Posts Tagged ‘Power Creep’

ST: Utilizing NPCs

08 Jan 2012 at 19:49

larpdr

ST

2 Comments

I don’t like the term NPC.  Why? Players instinctually ascribe less worth to an NPC than they do to a PC, and break the simulation of my game with their meta-gaming.  I don’t blame my players for this, instead I blame previous games that manufacture and support this off-base two-tiered structure.

Theory: Theories on Power Distribution

08 Oct 2011 at 17:38

larpdr

Theory

3 Comments

  I’ve seen a lot of different ways that storytellers use to populate their new games with characters of different levels of powers, with varying levels of success.  This article breaks down my experience and distills them into different models and suggests why they may or may not be effective.

ST: 5 Pitfalls of Experience

16 Sep 2011 at 18:59

larpdr

ST

2 Comments

Last article I talked about the purpose of experience, this week I’ll talk about some of it’s pitfalls.  Allowing characters to gain experience in some capacity is usually a good thing, but there are certain pitfalls to the process that most don’t consider.  Below the cut I look at 5 different ways that experience can [...]

Theory: The Purpose of Experience

11 Sep 2011 at 13:17

larpdr

Theory

No Comment

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: while there may be plenty of reasons for experience to exist its primary purpose is to create loyalty in a storyteller’s product.  In other words experience incentivizes attending and participating in a game.

Player: Using Power Generously

21 Jul 2011 at 23:36

larpdr

Player

20 Comments

So today we’re talking about power. Every LARP that I’ve ever seen played have gaps in power between characters. This gap happens either due to premeditation on the part of the storyteller or through uneven character start dates, attendance variance, experience awards, carving out a niche and/or savvy roleplaying. Note that when I say power, I’m [...]