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Shade's Live Action Role Playing (LARP) List: Forums
Shade's LARP List :: View topic - Roaming Monsters or Linear Encounters?
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:21 pm Post subject: Roaming Monsters or Linear Encounters?
Hail all!
In a fantasy LARP setting, how do you prefer to run your encounters? Roaming Monsters or Linear Encounters?
My LARP is using Linear encounters as I do not have the NPC staff to run roaming encounters. I have tried the Roaming Encounters once, and the players never encountered the NPCs.
Joined: Dec 09, 2009 Posts: 98 Location: Philadelphia PA
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 5:22 pm Post subject:
I always disliked the planned encounters in Live gaming because it always felt more forced to me, Random monsters have caught me at bad times, eating, using the bathroom and once coming out of a shower lol. I fought in a towel.
That said bob I understand your dilemma and your going about it in the best way for you. I say however a mix is maybe the best option.
Joined: Aug 24, 2002 Posts: 741 Location: New England
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 7:23 pm Post subject:
I believe a mix would be best. Although whne I ran out of one park near my house. It was planned. Because the path only went in a certain direction. And so it made it hard for a roaming party. _________________ Just when you thought the worse was over. Here I am. :0)
If you're just running a small party through a simple adventure- linear.
If you're running a weekend-long event with a "town" camp and such- both. Though "random" is a misnomer. Tell your NPC's what you want done- a route they should follow, things they should try and do.
"You're a group of orcs looking for squishies to cook for dinner. Take this trail to the end, make a left, take that one to the end, take a left and come back to here. Attack any party you see. If you win, celebrate LOUDLY as you drag back what's left of them to your camp for dinner, so the other PC's have a chance to rescue them. Come back the way you came in-game if you win and take "dinner" with you, come straight here out-of-game if you all get killed. If you don't spot anyone by the time you're back here, we'll send you out along another route for the next circuit."
If you're running a weekend-long event with a "town" camp and such- both. Though "random" is a misnomer. Tell your NPC's what you want done- a route they should follow, things they should try and do.
"You're a group of orcs looking for squishies to cook for dinner. Take this trail to the end, make a left, take that one to the end, take a left and come back to here. Attack any party you see. If you win, celebrate LOUDLY as you drag back what's left of them to your camp for dinner, so the other PC's have a chance to rescue them. Come back the way you came in-game if you win and take "dinner" with you, come straight here out-of-game if you all get killed. If you don't spot anyone by the time you're back here, we'll send you out along another route for the next circuit."
Ha! This is awesome I've done this almost exactly once! Anyways,
I like having both setups for NPCs and Monsters. Granted I suffer from not having a lot of NPC's too but manage to put a few wandering monsters in.
As said, Linear is good for small parties or adventures. I use a linear approach a lot when I plot for our small games. But I always leave a few wandering monsters with some ideas in the sheet for the plotmaster/NPC camp person. So if dead time arrives, they can send out a monster with some sort of mission besides "kill everyone you see" or "steal everyones stuff and run back here." ha.
I agree that linear does feel forced or less real, but sometimes wandering monsters don't wander or miss the PC's. If I have enough NPC's for other than the plot related NPC's I will set aside some people to be around the general area as wandering.
Nothing like a battle against orcs and somehow a troll just "happens" to fall into the battle somehow. _________________ Letting players live shows the GM has s sense of humor..
If you're running a weekend-long event with a "town" camp and such- both. Though "random" is a misnomer. Tell your NPC's what you want done- a route they should follow, things they should try and do.
"You're a group of orcs looking for squishies to cook for dinner. Take this trail to the end, make a left, take that one to the end, take a left and come back to here. Attack any party you see. If you win, celebrate LOUDLY as you drag back what's left of them to your camp for dinner, so the other PC's have a chance to rescue them. Come back the way you came in-game if you win and take "dinner" with you, come straight here out-of-game if you all get killed. If you don't spot anyone by the time you're back here, we'll send you out along another route for the next circuit."
Ha! This is awesome I've done this almost exactly once! Anyways,
I like having both setups for NPCs and Monsters. Granted I suffer from not having a lot of NPC's too but manage to put a few wandering monsters in.
As said, Linear is good for small parties or adventures. I use a linear approach a lot when I plot for our small games. But I always leave a few wandering monsters with some ideas in the sheet for the plotmaster/NPC camp person. So if dead time arrives, they can send out a monster with some sort of mission besides "kill everyone you see" or "steal everyones stuff and run back here." ha.
I agree that linear does feel forced or less real, but sometimes wandering monsters don't wander or miss the PC's. If I have enough NPC's for other than the plot related NPC's I will set aside some people to be around the general area as wandering.
Nothing like a battle against orcs and somehow a troll just "happens" to fall into the battle somehow. _________________ Letting players live shows the GM has s sense of humor..
[quote="Victor"]Ha! This is awesome I've done this almost exactly once! Anyways,I like having both setups for NPCs and Monsters. Granted I suffer from not having a lot of NPC's too but manage to put a few wandering monsters in.[/quote]
"Infection" monsters are good for helping with this. The classic example being zombies, but basically any monster/NPC that can produce more "monsters" from the PC population.
The necromancer who reanimates the PC's corpses and sends them into town "to show his power to the weak, pathetic living" while fetching more corpses to bind. Dopplegangers who put lone travelers to sleep, assume their form and memories and wreak havoc until cut down in sprays of their distinctive blue blood (whereupon the well-hidden victim will wake, unharmed where they were stashed). Wasps whose stingers drip a maddening poison, causing the victims to attack anyone in sight.
Quote:
As said, Linear is good for small parties or adventures. I use a linear approach a lot when I plot for our small games. But I always leave a few wandering monsters with some ideas in the sheet for the plotmaster/NPC camp person. So if dead time arrives, they can send out a monster with some sort of mission besides "kill everyone you see" or "steal everyones stuff and run back here." ha.
Yeah, because bored PC's are dangerous PC's.
Quote:
I agree that linear does feel forced or less real, but sometimes wandering monsters don't wander or miss the PC's. If I have enough NPC's for other than the plot related NPC's I will set aside some people to be around the general area as wandering.
Nothing like a battle against orcs and somehow a troll just "happens" to fall into the battle somehow.
That's actually good, because it means that things stay unpredictable. Sometimes, you have to have PC-seeking missiles or else your NPC's are utterly wasted.
Oh that picture is soooo awesome.
Yes boredom is a killer. Had some PC vs PC (which isn't always a bad thing) combat once while we were trying to setup. But ah well! It was fun. _________________ Letting players live shows the GM has s sense of humor..
I think I may try the roaming encounter this week. We will be having a longer game starting this week since things are starting to cool down here in South Texas.
We do a story driven larp. "random" encoutners are written in before the event. For example, a group of werewloves are going to spend friday night in the local forest untill saturday evening when they will go to the village where thier liege lord was killed the month before. They know it was an inquistor and an alchemist. So any guy in robes may be in for a bad time. If any players goes through the forest, they may meet several rough men at a camp site just hanging around untill saturday evening. We write over 30 modules for a single event and keep mulitple story lines at the same time. "old plot"
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