[UA] OT Australian styles (was UA larp)

[James O'Rance]

"Liam Astley" <esp.horsepie at btinternet.com> said:

 >>>what are "multiforms" and "theatreforms"?<<<

Styles of roleplaying developed in east-coast Australia. For quite a while 
there was a movement towards innovation for its own sake, a movement that 
created a lot of new ideas and encouraged creativity, but one that was also 
terribly elitist and pretentious.

>From <http://www.rpg.net/larp/papers/glossary.html>:

 >>>Multiform
A gaming style (e.g Memory, Sundowners, Past Tense, Lifelines) that moves 
away from a seated tabletop to allow players to explore body language, scene 
construction and basic theatrical technique. Players act and move as if 'on 
stage". Multiforming places much emphasis on team trust and mutual st 
orytelling, and provides time and freedom for players to explore characters, 
interrelationships and situations. John Hughes describes a generic Multiform 
as, 'locking five characters in a room and turning up the heat'. 
Multiforming is an Australian innovation usually associated with Systemless 
Gaming.<<<

Multiforming is very much a fusion of styles. When somebody talks about 
multiforming in a freeform, they usually mean that they are going to play 
something out dramatically without using a mechanic or GM intervention.

In regards to combat in a freeform, I would much rather that players 
multiform it than resort to elaborate mechanics or physical representation 
of fighting. As a GM I'll give some guidelines by adjudicating who the 
winner will be before they begin to play it out, but from there I'd prefer 
that the players dealt with it.

 >>>Theatreform
A module that makes full use of performance space, lighting and special 
effects, costume, props and large numbers of NPC extras. eg Shadows in Eden 
by Streetwise Productions.<<<

Theatreforms need not be scripted at all, except perhaps in the case of NPCs 
that are run by secondary GMs (basically, NPCs with actors). These NPCs 
might have prepared script.

Theatreforms are basically multiforms with excessively high production 
values. They can really "wow" a player, but in my opinion many of them have 
been superficial experiences. One game that I played was a Star Trek parody 
with an elaborate set, costumes, multiple GMs to act different parts, etc - 
but it wasn't any more fun than if the same (talented, funny) people had run 
it as a different style of game.


 >>>and what's the difference (in your view) between LARP and "freeform"?<<<

Regarding freeforms, I rarely play live games in any other style, so it's 
the term that I tend to use unless I make an effort otherwise. This *has* 
lead to confusion in the past, as it's pretty obvious that Americans at 
least use freeform to describe a style of play different to the one that 
Australians are talking about. From the same webpage:

 >>>Freeform
Theatrical roleplaying events in which a large number (up to two hundred and 
fifty!) roleplayers simultaneously interact in a single area with minimal 
plot or gm intervention. In a freeform, one assumes a character and goes for 
broke!
Freeforms are characterised by a low GM to player ratio and by a large 
degree of player independence - participants being free to characterise, 
plot, scheme or generally wheel and deal according to simple character 
sheets or game mechanics. Freeforms may or may not be driven by external 
plot events.
Freeforms are an Australian invention. The world's first freeform was run by 
Peter Quinton at Octocon in Canberra, October 1982. The next was run at 
Cancon '83 and involved nearly 150 players.<<<

This definition was written in 1993, and doesn't take into account the 
development of freeforms since then. Although a Robert Prior freeform might 
have certain attributes that were considered standard for awhile, one of 
mine might have changed how such attributes work considerably.

melbourne freeforms are quite small, and often have 12 players; 20 is 
considered largish. I'm a Sydney designer, and consider 20 to be the minimum 
decent size. I've written a freeform of 60 characters, each with detailed 
4-page character sheets, which is considerably larger than most. 100+ player 
freeforms are beyond the practical scope of my design style, due to the 
amount of detail that I put into each character.


It's hard to quantify what the differences are between a Sydney/Melbourne 
style freeform and larp - I've only designed freeforms, so I don't know how 
the design differs. The style of play and the ambience of the game is quite 
notably different, though.

 >>>round our end of the world most people seem to just refer to live action 
stuff as LRP, there aren't really any further distinctions made (apart from 
of course the genre, setting and timeframe).<<<

Although I'm not very familiar with them I understood that you northern 
hemisphere folk made a distinction between lrp and larp as well.

 >>> i'm curious to hear more about these different definitions.<<<

I hope that this answered some of your questions.

Cheers,

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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