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Heroic Knight
 
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| So do you think commedia dell'arte (this if you dont know) could work as an LRP? I figure you: Update it to the modern day in terms of the setting and how characters are encoded for modern political satire etc. Update the stock-characters to make the jokes more relevant but keep the 'universal' templates for characters. Oh and keep the masks. Still LRP in that the plot isn't 'set' from start to end, only the begining is known, everything else gets improvised. I figure it would be more freeform in style, probably not detailed with lock-picking and crafting type skills. Just things relevant to the plot. Not sure how combat would work? If its not there how do you resolve physical conflict? Erm, thats as far as I've got. I'm pretty sure I've asked about this on Pagga but that was then and this is now. Thoughts/Rants?
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"Stick around!"
-Governor of California throwing a hunting knife into a man's chest
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Wag
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| You could try it would be an interesting world background/concept... You'd really lose the bizarre otherworldness of the physical performance without real comedia actors.... its bloody hard to do well.
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Heroic Knight
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Punch & Judy larp?
Jerry Cornelius larp?
(I'm sure there's a whole load of other modern renderings of the commedia, but those are the only ones that immediately spring to my mind)
(chris)
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Heroic Knight
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*Blush*
Commedia Dell Arte is everything I do.
And it sounds fascinating, as a springboard.
For starters - not sure that a mordern-day setting would work, as Commedia has a certain timeless sense - there will be moments that are blatently modern, some that are closer to victorian pantomime, some that are very definately 13th C Italy.
Physical combat VERY rarely happens in commedia, at least in the same sense as LARP usually is - you'll never see Capitano and Brighella scrapping, however much they square off and pose - normally it's a backflip and it's all over, or somebody shouts, and the opponent runs away, or some other lazzi happens.
What about this, though?
Carnivale.
"There was an age, when everything was laughter, and the Divine Clowns capered and built the world through their steps and stories. They duelled, they bickered, they fell in love and fooled each other, served more masters than they had time for, sung songs of love and life and laughter. Nobody faded, nobody died.
But one day, Arlecchino tumbled, fell backwards, head over heels down the steps of the Town Hall, blown over by a kiss from Colombina's window. This was nothing new. But this time, he didn't get up.
And Il Dottore was called, and Il Dottore placed, at great expense, a pill in the mouth of Arlecchino. But still, Arlecchino did not get up. Nor did he rise when Il Dottore put the foot pump in his mouth, or jangled coins in his ear, or any of the other hundred methods to make a man rise from the dead. In fact, he didn't get up at all, and even the next morning, was lying at the foot of the Town Hall, his head red and wet, beginning to smell.
So the rest of the divine, not knowing what to do with him, put him in a tomb made of marble, and each retreated to their houses in town, and gradually, began to lose touch with each other, and with the world outside. People began to age, and die, and the world turned.
And now, a hundred years later, the world longs for the Golden Age of Carnivale, the age of the Divine Comedy, when the Clowns capered steps that made things shine so brightly. The world is dark. People age and sicken and die, people prosper through malice and foolishness, with no Carnivale to remind them of their foolishness.
Some people think, though, that if they search heard enough, sing songs loud enough, seek in the right houses and the right corners, they can summon the Clowns back to the world, and they will dance again, and there steps will herald a second coming, a rebirth of Carnivale, and the world will again know laughter."
*Grin*
A gritty dark-commedia based larp, where the Commedia Archetypes are , not gods, but figures who made the world good, and okay, and poked fun at the right places, and kept things happy. Characters are said to be "Born under the sign of..." (Il Dottore, Colombina, Arlecchino, etc.) who essentially define their character type. Possibly defines a skillset / quirks.
Either steampunk / renaissancepunk, or a timeless style, influenced by everything between the 13thC and Victorian England. I wouldn't go much further than that, though, as then it becomes a "Modern" larp for some senses, and there's modern technoliges to muster over.
Yes, everybody is masked. This is either how their faces look, a cultural thing (everybody wears masks) or simply something that is glossed over - "Why wouldn't we?" as if not having a mask is like not having a face.
Combat is as gritty and dirty as any other system - people die, people are hurt, pistols crunch and make smoke.
And certain factions are quite happy with the world, thankyou -they're making money, living expensive lives, and watching the world turn. They're at odds with the kinds of factions who long for the return of Carnivale, when people laugh, the rich are made fools of, and nobody dies. Other factions dismiss this as mere childs stories, and state that there never was such a time.
There isn't a magic system, so much as a system of Commedia "Quirks" - amazing things a character can do with the power of the Divine Archetypes. For example, those born under the sign of Il Dottore have the potential for fantastic scholarly / medical abilities, those born under the sign of Brighella can shadow box a character twelve feet away. There are certain ways to act to bring around the power of the Divine Clowns (rituals, if you like, in the style of commedia Lazzi) that are particularly useful at certain times.
Events happen at each of the major festivals, with the most important being the Festival of Fools, where the world is turned on it's head for the week, electing a Lord/Lady of Misrule, and the Divine Clowns are, possibly, watching from their windows....
Just throwing some ideas out here...
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PD: "Gentleman" Jig, of the Wayward Scholars. White City : Orpheus DuValle / Elias Vincenzi. RL: Dom Carroll, Firecat Masquerade.
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Heroic Knight
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| Flannelcat, did you write that off the cuff or was it something you had rolling around? I like the background ideas, I like them a lot. Have you ever actually tried to put together a Commedia Dell Arte event/play/whatever? The first two groups ("keep it as it is" and "bring back the old skool") are fine but the third group wont really work because everyone OC knows the Canivale is real, but a thrid group is needed. Hmm, I'll have a think.
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"Stick around!"
-Governor of California throwing a hunting knife into a man's chest
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Champion
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Smitt (9/7/2006)
the third group wont really work because everyone OC knows the Canivale is real, but a thrid group is needed. Hmm, I'll have a think.
I disagree. Everyone playing an aristocrat in France, 1789 knows OOC that on the 14th things are going to go completely tits-up. Everyone playing a WWII game knows OOC that the Allies will win. I'd put a little more trust in my players, tbh.
Though if one must have a different third group, what about revolutionaries? Looking to overthrow everything and build a new, and better, order. Rebelling against the Carnivale - can't get much more teenage-angst than that!
Incidentally, I'll let Flannelcat answer for himself, but I'm pretty sure that his answer to "Have you organised a Commedia before" will be "Hell Yes". For one thing, he was entirely responsible for the lazzi, magic etc. at the last Masquerade Ball. 
--
PD: Then: Some dead Wemic, some dead Puritan, Peggy Novak. Now: Samael den Shemhazai of the Sephirot.
White City: Then: Cpt. Ambriel Chermes, Broken Guard. Now: Officer Cadet Catriona Cooper, fire support.
RL: Helen W, RPGSoc.
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Knight
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| {Reads Flannelcats reply} That is..... simply great... sign me up immediately! Apart from giving me a legitimate excuse to wear my plague doctors outfit once more, it gives me and even bigger excuse to buy some more masks 
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Wag
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Flannelcat - Genius - run it!
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RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
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