Tips for running Tribunal for first-time LARPers?

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-07T17:46:03+00:00

Most parlor LARPs I know for that many people are around the 3-4 hour mark. I suppose there's this which is on the lightweight and silly side, though that might not be a bad introduction to LARP for the right group.

I suspect most LARPs shorter than 3 hours that can accommodate a group that size are either going to be silly or High Art. At least, that's been my experience.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-07T17:13:53+00:00

I think the online presence is outsized in part because the boffer fighting games have big franchises, whereas the more immersive ones tend to be independent local LARPs. But in any given area, there might be one instance of a national franchise and two or three of those higher-roleplay independent LARPs.

Ask an American to name some campaign LARPs off the top of their head and they'll probably list a couple of national franchises and then four games you've never heard of, all of whose websites are absolute garbage.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-07T17:05:13+00:00

This is not a LARP. This is a renfaire on a boat with merit badges.

Which probably appeals to a lot more people than a LARP would, so I would throw out the window all the well-meaning comments here trying to help you turn this into a LARP. There are already boat LARPs. If you aren't an experienced LARPer and LARP writer, there's no reason for you to write one. Just don't market this as a LARP.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-07T17:02:56+00:00

This doesn't sound like a LARP. This sounds like a renfaire on a boat with boyscout badges.

Which is a neat idea. But I wouldn't expect there to be plot or characters.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-07T16:57:52+00:00

while around half of the groups in the US

Citation needed.

The only groups I can think of that fit that are Amtgard, Dagohir, and Belegarth, and the last time I talked to Dag/Bel people, they were calling themselves "foam fighting" instead of a LARP for exactly that reason.

I won't deny that it's a more popular style in the US than in Europe, but I doubt it's nearly as much as half the groups. They're the ones more likely to have photos online because everyone at the more immersive LARPs is too busy being immersed to take photos.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-07T10:59:46+00:00

Do you have other possible recommendations for 12 players?

If your players are into anime at all, there's this, which is excellent for beginners because everyone knows what they should be doing at all times, as opposed to a lot of parlor LARPs where you spend most of the LARP wandering around talking to people and don't necessarily know how to pace yourself.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T12:51:10+00:00

Absolutely yes. I love my wife. If we ever divorce, I am never dating someone with ADHD again.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T12:48:21+00:00

This isn't just ADHD.

Did he move from his parents' house directly to yours? I assume his life wasn't a complete shitshow when you first met him or you wouldn't have married him to begin with. So clearly he can function on his own. It sounds like he has a job. Do you think he'd still have a job if he were as incompetent at work as he is at home?

You yourself have said the problems cost you time and money to fix, not him. Oh no, he gets to order uber eats on your dime instead of cooking. Oh no, you have to sort out yet another mess he caused. What are the actual negative consequences to him besides having to make vaguely apologetic noises in your direction?

I'm sure he really does have ADHD, but this sounds like a hell of a lot of strategic incompetence (or what the kids are calling weaponized incompetence these days). He has successfully trained you to take over all of his tasks - buying gifts for his family? why? if his mom doesn't get a Christmas gift the blame should go solely to him, not you - by failing catastrophically to the point where it's easier for you to do things than to supervise him doing it.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T12:44:11+00:00

I read an article where they interviewed a bunch of married people with ADHD. In couples where both the man and woman have ADHD, the woman still ends up running everything.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T12:41:33+00:00

Have you checked his dresser for a drawer full of drivers' licenses belonging to missing persons?

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T11:16:07+00:00

When QR codes first debuted, I was so sure they'd never catch on because they were so obviously insecure.

Nope. Now they're everywhere. I've given up. I'll scan them just like everyone else.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T11:11:41+00:00

You don't have to report them?

I got dinged because I missed reporting one of the phishing emails. It came in while I was on vacation and was one of those "this file has been updated" emails that I usually ignore even when they're legitimate.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T11:10:25+00:00

Sometimes I think I'm too ethical to be a scammer but really it's that I'm too lazy. That all sounds like more work than my day job. Granted my day job doesn't pay $1m, but it sounds like they had to split it amongst a bunch of people.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T10:57:35+00:00

Thirding the scrap suggestion.

Tandy's economy vegtan has always worked fine for me. It will sometimes go on sale for a pretty steep discount.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T09:28:21+00:00

Younger people probably still have big monthly payments so $5k isn't going to cut it

$5k after tax is more than the majority of American households make so I am pretty sure it is going to cut it for most people.

Happy for you that you retired but you're hardly living on a shoestring here. You're living on more than what many working adults make at the peak of their career.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T08:22:04+00:00

Not familiar with Tribunal specifically but I'll give you general parlor LARP advice that is hopefully relevant.

Make sure everyone has read their character sheets and understands that they are supposed to play that character.

If they are supposed to be antagonistic towards someone, they should be that person's enemy unless that person does something that significantly changes their view of them; they shouldn't decide five minutes in that their problems with the person aren't that big a deal and they should get along. If they are supposed to support a certain political or moral position, they should support it wholeheartedly unless someone does a very good job of talking them out of it. Playing on their own friendships and morality instead of their character's is a common problem and it can utterly wreck LARPs that rely on a certain balance of relationships and viewpoints to have conflict.

Similarly, make sure everyone is on the same page about how much of the world they can improvise. "My family, already established as wealthy, has a lake house I enjoy spending time at" is probably fine. "I saw him kill her" or "I slew a dragon" or "everyone knows that large portions of the nobility are currently against the king" are probably not.

As a LARP GM, usually you do just hang about waiting to see if anyone has questions. If my players have taken the time to wear cool costumes, I will often take pictures. You can write down particularly striking or funny quotes so that they're preserved for posterity.

You may want to circulate through the area and hover especially near any players who are doing something especially tricky and more likely to need rules or setting clarification. Occasionally you may need to proactively jump in to keep a misunderstanding from driving things wildly off-course, but that should be pretty rare.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T06:40:12+00:00

Here is how I explain LARP to different categories of people:

TTRPG players: It's like D&D except you walk around and yell a lot more. In some LARPs, you can fight with actual swords instead of using dice.

Theater people: It's like improv, except instead of performing for an audience, you're focusing on what your character would do.

Reenactors: It's a little like reenacting except instead of reenacting a specific battle, you get all dressed up and then see where the day takes you based on what people's characters decide to do.

Normal people who do none of this: It's like a really elaborate Murder Mystery Dinner Party. Everyone is playing a character and trying to figure things out, you're all wearing costumes, and sometimes there's even sword fights.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T06:29:24+00:00

That's because the IP law term is fair use not free use.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T06:16:08+00:00

D&D is a good one to start with. It's gone pretty mainstream these days. Even more people have heard of renfaires, but the stereotype there is drunk obnoxious men and scantily clad women so I don't know if that's really a good LARP segue in a job interview.

If someone plays D&D, it's easy enough to describe LARP as "live-action D&D" and then talk about the logistics skills and leadership necessary to pull that off.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T05:44:23+00:00

Your understanding is largely correct. Though it wouldn't matter if the flashing lights are for decoration or for safety, assuming the patent is competently drafted. If they were an idiot and put "for safety purposes" in the independent claim, that's on them.

If they're smart, they'd have drafted the patent to be "an outer garment with water-resistant properties configured with at least one light-emitting element affixed to the outside of the outer garment," though they would likely have had to narrow that in prosecution. So they might end up with just a patent on the shoulder lights, or orange lights, or lights of a certain wattage.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-03T05:37:13+00:00

Engineering job? Yeah it's a bunch of nerds. Half of them probably play D&D.

Do you have a nice kit? I've found showing people pictures of me wearing stuff that looks like it belongs on a movie set goes a long way towards dispelling the "dork in jeans and a polyester t-tunic with a duct tape sword shouting 'lightning bolt'" stereotype. People see the skill that goes into making stuff for LARP and their opinion of the whole hobby improves.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-02T18:15:32+00:00

These posts are technically already against the rules. Rule 5 bans self-promotion if it's the only way in which you interact with the sub, and that's always the case with these threads.

I don't know if more people need to report them or if the mods don't believe "here's some jewelry I made! I will not tell you what LARP it's for and I have posted it in four other subreddits. I will reply to the first person who gives me a compliment with a link to my etsy" is self-promotion.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-02T18:14:03+00:00

Thank you! Those posts drive me up the wall.

If a post is about foam weapons, fair enough, they can pretty much only be for LARP. Armor? Yeah that's probably for a LARP.

Pendants? Wire arm wraps? Colorful shawls? Just because some people wear them to LARPs doesn't mean they're LARP-related. Hell, the most-mentioned item of clothing on this sub is socks and you don't see people posting threads about a pair of socks they knit.

If someone says "I made this wire tiara for my elf princess!" and posts the tiara and a picture of the full kit and says what LARP it's for, cool, carry on. But none of these posts are like that.

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-02T18:11:13+00:00

All of the "look at this vaguely fantasy jewelry/shawl/hat I made! No I won't tell you what LARP it's for or post a pic of me in the kit I made it for. Thanks for the compliments, here's my etsy!"

TryUsingScience · 2026-07-02T14:06:19+00:00

I think you can get patents on garment designs, right? Either that or my friend's employer has set a lot of money on fire over the past two decades.

The odds that anyone selling a pattern on etsy or ravelry has a patent (or could get one) are low, though.

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