NELCO 2014 Schedule

Friday

8 PM: LARP Writing 101

Run by: Jeff Diewald

Over the course of the weekend, starting Friday night, we'll be running a Build Your Own Game workshop. Whether you've never written a game, or are an experienced author, it's a great time, and a great way to learn new techniques. The LARP Writing 101 session will lay out the basics how to construct a LARP, and start the process of imagining what kind of game will be written this weekend.

8 PM: Latex LARP Weapons Making (Workshop)

Run by: Erik Trinkl

With the assistance of the owners of Monster Camp, LLC, Maurice Spaulding and Josh Slowick, we will show how to construct safe latex LARP weapons. We will provide materials to those interested to get their hands dirty.

Unlike common belief, the purpose is also to show that these weapons are safe and can be built cheaply at home. Latex or latex-like foam weapons are becoming more and more popular in the United States. In most European countries like Germany, latex weapons are the only permitted weapons, because they look realistic and allow a much more immersive environment. Hopefully, you find enjoyment learning to build a latex weapon of your own during this period.

8 PM: Clearing Your Waitlist: Adding characters to an existing game

Run by: Lise Fracalossi

So you have bid a game to intercon and now you have 5 awesome players on your waitlist. Time to clear your waitlist. We will discuss the challenges of adding characters to an existing game – not just "intercon" games but also campaign games.

Panelists: Lise has been larping for ten years and is the author of two larps: League of Extraordinary Hogwarts Students and Cracks in the Orb. She's also been known to opine on historical costuming.

9:30 PM: When Theater & Boffer Collide

Run by: Adina Schreiber

Boffer games have traditionally been build-your-own character campaign games. Theater games have been traditionally pre-generated character one-shots. Over the last few years we have had several successful boffer one-shots at intercon, as evidenced by increasing numbers of players crossing over. What has made those recent intercon games successful? What kind of changes need to be made for having theater-style LARPers in a boffer campaign? How can we get the best of both worlds?

Adina enjoys both boffer and theater LARPing, serves as Intercon’s raffle coordinator, is currently serving on the NEIL board, is a member of Bid Com, and needs more cowbell.

10:45 PM: BYOG Brainstorming

The BYOG team start the writing process in earnest. People who aren't going to be working on the BYOG are encouraged to come and to bring their ideas for potential games they'd like to see written.

Saturday

11 AM: What Live Action Roleplaying Games do well

Presentation by Ken Clary

A talk which offers up ways that LRPGs are and are not like other mediums, what uniquely defines what they do well, and advice for letting what they do well flourish. Learn why the G is important in LRPG, the strengths of emergent gameplay in larps, and how not to stifle either.

Ken Clary began larping in 1996, and writing larps in earnest in 1997. He's been an author of 24 (and counting) games --- mostly for the MIT Assassins' Guild --- and has run somewhere around 50 events. He is the developer and maintainer of GameTeX, a game production system, has run Guild Camp (a 2-week gamewriting boot camp) for the past 9 summers, and semi-regularly organizes "The Ides of March," a short game-design panel. He has been a playtester (and once, the lead playtester) for a small number of GURPS publications (by Steve Jackson Games). He has also been boffer-larping since 2000, and is the Staff Director for Witchwood, an ongoing fantasy boffer game that currently runs in Ashby, Mass.

11 AM: LARP: Betrothals & Betrayals (Play or Run)

Play in, or help run, a short LARP with an eye towards having all the players and GMs sit down and deconstruct how the game went, where in the writing or design the best scenes came from, etc. We have time for two runs, and the discussion on the game will be after the second run. The total page count of the game is low, so we should be able to consider all the written material in our discussion.

LARP Description: Lady Bathurst has invited a number of eligible young ladies and gentleman to stay at Albion Hall, in the hope of finding a suitable match for her only daughter. However, behind the polite conversation and pleasant surroundings lurks many a dark secret and hidden agenda...

Inspired by the works of Jane Austen and Susanna Clark, this LARP was written by Donna Giltrap and Debbie Cowens.

11 AM: Latex LARP Weapons Making (Workshop)

Run by: Erik Trinkl

With the assistance of the owners of Monster Camp, LLC, Maurice Spaulding and Josh Slowick, we will show how to construct safe latex LARP weapons. We will provide materials to those interested to get their hands dirty.

Unlike common belief, the purpose is also to show that these weapons are safe and can be built cheaply at home. Latex or latex-like foam weapons are becoming more and more popular in the United States. In most European countries like Germany, latex weapons are the only permitted weapons, because they look realistic and allow a much more immersive environment. Hopefully, you find enjoyment learning to build a latex weapon of your own during this period.

12:30 PM: Describing Game Mechanics (Panel)

How do we describe the mechanics we use? Would you want to know what kind of mechanics a game uses before we sign up? What does it mean to be mechanics light or heavy? This will be a discussion that leads into a Focus Group to provide NEIL with a recommendation on how to categorize games.

12:30 PM: Ars Amandi Workshop

Run by: Marsha Gershorn

"LARPs need love. Think about it: in a typical LARP, your character is far more likely to kill something or die than she is to fall in love. The ability to play romance and love safely would open up a whole new vista of possible plots and character developments." - Lizzie Stark

Ars Amandi is a Nordic LARP mechanic for playing out intimate physical encounters in game, simulating romance or sex by mutual touching of safe permitted upper-body zones. It is an immersive way for players to more deeply explore the emotions of their own characters, and to more meaningfully connect with other characters in a way that may otherwise be difficult to tap into during a LARP. This is a very useful and versatile mechanic to have in your toolkit as players, and to incorporate into your own LARPs as writers.

In this guided group workshop, we will be using only hands and forearms as permitted zones to safely ease into practicing this mechanic with one another. Please plan to arrive on-time as we will be closing the door to maintain privacy.

2 PM: Eliminating Downtime

Often, games have periods of downtime, because they’re plot-light, NPC-light, by design, or various other reasons. Join us for a round-table discussion of what causes downtime, and how to avoid it in your games whether they be theatre-style or boffer.

2 PM: Describing Game Mechanics (Focus Group)

A Focus Group / Working group will have an in depth discussion resulting in a recommendation to NEIL on how to categorize game mechanics for intercon. All are welcome to join.

2 PM: LARP: Betrothals & Betrayals (Play or Run)

Play in, or help run, a short LARP with an eye towards having all the players and GMs sit down and deconstruct how the game went, where in the writing or design the best scenes came from, etc. We have time for two runs, and the discussion on the game will be after the second run. The total page count of the game is low, so we should be able to consider all the written material in our discussion.

LARP Description: Lady Bathurst has invited a number of eligible young ladies and gentleman to stay at Albion Hall, in the hope of finding a suitable match for her only daughter. However, behind the polite conversation and pleasant surroundings lurks many a dark secret and hidden agenda...

Inspired by the works of Jane Austen and Susanna Clark, this LARP was written by Donna Giltrap and Debbie Cowens.

3:30 PM: Stuffing: Making Sure the Game you Wrote is the Game they Get

Presentation by Stephen Kohler

Very often, in discussions of writing games, running games, and playing games, the act of stuffing a game is barely mentioned. If it comes up at all, it's only to mention "oh, and don't mess up stuffing" or some other useless platitude. But the act of stuffing a game can be hugely important, and can make the difference between a good run and a bad run of a game. In this talk, I'll go over techniques that I've developed from 7 years of running games at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; what works, what doesn't, what will make your life better, and what will make it worse. I will also give advice on how to prepare for stuffing in the writing stages so that when it comes time to prep, you're not left in the lurch. Remember, good stuffing might not fix a bad game, but bad stuffing can ruin a good one!

5 PM: GM Services (Panel)

Traditionally, the GMs do everything needed to make a game happen (except costuming which is traditionally delegated to players). At intercon and other mini-LARP weekends, two tasks are handled “horizontally” by the event organizers (space booking, and player sign-up). Are there other things that might be turned into services? A pool of run-time GMs; Set-making services; centralized casting; an NPC pool; Printing & Typesetting; Game Photos; LARP boxing services?

This will be a discussion that leads into a Focus Group to provide NEIL with a framework for possible future services.

8 PM: Designing for Repeat Players

Have you ever played a LARP twice? Have you had players who played your game multiple times? What was your experience? Should we be shifting our culture towards designing games for re-playability? Is that even possible? What are some of the issues involved with this? Are we doing anything right now that makes re-playing a game harder?

Mark (Justin du Coeur) Waks has long been sought by authorities on suspicion of committing Strange Acts of Interactive Literature. It is believed that he is currently organizing a new underground network known only as "Querki", making it easier for impressionable youths to partake in the insidious artform known as "LARP writing". If spotted, do not attempt capture, but please contact the appropriate authorities immediately.

Cameron Betts - always exploring the variety of experiences LARPs have to offer, Cameron is starting a video blog called LARP Out of Character, featuring interviews with LARPers about what motivates them, and how they think about LARP.

8 PM: LARP Deconstruction

All the players and GMs from Betrothals & Betrayals sit down and deconstruct how the game went, where in the writing or design the best scenes came from, etc. The total page count of the game is low, so we should be able to consider all the written material in our discussion.

8 PM: GM Services (Focus Group)

A Focus Group / Working group will have an in depth discussion resulting in a framework for possible services to send as a recommendation to NEIL. All are welcome to join.

9:30 PM: Introduction to Foreign LARP

Presentation by Erik Trinkl

In this class, I wish to introduce some general aspects of foreign LARPs, particularly medieval fantasy LARP. There are many stereotypes, myths and misconceptions about foreign LARPs, for example the term "European-style" . The internet permits anybody to access and view pictures and videos on foreign LARPs. However, much of the media about LARP on the internet is in different languages and American LARPers cannot associate themselves with what is presented without previous experience.

While I grew up in Germany, I was a vivid LARPer there. I maintained several important connections in the German LARP scene which include the largest LARP magazine, LARP-Zeit, the German Liveroleplaying Association and other organization. I have visited mega-events in the past; Bicolline (Canada), Drachenfest and Newe Order - prequel to Conquest of Mythodea (Germany). So far, I have been reporting and writing articles primarily for LARP-Zeit.

This presentation is intended to give a closer insight on foreign LARPs. Of course, North-American LARP is different to foreign LARPs, but not many people have experienced foreign LARPs. In this course I will utilize illustrations, statistics and other materials to show the current developments of LARP primarily in Germany.

11 PM: LARP Party

Party Time! NELCO will be hosting a party in the conference space well into the night.

Sunday

10 AM: LARP Brunch

Join us for breakfast at Moonstones nearby for a free-form larp-discussion brunch with delicious food. A signup sheet will be available friday and saturday, or contact Dave Kapell if you’re interested.

12:30 PM: What will LARP look like in 15 years

15 years ago theater LARPs were dominated by weekend-long one shot games and build-your-own-character campaign games, and NERO dominated boffer games. What are the long-term trends in LARP plotting, writing and structure? How could technology impact LARP? Let’s peer into our crystal ball, and see what LARP will look like in 15 years.

Mark (Justin du Coeur) Waks has long been sought by authorities on suspicion of committing Strange Acts of Interactive Literature. It is believed that he is currently organizing a new underground network known only as "Querki", making it easier for impressionable youths to partake in the insidious artform known as "LARP writing". If spotted, do not attempt capture, but please contact the appropriate authorities immediately.

12:30 PM: Describing Game Mechanics (Focus Group Report)

Those who participated in the Describing Game Mechanics focus group will share the results of their labor.

12:30 PM: LARP - Play in the BYOG

They have worked all weekend to produce a LARP, and this is it. Sign up to play the BYOG! Please arrive a little early so we can start on time.

2 PM: 5 Plots every game should have

The panelists have each come up with the 5 most powerful flexible LARP plots. Crowd pleasers, and stand-by staples. Bring a few of your own!

Adina Schreiber enjoys both boffer and theater LARPing, serves as Intercon’s raffle coordinator, is currently serving on the NEIL board, is a member of Bid Com, and needs more cowbell.

Cameron Betts - always exploring the variety of experiences LARPs have to offer, Cameron is starting a video blog called LARP Out of Character, featuring interviews with LARPers about what motivates them, and how they think about LARP.

2 PM: GM Services (Focus Group Report)

Those who participated in the GM Services focus group will share the results of their labor.