I haven't put up a new journal since April and it it may be yet longer until another one shows up. I just cannot seem to put my words up here on the web because there's really not much to say. Nothing is happening. Lots of nothing.

Still, I figure if this is supposed to be a Journal, then let me go ahead and put something up... random as it may be. First thing on my mind, then? LARP. I run the Greenville LARP (Live Action Role-Play) for Werewolf: The Apocalypse out of the back parking lot of Up In Smoke just off 385, on North Pleasentburg Drive, the First, Third, and Fifth Saturdays of the month at 7PM (Come join us!).

The Game has been going since the First Saturday of November last year, and I think it's done well. There have been some bumps in the road along the way, but that can happen when you're new to something. Man, I do love the setting, but the only reason I am Storyteller is because I got sick of other people screwing it up... from having work come first to showing favorites to a girlfriend and having a lack of vision about story... sometimes even just taking the stance of 'it's my story, and you all are just in it'... whatever. I got sick of it.

Role-Play should be about that, you know? Not the J-RPG Video Game nonsense that calls itself a Role-Playing Game. Stories in Final Fantasy and others are just about the most stupid an contrived that you can get in gaming. You aren't really playing a Role so much as you are using Levels and Skills to make your way through an existing story.

Really... Mass Effect and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines are the only two true RPG's that I can name off the top of my head. Still, that's not quite the point I'm trying to make here. The point was that we'd just had one ST (Storyteller) put work first, one ST put himself and his friends above the other Players, and one ST who just wanted to go forward with the story that was his, and none of them were doing a great job...

And when I mean we just had them do this, I mean from the beginning of January to the end of October of last year, we had three ST's... two of them running Games back and forth during the same time, giving us One Game a Month per story. It was pain, as an RPer, let me tell you.

I said, OK... here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to run a Game on the Saturdays that the one remaining ST isn't, and not on the same weekend as the local Vampire Game (run by friends... and that I would play in if I had more money for gas). I'm going to pick up the First and Third and the Fifth... because I miss the days of Role-Play every single week, but I'd never have the gas for it week after week. Fifth Saturdays are "Rare", you know?

Werewolf has it's flaws. Ask anyone who hates it, and they'll tell you everything. Ask someone who likes it, and they'll tell you slightly less. The setting is good, but there's a couple of things that just outright go wrong. One is Gifts (special, spiritual abilities that characters can get) that just aren't worth it, so no one snags them up.

Overall, though, I like the setting... and I think LARP has the chance to do things that other settings do not. For one, it's kind of like a web comic in that it can just go on and on and on. This leads to some Chronicles having no point other than what the character's decide. That can work, but it can also be too random.

Another method is for an ST to come up with a story or plot that the random group of characters will all end up together to continue forward with. We'll call this "Final Fantasy"-ism for the same idea... that a random group of "cool" characters are thrust together by enough plot to make them being together seem reasonable. Though, in LARP, the excuses aren't usually even as good as they are in FF, as horrible as that sounds.

I respect a good story. I know how to weave a good story, if I might make such a bold statement. Sometimes I will leave a movie and think to myself... man, they should have hired me to pen that one. But, basically, I wanted to bring the best to the table that I could. There's flaws in the way that things happen in LARP, and I wanted to see beyond them.

Problem #1: You will always start the Chronicle with Random Characters. Solution #1: Give the character creation a focus. Come up with a plot that can work with a certain kind of characters to make sure that (at first) the story comes first. If your game is going to have an on-going story, it's best to start with it rather than "figure it out later".

For my Game, I wanted mostly random characters... but not too random. I choose a Glass Walker experiment to seemingly make clones of existing characters and have them be rescued from a facility. They all had to have a certain amount of Pure Breed, all be Homid Born, and have life experiences to them. This allowed them to be random, but also fix the next two problem...

Problem #2: Characters always start knowing less than the Players. This can be trouble for you if you constantly have to play a Character as not knowing things that seem really obvious to you Out of Character. It can hurt your Role-Player to have to turn a blind eye to things. It's like trying to enjoy The Matrix for it's action, but being distracted by how the Special Effects look. If you can't see beyond the FX, you probably cant enjoy the Action.

Solution #2: By making the characters seemingly clones of existing people, I have side-stepped this initial problem. It gives them the chance to have life-experiences and Rank and Renown, and things that can shape them into the person they've become... and then (through plot) rip those things from the character. Suddenly, they are young, their Rank Markings are gone, and the spirits have no idea who they are. They keep the memories, and thus are not n00bs, but they're "lowbies"... experienced players at Level 1, ya know?

This, at the same time, gives way to an additional bonus. Random as these characters are, they now share a common thread. They now have one thing in common, if they have nothing else... that they have all been rescued by a high-level pack... that they are young, without rank, and have memories of another life. Thus, even if they are random they are also alike... and this is very very important for the long run... because if the characters have no reason to hang out together, it will make plots to get everyone harder for the ST in the long run.

Problem #3: Lots of Werewolf Players have trouble playing Lupus and Metis because their life experiences are so different than your average human. This is not 100%, but a problem none the less. Solution #3? By making sure that all the Characters were in a Glass Walker setting, and thus a human setting, to start with... the plot has been made to cause all the characters up front to be Homid Born, and thus putting this problem off for a while to come.

I could go on and on here about all the things I tried to balance, but I think you see it. I made a plot that addressed the story first, the characters second, but made sure that everything fell together. The most dangerous thing I did for my game was have first games really tell a linear story. I didn't want to railroad people, but to make sure these new cubs were on the same page, I had to give them all forced time together.

Most Werewolf Players learn to fend for themselves. Most LARPers learn to fend for themselves... most expect death around every corner and that they might as well be able to kill things if they are expected to go forward. This is because most ST's are cruel. They see their story, or see Players doing something stupid (read: unwise) things as an excuse to teach them a lesson.

For me... I figure that story-wise, most Garou live longer, in the text. Why do all the Players have to die? Maybe their ST can't write. Maybe their Storyteller needs experience telling a story. Just saying. I look at blockbusters during the summer and often think why plots and characters did or didn't work. Yeah, it can be because of an actor or because of a writer... but in LARP it's almost always the ST, not the Players.

If nothing else... with the number of characters who have gone and new ones arrived, I have at least tried to keep my Story straight. After those first few games, the story now goes both where my Players want it and where it continues to plot. I'm a good weaver. I can take any threads they give me for their own ideas and work them into the story as it moves forward. I don't find that very hard, and it allows the Players to basically be Assistant Storytellers of their own.

My hope is both that my story can continue forward... and that some day it comes to an end... so that some Player of mine can have learned a new way to tell a story... and pick up the reigns...

...as much as I like being an ST, I would still like to play. That's the thought, anyway. Unlike Crunchy and Becky (my two favorite ST's), I am wanting to ST more over time, not less. They would always feel this draw to want someone else to pick up the reigns and be ST so they could play. Me? I look forward to each new Game because I feel I will be doing the job no one else wants to... and that few can do justice.

Without Players, there is no Story. ST's must learn this. As Vileson once said: "One can only lead when others follow." This is true. At the same time, there will be no Story if your ST cannot take the plot threads and weave them into something.

If someone does or doesn't show up for Game, you should be able to flex the story around them. Far more people, or not as many as you thought? The story must be flexible. If the Plot moves forward, regardless of Player interaction, then why have it? Go write a book. Players create problems and have conflicts. It's those things that give the actual RPing a sense of weight.

At the same time, your Game cannot be run by the Players. Why? Grand Theft Auto, that's why. You give them a Sandbox, and they'll go running around and doing things until they get stars and shot up by the police. If they aren't at least taking a mission from a contact, then there's no focus.

Balance. Yes, there should be an on-going plot, but that story should mutate and change per number and variety of Players. It should change direction or execution based on where the Players want to go. Try and cover all options... but don't be afraid to ask for help... both from previous ST's, and your Playerbase. Include them in the story, because without them you have nothing...

See you in the Future,
—Storyteller Huntermun


Taking Commissions:

Black & White Character Image: $10
Color Character Image: $20

Full Black & White Scene of decent Size and Detail: $15
Full Color Scene of decent Size and Detail, in Color: $30