"It Is Always Better To Do The Thing" Made My LARP Career Far More Interesting

The monarchs sat in conclave, heatedly discussing what to do. Every season had a different strategy, and none were willing to give ground to the others. So they sat, gridlocked, while the rest of the freehold held its breath. It was as they were preparing for another round of verbal sparring that a heavy hand hammered on the door. Eyes went wide, and each of them exchanged glances. Their time, whether they knew it or not, was up.

It was Spring's Queen who floated toward the door, her feathers twitching as she tried to maintain her composure. Every instinct the songbird had told her not to approach that door, or the scent of the thing on the other side of it. But she steeled her spine, and opened the door.

The figure on the other side of the door radiated raw, animal menace. Though he possessed the rough form of a man, with a thick mane of hair and cables of hard muscle beneath his scarred skin, the Hedge had tainted him. The nails on his hands were thick claws, like those of some fanciful predator, and the teeth in his jaw were too long, and too sharp. The eyes were a piercing blue that never seemed to blink. Worse, while he stood still, the coat he wore seemed to twitch and sway as whispers just on the edge of hearing burbled from the depths of the shadows between its folds.

"I'm going out," the creature called Mr. Sainte said. The Hound glanced at those who ruled the freehold, unbowed by their authority or their combined power. He leaned in, his nostrils flaring as he drank in the scent of the Spring Queen's primal fear of hunting beasts. "If you've made some plan, now's the time to mention it. Because once I step out that door, I'm not coming back till the job is done."

And once I step into those shadows, you won't find me unless I want you to.

There's No Time To Waste! Let Us Discuss This For 3 Hours...

There is something that happens in LARPs that has become the bane of my existence as a player; the Meeting of the Authorities. This is what happens whenever a plot point drops, and the powers-that-be retire to a closed-door meeting to discuss what to do about it. Whether you're playing Vampire, Changeling, a traditional fantasy game, or something else entirely, as long as the leaders of the community are player characters, this happens. And what's worse, it can take anywhere from half an hour to half the game for these PCs to reach a decision, and to then distribute that plan out to the rest of the venue regarding what we all need to do about this latest development.

And while they're doing that, the rest of the players are just sitting on their hands, feeling their makeup run, and their wigs start to itch.

Man, I hope I get to actually play at some point today...

Enter the infamous Mr. Sainte, and the phrase that ended up becoming my motto as a player.

Mr. Sainte was a character of mine in a Changeling: The Lost LARP several years back. Born Shepherd Black, he was caught by the Wild Hunt by chance while he was at the police academy. Molded into one of the lead hounds, he led uncounted hunts before he stumbled back into the real world following a scent. Eventually his nose led him to his fetch. The fetch, not well-adjusted to begin with, was cracking under the pressure of his position. He'd become a cop in Shepherd's place, and he'd been undercover for vice. Planted deep with the Russian mafia, living two lives on top of seeing things that shouldn't exist, and having awful nightmares about what Shepherd was living through in the Hedge, the fetch was at a breaking point.

It was only too glad to give Shepherd the life of the infamous Mr. Sainte, and to disappear for a while. Of course, with that identity, Shepherd also acquired a badge, and enough sway that he could smooth things out for the local freehold... or make life very unpleasant for those he felt had crossed a line.

Sainte was an enforcer, and the savagery of the hunting hound was never far beneath his skin. In addition to his claws and teeth, though, it was his ability to seemingly vanish into thin air, and to track people who'd thought they couldn't be followed that made him so unnerving. A black bagger of the first order, if Sainte took it into his mind to make someone disappear, it was only a matter of time before they dropped completely off the radar to anyone but those who could read the skeins of the Wyrd itself.

Big Dogs Don't Take Well To Leashes

Now, under ideal circumstances, his skills would have been put to use for the good of the freehold. A scout, a specialist in intimidation, a capable warrior, and someone who was more than happy to get his hands dirty, he was built as a hatchet man. But rather than let him off the leash, any time there was a plot development the players with the role of the monarchs sequestered themselves in council. Orders could have been given to other players, allowing them to complete separate tasks while discussions were had (there were enough assistant storytellers to keep more than one plate spinning at a time), but it just never seemed to happen. So 4 players were engaged with a tense scene, while between 6 and a dozen others just sat around doing nothing.

And as anyone who's ever had a high-energy dog can tell you... if you don't give them something to do, they will eventually get destructive due to all their pent-up energy. The same is true of players like myself, as I mentioned in Game Masters, Goal-Oriented Players Need Challenges (Or They'll Eat The Setting).

Who you looking at?

The first time the venue was left to cool its heels, I contented myself with some light RP with other folks. The second time I had a long, in-depth conversation with others about what was going on with the current problem. The third time, though... well, the third time Mr. Sainte tapped an ogre on the shoulder, grabbed one of the freehold's academics with a greater knowledge of the creature who had made itself a problem, and went to solve it himself.

By the time the monarchs had agreed this creature needed to be dealt with, Sainte and his impromptu crew had determined what it was, where it was, and put something of a hurt on it. They were only coming back to the freehold to load up before finishing the hunt. While there was some talk about how communication and cooperation needed to be exercised, a hard look from the Hound made it clear that was going to go both ways if they expected this situation to work.

Which was why, from that day forward, any conclave had an invisible, ticking clock on it. And when the Hound came knocking it meant that the decision was going to be taken out of their hands, or they were going to have to explain to him exactly why he shouldn't task a crew and go kick the hornet's nest.

"It Is Always Better To Do The Thing"

I talked about this broadly way back in 5 Tips To Get The Most Out of Your Next LARP, but it's something I feel this motto really hammers home. Because being proactive is one of the best things you can do in order to really get the most out of a LARP specifically, and in RPGs in general. And if you find yourself constantly waiting for the Authorities to tell everyone to get on the bus, just go without them. Because when you do that, something rather amazing happens...

Other players start getting on the bus, too.

If you're going to Do The Thing, and you make it a point to bring other players with when you Do The Thing, pretty soon it gains momentum. Whether you're hunting down a dangerous fey creature, scouting out a strange location, or digging for dirt on a nosy cop that's becoming a pain in the game's collective backside, anything that allows you to get other people involved not only stops you from sitting on your duff, but it helps other players have an engaging night.

The thing you're doing doesn't have to be super important. It doesn't have to be some high-risk endeavor that the fate of the venue is riding on. Sometimes it's locating an NPC that's important to your backstory, or claiming a new piece of turf, or just gaining access to the restricted section of a library to do some research. But the activity should help achieve concrete goals, allow everyone to participate, and give those involved something to talk about at afters once the game has wrapped for the night.

And once you make it a habit, you'll also find that any Meeting of the Authorities ends up becoming as short as they can make it... because if they take too long they'll come out of conference to find the situation has dramatically changed while they had their heads buried in the sand.

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk!

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