Live action games at Gen Con!

Live action games at Gen Con!

This is only tangentially related to GoD but if you are into GoD this may excite you. Also we may poach GoD space after hours if that is possible.

There are a bunch of us who are really into focused live action games, American Freeform, parlor larps and the like, and we are all bringing crazy stuff to try out and share. I’d like to discuss this, make some rough plans, figure out the logistics, and see who is interested.

At Origins this year there was a Jeepform sampler (Previous Occupants and Lady & Otto), a session of The Tribunal, and my big game Sirai got run twice. At Gen Con there will be more people and more game!

So: If you are bringing stuff you’d like to run, shout it out here. If you definitely want to try some live action games, shout out here. If you have a line on a good play space … shout out here.

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  1. I’ll bring a couple of small games (The Climb and Nathan Hook’s Crossed Roads) and a larger on, The Skyjacker Machine, that is brand new and a little weird.

  2. How do y’all feel about creepy observers?

  3. Sounds like a lot of fun! If you’re running on Thursday night, I’m in!

  4. Brianna Sheldon creepy anything is bad but you aren’t creepy! Unless you were asking for a creepy friend. Anyway regarding observers, it depends on the game for me and how all the participants feel. Some games are pretty intense and it wouldn’t be appropriate, others would be fine with general consent. Some games also can accommodate a semi-detached person – you could be a functionary in The Tribunal for example, and observe without interfering or causing any dissonance.

  5. Jason Morningstar Cool to know. I have an interest in live-action, but I’m not sure if I can do it (primarily due to anxiety issues interfering with my social abilities). I’m going to listen here for now, but might ping you a little closer to the event about something like the functionary you mentioned. 

    Thanks!

  6. Sure enough! I will go out of my way to make you welcome in whatever capacity works for you.

  7. Also worth noting – some of these games are for 4-6 people and are really a hybrid of tabletop and larp – they probably won’t feel too alien.

  8. On the same topic we are still Looking for players to Sign up for Ace Adventure’s in Speed Dating. It’s a series of short one on one LARPs tied into a greater theme, with elements of Fate and Hillfolk. 

    I’d love to participate in more of these myself but I’ve managed to tightly book my GenCon time again this year. Too bad they don’t have space for this stuff at PAXEast.

  9. Will these be ran every night?

  10. I’m in, of course. No idea if I’m going to run anything yet.

    Matt, I suspect there is enough interested facilitators that there very well could be offerings every night.

  11. I’m so all over this, Jason. After playing John’s Demons at the Door and Screwing the Crew two weekends back-to-back, I’ve got a serious hankering for more larp.

    I’m pinging Lizzie Stark, John Stavropoulos, Terry Romero, James Stuart, George Locke , Emily Care Boss, as folks I know will be interested, beyond those who’ve expressed an interest already. I suspect Kelley Vanda and Krista White might, too. 

    I’d be willing to run Doubt, Previous Occupants and Robin’s Friends. I’m keen to play Demons at the Door again and weirdly, I think I’m interested in Screwing the Crew again too–it’s awesomely twisted, but after watching a bunch of newbies and first-time Nordic players play it, I feel it’s actually friendlier to newbies if they’re willing to dive in. Lizzie should probably run it, however, if it gets played.

    I’m also super-interested in The Tribunal.

    And of course, I’m probably down for anything you run, Jason. I’ve played (play-tested–maybe it’s changed since our version) The Climb to epic results, but am not familiar with Nathan Hook’s Crossed Roads or The Skyjacker Machine.

  12. Woo!! I want to run Play with Intent. I’ll also have Under my Skin, Remodel,  Robin’s Friends, Growing Up, or others from the Jeep repertoire.

    I believe I will also have a draft version of a larger, historical game I’m working on that I’ll see if there’s time/interest in checking out. :) 

  13. How can we coordinate at the con? Word of mouth?

  14. Games on Demand is a bustling caravan oasis of likely victims! I don’t know how to reach out to them though, particularly without messing with the core purpose of GoD.

  15. Let me just say, I’m down for another run of Under My Skin. That game was pivotal for me, for a number of reasons, not the least lasting friendships that came out of it.

  16. What about a sign up or signage about after hours larps?

  17. It seems to me that space will be more of an issue than bodies, perhaps. Assuming we can stay in the GoD room at midnight (when events there end) we could run two simultaneous games divided by a partition.

    Other bootleg spaces exist, and honestly I am not a fan of starting anything at midnight.

  18. I will be at GoD at 10 pm Thursday.. Personally open to larp at that time or after.

  19. LETS PLAY IN THE HALL! ANARCHY!

  20. Brianna Sheldon I have had similar anxieties, but I found that I can just bring them right into the character.  I played the head of state in Sirai, at first I felt totally incompetent, and then it was just like, “Hey wait, I can just be incompetent.  Incomptenent dictator go!”

  21. George Locke I’ll keep that in mind!

  22. I can run Previous Occupants, Happy Ends, or The Curse.  Lizzie and I are hoping for a first playtest of a game we’re writing on family disfunction in religious counseling.

  23. I’d really like to play The Curse and Previous Occupants and Play with Intent and Remodel and Skyjakers.

    Are there open gaming rooms we could take over at night?

  24. Lizzie Stark says ” I’m bringing the curse and a playtest or two, and will have my jeepy pile in tow for whoever wants to run or play.”

  25. Fear Lizzie’s Jeepy Pile!

    Anyway, last year we scored some abandoned classrooms in the Embassy Suites in a bootleg capacity and that worked well.

  26. Since it will be before official stuff is happening and swarms of people are coming together, we could plan something for Wednesday night? 10ish?

  27. There’s “GoD training” until around then, so we could use the GoD room I reckon.

  28. I am curious about these games, but no way will I make it to midnight. 

  29. Brianna Sheldon. I am not sure your background, but mine is table top gaming. I was hesitant to Larp fearing I would screw up being in character in stuff. That was always an issue for me at the table.

    What I found was being up and fully in character (as opposed to sitting at a table, being in character sometime, and other times rolling dice) made it a lot easier or me to maintain the role, and helped immersion to the point that being in character was easier. Also, with everyone else in character , it provided an almost peer pressure to stay immersed.

    Regardless of your decision, have a great time!

  30. A lot of the games we’ll be playing don’t demand complete immersion.Live action is more kinesthetic and that’s part of the fun, you get to move around, so come and check it out and participate if it feels right to you.

  31. Kira Scott From what I understand, space is at a premium this year. We will have to reserve rooms when we get on site. I did that last year, no problem. We’ll have to hope that will work out again. 

    There may be other options, but that’s what Terry & I worked out with Steve a few weeks back.

  32. We should just reserve space as “American Freeform collective” every evening if that is possible.

  33. Cool Emily Care Boss! So are you our official space reserver? (heh NBD)

  34. On the topic of LARP, Infinite Imaginations has plenty of spots open for a potentially gonzo LARP, “Ravenloft’s Got Talented Idols: Season 2” on Friday at 9pm.

    https://gencon.com/events/42027

  35. Late Wednesday in our event space is possible, though it could only be people who are GoD volunteers, as the hall is otherwise off-limits that night.

    Space is definitely the key hurdle. We can check with GM HQ when we get there and continuously throughout the show to score any available rooms.

    Once you have a time and place, you could pitch the game to people waiting outside the GoD room between slots.

  36. I would like to play. There’s a chance I will have someone else’s playtest-ready LARP. But I am new to LARP.

  37. Steve, if we set up games a day in advance, could we put a sign up sheet at GoD? That plus Twitter seems like a reasonable way to garner gamers. :)

  38. I think we can make that happen. 

  39. So excited! I packed Mikodine XA on the off chance this would happen, but really want to play a bunch of jeeps.

  40. who will be tweeting for Larps on Demand?  Who should I be following?

  41. Oh yeah, we need a hashtag right? #larpsondemand works for me but follow somebody more Twitter-y.

  42. Count me in: I’ll be there Wednesday evening anyhow for the GoD meetup.

  43. Most of the games aren’t larps, so that might be a bit misleading to folks innocently listening in to the tweet-o-sphere. :) How about #liveatGoD ?

  44. I may be game (see what I did there?) Depending on the theme, the time of day and some other factors! Yes, when it comes to American Freeform, I an high maintenance.

  45. Kira Scott Sorry I missed your post earlier! I’d be happy to be the room signer-upper. It was not hard last year but we’ll see. Maybe others can be on the bootleg space committee? :)

  46. Cool, I will lead the urban spelunking team to find bootleg spaces to play dangerous off kilter illegal games. #liveatgod  

  47. I volunteer to be the lookout who distracts the police with pratfalls.

  48. I am super into new and weird!

  49. OK, Steve and I just heard from Derek Guder with Gen Con and here’s the poop: It probably won’t be a big deal to get space from Gen Con HQ in the morning and afternoon.

    So we should plan some gatherings in the morning and afternoon! GoD schedules may make this hard but there you go.

  50. Hrm. Crap. I am probably GMing then. Unless, of course, I can GM Freeform and have that count as my GMing slot.

  51. I am back from the colony! I am bringing Doubt, Previous Occupants, The Curse, Screwing the Crew, G and my play test, The Prayer Circle, and maybe a playtest of a game about an artists colony, if I get it together.

    I want to play many things also. Many things.

  52. I just want to hangout with Lizzie Stark! Oh yeah…and game with her too.

  53. I’m GMing in the evenings, but I’m totally up for some afternoon action!

  54. An update: we did get a room in the Marriott, though evenings turned out to work best. Sign-up sheets are at Games on Demand, and I tweeted the schedule last night. :)

  55. Thanks for doing the legwork Emily!