How I Structure a LARP
I am currently preparing 2 side LARPs for Darkness Emergent: Los Angeles, and it inspired me to write about how I create LARPs in my personal style.
LARPs are Live Action Roleplaying Games where players take on the role of characters, similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but they actually take on the role with their whole body and usually wear costumes, like a murder mystery dinner party. Many LARPs involve camping and foam weapons, but the kind that I play are called Parlor LARPs, where the game focuses on investigation and discussion and action is handled through rules.
I was first introduced to Parlor LARP through my college Vampire the Masquerade Club. Each year we put on a new monthly chronicle; a new setting, new stories, and a changeup in the Storytellers running the game. I really enjoyed how this kept the story fresh each time. Eventually, I decided to run one of my own games.
I wanted to make my game feel like a movie in pacing, story, and intensity with a beginning, middle, and end. I focused on arcs for the story, characters, and emotions that I wanted my player characters to be experiencing. Since the group was used to vampires, and I’m a big horror fan, I started with a ghost story, Amberwood. I wrote an outline for Amberwood and brought a few friends onto the team to help me. Together we created unique premade player characters based on horror movie archetypes and raised the immersion with handouts and props. This was the game where I created a simple structure inspired by films that I have used ever since.
Pamphlet designed by Brad Habegger for the Amberwood LARP
The first thing I do is split my story into 4 Acts. After an out of character introduction to any special rules for the game, the first Act functions as the Exposition, giving the players time to talk to each other and learn about the situation in character. This includes reading handouts and interacting with NPCs played by the ST team. For Amberwood, the players were all visiting a town during the anniversary memorial of a large Civil War battle at the site. We heavily implied that the place was haunted, but there were no supernatural elements in Act 1.
After about an hour into the game, which would include our Intro, we have an Inciting Incident that starts Act 2. In Amberwood, the sun set and the old town returned to how it was at the time of the battle. The players were then given the opportunity to explore the historic town and surrounding woods to try to find out what was happening. We were in a large school building, so different classrooms had been assigned as locations in the town, and STs were in charge of story elements related to their location. During Act 2, we would not try to harm any players and only hint at the haunting. They would find journal entries, witness strange occurrences, and might encounter a spirit with clues to the past.
At 2 hours into the game, we enter Act 3. During Act 3, spirits manifest, and the players start to learn the truth about the haunting. The players encounter ever more dangerous situations, and their characters can come to harm. The full story of Amberwood was a town cursed to replay the events of the battle every few decades. Anyone who happened to be in the area would need to make it until sunrise to survive. This battle was particularly brutal, because two brothers, in love with the same woman, found themselves on different sides. Now, one of the brothers had actually married this woman years ago, and they had a young daughter together. Jealous, the second brother came to the town and killed his brother’s family, dying in the process. This act cursed the town. The same night, the attacking general had been driven insane by syphilis and ordered his men to slaughter the mostly defenseless population of the town.
Act 4, or 3 hours into the game, is when we take off all our guardrails. This is a one night game, and every ST is looking to create endings for their stories and player character arcs that developed over the course of the game. At the end of Amberwood, a handful of player characters faced off against the spirit of the insane general. Every player whose character had been killed got to watch the showdown as an audience, while decisions and chance determined who would make it through. In the end, I don’t think there were more than 3 survivors. We made sure to talk afterwards about the game and stories that not everyone encountered. We continued to do one night games for a few years before I moved away from Chicago.
I’ve used this 4 Act structure since that game, and it has made it possible to tell some intense stories without feeling like the pacing got out of control. The Acts were controlled by time, so no matter where STs were, they knew how to adjust the tone. We also each had information and events that would only happen during certain Acts to control the release of information. Since those college games, I’ve continued to look to push my games to include new elements, from physical puzzles to special effects, and even an original live play.
Pamphlet designed by Brad Habegger for the Amberwood LARP
Introduction - Go over any rules and safety measures necessary for the game. Be clear about expectations in theme and style.
Act/Hour 1 - The Player Characters are safe and given time to warm up and get into the tone of the game. Focus on Exposition and Foreshadowing.
Act/Hour 2 - Start to introduce the real story elements, puzzles, and threats for the players to start to engage with the story.
Act/Hour 3 - Introduce real challenges and reveal the secrets of the story. Encourage players to reveal their character’s secrets, too. There’s no point in keeping a secret in a game that only lasts one night!
Act/Hour 4 - Lead each player character and the main story to a conclusion. This could be in the form of emotional catharsis, overcoming their goal, or even character death. Remember, it’s only one game, so let players swing big and fall hard. Don’t forget to set these intense expectations before the game starts and talk to your players during the game to set up big moments.
Cooldown- Set aside time where players can talk about their favorite moments, relax, and connect over the game. In Chicago, we would always go out to a local restaurant, and after moving to Los Angeles, we’d grill in my backyard.
In early 2020, I organized a game in Los Angeles based on “The King in Yellow.” Since some of my friends are talented actors, I even wrote and directed a short play that was performed during the game. Thanks to By Night Studios, we will be running an updated version of “The King in Yellow” for a new audience this Memorial Day weekend at Darkness Emergent: Los Angeles. We will also be running an encore of our murder mystery / ghost story “21 Grams,” which we created for Darkness Emergent: Las Vegas. It would be an honor to see you there.
