Dystopia Rising New York is a Character-Versus-Character Oriented Game, The Majority of Requiem is Wasteland. What does this mean? That there is another level of roleplay incorporated into the experience. Wasteland areas allow for CvC to be conducted without a guide.(Though we always recommend you find one anyways). Today we’re going to talk about how CvC can work together with Storytelling.
CvC is a Collaboration
At the end of the day CvC is conducted between two or more players, this means your character and another player’s character will be in conflict together and there’s a few things you should keep in mind for the best kind of experience.
You are both people. You have feelings and emotions and regardless of the conclusion of your CvC you should be aiming for everyone involved to feel good about the experience.
You do better together than working apart. Communication with each other can foster a mutual understanding with what each of you wants from the situation, try to find a common ground so everyone can have a positive takeaway.
People are going to make mistakes, skill calls are going to go wrong, people are going to miscount body or skill caps, especially in the heat of the moment. Give people a bit of grace.
There is a Human Being on both sides of the conflict
While our characters are here to experience hardships and overcome challenges(or fail to), there are still people behind the characters. Remember that we’re all here to experience a fun game and tell amazing stories. While quickly and efficiently defeating your enemy is a sure fire win to end the conflict it doesn’t always tell a good story nor does it leave everyone involved feeling satisfied.
Try to steer towards things that give everyone involved a sense that they got an experience that was enjoyable. Let your defeated enemy monologue for a few minutes before killing them, take time to cry on the corpse of your traitorous best friend, let someone survive to come back for revenge. Give people the chance to roleplay with you and you will see your stories explode with more opportunity.
There is such a thing as too much. If you kill another character maybe don’t also take everything they own, and vice versa. It’s a much better time when you make an impact. Instead of killing them and taking all of their stuff, take something important and leave a note encouraging them to come take it back.
The Game is Better When We’re all Enjoying it
Remember that this is a game first and foremost, we’re here to play and enjoy this hobby we all love. CvC can cause our emotions to run high and in the heat of the moment we can make mistakes. Try to be understanding with people when the wrong skill calls are made or an item is used incorrectly. Live is still in it’s first year and is still evolving as a system. Have patience with one another.
LARP is and always will be a collaborative storytelling experience. If we’re all making sure everyone is having a good time and boosting each other's game experience up then everyone has a better time at game. Just reaching out and getting the people around you involved in the things you do throughout the weekend can change someone’s whole experience. From teaching them how to find their voice or just coming along for the ride to needing an ally to take on your greatest rivals at honor’s fall.