[UA] Disinterest is for Sissies (was UA LARP)

[James O'Rance]

Greg Stolze <holycrow at mindspring.com> said:

 >>>Now, not having LARPed, I'm just going on the assumption that there are 
people running the show whose job is not to accomplish some in-character 
goal, but rather to make sure things go smoothly.  People,
that is, who parallel the GM in a tabletop session.<<<

Generally, yes. Just how disinterested they are depends on their degree of 
"professional attitude", their general matuurity as a player, and whether 
they get to NPC some important personage. GM/NPCs tend not to be very 
disinterested at all. That can really hurt the game.

A disembodied non-disinterested GM might be a completely different kettle of 
fish, though. I'd have to give it some thought - it could work.

 >>>Now, the idea I had for the UA LARP is that there would be two types of 
players.  One group would be playing normal PC types, with their individual 
goals.  The other group -- the people who would normally be moderators -- 
would also have intangible goals they hope to achieve in the course of the 
scenario.<<<

In a Jyhad-themed Vampire freeform (non MET) I had some players take 
asecondary role. In addition to their normal vamp character, they were also 
given a Methuselah. This methuselah didn't have a physical presence in the 
game or standard vamp powers, but had an agenda that the player would pursue 
and a few unusual "master" abilities to influence the game.

The identity of these Methuselah players was not public; most PCs didn't 
even realise that they existed. Naturally they were working against each 
other, in a Jyhad-style predator-prey circle.

This sounds similar in concept to what you're describing with Invisible 
Clergy GMs.

 >>>So you'd have teh Messenger as a GM trying to stop Dermott Arkane from 
accomplishing something, and you'd have (I dunno) the Trickster as a GM 
trying to protect him, and how well your luck gos depends on the very 
subjective goals of the IC moderators.<<<

This *could* work - but you'd need some kind of guidelines about what GMs 
could and couldn't do to other PCs. Otherwise, it would be very simple for 
the Messenger to simply kill Arkane, or at least follow him around foiling 
him constantly.

It's a good idea for making a live UA distinctive, and it has the unusal 
advantage of encouraging people to GM; it's an idea worth developing.


James O’Rance
“Divine being creates petting zoo. It gets out of hand.”
- The Bible (summarised by John W. Mangrum)

http://www.geocities.com/dragon-dreamer/



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