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March 24th, 2004
12:59 pm - Word of Mouth Sells the what now?
With this LARP, we now enter into the realm of the legendary: LARPs so bad that they have entered into our oral tradition via song and story.
As ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) londo has said, “it takes a lot of work to screw up a game titled, ‘Slave Girls of the Pleasure Dome.’”
Well, it certainly cannot be said that SEER Productions (“Word of Mouth sells Lizard Soup”) put a lot of work into the game.
Let’s start with the character sheets. What character sheets? Like all the games in the top four, we were given no character histories to speak of. We got two sentences on a sticker attached to an envelope containing useless playing cards. Now I’m not a big character lengthest, saying that a character history has to be so many pages long, but how the heck can I possibly roleplay in your world when all I know about the history of it is two sentences?
And even then, EVEN THEN, there were continuity errors. Characters who were supposed to know each other didn’t. I hear tell that one character had knocked another up before the game, but the one who had gotten pregnant didn’t even know about it. Yeah, great.
I was an INS inspector there to try to find illegal aliens on the movie set. I’ve played this gig before and knew out of game that the GM must have put real extraterrestrials in the game and I also knew that I’d have no way in hell of finding out who they were because there were no clues and they had no reason to reveal themselves. Of course there were actually no Earthly illegal aliens in the game. Well, except for the ones I made up later, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
So, with no character and no plot, I tried talking to the other players. Ever try to roleplay a meaningful conversation when you don’t know anything about yourself, the other characters, or the world? Yeah, think you can do it? How about if when you try, the GM, who was playing the director, decides to change scenes and pulls the people you were roleplaying with away from you or demands that you watch the movie. Yeah, I like to watch things and be outside of the action. That’s why I LARP. Thanks.
Yes, the GM was playing the director. Now I don’t care whether you are for or against GMs playing all powerful tyrants in your LARPs. That’s not the issue. In this case, it didn’t work because (A) the character’s motivations were directly opposed to the GMs motivations, and (B) the GM kept reacting in character when I needed him to be a GM.
They had this card system where you pulled a card out of your envelope and the GM pulled a card out of his envelope and that told you who won, but when I tried to use it, the GM reacted in character as the director, berated me and walked away. I think that was the nadir of the game for me and that’s when I hatched my escape plan.
Now I could have just left, but I was determined to do it with panache. OK, I was there to find illegal aliens, right? Well, since I can’t actually do so because (a) there were no illegal aliens in the game and (b) even if there were, I had no way of finding them and (c) even if I did, the GM was being too much of a self-important megalomaniac to let me try to find them, so I might as well create my own.
I went to the con suite and grabbed a couple of willing victims. I explained that they were Mexicans working in the commissary illegally and that I was there to arrest them. I took them up to the GM, and started shouting at him how I was not an actor, I was an INS agent, that he had hired illegal aliens, that he would be hearing from the INS, and that this was the worst film (bit my tongue and didn’t say “game”) I was ever involved in, ripped off my gaudy purple and black robe, threw it at his feet and stomped off, illegal aliens in tow.
I got an ovation. It was the first time I had ever quit a LARP part of the way through and I got an ovation. Later on, some other players told me that they envied my leaving of the game. I explained that they could have left any time they wanted to.
If the game is bad, folks, I mean completely unsalvageable, leave. Do it. Leave and don’t look back. It worked for me.
Next up: “Scream and the Sultan will rip out your tongue.”
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Comments:
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/86163336/960829) | | From: | sjo |
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| Date: | March 24th, 2004 06:06 pm (UTC) |
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There are minimal character sheets in "The Second Circle of Hell," and little if any plot. People appear to enjoy it, however.
When you are done writing about bad games, maybe we should try to figure out why something will work for one game but not another. I mean, attitude is part of it, but certainly not all.
Well, I think Second Circle and Slave Girls had two entirely different foci as events. Second Circle evolved more into a dance party with party games than a strict roleplaying experience. The character sheets were fun, and interesting, but playing a character was incidental to the game.
| | From: | sjo |
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| Date: | March 24th, 2004 06:55 pm (UTC) |
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In some respects I think having a character (in Second Circle) gave people license to act up a little more than they might do as themselves. Certainly that's the draw of roleplaying for some folks, or at least one of the draws.
Lizard Soup isn't all that good, according to MY mouth.
| | From: | sjo |
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| Date: | March 24th, 2004 06:29 pm (UTC) |
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I have never tried Lizard Soup. However, Alligator is pretty damned tasty.
If the game is bad, folks, I mean completely unsalvageable, leave. Do it. Leave and don’t look back. It worked for me.
I agree, but would also note that you should, if possible, a) leave in an in-character way, and b) make sure the GM knows you are leaving. Both of those goals being amply accomplished in this case.
Most of us were just sad that we did not manage to be 'arrested" by you, and that we had not thought of such a spectacular form of exit...
(Sigh)
Ack. I had the misfortune of playing this game. It dominated my Intercon experience, and not in a good way. The scariest part is that there is video proof out there that I'd like to see destroyed.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/89552332/148831) | | From: | laura47 |
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| Date: | March 25th, 2004 12:40 am (UTC) |
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That was *you*? I have long wondered who that brave, stylish soul was who left the game in such an enviable way. Bravo! Bravo!
How did the 'director' react to the ovation?
That was my first Intercon game ever. I am glad i did not just flee the hotel in terror. :)
They'll be at I-Con this weekend, where I will be. I hope I do not see him.
He was a little flummoxed. I don't know what he did afterwards, though.
What happened after I left?
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/2135149/626853) | | From: | kadath |
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| Date: | March 26th, 2004 05:01 pm (UTC) |
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I don't remember. I've blocked it all out.
The villains did a dance number at one point. I tried to round up a full deck of playing cards from the envelopes so we could do *something*, but that didn't go anywhere. I have no memory of where these events fell in temporal sequence, though.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/4406849/932826) | | From: | mr_teem |
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| Date: | March 25th, 2004 12:55 am (UTC) |
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Mine was the pregnancy plot that, after we discovered the discrepancy, was handled with a triumph of minimalism... "So...the test came back...um...I'm pregnant..." (The GM confirmed I was, anyway.)
"Well, then...of course I'll pay for the abortion..." (With my large bank account, that I surely must have.)
"So...that's...that's it?" (Do you think we just a fling?)
"Are you going to give up your career?" (I think we were just a fling. Not sure.)
"No..." (It's the only other sentence in my character "sheet".)
"All right then..." (Both walk away, bored.) My first "scene" was so far into the shooting schedule that I spent most of my time imagining that I was headed out to find a drink. I think I would have had a better time sitting in the hotel's bar.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/1065169/459531) | | From: | londo |
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| Date: | March 25th, 2004 01:51 am (UTC) |
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I'll accept the paraphrasing, but the game was in fact called "Slave Girls of the Terror Dome."
Hm. I always misremember it. You are correct.
I also misquoted you. Tomorrow's article will contain foul language and adult situations and will thus be hidden behind an lj cut.
Cast as the nominal male lead in the movie, I felt obligated to see it through as best as I could. As the train wreck proceeded along, it was clear that we could exert some control over our corner of the game. We could preplan our scenes, which meant that I could do something about getting and keeping everyone as involved as possible. While that didn't mean much, it was better than what everyone else was going through. It also had the advantage of speeding the game along, so that it was over that much sooner. FYI, my character was supposed to try to make the movie "come in under budget" since the producer (a relative) was broke. I was also supposed to "stir up some buzz" about the movie. I was supposed to do this by murdering various people. Yeah, right.
Gaaaah! This game was stunningly, stupidly bad.
Believe it or not, Paul actually had the nerve to ask about bidding an updated version of Slave Girls.
| | From: | sjo |
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| Date: | March 25th, 2004 04:50 am (UTC) |
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Believe it or not, Paul actually had the nerve to ask about bidding an updated version of Slave Girls.
Screams and clutches her head like a stunned monkey. |
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