|
|
|
Prodigal
 
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 6:53 PM
Posts: 507,
Visits: 2,159
|
|
| Think the larger events are more intimidating for new LRPers, and even for experienced LRPers if you don't know anyone else there. I remember my first (and only) Gathering back in about 95 when I got through the main gate then though. Now what do I do. Found someone I knew vaguely so just stuck my tent next to theirs before being told that I can't camp there unless Im a member of a Faction? Whats a Faction? Think that the mentoring system would be brilliant, and really help newbies who just need a little guidance their first time I think that there will always be a place for regular clubs, but think that they'll never get beyond a certain level. They're going to be for the people who want to have something quick and easy, and whilst many do have good kit / roleplaying / plot by club standards, they're still going to be fairly small scale Problem with being a small club is that you can't afford the kit / sites unless you get the players, and you need to have good standards to get them. You could you run more often to get more money but that means that you're organisation standards drop too. Its very slow progress A lot of the more popular / "critically acclaimed" games are different in some way. Its possible it'll eventually get to the point where Elves and Dwarves become the exception rather than the norm. Certainly at the moment a lot of people I've spoken to said that they don't want to be "a barbarian from the north" ever again Yeah Big Damn Heroes appeal for me is cos I love Firefly. However I'd be interested to try out a High Fantasy system if they had something new and different about them rather than just another standard club system. I dunno maybe they have a laser tag system for magic, or something that other clubs don't have.
- -------------
-
- Brighton Below : Organiser
- Serenity: Capt Tom Crowson
- RL: Simon / Trez
|
|
|
|
|
Knight
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Today @ 10:16 AM
Posts: 68,
Visits: 2,579
|
|
Matt Pennington (3/27/2007)
We get quite a few new-to-lrp players coming to Maelstrom. I'd like to feel proud of how many we convert into "full-on" LRPers but unfortunately I've no idea how successful we are in doing that.Foundations last year was my first ever LRP event and, if it helps,Maelstrom has definitely helped firemy interest in LRP in general. I'm now actively looking at other systems to try (as long as they don't clash  )I've talked with Cenobite (if memory serves) about ideas for developing a mentor network to link new-to-lrp players up with existing groups of capable players. It's a project for tomorrow at the moment (we have a LOT of those), but I think it's something every LRP game needs to think about. How do we integrate new players into the games we are presenting? The ability of the big three (B3 from here on) to do that is inherently poor. Our literature is written for experienced LRPers and we have no introductory material worth a damn for new players. We have no personal contact with new-to-lrp players, hell PD don't even bother to ask if a booked player has ever lrped before, which is frankly pathetic. It's naturally easier for the smaller clubs and events to integrate new players than it is for the B3, which just means that we need to try all the harder, something that at the moment we don't do. The Maelstrom rulebook says something along the lines of "if this is your first LRP event, talk to GOD and they'll arrange a demonstreation of safe combat". When I did this at Foundations the Ref I spoke too looked surprised and asked another Ref if the rulebook actually said that  To be fair, they did find someone who was willing to give said demonstration in fairly short order, though 
On the subject of literature being written for experienced players, I guess it is, but then
so is everyone else's. Of the several rulebooks I've read in the last year or so, deciding which system to try, I have to say the PD one was the clearest to me, as a total novice. One of the reasons I picked Maelstrom as my first game to try.
(edited for afterthoughts)
Maelstrom - Thomas Blunt, Archon of the Apple Cartel (Until I can con someone else into doing it )
|
|
|
|
|
Heroic Knight
Group: System Moderators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 3:04 PM
Posts: 101,
Visits: 905
|
|
Matt Pennington (3/27/2007)
Personally I think "national eventing" has done more to damage regular clubs than the B3. I am desperate to do more LRP, but I'm not looking for a regular club system, because I find the lower standards (sorry) are not to my taste. How can the standards of a once a week event be as good as a once a year game? I don't see how they can... So now I cherry pick, I go looking for systems like Vikings, Odyssey, The Fallen, Serenity, NWO, GD, etc whereas once I might have sought out a regular local club like Dreampedlar or Song of Steel.
I think Matt's got a point here, these occasional, couple of times a year events are probably affecting club LRP much more than the big 3. IMO the reasons ares simply quality and variety. If a team is running an event every 6 months they can put much more time into each game than if they where running every month. If you go to a few different games a year you get a variety of LRP experiences rather than a single club game.
The Great Larp Conspiracy
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: System Moderators
Last Login: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:39 PM
Posts: 1,141,
Visits: 3,626
|
|
| Comparing national fest systems like LT, PD and CP to anything else (whether it be smaller systems or club systems) is really like comparing apples and oranges... or, lets see how far we can stretch this analogy... Comparing fest style to smaller scale to club is like comparing melons to apples/oranges to grapes... Melons, they are big, they are juicy, but you can rarely eat one all by yourself so you need a group to help you with it. And you maybe can't stand having one every week because they are so sweet. Oranges and apples. They fill you up, you don't need a group to eat one because they are just the right size for one but they can sometimes be nice to share. Especially some oranges which come in segments that make this easy to do. You can maybe get through one a month or maybe every couple of months. Grapes, they are nice but one is never enough. You need a lot more than one to fill you up, maybe one a week. I think they work together well, though. They aren't really the same thing. A fest lover may get a bit of appeasement from going to the occasional weekly club or smaller system but it will never satisfy his desire for melon. A small club lover like myself may also feed his addiction with club but will never find grapes as satisfying as oranges or apples (because it is not to the highstandard they expect) and will find melon too sickly because it never really gives the personal touch they like. Anyone confused yet? Basically, comparing fest to club is not really a fair comparison because club is different. Many like doing club because it is cheesy and bad. Our recent attempt to ressurect Trap failed partly because we tried to up the quality to something more than gaffa swords and curtain cloaks and that was not what the audience wanted. They could go elsewhere for quality, they wanted cheese. Or possibly grapes... Or cheesy grapes, maybe. Anyway, I think I will leave that analogy for now as it is making my brain hurt and giving me an inexplicable desire for grapes. Which we don't have... Either because we haven't gone shopping yet or Brum Treasure Trap died. I forget which... I'll move onto another point... the great beast World of warcraft... I have never played and probably never will. I tried some other online games and found them a little... samey. Never really got the hang of computer games anyway because they lack true interaction. They aren't LRP but if the rumours are right an awful lot of LRpers do them. Maybe they replace the LRPers desire for cheese that used to be fulfilled by club linears? Ok, a lot of LRpers do them. Matt thinks there is an untapped resource of potential LRPers out there who need to be shown the one true way? So, the obvious solution is to embrace WoW as a potential recruiting ground. Get the word out there - post on noticeboards and mention LRP in conversation during games. Pass out leaflets at pub meets and so on. Its not an enemy... just an ally that doesn't know any better As for advertising... well, I know Matt is always willing to pass on his advice on this to any who ask for it so maybe clubs and smaller systems should take him up on the offer and ask for help? I have to say that I think the CDs we gave away at Elsecar really helped a lot - something novel and interesting which caught the interest as well as getting copies of the rules (PDFd on the CD) out there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
|
|
|
|
|
Live roleplaying's greatest cheerleader...
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Today @ 1:19 PM
Posts: 1,240,
Visits: 10,604
|
|
Just to chuck a spanner in the works…….what about Labyrinthe? They offered rubbish at a high price, but people (including me in my youth) lapped it up. How do they fit into this? Big club, little club?
_____________________________________________________
RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
|
|
|
|
|
Prodigal
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 6:53 PM
Posts: 507,
Visits: 2,159
|
|
Shelford (3/27/2007)
Just to chuck a spanner in the works…….what about Labyrinthe? They offered rubbish at a high price, but people (including me in my youth) lapped it up. How do they fit into this? Big club, little club?Tis the Games Workshop of LRP
- -------------
-
- Brighton Below : Organiser
- Serenity: Capt Tom Crowson
- RL: Simon / Trez
|
|
|
|
|
Apprentice
Group: System Moderators
Last Login: Today @ 12:42 AM
Posts: 24,
Visits: 1,312
|
|
| SpearHead has been running for some five years now. It originally was set up to fill the void left by Broadsword and thus in that aspect was lucky - we already had a player base and thus did not really need to worry about much marketing. Over the years the core membership has remained and we have picked up additional members through word of mouth in the main. Having run larger scale events I wanted to focus the club on running regular small scale quality events thus meaning having lots of members was not really important. As the years have ticked by we have realised we will need to start increase our marketing - the average age of the speary member is now probably around the early thirty mark - unfortunately age brings responsibility and obligations....babies, wives and work all challenge the regularity that many of the club members can attend. I actually think that all lrp systems are competing for the one common factor they share - time. I only have a certain amount of freetime and in that aspect I have to choose where and how to spend it. I don't tend to pay much attention to the marketing of other systems - in the main my choice of what game to go to is governed by word of mouth or recommendations by people that I know - if this is common to lrpers then it could be argued that formal marketing needs to focus at attracting new people to the hobby rather than experienced lrpers to a new system. I think clubs are still the easiest in for someone wanting to try the hobby for the first time - a day event requires less commitment of time, money and often travel. If they try a day event out and don't enjoy it then they lose far less than if they have travelled a couple of hundred miles to stay a weekend at a fest. Plus due to their size of attendance, clubs can offer the newbie a far more tailored, arguably supervised day.... aspects that can mean it is easy for newbie teenagers to get the go ahead from their parents.
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 11:24 PM
Posts: 2,003,
Visits: 8,528
|
|
Shelford (3/27/2007)
However, Maelstrom has hit the small clubs to some extent. Some players I have known that once attended a certain sci-fi monthly game stopped taking the trouble to attend because they were getting their ‘LRP hit’ from attending Maelstrom. It wasn’t a case of money, it’s just that Maelstrom suddenly just filled that gap, the need for some decent LRP and social needs. Fo them it is far easier to attend a few Maelstrom events a year and pay the cash, instead of writing plot/ monstering/ reffing etc for a small LRP outfit.
Matt Pennington (3/27/2007)
My personal feeling is that regular clubs are doomed. (I'm sure that will be a popular statement). I'm very pleased that clubs like DUTT and CUTT are doing well, all power to them and long may they continue.
It may be my ignorance of non-university group larp, but I think there might be a meaningful distinction here between university larps and non-university larps.
Regular clubs may be doomed - since leaving Durham, I haven't been terribly inclined to attend semi-local (short train journey)/semi-regular (monthly rather than weekly) events. Crucially, DUTT was at most 45 minutes walk from wherever I lived in Durham and run 3 events per week term time (1-2 events/week informally outside of term time). I meant to attend a nearby larp in Newcastle, but over the course of a year I only made it out there 2-3 times (and I was given a lift those times!).
Over Summer, Maelstrom events edge towards one a month. When I was at Birmingham, one event was a 20 minute hop on the train (then a 40 minutes walk). I can imagine Maelstrom looking like a reasonable replacement for a monthly larp that you can't physically walk to (particularly if your larp runs predominantly over Summer, rather than specifically not running during the Summer holidays (and Easter!)).
Marios
|
|
| |