There are some things that we hope all our players would keep in
mind. Most apply to other LARPs as well. Many of these are adapted from the Mind's Eye Theatre and Helsinki Chronicles conduct rules.
These are some addendums and clarifications to the rules above which will help guide players in having a good time. Many of these are adapted from the Helsinki Chronicles troupe.
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Do not confuse in-scenario and off-scenario. In other words, if
someone's character insults your character it does not mean that
that person is insulting you. Never carry off-scenario grudges (or
friendships!) over into the interactive drama performance. This should be obvious, but it is
such an important point that it bears repetition.
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Play your character. Think about who your character is and
try to act like him or her, even if it means doing things that
you consider stupid, or even suicidal. The essence of good
roleplaying is being able to stay "in character". It's hard, but
when it succeeds it creates a good game for everyone (and some
memorable situations... :-).
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Avoid off-scenario mode. Off-scenario is evil! Well, maybe not evil, but it sure does get in the way of running a smooth and enjoyable event.
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Learn the scenario or system rules. That doesn't mean that you should
memorize every detail, but try to become familiar with the abilities
that your character has and with the basic game mechanics. Having to
ask about rule details in the middle of a scenario situation easily
spoils the atmosphere. Not all scenarios will have formal rules but there is always an implied system of some sort. If you're not sure what it is, ask and find out. For the most part, the Taiwan Interactive Theatre Society performs interactive drama scenarios that rely upon very simple metasystems or rule sets as we tend to focus on the experience of improvisational theatre-style roleplay rather than on mechanics. However, even the simplest system is still a system.
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Try to hide the system mechanics as much as possible. If
possible, do the rock-paper-scissors dance out of general sight, and
then act out the situation. This way everyone sees what is going on,
and things feel more "real" (instead of abstract game mechanics). In
fact, forget mechanics if it's totally obvious what
would happen (i.e. an powerful warrior with tons of muscle throws you, a frail
ninety pound weakling, against the wall and you don't have any special abilities
that might help). Improvise, act things out, yell if the situation
calls for it! The emphasis should be on acting, not system
details. The acting is what other players will remember you by (or
not remember you by, as may be), not by how many bids you
won or lost. Think about the most memorable characters in the scenario run,
and try to figure out why they were memorable and not just "faces in
the crowd"...
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Do your best to have fun. If you're bored, and you really can't think
of anything to do, talk to a director... I'm sure we can think of
something. Usually there's a lot of things going on during
a scenario, a lot of it is just hidden. Try to figure out who is hiding
what, and why.
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The session is not over just because you've "finished your goals." Don't give up on the rest of the players and their plots just because you seem to have finished your goals, please stay in character and help others to continue having a good time. If you're not sure what you should be doing, tell a director and ask for some guidance. If the scenario is well plotted, there should be plenty for you to do. If the scenario has holes in it, then the director needs to know so that things can be patched up. It's perfectly appropriate for a director to give additional goals or information to a player in order to "keep things moving" and help everyone have a good time.
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If you don't feel like playing your character, the whole
event bores you, or something else is seriously wrong, tell the
directors about it. Please! Don't go around killing other
player characters "just because you're bored" or something else
idiotic, that is a very easy way to seriously piss off other players and the
directors. We mean it. This comes from experience.
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Tell us (the coordinators and directors) what you liked and didn't like about
that event, what you would like to do next, plot ideas, anything at
all. This troupe is very much run by players for players.
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Remember the "roleplay" word. In a nutshell: acting
is good. Good acting is even better. Simulating combat etc by acting
it out is very good. Simulating the use and effect of vampiric
Disciplines by acting is also very good. Anything at all that makes
the scenario and the situations more "real" to players is a Very Good
Thing. Let yourself go, it's very much ok to yell if your character
is angry or in a killing frenzy or just feels like it!
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Off-scenario is bad. We've said it before, but it needs to be stressed. Doing everything with game mechanics
with no acting is very bad ("And now I do a Social test
against you to talk you into supporting my plan"). Always
getting together with a certain player no matter what your
characters are (because you are friends in real life) should be
avoided. Spoiling the scenario for other people is very
bad. Spoiling the event for other people with stupid behavior in
such an extent that the directors or hosts get complaints from other
players is very, very bad, and is one of the few ways to get
yourself kicked out of the troupe for good.