In 2002, Bob and Deva Fagan created a wonderful game which was and continues to be one of my favorite World Course LARPs in America.

Prophecy.

Built upon the set of rules created by Truax McFarland (a Core Effects system akin to Accelerant), and ladeled with in depth backgrounds and a short, compact Campaign (3 years), it was one of the most amazing games I had the pleasure of following.

John Behnken and his co-conspirators now run the new chronicles in the same fantastic way as the original campaign. Winged Throne Productions is the company they've created, and use refined variants of that same ruleset. After a three year run, Prophecy II ended and there was a year off to recharge and get ready for the next saga.

In the interim, many games have been run by Winged Throne Productions to keep the Prophecy family together doing what they do best, LARPing.

One of the most intriguing is happening a couple of weeks, if you can make it - contact them and give it a try!


Rick  McCoy

LARP Alliance, Inc.


Legend speaks of Oz, a wondrous kingdom protected on all sides by a desert so deadly that it turns any living thing that touches it into sand.

 

For a long age, a Wicked Witch ruled Oz, crushing its many peoples in a grip of fear and oppression.  Despite her armies and her magics, a Wizard from a far off land defeated her and sent her into exile in the lands of the West.

 

In the West, the Witch bided her time, regaining her might.  In darkness, she and her minions attacked and besieged the City of Emeralds, where the Wizard ruled as regent.  All might have been lost, but for the coming of a young girl from lands beyond the desert.  She, and the Ozians who joined her heroic quest, broke the power of the Wicked Witch and slew her.

 

With the Wicked Witch destroyed, the Wizard passed his crown to the Scarecrow, widely believed to be the most intelligent creature in Oz.  Then the girl and the Wizard returned by means most mysterious, to their own lands, leaving the Scarecrow to rule over a time of peace and prosperity.

 

Two hundred years have passed, and the Scarecrow - once again - rules over Oz. During his short reign after the fall of the Wicked Witch, he helped restore the throne of Oz to its true heir - Princess Osma; and after many years of peace and prosperity under Osma, she passed peacefully, and decreed the throne be returned to her loyal and trusted friend. The kingdom has changed much over two centuries, thanks in no small part to Queen Osma, The Scarecrow and that gathering of heroes that came from beyond its borders.

 

The City of Emeralds is once again a beacon of peace and culture.  Witches and wizards have come from throughout Oz and have built schools dedicated to the furtherment of their craft.

 

The Wizard left behind many records of strange Sciences and cunning Devices, which have been studied and improved upon by those of the Tinsmith-trade.  This has led to the creation of a complex art of steam and gears, whose power rivals that of magic.

 

The Constructs, those timeless servants of Oz, have become more common in the land.  While only a scant few, like the Scarecrow, are beings animated by the Powder of Life, many others are once living creatures saved and given new life by the Wizard's Sciences.  They are called the Tin Men, beings sustained by complicated machines and strange devices.

 

The animals in Oz have always been able to talk, but now they have taken on the trappings of civilization.  Most wear clothes and carry weaponry, like any other respectable Ozian.  Those of the animals who can use the powers of Witchery still struggle to overcome the stigma that the Wicked Witch has put upon all of their kind.


Now The Lands north of The City of Emeralds are in peril once again and a new summons from the Scarecrow King is put forth:


"Adventurers from all across Oz, bring your might be it sword, spell or craft to aide this troubled land. Beasts have become uncommonly savage, Constructs have begun malfunctioning, Rumors of a terrible power amassing strength are whispering among the other territories. The time for the great deeds of heroes has returned."

Event:  The Wonderful LARP of Oz, presented by Winged Throne Productions

Created and Directed by:  David Woodward and Drew Gartman

Date: November 13 - 15, 2009

Location: Ye Olde Commons - Charleton, MA

Please join our Google Group for Rules and further information: 

 http://groups.google.com/group/oz-larp
And
visit us on Facebook too:
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=229484100...

Thanks!

John
Behnken
Winged Throne
Productions

Announcing The Gathering 2009!
June 27th  at Huntington Beach Central Park
Starts at 10am - all day event.

The Gathering is a LARP event where the local LARPers get together from different groups and games at a single place and time. Cross-LARP games, food, and vendors will be in abundance.

The Gathering works for the non-LARPing public as a "Job Faire", where people interested in LARP can come and ask questions, see demonstrations or get in on the action themselves in a non-pressure and no cost environment for each of the LARP groups in our region.

Information on upcoming events will be available, as well as many LARPers promoting their group or system.

If you are a LARP owner, please have flyers available to us to bring to the Gathering, otherwise we invite you to attend and set up a booth!

If you are a LARPer, get out there and support the community and your groups!

If you are new to LARP, or want to learn more, please consider attending this event. We are holding it at Huntington Beach Central as a centralized point for most of the people on this Meetup system, and we hope you can make it out!

We will be holding the first game for ERIAL, the game designed and inspired by the LAIRE game in the movie Role Models!

Rick McCoy
LARP Alliance, Inc.

Cross-Posted for Aaron....

Hello

After years of attending the San Diego Comic Convention as a professional, I want to start running some stuff.

Larp kinda stuff.

To that end, I am trying to set up a series of workshops and a panel at this year's Convention.

*I NEED TO PITCH THIS PROGRAM BEFORE MAY 15*
*THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THEY WILL LET US RUN THIS STUFF*

That being said, the rough schedule and rough descriptions of the things are:

Workshop 1 = Fighter workshop, outdoors
Want to hit someone in a safe, sane, and legal fashion? Come to the Live Action Role Playing live combat workshop on the green by Hall H (or wherever). Rick McCoy and Adrianne Grady will demonstrate how physical combat works in LARP role-playing games, how it's used, why it's used, safety issues, weapon types and styles for the many different LARP groups across America, techniques, and then have some safe sparring (after liability waivers are signed, of course).

Workshop 2 = Prop and costuming workshop, indoors
Live Action Role Playing games contain some of the most amazing props and costumes in fandom today. If you are a costumer or cosplayer, or want to be, don't miss this hands-on demonstration and workshop on crafting materials for live action role playing games, including mobility and visibility issues, cost, durability, accuracy, and timeliness. This is your chance to show off your hall costume, and to learn how to really show it off during a Live Action Role Playing game. Workshop run by Andrew Leman and Shawn Crosby, and they'll have activities for you to do/make!

Workshop 3 = Role-playing workshop, indoors
They're called ROLE-playing games, but how often do your games degenerate into a craps table played by rules lawyers? Using acting tips and techniques, Adrianne Grady (Role Models LARP technical consultant) and Aaron Vanek (director, The Yellow Sign), and Shawna Waldron (actress, The American President, Little Giants) receive hands on exercises to improve your gaming experience, whether a table top situation or Live Action Role Playing. Learn how to develop a character's background, personality, and goals, the value of prep work, and gain confidence needed to make whatever character you are playing interesting, dynamic, and believable in a make-believe world.

Workshop 4 (or panel) = The Art and Design of LARP
Live Action Role Playing, or larp for short, is one of the oldest forms of human art. The larp art form is used for psychological research, military training, education, and business efficiency. It is gaining a huge following in the United States, but the form itself is lagging far behind that of the Nordic countries. Inspired by Scott McCloud's landmark Understanding Comics, Aaron Vanek and OTHER PEOPLE will discuss the history of larp, the strengths and weaknesses of the art, the spectrum of form for any larp experience, and the future of this blossoming popular art form.

SO, MY QUESTIONS TO YOU ARE:

Are you planning on going to Comic Con this year?

If yes, have you already registered?

Regardless of registration or not, do you want to be a part of this?

Here are the caveats:

1. I cannot get anyone badges, rooms, transportation, food, nothing. I am assuming that you are on your own ticket, but will have some time and an inclination to help out on some of these ideas.

2. If you want to help out, YOU NEED TO REGISTER ASAP. The four day memberships and Saturday (one day) are already sold out. The hotel rooms are likely out as well (though I might be able to reveal a few secret places that might still be open).

2a. If you have some professional standing or credits, (head of a larp group? published? acting credits?), you can apply for a pro badge, which is free and also gets a guest in. But the deadline for this is May 5. Read this: www.comic- con.org/cci/ cci_pros. shtml

So despite the restrictions, I think this could be an awesome part of the Con, and something that we LARP fans should do to promote and support our art. I can't think of a better place to recruit people, either.

Please post or email me if you have questions or comments. Again, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. If you want to be on the team teaching others about the cool stuff we do, get in touch with me ASAP.

best,

Aaron

No, not the one in the UK.

Once upon a time, I used to run these fairly regularly. The best one I ever did was a while back, in 05'. We had two vendors there (a leathersmith, and Greg from Iron Liege), the IFGS peeps, another LARP group (Eidolon), and everyone brought their little ones. The IFGS faced off against the Eidolon crew for a game of Orcball (an IFGS game).

What I had in mind is to invite all the current LARP groups in Southern California; we can setup booths for each individual LARP group staffed by the group's best representatives. I would love to see the following attend as it's own entity; the IFGS (on hiatus from lack of interest), Darkon (ditto), the AOKP (based out of Whittier College), ENIGMA (based out of UCLA), the Live Effects family of games, The Coming Rennaisance (WoD), the Camarilla, Dying Kingdoms, Dagorhir (Agglegorod), Belegarth (UCI), Amtgard (the Crystalline Confederacy), Campaign, and Meridian. We would also probably run a booth for the northern game that sponsors many of our efforts, Realms of Conflict.

Thinking about doing this in May, and at Huntington Beach Central Park, where I used to run them. We could have battlegame events; tourneys that are based on fighting style (Lightest touch, Moderate, Heavy, and Full Contact), some of the Battlegame fare we run at the Fighter Guild practices, and maybe some IFGS-style arcade games (mods that groups of peeps go through; and then it resets for the next team). Fun, hang out, and rub elbows with the other members of our far flung community. This is also a perfect way to sell your group to other LARPers that might be interested.

We have vendors (we rep Iron Liege, and Fighter Guild stuff; and we have two armorers). We can bring the food, the weapons, etc.

Anyone up for it?

Rick 

This pertains to all LARP groups and game owners, thought I'd pass the invite.

Rick McCoy

LARP Alliance, Inc.

Amtgard is a Live Combat Battlegame, with a combat rating from Moderate to Heavy. Founded in 1986, this game follows Dagorhir's fundamentals in Battlegame ideology, and infuses this with class-based fantasy-themed SAS (Skills, Abilities, Spells).

Sword Knight Boot Camp is an unofficial training excercise set on a national level. They have many great classes set on various topics that range from traditional sword and board to footing to women's body mechanics. Below is update on the progress for SKBC 2009. I believe anyone who fights in Live Combat LARP (regardless on combat rating) will find this event worth attending.

Rick McCoy
LARP Alliance, Inc.

SKBC 2009 Registration is open

FWACK has been working hard over the last two weeks getting
commitments from instructors, organizing a class schedule, and
putting it all on a web site for you. Today the website is live.
You can register for classes. Classes are on a first come first
served basis so sign up early if you plan to attend.

The new website looks a lot like previous years but some of the
functionality has been upgraded. We also have our own cool url. I
thank the rest of FWACK, especially Megiddo and Yoto for all their
help getting this organized. I also want to thank this year's
instructor team, who has already shown a high excitement about the
event. I think we will see some terrific material.

1. This year's biggest highlight is that we have crossed sports a
little. We have two of Belegarth's best fighters committed to come
teach foam combat from a Belegarth perspective. SKBC remains an
unofficial event using Amtgard melee rules, but we are very exited
to have this cross over learning opportunity.

2. There are only two levels of classes now, basic and advanced.
Basic is for beginning to intermediate fighters while advanced is
for intermediate to advanced fighters. All classes will be taught
to the level of the students to some extent though. That's always
the way we have done it.

3. We are offering a seminar style class in most time slots. If you
sign up for a seminar you will also sign up for a second choice
class in that slot. About 2 weeks before SKBC the instructors will
review the students signed up for their seminar and pick out 10
students. They will be chosen based on skill level, subject matter
and are they an SKBC veterans. Each class slot except class slot two
on Friday has one seminar. Brennon's seminar fills both class slot
one and class slot two on Friday.

4. Classes are currently capped at 15 students. This generally
allows for a better instructor student ratio and a better learning
experience. This year instructors will turn away people if more
than 20 show up. The only exceptions is woman's body mechanics. We
are pretty firm on this so sign up early.

Without further ado, if you want to register or get more details on
the event, go to

www.swordknight. com

Thank you for your support,
Michael Hammer of God
SKBC instructor liaison

This is an email that I meant to post a few weeks back; this was sent
to the LARP Alliance and Chris Vrem has already sent this information
to IFGS peeps in that region. Any further help I can forward to Johnathon.

Rick

My name is Johnathan Korba and I am contacting you in hopes of
establishing a point of communication. Your name was one that
came up as I was trolling the larp alliance site that linked me
to your meetup group and I was hoping that you would be able to
assist me with a project that shares a similar goal I am
endevoring upon in my local area. I am currently organizeing an
event in western washington state that will be a historical
fantasy faire catering to the genre as a whole with the aim to
be all inclusive to the various similar event groups. Somthign
like a geeks gamers and outcasts mixer. I will be encourageing
groups such as our local pirate crews amptgard and the SCA,
also, steam punk and genneral renfair attendies.

There are a few obstacles that relate to your groups overall
mission, first and formost is the secular nature of event
groups in this region. Amptgard does not get to play with the
SCA and visa versa. This is a substantial factor in what
motivated the event, both on the basis that it will be a well
attended function and that it will be advantageous for the
community at large. This is a condition wich the event itself
is likly to alleviate, but co-ordiateing as many groups as
possible is becomeing somthing of an impracticality. More than
anything I am comeing to need more contact and specifically
callander information so as to give leeway to as many as
possible whith the final schedual. The event time frame is
currently between mid july and mid august, with the focus on
the earlier time period.

Any assistance you and yours can provide in this would be
fantastic. As things stand we are looking at a weekend
attendance of 350-500 campers and day trippers, and the more
the better, our site is capable of supporting upwardly of 3000
total campers, so the worst thing that could happen is if our
numbers explode! I apretiate the time you have taken in your
reading and considering this, if there are any questions feel
free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you and
would love to facilitate as much as possible a co-ordinated
effort with gamers in my area into your fold, thank you.



And on a final note, please forgive the rambleing nature of
this letter as that I belive I have had enouge caffine to put
down most live stock.



Sincerely,

Johnathan

Below is a copy of an email I sent to members of Realms of Conflict, that are running a Practice this weekend. The name Fighter Practice comes from an old LARP (still running) called the International Fantasy Gaming Society (IFGS).  They have been around since 1981. They have a class based system, and the main combat class is Fighter.

Typically Fighter Practices run today are for a specific LARP in an area, for novices and veterans alike to come together, talk and practice the rules of their particular game - outside the arena of actual game play. One reason to practice is that Line Course and World Course games, unlike Battlegames, have characters that can actually perish. Some games will grant a certain number of lives, some grant a percentage that increases with each character death. Realms of Conflict is a game where you only get one life; so to practice to learn the rules is a pretty important part of keeping your edge as a Player Character.

Fighter Practices run by the Fighter's Guild (like the Chapter Adrianne and I run below) generally teach elements of gameplay of local games; in addition many of the combat scenarios are technically Battlegames (so Battlegamers can come and understand what the hell is going on), with some of the local games rules thrown in. It is a very viable, visable way of supporting your local game (because players can run them, not just game staff/owners) or promoting the LARP hobby in general (run them in a public park, not in your backyard - don't be shy!). If you would like help in running a practice in your area, contact Ramsey here in LARPSpace - he is the head of Guild. We can get you basic weapon building information, and hopefully in the future more direct help in the form of actual Iron Liege gear and other incentives.

But you don't need the Guild to run a Practice. Just get out there and do it!

Oh, and if you find you want to know more about Realms of Conflict or it's rules, you can contact me directly, or a slew of their players that are already here on LARPSpace.

Rick McCoy

LARP Alliance, Inc.

One person in the center; everyone else in the game (typically no more than nine) surround the center person from a 10-15' distance. The concept is, anyone can attack the fellow in the center, but only one can do so at a time...everyone else can stamp, hoot, holler, etc. to get the defender's attention stretched to the limit. If more than one person goes in at the same time, it's a called a Simultaneous - and the attackers go back to the ring surrounding the defender. The first blow taken (not three limbs/torso) results in the loser; if the defender wins, the attacker goes back to the ring. If the attacker wins, he trades places with the defender. A simultaneous hit is always in favor of the defender. This builds very good combat awareness/periphereal vision - it's also tremendous in developing one's defensive stance.

Time - 15-20 minutes

Bear Pit

Basic fighter's pit - one person takes on all challengers one at a time. The combat is the same as Endless Battle. If someone defeats the "bear", they regain all of their limbs back, and become the bear. Defeated folk go back to the end of the line. Rarely, one person does win, but typically everyone gets to play as the bear, because as the bear defeats foes, it gains no limbs back - a battle of attrition that typically three to five decent fighters will eventually take out one really good one.

Basic PC War

This is an old system I used back in 92' to teach basics elements of different Live Combat LARPs to non-larpers. It is team based play - you pick at least two Captains (adding more teams is cooler, but adds to the length of time each battle takes), and have them divy up the experience of those participating, choosing people until both teams are numbered equally. The base is to have a single page of abilities that represent a decent scope of the actual LARP rules being taught; assign points to those abilities (not in the manner of an actual skill-based system, just something to balance the abilities on the page), and give each team a total point pool they can build their team with.

Recently, I did a deviant on this for the RoC version of PC War, and just gave every person playing (except Captains) an alloted point pool - say, five point PC War for a smaller scope and simpler game (you can't buy many abilities with five points). As you ramp the point cost of the PCs, the game becomes more complex. At the RoC practice before we came up last, we made sure to have Wound and Warp on the list - it also made us think about abilities that we aren't used to using.

For the RoC version, you start off with a single sword for free. You can buy with your alloted points other weapons (axes, hammers, great weapons) and shields; you can buy endurance and mana. You buy weapon manevers and spells. We allow a single use of the ability if you can afford to get it but no endurance or mana to power it; after that you can only reuse the ability/spell when you spend the requisite mana or endurance.

The Battle is typically just destroy the other group. I used to run capture the flag type games back in the day; those can be fun (especially for those sneaky and fast enough to do this) - but our group likes to duke it out.

As an aside, I have suggested an NPC based version of the above system for statting NPCs at an actual RoC event - an example - Goblins have these abilities, this is what it costs them, and these are the alloted point per goblin. To make more powerful goblins, you just award more points - no need to just continually give more damage to make a longer fight harder. This makes sense from a World View point of view; monster races would have certain armor, abilities, etc. that are tied to them culturally or racially. This kind of knowledge would apply to the game considerably, and make the players more aware of how difficult a fight or danger might actually be.

Time 15-20 Minutes per battle (typically)

PC Battle

This is the one we do specifically before a RoC event - this is practice for a few for PCing; the majority of it is practicing to be an NPC; and working with the NPC coordinator to make the encounters hard, but survivable. The focus is made that RoC NPC battles are those of attrition; as an NPC don't be made that you just got smacked without landing a blow - be joyous in the fact that the PC had to disarm you first, burning up his Endurance to do so, etc.

Single Team play; Select a group of people wanting to practice their PC side - the rest are all NPCs. I typically stat the Player Characters myself, but we have used the PC War system to let them build their characters as well. The PCs are attacked from game call in waves; we focus on the main three - group waves (spawning as a single large group), single waves (go back to the tree of life, call a five count, and run screaming in), and unit waves (spawning as a group of say, five, and then going in). Sometimes, after the PCs go from one monster type wave to the next, we will give them a BigBoss with many minions. An undead tree that spawns FAST moving ghouls; a Stone-skinned Demon that can spawn minions by the sound of his voice, etc.

I have actually used PC Battle to recreate RoC mods we had been involved in the month before; trying to scale the monsters as I remembered Plot doing, and getting the NPCs to understand what the difficulty level was.

Our newest game is called (unofficially, probably forever)

WarCraft

Team based play - two teams are good, I don't know if three are needed with it's current dynamic. Both teams start off with a single sword per player; no abilites/spells or endurance/mana.

They start off on opposite sides of the battlefield; off a tree or large rock. This is the teams' spawn point. Every player starts off with two extra spawns (total of three lives).

In the middle of the area between the groups (not exactly in the middle, off to the side) are Avatars. These should played by the very best fighters in the group, people that are used to mass melee and can handle their own on two to three attackers normally. We typically have three Avatars.

Each Avatar, if defeated, will give the team lewt. Sometimes it is weapons, or shields (we haven't done armor - I am having issues with play balance if we do that - no armor, those no weapon damage calls, as all hits will take out a limb/torso), sometimes it is a single spell (like gifting the one that dropped the Avatar with a StoneSkin for five minutes) effect, sometimes it is an elemental attack (to defeat someone with Stoneskin, for example). Sometimes it's weapon manevers for the whole team. The drops (this is all MMO referenced btw) become increasingly better in the category that the Avatar represents; but the Avatar becomes increasingly more powerful as well.

Spawning players retain weapons/shield they had in play before their death, and ANY ability that was bestowed on them is renewed (remember that most are just one shot spells, with the exception of StoneSkin  and /Magic/Death/Fire, etc. added to weapon and called - these last five minutes)

Obviously, the gameplay is similar to  MMO play. You can do a standard peon rush, and overwhelm your enemy. You can wait until the other team is fighting a tough Avatar, and use that to their advantage to rush in. If you are canny, get weapons first before fighting the Avatar that give you Maneuvers. Fight the Avatar that grants Magic/Elemental damage before Attacking the Avatar that gives you Stoneskin. Each game, the Avatars mix up what they grant, so the players will need to re-learn who gives what. Advanced forms of game play can be achieved by getting certain people certain abilites; dying all at the same time to maximize everything they have and coming in to swarm the enemy. If they hadn't already done the same.

Time 30-45 minutes, typically

All standard RoC rules apply to those abilities listed in PC War and WarCraft.

These are the games I typically run for my Chapter of the Fighter's Guild. I know Rory runs different games down in Orange County.

 I always personally take newbs aside when everyone is warming up with Endless Battle and explain the basics of combat; such as personal space, no physical touching or grappling, the Combat Rating (By LARP Alliance Standards, RoC is Moderate), Holds, basic Calls and the RoC combat mechanic. I always brief teams on abilities being used in PC War or WarCraft that they may encounter. If there is a young one that wants to play, I typically give them an extra shield and such to try and balance it out (it rarely works, but gives them some protection).

Fighter Practices are the fundamental building blocks of all Live Combat LARPs. In order to be truly effective, they should

A) Be Consistent; they should always happen at the same time, at the same place, and in the same cycle (once a week, twice a month, once a month, etc.) - they should always last the same amount of time.

B) Be Fun - learning the game by doing combat excercises and Battle Games are more fun that learning system, building a character, and then running mods of what might happen in game. That is an important part of the game, but the practices don't need to cover every single aspect of the game - it really can't, there is way to much to know about what it takes to run a game to cram it someone's head in a fighter practice.

C) Be Advertised - Tear away Flyers, Flyers posted in gaming store, posting to Craig's list and other online Community forums or any of the LARP forums out there, Shade's LARPlist,  our LARP Alliance forums on Meetup or LARPSpace, LARPA's forums, etc.

And all it takes is two. It will grow, trust me - I've been doing this a long time.

Rick McCoy
LARP Alliance, Inc.

One aspect of the hobby we have focused on has been primarily on designing tools for the LARP community to use to network, make improvements on some aspect of their costume, gamestyle, etc.

The best tool thus far has been LARPSpace, just in sheer networking potential. It will get even better as it grows.

The involvement of the Alliance with the movie Role Models is part timing, part luck, and hard work on the part of the LARPers in the film; most notably Adrianne for fighting hard to get the perks we got.

Saying that, I will echo what Mark said (and what I said before) - this is the best publicity LARP has ever gotten on a national level. This again is a tool, and unfortunately it has a time frame. The movie will come and go, it will recieve a new infusion of interest when it hits DVD, but in the end will fade as new movies and life goes on to the people that saw this film and found LARP interesting in some way.

This is the time to seize their interest, and somehow get them to be a part of the larger LARP community, even on a fringe level. It doesn't matter if you are running a MET or some other TS Style game; the comparisons can be drawn reasonably easily (although admittedly LAIRE is a battlegame). We are launching a full scale effort as the LARP Alliance to do just this; but this tool applies to all LARPers, people should grab it and run with it - as we did at our movie showing, as Mark did with his....as these folks did in San Diego...

http://www.sandiego6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=458702
scroll down and click on "LARP in San Diego"

We worked hard on this. It would be a shame if you let this opportunity pass you by.

Rick McCoy
LARP Alliance