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The watchwords of LARP should be Simplicity, Playability, Believability, Consistency, Continuity, and Consequences. I've mentioned this before. I'd like to lay out the groundwork for some future columns by taking a look at each of these terms and establishing a working definition for them.

Before we begin, I would like to direct the reader's attention to the fact that the word "Realism" is no where in my list of desirable LARP qualities. Realism is not a good thing in a LARP. In fact, it is a serious Bad Thing. In a realistic sword duel, one combatant will probably die. In a realistic battle, many of the participants will almost certainly die. In a realistic dungeon crawl, the trolls--wait, there wouldn't be trolls. In a realistic vampire hunt, the hunters would never find a damn thing. Realism is exactly what we're trying to get away from when we LARP. At the same time, though, we don't want to look at something in the LARP and think, "Oh, come on!" We can look at a comic book or a movie and accept that Superman is flying. But when we see some guy running around with his arms above his head pretending to fly, we think he's cute (if he's five), or we think he looks like a goofball (if he's 20). We should be willing to suspend our disbelief. We should not be willing to suspend our intelligence.

Now, then.

Simplicity
Less is more. A low number of rules is a good thing. Special exceptions to rules are bad things. For example, a simple rule is when you hit someone in combat, call out the number of damage points your weapon causes. That person will mentally subtract that number from their total of hit points. When their hit point total reaches zero, they'll fall over. Needless complexity added to this rule includes stuff like damage type. Edged weapons do different damage than blunt ones. Fire does different damage than say, electricity. A silver weapon might be more effective against certain creatures. To require people to call "One Blunt" or "Two Edged" might be reasonable. But suppose a guy has a magical silvered mace that's been enchanted with a Zap spell. He hits you and calls "four blunt silver electric magic!" But you're wearing your anti-electric helm, so you don't take electrical damage. But how much of that hit was electrical, and how much was just bash? You'll have to ask the guy who just hit you, but he's in the middle of hitting you again. You'll have to call time-out and ask him. See how complex damage types can become if you let them?

Playability
If you can look at it and know what it is, it's playable. If you can hear it and know how to act, it's playable. If there is any ambiguity regarding the location, size, weight, color, or whatever of an in-game object, it is not playable. For example, Morland the Mage casts a Wall of Fire to stop the goblins from chasing him. Just then, a bunch of his buddies rush up, see the goblins standing there shaking their fists, and they charge. Right through the wall of fire that Morland didn't get a chance to tell them about, but which they would have seen if it'd been there. A spell that calls an object into existence is not playable. Another example, Janos the Druid casts an Uglify spell on Morland to get back at him for the wall of fire incident. So now Morland must pretend that he has snaggle-y teeth, skewed eyes, festering sores, greasy hair, and so forth. That's fine. But he also has to go round explaining to everyone he meets what he 'actually' looks like. A spell that changes the appearance of a person is not playable.

Believability
It's easier to explain what believability is not than what it is. For example, a kangaroo crossing a highway in Australia is perfectly believable. A kangaroo crossing a highway in Austria is pretty hard to swallow. (Maybe it escaped from the zoo?) A kangaroo on the moon is completely unbelievable. (Maybe the Apollo mission secretly brought a couple 'roos along and left them behind, with enough air and food to breed enough generations to evolve into vacuum-breathing, rock-eating kangaroos. . .) The more stuff you have to make up to explain something, the less believable it is.

Consistency
The game world should behave in a reasonably predictable way. If one day goblins show up and they take an average of three hits to kill and do an average of two hits when they successfully attack, they should stay at about that power level. If one day a pack of goblins show up doing five hits per attack and taking ten hits to kill, that should be a significant plot development, not simply a response to powerful players. Likewise, if a spell or a skill allows a PC to accomplish something one day, it needs to allow the same accomplishment the next day. Do not change the rules unless there is a clear and present danger to Believability, Playability, etc. or to the game remaining fun. If you tweak the rules too often, your LARP will begin to resemble a game of Calvinball. When and if you do change the rules, be sure to explain the change to all your players and answer any questions they may have.

Continuity
The game world continues on from event to event. It should not be entirely episodic. If the heroes meet Simon the Rockmonger and then go on their way, that NPC doesn't evaporate. He still exists somewhere in the game world, and it's possible for the heroes to run into Simon again at a future event. If the heroes do run into Simon again, the GMs need to do everything possible to ensure the same person plays him in the same costume. It's very confusing when a person walks up to you and says, "Hey, remember last month when you promised to give me ten gold pieces today?" But you can't remember promising anything to this person, so you blow him off. Then a couple hours later, your mates tell you, "Simon the Rockmonger was saying you're a lying, cheating no-goodnik." Now you have to go find the new Simon, and explain that if you'd known he was Simon you'd never have. . . The same applies to things like towns and castles and ruins and such. If there's an abandoned tower an hour's walk to the south today, there needs to be one there tomorrow unless there's a darn good reason for it to be elsewhere.

Consequences
The heroes need to experience the backlash of their actions. This can be good or bad. If the heroes massacre a goblin camp this event, maybe some other goblins come looking for revenge next event. But at the same time, if the heroes exterminate the goblins that have been plaguing the countryside these many months, the local lord will probably have a reward of some kind for them. By no means should the heroes be able to do whatever they want with no thought for the future. If Alexandra the Scout defies the Countess's orders, she should expect all manner of inconvenience in the future, from stony-faced officials refusing to process her writs to a band of soldiers politely but insistently inviting Alexandra to the Countess's dungeons.

These watchwords could apply to any tabletop game as well as LARPs. The reason LARPers need to be reminded of them is it takes much more effort to maintain Continuity and Playability in a LARP than in a tabletop campaign. On the tabletop, the GM can simply say, "You see Simon the Rockmonger waving at you," and poof, there he is. On the LARP field, Simon needs to look like Simon every time. Likewise, if a magical effect is called into existence, a tabletop GM just draws it on the map. A LARP GM needs to physically represent that effect in such a way that a new arrival can look at it and make a good guess at what it might be.

Now, while enforcing Simplicity, Playability, Believability, Consistency, Continuity, and Consequences in the game, the Game Committee needs to keep in mind the game should be FUN, first and foremost. Consequences that do not fit the action are not much fun. It's kind of harsh to be executed for not bowing quickly enough, but it's warranted when caught trying to assassinate the King. Likewise, if you try to single-handedly slay a dozen trolls, you should probably get killed or at least captured for your serious lack of judgment. If you learn that you can waltz in and out of a trolls lair at will, the fun will diminish rapidly.