The Gift of a Beginning

(Featured photo by Spencer Plouzek on Unsplash.) Well, I guess we’re starting now? Yeah? I’m writing. Yes, this is a blog. Yeah, we’re here. Okay. So… you’re reading and I’m writing. And we both like larp. Okay. Oh, you weren’t ready yet? Sorry, sorry, just save it in your inbox. It’s fine! I’ll, like… go out and I’ll post again for when you’re ready. Let me know. Can I start again? Take all the time you need, no one else is reading yet, really. Maybe a few on the east coast. No one else is awake. Okay, I’m posting. 

Much like a beginning can make or break a book, a blogpost, or a movie, it can make or break a larp. And yet, I’ve played so many larps where our beginnings felt exactly like above – the game at large was instructed to go in character, in a general room, at vaguely the time the game was to start. Sometimes music is played, often it’s not. Just, suddenly WHAM. We’re in character. Sheila is still fixing her make-up, Kenny is taking a shit, I’ve been ready for ten minutes but now I’m annoyed that I didn’t hear the game-on call so suddenly I’m not quite in character, and someone across the room is finishing their pre-game selfie on their phone. I don’t blame players for this – there was no rising curtain or lights to give us a clear indication that the action of the story was supposed to start. Designers, if you take nothing else from this blog I beg of you: Give your players a clear beginning moment of the game.

Better yet, intentionally design your beginning! Give it as much thought as you do the other major beats of your larp – it will drive the action for the first several hours of the game. There are several ways to do this, but here’s a few I recommend:

High-Action In-Media-Res: Hit the ground running at the peak of some sort of climactic scene which sets up the drama for the first act of the larp. Narrator Inc’s Helicon does this beautifully starting with the return of the captured Muses to the house after their attempted escape. The game runners play a very specific song (which the whole cast previously heard), the cast is informed as soon as the music is done, game is on and the Muses are being dragged back into the room for their punishment. You need to give the players very specific instructions of what happened leading up to this moment, but it’s an excellent way to start your game off with a bang.

Low-Action In-Media-Res: A party (or event), but it’s been going for an hour or two. Everyone is here already, everyone is a few drinks in and already comfortable with each other but nothing dramatic has yet to happen. This also is helped by either playing a song, or killing all the lights and once you bring them up the whole space is in character. Encourage players to think about what they were doing the moment before the lights came up and what they want to be doing the moment after the lights come up (Players: we’ll get to some suggested questions later.) This saves you from having everyone exit the building but still gives a clear start to your player group.

Staggered Arrivals: You all are coming to a place by different means – so make that happen. Give the players an arrival window (generally about 30 minutes) and decide who is at the place first. Then have them all arrive when they do, giving some players who need a bit more time to get ready that luxury and those who want a bit more time in character the pleasure of being early birds! It allows mini-scenes of people greeting each other, exploring the space, and having awkward small talk about whatever bullshit is your game’s theme. 

Collective Arrival: You ALL got here together. Be it bus, long journey, transporter accident, waking up out of cryo sleep, you are all coming to some awareness of your space at the same moment. Set the moments before that happens. An example of this was a Dystopia Rising game where they were all exploring a new settlement, I made the WHOLE DAMN PLAYERBASE walk out to the edge of the road and then collectively walk into town with bags on their backs as they figured out where this new place was. 

Designers, I am sure you can get more creative than I was above, but be intentional about it! Your players will have a stronger experience if you give them something to be doing from the very first moment of the game, I promise. 

Players, here’s a cheat code: one that I hope designers give you enough meat to help you think about but if they don’t you can ALWAYS do this on your own. Always ask yourself these three questions* about the moment before you start a larp:

I don’t care how long these questions stay with you after you start the game. You can take that energy and immediately cast it to the wind the moment you encounter another player. Hopefully, your answers are informed by some of the game design, so you can actually take your answers (especially that third one) and use it to drive connected roleplay with another player instead of meandering about trying to figure out what you do for plot for the first little bit of game while other people are warming up. It’s nice to have some action to start with while other people are getting their feet beneath them.

Some examples. First, an easy one from Helicon, if you are playing as a Muse:

• Where did I come from?
• Where am I going?
• What do I want?

(* Taken from Uta Hagen’s Three Entrances Exercise, thank you AJ Mooney for reminding me about it at the WAMB retreat last December.)

• Where did I come from? The forest, where I was trying to escape my captivity from my inspired
• Where am I going? Into the manor, where I am being dragged. 
• What do I want? To get his hand out of my hair because it hurts very much.

Flatliners, A medical student looking to Flatline herself to see if there is life after death, first arriving at the house where they are doing the experiment:

• Where did I come from? The liquor store where I bought champagne to drink if we succeed in this experiment.
• Where am I going? The fridge to put the champagne away to be chilled.
• What do I want? To convince everyone what a success this is going to be, we’re already planning for the celebration. 

Sin & Surveillance, A bored housewife invited to a CIA Sex Party:

• Where did I come from? The airport, we just flew in from New York City.
• Where am I going? The powder room to fix my make up. 
• What do I want? To make certain I look more attractive than the sexworkers in the room. 

You see, the motivations aren’t huge, overarching things meant to drive your entire game. They are little details meant to drive you through those first awkward moments of game while everyone is warming up. They ground you in your character, the action of the game, and the reality of those moments while you are transitioning between yourself and your character. If you want to see a lovely example of this exercise from one of Uta Hagen’s classes, watch this video from this moment and the few minutes of the girl in the green skirt doing it beautifully. That is how I encourage every larper to start their game or take a few moments pre-game to get in character! 

Thank you for listening, hopefully next time we’ll talk about endings which are just as important, but I’ve gone on too long today.