Dangerfish
02-06-2004, 01:53 PM
**Upon request, if you don’t like reading long posts, I have provided a summary at the very end. That way, if you are interested in the summary, you can go back and read the post. See? Chris loves you!**
Hi Kids!
Yes, it’s time for one of Chris Alderman’s Nefarious Plans! ™
I love fantasy gaming. Very few things thrill me more than magic, combat, adventure, puzzles, and the camaraderie that develops from playing live role-playing games. Mythic is the finest in fantasy gaming I’ve ever found, and you are some of the greatest gamers I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying company with. You guys rock, and I love my swords and sorcery, dungeons and dragons, hack and slash gaming. Love it!
Having said that, I am so completely sick of fantasy gaming that it makes me want to cry big gloppy tears every darn time I see a spell packet. I need a change of pace before I tear out what little hair I have left! I love fantasy, but I need my science fiction fix too.
Does anyone else ever feel the same way I do? Have you ever had turn your back on J.R.R. Tolkien to hook up with Isaac Asimov?
I love my science fiction gaming, but it is much more difficult to do than your standard fantasy fair. Tabletop, computer, or larp, science fiction is the most challenging genre to master.
Why?
Technology. The greatest changes of the modern world have come about because of guns, germs, and steel. You simply can not remove them from any world of future speculative fiction.
However, being the uber geek that I am, I don’t let little things like that stop me. What I would like is some feedback from you, my favorite larping companions, to see what you would think about a game of a science fiction genre. Unfortunately, larping science fiction is hard. Not merely difficult, it’s down right pain-in-the-bum difficult to organize, run, and find a safe fun way for everyone to enjoy it. Few have the patience, and fewer still the will to go through learning a whole new set of rules. The rewards however are immense.
The biggest pain is combat. Modern to science fiction combat must involve the option of projectile weapons beyond arrows and spears.
Guns are the biggest. How the heck can you safely role-play a firefight without getting hurt, frightening mundanes, and keeping with in the bounds of legal play?
Hijack for Mandatory Ethical Statement:
I do not take firearms lightly. They are tools for violence, the same as a sword. I don’t want to open a discussion on constitutional rights or the ethics of owning and operating real firearms, I only want to say that if you’re going to play a game that involves a firearm, please be respectful. Just like you’d never pick up a real sword and hit someone with it, if you play with a prop it doesn’t mean you are going to pick up a real gun and shoot someone.
That said, you don’t have a lot of options when it comes to guns. They begin with 1 major decision that will affect all of your options in the future.
Does it fire a simulated projectile?
A)        Yes.
B)        No.
A: Anything that simulates the firing of a projectile, either by actually shooting something such as with air-soft pellet guns or paintball markers, or by simulating a projectile with a “harmless material” as with laser tag or water squirt guns.
This can be done safely, but only with the proper equipment and rules in place to keep safety as the top priority. This option will no doubt provide the most accuracy in a simulated firefight, and the most intense simulated combat situations. These are a heck of a lot of fun.
The drawback is that this is both more dangerous, and more expensive than any other option. Rules must be set in place, and a violation of these rules could result in actual injury, just like in simulated melee weapon combat.
Simulated projectile weapons will cost more, and it would be up to the individual player to provide their own personal props and safety equipment for both PCing and NPCing. This means anyone with a limited finance may not be able to join in the gaming.
B: If you choose to treat projectile weapons as props, then you save the concern of actual weapon combat, lower costs dramatically, and safety becomes much easier to maintain. Instead of actually shooting anything, a player would practically say “bang!” in order to shoot a firearm.
The advantage is obviously low cost props, safety, less chance of upsetting mundanes, and no actual physical player skills would come into play.
The drawback is that rules are more complex to determine accuracy and damage, the element of intensity in the firefight is lost, and combat will be slowed down dramatically.
In either case, whatever you do, weather it’s a cap gun, paintball marker, model replica, or a wooden rubber band gun, you must not use props that could be mistaken for real guns by a mundane. You must keep gunplay out of mundane’s eyes, and be willing to drop everything to say “It’s just a game! See?” Normally this can be accomplished with a band of bright orange tape at the end of the barrel, in accordance with US laws regarding “toy” guns.
The next problem is technology. Fortunately, as Arthur C. Clark puts it, a sufficiently advanced technology will be indistinguishable to a more primitive society from magic. To put more simply, high-tech looks like magic. We’ve already conquered the problem of magic in non-combat situations, so technology becomes a game of props. Items are replaced with computers, and spells with programs. Easy enough, and still a lot of fun.
So, now that I’ve told you how we can do it, who would be willing to give it a try?
What I am proposing is an experimental couple of games on the side. Not necessarily under the banner of Mythic Realms, as not every member of Mythic is a science fiction fan, and I don’t want Mythic to have to worry about any problems with safety, insurance, and those other invisible little problems that crop up when you make a game that involves people hitting each other.
Please post a response if you would be interested in playing a science fiction style game. I haven’t determined if the genre would be more along the lines of “Aliens” style hunt/survival horror (we play good-guy military types who go kill bad creatures that want to eat us), cyberpunk (Bladerunner, Shadow Run style “free operative” missions where players are street mercenaries hired to run jobs in a dark future), or something along the lines of Masamune Shiro’s Ghost in the Shell or Appleseed, or even something totally different (anti-terrorist teams vs. psychic monster terrorists of doom?)
I don’t know where we would play (Silly larpers, Castle is for Mythic!), or how we would do it, only that I really need a break from the same old same old.
If no one is interested, I promise I’ll let the topic die a cold and lonely death into obscurity. If anyone is interested, I would love to hear from you. I hope I’m not the only one interested in something like this.
Thanks for reading!
**Chris’s Summary for Those Too Lazy to Read the Whole Thing:**
I like sci fi!
In want to play a science fiction larp. Do you want to play a science fiction larp? We could play one together! Sci fi larps need guns. Guns are hard to larp, but can be done. Want to try it?
-Chris "They call me 'junkie'"
Hi Kids!
Yes, it’s time for one of Chris Alderman’s Nefarious Plans! ™
I love fantasy gaming. Very few things thrill me more than magic, combat, adventure, puzzles, and the camaraderie that develops from playing live role-playing games. Mythic is the finest in fantasy gaming I’ve ever found, and you are some of the greatest gamers I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying company with. You guys rock, and I love my swords and sorcery, dungeons and dragons, hack and slash gaming. Love it!
Having said that, I am so completely sick of fantasy gaming that it makes me want to cry big gloppy tears every darn time I see a spell packet. I need a change of pace before I tear out what little hair I have left! I love fantasy, but I need my science fiction fix too.
Does anyone else ever feel the same way I do? Have you ever had turn your back on J.R.R. Tolkien to hook up with Isaac Asimov?
I love my science fiction gaming, but it is much more difficult to do than your standard fantasy fair. Tabletop, computer, or larp, science fiction is the most challenging genre to master.
Why?
Technology. The greatest changes of the modern world have come about because of guns, germs, and steel. You simply can not remove them from any world of future speculative fiction.
However, being the uber geek that I am, I don’t let little things like that stop me. What I would like is some feedback from you, my favorite larping companions, to see what you would think about a game of a science fiction genre. Unfortunately, larping science fiction is hard. Not merely difficult, it’s down right pain-in-the-bum difficult to organize, run, and find a safe fun way for everyone to enjoy it. Few have the patience, and fewer still the will to go through learning a whole new set of rules. The rewards however are immense.
The biggest pain is combat. Modern to science fiction combat must involve the option of projectile weapons beyond arrows and spears.
Guns are the biggest. How the heck can you safely role-play a firefight without getting hurt, frightening mundanes, and keeping with in the bounds of legal play?
Hijack for Mandatory Ethical Statement:
I do not take firearms lightly. They are tools for violence, the same as a sword. I don’t want to open a discussion on constitutional rights or the ethics of owning and operating real firearms, I only want to say that if you’re going to play a game that involves a firearm, please be respectful. Just like you’d never pick up a real sword and hit someone with it, if you play with a prop it doesn’t mean you are going to pick up a real gun and shoot someone.
That said, you don’t have a lot of options when it comes to guns. They begin with 1 major decision that will affect all of your options in the future.
Does it fire a simulated projectile?
A)        Yes.
B)        No.
A: Anything that simulates the firing of a projectile, either by actually shooting something such as with air-soft pellet guns or paintball markers, or by simulating a projectile with a “harmless material” as with laser tag or water squirt guns.
This can be done safely, but only with the proper equipment and rules in place to keep safety as the top priority. This option will no doubt provide the most accuracy in a simulated firefight, and the most intense simulated combat situations. These are a heck of a lot of fun.
The drawback is that this is both more dangerous, and more expensive than any other option. Rules must be set in place, and a violation of these rules could result in actual injury, just like in simulated melee weapon combat.
Simulated projectile weapons will cost more, and it would be up to the individual player to provide their own personal props and safety equipment for both PCing and NPCing. This means anyone with a limited finance may not be able to join in the gaming.
B: If you choose to treat projectile weapons as props, then you save the concern of actual weapon combat, lower costs dramatically, and safety becomes much easier to maintain. Instead of actually shooting anything, a player would practically say “bang!” in order to shoot a firearm.
The advantage is obviously low cost props, safety, less chance of upsetting mundanes, and no actual physical player skills would come into play.
The drawback is that rules are more complex to determine accuracy and damage, the element of intensity in the firefight is lost, and combat will be slowed down dramatically.
In either case, whatever you do, weather it’s a cap gun, paintball marker, model replica, or a wooden rubber band gun, you must not use props that could be mistaken for real guns by a mundane. You must keep gunplay out of mundane’s eyes, and be willing to drop everything to say “It’s just a game! See?” Normally this can be accomplished with a band of bright orange tape at the end of the barrel, in accordance with US laws regarding “toy” guns.
The next problem is technology. Fortunately, as Arthur C. Clark puts it, a sufficiently advanced technology will be indistinguishable to a more primitive society from magic. To put more simply, high-tech looks like magic. We’ve already conquered the problem of magic in non-combat situations, so technology becomes a game of props. Items are replaced with computers, and spells with programs. Easy enough, and still a lot of fun.
So, now that I’ve told you how we can do it, who would be willing to give it a try?
What I am proposing is an experimental couple of games on the side. Not necessarily under the banner of Mythic Realms, as not every member of Mythic is a science fiction fan, and I don’t want Mythic to have to worry about any problems with safety, insurance, and those other invisible little problems that crop up when you make a game that involves people hitting each other.
Please post a response if you would be interested in playing a science fiction style game. I haven’t determined if the genre would be more along the lines of “Aliens” style hunt/survival horror (we play good-guy military types who go kill bad creatures that want to eat us), cyberpunk (Bladerunner, Shadow Run style “free operative” missions where players are street mercenaries hired to run jobs in a dark future), or something along the lines of Masamune Shiro’s Ghost in the Shell or Appleseed, or even something totally different (anti-terrorist teams vs. psychic monster terrorists of doom?)
I don’t know where we would play (Silly larpers, Castle is for Mythic!), or how we would do it, only that I really need a break from the same old same old.
If no one is interested, I promise I’ll let the topic die a cold and lonely death into obscurity. If anyone is interested, I would love to hear from you. I hope I’m not the only one interested in something like this.
Thanks for reading!
**Chris’s Summary for Those Too Lazy to Read the Whole Thing:**
I like sci fi!
In want to play a science fiction larp. Do you want to play a science fiction larp? We could play one together! Sci fi larps need guns. Guns are hard to larp, but can be done. Want to try it?
-Chris "They call me 'junkie'"