Great Expectations - Players

By Beren Olean | Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Gaining Players

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.

Goals For Players

People are often concerned when looking at LARP. It is difficult to try something new and navigate the rules and costs. We try very hard to help all players, regardless of skill, income, or experience.

To help ease players into our game we ask players for the following

Look at the rules - We all need a starting point, but we don’t expect memorization or perfection.
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.

As players attend events they will grow as both players and characters. Players 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 - This helps to ensure there are facilities to use, props for the story tellers to use, liability insurance, advertising, and other costs.
Transportation - Travel to and from events
Costume - This should focus on durable clothing that is appropriate for the weather to start and build to help define the character. Start slow and ask for help. 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.
Weapons/Armor - These are only needed if you plan to take part in combat and staff are available to help. Don’t buy or build anything ahead of time without working with us.
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 - Players 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 Players

We want to make sure the barrier to entry for our events is as low as possible to make sure new players have a great time with as little stress as possible. As such, we have the following support for players.

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.
Costume Library - We have a number of costume, armor, and weapon props available for players to use. To borrow items from us, players will need to let us know what items they may need when they sign up for events. The earlier we know what you may need the more helpful we can be. Players must provide their own base clothing layers such as shoes, pants, shirts, and cold weather attire.
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.
Financial Assistance Program - As Crestfallen grows, we plan on implementing a financial assistance program where players can have their event fee reduced or removed during times of financial hardship. Sometimes getting away and playing a game is just what a person needs when things are going wrong in real life. We also will welcome players to prepay for other players events similar to the idea of prepaid food for people that need some help. This policy will be released when Crestfallen can support it.
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.

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

Benefits For Players

Players 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. Players will be informed of different ways that they may interact with the story, but are not guaranteed a certain amount of fun. Similar to a play, movie, or performance, a LARP offers the player the experience, but it is up to the player to decide their enjoyment level. This is the benefit that we focus on the most at Crestfallen.
Character Progression - The character that interacts with the story will gain character points to track their progression. Additionally, the character can gain treasure in the form of currency, essence, tagged items, and other story related items that allow the character to grow.

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

What Crestfallen Gains From Players

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

Revenue - Crestfallen is a business and we intend to grow. None of our staff are currently paid, including the owner. It is our intent to gain enough funds to comfortably maintain our props and costs, increase the props to become more theatrical, and eventually pay our authors for their assistance in growing the game.
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 new players 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 .