Labyrinth

For those new to roleplaying, there's a lot of little things that may not be immediately obvious, but when you think about them they make a lot of sense. Even for more experienced roleplayers, it's easy to forget these things when getting involved in a game — this page may have something for everyone!

See the glossary for a guide to roleplaying terminology used here.

Don't be afraid to drop out of character briefly to check with other players and GMs whether they are happy with the direction and intensity of roleplay. For particularly intense interactions you have planned, for example angry shouting, it can be helpful to discuss in advance of session whether this is something you are both happy with.

When Ballgowning (roleplaying romantic relationships) or roleplaying other intense relationships with another player or GM it is particularly important to calibrate early and frequently, to help make sure that everyone remains comfortable with the roleplaying.

Labyrinth tackles a lot of complex and sometimes heavy topics. Be prepared to calibrate when dealing with the topics outlined in our CAT policy.

When someone does something dramatic, play into what they have done — act into how you think another person wants to be perceived while staying true to your character. Rather than shutting down what someone is trying to do, consider how you can play it up.

Example of shutting down: One character blames the team for losing a game. You say that it’s no big deal, and move on.

Example of dramatic lifting up: One character blames the team for losing a game. In turn, you dramatically accuse them of being a bad captain, and maybe, if they hadn’t been so distracted with what’s clearly a crush on another character, the outcome might have been different.

Example of diplomatic lifting up: One character blames the team for losing a game. In turn, you step in to mediate the argument, suggesting the captain calm down and have a little chat — you know a thing or two about leadership and maybe they should take your advice.

You don't always have to be dramatic, but your PC can have a variety of noticeable reactions to a situation.

When someone makes something up, you agree with them, and then expand on it. This allows you to build on what someone has said without contradicting them. You equally build on the suggestion with the alternative “no, but…” framing depending on the situation.

Example of “no”: One character says they have an esoteric text to hand back to a shady mage that promised to meet them here. You say you haven't seen any shady mages in the Camp.

Example of “yes, and…”: One character says they have an esoteric text to hand back to a shady mage that promised to meet them here. You remark that you've seen several hanging around and you'd be happy come with them to make sure they don't get swindled by the shady mage…

Example of “no, but…”: One character says they have an esoteric text to hand back to a shady mage that promised to meet them here. You say no you haven't see any mages, but do they want to hire someone to track them down?

There are of course limits to this in a game like Labyrinth: sometimes certain facts about the world are have already been established that players are not aware of. How else could there be secrets? Often GMs will be happy for you to establish small facts about the world (such as a local custom, type of food, or minor character who hasn't yet appeared), but be mindful that this can lead to confusion if you end up contradicting something the GMs need to be true — don't be making up whole cities or locations. If in any doubt communicate with a GM before making claims or ask for one to provide some more setting details for you.

In PvP situations where your PC is competing with someone else's PC, it is worth considering what your goals are and what you want out of it. Some of the competition may be indirect, such as working your way deeper into the Labyrinth, where you (or a group you are in) are broadly in competition with other PCs — these are typically easy to think about. Your PC may want to engage in a more direct competition with another PC where their goals, ideals or personality traits clash. In these situations you should check in with the other player involved as the competition develops and make sure the roleplay can be interesting and engaging for both parties, whoever wins or loses (and remember that losing should be interesting).

Longer-term rivalries may take place in a game like ours, so think about when things may come to a head — you don't want to burn out too early. If a rivalry isn't developing as you expected, discuss it with the other player and consider escalating by upping the stakes, doing something dramatic, or resorting to underhanded tactics (if your PC would do that sort of thing).

In PvE aspects of the game, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking “I'm working against the environment, and the environment is controlled by the GMs, therefore I am working against the GMs”. Incorrect! The GMs are first and foremost here to create a fun game for you. That does mean creating challenges in the environment, yes, but also giving you the means to overcome those obstacles.

In practice whether engaging in PvP or PvE, this means you should tell the GMs your plans, so we can help make sure they happen or adjudicate fairly between competing PCs. We're not going to use that information to make some contrived reason your plan can't happen, we're going to use that to make it look really cool when your clever plan works and give both sides in a PvP situation something interesting and engaging as an outcome.

Similarly, it can be useful to make it clear the difference between your OC desires and your character's desires. There is nothing more fun as a GM than seeing a turnsheet say “Sam wants to fight Charlie [OC: Charlie is clearly much more powerful than Sam, I'm looking forward to cracking out the injury makeup for next session]”.

We all love our characters — coming up with a cool character for the setting is heaps of fun, especially when you think of a cool aspect of the world you want to interact with. However it can be easy to forget that given it's a LARP, you need to play that character, and it should be fun to play that character.

What this means in practice is that while a cool brooding character who sits in the corner alone might sound like an interesting character, if you end up spending an entire session sitting in the corner not talking to anyone, you may not have a lot of fun in sessions. This is not to discourage you from exploring different kinds of characters, it's just worth keeping in mind how this character is going to be fun for you to play. Different people enjoy different kinds of things, after all!

Character bleed is the concept of your feelings and emotions getting blurred between your character and your OC self. Often character bleed is talked about as some nasty thing that must be avoided at all costs, but in reality it's perfectly natural; in LARP you are embodying your character, you are having the interactions that cause that emotional reaction, and if your character is hugging someone, your body is physically hugging. It is natural for your brain OC to react to those experiences, even after dropping out of character.

Rather than simply saying “you shouldn't do this”, there are more useful approaches to take to character bleed. The first thing is being aware that it's happening – this is usually a case of spotting when your OC feelings start to change to match your IC ones. Then you can begin the work of trying to uncouple those things again. One way you can do this is by dropping OC and talking to the person/people that the character bleed is about, either during the session or afterwards. This can help you get to know the OC person as a separate entity to their character, and to firmly differentiate your IC and OC feelings and reactions.

Getting to know people OC is a great way to pre-empt some of these things – one of the reasons we have an official (but entirely optional) post-session trip to get ice cream is it provides a great chance to get to know people better.