Babble day – LARP stuff version: Accelerant

Good afternoon cats and kittens,

This babble day, I thought I’d got over what the Accelerant system is, who uses it, what it’s all about and how it works.

I will only be commenting here and there, when I think it’s amusing or pertinent. But mostly I’ll be cribbing (with credit) from the people that know best.

Our first blurb is yanked from: Madrigal’s System Madrigal is run by the creator of Accelerant, Robert Ciccolini. I’d say that’s a pretty authoritative source, eh?

The Accelerant live action system (formerly known as the nTeraction system) is designed to allow a rich set of skills and abilities without an overly complicated rules set. The system is designed to allow a great deal of options in creating and advancing characters, and allows for hidden and secret skills without needing extra rules to deal with those abilities.

With the Accelerant system, we have taken every opportunity to allow the player’s actions to speak for them. Most of the active skills require real interaction from the player. The rules handle the resolution of our staged combat, allow rogues to actually work game locks and disarm game traps, allow mages to throw battle magic and summon spirits, and even encourage musical performance with a set of Troubadour skills. Our staged combat stresses roleplaying, and we use boffer weapons and packets to represent weapons and magical effects.

The Accelerant system is designed to allow the game to flow without holds or stops in the game play. Every facet of the game, from the rules to the plot to the staff characters, is designed to create a tale without interrupting play. We will work hard to stay in game, and we ask that our players do the same.

For a full set of Accelerant base rules you can go here: Accelerant Core Rules

The main point I enjoy about this rules set, is highlighted in the last paragraph. “. . . game flow without holds or stops in the game play”. Now WYSIWYG is a brutal mistress, and I don’t expect 100% immersion 100% of the time from any larp. But if there is less time that I spend thinking “Oh man, what does that do again?” and more time thinking in an IG way, I really appreciate it. And having a common rules set allows the front of your brain to be in character rather than rifling through a mental rulebook.

While I was thinking in that vein, I staggered across this blog and thought it was pertinent. For an Ohio larper’s review and dissemination of Madrigal’s rule set take a look here: LarpOhio

The author’s name is Tim, but he isn’t credited anywhere on the blog. He does seem to like the system, but doesn’t judge much one way or the other. It seems more like a jumping off point for his readers to discuss how they feel about it, and a bookmark for him to remember he’d like to use this system if he ever runs a larp. Having said that, it’s always nice to see how larpers in other parts of the world think.

Now to switch directions, I’ve pulled this from http://www.accelerantgames.com/ It’s some of the boiler plate for GM’s/Directors/Owners/Potential Buyers:

 “The Accelerant game system is a set of simple, time-tested core rules, upon which a game owner can build their live-action roleplaying game.

. . .

Since Accelerant games completely divorce flavor (called traits) from in-game effects, it is simple to create creatures in a fanciful and flavored way. For example, a Fire Elemental can have “5 Damage by Fire” and “Disarm by Fire”, and have a completely different feel than a duelist who can swing “5 Damage” and “Disarm”, though the in-game effects are the same.

There are many games using the core Accelerant rule system, exploring a wide variety of themes and genres – explore the websites through the icons to the right to get a feel for the types of games the system supports – these include:

Aftermath, Madrigal, Aralis 2, Mirror Mirror, Ascendant, Numina Larp, Brittanis, Occam’s Razor, Clockwork Skies, Shadows of Amun, Cottington Woods, The Isles, Invictis, The Shattered Realms, Zombies: Aftershock!” and others.

Those others, of course, include Lione Rampant: Crusades. Which is happening this weekend at YoC. I’m just sayin’. Here’s a link to their rules, to see how they handle the Accelerant system. READEN ZEE BOOK

Finally here’s a view from an interesting source that I didn’t expect. This is TV Tropes write up on Accelerant larps:

 LARP: Accelerant

The Accelerant system is a LARP (Live Action Role-Play) system that functions as a set of core rules for guiding the interactions between characters in several New England-based LARP games. Formerly known as the nTeraction system, it is developed and owned by Robert Ciccolini.

While games that run using the Accelerant rules can vary widely in genre, theme, and “combat vs. roleplaying” ratio, they all share some basic characteristics. These include the use of boffer weapons and birdseed-filled packets as the means by which combat is resolved, and the general rule that one hit from a weapon or arrow (represented by a boffer weapon or packet, respectively) deals one point of damage in game terms, unless the attacker declares otherwise when they make the attack.

…

Another feature of Accelerant games is that most of them participate in a Character Point exchange with other Accelerant games, meaning one can play a game as an NPC to earn Character Points and then apply those points to one of their Player Characters.

The general philosophy of the Accelerant rules system is that characters should be able to do as much as possible “in-game” without breaking character or interrupting the general flow of the game. No dice, cards, or rock-paper-scissors methods are part of the core rule system. The game employs a system of effects and traits defined by a common vocabulary which makes it easy to resolve otherwise difficult or confusing actions without breaking the flow of the game.

Read more: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LARP/Accelerant#ixzz3dQDUQuf0

Are there really larps that use “dice, cards, or rock paper scissors” any longer??? I know that V:tM does . . . but other than that, I’ve never used any of those devices for combat resolution during a larp. It sounds like something that would be cumbersome and would wrench you right out of the immersion. Or it might not, if you’re used to it? Maybe that’ll be my next babble day topic. ^_~

Well I’m off for today, tender lumplings. I hope you have a delightful end of your week, and that wherever you’re larping this weekend, you have an awesome time!

(But I hope to see you at YoC ^_^)

xxoo

Leda et al