Player Agency at Reckoning LARP | ft. Skill Tree

Abby ("Kit"), Maddie ("Evelyn"), and Kent ("Volter") evaluate the decisions they made to push the bounds of character agency at this year's Reckoning event. How much freedom is too much freedom? How much influence can one character have in a story of over a hundred participants? Follow along as they describe their adventures and how they all played out.
PATREON
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@larp_shire
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@LarpShire
CALIMACIL
Find all weapons we used at calimacil.com?aff=19
(Use this link and we will get a portion of the proceeds to use to buy more props for the show!)
Music: www.chosic.com...
Ale and Anecdotes by Darren Curtis | www.darrencurt...
Music promoted on www.chosic.com...
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
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[@SkillTree]

#freemadi! You have your video!

[@grbdevnull5611]

It's nice that Madi has some real life friends now, but we over at Skill Tree are missing her. #FreeMadi

[@thomasmiller292]

My favorite part of this video is watching relatlviely new American LARPers discover concepts used heavily in German and Danish LARP, but are largely not communicated well outside of those countries. It's awesome to see that happen!

[@LarpShire]

That’s awesome! The runner of Reckoning has a good amount of experience with German and other European LARPs and is hoping Reckoning can bridge the gap between those styles and American LARP

[@Glorfindel_117]

#saveMadi get the cookies over here

[@jonanderson3050]

It was me; I was the player agent. I agented the agency with my playing skills, and fooled you all.

[@LarpShire]

Darn, I should have seen it coming! All the clues were there. I was just too blind to see them…

[@beardedgremlin8117]

#keepMadi. Get a taco

[@Madimistred]

i LovE my new Taco friends! My nEw place amonG larp shire is such gOod fun! #KeepMadi

[@longshot9757]

Yep, seems legit.

[@darrelnicholas5076]

Release the crow

[@lisavanderkolk1489]

#savemadi. But next to that. Lovely video, I love to ever go to a larp as lovely as that

[@navarrduphoenixx]

I enjoyed Reckoning, and look forward to the next one. Some of the Hadrians knew going in that diplomacy might be an uphill battle, whereas others were caught a bit off-guard by the animosity toward the Empress' Own. I'll say this for my brethren among the Crimson Court; we were intensely loyal to Her Imperial Majesty, and if She said, from a thousand miles away, "Go to this peace summit and represent Our interests among the other factions," then the Hadrians were going to do exactly that. Most of the Hadrian sages were determined to promote peace. A third of the Hadrian warriors present had not taken part in the Rivlan War as they were Legionaries from a sect of monster hunters. Sadly, I was exhausted by the time the rain started on Saturday, took a nap while peace broke out among the Four Nations, and woke up in time to enjoy a running skirmish against ensorcelled allies. But, in terms of player agency, I arrived with several short term goals including singing some songs, sparring with sword and buckler, and teaching a lesson in multiplication using "Hadrian numerals," because a month before Reckoning I had seen a niche TikTok detailing how the Romans did multiplication with Roman numerals and said, "I am absolutely going to inflict this knowledge on SOMEONE at Reckoning." Once I had achieved my character's short-term goals I started formulating some new goals, some short, some longer. Curry favor with the Countess. Learn the local Earl's favorite songs and foods. Try to figure out why everyone wants this Golden Chalice. Teach the only period-dance I know. (The "Korobushka," which is danced to the theme from Tetris."

[@LarpShire]

Love hearing your perspective as a Hadrian! I also really like setting various goals for your character and your game.

[@Scampcam]

at fields of illusion in the UK (devon), this is kind of how it works for us too! There's plot, but it's changed on the fly by player agency and decisions.

[@LarpShire]

Love that!

[@dom4002]

Her ankles are still tied. !

[@SanguineSelian]

Never interacted with the countess, but she was giving me some serious side eye all weekend

[@CAPace09]

I will say, from the Hadrian perspective, we were kind of railroaded into everything that happened during the weekend due to some issues and misunderstanding jn the lore and due to some problems that happened during the weekend.

[@Draculord666]

Care to share? I'm curious since all the coverage I've seen from the event is almost entirely from the Rivlan side of things.

[@LarpShire]

I don't think I'd say anyone was railroaded into anything at this event given the level of player agency. Do you think there's anything you could have done differently to influence the narrative surrounding your character or your faction?

[@CAPace09]

@@Draculord666 I was speaking out a lot of personal hurt and a lack of seeing the whole picture. I've since realized that I let a lot of character bleed get to me about it and that I need to work on seperating my roleplaying and my self.

[@helios4810]

#savemadi

[@beff7900]

#Freemadi Let the crow go!

[@ajrobbins368]

Great video, despite the quiet audio. Now #FreeMadi

[@ThePageTurnerPT]

This is more a DnD thing, but also like the antithesis of player agency. I had a DM once that had this idea for a grand and super epic super campaign. Basically the idea was that us as PCs would do multiple campaigns (levels 1-20) with a few characters. All of that culminating into one final campaign in which the PCs for that last game, and PCs from the previous games and the organizations that rallied around them (if any) would come to help the final campaign PCs against the end of the world. His grandmaster plan/fantasy was that each PC from every game prior to the final campaign would need to somehow build an organization, and outright expressed that he expected us to do this such that the final campaign would then call upon each organization. The final campaign was also a written adventure path from Paizo (it was a PF1e game called Wrath of the Righteous). It's a mythic campaign, which basically means that the PCs become effectively as powerful as literal deities by the end of it. So, when dealing with that kind of power, it was described to me as a game of rocket tag (aka its very easy to have a TPK). And the DM was so hyper focused on making it an extra epic game, but didn't like how the difficulty of it was written, that he outright told us ahead of time that he'd make it no less than 4x harder than it was written as. He held onto that idea so hard that when none of the PCs from the first campaign were making strides to be the founder of an organization to help with this final campaign that he was unwilling to drop the concept of making the final game super rocket tag for the sake of fun for the group He was trying to encourage people to do stuff for the greater good, when some of the PCs didn't have that as a core part of their character. It came off as pressuring us to play the game HE wanted and not the game WE wanted

[@ThePageTurnerPT]

Also #savemadi

[@bretlemieux2489]

I enjoyed the vid but y’all still started a war vs the monkeys! To war! Much ch love y’all!

[@Timri3681]

#freemadi

[@jeremyharrison3066]

#freemadi

[@victoryismyn2]

#freemadi

[@nevernether3368]

Im excited for the day I can join in on this (rather expensive--) experience

[@lugo5678]

I've been battle game, LARP fighting since 06 and wanting to increase the RP of the overall experience my team and I will put on circus shows(music, juggling, clowns and acrobats) to give our mercenary group a RP story why we are able to travel peacefully through any territory; and take any side in a fight.

[@LarpShire]

That’s awesome!

[@lugo5678]

Thank you. It definitely changed the intensity level some of our members fight at to be able to do certain things in the show but I think it's been more than worth the extra effort.

[@commandervulkan]

The truth was. The game was rigged from the start

[@marikishtar5341]

First Grem!

[@marikishtar5341]

Also #FreeMadi I guess

[@beardedgremlin8117]

Not a skill tree video so it does T count

[@abigailrutan1489]

#volterdidnothingwrong

[@paulangelo1974]

#Freemadi! Release the crow!

[@TheOriginalJPRU]

#FreeMadi find peace, bring tacookies

[@LarpShire]

Sounds like a good plan!

[@longshot9757]

It's just not the same without our independent, rebellious, lovably sarcastic crow. #Freemadi

[@debbiejonesakagrannypanda3866]

#SaveMadi

[@MourningAlex]

Reckoning is under new ownership and management now, if you want to give it another shot.

[@Struthio_Camelus]

#freemadi

[@hazeltollz5695]

#FreeMadi!!

[@mylesjones3435]

#Freemadi !!!!!

[@revann33]

#Freemadi

[@Elvenarcher1217]

#freemadi

[@kencoffman7145]

Free Madi!

[@DanielLee-wc9gb]

Madi must be allowed her agency!

[@LarpShire]

Dangit, hard to argue with that point lol

[@prestonfazende3594]

#saveMadi

[@erichealey1434]

#FreeMadi

[@rockinrswoodshop]

#Freemadi

[@dragonslyer74]

#freemadi

[@WildwestAus]

#freemadi

[@YsmirGaming]

#freemadi