Great Expectations - Actors

By Beren Olean |

Gaining Actors

Crestfallen is looking to add new players of all type including player characters and NPCs (actors and authors). Each of these groups have different reasons for attending and goals for play. Likewise, Crestfallen has a number of ways that it can support these groups with programs, policies, and benefits. Additionally Crestfallen benefits in different ways from each of these groups. This article and its companions are available to make sure our stances are perfectly clear to anyone considering attending an event or joining us for the long term.

Actors or NPCs are the lifeblood of a LARP, but many games do not treat them this way. Often times LARPs don’t know what they are looking for in actors and often treat them poorly because they pay less or not at all. THIS is 100% the opposite way it should be handled. That said, lets get into how we look at actors.

Goals For Actors

Actors play all of the roles that players interact with over the course of an event. This means that for the game to be fair, the actor is expected to know a number of things more than a player.

We ask our actors for the following

  • Understand the basics of the rules - Mistakes will happen, but actors should know as much as they can about the rules to minimize pauses and rules debates.
  • Be open to learning - The staff are here to help you learn to play the game (rules, social interactions, acting, etc)
  • Be willing to step out of your comfort zone - This is a slow process and staff are available to help along the way. The game is playing pretend as an adult. It will seem silly until it is embraced.
  • Trust others - We are all here to have fun and support each other, even when the characters we pretend to be may not be.
  • Meet people halfway - Staff may have some blind spots on ways to support you. If you feel we are missing something or drop the ball, let us know. We are always evaluating and trying to do better.
  • Ask questions - All questions are valid and help everyone get better at the game.
  • Review the event - We have an NPC website that has the story, characters, monsters, and logistics of the event written out. Actors should review this information prior to an event to make sure they understand what roles are available and prepare for them. New actors may attend workshops to be trained on how to use this site more effectively. These will be held on Discord by request as well as scheduled times during the season.

As actors attend events they will grow as both players and characters. Actors are expected to maintain the following expenses in order to attend events on a regular basis. Please note that we have ways to help support players in many of these areas, which will be discussed later.

  • Event Cost - These are normally heavily discounted compared to players and are often free.
  • Transportation - Travel to and from events
  • Costume - Actors are only required to have base layer costuming that includes brown, grey, or black attire appropriate for the weather. Actors will have access to costuming, armor, and props that are required to play different roles during the course of an event. Actors are encouraged to bring costume flair to enhance the roles they are playing, but it is not required. Keep in mind additional changes of clothing due to weather.
  • Sleeping items - For weekend events players will need to bring sleeping items. These should include a pillow with blankets or sleeping bag, but may also include air mattresses, tents, or other comforts.
  • Food - We are not a restaurant and do not have the proper food safety training to cook or sell food. Pot lucks, communal meals, and player made food is organized separate from the game for liability reasons (also, planning events is already difficult without adding in transporting food and cooking equipment. We highly suggest talking with players on our discord to organize meals or ask for assistance.
  • Personal Safety Items - Actors are in charge of their own personal safety during the course of an event, including medications and diet. Crestfallen will have first aid kits and supplies available.

Support For Actors

Actors will need to embody multiple characters over the course of an event. We offer the following support for actors to assist them in having the most fun and productive event possible.

  • Workshops - These are training sessions that review rules, acting tips, character building, safety mechanics, and other vital information. These may be scheduled during events or virtually over discord. Acting workshops are available to review different monster groups, canon characters, and to also get actor feedback on skills that different character or creatures may have.
  • Costume Library - We have a number of costume, armor, and weapon props available for actors to use.
  • Car Pool Assistance - We cannot guarantee that we can secure transportation, but will do our best to communicate travel needs and possible solutions. This is driven by the community and is not something that Crestfallen is responsible for, but we attempt to facilitate what we can.
  • Hangouts - We hold monthly hangout events on Discord (see schedule) to allow new players the chance to ask questions before an actual event. This can help reduce confusion and make things much more comfortable. We deal with issues surrounding rules, props, character building, story, and more.
  • Personal Assistance - Players can request personal assistance (private or public) on our discord or through our email. We can review any of the items we discuss in hangouts as well as more private issues that should be handled more discretely.
  • Acting Guides - All the monsters in Crestfallen have suggested costuming, gear, and acting tips. These will be revised over time and we want feedback from actors to make these guides more useful and intuitive.
  • Character Auditions - Crestfallen have a number of named canon characters that actors may audition to take the role of. It is our intent that each role will be available for audition at the beginning of each season. This allows us to maintain stories based on characters, even if the actor changes.

Many LARP games focus on their story, props, and finances, but lack systems to ensure actors are treated fairly and given the tools to succeed. Crestfallen is intentionally written to take the well being of all players into account. It is our intent to be as transparent and helpful as possible.

Benefits For Actors

Actors gain the following benefits for attending events.

  • Facilities - We rent pavilions, cabins, bath houses, adirondacks (lean to), and other buildings for use during events. Players will know what type of facilities are available and being used in advance of an event.
  • Story - Crestfallen will supply the story based around the event style being offered. Actors will be asked to play a number of different characters over the course of an event. Actors that take part in good faith with the authors will be granted leeway in how characters are portrayed and may be asked to help develop characters.
  • Increased Character Progression - Actors gain progression towards a character. Additionally an actor receives currency such as leaves, resources, items, and essence based upon the event.
  • Free/Reduced Cost Player Events - Actors that spend an entire season working with us may receive discounted or free player events during the next season (no current written policy). If interested, please contact us at CrestfallenLARP@gmail.com to discuss.

Additionally the player may find additional benefits such as social interaction, community, exercise, strong memories and other items that are difficult to quantify.

Some actors do not enjoy acting as a player. This is totally acceptable and understandable. We are currently attempting to come up with additional benefits that these actors can enjoy that are not tied to a character. These may be Crestfallen shirts, rulebooks, zines, buttons, or other physical items that are made to show our appreciation for the actor. Additionally, these actors may be recognized or selected for specific character roles during auditions.

What Crestfallen Gains From Actors

We want to be as transparent as possible in regards to what we gain from actors.

  • Event Planning - The more actors available to play the monsters and characters for an event allows us to plan larger battles, more emotional stories, schedule modules more efficiently, and allow our actors more opportunities to rest when required.
  • Advertising - If Crestfallen does a good job, our players will let others know. We want to build a strong community based on our ideals.
  • Joint Story Telling - Seeing moments of shock and awe on players faces is part of the reason we do this. We want to have that feeling of creating something much bigger than all of us.

So, with that said…

We hope this helps make a number of things clear. We want actors to feel comfortable, ask for help, and to assist in any way we can. If we run fun games, players will come back allowing us to run more fun games.

Agree with us? Disagree? Feel free to let us know on Discord or Facebook or email us at CrestfallenLARP@gmail.com .