KOLAlarp conference 11—13 January 2013 Wrocław, Poland

Editorial Jakub Tabisz KOLA LARP conference Translation Wrocław 2013 Malwina Otto Dorota Kalina Trojanowska Coordinator Design, typesetting Jakub Tabisz Annika Olejarz Organizers Kamil Bartczak, Ada Biela, Tomasz Jeznach, Krystian Munia, Annika Olejarz, Malwina Otto,

Bartek Zioło Continuation — a beautiful word, which has become However, it doesn’t mean we don’t create our own, something more than just a dream. The second Po- original works. lish Larp Conference has been concluded, and appar- ently its third edition is to be held in January. With the conference becoming more visible on our larping map, these articles are gaining more read- Continuation encompasses both past and present. ers. It is easier for us to share our knowledge, and We have started to document larps, and some of us we are becoming more eager to do so. We learn from are rummaging through the form’s history to bring each other, and so we stumble upon new, even better back its already forgotten beginnings. It turns out ideas. that the history of live role-playing is much older and richer than it seemed. Others are boldly look- What is interesting, this publication will not be read ing ahead, always pushing the limits and designing exclusively by professionals, or even hardened larp- new experiments. New, daring social drama games ers. Just as it happened last year, our articles will be are being made. More techniques are used and more received by a broader audience, and possibly pro- senses are involved. The scenarios are becoming bet- mote our passion among them. Live gaming is be- ter, and they are published more often. coming a really serious business, and the number of larp projects and initiatives featured in media is In just a year, the Polish larp scene has developed in- growing. Many of these bring notable social, educa- credibly. This publication presents a fraction of this development, which includes really impressive edu- out of games — now it seems we have to grow into cational, artistic and even international projects. them.tional, And or even larps financial are developing benefits. like We crazy, used drawing to grow inspiration from older genres like cinema or theatre, - - ple marketing. conference.What the reader It is amazingcan also findhow herelittle are we the know first about arti as well as from various non-artistic fields, for exam ourcles neighbours.written by a In foreign the future, author we specifically are sure to for invite the However, there is still much to be done. We need to authors to represent more countries — after all, Po- work hard to build a larping community in Poland, land is in the very centre of the larping world. The and to reach out to the people around us. Continu- Scandinavian forms and theories are coming from waste, in people learning on our mistakes and taking upation new gives challenges us confidence with us. in our efforts not going to gamethe north authors to inspire see the our future authors, and and commercial this influence suc- cessis clearly of the visible genre in still several closer of to the us, articles. in Germany. Many In field the Nonetheless, what is the most important for us now south the Czech approach is gaining in importance, is the present. Each of the seventeen articles col- lected in this publication is sure to become food for set-ups, with — for example — rich decorations and thought, and maybe to inspire and encourage the rentedalso on limos, our sideare truly of the admirable. border. TheIn Brno, client-specific Czech Re- reader to try something new. public, role-playing games are starting to compete Enjoy the read. with theatre as the evening entertainment of choice. Kuba Tabisz

4 KoLa 2013 6 12 16 20 And Quoth RPG, “Oh Some Points of the His- From Dragon Eggs DEMOcracy Project: Larp, Thou Ungrateful tory of Larp in Belarus to the Wings of Larp in Civic Child of Mine!” Yaraslau Kot Imagination Education Piotr Milewski Marcin Słowikowski Michał Mochocki, Łukasz Wrona 30 34 38 42 House of Dreams High_Rise: Larp, City Games are Larps Definitions in Use Jakub Tabisz Video Game, RPG Jakub Tabisz Dominik Dembinski S. Kłossowicz, M. Krzywoszyński 48 52 56 62 A Taste of Larp The Quickie Bad Games Flamingos and Mikołaj Wicher Agata Lubańska Kamil Bartczak Penguins Bartosz Zioło 66 72 78 82 Block-bust Your Larp! All the Sins of Larp Postulates for the 200+ Larp Copyrights Dominik Dembiński Campaigns Scenarios Jan Wosiura Agnieszka Rogowska Kamil Rauch 88 94 Live Role-play Games Glossary within the System of Jakub Tabisz Moral Development of Preschool Children Yaraslau Kot

KoLa 2013 5 PIOTR MILEWSKI “Oh Larp, Thou Ungrateful Child And Quoth RPG, of Mine!”

“And thus the RPG players abandoned their dice, donned their blanket-mantles, and cov- ered their broomsticks with duct tape so that they gleamed like silver in the sunlight. And forth, into the outside world they went, headed for the woods, and having been at odds about who was to bring the pizza, they engaged in an epic duel. And thus, larps were born.”

One of the most common myths about larping in Po- In such a world, one had to be much more daring to land concerns its presumed RPG origins. It can be debunked just as any other urban legend. Unfortu- editions of RPGs. Larp authors, if active at all, did nately, it is a task neither easy nor obvious, especially nottry andtend organise to go public a larp withthan theirto play works the first or searchPolish taking into consideration the scarce amount of doc- contact with others, but rather created games on umentation on the early Polish larping activity. Thus, a small scale only, for their friends and local fans of the easiest way is to follow the development of both this new form of entertainment. RPGs were quicker larps and RPGs during the period that was crucial for to gain in popularity. They were something new, un- their emergence. Before this is done, however, the usual, and there was no real competition. They did essential information on the cultural context should - be recalled. dreds of TV channels, the Internet or thousands of beautifullynot have to published, fight for colourful people’s attentionboard games. with When hun Fin de siècle: revisited RPGs and larps appeared in Poland roughly at the broader awareness, RPGs were already well-known. same time, namely in the second half of the ‘80s. Itlarps is small finally wonder won their that theplace question, in the Polish “What fandom’s is larp?” When we go back to the ‘80s and ‘90s in Poland, it was usually answered with, “It’s like RPG, but out- is important to remember what kind of reality we doors and with costumes”. One cannot argue with refer to. There is a stark difference in civilisational the fact that larps (especially chamber larps and ac- development between the year 2012 and the end of tion games) and RPGs have many common features, the 20th century — and one of the most important and such a comparison is a fair description in many disparities concerns communication. At that time, universal access to the Internet, blogs, e-mails, in- the belief was born in the fandom’s common con- stant messengers, social networking sites, websites, sciousnessaspects. Thus, about this larps definition being but became the suckling popular, babes and mobiles, text messaging, digital cameras or video of RPGs. Which, of course, is not the case. cameras was something unheard of. For the Polish From the archives RPG fans, all these technological wonders were just With a little effort, it is very well possible to verify fandom, which gave birth to the first larpers and what and when was published or — in the case of Even a home computer was very different from what larps — organised in Poland. The conclusions should itthat is now— wonders, — even takenfor the straight simple fromfact that science no one fiction. had be obvious. To make the description of the period a printer. It was cheaper to buy books than to copy more than just a record of empty dates, it is supple- them. The only sources of information and contact mented with a subjective choice of important facts from that time, concerning both Poland and the the fanzines they published and the letters they ex- world. changed.with the fandom were the speculative fiction clubs,

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1982 Fantastyka is published, with Adam Hollanek as the - trepreneur,In October, thefounds first the issue Encore of the publishing monthly company.magazine Citadel of Blood and Star trader editor-in-chief. It is the first Polish periodical devoted entirely to speculative fiction. Jan Adamski, an en [I] find their way into the Americanmarket. They publisher, are the SPI very (Simulations first games Publication with RPG-based Inc.). elements published in Polish, and are mainly distributed by Ruch and Składnica Harcerska companies. Both games are published without the license of Poland. The country has been under martial law for two years now. World. The Falklands War starts. The Soviet Venera probes land on Venus.

1984 Encore publishes two more games that gain extreme popularity among the fandom. These are Gondor and War of the Ring[II]. A short gamebook entitled Władca Podziemi (Lord of the Underworld) is published in a weekly magazine Razem.

Poland. Akademia Pana Kleksa (Mister Blot’s Academy) and Seksmisja (Sexmission) premiere.

World. AlexeyThe films Pajitnov develops the game Tetris. Indira Gandhi is murdered by her Sikh bodyguards. The SummerThe priest Olympics Jerzy Popiełuszko in Los Angeles is murdered is boycotted by agents by fourteen of the PolishEastern communist Bloc countries. internal intelligence agency.

1988 Razem regularly publishes articles on RPGs, like Ghostbusters and Warhammer, as well as short gamebooks, including Goblin and Dreszcz. The latter are written by Jacek Ciesielski, who names the genre “fantasolo”[III].

Poland. A Warsaw Pact summit is held in Warsaw. A connection with Copenhagen with the bandwidth of 9600 bps is made, introducing the Internet to Poland. World. program after the Challenger disaster which put it on hold. The USSR army withdraws from Afghanistan. The first and only flight of the Soviet space shuttle Buran is made. NASA resumes their Space Shuttle 1989

Between the 4th and 7th of May in Supraśl, the Kontur convention takes place. It is jointly organised by samethe Ubik route club at from various Białystok time intervals. and the Taurus On the club route, from there the arePodlasie checkpoints region. withOne oftasks the attractionsand characters is a fieldthat game prepared by Polish scouts affiliated with Ubik. The players are divided into teams which cover the “action larp”. the players interact with. The game is set in a simple, fairytale-like setting. It is, presumably, the first Polish The book market sees the debut of the gamebook series Wehikuł Czasu (Time Machine), advertised by the publishing company as “history book-games”.

Poland. World. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground by the shores of Alaska. The oil spill into the ocean is one of the most The dire Fall ecological of Communism. disasters The in Polish world Round history. Table Protesting Talks lead Chinese to the students first free are Sejm killed elections. by the military during Tiananmen Square Massacre. The Berlin Wall falls, the Autumn of Nations starts in Central Europe.

KoLa 2013 7 PIOTR MILEWSKI

1990 based. The teams compete with one another, but there is no interaction between them. The second fairytale field game is organised during the Kontur convention. As its predecessor, it is team- Due to changes in the economic system and copyright, Encore stops reprinting the Western board games it has been copying. The sales records for games (over 100,000 in the case of the most popular titles) has not been beaten ever since.

Poland. The communist Polish United Workers’ Party is dissolved after its XI Congress. According to the

transformed into regular police forces. World.Polish Central Statistical Office, in March the annual inflation rate is 1360%. In May, the Civic MilitiaTwin is Peaks - tion of Diseases.The first TheMcDonald’s Iraqi army restaurant invades Kuwait.is opened in Moscow. ABC channel starts broadcasting the TV series. The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from the International Classifica 1991 Akademia kosmiczna (Space Academy). It is attended by six teams of ten people each, composed of “lieutenants” and “privates”. Players are tested A new game is played during the Kontur convention in Supraśl — weapon replicas, heavied up with steel and painted black. Following the linear scenario the teams explore before the game in order to determine their ranks. They are equipped with military outfits and wooden sight of the players, the kindergarten teachers call the police. The game is attended by the members of the Rebellocations group, and from meet the NPCs. SCAS The club route from ends Silesia. close In to August, the playground they organise of a local Orkon, kindergarten. a 4-day-long Terrified convention. with the Its main attraction is the larp Smocze jajo The authors introduce two revolutionary changes (1) the teams can interact with one another (2) the sce- nario is not linear — the locations of the. The NPCs structure are scattered of the scenarioover the wholeis different game than area, in which Kontur covers field agames. rocky terrain and roads between the ruins of the Mirów and Bobolice castles. The game is attended by more or less 50 people, including 4 teams and a dozen organisers, whose main duty is to play the NPCs (with some of them playing more than one character). Fights are resolved by means of the so-called “Pasko-Ryu” me-

chanics[IV], which uses foil stripes fitted to a person’s torso. The stripes represent health points and race, and they are ripped off during fights. The players have no other weapons, and their characters’ skills are Atdefined the same by their time, class: Sfera a companywarrior, a appears mage, a onpriest, the Polisha thief market. or a bard. It publishes the board game Magia i Miecz (Magic and Sword), on the Talisman game license by Games Workshop. The game, with its new graphic design, becomes a bestseller. Razem of the gamebook series Wojownik Autostrady (The Highway Warrior). is shut down, and the Amber publishing house sells the first two books Poland. The Warsaw Stock Exchange is reestablished. The Sejm introduces the Personal Income Tax Act.

World. After much turmoil, independence is declared in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Slo- veniaThe first and e-mail Croatia. is sent Operation from Poland Desert to Storm Denmark. is being Radio carried Maryja, out a in religious Iraq, war radio breaks station, out in starts Yugoslavia. broadcasting. Termi- nator 2 and The Silence of the Lambs are triumphant at the Academy Awards ceremony.

1992 In spring, fascinated by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

, students from the Gdańsk Autonomous High- School decide to re-enact the adventures of the Fellowship of the Ring. The game is based on scouts’ field ongames. the large The playersplay area. follow Because a specific of that route, another meeting game opponentsis organised known in autumn, from thisthe book.time based Because on theit is adven a pre- turesmiere, of the the game brave does hobbit, not fulfillBilbo allBaggins. the expectations — the Nazgûl-cyclists fail to intercept players dispersed

8 KoLa 2013 AND QUOTH RPG

The monthly magazine Nowa Fantastyka features articles on the new phenomenon of RPG. English RPG

Poland.rulebooks find their way into the libraries of speculative fiction clubs. - tion bill. Polsat, the first Polish nationwide private TV channel, starts broadcasting. A Jehovah’s Witnesses’ World.branch officeAleksander is founded Wolszczan’s in Nadarzyn. article The on first the mobilediscovery phone of extrasolar network is planets created. is The published Sejm passes in the a Naturelustra journal. The European Organisation for Nuclear Research announces free access to the World Wide Web - pean Union is born. standard. Microsoft presents its Windows 3.1 system. With the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, the Euro 1993 Magia i Miecz (often shortened to MiM) is published by Wydawnictwo MAG. Kryształy Czasu by Artur Szyndler. Later issues fea- In spring, the first issue of Warhammer FRP and GURPS. MiM also publishes information on two The magazine contains the first Polish RPG system, andture isarticles solely ondedicated other RPG to RPGs. systems: Sessions are run in numerous systems, including Warhammer, AD&D, Call ofconventions: Cthulhu and Szedariada Star Wars and. Around Orkon. 100 The people former attend. is organised In summer, between the Rebelsthe 1st groupand 3rd organises of May in the Wrocław, second Orkon convention, expanding the plot of their game. The convention, held on the 17th and 18th of July in

Summerthe Kraków-Częstochowa Camp, which will Upland, annually is alsoattract attended at least by several about 100 dozen players, participants divided forinto the 9 teams. next several There areyears, far takesmore NPCsplace in thePomerania. scenario as well, and the game itself spans two days. Also this year, the first Playwalk RPG

- nise Krew na śniegu ofIn Ganwalia,autumn, the and Ravelin its mechanics club is formed are inspired in the byGdańsk the Magia Autonomous i Miecz board High School,game. The and characters in November are theydescribed orga (Blood on the Snow), the first Polish winter larp. The game is set in the original world individual players that form teams during the game and are free to roam the whole game area. Fights are performedwith several with statistics, wooden reflecting melee weapons, their strength, considered stamina, to be power safe — and due knowledge. to injuries, The during game the starts next editionswith 40 only weapons with rounded edges will be allowed.

Poland. - azine Świat Młodych is published. The last remnants of the Russian army leave Poland. World. TheThe USA Great and Orchestra Russia sign of Christmas the START Charity II disarmament organises treaty. its first The concert. war in Theformer last Yugoslavia issue of scouts’ continues. mag Schindler’s List, and a computer game — Doom. Nelson Mandela receives the Nobel Peace Prize. There are two big premieres: a film — 1994 MiM publishes another Polish RPG, Oko Yrrhedesa by the writer Andrzej Sapkowski, as well as countless source materials for popular RPGs, mainly WFRP, AD&D, Call of Cthulhu and Kryształy Czasu. Two publishing Cyberpunk 2020, and ISA with Dungeons & Dragons. MAG markets the Polish edition of WFRP — it costs the company almosthouses halfare founded,a million bothzlotys[V]. issuing Złoty Polish Smok editions, a new of RPG Western magazine, RPGs: is Copernicus published. Corporation with

Another Orkon convention takes place between the 8th and 10th of July, and since then it is organised every

in Lower Silesia. There is no division into teams, and the plot construction is typical for “action larp” games. Anotheryear, gaining Playwalk in popularity takes place with in each Pomerania, edition. and Scouts a new from convention Wrocław isorganise organised the nearfirst FantazjadaKielce — Borkon, field game fea- turing a team larp reminiscent of the Orkon games.

KoLa 2013 9 PIOTR MILEWSKI

Poland. Nothing really interesting happens. It seems that the whole population, if they are not watching the Familiada[VI] or The Bold and the Beautiful, they spend their time with their noses buried in the freshly published RPG rulebooks, with the print aroma still lingering between the pages. World.first episodes Eurotunnel of is opened under the English Channel. The whole world is watching the latest blockbust- The Lion King and Forrest Gump. The war in Chechnya begins.

ers: 1995 MiM issue this year presents Strefa śmierci (The Death Zone), another Polish RPG. Since then, ISA, Copernicus and MAG provide the Polish fandom with a constant stream of new RPG rulebooks and sourcebooksThe first (in the next year the Polish edition of Vampire: The Masquarade is published, followed by Werewolf: The Apocalypse in 1997, beginning the glorious rule of World of Darkness over the Polish RPG and larp scene). The Borkon, Playwalk, Szederiada and Fantazjada conventions are organised again, along with some new events dedicated to RPGs and larps. A peaceful schism divides the Orkon organisers — some of them decide to create a new convention, named Falkon[VII (which came back in 1997 as Gladion, and since 2002 has been known as Flamberg). The differences in opinions concern the game construction. Falkon is - chanics. The Orkon organisers decide to introduce safe weapons made of coated PVC pipes, and gradually eliminatean old-school the fieldteams-and-NPCs game, with participants system (abandoning divided into it completelyset player teams in the and late NPCs, ‘90s). utilizing From now the stripeon, all methe

which causes quite a confusion in Polish larp terminology for more than ten years. Orkon participants are players. The game is referred to as “a larp” on Orkon and “a field game” on Falkon, Poland. A brand new subway line is opened in Warsaw. Redenomination occurs — the new one zloty is worth ten thousand old zlotys. With this, the prices of RPG rulebooks fall considerably. In the presidential

Poland. World.election The Lech online Wałęsa auction loses andto Aleksander shopping website Kwaśniewski, eBay is who founded becomes in the the USA. new The president war in former of the Republic Yugoslavia of comes to an end. The GPS system is launched.

Let us stop here. — sometimes even more familiar than the larp author or Game Master. The sheer number of larps in the well- It seems that the facts listed above are self-explanatory, - and this article clearly shows that larps and RPGs in Po- ade that were played on RPG conventions could give the land were developing more or less simultaneously (if we impressionknown settings that of larps Warhammer were just or aVampire: new kind The of Masquer RPG, or talk sports, it is a tie — with larps possibly winning the a phase in the RPG game evolution. That was not the case, race by a hair’s breadth), and none of them was derived though. from the other. True, the development of larps after 1995 was very closely connected to the dynamic development Larps appeared in Poland as a result of the development of the RPG scene and the game industry in general. The - tings for their games, and did not have to create every- classics,in speculative hundreds fiction of carefully and, consequently, selected texts its in fandom. Fantasty It- thingfirst larp from authors scratch. were Suddenly given athey choice gained of ready-made access to races, set kacomes, gamebooks, as no surprise or complex that and science “fantastic” fiction board and fantasygames - found loyal fans among the Polish youth, surrounded by er details they could easily use by simply drawing them the gray reality of the communist times. It is no surprise directlyreligions, from politics, RPG traditions,systems. All customs, they had and to even do was many to buyfin - games, over-exploited for years and much in need of some nario. This allowed them to save the time they needed to refreshingeither that scouts(what isstrived interesting, to add someseveral colour groups to theiroperated field writethe rulebook the game, and and neatly play fiteven its complicatedcontent into scenariostheir larp withsce independently in different areas of Poland, not knowing players unknown to them, but familiar with the setting about one another). Thus, even before the Republic of

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Poland saw — along with washing powder commer- The game of make-believe. the arrival of the RPGs, well… Acknowledgements: cials, currency exchange offices and CD players — For the interviews — live, and via Skype or phone, as well as for the patient responses to my never-ending questions sent through e-mails and Facebook, in brief NoThe matter first larps how were deep already one digs there. for information, what — for the help in establishing the chronology of events becomes clear is that the roots of Polish larps should as distant as 20 and more years, heartfelt thanks go to: Sylwia Zabinska-MacIntyre, Zuzanna Malinowska, games as well as independent scenarios inspired Grzegorz Biegalski, Michał Mochocki, Krzysztof Hryn- not be traced back to RPG games, but to scouts’ field kiewicz, and Bartosz Czapiewski. childhood game. by speculative fiction and every person’s favourite

TRANSLATORS’ FOOTNOTES

I The Polish editions of these games were known as, respectively, Labirynt Śmierci (Labyrinth of Death) and Gwiezdny Kupiec. II Bitwa na polach Pelennoru (Battle of the Pelennor Fields) and Wojna o pierścień. III From fantastyka solo; the term is no longer used, Polish titles: and the medium is referred to as gry paragrafowe — “paragraph games”. — “speculative fiction”, or possibly fantasy, and IV From pasek — “stripe”. V monthly salary in 1994 was just over 5 million zlotys. For the sake of comparison — according to the Polish Central Statistical Office, the average VI A popular TV show, based on the American Family Feud format. VII in Lublin since the year 2000. Not to be confused with the speculative fiction convention of the same name, organized annually

KoLa 2013 11 YARASLAU KOT Some Points of the History of Larp in Belarus

Indeed, there is some evidence that many larp-like activities were held on the territory of Belarus long before 100 years ago, as in many other countries perhaps; but I will bring to your attention only some points of the history of larp theory. At the beginning we will discuss briefly the history of larps in the USSR and Belarus.

Even though larps have been an object of Russian dren’s Clubs. A school’s Cabinet of Ministers and scholars’ attention for some time, as the works of other elected official positions help young people Kapterev, Krapivka and Karavaev in the 19th century develop: a sense of responsibility (for others and - for the cause they serve), public speaking, and or- mented application of the larp methodology in ed- ganizational skills, which are all essential to their ucationalmight suggest, process the dates first conscious,back to 1916–18. official andThis docu new functioning in a liberal democratic country. As we wave was connected with a teacher, sculptor, poet, already said, this type of organized education is - based on the imitation of adults in their social roles. vich Zhukov (1875–1948). All this was happening 2. Based on the characteristics of the imitative duringfiction thewriter fall andof the visionary — Innokentiy Nikolae young soul, but in- Russian Empire and “They differ from ordinary games in that they are stead of imitating the formation of the never accidental and short, but can be long-term adults and citizens USSR. Zhukov was or even ongoing. The game gets serious by merg- in general, imitating ing with life itself.“ favorite heroes of larps into a move- children’s books, or mentthe first and to to organize establish larp methodology as a mile- rather a certain type of heroes. stone of a new educational system. His concepts of edu-theatre and larp campaign are still remem- A young soul at the age of 12 is full of idealistic, ro- bered. He was responsible for inventing the Pioneer mantic impulses. This soul craves for feats coupled movement and many fascinating ideas which sound with risking life while rescuing someone from the sea. through the ages [1]. It inevitably involves a wandering life in the wild, a full moon, nights of poetry, a camp life in the woods or on No one can deny that one of the main features of child- the shore of a deep river, crackling evening fire and hood is imitation. In a more vivid form, it is expressed fading voices of the night. In this, and in other types by preschool children — all their games, whether it is of educational games, self-education and self-activity playing with dolls for girls, or a variety of games for are the basic principles, and the enormity of the game boys — all these games are about imitating adults. and its severity are a powerful educational stimulus.

On the role-playing games he said, To conclude this article, let me repeat again: bor- ing for students, our rationalist school should be re- They differ from ordinary games in that they are nev- formed! Initiative and self-education of young people er accidental and short, but can be long-term or even should supplant these poor rationalist educational ef- ongoing. The game gets serious by merging with life forts which yield negligible results. Zhukov (1918)[2]. itself. There have been two main types of these great educative games: 1. Based on imitating the contemporary adult citi- projects, which included over 700 participants aged zens, like the School Republics and all kinds of Chil- 12–14In 1918 from he conducted all schools theof Chita, first ofand his was larp designed campaign to

12 KoLa 2013 LARP IN BELARUS

larp-like games for children and teenagers. were strongly supported by Nadezhda Krupskaya last two and a half years. At first, such innovations The beginning of the larp subculture in Belarus, in dawn of the USSR. With the help of Zhukov’s expe- the form we now refer to as “larp communities”, rience,(1869–1939), the National who was Youth in charge Organization of education (Pioneers) at the came in two waves, as in many other USSR republics. was created, based on the Zhukov’s method of larp campaign. Unfortunately, the Communist Party de- wave. At the beginning of the ‘80s, larps suddenly en- cided to use this innovation as a powerful ideological joyedLittle isa surgeknown of of interest most people throughout who werethe USSR. in the first

Pushed on by the success of the reenactment-turned and political tool[3]. larps and with the aid of educators and Litera- The Problem ture Clubs of Fantastics Amateurs, the Centres of ofLarps the Cultural were briefly Development examined of inthe theChild works (1928), of Levbut Role-playing started popping up here and there. By byVygotsky all accounts (1896–1934), the for example in 1982, each repub- greatest larp re- Innovations were strongly supported by Nadezh- lic had at least one search in the USSR da Krupskaya, who was in charge of education at such Centre. Not was conducted by the dawn of the USSR. With the help of Zhukov’s much information D. B. Elkonin (1904 experience, the National Youth Organization was remains, however, –1984). His works created, based on the Zhukov’s method of larp there is evidence on larps date as far campaign. that the Academy of Postdiploma Educa- books on larps are still unmatched, in particular Ar- tion in Minsk had one of such Centres set up. Fortu- tisticas the role ‘30s, playing and his games of preschool children (1957) nately, many of their activities were described in the and Psychology of Playing (1978). He wrote over publications and dissertations on larp study, which a hundred publications, most of them on games, and were quite abundant at that time. Some of these cen- the most prominent dealt with larps. tres are still active, especially in the east and north- east of the Russian Federation. As a subculture Nevertheless, on the turn of generations and with the larps, we can assume that larps as a subcultural phe- fall of the USSR most clubs lost support of the State nomenonIf we look have at theexisted history for some of scientific time as well. approach Indeed, to institutions and were disbanded. That very moment it was less of a movement and more of children’s lei- was a turning point for the new generation bred on sure until the USSR. However, later larping became creations like print and play educational larps, RPG stimulated by the ideological departments of the rulebooks, literature etc. The pioneers in Belarus saw Ministry of Education, and strong evidence of that could be found in various publications for children. literature from abroad, and started dreaming and For example, the newspaper Pionerskaya Pravda a flow of translations of fantasy and science fiction Hobbit’s Games (a larp based on The Lord of the Rings, Games” which clearly instructed children on how to laterplaying to outbecome their thefantasies. biggest In annual 1990 in larp) Russia, took the place. first larpfrom and 1938 suggested featured ideological a front page topics article to “larp “The out”[4]. Three This larp maintains a decent international participa- Later on, these games became even more state-co- tion up until now. After that game three main larp-ori- ordinated, and with time they turned into military

entated groups were formed in Belarus (1990–93).

KoLa 2013 13 YARASLAU KOT

1. In Gomel, the club Istok Vetrov (Source of Winds) of each path to the world. There will always be some- founded by the writer, and by many accounts the thing new for such an academic to share, as there is

nickname “Khozyayka” (Hostess). larp groups even from the same country, sometimes 2. Infirst Rechitsa, GM of Belarus,the club RakitinaTerra founded Nika[5] by with Bakaev the evenno final from list the of all same differences city, moreover and similarities — from differentbetween - parts of the world. tions WestCon in Belarus). And(the in organizer Minsk, the of club the Alter first Ego annual founded larp convenby Dmi- So here I am to humbly do my part, and demonstrate triy “Magistr” Nestuk (the name changed several you some of the terminological pursuits Belarusian 3. larpers have generated. a strictly history-oriented association with the maintimes, theme first into being Heart the ofTemplars Dragon, — then The it Order became of When talking about the ways of my Land, I should North Temple, later Nestuk left the club and it start from the GMs. We call them Mastera (word for was renamed The Order of the Temple, and sev- word — “Masters”) and due to the small size of our eral years later he created another, Order of the - North Temple). ers) many of the games are organized by one or two larps (the luckiest GM might get little over 300 play There is evidence that several clubs researching na- could be, although not necessarily, a GlavnyiMas- tional history and larping existed at that time. One terGMs. (“the When Main a group Game of Master”)Masters iswho bigger coordinates than 3, there the was connected to the Historical Faculty of the Be- work of the whole group. At the beginning of the larp larus State Univer- Each country, each town or village which has at movement, a GM sity, and the other least a small larp community has its own roots, could be just any- (and the oldest by history, its own path of development, forms and one selected from my accounts), Bela- terminology. This lack of centralization is indeed among the partic- russkiy Rytsarskiy impractical in some way, yet such “natural” evolu- ipants to uphold Klub (Belarusian tion is inevitable and has its advantages. certain rules agreed Knighthood Club), upon. The further was founded by Arina Vecherko and had existed in event and deserves more pensive research, which club. One of the members of this club, Sergey “Ra- couldclassification be a subject of GMs for dependsanother article.on the particular larp Minsk long before the first strictly larp-oriented- retical work on Belarussian larps (2005?–2007?). It Now about larps — we call them simply Igry iszor” entitled Dakhutovich, LARP, it is wrote 76-pages the firstlong prominentand remains theo un- published as of yet (we will work on that). Much has 1. According to size — depending on the number happened since then, but perhaps it is the subject for (“Games”).of people The participating main classifications in the larp. include: If the game another article. is considered big we call it brig (to our conve- nience, a word for word translation — “brig”), Gradually, the subculture has developed and the which is short for (B)olshevaya (R)olevaya (Ig)ra number of existing approaches to larp creation can (“Big Role-playing Game”). If the game is consid- compete with the diversity of Life itself. Each coun- ered small, we call it mig (word for word — “in- try, each town or village which has at least a small stant”), or (M)alaya (Ig)ra (“Small Game”). The larp community has its own roots, history, its own number of players required for a game to be con- path of development, forms and terminology. This sidered big is widely disputed, yet the number lack of centralization is indeed impractical in some 50 is the most commonly agreed on. way, yet such “natural” evolution is inevitable and 2. According to place — there are three main cat- has its advantages. One of these positive sides is, on some level, that it has led to the appearance of the so- • pavilonnayaigra (word for word — “pavilion called “academic larpers” who research the unique- game”)egories, —which a larp should which be takesmentioned: place within the ness of each approach and demonstrate the marvels boundaries of one building or structure

14 KoLa 2013 LARP IN BELARUS

• gorodskayaigra (word for word — “city game”) source, aim, setting used, freedom of player etc., — a larp which is limited by the territory of which are still arguable and may take even more of a particular settlement or, in rare occasions, sev- your attention and require profound systematiza- eral of them (these often include a number of in- tion, although it is a topic for another tale. teractive pavilion games) • poligonnayaigra or polevayaigra (word for Another difference that might be of interest is the

larp movement of Belarus an NPC is called igrotekh- oftenword outside— “range of game”town, inor the “field wild, game”) yet on — certain a larp nikapproach (word tofor the word definition — “game of technician”). NPCs. First of Their all, in func the- occasionslocated within settlements the limits could of a specific be located territory within — tions are similar to those of other NPCs throughout the boundaries of a larp territory the world — they do what they are told by the GMs. This may mean work, but not always. Within the Be- larusian larp system it often happens that some of very few exceptions. For example, in the year 2010 the characters which are vital to the project could be aAll larp these took definitions place in theare catacombsin common (not use sewers)as there unare- called NPCs to impose additional responsibility for der a city, and even though it had some features of the quality of the performance and the compliance a city game, the activities of the players were limited to the character info[6]. by the boundaries of those catacombs, which tech- nically could be considered a single structure. So a game underground has features of both types. It the tiny glimpse on the larp theory of the Republic of was even considered a separate category, commonly With this, I have to finish this article and hope that used by larpers in Moscow at the beginning of 2000s our mutual enrichment. We serve the god, which has called “underground games”. givenBelarus life is to only all otherthe first deities out of— many Imagination. in the mosaic of

all translations by the author style, methodology, structure, percentage of NPCs, There are many more classifications by: genre, time,

AUTHOR’S FOOTNOTES

1 Kot Yaraslau. Educational Larp: Topics for consideration, Wyrd Con Companion 2012, p. 116-125 2 Zhukov, Inokentiy. Two directions of schools evolution, 1918 Kot Yaraslau, Long-term larp of Inokentiy Zhukov 4 Okhlopkov, Nikolay. The Three Games / Pionerskaya Pravda 3 , 2013 5 — 22 march 1938 # 40 (2034) For her literary page see: www.samlib.ru and her personal page at a social network: www.vk.com/ 6 Kot Yaraslau, LARPs in Belarus: a glimpse into their culture id18060083 academic Companion, p. 27-28 , Branches of Play: the 2011 Wyrd Con

KoLa 2013 15 MARCIN SŁOWIKOWSKI From Dragon Eggs to the Wings of Imagination Larp Projects at International Youth Exchanges in Lublin

Larps have always constituted a separate but prominent chapter in the activity of Grimuar, a speculative fiction and RPG club from Lublin. Its members have always approached new games with unrelenting enthusiasm. The projects themselves evolved with time — from sim- ple, quest-oriented field games, through straightforward scenarios based on other works and complex tales using RPG or historical settings, to multi-layered scenarios written jointly with the players. Eventually, the club members’ commitment was noticed, and an idea was born to bring larps outside the fandom during an international youth exchange.

By that time, reports of role-playing games success- to the participants and involve them in the game, fully expanding outside the Western (and Northern) we settled on a generic fantasy setting, which is well-grounded in popular culture. We decided to Poland. Larps were used in children and youth edu- simplify the plot as much as possible, and focus on cation,speculative as well fiction as for fan staff milieu trainings. were alreadyMoreover, reaching sever- quests to introduce a decent competitive structure. al years earlier our country saw an idea to use games Because of that, we resigned from giving dramatic as an educational method in school (as proposed by roles to the participants, and instead we prepared Dr Jerzy Szeja, who presented the thesis in his book interesting, if very archetypical, Non-Player Charac- Role-playing games. A new phenomenon of the mod- ters. We assumed it would be an option better than ern culture (Gry fabularne — nowe zjawisko kultury asking a German or Ukrainian teenager to pretend to be a warrior, a druid or a rogue. appreciation. współczesnej)), however, it did not meet with much We wrote a very simple story, reminiscent of good- The offer for the club was presented by Fundacja night tales or RPG adventures run by beginner Game Masters — a realm is invaded by dark powers, which was coordinating a project for the Polish-German weaken the king with a mysterious illness. The only YouthSzczęśliwe Cooperation Dzieciństwo, programme. an NGO The from youth Lublin exchange that way to save both the ruler and his people is to gather organized in the Social Education Centre in Motycz six dragon eggs, each of different colour. The partic- ipants were divided into six international teams and Poland, Germany and Ukraine. As an integrative ac- given the time until midnight to accomplish the task. tivity,Leśny a near larp Lublin for the hosted participants young was participants proposed from for

a game proved to be quite a challenge in many as- The first team to do it won. pects.the first First evening of all, the of theparticipants exchange. had Preparing no prior suchcon- tact with role-playing games and had no idea what theThe wizard’seggs could magical be acquired amulet, by getting fulfilling some quests water given of lifeby thefor NPCs.the temple A quest priestess, could be, delivering for example, wanderer’s finding barrier — the scenario was to be played in English, spices to the inn, translating an elven text for the andthey not are. all Another of the participants serious difficulty knew was it well the enough language to dwarf, or bringing the witch a hen’s claw for her elix- communicate freely. However, in this case the enthu- ir. It was also possible for the participants to haggle siasm turned out to be at least as big as the challenge. with the NPCs and to exchange their eggs with the other teams, bearing in mind that some of the eggs The Quest for Dragon Eggs were rarer, and thus more valuable, than others.

a new approach to our larps. In order to get through We were given the whole area around the centre and We discovered that the key to success was to find

16 KoLa 2013 DRAGON EGGS

the adjacent woods to use for the game. The adven- It is worth noting that The Quest for Dragon Eggs was appreciated not only by German and Ukrainian bands, as well as “health stripes” that they had to teenagers. Half a year later the scenario was run protectturers were from provided being taken with by flashlights other teams and and reflective rogues for a group of very enthusiastic university students hiding in the forest. When it became cold — and it during the Dni Kultury Studencki (“Student Culture Days”, a student festival with concerts, events etc., or- drop by the inn for a warm meal. ganized in every city with a university in late spring did — they could warm up by the dwarf’s bonfire or — translator’s It was the NPCs who It is very likely for some parents to have later note) in Lublin. And were responsible heard about their children fighting evil in Poland another several for the atmosphere by collecting raw chicken eggs dyed with food co- months later, it was during the game. All lourings and gold spray. accepted for the the characters were written and acted out by the club members. It was game competition, organised during the Hardkon important for us to impress the participants, so we 2008 convention. Złota Brama field decided that they would not see the stylized NPCs until later, in the dark forest. Thanks to that decision Heroes of Might in Motycz Not even a year had passed before we received an- we had feared, and the wandering ghost caused the other offer to run a larp during a sports project for no-one laughed at the guy with fitted elven ears as the same youth exchange programme. Encouraged to play, as she was too afraid of him. by the positive reception of The Quest for Dragon players to flee. One of the participants even refused Eggs we decided to prepare a more ambitious game, The game turned out to be interesting enough to re- which would give its participants more possibilities. ally engage the youth. Most of them spent the next We already knew the area and facilities, and had a general idea of what we could expect from the play- participants to give up earlier and leave their teams ers — some of the participants from the previous ex- four hours on tirelessly fulfilling the tasks. The only change were coming back for this new one. We also the clock struck midnight, everyone gathered in the had a larger budget and more people. thronewere those room, with where communication a magical ritual difficulties. was performed When to banish the evil and heal the king. The winners The premise of the game was to use well-proven ele- were then ceremonially knighted. ments, namely a fantasy setting, division into teams and a quest-oriented structure. This time, however, The game was appreciated by both the participants the setting was given a more complex background, and the organisers. The NGO staff and the interpret- as well as an economical system based on resource ers were very surprised by the youth’s involvement exchange — both of which were rejected from the in the game — the participants wanted to exchange design of The Quest for Dragon Eggs. Both the title their mobile phones, expensive watches, or even pay and the objective of the larp referred to a popular the NPCs in euro for the dragon eggs. It is very likely computer game, Heroes of Might and Magic. The for some parents to have later heard about their chil- main objective of the teams was to develop their villages by erecting new buildings. To accomplish eggs dyed with food colourings and gold spray. that, the participants needed certain resources, dren fighting evil in Poland by collecting raw chicken like wood, stone, iron, gold, sulphur, and diamonds,

KoLa 2013 17 MARCIN SŁOWIKOWSKI

which they could acquire by completing quests.

represented by a jigsaw piece, the whole puzzle illus- Each of the buildings had its specific cost and was buildings were the winners. trating a finished village. The first team to build five A very prominent aspect enriching the game and creating an impression of a complex yet coherent world was the variety of Non-Player Characters. They were divided into three types, namely (1) quest-givers, who provided resources for the play- ers, like the stonemason or the lumberjack (2) sto- rytellers, whose main objective was engaging the participants into the plot and building the mood, like

introduced to diversify and motivate the teams. This thirdthe time group traveler included or the the druidEvil Queen (3) five Kruella village and rulers, four Kings — Lysander the Pious, Shaman Hok-Sha-Wo, Rogue Alfred and Dwarf King Kilovsonn.

This division made it possible for us to introduce simple quests as well as more complex sub-plots. The resources were not the only things to be col- lected — the participants could also look for infor- mation and legends that also played a major role in the game. Not only did the players prominently in-

they also acted out roles suitable for the village they belongedfluence the to. plot and what happened to the NPCs, but

During the game some of the participants turned out to be very creative with the quests they were given,

howeverthe best example two of them being arranged the finale. a marriageNone of the between teams themanaged wife-seeking to finish dwarf all five Kilovsonn buildings and in forever their village, young and beautiful Kruella. After the wedding, which was

into one, rendering the two teams the winners. played as the final scene, the two villages merged The game was applauded, especially by those of the youth who had also participated in The Quest for Dragon Eggs. We had to answer numerous questions concerning the making of such games, and were very pleased to hear that the Ukrainian group wanted to organise Heroes of Might In Motycz in their hometown.

Krystian Paździor, Visha Angelova, @Grimuar

18 KoLa 2013 DRAGON EGGS

Under the Wings of Imagination Inspired by the aforementioned projects and eager to winter snow, for one night transformed into a beau- develop our skills in an international environment, tifulThis wayworld the on centre the brinkin Motycz of destruction. Leśny, buried A deepmarket in stwo to jointly organize a youth exchange devoted Warriors arrived at an arena, led by a bloodthirsty we made an offer for Fundacja Szczęśliwe Dzieciń- harpy.appeared, An ancientfilled with elven sellers forest and became the scent a silent of apples. wit- with a fellow worker of the NGO, we wrote a proj- ness to dramatic decisions and a bearer of terrifying ectentirely on the to topic speculative for the European fiction and Union larps. programme Together secrets. Priests and mages embarked on a quest to Youth in Action. The application was rejected at the reveal the mysteries of the Dream World, a subma- - rine arrived with brash dwarves on board, and a sol- es and corrections we were awarded a grant for the itary library heard the dying words of the last mem- first attempt, but after introducing necessary chang ber of an ancient race, known as Uatu. exchange, that was to be crowned with a scenario set inorganisation an original offanta a speculative- fiction-themed youth The scenario, af- sy world. This way the centre in Motycz Leśny, buried deep ter being slightly in winter snow, for one night transformed into remodeled, was The Under the a beautiful world on the brink of destruction. also featured in the Wings of Imagina- A market appeared, filled with sellers and the second exchange, tion project encom- scent of apples. Warriors arrived at an arena, led which took place in passed two youth by a bloodthirsty harpy. An ancient elven forest autumn. It was ac- exchanges, both tak- became a silent witness to dramatic decisions companied by oth- ing place in Motycz and a bearer of terrifying secrets er, shorter games, for example a Po- them was attended by youth from Poland, Bulgaria, lish-Bulgarian larp Monte Rosa, based on original ItalyLeśny. and The Turkey. first Half of a year later, during the second documents from the turn of the 20th century, or The edition, the Polish and Bulgarian groups were joined Quest for Dragon Eggs run for a group of school chil- by partner organisations from Lithuania and Latvia. dren from Lublin. The Imaginary Realms website The project gave birth to a jointly created by the par- was also created to serve as an communication and ticipants, unique fantasy world called “The Seed”, experience sharing platform. which became the setting for a larp scenario under the same title that was published in print after the *** exchange. To describe these we would need anoth- er article, however, it is worth mentioning that one The Under the Wings of Imagination project broke of its objectives was to build the plot upon themes away from Grimuar and exceeded even our greatest drawn from the history and culture of the partici- expectations. The third edition was held in 2011 in pants’ countries. We also found inspiration in both Lithuania, and the fourth — in the beginning of July 2012, in Hungary. However, probably the most signif- in different languages to create meaningful proper icant result was the Land of Imagination project, or- names.legends and historical figures, as well as used words — an international training on using larps in youth For several days, we worked in three international exchangesganised in 2012and NGO by Fundacja projects Szczęśliwe which resulted Dzieciństwo in the publication of a handbook on the topic. players and took the roles of NPCs, the second cre- groups. The first of them wrote a scenario for fifteen well as supervised the game, and the third was re- sponsibleated a card-based for preparing mechanics the scenography,for fights and costumesmagic, as and handouts.

KoLa 2013 19 MICHAŁ MOCHOCKI, ŁUKASZ WRONA DEMOcracy Project Larp in Civic Education

Intro with the total number of 1100[2] participants. Each Pospolite Ruszenie Szlachty Ziemi Krakowskiej[I] is meeting was an autonomous entity, at the same time a historical reenactment group, as well as an NGO in- connected to others in a coherent structure mod- volved in historical and civic education. As the name suggests, our favourite period is the Polish-Lithua- nian Commonwealth[1]. Many of us have developed •elled Level on the 1: 17th 56 smaller century sejmik parliamentaryrokosz system:[4] conven- a passion for this era thanks to the Dzikie Pola RPG tions in the ziemia units and districts, each elect- and VETO! CCG, so, well aware of the educational po- [3]/ tential of games, we are eager to make good use of (1100 participants) them. In the recent years we have been involved in • Leveling 3 representatives 2: 4 general sejmik for the 2nd-levelrokosz meetings conven- the “Living History Classes” project, we published an educational card /3 largeSejm game Folwark, and The DEMOcracy project tions,reached again electing26 middle 3 delegates • Level for the3 national- we organised larps schools (gimnazjum in Polish) in 12 communes both just for fun of the Małopolska Province. Between September Sejm of 1607, (grand with fi and for historical and December 2012 we held 64 meetings (called delegatesnale): the elected national by events like Pola “interactive lessons in democracy”, or ILDs, in the the legal sejmik as- - project-speak) with the total number of 1100 par- semblies joined by MOcracy project ticipants. the rokosz delega- builtChwały[II]. on these The expe DE- tion (21 students + riences, but this time we took on a much more ambi- 11 historical reenactors playing the roles of the tious task. king, Senate, and royal court staff)

In the summer of 2011 we submitted a proposal for The Big Picture the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme. Bearing in mind the main purpose of the Programme we had third grade middle school students, reenacted the to connect our passion for the 17th century to the sejmikThe first ziemski stage, i.e.assemblies, the 56 ILDs which played combined by groups the of present-day challenges. By the enactment of the Old function of a parliamentary constituency with the functions of local administration. The pre-designed foremost — civic-mindedness, we wanted to encour- agePolish the world youth ofto politics,get interested problems, in contemporary and — first poland- itics as well as their democratic rights and respon- introducedstoryline, based the students on the 1606–1607 to the atmosphere conflict ofbetween a 17th sibilities. The main project team included Agnieszka centuryKing Sigismund szlachta III gathering. Vasa and Moreover, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, the focus on the anti-royalist rokosz opened way for discussion Krupa and Piotr Krzystek. In the fall of 2011 we got on the authority of legal government and the limits theStrojny, green Paweł light — Strojny, the proposal Łukasz was Wrona, accepted! Korneliusz of civil disobedience. Each grade represented the sejmik or rokosz convention of a different ziemia, The DEMOcracy project reached 26 middle schools voivodeship or district, scattered all over the histor- (gimnazjum in Polish) in 12 communes[III] of the sejmik - assemblies slightly outnumbering the rebellious cember 2012 we held 64 meetings (called “interactive gatherings.ical Commonwealth, All ILDs were with therun officialby three (legal) organisers, lessonsMałopolska in democracy”, Province. Betweenor ILDs, in September the project-speak) and De travelling between schools day by day. Short summa-

20 KoLa 2013 DEMOCRACY PROJECT

ries of each ILD were immediately posted on a blog All 1st- and 2nd-level events followed the same pat-

- • multimedia presentation of the political context ka(http://diariusz.projektdemokracja.pl), Province. Simultaneously, we were updating with the tern:and narrative background, plus explanation of historicalschools’ locations map of markedthe Polish-Lithuanian on the map of MałopolsCommon- the larp mechanics wealth, visualising the patterns of the political deci- • distribution of character sheets and resourc- sions made on the sejmik and rokosz meetings in the es — coloured beads representing money and game reality — in the ziemia units and districts from “business cards”, called “favours”, standing for Prussia to Lithuania and Ruthenia. the support of a high-standing person • the larp proper post-larp discussion (1st-level - games) or political science workshop (2nd-lev- cluding both the legal sejmik and half-legal rokosz con- el) ventions),With 3 delegates 168 people[5] elected atentered each of the the second 56 games stage (in of the project, divided into 7 general assemblies. In the The last stage of the project, proudly called the old Commonwealth, a general sejmik was a meeting Grand Finale, was a larp simulation of the National of delegates elected by the ziemia or district sejmik Parliament of 1607. Beside the 21 middle-school- - ers as elected delegates (12) and rokosz delegates thenia or Prussia. In our game, we activated the “gen- (9), we introduced the king and Senate played by assemblies in a large province, like Małopolska, Ru- historical reenactors. The game was followed by zovia and Lithuania, and corresponding large rokosz a discussion on the ideas of the knight’s ethos vs. the erals” of Wielkopolska and Małopolska regions, Ma citizen’s ethos and the democracy vs. republic. Then, Mazovia. Brutally violating the historical reality, we we held a panel of experts called “Past — Present”, introducedconventions a second from Wielkopolska, selection here. MałopolskaIn the 17th cen and- focused on the political heritage of the Polish-Lithua- tury, general sejmik assemblies were just a prepara- nian Commonwealth, and yet another panel of NGOs tion for the national parliament, with delegates from working for the idea of civil society. The last item on the given province trying to reach some agreement the schedule was a tour around Kraków. before they all went to the Sejm in Warsaw. For prac- tical reasons, we had to cut down the number of play- 1st and 2nd Levels — ers. Mirroring the 1st-level games, the 2nd-level larps Scenario Design and Implementation rokosz) the national Sejm. Another ahistorical decision was used the same model, based on the scenario written toalso introduce ended with gender the elections equality of — 3 representativesstarting from thefor Except for the final Sejm, all larps (royalist and sejmik meetings, girls and boys played the roles - by Michał Mochocki, Tomasz Łomnicki and Łukasz Thesefirst decisions were not easy to make as we are Wrona. After the briefing and role/resources distri practisingof delegates, reenactors, local officials always or soldiers insisting on on equal historical terms. •bution, Preparation: the game was both played religious in three factions phases: (Catholic accuracy. But we kept on reminding ourselves that and Protestant) had a separate meeting • Corridors: second, so this was a compromise we had to make. talks preceding the sejmik this project puts civic education first and historical • Sejmik: both factions met during unofficial - structions official for them gathering leading to the election of 3 delegates and formulation of written in

KoLa 2013 21 MICHAŁ MOCHOCKI, ŁUKASZ WRONA

Three staff members of Pospolite Ruszenie in histor-

ical outfits were always active in the game: Łukasz Wrona, Tomasz Łomnicki and Piotr Krzystek, each of •them Marshal playing ofa specific the sejmik: role: presided over the meet- ing, making sure it followed the procedure • Secretary: documented the meeting, e.g. took down the number of votes and the text of in- struction given to the delegates • The king’s/Zebrzydowski’s emissary: at the royal sejmik envoy, and at rokosz conventions a messenger from Zebrzydowski assemblies it was the king’s official

In the preparation phase, when Catholics and Protes- tants had two separate meetings, the Secretary and the Marshal had an additional function, namely they had to tutor the factions. They had an important task of asking the students for opinions and suggestions, the aim being to help them get into the roles and get used to voicing their thoughts. For every single one

this carefully guided “slow start” was a must. In the Corridorsof them, it phase, was the when first both contact factions with met larp and ever, went so into arguments, intrigues, and bargains, the Marshal and the Secretary backed off, leaving the initiative to the players. In the Sejmik phase, they performed their assigned duties. The emissary from the king or Zebrzydowski also made his appearance at the opening of the sejmik and read a letter from his pa- tron, reminding the szlachta of the most important matters to be discussed. When the debate was large- ly over, and the list of candidates for delegates was complete, the Marshal and the Secretary called for an electoral vote, and also for votes on the two basic

- tionissues of (1)the whatrights to and do protection about the ofking/Zebrzydowski religious freedom forproblem non-Catholics. (2) whether The or decisions not to demand made theby theconfirma sejmik were included in the “electoral instruction” which were to be obeyed by elected delegates at the Sejm.

The players received individual character sheets. We

number of students we could expect to be in a class. prepared over 30 of them, as this was the highest

@DEMOcracy Project Every sheet included the following elements:

22 KoLa 2013 DEMOCRACY PROJECT

• Title or function: judge, lieutenant, duelist etc. by the elected delegates. To spice up the argument, • Religion: Catholic or Protestant each sejmik and rokosz • Who you are: personality traits and social po- agent working for the opposing faction, who tried to sition bribe people to change meetingsides. was infiltrated by an • Views: the character’s opinions on the rokosz, religious tolerance, and other issues Some of the szlachta were completely uninterested in • Info on the title or function: a brief description public affairs and focused only on personal gains and of the character’s title or function career. That is why, beside the two basic aims (reli- • Resources: the amount of ducats, portugalösers gious and political), there were several other issues (10-ducat coins) and favour cards and objectives, not related to the big politics. For ex- • Your aims: a list of several tasks to complete ample, instigators and duelists wanted to obtain legal during the game, each task with a point value immunity as delegates or in military service in order to avoid punishment for offences, while the starosta Reenacting the 17th century society of szlachta, we wanted to see these troublemakers behind the bars. so a classroom — the sejmik room — hosted the starostaintroduced characters of various financial status, theirSeveral enemy pairs was of characters not elected were a delegate. in personal Military conflicts vet- not-so-well-off soldiers and “commoner” members eransover financial from hussars issues, andand pancernytheir aim wascavalry to make searched sure of szlachta[IV] judiciarywith officials and colonels next to for new recruits. Reenacting the 17th century society of szlachta, Others desperately we have already we introduced characters of various financial sta- needed to get mon- mentioned,no honorifics. we di As- tus, so a classroom — the sejmik room — hosted ey or political sup- vided the players the starosta, judiciary officials and colonels next port represented by into Catholics and to not-so-well-off soldiers and “commoner” mem- the favour cards. Protestants, with bers of szlachta with no honorifics. both groups start- Yellow beads (duc- ing the game in different locations. All Protestants ats), red beads (portugalösers) and the favour cards (who were always in a minority) were given the task of persuading the sejmik to declare support for the economy of our larps. Their distribution was in- - of high officials constituted resources in the virtual lic group, some were strongly opposed to this idea (oneconfirmation of their tasks of religious was “+1 tolerance. point if the In sejmik the Catho does tentionally asymmetrical, reflecting the differences Ofin no social value and to financialtheir original standing. holders, Only the a cards few of were the not care. covetedcharacters, by characterse.g. judges, in had need 3 favour of legal cards assistance to trade. or not confirm the rights of non-Catholics”), others did planning to work their way up the ladder. Charac- Still, neither of the religious groups was a monolith, divided as they were about the political issues. At the money acquired, while the wealthy ones scored the legal sejmik assemblies summoned by the king, pointsters of onlylow financial for the achievement status earned of victory political, points profes for- the bone of contention was the course of action to sional or personal goals. The unequal distribution take against the Zebrzydowski’s rebellion — at the of resources, the different values they presented to seditious rokosz meetings there was a disagreement different players, and the possibility of exchanging about the course of action against the “tyrant” king. the favour cards for gold and the other way round, as Three opinions clashed at the sejmik - well as both of them for real favours in the game (e.g. brzydowski was to be either beheaded, banished or a vote) were designed as an additional mechanism reconciled with the king. By analogy, the meetings: rokosz con Ze- stimulating the dynamics of gameplay. ventions argued if the king should be deposed, called to stand a humiliating Sejm trial or persuaded to re- Still, the election of representatives was the thing sume peace talks. The negotiated decision of the sejm- which drew the most attention and engagement. ik was to be brought to the higher-level assembly

Each 1st-level meeting elected 3 delegates for KoLa 2013 23 MICHAŁ MOCHOCKI, ŁUKASZ WRONA

2nd-level general sejmik meetings. Each szlachta

ofmember votes gothad elected. 3 votes But to spendnot everyone on anyone, had includingthe same themselves. The 3 people with the highest number Szlachta motivation, as reflected by the point value system. with the highest status and influence would onlyget 3 1 points point for(historically, getting elected; the function a military of delegates man or an average official 2 points, while the poorest chaps- penses, so people with low income were rarely in- terested).involved significant To make up travel for it, and the accommodation poor members exof the szlachta could score points for ducats and favour cards, which were less valuable (or useless) for the rich ones.

Assigning point values to character’s aims is unusual

the direction of gamism. But we were dealing with middle-schoolin larps, and it studentsdefinitely with pushes zero the experience playing instyle larps in or RPGs, so we could not expect dedicated acting or immersion. We had to take into account the risk of players getting all silly, or paralysed with stress, or simply at a loss. That is why we decided on a clear, point-based system which, in a way, would instruct the players on what they could do to succeed in the game. It also acted as a motivating factor which could make the players involved in the game even without immersing in the role or narrative. Moreover, they scored points in order to get a prize. What prize? The Konsensus board game that we published in 800 copies for this particular project. Students with suf-

the board game. But we do not think a material prize makesficient scoresa huge (usuallydifference. 50–100% As we saw of theseveral group) weeks got later, while running 2nd-level games with no prizes whatsoever, competition and task orientation are motivating enough.

Each meeting was followed by a talk about the larp and about the political and social issues. We com- pared the elements of Old Polish parliamentarism to the democracy of today, emphasising the differ- ences between the past and present states. We did not have to be worried about distorting the image of

asked after the game who could participate in the sej- the periodassemblies by the of gender the Commonwealth, equality element: the whenstudents we @DEMOcracy Project mik knew well it were male members of the szlachta only.

24 KoLa 2013 DEMOCRACY PROJECT

The 2nd-level games were also followed by politi- (the Marshal of the Sejm in one faction, the pres- cal science workshops, with a great majority of stu- ident of the rokosz delegation in the other) dents expressing very interesting political opinions • First session and their own ideas for an ideal state. However, the king and the senate, followed by a session of careless and inconsistent use of political vocabulary the House of Representatives (30 minutes): together welcome with of the rokosz delegates confused and unable to navigate in the terminologi- • Corridors cal(like chaos. right/left-wing) Further analysis in the of mediathe records makes from students these workshops should shed more light on the problem, king) in the (30royal minutes): castle and a in day-off, the city filled with • Conclusion:unofficial meetings a joint ofsession all parties of the (except House offor Rep the- - resentatives, the rokosz delegates, the Senate ipantsand help declared us evaluate they wouldthe efficiency vote in ofthe our next methods. parlia- - mentaryJust one election.more stat: 93% of the nearly 1100 partic cial register of new bills signed by all the parties involvedand the king, ending with the creation of the offi The Grand Finale! Students played the same characters all the way of December in the Auditorium Maximum hall at the from the 1st-level sejmik meetings, but they were JagiellonianThe final stage University of the project in Kraków. took Withplace the on studentsthe 17th given new character sheets with a much longer list having participat- of tasks (with point ed in two larps be- Each meeting was followed by a talk about the values, as usual). At fore, there was no larp and about the political and social issues. We the 1st-level sejmik need for the “how- compared the elements of Old Polish parliamen- meetings, players to-play” intro. The tarism to the democracy of today, emphasising had 4–6 separate attendance was the differences between the past and present tasks each — and - states. this time it was sentatives elected more than 10! at100%: the 2nd-levelall 21 repre games showed up (with the trans- port to Kraków and back home arranged as a part of the project). After a short welcome, introduction to • “your most primary aim”, worth 5 points, was the particular event in the story, and distribution of Thereassigned were four on typesindividual of aims: basis — those who had resources, the game continued. performed exceptionally well as players and speakers in the previous stages were charged - with the task of getting elected for the Marshal ed with a preparation phase for the two factions in of the Sejm (legal representatives) or the leader separateThe final locations, scenario, followed like the by previous a united ones, Corridors start of the delegation (rokosz); other “most primary”

committee to verify the text of the Sejm docu- grandstage andSejm the which official also session. had to This accommodate time we had a jointfour aims included: getting elected a member of the sessionphases, of reflecting the House the of historical Representatives procedure with of the senators, or obtaining a new title Senate and the king. The two factions were no longer • twomentation, “instructional” collecting aims 3 favour, 2 points cards each, from were the - copied from the instructions given to the play- cial delegates elected at the sejmik meetings against ers by their electorate at the 2nd-level general thedivided delegates along thecoming religious from line: the this main time rokosz we set camp offi located near Warsaw. We had 2 hours for the entire sejmik (howmeeting; to solve these the aims rokosz reflected issue) the and attitude the religious of the one (tolerance to both andfundamental protection issues: for non-Catholics) the political game, including briefing, resources distribution etc., • then, we had a sequence of faction aims, each •so eachPreparation phase was designed for about 30 minutes: - worth 1 or 2 points, organised in two identical tion and the appointment of each faction leader sets, one for the rokosz delegates, the other for (15 minutes): delegates verifica

KoLa 2013 25 MICHAŁ MOCHOCKI, ŁUKASZ WRONA

the legal representatives; some of these aims a split second, with no-one willing to speak apart were contradictory (legal delegates — 2 points if from a starosta and an instigator (the interaction at the rokosz group agrees to settle all public mat- this very moment had been implemented in their pri- ters on the legal Sejm, rokosz — 2 points if the vate aims). People running for the post of the Sejm delegates agree to suspend the Sejm and come to Marshal volunteered by raising hands, and they had the rokosz camp), others were important for one to be persuaded to say a few words of self-presenta- faction only and irrelevant for the other tion. But the anxiety quickly faded away. We staged • financial aim a brief greeting of the king and the senate, and soon for each portugalöser in your possession at the endfinally, of theeach game” person had a : “1 point the royal hand) the game was in full swing. after the official opening ceremony (with a kiss on Only the senators had favour cards. Players were Corridors given beads they knew from the previous games — session and the beginning of a day-off — this was the outnumbering the rokosz group 12 to 9, we gave Corridors30 minutes phase. later Withwe announced the disappearance the end of thethe minfirst- moreducats money and portugalösers. to the rokosz Withmembers the official to even delegates the eco- utes-writing Secretary and the procedural frame- nomic power of factions. work, the players now walked around the hall, plot- ting and arguing in small groups, sometimes joined A novelty was the large number of costumed reen- by the senators. Actually, the senators soon found

and rokosz delegates hunting for the favour cards actors: Marek Piwoński as King Sigismund III Vasa, (eachthemselves senator besieged had a few by to the give official away). representatives Persuaded by Paweł Strojny, Łukasz Pleśniarowicz, Korneliusz the legal delegates (who had it on the list of faction asKrupa, security. Tomasz We also Łaska had and two Sławomirpeople inside Furtak the asHouse the aims), the rokosz group sent a letter to Zebrzydow- ofSenate, Representatives. Michał Link-Lenczowski Planted as a “mole”and Piotr between Krzystek the ski, asking him to come to the Sejm in person and lay

appeared as the Marshal of the previous Sejm. Her refusal that we had prepared in advance. It was a real specialstudent-delegates, task was to Alicjarun (with Mochocka the help (13 from years the Sec old)- shamedown specific we had complaints. to stop the TheyCorridors soon gotphase a reply after with an- - tion of a new Marshal, to whom she handed over the “presiding”retary) the representativesduties and participated verification in the and rest the of elec the theother time 30 tominutes, conclude. as this could easily be carried on game as a regular delegate. This was also a new and for twice as long. But the clock was relentless: it was a bit risky thing. Previously, all the 1st and 2nd-lev- Final (Joint) Session el games were marshalled by one of the organisers. As the king and the senators again took their seats This time we decided to put this responsibility into in the chamber, the Secretary and the Marshal of the the hands of a student, supported by an NPC Secre- Sejm started to address all issues discussed in the - ing down the minutes, had to supervise the proce- duretary (Tomaszand prompt Łomnicki). the Marshal The Secretary,when needed. beside Neither writ opposedfirst session. to the For chaotic a while, and stage emotional fright again discussions loomed - inover small us, groupsas this wasjust anow while official earlier. public But thespeaking, students as ics, their only duty was to “service” the players and managed to overcome it. Passionate speeches were of the NPCs was given specific aims or game mechan made, “Objection!” was heard, arguments were as the Marshal of the court could freely move be- waged over details, matters already discussed were tweenact in the the appropriate House of Representatives Sejm scenes. Michał and the Mochocki Senate brought back, with the conclusion prolonged from chamber, coordinating the game on the run. said that at times he had felt as if he had been watch- Preparation & First Session ingthe ascheduled real 17th 30 century to 45 minutes.Sejm. The Afterwards, rokosz group the dwin king- The start of the game was dominated by stage fright. dled, with several of the members publicly admitting rugi[6]) passed by in their mistakes and apologising to the king. However,

The delegate verification ( 26 KoLa 2013 DEMOCRACY PROJECT we cannot say the rokosz faction lost the game, as This was a translation of our paper “Projekt nearly all of their requests were met, and the re- - maining few were not rejected but postponed to the lished in Polish in the proceedings of Druga Kon- next Sejm. Our Sejm reached a happy ending, with DEMOkracja: LARP w edukacji obywatelskiej” pub a mutual agreement and a call for reconciliation. an exact translation, with the addition of footnotes Iferencja found necessaryLarpowa (Januaryfor non-Polish 2013). readers.It’s more Now or less I’d What now? like to add an afterword I posted on the website of Now we need to sort our memories and impressions, analyse the evaluation questionnaires, think over the - discussions and workshops we have had; in general, my next edu-historical-larp project (see on: https:// we must bring out the educational value of nearly sites.google.com/site/edularp2013/home/mysli 200 hours spent with the young citizens. And now Atpokonferencjilarpowej): the 2nd Larp Conference

(Facebook: https://www.- Forlet us me give and the other floor students to some in ofmy them: school, the Democra- kaszfacebook.com/events/436385023088651/), Wrona and I presented Project DEMOcracy that (see to- cy project gave us much food for thought, and made ok place on the 11th to 13th January in Wrocław, Łu us realise what democracy looked like in the past. I’m not a fast learner, unfortunately, but with this project, theon: idea http://www.projektdemokracja.pl/) of the project was civic and historical which edu had- without the need to sit over books, I gained a lot of cationjust been in juniorcompleted high schools,in December. carried Briefly out by speaking, a series knowledge. not just larps. We also had workshops, discussions, aof board larps game(more etc., than but 1000 larps first-time were the larpers!). key element. Well, I find —your Marzena larps a Mędrek, great thing. gimnazjum In an interesting in Czernichów and At KoLa, the larping community gave us so much en- fun way, they deliver knowledge about history and dorsement, with so many people asking about the contemporary politics. I never thought fun and learn- second run, that I started to seriously consider it. We ing could be so efficiently combined! hadn’t planned a second run, but now it seems to be — Arkadiusz Kowalski, gimnazjum in Rybna on the table. Think 2014, the year of election for lo- cal government, or 2015 — for national parliament, *** perhaps? In high schools (not middle schools), with

a few months later. On a national scale, i.e. around cities18/19-year-olds with larp teams eligible willing to vote and inable real to electionsrun our games. For the time being, the idea has to be shelved. I already have too many projects going on. But that’s

something I definitely want to dig outMichał next year.Mochocki

KoLa 2013 27 MICHAŁ MOCHOCKI, ŁUKASZ WRONA

AUTHORS’ FOOTNOTES

1 The term pospolite ruszenie of the Rzeczpospolita Szlachecka (Republic of Szlachta) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), which called refersto arms to aall specific able-bodied variation szlachta of levée members en masse — established without townsfolk in the time or peasants. In broader sense, now it can denote any kind of publicly announced initiatives calling for mass participation. The direct translation of pospolite ruszenie is “public movement”. 2 In the Polish version published in Druga Konferencja Larpowa, it says 1400 participants, as this was the total number of students reported by their teachers. Now, when we have calculated the

standing for absences. real number recorded in attendance lists, it turned out to be around 1100, with the missing 300 Sejmik sejm ziemia or district, summoned by the king to elect delegates for the upcoming sejm — national parliament 3 (or, to elect (literally: delegates a small for judicial) — bodies). a small Besideassembly its primaryof citizens purpose, living withina sejmik a alsospecific functioned as a local government. 4 Rokosz — an anti-royalist rebellion of citizens against the misconduct or incompetence of the Crown, legally sanctioned as a legitimate act of civil disobedience. Seen as the last resort in the defence of civil liberties. 5 162 of them showed up. 6 Rugi poselskie

— the first step taken at the Sejm to verify the legitimacy of mandates. TRANSLATORS’ FOOTNOTES

I Szlachta — the noble class of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, holders of many privileges and landed property. What should be noted is that szlachta was very diverse in terms of lifestyle and wealth, with some of its impoverished members possessing nothing more than their legal status and forced to become tenants to wealthier gentry. II Pola Chwały -

(Fields of Glory) — an annual event in Niepołomice, dedicated to history, its recon III struction and education; for more information, please see: http://www.polachwaly.pl/index.php (which is the historical equivalent of province; in Polish, these two units still share the name wo- jewództwoThe text mentions), district several (powiat Polish), ziemia administrational (lit. “land”, historical units, from only) the and largest: commune province, (gmina voivodeship). IV Starosta

— a title of a royal administrative official. It can be roughly translated as “elder”.

28 KoLa 2013 DEMOCRACY PROJECT

KoLa 2013 29 KUBA TABISZ House of Dreams

In October 2012, it finally happened! During a one-day event, theatre, visual arts and larps became one. Born among trials and tribulations, the experiment turned out to be a success and the first step towards something new. Here it is — the game of art, and the art of game.

Difficult beginnings The Academy students had many different ideas. The idea for House of Dreams came to my mind af- A corridor full of tinfoil hair, which created a peculiar ter we had given up on organising a festival that was agons — geometrical models made solely of paper and art. A group of students from the Academy of whichchamber could full ofbe candy freely waiting rotated, to bea boardfound, gamestrange based flex- supposed to unite RPGs, larps, speculative fiction- on the relationship between a man and a woman — cial interactive installations for that event. Along these are just several of the crazy ideas we created Fine Arts in Wrocław had undertaken to create spe together. Academy, we decided not to give up on the possibility towith mobilize Violetta young Łata, artiststhe project and combinecoordinator their from works the All the works of art needed to be fully interactive — with something more theatrical and larp-like. which meant that every participant could and did touch them. It created more problems, as some of the July came, and we were still looking for a good team. artists did not want to expose their works for poten- tial damage. Many of the Academy students resigned pondering on scenarios, scriptwriters and how to because of time shortage or lack of interest in such useViola various was bravely works. fighting We received for the a artists, green whilelight toI was or- a project.

Centre, which gave us access to the entire two-storey On the other hand, it was really inspiring to come into buildingganize the with project a variety in the of Światowid rooms and Creativepossibilities. Activity We contact with a different way of perceiving the world needed actors as well — fortunately, we were given expressed with pictures, sculptures or patterns. a helping hand from a theatre group lead by Ada Biela. Each of these works gave new and unusual ideas for the scriptwriters. Thanks to joint effort, we managed The name House of Dreams was supposed to express to give totally new meanings to many works. the diversity of dream visions, which enabled us to mix various artistic concepts, which sometimes were 15-minute gaming very different from one another. The main theme The idea of a larp-like approach to art did not come was expressed in the subtitle of the project — The from nowhere. Several years ago, along with some Game of Art, the Art of Game. We intended to engage other scriptwriters I ran a series of larp meetings the audience to play with the artists’ works as well whose construction concept proved to be very help- as to encourage the artists to create a game together ful in this new task. My original idea was for the par- with the audience. ticipant to enter the room where the scenario took place in any chosen moment. The rules, concise and Art vs. larp to-the-point, were written down on a board. Addi- Working with artists is not an easy task. We went tional help was provided by staff who acted out roles through numerous disputes concerning both justi- building the mood, and gave appropriate tips. - nario and purely personal problems. This 5- to 15-minute games construction was later fied interpretations of works included in a given sce utilized in House of Dreams. The event was com-

30 KoLa 2013 HOUSE OF DREAMS

prised of 4 such ongoing scenarios. Each of them Experiments and more was staffed by one person, who was to trigger the in- Four other installations did not require any actors to teraction with the participants. Visitors came alone be present. The participants visiting them initiated or in groups. They could be joined by others in any the interaction by themselves. For instance, On i Ona moment. For example, Lalki opowieści (Story Dolls) (Him and Her) required them to sit on two sides of presented its participants with puppets placed next a board and move the game pieces according to in- structions found on a piece of paper, which was put them, for example “a farewell”. A participant chose on the wall. ato puppet easels withand approachedcertain situations a given briefly situation, described starting on the story. An actor or another participant took an- Apart from the artistic installations, House of Dreams other doll, and together they created an ad-hoc tale. also featured larps, freeforms, a fashion show, and After this mini-per- traditional theatre - The event was comprised of 4 such ongoing sce- performances at ished, the visitor narios. Each of them was staffed by one person, a set time. This way, wroteformance down was their fin who was to trigger the interaction with the par- various short and ideas or a promi- ticipants. Visitors came alone or in groups. They longer forms com- nent dialogue piece. could be joined by others in any moment. plemented one an- This way the empty other. For this part, and meanings. and lighting equipment. Many of the visitors who paper sheet was gradually filled with new concepts camewe used with a theatre the intention room, fitted to see with the a performancesproper sound Casting required the participants to enter the room took tours of all the installations during the inter- - vals. This set program included Footfalls and Krapp’s proached by a staff member running the casting, and Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, directed by Ada Biela, givenone by a game one. card The with first a personlist of emotions to arrive and was scenes ap a Norwegian larp scenario Falne stjerner run by Bar- that they were supposed to act out. The participant Włosy, inspired was then to go around the corner, to the part of the by Japanese mystery tales. It should be noted that room which was covered in mirrors, and where the tek Zioło, and my freeform scenario

Every member of the jury had a number next to theEntrance games to saw the first-time House of players Dreams taking part in them. them.jury was The present candidate — was several to present masks fittedthe scenes to chairs. they The event was free of charge. Our expenses, spent on had received earlier. The rest of the participants that artistic materials and shipping, were no higher than stayed behind the wall could hear what the candi- 400 zlotys. It was a relatively modest budget for an date was saying, but they could not see to whom. At artistic event. Our promotion was limited to the lo- any moment, the staff member could play some re- cordings — sounds of applause, whistles, and gasps. was organized, we didn’t get much coverage. Howev- The recordings had varied effects on the participants cal media. As it was the very first time such an event — some of them were amused, others were motivat- about us. ed to try harder. The casting ended with the partic- er, several prominent portals, like TuWrocław, wrote ipant choosing the member of the jury most partial It was possible to enter and leave the House at any to them. moment.

KoLa 2013 31 KUBA TABISZ

Mistakes, mistakes We couldn’t avoid making mistakes. House of Dreams started at noon, and lasted as long as 12 hours, while an 8-hour form would be better — especially as the majority of the participants did not turn up earlier than on late afternoon, and the morning visitors did not last until the evening programme.

Logistics wasn’t great either. One of the artists was over two hours late because there was nobody to give her a lift. Many of the staff were also late. Moreover, there was no possibility to revise or practice some of the ideas before the presentation proper. Fortunately they were all interesting enough to be appreciated sooner or later.

In the end, not the end House of Dreams was visited by over 80 people. Most of them spent several hours with us, during which they had contact with both visual arts, larps and the- atre. We succeeded in creating something new, and it worked despite many problems. This event left us with rich documentation and experience how to or- ganize such events in a more professional way and avoid mistakes.

We also managed to prove that larps and freeforms may be successfully used both as art and as means of presenting art to common people. The strength of these forms lies in showing those of us who are un- likely to ever visit an art gallery the works of young artists in a completely new and appealing light.

We had to wake up from House of Dreams — but we do not rest on our laurels. We are already working on the continuation, looking for new inspirations as well as an even more interesting location to present a new version of this unique union of larps and art.

Violetta Łata

32 KoLa 2013 HOUSE OF DREAMS

KoLa 2013 33 S. KŁOSSOWICZ, M. KRZYWOSZYŃSKI larp video game HIGH_RISE RPG

The origin which, thanks to their modular construction, could We’ve been great fans of everything connected to be used to build labyrinths for various stages of the game. What’s more, the claustrophobic atmosphere of the constructed levels stirred imagination which wantedscience to fiction create ever a comic since strip I remember. in this setting. Devouring Look- ingheaps for ofinspiration, books, cartoons, we went films to Pyrkon and games, (a convention we even graphic, and special effects. Another advantage of thewe thenscreens bombarded was that by they various “removed” stimuli: the light, elements sound, weren’t disappointed. We played many diverse and interestingin Poznań in games, late March and had— translator’s the pleasure note) of taking— we screens they were practically invisible, and that in part in the XF-001 scenario. It was an action-packed turnedof surroundings built the unfittingatmosphere. the gameLastly, — we thanks upheld to the illusion by hiding the backstage. was a walk through the tunnel of fears. It was then thatscience-fiction we realised chamber that there’s larp. aThe niche idea for for this this kind game of Setting — the message games. On top of that, there was the theme which was Once we’d decided on the main idea of High_Rise, we pretty heavy and not very popular with larps — hard had to create a plot which would intrigue the players, SF. Inspired by this project, we started dreaming of creating a game which we would like to play our- often try to grasp new things by referring to familiar, selves. Of course, we also wanted to develop science testedand fit schemata. the cyberpunk Thus, trying setting. not We to knewbe innovative that people just - for the sake of it, we used a compilation of selected coming Polcon 2012 convention, we had a chance to testfiction our by ideas exploring and get new feedback. artistic territories.Our larp fell With in with up whole set and, based on our vision of cyberpunk, we choseworks these of art, ideas books, which games would and allow films. us We and ordered our future the We wanted to talk about people, or to be more pre- players to answer the question, “What does it mean to cise,the theme about beingof the human, convention: and the the best end setting of the for world. that be human?” One of the requirements for playing the was cyberpunk.

Believe, feel, experience Atlarp the was end reading of the the22nd introduction century, global to the megacorpora game setting:- The core of this larp was creating an environment tions plunged the world into crisis. Their impact on which, with the use of the set, costumes, and props, international economy and politics led to an exten- would be realistic enough to help the world of the sive devastation of the natural environment. In 2170, game supplant reality as we know it. From experi- Lighthouse becomes the most influential Asian corpo- ence, we knew that more interaction with the sur- ration worldwide. It carries out research into the out- roundings means deeper immersion for the players, put and processing of strategic resources, computer and military technology, and bioengineering, in the question, “What can be done to create an impres- devastated and contaminated areas of former coun- sionjust likethat in a smallfield larps.room Weis actually asked ourselvesa vast space?” a simple The tries it’s swallowed up. One day they lose radio con- tact with one of their research sky towers running a where an important factor was the level design. space colonization program. An elite unit of security Seriesanswer such was asright Doom, there Resident in horror Evil, sci-fi Unreal, video or games, Dead and technicians is sent there to fix the problem. They Space built on small interiors where you fought for arrive at the place only to find out that the complex your life feeling like an animal in the cage. Bearing has been shut due to an emergency and the causes of this in mind, we came up with the idea of screens the breakdown remain unknown.

34 KoLa 2013 HIGH RISE

of the plot and acting; the latter was mainly about room where the larp was to take place (2) an ele- - mentThe action in the in plot the which game explainedwas designed changes to fit between (1) the tion tests. Implants were an additional element en- levels and the presence of screens. The ambiguous richingfighting the opponents, game. They technical served activities as an ace andup the other sleeve ac opening sequence was a great kick-off for solving and, at times, as the character’s last resort. Apart mysteries and answering questions, which the play- from these, players and their opponents had stamina ers did while picking up clues on the way. This al- points, which equaled the number of hit points they lowed us to confront two hostile groups which were could lose before they died. The script was about made to cooperate in extreme conditions. Eventually, hostile relations between representatives of two dif- the players reached a neat twist which resolved most ferent social groups, so we decided to highlight these of the queries. enmities even more by giving characters certain oc- cupations. There Characters We ordered the whole set and, based on our vi- are two character Creating clear di- sion of cyberpunk, we chose these ideas which visions in the soci- would allow us and our future players to answer soldiers, whose pri- the question, “What does it mean to be human?” classes in the game: world of the future and defend, and allowedety of our us to fictional divide our players into two groups (the technicians, who explored the skyority tower was complex. to fight Each of the classes was equipped with a set of abili- egoistic, actively identifying itself with the corpora- tionnumber (2) altruistic,of people looselywas to fit related the size to theof the corporation. room) (1) tiesRunning fitting the the game character’s functions. dire conditions were to make the players identify To minimize the costs, we decided to use the materi- themselvesAn open conflict with andtheir the characters obligation and to cooperateimmerse in the world we created. Since the reality presupposed for old electronic parts, building materials, carnival ornaments,als we’d find and in our disco attics equipment. and basements. Since we’re We lookedan air- into characters by providing them with basic props soft group, most of the military equipment was our anduniformity costumes. of outfits,Uniform we clothes transformed forced the the players players to own stuff. The next step of the project was creating externalize their character’s individual personality models of opponents. We wanted the players to come traits in their behaviour. into physical contact with their enemies. Inspired by the ‘80s movies’ dolls and marionettes, we formed Mechanics a tech group (responsible for special sound and light The larp used our original mechanics inspired by effects, as well as the set) who managed to spark life video games and RPG. It was based on (1) character into the creatures and the system of traps and secu- sheets (ID badges on neck straps) which described rity devices in the building. combat, tech, and class abilities — with their val- ues depending on the character class (2) the P.U.S.S. Deck system — a deck of cards with multipliers for players the possibility to log into records of the em- abilities. This card mechanics allowed us to control ployeesTo build who’d up the worked science-fiction on different setting, levels we through gave the - sky tower system’s database. To do that, they needed ing, and the other based on rounds. The former was a numeric password. The program supporting the ter- aboutthe game solving on two mysteries, levels: theuncovering one based the on intricacies storytell

minal and all the records were written specifically for

KoLa 2013 35 S. KŁOSSOWICZ, M. KRZYWOSZYŃSKI

the purpose of the game.

Assembling the whole installation for the High_Rise larp was laborious because of the substantial num-

the plot. Teamwork and precision were extremely important.ber of details While which the influenced tech team thewere development running their of

game, distributing costumes and equipment. final tests, we were introducing the players to the Conclusion Because of the efforts of the organizers and the in- volvement of the players, High_Rise proved to be a - ferent from all our other projects. Our original idea, itssuccessful execution, show the directedplayers’ satisfactionin a way significantly and their need dif for more convinced us to continue the project. Now- adays access to multimedia is so easy that the plot of one project may be incorporated into other media and continued. That’s why we want to create a series which will interweave the stories of the same char- acters and places, and whose events will shape the future of the whole world we’ve created.

@HIGH_RISE

36 KoLa 2013 HIGH RISE

KoLa 2013 37 KUBA TABISZ City Games are Larps

Every time I read a newspaper article about a city game attended by hundreds of people, I wonder why there’s nothing on larps there. When I participate in yet another larp that sev- eral geeks have prepared for a group of their friends, I think I understand what the problem is. However, city games are actually not so different from other live games. What are city games? First of all, the team — Miejskie Puzzle City games are direct descendants of scouts’ games. When my adventure with city games started in 2011, They’re based on scouting and orienteering, so they I decided to cooperate with a prestigious institution. often emphasize elements such as time pressure It so happened that in the second half of September

are also tasks, similar to those hidden in envelopes (Lower Silesian Architecture Festival) was organized and searching for specific locations on a map. There bythe afirst respected edition andof Dolnośląski resourceful Festiwal Stowarzyszenie Architektury Ar- city games are run in urban areas, and for several chitektów Polskich (Polish Architects Association yearsduring they’ve scouts’ beenfield games.enjoying As aimplied golden by age their of name,sorts. — SARP). A city game was perfect for an event ded- icated to architecture and urbanism. That’s why the city games run every year during various festivals organizers were eager to cooperate, especially as the andEven other only cultural in Wrocław, events. there They are were several organized dozens by of only cost they were to bear was printing the materi-

of mistakes, and the biggest of them was the lack of forsuch example institutions there’s as Polish a dwarf State game Railways organised or Ośrodek every aals. good Of course,team. Only with two my people very first actually game worked I made on a thelot year,Pamięć and i Przyszłość. the opening Their of the themes renovated were alsocentral diverse, rail- way station was accompanied by a game about the graphics and contacts with SARP. In consequence, importance of railway in the city. City games are reg- everythinggame concept: was me done and inAda the Biela, last whopossible dealt moment, with the ularly attended by hundreds of people. and up until the very end we didn’t know if we would have enough volunteers for the task checkpoints, or Why are they so popular? if enough participants would show up. There were It’s a simple question to answer. City games enjoy simply too few of us for the project. Miejskie Puzzle good publicity, are easily accessible, and participat- ing in them often can result in winning some kind that most city games are based on. There were ten of a prize. As in many other types of games, the key points(City Jigsaw) on the was map, a modification connected toof aone standard another model and - recognizable thanks to buildings representative of jectives. However, unlike board and video games or - mostelements larps, are city competition games usually and let fulfilling participants certain “play ob pants were divided into teams. Unlike during regular themselves” and use their own personal skills. It citythe moderngames, they architecture could start of playing Wrocław. from The any partici point. surely helps them to get into their roles better. City Everyone that successfully completed one or two of game participants usually expect fun connected with the designed routes in within a given time limit re- urban exploration or an interesting story. Although ceived prizes — albums and T-shirts from the festival their individual expectations differ, everyone is easi- organisers. The mechanism that allowed to start the ly carried away by the magic of the game. In addition, game from anywhere resulted in the game, originally depending on the game, it may be enjoyed by whole designed for thirty people, attracting around seven- families, youth or adults. All this results in city games ty participants, which was an unquestionable suc- gaining in popularity and participation. cess and made me realize the potential of this kind

38 KoLa 2013 CITY GAMES

of games. The game also had educational value, as remuneration for the designers, the graphic and the it let the participants discover the city from a whole staff. This time we’ve prepared as many as 20 tasks, new perspective. However, it didn’t change the fact divided between four paths — knowledge, theatre, that city games need a good team of organisers and communication and adventure. Everything we did enough time to prepare everything. In the case of regular larps such teams are found, at least now, question, “What is language?”. This topic brought us manywas to problems, help the participantsbut also lots offind fun. the The answer educational to the are written by one or two people, and sometimes in aspect was essential, but it didn’t make the game any aonly rather in field slapdash games. manner Unfortunately, which affects most Polish their quallarps- less enjoyable. There were over one hundred partici- pants, including adults, youth and families with chil- dren. It was possible to join the game at one of the groupity. In andturn, the the event difference between field games and four starting points, thatcity gamesthe game lies ismainly to in theCity clearly game specified participants target usually expect fun con- which were also be a part of. City nected with urban exploration or an interest- used to enroll new games are usually ing story. Although their individual expectations participants. This written in a month differ, everyone is easily carried away by the time, the best of — compared to magic of the game. them received spe- a year in the case of cial prizes, and the rest small gifts. The tasks were so varied and families with children or architecture festival atten- time-consuming that none of the teams managed many field games — and are targeted at, for example, to complete them within 4 hours, which eliminated, for example, the complaints about the game not be- dants,Poszukiwacze and not speculativejęzyków — fiction fans. ing challenging enough. Apart from new experience, a game for the European Council Poszukiwacze języków also gave us something much The next game, and a far greater challenge, was Po- more important — a team of designers. szukiwacze języków (Language Hunters) prepared for the celebrations of the European Day of Languag- Dewizy Śmierci — a larp-like detective story Before a month passed, we were creating another comparison — the budget for Miejskie Puzzle was aroundes in Wrocław 600 zlotys in September plus prizes, 2012. whereas For thethe sakebudget of - MFK).scenario, Excited this by time the for earlier Międzynarodowy successes, we Festiwaldecided resentation was 5 thousand zlotys plus prizes. Po- toKryminału introduce (International elements that Crime are typical Fiction for Festival larps into — szukiwaczefor the game języków for the Wrocław EU Commission Rep the new city game, entitled Dewizy śmierci (Death Miejskie Puz- zle had a team of two was designers created and by five10 volunteers. designers, zlotys, which we could use only for print-outs and Thisa graphic, clearly and shows 23 volunteers, the difference whereas in scale between props.Currency). The money This time was our managed budget by was our 3partner thousand or- the two projects. However, it turns out that the the ganisation — Fabryka Tajemnic, which, along with sum of 5 thousand zlotys is actually not very big for the organisers of the festival, was also responsible such a project. A certain company that prepares city for the promotion of the game. What exactly did we games for commercial purposes charges even 11 draw from larps? The plot revolved around a murder thousand zlotys for smaller events. The budget was committed in the communist times. The suspects, spent on game materials, print-outs, props, and small played by 15 volunteer actors, interacted with teams

KoLa 2013 39 KUBA TABISZ

of detectives, members of the Civic Militia, and rel- during the game. This way, big cardboard “ads” of the atives of the victim — a woman named Kamila. In- - stead of checkpoints and tasks, as in the previous two rons. The budget for the project was 4 thousand zlo- games, we decided to create a simulation of a real, tys.game We covered had 11 the actors Wrocław for the main game. square This time, and its various envi living city. All the actors had their own duties, as well tasks and stories connected to cinnamon shops from as free time. Their character sheets were similar to Schulz’s prose were intertwined with a sub-plot of the ones used in larps, and they included a detailed the struggle between order and chaos. By choosing whom to help, the participants caused either chaos when he was supposed to be at his station, and when heschedule was free. — forAmong example, the volunteersa Civic Militia there officer were knew also the actors’ attitudes towards the teams. For the sake characters of murderers, who committed more mur- ofor clarity,order tothe win. overall Completing status of specifica team wastasks represent changed- ders during the game. It was their choice which of the ed by coloured stamps on their cardboard briefcase. actors they wanted to dispose of, and that in turn cre- The collected stamps were also points for which priz- ated new clues and possibilities for the participants to uncover the culprit. This larp-like experiment had to be found after collecting clues from the actors. made (1) the organisers surprised several times (2) Afteres (books) getting were there, given every in the team end. had The a finalconversation location with the organisers about their achievements, and is responsible — active and feeling threatened. Al- could hold an old briefcase with a prop manuscript thoughthe plot thenon-linear scope of (3) the actors — unaware of who of The Messiah, control was smaller We focused on other interesting elements — Schulz’s lost nov- than in regular city including the title briefcases (made of card- el. It was enough games, the experi- board), which were used by each team as a prop to see the enthu- ment proved to be and to mark their progress during the game. This siastic faces of the successful. 200 peo- way, big cardboard “ads” of the game covered the participants to ple took part in the Wrocław main square and its environs. This time, realize how much game, and we had various tasks and stories connected to cinnamon fun they had. For to turn down many shops from Schulz’s prose were intertwined with every team Mesjasz because the game a sub-plot of the struggle between order and cha- w Walizce consti- would become too os. tuted a very dif- crowded. Those who ferent experience, even though many of them performed similar actions the biggest number of props, received prizes — and took part in the same sub-plots. The city game booksmanaged funded to find by theone festivalor two organiser.murderers, or acquired that spanned three hours was attended by over one hundred people. Our premise was to create a game Mesjasz w Walizce — good ideas play out smaller than Dewizy Śmierci. It should be noted that many participants of the previous game played this edition of Festiwal Imienia Brunona Schulza (Bruno one as well, because they liked the quality and design SchulzIn November, Festival). the Encouraged MFK creators by the organised previous thesuccess, first of Dewizy Śmierci. Step by step, we started to develop they asked us to organise another city game. Mesjasz a solid audience. w walizce (Messiah in a Briefcase) was a game totally different from the previous ones. The literary theme Why city games aren’t larps? — Schulz’s prose — and much worse weather forced It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for quite us to look for new solutions. Due to lack of prepa- some time. Up until now, I’ve associated city games ration time (the game was created within the re- with a rather primitive amusement, based on com- cord time of one and a half week) we resigned from pleting series of checkpoints and tasks. Nothing making a map of the game area. Instead, we focused really interesting. And indeed, most city games are on other interesting elements — including the title badly-prepared, unoriginal, and really schematic. It briefcases (made of cardboard), which were used doesn’t stop their authors from earning a lot of mon- by each team as a prop and to mark their progress

ey and turning up on the first pages of newspapers. 40 KoLa 2013 CITY GAMES

Of course, there are some exceptions as some city Our team, Wrocławskie Gry Miejskie (Wrocław City games are really creative, but these are still rare. At Games), is composed of Ada Biela, Katarzyna Górska, the same time, most people have no idea about larps. Violetta Łata, Izabela Kowalik, Tomasz Jeznach and Almost no one would come and write an article on Jakub Tabisz.. the quality of the scenario. It should come as no sur- prise.a larp However, made in basing Wrocław city orgames Gdańsk, on larp-like regardless ideas, of creating fan communities, experimenting and earn- ing money for one’s work may bring much quicker and bigger results. After all, aren’t larps one of many kinds of city games?

KoLa 2013 41 DOMINIK DEMBINSKI Definitions in Use

In science, definitions serve a purely didactic function. They specify the topic and, if we share the same set of notions, prevent communication noise. In extreme cases, they help us identify new concepts since they do not overlap with the already-existing definitions. In a word, in everyday life, unless we want to explain what a larp (or a similarly phantasmago- ric notion) is, we do not resort to using definitions.

unjust, but on the other it highlights these elements give birth to wondrous reinterpretations of familiar Yet, with a whit of creative energy definitions may- which can be modified to make the larps unique. forms and genres. But let us first look at the defini PracticallyLarps are speaking, similar when to improvised a definition theatrical reads, plays. tionDefinition of definition: [Lat. definitio ‘division’, ‘term’], log. The director and the scriptwriter in one person […] a statement explicating the meaning of a preced- is the only person who knows the whole scenario. ing expression. Wikipedia Encyklopedia PWN it informs us about the trend for keeping the players in the dark about the scenario. Creative approach to used to set boundaries between meanings of words - (butIn accordance not the things with theirthey describe). definition, Pretty definitions obvious, are ing ways of altering the proposed models. is it not? Sadly, in reality we often see the attitude, definitions is about pointing to such pitfalls and find “I will not do it differently, cause it will not be it any- In this example, the most unambiguous piece of in- more.” (substitute “it” with “larp”, “jeepform”, “impro formation concerns the availability of the scenario to the players. If during an average larp the game mas- to describe expressions, not to create them. That ter is the only one who knows the whole scenario, istheatre”, all for orthe whatever traditional you understanding want). Definitions of the are word used does it mean that a game where all the players know the whole scenario, or a scenario which is only par- tially known to the game master, can no longer be “definition”. For the purpose of this article, though, called a larp? I willDefinition use the following, [Lat. definitio modified ‘division’, one: ‘term’], log. a statement giving meaning to an expression and - the phenomenon it describes. - formsBoth the players idea ofare jeepforms often familiarized and the 1-2-3 with larps[I]the whole vi olate the definition based on this premise. In jeep (sic!). Let us see what comes out of it. possess more knowledge than the game master who We have defined our new definition of definition doesn’tscenario know before the the characters, game, in 1-2-3 only all the the general larp players con- 1+1=3 or creative addition struction of the scenario.

their typical features. While it is useful in distin- guishingDefining between phenomena physical inevitably phenomena entails or pointing evolution to- ways of creating new, unprecedented forms with relativelyLooking for small boundaries effort. The set scope by definitions of the introduced we find includes larps) it may limit the meaning of an ex- alterations is limited only by our courage, creativity, pressionary whims, to ain set the of fieldstereotypes. of art (which On the in one my hand, opinion it is

and the chosen definition. I will present examples of

42 KoLa 2013 DEFINITIONS IN USE

three truths about larps which were negated and it lead to creating brilliant scenarios. After all, at the end of the day, our world, peppered with longish SpecificIn order of place appearance: — this information may trigger the question, “Who chooses the place?” Usually it is the chewed and spat out in new, better forms. author of the game. But nothing stands in the way of definitions, is waiting to have them intellectually Three unities — an analysis where the scenario does not specify the place at all). The unity of time, space, and action Wehaving may the also players ask, “Do define we needthe place to specify (e.g. 1-2-3 the place?” larps, Practice shows that most larp scenarios are created - according to a certain approach, which is consistent sible, and giving the players the possibility to rede- with the classical three unities of the Greek tragedy. In fact, games set in an unspecified space are pos It means that the plot is set in one place (whose in- unique, literally unrepeatable scenarios (e.g. System fine their whereabouts at will may result in creating not change during the game), one time (time passes linearlygame interpretation in the game), fitsand the is communicated reality, and which by means does by theMalwina players). Otto and Marcin Słowikowski, where all of one plotline (each player has one role and a story the features of the fictional reality can be modified related to it). This gives basis for creating an ade- Unchangeable place — during most larps, the unity of place is related to limitations of the scenography. The bigger the area, the harder it will be to make quateA larp definition: scenario is set in one specific, unchange- quick changes to the set. Still, we can pose the ques- able place. Action is chronological and linear. tion, “Can the place be changed?” Light effects, spe- Every player communicates with the in-game en- cial effects, light furniture, foil, and small but impor- vironment by means of one character, defined tant elements which attract the players’ attention can on the basis of an agreement reached before the be used (at least during chamber larps) to create an game. plot (e.g. Creed of Ruin, where in subsequent scenes To make the process easier to follow, I bolded the impression of realistic changes of the place to fit the elements which are the easiest to change in order to receive a new game form. Clearly, even for a text Chronologicalthe set is modified passage to construct of time different — many places). larps, es- as short as the one above, we have six of them; and pecially chamber larps and outdoor larps, comprise one scene with a chronological passage of time, crossed it contains. This procedure is called an anal- which passes with the same speed as in reality. By di- ysis,the longer and is the one definition, of two methods the more proposed boundaries in this to arbe- viding the game into scenes, we can distort chronol- ticle which allow us to create new solutions on the ogy and say “yes” to the question, “Can time go back- wards in a larp?” Non-chronological games can build tension in an interesting way by unravelling not the basisAnalysis of definitions (Lat. analysis, and propositions. Greek ἀναλύειν analyein results, but the motivations, and alter all the charac- “break up”, from ἀνα- ana- “up, throughout” and ters’ attitudes rapidly (e.g. Podróż Miguela by Krzysz- -lyein -lysis “loosen”, “untie” “break up”) — break- tof Chmielewski, in which the events are ordered in ing up into components/factors (in the material a reverse manner). and immaterial sense); opposite of synthesis. Wikipedia

KoLa 2013 43 DOMINIK DEMBINSKI

Linear passage of time — can scenes move in any Three functions of larps — a synthesis direction on the time axis? The mechanism of intro- Therapy, Education, Fun ducing scenes, instead of one continuous timeline, Another theory which we will use in the quest for opens up a whole world of possibilities beyond sim- new larp forms is the three functions hypothesis. ply disrupting chronology. Retrospections, intro- Larps serve three functions (1) therapeutic — they spections, futurospections and many other cinemat- heal, eg. psychodramas (2) educational — they teach, ic tricks are perfectly playable in larps. Jeepforms make extensive use of such techniques, but the possi- bilities for application are not limited to short forms eg. edu-larps (3) ludic — they entertain, eg. chamber (e.g. New Dynasty with numerous retrospections)[1]. Thelarps, three jeepforms functions and hypothesis field games. itself is so simple that there is only a minimal number of elements whose Only one character — can a player not have more credibility could be undermined. But one might ask, than just one character? Doing away with linear “Are there more functions of larps?” The answer is timeline and introducing scenes to the game gives seemingly an easy one. The value of this statement the players time (in between the scenes) to familiar- does not lie in the possibility to analyze it, but to syn- ize themselves with new information, and possibly thesize it. — new characters. Synthesis (Greek Especially during Can a player not have more than just one char- σύνθεσις, synthesis jeepforms, this acter? Doing away with linear timeline and intro- “agreement”, from mechanism yields ducing scenes to the game gives the players time συντιθέναι syntith- excellent results. (in between the scenes) to familiarize themselves enai, “put together”, The same small with new information, and possibly — new char- from συν- “with”- group of players acters. i τιθέναι tithenai, is able to simulate “placing, putting”) relationships between dozens of different charac- — refers to creating more complex entities from ters or present points of view on one and the same simpler elements, it can be used to describe mate- role (e.g. Romeo i Merkucjo rial processes (e.g in chemistry), or more abstract subsequent acts Romeo and Mercutio are played by (in literature). It is opposite is analysis (or decom- different pairs of players, irrespective by Bartek Zioło, of their where sex orin position, disintegration). age). Wikipedia

Getting to know your character before the game — How can we apply this information to the three func- tions hypothesis? We can treat each of the functions three unities is describing characters to players be- as a starting point in the search for solutions in other foreThe lastthe highlightedgame. “Does element the player of the have definition to know of eve- the rything about their character before the game?” A good example of the therapeutic function is the Not necessarily. As the subsequent scenes and acts consciousfields of art application and science of and psychological use our findings phenomena in larps. introduce new information, for example on the char- during larps. Looking for information on the ther- apeutic potential of larps, one immediately comes itself will change. A character can be “an arch” (and across the phenomenon of immersion, and later — change)acter’s past, or “a motivations stone” (and or have reflections, a steady, the unchange character- various methods of using it to enter altered states of able personality). Applying these categories con- consciousness. Synthesizing solutions from different sciously makes it easier to create multilayered, be- areas was utilized in the larp Delirium, which ex- lievable, and unique characters (both Creed of Ruin plored the therapeutic function more broadly to have and New Dynasty make use of this technique). access to techniques and tools allowing the players to feel real emotions and real madness. A rather dif- ferent approach to the therapeutic function is the deliberate introduction of the “catharsis” effect to larps. Almost every game has this cathartic effect on

44 KoLa 2013 DEFINITIONS IN USE the player, but in two different ways. discovery HIV. The catharsis of the characters who face the problem of one of their commune members developing an unknown disease varies from the ca- tharsis of the players who know about HIV and are In psychologyCatharsis (Greek catharsis for is purification) described as —follows: liberating aware of their characters’ future. oneself from suffering, relieving suppressed ten- sion, emotions, bridled thoughts and visions. Similar ploys can be resorted to while creating an - odology allows the game master to share knowl- edgeedu-larp. through Using games. the knowledge There is of substantial the scientific research meth In literature:Catharsis (Greek κάθαρσις — purification) — one into learning through games that goes far beyond of the basic features of tragedy, especially ancient my knowledge. For further information please refer (classical). The term was coined and defined by to the Homo Ludens periodical and a rich record of Aristotle in Chapter VI of his “Poetics”. He claimed sources and articles of the Games Research Associa- that art should evoke feelings of pity and awe in tion of Poland. the viewer, and in doing so purifying them from these sensations. The synthesis meth- In the 20th cen- Dogma 99 and the Turku manifesto are rich col- od may prove to be tury the concept lections of rules “never to be broken” while striv- especially creative gained recog- ing to create “a great larp”. Do I need to add that in the context of nition again, precisely in breaking all their claims lies the key the ludic function. mainly thanks to creating unique and exceptional games? Larps, seen as both to psychoanaly- games and works sis, where it was introduced by Breuer and Freud. of art[2], are part of an unimaginably rich landscape According to more recent interpretations, the es- of literary works, theatrical plays, paintings, musical sence of catharsis lies in the fact that by experienc- - ing pity, awe, defiance, and suffering the recipient puter games. Referring to these works, reinterpret- gains an understanding of the mystery of human ingcompositions, them, and even films, shamelessly plays, board copying games, motifs and com and fate, reconciles with it and with the collective wis- inspirations (i.e. creating a pastiche), are but a stan- dom and experience.” dard procedure in the age of postmodernism. Wikipedia A very simple, and at the same time universal, ex- In the context of larps, these two seemingly similar ample of using the ludic function in creating a new quality of games is using schemata and models from - other works of art while writing larp scenarios. An ringdefinitions after the describe game, when two differentthe players phenomena. go out of their The example of a larp which made full use of mecha- characters,first definition and concernsimmersion the subsides; phenomenon the latter occur re- lates to the feeling deliberately evoked by the author New Age: Krwawi Rekruci. The plot of the larp, the waynisms the and characters models takenwere fromconstructed, the film and theory the atti was- the player can experience two different types of ca- tude towards the scenography, light and music were tharsisthrough during a specific one construction game, where of one the is scenario. related toThus, the player’s experience, and the other to the character’s and Hollywood productions, and all that to create the experience. taken from textbooks on film directing, scriptwriting

This approach to catharsis with all its consequences Thestrongest frosty impression North of being a film character. is another means of synthesizing information from Meilahti, Dogma 99, Turku, and you different areas of art and science. It was applied The number of references in the line above is not ac- when discussing the issue of AIDS in the All My Lov- cidental. It is enough to break down the information ing scenario, set in 1969 — fourteen years before the included in these texts which may be a bit archaic,

KoLa 2013 45 DOMINIK DEMBINSKI

but still very true when it comes to larp theory. The True artistry requires great genius, a bit of madness and a lot of luck. Things that are truly new are cre- very susceptible to analysis, while Dogma 99 and the ated once every few centuries, and are often linked TurkuMeilhati manifesto School offersare rich a definitioncollections ofof larpsrules that“never is to changes in society or technology; but they are not to be broken” while striving to create “a great larp”. the driving forces behind development in every area. Do I need to add that precisely in breaking all their These little steps, based on iron logic and methods claims lies the key to creating unique and exception- known to humanity for thousands of years, result in al games? improving the quality of larps with each designed game. I hope that my presentation of the methods of analysis and synthesis will allow you to cross the boundaries and create something unique.

Good luck!

AUTHORS’ FOOTNOTES

1 A detailed list of various methods of breaking chronology and linearity of the passage of time can be found in the article Czasoprzestrzeń w larpach (Time and space in larps). 2

For simplification I assume that the artistic function is reflected, depending on the approach, in all the other functions — art can influence emotions, teach and entertain. One may, of course, want to ratherlook for pointing other functions to tools forof larps carrying on the it out.basis of analyzing various definitions of art. The aim of this article, however, is not exhausting the possibilities of interpretation of all the known definitions,

TRANSLATORS’ FOOTNOTES

I -

For information about 1-2-3 larps see: http://chambergames.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/in stant-larp/

46 KoLa 2013 DEFINITIONS IN USE

SOURCES

1 2 http://jeepen.org/dict/ System, 2012 http://chambergames.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/instant-larp/ 3 Malwina Otto, Marcin Słowikowski, 4 larp review available on: http://pyrkon.pl/2012/index.php?go=zlotemackion 5 Dominik Dembinski, Star Wars: The Creed of Ruin, 2011 http://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Chamber_Larp

6 Krzysztof Chmielewski, Podróż Miguela, 2012 larp scenario available on: http://larpbase.boo.pl/?videos=star-wars-the-creed-of-ruin

7 Dominik Dembinski, Deadlands: New Dynasty, 2010 an account from the larp available on: http://gkf.org.pl/files/Inf%20281.pdf

8 larp scenario available on: http://larpbase.boo.pl/?videos=new-dynasty 9 Romeo i Merkucjo, 2012 http://larpbase.boo.pl/?p=741 10 Robin U. Russin, William Missouri Downs, SCREENPLAY: Writing the Picture Bartek Zioło, 11 Dominik Dembinski, Jak pisać larpy inaczej , 12 Three functions hypothesis. Lack of sources. The hypothesis was discussed during GKF Summer http://larpbase.boo.pl/?p=193 larp Workshops, 2012, by Krzysztof Chmielewski

14 13 http://www.edu-larp.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4 15 P. Schonemann Andreasen, S. Harder, J. Heeboll-Christensen, R. Hogdall, P. Munthe-Kaas, M. Kro- https://sites.google.com/site/michalmochocki/larp-project mann Rode, K. Thuroe, Delirium, 16 All my Loving, 2012 2010, http://vimeo.com/20204733 17 R. Bujniewski, D. Dembinski, D. Domagalski, A. Gryszka, P. Tumińska, 18 http://ptbg.org.pl/HomoLudens/ 19 Liveform Association, New Age: Krwawi Rekruci http://ptbg.org.pl/ 20 The Meilahti School Thoughts on Role-playing, , 2012, http://www.newage.larp.pl Jaakko Stenros & Henri Hakkarainen, http://www. 21 laivforum.dk/kp03_book/thats_larp/meilahti_school.pdf 22 http://fate.laiv.org/dogme99/en/dogma99_en.htm http://www2.uiah.fi/~mpohjola/turku/manifesto.html

KoLa 2013 47 MIKOŁAJ WICHER A Taste of Larp Why every game featuring food is simply better

Taste is a forgotten sense in larps. Yes, food is present during most big field games in Po- land, but it serves a purely practical purpose. It’s an element with a specific function, name- ly satisfying hunger. Of course, food comes with a game-specific dressing — but its role lies, so to say, in between the world of the game and the one outside it.

As stated before, food has one important, basic func- fricassee of cow stomachs. But it’s all because food needs to be there, and it needs to be “like in fanta- also happy, and less likely to complain about the sy”. I mention it, because this is something quite op- game.tion: satisfying If both players hunger. and When organizers players are are satiated, full, they’re the posite from what happens on other big events, like - Orkon or Flamberg. There you have a larp location “The Inn”. It has its role in the larp scenario, some communication process is more efficient and is dis quests can be placed there, but the food itself plays Inturbed this byarticle fewer I’d conflicts. like to write a few words about a marginal role. In simulationist larps players get some other aspects of food in larps, especially when their food as an outsourced in-game service. There smaller games are concerned. How to consciously is plenty of it, it helps to build the world, but its po- use food (and when I say food I also mean beverages) tential is wasted. as a tool to create games? Tastes and smells are probably the sensations best Create with food! — advice for organizers remembered by the human brain. If you wish to Most larps avoid playing with players’ senses, as make your larp unforgettable, give players a chance the games are set more often in imaginary worlds rather than in real spaces. By that I mean that the - most important thing is the character to be played, beto disgusting? associate it Why with not a specificgive all the taste. meals Let some them com eat- their history, relations and goals. Probably everyone things they would normally avoid: aromatic, or may- has some experience with a minimalistic larp, ran er who smells cinnamon will recall your game where in a forest, with improvised costumes. How full of hemon tasted flavour, a unicorn. or specific names? From now on, a play immersion and possibilities to create good scenes it is, you can judge for yourselves. Of course, every Food is an extremely rewarding resource to use. larp can be saved by good players, but in my opinion a good larp should give them a chance to play well. are resolved during verbal communication. Players Food can be a part of scenography and give players striveGames to are achieve about conflicts,their goals and that the majorityare described of these in such an opportunity by creating atmosphere or en- their character sheets (“You need to kill a prince in tire scenes. revenge for your murdered family.” “Take part in ne- gotiations and make the best possible deal.” etc.). It Simulationist larps based on the WYSIWYG rule, which are gaining popularity in Poland, are moving non-existing resources, such as land in geopolitics, or meaninglessgets even worse, goods, when like conflicts gold, notes, are played or coins out which using mostly sight, due to the great locations and players’ don’t have value outside the game. Food is great, be- costumesinto this direction. (Geas, Fantasy These games Village), make but use sometimes of senses: cause players can destroy it by eating it, make it by hearing as well (for example, traditional music gigs cooking it, it needs room, it has its weight, they can on Geas). The sense of taste also becomes prominent instinctively judge which food is of better quality, when a feast starts or the players need to prepare and they don’t need instructions on how to do that.

48 KoLa 2013 A TASTE OF LARP

- ed with food. You make a bottle of champagne pop? You have the feeling of celebration, and it’s only nat- It’s just playable. A real resource you can fight for. In ural. Dozens of movies, New Year’s Eves, and many ofstead cereal of two for theirambassadors villages. fighting over some unreal other special moments all make you feel like that in territory, you can have two scouts fighting for a bag this particular in-game situation. A huge roasted pig You can play with food shortage, but not with com- — a barbarian feast. Dehydrated pulp — postapo, or plete lack of food — it won’t give you anything. It’s the Matrix. In each setting there is something, a food because players can just take its absence for grant- element which can create more magic than any sce- ed, consider it a feature of the game, not the setting. nography could. If you can’t introduce food shortages, you need to show the players where the food is. Can you imagine Play with food! — advice for players how you would feel if, after starving for a few hours, Food may be the thing that makes your character dis- you had an audience with a prince who didn’t stop tinct from others. During larps with no food planned, eating his chicken it can make your wing while talking Tastes and smells are probably the sensations character. Can you - best remembered by the human brain. If you imagine playing nitely a better moti- wish to make your larp unforgettable, give play- a hobbit who would vationto you? to That’s revolt defithan ers a chance to associate it with a specific taste. not cook anything? having, “The prince From now on, a player who smells cinnamon will What’s more, your raped your daugh- recall your game where he tasted a unicorn. attitude towards ter and kidnapped other people can be your wife (or the other way round), avenge them!” shown by food. Do you share it with others? Or may- written in your character sheet. But you need to re- be you let them watch you eat, but you keep it all for member that it’s the players who feel hunger, not yourself? It says a lot. How do you behave at the ta- their characters, so use it carefully. It can cause play- ble? Which seat do you take? Is there somebody who ers to fall out of character as well as trigger negative serves you while you eat, or are you the one serv- emotions. thing. We all have our own ideas on how we should And when players make a revolution, kill the prince, doing? it, It’s and all howsignificant, we perceive because those eating who is ado very it differ social- get to the treasury — it’s full of food. Would there ently. What we eat is also something that makes us be anything more rewarding? How would they feel different. One could think, “My character is from this if there was only a chest full of gilded props, use- Scotland-like country and therefore I need a kilt.” less coins? Or, even worse, a piece of paper with the And maybe you could eat haggis in public instead, try “gold” mark? to share it with others and watch them with a smile on your face as they refuse it politely? Who’s the real This leads us to another point. Food makes your man now, Englishman? game epic. It gives you memories you won’t forget. Part of this process is about making a connection to What is more, food gives players a great reason to the well-known cultural topics, schemas and images. interact with one another, and without interaction, It’s much easier to make somebody “feel” something, there is no larp. Who would refuse food? That’s if they already know what they are supposed to feel. a much better reason to start a conversation than, You can achieve it by using cultural schemas connect- “Have you heard anything interesting lately?”

KoLa 2013 49 MIKOŁAJ WICHER Maciej Nitka

Food as a mechanics? Food can seriously break your game mechanics if it’s to a wizard’s belt, and one should drink a certain not a common thing, provided for all players. From Mana can be symbolized by a bottle of water fitted at a mana source. How epic would it be if you could wants to poison somebody. How is that possible, if distractamount ofa wizardit to cast by a knockingspell, and thethen bottle refill outthe bottleof his there’smy experience, no, or very 90% little, of foodlarps around? have a characterAnyone would who hands? get suspicious if they were offered the one and only cup of wine at the game. Creating an Inn, where Food-play, let’s do it! a beer costs a third of all the character’s money, isn’t I encourage you to look for new, innovative ways to a solution. Food has to become an ordinary thing to use food during your games. Every element that ap- be used it this way. That, or the poisoning mechanics the game, or ignored with a huge loss for it. may use pinching somebody, sticking something to pears in the game area can be used with benefit for theirshould back be withouttotally unrelated being noticed to eating etc. anything: you I’d like you to see the above ideas and examples as an invitation to discuss how to involve more senses in Food can constitute the core of mechanics. The me- larps. What distinguishes larps and constitutes their chanics of alchemy used at the New Age Larps is essence is their physicality. I dare you to make use of based on the taste and the colour of the matter, and it — also by using food. every taste and colour has its own effect (sweet heals and has positive effects, so respectively, sweet-red Enjoy! heals your body, and sweet-white heals your mind).

50 KoLa 2013 A TASTE OF LARP

KoLa 2013 51 AGATA LUBAŃSKA The Quickie About beds in larp and larps in bed

My first time? Two years ago, with two lovely gentlemen. None of us knew what it was all about. We did it in a great hurry. It was nervous and intense. There were some shameful mistakes. We all have similar experiences with writing our very first larp, don’t we?

Since we lacked knowledge, we trusted our instincts. opposed to violence. Fights, duels and battles are We felt that sex makes every game better. Rough sex. always thought-out well — they’ve got clear rules, Especially between siblings. And with lots of preg- nancies which could lead to multiple abortions. So they are connected to historical reconstruction. They we took all these elements and put them into the usuallythey are constitute preceded turningby weeks-long points in flames the story online, and and the script. We invented several meta-techniques (of sex, one and only way to achieve characters’ goals. Foam pregnancy, virginity), sat on the roofs of The Fanta- swords appear even in chamber larps (sic!), while sex is treated as just another complication. Sex is hardly when we started the game… it didn’t work out — ever used as a means to complete one’s quests. Why atsy all. Village Then, in in Przemyśl our innocent for a tiresomeyouth, we briefing, made near and- is it so? The thing is that there are absolutely no ly all the possible mistakes in introducing sexuality consequences of sexual intercourse. Nobody knows to larps. No intro workshops, too much theory and about it, or witnesses it, and it doesn’t affect any too little practice, lack of coziness, hastily sketched characters stats either. In some games it’s marked relationships between the characters and, above all, by the lady losing her “garter of virginity”. (By the a light-hearted attitude towards the subject. None of way, this meta-technique discriminates male virgins these contributed to creating an intimate, romantic — after all, isn’t a skilful lady able to assess her lov- er?) The matter is quite different in freeforms. Let’s me to writing this article. The second lesson was take jeepforms, where sex is a hot subject discussed Allmood. my lovingThis was (recently the first gaining of the in lessons popularity), that pushed a real openly. Still, though modern setting and rom-com - themes absorb sexual activities as rightful elements boos[1]. This game tells a story of a hippie commune, - wherebreakthrough everyone in thedoes field, it with a direct everyone, game withand whereno ta timate scenes are cut, and possible intercourses not picturedof the fictional but presented world, they’re through never small controversial. talk between In between the characters (all of whom are entangled the lovers involved. insex sexual isn’t only relationships). a casual activity The story but alsoalso reflectstackles abonds vari- It won’t hurt — a three-steps manual Sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn’t. moreety of importantsubjects: drug though use, thanpolyamorous the plot relationships,itself, are the It’s because the spicy themes are introduced at ran- emotionsand the decline the game of the evokes Peace&Love in the players. ideology. They What’s don’t dom, as a blind pick. While we were making the - abovementioned larp, we just threw in some game ters — they want to talk; they’re impressed. They say mechanics which we had thought the players would thatjust finishmost larpsthe game lack suchand forgetthemes, about that theirthey wantcharac to jump at simply because “sex is cool”. They didn’t — probably due to all the shortcomings of our prepa- And I’m not surprised. Currently, sexual elements are rations, and among them the disharmony between rarelyplay the introduced larp again, tothat larps. it was Sometimes their first roleforeign like this.me- the way sex was introduced to different dimensions

most notorious during fantasy larps, where sex (how then use our creative energy to undress this issue to importantchanics and in clichésour lives!) from is table-topstreated very are carelessly, copied. It’s as learnof the how larp: to the bring mechanics, more satisfaction the plot, the to ourset players.etc. Let’s

52 KoLa 2013 THE QUICKIE

3. Contact First and foremost, sex during larp is a form of con- 1.Sex Part during of the larps fictional can be: reality tact. It strengthens relationships — makes them - stronger, more real. On the other hand, this is also al reality, introducing a rich variety of locations and propsSex not which only describes are simply but indispensable. also broadens ourIt’s fictiona chal- affects not only the character’s but also the player’s lenge for the stage designer. Aren’t grapes in a brothel emotions.serious business: It’s hard intimate to distance contact yourself, during so don’tthe game hes- a must-have? What about scents, incenses or… hand- itate to stop the game if you need it and talk about it cuffs? The scriptwriter shouldn’t stay indifferent out of character. What’s also important is the support either. Including a description of a character’s sexu- from the organisers. They must explain the mechan- ality into their sheet enriches their personality (e.g. ics comprehensibly, introduce a safeword and en- built upon Freud’s courage the players dynamic model). Foam swords appear even in chamber larps (sic!), to use it, stimulate This subtle touch while sex is treated as just another complication. the gameplay, and Sex is hardly ever used as a means to complete talk with the partic- increase immersion one’s quests. Why is it so? The thing is that there ipants about their andmay bleed significantly by giv- are absolutely no consequences of sexual inter- impressions after- ing the opportunity course. Nobody knows about it, or witnesses it, to put players into and it doesn’t affect any characters stats either. and helping the very intimate rela- In some games it’s marked by the lady losing her playerswards. to Debriefing go out of tionships with one “garter of virginity”. character are cru- another, and toying cial in smaller, more with their feelings. intensive productions.

2. Mechanics One-night stand — can such a relationship last? The way we design the mechanics of sexuality will In the previous publication I complained that during larps “it all boils down to talk”[2]. Luckily, the games Pointing to consequences of a sexual act (like preg- that I’ve seen since then made me change my mind! nancyaffect theor illness)players’ will perception make intimate of the fictionalmeetings world. more Almost every character sheet for this year’s Geas dangerous and harder to perform. At the same time, [I] contained some kind of a shameful secret, and love conquests can give certain privileges (fame, there’s no shortage of players for future editions of renown, admiration) when from every woman he All My Loving. Sexual promiscuity in larps is gaining scores a young lover boy receives a keepsake worth in popularity. It attracts new players, facilitates im- mersion, and creates new plots. It gives the gameplay - Withbragging appropriate about: a hairpin,mechanics a ribbon sex can or becomea lock of as hair. im- ers, but players sharing an important experience — morea brand important new dimension: than choosing there area new no vampirewinners princeor los looking for a father for her child, or a young prince or dropping a nuke. portant in solving conflicts as violence — a courtesan will have a lot more fun when the situation gets out I hope the games which inspired these thoughts ofseducing hand because the count’s of mechanics. daughter for his own benefit weren’t just one-night stands and that the upcom- ing season will also be fruitful, controversial and

KoLa 2013 53 AGATA LUBAŃSKA

groundbreaking. Thinking about the future, I’d like to see gender-bending, ubiquitous polyamory, ho- mosexual plots — not only for lustful ladies — and luxurious, well-equipped fantasy brothels. And if my thoughts contribute to that, I’m taking on full responsibility for this moral laxity. Let me then just wish you to reach the depths of debauchery and have lots of great adventures on the way.

AUTHORS’ FOOTNOTES

1 All my Loving, 2012 2 Na co się gapisz? Czyli What you see is what you get w Polsce R. Bujniewski, D. Dembinski, D. Domagalski, A. Gryszka, P. Tumińska, (What are you looking at? Or What you see is what you get in Poland), KoLA 2012 Agata Lubańska, Mikołaj Wicher,

TRANSLATORS’ FOOTNOTES

I Geas larps are organized with utmost care as far as creating a realistic scenography, props and cos- A series of larps run by Deadline Association, following the idea of “360 degree illusion”.

playedtumes isin concerned. an authentic The medieval games (1)castle run far all away day long from (2) everyday use DKWDDK modern mechanics life. (3) will change their premise, themes, and the venue in the future editions.The first two were “burgkons” — larps

54 KoLa 2013 THE QUICKIE

KoLa 2013 55 KAMIL BARTCZAK Bad Games

The main focus of this article is not the quality of games, but rather the moral issues con- nected to their execution. The term “a controversial larp” has been used relatively often recently, and the question if “such things” should be featured in games has been coming up repeatedly on Internet forums and Facebook fanpages.

Other activities, such as interpersonal and integrative than in the case of themes. However, themes and trainings, combat sports or sex games, are becoming practical measures are closely connected to each more and more similar to what we call “larps”. These other. Thus, the following part of this article consti- may prove to be risky areas sometimes. The ideas for tutes an overview of potentially controversial topics, more daring larp elements are met with varied re- with the used means taken into account.

of acting out intimate situations wrong, others see One more aspect should be taken into further con- waterboardingsponses. Some players(a torture find in the which introduced water techniqueis poured sideration, and that is artistic expression. When over foil or cloth covering the victim’s mouth) as a larp is treated as a work of art, its contents cease to be a literal manifestation of the participants’ be- attempt can be made to classify several areas in the liefs. It gains context as well as various possibilities scopea justified of which form theof artistic ethical expression.aspects of a Therefore, game should an for interpretation. In such a case, our “young skin- be analysed. The following article is a starting point head larp” may be a sarcastic commentary on the for such a discussion, rather than a set of profound right-wing extremists — which may ease the moral truths. discomfort a game like this would normally cause. In most cases then, the question if such a game should Crossing the boundaries have been created will be considered from the per- It should be noted that there are two ways for spective of artistic expression. a larp author to “step into the darkness”, namely the themes and the measures used in the scenario. The What may be controversial then? Sex which may cause controversy. There are not so many While it would seem that eroticism is the main topic first case is clear enough — it the inclusion of topics of larp controversies, I perceive it as a rather simple instance, if sex appears solely as a theme, the larp is issue. This is one vast category, with themes ranging notof these, going however, to create it any is still moral possible dilemmas, to find at some. least Fornot from alluring glances all the way to four Swiss midg- among adults. It may be suggested that Romeo and ets riding ponies, and means including everything Juliet have spent a night together — and that is all. from pieces of paper explaining the seduction me- On the other hand, a hypothetical larp whose theme chanics to fully acting out sexual congress. Although would be enough to raise moral objections? The ad- there are more than “50 shades of grey” on this scale, ventures of a brave neo-Nazi defending his values in for most of people the line between the acceptable and the controversial will lie somewhere in between. The controversies seem to be closely related to the Anotherthe fight againstarea with the thejudicial potential system. of going wrong is the choice of practical means. Sex may be accepted the list of extremely useful (although not absolute) as a theme, however, acting it out fully during a larp rules,mores. namely With the “a employmentwilling participant of the firstis not position harmed”, on — not as much. Moral dilemmas are more likely to appear in the case of techniques utilized in the game I think it is enough to fulfill the following conditions:

56 KoLa 2013 BAD GAMES

• all players are aware of and accept the given of them cannot stand on their feet any more does not really impose any restrictive boundaries within this • neither players nor any other people who are theme, does it? unawaretheme / means or do ofnot expression, accept the aforementioned, can participate or witnesses the game elements in question, interesting. However, in such a case it is actual ag- • there is a method, clear and available for every gressionIn my opinion, one could a larp be featuring worried a about,real fight rather could than be player, to halt the action (for example a safe- violence as such. When the border of permissible word)[1]. physical abuse is moved further, it is essential for the participants to remember to maintain the context of making the game with clear conscience. What other conventionality, a symbolic approach to the situa- complicationsIf these conditions could are fulfilled, one can proceed with tion. This makes the arise? Possibly, if Some players find the introduced technique of difference between someone decides to acting out intimate situations wrong, others see a boxing match and create a larp based waterboarding (a torture in which water is poured an actual assault — on the infamous over foil or cloth covering the victim’s mouth) as even when the for- Russian amuse- a justified form of artistic expression. Therefore, mer is more brutal, ment — “merce- an attempt can be made to classify several ar- it is the latter that is naries raiding a vil- eas in the scope of which the ethical aspects of a immoral. lage full of young game should be analysed. peasant girls”, with In an extreme case, hired “female NPCs” — however, this is covered by where could this path lead to? A larp version of the the Article 204 of the Polish Criminal Code which Fight Club comes to mind. If taking part in such covers procuring. As for now, nothing indicates for a scenario was be voluntary, I would not consider it such plans to be made by Polish larpers, so there is immoral.film nothing to worry about. Infringing the sovereignty of will Violence Games that could infringe the freedom of one’s will is Let us be honest — violence as a larp theme does not raise any objections, and it is still present in the ma- of artistic activity, such as poetry, are set to evoke jority of games. The question of its permissibility may emotionsproblematic — toeven define if not in practical against, terms.then regardless Many forms of be solved using the criteria widely applied to movies. the recipient’s will. Even a social campaign that in- If three hundred people kill each other with swords volves posters informing about the dire consequenc- during one afternoon, it is an action movie, allowed es of smoking is actually based on the society be- from the age of 12. If one person is being killed for an ing involuntarily exposed to emotional persuasion. Thus, the fact that the participants take in an emotive However, it is uncommon for violence to be acted out message should not be considered immoral as such. directly.hour, in anAs inventivefor causing way physical — it is harman 18+ during horror a larp,film. The argument that in the case of the aforementioned I feel that with mutual consent it is possible for us anti-smoking campaign the apparently foul form to push the border even further than it is now. After should be excused as it pertains to a greater good all, a culture that allows for two people to step onto is, after all, invalid. The very concept of “freedom” is a ring and intensify each other’s concussion until one

very difficult to define. However, an attempt to tackle

KoLa 2013 57 KAMIL BARTCZAK

the topic follows. Let us assume that this area covers Ethical requirements for this kind of games could be games where the level of participant manipulation 1. Obviously, the possibility to resign at any mo- - specified as follows: cipientis higher is concealedthan in the to “typical” a higher artdegree. forms: it is more 2. The participants need to be fully aware of the intensive, longer-lasting, or the influence on the re characterment, and/or of the a safeword. game, including the fact that it - will infringe their free will. In other words, the mind us of Zimbardo’s prison study[2]— scenarios meta-level of the scenario needs to be evident to thatThe issueinvolve definitely forcing the concerns characters these to larps commit which deeds re the participants even before the game starts. against their will. The case study shows that in such In this case, the rule “a willing participant is not situations the boundaries between the player and the - character are at least disrupted — thus, it is a case of 3. bardo’s prison study shows that a participant the player being forced to perform given acts. Polish mayharmed” become can “trappednot be definite in the andgame”, decisive. and conse Zim- examples of such larps include Camp Vifon by Wojciech quently the “acceptable” level of violence aimed Ingielewicz and Tylko mnie kochaj by Artur Wysoc- at them may become higher than the one they ki. The latter constitutes a subject for two other sec- would accept if they did not internalize their tions of this article role. Because of (violence as well as, “Toying” with free will was the main focus for the that, what is essen- later on, giving im- participants, not the plot or setting of the game. tial is the presence moral roles to the Various motivations for participating in larps, es- of an observer who participants), how- pecially in simulationist scenarios, include deal- is able to stop the ever it seems to be ing with situations that are impossible to experi- game in any mo- the best example for ence in real life. ment. The author of the topic of infring- ing the freedom of participants. It seems that Tylko in this role, as they could also immerse too much mnie kochaj pushed the border of permissibility as far into the game. the game cannot fill - 4. The game can be made neither for entertain- ing drowned until they confessed their love to the Big ment nor competition (as in, “who will with- Brotheras it could: — duringthat is, interrogationsacted against their the playersown will. were be stand waterboarding the longest”). I would con- sider it dangerous to participate in such games Such a game construction seems at least disturb- in order to immerse in the imagined world — as ing. Is there any excuse? How does one answer the there is a risk of “staying there”. Games of this question, “What is the purpose of this game”? There kind should only function as a research tool, an is no entertainment factor here. Is this to be consid- experiment with one’s personality. ered art, a message from the artist, the beauty of the - form? Not really. There is, however, one argument mentioned larps. However, this group includes, or couldThese potentially criteria were include, fulfilled other in thekinds case of actingof the gamesafore used to manipulate the recipient, meaning various participants.in defense of Mythis explanation larp: all players for both were participating aware of its games aimed to induce the feelings of commitment, incharacter, and creating as well this as larp its potentialis curiosity. influence “Toying” on with the loyalty or obedience. These are rather rare among free will was the main focus for the participants, not larps, but may be practiced by certain companies as the plot or setting of the game. Various motivations well as sect-like organizations, such as AIESEC. Vari- for participating in larps, especially in simulationist scenarios, include dealing with situations that are • impossible to experience in real life. From this point ous elementsparticipants, of such trust games fall (a include: group catching a falling of view, it is more understandable why one would participantgroup bonding together) techniques: etc. isolating a group of • - comes as no revelation that wisdom is all too often ments and punishments for certain behaviours boughtwant to for be the an price interrogated of innocence. defiant citizen. Also, it (aoperant punishment conditioning: may be asymbolic system or of humorous reinforce

58 KoLa 2013 BAD GAMES

— for example, patting the heads of those who character’s motivation and way of thinking. Playing speak without permission during a session still the role of a prison-guard, an interrogator, a discrim- results in their being conditioned) inating person or a rapist has a certain educative • communicating very intensive, authority-build- ing messages to the participants accounts. value, which is confirmed by the involved players’ It is quite possible that in near future the areas of As in the case of other types of games discussed in “corporate games” and larps will combine — larp au- this article, it should be noted that for some larp thors possess both the abilities that could enhance enthusiasts taking part in such scenarios would be the appeal of such games and the motivation to de- unacceptable. I think what is necessary here is ful- velop this trend, even if the latter is only an econom- ical one. On the other hand, the business sector is awareness, meaning the players need to be clearly showing signs of interest in larps — as for now, in informedfilling the of condition their roles of before voluntary the game. participation If a safeword and the context of promotion and integrative games, the latter understood as spending time on engaging ac- proceed with the game. tivities together. However, there is potential for the element is added as well, in my opinion it is fine to training and human Ideologically sensi- resources sectors to Consider the famous picture of Pope John Paul II tive content be included as well. crushed by a meteorite which may be interpret- ed in at least three ways. Similarly, in the case of the article is dedi- As for evaluating larps the controversial element should probably catedThe final to the section topics of games of this kind be interpreted in the context of the scenario as that larp partici- — of course, partic- a whole. - ipant manipulation fensive. These are is acceptable to some extent. There are many inter- pants may find of- mediate stages between manipulation-free group ligion, nation, race etc. The line between what is ac- cooperation training and games used to forcefully numerous: issues connected to gender equality, re educate door-to-door sellers. I think that the afore- - mentioned conditions, especially those concerning pretationceptable and will what always is notbe stronglyis difficult dependent to draw — on as the in the transparency of objectives, consequences, meth- context.the case ofConsider other fields the famousof art, the picture message of Popeand inter John Paul II crushed by a meteorite which may be inter- If the game assumes the need to conceal the nature of theods techniquesand voluntary used participation, from its participants, need to be it isfulfilled. uneth- sympathy, or an example of kitsch the meaning of ical. In other words, if one wishes to enforce certain whichpreted isin not at leastto be three pursued. ways: Similarly, offense, inexpression the case of behaviour in a participant by giving them a chocolate larps the controversial element should probably be every time they perform the given action, one has to interpreted in the context of the scenario as a whole, inform the participant about the conditioning intent. or even in the context of the author’s previous works. A certain experiment in this area conducted by the Putting the players in immoral roles undersigned, involved a larp with a scene of burn- Up to this point, the article focused on situations ing books in public (Chaos in the PRL). This image, which saw the player become a victim of manipu- lation or violence. However, certain scenarios (Fat did not cause much controversy during the larp. The man down by Frederik Berg Østergaard, Gang Rape participantsseemingly bearing had their a significant doubts which, historical interestingly, burden, by Tobias Wrigstad) cast players in the roles of ag- gressors. These are not only adverse characters used chosen for this purpose should be burned, and not to create events in narrativist larps, where the aim of theconcerned general the idea question of biblioclasm. if one of The the scene specific constitut books- a participant is to shape a dramatic plot using their ed a logical development of the plot, and the context role. The aforementioned games are very immersive - by nature, they encourage to empathize with the ing a better, utopian future by rejecting the hitherto indicated good intentions of the participants: creat

KoLa 2013 59 KAMIL BARTCZAK

culture which led to degeneration. One of the works problematic. The author’s evaluation on the contro- versial value of the themes tackled is sure to diverge - at least from some recipients’ opinions. I think the fended.among those to be burned was Voltaire’s “Traité sur fact that larps include controversial themes needs to la tolérance”. None of the participants seemed of be accepted as their feature, an unavoidable direc- Other content that raised doubts in the authors tion in which the form evolves. As long as the given of a game Geas: Burgkon Drugi larp is deemed art, it should be entitled to the right a confession, and a childbirth followed by the child’s for using artistic license to interpret its content in death. The former bore a very strong by AR resemblance Argos were: to a non-literal way. a Catholic sacrament, the latter constituted a danger of personalizing the acted-out trauma in an exces- Conclusion

the game. Moreover, an interesting phenomenon oc- in the scope of which the author should pay notice curredsive way. — Boththose ideas of the were organizers finally incorporated who showed intothe ifTo their sum upgames briefly, are there ethical. are Itseveral is both areas possible in larping and most objections in the beginning, with time became very engaged with designing these sub-plots. practical means used in games in order to avoid any harmjustified scenarios to formulate could certainpotentially rules cause. concerning It is much the It seems that in the case of sensitive themes and el- larp themes, as they should be recognized as artis- list of permissive criteria like the ones presented in ticmore expression. difficult toMaybe define it would such rulesbe a reasonable in reference idea to ements in larps it is difficult to formulate a decent to create a special system of warnings, similar to the the themes that should not be explored in art. If the freedomthe previous of artistic sections. expression It is also is perceived difficult to as specify a val- types of larp techniques? ue, even a “content warning” information may be PEGI classification, however concerned with certain

AUTHORS’ FOOTNOTES

1 Uniwersalne mechaniki LARP-owe, 2 Monika Kincel, Więzień 819 — czyli o uniformie, którego nie dało się zdjąć, KoLa 2012 Dominik Dembiński,

SOURCES

1 Wojciech Ingielewicz, Camp Vifon 2 Artur Wysocki, Tylko mnie kochaj Burdel 4 Frederik Berg Østergaard, Fat man down 3 Bartosz Zioło, 5 Tobias Wrigstad, Gang Rape 6 Kamil Bartczak, Chaos in the PRL 7 AR Argos, Geas: Burgkon Drugi

60 KoLa 2013 BAD GAMES

KoLa 2013 61 BARTEK ZIOŁO Flamingos and Penguins

November 2011, University of Oslo, Grensalandet — a Norwegian larp festival. I come to take part in a game created during the Larpwriter Challenge[1], a competition organised by the Norwegian Association Fantasiforbundet and the Belarusian Education Centre POST[2]. The subject is serious: human rights. Suddenly, the woman running the contest asks us, “Do you know how the flamingos do it?” I don’t even have time to show my surprise, be- cause she starts her presentation, “Spread your arms wide apart, flip them like wings and walk slowly with huge leaps, just like that.”

Someone bursts out laughing. Someone else, perhaps nario, no matter how “correctly” it’s run, will never encouraged by her demonstration, starts imitating spread its wings if it’s conducted this way. Sadly, for - the majority of games I’ve had a chance to see in Po- other animal — a penguin. Right after that we play land, this is the case. a flamingo. Then, every one of us starts imitating an but if it touches a slow, short-legged penguin, the lat- Before a game: there’s only one flamingo at the beginning, This game is for you, not for me. This fundamental long-winged and red ones. We laugh our heads off — as it may seem — premise is still treated lightly by ter becomes a flamingo too. Just like zombies, only Polish larp writers (of course, it’s related to a com- it’s time for some real workshops,” the woman says. pletely different problem, deserving a separate arti- Andand inI’m the ready end weand all waiting. become flamingo-zombies. “OK, cle on how players should be treated during larps).

The game doesn’t end with the end of the game is simply a client. Everyone with at least some basic Preparing a larp is hard work. You need to outline knowledgeFor the benefit of marketingof this text, will let’s tell assume you that aa playerclient the plot, connect needs to be tak- the subplots, write Preparing a larp is hard work. You need to outline en care of. It’s not down character the plot, connect the subplots, write down cha- enough to launch sheets, prepare racter sheets, prepare all the props, scenogra- a product and wait all the props, sce- phy, and soundtrack. Then you need to get to the till it disappears nography, and venue earlier with a certain air of self-confidence from the shelves. soundtrack. Then and, with a conviction that you haven’t forgotten To tell the truth, you need to get to anything, wait for your players to arrive. Wrong. nowadays, adver- the venue earlier Preparing a larp is so much more than that. tising alone is not with a certain air of enough. You need to catch the clients’ attention, and earn their brand not forgotten anything, wait for your players to ar- rive.self-confidence Wrong. Preparing and, with a larpa conviction is so much that more you havethan „What for?” many readers will ask. Let me provide that. I don’t want to recall how often I’ve seen games youloyalty. a (very) These quickclichés answer can easily — competition.be applied to Fortularps.- which were run this way. We distribute character nately, the times when to play a good larp you need- ed to travel all across Poland (and even then it was Then we answer an incessant stream of questions andsheets, intervene and say in something matters of like, dispute; “1, 2, and3 — afterwards, let’s play!”. Only just a few days before my writing this article we joyfully say “The end” and go back home, or, more wepossible had three only oncequite every big (20 six or months) more participants) are finally over. lo- likely, grab a beer with our players. Even the best sce-

cal larp events in Wrocław, all at the same time. The 62 KoLa 2013 FLAMINGOS AND PENGUINS

conclusion is simple — if we don’t care for our play- Workshops ers, we will lose to those who are better prepared. The element of the game which is skipped most of-

other form, isn’t enough. A practical introduction to fact that by caring for your participants you get a bet- theten. subject The theory is also alone, necessary. served This via will briefings result orin anythe terBut game. there’s Maybe something some evenof your more players important: don’t feel it’s likethe players entering the game more smoothly and a low- acting out some types of scenes? Maybe they’ve mis- er probability of them stopping in the middle of the understood the structure and the aim of the game? larp, spreading their arms helplessly and asking, Maybe they’ve misinterpreted the character they’re “What am I supposed to do now?” The less obvious supposed to play? Or they confused their character’s part is the scope and form the workshops may and motivations? Obviously, answering the above ques- should take. Do you need the players to behave chiv- tions will allow us to prepare our players better for alrously and elegantly? Run workshops on etiquette the game. If we do, they’ll play better; they won’t do for everyone, even the guys playing savages. Don’t anything against their will, they won’t wade into el- ements which they don’t want to explore, and they’ll I need this small fork for?” Of course, no one will re- know more about the game. This in turn makes the memberskip any element:everything, from but courteous if you devote bows enough to, “What time do to game play out better. It’s a win-win situation. How manners beforehand, everyone will take extra care can it be achieved? There are two ways. to mind them during the game. Let’s say you’re pre- paring a larp about a prison escape. Precede it with Briefing A decent one. A question, “Is everything clear in your are animals locked in cages and they’re seeking their character sheets?” right after distributing them, and caregivers’a 30-minute attention. game on Theya similar do tricks, subject. fawn, Your etc. players until everyone stops looking at them, and they become not enough. There are various techniques for intro- sad, miserable and start talking about their lot. In the ducingmoments players before to “1, the 2, game,3 — let’s all ofplay!” which is definitelyhave one end, one of them is set free. Or, to the contrary, dies in front of their mates. After an introduction like that, game thoroughly and in full. It’s a common mistake won’t it be easier for the players to get into the roles tothing perceive in common: the game they as should just the help characters us describe and the of prisoners? These are only two unsophisticated setting. Coming back to the questions mentioned examples unrelated to any real games. Possibilities above — we know that’s not all. The players need to are endless. What’s important is for the workshops know what they will play, what they may expect, and to be well thought out and suitable for the game they what the aim of the game they co-create is. The play- precede. It’s not an easy trick, and preparing good, er isn’t the only one who deserves it — the game it- valuable workshops may even be more demanding self and its authors deserve it too. After all, since the than creating the game itself. The important thing is authors take the effort and time to prepare the game, that they should serve their purpose. It’s important horrorsthey should — not do thedoing same it at with all, themay briefing. ruin even It happensthe best penguinsto realize game)that the which only douniversal as little (fit and for as any much game) as promisingthat running scenario. the briefing incorrectly, or — horror of makeworkshops players are focused warm-ups on playing (like the the flamingos game. They and don’t suit what I’ve mentioned above, but they do help in getting oneself going, and form a solid foun- dation for any subsequent preparations to the game.

KoLa 2013 63 BARTEK ZIOŁO

After game. Evaluation shouldn’t be limited to fragmen- We all know this one. After the game we all sit around tary and disorganized conversations just after the in a circle and everyone says what their character game. It’s worth giving a moment’s thought to what was supposed to achieve, what worked out, and what kind of feedback we want. And try, hard as it may be, happened with them during the game. It’s a must to to eliminate any comments which lead the debrief- describe “that hilarious scene with Ann — ha ha.” As ing off the set track. It’s well worth to get information a bonus, the organizers add that it’s a pity the char- out of everyone and go back to some problems after acters didn’t go to the cellar with the ancient demon some time, when the players have thought through locked inside, as that would’ve been something. Yuk. what’s happened during the game. Currently, when Why not ask the players to take a glass and mix liq- Internet access is always at hand, it’s not a problem. uids in two different hues (which imitated alcohol during the game) to make a drink whose colour will To conclude best visualize their — the player’s, not the charac- This article is just a smattering of a vast subject ter’s — mood after the larp. Afterwards, they’ll brief- that’s largely neglected by the Polish fandom. Surely, ly describe what made them choose, for instance, much more can be written and said about the ideas yellow and not blue. The closure of the game will be I discussed here — also to contradict them. And signaled by the participants downing the contents of - their glasses as a symbol of cleansing themselves of ly change. Some will argue, others will agree, and all emotions. Doesn’t it sound more appealing? What everythingthat’s fine, becausewill at least this moveway something from a standstill will definite — as you need to remember is that it’s just like the case the current convictions about running and preparing - every game. ment and popularization. of workshops: there’s no one solution suitable for larps don’t support what we all care about: develop Of course, concluding the game this way isn’t all If only we started to approach the games we run more there’s to be done. Afterwards, there’s always time seriously and stopped thinking that — this might be for criticism — of the GMs, the scenario, or the play- hard — it’s only us and our opinion which are the ers. And it’s another thing which scares the organiz- most important, we’d already be one step ahead in ers stiff, especially as far as the most popular types the right direction. Without it, as we all know, we won’t get anywhere. everyone”, simply because nobody wants to hurt anyone’sof larps in feelings. Poland But go: it’s the not ones about intended mocking “to one please an- - other, it’s about an honest assessment of events and tro before a larp I ran in Poland. The theme of the behaviours. After all, nobody wants to get tangled in larpI used was the the game issue of flamingosof forcing andwomen penguins to work as anin esin- cort agencies abroad. The intro game played out per- the same way, in the same games, and not develop at fect. Hard to believe? Try it out for yourselves. all.a loop Right? of the The same answer old schemata seems evident. and clichés, It’s much to play sim in- pler to take the easy way out, and not evaluate your

AUTHORS’ FOOTNOTES

1 I took part in it in 2009 in the Czech Republic. The game was called Star and it dealt with the sub-

ject of adventures and mishaps in everyday lives of Hollywood celebrities. See more on: http:// 2 www.courtofmoravia.com/en/games/star-en/ For more information see: http://www.larpwriter.org

64 KoLa 2013 FLAMINGOS AND PENGUINS

KoLa 2013 65 DOMINIK DEMBINSKI Block-bust Your Larp!

When the boundary between scenes. Tenet I does not mean that it is necessary a movie and a larp becomes blurred for a player to be a hero — it should be a matter of The era of great larp manifestos has passed over choice, especially in bigger larps. However, everyone a decade ago, however, they still shape the contem- should have this possibility. In the context of this ar- porary style of larp authors. In Poland, most of the ticle, a hero is not necessarily a demigod, but a char- acter prominent and important for their surround- gamist [2] and they dominate over the once-disap- ings. A thief that robs a bank in a spectacular way games can still be classified as simulationist [1] or (with explosions, hostages and a swift escape) is, in the scenarios created within the so-called cinematic that very moment, a hero as well. larpproved writing narrativist school. games [3] — which also include Tenet II: Spectacular Style In this article I intend to (1) clarify, in a direct and The surroundings are a hero as well! This results in concise way, what the cinematic larp school as practiced by the Liveform[4] is (2) explain the fun- second, it also has the right to have its shamelessly damental values upon which our cinematic games two things: first, the scenography tells its own tale,- plosions. ideas behind our experiments, which we included in cinematic, flashy action, full of special effects and ex suchare built games, upon as (3)New present the ten most important Each and every Age: Krwawi Rekru- It is not necessary for a player to be a hero — it prop — the colour ci (2012) or Star should be a matter of choice, especially in bigger of the curtains, Wars: The Creed larps. However, everyone should have this possi- a spot of fake blood, of Ruin (2012) (4) bility. a picture on the challenge the legacy wall, a bullet mark of the Turku manifesto[5] (5) totally ignore the res- in the murdered president’s armchair — everything olute solutions of Dogma99[6] (6) once and for all has its own story to tell. Tenet II is all about how this defend my belief in the existence of an ideal narra- whole story should be consciously written by the au- tivist larp. I believe that the cinematic larps actually thors of the game. A well-made scenography allows constitute this ideal. us to characterize prominent characters (there are

ACT I working among empty whiskey bottles, with a bro- What is a cinematic larp? kendifferent family stories picture to ona CEO their in desk),a spotless or even office introduce and one A cinematic larp is heroic, spectacular and ac- new sub-plots to the game (a decent crime investiga- tion-packed. It is a game where every player can be- tion needs to be based on evidence and clues — the come a hero, the surroundings constitute a part of more polished the scenography is, the more elabo- the tale, and the game structure is based on the Hol- rate clues can be left for the players). lywood models. Tenet II also means that the surroundings are to Tenet I: Heroism be life-like. Gripping action needs explosions, play Every player can become a hero, feel like a star at of light, a soundtrack suitable to the plot (even if it some point in the game, change the fate of the world takes place in the middle of a forest) and much, much (on a micro- or macro- scale) by their deeds, and take more. Why? Because this is what the Hollywood style is all about.

part in spectacular, mood-filled and action-packed

66 KoLa 2013 BLOCK-BUST YOUR LARP!

Silence should not be forgotten either. It may con- Theorem I: The Rule of Three Acts Every decent story consists of three acts — intro- a game where the soundtrack is normally always duction (Exposition), rising action (Confrontation) presentstitute a in useful the background. tool for creating a specific effect in and ending (Resolution). There is an optimal model of events that take place in each act which has been Tenet III: Cinema style Have you seen Cloud Atlas or The Matrix? It is easy to experts. What follows is a short outline of elements andthe subjectevents inof the considerable right order research by film theory are. It depends on the level of abstraction, formal techniquessee that films and can the differ postmodern[7] in how much genre-savviness. cinematic they Act 1 — Exposition • Balance According to Tenet III, in order to make the im- • Inciting Incident pression as strong as possible, the author needs to • Reversal use each and every element of the game structure. • End of Exposition - • Basic Questions forward, a multilayered diegesis[8], character devel- • The Point of No Return opmentNon-chronological — there are timelines, a number beginning of formal with techniques a flash Act 2 — Confrontation which can be used to enrich the game and surprise • the players[9]. • First Culmination • MidpointConflicts, (ACrises, Moment Obstacles of Doubt) and Complications However, to create a cinematic feeling, it is not Act 3 — Resolution enough to break the rules — one also needs to know • Epiphany them well. Before I move on to present a detailed • Climax construction of a blockbuster larp scenario, I need to • Catharsis mention one thing — using the three-act structure (proposed by the Hollywood in such iconic works It is easily noticeable that every Hollywood block- as SCREENPLAY: Writing the Picture by R.U. Russin - and W.M. Downs) greatly enhances the quality of the ments of this structure. I know from my experience game. Do you wish to create a cinematic larp? Learn thatbuster using fulfills the all aforementioned the requirements interpretation posed by the of elethe three-act structure is the way to an easy success (al- howACT IIto write a film scenario first. of equally good alternatives, which are simply more How to write a cinematic larp scenario? though it is certain that there is an infinite number the methods I used so far to create cinematic effects. Theoremdifficult to II: use)[10]. An Arch or a Stone? NoneIn the of ten them points is universal, that follow, and Imany present of them very are briefly not Every character can be “an arch” or “a stone”. In suited for other types of larps. I encourage the read- er to experiment, as you will truly understand the and become better or worse. Characters who do not mechanisms only by using them. changea film, are “archs” called are “stones”. these charactersThere is no who good develop reason for a larp to include only “stones” — however, there are many good reasons for the players to receive roles which will somehow evolve during the game.

KoLa 2013 67 DOMINIK DEMBINSKI

There are many techniques that allow the author to create “archs”. They can give out envelopes with new information during each act, use the Fate Play mech- anism, and even refer to the player’s knowledge[11].

Theorem III: Dream Factory One of the most important functions of larps is to - ly refers to big larps, where the players create their rolesfulfill bythe themselves. players’ expectations The only way and to dreams. get to know It main the players’ expectations is to openly ask them about what they look forward to and what they want to experience. Players often have many brilliant ideas, and there is nothing wrong in using them.

Theorem IV: Postmodernism and Genre Larps are not solitary islands, separated from one another or from other media with impenetrable bar- riers. Larps are a part of a vast and rich culture, and behave accordingly to its rules and models. When one creates a scenario, they should be aware of its genre and draw from the rich stock of cultural sche- mata that have grown upon it. A space opera needs complicated family relations from “Star Wars”, and there can be no ‘20s-style police department without doughnuts and cold coffee.

Do not be afraid of literary references. Basing a sub- plot on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven or using the bib- lical topos of the savior in a post-apocalyptic horror inspires many unique plot ideas, and constitutes an attractive intellectual challenge for the players.

Theorem V: The MIA Model The MIA model is a technique that can be used to minimize the risk of a prolonged “plateau”, meaning the lack of players’ engagement in the game after scenes with very intensive action.

KIA, from Klimat-Intryga-Akcja — transaltors’ note), MIA is short for Mood-Intrigue-Action (originally:

hours.the three These phases should of a not film be plot confused which withshould the appear three- actin thisstructure specific — orderthe Mood during phase larps takes longer place than during 12 Act I (Exposition), and the Intrigue phase only lasts for a small part of Act II (Confrontation). Most of the elements included in the typical model presented in Maciej Nitka, larp New Age, 2012 the sources take place during the Action phase.

68 KoLa 2013 BLOCK-BUST YOUR LARP!

Mood it is possible for larps shorter than 12 hours to only consist of the action phase. While the previous two one-third to a half of the game (in the case of larps phases functioned more or less independently from thatThe firstlast phaseseveral (Mood) days — should up until last thefor morepenultimate or less the three-act structure, this is the last call for the cli- night, when the Intrigue phase should already kick max. in) and it should let the players feel the atmosphere and engage in social interactions, as well as give The Action phase includes The Point of No Return, them space to play their roles freely. It is the right time for numerous events that will build the mood, Culmination, A Moment of Doubt, Epiphany, Climax but will not push the plot forwards. It is also the time andConflicts, Catharsis, Crises, meaning Obstacles it encompassesand Complications, almost First the for the players to be presented with the sub-plots and themes that will accompany them until the end of the game. The more important a detail, the earli- Theoremwhole plot VI: from The theIDA endModel of Act 1 until the finale. er it should be introduced. The Mood phase includes The IDA model refers to a smooth introduction of Balance, Inciting Incident, Reversal and End of Expo- an event into the game. It is built of the following sition elements.

Intrigue phases: The second phase (Intrigue) should take more or less one-fourth of the game (in the case of larps that INFORMATION → DECISION → ACTION last several days it is the penultimate night) and con- they need to make decisions (second phase) about stitute a smooth transition from the mood-building theIn theactions first they phase are the to players perform receive during information the event to the proper action. This is a good moment to be- (third phase). The idea behind this model is simple gin the espionage — no event could and political sub- Characters who do not change are called “stones”. ever appear out of plots, as well as to There is no good reason for a larp to include only nowhere, but has to plan the events that “stones” — however, there are many good rea- result from some- are to take place in sons for the players to receive roles which will body’s decision, somehow evolve during the game. which in turn has to phase. The event be based on infor- shouldthe third allow and the final players to feel like characters from mation. Each phase may refer to a different player the Bond movies, or at least create an opportunity for secret meetings, spying and plotting. another), however, none of them may be skipped (a(one decision player made may makewithout a decision motivation, that meaning will influence with- The Intrigue phase includes Basic Questions, The out information, has no right to be made). - stacles and Complications elements. Remember! Theorem VII: The Narrativisation of Mechanics ThePoint Point of No of ReturnNo Return as well may as come Conflicts, to pass Crises, in differ Ob- The mechanics should serve the purposes of the ent moments for different factions, or be shared by game. The appearance of zero-mechanics larps in Po- the whole larp. It may be marked by different events. land proved that a scenario without mechanics may Regardless of the situation, the elements important be equally good as, or even better than, one with me- for particular factions are the most important for the chanics. Therefore, a game should include only those intrigue phase. The Point of No Return that is shared elements of mechanics which will serve its purpose. by the whole larp begins the third phase — Action. It is worth noting that there are two functions to larp

Action the second — providing the elements which are im- The third phase (Action) should take from one-fourth possiblemechanics, to attainthe first without of them it, being like magic. conflict resolution, to one-third of the game. It should be noted that the shorter the game, the longer this phase should be —

KoLa 2013 69 DOMINIK DEMBINSKI

Theorem VIII: Workshops, Debriefing, Creative Space afraid to use smells and tastes as important clues A good larp is the effect of cooperation between the in an investigation, do not be afraid to play with the authors, the game masters and the players. Char- colour codes by making the burgundy red the hall- acter sheets and written communication is a medi- mark of an aristocratic house, do not be afraid to use - wasted the potential of many a scenario. Every game trast and shadowplay. Larps are so much more than um not efficient enough, and relying on these only artificial light wherever you need it for a proper con for the players, the game masters and the authors toshould receive be one preceded last chance by activity-filledto confront and workshops compare theirfilms warmth— they asare well actually as the three-dimensional. smell of sulfur, the When emo- their knowledge and expectations, as well as to ac- tionsfireworks that accompanyexplode right you beside also become you, and more you canreal. feel quire practical and theoretical skills needed for the game. It is also the last moment to familiarize them- Theorem X: The Payroll selves with their characters’ closest environs (there is nothing as unnatural as a family played by a group the so-called payroll. Many years’ worth of experi- of people who do not recognize one another on the Every good film begins with an intro and ends with street). creates certain expectations concerning the plot and theence rules with thatthe media govern taught it, as us well that as an introduces intro to a filmthe Workshops do not have to be limited to the preface of - a larp. After the game, it is the organizers’ duty to run ductory video precedes a larp, the players’ behaviour duringviewers the to game a specific proper atmosphere. will be more If consistent such an intro with the game it is worth it to create an out-of-game - space,a full and where well-prepared the players debriefing, can ask the and game even masters’ during tions set by the intro. Consequently, a payroll after for something, practice or play out an important theour game plans will as theygive willthem strive satisfaction to fulfill and the a expectasense of scene without any interruptions. A sample solution closure. This is a powerful tool for creating better for a creative space within a game is the “blackbox” games, and has an additional asset — after seeing an — a room separated from the game proper, where intro to their own story, the players will really feel the players can play scenes that serve as comments for what is happening (e.g. retrospections or intro- spections). likeACT protagonistsIII in a film. Catharsis Theorem IX: The Monolith of Atmosphere You do not have to agree with me on any point of this What You See Is What You Get is a concept that suits lengthy article. I am sure that by rejecting the previ- the cinematic model very well, even if it is the epic ously-chosen paths and bending the heritage of the plot that the model is focused on and not realism. past to suit our own expectations we can make an ef- However, cinematic realism is very different from fort and develop. However, if the solutions I present- the one we know from our actual experience. Do ed are of any value to you — use them, alter them, not be afraid to use a soundtrack, even if it means and then you may proudly state that the larps you installing loudspeakers in every building and on create are heroic, cinematic and spectacular! every tree in several-kilometer radius. Do not be

70 KoLa 2013 BLOCK-BUST YOUR LARP!

AUTHOR’S NOTES

1 Simulationism — an approach, according to which producing a faithful image of the given setting is the most important element of a game 2 Gamism — an approach, according to which winning is the most important element of a game Narrativism — an approach, according to which the plot is the most important element of a game 4 - 3 New Age — a steampunk Founded in 2006 as Cieszyńskie Forum Fanatyków Fantastyki, which merged with the club Wehi Nordic-stylekuł from Katowice, games creating and jeepforms Liveform. in TheSilesia, main manages project isthe the open larp larp series scenario base — larpbase. boo.pl,game that and explores cooperates the borderlandsin many other between projects, larps including and films. the Apartorganization from that, of GrojkonLiveform — promotes the big- gest convention in Cieszyn Silesia. 5 Turku manifesto — a larp theory focused on immersion, or empathizing with one’s character 6 Dogma99 — a larp theory encouraging to create perfect simulations by avoiding any symbolism in games 7 Postmodernism — an art movement. Here, it means using pastiche, or intentionally imitating

8 specific features of other works of art or genres 9 More information on formal techniques can be found in the essay Czasoprzestrzeń w LARP-ach Diegesis — the fictional world in a literary work, theatre play, film or larp (Time and space in larps). 10 More details can be found in SCREENPLAY: Writing the Picture as well as in the article Jak pisać LARP-y inaczej for larps. (How to write larps differently), in which I adapted the three-act structure of films 11 Many solutions can be found in the article Czasoprzestrzeń w LARP-ach. The “arch and stone” op- position was described in SCREENPLAY: Writing the Picture and was adapted for larps in Jak pisać LARP-y inaczej.

SOURCES

1 Ron Edwards, Geas: Burgkon Drugi, 2 http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/1/ Liveform, New Age: Krwawi Rekruci, The Three Way Model, http://www.laivforum.dk/kp03_book/classics/three_way_model.pdf 4 Dominik Dembinski, Star Wars: Creed of Ruin, 3 2012, http://newage.larp.pl creed-of-ruin http://larpbase.boo.pl/?videos=star-wars-the- 5 6 The Turku Manifesto, http://www2.uiah.fi/~mpohjola/turku/manifesto.html 7 Robin U. Russin, William Missouri Downs, SCREENPLAY: Writing the Picture Dogma99, http://www.laivforum.dk/kp03_book/classics/dogma99.pdf 8 The play of fates 9 Kamil Bartczak, DKWDDK: Zagrajmy bez mechaniki - , http://fate.laiv.org/fate/en_fate_ef.htm , http://www.argos.edu.pl/imag 10 Blackbox es/111213%20DKWDDK%20v4.pdf , http://nordiclarpwiki.org/wiki/Black_Box

KoLa 2013 71 AGNIESZKA ROGOWSKA All the Sins of Larp Campaigns

I enjoy long and well-made stories that engage their recipients. It may be a decent literary saga, a great TV series, a new installment of a favourite computer game or, finally, an en- joyable larp. The continuous nature of a story allows for it to be presented in a fuller, more immersive way. The author can fully realize the potential of the story, and slowly submerge us into its world.

I enjoy larp campaigns, I have written about and is burned out, having already experienced its culmi- praised them on many occasions, I run and partici- nation, but being dragged on by the participants for pate in them on a regular basis. However, it cannot too long. The players are starting to get bored with be denied that games of this kind have their “sins” the game, they leave, they lose their enthusiasm. This - - play and overshadow all the merits. This article is an ics, authors’ decisions and relations between players attempt— flaws to which enumerate may completelythem, as it is destroy said that the noticing game becomemakes the more larp’s and other more flawed visible. aspects, like mechan

it. The following is a list of cardinal sins of larp cam- Why does it happen? It seems to me that every sto- paignsand defining that I woulda problem like tois confess.the first step to resolving ry has its time with the passing of which it is simply

1. The sin of burning out excessive. Let us suppose we want to present a tale Those of us who have a favourite TV series know this aboutfinished, a city and of nothing sin, with can prostitutes be added that and wouldgangsters not beas problem only too well. We become attached to the the heroes — this gives us a certain variety of themes, characters, we enjoy following their ups and downs, events and characters that will make the story great. observe the changes they undergo as the story un- However, after some time all the available means of folds, discover new secrets and revisit long-forgotten creating such a story will have already been used. but recurring sub-plots. Some of the TV series, be- Tragic crimes, scandals involving authorities, detec- cause of the addition of new seasons, end up being tives with their last crumpled cigarettes, young girls aired for years. With time, everything starts to de- who lost their innocence out on the streets — we teriorate. The plot weakens, sub-plots and ideas for - characters are recycled, and the scenario becomes cult. The longevity of a story depends on the chosen annoyingly schematic. Why is the main character theme,have seen the them authors’ all. Continuingand players’ this creativity, tale will as be well diffi as kidnapped, again? Why has X fallen in unrequited the story’s tolerance to routine. However, after some love, again, and Y is experiencing the same old dra- time every scenario will encounter this problem. ma, again? Almost every TV series enters this phase after several seasons. What can be done about this? It is better to use

This is what we call a “burnout”, and it affects larp not so heavily exploited. It would be good to spot the campaigns in a very similar way. It becomes appar- rightthemes moment that are to difficult draw the to exhaust,tale to its vast end enough and start and ent after some time, when another similar charac- a new one, maybe in another setting, with new char- ter appears, an identical NPC approaches us with acters. It might be worth considering to run a game a problem only-too-familiar, a sub-plot emerges that based on a theme contrary to the last one, including seems a photocopy of an earlier one. The authors topics that were impossible to tackle there. When we themselves are somewhat bored with the topic and see that the participants are getting bored, are not out of ideas for new plot points. Sometimes the story so involved in the game anymore and we hear the

72 KoLa 2013 ALL THE SINS

moans of “oh, not again!”, it is a good idea to consider What can be done about this? We could start with some day-to-day, not exactly epic themes — a sce- nario does not need a proverbial dragon right at the finishing2. The sin this of recyclingadventure and embarking on a new one. beginning. Everyday problems may create a better The second problem on the list is very similar and and more believable tale than those of kings and connected to the previous one, however, I wanted to gods. These are human problems, from every time, elaborate more on the topic. epoch and place — love, money, envy, greed, intoler- ance, a clash between religions or cultures. Players Many larp campaigns, regardless of the chosen genre - or setting, draw upon a set list of themes, like a strug- ger and more important every time. It is enough for gle for political position (electing a prince, a presi- thedo not challenges need their to challengesbe varied. Thisto be makes more difficult, the starting big dent, a council etc., with its own set of intrigues), tension level seem not so important. a plague, a war, an apocalypse, a great When another similar character appears, an Another problem and mighty adver- identical NPC approaches us with a problem on- that emerges here sary who has decid- ly-too-familiar, a sub-plot emerges that seems concerns the char- ed to threaten the a photocopy of an earlier one. The authors them- acters’ progress in players… Anyone selves are somewhat bored with the topic and out terms of the larp could give a number of ideas for new plot points. mechanics. If every of such themes. larp in a campaign sees a great deal of mechanical bonuses, it becomes Is it a bad thing? Not necessarily — a larp could very much use a popular theme, if it is presented from characters, who rapidly grow to be superheroes. This a new perspective, especially in a new, less popular isdifficult why it to is createimportant a decent to award plot such challenge bonuses for rea the- genre or setting, surrounded with new topics. How- sonably and not very generously. A game mechanics ever, too many of used-up themes in used-up settings could also involve only a very limited character de- may lead to the story burning out quickly, so be care- velopment. However, this approach may not be very ful. appealing for “bonus-collecting” players — there- fore, the author should put extra work into design- 3. The sin of escalation ing the game in order to compensate for this aspect. “A tale should start with a dead body in the closet, The problem of escalation is also a solid reason to and then the plot should thicken” — easy to say. It can be done in a one-shot larp, however in a cam- of meetings — and to start a new tale after they are paign it may lead to a “kill the god — end game” plan for the game to involve only a specific number problem. If we start with some really “epic” themes, finished.4. The sin of stagnation new challenges for the players. The TV series Super- A one-shot larp allows the author to do practically naturalafter six, episodesa tale of ittwo becomes monster-hunting difficult to thinkbrothers, of any is anything, experiment with its form, toy with its plot. a good example of this problem — it is not easy for A game progressing from the ending to the begin- the story to continue after the characters end up in ning? Two people playing the same character? A divi- a struggle against a biblical apocalypse and the most sion into several rooms, each of them being a differ- powerful entities of this world. ent historical period? No problem! We do not need

KoLa 2013 73 AGNIESZKA ROGOWSKA

to worry — even if something fails, oh well, at least outside larp campaigns look a bit intimidating for we gained a new experience. It helps our larp tech- a new person — numerous rules, many forum pages niques develop, and prompts us to create new things. of setting information, characters and events to read, plus a dozen of arguments between users as well. However, a common opinion states that in the case of a larp campaign it is better to use proved, reliable What can be done about this? Every author should designs and be cautious with experiments, as the think about how to make their larp appealing and consequences of choosing a given element are lon- approachable for new players. It should be possible

innovative ideas to larp campaigns. In the long run, itger-lasting. creates a seriousThis makes problem. it difficult After toall, introduce stagnation any is theto find “old” an players important enjoy place their for sub-plots. them in theIt may plot, also so boring. bethat a theygood would idea to not prepare just shuffle some around,kind of anbored, info-pack, while a kind of a “starter kit” for any potential new players. What can be done about this? It may be worth a try Every author should also give some thought on how to introduce at least minor innovations in a larp cam- to promote their initiative, so that it would not seem paign. Enriching the game by adding jeeps, freeforms so closed and complicated. or other design experiments may prove to be a great addition. In such a case it would be a good idea to 6. The sin of (lack of) involvement

are okay with it, as well as take special care for the newdiscuss element it with to the ac -players first, and find out if they The first problem connected characters” to involvement, issue — or Every author should thinkmore about specifically how itsto decline,make isplayers the “disappearing leaving the scenario. their larp appealing and approachable for new game and causing tually benefit the players. It should be possible to find an important their sub-plots to Moreover, giving place for them in the plot, so that they would not fade from the larp. If a larp campaign just shuffle around, bored, while the “old” players a player resigns just a less-exploited enjoy their sub-plots. before a one-shot theme, for example larp, the problem is setting it in an Orwell-style anti-utopian world, or not so serious — if they were to play an important during World War II, or in the modern Middle East, role in the scenario, the author can call some friends could make it not only interesting, but educational as well. I could even imagine a decent jeepform cam- But for a campaign larp? Someone playing a char- paign, although in my own scenario I would prefer acterto look prominent for a fill-in. for Usuallythe plot youof the can meeting find someone. resigns this form to be an addition to the main storyline. from the game, with no turning back. If they warned Original and adequate ideas always add to both the us about it in advance, something could have befall- quality and the longevity of a larp. en the character, or they could have left the place for some reason. However, players do not always leave 5. The sin of isolation only when it is “safe” for them to leave the game. It Larps constitute a rather uncommon form of enter- may happen sometimes that important sub-plots are tainment in our country. Larp campaigns — even left hanging or inactive, and the balance of power shifts in an uncontrollable way. It is even worse, if a player informs about their absence a day before the twomore with so. Whyno possibility is that? Firstly,to see theit is previous difficult ones to start — larp (no matter if they want to come back another andwatching the same a TV appliesseries with to larps. the episode It does fivenot appealof season to time or not) — you cannot just call for someone to everyone, especially when the experienced players play the character in their place. Sure, theoretically are privileged in many respects — they are familiar with the plot, and if they always play the same char- person had more time to prepare and absorb several acter, they have some own sub-plots as well as some months’it would worthbe possible, of information. although Butdifficult in just — one if the day? new experience points or other bonuses. Secondly, on the

74 KoLa 2013 ALL THE SINS

An interesting issue emerges here — if the character Unfortunately, there is also a number of unpleasant in question is essential for the plot, is it all right to situations that can take place — people arguing, be- cause one character stepped on another’s toes, be- in the empty spot? Could we, with the players’ con- sentlet a ofnew course, player substitute (after a necessary all the “stray” preparation) characters? fill because of another player’s unfair behaviour, or be- - cause athe player author did made not submit a bad decisionto the author’s in a conflict, vision pearing characters” issue. and, according to the latter, did something wrong. It definitely is some kind of solution to the “disap Not everyone can accept their failure in a game with Another problem connected to involvement is the so- dignity; some players simply get irritated and ar- called “consumptionist approach to playing”, or “you guments emerge. Some authors are also unable to make it, and I come to play”. It happens sometimes that the players want to participate, but are not very problems that emerge on the way, and simply drop eager to contribute anything to the game — they pre- afind proverbial reasonable piano solutions onto the toplayers. the plot In extreme or character cases fer to be its passive recipients. They make no prepa- things start to happen outside of the game — acts of rations to playing, they do not try to help the author deception, manipulation, intrigues, created both by or the other players in any way, like decorating the the players and the authors — which is not fun. Ob- room or adding a new sub-plot to the larp. They viously, it will all come to light eventually and make things unpleasant. nor offer any solutions to the problems that emerge onneither the way.discuss It isthe great game when after thea meeting characters is finished cause There is nothing more important for the game than interesting events good relations with- to happen, when Players should be aware that their contribution in the group and the meetings and sub- benefits the game and its quality. A larp campaign satisfaction of each plots are the results is not a sole property of its author, it belongs to and every partici- of their actions, not all of the participants, each of whom affects its pant. If something only the author’s final shape. spoils the relations ideas. However, that and the fun — sit is usually not the case. down and talk about it, everyone, the players and the authors. How to deal with this? Players should be aware that Dear author, if a decision of yours is met with a play- A larp campaign is not a sole property of its author, er’s protest — think it over very carefully. This deci- ittheir belongs contribution to all of thebenefits participants, the game each and of its whom quality. af- sion may ruin your game for the player, and it may be - volved in this process, as well as to talk to the players cause the other players to have less fun than you, andfects listen its final to them.shape. It is worth it to reward those in thinkdifficult them to takeover, it as back. it may Dear spoil player, the gameif your and actions your relations. 7. The sin of (bad) relations This is probably the most serious problem of this Dear author, consider several things with regards to kind of games. A larp campaign creates a communi- ty. Its members meet from time to time to play the make decisions that are important for the larp? Is game, between these “proper” meetings others are your opiniongame. Firstly decisive? — how Do youdo you listen solve to your conflicts players? and arranged to discuss the players’ plans or the recent Remember that a larp is to be enjoyed by everyone. If events, and let us not forget the forum threads. A larp you force your decisions without listening to anyone campaign is a great opportunity to meet new people, else, your relations to your players won’t be great. to bond with others — and it is important to ensure it actually happens. Secondly — be fair. Introduce fair and clear rules that apply to everyone, and stick to them. It is easy to ruin the game for a player with something like “you

KoLa 2013 75 AGNIESZKA ROGOWSKA

fail because I said so, you’re crushed by a falling pia- of larp campaigns should be used with caution in no, but another player has just won a lottery”. Avoid general), especially when the character in question having favourite players or characters. was just solving an interesting plot point. If a play- er’s character is a ruler who dominates others, make Thirdly — think about how you can support good re- sure that each and every servant is having fun, and if lations between your players. It is a good idea to in- the game is not ruined for them by the ruler’s orders. troduce and promote the “don’t be a douche” rule. In- Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, but it is game, the players may be mean, they can be crooks important to talk about them and not let them spark and murderers with no moral code at all — but apart arguments. from their roles they should play so as not to spoil the fun for others. For example, if a character is an For all these sins and for those I do not remember, antagonist who deceives other characters and ruins Iam very sorry. There is nothing left for me to do, but their lives, the latter should also enjoy it in some way. to resolve to amendment. Think about it — acting out a downfall is a whole lot more interesting than death (which in the case

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KoLa 2013 77 KAMIL RAUCH Postulates for the 200+ Scenarios

Were I to be precise, the following text would be entitled Postulates for the Field Larp Sce- narios That Are Focused on the Most Faithful In-Game Reality Simulation Possible and Intended for Two Hundred and More Players, as Based on the Experience Gained During the Organisation of the Game Fantazjada. Are they applicable to other events of this kind? I don’t have a clue. Still, in this scarcely researched field, this article may well serve as a very short handbook.

It’s possible that I’ve missed some important points, that seemed really obvious. But I can assure you that

past mistakes in particular. there’s nothing too fanciful or contrived here. The content has been verified by harsh reality, and by my own 1 The scenario. The description of how we intend to provide the players with the opportunities for numerous and exciting interactions with the game environment, mainly through contact with other characters.

2 What is the larp about? Sum up the whole game in one sentence, which will serve as a guidepost during the larpwriting. Including ideas that seem fun, but are totally unrealistic may dilute the

by occupation rises from the ashes and confronts its past”, or “The people from a region rich in naturalstory that’s resources jointly have created a referendum by the players concerning and organizers. their identity”. Good examples: “A country destroyed

3 Add-on quests (originally misje z kilometra — roughly translated into “quests for miles”, a phrase the author borrowed from the Flamberg larp event — translators’ note). It refers to various “of- fers” addressed at the players who exhausted all their sub-plots (or so they claim), quests which may be taken up by any character, in any moment. Usually, they’re connected to the main theme of the game (Postulate 2). Remember! It’s not enough for these sub-plots to simply be there — players have to know about them (Postulate 15).

4 Adventure sub-plots some treasure to be found, as well a handful of monsters to be slayed — not what one would call a sophisticated sub-plot,. Regardless but these of still the have main their theme fans. of Suchthe larp, elements a big fieldmay gameconstitute has to an include enjoy-

able interlude for some of the players, and fulfill — to some extent, at least — Postulate 3. 5 Influence on the world. Being aware of the fact that the character’s actions may have conse- quences on a cosmic scale, or at least affect the whole kingdom, turns on the “idiot mode” in some

happily spoil the fun for others just to bask in the limelight. Such actions may have great impact onplayers. the in-game If they world,feel unfulfilled, which cannot they bedestroy ignored the if atmosphere,we already allowed disregard the playersthe in-game to interfere reality, with and the setting so much. Therefore, it’s better for a larp to tackle only local issues (Postulate 2). In the

78 KoLa 2013 200+ SCENARIOS

movie by Akira Kurosawa, the seven samurai didn’t have to save the whole Japan for their story to be exciting.

6 Swinging the foam. scenario isn’t a “pure” battle larp, it will be also attended by players who are less bloodthirsty, Big field games always lure heaps of people hungry for melee combat. If the-

and it’ll be difficult to cater for preferences of both groups. A simple solution is for the “boffer heads” to larp-fight with one another only, and see no profit in killing the “civilians”. For example, they may constitute the electorate whose votes will be decisive for the outcome of the conflict between the fighters. 7 Recycling the dead. Planned in advance, and necessary in the light of Postulate 6. What to do with the fallen — give them a new, full-blown character, or just a generic member of one of the factions? Which factions? On what terms does one come back to the game after their character was killed, and who — if anyone — controls it? Do we have enough people to properly implement the given solution?

8 Death on the spot. There are many potential situations which may frustrate the players. Possi- bly, the one that’s the worst is when your character dies from a single powerful attack — or spell, or elixir, whatever. No player should do such a thing to another player — no player should be able to do so.

9 Spreading the game. Two hundred and more players in one location is nothing less of a macabre

is unpleasant as well. The solution is to create several locations in the game area, with a “reg- ularand acast” disaster. as a must.However, By “regular it may becast” difficult I mean to these make characters them scatter, that especially will stay therewhen regardless the weather of

whothe weather will make conditions. the locations A solid feel roof more is real.just theContinuing first of thethat things thought, that it’s must invaluable be provided for the in game such areaa place. to haveWe also a location need mediators with food that and willwater take supplies. care of specific game aspects, as well as characters

10 Blocking a location. A phenomenon very unfavourable in the light of Postulate 9. It’s usually as- sociated with an especially hazardous situation that may occur in the game area. Wandering the roads is supposed to provide the players with the feelings of excitement and real danger — after all, it’s all about adventure. However, if doing so leads to inevitable death, it completely paralyzes

- nicationthe game. system To sensibly and rewards level the for difficulty the persons and danger, responsible, the organizers for example need reimbursing to have full controlsome of over the the most serious threats (usually, the forest creatures). This in turn calls for an efficient commu

costs — of course, after they fulfill their tasks.

KoLa 2013 79 KAMIL RAUCH

11 No compromise the parties’ contradictory objectives and interests. This refers to some players’ tendencies to forming absurd alliances. If some just characters’ to “win theroles larp”. are based on conflict, it’s very important to highlight

12 Overmanning the quest. How many characters does it take to look for one magical sword? That’s right.

13 Multiple plotlines. Every faction needs to have several missions, which may be completed in various ways. This will add more funtime, and a single failure won’t be enough to stalemate and frustrate the players. Also, the scenario should include opportunities for every faction to inter- act with others. What’s helpful here is the “spider’s web”, a helpful visualisation of the relations between groups and characters. To increase the chance of interaction, all the planned pursues should involve both sides.

14 No one is irreplaceable… in a well-constructed scenario, that is. Each key piece of information and objective needs to be shared by all members of a faction, meaning the main plot should rely on whole groups, not on single characters. Some people tend to shamelessly submit a character essential for the scenario and then not show up for the game. The only way to introduce some dis-

This solution is really effective, but it also affects the popularity of the larp. cipline is the obligatory payment that needs to be made before the role assignment is confirmed. 15 Divergence of ideas. The organizer may invent a really great scenario — but it’s all for naught, if it stays in their imagination only. It’s not easy to make the ideas and expectations of both the player and the organizer meet. What helps here is striving for the most precise and clear com-

in a simple, communicative style, according to the Knows-Wants-Has model (adapted from our friendsmunication from possible. Hardkon). This What’s especially important applies here to is written a conscious briefings, and orderly which wayshould of communicating be formulated with the players — with groups on faction forums, and with single persons through e-mail.

16 Away with the conspiracy everywhere! Two or three spies can be fun. But a larp where every other character has a secret identity is ridiculous and embarrassing — and only too common.

17 Mages, sod off! This covers all supernatural creatures, travellers from other worlds, mythical entities — all the “weird” characters in general. Freaks make sense only when they’re a sensation of a kind, right there next to three hundred ordinary characters.

18 Judas in action. If there’s a traitor in a faction, they need to act out this role. If their comrades don’t get any chance to detect them, the sub-plot is as good as dead.

19 The secret ingredient. Whenever possible, while looking for the cast it’s a good idea to provide every faction with at least one player on whom we may count to create an enjoyable, atmos-

Adventure Seekers). In such groups people usually only interact with one another, and it’s very phere-filled game. It’s difficult when all we get are some readily-made “RAS parties” (Random again during the game — entirely by chance, of course. difficult for them to absorb any gaming skills. It’s no use to separate them as they’ll come together

80 KoLa 2013 200+ SCENARIOS

20 Careful with the big fish. If the game features a fraction that holds considerable power, for ex- ample a city council, they should be appointed a supervisor who’ll be able to control their de- cisions, at the same time giving them enough freedom to enjoy their roles. It would be naive to assume that the players will refrain from acting upon ideas that could spoil the fun for others.

21 Order in the larp! maintained in the main location of the game. It’s not that easy if, for example, the very centre of If any simulation of the fictional world is to be successful, order needs to be is needed. Its members should serve in several shifts to avoid getting bored with their duties. our larp town becomes a murder scene. To avoid such situations, a proficient order-keeping staff- storing order, and still able to provide their subordinates some free time. Such a combination of responsibilityTheir larp-boss and should skills bemay someone be found with almost an exclusivelyiron hand, amongwho will larp be organizers. respected, efficient in re

22 The wife of Caesar. No game mediator should take up the role of a competitive faction leader, or even of its member — it could affect their objectivity. Mediators aren’t there for their own enjoyment, but for the enjoyment of others. The functions presented in Postulates 20 and 21 are rather technical, and the ones who take them up aren’t there to pursue any personal objectives, but to serve the plot.

23 Where’s that ring? No sub-plots should be dependent on objects that are small and fragile. There’s too much risk of such an item being lost or destroyed, and the sub-plot falling apart.

24 Did you buy the ostrich eggs? It’s unacceptable for a scenario to include any props that we’re not entirely sure we can get. A good idea is to set a deadline, with the passing of which we cross out all the items we still don’t have.

25 Release the golem! It’s good to invent some additional events, that could be used to liven up a game that loses its pace. However, these should not all be limited to yet another enemy attack.

Not only is it boring, but it also degrades the larp into a costumed fight. An archery tournament, a speech of an official, or a village beauty contest will be just as interesting. 26 The Grand Finale - thing on their own. Most probably, it’ll be a pointless battle or something even more stupid. The . If there’s nothing planned for the larp finale, the players will try to do some - possibleriffraff likes to predict to mess how everything the game up will in theunravel, end, sono itmatter would how be advisable dumbass toit haveis (author’s several note: different this sentence is dedicated to the Editor - all the best! / translators’ note: What about us?). It’s im

versions of the finale planned.

KoLa 2013 81 JAN WOSIURA Larp Copyrights

The topic of larp copyrights seems surreal to many. The truth is that our community is con- stantly developing, and Polish games are becoming more and more ambitious and artistic. We are catching up with the West, where larps are created by writers, dramatists, and sci- entists who treat the form as experimental art and try to make a living out of it. As we are also growing out of “nerdiness”, it is interesting to consider what rights we have in Poland in reference to larps and how we can use them, and to check if we do not infringe any third party rights.

One larp — many authors, many rights rightable it does not need to have a written or in any The copyright is a collection of rights that an author has in reference to their work, which in turn needs to is considered to be expressed with it simply being played.way permanently Even if the recordedform is not shape: yet complete, the form the of a work larp by every larp, however, in their case it often happens is nonetheless copyright-protected. It is also irrele- thatfulfill more certain than legal one requirements. person is the Theserights areholder. fulfilled It is vant if the work is based on an existent RPG system essential to include all the persons who are entitled or e.g. on George R.R. Martin’s books; the part of the to the larp copyrights. To do that, it is important in every case to determine who has offered any creative by copyright. In the case of using an established uni- input into the scenario, i.e. whose contribution to the verselarp which created fulfills by another the statutory person, criteria it is usually is protected neces- sary to receive its author’s consent (in the form of a written statement or a license — see below). Undergame could the provisions be defined of as Article an artistic 1 § 1 work. of Polish Copy- right and Neighbouring Rights Act of 1994[1], a work a scenario, scenography, and directing (in this case activity of individual nature, expressed in any form The aforementioned criteria of a work are fulfilled by andis defined irrespective as any ofmanifestation its value. Clearly of a person’s copyrights creative may actually played form is a creation of many persons, be held only by a person, and no animal or machine who— gamemastering). all hold the copyrights However, for anythe larp as in a its whole. final, could be the author of a work. However, other ele- The exploitation of any of those rights requires the ments may need some explanation. The premise of joint consent of all of the joint authors. Of course, the a manifestation of creative activity, or originality[2], larp proper should be considered separately from its constitutes a very vague criterion, a clear assess- particular components, which can constitute works ment of which has not been achieved even in legal in their own right (for example, character sheets). science. It is assumed that such a manifestation The issue that I would like to consider is if a larp par- creation of an identical work should not be probable. ticipant is to be considered its joint author, or rather Inshould turn, bethe innovativeindividual nature and original[3], of a work is meaning understood the an equivalent to an actor starring in a theatre play? as a manner of expressing the author’s ideas in their It is especially important in the case of the games works[4]. A work can be expressed in various forms, that are continued, with plots that are updated and altered by the players’ actions and achievements. As- running a larp. suming that a player’s creation of a character during even such impermanent and fleeting as, for example, a game is a work (it is original and individual in its Under the Polish law (and contrary to, for example, nature), the player effectively becomes a co-author the American legal system), for the work to be copy- of the system, and to some point they are entitled to

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hold the copyrights. Theoretically, they should have Having noted that larp copyrights could be attribut- the right to have a say in such issues as publishing the ed to more than one person, I would like to clarify handbook, alterations to their own creative input, etc. what actually constitutes the copyrights, apart from the fact that they are held by the author of a work. However, to assess the possibility of awarding the The copyrights are divided into two categories. As authorship status to larp participants, it should be considered if the notion of playing a larp character I will simply list them. The author’s moral rights (Ar- is not actually closer to the idea of an artistic perso- ticlefully defining16 of the all Polish of them copyright) would consume are inalienable much space, and permanently linked to the author. These include the This question is essential, as the so-called rights to rights to claim authorship, to sign the work with performancesna, identified withare separatelythe work ofcovered professional by the actors.Polish their name or pseudonym (or to publish it anon- copyright. These are not connected to authorship, ymously), to protect its integrity (meaning to have however, they al- control over any low for performers The issue that I would like to consider is if a larp alterations made to (musicians, actors participant is to be considered its joint author, or the work), to decide etc.) to receive re- rather an equivalent to an actor starring in a the- whether the work muneration for atre play? It is especially important in the case of should be made their performances the games that are continued, with plots that are of other persons’ updated and altered by the players’ actions and time, and to control works, as well as to achievements. thepublic manner for theof using first protect the integrity the work (the right of such a performance (i.e. by means of making al- to object to any improper use, for example using the terations). In my opinion, this interpretation would Mona Lisa as a doormat).

The second category is referred to as the author’s limit the rights of a specific player and allow them to economic rights, which may be transferred (sold or influence their own way of playing of their character gifted, for example) or made available to third par- afteronly. theirIt is difficult runs would to make be simply a definite pointless decision and here.even ties, either for remuneration or for free, by granting absurd.On the one On hand,the other a player’s however, influence a player’s on plots creative of larps in- a proper license. This category covers the rights to use put into a larp is larger than that of an actor in a the- the work, to dispose of the work, and to receive re- atre. In my opinion, a player can be considered a joint muneration for its exploitation. These constitute the basis for transferring the rights (including their sale) - or granting a license to use the work. They also allow author of the final form of the larp, but only if their- holders to take legal action against unauthorised uses. escontribution the plot created is really by significant,the original becomes author. In an other inte words,gral part a player of the can given be setting,considered and a visibly joint author influenc of The other side of the coin: the larp if their creative activities alter the handbook using another person’s work in a larp or the consecutive scenarios. I would not consider it Many larp authors, when writing a game, draw from a legitimate basis for legal action, however, I do think that any alterations to the game that are connected The borrowings include sub-plots, characters, or to a player’s contribution to the scenario should be evenexistent whole works settings. such asIf abooks, larp were films, not or RPGa work systems. itself, consulted with that player. one would need the consent of both the economic

KoLa 2013 83 JAN WOSIURA

rights holder to use the materials and of the author to alter it. It is important, therefore, for larps to be a quote does infringe the copyright. associated with art and education, rather than with 23rd of October 2004[6], a work of which 90% is sports (as some would like them to). If this issue ever The second method of avoiding law infringement is raises any doubts in authorities or courts, the stat- the permission to use copyrighted works given to re- utory legal institutions of the copyrights that allow search and educational institutions. Under Article 27 authors and scientists to use other persons’ works of the Polish copyright, such institutions are allowed to use published works in original and in translation, which the copyrights holder’s authorisation is not and to make copies of fragments from the dissem- necessarymay not apply. and thus Normally, infringement these defineallegations the caseswill not in inated work for teaching purposes or in order to apply. These are collectively called the permissible conduct their own research. If our project is in any use of works. Two of them are especially important - for larp authors. regulationmanner joined allows by an for institution free and fulfillingunrestricted the require use of The most convenient method of not infringing oth- worksments in specified any larp, in on Article the condition 27, the that aforementioned it pertains to er person’s copyrights is to use the so-called right to any educational purpose. It is enough for a school or quote. Under Article 29 § 1 of the Polish copyright it a university to be a co-organiser. In my opinion, any is permitted, in works constituting an independent organisation with research or educational statutory whole, to quote fragments of disseminated works aims may be adequate as well. This is why it is so or minor works important for larps in full, within the Also, there is a rise in popularity of various mate- to be associated rials under the so-called free licenses, which al- explanation, criti- low, under certain conditions, for using the works educational activi- scope justified by and identified with cal analysis, teach- covered thereby in whole. They may be worth not- ing, or the rights ing for those who intend to disseminate their own 27 does not cov- ties. (Note: Article governing a given scenarios. It would allow others to use the sce- er computer pro- kind of creative ac- nario freely and, at the same time, help establish grams, and it seems tivity. Literature is certain rules pertaining to the work that most computer games are consid- covered by this regulation; it pertains to any other ered to be excluded from that regulation as well.) kindnot theof creative only fieldactivity too. It renders it possible to draw from the story, characters, or other elements of The permissible use (either the right to quote or a given setting. The extent of a quote is not a prob- - lem. Pursuant to the ruling of the Appellate Court in quirements. The audience (the players) need to be informedthe rights aboutunder theArticle author 27) andis subject the source to specific of every re quote constitutes one-third of a larp, its author does notŁódź commit of the copyrights17th of December violation 2002[5],if the quote even pertains if the enough for this information to be included in the to an adequate aim — a proper connection must be characterwork used sheets, (Article shown 34 of on the a computerPolish copyright). presentation It is present between the larp and the included quote, after the larp, or simply read to the participants. If it is not done, the requirements of the permissible use the rights governing a given kind of creative activi- - ty.meaning: The latter teaching, makes explanation,it possible to criticalinclude analysis,the longest or - quotes and is very convenient, as larps constitute onare (Article not fulfilled 116 of and the thePolish project copyright). is treated Furthermore, as plagia therism, permissible which may usebe punished may not byviolate up to the3 years rightful in pris in- opinion, the rights governing larps allow a larp au- terests of the author or infringe the normal use of the thora rather to feature specific another and distinct person’s branch music ofin their art. In game my for free, or even use another person’s setting with all not violating the economic interests[7] (not taking its premises, as long as it is within reason. Accord- work (Article 35 of the Polish copyright), meaning: ing to the Supreme Court of Poland (the ruling of the considering the current scale of the Polish larps. away the author’s earnings), which would be difficult

84 KoLa 2013 LARP COPYRIGHTS

It should be noted that the Polish permissible use is It started with small, local larps. However, in time not the same as the American fair use. The US law the games grew to cover at least several states. Ivey allows using other persons’ works for almost every registered the name NERO and started to run the non-commercial purpose. The rule is general, and games under the company called Legends Unlimit- each case is considered separately. The Polish law ed Inc. Ventrella moved to another state to start his is much more restrictive, and in many cases what own NERO edition there. He then received a writ- Americans are allowed, Poles are not. ten and permanent permission to use the name, the logo, and all other system elements supplied by Leg- Of course, the permissible use does not exhaust the ends Unlimited Inc. within his area of activity. When possibilities available for larp authors. In the case of he moved to yet another place, unknowingly (or so drawing from an existent setting, it is a good idea to he claims) he disturbed the territory where anoth- er person — Joe Valenti — had already received usually the license[8] included therein only allows a written permission to use the NERO trademark. forcheck the for dissemination officially published of the game handbooks. mechanics Although and Michael A. Ventrella had not been informed about rules, in my opinion purchasing an RPG system hand- this, although the duty to do so constituted a part of book gives us the right to use its contents in a larp. his contract. Valenti started persuading Ventrella to A prohibition of such an interpretation would be in- leave the territory, as well as promoting an informa- consistent with the social and economic purpose of tional campaign, described by Ventrella as “aggres- the handbook — after all, one buys it to play and run sive”. In the meantime, Valenti bought Ford Ivey’s games[9]. Also, there is a rise in popularity of various company, which was renamed NERO International, materials under the so-called free licenses, which al- along with all the NERO rights, and claimed the au- low, under certain conditions, for using the works thor’s economic rights for all handbooks published, covered thereby in whole. They may be worth not- including those that contained texts written by Ven- ing for those who intend to disseminate their own trella. The “aggressive campaign” did not stop, and scenarios. It would allow others to use the scenario Michael A. Ventrella decided to initiate legal action. freely and, at the same time, help establish certain The case was relegated for mediation, to no avail. Out rules pertaining to the work[10]. of necessity, Ventrella renamed his NERO version into Alliance LARP and has been operating under the The NERO case name since[12]. It should be noted that the copyright is not the same as the legal protection of trademarks covered by the Final words Polish larps are developing, and soon people will 2000[11]. The latter allows obtaining the exclusive Industrial Property Rights Act of the 30th of June a large scale. Along with real money, unethical ac- means of their registration. This issue mainly per- tivitystart is engaging bound to in appear. the field Therefore, professionally when planning and on tainsright to use,business for example, relations, a specifichowever, name there or has logo been by a game it is reasonable to take legal regulations into consideration, both in order to protect one’s own in the USA. It is presented below, as an example of work and to respect other persons’ rights. It is better legalat least problems one case connected of larp authors’ to larps conflict being very of this real. kind to think in advance than to worry about apocalyptic compensation! The case concerned the NERO system created by, among others, Michael A. Ventrella and Ford Ivey.

KoLa 2013 85 JAN WOSIURA

AUTHOR’S NOTES

1 copyright” Journal of Laws of 1994, No. 24, Item 83 with later changes, hereinafter referred to as “the Polish 2 Prawo własności intelektualnej, 2008, p. 40 Przedmiot prawa autorskiego J.Sieńczyło-Chlabicz (ed.), 8 3 M. Późniak-Niedzielska, , in: Prawo autorskie, J. Barta (ed.), 2010, p. 4 J. Barta, R. Markiewicz, Prawo autorskie, 2008, p. 24 5 Grzeszak T. (ed.), Prawo autorskie w orzecznictwie, Warsaw 1998, p. 57 6

See: 2005/11/195, http://prawo.money.pl/orzecznictwo/sad 7 K. Gienas, Dozwolony użytek Ustawa o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych. Komentarz, najwyzszy/wyrok;sn;izba;cywilna,ic,i,ck,232,04,5926,orzeczenie.htm , in: 8 Usually it is the Open Game License created by Wizards of the Coast. The full license contents may (E.Ferenc-Szydełko (ed.), 2011, p. 261 be found on www.opengamingfoundation.org. 9 I can not guarantee such an explanation would be accepted at the court. 10 There are many licenses of this kind, however, I would not advise Poles to use the ones in English. The Anglo-Saxon legal system is very different from ours, and not all elements of foreign licenses may be used in Poland. The safest and most convenient licenses I know are the Creative Commons — they are translated into Polish and fully compatible with our law. 11 12 Journal of Laws of 2003, No. 119, Item 1117 with later changes For more information, refer to the websites of the aforementioned parties: http://nerohq.com/ break.php and http://www.nerolarp.net/NERO_LARP_2011/NERO_LARP_LEGAL.html. SOURCES

1 Barta J., Markiewicz R., Prawo autorskie, 2008, p. 24 2 Gienas K., Dozwolony użytek Ustawa o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych. Komentarz,

, in: Grzeszak T. (ed.), Prawo autorskie w orzecznictwie, 1998, p. 57 E.Ferenc-Szydełko (ed.), 2011 4 Przedmiot prawa autorskiego Prawo autorskie, J. Barta (ed.), 2010, p. 8 3 5 Prawo własności intelektualnej, 2008 Późniak-Niedzielska M., , in: 6 Ventrella M. A., The NERO split and The Great Lawsuit, Sieńczyło-Chlabicz J. (ed),

7 NERO http://www.nerolarp.net/NERO_LARP_2011/NERO_LARP_LEGAL.html LARP Legal, http://nerohq.com/break.php

86 KoLa 2013 LARP COPYRIGHTS

KoLa 2013 87 YARASLAU KOT Live Role-play Games within the System of Moral Development of Preschool Children

The problem of moral education of preschool children is constantly emphasized by the contemporary society. Lack of values and heartlessness, which developed along with the tendency to exclude individualists from the rest of society as a means of preserving and passing down culture, in turn lead to a change in the understanding of good and evil by the modern generation, and put the society in danger of moral degeneration.

The system of moral education of preschool children the development of independence and the eagerness itself requires reorganization. Taking into account of a preschool child to consciously and willingly fol- the number of explorations in local educational re- low socially accepted examples of behaviour. search, their depth and academic quality, the area of moral development is far behind intellectual, physi- Despite the multitude of approaches towards the cal and other related areas of development. If a prac- problem of moral education of children, the mech- tice of moral education existed on the preschool anisms of how the very beginnings of a child’s mor- educational level (such as kindergartens and nurser- al consciousness are formed and developed remain ies) under the Soviet rule, it was determined by the ideological stan- improvement of dards and limited Preschool childhood is insufficientlya relatively defined. short period The resources moral usefulconscious for the- to teaching basic in a person’s life. However, this is when the child ness are not fully norms (manners, learns significantly more than through the rest of determined either. courtesy, ethical their life. As of yet, there is no values), and the satisfying Belaru- methods of education were based on the concept of sian research of live role-play games in the context of authority (methods of persuasion, imposition, eth- their application in the moral development process, ical dialogue) (Makarenko, 1947; Vygotsky, 1982). - Today, the dominant tendencies for determining the al education of preschool children. curriculum of moral education should be based on especially in the specific and significant area of mor more universal ethical values, such as goodness, jus- One of the most unique features of role-play games tice and compassion (Bibler, 2002; Blyumkin, 1990; is the possibility for a child to adapt the role of an adult. Because of that, children become interested in Schastnaya, 1985). aspects and dimensions of surrounding reality which Kabush, 1995, 2000; Kalinina, 2003; Laptenok, 2002; they wouldn’t notice while playing other types of During its development, human personality goes games. First, children become interested in activities through stages of extreme vulnerability to social in- regularly performed by adults, and later, in the sig- - tween 5–7 years of age) is a time of extreme openness behaviour. Live role-play games greatly improve chil- fluence. Early childhood (especially the period be dren’snificance methods of these of realizingactivities, objectives as well as and interpersonal their ability a readiness to accept it. This age is the most sensitive to interact with objects. The in-game interaction with forto social, the development moral and pedagogical of morality, influence,since a child’s as well abili as- ty to make moral choices is based on the developing toy they need, or if some unusual object is required activity of conscious moral evaluation and enforced duringtoys becomes the role-play more varied.— the child If a childhas no cannot problem find with the by the child’s need for approval and acceptance. The foundation for developing this ability is connected to be found not only in the already-known objects, but finding a substitute. Moreover, the substitute can

88 KoLa 2013 LARP VS MORAL DEVELOPEMENT

also in those that are new. Whenever a need emerges During a live role-play game, children have the possi- during a game, children are more eager to use imagi- bility to interact with both adults and other children. nary objects, or often substitute the missing items or What is more, while children can spontaneously cre- the game objectives during role-plays children use to accept and understand those created by other variousimpossible methods actions learned with words.during the Therefore, earlier stages to fulfill of ate new game objectives, it may be difficult for them the game. They develop their abilities of expressing players engage in brief interactions, but with more emotions via actions, movement, gestures and facial experiencechildren, and their that interactions may provoke become conflicts. longer. At During first, expressions. So, one of the main advantages of games a role-play game, children become more indepen- based on role-play is that children develop various dent, they become more creative with their game methods of achieving one’s objectives. and change it, which means that they develop the skill to create the plot. For its realization, they invent In-character actions during a live role-play game are accompanied by in-character spoken expres- teachers in preschool education institutions often sions and phrases, with which the child addresses addressand set the specific children objectives. with suggestions In real-life such situations, as, “Let’s their toy-partners, play (something)” imaginary com- During a live role-play game, children have the (Zakharov, 2005). panions, adults, or possibility to interact with both adults and other This could mean ei- their peers. With children. What is more, while children can spon- ther that these chil- time, the uttered taneously create new game objectives, it may be dren do not have in-character ex- difficult for them to accept and understand those their creativity de- pressions and short created by other children, and that may provoke veloped enough, or phrases evolve into conflicts. that them develop- exchanges of phras- ing this skill is not es logically linked by their content, which means that particular teacher’s objective at the moment. that children achieve the next communicative level, - What is more, children can choose materials and acter conversations should be initiated by an adult. other decorations for the in-game reality by them- Later,namely after in-character gaining enough conversations. experience, The children first in-char have selves. If a needed object is not available, they often in-character conversations with one another. With choose to use some toys instead. In such situations the accumulation of life experience, the in-character they use both actual and imaginary objects as sub- conversations between children become longer and stitutes with ease. If the entire game takes place in more detailed. On the other hand, a new negative one location (e.g. a hospital), conventional means of tendency is observed in the contemporary practical decorating do not foster the development of a child’s research — that in some games based on role-play independent thinking and creativity, as all the props children become less talkative with age, or their are rather obvious and do not need to be imagined communicative skills degenerate (Shcheglov, 2007). beforehand. The possible reason could be that children simply do not know what to talk about. Therefore, when Preschool childhood is a relatively short period in the in-character conversations are developed, it is a person’s life. However, this is when the child learns strongly advised that adults provide a good model of interaction and communication. There are indeed many things to be achieved during significantly more than through the rest of their life.

KoLa 2013 89 YARASLAU KOT

communicative skills, the understanding of inter- personalthis period: interactions, good command ethical of values speech, and cognitive moral judg and- independenceachieve the game of action-taking objectives (3) and how decision-making. much children ment, and the basic ability to plan one’s own actions Forinteract the purposesduring a specific of the experiment, live role-play and game to aid(4) the and future life altogether. educators in the future, four questionnaires were de- veloped, one for each criterion. Preschool age is the age of games. Children play a lot and with pleasure, and they tend to accept the objec- tives set for them by adults more easily if these come in the form of a game. What is important is the choice 1.The Howfirst groupdo the ofchildren questions create was the used plot to of determinethe game? of different aspects of adult life imitated by children the depthChildren of the can game invent content: the plot and the topic of the in their role-play. By imitating job-related activities game themselves, but the teacher can direct and interactions between adults the child learns em- 2. How different are the plots created by children? conduct observed in the society he or she is a part of. them or influence their decisions. Livepathy, role-play the significance games may of a givenhave veryjob, anddifferent the rules plots. of 1–2 role-play games, so the process of observa- tionIt is should difficult be to lengthy determine and thorough. this basing only on children live, as well as family, domestic, geographic How many game objectives can the child create? orThey working may depend conditions on the surrounding specific times them. in Therefore,which the The ideas children have during games usually games affect children’s learning in different ways, 3. manifest themselves in creating new objectives. depending on which aspects of real circumstances and human behaviour they focus on. During role- approaches, so the “driver” treats the doggy to a play games it is im- For example, a boy is a driver“bone”. fixing a car. A dog portant for the child Live role-play games may have very different 4. How var- to imitate these plots. They may depend on the specific times in ied are the game features which are which the children live, as well as family, domes- objectives? We have the most important tic, geographic or working conditions surrounding to determine if they for their future per- them. Therefore, games affect children’s learning are all similar or if in different ways, depending on which aspects of they vary kindness, respect, real circumstances and human behaviour they 5. How in- honesty,sonal development: fortitude. focus on. dependent are the All these and many children during the more could be ingrained in a child’s personality with creation of new game objectives? The game ob- an appropriately designed live role-play game. jective could be set (1) independently, as a re-

with an adult’s assistance. For example, an adult an experiment conducted in 2010–2011 in the kin- couldflection say, of “Look circumstances at this kitty! (2) It bylooks an so adult hungry. (3) dergartenThe hypotheses Buratino were in confirmedMinsk, Belarus. by the During results the of What do you think we should do with it?” research, great amount of interesting data was col- lected. It also resulted in developing a live role-play The second group of questions is used to determine games programme called Child and the Whole World, the diversity of the methods invented to achieve the designed to be 6 months long and aimed mainly at children at the age of 5. 1. gametoys? objectives: At an early age, children learn to use toys The main aim of the experiment was to determine accordingHow diversified to their is direct, the child’s obvious interaction purpose. withThe how deeply the preschool children were involved use of toys during games can be the same, or dif- into live role-play games. The analysis of games was ferent if the same toy is used in many different based on four criteria, which were (1) the content of ways. the game (2) the diversity of the methods invented to 2. What is the level of connection between par-

90 KoLa 2013 LARP VS MORAL DEVELOPEMENT

ticular in-game actions involving toys? Actions 2. Who does the child appoint the new game ob- involving objects can be separate, or constitute jectives to? To an adult, oneself or another child. a part of a certain chain of actions. Single actions Is the child able to accept in-game objectives? which a child enjoys are repeated many times. In 4. How long are the interactions during the game? other cases, the action is performed quickly and 3. the attention is turned to something different. The fourth group of questions concerns the child’s Do children use any substitute objects during independence in actions and decision-making. Is not the game? Here, we need to determine the level a separate group, but exists within each of the previ- 3. of independence displayed by a child when they ous groups of questions. include the objects in the game. Note any assis- tance of an adult. The methodology of the live role-play game analysis 4. Do children interact with imaginary objects during the game? We also need to determine the 1. Observation of live role-play games played in level of independence of these interactions. is designedgroups asand follows: recording them (using technology 5. Does the child play their role? Usually this ability where possible). 2. Repeated interviews with the teachers about a role-playing period of childhood. the contents of the games, the methods invented 6. develops by the age of 3 and signifies the start of by children to achieve various game objectives, The example with “the driver” mentioned before couldHow diversifiedbe used here are as well. the in-character actions? independence in taking actions and making de- 7. How expressive are the in-character actions? cisions.children’s interactions during a specific game, While playing their roles, children can use var- Teacher’s participation in the game which ious means of - self-expression In their early, preschool3. years, children imitate ence its course, not – individual the activities of adults and the relations between interfereshould only with influit — movements, them. In later years, children are able to “grasp” unless such an in- gestures, facial the essence and social significance of these ac- trusion is necessary expressions. tivities during a game. to push the game Even mothers forwards from differ from one another if played by different - children. cult to analyse. 8. Do children express themselves verbally in-char- a passive stage, which makes the role-play diffi acter? Those need be uttered in-character with As the result of data analysis, three levels of game the role the child takes. - 9. Do children engage in any in-character dia- periment also pointed to the existence of three dif- logues? ferentdepth werelevels defined: in relation high, to moderatethe active and model low. of The world ex 10. Who initiates the in-game dialogues? It could be image formation among young children. The distinc- an adult or the child. tion between these levels was mainly focused on (1) 11. Whom did the child have the in-game dialogue the level of systematization of the knowledge about with? With an adult, one, or more other children. nature, society and human beings (2) the evolution 12. What is the quality of the contents of the dia- logue? (4) independence and initiative of the child (5) the changeof the child’s in quality activities of the (3) child’s the intensity speech andof activities artistic The third group of questions is used to determine creativity. interactions expressed by children during a live role- In their early, preschool years, children imitate the 1. Does the child have any interaction with others activities of adults and the relations between them. playduring game: the larp or is the process of playing indi- In later years, children are able to “grasp” the essence vidual?

and social significance of these activities during KoLa 2013 91 YARASLAU KOT

a game. It indicates more conscious acquaintance can children be taught the sense of community, with the life of adults around the particular child. the ability to understand others and to compare Because of their content, live role-play games give with them, to listen to them as well as to oneself. children the possibility to interact with the world These give the foundation for the moral attitude outside of their narrow family circle. etc. By imitating adult behaviour, children practically rec- 4. towards others: empathy, tolerance, cooperation- reate those relations, the knowledge of which they al judgment and evaluation is necessary, but gather by observing the lives of the adults around Adults’ influence on the development of mor them. Along with the form of behaviour, children re- important to create such a game environment produce and experience the emotions and attitudes wherenot entirely the norms sufficient of morality for moral will education. begin to regIt is- of the adults that originally performed the activity. If ulate the child’s actual behaviour, in order to a child is cruel to a doll during a live role-play game, establish the link between moral consciousness is being rude, does not communicate with others, does not share anything with others, is careless with - toys — then the roots lie within the internalized pactand moralon the conduct preschooler. — then the fulfillment of the examples of the given role. By following such exam- 5. Thespecific connection moral norms between will havemoral an consciousnessemotional im and behaviour establishes when the child taught evolve into negative features of personality — such to act morally is given a possibility of a moral ples, at first a child develops bad habits, which later choice, and when the child independently de- cides which line of behaviour to choose, how Therefore,as selfishness, we haveuntidiness, good reasons stubbornness to form etc. the follow- to make the right choice. Making a decision in favor of upholding 1. Role-playing is A live role-play game gives a preschooler the pos- the norm, overcom- ing conclusions: sibility to imitate the methods of interaction with ing the momentary for preschool both objects and other people in various social desires and wishes, children’svery significant de- situations. as well as putting velopment. aside own interests Games based on role-playing constitute most of in favour of someone else’s, the child experi- the activities during that period. Children may ences the satisfaction and sometimes the plea- play the same games over and over again, but sure of the “deed done right”. With time, such the content and the focus of these games will behaviour will become habititual and form the gradually change. Through these activities pre- need to uphold the moral norm. schoolers pass the stages where they gain abili- 6. In the area of a child’s moral education the ex- ties connected to social problems, interpersonal ample set by the adults plays a major part. relations and causality — and, hopefully, learn care, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, helpfulness etc. of a child is connected to a number of factors. Firstly, 2. A live role-play game is a very powerful tool for atThe the creation preschool of the age first the live child role-play has already game developed in the life moral education and personality development the understanding of the “symbolic function” — they during the preschool period. However, how can use objects not only according to their designat- ed purpose, but also in many other ways, depending how diverse their development will be, greatly on the plot of the game. Secondly, the child develops dependsmuch the on children teachers will and benefit pedagogues from playing, to whose and the necessity to recreate actions of adults. Thirdly, professional care the children are entrusted. the child already knows how to interact with other It is important for the game to shape not only people in the game. the development of communicative skills and 3. the knowledge of proper social conduct, but A live role-play game gives a preschooler the pos- sibility to imitate the methods of interaction with

first of all — the sense of morality. Only then 92 KoLa 2013 LARP VS MORAL DEVELOPEMENT both objects and other people in various social sit- the local educational science calls the “picture of the uations. Therefore, it fosters the child’s comprehen- world” – certain combination or regulated system of sion of activities based on using objects, forms and human knowledge about own self, nature and other norms of communication, as well as role-restricted - behaviour. From the practical point of view, a live ence (Laptenok, 1999). This image is formed by each role-play game can be looked at as the preparation childpeople, as whichthe process serves of as interaction a filter for with any the outer reality influ is of a child to participate in social life and to take up different social roles. Engaging the child in the pro- function of orientation within the world, affects all cess of organization and running a live role-play actionsbeing reflected and activities within of the the child’s child. mind. — author’s It serves note), the game, an educator supports the development of the which allows the child to reach more complexity of structure of the preschooler’s image of the world cognition. (Here, the term “image of the world” means what

KoLa 2013 93 KUBA TABISZ Glossary

Polish terms from the original text in round brackets. minimalistic decorations. Usually there are from 15

ASG (ASG) hours. to 30 players, and a game typically lasts around four Field larp / field game rangeShort forof several “Air Soft to Gun”,several pneumatic hundred firearms.meters. Being Thanks hit (larp terenowy / gra terenowa / terenówka) withto using such air a pressure, “bullet” may ASG hurt,guns firebut plasticit does balls not causeat the A term denoting a larp played outdoors, in an open any serious injuries. Playing with ASG requires wear- space, for example in a forest. The characteristics of ing protective goggles. Such equipment is common -

in the future. An additional asset is the fact that ASG such games include: a lot of attention paid to cos replicasat those lookfield verygames real. that are set in modern times or tumes and decorations (→ simulationism), solving (aconflicts game usuallywith the lasts use atof leastdummy half melee a day). weapons In a Polish (→ Bleed (efekt przenikania / bleed) boffers) and/or firearms (→ ASG), and long duration A phenomenon of blurring the boundary between twenty to even four hundred. the player and their role. For example, continuously field game, the number of players may count from offending a character in a larp may actually offend Freeform (freeform / wolna forma) the person playing them. Scenarios characterised by freedom of construc- tion, organization and character descriptions. The Boffers (otuliniaki) main objective is to tell an interesting story. Some (In Polish, the term otulinowce is also used. English translation of freeforms are very similar to larps. Many of them fo- the term based on the Scandinavian terminology drawn from the Knutepunkt publications. — translators’ note) A colloquial name for dummy melee weapons made of cus on such aspects as (1) showiness (2) drama (3) PVC or latex. In Poland, it is common for boffers to be game. Scenarios of this kind are usually divided into the presence of audience (3) short duration of the covered with characteristic grey tape. A better-quality series of short scenes. The most important element boffers, made of latex, are also gaining in popularity. of most freeforms is adjusting the form to their con- Such props allow the players to perform safe duels tent. Many freeforms belong to the slice-of-life genre. - one with a properly-made dummy, and at the same Immersion (immersja) and fights during games. It is impossible to harm any Empathising or identifying with one’s character. The more we break away from our own selves during Chambertime it is quite larp /effective convention during larp a fight simulation. the game, and the more we become a cosmonaut (chamber larp / larp konwentowy / or a famous rock star, the stronger the immersion. larp pokojowy) There are many ways to achieve this effect, the basic A very popular kind of larps where the scenario may ones involving the use of costumes, props and dec- be played in one or several rooms. These larps are - regularly played in most big Polish cities, and during structed scenario, involvement of the participant, orations. Other factors include: duration, well-con conventions and festivals. An important characteris- their fatigue, as well as a convincing, well-written tic of chamber larps is their diversity. Usually they character. Each and every of these elements may do not feature dummy weapons, but employ a num- trigger immersion.

larps may be played with very sophisticated or very ber of additional rules for conflict-solving. Chamber

94 KoLa 2013 GLOSSARY

Jeepform / jeep (jeepform / jeep) Simulationism (symulacjonizm) Freeforms of the Danish variety. The name was - thought as a joke of a kind, to make the online sce- al reality and eliminating the outside stimuli. Simu- nario search easier. What is important here is break- The focus on creating a faithful picture of the fiction ing every possible rule pertaining to game construc- usinglationism already-existing is very popular buildings in field (e.g. games. old castles) Examples or themes. Normally, the game is divided into short eatinginclude: food building characteristic whole villages for the and game special setting vehicles, (e.g. scenes,tion. Scenarios the rules of of this the kind unity usually of time feature and place difficult do traditional delicacies from Medieval times). Simula- not apply, and decorations and props are practically tionism also encompasses the actual role-playing of non-existent. No plot information is hidden, and the the character’s skills, lack of rules that may halt the main focus is on the participation of the audience. ways of expression to the role. Larp (larp) game, and the focus on fitting one’s appearance and Symbolism / conventionality were associated exclusively with RPGs and specu- (symbolizm / umowność) Short for “Live Action Role Playing”. At first, larps The opposite of simulationism. In symbolism, a nor- players impersonating their favourite characters us- mal chair may represent a mountain, and an empty inglative costumes fiction inand general, simple andtheatre were techniques. mainly about Howev the- hand may be said to hold a golden brooch. Symbol- er, larp writers quickly discovered that the medium ism is usually applied in freeform scenarios, as well held much greater potential, and could be used to as in games that focus on acting and storytelling, and create scenarios with educational, historical, social not on representing the in-game reality. or even political themes. Larps unite the elements Vampire larps (larpy wampirze) competition, abiding to rules) and theatre (playing A very common type of larp in Poland, based on the roles,typical props, for games costumes, (such scenario).as: pursuing some objectives, - perience for many Polish larpers. The kind of games NPC (BN / NPC) stronglyWhite Wolf emphasize RPGs. These obeying constituted rules from the the first RPG larp rule ex- Short for “Non-Player Character” (Bohater Nieza- - leżny — literally, “independent character”). A term acters (the players play vampires), costumes and drawn from RPGs, denotes a character that takes episodicbooks. The structure. main characteristics include: RPG char part in the scenario to a limited extent only, and is purely functional as assistance for the players or as a plot device.

Polish Larp Conference / KOLA (Konferencja larpowa / KoLA) - ested in discussing larps. It is modelled after the ScandinavianThe first official Knudepunkt Polish convention and Czech for Odraz. people Its inter main objective is to facilitate experience sharing, integra- tion, popularisation and documentation of Polish larps, the result of which is this very publication.

KoLa 2013 95 kola2014.larpowa.eu