New to Empire and Larp - Have lots of questions!

New Players
1

Hi All,

I’m Ed, iv always loved the idea of Larp but didn’t realise how big it was in the UK, then i found Empire and its held literally 10mins from my house! So I have been getting really exited about it all and am planning on attending my first event at the Winter Solstice in March. I have read lots of the wiki and lots of the forum posts but still have lots of questions:

  • How does IC money work, I understand you get given money at the start of the game. Can you buy more on the day with OCC cash? What is the OCC/IC exchange rate? What can you spend it on?
  • Is the Winter Solstice in March being held at Spernell Farm? The PD page still says location TBC
  • I was thinking of joining the Navarr, do i need to ask someone if i can join or do i just turn up dressed the part?
  • I know there is a long IC session during the day, do people stay IC in the evenings? In the taverns for example?
  • How do IC interactions work? Do you sometimes plan thing you are going to do with other players while OCC and then act them out while IC?

That’s probably more than enough questions to be getting on with for now, sorry if they are very basic stuff but, as I say, I have never done any Larp before! If anyone is local to the area and wants to exchange there knowledge for a Pint at one of the local pubs I would be very grateful!

Thanks

2

Hi there! I’m sure plenty of people will chime in, but here are some quick answers for you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions - everyone was new at some point. :slight_smile:

[quote]

  • How does IC money work, I understand you get given money at the start of the game. Can you buy more on the day with OCC cash? What is the OCC/IC exchange rate? What can you spend it on?[/quote]

IC money is entirely kept in character - it’s your character’s money, and the only way to get more of it is through in character actions. That said, you get a certain amount every time you attend an event - 18 rings. If your character owns a farm or business then you also get the profits from that in money, 9 crowns if I remember correctly, or over nine times more than the standard income. Every character has a resource equivalent to a farm or business though, which can produce different things or give you different advantages.
IC money can be spent on all sorts of things. Aside from other IC items like herbs, mana crystals, potions, and magic items, there are plenty of places selling real drinks and food for IC coin. You can expect to pay a few rings for a pint of beer or cider, or for a snack (the bars far outweigh food though, I wouldn’t expect to feed yourself for an event on IC coin!).
Of course, this also means that you can happily sell food, drink and other OOC trinkets for IC money; basically, OOC, you are giving away these things (so you don’t need to worry about licencing laws if you run an IC bar). Of course IC it’s another matter, and IC coin is fair game to be stolen in character!

It will not be - PD are looking to finalise where the site for this year’s events will be. There will be an announcement once they have laid down the plans.

No need to ask - you create the character on the Empire website and turn up as that character at the event. However you may want to ask around for existing groups willing to welcome a new player, I’m sure there will be plenty - being part of a group means you can have IC links to other characters and it also makes your first event a lot easier since you’ll have people to rely on if you have questions!

A lot of people stay IC after 1am, taverns are a good place for this. The Senate building officially stays IC all the time, but it’s common for people to keep roleplaying well into the early hours. The only restriction is that you can’t do anything that involves the rules - so no stealing, fighting, using skills etc. since all of the referees will be asleep!

Some people write shared backgrounds and suggest history between their characters, but in general IC action is spur-of-the-moment improvisation. The idea is that you act the way your character would, and people react in character in turn. Any kind of forward planning is likely to be defeated by the whims of chance and random occurrence, so generally it’s better to ask yourself what your character wants and what your character plans to do, and then act accordingly. That said, some people do like to suggest future plans with one another - just don’t be surprised if the game world has other ideas!

Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

3

-There is no IC/OC exchange rate. What your character earns between events is what ends up in your character pack, and you can’t buy any more with OC money. What you get is determined by your Personal Resource: profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Resource Some characters have a lot of cash, others get other things instead. Priests are probably poorest as a result of the liao value compared to the mana value (but don’t let that put you off; I love playing a priest and I think it’s a great game to get into as a newbie).

The only caveat to that is that some people do effectively buy IC cash with OC money by offering a service, such as a pub, cakes, jewellery, or other things that cost OC money, and sell them for IC cash during the game while in character. That’s perfectly acceptable within the system and it can be a boon if you are bit short on OC cash and want a drink while in character!

-There hasn’t yet been an official notice about where the new location will be. We expect it to be within the Midlands, but we don’t know exactly where yet. If you sign up you’ll get an email when it’s announced officially, and they’ll almost certainly announce it here too.

-You are more than welcome to come dressed as a Navaar and introduce yourself, but lots of people find it a little easier if they have chatted to some fellow players before they come into play. I don’t play in Navaar but there are a few on here who may be able to help.

-We stay IC until 1am, although you can obviously go to bed at any time! The evening socialising in character is my favourite part. Lots of fires, discussing IC politics or religion in the pubs or in private tents… love it. If everyone is having a good time this may well carry on well past 1am, so I usually assume a group is IC unless it’s clear they are now OC. profounddecisions.co.uk/empi … g_the_game

-It’s sometimes planned in advance but most interactions arise organically out of characters’ interactions. There are a lot of people that I roleplay with who I don’t know out of character.
If you and another character are doing something that’s quite intense, it is often acceptable to check in with the player to see that they are OK and not upset or worried by anything. That might be after the game finishes, or it might be a quick whispered “Out of character, are you still OK with this?” at that moment. It’s unlikely you’d come across that early on but it’s worth mentioning. I’ll also point you to this page profounddecisions.co.uk/equa … iversity?1 as an idea of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable roleplaying.

I hope some of these help! Feel free to ask more questions. More people may come along with some more answers for you too. :slight_smile:

4

To answer the Navarr questions, yes you can just turn up in kit, however I would recommend being new to LARP either find a group beforehand or at least have some contacts you know that are “in your area” so to speak. Even if your not sure which group to join it maybe worth knowing/have heard of a few characters who live in the same territory as you or who do the same stuff you want to (magic, priesting, killing stuff etc)

You can contact Dave Young or Liz Duggan (our egregores - they are staff who look after us so to speak) or try the facebook group (search for Navarr on FB should pick it up)

Any questions ask away

Matt

5

Welcome to Navarr! You will probably find the Facebook group useful. If you just turn up in costume that’s all you need to do, but it can be helpful as someone who’s completely new to find a group, then they can help you find your feet and get involved in things. You don’t have to stay with that group though, my character has been mostly doing things on her own for a lot of the last year.

I started as a complete newbie about a year ago, and only knew two people. Now a worryingly high percentage of people seem to have heard of my character even if they’ve not met in person yet. Larpers are very friendly!

In terms of IC interactions, sometimes I have an idea beforehand for a particular goal I want my character to aim for, like a certain ritual or something. However, these only happen about half the time, because there is so much else going on.

For your first event, a good goal might be for your character to talk to as many people as possible, and find out more about how things work, and how they can best be useful to the Empire. I found it really helpful to say that my character had come from the middle of nowhere and was very confused by Anvil, so if I didn’t know about what was going on, my character could ask for an explanation. Ask ‘What’s going on?’ and ‘Can I help?’ as often as possible. If you find something out then go and find other people who can use that information. If you need to know something, ask around. Get involved with everything, especially if it looks like a terrible idea that will definitely go badly, because they are often the most fun.