TipsForGettingInvolvedInInteractives

A place to try and create a list suitable for new larpers, containing hints and tips on ways to get involved in things during interactives (to prevent attrition of potential newbies through boredom/disconnection).

• Mingle
• Be open to action
• Pick some definite views and defend them. Unreasonable views are not a problem.
  • If your views are not mainstream, you may need to be loud to find others with similar views
• Conflict creates action, it is not automatically bad
  • Don't worry about offending people oc by being rude to them ic
• Make sure that people know what sort of things you are interested in and could potentially help with
  • You don't have to tell people your stats or your secrets, but if you have useful skills people won't ask you to use them unless they realise you have them
• Make some friends
• Try to have ic goals and take a step towards them at each event
  • You can have both long term and short term goals
• If you decide to do something, try to get other people to help you. The more players involved, the more spectacular the results, frequently.
• Don't be afraid to commit to things
  • Plans, wagers etc
• If people are obligated to you because of favours you have done them, don't forget that you can call those favours in
• Use your resources. If you have Stamina, you might as well use it before it goes away...
  • Your resources includes your money and so on, but also your talents, your network of allies, your soul....be imaginative. Your Faction may also have resources you could call on...also, NPCs and demons might be involvable
• Be curious
• Don't be afraid of using slightly underhand techniques to get information, such as eavesdropping, lying, bribery...but be aware that other characters may react ic if you are discovered being underhand
• When generating characters, consider that character traits which make them shy away from others (fear, mistrust, suspicion, submissiveness) will make it harder to mix than ones which make them assertive (confidence, conviction, friendliness). However, some traits which may seem negative at first glance can be used to your advantage in generating roleplay (mild communication difficulties, surprising phobias, hatred towards a particular group). Traits which make other characters underestimate you may be good or bad, those which make them outright avoid you may be a disadvantage.
• Don't be scared to generate your own plot by working on character goals in areas that no-one else is working on. If you make enough progress, other people will start to notice, and eventually you will be the start of a new plot all of your own.
• If all else fails, you can always develop a hilarious crush on another character :)
• If you get repeatedly bored, tell the refs so that they can help out. However, don't rely on other people to hand you things to do, try and find your own.
  • Keeping the refs up-to-date with what your character is interested in and who they hang around with/dislike and why is a useful function of downtime. This lets them know what is going on in the bar, and therefore adjust plot accordingly.
• The newspaper offices exist in the game world, anyone can submit articles or adverts to the refs to be published in it, or interact with the organisation in any other ic way they see fit.
• IC worlds are often more exaggerated than the real world, so more dramatic actions can fit into them plausibly. If you aim high, at least something noticeable will probably come of what you do.
• Many things that would be too dangerous to try in the real world (with poor healing and permanent consequences and so on) are plausible courses of action in larp. Your character *might* die of it, but usually they don't.
• Don't be afraid of defining things, bluffing and making stuff up. NFNC has a large setting and a lot of basic things about it are publically defined and need to be accepted by all the players to sustain a shared understanding of the world. However! Your own character is free to hold whatever understanding of that shared world that they wish, and say whatever they want about it (including lying and being wrong). You can define their life before they came into play, and what they do when they aren't in uptime.
• Don't assume that you are not powerful enough to succeed in a plan/objective. It helps if you can amass friends and resources towards your goal, but sustained effort goes a long way.
• Interesting objects can make good talking points initially