I am a budding LARP developer for a steampunk themed airsoft/boffer full contact game. You can find the facebook group by the same name as this blog: Antarctica Paradisium.
What's that?
The setting rests in an alternate 1870 where a newly formed company called "Element Trading Company" (ETC from here on) discovers that at the center of Antarctica lies an archipelago geothermally heated. On this archipelago are two things: ruins of an ancient and long dead civilization, and an element not previously known to man which has strange and wondrous qualities. The ETC secures from a newly formed league of nations the exclusive exportation and importation rights to the archipelago which they dub: "Antarctica Paradisium" (AP for short). Players of the game are prospectors, exploring and devloping the industry necessary to exploit the newly discovered element, or explore the ruins abundant on the archipelago and discover fantastic devices.
But maybe you're not the industrious type? Violence is an acceptable avenue to riches in AP. See, the ETC is not a policing organization; they don't care who or how they get the new element from, just that they get it at the best price. Stealing or murder from the ETC is cause for a bounty by the ETC, but not from unaffiliated companies.
In AP you can produce, trade, steal, or kill your way to glory and riches; nothing is sacred in your adventures in AP!
The major themes of this game are as such: A steampunk setting/world, economics, politics, warfare, intelligence, and research & development of new technologies. The hope is that with a developed economic model the players will have cause to produce, trade, or steal the things they will need to be successful in AP. This element of economics should fuel politics within the world, and from there war (which hopefully will be inevitable) between companies in AP. The players only know what they have discovered in the game, so if a group of players wished to form a pirating group, other players would have to seek them out to destroy them. Lastly, the game will have an extensive technology tree so players will have to compete to develop ever more fantastic devices to use on and off the battlefield to defeat each other. I hope you're excited about this like I have been!
So how do we play?
We will meet twice a month to do two things: monthly actions and field battles. Anything that does not take place on a battlefield, will be resolved in two meetings: the first where players declare the actions their companies and characters will take, and then the resolution of those actions. The battles that result from these actions will be resolved in real life on the second meeting, anything else will be explained to the players who need to know by officers of game (OG's from now on).
Field battles are the bread and butter of this game, and really are the focus of the game. Since the first meeting is when we declare monthly actions and the battles aren't yet organized, the first meeting will split all the players into two groups (while keeping companies together) and will complete battles as we see fit. These range from the classic slaughter the other side battles, to steal the device and set all red valves to green. These missions will reflect the same kind of things players can do as their monthly actions. The second meeting of the month will run all of the field battles the characters or companies of players are involved in. In the cases where a side has hired personnel like mercenaries to defend their assets, players can play games similar in function to the battlefield series where each side has a number of tickets with which they will use to respawn after already dying in the battle. Since no one wants to sit on the side lines while others are playing, other players who have a vested interest in one side winning over the other can join at the discretion of the company they are attempting to help. These concepts will be better explored later in the blog.
To simulate combat on the field we will use two types of weapons: boffer and airsoft. A boffer weapon is simply a padded stick used to safely strike other players. An airsoft weapon is a toy gun that shoots plastic bb's at other players. The only mandatory safety gear will be fully enclosing shatter resistant goggles. The game will be full contact with some restrictions: no biting, kicking, punching, joint locks, tripping, pulling on costumes, and any other action that is dangerous and cannot be made safe.
Airsoft weapons can be dangerous when shot within ten feet of the intended target, so no shooting can take place where the shooter and target are within ten feet of each other. This is called the "melee bubble" where only melee weapons may be used. A player may retreat outside of this bubble to regain the ability to use airsoft weapons, but only when a distance of ten or more feet has been reached between they and their target.
I can go on, but I'll leave it there for now. Soak up some more later; there is plenty more to blog about!
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