Vaesen PnP
Post by Henry White on Mar 4, 2019 19:54:49 GMT 1
Berlin By Night (henceforth referred to as BBN) is in short; A german World of darkness crossmedia campaign with international players, heavily influenced by the Nordic Larp scene, with focus solely on playing in the collaborative larp style and an immense focus on player safety inside and outside the larps.
So what does all this actually mean?
This article will briefly describe some of the lesser known terms, supplied with additional links at the bottom of the article, should you wish to learn more about them.
What is crossmedia?
Crossmedia is the term that is used for a campaign that does not solely revolve around one certain type of roleplaying media, but rather seeks to blend various types of roleplaying together, to create a greater narrative.
In the case of BBN, we use several different types of media to tell our stories together;
Forum play; Also known as “play by mail” play, where this forum is used by the players to participate in various “threads” that involves what happens in the free anarchy city of Berlin, and how their various characters react to this.
Larp play; Larp play, which is a shorthand term for Live Action Role Play, is played monthly.
Every other month, a larger larp will take place over a weekend, but it may also take place in the shorter larps referred to as “blackboxes” which are “microlarps” used to play out a single scene.
Blackboxes can be played at every monthly gathering.
Pen and Paper play; Pen and Paper play, also known as PnP is the traditional type roleplaying that takes place around a table, involving character sheets and dices. PnP sessions is held every other month, when a larger weekend larp isn’t planned.
Electronic play; Electronic play or “Eplay” for short, is the term used where two players may use online means of communications, such as Whatsapp, Discord or other means of communication to interact with other players. A player might also participate in either a larp, blackbox or perhaps a PnP session by online means, to interact with the other players.
What is Nordic Larp?
Nordic larp is a term for shared larp traditions that have their origin in Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.)
The Nordic larp traditions have a strong emphasis on collaboration and collectively creating the story in unison between the players, a minimum of rules, as well as a lot of different play styles, with settings sometimes including heavy themes.
What is a collaborative larp?
-”We are telling the stories together.”
Excerpt from the player circle, before every BBN larp.
There are two major definitions of larp; competitive and collaborative larp.
Competitive larp (also knowns as PvP or Player versus Player larps) is the most known type of larp, almost always combat oriented, and known most notably in fantasy larps (also known as “boffer larps” in some circles) where players may confront each other, often violently and seek to defeat one another, often with the death of a character involved.
The term collaborative larp is closely tied to the nordic larp scene, and is the term for a larp where the players may create and escalate conflict between one another, but only up to the point where all involved players offer their consent.
A player is always allowed to opt out of a conflict, if the scene involves say, the death of a character or the character being involved in extreme situations such as torture, prolonged periods of psychological unease or simulated rape.
Such scenes should also always be planned out ahead of time with all the involved players, so that everyone will know what will happen, and thus can feel safe while playing out the scene.
The philosophy behind this is that the involved players can then solely focus on playing out the scene to their own full extent, thus making the scene itself all the more intense and more memorable for both the involved players and potential onlookers.
What does safety inside a larp mean?
-”We must feel safe, so we can do unsafe things.”
Matthew Dawkins. Texas.
Larp producer and organizer of the “The night in question” Sabbat Larp.
When a player is going to be stepping into a live action role-playing event that delves into emotional material, some of it may touch on traumatic events, or deal with uncomfortable subject matter, some of it might be horrific and disturbing.
Players have an urge as humans to deal with this kind of fiction; to interact with the darker parts of our world, to come to terms with it.
But as players play in a collaborative shared space, they need to be confident they are exploring safely in a way that helps everyone, so that the players have the freedom to play hard or intense scenes.
Players gain that freedom by using tools in the form of words and hand signals that let everyone communicate where their limits are; to give permission and gain permission to go farther than a player might otherwise do.
What does safety outside a larp mean?
“Players are more important than LARP.”
Bjarke Pedersen. Denmark.
Larpwriter and organiser of the WoD larps The end of the line and Enlightenment in blood.
LARP can be an emotionally and mentally draining hobby, and despite what we’d like to think, we only have limited reserves. Sometimes giving things a chance to recharge may be for the best.
This can best be achieved by every player feeling that they are in a safe environment once the play has finished.
There have unfortunately been several very public cases where toxic, sexist, transphobic, racist and emotionally damaging behaviour and attacks in various gaming cultures (“Gamergate” being the most known) have ruined not only the overall experience for players, but also caused a lot of emotional grief and damage.
Toxic behavior is any behavior which negatively impacts a player’s enjoyment of game, not related to wholly in-character actions or the fair application of game rules. Toxic behavior can be intentional or unintentional, and can occur due to factors entirely outside of game. It also may not initially appear toxic to the person perpetrating it.
When toxic behavior occurs as a one-time thing, it isn’t necessarily a problem. Everyone has off nights and in situations like this an acknowledgment of the behavior in question and an apology is usually sufficient. However, when the behavior becomes a recurring issue with a player it becomes necessary to intervene.
Every BBN player is expected to be on the lookout for any examples of toxic behaviour taking place and react on it, either by talking to one or both of the involved parties, or report what the player has seen to the player that is put in charge of the safety procedures during the event.
Links of interest.
For more information about nordic larp;
nordiclarp.org
nordic larp wiki
What is nordic larp?
For more information about collaborative larp;
Killing each other collaboratively
For more information about safety inside and outside larp;
Player safety while larping
Please note that most (but not all) of the hand gestures are similar to the ones that we use in BBN.
Safe participation
Safer larping
Participation safety in larp
Nordic Larp.org’s extensive list of various articles involving various safety mechanics.
So what does all this actually mean?
This article will briefly describe some of the lesser known terms, supplied with additional links at the bottom of the article, should you wish to learn more about them.
What is crossmedia?
Crossmedia is the term that is used for a campaign that does not solely revolve around one certain type of roleplaying media, but rather seeks to blend various types of roleplaying together, to create a greater narrative.
In the case of BBN, we use several different types of media to tell our stories together;
Forum play; Also known as “play by mail” play, where this forum is used by the players to participate in various “threads” that involves what happens in the free anarchy city of Berlin, and how their various characters react to this.
Larp play; Larp play, which is a shorthand term for Live Action Role Play, is played monthly.
Every other month, a larger larp will take place over a weekend, but it may also take place in the shorter larps referred to as “blackboxes” which are “microlarps” used to play out a single scene.
Blackboxes can be played at every monthly gathering.
Pen and Paper play; Pen and Paper play, also known as PnP is the traditional type roleplaying that takes place around a table, involving character sheets and dices. PnP sessions is held every other month, when a larger weekend larp isn’t planned.
Electronic play; Electronic play or “Eplay” for short, is the term used where two players may use online means of communications, such as Whatsapp, Discord or other means of communication to interact with other players. A player might also participate in either a larp, blackbox or perhaps a PnP session by online means, to interact with the other players.
What is Nordic Larp?
Nordic larp is a term for shared larp traditions that have their origin in Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.)
The Nordic larp traditions have a strong emphasis on collaboration and collectively creating the story in unison between the players, a minimum of rules, as well as a lot of different play styles, with settings sometimes including heavy themes.
What is a collaborative larp?
-”We are telling the stories together.”
Excerpt from the player circle, before every BBN larp.
There are two major definitions of larp; competitive and collaborative larp.
Competitive larp (also knowns as PvP or Player versus Player larps) is the most known type of larp, almost always combat oriented, and known most notably in fantasy larps (also known as “boffer larps” in some circles) where players may confront each other, often violently and seek to defeat one another, often with the death of a character involved.
The term collaborative larp is closely tied to the nordic larp scene, and is the term for a larp where the players may create and escalate conflict between one another, but only up to the point where all involved players offer their consent.
A player is always allowed to opt out of a conflict, if the scene involves say, the death of a character or the character being involved in extreme situations such as torture, prolonged periods of psychological unease or simulated rape.
Such scenes should also always be planned out ahead of time with all the involved players, so that everyone will know what will happen, and thus can feel safe while playing out the scene.
The philosophy behind this is that the involved players can then solely focus on playing out the scene to their own full extent, thus making the scene itself all the more intense and more memorable for both the involved players and potential onlookers.
What does safety inside a larp mean?
-”We must feel safe, so we can do unsafe things.”
Matthew Dawkins. Texas.
Larp producer and organizer of the “The night in question” Sabbat Larp.
When a player is going to be stepping into a live action role-playing event that delves into emotional material, some of it may touch on traumatic events, or deal with uncomfortable subject matter, some of it might be horrific and disturbing.
Players have an urge as humans to deal with this kind of fiction; to interact with the darker parts of our world, to come to terms with it.
But as players play in a collaborative shared space, they need to be confident they are exploring safely in a way that helps everyone, so that the players have the freedom to play hard or intense scenes.
Players gain that freedom by using tools in the form of words and hand signals that let everyone communicate where their limits are; to give permission and gain permission to go farther than a player might otherwise do.
What does safety outside a larp mean?
“Players are more important than LARP.”
Bjarke Pedersen. Denmark.
Larpwriter and organiser of the WoD larps The end of the line and Enlightenment in blood.
LARP can be an emotionally and mentally draining hobby, and despite what we’d like to think, we only have limited reserves. Sometimes giving things a chance to recharge may be for the best.
This can best be achieved by every player feeling that they are in a safe environment once the play has finished.
There have unfortunately been several very public cases where toxic, sexist, transphobic, racist and emotionally damaging behaviour and attacks in various gaming cultures (“Gamergate” being the most known) have ruined not only the overall experience for players, but also caused a lot of emotional grief and damage.
Toxic behavior is any behavior which negatively impacts a player’s enjoyment of game, not related to wholly in-character actions or the fair application of game rules. Toxic behavior can be intentional or unintentional, and can occur due to factors entirely outside of game. It also may not initially appear toxic to the person perpetrating it.
When toxic behavior occurs as a one-time thing, it isn’t necessarily a problem. Everyone has off nights and in situations like this an acknowledgment of the behavior in question and an apology is usually sufficient. However, when the behavior becomes a recurring issue with a player it becomes necessary to intervene.
Every BBN player is expected to be on the lookout for any examples of toxic behaviour taking place and react on it, either by talking to one or both of the involved parties, or report what the player has seen to the player that is put in charge of the safety procedures during the event.
Links of interest.
For more information about nordic larp;
nordiclarp.org
nordic larp wiki
What is nordic larp?
For more information about collaborative larp;
Killing each other collaboratively
For more information about safety inside and outside larp;
Player safety while larping
Please note that most (but not all) of the hand gestures are similar to the ones that we use in BBN.
Safe participation
Safer larping
Participation safety in larp
Nordic Larp.org’s extensive list of various articles involving various safety mechanics.
