Tell us what you want to hear?

[Laughing_Jack_Wilton]

Hey guys thanks for the shout out, if I get enough positive feedback I'll change my real name from Wil Patrick to Jack Wilton. Love the podcast, the Hallowe'en cast was insightful, I love hearing about storycrafting.

I'd like to hear more about Werewolf. Forsaken is an intense system with all the forms, rituals, spirit world, and spirits. I'd like to hear a bit about it.

[Saxon Matt]

Had a little think about what I'd like to hear about sometime...

A good comparison between the WoD D10 storyteller system, and the MET system (both classic and current). Pro's and con's of each play method, what each can bring to the story and a game. Obviously MET deals better for larger games of political wrangling, and the D10 system is better for close detailed, narrative games of personal horror - but are there any further advantages, or disadvantages that can be drawn from each system?

I try to use a modified set of the classic MET rules (paper, scissors & stone) for as any games as I can. Big (relatively big, but far from the scale I've seen and heard about in American cities) or Small. I find the system to really quite fast, hassle free even for large scale combats.

Just to give you an idea of how fast... I recently went through an average sized combat, one frenzied Brujah elder being woken from torpor (in a stand alone modern day session which was a flash forward game in my 17th C Sabbat game, all players had NPCs... but that is a different story). The we ran through 4 combat rounds (each one containing 2-3 celerity actions) before the combat ended (the elder survived and one other of the NPCs fled the scene). The combat was fast paced and over in no more than 5 minutes max.

Compare that with the D10 system - all things being equal, with focused experienced players... I am sure that I would be looking at wasting at least double that time (more likely three times that time).

Another fantastic thing about the MET system is the immersion into the scene. People can move around, get really involved and truly act out what is going on. People can pace as they talk, show body language in a way that isn't really possible or encouraged in tabletop systems.

Finally, if you've something special going on - a particular gaming session that you really think is going to need some extra justice. Why not take the game to a different location to play (need a forest or woods, go for it... need a quiet train station, no problems)? I know that they generally advise not doing MET in public locations... but we've done it for years with no problems what so ever (although we've had some amusing conversations with the police and other passers by over the years!). Folks can dress in character if they feel so inclined, and really go to town with props (although dress and props are generally best used in more secluded locations). Theme and mood for a scene can _seriously_ be helped with the freedom of the MET system.

An example of this for me would be for a Werewolf LARP that I was part of over the course of a few years, we had a Caern that was represented by some abandoned tunnels (that we used as caves) which lay just in the boundaries of a small nature reserve (the tunnels had been abandoned for some time and were beautifully over grown). We would spend a lot of gaming time at the Caern obviously and we actually did a lot of good for the location OOC as well (tidying up litter and keeping it a nice place for people to visit etc... this earned you in character renown over time as well ). The insides of the tunnels were decorated with werewolf glyphs that would depict the history of the Caern and the different deeds of some of the more renowned player characters. Special "Caern games" tended to occur once per month where everyone would play/camp there through the night until the next day. Huge amounts of super awesome role play happened.

I could talk hours on this subject as well (as you might be able to tell). I'd not be vastly opposed to talking on the show about it sometime if you were interested? Also heavily depends on your recording schedules etc obviously. I'm also going to take some time soon to outline our changes to the MET rules sets with our House rules, that added more granularity to the system where it was lacking - and just cleaned it up perfectly.

[DarkerDays_Mark]

Great stuff Matt. I think there'd definitely be room for a MET special. A couple of our other listeners have a lot of LARP experience as well and we could maybe get input from a few people to show differing perspectives. I love the idea of the caern/tunnels and think it's really cool that you had a reward system for keeping them clean and tidy and pleasant for others to visit. Very in-keeping with the Werewolf ethos after all

[Saxon Matt]

It really was fantastic, and I can't recommend that kind of role playing experience enough. Yes, we maintained as much of the Werewolf Gaian ethos OOC as much as possible, as in reality - it really is the best thing for our environment. Anyone that did anything particularly stupid OOC could expect to lose Wisdom or Honour IC (like blatant littering or otherwise ruining nice countryside in some way).

We were lucky enough to have a pretty great storyteller that would do a lot of scouting out for possible venues, and we'd travel all around where we live to have games. I've spent some time doing the same thing as well - having run a couple of my games using the MET rules and getting out and about.

There is a reputation of "seriousness" involved in LARP though for sure (I remember you guys mentioning it in one of the early episodes). While we tend to remain focused and maintain a mood where we can, just like any table top game - we can often "take 5" to have a laugh about something ridiculous.

[DarkerDays_Mark]

There is a reputation of "seriousness" involved in LARP though for sure (I remember you guys mentioning it in one of the early episodes).

Yeah, that or the "rubber swords and lots of shouting" thing. I think a MET feature would go a long way to defusing stereotypes like that and allow our listeners to see the cool sides of LARP from the inside, so to speak.

Boggan_Knight, I recall you had a fair bit of experience with the Camarilla LARP. Is that right?

[Beckett]

I've only been in one LARP, for 2 sessions. It was interesting. A D&Dish fantasy world (homebrew), and I got to play monsters, primarily a zombie-like creature. It was fun, but I did notice something that sets it aside from tabletop a great deal. In a tabletop, there are some troubles with characters having low mental stats and the players sort of ignoring it without of character social skills or intellegence. Some games even allow that. In the LARP though, at least the type I played, the more physical and martial you are in real life, the better your character was in combat. Regardless of if you are playing a barbarian or a street vendor, because when the combat starts, th mre times you hit some one, the more damage they took, regardless of your characters actual strength or training. Anyone that had a dagger, did 1 point of damage per strike, so the faster and more often you could connect with it, the more damage you did.

Again, as this is really my only experience with LARPing, I can't speak with much authority over all, but I think this type of LARP would serve very well to get people into the hobby. As monsters and sometimes NPC's, it allowed me to learn a lot about how the game and how LARPs work, but wasn't tied down to anything solid. I played a character that was here to die, or to do something (in one case absolutely freak out the group by accident, twice). It is much different than WoD LARPs, but similar enough to get sokme basics and see if you kmight like it.

[Boggan_Knight]

There is a reputation of "seriousness" involved in LARP though for sure (I remember you guys mentioning it in one of the early episodes).

Yeah, that or the "rubber swords and lots of shouting" thing. I think a MET feature would go a long way to defusing stereotypes like that and allow our listeners to see the cool sides of LARP from the inside, so to speak.

Boggan_Knight, I recall you had a fair bit of experience with the Camarilla LARP. Is that right?

Most certainly did (founding member of a Chapter in my home town and then held ST positions for around five years of play).

In that time, I saw some wierdos and folks who took it a little too seriously, but overall the players were drawn from all walks of life and most were the sort I'd have a drink with at the pub (that is to say, relatively normal).

In the Australian Camarilla, we weren't permitted to have anything which resembled a real weapon at all - no replica's, nerf-versions, not even cardboard cut-outs. We posted signs up with 'Improvisational Theatre in Progress' to ensure that anyone entering the areas we'd rented would have a slightly clearer understanding of what we were doing (Theatre Group was probably the most powerful phrase when convincing people we weren't freaks).

[Boggan_Knight]

Meant to add to the last post that if anyone does have any Camarilla/MET questions, I'd be happy to (try) to answer them. I ran most genres and had the opportunity to interact with plenty of other Domains (other geographic areas) although I didn't have the opportunity to go along to any of the Conclaves (these were National Conventions).

[Gehennaheretic]

Hey all,

Yeah, a MET show would be great. I was an OWBN GM and subcoordinator for several years, ran Camarilla, Sabbat, and Changeling games, too. Live Action is a lot of fun, though the oWoD MET system was extremely crappy. Trait loss and bids just suck, honestly. But it was the awesomeness of the setting and the players and not the ruleset that made it great.

[Saxon Matt]

Gehennaheretic nailed it there - it wasn't so much the system that made the game (although the utter speed and simplicity is excellent), but it was the setting and players that made it great!