Mid-Level Crisis Podcast

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #40

2011-06-24T12:17:00.000-04:00

Episode 40 - "With Eldritch Force I Rebuild a Podcast" - Recorded 6/16/2011 - Runtime 23m30s

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In this episode, Matt & Eric recap the June NERO Elkins event.

Shamelessly Promoted:
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org

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Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #39

2011-06-05T15:10:00.000-04:00

Episode 39 - "By the power of Solaris I invoke a protection upon the departed! (R.I.P. Charles Meier)" - Recorded 5/31/2011 - Runtime 35m

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In this episode, Matt & Eric talk about the recent passing of Charles Meier, player of Avegost - http://www.avegost.com , and, of course, shamelessly promote their favorite things.

Mournfully Discussed:
Avegost - http://www.avegost.com

Shamelessly Promoted:
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org

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Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #38

2011-05-11T14:59:00.002-04:00

Episode 38 - "By the power of Solaris I invoke a protection upon this Podcast! (Special Avegost/Landolfi Interview Edition)" - Recorded 5/10/2011 - Runtime 1h03m

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In this episode, Matt & a belated Eric, joined by Leah, Kris, and George of the Future, talk with Joseph Landolfi, creator of Avegost - http://www.avegost.com , and, of course, shamelessly promote their favorite things.

Shamefully Discussed:
Avegost - http://www.avegost.com
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org

Shamelessly Promoted:
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org
WVU Roleplaying Club - http://www.facebook.com/pages/WVU-Creative-Role-Playing-Club/147024518648678
Counter Culture Concepts - http://www.facebook.com/people/Counter-Culture-Concepts/100001813571158
A Time-Traveler's Blog - http://www.gacorley.com/

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Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #37

2011-05-06T19:49:00.000-04:00

Episode 37 - "With Eldritch Force I Start the LARP Season" - Recorded 5/4/2011 - Runtime 1h15m

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by Leah, talk about the latest happenings in LARP and, of course, shamelessly promote their favorite things.

Shamefully Discussed:
NERO Membership discussion on the national forum - http://www.nerolarp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20680
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org

Shamelessly Promoted:
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org
Team Wench Multiple Sclerosis Fantasy Ball - http://www.teamwench.org/msfb/
Counter Culture Concepts - http://www.facebook.com/people/Counter-Culture-Concepts/100001813571158
RCHS Fur Ball - http://www.rchs-pets.org

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Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #36

2011-04-27T20:25:00.000-04:00

Episode 36 - "I call upon a month of no podcasts to grant you the power of a fantasy ball, 2 NERO events, a LARP documentary, and a NERO national membership war." - Recorded 4/26/2011 - Runtime 1h10m

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by Kris and Leah, talk about the latest happenings in LARP and the recent WAR event, and, of course, shamelessly promote their favorite things.

Shamefully Discussed:
Team Wench Multiple Sclerosis Fantasy Ball - http://www.teamwench.org/msfb/
World of LARP documentary trailer - http://www.worldoflarp.net/
NEROlogy - National Dues posts - http://nerology.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/annual-dues-and-what-national-does/
NERO Membership discussion on the national forum - http://www.nerolarp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20680
WAR - http://www.warweb.org/
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org

Shamelessly Promoted:
NERO Elkins - http://www.dalantia.org
Counter Culture Concepts - http://www.facebook.com/people/Counter-Culture-Concepts/100001813571158
WVU Roleplaying Club - http://www.facebook.com/pages/WVU-Creative-Role-Playing-Club/147024518648678
RCHS Fur Ball - http://www.rchs-pets.org

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http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org
http://twitter.com/fantasmagorio
midlevelcrisis@gmail.com

LARP News - LARPcast

2011-03-22T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

We won't be recording a Mid-Level Crisis this week, but we'll see you again next week.

In the meantime, check out LARPcast. Bill (from the LARP Ohio Blog) and Mickey (an awesome LARPer with a treasure-trove of knowledge) have come together to discuss ideas about LARP in this podcast, available from http://larpcast.podbean.com. Check it out. It's already my second favorite LARP podcast. :) They already have 2 episodes up, but I've reposted their first episode here, because it's that awesome.

Listen to the first episode here.

MLC will be returning next week, as will LARP-Thing-A-Week.

Thanks,
Matt

LTAW #9: Website

2011-02-27T14:42:00.001-05:00

My LARP Thing this week is the redesign of the NERO Elkins website - Head on over and check it out.

The biggest change is moving to a content management system (CMS) which will allow our staff to post info on there rather than static web pages that needed to be edited each time. We're using the Mambo CMS, because there is a nice bridge with our forums that allows us to use the same login for both.

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #35

2011-02-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

Episode 35 - "I call upon the NERO to call forth eldritch power to summon a mystic force to create chaos to grant you the gift of 9th Edition... [caster waits 10 years] ... 9th edition up!" - Recorded 2/22/2011 - Runtime 1h07m

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, in a pure episode of MLC, delve deep into the new NERO 9th Edition Rules - http://www.nerorulebook.com

Check out the breakdown of changes at the LARP Ohio Blog - http://larpohio.blogspot.com/2011/02/nero-9th-edition-recap.html

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LTAW #8: NPC Database (Part 2)

2011-02-17T12:41:00.000-05:00

This is part two of my ongoing NPC Database Discussion. Read Part 1 Here

This is also the 8th Thing of LARP Thing-A-Week, and, while it's been much more than a week since I posted a Thing, this represents a renewed commitment to bring you some awesome LARP Things. View the other LARP Thing-A-Week posts here.

So, in Part 1 we created a simple DB for keeping track of NPC motivations, connections, and stats. In Part 2, we've taken two more steps.

1) I realized there are two more DBs we have to create: a monster DB, and a DB for generic unnamed NPCs. So, I adapted our previous DB (from Part 1) to fit generic NPCs better. Here's the link to a copy of that spreadsheet so you can see my setup. A monster DB will take more work and will wait until Part 3.

2) I hate filling out this information on spreadsheets, but I love that my plot team can collaborate on filling it out. Fortunately, Google Docs has this great "Create Form" feature. You just click on Form=>Create Form and change a few things around and Voila, an easy to fill out form.

And thus, we have this (See the full version of the form here):
Loading...

So, we've taken another step towards creating a great and easy to use DB. It's just a bit more user-friendly, and now we have two DBs. These could be the same DB but different "sheets" or what have you, but I've created these as two separate DBs so I can better control access to them. For instance, you may have a monster marshal who should be able to edit the Generic NPC DB and the Monster DB, but you may not want him seeing the major NPCs he won't be working with.

We'll return in Part 3 as we progress further down this road.

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #34

2011-02-03T19:46:00.000-05:00

Episode 34 - "Detect Celestial Magic, Eh!" - Recorded 2/1/2011 - Runtime 1h40m

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by Kris, Leah, and Jared talk about the new NERO 9th Edition Rules - http://www.nerorulebook.com - and go on about fifty tangents, including a plug for tRANTasaurusRex - daily rants from a 1ft tall green plastic dinosaur - http://trant.fantasmagorio.net

http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org
http://twitter.com/fantasmagorio
midlevelcrisis@gmail.com

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #33

2011-01-26T18:57:00.001-05:00

Episode 33 - "Craftsman (Podcaster) - Wait, that doesn't make you any silver!" - Recorded 1/25/2011 - Runtime 55m52s

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by Kris, Leah, and Andrew talk about the infamous Craftsman (Other) skill

Andrew's article on the subject - http://larpohio.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-post-andrew-mills.html

The thread mentioned - http://northcoastnero.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=2250&highlight=tracker

Ruehl Leatherworks - http://ruehlleatherworks.deviantart.com/

LARP from the Netherlands courtesy of Steven -
http://www.icemotion.nl/photos.php?cat=4

http://www.dimitridesign.nl/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=viewcategory&catid=102&startpage=1&Itemid=53#category

http://s445.photobucket.com/albums/qq174/Selina91_photos/Far%20kingdoms%20Zomerlive%202010/

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Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #32

2011-01-21T13:39:00.001-05:00

Episode 32 - "I Grant You the Gift of 27 Deaths... well, okay, maybe not..." - Recorded 1/18/2011 - Runtime 1h08m37s

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by Kris and Leah talk about the latest NcN event - http://www.northcoastnero.com - and answer some listener emails

http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org
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LARP Line: +1 (304) 986-5277

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #31

2011-01-14T06:55:00.000-05:00

Episode 31 - "The Crisis Awards" - Recorded 1/11/2011 - Runtime 1h25m51s

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In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by Kris, Jared, Leah, and Heathyr, give out completely informal and made-up LARP awards: The First Evah CRISIS AWARDS!!!!! *cheer*

Shout out to AIE! http://www.aie-guild.org

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SSP: Promo for tRANTasaurusRex

2010-12-31T10:45:00.000-05:00

New from Fantasmagorio Productions:
tRANTasaurusRex
Daily Rants by a 1-Foot Tall Green Plastic Dinosaur

Audio Promo

Available 1/1/11 from http://trant.fantasmagorio.net

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #30

2010-12-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

Episode 30 - "I call upon Chaos to Wither your Year" - Recorded 12/21/2010 - Runtime 54m59s

MP3 Podcast Version

In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by special guest Leah Odin, talk about nerdy stuff and the last NorthCoast NERO event - http://www.northcoastnero.com - and shamelessly promote The Long Slow Death of a Twenty-Something - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1721691/ - the EHS production of Twelfth Night: A Western What You Will - http://www.ElkinsDrama.com - and the upcoming NERO Elkins events - http://www.dalantia.org

Music at the beginning is "O Mistress Mine", written by William Shakespeare, arranged and played by Karl Smakula, sung by Morgan Haas. All of this is part of Twelfth Night: A Western What You Will (Jan 6th & 7th @ Elkins High School Theatre, Elkins, WV - http://www.ElkinsDrama.com ). "O Mistress Mine" and two other tracks are available at http://bit.ly/eBhPZH

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LTAW #7: Noble Writ

2010-12-22T07:27:00.000-05:00

For this week's LARP Thing-A-Week, I created Writs of Nobility for most of the NERO Elkins PC nobility.

What's a Writ of Nobility? This is a document stating that the character is a member of the peerage of a nation, the feudal hierarchy that governs that nation.

Why is it important? Falsely claiming a noble title is a crime in the Nations of Avalon (and likely everywhere that has a feudal government), so one must have one of these documents in order to claim a noble title and expect to be treated with the respect due to nobility. This is especially important when traveling to other nations where you are less well known.

I couldn't find any examples of this type of writ online, either in LARP or in history. My research, while not exhaustive, makes me think that these documents didn't really exist in history, or that they existed in some other form (grants of land, for instance, could prove a noble's land-holding status, and those do exist). I did find a Writ of Summons, which told a lord that he needed to attend parliament, and I drew some inspiration from that.

So, consider this an example to any of you who run LARPs or who are nobles and need to produce these writs for your underlings.

I used legal size paper to make it a bit fancier, and I printed it in a script style font, but I did not age the paper. I have seen these writs aged, but I don't think that's the way to go, unless you're producing an old document, like maybe the writ proclaiming Drakul to be Count of Transylvania.

The document should probably be written in flowery language (nobles love dressing things up), but don't let that get in the way of the important bits.
1) Who is granting the title. In my case, it's the king of our land, whose title is "Ilio"
2) Who the writ is for
3) What title the person has been granted and in what jurisdiction (also, if the title is an odd one, like ours, include what that title is equivalent to in other places the character may travel to)
4) A date on which the writ or title is granted

At the end, I put a sign (a scripted D for the king's signature) and a wax seal.

Here's what our language sounds like. Feel free to let these words inspire you.

His Royal Majesty
Big D
Ilio and Supreme Leader of Oilios, Dalantia, the Empire of the Sun, and the Lands of the Eight Fires
Defender of the Weak, Protector of Chivalry, Champion of the Right and Good

To Our right trusty and well beloved subject
Jim Bob Jones

Greeting

Whereas thou hast sworn fealty to Us in the Kingdom of Hoozlefoos and thou hast taken thy sacred oath to uphold Our most beloved and cherished Code of Chivalry and thine actions hath made Us much inclined to favor thee, We make thee
~Title~ of ~This Place~ (or "to ~this person~")
until such time as Our favor turns or We promote thee within Our ranks

Whereas the Kingdom of Hoozlefoos hath entered into agreement with the Accords of Avalon upon the N Day of Sometime in the year Something, thou shalt present this document to the ranking noble at the earliest convenience when visiting another land within the Concordance and the etiquette of the Concordance shall be considered due and proper respect and thou shalt be considered of the title
~Alternate Title Name~
when visiting other lands within the Concordance

Sealed and Presented on this
the X Day of Month in the year Six-Hundred Whatever

LTAW #6: Tabard Part 2 (Ideas for making it awesome!)

2010-12-14T11:38:00.000-05:00

This is part 2 of the LARP Thing-A-Week Tabard project. For part 1 (making a basic tabard) go to http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org/2010/11/ltaw-4-tabard-part-1-simple-tabard.html

For this week's LARP Thing-A-Week, I've decided to revisit the tabard I started in Week 4, and make it look totally awesome... well, to personalize it. And, I've got some ideas for what you can do to make your tabard more special.

I've added a few things that make my tabard special: a border in a contrasting color, a painted symbol, and a matching belt.

Here's my border:

I used this neat gold satin that I found for $0.50 a yard. I knew I wanted gold. So, I folded it over the edge and sewed it into place. I figured out later that a ribbon would have been much easier, because the edges would have already been fixed and there would have been no need for a hem, so I could have just sewn it onto the side of the tabard that people would see. Oh well, you live and learn. I put the border along the edges and also around the neck line. Then, I made a tie belt from the same fabric, as you can see in the side picture:

Lastly, I created stencils to help me paint the insignia on the front. I thought about creating the insignia from fabric and sewing it on, but that seemed too difficult, especially because this satin frays so easily.

Some ideas for your tabard:
-Many people choose multiple colors for their tabard and sew them together in a checkered or chevron pattern
-The bottom doesn't have to be square; it can be pointed or curved instead.
-Use the symbols from your character's Coat of Arms
-Simple patterns can be made from fabric - try using fabric glue instead of sewing, but be aware that this will need repaired sooner than sewn patterns.
-Use Iron transfers to put a complex symbol on the tabard - but use the transfer sheets for dark t-shirts... even if your tabard is light-colored, I think these transfers look much better.
-Can't sew? Hire a seamstress from your town or LARP group

I'd like to see your tabards. What sets your adventuring group apart? Post links to the pics and ideas for others to use.

*Btw, this is the tabard for my barbarian's new adventuring group, and the design is based on the tabard for Alea Iacta Est, of which I am a proud member (Deathezaro)

LTAW #5: Coat of Arms

2010-12-09T21:47:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of history and tradition and law surrounding the heraldry of knighthood. Fortunately, we can pick and choose which of those rules and traditions we follow for LARP characters. I've always been a bit interested in heraldry, as a fan of knights and of history, so I've read quite a but of info on the subject, but here's the basics.

1) Coats of Arms were issued for individuals, not families. A son might take up his father's arms, but there are no familial shields. However, that's a rule LARPers could choose to ignore.

2) The main part of the arms is the shield. Your creation for your LARP character could be mirrored on his shield. Shapes of shields, style of mantle, and style of helmet on the crest are all determined by the artist or herald, so feel free to experiment with these. You may, for instance want your shield to be the same shape as your character's shield. If this is a crest for a modern-day character, perhaps a vampire who has been around for centuries, you may want the helm and shield to reflect a certain time period or location.

3) Heraldic symbols use colors and metals (silver, often represented by white, and gold, often represented by yellow). In general, metals should appear on top of colors and colors should appear on toil of metals or other colors.

I found a site with lots of info on heraldry. Of course, they're trying to sell you a custom designed Coat of Arms, but you're creative enough to take their tips (and maybe a couple of their images) and make your own, like I did. http://www.fleurdelis.com

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #29

2010-12-02T07:53:00.001-05:00

Episode 29 - "I Call Upon Podcast to Create Unslept" - Recorded 11/30/2010 - Runtime 43m29s

MP3 Podcast Version

In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by special guest Leah of Oden, play "All For Me Grog" by the Jolly Rogers - http://www.chivalry.com/jollyrogers/ - read emails from Daniel and Mike (Thanks so much!), rant a bit about the (dis)organization of NERO International and her chapters, and shamelessly promote The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf6qgpHfxIU + http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1721691/ - Matt's book - http://memoirs.dalantia.org - LARP Thing A Week - http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org/search/label/LTAW - and the upcoming NorthCoast NERO - http://www.northcoastnero.com - and NERO Elkins events - http://www.dalantia.org

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Call the LARP Line 304-986-LARP (5277)

LTAW #4: Tabard Part 1 (Simple Tabard)

2010-11-30T08:14:00.001-05:00

This is part 1 of LTAW's tabard making 2-part special. For part 2, go to http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org/2010/12/ltaw-6-tabard-part-2-ideas-for-making.html

For this week's LARP Thing A Week, I made a simple tabard. A tabard is a great and super easy way to dress up a medieval fantasy LARP costume.

Here are some brave knights wearing tabards:

And of course, we've all seen the musketeers' tabards:

Wikipedia says:

In the late Middle Ages tabards, now open at the sides and so usually belted, were worn by knights over their armour, and usually emblazoned with their arms (though sometimes worn plain).

Tabards are easier to make than other garments, can reflect personal creativity, and can also show unity in a group (because the group can create their own costumes, but where the same tabards, and have instant identification). For those reasons, you'll see many LARPers sporting this piece of costuming. You'll also see NPCs sporting very simple tabards like the one I'm making here to represent creature skin colors and the like (I don't know which chapter I stole this image from; if you know, leave a comment):

So, on to making a tabard.

I bought this lovely red for my tabard. I'm going to add some extra decoration with gold later on. I don't recommend that anyone stick to one solid color, because you might be confused with a monster (especially if you pick the wrong color). But, I'll cover adding decorations and other features in Part 2.

A word about fabric selection: choose something thicker for your tabard. Thin stuff is great for spell packets. And stretchy stuff is supremely difficult to work with (and will pull in on itself on a tabard and look goofy). Muslin, canvas, upholstery fabric, and other thick fabrics work well for tabards. Thinner cotton blends will work, but you may find you need to sew two layers together if you use it (which makes for a reversible tabard; getting you more gobbies if you're donating it!)

I'd recommend that you buy 2 yards of whatever fabric you like. Generally, that's enough to make 2 tabards, but it'll save you some sewing even if you're only making 1. My fabric was 48 inches wide, which is pretty typical, but fabric comes folded in half before it's rolled onto the cardboard. So, it only looked to be 24 inches wide. Well, we'll make use of this fold. I cut it along this fold so I was left with two pieces 2 yards by 24 inches. Here's my cat inspecting my work:

Now, I put aside one of those pieces (to make another tabard or whatever), and folded my piece in half, right about where the cat was standing. Then, I folded it in half again the other way. Here, in the corner where all your folds meet, you cut a head hole. Don't make it very big; you can always enlarge it later, and it's really much bigger than it appears.

Here's what it looks like when I unfold the fabric:

Most fabrics have a tendency to fray:

The edges of some synthetics can be (carefully) melted to prevent fraying. But the easiest way to prevent fraying on any fabric is with a hem. The simplest hem is to fold the edge over, then fold it over again and sew it into place. Here's a hem on my fabric:

Now, I won't actually be hemming this now, because I'm going to do something neat with the edges in part 2.

Put the tabard on and mark the length you want. I like mine to go about mid thigh and be a bit longer in the back.

Tie a belt or sash around your waist, et voila, a simple tabard. (This one is a bit short... good thing I have another piece!)

Join me in Part 2 when I add some features to dress up my tabard.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T08:15:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've noticed by now that there's no MLC this week. That's because we've taken time off to spend with our families, and you should too, right after the Great Turkey War.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Except you Canadians... you've already gotten your holiday ;)

LTAW #3: Dungeon Crawl

2010-11-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

This week, I had a little extra time before the NERO Elkins Tavern Night, so, with some help from Amanda (who really helped create most of the puzzles), Sam (whom I kept in the dark), and Zach, I assembled a dungeon crawl, this week's LARP Thing a Week.

I didn't have any monsters, though they could easily be added in, so the environment had to provide the sense of danger. Traps also could have been added, but no traditional traps were used in this dungeon crawl.

We meet for Tavern Night in the theatre where I work, so we had a great space to set this up. I used different colors of spike tape to represent different barriers: green and grey repped walls, blue and purple repped ledges or drop-offs, and orange was also a ledge or drop-off but the ledge was glowing in-game.

I'll take you on a walk-through.

Your adventure begins in the Gryphon Guard Tavern. You hang out with other adventurers, swap stories, drink a few. One of the Winter clan, a hunter of undead creatures, comes in, seeking to hire some adventurers to retrieve some gems which will be used to craft an item to help him in the hunt.

If you choose to accompany him, he will lead you to a "cave" (really out the door and into another door). There, you see a ledge dropping into water below. You'll surely get hurt if you fall in, plus you'll be soaked! A couple pillars form islands in the water, but it will be a difficult jump for some in your party.

Then you remember something. There were some boards left over from the rebuilding of the tavern ((this worked for us because the tavern was "damaged" last year and needed repairs)). Where did those barbarians take them?

So, laying the boards across the pillars, you've formed a nifty bridge. Pretty simple.

It's just a quick walk across.

Now, you have to crawl to get through. ((Making low-hanging areas is essential to creating a LARP dungeon crawl. It is called a "crawl" after all. This sort of physicality is just what LARP is about. Just be aware that some player may have difficulty. Try to find ways to include them.))

After crawling through, you come to your next challenge. It looks just like the previous one, but this one is longer. It also features strange "glowing" pillars ((marked by orange tape)).

But, you forgot to bring the boards with you from the previous challenge, so you have to squeeze back through and get them.

After getting them, you start across. You have three long boards, and there are only four large gaps, so this shouldn't be too much of a trouble. Get your people out on pillars and boards, then send the first board up to bridge the final gap. But, of course, there's a twist ((there always is)). One of your companions stands on a glowing pillar. When you hand a board to him so he can place it, it sends magic up through his body to disintegrate the board (("Arcane Destroy Board")). Oops, now you only have two long boards and you have to get across without allowing any of the boards to touch the orange pillars or to touch a person who is on an orange pillar. ((Amanda and I designed this passage so that it was quite possible to do so with just two boards, because we knew at least one would get destroyed. We also included a number of smaller boards into the mix. They were essentially useless, but the adventurers brought them anyway, so they were good fodder for the destroy spells as well. We also had a back up plan. We would hide a board and the NPC she was playing would "see it" if we needed an extra. It was a challenge with the two boards. It was next to impossible with just one.))((Btw, players falling in at this stage would take 20 damage and be swept back to the first challenge. Items dropped would be lost.))

This challenge took some time, but now you make our way through passages to come across another gap to traverse. This one has pillars which are much more plentiful and can be used as stepping stones. But they're all different colors. Do they have effects associated with them?

((This is a challenge I've seen time and time again, and I use it often in dungeon environments. The paper on the floor represents pillars that can be used for safe passage, but the colors have meaning. In this case, the only color that meant anything was pink, which would drop an individual right into the water below -- take 20 damage, be swept back a goodly ways. I sometimes use the colors to help or harm by making each one a different spell. I also have used numbers. One time, I used playing cards on the pillars, each of which had an associated effect, which would change whenever someone stepped on the pillar. I thought about color blindness when I made this challenge, and lo and behold, one of the players was color blind. However, the others marked the correct path with spell packets, and he only fell in once. :) The only thing I would change is to secure the paper a bit better. I only used two small pieces of duct tape to hold each one down, and they slipped somewhat.))

Next, you come upon a web with a great big spider. The spider isn't making any threatening movements, but blocks your way around the web. Touching the web hurts you, so you're going to have to try to get your group across without touching it.

You send one person through the big hole in the bottom. He gets through, but a wall of force forms in the gap where he was. You send another through and try to put your hand in to prevent it from closing, but the magic forces your hand out. So, you're figuring out the rules now: one person can go through each hole before it closes, you'll get hurt if you touch the web, and you can see your goal tantalizingly on the other side. ((In the future, I'd allow multiple people to use each hole or have a couple people there just to keep things safe. The players felt rushed at one point and made some unsafe decisions that could have resulted in injury.))

One player on the other side investigates the table with the gong. He leans over to get a better look, unconsciously putting his hand down on the carpet that the table sits on. He's hurt ((10 elemental chaos)) and draws back his hand. Even though your party is not yet through the web, his curiosity gets the better of him and he rings the gong. You feel the earth tremble and stones start to fall from the ceiling. ((NPCs randomly threw packets into the air "5 normal" escalating to 40 by the end of the adventure. Here's where the players started to feel rushed.))

A closer inspection reveals a hidden prize. A treasure box is concealed beneath the table cloth in a compartment under the table. Removing the box dispels the Walls of Force that formed in the web, allowing your team to escape. Running back along the path, you must traverse the gauntlet while avoiding the falling rubble and maintaining your hold on the prize.
((Feel free to use any of these ideas in your own dungeon crawls, and let us know how they go. In addition, let us know your ideas or things you've seen used.))

Mid-Level Crisis Podcast #28

2010-11-17T09:44:00.000-05:00

Episode 28 - "I Command You to Watch the Trailer" - Recorded 11/16/2010 - Runtime 43m20s

MP3 Podcast Version

In this episode, Eric & Matt, joined by special guest Kris, continue the discussion about religion in LARP by reading an email from George, ask for your thoughts about Unicorn City ( http://www.unicorncity.com ), and shamelessly promote Matt's book ( http://memoirs.dalantia.org ), LARP Thing A Week ( http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org/search/label/LTAW ), Movember ( http://midlevelcrisis.dalantia.org/2010/11/ssp-movember-madness.html ), and the upcoming NERO Elkins events ( http://www.dalantia.org )

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LTAW #2: NPC Database (Part 1)

2010-11-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

For week 2 of LARP Thing A Week, I've started a NPC spreadsheet on Google Docs. This spreadsheet is part of what will become a NPC database which will allow plot team members to find details about the NPCs they need and compare data. The example below has only a few NPCs and the juicy bits are intentionally left out, but it gives an idea of the structure I'm aiming for.

I've created 15 columns: Name, Who plays the NPC, A few notes on the character's role, race, Costume Notes, Body Points (Hit Points for those that don't play NERO), Weapons used, Standard Abilities (abilities which would be available to PCs), Formal Magic Effects, Immunities, What types of things heal them, what can harm them, Special Abilities (not usually available to PCs), Deaths & related info (How many deaths for their final death count, and info about what happens when they die or how they need to be killed), and Plot Notes.

A pretty extensive list, but I have a sneaking suspicion I'm missing something, so if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

There are better options for creating a database than using Google Docs, but GD has something very important to me: the ability to selectively share and collaborate on documents. I can give my plot team access to the document (and even just to parts of the document), while keeping my players in the dark.

We will return to the idea of an NPC database, in an effort to create something wonderful, but this is the first, crude step.

No Mid-Level Crisis this week

2010-11-09T15:21:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that Eric and I won't be recording MLC today. We'll see you next week.

Thanks,
Matt