A new member

[Anonymous]

Greetings all! I am new to this board, tho I've been lurking for a while to get an idea of what this is all about. I'm looking for a fun fantasy experience that my son and I could share. I have a lot of questions and thought perhaps you could share your knowledge and experience with me.
He hasn't done any formal RP games, but he loves fantasy, monsters and has a great imagination. Should he try out a few table games first or could he learn the rules and start off live-action?
He is 13. I think he would begin as a page to train. He is also a Boy Scout, does that make a difference as to when he can start bashing things? l think he'd enjoy being a monster too. When could he NPG?
What are the general ages of this group? How old is too old? I don't particularly want to bash things myself, but might be able to contribute in other ways.
Mostly, what actually happens at these events? Which sort of event is the best to start with? Is this truly like being immersed in another world? What does it look like? Are there any stories you can share of what it is like? What to expect? Thanks...your look like a great group!

 

[Seattle_Jim]

Greetings all! I am new to this board, tho I've been lurking for a while to get an idea of what this is all about. I'm looking for a fun fantasy experience that my son and I could share. I have a lot of questions and thought perhaps you could share your knowledge and experience with me.

Welcome to you and your son. Yes NERO is fun! It is also an experiance that parents and kids can share. I will do my best to answer your questions.

He hasn't done any formal RP games, but he loves fantasy, monsters and has a great imagination. Should he try out a few table games first or could he learn the rules and start off live-action?

LARPing doesn't require table-toping experience. It is the place where most first generation LARPers started, but these days plenty of people LARP'd first or only LARP. Table-top will give him more information on genre, if you play fantasy tabletop, but it is no way needed. He can learn about goblins, kobolds, knights, rogues, hags, golems, etc. at NERO, but in and out of game! A great imagination is a wonderful thing and will help him out at NERO.

He is 13. I think he would begin as a page to train. He is also a Boy Scout, does that make a difference as to when he can start bashing things? l think he'd enjoy being a monster too. When could he NPG?

Participants between age 8-13 are pages, yes, but unlike most chapters we do have an advanced page status for pages who can demonstrate good knowledge of safety and rules. This allows them to throw birdseed packets, which in game can represent spells, alchemical gas globes or crossbow bolts (and arrows, but pages are limited to crossbows). Actual bashing waits for age 14. We do have pages NPC from time to time, but we also always try to one run at least one page centered plotline each event for page PCs.

What are the general ages of this group? How old is too old? I don't particularly want to bash things myself, but might be able to contribute in other ways.

We have players ranging from 8 to 40 something. I would say the majority of players are between 16 to 25. I guess too old is when you don't think it is fun anymore... I know people have played NERO into their 50s... who knows, I may be one of them! You don't have to bash things, you can throw spells, be a healer or merchant that don't fight and so...

Mostly, what actually happens at these events? Which sort of event is the best to start with? Is this truly like being immersed in another world? What does it look like?

Well from Friday night to Sunday at noon many things happens: battles, riddle solving, storytelling, breaking bread with friends, kidnappings, politics, quests, rescuing kidnap victims, robbery, betrayal, friendships form, carousing, troll slaying, craft making, hunting kobolds, solving mysteries, forming alliances, apprenticing, etc. In a nut shell the players interact with various npc characters played by plot members and NPCs ranging from monsters to nobility to farmers to thieves to whatever you can imagine. There are plotlines that advance over several events and some that are contained to one event, start and finish the same weekend - sometimes by design, sometimes dictated by player interaction. The plot team writes storylines for PCs to interact with and help develop and change-- I often explain it as plot building the skeletal structure and the players at the muscle and flesh and various other details.. plot supports it, but the players control how it ends up moving and looking.

I hope that it is truly being immersed; we strive to stay in character as much as possible. There is really no one event to go to that is much different than others... maybe the September Season opener... or the long February weekend, we tend to do something special then, (we had a dragon last time!) but all the events are fun! You could try a game day first (the summer schedule will be posted soon) and see what that is like. We play for a few hours in a park in Shoreline and you can get a feel for things and meet people.

Are there any stories you can share of what it is like? What to expect? Thanks...your look like a great group!

I will let the players share their stories. Feel free to contact me directly via email or PM with any question.

Jim
Head of Plot

 

[Anonymous]

Hello! I'll be answering stuff in the order my brain tells me, which will not be the order asked, but it works.

Page age ends at 14, so, if he's 13 he wouldn't have long to wait until he could start bashing things. In a way, this would make it easier for him to learn the rules, since he'd be a quasi-spectator for a little while. Depending on how fast he picked the rules up, he could always try for seattle's second tier page status, which allows pages to utilize the packet combat aspects of the game. Once pages hit 14, they get to completely re-write their characters if they want to, so they don't lose out on the experience they gained while they couldn't participate fully in combat. Also, a lot of the rules that pages DO get to play with are actually more complex than the bash-things rules, which I think generally helps them grasp the game faster.
Pages can also NPC, though there aren't usually many monster roles available for first tier pages. In fact, anyone can NPC at almost anytime. And NPCing has some special perks if you do it for a full weekend.

You might want to try running him through some D&D 3.5 games just to see how he does with the fantasy v. reality aspects of gaming and to get him accustomed to doing things within constraint of rules, but I think NERO is a fine place to start gaming at.

What mostly happens is our plot people try to run a story, and, inevitably, the PCs screw it up... but seriously, it's like a choose your own adventure, with other people, and monsters, and treasure. Plot tries to guide a story through, and the PCs interact with it how they would. There's LOTS of roleplay, some fighting, games, and sometimes someone goes on a bardic bent and we get singing and instruments being played.
The best kind of event to start with is a full weekend event as a PC. You get the most bang for your new player dollar, you get to really experience what the game is trying to be about, and you get to meet and play with people who aren't just local (we get people from California pretty regularly).
Sometimes it very much is like being in another world. Most of the time, there's a little bit of suspension of disbelief. NERO has to work within the limitations of the rules, sites it uses, and safety. It may look cool to actually jump down out of a tree at people, but that's generally frowned upon because someone can get hurt that way.

NERO looks like rainbow clay.

No, really. People dress up in costumes and play completely different people. You can be an elf, or a dwarf. Maybe you want to be a cat person. Maybe you want to cast magic or maybe you want to be the best lockpicker.
Now, our boffers are a little bulky and don't quite look like swords, but they're really safe. And our magic is little bird seed packets.
So it really is like rainbow clay. You can imagine that flame bolt to look like a flaming arrow, or a fireball, or you can just see it as a colored packet flying through the air. It's really what you make of it.

You can expect:
Friendly people to help you out.
Staying up really late.
Waking up really early.
A complete kitchen to cook your food in.
Working showers and toilets.
Heated cabins.
A (relatively) safe weekend out in the woods.
Sometimes deer.

You might want to take a look at some of the best moments from the June event thread to get a feel for what the game is like. There should be some pictures up soon from the June event as well.

Hope that helps.

~Sarah

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your answers thus far! I look forward to reading more stories. How do I look at pictures? I can't seem to access anything in the Gallery.

 

[Seattle_Jim]

Thank you for your answers thus far! I look forward to reading more stories. How do I look at pictures? I can't seem to access anything in the Gallery.

Out gallery is broken right now... the website is getting ready for a new overhaul. Also to that end, the in game section of the website is invalid at this point, so go ahead and ignore it. Current information will be available after the website overhaul.

 

[Evad]

Greetings;

I am 43 and my daughter is 14 (nearly 15). We are at every event. I find it a great escape and also enjoy the physical aspects. (Yes, I bash). I initially attended the games to keep an eye on my daughter...Alas, I am hooked.

So if you care to tag along, you won't be the only chronologically challenged person there. Sometimes its nice to whoop up on these young whipper snappers. Course, they do whoop back.

 

[jpariury]

I would say that NERO Seattle in particular has been home to many family groups playing. Landon, Amber, and Damien are all siblings, as are Matt, Holly, and Stephanie. Kelly and Jacquelyn are the first father-daughter team I know of, although I know a father-son team in Massachusetts that LARP together. I know of a variety of mothers and fathers that have also simply attended at events without participating in order to keep an eye out on and for their kids. I've even been asked once or twice to be some of the younger players' on-site "chaperone". If you think it is something you would enjoy as individuals AND together, it can be a very fun bonding time.

 

[Egor]

On the family note. Me and my brother Jesse both play and we could probably drag our sister along somtime. Paul plays and his Dad NPC's when he comes to Nero.The plot in seattle is generaly very good and you can keep an exciting game going if you keep involved in a plot. NPCing the first time is good to learn the system.You also build points up for a new charachter. Also when a page NPC's they make sure that they have Page NPC roles. So you don't get bored. As an NPC you don't get bored you get tired out.