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Squire
 
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Had an idea the other day, its not an entirely serious idea – not something I’m thinking of actually running, not any time soon anyway – but it amused me so I thought I would throw it out there and see what people thought of it.
I was watching Buffy the other day and thought to myself, “This would make a cool larp”. And then I thought, “Actually no it would be rubbish”. If you had a traditional style Buffy larp, the players would be the good guys. So most people would be a bit crap and spend their events reading books about monster while 1 person would be the slayer and be really hard and run around beating up all the monsters, who would probably be people with facepaint (for demons) or without facepaint (for vampires)
But then I thought, “What about doing it the other way around?” What if you had a larp where the players were the monsters? A vampire would be pretty easy to physrep – all you would really need is some fangs (I’d probably forego the bumps and lumps that appear on the face if I was running it). Then anyone who has the inclination can play some sort of demon, as long as they can get suitable funky costume and physreps. I’d probably hand out extra funky powers and stuff to people who made the effort to make cool costume, nothing game breaking thoughl
Thinking a little bit further, you could have an (some) event in a demon bar – hire a private room in a bar for the event – have an evening of drinking, scheming, telling tales and player poker (for kittens of course). Then maybe small events and linears could be organised as a result of what goes on there – the demons go off to find a magic rock or kill some annoying warlock. Then the slayer turns up (who is some suitable sick hard npc role) and gives the players a run for their money. You would need the slayer to be slightly more incompetent than Buffy or it might get boring. And if the Slayer dies theres always another one.
For combat stuff I was thinking normal larp melee weapons (including claws) where appropriate. But for when fisticuffs is needed (which is quite often) some sort of hugely exaggerated stage fighting technique, it would probably need trust between the players and a muppet free zone but I see a game like that being small so such a situation is possible. I’d say vampires and demons are pretty much immune to guns – so cap guns can be used by any who wish and the targets just roleplays some minor effect. But to represent “Initiative” style weapons that do hurt the demons nerf guns could be used – means you’re actually firing something without everyone needed to wear eye protection.
I think that’s all the thoughts I had. Anyone else think its vaguely cool? Or really rubbish? Or anything!
Andit
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LT: Aeber na Karac (formerly Captain Seb, undefeated greatest bard in Edreja)
Trinity: Croup Felach
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Devil's Advocate
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I'd leave the Slayer out of it all together if i were you. The Slayer, by definition, would be easily able to kill your player base in nothing flat. The only demons/vamps that can stand up against her are the big-bads, and I'm guessing you want your players to be low level types?
Why not take other things from the buffyverse? Why not have it being set somewhere that doesn't have a slayer, so it's demons vs whitehats (remember them?) that way no-one is super powerful, so you don't get the problem of one PC or NPC being able to kill everyone.
Of course, if you do do whitehats vs demons, that free's you up to which you want as your players and which as your NPC's.
Guns do hurt demons, have you even watched Buffy? 
Fisticuffs is easy to do, and fun. Yes, safety is an issue but then it will always be an issue whatever you do. Like anything, you just have to be sensible with it.
If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing.
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Squire
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| Like Tart said, if you ran the game in a location without a Slayer then you get WhiteHats vs Baddies. This has a lot of awesome PvP potential even as a small linear event. Both sides could have seperate pub events for planning and plotting, and then one larger event where the two groups square off trying to foil each others plans.
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Wag
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I'd disagree that only Big Bads kill Slayers. Usually Slayers die when they either get unlucky or (more often) get tired of fighting all the time. Spike only really made it to Big Bad status (as opposed to "tags around after Angelus") when he killed his first Slayer, and that was mainly surprise.
Cool idea, though, and I agree it would be best to keep the Slayer appearances to a minimum. And no Buffy herself, obviously. You could make it a historical one, if you wanted - or do both, in the fashion of the episodes of both B:TVS and Angel in which various characters' backstories are explained via full-length flashbacks.
PD - Brother Farael of the Ordo Dictum Dominus
EOS - Some Raggard Scum, previously Some Arimin Scum
6P - System creator (now retired), Andrei Treune of Clan Suner (for the moment)
RL - Will Robinson
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Squire
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I'd agree with Chalicer about the slayer thing - out of the five Slayer deaths I can think of of the top of my head (up to halfway through series 6 - yes I have watched Buffy) 1 was suicide, 1 was the Master, who's definitely a big bad, but he didn't finish the job properly, one was Drucilla, who got elevated to big bad status, and 2 were Spike - who's essentially just a vampire who got lucky. So anyone could in theory take out the slayer - on the right day.
Plus how many times in larp do we get a f*ckhard monster turn up that seriously outclasses all the players individually but still manages to get beat?
Saying that I would agree that the Slayers appearance should be rare - to keep it meaningful and scary.
Having a separate playergroup of whitehats (though I have no idea why they're called whitehats apart from the reference in the alternate reality episode - i prefer scoobies :oD) was not something I'd considered. Might work though.
As for the gun thing - I know guns hurt demons in the series - I was just thinking that for the purposes of the game I'd say that it needed special guns. Artistic liscence and all that, same as I'd say that vampires didn't need all the bumps and lumps on their faces.
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Devil's Advocate
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Slayer deaths:
Buffy - Killed by master
Kendra - Killed by drusilla (who becomes a big bad in Angel??)
Faith - "Killed" by Buffy (who counts as big bad I would say)
Chinese Slayer - Killed by Spike
Robin Woods' mum - Killed by Spike
Buffy 2 - suicide
Who am I missing?
I'd argue that spike is, by his slayer prowess, a big bad.
Anyway, moving on swiftly as i think my geek is showing...
Personnally I'd keep guns hurting demons, but not use for the reasons people wouldn't use them in RL (illegal, noisy etc). Unless of course you can really only do it that way ala the rocket launcer on the Judge.
If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing.
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Wag
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| I'd say that immunity to gun fire was an ability you could buy as a demon character not a universal skill. It may be a very common skill, though. I'd work things on a 'build your own demon' character creation system. Basically, you list a set of powers and abilities and set of 'disfigurements' you have to take for some of the more powerful ones. each has a cost, players have a set number of points. Some things can only be bought at creation (actual physical things like claws, etc), others (like skills, certain magical powers) can be developed with time and effort (training, skill tree, xp, whatever system you prefer). If you want to limit firearms then make them difficult to get a hold of unless a player jumps through hoops. Set it in Britain as this allows you to integrate more of the Watcher council plot, removes you from both Sunnydale and LA and so avoid series canon clash and coincidentally makes guns harder to get a hold of. Rather than just popping down to the local shop for your constitutionally required quota of high calibre weaponry players have to actually be a member of an organisation which has guns (the police, the army, the secret services, something like the initiative) or do something illegal to get hold of one. In a system which is largely face to face, in a bar, interactive plot, you really don't need too complicated firearms rules. Most of the ranges are going to be less than 10ft and combat should be rare anyway and limited to small numbers of players against small numbers of players as opposed to mass battles. A simple point and click system is workable in those situations. It really only falls down when you have situations with snipers, mass combat and so on and even then there are ways around it. Nerf guns are a nice mechanic idea but some may be put off by the naff look to them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Heroic Knight
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| Let's not forget the flashback in the original movie where a slayer is killed by Lothos. I'd also add that Spike and Drusilla (as a pair) are big bads when they first turn up in series 2 as far as I'm concerned. I think you lot are underrating Spike's potency, he's a mixture of intelligence, risk taking and rage - which is a dangerous combination. Let's also remember the gravity Angel and Giles' reactions lend to how significant he is. In terms of running an event, I've considered this myself, and feel that if done, much of what appeals to me about the TV show would be lost. I think a game set in the Buffyverse could be good - but it wouldn't really be Buffy.
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