Adding Characters Mid Game

Stories often need new characters.  Sometimes the directions a story needs to take requires someone to take it in that direction.  Sometimes there's a gap that needs filling in the party.  Games often need new players.  Sometimes people find that a game doesn't fit into their life or that the style isn't a great match, or sometimes, it's just time to expand.  But adding new characters requires thought and care so they don't get lost in the shuffle or find the game inaccessible because they don't have established connections.  There are a few guidelines to follow that help make sure that new characters are able to become part of the game and have a good experience while not taking too much focus from the ongoing narrative.

Build In Opportunities for Natural Additions

Ongoing games can be tricky to add characters to.  In a tabletop dungeon crawl, it's hard to justify a new adventurer just happening to be in the same dungeon on the same mission.  So it's important to think about potential openings and let those openings be part of the process of bringing in new players.  This generally requires a bit of pre-planning and may involve a bit of waiting.  Don't rush a new player in whenever, make it an event, and when planning out a plot structure, think about those events as part of the greater plot structure.

In my current LARP, there are a few structured times where new characters can come in, and these times represent narrative shifts to the world as a whole in a way that makes new characters something special.  Which brings up the next guideline.

Have the New Bring In Something New

New character should add something missing or new to an ongoing game.  Coming in without bringing something new can make things difficult for a new player.  How can they compete with established characters who have established connections that make them more involved in the ongoing narrative.  So the solution is to have new characters come in with new connections that are interesting an appealing and help them get involved.

This can be a matter of introducing a new plot, being part of a new faction that shakes up the status quo, or bringing some new direction or power to the table.  A character that other characters are intrigued by and see as something new is one that has a path into the game, allowing them to get involved without displacing established characters.  Because the secondary aspect of this is that new characters should not try to displace existing characters.  You don't want to overhighlight the new at the expense of the existing, but find ways to let both games be improved.

Create Connections to the Ongoing

One way to do this is to create character connections for new characters that link them to ongoing characters and plots.  Leaving backstory hooks open can be a good opportunity to bring in new characters as contacts, relations, friends, enemies, etc. of existing characters in a way that makes the addition of the new characters into an event for both.  This can be a way of working with existing players who may need hooking back into the plot, or activating loose plot threads that have been dropped. 

These connections help make things more natural for the incorporation of new characters.  It can be very difficult as a new player to make connections, but having that first connection can be very useful for building others, as that gives someone to give introductions and a bit of personal momentum towards relationships.

Don't Start Characters Behind

One thing that I have seen in a lot of games and that I disagree with vehemently is the idea of starting characters behind in experience or power.  The idea that all characters need to start at some base power level and that characters that have been in game will be more powerful is a sure method to make new characters feel irrelevant.  Because how could they be more useful or interesting than characters that are much more advanced than they are?

You can have a sliding scale that characters follow, so that they don't overpower existing PCs(there's a big difference in a point spend system between 100 XP spent 5 at a time over 2 years and 100 XP spent all at once), but new characters should not be penalized for being new.

All in all, the key to the guidelines is letting new characters be a tool to add narrative momentum to games, to help create new relationships and deepen or transform old ones, to bring in new information and to expand the community.  These are people who you want to be part of the game, make sure they feel welcome.

For Everything a Season: Act Breaks in Campaign Games

One thing I love about serialized storytelling, in terms of television, comic books, movie franchises, etc., is the existence of story structure.  Many of the works that I love have very evident shifts between parts of the story.  The different 'big bads' of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the shifting politics of Babylon 5's seasons, the changing teams and locations in Claremont's X-Men comics, even the different 'phases' of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all of these break the story into phases that can be understand as part of a whole, but also take different tones and perspectives.

This method of storytelling can be used to great effect in campaign games, both LARP and tabletop.  But for an art form that tends in form to simply continue on a regular schedule, an Act Break may require extra effort or planning and definitely raises some important questions to address in terms of game philosophy and practice.

What is the point of (meta)plot?

Of course, Act Breaks assume the existence of an overarching landscape of plot.  Because if there isn't anything happening on a larger or direct level in the world outside of the characters actions, then strictly speaking, there isn't anything to change between Acts.  So if there isn't a metaplot, then there isn't a need for act breaks.
While I've addressed this in another post on this blog, here's a brief version that is relevant to this topic.  Metaplot is a genre-appropriate developing landscape that provides context for the choices characters make.  By my philosophy of game design, the most important thing for the Storyteller to do is frame decision points for character, essentially asking story questions that give players agency to change the world around them.  So in part, plot is about laying out crossroads so that players can choose their paths(or to wander off the path, a relevant possibility).
Beyond just framing choices, metaplot is about escalating the stakes of the story to match character development and power.  As character relationships deepen, as character power levels increase, as easy decisions play out, characters need new choices that match their current position in the story.  This isn't just about going from kobolds to dragons, but about matters of increasing consequence.
So metaplot should be this genre-appropriate developing(as in, the developments should flow from one another according to the overall genre) landscape that provides context for the choices that characters make.  And by splitting into Acts, that becomes somewhat easier.

Why have Act Breaks in game?

An Act Break is an opportunity.  An opportunity to end specific plot threads and introduce new ones, an opportunity to create entry and exit points for players and characters, a chance to tinker with underlying aspects like tone and theme.

The end of the Act should almost always correspond with the conclusion of one plot thread.  This plot thread may be loose or tight, but should encompass some of the overall theme and tones of the Act.  As things wrap up, it can be easy to create a climactic moment of confrontation and escalate drama to encourage player energy.  When players see that  choices affect the way things conclude, they can see ways of getting engaged down the line.

The end of one act and the beginning of another can be a great set of entry and exit points for players and characters.  New players often struggle with finding ways into ongoing games and the shifting context of an Act Break can often give an opportunity for new characters that have a good reason to be arriving in the game context.  It can also give an opportunity to wrap up character stories or to write out characters that may have drifted away from game.

An Act Break can also convey a shift in tone.  There are excellent examples of stories shifting genres or focuses between acts and seasons in a way that expands the understanding of the world and gives new perspectives.  The Wire shifted the focus of its investigations and focus to highlight different types of dysfunction and change the tone of individual seasons.  Other texts drop sudden revelations at Act Breaks that change the interpretation of things that came before and after.

How to Do an Act Break

So, that's why, but if you wanted to do an Act Break, how would you go about it?  I have a few guidelines about Act Breaks that I tend to follow in game design.

1. Telegraph the act break.
Don't spring an act break on players.  While I tend to have heavily structured games with every session planned out, it is possible to do a looser Act/Season structure, but the ending should never be a surprise to players.  You don't have to tell them what is happening that will change the world, but let them know that things are coming to a head so they can make decisions accordingly.  Players will take greater risks at Act Breaks if they know it's coming.

2. Have something end
It sounds simplistic, but have something really end at the end of an Act.  Certain things will be done at the end of the Act in a way that they won't return.  If nothing actually ends, it can be easy to lose the stakes of the Act Break.

3. Have some things stay
Don't throw out everything, though.  There should be some connective tissue between the Acts/Seasons.  It's more like a hinge than like two separate objects.  That connective tissue is important to keep some momentum.

4. Shift the context seriously
It should be possible by looking at it to know what Act you're in.  This can be based on the physical locations, the common adversaries, or some other aspect of the context, but there should be something marked between Acts.  In the long Changeling game I ran, you could tell what act it was based on whether there was a mirror city in the sky above Chicago.  I even had five different logos for the different acts.

5. Introduce something new
As important as ending something at the end of an Act is beginning something new with the new Act.  There should be new momentum at the start of the new context to propel people forward into the brave new world.

Pacing and Game Structure tips and questions

Beyond these guidelines, there are a few important questions to ask as part of the process.

How long should an act be?

It depends a bit on the game, but there are a few guidelines.  An Act should be short enough to be comprehensible and easily remembered.  Acts or seasons that take place over a year are hard for participants to really understand as a whole, to really see how the beginning connects to the end.  However, an Act should also be long enough to display visible themes.  My rule of thumb is 4-6 months.  

Should there be a time gap between acts?

If there is going to be a time gap between game sessions, then a time gap between acts makes sense.  Even if not, if you're trying for a larger thematic shift, a time gap may allow a more dynamic change between two Acts.  

Should all act breaks be similar?

No, for instance, as you are coming to the end of a chronicle, I would hesitate to add new players at an Act Break.

What's the border between sequels or Act Breaks?

There is no hard and fast rule.  If the break is longer than the game ran, it's definitely a sequel.  If there's a distinct player base, it's definitely a sequel.  Otherwise, call it as you see it.

Secrets and Mysteries: Information Differential in LARP

Drama almost always involves information differential, some situation where some people know something and others do not.  Dramatic tension almost always emerges from lack of information, where misunderstandings or differing access to information create different motivations.  In some stories, information differential can create conflict where everyone is acting in good faith, but at cross purposes. (admittedly, these are some of my favorites)

However, managing information differential in a LARP is a complex process with several different aspects.  A properly managed information differential involves the selective guarding and revealing of PC and NPC secrets, the encouragement of the experience of learning and discovery, and the distribution of knowledge as power.

Secrets and Rumors
One of the most straightforward engines of drama in a LARP is the secret.  Some aspect of a character that, if revealed, would change the way other characters perceive them.  This information differential is an excellent way of creating personal drama for a character, as the process of holding the secret influences the way the character is performed(I can't tell them I'm a spy for the British Government, but I have to ask some leading questions to get information).  The selective revelation of the secret becomes currency of intimacy and trust, creating or growing character relationships.

The most important aspect of secrets is that they should matter and change. Secrets should influence decisions, should motivate actions, should create drama.  And while characters may not want it to happen, all secrets should emerge over the course of a story.  The key to information differential in a story is that it should be dynamic.  It should influence the development of the story and have motion to it.  As more characters realize that one character is a vampire, they all have to make decisions as to how that affects their relationships.  If none of them ever learn, those relationships are never changed by the revelation, so the story is static.

Rumor systems can help with this, providing a method for driving the revelation of secrets in a slightly uncontrolled fashion.  This lack of control ups the drama factor of having a secret, adding doubt and fear to the process.  You never know who's going to learn about your deep, forbidden love of Chik-Fil-A.

Maintaining the Fun of Discovery
At the risk of sounding like a big nerd(too late), learning is fun.  Discovering new information and knowing more than you used to is a pleasurable experience.  It's also a key aspect of character development.  As you learn new things, you change and become different than you were.  One of the keys of managing the release of information is that the fun is important.  If you forget to reveal information, you are forgetting to add the fun, which is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. 

Revealing information is also by itself a reward for positive play, a way of giving back to those who engage with the world in a creative way.  Increased knowledge can be a way of rewarding play that also adds to the experience of those around the player, because knowledge has a tendency to spread outwards in a way that has the potential to create shared fun. 

One of the rules of thumb I use for this is to make sure that information goes out in at least two different, unrelated places.  If the key goal is to have information spread out and have unpredictable effects, having two spots can make that more likely.  It also makes the world feel a bit more alive, which is a benefit. 

In my experience, though, it is better to distribute information in pieces.  There are a few reasons for this. 
1. show don't tell: if you just give all the information at once, you are essentially just giving the outline of a story.  Which is generally less satisfying to people. 
2. allow for the complications of player input: Players will sometimes interpret story pieces in unexpected ways, focusing on certain aspects of a piece of information.  By giving it in pieces, the Storyteller allows a level of player input into the plot, creating a feedback channel for player creativity.  Don't go all Chris Carter on this and throw out clues that you have no idea what they mean and lean on the audience to interpret them, but do allow player interpretation to act as a Yes, and...
3. pace out the story: it's just more fun to have things happen over a few steps and it makes for more of a story.  Stories have beginnings, middles and ends and this is true for microstories like learning a secret as well.

Knowledge is Power
However, it's important to acknowledge that information differential is power differential and to use that responsibly.  One of my hard and fast rules of running games is to never use that power against players as an ST.  It's one thing to joke about how the things that players don't know about as dangers, but wielding that knowledge can make a game very un-fun, very quickly. Don't exploit that power to make yourself feel important. 

As part of this, it's impossible to know how simple or complex a mystery is in a game.  It may be simple to you because you see all the different parts, but your players do not have access to your brain, unless you are playing a much more complex game that I am.  By the same token, you may accidentally have a set of clues that line up with a player's master's thesis and have them solve the riddle in 30 seconds.  roll with it.  Give more clues and have a backup mystery if necessary. 

First Games and Pilots

The first game of an ongoing LARP is an experience both exhilarating and anxiety producing.  After months of preparation, the day approaches and everything changes from being completely potential energy to being kinetic.  In some ways, the first game is the most important game of a series, it can set the tone for everything else to come for better or worse.  In some ways the first game is the least important, as it is often like a dress rehearsal for game, a chance to have everyone try on their costumes and characters and see what fits.  Regardless, there are a few tips for Storytellers and Players alike to help make game 1 go as well as possible.

The ST approach to Game 1
Starting Things in Motion
One of the biggest challenges to game 1 is the lack of momentum.  Game 1 doesn’t have ongoing plots or continuing drama.  This can be a real challenge, because one of the things that really gives a game oomf is the sense of continuation.  To address this, I like to make sure that a game starts in motion.
Starting in motion is about having something propelling characters to the event that the game represents.  I think I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post how LARPs benefit from a sense of eventfulness, well the first game can set that tone by making a big deal about the initial inciting event.  A first session should feel like a big deal, a new beginning, and that involves starting things in motion.
For the game I’m starting now the inciting motion involves a major shift in the status quo.  What had been an open meeting that only NPCs attended changed by the removal of those NPCs, creating a sense of disquiet and questioning that drives the PCs to seek out answers.  This changes the dynamics of the world and also sets things up so that nobody is quite familiar with what is normal.  My hope is that this will bring characters together with a drive to create something new.

The Pilot Effect
When players come together for the first time as their characters, everybody is new and the dynamics between them are unexplored.  In many ways, this is like the pilot of a television show, a demonstration of some of the potential, but also a chance to try out things and see what works.  Some players may realize they created a character too mean or too aimless or didn’t make use of the system to represent their character properly.
As a storyteller, it’s important to embrace this and allow the first game or two to work out some of the kinks.  Let players know that they aren’t completely locked into choices made in the first game.  Don’t set up permanent choices in game 1 for social structures that may not fit down the line for the game.  Keeping an informal pilot atmosphere to things puts less pressure on players to decide everything instantly.
For the game I’m starting, there will be room during the first act to tweak certain aspects of backstory and system to better suit how character dynamics develop.  The new nature of the social structure also allows for a period of negotiated social dynamics to represent how things become rather than setting up a completely new dynamic.

Making a World Feel Lived In
While game 1 may be the first time that the characters are together in the same place, it’s rare that the world did not exist before the characters came into being.  In preparing for a first game, it’s important to make it feel like the world didn’t just appear ex nihilo(unless that’s what you’re going for).
There are multiple ways of doing this, and every game will have some degree of this from the existence of the characters, but this is not usually quite enough.  At the same time, one of the worst ways of establishing this is the creation of a 75 page text history of the world.  Because from experience, nobody is going to read the whole thing and regardless, they aren’t going to absorb it.  The best way to approach this is to make the development of the world an active pre-game and in-game activity.  People learn better by doing and may absorb information better by contributing to that information/actively engaging with it.
At the same time, one of the truest ways of living in the world is having limited knowledge.  It’s fine for people to only know their corner of the world and have the ability to discover the world around them.  Some players revel in playing the completely new person, some want to be steeped in the world’s lore ahead of time.
For this game, I did a combination of active pre-game exercises and in-game exercises to try and simulate the lived-in nature of the world’s history.  I did collaborative worldbuilding from the beginning to help people be involved in the world’s details and followed up with more detailed faction building to give people a sense of the small world in which they live.  I have also put together a pre-game/in-game exercise where players provide rumors about their characters, some true, some false, and then receive rumors about other characters at the first game.  This gives them a chance to know a bit about the world, but also gives seeds for social action, where they follow up on these rumors in some way, fueling the development of the world through interaction.

If You Love Something, Set it Free
Once game 1 runs, the storyteller has to be prepared to let go.  Before game 1, the game often feels like it belongs only to the storyteller, with everything that happens subject to storyteller approval.  But the moment that the game on statement is given, the game is no longer solely the property of the storyteller.  This can be a hard thing to accept, but it’s very important.
The Storyteller will still be one of the most influential hands steering the game, but once things start, they share control with everyone in the game.  My advice is to embrace this and watch how things develop, following the leads of the players rather than pushing back too hard.  There’s an often misinterpreted statement about product development, “the customer is always right”.  If the people in the game are telling you they want drama and you think they want comedy, you’ll have more success running a drama because they are generally right about what they want and no amount of direct pushing is going to change that.

Advice for Players in Game 1
So, as a player, how do you approach game 1?

Finding Your Voice
Well, I find that the first thing to do is to find your character’s voice and mannerisms.  Be prepared to introduce yourself a lot, and to tell people who you are.  If the game is a first meeting, this is your chance to establish details about yourself and your public image.  How do you want other characters to think about your interactions and how does that inform how you speak and act.
The exercise that I often do as a player before playing a new character or a new game is to simply practice my character’s personal introductions, “Hello, my name is Cecil Marley Philips but my friends call me Yorkie.”  “I’m Alexander Hamilton, I’m at your service, sir” “Murph.”  There’s a lot that can be conveyed in an introduction, so make it work for you.

Finding Your Friends(And Enemies)
LARPs are about relationships and how relationships influence the decisions we make.  If at all possible, come in with some established relationships before game 1, friends and allies are a great place to start, and that often brings along with it goals and motivations, why do you hang out with these people, what common interests do you have?
Even if you don’t have things set up beforehand, build bridges at game 1.  Make friends, find those who you can form relationships with and who may have your back down the line.  Find unlikely allies who you can get to know and have uncomfortable alliances with.
And make enemies.  In real life, we generally seek not to make enemies.  That’s good, you don’t actually want people to hate you in real life.  But in game, enemies can make for an interesting story.  Especially if you are nominally allies.  Find the points of contention and lean into them.  Turn those into momentum and motivation.  This will help drive your character and make game more fun for everyone.

Finding Your Style
It can be tempting to wait on costuming until you have a sense of the character.  You may have something big you want to purchase but aren’t sure it fits for the character.  That’s perfectly reasonable, but don’t take it too far.  Costuming and props are one of the best ways to establish character and can be an excellent way of getting into a character’s mindset.  Hats, wigs, props of various sorts, little things can make it feel less like you are dressed like yourself and more like you are dressed like someone else.  So even if it’s a token costume, a single prop that will carry through, definitely do something for the first game.

Everyone Has a First Day
So, what if it’s your first LARP ever and you are not sure what to do.  A piece of wisdom I have for every situation is that everyone has a first day.  Every expert you meet, everyone you see excelling at something, every person who can make something look easy had a time when they were new.  You get to be new at something, and the community should support you.
For those who are experienced, don’t drive people away who are new, keep the game open and allow the fresh perspectives to expand the world around you.  I guarantee if will make for a better game if you are more welcoming to the inexperienced.

Overall, game 1 is complicated, but those complications can be opportunities if used correctly.  The energy of game 1 is unlike anything else and while it comes with a lot of stress, you can’t get to game 2 without game 1, so embrace the chaos and move forward into the future.