Ok, so as LARP veteran, I know that you are careful about character bleed. I know that a lot of people in the LARP theory space have a lot to say about ttrpgs and how LARP theory can better inform them, but what are some other less safeguarded elements that TTRPG enthusiasts might benefit learning about LARP?
Thanks for asking! I haven't gotten many asks in my time here, and am thoroughly delighted. :3
I'd tuck it under the jump b/c it's a long response, but the site's moving on soon anyway, so, fuck it, have a thousand words about how there's basically no difference between LARP and TTRPGs aside from Theatre.
(As a note to other readers: we defined bleed solely as the negative side of character<->player emotional transfer. When negative emotions persist unchecked when players move between IC and OOC, in either direction, is what we called Bleed, and it was the source of maybe half of all our problems in the LARP - the rest divvied between power gamers, PVPers, cheaters, social cliques, and unchecked mental health problems inflicted on others.)
This is a good question! It also has a really mediocre answer that will take me a majority of this post to come around to! I might even have a unique perspective on this, given Australia's defunct national WoD LARP community (Beyond the Sunset) pioneered, over 25 years, an absolutely absurd desire for a LARP to eat its cake and have it too, by going wholly against the grain of northern hemisphere LARP styles - specifically in that we wanted to have full TTRPG rules, and parlour LARP. So we got the best, and worst, of all worlds.
Let's see... Things TTRPG enthusiasts could learn from LARPs. There's a lot of really nebulous, """obvious""" """common sense""" contradictory advice, like
- 'atmosphere is important' and 'atmosphere is unnecessary'.
- 'stick to the rules to ensure fairness' and 'make sure to balance the rules for your table'.
- 'nothing is as important as everyone having fun' but 'everyone has fun differently, so catering to everyone can leave everyone unsatisfied'.
So much of what we ended up doing for 90% of a weekly 7-year-long real-time LARP chronicle was... Basically just dress-up TTRPG. We'd make constant efforts to utilize the space, and sessions where we had everyone up and doing things were always memorable and fun. But there were times, even super important moments, where we were all herded around a conference table to sit and roll dice, because doing an involved Chronicles of Darkness multi-genre combat with 14 not-necessarily-allied characters is a lot.
TTRPGs, I think, already have the lion's share of good features and luck when it comes to shared imaginative play; they're basically the 80/20 cut-off point - 20% of the effort, 80% of the quality result. They're small enough to have the flexibility to mitigate almost all of the problems of a LARP.
But moreover, what is gained by all of the effort of a LARP - 80% of the effort compared to a TTRPG's 20%, only gains you 20% of the enjoyment. Dressing up and live roleplaying as your character is incredible fun!... For some. It's also expensive, anxiety-inducing, exhausting, rife with accessibility issues, and the entire quality of a LARP can be lowered by participants not putting in as much effort as others (regardless of reasoning and validity).
Basically... Strange as it is to say, I don't think there's anything TTRPGs can learn from LARPs that they don't already occur in TTRPGs. It all comes down to LARPs being one of two things:
Pure Theatre, or TTRPGs-With-Higher-Expectations.
TTRPGs aren't theatre. They're acting and improv and immersion, yes, but they're not theatre - they're not costumes and rehearsal and high-strung stress and financial woes and late night slaving away making stage props and opening night jitters and audiences and so on. They're not theatre.
So, LARPs, insomuch as they apply to TTRPGs, are just bigger TTRPGs - the problems are more clearly defined, by sheer number of people. More organisational structure is required, more rules, more protections, more consideration of more peoples' different needs, more costs, more problems. Which means that all of the lessons learnable about LARPs for TTRPGs... Already exist in TTRPGs, and have been discussed ad nauseum.
Perhaps the ONLY thing I can think of that is much more common in LARPs of all kinds than in TTRPGs is PVP - consensual or not - and my advice, straight up, is don't. Unless you've got whole-table buy-in, and are using a ruleset that is specifically built to have some PVP in it, there's a strong reason PVP isn't included in most tabletop games:
You can lose ~50% of a LARP's members and the LARP can continue in most cases. In many TTRPG cases, if you lose even 20% of the players, your game's probably over.
This has been a LOT of talk for VERY LITTLE usable or quality advice, so I'll try to round it out with something to take away:
99% of TTRPG and LARP problems and positives revolve around one thing: buy-in. You can do pretty much any kind of game and have a good time with it if everyone around your table/at your LARP:
- is aware of it as a focus/feature of the game
- is on the same page about it/share the same understanding of it
- is on board with it/consent to its occurence
- wants to actively engage with it
If any one of those things is lacking, you're gonna have trouble. Getting this kind of buy-in from your LARP is damn-near guaranteed to result in a great LARP, and as above so below with TTRPGs, except the problem of player numbers is inverted: if one TTRPG player doesn't buy in, then 20% of your table is out. If one LARP player doesn't buy in, it could be anywhere from 20% to 1% of your game being out, which is less detrimental to your game, but still not ideal.
So... Yeah. Buy-in. That's the lesson. Well-informed buy-in is key.
But also, Dressing Up and/or Doing The Voices at your TTRPG (with buy-in from your players, and thus their joining in) is like 80% of the fun of a LARP for 20% of the effort. Strongly recommend.
I sincerely hope my ramblings have been of SOME value to you! Thank you for asking, and for reading.
