Long Live the King!
Holycrapthatwasfun :D
Alright, excepting one, non-game-related occurance at the very end. Involving toenails, and the breaking off from the toe they should have been upon. Ick. (JD, btw, did she get taken care of the next day?)
Long Live the King! (or, for short from here on, LLtK) is a single session LARP of limited duration. Specifically, it lasts for 7 rounds, and each round takes between a half hour to an hour to play.
In LLtK, the King is dying- nearly dead, in fact! And, in matters of succession, there are some questions as to who will end up on the throne. A number of Primary contenders seek to be the top dog when the king croaks.
The Primary contenders all have their own abilities, resources and victory conditions. Someone will be the King (or Queen or Power Behind the Throne) at the end of the seventh turn.
Each round of LLtK is divided into 3 parts- Meeting with the King, Diplomacy and Council. Meetings with the King are private affairs, during which the King dispenses income, Intrigue cards, and informs the player of their current Favor. During Diplomacy, the players mingle, plot and backstab. During Council, the players gather into formal session, vote their favor on various petitions, and generally frontstab.
Intrigue Cards are used to quickly encapsulate the twists of fortune and subtle plans that nobles lay against one another- manipulating the King's Favor, stealing money from one another, or filing lawsuits against others. Status Cards serve as both a re-usable ability (as a lesser, faceless individual of the Court), as well as determining the priority and respect you are overtly granted in Council. Money is needed to use some Intrigue Cards, to power some character abilities, and so on.
I got to play LLtK over the weekend- hence the post. And it was a trully awesome experience. EVeryone came in costume, and a staggering number of additional warm bodies showed up- such that every primary had a secondary confidant working for them. Also, there was a vast array of food and booze, which makes everything nicer.
Problems: Not all of the players were clear on solid strategies for their characters- I won, largely because people tried to achieve their specific goal for winning, and ignored their shared goals of removing me from the heir-apparent position. This problem would likely go away in future games :)
Scalability could be an issue- there's really only meaningful/active schemeing done by the Primaries. Unlike most larps, which just get more interesting as more plotters are thrown in, the Secondaries don't have super-lots to do. Ten or eleven players, including the King and an assistant (to help manage the paperwork), and one or two secondaries (to act as go betweens for ALL the primaries, thereby keeping them more active and engaged) would likely work out better. (OTOH, things worked quite well with for most of the seconds, most of the time; and there was always quantities of cake and booze to consume!)
Constuming could be problematic, if it weren't right near halloween. Renfair looks better, but is significantly more expensive- and people not showing up in period attire would injure the mood.
Cost is certainly a factor- each attendee probally invested between $30 to over $100 in costuming, food and drink- just for this event.
Alright, excepting one, non-game-related occurance at the very end. Involving toenails, and the breaking off from the toe they should have been upon. Ick. (JD, btw, did she get taken care of the next day?)
Long Live the King! (or, for short from here on, LLtK) is a single session LARP of limited duration. Specifically, it lasts for 7 rounds, and each round takes between a half hour to an hour to play.
In LLtK, the King is dying- nearly dead, in fact! And, in matters of succession, there are some questions as to who will end up on the throne. A number of Primary contenders seek to be the top dog when the king croaks.
The Primary contenders all have their own abilities, resources and victory conditions. Someone will be the King (or Queen or Power Behind the Throne) at the end of the seventh turn.
Each round of LLtK is divided into 3 parts- Meeting with the King, Diplomacy and Council. Meetings with the King are private affairs, during which the King dispenses income, Intrigue cards, and informs the player of their current Favor. During Diplomacy, the players mingle, plot and backstab. During Council, the players gather into formal session, vote their favor on various petitions, and generally frontstab.
Intrigue Cards are used to quickly encapsulate the twists of fortune and subtle plans that nobles lay against one another- manipulating the King's Favor, stealing money from one another, or filing lawsuits against others. Status Cards serve as both a re-usable ability (as a lesser, faceless individual of the Court), as well as determining the priority and respect you are overtly granted in Council. Money is needed to use some Intrigue Cards, to power some character abilities, and so on.
I got to play LLtK over the weekend- hence the post. And it was a trully awesome experience. EVeryone came in costume, and a staggering number of additional warm bodies showed up- such that every primary had a secondary confidant working for them. Also, there was a vast array of food and booze, which makes everything nicer.
Problems: Not all of the players were clear on solid strategies for their characters- I won, largely because people tried to achieve their specific goal for winning, and ignored their shared goals of removing me from the heir-apparent position. This problem would likely go away in future games :)
Scalability could be an issue- there's really only meaningful/active schemeing done by the Primaries. Unlike most larps, which just get more interesting as more plotters are thrown in, the Secondaries don't have super-lots to do. Ten or eleven players, including the King and an assistant (to help manage the paperwork), and one or two secondaries (to act as go betweens for ALL the primaries, thereby keeping them more active and engaged) would likely work out better. (OTOH, things worked quite well with for most of the seconds, most of the time; and there was always quantities of cake and booze to consume!)
Constuming could be problematic, if it weren't right near halloween. Renfair looks better, but is significantly more expensive- and people not showing up in period attire would injure the mood.
Cost is certainly a factor- each attendee probally invested between $30 to over $100 in costuming, food and drink- just for this event.