Edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Ph.D. and Aaron Vanek Tips for interacting with the Wyrd Con Companion Book: Use the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader Red text (except names) links to the web if you are connected to the Internet You will need to trust the document for the links to work Text in blue will link to other articles in the document Clicking on will bring you to the Table of Contents This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. The views, opinions, and statements expressed in the Wyrd Con Companion Book are solely those of the contributors and not necessarily those of Wyrd Con, its affiliates, or the editors. Join the discussion about The Wyrd Con Companion Book on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/390244477724076/ WyrdCon 4: September 12-15, 2013 in the City of Orange, California WyrdCon 5: May 22-26 2014 in Los Angeles, California: http://wyrdcon.com/ WyrdCon 5 Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ 5 Table of Contents Aaron Vanek John Kim Sarah Lynne Bowman, Ph.D. Whitney “Strix” Beltrán Introduction........................................7 Changing Status in Larps .................35 Editor’s Introduction Shadow Work: A Jungian Perspective to the Academic Section ..................66 on the Underside of Live Action David B. Williams Natalie McCabe Role-Play in the United States...........94 Challenging Sacred Cows: Level The standardized patient .................38 Vera Cuntz-Leng Potterless: Pottermore and the Pitfalls Shoshana Kessock Gaps, Permanent Character Death, Yaroslav Kot of Transmedia Storytelling ..............68 Ethical Content Management and and Linear Plot ...................................8 The larp legacy of the Gaming Social Contract ........... 102 Evan Torner Innocent Zhukov ..............................42 Nicholas Mizer No One Role-plays the Spanish J. Tuomas Harviainen Transparency and Safety in Mark Hoge Inquisition!: The Early History of Managerial Styles in Larps: Role-Playing Games ........................ 14 Experiential Learning for Youth Role-playing Games in Spain ..........77 Control Systems, Cultures, and Stephen R. Balzac Through Larps and RPGs .................48 Charisma ....................................... 112 Lars Konzack The Use of Structured Goal Setting Lianna Lawrence Characterology in Tabletop Diana J. Leonard and Grayson Arango in Simulation Design ........................18 Melodramatic Mysteries Role-Playing Games: A Textual The Dynamic Life Cycle of Live Action Emily Care Boss Interactive Theater: A History ..........52 Analysis of Character Sheets ...........86 Role-Play Communities .................. 125 Of Rabbit Holes and Red Herrings: Adam Rafinski Interactive Narratives of The Church of Play ...........................56 ARG and Larp ..................................22 Jo Kreil Aaron Vanek Mad About The Girl .........................58 Interview with Frank Rose .............. 31 Claus Raasted Elin Dalstål Taking Nordic larp Physical interactions to Discovery Channel ......................63 means physical limitations ..............33 Journal section editing by Aaron Vanek Academic section editing by Sarah Lynne Bowman, Ph.D. Layout and design by Kirsten Hageleit Published by Wyrd Con under Creative Commons License December 30, 2013 Cover: Still from the Discovery Channel run of “What are you worth?” Photo by Allan Eising, art design by Kirsten Hageleit 7 The Wyrd Con Companion Book Introduction Our Mission yrd Con is an Interactive Storytelling Con- At Wyrd Con our mission is two fold: his Wyrd Con Companion Book is late. In the Each author has shared some of his or her time vention located in the United States. Inter- 1) To increase exposure to multiple forms of Live other room, Kirsten is un-silently cursing me for and effort with us. Let’s enjoy the fruits of their labors, W active Storytelling is the concept where the Interactive Storytelling by providing entertaining T trying to make the cover text look like Danny’s and allow their writings to stake ground in our own audience and actors are both part of the performance. and immersive events. lipstick Redrum from The Shining. We swear, we sigh, mental real estate. Left there long enough, their ideas Participatory events are run throughout the conference 2) To create an educational experience that fosters we argue, we give up slivers of our aesthetic desires to become our ideas. At least until they’re evicted by the to encourage both exploration and immersive play, dialogue between Live Interactive Storytelling and ensure the work is complete. When we share our ideas, next, newer conception. including but not limited to Live Action Role Playing other forms of media entertainment, providing an we must re-shelve parts of ourselves to the mind’s back (larp), Alternate Reality Games (ARG), Live Simula- opportunity for participants and creative producers pantry. When collaborating, there’s rarely enough tions and other innovative Transmedia experiences. of live games and cross-media properties to learn room for all of us. The conference provides a fun opportunity to engage from one another. Aaron Vanek in all aspects of the cross-platform storytelling within This two-fold objective of providing entertainment Like Interactive Storytelling. December 2013 and beyond the live role-playing realm. and education ensures that we focus on a variety of Wyrd Con strives to not only entertain, but also experiences that vary from year to year, as well as With participatory mediums like larps and trans- educate others in Interactive Storytelling. This ensures an unbiased perspective on the evolving media, sharing is critical. And that means that what knowledge can be applied to both professional forms of live interactive theater and transmedia you really want to do might not be what anyone else development and daily life in a variety of ways; entertainment that exist our world. wants to do. through socially immersive gaming, we can evolve As such, we become talent coordinators and agents, our understanding of different social roles and growing the game players into designers, and the Does that frustrate you or inspire you? entertain ourselves while gaining confidence to designers into creative content producers. grow as a leader. We learn much from participation We are invested in the success of every attendee Your answer to that question could indicate your feel- and the observation of immersive play that enhances – the players, the designers and those in the ings toward the rest of this book. For the 2013 WyrdCon the development of our own interactive story worlds. entertainment industry, providing them a playspace Companion Book is about sharing—sharing concepts, Much of our panel and educational programming and a cutting edge learning experience. perspectives, research, theories, and more. Which provides presentations and discussions on means you might have to alter your own thoughts and how different social scenarios and storytelling notions based on what you read here just as much as the environments have multiple psychological effects on authors will have to meet criticism on consciousness’s the participants, giving insight on how to expand a front stoop as well. Either way, this year’s collection storyline to other media and market these concepts of articles and essays from around the world should, to generate new opportunities. Education is central hopefully, provoke discussion and more sharing, ide- to us and allows attendees the ability to better ally in a professional, constructive fashion. understand, build, and convey their story in the most interactive way possible. The first section, edited by me, has been gathered If you have ever had a desire to build a complex into the following categories: advice for larp design; story worlds that involve extensions into live perspectives on ARGs, transmedia, and larp; how our participatory gaming environments, solve a mystery, physical form factors into our participatory experience; fight the enemy, or experience an event that mixes larps and education; and four recollections about spe- theater, costuming, and dialogue about the changing cific larps or larp groups. face of the entertainment industry, Wyrd Con is the place to be. Fans and producers of Anime, History, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and other genres are all a part of the Wyrd Con experience. All are welcome to attend. Challenging Sacred Cows: Level Gaps, 9 Permanent Character Death, and Linear Plot Things like having more social ties, being better at tend to be more receptive to the needs of each member. combat, knowing the location, knowing the weaknesses When talking about a social prospective it is also By David B. Williams of common monsters, and having a better idea of what’s worth considering the circumstances of casual players going on are tangible advantages. This natural gap in and new players. Not everyone has the resources to player strength is only exacerbated by adding more go to every larp event, or the ability to set their life power to the older player. aside for a weekend each month. Rewarding atten- If a new player is able to contribute from the begin- dance too highly incentivizes people against taking “Sacred Cow. Noun. An individual, organization, The Level Gap ning, they are more likely to come back to your game a breaks or prioritizing the real world. This attitude is institution, etc., considered to be exempt from second time. Having challenges they have no feasible unhealthy and it is a tragedy when larp is harmful for criticism or questioning.” In the fantasy genre it is common for characters to face means of dealing with creates apathy and a defeatist people over the long term. -Dictionary.com more difficult challenges as time goes on, discover attitude, which can in some cases lead to alienation. In order to have a level gap you’re required to have new tactics or secrets, and gain in power over time. From a prospective grounded in engagement, the a level system.