Casting All Flesh is Grass

I find casting freeform larps much more stressful than I suspect they need to be.

Here’s how I did it for All Flesh is Grass.

The questionnaire

I try to keep casting questionnaires fairly simple—I don’t ask many questions. That’s mainly because as a player I find it hard to answer a detailed questionnaire. That’s partly because I rarely know what I want from the game, but also because I don’t know the assumptions behind the questions because I know so little about the game. And so I struggle to answer them.

So my questions for All Flesh is Grass Were:

I am interested in playing:

• A resident of Millville
• A visitor
• Someone in authority
• An alien
• Two characters
• I don’t mind who I play

[These were all Yes, I don’t mind, and No. I stressed that I would consider the “No” answers first to avoid casting anyone in a role they didn’t want.]

Are there any characters in the cast list you really want to play? [Free text—for those who want to play a particular character based on nothing more than their name and occupation]

Are they any characters in the cast list you really DON’T want to play? [free text]

If we become oversubscribed, would you be willing to be a reserve player? [Yes or No]

Is there anything else I should know? [Free text—for anything else]

May I use a photograph of you playing the game in future publicity? [Yes or No]

Characters who needed care

The first thing I needed to consider were the two characters needing the right players:

• The alien character was a disembodied voice. I needed a player who didn’t mind being an alien.
• Captain Yip and Jamie Flanagan would be played by the same player, switching between the roles as required. (These two roles were slightly underdeveloped, and while I’ve enjoyed playing more than one character in the past, it’s not for everyone.)

So I needed to make sure that the person playing those had ticked “yes” or “I don’t mind”.

Questions I should have asked

As All Flesh is Grass is based on the novel of the same name by Clifford D Simak, I really should have asked the players whether they had read it. For some characters, it’s best if they haven’t read the book, while for others it matters less.

Player restrictions

I had a couple of players who put detail into their free-text sections explaining what they like in a game. That was wonderful, although worried me slightly in case All Flesh is Grass wasn’t exactly what they were looking for.

How I did it

I cast the alien and the player playing two characters first, as I was worried about them most of all. One player noted that they had read All Flesh is Grass. As they said they would like to be the alien, that’s how I cast them. Only one person answered ‘Yes’ to two characters, so I cast them as the dual character. (There were several who said they didn’t mind, so I had fallbacks.)

I then cast those players who had given me some detail on what sort of character they wanted to play.

Then cast those who said they wanted a particular character.

Then cast those who were flexible but with one or two requirements.

I cast the most flexible people last—they filled in the gaps. (Thank you, flexible players!)

Emails

I then wrote an email to everyone telling them who they were playing, and sometimes I explained why I had cast them that way (especially where I hadn’t exactly followed their casting sheet).

I also reminded them of the date, and noted that I would send a Discord invite later on.

Then I let the reserve players know they were on the reserve list.

Casting success or failure?

We’ll cover that next time, when I talk about how the game ran.