Great Expectations - Authors

By Beren Olean | Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Gaining Authors

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.

Authors help to write the stories that we all take part in, while also taking a role as an actor. Authors use the game rules and their stories to bring adventure to all attendees. 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. Authors often write stories and never receive credit for them. That said, lets get into how we look at authors.

Goals For Authors

Authors write for and 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 author is expected to know a number of things more than a player or actor.

We ask our authors for the following

Understand the core of the rules - Mistakes will happen, but authors should know as much as they can about the rules to minimize pauses and rules debates. Authors are often treated as rules marshals and should be able to make judgement calls when necessary.
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 authors attend events they will grow as both players and characters. Authors 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 free.
Transportation - Travel to and from events
Costume - Authors are only required to have base layer costuming that includes brown, grey, or black attire appropriate for the weather. Authors will have access to costuming, armor, and props that are required to play different roles during the course of an event. Authors 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. Authors may require additional costuming from Crestfallen LARP and should discuss these needs with the staff.
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 - Authors 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 Authors

Authors will need to embody multiple characters over the course of an event. We offer the following support for Authors 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. Authors may work with staff privately to develop their knowledge of these skills as well as be asked to contribute to them.
Costume Library - We have a number of costume, armor, and weapon props available for authors 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 - Authors 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.
Author Assistance/Meetings - Authors will work with staff to ensure that all of Crestfallens systems are followed and understood, as well as providing assistance and assets to the author as possible.
Prop Assistance - Authors may request assistance in purchasing and/or creation of props. Crestfallen currently has a limited budget, so these requests will be handled on a case by case basis.

Many LARP games focus on their story, props, and finances, but lack systems to ensure authors 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 Authors

Authors 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. Authors that take part in good faith with the staff will be granted leeway in how characters are portrayed and may be asked to help develop characters.
Increased Character Progression - Authors gain progression towards a character. Additionally an author 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.
Story Ownership - Authors maintain ownership of their own stories, but grant Crestfallen LARP the right to use the stories and their progression for use at our events. Authors may not claim ownership of any particular name character, location, or item; However, these may be renamed or reworked as the author sees fit.
Story Credit - Authors will be given written credit for their works in the event write ups as well as on the scheduled event page. Authors may use Crestfallen LARP as a writers reference if their work is used in a Crestfallen event.
Freelance Writer (Not Currently Available) - When Crestfallen is self sustaining, it is our intent to pay authors as a freelance writer through Fivrr or a similar system. Currently few LARP games pay their authors or allow them to retain their rights of ownership. This is intended to show our gratitude for the time commitment as well as ensuring there are better records of events for future use.

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

Some authors 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 authors 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 author. Additionally, these authors may be recognized or selected for specific character roles during auditions.

What Crestfallen Gains From Authors

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

Storylines - We cannot and do not wish to create all of the storylines on our own. More creatives create more innovative and larger stories and allow the game world to grow in many different and exciting ways.
Event Planning - The more authors and 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. Additionally, the more authors available allows over worked authors to have time to rest, preventing burnout.
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.
Credit - We our authors to have credit for their writing and to create stories that people talk about in the future. This builds the reputation of Crestfallen as a place for great writers.

So, with that said…

We hope this helps make a number of things clear. We want authors 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 .