Writing Freeform Larps on DriveThruRPG

Well, that was a pleasant surprise. 

As well as an automated “… is now live for sale on DriveThruRPG.com” email, the people at DriveThruRPG sent me a nice note saying they liked Writing Freeform Larps, commenting that, “This is a very thorough guide, excellent work.”

They also gave me some suggestions (including one I thought I had done – my DriveThruRPG-fu needs work) and changed my account to verified.

So that was a lovely start to the day.

What is Writing Freeform Larps?

Writing Freeform Larps is my book that explains how I write my freeform larps.

You can buy it as a pdf from DriveThruRPG or Itch.io. I hope to have it available as a physical book from Lulu in the next week or two. (It’s delayed because I’m waiting for another check copy as I wasn’t happy with the cover on the last one.)

What is a freeform? Or a freeform larp?

Freeform larps are interactive roleplaying games involving anywhere from six to as many as eighty players, all with detailed character backgrounds. I (and others) have called them freeforms since the early 90s, and I find it hard to call them anything else.

Writing Freeform Larps is a 154-page book outlining a structured process for writing freeform larps, covering the initial concept through to running the game. Topics include writing plots and characters, character sheets, and rules and mechanics.

Examples of larps written this way include Hollywood Lies, Railways and Respectability, The Roswell Incident, Children of the Stars, Messages from Callisto, The Highgate Club, and Once Upon a Time in Tombstone. (There are more – these are off the top of my head.)

It’s also the process we recommend authors use when writing for Freeform Games.

Contents

1 Introduction: I briefly explain freeform larps and why I wrote the book.

2 The process: The ten-step process I use to write my freeform larps.

3 Character sheets: A detailed look at freeform character sheets.

4 Structure and events: How I structure my freeforms, from game start through to wrap.

5 Plots: My four-step process for planning and writing plots.

6 Characters: What makes a good freeform character?

7 Rules and mechanics: A discussion of freeform larp mechanics, including combat, romance, contingencies, crime and punishment, abilities—and more.

8 Running freeform larps: How I run a freeform larp.

Appendix A: Freeforms: Details of the freeforms mentioned in the text, along with links.

Appendix B: Abilities: Example abilities from several freeforms.

Appendix C: Other freeform styles: A discussion of other freeform styles, including horde games, workshop games and faction games.

Appendix D: Where to find more: Links to other resources.

The freeform writing process

This is a summary of my writing process (discussed in much more detail in chapter 2):

1. Concept and constraints: Ideas and setting boundaries.
2. Themes: What is the game about?
3. Character types: In broad-brush terms, who are the characters?
4. Outline characters: Characters in more detail – their public and private faces.
5. Character sheet layout: What the character sheet will look like.
6. Structure: Determining the freeform’s structure.
7. Plots: Writing plots – the heart of the process.
8. Rules and mechanics: Deciding on rules and mechanics.
9. Background: Writing the game background.
10. Finishing off: Getting it finished and ready to run.

(In reality, I hop between sections as the muse takes me. But the overall flow follows this process.)

Waiting for Lulu

Now I’m waiting for another copy from Lulu to check before publishing it there. 

(Update: Now available via Lulu!)

Are games expensive?

Games seem expensive to me. 

While I was at AireCon, I was tempted by Gloom of Kilforth. But it was £60, which felt like a lot of money.

But is it?

A typical game, a box of cardboard and plastic, say Carcassone, costs £37 (RRP – you can get it cheaper if you shop around). The Traveller Core Rulebook (2022) is £45 from Mongoose. Is that a lot?

It seems like a lot.

I remember when Carcassonne first came out – it was less than £20 in 2000. It might have been less than £15. Because I’m old, that’s the price I feel it “should” be.

(I think the Traveller boxed set was £5.95 back in 1981 when I first encountered it.)

Alas, everything seems more expensive. Apart from CDs.

Last night's game of Everdell

So let’s think about this differently.

How much should I pay for entertainment?

Before I consider games, what about other forms of entertainment?

Movies: I don’t go to as many movies as I used to, but a typical movie ticket is perhaps £12 for a 90-120 minute movie. (I’m not counting all the adverts and crap beforehand.) So maybe £8 per hour.

Concerts: I don’t go to many concerts either, but the last big one I went to (Rush) was £65 per ticket for a three-hour show. So £20 per hour.

A meal out: A meal out is maybe £20 per head. Most meals don’t stretch for longer than an hour, so that would be £20 per hour. (I realise that eating out is different – I’d have to eat anyway, and eating out saves on preparation and cleaning up.)

A night out with friends in a pub: I don’t drink much – maybe three drinks and some crisps or nuts. Say £16 for two hours?

(In these terms, novels are superb value.)

So while eating out and big concerts may be expensive, in 2023, £8 per hour seems about right for entertainment.

Boardgames

So how about boardgames? Some examples:

D-Day Dice (second edition). I think I paid about £110 on Kickstarter in 2019 (with most of the expansions). According to BoardGameGeek (BGG), I have played it 48 times (so far – all solo). BGG reckons it takes 45 minutes to play, which sounds about right. I can’t remember if those 48 times included my losses – which usually occur about 15-20 minutes in. So let’s say 30 minutes overall (or 24 hours of gaming time). £105 / (48 x 0.5) = £4.38 an hour. Except that doesn’t include the time discussing it on BGG and doing things like writing a strategy guide to Omaha beach.

OGRE Designer’s Edition was $192 on Kickstarter (ouch!). Plus, I backed the two OGREzines, at another $3 each, so that’s $198 in total. (I’ll keep this calculation in $$$ as I can’t be bothered to convert it.) I’ve played OGRE 56 times; according to BGG, it takes 45 minutes. However, I usually play solo, so I think 20 mins is more accurate as the basic game doesn’t take me long to play. So that means 18.6 hours, or $10.61 per hour.

While I have some regrets about backing OGRE on Kickstarter, this calculation has made me realise that I’ve already got my money’s worth. It’s getting close to my (arbitrary) £8/hr target. (However, given how unportable OGRE Designer Edition is, most of my plays have been with the $3 black-and-white microgame version my pledge came with. So I could have had as much fun if I’d only paid $3! I try not to think about that.)

So OGRE is about the same value as going to the cinema. But only because I haven’t played it more. 

Everdell is my latest game, a birthday present from Mrs H. We’ve played it six times so far, taking about an hour each time. (I’ve not played it much – even though it has a solo version – because I don’t want to get too good at it. Mrs H gets frustrated if I know a game too well, so I’m deliberately holding off.)

I think we paid £60 for Everdell, and £60 for six hours is £10 per hour. But they were all three-player games, making it £3.33 per person hour. Already a bargain.

Escape: The Curse of the Temple is my most played game, according to BGG. I’ve played it 189 times, so surely it’s the best value ever? Well, maybe not. I have all the expansions (and mini-expansions – I think), and according to Kickstarter, I paid $133 for everything. However, Escape is a timed real-time game that takes only ten minutes to play. I estimate two-thirds of my games have been solo, so maybe 40 hours of playing time which works out at $3.30 per player hour. Not bad, but Everdell is already catching up with only six plays.

Some others – I’ve played all of these a fair bit:

• London (second edition): 27p per person hour.
• Villagers: 50p per person hour.
• Wingspan: £3.60 per person hour.
• Oceans: £1 per person hour.
• Carcassonne: No idea, but probably less than 10p per person hour. I’ve had it since it came out in 2001, plus I have some expansions. I’ve recorded 61 plays since 2011 on BGG, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were at least twice that.

So for me, whether a game is good value depends on whether or not I play it. But if £8 per player hour is my target, it doesn’t take long for most boardgames to become good value for money. And the more I play them, the better value they become.

(And as long as I enjoy them, that’s the important thing.)

Resale value

None of these calculations includes the value left in the game, for example. Taking OGRE for a moment, assuming I could sell it for (say) $60, then the price per hour drops to $7.40. (I have some out-of-print games now worth more than I paid for them. They’re in a different class, of course.)

Are Freeform Games expensive?

So this brings me to Freeform Games. Are our games too expensive?

At first glance, they might be – Death on the Gambia takes about 2.5-3 hours to play and costs $29.99. That’s expensive, on the face of it.

Except that Death on the Gambia is for 8-11 people. That means it provides between 20 and 33 hours of person fun, making it cost between $1.50 and $0.93 per person hour. (And I haven’t included the host or extra characters you could include.)

Not so bad when you look at it like that.

Are roleplaying games expensive?

The Dee Sanction: This was a bargain. I think it cost me about £10 (including shipping), and I ran a 14-session campaign for two players. Each session was about two hours (let’s say 90 minutes, as we always did a lot of chatting) or about 63 hours of playing time. That’s a wonderful 15p per person-hour. (And that ignores the time I spent writing about it on my blog or the fact that I’ve earned more than £10 selling an adventure, Abaddon’s Puppet, for The Dee Sanction.)

Liminal: Another bargain. Liminal cost me about £40. I ran a 13-session campaign for four players, each lasting two hours. (Again, let’s say 90 mins of playing time.) So that’s 130 person-hours or 30p per person. Fabulous.

ALIEN: I’ve spent a fair bit on ALIEN over the last couple of years, maybe £150? It seems like I’ve spent a lot, and I don’t feel like I’ve had a good return for all that money. But when I check my notes, I see I’ve run fifteen sessions for 2-5 players, which works out to about 130 person-hours of play. So that’s £1.15 per player hour – and suddenly, ALIEN seems like good value.

But compare that with Traveller (2022 edition), Monsterhearts 2nd, Hillfolk, Good Society and more. All of which I’ve bought, none of which have made it to the table. Of course, buying RPGs just to read is a big part of the hobby, but I find that harder to judge whether that’s good value. (I keep them because I want to run them. If I didn’t want to run them, I’d probably get rid of them.)

So should I have bought Gloom of Kilforth?

Maybe yes. I might be playing it instead of typing this now if I had. If I paid £60, then eight person-hours of playing Gloom of Kilforth would mean I have reached my target “hourly rate”. If I played with Megan, that would probably be only three plays (assuming each game lasts 90 minutes or so).

So, are games expensive?

Of course, it’s not always about the money. But even if it were solely about the money, given the hours of entertainment they provide, games aren’t expensive. Some are a real bargain.

Unless they sit on the shelf, unplayed. In which case, unless I love them or they have some other value, I should cut my losses and get rid of them.

AireCon 2023

So last weekend was AireCon 2023 in Harrogate. This year it was even bigger, which meant it was in the larger halls. I was there for three days. On the Friday, I ran two roleplaying games; on the Saturday I popped in to play games and catch up with friends; and on the Sunday, I was there with family. (Previous AireCon reports here.)

At the entrance to AireCon with Megan on Sunday

Friday

Friday was exciting because of all the snow that had arrived overnight. It didn’t last long but caused some travel chaos. I caught the bus, so I just had to contend with some slippery pavements, which I navigated with care.

I ran Perfect Organism (for ALIEN) and The Bone Swallower (for Fate Accelerated) and had time to wander around.

Perfect Organism (game files here)

Perfect Organism is my ALIEN cinematic set in a W-Y station in orbit above LV-426. The USCMC are investigating the loss of the Sulaco (from Aliens), and, well, things don’t go according to plan… Perfect Organism sold out before AireCon, so I knew I had five players. This would be my first time running it with all five players – my previous runs each had three. I was interested to see how the additional characters changed the scenario. I had expected everything to take longer, but to my surprise, we took less time than before.

This time, the players never made it out of orbit. That’s because one of the new characters shut down any suggestion that the PCs head down to LV-426 itself. Had they gone down to LV-426 (as earlier groups had), the game would have lasted longer.

It didn’t matter – the players seemed to have a blast. They leaned into their conflicting agendas – for much of the time I just sat back and watched them.

My favourite moments were the number of excuses the lead scientist had for keeping the investigators from looking at anything too deeply. She was so inventive – “There’s always a reason,” said one of the others.

Me and most of my Perfect Organism crew

Finishing earlier than expected gave me time to chat with Graham (the organiser and someone I know from Furnace), grab some lunch and a pint of beer, and buy Ivan Brett’s two books, The Floor is Lava and Bored? Games!

The Bone Swallower (more info here)

The Bone Swallower is the adventure in my Other London: Desk 17 setting book for Fate Accelerated. Again I had five players. (I’m normally wary about running games for five players, as I find it difficult to ensure everyone has enough spotlight time. But from what I can tell, I think I got it right at AireCon in both games this year. Although I may not be the best person to judge.)

My players knew of Fate, even if they hadn’t played it before. Except for one – for whom this was their first time roleplaying! While they were hesitant at times, they soon got stuck in and played along with the rest of them.

Five players is a bit much for an investigative scenario (it can feel like the players are going in mob-handed at times), but we split the party when we needed to, and their investigation took a different route to previous runs.

(It also changed one scene dramatically. Previously, there’s one scene where I’ve seen players be a little tentative. This time, convinced they had found the suspect, they went in hard and fast and quickly overpowered the bad guys.)

My favourite bit was tracking where the missing Iona had gone – using an eyewitness and traffic cameras to find the van. Nobody’s tried that before, so I was thinking on my feet.

Again, it felt like a successful session, and I felt pleased.

With my Friday duties finished, I headed back to the bus station.

Over tea, after telling Mrs H about the convention, we played Licence Plate Sentences from The Floor is Lava (but we grabbed some random letters as we were in the kitchen rather than in the car). Mrs H is so much better at it than I am!

Saturday

Overnight, I dreamt that Taylor Swift had written a song about an unpopular D&D setting she really liked. I think it was pretty good – but I can’t remember anything now. Mrs H suggested it meant I had had a good time yesterday, which was hard to argue with (although I don’t play D&D…)

Anyway, I hadn’t originally planned to be at AireCon on Saturday. However, the snow prevented the planned visit from the in-laws, so I was free to brave the bus into Harrogate again and I was there by about 11.

Saturday was a day of catching up with old friends and playing boardgames.

Games played:

Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game: A Star Wars-themed Star Realms, with a few twists. Maybe if I didn’t have so many Star Realms cards, I would be interested in it.

Letters from Whitechapel: I played this twice, a hidden movement game along the lines of Scotland Yard where one player tries to avoid capture by the others. Three of us hadn’t played before, but we picked it up pretty quickly. I was an investigator in the first game, and we caught Jack (the villain) before he murdered his second victim. As that was over fairly quickly, we played a second game, and this time I was Jack. I won on the last turn, but goodness, it was stressful! I was exhausted at the end. (One of the other players, who’d played before, said it was one of the best games of Letters that he’d played.)

I found this game by spotting a lightsabre – the system AireCon uses that lets players know that people are looking for more players. It’s a great system – and along with the area where you can linger if you’re looking to play a game means nobody should be looking for a game for long.

King of Tokyo: I entered the AireCon King of Tokyo tournament at the last minute. (I was nearby as it Cwas setting up.) I was knocked out in the first round – the winner of our table obviously loved the game and was a worthy winner.

Other moments of note included chatting with gaming pals and telling Ivan Brett (author of The Floor is Lava and Bored? Games!) about Freeform Games. I cursed myself for not having a business card with me…

Sunday

Over breakfast, we played the gloriously silly Brian? Brian! From The Floor is Lava. 

Anyway, Sunday was family day for me. I had deliberately avoided the demo and playtest areas so far as I knew I would likely spend time there today with my family (my daughter Megan, brother Phil and nephew Jack). And that’s what happened.

Megan at the AireCon sign

We had a lovely time – games played included:

7 Wonders: An Asmodee demo (some cards removed, I think). I knew how to play, but it was new to the others. However, they all liked it, and Jack won. I like 7 Wonders, but I don’t own it because it needs 3-7 players, and I won’t get it to the table often enough. (Lots of my friends have it, though, so I get to play it when I see them.)

My shelfie: Build a point-scoring bookshelf. I won this. It was okay, but nothing to write home about.

Silly selfie while playing My Shelfie

In the footsteps of Darwin: I played this with Megan and came last. Megan was pleased to beat me. Gorgeously illustrated tableau-building game. Not too heavy. A game I’d happily play, but not one I need for my collection.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza: I was terrible at this – a crazy loud snap variant. Jack won, and I definitely lost. Megan wanted a copy as she knew her friends would enjoy it. Unfortunately, the copy she bought was the FIFA version, which she wouldn’t have chosen had she realised. So she’s going to tailor it.

Cobra Paw: Roll dice and take the matching dominoes. I thought I’d be rubbish because Megan’s so good at pattern-spotting (she thrashes me at Dobble and Panic Lab and Set). But Phil won, and I came second. Not too bad for the old folk.

Scout: Phil was looking for a game to play at restaurants, and after asking around, we tried Scout, an intriguing trick-taking game. It fitted the bill, so he picked up a copy. (I often put Timeline or Red 7 or No Thanks or some dice for Perudo in my pocket for those situations.)

It was then time for us to head back, so that’s what we did.

Loot

I was fairly restrained at AireCon—my loot is shown below.

Airecon loot - small by many standards

I’m very happy with the books and counters, and Megan is happy with Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza (despite the FIFA branding). The freebies are fine:

• The extra card for Dixit reminded me to get it to the table more often.
• I’ll give the Ticket to Ride promo cards to someone who has TtR: Europe.
• Megan and I played with the Dobble, Time’s Up and Cortex cards when we got home. Dobble was fine—she beat me as usual (we have a set), and she’s taken the cards as a portable set to play with her friends. She also beat me at Cortex (which neither of us liked). Time’s Up might have been fun (like Articulate but with some twists), but we only had the two of us, and there were too many pop culture people that neither of us knew.
• The King of Tokyo character was a freebie for playing in the tournament, and Megan has taken that for a friend who has the game.

Gloom of Kilforth tempted me—but I need to do some research first. Megan was more interested in the upcoming version, Call of Kilforth (pirates!), so I may get that when it comes out.

I was also tempted by Earth Rising, a new cooperative game about making the world a better place (fighting poverty, solving climate change, reversing biodiversity loss and so on). It’s a great message, and the game seemed interesting. Maybe if there had been a copy to buy, I would have walked away with it. But only maybe – I don’t know how much overlap there is with the upcoming Daybreak (which focuses on climate change).

I was also tempted by the journalling RPG Be Like A Crow, which looked beautiful. But I already have (and don’t play) Thousand Year Old Vampire and I don’t suppose Be Like A Crow would be different, and I don’t need more games on my shelf to sit unplayed.

(Isn’t it interesting that the games that tempted me are all solo or cooperative? I think that’s because I know I can get them to the table. If I buy a multiplayer game, I’m relying on it appealing to my family.)

AireCon 2023 - final thoughts

Overall, I had a wonderful time. Megan was sorry she could only go on the Sunday – next year, she wants to go on Saturday and Sunday.

I thought the new halls were good. While the smaller halls are much nicer (the large halls are rather industrial - not that anyone notices when they have their heads down, studying the board), AireCon never felt overcrowded, even with the obvious increase in attendees.

AireCon 2023's industrial vibe

And although I would love to do AireCon every weekend, as an introvert, I did find it exhausting. Time to recharge the batteries!

Variety is the spice of (freeforming) life

 One of the things I like about freeforming is the sheer range of characters you can play. I don’t think you get as much variety elsewhere in gaming. Anyway, here are some of types of characters I’ve played over the years.

Alien, prime minister, ambassador

• Queen Victoria’s evil manservant
• A prime minister
• Rudolph Valentino
• The Baker from Into the Woods
• Romeo
• Sinbad
• A golfer
• A WW2 cashiered American officer
• Several spies
• Several soldiers of various ranks
• A greedy banker
• Several ambassadors
• A musketeer
• Several pirates
• A Japanese moneylender
• A baseball player
• A New York gang member
• Several vampires
• A retail apprentice
• Several murderers
• Numerous captains, officers and other ship’s crew
• An angel
• An actor
• Christopher Marlow
• A civil servant
• A sock puppet
• A gangster
• The head of a powerful family
• The doge of Venice
• Several doctors
• A bridegroom
• Several aliens
• A Russian soccer player
• A Russian political officer
• A bishop
• An airport manager
• A Roman tavern owner
• A nurse
• A bouncer
• A mediaeval scribe
• A captain of the guard
• A time-traveller

And no doubt many that I’ve forgotten about.

Rudolph Valentino (and wife), Japanese moneylender (and kabuki actor)