Header Spotlight: Blade Dancer

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Blade Dancer. 

The Blade Dancer is the classic, two weapon fighter we all know and love.  Their skills are often based on blocking or striking with one weapon, only to follow up with another.  It is one of the three fighting styles in the rock/paper/scissors setup with skills that help defeat a Brute.

Blade Dancer attacks include Counterattack (three 2 Damage attacks, usable after blocking), Bait Attack (Disarm, usable after blocking), and Savage Cuts (Stricken, usable after a successful attack).

Blade Dancer defensive abilities include Heavily Armored (Gain 1 Armor), Strong Grip (Resist Disarm), Vigor (Gain 1 Vitality) and Flurry of Steel (Parry any melee/missile/packet with 2 weapons).

The two capstone skills for the Blade Dancer are Double Up and Metal Maelstrom.  Double Up allows you to, after successfully striking an enemy, make the same call on your next attack with the other weapon.  However, the attack must normally be a weapon attack, and the attack is consumed whether you hit or not.

Metal Maelstrom is the stance for the Blade Dancer, reducing the cost of all Blade Dancer abilities by 1 as long as you remain conscious, keep your feet planted, and can continue to use both of your weapons.  

One big thing to note: unlike NERO, you can fight with two long swords.  That is not a typo in the rules.  We've heard that it's a decent fighting style in other games, and we're willing to give it a shot.  But if you're going to do that, please fight safe. 

Good Header Combinations: Spellsword (Channeling works well), Duelist (If you're good at fighting sword/dagger).

Pro: The Duelist is extremely good at dealing with melee, with an abundance of disarms and damage.  And when you're in your stance, you're pretty hard to stop (considering Flurry of Steel only costs 1).  

Con: You don't really have a ton of defensive abilities, and maims/destroys can really reduce your effectiveness.  Just make sure to keep your swords away from those Destroys!

Are you planning on using two long swords? Would you play a Blade Dancer?  Let us know in the comments!

YouTube Friday: Misty Mountains Cold

Happy Good Friday, everyone!  

Today's video is a cover by Str8voices of the song "Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold" from the Hobbit.  Whether you loved the movie or not, you've gotta love this song.  This is totally my pump up music before a game, and Jenn listens to this over and over when she writes plot.


And you also have to give a shoutout to our buddy Ryan, who makes an appearance at 0:44.  Who knew he could sing so well!

What do you listen to when you get pumped up or when you write plot?

Header Spotlight: Acrobat

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today (for the second time), we'll be covering the Acrobat. 

The Acrobat is one of the quintessential roguish archetypes, focusing on their ability to (literally) escape tight places.  Something like this can often be hard to reproduce in a Larp setting, where WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get).  

For that reason, we focused on two key things with the class - resistance to movement imparing abilities, and battlefield awareness.

When it comes to dealing with movement-restricting abilities, there is no Header that has as many defenses as the Acrobat.  Quick Feet and Quick Escape allow the Acrobat to Resist Root and Purge Paralyze (respectively).  Contortionist and Escape Artist take a little more time, but give the Acrobat the ability to Purge Maim, Root, Paralyze, and Shackles without any attribute cost.  And the Always on the Move skill makes them immune to Slow.

As far as defensive skills, the Acrobat has access to Agile (more armor) and Reflexes (Avoid missile or packet attacks), which are both pretty solid.

On the other hand, the Acrobat has access to a Disengage (Cunning Defense), a short Maim (Joint Pressure), both of which can help manage a chaotic battlefield.

Finally, the Acrobat has one Unique skill that no class can match.  The Keen Senses skill allows them to call "Resist Ambient" against any effect caused by a movement-related misstep.  This can be a little confusing, but let's put it another way.  If you're on the jumping stones mod, and the floor is lava, you may normally take some damage or a death effect by stepping in the laval.  The Acrobat, on the other hand, can do some crazy moves based on the fact that they can resist those effects.  Heck, they could even run across the lava, if they had enough Air attributes!  

Good Header Combinations: Hexer (Good Use of Purges), Guardian (Good use of purges), Warrior (more purges and good basic damage).

Pro: Extremely powerful in situations with a lot of movement-impairing effects.

Con: Acrobat only helps keep you in the fight.  It doesn't actually improve your fighting, and you'll need to get damage or support from another header.

What is your favorite Acrobat skill? Can you see yourself playing one?  Let us know in the comments!

Header Spotlight: Necromancer

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Necromancer. 

The Necromancer is a vile creature that works in death, and trades the lives of others to further their own power.  They work closely with the creatures of Undeath, as they themselves have used their magic to extend their life.

Disease is the primary way that the Necromancer does damage to others.  Cause Pain is the go-to damage spell, giving 2 uses of 2 Damage by Disease.  Their other attacks include Stench (Repel by Disease), Pox (Stricken and Slow by Disease), and End Life (Death by Disease).

But on top of that, the Necromancer has many defensive abilities.  They can use Bone Shield to get a Shield Physical, use Grave Healing to Heal Undead, or use Pass the Infection to Purge any basic Trait.  Finally, they can even use Raise Dead to Cure Death (Note - the person affected is not Undead.)  Pretty cool stuff.

However, things get particularly weird with some of the utility/specialized skills for the Necromancer.  First off, they can give themselves the Undead Trait with the Between Life and Undeath skill, which they can use to power other Abilities as well as heal themselves with Grave Healing.  They can use the Mask ability to prevent detection as an Undead or Necromancer.  They can wear an additional flesh rune with Another's Flesh, and prevent their own Death with Another's Life.  Finally, they are the only Header that can actually get Attributes back from a passive skill (Harvest Spirit.)

Seems overpowered, right?  Well, this Header was designed to be illegal.  It's pretty illicit, with many effects going off of killing blowing others, use of the disease and despair traits, and giving themselves the undead trait.   It's probably the most versatile header, and that comes at a cost. 

Bound High Magic: Call Forth Spirit, Corrupted Haven (Necro Only), Familiar, Ghaian Revival, Unfinished Business, Vampire's Bane

Good Header Combinations: High Magic (Use Harvest Spirit to charge Attribute Wells or Enchanted Items), Assassin (Makes you even harder to Expose).

Pro: Very versatile, great survivability, decent damage.

Con: Very illegal (in most places), requires a lot of Death Strikes to be particularly effective.

Would you (allegedly) play a Necromancer? How would you (allegedly) keep the law from finding out?  Let us know in the comments!

Hidden Skills

One of the big things about running your own game is the ability to create Hidden skills that players can  get access to after completing some quests.  There are three great things that come from using Hidden Skills.

1. Character Specialization
Since they're skills that cost XP, it creates the ability for characters to become even more specialized.  A character that has access to a hidden skill will have a niche ability that most likely only a few people have access to, and will give them an excellent cool moment.

2. XP Sink
Part of the reason you make these skills rather than freebies is that people need to make a decision to dump XP into those skills.  This does a good job to keep players who play every event and get involved in every plotline from pulling ahead of the casual players.

3. Marking an Achievement
You can use giving someone access to a Hidden skill as a sign of completion of some questline they've been working on.  With some questlines, it can be hard to tell when it's over.  However, if you grant someone access, it's can send a clear message that it's over.

We have Hidden Skills at Exiles, and I must say that it has greatly enriched the game.  I'm excited about the opportunity for some of the games in the Ohio area utilizing hidden skills after separating from NERO. 

Stormy Weather? Bring It.

I've been running plot since 1998, I've seen a lot of pretty horrendous event weather during that time period - temperatures over 130 with the heat index, horrible humidity, frigid temperatures, rainstorms, etc.  Sometimes, players will brave the elements and continue on, sometimes not so much.

I'm not a big fan of shutting down plot/the event for any reason unless absolutely necessary.  For example, someone is injured in the middle of town and an ambulance is called.  We stopped running at Lumberton ONCE that I can remember because of a huge lightning storm, which took about 45 minutes to pass.  Otherwise, for the most part, we keep going, and going, and going. 

No, we are not abusive to our NPC's, we just tailor the speed of the game to match the weather.  Read on for tips/suggestions for both pc's and npc's in inclement weather.

It's hot and humid!
- drink lot's of water, as well as stuff with electrolytes in it
- take breaks - if you don't feel well or are overheated you don't need to keep going, it really is okay to stop
- know your limits
- as plot, make sure your npc's are hydrating and that you are rotating npc's while others take a 15 minute break -- in the case where it was 130 with the heat index, we kept going, but went at a slower pace (instead of constant randoms, we encouraged pc's to come to us more, randoms in slower intervals, moved puzzle mods/less combat intense mods up in the timeline, etc.)

It's raining!
- always be sure to bring several changes of socks (and clothes!)
- waterproof boots really should be a must (if you don't have them/can't afford them, I sprayed mine down with waterproofing stuff from walmart and then when that failed utterly spent several events with plastic bags around my feet IN my boots.  There's no breathing involved, so you'll have to change your socks regularly, but your feet with be mostly dry and warm.)
- if there is lightning and it's close, call it for a time or run things inside
- if it is just rain, suck it up:-) If you prefer not to play in the rain, that is TOTALLY cool and acceptable.  You really don't have to, but plot is probably not likely to shut down

It's snowing! Ermaghed. 
- Mostly everything for "It's Raining!"
- Extra clothes and layers
- It's easy to get wet (from snow OR sweat) and keeping your core body temperature on par is super important.  Don't sit around after being all sweaty, you'll get a huge chill.  Pace yourself and if necessary change your shirt/pants once in a while.
- Under Armor - if you haven't heard of this, google it.  It is amazing, badass, awesome.
- Cover your head - keep the heat in!
- Bring Extra Blankets 

So, I've gone over a few pointers for crappy weather at events....what do you do as plot/players to handle the weather?  Do you think plot should shut down for inclement weather? 

Header Spotlight: Force Mage

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Force Mage. 

Force mage is simultaneously one of the Elementalist Magic Headers, as well as being something else entirely.  The Force Mage has the ability to use magic to manipulate force, giving them great control of a battlefield.

The Force Mage can use Force Bubble, a magic spell that allows them to disengage.  Force Trap, Force Grasp, and Force Prision give them the ability to root, maim, and paralyze their enemies.  Force Armor gives them the ability to Grant Armor (which is huge, if you didn't know).  Earth Mastery, like all the Elemental Masteries, allow them to reduce the cost of Abilities that use the Earth attribute.

The three unique abilities of the Force Mage are Dispel, Force Bulwark, and Force Wall.  Dispel gives you the ability to Cure Magic or Purge Magic.  Now, it's important to note that the Magic trait is not extremely prevalent, and this won't help against any stock PC abilities.  However, some higher end or specialty magics may use that trait, and the Force Mage is the only one out of the stock headers that can remove it.

Force Bulwark turns you into a fighting machine against damage and makes your Earth Attribute abilities cost less, but you are unable to receive healing without breaking it.  In some situations, it's amazing, while in others it can be dropped very quickly.

Finally, Force Wall lets you create an invisible barrier, and allows you to do incredible damage to any that cross it.  Amazing for battlefield control, but hard to use effectively in some situations.  

Bound High Magic: Attribute Well: Earth, Enhance Weapon, Ethereal Bond, Exile, Extra-Planar Ethereal Voice

Good Header Combinations: Spellsword (Force Mage makes a great caster/fighter), Infuser (Make some Earth potions or wands to let you keep going).

Pro: Few classes have as much control as the Force Mage.  If you're working with a coordinated group, the Force Mage can really expand on the powers of the team.

Con: There isn't a ton of damage in the header, and much of it is physical (one of the easier traits to remove.) Also, if you're by yourself, you'll probably run out of Earth Attributes pretty fast.

Will you have a Force Mage on your team? In which situations do you think they'll shine?  Let us know in the comments!

All About Troupe Larps and Kishar

We encourage guest posts from players and owners across the Larp genres.  They will not always express our views or fit every game. If you would like to do a guest spot, please email us here with your idea!  J Duncan runs Kishar and here discusses Troupe Larps and Kishar. 

What is a troupe LARP, and what does it have to offer?

Many of the people reading this blog probably play one of the large national LARPs, whether that’s a non-combat LARP like One World by Night (for White Wolf games) or a national boffer game like NERO, Amtgard, or Dagorhir. All of these games offer the ability to take a character from city to city, and possibly even attend many events a month, since different chapters can run on different days.

In contrast to that, troupe games have a much smaller presence, often running only in one city or region, and usually have only one or two games each month. So why would you play in a troupe game? Well, for starters, they have incredible variety. Many of the staff and player groups behind these games have written their own world settings and rules, and you make get a totally different experience in each. If you want exposure to new mechanics, new character types, and new cultures, sampling all the available troupe games in your area is the only way to do that. Secondly, they’re agile. If you’re in a national game, try to think about the difficulty involved in requesting that a rule be updated, or a new class added to the game, or could there possibly be a nation called X in the world setting so that I can be from there? In a troupe game, there’s much less bureaucracy, and the owners and staff are people you see regularly. They may still be busy people (they usually are!), but you won’t have to go through an elaborate chain of command to get to talk to them. Almost universally, the owners aren’t in it to make money – all of the money brought in by the game (and usually, personal funds as well!) gets invested right back in making the game great.

Header Spotlight: Warrior

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Warrior. 

It's easy for someone to play with swords or fight with a shield.  But being a Warrior is more than the ability to fight - it's a way of life. The Warrior is designed to promote the use of any weapon style, with attacks that can be used with both melee and ranged weapons, making them good as all-around fighters.  

The Dual Strike and Expert Strike abilities give some good damage while Hamstring can be used to slow down your enemies.  But the Warrior really shines in all the defensive abilities, like parrying melee attacks, resisting drain, purging maim/slow/weakness, and repairing their own weapon.  And with Combat Expertise, they can reduce the cost of all those abilities by one. 

Good Header Combinations: Guardian (Use Purges to help Favors), Spellsword (Get some offense through spells).

Pro: If you're interested in using different fighting styles, you might find that the Warrior Header will help keep you from getting boxed into one fighting style.

Con: A Warrior is like a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to fighting.  Other fighting headers will most likely be more effective than the Warrior when using their favored style.

Are you going to take Warrior? Do you plan on using it for your primary fighting style, or using it to supplement one of the other Martial Headers?  Let us know in the comments!

The Dangers of Stricken!

We've been contacted by a number of players familiar with Accelerant games, with a concern about the amount of Stricken in War Accelerant.  And while we're new to this, here is our thought on the subject.

Stricken is very dangerous, and when coupled with other attacks can easily mean the death of someone.  Since many NPCs who end up in engagements die anyways, this isn't a huge deal when used on NPCs.  It's what they're there for.

Now, the big concern comes up when it comes to PvP with skills that cause the Stricken effect.  In these cases, it's very easy for someone to hit their death count, as Healing and Stabilize (except from First Aid) don't work.  You actually have to fix the Stricken first.

Here is the thought that we had behind the large number of Stricken skills that are in play in WAR Accelerant.

1. We Have a Ton of Cure Death Effects
I know a lot of Accelerant games make these few and far between.  We opted for having many different ways to Cure Death, and while it may be expensive, it's not particularly hard to find something  or someone who can do it.  Stricken falls off when you hit dead, so Cure Death will work perfectly fine.

2. We Have a Number of Ways to Cure Stricken
They might not be as prevalent as Cure Death, but there's still plenty of ways to Cure Stricken in WAR Accelerant (Major Mending, Trait-based Cures, Empathic Healing, Alchemy).  It's fairly easy to remove (but still I hope that players prepare for it!)

3. It's Hard to Get Away With Murder
We specifically designed the game to make it difficult to get away with PvP.  The only hope you'll have of not being fingered by your victim is to take them out and hope they don't recognize your voice.  People will always come back for more.  This means that PvP will most likely need to be motivated by player conflict, and not from random greed or griefing.

It could be that we're new, and it's possible that we'll need to scale it back a bit.  But this is the reasoning behind the high number of Stricken effects in WAR Accelerant.

And that's what's great about the Accelerant system in general!  Even though games use the same rules and the same traits, what's easy to get rid of and what's hard to get rid of can change from game to game.

Header Spotlight: Scalawag

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Scalawag. 

Let's be honest.  You're probably going to pick this up because it sounds awesome.  Don't worry, it is.

The Scalawag is a Support Header that is focused on survival.  The Survivor skill allows you heal yourself easily (although you still can't do it while unconscious) and the Experienced Drinker skill keeps you up, as long as you can take the damage.  Unassuming and Keys to the Kingdom give you some tools to get out of tight situations.

But let's be honest, the real gem of this class is the Cheat Death skill.  This skill effectively gives you another 6 minutes before you die.  At least, that's normally how it works.  Turns out, there's a lot of ways to prevent you from bleeding out by stabilizing yourself (Warden and Rogue skills).  There are also a few production items that can save you as well!

Good Header Combinations: Rogue (Cheat Death / Hard to Kill), Brute (Good fixes for a high damage Header)

Pro: If you're looking after number 1, there are only a few Headers that provide as much safety and security of the Scalawag Header.

Con: If you're part of a team, this Header does the rest of your team no good.  You might be better off taking something that meshes well with the team. 

Are you going to take Scalawag? How do you plan on dealing with Cheat Death?  Let us know in the comments!

YouTube Friday....Harlem Shake Larp Style

At the final NERO Cinci event, a group of dedicated, fun-loving Larpers got together and created their own version of the Harlem Shake video.

Everyone seems to have had a good time and are proudly representing their inner nerd.  Pretty clean cut and straight forward.  The guy in the horse head was a nice touch.

What's your favorite Harlem Shake video? Please don't post anything that you wouldn't want to watch with your mother, reverend, or at least your girlfriend.  Saying that, if anyone posts anything with genitalia, not only will it be removed but I will forever look at you oddly (since you would be okay with your mom/reverend/girlfriend watching it with you.)

Header Spotlight: Shield Bearer

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Shield Bearer. 

What boffer game would this be if we didn't have a Header dedicated to using a shield.  (Ironically, I think it would be Exiles or Wastelands, but that's another story!).  The Shield Bearer is an expert using their shield, and in turn protecting themselves and their team.  They get some excellent skills that help them deal with the dangers of adventuring.

The Shield Bearer has no offensive abilities, but their defensive capabilities are matched by none.  Partial Deflection and Deflect give them the ability to turn away most attacks, Shield Familiarity and Strapped Shield (which doesn't actually require you to strap your shield) allow you to continue to use your shield despite maims and destroys.  Headstrong, Battlefield Positioning, and Shield Wall allow you to control the flow of battle. Finally, Shield Reflex gives you some sustainability with a free guard after each rest.

One thing to note is that in a 1v1 fight, the Shield Bearer will probably still lose against a Brute.  In the paper/rock/scissors that is the fighter meta, the Brute is expected to out fight a Shield Bearer, because a well placed Sunder will remove the Shield from the fight.  However, if working as part of a team, the Shield Bearer can outlast the Brute, as Shield Familiarity costs less than Sunder. 

Good Header Combinations: Warrior (Gives some damage and purges), Runesmith (Repair Runes help mitigate destroys and refresh armor), Duelist (Good damage if you're using a buckler)

Pro: If you're looking for a Header that's going to let you lead the charge and survive in dangerous situations, this is the one for you.  Works great for anyone who plans on using a full sized shield (if you have the CP). 

Con: The one thing that this Header lacks is damage.  Without someone to help you or another Header, you won't be able to punch through a paper bag.  

Are you going to take Shield Bearer?  What do you think the fighter meta is going to look like?  Let us know in the comments!

10,000 Hits?

Hi everyone!

So the blog seems to be doing pretty okay.  We're over 2, 000 hits at the moment.  I thought it might be fun to offer a small prop for some lucky person at 10, 000 hits.  When we reach 10, 000 I'll announce a lucky winner.  It'll be completely random.  I'm sure my genius engineer of a husband can figure out a way to make that happen.  If you live overseas, you'll have to pay shipping, otherwise, I'll suck it up and pay for it, or if you play a our game/close game we'll figure out a way to get it to you.  All you have to do is enter by sending an email here.  If you don't play our game or I won't know who you are, include something about a character or character concept so I can try to actually make something you'll like.

So what kind of prop prize am I talking about?

Nothing gigantic.  It will be usable across genre most likely.  Something made out of Fema Clay perhaps? A leather mask? Maybe a cool poem with filigree? A neat Wand rep?

Just a small thank you to our loyal readers for popping over every day! :-)

Not sure yet - what would YOU like to see as the giveaway prize? 

Header Spotlight: Trader

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Trader. 

The Trader is a support header that is designed to supplement characters that revolve around bartering.  While it was designed to give more stuff to players who aren't interested in combat, anyone can get the header and benefit from it!  The amount of CP you sink into this class can be as little or as much as you choose.

The primary skills of the Trader are Appraise and Buyer.  Appraise lets you read the secret cards that indicate high value (and you can choose to reveal them to others or not), and Buyer lets you bring lower level production items into game at a higher cost.  But if you're going to be selling items, it really lets you flesh out your inventory and get some harder to get wands.

They also have the ability to copy recipes (huge for crafters) and can get Merchant Contacts that help you buy said recipes.  Round it all off with the ability  to sell your valuable gems and luxuries for a profit, and there are few that can accumulate as much wealth as the Trader! 

Good Header Combinations: Any Production Header (If you're going to trade, you might as well make some of your own goods), Enchanter (One of the better magic headers for a non-combat player)

Pro: If you're looking to make money and aren't really focused on combat, this Header is going to make your game a lot more enjoyable.  You'll be able to get easy access to merchant-type plot, and you'll be the guy to go to when someone needs something... special. 

Con: No matter how you try and spin it, this Header isn't really going to help you in combat... at all.  Sure, you can get the Buyer skill a number of times to get some goods, but it's not really cost or CP efficient.   

Would you play a Trader?  What Headers would you take if you didn't want to do combat?  Let us know in the comments!

Healing and You! A Guide on (hopefully) Not Dying

 

We encourage guest posts from players and owners across the Larp genres.  They will not always express our views or fit every game. If you would like to do a guest spot, please email us here with your idea!  Dave Jurns has been Larping for several years and has served (and continues to do so) as a Plot person for WAR (Rage Hollow).  

Like basically everything else in WAR Accelerant, healing is going through a pretty radical shift and I think it’s going to take a little processing to wrap our heads around the differences.  Hopefully, we can work though some of that today.

Big Change #1:  Healers can’t heal forever. 

This is big, and it’s going to be weird for those of us (me included) who are used to making it rain “10 Elemental Healing”. 

“But Dave,” you may be saying, “I couldn’t heal forever!  I was using up components, and I’d have run out eventually!” 

No, you wouldn’t have.  LCO components, at least in my neck of the woods, fell from the sky like manna.  I don’t even know if anyone used them for anything but cantrips.  Everyone I can think of just called them “cantrip fodder”.  You get the idea.  The point is, with a system like that healing was effectively infinite.

No more.

Healing resources are going to be a little bit tighter, and the straight-up NERO style “backpack” just isn’t very feasible.  Basic healing requires attribute expenditure and there just isn’t that much to go around.

But, (deep breaths here) it’s cool.

Header Spotlight: Warden

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Warden. 

For those of you familiar with the Nature Magic Playtests, the Warden serves as the part of nature that's focused on hunting Elementals.  However, it's broadened a little bit in WAR Accelerant, to cover hunting anything from another plane (Elementals/Fae), as well as being incredibly effective against any Elemental Trait.

Much like the Shield Bearer, the Warden is somewhat expected to fight with a Shield.  They get access to the ability to cast with a shield in your hand, and also gain the ability to stop Elemental attacks on the cheap.  Even when fighting against people from Ghaia, you'll find that an Elementalist is probably the most likely to survive assault from an Elementalist, such as a Pyromancer, Cryomancer, or Storm Mage.

The Warden also gets access to the "It Ends Here" ability, that can prevent certain outsiders from going to Spirit (other than Dead Spirit).  While it's got an interesting call, it won't do anything to a normal person, and a monster must have a card that states how they'll react to the Anchor call.

Bound High Magic: Create Haven, Exile, Haven's Gift of Planar Protection, To the Marches and Beyond, Visions of Ghaia

Good Header Combinations: Shield Bearer (If you're going to rock the shield, you might as well be great at it), Pyromancer (Source of damage when not dealing with Outsiders)

Pro: Warden is one of those niche Headers, where you're obscenely good against Outsiders.  If you find yourself in a situation in which Outsiders are a big part, you'll be extremely effective. 

Con: On the flip side, if you're not dealing with Outsiders, you're going to run into some issues, as many of your abilities are designed to only affect Outsiders    

Would you play a Warden?  What Header would you pair up with Warden?  Let us know in the comments!

Wear Your 37 Pieces of Flair

One of the biggest issues we tend to run into as far as LARPing in the US (at least here in Ohio), is that many people don't take pride in their costume.  Often, people will do what's required in order to meet certain requirements, but going above and beyond is rarer.  If you take a look at our LARP brethren overseas, it seems as if this mentality is a little less dominant.  But I think I've figured out the reason behind this.  And it can be explained with the movie Office Space.

Header Spotlight: Assassin

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Assassin. 

What game wouldn't be complete without an Assassin!  This archetype exists in most fantasy stories and in a large number of games in the genre, so we would be remiss to not have this Header in our game.

In WAR Accelerant, Assassins specialize in using poisons on weapons.  Unlike other classes, they can put multiple poisons on a single blade, and they can do it extremely fast!  They also have access to the Unassuming skill, which is pretty great if you're being hunted.  You can essentially silently resist any AoE "Expose."  The capstone abilities include a death attack from behind, as well as an ability that makes you more effective when you're hunting a bounty!

Here's a quick note about Contract Killer.  The contract must be physical, but it can be from anyone.  We had questions about what would happen if Assassins gave each other contracts for the same guy, but ultimately it's a rather expensive CP investment and Contract Killer is a Daily skill, so it can't really be abused (but I have been wrong before.)

Good Header Combinations: Alchemist (Someone's got to make the poisons), Duelist/Blade Dancer (Defenses, fun with two weapons with poisons), Runesmith (to get the Weapon Rune of Poisoning)

Pro: If you've got the rogue walk down, and you've got a healthy supply of poisons, you're going to be highly effective against the average man walking down the street.  It's a pretty decent "Lone Wolf" Header. 

Con: If you run into something with resistances or immunities to poisons (Bloodmage, Elementals) you may lose a significant amount of effectiveness.  Also, you don't have many defenses on your own, so targets who survive through your surprise attack may be tough to bring down.    

Would you play an Assassin?  What poisons would you have on your blade, given the choice?  Let us know in the comments!

Supernatural - The Larp?

I'm not a giant fan of tabletop.  After I discovered Larp, I could never quite wrap my mind around rolling dice to kill a goblin when I could actually go do it!  I enjoy the social aspect of tabletop, but I find I get very antsy, even when the DM is spectacular and weaving a wonderful story.

Except Supernatural the Tabletop game.  Based on the t.v. show it's easy to set up, run, and play within.  Character creation takes about an hour and then you are totally good to go - even if you are completely unfamiliar with the game.

I ran a Supernatural tabletop game for a few friends that seemed to enjoy it, but it fell by the wayside amid buying houses, holidays, moving, and all kinds of Larp shenanigans.   A friend that played lived a goodly distance away, so he Skyped in and played the "tech guy," putting stuff up on the screen.  I built it around them actually searching/researching clues on websites that already existed (OH Sasquatch Society, for example) and built my lines around stuff that really existed.  Fun times.

As my husband and I were working on some Accelerant stuff one day, we lamented the fact there wasn't a Larp that was similar to Supernatural, Grimm, etc.  It would be so easy to pull off!  It would have a great combination of, well, the supernatural and the real world. 

Header Spotlight: Deathspeaker

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Deathspeaker. 

A good Deathspeaker is hard to find.  It takes someone with a certain kind of personality to spend a good portion of their time tending to and speaking to the dead.  You can often find a Deathspeaker or two attending Death's Drawing, observing the interactions of others and bearing care packages from the living.

The Deathspeaker support header complements most builds, because of it's unique abilities.  The ability to speak to the dead is great, and the ability to leave an item behind (if they want) when going to spirit makes them ideal to carry key items into dangerous places.  Finally, they get a Cure Death, which is hard to beat.

Here's a quick note about the ability to speak to dead (for those who are unaccustomed to Accelerant).  This allows you to speak to someone with the "Dead" trait, which you only get when you go to spirit to meet with Death.  This does not allow you to speak to someone who is currently affected by a Death effect (or have bled out).

Good Header Combinations: Anything!

Pro: It's got some really cool effects, and the ability to visit Death's Drawing is hard can be really interesting.  Also Cure Death.  'Nuff Said. 

Con: A lot of the effects for the Deathspeaker are situational and roleplay oriented.  Going deep in this tree may affect you combat capability by a small amount.    

What is your favorite Deathspeaker ability?  Would you play one?  Let us know in the comments!

YouTube Friday - Larp and the Real Girl

I'm sure most of you are familiar with CW's t.v. show Supernatural.  One of the more recent episodes sees Dean and Sam entering the world of Larp.

It's kind of hilarious (I thought) and it was awesome that Dean got in to it and embraced his inner nerd.  For those of you that haven't seen it, check out the clip below.  It's when Sam and Dean first arrive in Moondor.

The ingame location of Moondor is pretty awesome.  They have basically a real town, all set up in the local park (really?).  The Queen's chamber comes complete with artwork and a lovely Queen-sized bed (pun intended).  The props are pretty badass throughout most of the show, too.  I also find it very amusing they had a tent set up with computers ("travel here to the future") where you could take a break and get your World of Warcraft or League of Legend game on.  Even my husband, who is an AVID computer gamer thought it was a touch too much.

There have been a number of movies released in recent years (Roleplayers, Dungeons & Dragons, The Wild Hunt, Unicorn City, Monster Camp, etc.) that place Larps in a "better" - if often unrealistic - setting.  Yet, there are still the typical nerd portrayal of players that suggests a level of social awkwardness and in cases like The Wild Hunt they go straight medieval on each other and people actually end up dying - if I remember correctly.

We've come a long way since Mazes & Monsters, the lovely 80s movie that made many believe that D&D/Larp could drive you to a severe psychotic break and schizophrenia.

It's out there more in the eyes of the general public and a lot more people know what it - kinda - is.

Which leads me to today's question - is Larp actually portrayed better today in t.v./movies? Is the old adage any publicity is good publicity true? 

Header Spotlight - Berserker

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the 

--> Berserker Header.

NOTE: My husband, Bill, has done all of these Spotlights, but he's in Vegas.  Supposedly at a trade show.  Despite my fear, I've sucked it up and done it a bit last minute.

The Berserker is a warrior who is designed to just keep going and going.  Picture the Energizer Bunny of the fighting world meets Conan the Barbarian.  This Header means you can disregard certain effects, but then you rage out on everyone around you.  The Berserker is also designed to help you get up on a foe and do some serious damage output.  

Due to this, the Berserker probably has limited group versatility in a lot of instances.  However, if you a solo-mod type person this might be for you or if your friends don't mind staying the hell away from you during fights.  Or if you like Frenzy-ing and beating the crap out of enemies and friends alike.

Berserker doesn't just have great abilities, it also has a fairly significant negative - the primary one being that a number of the skills revolve around a Frenzy to the Berserker to use.  That's okay, though, cause who doesn't love a good Frenzy?  

Reckless Swing allows you to deliver a hefty 5 damage for low attribute cost, but it's main drawback is that your weapon takes a Destroy effect after.  Luckily, one of Berserker's Passive Ability, Improvise, allows you to keep on keepin' on with your weapon after it is Destroyed, though it is Reduced.   

-->The Berserker Header also has skills to help you keep going in a fight - Vitality, Resist Agony, Resist Maim, Resist Mental - even a Healing ability to self (though it comes with a Frenzy attached) or a Heal after you manage to Death Strike someone.  Oh, ya, cause you KNOW you glory in the kill.   The crowning moment for a Berserker though is Battle Rages On, where you get remove all non-Inflict negative effects, Heal 10, and Frenzy.  RAGE ON BROTHER!

Good Header Combinations: Warrior (gives it more sustainability) and Brute gives it some tricks (Thanks for the suggestions, Tim Holt)

Pro: Great Header to keep you going in a fight, plus some good damage for low cost.  Excellent when you find yourself out on your own.

Con: You may kill your friends when you Frenzy or your weapon might end up Destroyed.  But is Frenzy REALLY a con here?

Would you play a Berserker?  What fighting styles would you use in your optimal fighting team?  Let us know in the comments!

If It Doesn't Say No, That Means I Can, Right?

Something I've noticed in the last few years in the Larps I am involved in/play in there is a new mentality that has arisen among a lot of players in regards to rules.

"It doesn't say that I can't do that, so I can do it, right?"

It's a belief that has become more and more commonly held by different player bases.

So can you?

Here's the answer.

Header Spotlight: Pyromancer

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Pyromancer. 

The Pyromancer is the master of magical damage.  Of all  the Elemental Magic Headers, the Pyromancer has the most takedown power.  As a master of Fire damage, and all that goes with it, the Pyromancer is a good addition to any team.  They even have a Death spell!

One of the best things about the elemental headers is the Mastery abilities.  The Pyromancer can get the Fire Mastery, which allows them to reduce the cost of any Fire Attribute abilities after 60 seconds of concentration or 5 minutes of rest.  And that works with any fire ability!

Bound High Magic: Attribute Well: Fire, Extra-Planar Ethereal Voice, Haven's Gift of Planar Protection, To The Marches and Beyond

Good Header Combinations: Cryomancer (Stacking damage headers), Warrior (Good defenses, use some fire)

Pro: It's got amazing damage, and the reduced cost on fire skills allows you to play longer.  There's nothing wrong with it. 

Con: Other than damage, there's not a ton you can do.  Unless you're teamed up with a Guardian or stack some other headers, you might have a hard time surviving.    

Which Elemental Header is your favorite?  What would you stack with the Pyromancer Header?  Let us know in the comments!

Non-Typical Treasure

I'm a huge proponent of non-typical treasure.  Non-Typical Treasure is a terrible name, but I haven't come up with anything else, so that is what I am going with for the moment and simply refer to it as NTT.  Win.  What is NTT? Simply put, NTT is anything that goes out ingame that really has no applicable game value at first glance.  However, PC's seem to love it.  Now that the Larp season is about to get in to full swing, I figured I would do a post about some of the different types of NTT I have put out as a plot person or have seen put out. 

NTT is worthwhile across a variety of Larp genres, so read on!

Header Spotlight: Brute

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Brute Header. 

The Brute is a devastating warrior who wields a mighty two-handed weapon.  We understand that two-handed weapons are often not the most effective weapons in LARPs, due to realism constraints (you can't overpower shields or weapons).  So instead, we designed it to have some serious tools.

I will say, we designed the fighting system to feel like a paper-rock-scissors.  The Brute has certain tools that makes them especially good at beating Shield Bearers (Sword and Board).  Sunder is pretty devastating against Shields, and once you land that sunder, the Great Cleave skill is going to punch through.  However, Blade Dancers (Two Weapon Fighters) can neutralize Brutes with Disarm.  So there's that.

Great Cleave is great damage, and Aggressive Stance allows you to pull off an amazing Smash stance, which gives the Brute amazing field control.  If you see a Brute in the field, you should take care.  And if other fighters get in on you, you can always use Frightful Presence to Disengage.

Good Header Combinations: Spellsword (Easy to free up a hand), Hexer (Great Status effects to complement Brute Damage)

Pro: It's got amazing damage, and Sunder is going to help you break shield walls with little effort.  Great addition to the team. 

Con: Blade Dancers might be a problem, and you're extremely vulnerable to disarms.  And once fighters get on you.    

Would you play a Brute?  What fighting styles would you use in your optimal fighting team?  Let us know in the comments!

On Being Staff/NPC: Or, If You Can't Play Nice, Don't Show Up

We encourage guest posts from players and owners across the Larp genres.  They will not always express our views or fit every game. If you would like to do a guest spot, please email us here with your idea!  Beth Jurns has been Larping for several years and has served (and continues to do so) as a Staff person for WAR.  

After a year or so of regular LARPing, around that time when you're really feeling settled in your character and plot at your favorite camp, it's time to start thinking about volunteerism. If you enjoy LARP, one of the best possible things you can do is give your time to your game in the form of NPCing or staffing. Nearly all LARPs run on volunteer labor, and it's really crucial to understand that if you want to play an awesome game, you need to make an awesome game. Donations are fantastic and absolutely important, but a camp with a thousand dollars of donated goods and two NPCs might not be as thankful for your bulk order of printer paper as you hope they will. 

I began NPCing during my second year of play, and last year I became a staff member at a We Are Roleplayers camp. This year I will be filling a head of staff role there, and I've been thinking a lot about how to make myself and my team the most valuable group of NPCs we can possibly be. There are a few principles of NPC/Staffing at LARP events that I think are important to remember. 

No, wait, there's just one, but it covers everything you need to know about volunteering at a LARP.

Are you ready for this? It's going to get complicated. There will be sub-points and maybe even bulleted lists (I'm not sure, I'm still writing it), and lots of explanation, but there is one single, solitary phrase that will tell you everything you need to know about how to NPC or staff a LARP event.

Here it goes.

Be ready. It's coming up right here. I'm going to put it in bold and even underline it so you don't miss it. 

Just play it cool, guys.

Header Spotlight: Healer

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Healer Header. 

The Healer is a staple in Fantasy games, and this game is no different.  If your character is hurt or has been hit with some nefarious effect, hopefully there's a healer to back you up.  While many Headers have means to remove certain effects or perform limited healing, none of those come even close to the usefulness of a Healer.

While you can choose to adventure without a Healer, it's really not suggested.  Every team that's serious is going to have at least one person who goes deep into Healing.  Healers can Cure practically any Effect and most of the standard Traits, provide exceptional healing, and even Cure Death.  What's not to like!

The Prolonged Healing ability gives the Healer the option of saving Attributes by delivering Healing in a slower, more controlled fashion.  But when stuff starts to get ugly, they've got a slew of abilities that they can dump their attributes on.

Finally, remember that not every healer has to have everything!  It's perfectly viable to have a Healer that is specialized in Healing instead of Curing, or a Healer that's great at spot removal of effects, but isn't generally as useful when removing trait effects.  Feel free to spread it out amongst a few people if you don't have anyone who wants to be a dedicated Healer.

Bound High Magic: Call Forth Spirit, Create Haven, New Lineage, Unfinished Business, Vampire's Bane

Good Header Combinations: Cryomancer (Water Mastery leads to powerful Healing), Shield Bearer (Defend yourself while helping others), Infusions (Plenty of useful spells in the Healer Header for Wands)

Pro: It's healing.  You're going to need some healing in your group.  As a Healer, everyone will want to be your friend, and you'll have plenty of opportunities for adventure. 

Con: Unless you pick up some offensive headers, it can be pretty difficult to defeat an enemy as a healer.  And even if you do, every Attribute you spend taking someone out is an Attribute you don't have to heal your friends.    

How many Healers will your team have?  If you are going Healer, what type of Healer are you focusing on?  Let us know in the comments!

The Descended - To Be Or Not To Be....

One of the new races/cultures within WAR Accelerant - The Shattered Realm are The Descended.  People seem to be fairly excited about it, which we expected and hoped for, so this post will explore the benefits and negatives of playing one of The Descended.

This post is a pretty straightforward, but includes some key tips to keep in mind if you are thinking about playing one of The Descended. 

From the WAR Accelerant Rulebook:

The Descended, a rare people, are born from mortals and magical creatures with human intelligence, such as Vampires, Faeries, Elementals, and Undead. Like other half-blood races, they tend to be unique in appearance and attributes, and may prefer to live in small enclaves of their own kind than to venture into a world that does not always accept them with open arms. As their name suggests, they are often proud of their lineage, and typically name themselves in honor of their magical parent (i.e. “Half-Faerie,” “Half-Undead <Type>,” “Drake (Draconic),” and “Half-Elemental <Type>”).  The Descended do not consider themselves to be a single race. Some want only to be included in mortal society, while others are fiercely proud of their magical ancestors. Typically, a member of the Descended will appear and behave in a manner that reflects a mingling of both their mortal and their magical parent’s native culture and character.  There is a second group of The Descended that have come in to being since The Shattering.  This group represents the effect of Wild Magic upon some individuals.  For example, while fighting Fire Elementals the Wild Magic ripped through the adventurer, forcing some trace of the Fire Elemental upon their spirit.  Perhaps they were fighting Undead or simply conversing with them.  Some of these individuals have embraced their new-found transformation, others seek to cleanse their spirit of it.  Like Monstrous Humanoids, the Descended have many different appearances.

There are a couple of reasons we stated "from mortals and magical creatures with human intelligence."  Mainly, to avoid people running around as Descended Basilisks.  Let's not talk about the logistics of how that happened.  Moving on.

Header Spotlight: Rogue

The Header Spotlight segment is a way to deliver some information about the specific Headers and to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.

Today, we'll be covering the Rogue Header. 

The Rogue is a common archetype throughout fantasy, and we would be remiss to leave it out.  In WAR Accelerant, the Rogue is a martial class with a large focus on survival, particularly when it comes to traps.  As one of the generalist classes, it's got some great tools at it's disposal if you go deep enough.  

Like many other games, you can't even try and pick locks or disarm traps without the proper skill.  The Rogue is currently the only header that can!  That means that most adventuring groups are going to want someone to take the rogue header.

However, they've got some great offensive qualities (3 damage from behind and disarm), and have some of the best defensive qualities (stabilize self for 2 fire, and an elude after 5 minutes of rest!).  And a rogue with Backstab mastery and Luck has some great sustain, and can be at least partially effective without blowing any attributes or daily abilities in a fight.

Good Header Combinations: Warrior (Another all-around class with defenses and offensive strikes), Cryomancer (Good control and reduced water cost on Evade), Scalawag (Cheat Death and Hard to Kill are an insane combo)

Pro: If you're going for a Jack-of-All-Trades build, the Rogue is second to none.  You'll be useful in almost any situation, although you're not the best in all situations. 

Con: Without a niche, you may never be the guy who saves the day (well, unless it involves traps or locks).  If you're hoping to specialize, this isn't the best way to do it.  

Does your team have a Rogue in it?  If you were a Rogue, what header would you combo it with?  Let us know in the comments!