attacked and cornered by some NPCs and then some other PCs came to save us. It didn't give us any shiny thing or information to bring to game, but it did give us a sense of the game and helped introduce us to the community.

The beginning of Shadows Game 1 was interesting for me in particular because it solidified my character's motivations quickly upon contact with the Senussi. It also showed me a little bit about the other PCs motivations and where they stood on some issues. Then it gave us the tavern and made us care about it, because we fought for it.

Adam in Endgame was usually the guy who stood outside of the tavern and kept watch for things. Which meant he was usually the guy who saw people approach and went to say hi. I tried to help new PCs if they didn't know what they were doing or what was going on and get them water and some such. However in Shadows, I haven't been as able or as good about that. In game 3, the new PCs were attacked by bugs or something, so I helped bring some of them to the doctors to get checked, brought some water and tried to explain some things, but quickly got pulled off to talk about something else. I hardly noticed when the new PCs in game 2 arrived, since I hadn't gotten a sense of the PCs I had already met at that point and I only knew a couple of the new PCs OOC.

One of the things that made introducing new PCs to Endgame easier than in Shadows for me was that I had a better sense of what was going on in the world and what plots were going on in Endgame. I could say "here's what's going on, if you're interested in learning more about blah, talk to soandso." Which is a lot harder in Shadows.

[spiralngphoenix]

That last paragraph. YES, THIS!!!! I mean, I suspect that'll get easier as we all get it sorted, but right now, yeah, it's wicked hard to even give a quick debriefing beyond "Welcome to Luxor...it's, um... yeah... it's a special place. I'm so sorry."

[witticaster]

My problem is that there's nothing I can tell them that will help them, really. I had plenty of fun telling the newbies: "Yep. Scarab people. Yep. Evil tree. If you see something glowing, fetch those people. If you find a skinned body, fetch Emma. If you see someone angry and dressed this way, fetch this set of mobsters or diplomats." But it did mostly end up being "Welcome to Luxor! You never should have come here." rather than ways they could help or get involved or anything they could learn. (I mean, I could tell people to go learn from the Golden Dawn if they're interested in glowing stuff, but that doesn't actually sound like good advice.)

I'm hoping this changes once we're out of the prequel? We'll see, I guess.