Keep Yourself Busy Through a Player-Driven Larp Plot

In the LARPs I have played, there is a person or team that runs the larp plot by sending in non-player characters (NPCs). They send out the monsters that we fight, the merchants we purchase from and the characters we role-play with for information. These are great ways to get involved in the game but my favorite part has always been the player-driven plot. The plot that players build themselves just by using their character in creative ways. I find more often than not, this is the most interesting and really helps characters grow and evolve. I’ve had many experiences with this myself and watched others create truly entertaining encounters without relying on NPCs.

Form meaningful relationships

Character relationships are one very popular form of player driven plot. These relationships can be friendships, family, romance, and even mortal enemies. My personal involvement in Epoch right now involve a group of cat-like characters working together similarly to a pride of lions. The in-game politics within the group kept me so busy during our last event that I barely had time to interact with the plot that was being sent in, though, I can’t say I missed out on anything because the role-playing was absolutely amazing. I didn’t even mind that I missed out on combat most of the event.

Get creative!

Some player-driven plots are less personal and hit a larger group of people. This can be done many ways. In some games there are in-game law enforcement and doing something against the law can be very entertaining especially if it means having an in-game trial. One of the more playful groups within Epoch regularly plays pranks on large groups of characters. Sometimes there’s even a prank war between two groups with characters getting accidentally caught in the crossfire.

Organizing your own group or in-game event can keep you quite busy. It could be anything! A band of thieves, bodyguards or mercenaries, a guild of people who have certain abilities, have your character throw a party, or maybe try to accomplish something shady.

Player Driven Larp Plot

The best characters that I’ve ever had have been the ones that were interesting enough that at worst, they only ever needed one person to talk with to stay well entertained and at best, they had enough to do even on their own. I didn’t have to worry about finding myself bored the times when plot team’s events or instances were hard to find. The character I was playing was enough.