By Håken Lid and Ole Peder Giæver
In a world of perilous adventure and dark dungeons filled with precious riches, one group of aspiring adventurers are having their first day in a new job, and it’s not quite working out as planned. The Hirelings is a role playing game in which you play out the preparations and the aftermath of a failed dungeon crawl.
The Hirelings draws heavily upon cliches from fantasy role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, video games, comics and fantasy literature. In addition there are also elements from modern life, like job interviews, group therapy, sports and team building. The characters in the game are all novice adventurers, who are preparing to head out on their first real quest.
The game is divided into five parts: A pre-game workshop, three acts describing the preparations, the implementation and the aftermath of a dungeon crawl, and finally an epilogue and allotment of experience points.
Facts
Genre: Comic fantasyTime: 3 hours
Players: 3-10 players and 2 game masters
Workload: Light
Playing style: Light hearted
Props: Bell & whistle
Location: Empty room
Our run of The Hirelings had nine players and two co-GMs, and worked well overall as a fun, lighthearted game for a moderately large number of players. I was one of the co-GMs, and portrayed the Paladin during Act One.
ReplyDeleteCharacter creation and the opening workshops were excellent, and most of the players seemed to have a good deal of material to work with right from the beginning of character creation. Since we had nine players, all but one of the cards for each category were in play (missing from our run were Biggus Stickus the Warrior Monk, Emotionally Unstable, and One-upmanship). Some of the personality flaws seemed easier to work into roleplay than others with such a large group, but strong relationships between characters generally compensated for this and drove a lot of the roleplay that ensued.
In Act One, my Paladin ended up as more of a drill sergeant than a motivational speaker, but portraying the Paladin as an arrogant, charismatic jerk was quite fun. The players did a great job with sharing rumors of the Wazir Catacombs, which we were able to draw on for the rest of the game. I did have some difficulty with the Marching Order section, and if I were running it again I would pose more questions to groups of characters rather than individuals; in an effort to make sure that everyone got evenly harassed, I moved on quickly from one character to the next and missed some opportunities to make them work together as a team.
During Act Two we read aloud from the provided text for the dungeon crawl, but I kind of wish we had improvised it using details from the stories the characters told about the Wazir Catacombs in Act One. After the game we got some feedback from the players, and many wished that they had had a little more agency for the actual dungeon crawl, so it might be interesting to tweak this part slightly for another run. One suggestion was to have the players take turns narrating what happens to the party as they move around a map.
Act Three was where we got the most payoff, with character conflicts getting resolved (or not resolved) in a flurry of infighting and blame, punctuated by periodic put-downs from the Sage. The group hug exercise was used to great effect, and we had a meta-roleplaying moment where some of the characters reenacted the Paladin’s death (and Bigmouth the Bard, having had too much, yelled “Cleave!” to cut the scene). Eventually, the loot (and responsibility for the catastrophe in the dungeon) were all assigned, and we moved on to XP and Epilogues.
We had a great time with The Hirelings, and I would definitely like to run it again. It was easy to run with minimal prep, and great to have on hand as it can scale up or down to support anywhere from 3 to 10 players. I would recommend it to any group that has some familiarity with fantasy gaming tropes, whether they have been traumatized by past dungeon crawls or not.
Thanks for the recap and thanks for playing our game. It's interesting to read about how the game worked for a group that used the text to run the game, but never played it (or any other game) with us. We have not experienced the same difficulties with the marchinivg order and the second act that you did, so I can't give any concrete advice on how to "do it correctly". But I can try to explain our design intentions in case you want to run it again and possibly change some stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe marching order is a part of the game where it is possible for the entire group to be active and to act out their characters physically. You can have them change formations quickly, crawl on the floor, hide behind one another or push someone into the magical lake. If the do something "wrong" you can have them do pushups. There's a lot of room for talking in the rest of the game, so make sure you use this opportunity to use your bodies.
The idea behind the second act is to do the actual dungeon crawl very differently from a traditional roleplaying session. The intention is to have no player agency in this part. This keeps this act short, and makes sure that the you know what the situation is at the beginning of the third act.
Of course the players will get to decide what actually happened during the therapy session. The first part of the therapy
If you change the second act, make sure that there are plenty of blank spaces in the storyline for the players to figure out during the third act. The first part of the third act ("The Horror, The Horror" and "Show and Tell") are intended to give the players an opportunity to use storytelling to tell what their characters did in the dungeons.
In the proto-version of the game we played out the second act in a blindfolded rope maze similar to this video. Except that the players were not allowed to use talk with each other. We didn't show them the maze before putting on the blindfolds and leading them one by one into the labyrinth.
http://youtu.be/6huSbCpJyuU?t=2m4s
We didn't use this in the final version of the game, since it can only be done in an actual forest.
I've only had two hours of sleep, because the last 24 have been spent making a larp for an Iron GM contest for Intercon. This will be disjointed.
ReplyDeleteWe (my wife Kirsten and I) ran this at OrcCon (Strategicon) in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb 14 (Valentine's Day).
We had the full 10 players, and two alternates signed up. One person didn't show, so one alt got in.
It went almost exactly three hours.
Three of our players were young, somewhere between 15-17, with very little larp experience.
Two of our players had jeepform experience, one of whom is the team that makes the most popular larp at GenCon; I think it's a BSG game (Tom and Trey).
Probably due to our rush job and stressful day/week/month, I don't think K or I ran it as well as we could have, at least in terms of NPCing. But we got through everything, it seemed to be overall positive and fun. I am trying to use this to launch a Larp Factory in LA. Others seemed very interested.
The paladin's sword was stolen from her scabbard by Backstabion during the job interview.
Stout the Dwarf engaged in some primal scream therapy with the Sage.
Gonad the Barbarian was crying because he failed to save the Paladin, so the Sage (played by me) had him engage in some Gestalt Therapy with the Paladin. I used a cloak to represent the Paladin, COMPLETELY FORGETTING TO USE THE HEAD!! (so kicking myself for that one).
Kirsten Paladin made Stoneheart do jumping jacks to prove his endurance.
Paladin called Backstabion "Butt-stabion" because he crouched down in the marching order line up.
Paladin made sure all hirelings had a "Dungeon Buddy"
Overall was fun, and had some good role play--the experience players knocked it out of the park, the new ones did fairly well for being new.
What we learned: Kirsten and I need to reverse the NPC roles we play. The only real game criticism was for to allow more time for the PCs to talk during job interview and marching order; we were directing them a bit too much, talking one on one and ordering people around. It started picking up, though, the longer we went on, and ended on a high note.
The team's battle cry was "Let's get rich!"
It's a long debrief. So here's part one.
ReplyDeleteI've just had two runs of the Hirelings. Both went very well.
Here are my changes and tips.
I asked the players to bring a few props. I said to them they will play in their regular garments (dark ones) with just a few props. We did a pool with all the props and they picked the ones that would go along their characters. The best props are easy to put on. They need to have at least one props each they don"t have to hold with hands (a hat for instance is perfect).
We played close to Monthy Python's Holy Grail spirit. The coaching was explained as a compulsory course for youg adventurers provided by the local lord. It includes insurance and legal and psychological support (hence the act 3 with the psychotherapist). The coach is not supposed to get down with them but will decide to do it later because he doesn't feel they are ready...
We played with 7 players. Make sure the 'Sex' card is drawn, it's a funny one.
During the workshop, the second GM played a PC character exactly like the other players, then he decided to quit the program and came back as a NPC, that was a colleague of the coach and an illusionist that will help the coach with his tricks to enhance the tests of the marching order part. So he set the sounds (music) and lights (we used led projectors and a videoprojector) according to the settings explained by the coach ("ok, you're in a forest, you're hearing screams, ..."). He also had the capacity to change the appearance of the coach; turning him into a monster for instance and changing his voice (coach: "Give me a louder voice" Illusionist : " Shazam! " Coach : "PeRRfecTT"). At times, he's supposed to do mistakes (not the good voice). That was funny. We used very simple props Halloween style (pink wig for a princess, pig ears and noses for a goblin) that take a couples of seconds to put on and off.
Here are the exercises we did in the marching order part of the game :
1. "you're in a forest on a narrow path, only one person wide, what's the marching order ?" Then I asked them to justify their choice. "There's a young person tied to a tree asking for help. What are you doing ?" (of course it's a trap)
2. "a corridor, a fork. Noises coming from both paths, then coming from the rear. what are you doing ?" (usually it's a mess so ask them what they don't have... a leader ! "you have 45 seconds to choose a leader !" Then count loud and at 45 asked to show with their fingers who is the leader)
Then same place, and come as some kind of monster growling. Usually they kill you then explain you were coming with informations... "Don't slay everything moving stupids !"
3. one of them is dying, but he doesn't know. How will they hold her hands, what words to say to ease the passing ?
4. an empty room, with a coffer... that slides back everytime they go closer then fight back
5. tactical exam. I used a cardboard dungeon and some legos and other toys to make a model of a dungeon with monsters, treasure and a princess to rescue. Then we roleplayed their action."Ok, how do you get in ? Ok, you hear the princess screaming ? Where is she ?... yes, of course, in the highest keep", and so on...
6. big boss scene. We used videoprojection of some green strange texture on a sofa. I explained I am a dangerous monster (a lich) on a throne, protected by an invisible wall. The illusionist put props on me gradually : a fur hat, then rabbit ears and gives me a carrot that I'm beginning to eat. "So, observe ! What I am ? I'm a lich and... a... rabbit ! a rabbit lich. So we're not in an underground dungeon but in a... burrow ! yes ! " They will quickly invent their own solution ("what do rabbits fear ? what do rabbits like ?") you just have to go with them if the idea is cool.
And here's part two of my feedback.
ReplyDeleteWhat is funny in 'the marching order' while playing the coach is to swing to and fro from being the coach impersonating a character ("I'm a princess, please help me") to being the coach giving them advice or feeling desperate at their lame attempts.
Act 2 went very well. They enjoyed the guided meditation.
I used a low soundscape of a cave with droplets, rats noise and at times distant growls.
Last tip. In the first run we did the 'Yes, and' exercise as told in the script (they invent a story together while walking in the room). Players said it wasn't enough annd indeed in the first run they had troubles at times to really build upon each other's stories so in the second run we sat down for this exercise and spent more time on it. I explained better the purpose and this important impro rules. The seconds run was much better in that aspect. I think it helped.
For the playlist, we used :
- the coffer exercice in the marching order : Daikaiju RA-BI-TO (Big Buck Bunny OST, by Jan Morgenstern)
- during hte description of the Lumbaria at the begining of the game : Theology/Civilization (Conan OST by Basil Poledouris)
- end of the game : high as a Kite (Big Buck Bunny OST, by Jan Morgenstern)
A good place for various ambient soundscape is this website : http://www.ambient-mixer.com/
Stéphane (France)
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ReplyDeleteHere are my changes and tips.
I asked the players to bring a few props. I said to them they will play in their regular garments (dark ones) with just a few props. We did a pool with all the props and they picked the ones that would go along their characters. The best props are easy to put on. They need to have at least one props each they don"t have to hold with hands (a hat for instance is perfect).
We played close to Monthy Python's Holy Grail spirit. The coaching was explained as a compulsory course for youg adventurers provided by the local lord. It includes insurance and legal and psychological support (hence the act 3 with the psychotherapist). The coach is not supposed to get down with them but will decide to do it later because he doesn't feel they are ready...
We played with 7 players. Make sure the 'Sex' card is drawn, it's a funny one.
During the workshop, the second GM played a PC character exactly like the other players, then he decided to quit the program and came back as a NPC, that was a colleague of the coach and an illusionist that will help the coach with his tricks to enhance the tests of the marching order part. So he set the sounds (music) and lights (we used led projectors and a videoprojector) according to the settings explained by the coach ("ok, you're in a forest, you're hearing screams, ..."). He also had the capacity to change the appearance of the coach; turning him into a monster for instance and changing his voice (coach: "Give me a louder voice" Illusionist : " Shazam! " Coach : "PeRRfecTT"). At times, he's supposed to do mistakes (not the good voice). That was funny. We used very simple props Halloween style (pink wig for a princess, pig ears and noses for a goblin) that take a couples of seconds to put on and off.
Here are the exercises we did in the marching order part of the game :
1. "you're in a forest on a narrow path, only one person wide, what's the marching order ?" Then I asked them to justify their choice. "There's a young person tied to a tree asking for help. What are you doing ?" (of course it's a trap)
2. "a corridor, a fork. Noises coming from both paths, then coming from the rear. what are you doing ?" (usually it's a mess so ask them what they don't have... a leader ! "you have 45 seconds to choose a leader !" Then count loud and at 45 asked to show with their fingers who is the leader)
Then same place, and come as some kind of monster growling. Usually they kill you then explain you were coming with informations... "Don't slay everything moving stupids !"
3. one of them is dying, but he doesn't know. How will they hold her hands, what words to say to ease the passing ?
4. an empty room, with a coffer... that slides back everytime they go closer then fight back
5. tactical exam. I used a cardboard dungeon and some legos and other toys to make a model of a dungeon with monsters, treasure and a princess to rescue. Then we roleplayed their action."Ok, how do you get in ? Ok, you hear the princess screaming ? Where is she ?... yes, of course, in the highest keep", and so on...
6. big boss scene. We used videoprojection of some green strange texture on a sofa. I explained I am a dangerous monster (a lich) on a throne, protected by an invisible wall. The illusionist put props on me gradually : a fur hat, then rabbit ears and gives me a carrot that I'm beginning to eat. "So, observe ! What I am ? I'm a lich and... a... rabbit ! a rabbit lich. So we're not in an underground dungeon but in a... burrow ! yes ! " They will quickly invent their own solution ("what do rabbits fear ? what do rabbits like ?") you just have to go with them if the idea is cool.
Way overdue (I've known all these excellent comments were here, but sort of forgot again).
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to give a huge thanks to the facilitators who took the time to type up such thorough feedback. I think at can be a great resources both for future runs of the game, and for us as designers if we decide to make something similar again.
It's a funny creature. More like a structured theatre-sports exercise/long-form comedic impro than a larp. But also a larp. Anyway: so glad to see the game getting played and people having fun. Makes the time we put in writing well worth it! :)