New player!

[EmulatorX]

Hey guys, I'm completely new to LARP. The only experience I've had is

1. Watching the G4 Underground Special
2. Watching the Documentary "Darkon"
3. Watching the Documentary "Monster Camp" (JP, I saw you!)
4. Witnessing foam fighting at my Sis's college.

I need advice, tips, etc. if you do0n't mind. I've already bought and tore through the rulebook, I just wanna know if there's anything else I should know. Oh! Also, I'm trying to convince my friends to join as well, and One of them is a big fan of Darkon. Can you summarize the differences?

Oh, and I have a character pretty much written out. Tell me if you wanna hear it.

(Posted here because I'll be in the Oregon chapter)

 

[jpariury]

Howdy, we look forward to having you out! If you want to run your character's history by our plot team, you can email us at oregonplot at gmail dot com. If it's more a "this is the concept for my character, would they fit in with the game and world you guys have going", the board would be fine, I think. If you're just looking to get the stats down in our database, you'll want to write to logistics at allianceoregon dot com.

I haven't actually played Darkon, so my understanding of the game is strictly based on the movie, ergo my description of the differences may be off.

Darkon, as I understand it, is a tactical strategy game enacted through padded combat with some amount of RP elements. Each "event" is essentially a staged battle representing a small part of a larger "kingdom vs kingdom" conflict. At the end of the event, the team that has "won" gains a segment of land for their kingdom.

Alliance, otoh, is more storytelling-intensive. Each chapter runs its own flavor of event, but in the broadest strokes, Alliance is about the adventures of people who make their living by spell or steel sitting around or meeting at some township of one form or another, and engaging in commerce, trade, diplomacy, and combat with what challenges present themselves.

As noted in our Welcome post, the Alliance Oregon chapter is focused on life on the frontier, as it were. There's a town in which most of the adventurers have placed their stakes, one way or another, and an ever-present threat looming in the distance. We try and publish a newsletter out each event that kind of fills you in on what life has been like in the intervening days, weeks, or months since the last game day or event, the events are largely about the "exceptional times", when something super-cool is happening. Much like episodes of Law & Order don't involve everyone sitting around filling out paperwork, our events aren't about people sitting around and tilling the soil - it's about the exciting times! That said, not every challenge is strictly martial - maybe you'll need to sit at the negotiation table to rescue some captives, maybe you'll need to charm the young entrepreneur into giving up the secrets of the trade, or maybe you'll be the one to solve that confounding riddle!

Each event is, hopefully, a self-contained story that contributes to a larger arc, and provides you the chance to explore both our world, and your character, through the interactions we present. We hope that our players both get to experience the story we have to tell, and get to create their own, and help shape the world they take part in.