LARP Help!!
Help!
So I've been asked to help organize an outdoor fantasy larp for some kids I know, about a dozen of them around age 11 13. I'd like to do it, but (1) I've never played or organized an outdoor fantasy larp, and (2) I've never done any larps for kids before. My larping has all been theater-style with adults.
So if anyone has experience with doing this, I'd love to have some advice. The requested elements that I know of are:
(1) Mechanics should be extremely simple. For combat, I'll probably do one hit disables a limb, two hits to head or body to incapacitate (as I'd heard of as a Swedish standard). Also, "cut" and "break" should be important rules. Any other mechanics will be one-off powers specified on the character sheet.
(2) I'm concerned about divisions among the PCs. Ellie who's asked for this wants lots of combat, but I'd be concerned about ill feeling if the kids were split into sides and one side was badly beaten. So I'm tending that there should be easy healing, and that initial divisions and conflicts should pave the way to joining up as a team for the climactic conflict.
(3) I'd like to recruit at least another adult or two as NPCs with decent villainous and/or monster costumes for the more climactic conflict.
How does that sound? I'm considering other options for how to have it wrap up in a satisfying way for the kids other than a climactic battle against magically-powered (i.e. mechanics-favored) NPCs. One alternative would be to just have a strict time limit that the kids know about, with steps announced, that lets them structure their own activity. That is, they know it is four hours, and knowing that will guide what they do.
I'm pondering a bunch of characters in my head based on this, but nothing has solidified yet. There should be strong motivations and factions, just that there should be some way to pull the factions together rather than having one side beat another.
So I've been asked to help organize an outdoor fantasy larp for some kids I know, about a dozen of them around age 11 13. I'd like to do it, but (1) I've never played or organized an outdoor fantasy larp, and (2) I've never done any larps for kids before. My larping has all been theater-style with adults.
So if anyone has experience with doing this, I'd love to have some advice. The requested elements that I know of are:
- bandits and heroines and kidnapping
- renaissance sort of costumes
- almost all 7th graders but possibly some range on the ages (downwards)
- lots of combat
- in the woods somewhere
- E. and her friend have made swords already for everyone (foam ones)
(1) Mechanics should be extremely simple. For combat, I'll probably do one hit disables a limb, two hits to head or body to incapacitate (as I'd heard of as a Swedish standard). Also, "cut" and "break" should be important rules. Any other mechanics will be one-off powers specified on the character sheet.
(2) I'm concerned about divisions among the PCs. Ellie who's asked for this wants lots of combat, but I'd be concerned about ill feeling if the kids were split into sides and one side was badly beaten. So I'm tending that there should be easy healing, and that initial divisions and conflicts should pave the way to joining up as a team for the climactic conflict.
(3) I'd like to recruit at least another adult or two as NPCs with decent villainous and/or monster costumes for the more climactic conflict.
How does that sound? I'm considering other options for how to have it wrap up in a satisfying way for the kids other than a climactic battle against magically-powered (i.e. mechanics-favored) NPCs. One alternative would be to just have a strict time limit that the kids know about, with steps announced, that lets them structure their own activity. That is, they know it is four hours, and knowing that will guide what they do.
I'm pondering a bunch of characters in my head based on this, but nothing has solidified yet. There should be strong motivations and factions, just that there should be some way to pull the factions together rather than having one side beat another.