Agreeing that this aint a LARP. I have run games like this before. Usually, I run those games with a system made for what I'd call FBRPGs (Flexible Space RPGs) Instead of dice, we use stone bags, but it usually never becomes a LARP as it is still is set in the Primary Storytelling format. The events are made as a part of a Erasmus+ programme where we create youth RPG events across Europe set in historical locations where we play in the same area where the game takes place. Never did a castle though, it might be worth trying it out.
I'm paraphrasing, but neil degrasse once "said why would i try to memorize everything when i can just look it up on the super computer i keep in my pocket?"
"We basically act as our own mineatures"..."That man loves his fall damage". I'm just picturing him having everyone roll 3d6 then physically fall from a 30 foot castle wall
"you don't know what every spell in the game does? I thought you said you were the Dungeon Master?!" Seriously though that actually makes me feel good to know about Crawford checking a rule. This looks super fun thank you for sharing!
With the tutition costs of a modern spell college, I'm going to be paying for this Dungeon Bachelor's degree for AGES. A dungeon MASTER? In THIS economy? :o
@@DannyboyO1 You just need to multiclass into Warlock and get your patron to pay your tuition. No, you don't need to read the fine print. It's just standard boilerplate.
Everything about this is awesome. Including the fact that the rest of society would have no idea what the heck is going on here. Thank you for being our amazing nerd hero. ❤
Actually, a developer often has a harder time keeping track of the final form of the rules, because things go through multiple iterations, and it can be difficult to be sure that the rule you're remembering is the one that made it to the books.
100% this. Just like how authors of multiple-book series have to look at the wikis sometimes for continuity because they have like 12 different versions of events in their heads due to revisions
@@harleyjo4875 Both things can be true. OP is completely correct--any time I work on something for an extended time, I build up a "revision fog" where I definitely remember working on a thing, but can't always recall what we settled on, even if I was the one who ultimately made the decision, multiplied by hundreds of key decisions on some projects. It takes that "human" problem you mentioned and makes it even worse.
@@Perfectcrime87I was coming here to say exactly this. So many times I’m going over my own work and think to myself, ‘wait, didn’t I put that in there?’ only to realize that no, no I did not.
It's great when the players know their own abilities well enough to share the rules load. It sucks when players believe they are such a person when they are in fact not.
Reminds me of a story I heard from my dad. Where he went to college, there was a complex of underground pipes and tunnels, and he with some friends would go in there playing D&D in real life, exploring the tunnels in character. Definitely makes for some different ambiance than a castle though!
I've been GM for TTRPGs for 17 years. 5 players is now my absolute max, 3 is my ideal. I make everyone's decisions impactful so it becomes a mess of moving parts to track when I have more people.
Setting aside the physical interaction (it feels like old school White Wolf LARP to me) running a game of upwards of 6+ players is a fascinating challenge I’ve always enjoyed. My best experience was running a Rogue Trader game focused around the more historical Age of Sail movies. After watching them for some time, I came to the conclusion that what made them tick was the character interactions - yes, I know, obvious, but think about it more deeply. A lot of Age of Sail movies are just two or more characters talking in a scene. They focus on a small world that is often also a character (the ship) in which only a few characters exist and interact (excluding the crew of hundreds, who are background figures). Additionally - and this is true in a wider ‘naval combat’ genre - the ‘action’ is very, very verbal. People snap orders, pass information etc. Outside of buckle swashing there’s often not a lot of physical action - you often have two guys in frock coats standing by a wheel while being soaked in spray. On a wider, historical scale, these ships were intricate beasts that required extensive skills, drill and coordination just to move, never mind manoeuvre in combat. So I instituted a rule that outside of direct rules conversations with the GM, or descriptions of physical actions, everything said around the table was in character. All planning was in character, and in combat I encouraged people to reflect that they were under time pressure and kept the time to act as short as possible (making allowance for skill level, neurodivergence and disabilities). And it worked really well! While I don’t think I ever had 14 players at once, I certainly had 11 or 12 sat around my living room, with people stepping outside for private conversations etc. And surprisingly few people had slow moments - certainly no one complained or quit. Partially this was because it was an open game, I ran for 6-8 hours on Saturday (more players means slower progress so longer games) and anyone I knew was welcome to show up and make a character, attendance was only really mandatory for the Captain / XO. It wasn’t easy, but I would highly encourage everyone to do it at least once. I regret it ended when it did, but ironically I went on to found a successful Rogue Trader LARP, that is still running (without me) today.
It's awful in my experience. One person has to wait 20mins to have a go in combat. And then they start conversation because they are not engaged and that background noise is disruptive for everyone else.
I had a pleasure to play with the designer of King in Yellow RPG Robin D. Laws and Mark Morrison (Call of Cthulhu writers) during Carcosacon in Poland it was awsome ❤ those RPG marathones are always cool.
This kind of quasi-LARP (or as someone put it, "LRP") reminds me of an early hybrid tabletop Vampire game I saw run at a con in the early 90's. Either before Mind's Eye Theatre was released by WW, or before it became widely practiced. Non-combat activity was unregulated and free-form, ranging through designated halls of the con venue. Combat was turn-based. All rules were standard for that edition of V:tM. Attacks, skill checks etc. were the usual dice pools, rolled on any close surface or sometimes the floor as the story teller ran along, energetically telling his story. The usual definition of a LARP is where people physically portray their characters as they move around in space and time, whereas tabletop rpgs require you to describe your actions and often use figures to denote position. Therefore you could say a ttrpg where you are up and moving around and a LARP is a distinction without a difference. But there are important differences: first in terms of rules, second in terms of how time is handled and third the supporting cast. LARPs tend to have more complex rules than rpgs, whereas the latter assumes you have the space and lighting to read a rule book (or three). LARPs go at their own real-time pace, some even do not use turns/rounds in combat. ttrpgs usually compress and/or elongate time as needed. Combat is often very structured. But most importantly, a ttrpg will rely almost exclusively on the GM to play all NPCs, friendly or not, and describe everything the players see and experience. (A GM assistant or two is the exception to the rule.) LARPs will usually have a staff of sorts who play many if not all important NPCs, and usually they will be briefed ahead of time by the GM to facilitate carrying out plots and activities, with the GM only having indirect control as needed.
My friends and I did an impromptu “walking around as we’re doing D&D” D&D session when we found ourselves hanging out on a playground one evening, and that was one of the most fun and memorable D&D sessions I’ve ever had. We were tricked into helping an ancient red dragon take over a city, then when the rest of the party immediately turned around to start trying to fight him (which was suicide) it ended with my character swearing servitude to said ancient red dragon in exchange for him promising not to kill them. We used an app for spell lists, Siri and Google rolled our dice, it was great
Jeremy Crawford comes across as so nice and soft spoken in the interviews they put out, I'm having a hard time squaring away that image with him being a killer DM and calling players pig fuckers (in character) lol
@@GinnyDi I'm going to chose to belief that this was literally the first thing an NPC said to you guys the whole game, it's funnier in my head that way lol
that's so cool! i wish i could go to something like that, but i haven't even gotten to play the game normally 😭 the closest is playing baldurs gate 3 lol
Man I’ve always wanted to play a tabletop RPG campaign but I was never part of a group of this particular type of nerd. I had lots of friends growing up but one of them were ever the DND type.
