tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62839546545101962462024-02-19T04:23:02.068-05:00Alleged EntertainmentNat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-16562873879909867372015-03-08T09:41:00.002-04:002015-03-09T07:51:47.541-04:00Styles of larpAt Alleged Entertainment, we've written larps in several different styles in the past. By "style," I mean a basic game design template upon which many games can be built. For example, in the video game world, point-and-click adventure games, platform games, and first-person shooters would be examples of styles. Similarly, we have many different styles of game in the larp world.<br />
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I've been thinking lately that we need better terminology to talk about these styles, and this in this post, I'll attempt to work out some of that terminology.<br />
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Whenever possible, I'd like to use terms that are already well-known and understood in the larp communities we're active in. When that's not possible, I want to find terms that are descriptive, so that people unfamiliar with the term can understand what it means, and non-judgmental, so that larpers who identify with these forms of larp won't feel as if the term denigrates the style they love.<br />
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Above all, I think it's important that larpers be able to talk about their games in ways other larpers understand. I'm under no illusion that we'll ever get to one standard set of terminology, and this isn't an attempt to get everyone to talk about larps the way I do. Instead, I hope this can serve as a reference point for one (incomplete) set of terms that I plan to use in the future.<br />
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It's also worth noting here that I don't think these terms are mutually exclusive. A larp can draw influences from multiple traditions, and indeed, I'll mention a few of ours below that I think could be defined multiple ways.<br />
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<h3>
Secrets and powers larps</h3>
<div>
"Secrets and powers" larp is one of the oldest styles of larp in existence, dating back at least to the 1970s. It's what people at Intercon usually think of as a "normal" or "traditional" larp. It's the form we started out writing, and it's still what we mostly play today.</div>
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The term "secrets and powers larp" comes from an article by Evan Torner and Katherine Castiello Jones in the <a href="http://www.wyrdcon.com/2014/05/the-wyrd-con-companion-book/">2014 Wyrd Con Companion Book</a>, although in that article they mention that it's not originally their term; they were just the first to write about it on the Internet. (James Stuart may have been the one who invented the term; that's what some people have told him anyhow!)</div>
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For a rigorous academic definition of the term, you can read the Torner and Jones article, but I'll loosely and informally define it here as "exactly what it sounds like." In a secrets and powers larp, characters are mostly working to achieve some set of goals, which may or may not conflict with the goals of other characters, and goals can be accomplished by some combination of obtaining secrets and using powers (along with, possibly, other means, such as solving puzzles or convincing other characters through social interaction).</div>
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Alleged Entertainment's first two larps, <i>Snaf University</i> and <i>Welcome to Scearbridge University</i> definitely fall within this style, and so do several later ones, such as <i>Fire on High</i>, <i>The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf</i>, and <i>Also Sprach Übermensch</i>.</div>
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<h3>
Horde larps</h3>
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A horde larp is one in which the players are split into two groups. There is a small set of players called the "cast" who receive a character at the start of the game and play that character throughout. A second set of players, called the "horde," pick up tiny character sheets - usually one or two paragraphs - from a table, play that character for a short period of time, and then when they're done, go get another one repeatedly until the game is over.</div>
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All the horde larps I'm aware of are comedies. In theory, writing a non-comedic horde larp is possible, and I'd personally love to see it done; however, I think the format works against seriousness, for reasons I'll probably write about at some later date. (<b>UPDATE: </b>J. Walton on Google+ tells me that there is <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1034531507/shelter-in-place-a-live-game-of-zombie-horror">a zombie horror larp called Shelter in Place</a> that's substantially similar to a horde larp in its structure, and which is not a comedy. Thanks very much! I haven't read it myself, but thinking further about it, I could see this format working well for horror as well as comedy.)</div>
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I have it on good authority that the first horde larp was <i>Buses Welcome</i>, which was written in 1995, although the term "horde larp" wasn't invented until later. This term has the advantage of already being in widespread use and well-understood.</div>
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Alleged Entertainment has written four horde larps: <i>Time Travel Review Board</i>, <i>City Council of Hound's Teeth, Harmony at Last</i>, and <i>Her Eternal Majesty's Privy Council for the Continual Funding of the Mad Arts & Sciences</i>.</div>
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<h3>
Tale-telling larps</h3>
<div>
A tale-telling larp starts out much like a secrets and powers larp, but from time to time, the action pauses and players go into a "tale." This is a short scene in which they receive new character sheets. The scenes may represent a character in the frame story telling a literal tale, or they might be a flashback, or something else related.</div>
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The original tale-telling larp was called <i>Tales of the Arabian Nights</i>, which debuted in 1988. Another term people have used for this style of game is "storytelling larps," but that term has become a bit muddled by the fact that others use it to mean a game in which the players, in character, tell stories to one another, so I'm going to stick with "tale-telling larps."</div>
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Alleged Entertainment has written three tale-telling larps: <i>The Last Seder</i>, <i>Resonance</i>, and <i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i>. However, one could also argue that these games fall under another term...</div>
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<h3>
American Freeform</h3>
<div>
Of all of these terms, American Freeform is the one for which I can actually link to a more-or-less official definition. Lizzie Stark introduced the term in <a href="http://leavingmundania.com/2013/11/18/introducing-american-freeform/">this blog post</a>, and she does a much better job defining it than I intend to attempt here. If you don't already know what an American Freeform larp is, please go read that post.</div>
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After that post, Lizzie Stark wrote <i>The Pocket Guide to American Freeform</i>, and in that book she says that as a designer, if you feel like what you're writing is American Freeform, then feel free to use the term. (Thanks Lizzie, don't mind if I do!) The book also explicitly names our tale-telling larps as American Freeforms, in addition to the <i>10 Bad LARPs</i> games, and that's what I'm going to do here.</div>
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In addition to our three tale-telling games, I also think it's fair to classify <i>Harmony Quest, In the Jungle,</i> and <i>Spring River</i> in this style.</div>
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<h3>
Okay, Nat, so what's the point?</h3>
<div>
I'm reorganizing our games list, and I thought a long-winded blog post would be the best way to tell you all.</div>
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<div>
More seriously, there has been a fair bit of academic writing about different styles of larp. Nordic freeforms and jeepforms have, of course, received a great deal of attention over the years, and since the introduction of the term American Freeform in 2013, several essays have appeared on that style. But as far as I can tell, some of the other styles are far less studied. Secrets and powers larps and horde larps, in particular, have almost nothing written about them from the point of view of studying the form. </div>
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There have been quite a few pieces of writing about these styles from the point of view of how to produce it well. I'd recommend Mike Young's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-LARP-Live-Action-Playing/dp/097083568X">The Book of LARP</a></i> and Jeff Diewald's <a href="http://home.comcast.net/~diewald/Images/LARP_Theory_101.pdf" style="font-style: italic;">So You Want to Write a LARP</a> in particular, but that's far from all that's out there. However, almost without exception, these works tend to describe what they're talking about as either simply "LARP" or, at best, "theatre-style LARP." Thinking about (usually) secrets and powers games in these terms is limiting in terms of analyzing these games explicitly.</div>
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I don't believe that secrets and powers larps are worse, or less intellectual, or a lower form of larp, than any other style I've played. I've had transcendent play experiences in secrets and powers larps, and I'm proud to have co-written some decent ones. The form holds both incredible challenges and great potential rewards for a designer.</div>
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Further, I expect that the next few years will bring some major innovations to the world of secrets and powers larps, as other styles of play percolate and spread. It's happening already, and I for one can't wait to see it.</div>
Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-89616213412177862722015-03-07T15:08:00.000-05:002015-03-07T18:02:56.901-05:00Role Playing Game Axes (and not the foam kind)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In recent
years, there have been several attempts to categorize LARPs in ways that would
help players understand what they’re getting into and help writers and
researchers talk about different game styles. I’m strongly in favor of anything
that provides more clarity of expectation, but I think that there are several
different scales on which LARPs can differ, some of which correlate well with
particular style divisions. This really struck me when I saw Freeform placed
between Tabletop and LARP, when instinctively, I tend to think of Freeform as
further from Tabletop than Secrets and Powers LARPs are, headed more towards
straight theater in many ways. Here are several axes that occurred to me. Let
me know if you think of others that are important to you.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
EDIT: I wanted to clarify my intent with this post. There have been several attempts to do similar things from the player experience perspective. However, a lot of the conversations I have about LARP are comparing game structure from the writing and running perspective. This is focused more on structure and approach and less on experience. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Verisimilitude:</b>
How much of the game is narrated and/or imagined, vs WYSIWYG? At the low end of
this scale is a classic tabletop, where all action and setting, and many
conversations are described rather than shown. At the high end are 360<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">°</span>
physical immersion games and boffer games, where—as much as possible—the action
is acted out and the setting is WYSIWYG.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mechanics</b>: When
it is not possible (or desired) for the action in game and out of game to be
the same, how complex are the mechanics that are used to resolve it? At the low
end are games where the action is simply described and happens as described, or
negotiated among players and/or GMs. At the high end are very “crunchy” tabletop
games, like early D&D or Hackmaster, where there are very detailed
calculations to determine exactly what happens.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scope:</b> How big is
the narrative effect of character actions in game? At the low end, this focuses
on small, mundane interactions in their lives and has little to no impact
outside the characters. At the high end, the game is about the interactions of
worlds or nations, or about saving the world from some greater force.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Secrecy:</b> How much
game information is kept secret from the players? At the low end, the players
have access to all game materials and use this information to collaboratively
create the story. At the high end, not only is all character information for
other characters secret, fundamental features about the game world may also be
secret, and character secrets are extremely important for plot. In the middle
are games where players don’t get the sheets for other characters, but the game
meets the set expectations and secrets are not the main focus of in game plots.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Continuity:</b> Does
the game occupy one consistent spatial location and have temporal continuity?
At the low end are scene-based games, where scenes may go backward and forward
in time and take place in a variety of locations. At the high end a game takes
place in one location or set of connected locations and time goes forward in
real time. One hour after game start in player time is also one hour after game
start in character time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Persistence: </b>Do
players play the same roles the whole time? At the low end of this are horde
games or some scene-based games in which players embody a variety of roles over
the course of the game. At the high end are games where players continue with
one role throughout the entire game, particularly in campaign games, where
roles may persist over many game sessions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Obviously games can differ in many of these axes, and I’m
not particularly intending these axes to be used to score games. I’m hoping
that talking about high vs. low secrecy or scope might be useful in setting
expectations for a wide variety of LARPs.<br />
<br />
_________________<br />
For a slightly different take on this, see the <a href="http://nordiclarp.org/wiki/The_Mixing_Desk_of_Larp">Mixing desk of LARP</a>, which is doing something similar. My goal here is to use few enough terms that they might actually get used that seem to focus on some of the big differences I see come up in LARP styles.<o:p></o:p></div>
Dybbukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00825676113672809249noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-27113278750163546572014-08-07T18:54:00.000-04:002014-08-07T18:54:25.206-04:00Resonance is now free to download and run!I'm extremely pleased to announce today that we've released our science fiction amnesia larp, <i>Resonance</i>, for free. We've run <i>Resonance</i> half a dozen times since we first wrote it between 2010-2011, and it's become one of our favorite larps to share with people.<br />
<br />
Without further ado, you can download it <a href="http://www.aegames.org/larps/originals/resonance">at the game's page on our web site</a>.<br />
<br />
A great many people have been invaluable in this process. In particular, I'd like to thank Michael Snowden, AJ Smith, and Cat Tobin, who beta tested the public release of this game. Without their feedback, our GM manual would be a mere unintelligible scribble. I also want to give shout-outs to the people who helped this game form. Jesse Cox and Danielle Reese helped brainstorm the original ideas that eventually became Resonance, and also worked on the runtime team for several early runs.<br />
<br />
And, of course, my co-writers: Phoebe Roberts, Vito D'Agosta, and Susan Weiner. I'm incredibly privileged to get to work with them.<br />
<br />
For those who care about such things, <i>Resonance</i> is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. That means you can feel free to run it, with your own customizations if you like. All we ask is that if you change the game, you offer your changes back to the community under the same terms we offer the original game.<br />
<br />
Again, you can download <i>Resonance</i> <a href="http://www.aegames.org/larps/originals/resonance">here</a>.Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-14716978667240116242011-08-14T21:27:00.000-04:002011-08-14T21:27:30.710-04:00Time Travel Review Board at 6Pi-ConIt's finally happening. The LARP I've been wanting to bring to Pi-Con for three years.<br />
<br />
Alleged Entertainment is proud to bring our multi-award-winning sci-fi comedy horde LARP <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/ttrb">Time Travel Review Board</a> to <a href="http://www.pi-con.org/">6Pi-Con</a>, the Pioneer Valley's geekiest annual convention. The game will run from 8:00-10:00 PM on Friday, August 26. (That's conveniently right after the LARP 101 panel, which I'm moderating.)<br />
<br />
When Kate Farb-Johnson first asked me if I wanted to run LARPs at Pi-Con two years ago, I immediately thought of Time Travel Review Board. It's easy for both experienced LARPers and total newbies to get into, and it's low-commitment: horde players don't need to spend the entire time there if they don't want to. Thus, it's very well-suited to a diverse convention like Pi-Con.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, we weren't able to make TTRB happen due to hotel restrictions about taping things to the wall. This year, those restrictions have been relaxed to an extent that will finally allow this game to run.<br />
<br />
So if you'd like to play Time Travel Review Board, please come check it out at 6Pi-Con!Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-88585026133923154972011-06-22T13:00:00.000-04:002011-06-22T13:00:09.940-04:00Resonance and Stars Over Atlantis on Saturday July 23!<p style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/radiant-aegames/assets/128/dia-de-los-sobres-fixed.jpg" alt="Dia de los sobres flyer" /></p><br />
<p>Everybody knows that summertime is the dead season for larp. But it’s tough to go through all those months without a single packet to open. That, friends, is why Alleged Entertainment and Paranoid and Crotchety are teaming up to bring you <b>Dia de los Sobres</b>, or the Day of the Envelopes, a doubleheader production offering you two great packet-packed larps on the same day! Alleged’s <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/resonance">RESONANCE</a> and P&C’s <a href="http://letterblade.net/larp/games-stars.html">STARS OVER ATLANTIS</a> will run one after the other on <b>Saturday, July 23rd in Fitchburg, MA</b>.</p><br />
<p style="font-size:115%;border:1px black solid;border-radius:3px;padding:5px;">If you’d like to sign up for one or both of these great larps, click on over to sign up at:<br /><a href="http://journeysurveys.com/answer/312">http://journeysurveys.com/answer/312</a></p><br />
<p><a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/resonance"><b>RESONANCE</b></a><br />By Nat Budin, Susan Weiner, Vito D’Agosta, and Phoebe Roberts<br /><i>An amnesia and storytelling larp about tragedy, desperation, and the apocalypse.</i><br />11AM to 4PM</p><br />
<p><a href="http://letterblade.net/larp/games-stars.html"><b>STARS OVER ATLANTIS</b></a><br />By Liliya Benderskaya and Tory Root<br /><i>An amnesia LARP about tragedy, sacrifice, death, guilt, karma, love, sex, gender, and forgiveness.</i><br />5PM to 10PM</p>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-38942380118480421892011-06-20T20:42:00.000-04:002011-06-20T20:42:35.956-04:00Stepping Stones: Scene-Based Games at Alleged EntertainmentAlleged Entertainment (or, at any rate, a certain subset of it) debuted our new game <i>Resonance</i> back in March. We've also recently started work on our next big project, <i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i>. In order to tell their respective stories, both of these games use very unconventional, scene-based structures<sup>1</sup>.<br />
<br />
For the purposes of this essay, I'll define a scene-based LARP as one in which gameplay is split up into a series of short scenes. There are many different types of scene-based LARPs out there, and we have written in a few of those styles.<br />
<br />
First off: why use an unusual structure in a LARP at all? Why not stick with well-tested best practices that we know work? Well, because it's fun to experiment! Perhaps a better reason, however, is that unusual structures are helpful for telling types of stories that would be difficult to express in the LARP medium otherwise. We've been on a track of experimentation involving scene-based games for a few years now.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of my LARPing career, it would have been difficult for me to imagine playing in a game like <i>Resonance</i>, let alone writing one. Thus, it's interesting to take a look back at how we got here, and where we're hoping to go now. Along the way, I'll explain how the scene-based structures help serve the narrative ends of each game.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>10 Bad LARPs</b></span><br />
<br />
We didn't know it at the time, but it turned out that <i>10 Bad LARPs in 100 Bad Minutes</i> was our gateway drug to full-blown experimental storytelling in LARPs. It helped lay the groundwork for the mechanics we ended up using later on in our more serious games.<br />
<br />
The premise of <i>10 Bad LARPs</i> is simple: you come up with a bunch of horrific, offensive, terrible-on-their-face LARP ideas. Ones that would obviously never work as full-length games. Then you run them for 10 minutes each, back-to-back, as a sort of absurd comedic anthology.<br />
<br />
Honestly, when Susan and I came up with the idea for this game (at 4 in the morning), we didn't know if it was going to work. But it was 4 in the morning, and it was bid basically before Susan knew it. On reflection, we figured it would be a Sunday morning game at a con, and at worst, we'd have a failed experiment from an interesting idea. So we set out writing this monstrosity - we just split up the bad game ideas 50/50, and wrote them mostly independently. We ended up bringing on another writer, Greer Hauptman, towards the end, in order to finish the home stretch of games.<br />
<br />
Really, though, a lot of the credit for making <i>10 Bad LARPs</i> work goes to Seth Christenfeld, who heroically volunteered as our table GM. Seth is the one who figured out how to quickly and efficiently get people their character sheets: the pickup stations.<br />
<br />
The way pickup stations work is that you have a long table (or two long tables together) on one side of the room. Hanging off the side of the table are 12 pieces of paper (or however many players you have), each with a gigantic number printed on it. Each player is assigned to one of the numbers. During 10-minute games, Seth placed the character sheets for the <i>next</i> game above each piece of paper, so that the player could just go over to their spot on the table, grab the sheet, and get out of the way.<br />
<br />
This may not seem all that significant - it didn't to us at the time - but we later came to realize how important it actually is. Distributing sheets this way is <i>much</i> faster than any other way we've been able to come up with: it gets the GM work done during downtime, and when the players actually go to pick up their sheets, they can mostly do it simultaneously. This speed is a major help with keeping the momentum of the game going.<br />
<br />
<i>10 Bad LARPs</i> also taught us some important lessons about writing very short scenarios for LARPs. First, it's very useful to pick settings that have some inherent structure, such as a press conference or a game show. In a longer timeframe, players tend to find their footing with less structural guidance, but it can easily take longer than 10 minutes for them to do that, and in <i>10 Bad LARPs</i>, that's all we have to do the entire scenario.<br />
<br />
Another important lesson from <i>10 Bad LARPs</i> is that it's the overarching structure that gives the game its pacing and flow. Thus, we have to actually ramp up the action and the pace towards the end of the game in order to make the entire experience feel satisfying for players. By the end of a <i>10 Bad LARPs </i>run, we want every player to be screaming at each other, running around the room madly, and completely exhausted.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>The Last Seder</b></span><br />
<br />
<i>The Last Seder</i> is a serious, intense, depressing LARP about the effects of humans on the environment. It takes place during the Jewish holiday of Passover, and it draws deliberate parallels between the player characters and Jesus and the apostles.<br />
<br />
Man, it was hard to pitch <i>The Last Seder</i> to people. The intrepid batch of players who tried the first run had to get past the fact that it is a serious game about religion from the people who wrote <i>10 Bad LARPs</i>. They had to trust us to treat sensitive topics with respect, right after we'd proven that we were all too willing to run roughshod over those exact topics.<br />
<br />
But <i>The Last Seder</i> really is a serious game. It is also a storytelling game, in the tradition of games such as <i>Tales of the Arabian Nights</i>, <i>Tales of Pendragon</i>, and <i>Across the Sea of Stars</i>. In a storytelling game, everyone plays a "main" character, which is who they're cast as beforehand, just as in a normal theatre-style game. Every so often, the game breaks out into a mini-scenario, and the players are handed short character sheets to read on the spot. The scenario runs for a short period of time (perhaps 5-20 minutes, depending on the game), after which, the players return to their main characters. The mini-scenarios represent a story that the main characters are telling (or having told to them).<br />
<br />
In the case of <i>The Last Seder</i>, the stories represent parables being told by our game's Christ figure, Chris Carpenter, around the seder table. There are ten parables, and over the course of these parables, the story is revealed to the apostles and to Chris's husband, Barry Magdalene.<br />
<br />
One central aspect of the design of <i>The Last Seder</i> is a radical departure from traditional freeform LARP. Storytelling games already restrict player freedom to some degree by yanking players out of what they're doing and placing them into a story, but typically, main characters still have the ability to do whatever they want to, within reason. In <i>The Last Seder</i>, you sit around the table and you discuss. You can eat food when Chris says, and Chris is entirely in control of the pacing (or rather, the writers are in control, since Chris is following a rough script handed to her by the GMs).<br />
<br />
By taking away this freedom - by "railroading" players - we were able to much more tightly construct the plot and pacing of the game. We were able to script surprises to happen at the right times. So in exchange for the freedom to pull the game in whatever direction they like, players receive plot twists, angst, and (hopefully) a highly emotional experience.<br />
<br />
Amazingly enough, after having seen it work well in <i>10 Bad LARPs</i>, we failed to apply an important lesson to <i>The Last Seder</i> the first time around, and attempted to hand out mini-character sheets at the door to the scenario room. This took a long time and frustrated players to no end. Lesson learned: we implemented pickup stations the next time, and it's worked very well since then.<br />
<br />
Another lesson learned from <i>The Last Seder</i> is the importance of setting expectations properly. Theatre-style LARPers in New England come to games with a certain set of preconceived expectations based on the norms of this community. <i>The Last Seder</i> breaks with many of those norms. Thus, the onus is on us, the GMs, to inform people of what they're signing up for ahead of time. If we fail to do so, players may be unhappy that they didn't get to play the sort of game they thought they would, and rightly so. Conversely, if we tell people what to expect and then deliver what we said, players will be much more willing to go along with unusual games.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Resonance: Our current state-of-the-art</b></span><br />
<br />
The popularity (and, in our view, success) of <i>The Last Seder</i> proved to us that this sort of structure can work well even for extremely serious games. But we are capricious people, and bore easily. So, said Susan and Vito, let's see just how far we can push this thing!<br />
<br />
<i>Resonance</i> marries the storytelling-on-rails format from <i>The Last Seder</i> with one of the most popular forms of LARP in New England: the amnesia game. A few popular amnesia games include <i>Etherlines: The Morning After</i>, the <i>Jamais Vu</i> series, and <i>Tabula Rasa I </i>and <i>II</i>. In a typical amnesia game, all or most players receive no character sheet at all, sometimes not even a character name. They wake up remembering nothing, and receive short snippets of memory in time-released cards. These cards tell them part, but not all, of their backstory. One common feature of these games is that some memories are designed to deliberately mislead the player in order to surprise them later on with a further clarification.<br />
<br />
<i>Resonance</i> is an amnesia LARP, but with three key differences:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Instead of memory cards, we use mini-scenes, similar to the ones in <i>The Last Seder</i>. Rather than representing being told a story, these scenes represent recalling a memory.</li>
<li>The game, as written, has 45 characters, but any given run only has 15 players. Thus, only a third of the characters will be played in one run.</li>
<li>In a typical amnesia LARP, the players may not start off the game knowing which character they are playing, but the GMs do know. In <i>Resonance</i>, neither the players nor the GMs know.</li>
</ul><div>To elaborate on the last point: <i>Resonance</i> uses a three-act structure, with explicit divisions between each act. Each of the first two acts has three mini-scenes in it. In all of the scenes in Act I, each of the characters has a dilemma they face, which is phrased as a choice between two qualities - for example, a character might have to make a choice between Compassion and Ambition. At the end of each scene, the player writes down which choice they made, and hands the sheet back to the table GM.</div><div><br />
</div><div>After everyone fills out three such sheets, we have enough information to do a quick casting for the entire game. Players are assigned characters whose qualities are similar to the qualities they chose to favor in the scenes. Then at the end of Act I, players are given partial character sheets based on this casting. They remember their name and job, as well as some basic background information about the sort of person they are, and perhaps some past history. The scenes in Act II elaborate further on the events that led them to the place they have found themselves in the main game.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Act III - perhaps the biggest departure from the <i>Last Seder</i> formula - is where the railroad stops and the train keeps going. There are no more memories at this point. All the characters should be reasonably well-informed about what brought them here, and the state of things at present. Now they must decide what to do about it.</div><div><br />
</div><div>It is perhaps too early to draw conclusions about lessons learned from <i>Resonance</i>. We've run it twice so far, and will be running it again in the near future. Nonetheless, the new structure has proved viable in both runs. As with <i>The Last Seder</i>, it seems that things work better the more players know what to expect going in.</div><div><br />
</div><div>One important unifying factor in <i>Resonance</i> is guilt. While there are 45 characters in the game, every single one of them is in no small part responsible for the tragedy they have jointly caused - the apocalypse that got them into this very situation at the start of the game. Similar to <i>The Last Seder</i>, much of the game consists of a process of slow realization and understanding.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The storytelling-amnesia structure helps create this process. Just as in <i>The Last Seder</i>, it allows information to be revealed to players at a controlled pace. But the underlying message is quite the opposite: while <i>The Last Seder</i> works, at some level, by creating a feeling of helplessness in players, <i>Resonance</i> gives the players freedom. But with freedom comes responsibility: it was that very freedom that allowed these characters to destroy the world they knew. Now, in Act III, it is their responsibility to fix it.<br />
<br />
This freedom is, however, incomplete. The overall state of affairs cannot be substantially altered by the choices made in the memory scenes. This is part of the very nature of the scenario: somehow, all the characters ended up together in a particular situation at the start of the game, so no choices they make in memories can affect that. The freedom of Act III is far greater than the previous two acts, but the characters' actions are still constrained by their situation.<br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>A Garden of Forking Paths: the future</b></span></div><div><br />
</div><div>Of course, we can't stop there. Alleged Entertainment's next foray into experimental storytelling is perhaps the strangest so far.</div><div><br />
</div><div>In the classic short story <i>The Garden of Forking Paths</i>, Jorge Luis Borges posits an unusual theory of causality and temporal mechanics. Imagine that whenever you make a choice, an alternate version of yourself in some other reality simultaneously makes a different choice. In fact, every possible choice is made in some version of reality.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Our upcoming LARP, <i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i>, takes a fairly simple story about the history of a small family between the 1960s and the present day, and runs it through the Borges filter. The game consists of two acts with four scenes each, and each scene ends with a dilemma, similar to the first act of <i>Resonance</i>.</div><div><br />
</div><div>But unlike <i>Resonance</i>, with its limited freedom caused by a preset scenario, <i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i> allows subsequent scenes to be dramatically changed by choices made earlier. (This, obviously, has the potential to become exponentially complex, and we have some ideas for how to cut down on that complexity a bit. One important factor is that while every choice has repercussions later on, it doesn't necessarily become relevant in <i>every</i> subsequent scene.)</div><div><br />
</div><div><i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i> has an additional twist. <i>Resonance</i> is a 45-character game for 15 players. <i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i> is a 4-character game for 12 players. There are actually three separate instances of the game going on at the same time. And between each scene, some players will rotate into a different timeline than the one they were previously in.</div><div><br />
</div><div>There aren't any prescribed "right" choices in <i>Garden</i>. Each choice is intended to be both difficult and gut-wrenching<sup>2</sup>. And players will get to experience both the effects of their choice and the possible effects of an alternate choice, once they switch timelines.<br />
<br />
Was their choice the best choice for them? Will they regret it? Will it have unintended consequences they won't like? We are hoping to get players to grapple with all of these questions by the end of the game.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>An anti-conclusion</b></span><br />
<br />
At Alleged Entertainment, we're still experimenting with ways to structure a LARP story. Those experiments are unlikely to end with <i>A Garden of Forking Paths</i>. There's still an awful lot to explore in this, a fairly young medium.<br />
<br />
Interactive storytelling, of course, is a much wider world than just LARP. <a href="http://blog.failbettergames.com/">Failbetter Games</a> is doing some really interesting work in their online game <i>Echo Bazaar</i>. The <a href="http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page">interactive fiction community</a> has been experimenting for decades.<br />
<br />
And experimentation goes on, too, in many corners of the LARP world. I'm a fan in particular of the work being done in <a href="http://jeepen.org/">the Jeep community</a>, and also the art games by <a href="http://lvl5.org/">Brody Condon and Bjarke Pedersen</a>, and the community world-building experiment that is <a href="http://www.threadsofdamocles.org/">Threads of Damocles</a>, just to name a few.<br />
<br />
But one can find experimenters in every LARP community I've run into. At the end of the day, everyone has something unusual they're attempting to do with their games, and it need not be the same from game to game. What are your favorite LARP experiments?</div><br />
<hr /><br />
<sup>1</sup> Unusual for the Intercon New England community, anyway. In some ways, these games resemble <a href="http://jeepen.org/">Jeepform</a> structures quite a bit.<br />
<br />
<sup>2</sup> In a lot of ways, these are intended to be similar to the choices in Mike Young's "serious <i>10 Bad LARPs</i> game," <i><a href="http://www.interactivitiesink.com/larps/index.html">The Road Not Taken</a></i>.Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-81936880800828628532010-08-27T15:15:00.000-04:002010-08-27T15:15:58.901-04:00Better Casting Through Science (?)Casting is a very important part of running one-shot pregenerated LARPs. Making the wrong decision about which player should play which character can result in unhappy players and make the game worse. On the other hand, if you can find that perfect player for a role, they can bring up the level of the entire LARP.<br />
<br />
If you ask five LARP GMs for the best way to cast games, you're likely to get ten answers. Some notable ones include:<br />
<ul><li>Just give brief descriptions of all the characters and let players pick their top five.</li>
<li>Casting is an art, not a science. Ask open-ended questions and go with your gut.</li>
<li>Everything players write is significant, including margin doodles, handwriting, and when they got the questionnaire response back to you.</li>
<li>Interview them on the phone or in person.</li>
<li>We've developed a complex Excel spreadsheet that tells us how to cast people.</li>
</ul>At Alleged Entertainment, we've developed a complex Excel spreadsheet that tells us how to cast people. What follows is a trip into the dark recesses of that spreadsheet.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>First, A Little Philosophy</b></span><br />
<br />
In order to explain why we cast the way we do, it's helpful to understand the assumptions that led us here. Each of these points could probably be an essay on its own. For now, I will simply lay them out with a little bit of explanation.<br />
<br />
<b>Dislikes are more important than likes.</b> In other words, if you're stuck in a position where you're forced to choose between giving a player a character that they're 100 percent okay with but aren't <i>excited</i> to play, or giving them a character that has aspects they'll really like but other aspects they'll really hate, it's better to choose option A.<br />
<br />
<b>Impartiality matters.</b> I always hate it when I see GMs playing favorites and giving awesome roles to their friends just because they're their friends. It's unfair, especially to newbies.<br />
<br />
<b>Players should control their casting destiny.</b> If you've played scheming villains in the last five games, and been an <i>awesome</i> scheming villain, that doesn't mean you don't want to try something new this time. We give players a new casting questionnaire every game for a reason.<br />
<br />
<b>Good casting is more important than keeping secrets.</b> Yes, asking players whether they're okay with playing a murderer could reveal that the murderer is one of the characters. If you mean it to be a big surprise, asking about it on the questionnaire could be a spoiler. But casting someone as the murderer when they're not actually okay with that would be way worse.<br />
<br />
<b>Always give the nuclear option.</b> Maybe you love almost everything about this character. They've got a tormented soul, a heart of gold, the chance for redemption, political intrigue, and powerful magic. This is the character you've always wanted... except that they're a stranger in town, and that will ruin the game for you. We're not here to judge. If there's something that will absolutely kill your experience, we should allow it to trump everything else on your questionnaire.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Infamous -3 to 3 Scale</b></span><br />
<br />
If there is one feature for which our casting questionnaires have come to be known, it is surely the -3 to 3 scale. We use this scale for almost every question. It looks like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemMD7VFCK8RPc_E2koR3m6lK-kwH9RNcuCRnswU_Yr3AonV3HbsmDSkpzVMeRhnLL9FVXTUHy4-L7S-jkdwm1HpQSp6uGcDpRD6F15sFnlgub97mxaqHN70U6SACjnoxF-KVwt2EtjQ/s1600/magicscale.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemMD7VFCK8RPc_E2koR3m6lK-kwH9RNcuCRnswU_Yr3AonV3HbsmDSkpzVMeRhnLL9FVXTUHy4-L7S-jkdwm1HpQSp6uGcDpRD6F15sFnlgub97mxaqHN70U6SACjnoxF-KVwt2EtjQ/s400/magicscale.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Every page of the questionnaire reiterates the meaning of each of the options, as follows:</div><ul><li>-3 means "I will not enjoy the game if I have this"</li>
<li>-2 means "I strongly prefer not to have this"</li>
<li>-1 means "I prefer not to have this"</li>
<li>0 means "I'm okay either way about this" (and will never exclude you from playing such a character)</li>
<li>1 means "I prefer to have this"</li>
<li>2 means "I strongly prefer to have this"</li>
<li>3 means "I will not enjoy the game unless I have this"</li>
</ul>If one were to remove -3 and 3 from the scale, it would be roughly equivalent to the (very common) 1 to 5 scale in use on many other LARP casting questionnaires. Thus, our scale differs from the usual ones in three ways:<br />
<br />
<b>We provide the nuclear options</b>, namely, -3 and 3. We will disregard everything else in your questionnaire rather than violate these constraints.<br />
<br />
<b>We use negative numbers to signify dislikes and positive numbers to signify likes.</b> Mathematically, this makes no difference whatsoever, but it does help clarify the scale for users.<br />
<br />
<b>We provide rigid definitions of what each number actually means</b>, and reiterate them often. This helps avoid the situation where some people answer near the middle for everything, while others are all over the place, and it isn't clear whether they really mean that or not.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Constraints</b></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span>Let's take an entirely hypothetical character named Luke. He's young and a bit naive, having grown up on a farm. However, unbeknownst to him, Luke has a great destiny to fulfill. He's also been lied to his entire life about the identity of his parents.<br />
<br />
If we're trying to cast a player to play Luke in our LARP, we want to make sure that that player isn't averse to any of these traits:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>young characters</li>
<li>naive characters</li>
<li>characters who don't start the game with a lot of information</li>
<li>characters who are highly involved in pushing forward the story</li>
<li>characters who have surprises coming to them</li>
</ul>In addition, the following traits about Luke may appeal to some players, but are not strictly necessary for playing him:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>he's good in a fight, if the player decides to get involved in those</li>
<li>he can train to unlock supernatural powers</li>
</ul>These could easily be translated into a grid of -3 to 3 scale questions. For example, have players rate these potential character traits using the scale:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>18-25 years old</li>
<li>naive</li>
<li>ignorant</li>
<li>plot-central</li>
<li>likely to be surprised during the game</li>
<li>involved in combat</li>
<li>in training</li>
<li>with supernatural powers</li>
</ul>(Some of these could probably be rephrased better by separating them out into semantic sections, such as "traits" vs. "activities.")<br />
<br />
You would then, if possible, only cast people as Luke who answered 0 or more to all of the first five questions. In addition, you would take the last three into account when choosing from amongst that pool of people.<br />
<br />
This distinction between "qualifying" questions (i.e., ones that decide which of the players is eligible for a particular casting) and "scoring" questions (i.e., ones that come into play when deciding between qualified players) is central to our casting method.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Writing a Useful Questionnaire</b></span><br />
<br />
Knowing that we want to use the answers to the casting questionnaire this way informs the way we create the set of questions. One naive, but effective, method for doing this is to simply go through the entire set of characters by hand, writing down every distinguishing character trait they have and everything they're likely to do in the game, and turn each of those into a question.<br />
<br />
Of course, you'll probably end up with around 150 questions. Better hope your players are really dedicated, because if not, nobody is going to answer the whole thing.<br />
<br />
The first line of defense against this problem is to think about combining similar questions. For example, you could easily combine "playing an asshole" with "playing a jerk." Usually it's not so clear, though. One way to figure out whether to combine two questions is to ask whether someone might conceivably answer positively to one and negatively to the other. If you can't think of a situation in which they wouldn't, you can probably combine the questions.<br />
<br />
It may also be possible to simply avoid asking some of them, particularly if they're not as important as others. Cutting questions from the questionnaire is a difficult and often contentious process, and usually just comes down to a judgment call.<br />
<br />
In addition to the numeric questions, it's important to give space for freeform answers as well. Sometimes this simply takes the form of a "is there anything else you want us to know?" essay question at the end. We've also tried asking more game-specific ones, and also leaving blank spaces at the end of each page of numeric questions for specific thoughts on the questions on that page.<br />
<br />
Finally, it's usually not a good idea to add questions to the questionnaire just because most LARPs ask them. If you can't think of how you would use it in casting, why ask it?<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Crunching the Numbers</b></span><br />
<br />
We now have a scale with which to ask questions and interpret their answers with a good deal of precision. We also have a set of questionnaire responses that we know how to apply to our set of characters. Now it's time to cast.<br />
<br />
The method is fairly straightforward. For each <i>character</i> in the game:<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Start with the entire set of players.</li>
<li>Remove any who answered "3" to a question that this character <i>doesn't</i> match.</li>
<li>Remove any who answered "-3" to a question that this character <i>does</i> match.</li>
<li>From the remaining players, figure out who is qualified for this character. Start by removing any who answered a negative number on any qualifying question. </li>
<ol><li>If this leaves you with an empty set of players, try again, only removing players who answer -2 to any qualifying question. </li>
<li>If you still can't find a qualified player, consider all the remaining players your qualified set. And consider changing the character in the next run.</li>
</ol>
<li>Score each of the qualified players using <i>both the qualifying and the scoring questions for the character</i>. Just sum up their answers for these questions to determine the player's score for the character.</li>
</ol>Once you've done this, you will be left with separate scored lists of players for each character in the game. At this point, casting becomes a constraint-solving puzzle. There are many ways to solve these, but here's how we often do it:<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Start by looking for players who only match a single character, or characters who only have a single qualified player. Cast those.</li>
<li>Every time you cast a player, remove them from the scored lists for all the other characters.</li>
<li>If you see a player who's significantly higher-scoring for a particular character than any other player, this might be a good indication to cast them there.</li>
<li>Oftentimes, we wind up with a "middle group" of player/character matches at the end that are roughly equivalent. Using freeform answers can sometimes give you inspiration on how to cast this group. Also, if you know some of the players, this may be a good time to bring in that knowledge to inform how you think they would do with the characters.</li>
</ol>Before making any casting decision of any kind, <i>make sure to re-read their entire questionnaire, including any essay questions they wrote.</i> I really can't stress this point enough. Do not blindly rely on the casting algorithm. It's there to help, but it is not omniscient. If a casting choice goes against something the player wrote under "anything else you want us to know," or it just feels wrong, don't do it!<br />
<br />
After you've got a cast, do one more sanity check. Read through the questionnaires for each player again, out loud, and think about them in light of the character you gave them. Seriously.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Casting Matters</b></span><br />
<br />
On that point, at least, I think most LARP writers can agree. And if something worth doing, it's worth thinking about.<br />
<br />
This numbers-driven way of casting is not for everybody, or every LARP. I personally don't use it for every game I write. And like every system, it has its strengths and weaknesses, and being aware of these is key to successfully applying it.<br />
<br />
Regardless of how you choose to cast LARPs, I hope that reading this has inspired you to consider how best to cast. Thanks for reading!Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-14447935135445161402010-07-20T09:40:00.004-04:002010-07-20T10:49:41.135-04:00Next Labor Wars runNow that we've had some time to recover and think about the last run, we're ready to start planning another run of <a href="http://www.thelaborwars.com/">Labor Wars</a>. This means we are looking for a house to host it in. We are planning for some weekend in November. The exact weekend can be worked out with our hosts. <b>If you think you might be interested in hosting, leave a comment on this post or email me at <a href="mailto:gothiklezmer@gmail.com">gothiklezmer@gmail.com</a>.</b><br />
<div><br />
</div><div><div>Benefits of hosting:</div><div><ul><li>You get guaranteed slots in the run.</li>
<li>We cook a feast in your kitchen. With warning, you are welcome to eat even if not playing.</li>
<li>We will coordinate run dates with you, so we can guarantee a weekend you will be able to play.</li>
</ul></div></div><div>Requirements:</div><div><ul><li>A place we can host dinner for 17 people. We can probably arrange for extra folding tables, chairs, etc, but we do need a room big enough to set them up.</li>
<li>A room in which 17 people can sit relatively comfortably, while not at tables. Preferably this is not the same space as the dinner location.</li>
<li>At least two (and preferably 3 or 4) other rooms that can be used for separate conferences. These can include walk-in closets, basement space, enclosed porches, etc. Anywhere that is big enough for 2-5 people to have a private discussion. At least two of these should fit 5 people in relative comfort. Bedrooms are fine if you are willing to have people LARPing in your bedroom.</li>
<li>A kitchen in which two people can work in relative comfort, with a fair amount of fridge space (if you can, for example clear us 1/3-1/2 of a normal full sized fridge, this would be fine, as would be providing a dorm fridge). It does not need to be well-stocked: we can bring cookware and spices, we'll just coordinate with you about what we need to bring.</li>
<li>We have a strong preference for locations near one of the LARPer concentrations: Somerville, Waltham, and Worcester regions are all open for consideration. If someone in the RPI crowd wants to convince us to run there, we're also willing to talk about that. Anywhere on the T or a good and consistent bus line is also probably fine.</li>
</ul><div><b>Intereste in hosting? Leave a comment on this post, or email me at <a href="mailto:gothiklezmer@gmail.com">gothiklezmer@gmail.com</a>.</b></div></div>Dybbukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00825676113672809249noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-33624242916731691602010-05-05T14:05:00.001-04:002010-05-05T14:05:49.928-04:00Blog moved!As you might have noticed from the black bar across the top of the screen, I've moved this blog from being hosted on aegames.org proper to being hosted by Blogger. This means a few things, none of them particularly major:<br />
<div><ol><li>The address is no longer http://www.aegames.org/blog, it's now http://blog.aegames.org. I'm putting up a message at http://www.aegames.org/blog to direct people to the right place.</li>
<li>Comments should work again. Please God.</li>
<li>Now that it's no longer a huge pain in the ass to make new posts, we'll hopefully be doing it more often.</li>
<li>RSS subscribers will have to change their feed URL. I'm going to be putting up a message on the feed that will let them know that.</li>
<li>The LiveJournal feed is probably broken now. I can't remember who set it up to begin with, but I'm emailing a couple of likely candidates to try and get it pointed at the new URL.</li>
</ol>So, why the move? Details after the jump.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">First, some history.</span></div><div><br />
</div><div>The <a href="http://www.aegames.org/">main Alleged Entertainment site</a> is hosted on a CMS called <a href="http://www.radiantcms.org/">Radiant</a>. In general I've been pretty happy with Radiant - it does what it promises to do, and mostly does it decently. When we decided to start a blog, it seemed natural to build it using Radiant, since we already had that up and running.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Well, Radiant isn't a blogging platform. It's a minimalist CMS. In order to make it behave like a blog, you need to do <a href="http://wiki.github.com/radiant/radiant/using-radiant-as-a-blog">a bunch of hacks</a>. These are mostly reasonable although a bit of hassle to set up initially, but comments turned out to be a huge sticking point. The radiant-comments extension, at the time, was not very fully developed, and turned out to have some bugs. Most annoyingly, although the blog owner could be notified of new comments by email, nobody else could be.</div><div><br />
</div><div>To make matters worse, posting on the "blog" was never particularly easy. Users had to create a new "page" under the blog folder, which became difficult to manage after awhile, and the way to do jumps inside a post wasn't particularly clear either. There were also a bunch of mysterious-looking dropdown menus which had to be given the proper settings, most of which made sense for a page on a CMS but not a blog post.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Then, one time when I tried to upgrade Radiant, comments just broke entirely. This might have been due to modifications on my side, I'm not really sure. In any case, I decided to move the comment system over to <a href="http://disqus.com/">DISQUS</a>, a third-party hosted comment system. This seemed to work OK for a time, but mysteriously broke a month or two ago.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Basically, the entire time we've had this blog running, <b>I was doing the easy, expedient thing at the time, rather than the right thing</b>. This move is an attempt to change that.</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I Need Drew's Truck</span></div><div><br />
</div><div>One of the worst things about building your own blog platform, as I essentially did, is that you're totally on your own when you try to move to a different system. Blogger does have an import feature, but I couldn't find any docs on what format it expects (judging from the export files, it seems to be an extension of Atom, but who knows...).</div><div><br />
</div><div>Even if I could have gotten an export from Radiant that Blogger would accept, I still wouldn't have been able to import the comments. I could have probably written a script to call out to DISQUS's developer API and grab them, but since all the links between posts and comment threads are currently broken, it would have been really tricky to get those back in place...</div><div><br />
</div><div>I did the simple, stupid thing. I copy and pasted every post from the old blog onto here.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Of course, it didn't totally work right. Two things, in particular, couldn't really be done manually:</div><div><ol><li>All the old posts now appear to have been made by me (because on this blog, they were). I've added the original author's name first thing in the body of each post, in bold.</li>
<li>The comments had to be imported by hand, and I couldn't figure out a way to do that as comments per se. So now there's a section at the bottom of many old posts with the heading "Comments imported from DISQUS", with old-blog comments underneath.</li>
</ol>The good news is, going forward, both authorship and comments should work fine on Blogger - better than before, hopefully.</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Lesson Learned</span></div><div><br />
</div><div>I cannot stress this enough. <b>DO NOT BUILD YOUR OWN BLOGGING PLATFORM JUST TO WRITE ONE BLOG WITH.</b> It is not fun. It caused me a lot of pain I didn't expect.</div><div><br />
</div><div>There are a lot of good blogging solutions out there. Might I recommend Blogger? Wordpress is also good. Or really, anything.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I'm not saying nobody should write new blogging software. But if you start at "I need a blog" and end up at "I need to write a new platform for writing a blog," you just might be <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving">shaving a yak</a>.</div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-52496174244386991552010-04-06T12:32:00.002-04:002010-05-05T13:35:23.205-04:00Quote<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote>My thing with plot is that I don't have fun just talking to people who are pretending to be other people. I need a reason for it, some goal, something I'm trying to get out of the conversation that is different from normal interactions with that person.</blockquote><div style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em; text-align: right;">- Nyren Knapp<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; font-style: normal;"><b></b></span></div><b><a name='more'></a></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; font-style: normal;"><b>Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b>Mike Young, on 4/19/2010 at 10:45 AM</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">I was invited to join a 2-4 hour LARP Friday night. The organizers said that the characters were just in a tavern and there wasn't any plot. I actually considered this quote as I replied that I just don't care for roleplaying for the sake of roleplaying anymore. I want a reason to interact. When it became clear that that I wouldn't participate, the organizers gave me one of the character sheets to review. It really was a well written and clever character history, and I told them so. But without a reason to interact, I felt I would be bored with the character after about a half hour, and hour at the most.<br />
<br />
Of course, that's just my opinion. The game apparently ran quite well without me. But it is <i>good</i> to know what you do and do not like in LARP and to communicate it to the GMs ahead of time.</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nat Budin, on 4/19/2010 at 10:51 AM</b></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Interesting, thanks Mike!<br />
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The reason I posted this quote in the blog isn't so much because I agree with it. It happens that I do agree with it, but it's also very true that many LARPers can have a perfectly good time "talking to people who are pretending to be other people," as Nyren said. I posted it mainly because I thought it was a really good, succinct summation of that point of view.<br />
<br />
One could probably see this as a GNS thing: simulationists would tend to disagree with Nyren's quote, whereas I suspect gamists and narrativists alike would agree with him.</span></b></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nyren Knapp, on 4/19/2010 at 11:14 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">The quote was said in relation to me pondering why I hate playing characters who have no plot at all, except for the times that I don't. I couldn't figure out what the difference was between the times that I hated plot-less roles, and the times that I loved them. It turns out to be just this - the need for a reason to interact. It doesn't have to be a plot or a goal per-say, but there needs to be something I'm trying to get out of the conversation.<br />
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For example, I had a plot-less character this weekend, and I had a great time. The entire point of the character was that I was trying to convince people that I wasn't gay, with some strange caveats. This wouldn't have been interesting at all if no one noticed or cared, because I would just be playing a guy who acted gay but tried to convince people he wasn't. I do that all the time, I don't need to be in a LARP situation to have those interactions. However! Several people noticed and cared that I was doing that. People heckled me or gave me advice or played into my act. That gave a reason for the interactions, because they had an effect on the social landscape surrounding my character. Of course, it would have been a lot more fun for me if there were one or two other characters who explicitly cared more. It doesn't have to be goal related, or "plot" related. Caring is enough to change the interactions.<br />
<br />
To contrast, in another LARP, I played a character who was amazing, and had tons of plot, but it was all totally unnecessary. The plots that I had didn't directly relate to the action of the game in any direct manner, except the one where I was being bait and I just had to be there to do that. I didn't have anything I really wanted to get from anyone, and I didn't have anything I wanted to do where the game took place. I had to make random connections of "My character probably cares about X!" in order to find anything to do at all, and it turned out that pursuing those tangential non-goals was the only way to fail my main goal. It was really frustrating all around, and not fun at all. No one cared about my character's cover, and no one cared about who my character really was except for one guy who I was supposed to make sure never found out (and he had no way of ever finding out, ever).<br />
<br />
So, really, it isn't "having plot" that I look for in games, but "having a reason to interact with other people that they will care about and which will effect the social landscape in the game that surrounds my character."</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></div></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-65981014291253952152010-03-18T12:31:00.001-04:002010-05-05T13:36:35.315-04:00Upcoming Games<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;"><b>Written by Susan Weiner</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, Alleged Entertainment has an awful lot of games coming up (including some awful ones).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">3/19-21 <span class="caps">WPI</span> Gaming Weekend.<br />
Foam Brain is running <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/10bl/csection" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: C-Section</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">3/26-28 <a href="http://www.paxsite.com/paxeast/index.php" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="caps">PAX</span> East</a><br />
At <span class="caps">PAX</span>, we will be running both of our horde LARPs. If you plan to be there, and haven’t yet played (or heck, have played and really want to play again), sign up!<br />
Friday at 7pm – <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/ttrb/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Time Travel Review Board</a> – <a href="http://www.journeysurveys.com/answer/169" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Sign up here</a><br />
Saturday at 5pm – <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/houndsteeth/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">City Council of Hound’s Teeth</a> <a href="http://www.journeysurveys.com/answer/170" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Sign up here</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">4/16-18 <a href="http://vforvestival.com/events/187" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #aa2222; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">V for Vestival</a> (Festival of the LARPs 2010) at Brandeis University<br />
The schedule is not completely finalized, but we will be running:<br />
<a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/scearbridge/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Welcome to Scearbridge</a><br />
and <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/10bl/csection" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: C-Section</a><br />
Also running: <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/houndsteeth/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">City Council of Hound’s Teeth</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">6/11-13 <a href="http://www.wyrdcon.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Wyrd Con</a> in Costa Mesa, California<br />
Friday at 11pm <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/scearbridge/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Welcome to Scearbridge</a><br />
Saturday at 1am <a href="http://aegames.org/larps/originals/10bl/remixes" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: Remix</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">6/18-20 <a href="http://www.thelaborwars.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">The Labor Wars</a> in Belmont, MA<br />
This will be Alleged Entertainment’s first weekend long game. If you are interested, we encourage you to sign up using the form available on the website. This is a small game. In the likely event that we have more sign-ups than we have slots, we will have a lottery to fill the available slots. The deadline for signing up for the lottery is 4/11/10. We will notify players shortly after that date.<br />
<a name='more'></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Comments imported from DISQUS</span></b><br />
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<b>Aaron, on 3/18/2010 at 5:19 PM</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">WyrD con (note the "d") -)</span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nat Budin, on 3/18/2010 at 5:22 PM</b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Right you are. Fixed.</span></b></span></span></b></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-22546585214351779002010-03-04T12:29:00.005-05:002010-05-05T13:37:39.524-04:00A Little Slice of History<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;"><b>Written by Joshua "Steve" Rachlin</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I’m here to tell a story. Some time ago, a group of people who for the purposes of this entry shall remain anonymous wrote a <a href="http://www.aegames.org/larps/covers/trial/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">highly successful <span class="caps">LARP</span></a> which shall not be mentioned here. That is not the story I tell today. Today, I tell the story of the <span class="caps">LARP</span> they <i>almost</i> wrote. The <span class="caps">LARP</span> that should never have been considered. The <span class="caps">LARP</span> that should never be spoken of, for fear of angering the elder gods of<span class="caps">LARP</span>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I take great personal risk in writing even this much, so I apologize for the lack of detail in what follows. But I have recently come into possession of an artifact that should not exist, from where I cannot say. In fact, many will claim that it cannot exist. All records of the <span class="caps">LARP</span> in question were burned in purifying fire; we know that. All of the authors are under a magically enforced geas to never speak or write of it again. And yet, somehow, this exists:<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdKBndCdbRANPxxoUex3-4kdb1NeA51KDKjzWhRPe9d3qabsccuNQI2dK5ujNhi8O6oZF5ZKkBUxHw4DSKBw11kLdw5VWDZ5anohwAnjcDjZJRPtbNpKvELxHFRKBSZdX8Ys049w0kg/s1600/ApplesBananasNotes.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdKBndCdbRANPxxoUex3-4kdb1NeA51KDKjzWhRPe9d3qabsccuNQI2dK5ujNhi8O6oZF5ZKkBUxHw4DSKBw11kLdw5VWDZ5anohwAnjcDjZJRPtbNpKvELxHFRKBSZdX8Ys049w0kg/s640/ApplesBananasNotes.gif" width="492" /></a></div><div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span><br />
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<b>Nat Budin, on 3/4/2010 at 10:48 PM</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">That game doesn't exist. Definitely not.</span></span></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-20928182817386243672010-01-14T12:28:00.001-05:002010-05-05T13:40:12.564-04:00Character Goals versus Player Goals<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;"><b>Written by Joshua "Steve" Rachlin</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I want to talk briefly about a vocabulary term that I think a lot of players and GMs could do well to think more about. A common question on apps is "Are you ok with being screwed?" or "Will you have fun if you don't achieve your character's goals?" Those are useful questions, but they are attempting to determine something without a full understanding of the concept. The second question gets very close when it discusses character goals.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">A better question would be, "Are you comfortable with your character goals being different from your player goals?" Because they are two different things. Imagine playing Claudius in a Hamlet LARP. Your character goals would be to either win Hamlet's trust or have him sent away, but depending on how the LARP was written, your most significant player goal might be to have a dramatic death. This would certainly not be listed among your character's goals, but the game might not be complete for you as a player unless that happened.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I tend to sort characters into three categories. One: Those whose character goals are exactly the same as their player goals. Most LARPers tend to treat all characters this way, so I don't think I need to discuss it much here.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Two: Those whose character goals are vastly different from their player goals. This is also a fairly common situation, and one where the questions as worded in the first paragraph do a pretty good job of what they're trying to do. The Claudius example above is a good example of this. Consider also the villain in a superhero LARP, who wants to Take Over The World Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!, but whose player knows the heroes are going to defeat him eventually.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Three: Occasionally there is a character whose player goals are not exactly the same as their character goals, but only slightly different. This is actually more common than one might think. It comes up often in characters whose image of their own personality isn't quite correct*: a "protective" spouse who's actually abusive; a "cautious" character who's actually paranoid; a guy who "gets women" but is actually sketchy. These are hard to play, hard to cast, and in fact hard to write well, but are much easier to work with (in at least the first two senses) once you have a clear concept of separation of player goals versus character goals.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">*The one exception I can think of is a completely insane character, who clearly has an incorrect image of their own personality, but is more type 2 than type 3. Which I mention only because it's a character archetype that I really enjoy playing; it doesn't really add much to this discussion.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Comments imported from DISQUS</span></b><br />
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<b>Nat Budin, on 1/14/2010 at 4:57 PM</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">That's an interesting way of thinking about things, but I'm not sure it actually gets to the heart of what the "do you mind being screwed" question is trying to ask. You could easily be okay with having your character goals be different from your player goals, but not be OK with being a "screwed" character.<br />
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I think "screwed" has more to do with the writers' estimation of how likely the character is to achieve their goals. A lot of players are perfectly fine playing just about anything, regardless of the metagame situation, but only if they have a realistic shot of the character goals being achievable in game. Thus, I might want to ask two (or more) separate questions to try and figure out which permutation of this they're actually okay playing.</span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>bleemoo, on 1/14/2010 at 5:00 PM</b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">That's a good point; "Are you ok with being screwed?" is kind of trying to figure out both things at once. Which is perhaps what a lot of people are missing.</span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Chad, on 1/15/2010 at 10:33 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Sounds to me like the all important difference between actor and role-player. We see these terms used a lot when describing different types of larpers, but a lot of people conflate the two. On the surface, the terms aren't very clear. But one important difference is that the role-player focuses on the character goals (taking them as the player goals) whereas the actor looks to make the best storyline experience (taking the pursuit of the storyline and the benefit for the game as the player goals).<br />
<br />
Some players are better at one or the other, and knowing ones abilities and apping for those types of roles is a skill. But so is writing a good app. As you highlight, some of the questions above aren't clear enough in what they are asking, and may mean different things to the person asking and the person being asked. That's a no-no in apps, as far as I'm concerned.<br />
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Additionally, I think more GMs should be willing to write a 'meta' block at the end of their character sheets. A small paragraph or two that explains a bit about the GM intentions behind the character - you expect the character to fail, you want the character to be loud about their insanity, you want the character to be as nosy as possible, things like that. Especially in a case like the Claudius role, it might be a -really- good idea to write the character as totally sympathetic and with clear character goals, because that will help the player feel the character, but then have a meta block that notes that the character is hosed, or broken, or that you expect it to be smacked around, etc.<br />
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I think we as GMs are sometimes too afraid to give direction. We write characters where we clearly have a vision of internal motivations, and suspected results, and then we write those up, and try to cast players who will enjoy doing those things, but we don't want to restrict the players' freedoms. And sometimes we're pleasantly surprised by what the players do with our creations. But sometimes it will be a better game for -everyone- if our expectations are made clear to the players, and if our apps can better glean their expectations, and I'm not saying that GMs should be like theater directors, stepping in and telling players How It Is To Be, but that we shouldn't be afraid to talk to the players at the player level, and set some tone there.<br />
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Josh, how would you like to sit a panel with me on the topic? We should generalize a bit of what you're trying to talk about here (talking to the player versus talking to the character?), but I think it would be a good one.</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>bleemoo, on 1/15/2010 at 3:19 PM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">This would be a good panel! That sounds like a good idea.<br />
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I'm not sure that I 100% agree that a 'meta' block is the best way to handle these sorts of situations; I think if you can clearly convey what you need to without dropping out of character, you'll end up with a stronger sheet. But that can be very difficult, and it's hard to tell when you do pull it off.</span></b></span></span></b></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-26969261375165373842009-10-08T12:27:00.001-04:002010-05-05T13:41:24.832-04:00The Cancer of Comedy?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Not a full entry, just a quick thought. There’s a seemingly widespread view within the <span class="caps">LARP</span> community that nothing kills a game faster than comedy. Phrases like “mood-killer” and “breaking feel” get thrown around a lot. I’m not sure where people get this idea. Take it from me, as someone who gets asked to play the comic relief a lot – being funny for stretches of time is hard work!<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">That said, being serious for stretches of time can also be hard work, and I certainly wouldn’t deny that. I think what people are actually worried about when they say this sort of thing is that players are going to break character and revert to their usual, “normal” behavior – and that doing so can be infectious. This is a legitimate concern, although in my opinion, it’s far better to plan for having to mitigate that than to try to fight it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">But please, guys, can we stop picking on the comedy? This issue is hardly limited to “serious” games, and doing good comedy can be just as hard if not harder than straight-faced character acting.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br />
<b>Chad, on 10/08/2009 at 5:18 PM</b></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Any depth of emotional interplay can be hard work. The further from the tenor of the atmosphere, the harder. The comic in an angsty game is as difficult to play as the debbie downer in a lighthearted comedy (although the latter is likely to be laughed at, or to be turned into a comic foil more often.)</span></b></span></b></span></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-79193610276041606052009-10-05T12:26:00.001-04:002010-05-05T12:27:08.924-04:00Comments are back!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">After comments broke on this blog awhile back (probably due to my custom comments additions not being compatible with Radiant 0.8.x), I disabled them and replaced them with a message to email me if you wanted to comment. That’s obviously less than ideal, because part of the point of blog comments is to enable a group discussion.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Since I’ve been unable to figure out how to fix the comments plugin, I’ve replaced it with <a href="http://www.disqus.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="caps">DISQUS</span>Comments</a>, which seems like a reasonably good solution for third-party hosted comments. I’ve imported all the previous comments into <span class="caps">DISQUS</span> for your perusal. Enjoy, and please let me know if you run into any issues commenting!</div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-43734874512132429962009-10-01T12:25:00.003-04:002010-05-05T13:29:52.442-04:00Creating Passionate Players<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">“I played in your last game, and when I saw that signups were open for this one, I just had to get in.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">It’s every <span class="caps">LARP</span> writer’s dream, right? The moment when you can get an answer like that on your casting questionnaire.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">There are some <span class="caps">LARP</span> groups that people get absolutely fanatical about. Today, I’d like to share a few thoughts on how those groups got to be that way.</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Identity</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">When people think of your <span class="caps">LARP</span> group, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? This, more than anything else, will drive players to (or away from) your events.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I recently attended a game run by <a href="http://www.foambrain.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #aa2222; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Foam Brain Games</a>. While there, I heard quite a lot of talk from the regular players about the Foam Brain style of GMing. Foam Brain has a reputation for a very detached, even-handed style of GMing, which is to say that they’re primarily interested in what is best for the <strong>game</strong> as opposed to what makes individual players the happiest. This is a tradeoff that everyone must make at some point. The negative side is that players can feel like the GMs don’t care about them (even if that’s not actually true). The positive side is that it results in very fair and smooth-running games.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, when players, knowing this, sign up for a Foam Brain production, they are signing up for<em>consistency of experience</em>. They know that the GMs might not hold their hand through the game, or go out of their way to help them accomplish their goals, but they will get exactly what they were promised when they signed up. In other words, they trust the Foam Brain team to deliver.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Having this kind of reputation has several benefits: obviously, this can help drive people to your games. But, counter-intuitively, it can also help drive people <strong>away</strong> from your games – <em>and that’s a good thing!</em> When there are specific things people can say about the sort of experience one can expect from you, that helps players self-select into the right games for them. Obviously, no one style of event running is best for everyone, so just as it’s important to get people to sign up, it’s just as important to make sure they are the right people.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Marketing…?</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">OK, so you’ve figured out what it is you’re all about, as a GM team. Great! Now how do you get the message out about it?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Well, hold on there, cowboy. Are you <em>sure</em> that’s what you want to do? Let’s do a thought experiment: imagine, if you will, the following <span class="caps">LARP</span> groups.</div><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Group A</strong> claims to be all about player freedom and choice. As promised, they allow players to carry through their creative ideas and make unexpected decisions.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Group B</strong> claims to be all about player freedom and choice. During the game, however, they constantly railroad players and don’t let them make their own decisions.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Group C</strong> claims nothing upfront. During the game, they allow players freedom and refrains from sticking their nose into players’ choices.</li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Sure, we’d all love to be Group A. But what if it turned out you were Group B instead? As bad as it is to have no reputation, it’s much worse to have a reputation as someone who doesn’t follow their own promises. And, counter-intuitively, Group C can actually be the best group to be. They underpromise and overdeliver.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">They also build a reputation based on their actions rather than their words. Mike Young of<a href="http://www.interactivitiesink.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Interactivities Ink</a> famously said that “<span class="caps">LARP</span> is sold by word of mouth,” and truer words have never been spoken. Talk is cheap, but it’s a lot harder to fake actually delivering a great game experience to your players.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">(By the way, I don’t mean to imply by anything I say above that player freedom and choice is the paramount virtue of great GMs. In my opinion, it’s not, and can actually be detrimental in some games. More about that below, and it’s also a topic I plan to expand on in a future post.)</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Expectations</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">At some level, this is all about setting the right expectations. If players come in expecting a certain type of experience, and you give them exactly that, they’ll leave happy with you. In the worst case, they will think “gee, I didn’t like that as much as I thought I would” – but that’s no reflection on you, and chances are they’ll be happy to play another game of yours (as long as it doesn’t seem like it will be bad for them in the same ways, and if it will, then you don’t want them to play it anyway!).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">That means that if your game is not for everybody, you <em>need to say why upfront</em>. It’s perfectly okay for a game not to appeal to every player, just as long as it is very clear to players who it’s targeted at.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">For example, our blurb for <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/tls" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">The Last Seder</a> ends with a big scary note about how the game is essentially one big railroad job. We learned this lesson the hard way: a player walked away from our first run of the game very unhappy about how he didn’t get to make any choices that would affect the game in meaningful ways. Does that mean it’s a bad game for everyone? Of course not – it just means that we didn’t adequately communicate what our players should expect from us. By doing so, we failed in our job as GMs.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">(Full disclosure: I edited the Last Seder page right before making this blog post. We actually have included that paragraph in all our blurbs at conventions since that first run, but I hadn’t updated the page on aegames.org to reflect it. Not having that had there was, as well, a failure in communication. Mea culpa.)</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Sidebar: When Things Go Wrong At The Last Minute</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Your car breaks down on the way to the game. Your staff comes down with swine flu. You realize you left all the character packets 300 miles away.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">These things happen, and there’s often nothing you can do about them. So what’s a well-meaning, hard-working GM to do?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Well, first of all, you’ve got to try your hardest to get it done somehow. If it’s at all feasible to get the event done anyway, and you’ve got people there waiting for you to do it, it behooves you to give them<em>something</em> for their efforts. Even if it’s not the game you promised. Players are often willing to work with you in situations like this – if you just let them know what’s up, they can often pull together and make the game work anyway.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">What if it’s actually not feasible to get anything done? Then apologize gracefully and sincerely, and try to never do that again. As the old aphorism goes, people won’t blame you for being human… unless you make a habit of it.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">There Is More Than One Way To Do It</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, to summarize: Nat’s prescription for creating a passionate base of players is to underpromise, set appropriate expectations, and deliver on them as consistently as possible.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Am I saying that’s the only way to get players excited about your games? No, of course not. There is no one right recipe, and I certainly would never presume to have the secret of success in <span class="caps">LARP</span>. But I do personally strive to do all these things. I don’t always succeed, but it’s nice to be able to dream the impossible dream. And this one really isn’t so impossible.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<b>Chad, on 10/05/2009 at 11:08 AM</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Scotty on Star Trek always knew exactly how long it would take him to fix something. Then he'd double or triple that time and give an estimate. OR simply say 'It canna' be done!'. Then when he did it, he looked like a miracle worker.<br />
<br />
Underpromise, and overdeliver. And never, ever, ever, promise something unless you are sure you can deliver. Promises made are expectations set.<br />
<br />
And as you so well point out, every piece of text you send, from the blurb, to the casting questionnaire, to the character hints and sheets, as well as any explicit followup emails, are a chance to have a conversation with the players, and to manage expectations. If your game is silly, don't clothe it in seriousness. If your game is angsty, say so. If your game explores societal taboos, be clear. If your game tends towards the freeform spectrum, or towards the interactive scripted spectrum, don't shy from saying so. If it is experimental, if it is new, if it is tried and true, let prospectives know. Some people think that doing so gives away secrets, but to them I say 1) Not so. Taking the time to think about your blurb and your questionnaires is just as important as thinking about your settings or your plots. A little care will communicate without revealing. 2) What are secrets for, except to be spilled? So what if your blurb foreshadows and leads people to the big reveal? Secrets that never come out are dead plotlines.</span></b></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-54107368641848167762009-09-21T12:24:00.001-04:002010-05-05T12:25:10.426-04:00Time Travel Review Board this Friday at Brandeis!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Alleged Entertainment is proud to present Brandeis’s first <span class="caps">LARP</span> of the 2009-2010 school year: Time Travel Review Board. We’ll be running the game <em><span class="caps">THIS</span> <span class="caps">FRIDAY</span>, <span class="caps">SEPTEMBER</span> 25</em>, from 7:00-9:00 PM in Shiffman 125.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">“Time Travel Review Board” is a multi-award-winning comedy horde <span class="caps">LARP</span> set in 22nd century. It’s a great game for newbies and experienced LARPers alike, so if you’ve never LARPed before and want to try it out, we encourage you to sign up!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">To sign up for Time Travel Review Board, go to <a href="http://www.journeysurveys.com/answer/prompt/130" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">the casting questionnaire</a> and fill it out. Since this game will be running <em><span class="caps">THIS</span> <span class="caps">COMING</span> <span class="caps">FRIDAY</span></em>, we’re hoping to get people to sign up as quickly as possible.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">For more information about Time Travel Review Board, see <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/ttrb" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">our game page about it</a>.</div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-6030557945927366632009-08-26T12:23:00.003-04:002010-05-05T12:24:24.459-04:002009: The Year that LARPing Came to Pi-Con<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">As <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog/2009/07/16/im-not-announcing-any-larp-runs-just-yet/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">previously kind-of-announced</a>, Alleged Entertainment went to <a href="http://www.pi-con.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">4Pi-Con</a> to run several LARPs. In addition, Susan and I appeared on two panels about <span class="caps">LARP</span>, and together, Alleged Entertainment,<a href="http://www.intercon-j.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Intercon J</a>, and <a href="http://www.foambrain.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #aa2222; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Foam Brain Games</a> held a room party on Saturday night.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I should mention first and foremost that everyone’s favorite <span class="caps">SMOF</span>, Kate Farb-Johnson, served as Pi-Con’s first <span class="caps">LARP</span> coordinator ever. She wrote <a href="http://ultimatepsi.livejournal.com/64427.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">a con report of her own</a>, which is long, informative, and a great read. Many thanks to her for making this possible, and for all the hard work she put in on the convention.</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, how did it go? Let’s go down the list…</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">LARPs</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Because after all, that’s what I came to Pi-Con to do, right? I was involved in running three LARPs:</div><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/10bl/remixes" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: Remix</a> – Susan and I ran this together on Friday night. We were given a panel room to run the game, which I thought worked very well as a <span class="caps">LARP</span> space. Attendance wasn’t as high as we’d hoped, due at least in part to us conflicting with the Rocky Horror Picture Show event. However, the game ran well, and the players seemed to enjoy it.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/houndsteeth" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">City Council of Hound’s Teeth</a> – this was actually a replacement game: we’d originally planned on running <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/ttrb" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">Time Travel Review Board</a> instead. Unfortunately, we found out the week before the con that the hotel wasn’t going to let us tape things to the walls, which is kind of necessary for Time Travel, so I pulled together City Council at the last minute. But this was apparently the <span class="caps">LARP</span> that was doomed from the start: the game space was significantly less than ideal, being a hallway that people needed to walk through to get to concerts, and that wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because we couldn’t attract enough players to minimally fill the game. Well, you win some…</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/covers/trial" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">The Trial</a> – Sharone and I ran this on Sunday afternoon. In stark contrast to City Council, we had more than enough players – in fact, the game was nearly full. In addition, we had a really nice little room to run the game in – a chunk of the ballroom, partitioned off from everything else. We had a really great cast, and overall it was one of my favorite runs of this game I’ve seen.</li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In addition, I played in Sharone’s run of An Un-Conventional Odyssey on Saturday late afternoon. Can you believe I hadn’t played this game yet? Anyway, it is a lot of fun and I can definitely see why it won the top award at the Small Games Contest. I played the driver of the car and (incompetent) leader of the group, which was a great character for me, since I tend to love playing the buffoon.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;"><span class="caps">UCO</span> ran in the same space we were meant to have used for City Council, and I think it suffered from that a bit, but the built-in break in the middle of the game was useful for letting people leave and enter the concert halls. Many thanks to Sharone for letting me finally get the chance to play this game!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In addition, the Boston Camarilla ran two games: a Changeling <span class="caps">LARP</span> on Friday night, and a Vampire<span class="caps">LARP</span> on Saturday night. I didn’t attend these, but I heard great things about them from people who did.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Panels</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I was on both the “Introduction to <span class="caps">LARP</span>” and “<span class="caps">LARP</span> Writing” panels. Kate has already given a pretty good summary of these in her writeup, so I don’t have a lot to add. I definitely would have liked to see more people we didn’t already know personally in the audience, but I think it takes time to build up an audience for <span class="caps">LARP</span> in a con community, so I’m not surprised to see low turnout for <span class="caps">LARP</span>-related panels in the first year Pi-Con has had LARPs.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In addition to these, I attended <a href="http://www.geeklawyer.net/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Tom Traina’s</a> presentation on copyright and gaming, which was very informative and taught me some things I didn’t know before; and “10 Panels in 60 Minutes,” which was a lot more serious than I’d anticipated but also very interesting.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">The Party</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So yeah, we had a party! It was one of the only two room parties in the hotel that night; there was also an offsite Barfleet party. We got a <em>lot</em> of foot traffic, and lots of great conversation. My general philosophy of holding room parties at cons is don’t hard-sell; people know you’re there representing an organization, and if they want to know, they’ll ask you about it. If you don’t push it in people’s faces, they’ll walk out with a good impression of your group and generally positive feelings about it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">As always, the Intercones (snow cones sponsored by Intercon) were a huge hit – I think we must have made 50 or so of them.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Final Thoughts</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I had a fun time at 4Pi-Con. In fact, it’s probably my favorite general sci-fi con I have been to yet. It’s small and friendly. It’s not in-your-face. It’s just a bunch of geeks getting together for a relaxed, inclusive weekend-long party.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">On Saturday, I’ll confess, it seemed as if our <span class="caps">LARP</span>-running efforts were going to go down in flames. But things picked up, and between Sharone’s game that evening, and The Trial on Sunday, it seems like 5 of the 6 LARPs at this con managed to run, and run decently well. And if you think about it, that’s really no small feat. A general sci-fi convention with around 300 attendees managed to have 6 LARPs scheduled? And all but one of them actually worked?! I’m not sure I’ve heard of such a thing before.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Yes, there were some things that could have been better. Pre-registration for events would have helped us out a lot. Having better information about the hotel policy would have saved me some trouble. Running LARPs in the “Assembly” area was an ill-conceived idea. I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect that it would have also helped to have put all the events in a single grid, rather than separating them into “Programming,” “Events,” and “Gaming,” which is an unintuitive distinction for attendees.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">The good news, though, is that I’ve been talking to some of the Pi-Con staffers about these points, and they seem very receptive to ideas about how to improve the LARPing experience there. So, with a little bit of luck, and some people in the community behind it, perhaps <strong>2010 can be the year that LARPing returns to Pi-Con!</strong></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-14875470800640835712009-07-30T12:22:00.001-04:002010-05-05T12:23:13.245-04:00First of hopefully several announcements<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;">As alluded to in <a href="http://aegames.org/blog/2009/07/16/im-not-announcing-any-larp-runs-just-yet/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">a previous post</a>, we bid <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/10bl/csection" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: C-Section</a> and an extended, six-hour version of<a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/tls" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">The Last Seder</a> for <a href="http://www.intercon-j.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Intercon J</a>. According to their web site, Intercon has accepted those bids, so we will be running them on the weekend of March 12-14 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts!</span>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-18596419258874651372009-07-22T12:21:00.004-04:002010-05-05T13:25:55.470-04:00World of Blurbcraft<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">What’s the single most important thing you’re going to write for your <span class="caps">LARP</span>?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">It’s not the world description. It’s not the game system. It’s not the character sheet for the villain, or the main hero. It’s not even the GM manual.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">The single most important thing you will be writing is a 2-3 paragraph description of the game for prospective players. The irony of the situation is that in almost all LARPs, the blurb either gets written first thing, before the writers really know what the game will be like, or last thing, when they’re rushing to get it out the door.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In this article, I’m going to try to convince you that that’s a big mistake, and discuss some ideas about Building a Better Blurb™.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 27px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;">A Case Study in Blurbiage</h2><blockquote><em>I think that I have never heard</em><br />
<em>a poem as lovely as a blurb.</em><br />
<br />
[Setting] is a [place] where [people] [do things]. A [place] of [qualities]. A [place] where for [time period], [positive attribute] has reigned, and [negative attribute] has seldom been seen.<br />
<br />
Legends say that once, at [a point in the far past], there was a [conflict] between [evil force] and [current ruling party]. Fortunately for the [people], [rulers] were triumphant and [villain] was vanquished. And now everything is [positive attribute] and nothing ever goes wrong, because this is a <span class="caps">LARP</span>.<br />
<br />
<strong>But something strange is going on!</strong><br />
<br />
What could be behind [recent event]? Some say it is [obviously false theory], others that it is [even more blatantly false theory]. Why have [strange entities] begun showing up around [town]? What about the [ongoing crisis]? And of course there could not possibly be any truth to the [rumor that is clearly the uberplot of the game].<br />
<br />
[Title of the game] is a [length] [genre] <span class="caps">LARP</span> for [x] players. Join us for an [overblown metaphor] in which [improbable events] will occur, lives will be changed, and the fate of [place] might just be forever altered.</blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">OK, so it’s a cliche, but behind all cliches is a good reason. Let’s take a look at what this template is doing:</div><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The short poem at the beginning sets a mood that (hopefully) the rest of the blurb will follow.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The first paragraph introduces the setting in which the game takes place.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The second paragraph provides historical background on the setting as well as giving some not-so-subtle hints at the main plot of the game.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>But something strange is going on!</strong></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The second-to-last paragraph gives a sampling of some of the plot threads going on in the game, as well as whetting the reader’s appetite for more.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The last paragraph gives some out-of-character logistical details and a call to action (in this case, to sign up for the game).</li>
</ul><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 27px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;">So what is it for?</h2><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Blurbs serve at least two important functions: to <strong>inform</strong>, and to <strong>sell</strong>. Looking at the previous list, we can see that by the end of this blurb, ideally, the reader will:</div><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Have a feel for the mood and genre of the game (information)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Know some key facts about the setting and its history (information)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Have some idea about what sort of plots to expect (information)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Know the game size and length (information)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Want to know more, and understand how they can find out (selling)</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Realize that something strange may in fact be going on (selling)</li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">These are all potentially important things, but aren’t necessarily crucial for every game. Space is limited, so you certainly shouldn’t put in something you don’t think is either important for your players to know ahead of time, or will help sell the game. Conversely, if there’s important information that needs to be conveyed, or if there’s additional stuff that may be appealing for potential players, by all means, put it in the blurb.</div><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black !important; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sidebar: But it’s a <span class="caps">GAME</span> <span class="caps">SECRET</span>!</h4><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">There are some games that play their cards very, very close to their chests and reveal almost nothing in the blurb. Oftentimes, this is because they include a big surprise that they don’t want players to be aware of ahead of time. Such games might be called “twist” games, or less charitably, “bait and switch” games. Since you’re going to drastically change the rules in the last section of the game, you can’t write an informative blurb, right?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Not to put too fine a point on it, but that’s bullshit.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">There is a very long tradition of this style of <span class="caps">LARP</span>, and many new games are written that way all the time. And they often have good blurbs with lots of information in them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">My personal rule of thumb is the “one-hour” rule. What information will every player know an hour into the game? That information is fair game to include in the blurb. Obviously, that includes any common background material the game might have. It also means that if there are quasi-secrets that will come out almost immediately, you may want to mention them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">For example, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/foh" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">Fire on High</a> has a major, game-changing Thing That Goes Wrong 10 minutes in. I don’t mind telling you this; in fact, I want you to know it before playing. If you didn’t know, you might be really unhappy with us for including it, because it would violate your player expectations. Our blurb strongly implies it (although it could probably mention it more clearly).</div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 27px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;">Writing a standout blurb</h2><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Having written a Generic Blurb template above, I’m going to come out and say this: please don’t use it. Seriously, it’s not a good thing for every <span class="caps">LARP</span> blurb to read the same way. It’s perfectly possible to write a good <span class="caps">LARP</span> blurb that accomplishes all the same things without falling back on formulas.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">For example, go take a look at the blurb for <a href="http://www.interactiveliterature.org/J/Schedule.php?action=25&EventId=161" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Blackout</a> at Intercon J. Seriously, go look, I’ll wait.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Now this is a blurb that both informs and sells, but doesn’t read anything like the Generic Blurb. It even manages to work in plot information: the systems readout gives you a pretty good idea of the first batch of problems you’re going to have to solve.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Similarly, we’re trying something new with the blurb for <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/10bl/csection" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: C-Section</a>. In addition to our usual 10 Bad LARPs blurb stuff (which is mostly informational in this case), we’ve embedded a video trailer. The trailer actually doesn’t say much about the game itself, but it does certainly convey the mood, and, I hope, sell the game.</div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 27px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;">Practicing what I preach</h2><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">If you’ve gotten this far, you may be wondering: “just who the hell is Nat to talk about this anyway? He’s been personally responsible for some <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/fisher/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">not-so</a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/foh/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">great blurbs</a> himself. Also, he writes about himself in the third person too much.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Well, it’s true. And after I finish this post, I’m planning to go through some of our past blurbs and see if I can’t improve them. If you have any suggestions, I hope you’ll comment here or ping me directly.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, go write some great blurbs worthy of your great LARPs!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>Susan, on 10/05/2009 at 10:41 AM</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">I agree with most of what Nat had to say here, and, believe me, the hardest blurb I have ever had to write was for a game where all the big exciting things are super secret. How do I sell a game when I can't tell you why it's exciting?<br />
<br />
However, I believe in striking a balance. I think an hour into a game is far too long in a four hour game, plus there are some things that the GMs might think are obvious, but that players manage to hide somehow. What I will give is strong hints at interesting reversals, and genre hints (for example, letting people know that they are in a fantasy setting even though not every character is aware of magic). I'm ok with giving out information that almost all players will know or strongly suspect on reading their backgrounds and characters.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, some games have almost no secrets, and, for those games, sometimes the hard part can be avoiding putting too much information in the blurb. If people have to read 4 paragraphs of background to know what the game is about at all, most people will lose interest.</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Eric Johnson, on 10/05/2009 at 10:45 AM</b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">I may end up in the minority here, but I'm actually not a huge fan of <i>Blackout</i>'s blurb, though I would definitely say that it's better than most blurbs.<br />
<br />
The question that I most want a LARP blurb to answer is "What will the experience playing in this LARP be?" Is it just going to be people talking around a table or is it going to be running around function space collecting widgets? Is the LARP puzzle heavy? Is most interaction competitive or cooperative (or is this moot)? Is the LARP mostly about character development, reacting to external stimuli, internal poltics, or something else entirely?<br />
<br />
When I'm looking for a LARP to play I'm not searching for a genre (again this almost assuredly puts me in the minority) but for the type of LARP experience to expect, and I don't think genre is a particularly good indicator of that.<br />
<br />
So, to use <i>Blackout</i> as an example again, here's what I get:</span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><b></b></b></div><b><b><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">It takes place on a space craft of some sort.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"> Not sure if it's realistic or fantastic though, so I can't glean much from this.</span></b></span></span></b></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">It takes place in the dark.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"> This is good to know, as it seems to be a big part of the LARP.</span></b></span></span></b></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">It involves "a substantial amount of interaction with (the) environment."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"> I want to say this will be solving puzzles in the dark, but that's really just a guess.</span></b></span></span></b></span></li>
</ul></b></b><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So while I'm somewhat intrigued by this blurb, it hasn't convinced me that I want to spend 4 hours there. So really the question becomes "Do I want to spend 4 hours in the dark in a LARP by Alex Bradley and Dave Kapell?" Which is a fine way to make a decision but doesn't really get you away from the "author is more important than blurb" I see a lot.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nat Budin, on 10/05/2009 at 10:46 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Thanks for your comments, Eric!<br />
<br />
While I agree that that information would also be useful to have in a blurb, I'm not sure how one would really do it in this case. To note, even the classic-style Something Strange Is Going On blurb doesn't really answer those questions.<br />
<br />
To further complicate matters, I'm not even sure how to rate most games against those sorts of scales, particularly since the experience is far from uniform across all the players, and for many characters, entirely dependent on other players' decisions.<br />
<br />
How would you rewrite the blurb for, say, <a href="http://www.silwest.com/empire/index.html">The Game of Empire</a>?</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Dr.Nik, on 10/05/2009 at 10:46 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Nice outline and points.<br />
As at the RolePlay Marshall for carnage, I do a fair amount of editing of blurbs. Some of them are so bad, but I know the game is good! So, how to tweak? I agree that the key points should be covered: Setting / Genre , General Style / Form of Play, and basic plot or theme. Outside of those three factors, I think that the actual execution is up to the GM, convention, and audience.</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Eric Johnson, on 10/05/2009 at 10:47 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">@Nat:<br />
<br />
I agree that this is a hard problem to solve, and I think the <i>Blackout</i> blurb does much better than the standard "Something Strange is Going" blub in addressing it. I'd just like to see better. :)<br />
<br />
I'm going to pass on doing a blurb for <i>The Game of Empire</i> as I have never played it and therefore don't think I can do it justice in a blurb. Instead I'll give you a new blurb for <i>The Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste</i> (by all accounts a good LARP to use, since most people have played it and can react to the blurb with that knowledge):</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></div><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">In November 1872, the brigantine Mary Celeste was found abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean with its cargo untouched and under full sail. Over the years, many bizarre theories have arisen to explain what happened on that fateful voyage, from aliens, to sea monsters, to time travelers. But what if they were all true?</span></div></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i></i></span></div><i><blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> is a classic four hour LARP featuring broad, high-weirdness characters on the final evening of the ill-fated voyage. Expect a high level of mauvering and plotting as you try to sort friend from foe and complete your goals before your enemies do, all while dealing with a series of events that may spell doom for the Mary Celeste.</span></div></blockquote></i></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">It's far from a perfect blurb, but I think it conveys at least some of what I'm looking for. That said, I'd love to hear comments, revisions, or completely alternate takes on it. Could be a fun exercise in blurb writing. :)</span></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
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font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nat Budin, on 10/05/2009 at 10:48 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; 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font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">@Eric,<br />
<br />
Cool, thanks! I agree that's a major improvement informationally on the existing blurb. (I had to dig a little to get to the existing blurb; Foam Brain has a copy of it <a href="http://www.foambrain.com/?page_id=49">here</a> for anyone who's interested.)<br />
<br />
While the extra information is welcome and useful, my preference would be to include it in a more in-character style. Here's a stab at that:</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></div><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">November, 1872. The brigantine Mary Celeste is found, abandoned in the Atlantic, with its cargo untouched and under full sail. Many bizarre theories have arisen to explain what happened on that fateful voyage, from aliens, to sea monsters, to time travelers. But what if they were all true?</span></div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Do you dare board the Mary Celeste for its last four hours at sea? You'll meet diverse, high-weirdness characters on the final evening of the ill-fated voyage, all of them maneuvering and plotting as you try to sort friend from foe and complete your goals before your enemies do. Will the evening's events spell your doom?</span></div></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i></i></span></div><i><blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> is a classic four-hour LARP by Jim MacDougal. It has been run over 100 times worldwide.</span></div></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Eric Johnson, on 10/05/2009 at 10:48 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">@Nat:<br />
<br />
That's also a nice blurb, though I'm biased against it based on another personal preference. I like in-character information to be communicated in an in-character way and out-of-character information conveyed in an out-of-character fashion. Again, I don't profess to be in the majority on this topic, though.<br />
<br />
Side note -- is there a way to subscribe to comments on a post? I feel a bit like a stalker currently...</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; 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font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; 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font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; 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font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><i></i></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span><br />
<b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><i></i></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></div><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><i><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nat Budin, on 10/05/2009 at 10:49 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></div></div></i></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></i></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i></i></b><i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">@Eric:<br />
<br />
Fair enough. Personally, I like my blurbs to be as diagetic as possible. It's also arguable that that stuff isn't really OOC information, since the character will in fact be experiencing all that stuff, mostly.<br />
<br />
Regarding comment subscriptions: Good idea, and I've implemented it. The radiant-comments extension didn't support it, but I've written a patch for it and deployed it here. If it works, I'll be requesting that the radiant-comment authors pull it in. For the curious, my changes can be seen <a href="http://github.com/nbudin/radiant-comments/commits/master">here</a>.</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></i></div></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-11968603510298777382009-07-16T12:19:00.001-04:002010-05-05T13:31:49.531-04:00I'm not announcing any LARP runs just yet...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">…but I do want to mention that we’ve made <em>bids</em>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">There’s what one might call a “strong possibility” that at <a href="http://www.pi-con.org/index.php" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">4Pi-Con</a>, we might be <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/ttrb" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">running</a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/10bl/remixes" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">some</a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/covers/trial" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">games</a>. We might also be appearing on some panels; in fact, yours truly might be moderating one on the topic of an introduction to <span class="caps">LARP</span> for beginners. There might also be a panel about <span class="caps">LARP</span> writing. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/about/people/sahh" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">One of our members</a> might be running a <span class="caps">LARP</span> on her own there too. There might also be two (count them, two!) World of Darkness games there. There might even be a party co-sponsored by us, <a href="http://www.foambrain.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #aa2222; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">a well-known group in the <span class="caps">LARP</span> community</a>, and <a href="http://www.intercon-j.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">an upcoming <span class="caps">LARP</span> convention</a>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">All in all, I’d say that <strong>2009 just might be the year that <span class="caps">LARP</span> comes to Pi-Con</strong>. (And if it is, there’s probably <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ultimatepsi" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">a particular person</a> you should thank for that.)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In addition, this March, at an aforementioned <span class="caps">LARP</span> convention, we might be running <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/10bl/csection" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">a new game in a popular series</a>. We might also be running an expanded, 6-hour version of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/tls" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">one of our favorites</a>. But it’s too early to tell, the bids haven’t been accepted or rejected yet. I’ll keep you posted here as soon as we hear something.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In a similar vein, do you know what V stands for in April 2009? <a href="http://www.vforvestival.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Vestival</a>, of course. There’s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/scearbridge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">a game we haven’t run in far too long</a> that may be in the offing there. Again, pending bid acceptance (although given the Festival bid policy, I feel fairly confident about this one).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, keep your eyes peeled, and your <span class="caps">RSS</span> reader laser-focused on this blog. I’ll give updates as soon as I’ve got ’em.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;"><strong><span class="caps">EDITED</span> TO <span class="caps">ADD</span></strong>: Susan points out that while we have handshake acceptance of the debut run of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/larps/originals/10bl/csection" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #cc4444; text-decoration: none;">10 Bad LARPs: C-Section</a> at <a href="http://ima.larpaweb.net/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">another prominent <span class="caps">LARP</span> convention this Fall</a>, the bid has not actually been officially accepted on the site, and thus it’s entirely possible that interested parties may not have heard about it. Well, you heard it here first.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Chad, on 10/05/2009 at 10:38 AM</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Let me know what I can do to help out at 4picon. And if you want another butt on a panel.</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Nat Budin, on 10/05/2009 at 10:39 AM</b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Thanks! We could probably use party help. The panel thing is not up to me, unfortunately, and I've been told (when I mentioned the possibility of adding more panelists) that it was too late to do so. I'll talk to you more once I've figured out the logistics of everything.</span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b>Michael Leuchtenberg, on 10/05/2009 at 10:39 AM</b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">If you really think a particular LARP panel could use another body, I can look into it. That stuff is mostly solid now, though, with a few exceptions for panels which really need more people (webcomics panels, in particular), and this neuroscientist from Harvard who wrote a book about zombies for the neuroscience of zombies panel.</span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></span></span></b></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-36222820594735158842009-06-16T12:16:00.002-04:002010-05-05T12:19:22.478-04:00Writing: No, really, the writing part<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;"><b>Written by Susan Weiner</b><br />
<br />
<b></b>So, Nat just wrote a lovely entry on the group part of the writing process. However, I’ve been lucky: that part has worked smoothly for every game I’ve written. In the groups I’ve written with, people love hanging out, brainstorming, and showing off their work. That’s easy. The hard part is actually doing the writing in between.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, you’ve come up with a perfect game idea, you have some concept of the structure and a group of GMs. How do you get from that to the finished game?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Like everything else in any creative process, there are as many ways to go about this as there are <span class="caps">LARP</span>writers. I can’t really describe what they do, so I’m going to start with how I work.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Character Inspiration</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Most characters start with a personality seed, although some start with a plot seed. This usually comes about in group discussion. It can be anything from a quote to a snippet of personal history, to a general attitude about the situation. From there we elaborate on it until we have a brief description (usually 3-5 sentences or so) that frames the character.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Plot Structure</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">While not every game is heavily plotted, in a game that has a lot of plot it is important to make sure that a) all the characters have enough plot and b) all the characters agree on what plot they have. If Rachel thinks she has been dating Eric for years, but is seeing Robert on the side, Eric and Robert may or may not know about each other, but they better know about Rachel! This is a problem more often than you might think. Before we start writing, we write the plots for each character on the page for that character, and try to check the connections among characters.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">The Hard Part</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">So, now I have the skeleton of a character. What do I do with it? For most characters I start off by writing a character history. Knowing the events that shaped the character’s perceptions helps me understand who a character is and how he or she will respond. In a rather circular fashion, however, I have to know something about how the character responds before I know what tone to write in. In order to get this, in my head I often role-play out a few interactions this character might have. This gives me a voice for the character, which I can then write in.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Once I have the history that got the character to where he or she is today, I go on to incorporate the current plots. These should tie in tightly to some aspects of history, but I like to repeat them and emphasize them towards the end of the character sheet so that the player knows what is important to the character. For very plot heavy games, I may even put a separate goal list at the end of the character sheet.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Final Touches</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Finally, once everything else is done, I go back to the beginning of the sheet and write a hook. Sometimes, if I was particularly inspired, I might have started with a hook, but I often modify it at this point. The hook is a little bit of character at the beginning that gives flavor to the rest of the sheet and (hopefully) puts the reader immediately into character headspace. For example, I once started a character with “There was a time when life was simple and you lived in the lap of luxury. Now you are enmeshed in a complicated and difficult struggle to save the world and you have never been happier. For the first time, you are doing something important.” This doesn’t tell you much about the character’s history or current challenges, but it tells you a lot about his or her attitude. If, on the other hand, the character started with “Gold isn’t everything. Oil and guns are important too,” you would know it was a very different type of character, and possibly, a very different type of game.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">At this point, I have a rough draft of a character. The character may get a little more plot added or get mechanics tucked in somewhere, but this is what I take back to my writing group for criticism.</div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-66827232841854343752009-06-15T11:57:00.011-04:002010-05-05T13:28:21.887-04:00A Group Writing Process<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', 'bitstream vera sans', sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">As <span class="caps">LARP</span> writers, we tend to talk a lot about game design: characters, mechanics, plot construction, information economy, et cetera. We also tend to talk a lot about runtime issues: logistics, space, props, GMing, and production. This tends to leave out the fact that there’s a whole expanse of stuff in the middle, in which you need to actually sit down and write the <span class="caps">LARP</span>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Writing, as anyone who’s tried it knows, is very, very hard. It’s a craft that many professionals work at their whole lives and never master. I’m certainly not about to pretend to give advice on good writing in general. What I do want to talk about, though, is writing in a group.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Group writing complicates matters significantly. It brings in the problem of coordinating between different writers to ensure consistency and continuity. It also presents a devil’s bargain: do you risk bruising egos and damaging friendships, or do you risk putting out a subpar game because you didn’t want to hurt people’s feelings?<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">In this essay, I’m going to talk about a writing process we often use at Alleged Entertainment. This process doesn’t have an official name, but feel free to think of it as “that process Nat wrote about in the Alleged Entertainment blog.”</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Overall Structure</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Let’s think about the lifecycle of a typical game. Different <span class="caps">LARP</span> groups use very different timeframes for their games, but here would be a typical one for us. Let’s assume here that we’re bidding a game for Intercon New England, which is every March.</div><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>February:</strong> while in the process of finishing up the final prep for Intercon, someone brings up a question: should we bid a game for next year, so that we can get it into this year’s shameless plugs? Someone says “well, remember the idea I’ve been sitting on for a few months? How about we bid that?” Everyone agrees that it is a good idea, so we fill out a bid form for next year’s Intercon.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>March:</strong> the bid is accepted (knock on wood). We go to Intercon, run whatever we’re running there, and the fine people who run the convention mention our new project in the shameless plug.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>April-July:</strong> we go to some other conventions! Festival, Pi-Con, whatever. It’s summer and we’re enjoying ourselves.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>August:</strong> someone says “hey, shouldn’t we start writing that new project?” Everyone goes “oh yeah, we probably should.” A meeting is scheduled, and we begin the initial design discussions.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>September-October:</strong> we nail down the overall design of the game. At the last meeting in October, we will feel like we have enough of a handle on this game as a whole to begin actually writing it. Assignments are handed out and we begin writing.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>November-February:</strong> writing!</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>February:</strong> printing, stuffing, and prop building meeting. We plan logistics, and someone mentions a project for next year’s Intercon…</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>March:</strong> we go to Intercon and debut our new project!</li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">A couple of things are evident from the above timeline: first, we’re slackers and really ought to beta test our games. Second, the writing takes up about twice as much time as the design. (I actually gave the design process more time than it often really takes in the above timeline – it’s frequently more like a 20-80 split.)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">For the purposes of this essay, I’m only going to focus on the actual writing part, which represents the bulk of the time it takes us to produce a <span class="caps">LARP</span> from scratch.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Writing Collaboratively</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Here, then, is our process in a nutshell:</div><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black !important; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Manageable Chunks</h4><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">We split up our writing work into small chunks that can be handed out to people. With most games, this ends up being characters – so each writer will get a particular set of characters to draft. Some games split differently; for example, in <em>10 Bad LARPs</em> we’ll usually give each writer a set of micro-LARPs. Each game has a different structure, so that may naturally lead to different ways of splitting up the work.</div><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black !important; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Frequent, Regular Meetings</h4><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">We typically meet during a project every 4 weeks. This depends on the needs of the project itself – for example, we wrote <em>Time Travel Review Board</em> on a somewhat more compressed schedule than usual, because we had a short deadline and wanted to do a beta beforehand, so we met every 2 weeks instead of every 4. With <em>Imagine That</em>, we have long character sheets and a very busy set of writers, so our time between meetings is often a bit longer. Regardless, it’s important to meet regularly in order to keep the project’s momentum going.</div><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black !important; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Out Loud</h4><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">At every writing meeting, we go through the new material people have drafted between this meeting and the previous one. The author will read the new work aloud to the group, and afterwards, everyone gives feedback.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">This is a really dicey part, because it’s here that feelings can get hurt if you’re not careful. Make no mistake: although it’s “just a game,” this really is creative writing, and as such, artists tend to be defensive of their own work. Therefore, it’s important to have clear understandings about feedback in the writing team. Just as every game is different, every group of writers is also different, and each team may well end up handling this issue in its own way.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">I’m planning on writing more about this in a future essay.</div><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black !important; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Always Leave With A Plan</h4><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">At the end of every meeting, there are two questions we always ask before leaving:</div><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18pt; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">When and where is our next meeting?</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What are we each going to do between now and then?</li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">If you leave meeting scheduling for “later,” it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of forgetting to schedule. By agreeing to a time and place at the end of every meeting, it’s much easier to keep to a regular schedule of meetings.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">Similarly, if you know at the end of each meeting what’s expected to be done by the next meeting, it’s relatively easy to know whether or not you’re falling behind schedule (and might have to postpone the debut run). As an added bonus, you also get a better sense that work is being divided up equally amongst the writers.</div><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black !important; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px !important;">Process Is Important</h3><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">This is by no means the end-all and be-all of <span class="caps">LARP</span> writing processes. In fact, I’d say that if anyone tells you they have the perfect structure for collaboration of any sort, they’re full of it (see also:<a href="http://www.extremeprogramming.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Extreme Programming</a>, <a href="http://www.controlchaos.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Scrum</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://aegames.org/assets/3/external.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #cc4444; padding-right: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Six Sigma</a>, and an endless array of similar processes). Common sense dictates that you should do what works for you and your team, and not slavishly follow someone else’s idea of the best way to work.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-top: 0.8em;">But I also think it’s important to at least think about process before you start writing. At the very least, you should ask yourselves how you plan to work together, and how to avoid interpersonal conflicts while still being honest with each other. Maybe (hopefully!) it won’t turn out to be necessary – you’ll all just work together naturally and easily, and not have any fights come out of the writing process. But if that doesn’t turn out to be true, wouldn’t you rather have had the discussion up front?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Comments imported from DISQUS</b></span><br />
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<b>bleemoo, on 10/05/2009 at 10:35 AM</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">This got me thinking about writing in general, and about my preferences as a writer. I may end up expanding this into a post of its own, but it's a direct response to this post, so I'll at least start here.<br />
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I dislike writing games. I like running games, and I like writing character sheets, but a large part of the process you discuss above has nothing to do with writing characters, and is work that leaves me feeling drained, frustrated, and very unenthusiastic about the game I am working on. Do other people face this problem? How do they deal with it?</span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #393733; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"></span></b><br />
<b><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>Eric, on 10/05/2009 at 10:36 AM</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Well, when Kreg and I write larps, out standard process usually involves Kreg writing a bunch of characters with either no plot or lots of plot holes. Then I write a bunch of characters that create the plots for all his characters and fill in the holes. As an example, Kreg wrote Nathan Windswept, while I wrote Ibis. He wrote Nathan first, then went back and rewrote Nathan after I did what I did with Ibis.<br />
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To bleemo - If you are not adverse to going back and rewriting your characters to fit what others do with them, that might help you get to the writing character phase, the part you like. You could just write some characters and then adjust them to fit later on. That method won't necessarilly work for everyone though, so it could depend on who you're working with. It works for Kreg and I. Kreg and I have a fairly fluid writing method, where we mostly create as we go. We toss in and toss out ideas as we write. For Story Wars, we added in GLaDOS as a character late in the process, simply because I had played Portal</span></b></div></b></div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6283954654510196246.post-5166579424780863752009-06-12T10:43:00.000-04:002010-05-05T10:45:29.720-04:00Hello, World!<div>Welcome to the Alleged Entertainment group blog! We're going to use this blog to talk about our ongoing LARP projects, make announcements, and post articles discussing LARP theory, writing, and practice.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is somewhat of an experiment for now, so please bear with us. We'll be posting more here soon!</div>Nat Budinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18153012936395875787noreply@blogger.com0