The first time I played in a Nordic live-action roleplaying (LARP) event, it was at the College of Wizardry game in Poland. I played a student character, and in my first class, the professor character had us cast a specific incantation that we practiced aloud as a group and then used on a volunteer student. Despite my ten years of LARP experience in the United States, this style of LARP was brand new to me, and I was very nervous about playing with people who were much more familiar and comfortable with the style than I was.
As a result of my nerves, when my turn came to cast the spell, I ended up mispronouncing the incantation, and the other student roleplayed that my spell failed. In the American LARPs that I’m used to, I might have been able to save face by dropping out-of-character for a moment to explain that my character would not have botched the incantation and that it was an out-ofcharacter mistake—the other players would have likely let the mistake slide. However, in this style of game, dropping out-of-character in that manner to correct an in-character flub is not typically an option; players are instead encouraged to roll with the punches, so to speak.
Thus, I made the conscious decision to play up the mistake instead; I continued to roleplay my character messing up her spells throughout the entire class. She was so utterly embarrassed by her failures that she ran out at the end, close to tears, as the professor tutted about a “waste of talent.” This choice created a dramatic turning point in my game, causing my character to suddenly struggling with the idea that maybe she’s not as good as she thought. It was great roleplay and created a game experience that my fellow players and I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
I realized then how refreshing and fun it can be to play this way. Play for What’s Interesting The concept I’ve just described is called playing to lose in Nordic and freeform LARP communities. Players use this strategy to facilitate drama in their roleplay by specifically not trying to “win” during every interaction and, instead, letting their character “lose” to create a better story. The sole purpose of playing to lose is to make a game more engaging for all of the players, which is why it’s also known as “playing for what’s interesting.” When every player in a LARP is utilizing this concept, the roleplay within that game becomes more engaging, dynamic, and unexpected.
Playing to lose is not a new or unique idea, nor is it exclusive to freeform games. The basic concept has been around as long as roleplaying games have existed, and many players from different LARPing systems have used similar techniques in their own games, often recounting the resulting dramatic stories as the zenith of their LARP experiences. Playing to lose is a flexible concept that can be used by players with little difficulty in any type of game or rule-system, even ones that aren’t inherently freeform or collaborative.
In this essay I’ll discuss this concept further, contrast it with other concepts, and present ways for players and Storytellers to introduce and explore this concept in their own games. What’s Wrong with Winning? It is often assumed that the goal of any game is to “win” it, usually via competitive play. We see this expectation in many board games, card games, video games, and even roleplaying games. Players are pitted against each other or against an entity in the game, with either a single player or a group coming out on top as the “winner.” This concept is called gamism.
However, LARP games can be much more nebulous. Yes, Player vs. Environment (PvE) and Player vs. Player (PvP) mechanics absolutely exist, especially in games like Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. These types of rules encourage gamistminded players to play seeking a specific goal. This playstyle typically manifests as a plotline that, when followed to its end, yields a predictable result—the bad things die, and the players get some sort of reward for their efforts, such as titles, status, or objects that enhance their characters’ abilities.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with gamism, but this approach in LARP games can produce less-interesting and often-repetitive stories. How often do your vampire character’s gatherings get attacked by werewolves, or the Sabbat? Pretty often, I’d wager—perhaps even every single time you have a game! This is where gamism fails; it doesn’t create stimulating, dramatic plot that keeps players engaged outside of combat scenarios. Winning doesn’t have to be, and really shouldn’t be, the end-all-be-all goal in every LARP.
Sandbox or freeform What You Have to Gain by Playing to Lose Schoonmaker games, especially, don’t mesh well with that approach, because there might not even be a formal Storyteller or overarching plotlines in such games. In many Nordic games, for example, all plotlines are player-created and player-driven. Introducing Playing to Lose to Your Games Playing to lose is beneficial in LARPs, because it flips the gamist approach on its head and can lead players, and in turn the stories they create, in new and exciting directions.
Playing to lose encourages plots that are less linear, allowing players to explore different branches they might not have considered before and to create their own personal plots around their characters’ actions. The goal of the game becomes not “how do we win?” but “how can I make this more intriguing for myself and those playing with me?” and “what will be most enjoyable to play?” The game, along with the Storytellers and staff, can then emphasize more discovery and better support player imagination.
For Storytellers Introducing this concept to a LARP as a Storyteller starts with talking to your players. You can include some information about playing to lose in game materials or run a workshop before sessions so that players can become familiar with the idea beforehand. Make sure your players have a safe environment in which to comfortably fail and take risks as their characters. Incorporating consent mechanics along with the playing to lose concept is highly recommended, and you’ll find an essay about those mechanics elsewhere in this anthology.
Adding both to your game allows for player comfort in exploring their characters fully. For Players As a player, introducing this strategy to your roleplay repertoire starts with asking yourself the question, “what would be most fun to play?” Playing to lose centers on creating a rewarding experience for you, the player, so play concepts you think will be engaging and have fun! Utilizing this tool during games may take some practice, especially if it’s a very different style from what you’re used to playing, but the roleplay that blooms out of using this technique can be very rewarding.
Working with Playing to Lose Playing to lose as a concept comes from a LARP culture in which games are shorter and mechanics are light. However this origin doesn’t mean that the technique cannot be utilized in World of Darkness games, which are often the opposite. You just need to make some adaptations to better suit your needs within your individual games and communities. Ideas for Storytellers
• Consider placing less emphasis on character sheets and/or allowing players to keep their experience points after losing a character to help alleviate players’ fear of “losing their progress.” Character loss is one of the strongest factors driving players’ fear of risk-taking, because players don’t want to lose all the hard work they put into their characters.
• If you’re a Storyteller in an organization running games that are interconnected with other games across a large network, character sheets are your bread-andbutter, and they can’t really be deemphasized. But don’t worry; you can still adapt playing to lose to work in these LARP games! Consider earmarking a few games out of the year, maybe one or two to start, to use as “personal plot” games. Utilize these designated games to emphasize the interpersonal plot between the player-characters in your LARP. Work with your players to bring aspects of their backstories to the forefront, ask if they have any secrets they’d like to be revealed or used in game somehow. Also ask them what kind of plot points would most appeal to them during a game where mechanical combat may not occur. This approach can get players thinking about their characters’ histories and motivations, rather than what powers are on their sheets. Sometimes players who are very used to gamism just need a little push in the right direction.
• When using mechanical consequences, such as status bans, encourage your players to use them to drive dramatic play, rather than view these results as a detriments. In Werewolf: The Apocalypse, for example, a character might receive a Stone of Scorn as a constant reminder of a wrongdoing, but instead of focusing on the shame, encourage the player to focus on the task she must complete to remove it. This goal can involve other characters, too, and help facilitate interactions between players. Ideas for Players
• Help out your Storyteller by identifying specific portions of your character’s backstory that can be used in game plots to stir dramatic roleplay.
• Seek out like-minded players in your group, speak to them about playing to lose, and then utilize the concept together! Agree to hold each other accountable for driving roleplay.
• Set good examples for others by actively using playing to lose in your games. Examples from Nordic LARP At present, two Nordic LARPs exist for the World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade setting: End of the Line and Convention of Thorns. While both games use the same setting material, they take place at different times (End of the Line is a modern game, Convention of Thornes is historical) and encourage playing to lose in different ways. Convention of Thorns To encourage participants to play to lose, the Convention of Thorns events took a transparent approach. All character sheets and casting for the game were available for all players to read before the LARP began. In my own experience, I’ve often found players in my local Vampire game unwilling to talk to me about their characters’ secrets or plots, even if the conversation took place completely out-of-character. A secret in a LARP is valueless if it never comes into play, and the design choice made by the Convention of Thorns organizers was very effective, letting secrets be disseminated among players and utilized during play. With almost all character information at every player’s fingertips, fear of revealing one’s secrets no longer became an issue or a concern, but instead was more actively used during play. Players collaborated beforehand to determine the kinds of stories they wanted to play out. End of the Line Like another side of a coin, the End of the Line game took a rather different approach to exposing secrets. During End of the Line, players were also strongly encouraged to play to lose, but in that scenario, they did not have access to other players’ character sheets. Instead, each player received their character sheet individually, which included some pre-described relationships and groupings. Participants were specifically instructed to not talk to anyone else about whether or not their character was a vampire—that mystery was key to the atmosphere of the game. Instead, players were encouraged to let loose during play, within their comfort limits, and to really emphasize being vampires during play, if applicable. (Those of us playing vampires were even given vials of fake blood and encouraged to use them liberally.) This encouragement to “show, don’t tell” one’s supernatural nature conflicts with the traditional secrecy associated with being a vampire in this setting. In many Vampire games, vampires wouldn’t feed from and Embrace humans in crowded nightclubs, letting blood drip obviously down their lips—they’d be breaching the ever-important Masquerade. And yet, that’s exactly what happened during End of the Line! The reveal felt natural, as opposed to players having to process an information dump like that used during Convention of Thorns, which relied on players actually reading, or at least skimming, all those character backstories. Trying these Approaches in Your Game Both approaches—open information and secrecy—have their value and work to suit different types of gameplay. Depending on the setting and type of LARP you are running, you may choose to try one of these methods during your own game sessions. It can be difficult to get players comfortable sharing their character sheets and backstories with others, let alone offering full transparency like that used during Convention of Thorns, but this option is particularly viable for small games. Having character profiles on a wiki or database that’s accessible to all players is one way to utilize this method. In a large game, End of the Line’s approach is easier to implement. For example, you can encourage players to roleplay their flaws or derangements. Flaws like Careless, Curiosity, Impatient, and Intolerance all have a dramatic element that can absolutely be roleplayed during game sessions and can possibly put characters in compromising situations. Go Forth and Play to Lose Ultimately, the concept of playing to lose emphasizes one thing: what drives your roleplay and makes it fun or interesting? There is intrinsic value in exploring ideas and stories together with your fellow players, even if it means “losing” more than “winning.” In order to achieve a more dynamic story and game, players also need more interesting and often personal elements to drive their motivations. The best way to promote such stories is to encourage players to make choices that are not only more enjoyable for each individual player, but also result in more interesting and unexpected play for everyone involved. Biography Erica Schoonmaker has more than eleven years’ experience playing in LARPs, having gotten her start in college with World of Darkness games. Since then, she’s attended a variety of games across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Most recently, she’s started documenting her adventures in LARP and travel on her blog Little & Fierce (littleandfierce.com), with the hope of encouraging others to explore other LARPing cultures and see what the world has to offer.
Originally published in Mind’s Eye Theatre: Immersion Secrets by By Night Studios. Presented here under Resources for chronicles and live play.