You will be given a character sheet with everything you need to know to play. (See the sample sheet below.) You will likely already have a brief description of the game. Unlike some LARPs, you do not design your own character. Characters are prewritten to go with the story designed by the GMs. You do get to customize your character to some extent, and you are the one who decides what you do during the game.

At the beginning of the game, the GMs will go over the rules, describe the scene and what you as characters know. We will meet with players individually as necessary to give specific instructions and hand out props.

When the game begins, act out your character. That’s it! Interact with the other characters, react to the situation as it changes, and try to do what you think your character would do in that situation.

Most games will include some sort of mystery or puzzle to solve. Some games will have characters with conflicting goals, some will not. Some games have “bad guys,” some do not. All you know is that, probably, the situation will start out “normal” and turn into NOT NORMAL very quickly.

Act out your character, and try to achieve your character’s goals. When your character goes crazy, go crazy! If your character dies, see a GM for instructions. There is always something for a dead character to do. No one is out of the game until it’s over. A good rule of thumb to remember is that it might be hard to get subtlety across, and acting and picking up on others’ acting in the moment can be hard. So don’t be afraid to exaggerate notable aspects of your character’s personality to get your point across. And if you’re going nuts, go nuts at going nuts. (See the Rules for more info on how and why you go nuts.)

Sample Character Sheet

Character: The “Title” of your character, so to speak. Might be something like “Doctor” or “Cashier 1.” If there is a slash, that means that you have a secret identity. “Doctor\Cultist of Cthulhu” would mean that as far as everyone else knows, you are a doctor, but you are secretly a cultist.

Character Name: You get to choose the name of your character yourself. Your character might come with a name if it is very important to the story.

Basics: This will tell you who your character is, their background, and anything else important about them. You can add details to this as you choose, but you should not CHANGE anything that might affect the plot.

Special Power: Some characters have a special power. Most powers have three uses. This will describe what your power is and what it does. To use your power, get a GM, tell them what you want to do, and mark off a use. Examples: “Knowledge (Thing): Ask a GM three questions relating to your area of expertise.” Or: “Perceptive: You have an innate sense of people. You can determine if something someone just said is the truth or a lie.” When you use a power, or someone uses a power on you, a GM will describe to you what you experience.

Goals: The thing you are trying to accomplish. You can add to these goals to suit the vision of your character, but do not CHANGE anything that might affect the plot.

Personality Notes: This is just a prompt to get you started on how you play your character. How you interpret it is up to you.

Costume/Prop Notes: If there is a prop that your character has to have, storywise, it will be provided for you. If you have the chance to get your character assignment ahead of time, you can plan a costume. If not, we might have something in a general costume box you can borrow.

Who do you know?: A run down of which of the other characters you already know and how. “Cashier 1” knows Cashier 2, Regular Customer, etc. This is extra important if you have seeeecret identities with goals that align with others, such as cultists who are working together.

Misc Notes: Just in case there’s something else you need to know.