Howdy, and thanks for checking out Alliance Seattle!
LARPing is an awesome way to expand your gaming horizons. I'm not certain how much background you already know about LARPing or our organization, but here are a few resources to help tackle some general questions. Feel free to ask any and all other questions that you may have here as well.
General Alliance FAQ
General Alliance New Player Reference
Alliance Seattle's Characters/Character Creation Guide
Alliance Seattle's Young Players Policy
Handy message from JP (Head of Alliance Oregon's plot team)
I'll try to answer all of your specific questions as well.
As an NPC, you are provided with bunk space in one of our "Reserved for NPC cabins." You'll share the cabin with a number of other players, depending on the site that we're using. All cabins at all of our sites have bunks, mattresses, heat, light, and electricity. (You'll need to bring sleeping bags/blankets/pillow/whathaveyou, and clothing/toiletries/extra socks/gear.) NPCs are also fed about 2ish meals per full day, plus an evening meal on the first night and a breakfast meal the last day. I say '2ish because you're guaranteed a breakfast if you're up early enough, and dinner if you're up late enough, and there's usually a floating lunch set up (wraps, sandwiches, or something similar) that you can grab and go in the middle of the day. Most games are Friday through Sunday, so it'll be dinner, breakfast, floating lunch, dinner, breakfast. For longer games (President's Day weekend is a "Long Weekend" aka "3-day") you'll have dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Breakfast on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and Lunch Saturday and Sunday. The food is pretty simple, and some beverages are supplied. Most people like to bring some snacks and their juice/soda of choice on hand to supplement their calorie intake throughout the weekend.
NPCs are provided costuming, weapons, props, makeup, prosthetics, characters, and instruction throughout the weekend. You're expected to bring a base set of black clothing to use through out the weekend (black sweats work great). Hiking boots or dark shoes are best (try to avoid white shoes and anything with those blinky lights). Avoid blue jeans and anything else that'll stand out as obviously anachronistic. You'll want extra socks. You'll need to bring along your creativity, a helpful attitude, and lots of energy. Most of the time you'll be playing monsters or townsfolk. You'll do a lot of fighting and running around, but you'll also need to help set of modules, keep Monster Camp (our staging area) clean, and generally help out. Remember that NPCing is a lot of work, but it's almost always fun work.
LARPing really isn't spectator sport. Having people on site in normal clothing wondering in and out of the kitchen seriously detracts from the game, which is a big part of the reason that we rent out entire youth camps, far away from campers, hikers, and the like. It's not usually possible to dedicate an extra cabin to people who will be out of game throughout the event (both because we don't usually have the entire cabin to spare and because most of our cabins are located very close together, which makes it very difficult to be "away from stuff"). Our games sprawl huge areas; players hunting down monsters, looking for caves, etc, generally makes it very hard to find an 'out of the way' place. Games tend to be loud at all hours of the night, and it is unusual
not to have people coming and going at 2am (and even more so for PCs than NPCs, what with the monsters bursting into the PC cabins in the middle of the night and all).
That said, there
is precedence for people playing with one part of their family while other part is on site and Out Of Game (OOG). As and NPC, it would be easier to handle because all of Monster Camp and all of the NPC sleeping cabins are
always OOG. At some of our camps we have more space than at others for a few extra folk, but it's generally hard to tell very far in advance. Our upcoming event (the 3-day in February over President's day) is the most likely one to have some extra space because it's the largest site (I could figure it out for sure if you're interested based on your numbers/etc. You might end up sharing the cabin with another family, however. Putting everyone in the same place with the same needs makes the organization way easier on our end.) Logistically, the campsite charges us $10 per person per night (which is why the NPC fee is $20 or $30), and so non-participants pay that as well, and aren't included in the NPC meal plan.
Honestly, without knowing your specific situation, it's hard to give you any firm information. We do strongly discourage "observers," but I understand the issue of having trouble with a babysitter, especially if you've got more adults who are interested that you could share responsibilities with. Why don't you shoot me a Private Message here on the board or shoot me an email to
manager@alliance-seattle.com with your phone number, and I'll give you a call. Maybe we can convince your friends to play as well, and y'all can take shifts with the kids. Losing one NPC to gain three sounds like a good trade to me, and that way everyone would get a chance to participate first hand, and no one would be stuck in a cabin all event.
